Tg Ambiente, edition of 11 June 2024

We talk about the Mediterranean Sea, Oceans, electric aircraft, pond turtles

THE MEDITERRANEAN ‘BUBBLES’ AND OCEANS ARE IN SUFFERING

Sad record for the Mediterranean Sea, now a true hotspot of climate change, warming ever more rapidly and becoming saltier. Due to the absorption of excess heat caused by global warming, the oceans have been experiencing a constant increase in temperature since the 1970s. In the period 2011-2020 the temperature experienced an average increase of 0.88 degrees. Projections indicate that this trend will continue. In April 2023, in fact, the average sea surface temperature reached a new record of 21.1 degrees. The phenomenon has already had significant and, in some cases, irreversible impacts on marine ecosystems throughout its entire extension, generating significant consequences on crucial economic sectors such as fishing and tourism, as well as on our health and nutrition. However, the most significant impact, at ocean level, is on the key role they have for the thermoregulation of the global climate with the system of currents, the production of oxygen and the absorption of carbon dioxide.

OCEANS, MORE ACCESSIBLE MARINE DATA FROM ENEA

Make data on sea health more available, accessible, interoperable and reusable, in a word ‘Fair’, which stands for findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable. This is the objective of a project of the European Marine Observatory, the largest network for collecting information regarding seas and oceans. Funded by the European Commission, it sees the participation of 42 partners, including Enea which, through the laboratories of the Santa Teresa research center, is engaged as an expert data center in the processing of data concerning physical oceanography and is involved in dissemination aspects scientific. “The work of data acquisition and the greater sharing of marine data benefits not only the scientific community, but also maritime planning and the development of the blue economy”, explained Leda Pecci, Enea researcher at the Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services Laboratory. br>

TOWARDS ELECTRIC AND HYDROGEN FLIGHT IN EUROPE

Ensure that electric and hydrogen aircraft carry out 36-60% of intra-EU flights by 2050. This is the objective of the Alliance for Zero Emission Aviation, a voluntary initiative of public and international partners private individuals who share the objective of preparing the entry into commercial service of zero-emission aircraft. According to the Alliance, the total renewable, low-carbon energy needed to operate such flights in 2050 is estimated at 78-198 TeraWatt-hours per year used to propel electric aircraft or produce 1.2-2, 9 million tons per year of hydrogen required. The Alliance estimates that electric and hydrogen aircraft could reduce CO2 emissions from aviation on intra-EU routes by 12-31% in 2050.

TEN MARSH TURTLES RELEASED IN LIGURIA

The Life Urca Proemys project has also achieved this year the important objective of repopulating the humid environments of the Albenga Plain with new specimens of the Emys orbicularis ingauna pond turtle. Ten young individuals, reproduced and raised in a controlled environment, were released in the Natura2000 areas ‘Torrenti Arroscia e Centa’ and ‘Lerrone-Valloni’. The specimens, approximately two years old, have an identification mark and a microchip that will allow researchers to identify them in the coming years during periodic monitoring phases. The release of the Emys was the opportunity to inaugurate two new areas created thanks to the WWF Italia Ri-Party-Amo project – born from the collaboration with Intesa Sanpaolo, Jova Beach Party – and the Life Urca Proemys project: a wetland of approximately 3 thousand square meters and a new pond, of approximately 600 square meters. At the moment the first eggs of Rana dalmatina have already been observed and we expect to see the first tortoises basking in the sun shortly.