Abstract

Many marine animals have evolved sensory abilities to use electric and magnetic cues in essential aspects of life history, such as to detect prey, predators and mates as well as to orientate and migrate. Potential disruption of vital cues by human activities must be understood in order to mitigate potential negative influences. Cable deployments in coastal waters are increasing worldwide, in capacity and number, owing to growing demands for electrical power and telecommunications. Increasingly, the local electromagnetic environment used by electro- and magneto-sensitive species will be altered. We quantified biologically relevant behavioural responses of the presumed, magneto-receptive American lobster and the electro-sensitive Little skate to electromagnetic field (EMF) emissions of a subsea high voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission cable for domestic electricity supply. We demonstrate a striking increase in exploratory/foraging behaviour in skates in response to EMF and a more subtle exploratory response in lobsters. In addition, by directly measuring both the magnetic and electric field components of the EMF emitted by HVDC cables we found that there were DC and unexpectedly AC components. Modelling, restricted to the DC component, showed good agreement with measured results. Our cross-disciplinary study highlights the need to integrate an understanding of the natural and anthropogenic EMF environment together with the responses of sensitive animals when planning future cable deployments and predicting their environmental effects.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7060209/

The post Anthropogenic electromagnetic fields (EMF) influence the behaviour of bottom-dwelling marine species appeared first on EMFSA.

South Africa should brace itself for exponential increases to load-shedding until 2022.

This is according to research conducted by Dr Jarrad Wright and Joanne Calitz of the CSIR, who were presenting their findings in a presentation entitled “Setting up for the 2020s: Addressing South Africa’s electricity crisis and getting ready for the next decade… and now COVID-19”.

Wright said that South Africans should expect heavy load-shedding to continue for at least two to three years – depending on the key decisions and actions taken by the relevant entities.

Not only will load-shedding continue over the next few years – it will get significantly worse.

According to the updated Energy Availability Factor (EAF) and demand forecast at which Wright and Calitz arrived, South Africa should expect over 4,500GWh of load-shedding in 2022, compared to the 1,352GWh the country suffered in 2019.

Read more at: https://mybroadband.co.za/news/energy/363616-eskom-load-shedding-will-triple-in-3-years-csir.html?utm_source=newsletter

More on the topic, our post of 31rd March 2019:

The post Eskom load-shedding will triple in 3 years – CSIR appeared first on EMFSA.

NOVEMBER 19, 2019

Weak power grids may put 5G networks in peril

The post Weak power grids may put 5G networks in peril appeared first on EMFSA.