WEEK 1: Still Stuck in a Climate ArgumentBy HENRY FOUNTAINWhen a ship carrying scientists and adventure tourists became stuck in ice in the Antarctic late last month, climate change skeptics had a field day. On Twitter and other social media sites, they pointed out that a group whose journey was meant to highlight the effects of global warming was trapped by a substance that was supposed to be melting.

“Global warming idiots out of danger,” one noted when the ship’s 52 passengers were finally helicoptered to safety Thursday after more than a week on the ice.

The episode had little connection to climate change — shifting winds had caused loose pack ice to jam against the ship — and this was far from the first time that a ship had been trapped, even in the Antarctic summer. But sea ice cover in the Antarctic is changing, and scientists see the influence of climate change, although they say natural climate variability may be at work, too.

“The truth is, we don’t fully understand what’s going on,” said Ted Maksym, a researcher at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

Unlike the Arctic, where sharp declines in recent decades in the ice that floats on sea surfaces have been linked to warming, sea ice in the Antarctic has actually increased, scientists who study the region say. Averaged over the entire Antarctic coast, the increase is slight — about 1 percent a decade. At the same time, larger increases and decreases are being seen on certain parts of the continent.

“We’re constantly struggling against that statement, that Antarctic ice is increasing,” said Sharon E. Stammerjohn, a scientist at the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research at the University of Colorado. “It misses key changes that are happening. And there are really strong climate signals in those changes.”

Most of the sea ice changes are occurring in an area covering about a third of the Antarctic coast, from the Ross Sea to the Bellingshausen Sea and the Antarctic Peninsula, said Paul Holland, a researcher with the British Antarctic Survey. Areas around the Ross Sea, for example, have seen large increases in ice, while in the Bellingshausen and along the peninsula, ice cover has declined sharply. (The area where the research ship became stuck, west of the Ross Sea, has had a slight increase in ice cover over the past 35 years.)

Researchers agree that the changes in those seas are related to north-south winds that circulate clockwise around a stationary zone of increasingly lower-pressure air. That brings warmer air from the north into the Bellingshausen Sea and peninsula, pushing ice against the coast and melting some of it, and colder air from the south into the Ross Sea, which spreads the ice away from the coast and creates more of it.

But why that low-pressure air is getting lower is still a subject of debate. Scientists say that increases in greenhouse gas concentration in the atmosphere, as well as depletion of atmospheric ozone, have changed temperature gradients from the tropics to the poles, which affects atmospheric circulation.

“There are clear signals of winds increasing due to climate change” in the Southern Ocean around the Antarctic, Dr. Stammerjohn said. Those intensifying winds might be affecting the low-pressure zone, she said, but there are also other factors that do not rule out natural variability.

“The jury is definitely still out on that,” Dr. Stammerjohn said.

Whatever the explanation, much of the Bellingshausen is now ice free for long periods each summer. That allows the relatively warmer waters of the Southern Ocean to flow more freely to the more permanent ice that extends from the land in glaciers and sheets.

“The combination of the warm ocean and the effects of waves on these glaciers may increase the rate of loss of glacial ice,” Dr. Maksym said.

The consensus now is that there is a net loss of ice from Antarctica’s ice sheets and glaciers, Dr. Maksym added, and it is the melting of this ice, rather than any loss of sea ice, that concerns scientists who study sea-level increases.

He cautioned that there was still a lot unknown about Antarctic sea ice, which has been studied far less than Arctic ice. In many ways the regions are opposites — the Arctic is an ocean largely hemmed in by land, while Antarctica is a land mass surrounded by a vast open ocean — so lessons learned from studying one do not necessarily apply to the other.

“The skeptics do have a good point,” Dr. Maksym said. “Why are we not paying as much attention to what’s going on in the Antarctic? There are good reasons to figure out why these changes are happening.”

Questions: Answer in complete sentences (or write the question and then answer). Please do not copy directly from the article!

1. What happened to the ship? What did some people remark about it on twitter?

2. What actually caused the ship’s problem?

3. What kind of fluctuations has the Arctic seen?

4. How does this compare with the Antarctic?

5. What do researchers suspect is causing the change?

6. How does the author compare the Arctic and Antarctic?

7. In at least 4 sentences, discuss your thoughts about global warming, the research being conducted, and what theories you think are the most convincing.

WEEK 2: $18 Billion Price Put on Effort to Block CarpBy MICHAEL WINESThe most effective methods of keeping Asian carp from invading the Great Lakes via Chicago’s web of waterways could cost up to $18.4 billion and take 25 years to put in place, the federal Army

Corps of Engineers concluded in a study released Monday.

But a corps official cautioned in a telephone briefing for journalists that there was no guarantee that the carp or other unwanted species would not get into the lakes by then.

The agency’s 210-page study, first ordered by Congress in 2007, laid out eight options to prevent the carp and other unwanted species from entering Lake Michigan, ranging from continuing existing efforts to building barriers that would seal the lake from the five Chicago-area streams that are linked to it.

Either blocking the lakefront waterways or blocking their two sources further inland would offer the greatest protection from invading species, the report said. But both options would prevent barges and other boats from using those routes, and would increase pollution in the lake and the waterways.

Most of the other options would be cheaper and would preserve some access to the lake, but would be somewhat less effective.

The report arrived amid growing concern that some so-called nuisance species, led by two strains of the carp, may already have bypassed existing barriers and entered Lake Michigan. The carp, which multiply quickly and eat huge amounts of plankton, are seen as a threat to commercial and sport fish that feed on plankton during at least some stages of their lives.

A water sample collected last May near Green Bay, Wis., contained DNA fragments of silver carp. After that discovery, senators from Great Lakes states called for immediate action to block a carp invasion. In 2012, Congress ordered the secretary of the Army to start designing and preparing to build an effective barrier should it be deemed justified.

Corps officials said Monday that no barrier would be built without holding public hearings, consulting the many government agencies with a stake in the matter and getting Congress’s blessing.

Conservation groups generally want carp and other invasive species to be blocked as quickly as possible, but commercial shippers and recreational boat organizations have expressed concerns about options that would seal off the lake.

Officials have taken a number of steps to keep the carp out of the lake, including physically removing scores of thousands of them from the Illinois River, the source of all five waterways, and installing an underwater electric barrier on the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal inland from the five streams.

The electric barrier was once believed to be effective, but a recent report by the Army Corps and the federal Fish and Wildlife Service said entire schools of fish frequently slip through it, swept along by barge wakes or in water beneath metal boat hulls where the electric current is weakened.

Federal officials say there is no evidence that carp have entered Lake Michigan, noting that the closest sighting of the fish in the Illinois River was still 55 miles from the lake.

Questions: Answer in complete sentences (or write the question and then answer). Please do not copy directly from the article!

1. What is the problem with the carp?

2. What are 2 of the solutions the team came up with?

3. What are the upsides and downsides of these plans? (In at least 2 sentences)

4. Why are the carp a threat?

5. What evidence do they have that the carp may have already reached Lake Michigan?

6. What do conservationists want? What do shippers want?

7. What system is currently in place? Is it effective, why? (In at least 2 sentences)

WEEK 3: With Extra Anchovies, Deluxe Whale WatchingBy ERICA GOODEMONTEREY, Calif. — It began with the anchovies, miles and miles of them, their silvery blue bodies thick in the waters of Monterey Bay.

Then the sea lions came, by the thousands, from up and down the California coast, and the pelicans, arriving in one long V-formation after another. Fleets of bottlenose dolphins joined them.

But it was the whales that astounded even longtime residents — more than 200 humpbacks lunging, breaching, blowing and tail flapping — and, on a recent weekend, a pod of 19 rowdy orcas that briefly crashed the party, picking off sea lions along the way.

“I can’t tell you where to look,” Nancy Black, a marine biologist leading a boat full of whale watchers last week, said as the water in every direction roiled with mammals. “It’s all around.”

For almost three months, Monterey and nearby coastal areas have played host to a mammoth convocation of sea life that scientists here say is unprecedented in their memories, inviting comparisons to African scenes like the wildebeest migration or herds of antelope on the Serengeti. Humpback whales, pelicans and sea lions are all common summer sights off the Monterey coast, with its nutrient-rich waters. But never that anyone remembers have there been this many or have they stayed so long, feeding well into November.

“It’s a very strange year,” said Baldo Marinovic, a research biologist with the Institute for Marine Sciences at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

What has drawn the animals is a late bloom of anchovies so enormous that continuous, dense blankets of the diminutive fish are visible on depth sounders. The sea lions, sea birds and humpbacks (which eat an average of two tons of fish a day) appear to have hardly made a dent in the population. Last month, so many anchovies crowded into Santa Cruz harbor that the oxygen ran out, leading to a major die-off.

Marine researchers are baffled about the reason for the anchovy explosion.

“The $64,000 question is why this year?” said Dr. Marinovic, who noted that anchovies had been unusually scarce for the last five or six years and that when they do thrive, they usually appear in the spring and early summer.

He and other scientists speculated that a convergence of factors — a milder than usual fall, a strong upwelling of colder water, the cycling of water temperatures in the bay — have created what Dr. Marinovic called “the perfect storm.”

“Now they’re all kind of concentrating on the coast,” he said of the anchovies. “They seem to seek out Monterey Bay because the water tends to be a little warmer and the eggs will develop quickly.” The fish, he said, “are providing a feast for all these things that feed on them.”

The frenzy has been a boon for whale-watching companies like Monterey Bay Whale Watch, of which Ms. Black is the owner, and for their customers.

In a normal season, passengers are lucky to see one or two humpbacks and a single whale breaching. On the trip last week, more than 60 whales were spotted feeding in the deep water of the canyon offshore, and the breaches were almost too numerous to count — in one case, two whales arced their bodies out of the water in unison, like competitors in an Olympic synchronized swimming event. Foul-smelling whale breath occasionally permeated the air.

Ms. Black said that for the first time this year — she has studied whales here since 1986, specializing in orcas — she has seen evidence that the humpbacks are feeding cooperatively with groups of thousands of sea lions. The sea lions dive simultaneously, surfacing a few minutes later. They herd the anchovies into tight balls, called bait balls, and the whales scoop them up, several hundred in a mouthful. Food is plentiful enough that the giant cetaceans — an adult male humpback measures 45 to 50 feet in length, Ms. Black said, and weighs a ton per foot — can afford to take breaks to play.

The humpback population off the California coast, once rapidly decreasing, has rebounded with restrictions on hunting, to about 2,000, experts say. Many whales and sea lions have been congregating to feed near the rim of the Monterey Submarine Canyon offshore. Bottlenose dolphins — groups of 100 or more have been spotted this year — feed closer in.

In most years, the humpbacks would have departed for Mexico weeks ago and the pelicans flown south. But with the anchovies still in abundance, no one is sure how long they will stay. They could remain through December, scientists said, or depart any day.

“I hope it doesn’t end,” Ms. Black said. “But it will.”

Questions: Answer in complete sentences (or write the question and then answer). Please do not copy directly from the article!

1. In what order did the sea life start to arrive in Monterey Bay?

2. What is so special about this year?

3. What has caused the arrival of all this sea life?

4. How much can humpbacks eat in anchovies?

5. What happened when the anchovies made it to Santa Cruz?

6. What did Dr. Marinovic say about the anchovies?

7. What are their theories?

8. What does a normal season reward whale watchers with? What has this year seen?

9. What has Ms. Black noticed about the whales this year?

10. What has caused the spike in numbers of humpbacks?

WEEK 4: Local Factors Cause Dramatic Spikes in Coastal Ocean Acidity: Fluctuation 'Adds Insult to Injury' for Marine Creatures

A new Duke University-led study has documented dramatic, natural short-term increases in the acidity of a North Carolina estuary.

"The natural short-term variability in acidity we observed over the course of one year exceeds 100-year global predictions for the ocean as a whole and may already be exerting added pressure on some of the estuary's organisms, particularly shelled organisms that are especially susceptible to changes in pH," said Zackary I. Johnson, Arthur P. Kaupe Assistant Professor of Molecular Biology at Duke's Nicholas School of the Environment.

The short-term spikes in the acidity of the estuary were driven by changes in temperature, water flow, biological activity and other natural factors, the researchers said. And they are occurring in addition to the long-term acidification taking place in Earth's oceans as a result of human-caused climate change.

"For vulnerable coastal marine ecosystems, this may be adding insult to injury," said Johnson, who was lead author of the study.

When the effects of long-term ocean acidification and short-term natural variation combine, they can create "extreme events" which may be especially harmful to coastal marine life, he said.

The study was conducted at the Pivers Island Coastal Observatory at the Duke Marine Lab in Beaufort, N.C., as part of a long-term coastal monitoring program. Researchers collected seawater samples from Beaufort Inlet weekly for a year and on a daily and hourly basis for shorter periods to track changes in the water's pH and dissolved inorganic carbon on multiple time scales.

Numerous studies have shown that increasing amounts of atmospheric carbon dioxide from human sources are finding their way into the world's oceans. When the carbon dioxide dissolves in seawater, it reduces the water's pH and the ability of organisms to form calcium carbonate minerals that are the building blocks of many species' shells and skeletons. This process is known as ocean acidification.

If current trends continue, experts predict that the mean ocean pH will decrease by about 0.2 units over the next 50 years. A drop of that magnitude could have far-reaching effects on ocean ecosystems and organisms.

"We may see significant changes in biological processes such as primary production," said Dana Hunt, assistant professor of microbial ecology, who co-authored the new study. "Some organisms, such as phytoplankton, may benefit. Many others, including shelled organisms and corals, will not."

The Duke team's analysis showed that a wide range of natural variables, including changes in temperature, algal production and respiration, and water movement caused by tides and storms, triggered sharp spikes in the inlet's acidity. Some changes occurred over the course of a season; others took place on a daily or hourly basis.

"Understanding to what extent pH naturally varies in coastal ecosystems worldwide will be essential for predicting where and when the effects of increasing ocean acidity will be most profound, and what organisms and ecosystems may be most affected," Hunt said. "Our research demonstrates we have to take into account a wide range of environmental variables, not just pH."

Questions: Answer in complete sentences (or write the question and then answer). Please do not copy directly from the article!

1. What were the scientists from Duke studying over the 1 year period?

2. How does it compare to estimated predictions?

3. What caused the changes?

4. Where was this study conducted?

5. How does carbon dioxide affect the seawater?

6. What sort of change are scientists expecting based on these results?

7. What impact will this have on sea life?

8. What other factors contributed to the variations?

9. In at least 2 sentences, what do you think about this research? Does the fact that it was conducted nearby make it more personal? Do you think we should continue our research?

WEEK 5: One-third of fish caught in Channel have plastic contamination, study shows

Rebecca Smithers , consumer affairs correspondent More than one-third of the fish examined were found to contain small pieces of plastic less than

1mm in size, known as 'microbeads'. Photograph: Corbis

Fish were found to contain small pieces of plastic known as 'microbeads', in a study of 10 species

One-third of fish caught off the south-west coast of England have traces of plastic contamination from sources including sanitary products and carrier bags, scientists have found.

The Plymouth University study, published in the journal Marine Pollution Bulletin, looked at the occurrence of plastic in 10 species of fish caught in the English Channel.

Of 504 fish examined, more than one-third were found to contain small pieces of plastic less than 1mm in size, referred to by scientists as "microbeads".

Prof Richard Thompson of Plymouth University said in a statement: "We have previously shown that on shorelines worldwide and on the seabed and in the water column around the UK, these tiny fragments of plastic are widespread. But this new reseach has shown that such fragments are also being ingested by fish. Laboratory studies on mussels have shown that some organisms can retain plastic after ingestion, hence microplastic debris could also accumulate in natural populations."

This, say the researchers, could carry serious physical consequences for fish, creating blockages in their digestive systems or giving them a false sense of being full.

The fish – including popular species such as whiting, horse mackerel, John Dory and red gurnard – were collected from coastal waters 10km south-west of Plymouth, at a depth of around 55 metres. Between one to 15 pieces of plastic were found in those 184 fish found to have synthetic polymers found in their gastrointestinal tract.

A spectrometer was used to identify 351 items removed from the fish, the majority of which was rayon, a synthetic fibre used in clothing and sanitary products. Other plastics included those "from the breakdown of larger items such as bags and bottles' polyester".

After years of declining use, the number of single-use plastic bags handed out to shoppers by UK supermarkets rose for the second year running in 2011. A total of 8bn "thin-gauge" bags were issued in the UK in 2011 – a 5.4% rise on the 7.6bn in 2010 – with every shopper now using an average of almost 11 a month.

Thompson went on: "There is no threat to human health as the plastic was found in the fish gut which we do not eat. But we don't need to have plastic debris in the sea. These materials are inherently very recyclable, but regrettably they've been at the heart of our throw-away culture for the last few decades. We need to recognise the value of plastics at the end of their lives and need help from industry and manufacturers to widen the potential for everyday products to be reusable and recyclable."

This month, Unilever announced it was removing microbeads from its products, such as facescrubs and soaps, after a campaign by marine conservationists.

QUESTIONS: ANSWER IN COMPLETE SENTENCES, OR COPY QUESTION AND THEN ANSWER!

1. What was found in the fish?

2. Where were the fish caught?

3. What percentage of the fish were found to be affected?

4. What affect may this have on the fish who ingest the pollutant?

5. What is rayon and what does it have to do with these fish?

6. What is the average number of plastic bags shoppers use per month? Is this similar to your own use?

7. Why would this not affect human consumption of the fish?

8. What solutions have been proposed?

9. In at least 2 sentences, discuss your feelings about this situation and how you can make a difference.

WEEK 6: Bubbling Up Organics in an Ocean Vent SimulatorA team of scientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory is testing whether organic molecules can be brewed in a simulated ocean vent. (Credit:

NASA/JPL-Caltech)

Fizzy ocean water and the alkaline fluid that bubbles up from deep ocean vents are coursing through a structure at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. that is reminiscent of the pillared Emerald City in the Wizard of Oz.

Scientists with the NASA Astrobiology Institute's JPL Icy Worlds team have built this series of glass tubes, thin barrels and valves with a laser and a detector system. The set-up mimics the conditions at hydrothermal vents at the bottom of Earth's ocean and also detects compounds coming out of it. They want to see if sending these two liquids through a sample of rock that simulates ancient volcanic ocean crust can lead to the formation of simple organic molecules such as ethane and methane, and amino acids, biologically important organic molecules. Scientists have long considered these compounds the precursor ingredients for what later led to chains of RNA, DNA and microbes.

A group of researchers at JPL, including senior geologist Mike Russell, Icy Worlds Principal Investigator Isik Kanik, postdoctoral fellow Laurie Barge, graduate student Lauren White and visiting scholar Takazo Shibuya, have been testing this "origin of life" theory in a refrigerator-sized apparatus at an annex to the Microdevices Laboratory at JPL. The latest segment of the experiment will track the transformation of carbon molecules into the hydrocarbons methane and ethane. Scientists want to know where the carbon for the organic molecules originates.

"What we're trying to do is to climb down and create the conditions for the very first steps to the beginning of life as we know it," said Russell, who is leading the experiment. "That's the hard part." The experiment is a key component of the Icy Worlds project, which is managed at JPL for the NASA Astrobiology Institute, based at NASA's Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif. The project aims to learn more about potentially habitable environments such as Mars, as well as liquid water environments on icy bodies like Saturn's moon Enceladus and Jupiter's moon Europa. "If this ocean experiment is successful, scientists would have a better handle on where to look for the building blocks of life on Earth and beyond, and what signatures we should be looking for of life and of habitable environments in the solar system," said Kanik.

This experiment has its roots in a theory from Russell in 1989 that moderately warm, alkaline hydrothermal vents at the bottom of the ocean could have hatched life about 4 billion years ago. The ancient ocean at these vents contains carbon dioxide, which provides the supply of carbon that could be reassembled into organic molecules. In 2000, such a vent was discovered at the bottom of the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. The vent later showed signs of generating simple organic molecules.

The scientists have tagged isotopes of carbon dioxide and dissolved them in briny ocean-like water, creating a fizzy sample that would probably taste like salty soda. They made an alkaline solution by dissolving sodium hydroxide in water to simulate the fluids coming out of these kinds of hydrothermal vents. Scientists will alternately send the two solutions through a thin barrel of iron-magnesium-silica-volcanic-type rock that was synthesized by Shibuya, so it doesn't have any of the existing life that would be found in actual ocean crust samples. A tunable diode laser -- a twin of one presently operating on NASA's Mars Curiosity rover -- is used to search for methane, ethane and other volatiles in the solution that flows out.

The experiment runs as close a simulation to the conditions of these hydrothermal vents as is feasible in a lab setting -- at 100 times the pressure of Earth's surface and at about 90 degrees Celsius (about 200 degrees Fahrenheit). Scientists are alternating the fluid flows to simulate the circulation at the ocean floor.

Founded in 1998, the NASA Astrobiology Institute is a partnership between NASA, 15 U.S. teams, and six international consortia. NAI's goals are to promote, conduct, and lead interdisciplinary astrobiology research, train a new generation of astrobiology researchers, and share the excitement of astrobiology with learners of all ages. The NAI is part of NASA's Astrobiology program, which supports research into the origin, evolution, distribution and future of life on Earth and the potential for life elsewhere. For more information, visit http://astrobiology.nasa.gov/.

JPL is managed for NASA by the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

QUESTIONS: ANSWER IN COMPLETE SENTENCES, OR COPY QUESTION AND THEN ANSWER!

1. Where is this experiment being carried out?

2. Describe the experiment.

3. What end result are they trying to find?

4. Why is NASA looking into this?

5. What did Russell propose in 1989?

6. How did they make their “ocean” solution?

7. What kind of pressures is this experiment under? Temperatures?

8. In at least 3 sentences, what do you think about this experiment? Is this a viable origin of life? Do you think this could lead to new ideas about life on other planets? Do you think life exists on other planets?

WEEK 7: Ships' noise is serious problem for killer whales and dolphins, report finds

Low-frequency noise is known to affect baleen whales but high-frequency din from vessels is harming endangered orcas’ ability to communicate and find prey

Noise emanating from passing ships may disturb animals such as killer whales and dolphins far more than previously thought, with new research showing that the animals’ communication and ability to find prey could be

hampered by the underwater din.

The low rumble of passing ships has long been connected to the disturbance of large whales. But US researchers have documented persistent noise also occurring at medium and higher frequencies, including at 20,000Hz where killer whales, also known as orcas, hear best.

These noise disturbances could be hindering the ability of killer whales to communicate and echolocate – the process of using sound to bounce off objects such as prey and identify where they are. Dolphins and porpoises, which also operate at higher frequencies, may be suffering the same problems. The findings, published in PeerJ, suggest that the noise could well affect the endangered population of killer whales that are found near the shipping lanes. A population of just 84 killer whales forage up the US west coast and into Puget Sound.

“The main concern of this is that even a slight increase in sound may make echolocation more difficult for whales,” said Scott Veirs of Beamreach, who led the research. “That’s worrying because their prey, chinook salmon, is already quite scarce. Hearing a click off a salmon is probably one of the most challenging things a killer whale does. Hearing that subtle click is harder if there’s a lot of noise around you.”

The researchers used underwater microphones to measure the noise created by about 1,600 individual ships as they passed through Haro Strait, in Washington state. The two-year study captured the sound made by 12 different types of vessel, including cruise ships, container ships and military vehicles, that passed through the strait about 20 times a day.

Some ships are quieter than others but the average intensity of noise next to all the ships was 173 underwater decibels, equivalent to 111 decibels through the air – about the sound of a loud rock concert. Whales are not usually located right next to ships and so would be subjected to noise of about 60 to 90 decibels – around the level of a lawnmower or a vacuum cleaner.

Veirs said scientists have already identified the impact of underwater noise upon baleen whales – a class of fauna containing the largest animals on Earth. But the new research underlines the threat posed to smaller whales, dolphins and porpoises.

“Ships have been thought of as low-frequency sources of noise, like the rumbling of trucks or trains,” he said. “Most noise is at that low frequency but the background noise of the ocean is raised even in the high frequencies. This could be causing a significant problem that we need to look into more.”

There are several knock-on consequences of a noisy marine environment. Whales may have to group together more closely in order to hear each other. And should they fail to find prey as effectively, they will need to use up their stores of excess blubber. This is problematic as this blubber often contains manmade pollutants that are toxic to whales if released fully into their systems. Veirs said more work needs to be done to identify how badly the noise is affecting whales and also to quieten the ships that pass near the cetaceans.

“It should be easy to reduce noise pollution,” he said. “Military ships are quite a bit quieter and there could be straightforward ways of transferring that technology to the commercial fleet. Another way to reduce noise is to slow down. Decreasing speed by six knots could decrease noise intensity by half.”

While the fortunes of some whale species, such as humpbacks and blue whales, have improved as whaling has declined, others are still under threat from a range of factors. Last week, the US federal government protected nearly 40,000 square miles of the Atlantic in an attempt to avoid losing the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale, a species with just 500 individuals left.

In Europe, killer whales are carrying dangerously high levels of banned PCB chemicals in their blubber. Scientists are still trying to determine whether pollutants caused the death of five sperm whales that became stranded on the east coast of Britain in January. Meanwhile, around the coast of Australia, whales face an increased threat from ship strikes and oil and gas drilling, as well as Japan’s recent pledge to resume whaling in Antarctic waters.

QUESTIONS: ANSWER IN COMPLETE SENTENCES, OR COPY QUESTION AND THEN ANSWER!

1. Why does the sound from ships harm the dolphins and killer whales?2. What other creatures have we known have been affected by ship noise?3. What is echolocation?4. How does this problem affect their hunting skills?5. What types of ships did they study?6. What did they compare the ship noise to?7. What are some of the “knock-on consequences” associated with this problem?8. What are some solutions the article suggests?9. How did the U.S. try to protect the North Atlantic right whale?10. What is the problem with killer whale blubber in Europe?