Early human activities impacted Earth’s atmosphere more than previously known

New study links an increase in black carbon in Antarctic ice cores to Māori burning practices in New Zealand more than 700 years ago

Peer-Reviewed Publication

DESERT RESEARCH INSTITUTE

 

IMAGE: FOUR ICE CORES FROM CONTINENTAL ANTARCTICA WERE DRILLED IN EAST ANTARCTICA, INCLUDING TWO AS PART OF THE NORWEGIAN-AMERICAN INTERNATIONAL POLAR YEAR ANTARCTIC SCIENTIFIC TRAVERSE. view more 

CREDIT: STEIN TRONSTAD

Reno, Nev. (Oct. 6, 2021) – Several years ago, while analyzing ice core samples from Antarctica’s James Ross Island, scientists Joe McConnell, Ph.D., and Nathan Chellman, Ph.D., from DRI, and Robert Mulvaney, Ph.D., from the British Antarctic Survey noticed something unusual: a substantial increase in levels of black carbon that began around the year 1300 and continued to the modern day.

Black carbon, commonly referred to as soot, is a light-absorbing particle that comes from combustion sources such as biomass burning (e.g. forest fires) and, more recently, fossil fuel combustion. Working in collaboration with an international team of scientists from the United Kingdom, Austria, Norway, Germany, Australia, Argentina, and the U.S., McConnell, Chellman, and Mulvaney set out to uncover the origins of the unexpected increase in black carbon captured in the Antarctic ice.

The team’s findings, which published this week in Nature, point to an unlikely source: ancient Māori land-burning practices in New Zealand, conducted at a scale that impacted the atmosphere across much of the Southern Hemisphere and dwarfed other preindustrial emissions in the region during the past 2,000 years.

“The idea that humans at this time in history caused such a significant change in atmospheric black carbon through their land clearing activities is quite surprising,” said McConnell, research professor of hydrology at DRI who designed and led the study. “We used to think that if you went back a few hundred years you’d be looking at a pristine, pre-industrial world, but it’s clear from this study that humans have been impacting the environment over the Southern Ocean and the Antarctica Peninsula for at least the last 700 years.”

CAPTION

The James Ross Island core drilled to bedrock in 2008 by the British Antarctic Survey provided an unprecedented record of soot deposition in the northern Antarctic Peninsula during the past 2000 years and revealed the surprising impacts of Māori burning in New Zealand starting in the late 13th century. Robert Mulvaney, Ph.D., pictured here led collection of the core.

CREDIT

Jack Triest

Tracing the black carbon to its source

To identify the source of the black carbon, the study team analyzed an array of six ice cores collected from James Ross Island and continental Antarctica using DRI’s unique continuous ice-core analytical system. The method used to analyze black carbon in ice was first developed in McConnell’s lab in 2007.

While the ice core from James Ross Island showed a notable increase in black carbon beginning around the year 1300, with levels tripling over the 700 years that followed and peaking during the 16th and 17th centuries, black carbon levels at sites in continental Antarctica during the same period of time stayed relatively stable.

Andreas Stohl, Ph.D., of the University of Vienna led atmospheric model simulations of the transport and deposition of black carbon around the Southern Hemisphere that supported the findings.

“From our models and the deposition pattern over Antarctica seen in the ice, it is clear that Patagonia, Tasmania, and New Zealand were the most likely points of origin of the increased black carbon emissions starting about 1300,” said Stohl.

After consulting paleofire records from each of the three regions, only one viable possibility remained: New Zealand, where charcoal records showed a major increase in fire activity beginning about the year 1300. This date also coincided with the estimated arrival, colonization, and subsequent burning of much of New Zealand’s forested areas by the Māori people.

This was a surprising conclusion, given New Zealand’s relatively small land area and the distance (nearly 4,500 miles), that smoke would have travelled to reach the ice core site on James Ross Island.

“Compared to natural burning in places like the Amazon, or Southern Africa, or Australia, you wouldn’t expect Māori burning in New Zealand to have a big impact, but it does over the Southern Ocean and the Antarctic Peninsula,” said Chellman, postdoctoral fellow at DRI. “Being able to use ice core records to show impacts on atmospheric chemistry that reached across the entire Southern Ocean, and being able to attribute that to the Māori arrival and settlement of New Zealand 700 years ago was really amazing.”

CAPTION

Black carbon deposition during the past 2000 years measured in ice cores from Dronning Maud Land in continental Antarctica and James Ross Island at the northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula. Atmospheric modeling and local burning records indicate that the pronounced increase in deposition in the northern Antarctic Peninsula starting in the late 13th century was related to Māori settlement of New Zealand nearly 4000 miles away and their use of fire for land clearing and management. Inset shows locations of New Zealand and ice-core drilling sites in Antarctica.

CREDIT

DRI

Research impacts

The study findings are important for a number of reasons. First, the results have important implications for our understanding of Earth’s atmosphere and climate. Modern climate models rely on accurate information about past climate to make projections for the future, especially on emissions and concentrations of light-absorbing black carbon linked to Earth’s radiative balance. Although it is often assumed that human impacts during preindustrial times were negligible compared to background or natural burning, this study provides new evidence that emissions from human-related burning have impacted Earth’s atmosphere and possibly its climate far earlier, and at scales far larger, than previously imagined.

Second, fallout from biomass burning is rich in micronutrients such as iron. Phytoplankton growth in much of the Southern Ocean is nutrient-limited so the increased fallout from Māori burning probably resulted in centuries of enhanced phytoplankton growth in large areas of the Southern Hemisphere.

Third, the results refine what is known about the timing of the arrival of the Māori in New Zealand, one of the last habitable places on earth to be colonized by humans. Māori arrival dates based on radiocarbon dates vary from the 13th to 14th century, but the more precise dating made possible by the ice core records pinpoints the start of large scale burning by early Māori in New Zealand to 1297, with an uncertainty of 30 years.

“From this study and other previous work our team has done such as on 2,000-year old lead pollution in the Arctic from ancient Rome, it is clear that ice core records are very valuable for learning about past human impacts on the environment,” McConnell said. “Even the most remote parts of Earth were not necessarily pristine in preindustrial times.”

 

CAPTION

Drilling camp on James Ross Island, northern Antarctic Peninsula.

CREDIT

Jack Triest

Additional information:

The full study, Hemispheric black carbon increase after 13th C Māori arrival in New Zealand, is available from Nature: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-03858-9 

Study authors included Joseph R. McConnell (DRI), Nathan J. Chellman (DRI), Robert Mulvaney (British Antarctic Survey), Sabine Eckhardt (Norwegian Institute for Air Research), Andreas Stohl (University of Vienna), Gill Plunkett (Queen’s University Belfast), Sepp Kipfstuhl (Alfred Wegener Institut, Germany) , Johannes Freitag (Alfred Wegener Institut, Germany), Elisabeth Isaksson (Norwegian Polar Institute), Kelly E. Gleason (DRI/Portland State University), Sandra O. Brugger (DRI), David B. McWethy (Montana State University), Nerilie J. Abram (Australian National University), Pengfei Liu (Georgia Institute of Technology/Harvard University), and Alberto J. Aristarain (Instituto Antartico Argentino).

This study was made possible with funding from the National Science Foundation (0538416, 0968391, 1702830, 1832486, and 1925417), the DRI, and the Swiss National Science Foundation (P400P2_199285).  

To learn more about DRI’s Ice Core Laboratory, please visit: https://www.dri.edu/labs/trace-chemistry-laboratory/

CAPTION

Measuring the chemistry in a longitudinal sample of an ice core on DRI’s unique ice core analytical system.

CREDIT

Joe McConnell/DRI

The Desert Research Institute (DRI)  is a recognized world leader in basic and applied environmental research. Committed to scientific excellence and integrity, DRI faculty, students who work alongside them, and staff have developed scientific knowledge and innovative technologies in research projects around the globe. Since 1959, DRI’s research has advanced scientific knowledge on topics ranging from humans’ impact on the environment to the environment’s impact on humans. DRI’s impactful science and inspiring solutions support Nevada’s diverse economy, provide science-based educational opportunities, and inform policymakers, business leaders, and community members. With campuses in Las Vegas and Reno, DRI serves as the non-profit research arm of the Nevada System of Higher Education. For more information, please visit www.dri.edu. 

---

JOURNAL

Nature

DOI

10.1038/s41586-021-03858-9 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Computational simulation/modeling

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Hemispheric black carbon increase after the 13th-century Māori arrival in New Zealand

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

6-Oct-2021

Pacific's urgent call to climate action as crunch talks loom

Issued on: 08/10/2021 -

The COP26 summit will bring together representatives from 196 countries and the European Union for the biggest climate conference since landmark talks in Paris in 2015 AILEEN TORRES-BENNETT AFP


Suva (Fiji) (AFP)

Pacific island leaders have urged industrialised nations to bring plans for real action, not good intentions, to upcoming climate talks, painting a grim picture of the environmental horrors they face.

Fiji Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama said low-lying Pacific states were bearing the brunt of global warming's impact and their voices must be heard at UN-brokered climate negotiations in Glasgow next month.

"For our sake and all of humanity's, small island developing states will use the full measure of our moral authority against major emitters who refuse to arrive in Glasgow with strong commitments," he told an EU-backed virtual summit late Thursday.

The summit, known as COP26, will bring together representatives from 196 countries and the European Union for the biggest climate conference since landmark talks in Paris in 2015.

Bainimarama said it must result in solid commitments to swiftly meet the ambitious goal set in Paris of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius compared with pre-industrial levels.

The Fijian leader also demanded the phasing out of fossil fuels as quickly as possible, saying Glasgow could not end in "a litany of good intentions".

"The consequences of inaction are unthinkable," he said.

Fiji Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama says low-lying Pacific states are bearing the brunt of global warming's impact and their voices must be heard 

PATRIK STOLLARZ AFP

"The loss of entire islands, as well as vast stretches of coastline from Lagos to Venice to Miami, the coastal belt of Bangladesh.

"Mass climate-driven migration, wildfire seasons in arid regions that incinerate homes, farms, ecosystems and an unimaginable loss of biodiversity -- the of list horrors goes on."

Marshall Islands President David Kabua said it was difficult for those not on the frontline of the crisis to understand how "urgent, pressing and unavoidable" climate change was in the Pacific.

"My country and this region needs the world to recognise that this cannot wait," he said.

"We face the most difficult questions -- which islands to preserve, what happens when our people are forced to move against their will, how will we preserve our culture?

"We need a signal from the rest of the world, particularly the large emitters, that our voices and our needs are being heard."

Samoa's Fiame Naomi Mata'afa, who took office as the country's first female prime minister in late July, said climate change was the greatest threat facing her people.

"We are already experiencing intense and frequent tropical cyclones and droughts, increased heavy precipitation and floods, ocean warming and acidification," she said.

"The impacts are detrimental to our health, wellbeing, livelihoods and way of life."

© 2021 AFP

UN ends war crimes probe in Yemen in major setback for rights body



Issued on: 08/10/2021 

People browse through the rubble of a house destroyed by Houthi missile attack in Marib, Yemen, October 3, 2021. 

Picture taken October 3, 2021. 

© Ali Owidha, REUTERS

Text by: NEWS WIRES

Bahrain, Russia and other members of the U.N. Human Rights Council pushed through a vote on Thursday to shut down the body's war crimes investigations in Yemen, in a stinging defeat for Western states who sought to keep the mission going.

BHARAIN IS A SAUDI CLIENT STATE

Members narrowly voted to reject a resolution led by the Netherlands to give the independent investigators another two years to monitor atrocities in Yemen's conflict.

It marked the first time in the council's 15-year history that a resolution was defeated.

The independent investigators have said in the past that potential war crimes have been committed by all sides in the seven-year conflict that has pitted a Saudi-led coalition against Iran-allied Houthi rebels.

More than 100,000 people have been killed and 4 million have been displaced, activist groups say.

Dutch ambassador Peter Bekker said the vote was a major setback. "I cannot help but feel that this Council has failed the people of Yemen," he told delegates.

"With this vote, the Council has effectively ended its reporting mandate, it has cut this lifeline of the Yemeni people to the international community."

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres still believes there is a need for accountability in Yemen, spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters in New York.

“We will continue to press for accountability in Yemen, a place ... in which civilians have seen repeated crimes committed against them,” Dujarric said.

Ambassador Katharine Stasch, Germany's ambassador to the U.N. in Geneva, told the council: "While we acknowledge the (Saudi-led) coalition's efforts to investigate civilian casualty claims through the joint incidents assessment team, we are convinced that it is indispensable to have a U.N.-mandated international, independent mechanism working towards accountability for the Yemeni people."

Rights activists said this week that Saudi Arabia lobbied heavily against the Western resolution.

The kingdom is not a voting member of the U.N. Human Rights Council and its delegation did not respond to Reuters' requests for comment.

During the debate, Bahraini ambassador Yusuf Abdulkarim Bucheeri said that the international group of investigators had "contributed to spreading misinformation about the situation on the ground" in Yemen.

In the vote called by Saudi ally Bahrain, 21 countries voted against the Dutch resolution including China, Cuba, Pakistan, Russia, Venezuela and Uzbekistan. Eighteen including Britain, France and Germany voted to support it.

There were seven abstentions and Ukraine's delegation was absent. The United States only has observer status.

Radhya Almutawakel, chairperson of the independent Yemeni activist group Mwatana for Human Rights, said she was deeply disappointed by the result.

"By voting against the renewal of the GEE today, UN member states have given a green light to warring parties to continue their campaign of death and destruction in Yemen,” she said, referring to the investigators known as the Group of Eminent Experts.

John Fisher of Human Rights Watch said that the failure to renew the mandate was "a stain on the record of the Human Rights Council".

"By voting against this much-needed mandate, many states have turned their back on victims, bowed to pressure from the Saudi-led coalition, and put politics before principle," he said.

(REUTERS)

China’s lunar rock samples show lava flowed on the moon 2 billion years ago

The first lunar rocks returned to Earth in more than 40 years raise questions about the moon’s evolution

A capsule containing moon rocks (shown) collected by China’s Chang’e-5 mission landed back on Earth in December 2020.
CHINESE NATIONAL SPACE AGENCY’S LUNAR EXPLORATION AND SPACE ENGINEERING CENTER


By Freda Kreier

Lava oozed across the moon’s surface just 2 billion years ago, bits of lunar rocks retrieved by China’s Chang’e-5 mission reveal.

A chemical analysis of the volcanic rocks confirms that the moon remained volcanically active far longer that its size would suggest possible, researchers report online October 7 in Science.

Chang’e-5 is the first mission to retrieve lunar rocks and return them to Earth in over 40 years (SN: 12/1/20). An international group of researchers found that the rocks formed 2 billion years ago, around when multicellular life first evolved on Earth. That makes them the youngest moon rocks ever collected, says study coauthor Carolyn Crow, a planetary scientist at the University of Colorado Boulder.

The moon formed roughly 4.5 billion years ago. Lunar rocks from the Apollo and Soviet missions of the late 1960s and 70s revealed that volcanism on the moon was commonplace for the first billion or so years of its existence, with flows lasting for millions, if not hundreds of millions, of years.

Samples of bits of lunar rocks, such as this, are helping scientists study the volcanic evolution of the moon.

BEIJING SHRIMP CENTER/INSTITUTE OF GEOLOGY/CAGS

Given its size, scientist thought that the moon started cooling off around 3 billion years ago, eventually becoming the quiet, inactive neighbor it is today. Yet a dearth of craters in some regions left scientists scratching their heads. Parts of celestial bodies devoid of volcanism accumulate more and more craters over time, in part because there aren’t lava flows depositing new material that hardens into smooth stretches. The moon’s smoother spots seemed to suggest that volcanism had persisted past the moon’s early history.

“Young volcanism on a small body like the moon is challenging to explain, because usually small bodies cool fast,” says Juliane Gross, a planetary scientist at Rutgers University in Piscataway, N.J., not involved in the study.

Scientist had suggested that radioactive elements might offer an explanation for later volcanism. Radioactive decay generates a lot of heat, which is why nuclear reactors are kept in water. Enough radioactive materials in the moon’s mantle, the layer just below the visible crust, would have provided a heat source that could explain younger lava flows.

To test this theory, the Chang’e-5 lander gathered chunks of basalt — a type of rock that forms from volcanic activity — from a previously unexplored part of the moon thought to be younger than 3 billion years old. The team determined that the rocks formed from lava flows 2 billion years ago, but chemical analysis did not yield the concentration of radioactive elements one would expect if radioactive decay were to explain the volcanism

.

The Chang’e-5 lunar lander extracts samples of the moon that were returned to Earth. The lunar material is the first brought back to Earth in more than 40 years.

CHINESE NATIONAL SPACE AGENCY’S LUNAR EXPLORATION AND SPACE ENGINEERING CENTER

This finding is compelling scientists to consider what other forces could have maintained volcanic activity on the moon.

One theory, says study coauthor Alexander Nemchin, a planetary scientist at the Beijing SHRIMP Center and Curtin University in Bentley, Australia, is that gravitational forces from the Earth could have liquefied the lunar interior, keeping lunar magma flowing for another billion or so years past when it should have stopped.

“The moon was a lot closer 2 billion years ago,” Nemchin explains. As the moon slowly inched away from the Earth — a slow escape still at work today — these forces would have become less and less powerful until volcanism eventually petered out.

Impacts from asteroids and comets also could have kept the moon’s volcanic juices flowing, but “at this point, any guess is a good guess,” says Jessica Barnes, a planetary scientist at the University of Arizona in Tucson not involved in the study.

“This is a good example of why we need to get to know our closest neighbor,” Barnes says. “A lot people think we already know what’s going on with the moon, but it’s actually quite mysterious.”

5,000 travellers who defied hotel quarantine rules got big fines, but no sign of fines in Alberta

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Seven travellers told CBC News they landed in Calgary, refused the hotel quarantine and didn't get fined

Sophia Harris · CBC News · Posted: Oct 04, 2021 

The Public Health Agency of Canada has records of 5,538 fines being issued to air passengers who refused to quarantine in a hotel after arriving in Canada. The quarantine requirement ended in August. (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press)

Anu Khullar says she was shocked how easy it was to refuse to quarantine in a hotel after landing in Calgary on June 20, following a trip to Honduras.

She received no pushback and no fine, she said.

"There were two police officers standing there and they just smiled at me and said, 'Hi,'" said Khullar who lives in Edmonton and owns a home in Honduras. 

"Got my luggage, got my car, drove home, everything was great."

Canada's hotel quarantine requirement for international air passengers ended in August, but it's still sparking controversy. That's because while more than 5,000 air passengers who refused to quarantine in a hotel were hit with fines, others who violated the rule faced no repercussions.

"This wasn't a program that was sort of implemented fairly, necessarily, across the board," said Cara Zwibel, director of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association's fundamental freedoms program.

CBC News has found no evidence that any hotel quarantine fines have been issued to air passengers who landed in Calgary, and has found evidence so far of only two fines issued to Montreal arrivals. Calgary and Montreal are two of just four cities — along with Vancouver and Toronto — where international passengers could land while the hotel quarantine rule was in effect, from Feb. 22 to Aug. 8.

The absence of fines issued in Calgary doesn't mean all Calgary arrivals obeyed the rules. Seven travellers told CBC News they landed in the city, refused to quarantine in a hotel and received no fines. 

"This was way too easy," said Khullar.

Anu Khullar on vacation in Honduras before flying back to Canada on June 20. She said she received no pushback or fine for refusing to quarantine in a hotel. (submitted by Anu Khullar)

Khullar said she felt no need to quarantine in a hotel because she was fully vaccinated and could do her full 14-day quarantine in her empty house.

Her original return flight to Canada was to land in Vancouver. But Khullar said she switched her arrival city to Calgary after reading scores of posts on social media from people who said they landed in Calgary, refused to go to a quarantine hotel and didn't get fined. 

"It was an absolute joke," said Khullar. "You might as well say, 'OK everybody, just fly back to Alberta. You don't have to worry about a single fine.'"

Who can issue fines in Calgary?

The federal government created its hotel quarantine program to help stop the spread of COVID-19. The program required international air passengers to do part of their quarantine in a designated hotel while waiting for their post-arrival COVID-19 test results. Passengers had to foot the hotel bill, which could run as high as $2,000.

The Public Health Agency of Canada has posted records of 5,538 fines issued to air passengers who refused to quarantine in a hotel. They range from $3,000 to $5,000 plus added fees.

Almost all of the fines were given to travellers who landed in Toronto (4,850) and Vancouver (685). The remaining three involved Montreal arrivals. However, PHAC clarified in a footnote that it's unknown if those three cases actually resulted in fines.

None of the fines were issued in Calgary.

• Canadian pensioners fighting more than $12K in fines for refusing to quarantine in a hotel

• More than 500 air passengers fined for defying hotel quarantine rules after landing in Vancouver and Toronto

According to Statistics Canada, 434,210 non-essential air passengers entered Canada from March through June, the busiest months for the hotel quarantine program. Of that total, 225,809 landed in Toronto, 94,084 in Montreal, 80,722 in Vancouver and 33,595 in Calgary. 

PHAC told CBC News its officers couldn't fine hotel quarantine violators in Alberta because the province never adopted the federal Contraventions Act. But the agency said police in Alberta could issue the fines and suggested checking with police for up-to-date statistics.

Alberta RCMP and Calgary police told CBC News they have issued no such fines. 

In May, Calgary police said that because the Contraventions Act doesn't apply in Alberta, they don't have direct authority to fine hotel quarantine violators. Instead, they could only investigate a case if they receive a complaint. 

Watch: Hotel quarantine fines handed out unevenly: 

Canada's hotel quarantine requirement ended in August, but we're just now getting a sense of how it was enforced. CBC News has learned that fines were unevenly handed out, depending on which city passengers landed in. 1:59

Any fines in Quebec?

CBC News has also heard from five travellers who said they had landed in Montreal, refused to quarantine in a hotel and have yet to receive a fine.

Synthia Vignola flew to Montreal from Colombia on March 21. Vignola said she refused to go to a quarantine hotel because she felt safer isolating at her home in Sainte-Marthe, Que.

Vignola said a federal government official at the airport told her she'd receive a fine in the mail. More than five months later, no fine has arrived, she said. 

"I'm not surprised," said Vignola. "A lot of people [broke the rules]. Nobody receives nothing."

However, following the publication of this story, CBC News confirmed that a couple who landed in Montreal on May 9 and refused to quarantine did eventually receive a fine in the mail — on Aug. 27. 

Synthia Vignola flew from Colombia to Montreal on March 21. She said she has yet to receive a fine for refusing to quarantine in a hotel. (submitted by Synthia Vignola)

PHAC said its officers couldn't directly fine quarantine offenders who landed in Montreal because, in Quebec, these types of fines can only be issued by provincial prosecutors.

The office of Quebec's director of criminal and penal prosecutions (DPCP) told CBC News it is unable to provide specific data on the number of fines it has issued to hotel quarantine violators. DPCP said people can receive a fine up to one year after committing a violation. 

'I'm not paying it'

It's a different story for air passengers who landed in Vancouver and Toronto and refused to quarantine in a hotel. 

CBC News interviewed eight travellers who were directly fined between $3,450 and $6,255 by authorities at the Vancouver or Toronto airport. They each said they plan to contest their fine in court and feel it's unfair they should have to pay when other travellers have faced no repercussions.

"I'm not paying it, because this absolutely doesn't make any sense," said Michael Allen of Windsor, Ont. The former CFL player turned organic greenhouse operator was fined $6,255 at the Toronto airport on July 8. He said he was returning from a business trip to Jamaica. 

Michael Allen, a former CFL football player turned organic gardener, returned to Canada from Jamaica on July 8 and refused to quarantine in a hotel. He says he's fighting the $6,255 fine he received at the Toronto airport. (submitted by Michael Allen)

Allen said he refused to quarantine in a hotel because he felt it was best to do his full quarantine at his empty house. 

He's now waiting to fight his fine in court. 

"Some people get fined. Some don't.… There is no consistency," said Allen, who also pointed out that travellers who entered Canada by land did not have to quarantine in a hotel.

"All these things make it unjust. It's just an unjust law."

• Advisory panel report calls on federal government to end quarantine hotels for air travellers

Lawyer Zwibel said the inconsistency is one of the many reasons she believes the quarantine program was flawed and unnecessary. 

"The reality is that the law can't solve every problem, and this is one instance where I think the law was not very effective," she said. "There are other tools that probably work better, tools like public education."

When asked about claims the hotel quarantine program was unfair because some travellers didn't get fined, PHAC reiterated that authorities in Alberta and Quebec had the power to issue fines.

The agency also said the hotel quarantine requirement was implemented only for international air passengers because, at the time, air travel accounted for most leisure trips, and air travellers generally had higher COVID-19 test positivity rates than those travelling by land.

Hack of streaming service Twitch reveals payment info of top users

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2.5 million people watch live video on Twitch at any given time

Pete Evans · CBC News · Posted: Oct 06, 2021 

Game enthusiasts watched one trillion minutes of content on Twitch last year. (Mike Blake/Reuters)

Live streaming video service Twitch has been hacked in a breach that has exposed the financial information of some of the people who use it.

The company is a live video service where people can share streams of the video games they are playing, usually with tips and commentary. The site has exploded in popularity in lockstep with the rise of esports where spectators watch professional gamers play. Founded in 2011, it was bought by Amazon in 2014 for almost $1 billion US.

At any given moment, more than 2.5 million people are watching videos on Twitch. Last year, they collectively watched one trillion minutes worth of video.

An anonymous poster on the 4chan messaging board released a massive trove of data the poster claimed was the source code for Twitch on Tuesday evening, a data dump that included detailed information about  payment details of its most-watched gamers and streamers.

According to gaming news site Video Games Chronicle, which first reported the breach, the user released the information to "foster more disruption and competition in the online video streaming space" because "their community is a disgusting toxic cesspool."

On Wednesday morning, Twitch confirmed that it had been hacked.

"At this time, we have no indication that login credentials have been exposed, we are continuing to investigate," the company said, adding that credit card infomation of members could not have been accessed either, since the company doesn't store that data in full.

A Twitch screen is shown on a phone. Hackers released information obtained in a hack of live streaming service Twitch that appears to show the entire network has been compromised. ( Gabby Jones/Bloomberg)

Millions of dollars

Leaked data reveals that top streamers take in tens and hundreds of thousands of dollars a month from the service. Screenshots suggest that the top content producers on the platform make millions of dollars from it.

One Canadian who goes by the handle nl_kripp — real name Octavian Morosan — was outed as one of the top streamers. Screenshots suggest the Toronto-based gamer earned $43,077 from his Twitch stream last month.

Although he said he could not confirm that number specifically, he said it is a "fairly decent estimate" of what Twitch brings in. He noted that figure would not include other revenue sources for elite gamers, including YouTube, and sponsorships.

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"In some cases [Twitch is] the biggest slice of what they earn, in some cases it isn't," he said. Top streamers sell subscriptions for between $5 and $25 a month, and some users have in excess of 30,000 subscribers, Morosan said.

"You can earn a lot of money in this domain."

Morosan said he heard of the leak when he finished his daily stream at about 4 a.m. on Tuesday morning. 

"At this stage I don't know any more than the public knows," he said. "I'm sure things will come out on how this happened … I hope at the end of the day things get back to normal."

Victims of data breaches often feel exposed when made aware of an attack, but as someone who broadcasts every detail of his life to the world, for up to 15 hours a day, seven days a week, Morosan says he doesn't feel overly exposed.

"It's not the line of work where you can expect every level of privacy," he said.

• Jagmeet Singh and AOC crew up to find impostors in hit game Among Us

Representatives of another top streamer echoed that view.  Félix Lengyel, who goes by name xQcOW on the platform, has reportedly earned $8.4 million since 2019, including more than $750,000 last month alone. His agent, Ryan Morrison with Los Angeles based Evolve, told CBC News in an emailed statement that while he was unable to despite the specifics of his client's finances, "most people who were paying attention to the space are not surprised by any numbers leaked today."

"It shows the potential opportunity for streamers and that there really isn't a ceiling for what you can do nowadays as a content creator," Morrison said. "It's unfortunate this leak happened, but we operate under the understanding that once something is sent, entered or shared online, it will eventually be leaked. That's the internet we live with."