All throughout the mainstream media last week we heard the same myopic litany — ‘a massive wildfire outbreak ongoing in Alaska is not abnormal.’ Well, today, all pretense that there was anything normal about the 314 wildfires still raging throughout the state has gone up in a cloud of boreal forest, tundra, and thawed permafrost emitted smoke.
As of 6:28 AM Alaska time today, 1,912,000 acres had burned in Alaska since the start of the year. That’s roughly 1,800,000 more acres burned than just before the current wildfire outbreak started on June 18th and 497,000 more acres burned over just the last 24 hour period alone. By comparison, the previous worst ever June fire outbreak for Alaska during 2004 burned less than 1,200,000 acres of the Arctic state.
(Alaska Interagency Center map of currently active wildfires now burning in Alaska.)
With 42 hours left in June and with more than 300 fires still active, it’s pretty clear that the current fire season is a historic, unprecedented, record-shattering event. One that will almost certainly break the 2 million acre mark and may show double the over-all previous record burning during June of 2004. An excessive new record that is occurring in the ominous context of the hottest year in the global climate record and a vastly irresponsible dumping of 50 billion tons of heat-trapping, CO2 equivalent (of which 32 billion tons is CO2) gasses into the atmosphere through fossil fuel burning and related industry each and every year.
As Alaska Experiences Worst Ever Burning for June, Northwest Territory Lights Up
As Alaska burned through half a million acres of forest in just one day, a massive heatwave was also setting off extreme wildfires throughout northwest Canada. It was the same heatwave that broke new temperature records all across Washington, and the mountain west. Temperatures in places like Walla, Walla Washington hit 113 degrees Fahrenheit (45 Celsius) on Sunday — breaking the previous all time June temperature record for the day by 4 degrees (2.2 C). A pulse of heat rising off the back of a strengthening El Nino in the Pacific, running all the way up the Western Seaboard and Mountains of the US and driving deep into northwestern Canada.
(Massive plumes of smoke emitting from wildfires burning near Great Slave Lake in Northwest Territory, Canada on Sunday. For reference, bottom edge of frame is 350 miles. Image source: LANCE-MODIS.)
The added heat riled wildfires burning throughout much of the permafrost zone in Canada, pushing blazes to explosive size and dumping massive plumes of smoke into an atmosphere already heavily laden with Alaska’s brown carbon pulse. In the above LANCE-MODIS image we can see about 30 of these fires burning away near Great Slave Lake. Note that some of the fire fronts in the above image are more than 15 miles long.
Given the satellite assessment from yesterday, it appears that the same excessive heat, dryness and permafrost thaw that has set off record fires for Alaska during June is now also in play for Canada. Initial reports from Canada’ Interagency Fire Center confirm this assessment with 138 new fires erupting in just the past 24 hours alone and more than 2,250,000 acres burned for the country since the start of 2015. As a result of the excessive Arctic heat (associated with both El Nino and overall human warming) and extreme rate of new fire starts, we are at risk of seeing unpecedented wildfire conditions continuing to spread throughout this warming, vulnerable Arctic region.
UPDATE: Preliminary numbers for acres burned in Alaska, according to Interagency Center reports have been downgraded somewhat to greater than 1.6 million total acres burned. These totals are still in record range with between 200,000 to 300,000 acres burned each day. It seems, given the unprecedented number and intensity of fires now burning (currently 300) in AK that there’s some difficulty getting an accurate assessment of conditions on the ground. The downgrade is somewhat good news in light of an overall difficult and record fire season for Alaska. Will keep updating as new information becomes available.
Links:
Alaska Interagency Coordination Center
Alaska Forestry Service Facebook Page
Canada Interagency Forest Fire Center
Over A Million Acres Burned in June
113 in Walla, Walla? Historic Washington Heatwave Shatters Records
Hat Tip to Andy in San Diego
Hat Tip to Colorado Bob
Hat Tip to Greg
Hat Tip to DT Lange
(Please help support public, government-funded climate change resiliency efforts like those aided by various interagency fire centers within the US and Canada in addition to the critically valuable satellite tracking provided by the amazing scientific and research teams at NASA.)
robertscribbler 
dtlange
/ June 29, 2015Scary stuff, Robert.
Thanks for itemized inventory 🙂
” … about the 314 wildfires still raging throughout the state has gone up in a cloud of boreal forest, tundra, and thawed permafrost emitted smoke.”
It’s like a terra firma flora body count compliments of US Congress and a mute main stream media.
Senator Inhofe’s gonna need a bigger snowball — much bigger.
OUT
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todaysguestis
/ June 29, 2015Sleepy Hollow Fire rages in central Washington amid record-breaking heat
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/capital-weather-gang/wp/2015/06/29/sleepy-hollow-fire-rages-in-central-washington-amid-record-breaing-northwest-heat/
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dtlange
/ June 29, 2015Yeah, I heard about that one. Will follow news.
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dtlange
/ June 29, 2015– Surprise — A 5-4 SCOTUS sides with commerce.
US commerce will trump humanity until humanity stops shopping.
Birth defects are on the wrong side of the ledger, I guess.
The Supreme Court dealt a major blow on Monday to the Obama administration’s efforts to reduce emissions of toxic mercury from coal-burning power plants, saying federal regulators failed to properly consider the costs of pollution controls.
The court’s 5-to-4 decision halts further implementation of the Mercury and Air Toxic Standards rule, the landmark 2011 regulation by the Environmental Protection Agency that required hundreds of coal-burning plants to install equipment to control mercury, a substance linked in multiple studies to respiratory illnesses as well as birth defects and developmental problems in children.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/courts_law/supreme-court-strikes-down-obama-plan-to-control-toxic-emissions/2015/06/29/94cc26b2-1add-11e5-ab92-c75ae6ab94b5_story.html
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dtlange
/ June 29, 2015– Gee, SOTUS. Come to the PNW, and check our mercury ledger. Bring ‘Senator Snowball’ from Oklahoma with you. He seems to like oddities and impacts. ‘Mercury’ and ‘alpine lakes’ are don’t usually end up in the same sentence. Ugh.
Olympic National Park becoming a magnet for scientific research
Tristan Baurick
5:11 PM, Mar 22, 2015
…
Pristine as the park seems, climate change is dramatically shrinking the park’s glaciers and air pollution is dropping mercury into its alpine lakes, researchers say.
…
“If you’re trying to look at human impacts, you have to have a place to compare,” he said. “We are the ‘unimpacted’ place for dozens and dozens of scientific questions.”
http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/local-news/olympic-national-park-becoming-a-magnet-for-scientific-research_86483169
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Mark from New England
/ June 29, 2015Very sad news – and it makes one wonder that if the Supremes wouldn’t uphold limits on mercury, a known neurotoxin, then how likely is it that they’d uphold limits on carbon dioxide emissions?
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Ryan in New England
/ June 30, 2015This was very disturbing to me when I heard about it. And this right after a Dutch court ruled that the country must cut CO2 to protect its citizens. Just another example of how our country’s policy is controlled by corporate interests and big oil/fossil fuel interests.
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Jeremy
/ June 30, 2015Global warming equals rising seas and the Dutch are very aware of their vulnerability in that regard.
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Leland Palmer
/ June 30, 2015If the SCOTUS wanted to do something right, for a change, they would allow citizens and organizations to sue the oil corporations (and other fossil fuel corporations) for climate damages. Unfortunately, in American Electric Power versus the State of Connecticut, they did just the opposite, a few years ago, claiming that global warming was such a complex issue only Congress and the Executive are equipped to deal with it.
What a sick joke that is, of course. They’ve dumped the problem back into those branches of government most susceptible to politics and corruption, abrogating their constitutional responsibilities.
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Steven Blaisdell
/ June 30, 2015It’s not good, but it’s not fatal. From the NYT:
“‘The E.P.A. will have to do more homework on costs,’ said Sean Donahue, who represents environmental and public health groups that signed on to the agency’s case. ‘But I’m very confident that the final rule will be up and running and finally approved without a great deal of trouble. This is a disappointment. It’s a bump in the road, but I don’t think by any means it’s the end of this program.’
An E.P.A. spokeswoman, Melissa Harrison, said the agency intended to move forward with the rule.”
Further:
“In the meantime, companies could be forced to comply with the existing regulation. The question will go before the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, which has frequently decided in favor of Mr. Obama’s E.P.A. rules.
‘Given the fact that the E.P.A. has already done a detailed cost benefit analysis justifying the rule, and the fact that the majority of the affected industries have already invested heavily in compliance, there is a good chance that the D.C. Circuit will allow the rule to remain on the books’ while the agency makes its revisions, said Patrick Parenteau, an expert on environmental law at Vermont Law School.”
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dtlange
/ June 29, 2015– A June 26 weather oddity in NZ.
My witty phrase for today: “There’s nothing to fear but — the unexpected.”
Ice halts Queenstown flights
‘Flights in and out of Queenstown Airport were on hold this morning due to ice on the runway, in a “never seen before” snap freeze.
…
“We basically had rain first up, the rain stopped and then suddenly Queenstown was snap frozen. All that water on the runway and the roads just turned to ice.”
This morning road users in Otago were also warned of severe black ice across several roads in the area.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11471594
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dtlange
/ June 29, 2015-WaPo today had this link:
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dtlange
/ June 29, 2015LikeLike
dtlange
/ June 29, 2015– ND USA
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Frasersgrove
/ June 29, 2015I’m in Winnipeg, Canada, right where the “e” in smoke is and the smoke is horrible. It really dimmed the sun making it a bit cooler and making life tough for people with breathing problems…
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dtlange
/ June 30, 2015Sorry to hear that, Frasergrove.
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dtlange
/ June 29, 2015– One more iconic image for Congress and ‘Senator Snowball’.
Sleepy Hollow fire drives hundreds from homes
More than a thousand people have evacuated their homes in Wenatchee, Wash. due to a wildfire that sparked Sunday afternoon and was still blazing 12 hours later, authorities said early Monday….
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dtlange
/ June 29, 2015A US flag is seen as a commercial building burns after being ignited by the Sleepy Hollow fire in Wenatchee, Wash., Monday. Emergency officials ordered hundreds of people to leave their homes in central Washington state as a fast-moving wildfire destroyed at least nine properties and threatened businesses on Sunday. Many took refuge in shelters as the blaze ripped across 1,700 acres near the cities of Cashmere and Wenatchee in Chelan County, about 120 miles (200km) east of Seattle.
David Ryder/Reuters
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/USA-Update/2015/0629/Sleepy-Hollow-fire-drives-hundreds-from-homes
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Mark from New England
/ June 29, 2015Perhaps we can sell action to address AGW to Republican Senators as an anti flag-burning measure 😉
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dtlange
/ June 29, 2015– Add ‘ammonia’ to the aerosol impact hazards from the wildfire:
‘Ammonia leaks from warehouse burning in Washington wildfire’
WENATCHEE, Wash. (AP) – Emergency management officials have issued a “shelter in place” order after ammonia started leaking from a fruit warehouse burning in a central Washington wildfire.
Chelan County Emergency management issued the order late Monday morning for an area within half a mile to the south of the Blue Bird fruit warehouse in Wenatchee. But Washington State Patrol Trooper Darren Wright said it was unclear how many people remained in the area because they had already been advised to evacuate.
http://www.myfoxny.com/story/29431364/ammonia-leaks-from-warehouse-burning-in-washington-wildfire
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Robert A. Vella
/ June 29, 2015Reblogged this on The Secular Jurist and commented:
Egads!!!
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climatehawk1
/ June 29, 2015Tweet scheduled, thanks.
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climatehawk1 (@climatehawk1)
/ June 29, 2015Brazil, China, India, South Africa push for funds to combat #climate change http://phy.so/354731916 #globalwarming #divest
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Robert In New Orleans
/ June 29, 2015So much for the PNW being a sanctuary from the worst aspects of climate change. 😦
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climatehawk1 (@climatehawk1)
/ June 29, 2015Yes. I don’t think much of efforts to predict areas that will be sanctuaries. Scientists didn’t predict the Pacific blob, as just one example of a host of unpredictable effects that are beginning to occur. As Robert (scribbler) has noted, we need to get off the damn fossil fuels as rapidly as feasible, rather than try to guess where 6 billion people can rush in order to be “safe” (for how long?).
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Ryan in New England
/ June 29, 2015The heat in the west continues to break records. Records that go back quite a ways. This summer is off to a bad start.
http://www.wunderground.com/news/record-west-heat-wave-northwest-great-basin-latejun2015
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Colorado Bob
/ June 30, 2015Temperatures soar as heatwave hits Spain and Portugal
Excerpt: The Spanish cities of Cordoba, Seville and Toledo were some of the worst affected on Monday. Temperatures were expected to reach up to 44C (111F) in some areas.
Link
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Phil
/ June 30, 2015Is the smoke heading towards the rest of Canada and USA or towards the Arctic with possible implications for black carbon and albedo reduction on Greenland and perhaps remaining sea ice?
The other question is what are implications for carbon or methane releases from permafrost.that is subsequently burnt? Would any emission mainly be in the form of C02 or would they be released as methane or some combination of both?
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Phil
/ June 30, 2015Looks line the WWB is still going strongly mirroring the previous set up with Cyclone Pam with depressions parallel to each other across either side of the equator. Some forecasts (listed on Neven’s site) indicates that it might strengthen further with MJO activity.
Also be interesting to see what happens with sea ice – both GFS and ECWMF have been providing interesting forecasts but impact on extent in particular has been slow to emerge. Will be interesting to see if/when impacts arise on the sea ice metrics (assuming that forecasts bare some closeness to reality).
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Syd Bridges
/ June 30, 2015What I find most alarming about this fire season is that there seems no obvious change ahead to prevent a massive acreage of the boreal forests from burning. Are we about to witness a series of days where a million acres burns in North America? For the US, I fear the 9 million acre plus years of 2006, 2007, and 2012 could be eclipsed. Certainly, there is still a large area of the West showing drought conditions in the US drought monitor and much of that area is being affected by the latest heatwave.
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Leland Palmer
/ June 30, 2015Boy, Robert, you weren’t kidding about the Northwest Territories in Canada:
From NASA Worldview, for the 29th of June:
http://1.usa.gov/1GJi1EH
That’s some ugly, ugly stuff. It’s hard to believe we’re just scratching the surface, especially if methane emissions continue to accelerate.
The image can be zoomed and panned, and the time slider on the bottom can be manipulated to see data from previous days, months, and years. Satellite data products can be added and formatted using the Layers menu in the upper left of the image.
Alaska, as you say, seems to show little if any visual improvement today, either.
It’s very scary that the continuous breaking of records every year that the Deniers were demanding as a precondition for their belief is actually happening. This is less like a statistical trend, and more like a phase shift or bifurcation point.
This is abrupt climate change, I think.
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Steven Blaisdell
/ June 30, 2015Yep.
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robindatta
/ June 30, 2015With extreme cynicism, one might see the fires as a way to end forest fires: when the last tree has been burnt, there will be no more trees to burn ;-O
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robindatta
/ June 30, 2015:-O
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Leland Palmer
/ June 30, 2015Hi robindatta-
I know that you’re being facetious, but your remark has got me wondering what the fate of the forests will be.
We’re in uncharted territory, with only past mass extinction events to guide us. Eventually, we may trigger the Mother of All Methane Catastrophes, and exceed even past extinction events, since the sun is a little hotter now than it was 250 million years ago, during the End Permian.
I suspect we’ll have younger less complex forests, growing fiercely by CO2 fertilization and increased atmospheric moisture, burning fiercely during increased droughts and heat waves, spreading northward as the permafrost melts. Generally, under stress, ecosystems simplify themselves to a few hardy species – varmints and weeds, so to speak. Our beautiful Amazon could easily become a desert, perhaps, but the boreal forests will likely survive, spreading northward, growing fiercely and burning, burning, burning.
I think we’ll have boreal forests of some sort until the oceans start boiling – if we dissociate the methane hydrates.
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izzy
/ June 30, 2015The same thought occurred to me.
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Colorado Bob
/ June 30, 2015Why are seabirds abandoning their ancestral nesting grounds in the Gulf of California?
Warming oceanographic conditions, fishing pressure are driving nesting seabirds away from their ancestral breeding ground in Mexico into California harbors
Link
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Colorado Bob
/ June 30, 2015Largest freshwater lake on Earth was reduced to desert dunes in just a few hundred years
Researchers used satellite images to map abandoned shore lines around Palaeolake Mega-Chad, and analyzed sediments to calculate the age of these shore lines, producing a lake level history spanning the last 15,000 years.
Link
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dtlange
/ June 30, 2015Good news,Robert.
I got this post to PDX KBOO News as soon as I read it. It ‘sounded’ good, on the spot action reporting with context.
5 PM KBOO Evening News: The anchor read one complete paragraph and more. (Great anchor voice on air.)
You got two “according to robertscribler …”
The whole thing sounded very professional. Yes, indeed.
At about the 26: 30, just after Jim Hightower on the pocast:
Thanks, KBOO.
OUT
http://kboo.fm/eveningnewson062915
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robertscribbler
/ June 30, 2015Fantastic!
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Colorado Bob
/ June 30, 2015NWT stretched as Canada-wide firefighter supply dwindles
Western Canada experienced more than 600 fires over the weekend, according to territorial authorities.
Canadian provinces and territories pool their firefighting resources in these circumstances. While the NWT has requested more backup, other provinces are perceived to have a “dire need” and are first in line.
“Saskatchewan, for instance, is undergoing a series of evacuations of communities,” said Frank Lepine, the territory’s associate director of forest management. “Manitoba is pretty close to that.
“The NWT will be receiving some single resources but no more crews at this time. [But] that may change by the end of the week.”
There are 129 fires burning in the NWT, which has experienced a total of 158 fires so far this season. The 20-year average is 66 fires for this time of year.
Link
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Colorado Bob
/ June 30, 2015Olsen described the conditions some of the territory’s firefighters have now been facing for many weeks, with the season not yet at its expected peak.
“When we get into these extreme types of conditions, you have to imagine a wall of flame that goes from the forest floor – all the way down into the forest floor – all the way well beyond the height of the forest trees,” said Olsen.
“It’s not unusual for flames to be in excess of 50 or 60 feet above the height of the trees. The amount of heat coming off that is pretty much enough that it could melt metal.
“You absolutely do not put people in front of that, or anywhere near that, or any direction that it’s coming from.”
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Colorado Bob
/ June 30, 2015Another Dry California Precipitation Season Draws to a Close
By: Christopher C. Burt , 5:20 AM GMT on June 30, 2015
http://www.wunderground.com/blog/weatherhistorian/comment.html?entrynum=326#commenttop
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Colorado Bob
/ June 30, 2015Alaska wildfires have burned over a million acres — and fire season still has a long way to go
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2015/06/29/over-a-million-acres-have-burned-in-alaska-wildfires-this-month/
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Caroline
/ June 30, 2015Thanks for your contributions Bob, Robert and all who post here.
Check out the Conoco Phillips ad that is foisted upon us at the beginning of the video embedded in this Washington Post article. The juxtaposition of that ad next to the catastrophic AGW induced wildfires reveals the sheer stupidity (too mild of a word) of human behavior. Shame on the Washington Post and all media that continue to promote the burning of fossil fuels and as such the demise of life on this wondrous planet.
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Tom
/ June 30, 2015The drought and accompanying fires are the direct result of our fossil fuel use, as has been pointed out numerous times, but we continue along, doing the same until the oil/gas runs out or they are removed from our use. Same with nuclear energy – worst pollution on the planet (because of its longevity) – so i’m not sure we can expect better results in the future.
Mankind, despite having already exceeded the carrying capacity of the planet, continues to multiply our species at the expense of all the others we rely on for our existence, not to mention the effect on the Earth of our numbers. Fresh water is disappearing, the soil is being depleted of nutrients and soil biota, landfills are routinely bursting into flames these days, pollution is rampant, diseases of plants and animals (including us) are proliferating, and politicians are only there to extend the status quo.
Looking ahead, water shortages will continue, crops and agriculture will be severely impacted and food shortages loom in every country. This doesn’t bode well for a viable, prosperous civilization.
Thanks for your outstanding work documenting the mile markers on our trip to oblivion, Robert.
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Colorado Bob
/ June 30, 2015Heavy Rains in Central China Kill 15, Leave 19 Missing
BEIJING — Four days of heavy rain have caused severe flooding in central China, killing at least 15 people and leaving 19 others missing, China’s Ministry of Civil Affairs said Tuesday.
The deaths in four provinces and one municipality were from drownings, mudslides and house collapses, the ministry said.
Up to 51.4 centimeters (20 inches) of rain fell in the eastern city of Changzhou from Friday to Monday, and water levels of rivers and lakes were dangerously high in a six-province region across the country’s central part, the ministry said.
Millions of people have been affected by the heavy rains since Friday and tens of thousands were relocated, the ministry said.
Link
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Colorado Bob
/ June 30, 2015The Bogus Creek Fire burns in the Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge in southwest Alaska, in this Alaska Division of Forestry picture taken June 7, 2015.
Read more: Link
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dtlange
/ June 30, 2015LikeLike
Colorado Bob
/ June 30, 2015Seven surprising results from the reduction of Arctic Sea ice cover | David Barber | TEDxUManitoba
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Greg
/ June 30, 2015Solar prices continue to drop and a new record was just set. Austin, TX as part of their initiative for more than half of their energy in ten years to come from renewable energy just received over 1 gigawatt of bids for less than 4 cents (U.S.) per kilowatt hour. Those are the cheapest utility solar bids ever and are 20% less than just last year. They are already whining about last years contracts!
http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/cheapest-solar-ever-austin-energy-gets-1.2-gigawatts-of-solar-bids-for-less
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Colorado Bob
/ June 30, 2015Better data, improved technology stretch North Slope’s shrinking tundra travel season
A decade ago, oil operators on the North Slope found themselves in a climate predicament. The steady warming seen since the late 1960s had cut the tundra travel season — the period when operators are able to build ice roads or send vehicles over the hard-frozen ground — by half, from about 200 days to only about 100.
Link
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Colorado Bob
/ June 30, 2015Rapid Response – LANCE – Gallery – NASA
6 images of smoke and fire
We’ll be lucky if Greenland doesn’t turn completely black this summer.
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Brian
/ June 30, 2015Major evacuations in the north and air quality alerts in Saskatoon and Prince Albert as Northern Saskatchewan burns…..
http://globalnews.ca/news/2081237/dry-weather-fuelling-sask-wildfires-air-quality-statement-issued/
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Brian
/ June 30, 2015Major evacuations in the north and air quality alerts in Saskatoon and Prince Albert as Northern Saskatchewan burns….
http://globalnews.ca/news/2081237/dry-weather-fuelling-sask-wildfires-air-quality-statement-issued/
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Brian
/ June 30, 2015Sorry for the duplicate posts. I’m having computer troubles today…
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dtlange
/ June 30, 2015– From The Guardian:
Concern on continent as heatwave set to drive temperatures beyond 40C
‘Exceptionally intense’ conditions prompt weather alerts in Spain, Portugal and France, with elderly people and children most at risk
Several European governments have issued weather warnings as a heatwave sweeping through Portugal, Spain and France pushes temperatures above 40C (104F), raising concerns for elderly people and children.
Paris, which has activated its national heatwave emergency plan, is particularly sensitive to the risks after a European-wide heatwave in 2003 led to nearly 20,000 deaths, killing thousands of isolated elderly people in France.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jun/30/heatwave-temperature-continent-40-spain-portugal-france
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dtlange
/ June 30, 2015“… Health officials in the UK have urged vulnerable groups including the elderly, young children and people with breathing difficulties to stay cool. ”
– Stay cool? It’s the horrid effects of the polluted air — not the breathing heat. They are really saying, “Stay indoors. Avoid contact with your communities atmosphere.”
-Really.
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Colorado Bob
/ June 30, 2015Tom Skilling on Climate Disruption
Climate change deniers claim global warming stopped more than a decade ago. But WGN Chief Meteorologist Tom Skilling is here to tell us about a new study that shows NO slowdown.
Link
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Colorado Bob
/ June 30, 2015Seafood supply altered by climate change
The global supply of seafood is set to change substantially and many people will not be able to enjoy the same quantity and dishes in the future due to climate change and ocean acidification, according to UBC scientists.
These findings were released today in Japan by the Nereus program, an international research team led by UBC scientists and supported by the Nippon Foundation. The Nereus program was formed to study the future of the world’s oceans and seafood resources. Today it released a summary of the first phase of its research in a report titled ‘Predicting Future Ocean.’ Researchers say that the future supply of seafood will be substantially altered by climate change, overfishing and other human activities.
Link
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Colorado Bob
/ June 30, 2015A video from the Nippon Foundation shows the migration of marine species away from their current habitats.
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dtlange
/ June 30, 2015– Alaskan waters, size-at-age salmon:
Big run, small fish,” is a Cordova fishermen’s rule of thumb that seems to be holding true for salmon in 2015, particularly in the areas adjacent to the Gulf of Alaska.
Workers statewide from offices of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, or ADFG, are just beginning to notice an early in-season trend of smaller-than-average fish. Throughout the state’s early season salmon fisheries, particularly sockeye and chum, fish are coming in shorter and lighter for their age.
“It’s still pretty early in the game,” said ADFG fisheries scientist Eric Volk. “That being said, fish are a little bit smaller than they usually are. It may not be a pattern this early, but we have seen declines in size-at-age.”
Even seasoned fishermen are puzzled.
“We’ve seen small fish before,” said Jerry McCune, president of both Cordova District Fishermen United and United Fishermen of Alaska. “But nothing like this.”
State workers and fishermen have been noticing drops between a half-pound and a pound in the size-at-age, which is the fish’s size relative to how many years it has spent growing in the ocean before returning to the river.
http://www.alaskajournal.com/Alaska-Journal-of-Commerce/June-Issue-4-2015/Across-state-early-salmon-catches-underweight/
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dtlange
/ June 30, 2015– May 2014 – How’s your pH?
Maine Voices: Acidification toxic to fishing industry
…
For the past 300 million years, the ocean has had a pH of 8.2 on average. Today, it’s around 8.1. That change may sound small, but remember that the pH scale is logarithmic; that 0.1 units represents a change in acidity of 25 percent.
GULF OF MAINE MORE SUSCEPTIBLE
The decrease in pH, and associated decrease in carbonate ions, makes it extremely difficult for many organisms that form a calcium carbonate shell – including mussels, clams, oysters and lobsters – to grow or even survive. Decreases in pH can also directly affect animals’ basic bodily functions in a multitude of ways.
In Alaska, recent research on tanner crab and red king crab showed decreased survival and growth in low-pH water. Red king crab, when subjected to a pH of 7.5 for 95 days, died at a rate of 100 percent.
http://www.pressherald.com/2014/05/25/maine_voices__acidification_toxic_to_fishing_industry_/
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Robert In New Orleans
/ July 2, 2015Unfortunately, most people will only become aware of the seriousness of this situation when they can no longer get all you can eat crab legs at the local casino restaurant.
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dtlange
/ June 30, 2015– How much is consumed in acts of gluttony rather than for gainful nutrition. At least 30% or much more by my read, and after watching Americans ‘dine’ over a sq or cu meter of seafood — usually beef steak is pushed as well.
Darden Restaurants, home to Red Lobster and Olive Garden, among other chains, is one of the largest buyers of seafood, purchasing more than 100 million pounds of it annually.
http://www.zdnet.com/article/red-lobster-sustainability-for-the-seafood-lover-of-the-future/
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dtlange
/ June 30, 2015– “Early Mortality Syndrome” — how’s that for a catch-all phrase.
– “Dead?”
– “No, they just had a case of Early Mortality Syndrome. Don’t worry about it — go ahead and keep eating.”
3 Reasons to Stop Eating at Red Lobster (and Other Seafood Joints)
From filthy fish to crusty crustaceans, you may want to avoid cheap seafood at all costs.
By Jake Bobick May 16, 2014
By now you’ve probably heard about the negotiated sale of Red Lobster, a $2.1 billion deal that means the struggling chain’s 700 North American restaurants will transfer to new ownership.
The chain—formerly owned by Darden Restaurant…
Shrimp prices are on the rise thanks to a worldwide shrimp shortage, the result of a lethal disease University of Arizona researchers identified as Early Mortality Syndrome. The devastating outbreak originated in Asia, a hotspot for shrimp farming, and a supplier for many parts of the world, including the U.S. More than 90 percent of shrimp consumed in this country is imported.
In an interview with Rodale News last summer, Andy Sharpless, the head of the world’s largest ocean-advocacy nonprofit, Oceana, and author of The Perfect Protein, noted, “The world’s industrial scale commercial fishing fleets have basically overfished the oceans.
… “Want to be a responsible seafood eater? Say goodbye to shrimp forever.”
Tip for Seafood Lovers: Serious consider cutting down on your shrimp consumption. Fisherman catch wild shrimp using fine-meshed trawl nets pulled through the water. Worldwide, for one pound of fish, there’s about 5 pounds of bycatch—other species that become trapped in the nets.
…the overwhelming majority sold in U.S. restaurants is farmed, often raised in unsanitary, disease-ridden pens in other countries. And just like Americans are dealing with the threat of hard-to-kill superbug infections, salmon farmers are faced with “super lice” and other bacteria, prompting the use of more potent drugs, even ones that are banned for use in the United States.
http://www.rodalesorganiclife.com/food/sale-red-lobster
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Colorado Bob
/ June 30, 2015EPB board hikes residential electricty rate by 3.5 percent, cites ‘extreme weather’ as one reason
Extreme weather — hotter summers and colder winters, both of which produce bigger storms — was cited by EPB’s President and CEO Harold DePriest as a reason for the rate increase, the first since 2011.
“For 15 years, I budgeted about $2 million a year for storm restoration work,” DePriest told the board at its regular business meeting. Now that’s climbed to $6 million annually — punctuated by tornado-ravaged 2011 when, he said, EPB spent $26 million fixing storm damage. Federal Emergency Management Agency funds helped offset that, he said.
Link
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Colorado Bob
/ June 30, 2015Extreme weather claims 12 lives in southern Punjab
More than 150 patients are still being treated in the hospital. Most of the patients are elderly and poor.Meanwhile, several areas of Balochistan are also facing very hot weather as the Met Office said on Monday that the maximum temperature of 47 degree Celsius was in Turbat and Nokkundi, 45 degree Celsius in Sibi and 42 degree Celsius in Panjgur and Lasbella.But the story is different for AJK as the first torrential rain coupled with strong winds in certain parts of the region, including Mirpur, provided a respite from the scorching heat.
Link
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dtlange
/ June 30, 2015That’s in line with temps in California’s Death Valley. Avg. this week is 46 C.
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Ed-M
/ June 30, 2015Caught it on a TV in a public place this am. CNN were besides themselves.
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Colorado Bob
/ June 30, 2015Poor, poor, Pakistan –
An official from the Ministry of Climate Change said that earlier, environment was not a priority for the government, because of which the relevant departments lack a proper strategy to tackle any of the extreme weather events emerging across the country.
“Our weather forecast is mostly based on general perceptions and on the weather predictions of our neighbouring countries.”
Link
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Tom
/ June 30, 2015Geez, you guys are amazing – so much information from all over, it’s hard to keep up!
http://arctic-news.blogspot.com/2015/06/dramatic-sea-ice-decline-in-beaufort-sea-in-june-2015.html
Tuesday, June 30, 2015
Dramatic Sea Ice Decline In Beaufort Sea in June 2015
check it out
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todaysguestis
/ June 30, 2015Europe is just beginning a sweltering, multi-day heatwave. This is what’s behind it.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/capital-weather-gang/wp/2015/06/30/europe-is-just-beginning-a-sweltering-multi-day-heatwave-this-is-whats-behind-it/
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dtlange
/ June 30, 2015Drought Conditions Cause Central Valley Homes To Sink Into The Ground
EL NIDO (KPIX 5) – Homes in a Central Valley neighborhood are the latest casualty of California’s historic drought. The parched, dry weather is causing them to literally sink into the ground.
Homeowner Scott Hall was puzzled when he first noticed a small crack in his living room wall.
“My wife and I were watching TV and we noticed a fine crack — you could see the white starting to show up,” said Hall.
That small crack was part of a much bigger problem going on underground. His home was dropping.
“You could literally stand out by the sidewalk and look clear underneath the house to the back yard,” said contractor Gary Wake. “That’s how much the soil had shrunk under this house.”
http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2015/06/29/drought-conditions-aquifer-el-nido-subsidence-cause-central-valley-homes-to-sink-into-the-ground/
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Jacob
/ June 30, 2015“We need rain.”
Yes, we do, but even if we get it that rain will not fill the aquifers back up. Good catch, dtlange. I don’t watch the TV news, local or otherwise, very much.
Living in the Sacramento Valley I am shocked and dismayed that people are still watering their lawns. Guess those “beautiful” green lawns are the highest priority, but it’s okay we won’t ever run out of water ….
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Andy in San Diego
/ July 1, 2015To make matters worse, the sinking houses in Hall’s neighborhood sit right across the street from drought-thirsty agriculture. The farmers are digging a record number of wells, deeper and deeper into the sinking water table.
“When that clay soil starts shrinking and going away, the foundation follows, especially on the older homes. We’re seeing subsidence right now at about one foot per year.”
cause & effect….
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dtlange
/ June 30, 2015Scattered beams of smoky sunlight as cloud, or smoke, shadows arc across the western sky as millions of acres Alaska burn. Sunset in Portland, Oregon USA June 28, 2015. DT LANGE CC 4.0
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Ryan in New England
/ July 1, 2015Beautiful photo, dt. It’s a tragic beauty when you know what the reason for it is. I’m sure the future holds many enhanced sunsets as our precious forests continue to burn. Perhaps we’ll experience blood red sunsets if the madness of deniers continues to delay action, until it’s so bad those same people convince the world to commence geoengineering schemes.
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Tom
/ July 1, 2015Twin tropical cyclones will aid El Niño
http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/article.html
The counterclockwise flow around Tropical Depression Chan-hom in combination with the clockwise flow around Tropical Cyclone Twenty-five is generating a Westerly Wind Burst (WWB) near the equator, just west of the Date Line. The winds of this WWB are predicted to march eastwards towards South America during the coming weeks, pushing more warm water eastwards that will reinforce the on-going moderate-strength El Niño event. This El Niño event is already at the borderline of being categorized as “strong”, and this new WWB could well push it past that threshold. This should make for an unusually active Eastern Pacific hurricane season, by bringing warmer waters and lower wind shear (next chance for a named storm there: in about ten days’ time, when the MJO pushes eastwards into the Eastern Pacific.) Conversely, El Niño should bring a much less active than usual Atlantic hurricane season, thanks to the high levels of wind shear that typically occur there during an El Niño.
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Vic
/ July 1, 2015The Queensland region has never seen a cyclone in July. Until today.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-07-01/cyclone-in-july-weather-bureau-declares-raquel-no-threat/6585580
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Andy in San Diego
/ July 1, 2015For anyone who’s lived in So Cal and know the area / climate (DT for sure).
Here is another signal of moisture loading in the atmosphere. The summer long term forecast for San Diego (thus OC, LA etc..) indicates extremely high humidity and lightning storms with thunderstorms inland.
Today felt like back east August humidity, we had lightning and even a brief thunderstorm (small compared to the biggies back east, but very unusual for here).
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labmonkery2
/ July 1, 2015I can attest to that – In Santee it’s currently 2039hrs and the measured temp in my front yard is 78.8 with humidity at 71%. Not something we’re used to seeing in June and I’ve lived here 35 years. Glad my AC is working.
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Ryan in New England
/ July 1, 2015Andy, back east the humidity has only gotten worse. In Ct we have many days now that resemble a sub-tropical climate typically associated with Florida and the southeast US. As someone who works outside, this has definitely not gone unnoticed by me.
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dtlange
/ July 2, 2015Yeah, Ryan. That pretty well mirrors how I have described the PNW has come to resemble the Desert Southwest. The climate sort of marched north 12 -14 degrees of latitude in just a few years. Incredibly raped ‘real time’ climate — ‘change’ doesn’t do it justice.
It’s like being a spectator in a real life climate diorama.
I get dizzy just trying to describe it.
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Andy in San Diego
/ July 1, 2015Check out the melt ponds around Jakobshavn Glacier on Greenland. These things need to be renamed to “lakes” as they are huge on satellite.
http://www.arctic.io/explorer/8/2015-06-29/9-N69.0341-W48.74332
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Colorado Bob
/ July 1, 2015Andy –
You do good work , as do many here. And I love your understanding of this NASA site.
RS has best research team on the web .
The “dark snow” is grey in this shot . I think I know about where this is. Jason Box may be in this shot. Do us all a solid. Watch this patch of Greenland for the next 90 days. We all want to know what the smoke does to Greenland. Save the images and date them, do it every week when the clouds allow. If I’m right , you’ll record every bit of soot coming out of North America. And landing on Greenland. It’s just 13 pictures starting with this one.
By the way I great Greenland clip for you . I go find it
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Greg
/ July 1, 2015Thank you Andy. They seem to be mostly concentrated in Western Greenland. What does that tell you?
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Bryant
/ July 1, 2015These comments are a perfect example of AMEG
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Andy in San Diego
/ July 1, 2015If you are wondering what “northern Alberta, Saskatchewan, NWT burning” looks like. Here is an amazing satellite shot of it from yesterday.
http://www.arctic.io/explorer/8/2015-06-29/8-N59.96177-W112.82534
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Greg
/ July 1, 2015All of the smoke is moving south- southwest towards the western side of the Great Lakes. I would have expected the lower level winds to be headed east?
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Colorado Bob
/ July 1, 2015RS –
Sorry for the double link please check the spam filter.
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Andy in San Diego
/ July 1, 2015For the eagle eyed folks…
If you look at this satellite image from yesterday, look at the fjords where the runoff from the glaciers run out to the ocean. You will see a color change starting from the ocean front of the fjord. It runs from dark blue to blue. Then it turns teal (RGB =~ 0x00FFFF). This is suspended debris (soil). Now continue towards the glacier and the water turns light brown (sand colored). Again this is suspended particulate.
If the runoff was in a neutral state there would be an insignificant amount of the suspended particulate or it would be “teal” for a small amount. However, due to accelerating (accelerated) runoff more ground soil (wider / deeper in fluvial region to the water) is picked up and pushed into the fjord.
The brown water indicates an increase in glacial outflow as it is pulling material from new areas towards the ocean.
I’ve been watching this through the late spring forward in various regions (yeah, I’m not normal. I watch this stuff, not Kardashians).
http://www.arctic.io/explorer/8/2015-06-29/9-N66.94703-W51.01401
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Colorado Bob
/ July 1, 2015Andy –
You do good work , as do many here. And I love your understanding of this NASA site.
RS has best research team on the web .
The “dark snow” is grey in this shot . I think I know about where this is. Jason Box may be in this shot. Do us all a solid. Watch this patch of Greenland for the next 90 days. We all want to know what the smoke does to Greenland. Save the images and date them, do it every week when the clouds allow. If I’m right , you’ll record every bit of soot coming out of North America. And landing on Greenland. It’s just 13 pictures starting with this one.
By the way I great Greenland clip for you . I go find it
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Andy in San Diego
/ July 1, 2015CB,
thanks! That is a compliment I take seriously 🙂
Here is how we do this (and we can back date too!)
If you look at the URL, you’ll see the date in it. In the one below…. “2015-06-29″. We can change that to what ever date we want and get that dates image for that location.
http://www.arctic.io/explorer/8/2015-06-29/9-N66.94703-W51.01401
The format if you look at the URL after the website is:
/REGION/DATE/LOCATION
ie:
/8/2015-06-29/9-N66.94703-W51.01401
Region:8
Date:2015-06-29
Location:9-N66.94703-W51.01401
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Jacob
/ July 1, 2015Beautiful. Just beautiful. Your efforts I mean to say to RS, Andy in SD, CB, and all.
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Jeremy
/ July 2, 2015My experience of glacial outflows is limited to Switzerland when in the summer spring the rivers run with a bright turquoise colour from very fine sedimentation. Could the brown colouration be due to excess melt waters tearing up the moraines that retreating glaciers leave behind and represent pulses of water coming through the internal plumbing of the ice sheet from ephemeral lakes?
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Colorado Bob
/ July 1, 2015Looking –
My Greenland watch
Narsarsuaq, Greenland at 9:50 PM WGT / 12-29-2010
50F degrees east wind at 24 mph. This is today’s high so far , the temp went up 9F since noon. Max wind today was 54 mph.
This current reading is 22F above average max temp., and sets a new daily record by 6F. Beating 44F set way back in 2002.
The average min temp is 14F, since this reading is at 10 o’clock at night , this measurement is 36F above that average.
http://coloradobob1.newsvine.com/_news/2010/12/29/5735005-narsarsuaq-greenland-at-950-pm-wgt-12-29-2010
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Colorado Bob
/ July 1, 2015I found it –
This where the rich refuel their jets crossing the Atlantic.
Uploaded on Jul 8, 2010
VLJ Embraer Phenom 100 Landing at Narsarsuaq Airport in Greenland (BGBW)
I’ve observing Greenland for some time
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Colorado Bob
/ July 1, 2015As records go this is good one.
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Colorado Bob
/ July 1, 2015When one reads the station readings from Narsarsuaq this is not an urban heat island,
Andy I worked months on these 2 facts. I watched every day . This landing of a VLJ Embraer Phenom 100 Landing at Narsarsuaq Airport in Greenland, 5 years ago is a real baseline ,
All we have do is get a Go Pro on the same approach. This month .
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Andy in San Diego
/ July 1, 2015I’ve flown in there a few times, 40+ years ago as a kid back when you needed a hop between Eu and N. America. It was either Greenland or Iceland at that time where you would have to stop and fuel.
Watching the video you posted one huge change I see is flora / fauna. Back then it was different. July flying into there, I saw exactly one stunted shrub. There was zero grass. It was simply rock with a snow / ice line running right near the water. Perhaps a hundred yards or 2 hundred between ice and ocean. But there was no grass, nothing green.
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Colorado Bob
/ July 1, 2015Andy in San Diego
I never dreamed you saw Narsarsuaq, Then you/re our Greenland huckleberry.
I/m just a jackass from Texas.
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Andy in San Diego
/ July 1, 2015Hell CB,
We’ve all seen things and done things, both amazing and terrifying over the decades. I’m sure you have a list that I haven’t seen or done as well.
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james cole
/ July 1, 2015Not climate related, but this caught my interest today. “Scientists have discovered helium gas leaking from a huge fault line on the Earth’s crust in central Los Angeles, a sign that substantially increases the chances of the “big one” – a major earthquake that could inflict unprecedented damage on the Golden State.”
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Andy in San Diego
/ July 1, 2015If it is the “big one” it may cause “Early Mortality Syndrome”…..
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dtlange
/ July 1, 2015Good one, Andy. 🙂
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james cole
/ July 1, 2015“They say the unexpected find sheds new light on the Newport-Inglewood Fault Zone in the Los Angeles Basin.
It reveals the fault is far deeper than previously thought, and a quake would be far more devastating.
It follows a report from the U.S. Geological Survey has warned the risk of ‘the big one’ hitting California has increased dramatically.”
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Colorado Bob
/ July 1, 2015Buckle your chin strap. Get your kit together,
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Andy in San Diego
/ July 1, 2015James,
Here is a terrifying intersection.
Displacement of water in the Salton Sea contribution to the 1906 quake. Now we are displacing water & weight via drilling rigs at the speed of light. Either we are enabling the potential for an earthquake, or we are stunting it and causing further stress buildup. Either way we are actively causing an imbalance that will cause a big shaker with behaviors which may be out of the norm.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/06/110627095757.htm
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Matt
/ July 1, 2015What would be the mass loss of ice in the mountains surrounding this region at present? would this be enough to also have an impact? or insignificant?
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Andy in San Diego
/ July 1, 2015Probably not much persistent snow in So Cal, but Sierra’s may be different. That is a good question if anyone has calculated the weight loss of multi year snow pack.
Looking at ground water withdrawals, the ~ 1 trillion gallons. At 8.3 pounds.per gallon that equals ~8.3 trillion pounds, or 500 million tons from the Valley.
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todaysguestis
/ July 1, 2015The Elevation of Western U.S. Is Rising Due to Drought
http://www.newsweek.com/western-us-rising-due-drought-266137
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Ryan in New England
/ July 1, 2015Vast amounts of groundwater have been pumped from the Central Valley, and I’m sure that has an effect on mass and pressure distribution. And let’s not forget the loss of ice mass in the Himilayas, and the recent substantial earthquakes in that region.
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james cole
/ July 1, 2015Brilliant point Andy!
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dtlange
/ July 1, 2015– If you remove a substantial volume of supporting, or buttressing structure from a support system then gravity takes over, and down it comes.
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Colorado Bob
/ July 1, 2015james cole –
I find disaster kits rather funny . If the giant fire is about to eat your house.
OK
If the 100 year flood is coming , You spent all your money for nothing.
If your house collapses you spent all your money on your kit, and it floats away
Wind does the same thing.
Earthquakes crush everything , Your Earthquake kit is not going to be sitting there for you.
Life speaks it, buckle your chin strap.
The best in the metaphor in the history of man . ” Buckle your chin strap. Hell is coming to breakfast “.
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james cole
/ July 1, 2015California is simply a disaster prone place. I still remember the mass wild fires around San Diego back when I was a sailor in training at the Fleet ASW School there. One summer the whole place went up in smoke in the surrounding hills. It was like hell had come to town.
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dtlange
/ July 1, 2015– It looks like the 405 SD FWY is going to get a few chicanes when the roadbed meanders. (I remember when excavation for the 405 was just beginning around Culver City, around 1960?)
A chicane is an artificial feature creating extra turns in a road, used in motor racing and on streets to slow traffic for safety. For example, one form of chicane is a short, shallow S-shaped turn, requiring the driver to turn slightly left and then right again to stay on the road, which slows them down. Chicane comes from the French verb chicaner, which means “to quibble” or “to prevent justice”.[1] Wkipedia
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Colorado Bob
/ July 1, 2015If remember one I taught you …………… ” Buckle your chin strap. Hell is coming to breakfast “.
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Colorado Bob
/ July 1, 2015I have never tired of the
VLJ Embraer Phenom 100 Landing at Narsarsuaq Airport in Greenland .
Ever,
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Colorado Bob
/ July 1, 2015Hell CB,
We’ve all seen things and done things, both amazing and terrifying over the decades. I’m sure you have a list that I haven’t seen or done as well.
That;s why we are RS;s researchers . He has talent for this.
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Greg
/ July 1, 2015Here’s what’s scary for me today. I started catching up on the thread and got to this point and said CB is going to post a video now! Dang if he didn’t below. I’m beginning to know you better now than my wife! Oh dear!
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Colorado Bob
/ July 1, 2015Dire Straits – Sultans Of Swing: The Very Best Of Dire Straits (Full Compilation) [1998]
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Colorado Bob
/ July 1, 2015Dire Straits – Money For Nothing music video
Never forget this.
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Carol
/ July 2, 2015Thanks, CB. You always post music that really nails it! I just discovered these great Dire Straits songs in the last year (I seemed to have stopped listening to commercial music in the 80’s). Mark Knopfler is fantastic, and so much fun to play air guitar with.
Good to have a break from the mostly-foul-forecasts!
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robertscribbler
/ July 2, 2015Always been a big fan of Mark.
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Colorado Bob
/ July 1, 2015Never forget this.
Mozambique — Bob Dylan
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Colorado Bob
/ July 1, 2015isis bob dylan
The best song he ever did.
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Wharf Rat
/ July 1, 2015His best back-up band
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Frasersgrove
/ July 2, 2015Saw the Dead open for Bob Dylan and his back up band that tour Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers in 1986. One of the best concerts I’ve seen, what I remember of it.. 😉
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Colorado Bob
/ July 1, 2015Isis I want this word back. They can’t have it.
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Colorado Bob
/ July 1, 2015Try murdering thieves.
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Ed-M
/ July 1, 2015Try Daesh. That’s the transliterated Arabic acronym for ISIS. They really, really hate it.
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Tom
/ July 1, 2015Peter Wadhams on Arctic sea ice
Our time is running out – The Arctic sea ice is going!
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A. Randomjack
/ July 1, 2015Bonjour Robert
I came across a French article http://www.123ocean.com/ocean/climat-fr/plus-oxygene-terre-moins-100-ans/
It says that because of dying phytoplankton because of ocean warming and acidification, that we’ll run out of oxygen in about 100 years. Phytoplankton produces 80% of the world’s oxygen.
I’m not sure what the scientific community says about it that 100 year of oxygen left, but 40% of the phytoplankton died out already, and I know the atmosphere lost 540 ppm of oxygen since 1980…
I thought you might want to check that topic out, you have connection I don’t.
Have a nice day, but don’t hold your breath 😉
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Leland Palmer
/ July 1, 2015Last I heard, the atmosphere was almost 20 percent oxygen. So, significant losses will take hundreds or thousands of years. Not that the destruction of the phytoplankton won’t catch up to us, eventually.
Some of the past oceanic anoxic events were accompanied by significant drops in oxygen- the End Permian, for example. So, this one will be, too, likely.
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Yvan Dutil
/ July 1, 2015The author is scientifically illiterate. 19,5 % of oxygen will not make you loss consciousness! At the top of Mauna Kea the oxygen partial pressure is only 60 % of the sea level and you can still breathe.
If the reduction of the primary ocean productivity is a serious concern, suffocation by lack of oxygen is not.
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robertscribbler
/ July 1, 2015Have to agree with Yvan here. The rate of loss is nowhere near enough to hit suffocation levels within 100 years, even with near total loss of phytoplankton. The study misses the real story here which is an overall decline in air quality. You add in BAU 1000 ppm CO2, lowered O2, and higher levels of other gasses and it’s just not a very friendly base atmosphere. But suffocation risk — not on the 100 year timeframe.
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A. Randomjack
/ July 1, 2015Thank you!
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dtlange
/ July 1, 2015And the many fires burning, with more to come, will consume some O2 while adding more particulate and gasses.
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Leland Palmer
/ July 2, 2015Hi dtlange-
I don’t think there is enough carbon in the biomass of the earth to make much of a dent in the oxygen supply through burning. I think that in order to do that, you need a much larger carbon source like the methane hydrates, or all of the other fossil fuels put together. Looking roughly at the math, and making worst case assumptions, it’s hard to get more than about a 20 percent decline in O2 levels, even adding together all of the methane hydrate carbon, the fossil fuel carbon, and the much smaller amounts of carbon in the soils and the biomass.
It looks like there is about 1000 trillion metric tons of oxygen in the atmosphere, and that’s a lot. Worst case estimates for the methane hydrate global carbon inventory are in the 75 trillion metric ton range. Even at 2 moles of oxygen to one mole of carbon to make CO2, that’s still not a huge dent.
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Leland Palmer
/ July 1, 2015Woops… the atmosphere of the earth is about 21 percent oxygen. My mistake. My memory got caught in a mechanical rice picker when I was just a foundling… 🙂
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Leland Palmer
/ July 1, 2015Oh, Canada 😦
http://1.usa.gov/1HuDg1C
This is from NASA worldview for Canada, yesterday. The red dots are thermal anomalies (fires). The image can be panned and zoomed, and the time controls allow looking at past data. Additional satellite data products can be added and formatted using the Layers menus in the upper left.
Alaska doesn’t seem any better, visually, and Canada seems worse, maybe.
The northern boreal forests are burning. When will this widespread burning stop? July? August? September? What will be left by then?
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Greg
/ July 1, 2015Amidst all the heat and smoke around here a reminder about the battle against FF. In less than 5 years we will very likely be installing more solar in the world in one year than in all of previous history combined. That’s about the total electric capacity of Europe today.
http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/10-factoids-on-global-solar
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Greg
/ July 1, 2015Looks like the West and Upper Western United States is getting a continued roasting into next week with temperatures in some areas 20 degrees F above normal. Thank your old friend CO2. He’s looking out for you.
http://www.weather.com/forecast/regional/news/record-west-heat-wave-northwest-great-basin-latejun2015
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dtlange
/ July 1, 2015Yeah, PDX in 90s F now and 100 for this Sunday.
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Jeremy
/ July 1, 2015New UK record temperature for July 36.7C (98.1F), beating the previous record by 0.2C, at Heathrow Airport London. The hottest day in the UK ever recorded was 38.5C on 10th August 2003 in Faversham, Kent.
Ironically the same day that a government report is issued saying that another runway should be built at Heathrow. Obviously not enough of a record for our right wing government.
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Greg
/ July 1, 2015Jeff Masters has piece out now about the UK and elsewhere “Unprecedented June Heat on Four Continents; Wimbledon Roasts in Record Heat”
http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/comment.html?entrynum=3031
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Greg
/ July 1, 2015One more innovation in the solar space. This one, of all people, comes from James Cameron, director, innovator and green guy. I think this might really catch on as it tracks the sun and is artistic and he’s open sourcing it. This is an installation at the MUSE school in California:
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Robert In New Orleans
/ July 1, 2015With all of the combustion particulates floating about in the air, this has to be tough on people with asthma, emphysema, allergies, bronchitis, and COPD. I would expect to see a spike in emergency room visits, and sudden deaths.
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dtlange
/ July 1, 2015Right, RINO: “combustion particulates floating about in the air”. And that, as aerosol pollutants continue unabated to be produced. And under the authority of the US Congress.
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dtlange
/ July 1, 2015– Then, on July 4, we get a huge spike in particulates from fireworks, BBQ, and recreational car trips. And the celebratory carbon input into the atmosphere… “THE CARBON BOMBS BURSTING THE [sic] AIR…”
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james cole
/ July 1, 2015Britain baked on its hottest July day on record!
Temperatures hit a sweltering 36.7C (98.1F) at London Heathrow Airport by 3.30pm,
Hottest July day ever! This is a little look into the future. More of this is coming, and ever so much worse!
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Mblanc
/ July 2, 2015You mean hottest July day on record, or hottest july day for at least 160 years (according to the Telegraph, anyway).
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dtlange
/ July 1, 2015– PNW, AK, Gulf of AK and environs have hot temps under a monster high — and no jet stream (July, 1) to agitate this reverse weather rigor mortis.
Something like that…
“Oh, Jet Stream, please come back…’
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Robert In New Orleans
/ July 2, 2015Hey DT how are you posting images on this site? I have only been able to post youtube videos.
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dtlange
/ July 2, 2015RINO, just right click on target image, then ‘copy image location’, paste link with nothing after the .jpg,or .png — that’s it. Super large images are to be avoided if possible.
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labmonkery2
/ July 1, 2015Also to note: at weather.com and within their interactive weather maps, there is a fire map, too. It does reflect most named fires as currently discussed. But what amazed me was west central Africa and in particular Angola and southern Congo. There are so many fire icons at total zoom out that you cannot even see where you are.
So, it seems there is a lot of smoke/soot being pumped into the air column that will, in time, deposit where least needed.
The feed backs are getting worse…which is what happens when you upset an equilibrium that took billions of years to come into balance, by releasing all that sequestered carbon in less than an eye-blink on the time scale of the planet. Mother Earth is just trying to heal herself.
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dtlange
/ July 1, 2015‘Smoke From Canadian Wildfires Is Pouring Into the US Like a River’
– io9-com-smoke-from-canadian-wildfires
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dtlange
/ July 1, 2015– Q; Will bitumen tar sands burn, and add to the mix of forest, wildlife, muskeg, soil microbe, and permafrost ash and smoke? If I recall, the forest burning sits on top of soil and tar sand bitumen.
‘This area, just north of the Alberta Athabasca Oil Sands, is producing some of thickest clusters of smoke.’
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robertscribbler
/ July 2, 2015It’s much less volatile than methane or even coal. So it would take more to light it up (ignition, oxygen source, etc). It’s still basically rock/earth that burns, though.
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Mark from New England
/ July 2, 2015That picture is worth a thousand words. Cause and effect.
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todaysguestis
/ July 1, 2015Heat dome parked over West shatters temperature records, sparks fires
http://mashable.com/2015/06/30/western-heat-wave-wildfires/
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dtlange
/ July 1, 2015Oh yeah, it’s here all right — the dome. And it ‘sucks’. And it sure gets your attention.
DT in PDX
Thanks, TGI.
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todaysguestis
/ July 1, 2015Weather alerts across western Europe as heatwave sets in
Heatwaves have emerged as an important hydrometeorological hazard and will remain so, given projected changes in the frequency of extreme heat events associated with human-induced climate change,” the UN text warned.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jul/01/weather-alerts-across-western-europe-as-heatwave-sets-in
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robertscribbler
/ July 2, 2015OT: I’ve been helping my parents with their house this week and am having delay with posts. Thanks to everyone for keeping up the news feed in my absence.
PS that WWB is looking extraordinarily healthy. The next Kelvin Wave may be rather potent. Gradient lining up as well.
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cushngtree
/ July 1, 2015Good grief! I don’t see ANY ice on shore on the Barrow Webcam! In 1988, I have a July 4th picture of me in a parka standing 100 ft off shore on an ice floe I walked to!
http://seaice.alaska.edu/gi/observatories/barrow_webcam
Look at the 10 day, you can see there are still bits and pieces, but all gone now….
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rustj2015
/ July 1, 2015Something of a measuring stick of time’s acceleration:
“This is an area that has not seen regular fire for a very long time, maybe 5000 or more years according to some studies,” Todd Sanford, a climate scientist at Climate Central, told ThinkProgress in an email.
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2015/07/01/3675710/western-wildfires-impacts/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=cptop3
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LJR
/ July 2, 2015Alaska has an area of 663,000 square miles. 1,000,000 acres is approx.1500 square miles. That’s about .2% of the land area burned.
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Anna
/ July 2, 2015Actually 570,000 sq miles of Alaska is land, the rest is water, so the percentage of burn year to date is closer to half a percent (.5%) of total land area. Keep in mind also that the total land area includes mountain peaks covered with snow.
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Andy in San Diego
/ July 2, 2015There are 5,400,000 acres of old growth boreal forest in Alaska. 5400000ac -1ft²= 8437.500mi². That is 8,500 square miles (rounding up) of Boreal forest in Alaska.
But looking for truth, one must say how much is in peat, or other terrain. And Alaska include a HUGE amount of non-forest areas (glacier, above treeline, swamp, rock plains etc..).
If this is occurring in the Boreal forest alone, it would be 17% of the total size. But it’s not. And I won’t be a cherry picking asshole to pretend all of Alaska is represented in that value. The percentage is lower as non boreal forest is now burning.
Sorry, simply stating the entire size of Alaska and calculating a non correlating value to it and coming up with 0.2 means jack shit. I can hear the analysis crying due to abuse.
Give us a real number, based on real research. Factor out non burnable areas etc…
Sorry for being a bit of a dick here, but what you just posted is rubbish.
thanks.
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Mblanc
/ July 3, 2015Despite my reservations over his rather robust delivery, I agree with Andy.
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Greg
/ July 2, 2015Was out tonight looking for the Venus/Jupiter relatively rare alignment and was instead greeted with an eerie pall in the sky. The full, or nearly, full moon had an off color some 45 degrees above the horizon here in Virginia, USA. Looked like smog. Sure enough looked at the Satellite image and all those fires in northern Canada are bringing their soot a couple thousand miles downwind:
https://earthdata.nasa.gov/labs/worldview/?p=geographic&l=MODIS_Aqua_CorrectedReflectance_TrueColor,MODIS_Fires_All,Reference_Labels%28hidden%29,Reference_Features%28hidden%29,Coastlines&t=2015-07-01&v=-137.03501038656333,16.892274742400502,-40.98813538656333,61.4703997424005
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Greg
/ July 2, 2015That smoke covers very roughly a quarter of North America.
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Colorado Bob
/ July 2, 2015São Paulo: Worries Grow as Serious Drought Grips Brazil’s Largest City
One of the world’s most populous cities is running out of water.
http://www.nbcnews.com/science/environment/sao-paulo-worries-grow-serious-drought-grips-brazils-largest-city-n385136
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Greg
/ July 2, 2015Have lost count of how many millions in Brazil are now effectively under water rationing (simply having water cut off seemingly randomly) and are facing extreme rationing later this year. Now the Paraopeba System is headed that way which includes another 2 million plus. “We have a very serious crisis in the reservoirs”:
http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=pt&u=http://www.hojeemdia.com.br/horizontes/racionamento-grande-bh-sem-agua-ate-uma-vez-por-semana-1.328015&prev=search
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Greg
/ July 2, 2015Texas needs the attitude of some in Brazil, “In various towns of Navarre, prayers petitioned Saint Peter to grant rain in time of drought. If the rain was not forthcoming, the statue of St Peter was removed from the church and tossed into a river.”
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Colorado Bob
/ July 2, 2015Central Asia hit with record-breaking heatwave
“June 2015 was the hottest June since 1891 when records began. Daytime temperatures exceeded 40 degrees Celsius in the shade 16 times,” a spokeswoman at Turkmenistan’s state meteorological service in the capital Ashgabat told AFP Wednesday.
She noted that Tuesday, when temperatures reached 47.2 degrees celsius, was the hottest June day in Ashgabat in the recorded history of the energy-rich country.
Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2015-07-central-asia-record-breaking-heatwave.html#jCp
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climatehawk1 (@climatehawk1)
/ July 2, 2015Oilpocalypse: UN calls on oil giants to stop lobbying against #climate deal https://shar.es/1qZMIp #globalwarming #divest
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Aldous
/ July 2, 2015http://www.nippon-foundation.or.jp/en/news/articles/2015/13.html
Stark findings.
“The report is a product of the Nippon Foundation – UBC Nereus Program. It notes that continued CO2 emissions are leading to changes in ocean temperature, acidity and oxygen levels that have been unprecedented over the last several thousand years. These changes in ocean conditions will affect biological productivity in the ocean, impacting organisms ranging from plankton to fishes. Along with overfishing and habitat destruction, climate change is anticipated to lead to a decline in fisheries in many regions and alterations of marine biodiversity and food web structure.
Dr. Sasakawa, the chairman of the Nippon Foundation, said that “We are at a critical point. If no effective measures are taken against the current problems facing the oceanic environment, human beings will no longer be able to sustain its economic activities, much less its existence.””
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todaysguestis
/ July 2, 2015French Toast: Temperatures Surge as Historic Heat Wave Hits Western Europe
http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2015/07/01/europe_heat_wave_paris_france_and_london_england_approach_all_time_high.html
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Colorado Bob
/ July 2, 2015Coastal Alaska natives face ‘some of the highest shoreline erosion in the world’
They already knew climate change was changing their lives for the worse.
The ice the Iñupiat people used for centuries to hunt bowhead whales on a fragile barrier island on the Chukchi Sea had thinned so much that hunting was too risky. Ice melted by high temperatures from climate change made flooding part of their way of life. State and federal officials have seriously considered moving their entire village inland. But no one had a full assessment of the threat.
Now the U.S. Geological Survey has confirmed everyone’s worse fears.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2015/07/02/coastal-alaska-natives-face-some-of-the-highest-shoreline-erosion-in-the-world/
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dtlange
/ July 2, 2015‘Fourth of July Downer: Fireworks Cause Air Pollution’
Fireworks are a beloved tradition of the Fourth of July, but the colorful displays also bring a spike in air pollution, a new study shows.
The researchers analyzed information from more than 300 air-quality monitoring sites throughout the United States, from 1999 to 2013. The researchers looked at levels of so-called fine particulate matter — tiny particles that can get deep into the lungs, and are linked with a number of health problems.
The study found that average concentrations of fine particulate matter, taken over a 24-hour period, are 42 percent greater on July Fourth, compared with the few days before and after the holiday.
http://news.discovery.com/earth/fourth-of-july-downer-fireworks-cause-air-pollution-150702.htm
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dtlange
/ July 2, 2015New NASA imagery reveals extent of tar on Santa Barbara beaches left by Refugio oil spill
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dtlange
/ July 2, 2015– Above: You should be able to see a wide light beige strip of beach sand instead gray black oil.
http://boingboing.net/2015/07/01/new-nasa-imagery-reveals-exten.html
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dtlange
/ July 2, 2015– I’ve been on this blackened beach. But you can also see how dry the landscape along the shore is.
People stroll Refugio State Beach after it was coated with oil from a broken pipeline. (Al Seib, Los Angeles Times)
http://www.trbimg.com/img-5593680b/turbine/la-la-me-oil-spill08-jpg
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climatehawk1 (@climatehawk1)
/ July 2, 2015No problem. In the spirit of Marie Antoinette, let them water the beach with oil. Ms. Antoinette comes to mind as the result of climate luckwarmist Judith Curry and this meditation by the estimable statistician Tamino: https://tamino.wordpress.com/2015/07/02/let-them-eat-curry/
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dtlange
/ July 2, 2015http://www.trbimg.com/img-5593680b/turbine/la-la-me-oil-spill08-jpg-20150630/700/700×394
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Colorado Bob
/ July 2, 2015Hong Kong’s record heat likely to stay on the boil after hottest June in a century
Hong Kong last month experienced its hottest June since records began more than a century ago – and the city can expect hotter-than-usual weather for the next two months.
The average mean temperature last month hit a scorching 29.7 degrees Celsius, the highest since records began in 1885. That is 1.8 degrees higher than the June average of 27.9 degrees, figures from the Hong Kong Observatory show
http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/health-environment/article/1831656/hong-kong-swelters-hottest-june-records-began
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Colorado Bob
/ July 2, 2015As Alaska burns, Anchorage sets new records for heat and lack of snow
By Angela Fritz
Hot and dry conditions in Alaska have been toppling records over the past few months — many of which have been held for decades. And now, with two million acres burned already, 2015 appears well on its way to becoming the worst fire season on record for the state.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/capital-weather-gang/wp/2015/07/02/amid-months-of-record-warmth-anchorage-officially-ends-its-least-snowy-year/
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Colorado Bob
/ July 3, 2015Alaskan Fires Are Especially Bad News For Climate Change
In 2009, a multi-author study published in Science found that forest fires have a “substantial positive feedback on the climate system” — that the burning of forests releases carbon into the atmosphere, hastening climate change, which in turn impacts wildfire season.
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2015/07/01/3675710/western-wildfires-impacts/
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Colorado Bob
/ July 3, 2015” Day by day, evidence piles up that our poor world has less of a chance than Crazy Oklahoma Senator James Inhofe’s snowball.”
peritaxi @
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/capital-weather-gang/wp/2015/07/02/amid-months-of-record-warmth-anchorage-officially-ends-its-least-snowy-year/
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Colorado Bob
/ July 3, 2015Aqua/MODIS
2015/182
07/01/2015
22:40 UTC
Fires and smoke in northern Alaska
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Colorado Bob
/ July 3, 2015Fires and smoke in northern Canada
Terra/MODIS
2015/182
07/01/2015
19:10 UTC
Link
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mtnwolf63
/ July 3, 2015Reblogged this on mtnwolf63 and commented:
Half a Million Acres Burned in Just One Day — Alaska Shatters Record For Worst June Wildfire Outbreak Ever
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bearspawprint
/ July 17, 2015LikeLike