The Prestige was an oil tanker whose sinking in

2002 off the galician coast caused a large oill

spill. The spill polluted thousands of kilometers
of coastline and more than one thousand beaches
on the Spanish and French coast, as well as
causing great damage to the local fishing
industry. The spill is the largest environmental
disaster in Spain's history.
 Sea empress
The grounding of the crude oil tanker known
as the Sea Empress in February of 1996
resulted in the discharge of approximately
72,000 tonnes of oil into the seas around the
coast of South-West Wales. Various
organizations and many individuals
monitored the environmental effects of this
pollution emergency.
The total area of surface melt on the Greenland Ice
Sheet for 2002 broke all known records for the island
and the extent of Arctic sea ice reached the lowest
level in the satellite record, according to scientists at
the University of Colorado at Boulder.
Researchers from the CU-based Cooperative Institute
for Research in Environmental Sciences, or CIRES,
say the accelerated melting appears to be linked to
shifts in Northern Hemisphere atmospheric circulation
patterns.
The 2002 sea-ice record is the most recent evidence of a downward
trend in Arctic sea ice in the decades since satellite monitoring began,
said Research Associate Mark Serreze, lead author on a 2002 paper on
sea ice extent and area in the Arctic. Serreze is a researcher at CIRES'
National Snow and Ice Data Center, or NSIDC.

The study also found temperatures during the summer of 2002 were
unusually warm over much of the Arctic Ocean. "Since the season also
was characterized by very stormy conditions, we believe these two
factors contributed to extensive melt and break-up of the icepack," said
Serreze.
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38853463ed
Environmental-----ambiental
Melting-------------deshielo
Toxic----------------tóxico
Climate--------------clima
Oil spill--------------vertido de aceite
Gallons--------------galones
Ice in grenland------hielo en groenlandia
Natural disasters---catastrofe