Before we get into the latest record or near record global heat news, I’d just like to make a brief announcement. Concordant with editorial guidance from The Guardian, I’ll be changing my climate communications to more fully reflect the crisis that is now ongoing. Whenever possible, I’ll be using the words — climate crisis to replace climate change, and global heating to replace global warming.
I’ve already made liberal use of the term human forced climate change — this will change to human forced climate crisis or global heating when possible. In addition, the elevation of linkages between fossil fuel burning — which is the crisis’ primary driver — to present global heating will continue.
(Global heat for April of 2019.)
In my view, this verbiage more sufficiently communicates a necessary sense of urgency. For the climate crisis is upon us now and we are now experiencing more extreme impacts. In other words, we’ve already taken one full turn of the climate crisis ratchet by allowing fossil fuels to continue to dominate our energy systems. We don’t want to experience a second or third full turn and the related terrible tightening.
*****
The climate crisis deepens further…
According to NASA GISS, global temperatures have again jumped into near record hot ranges. Readings from this key global monitor found that April of 2019 hit 0.99 degrees Celsius above mid 20th Century ranges. This is about 1.21 C above 1880s values that bound the start of the NASA monitor. In total, it’s a value that makes April of 2019 the second hottest such month in the 139 year global climate record. And the temperatures we are experiencing now are likely the hottest annual and decadal averages in the last 120,000 years.
(April of 2019 anomalies paint a picture of global heat. Image source: NASA.)
Looking at the NASA temperature anomalies map above we find the greatest departures from typical April averages centering on the higher latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere. This distribution of abnormal warmth is consistent with polar amplification in which relative warming tends to center on the poles as atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations increase. The ongoing and massive burning of fossil fuels — beginning in the 18th Century and rapidly ramping through the 20th Century — has provided the majority of these gasses. They are pushing the Earth system into the severe warming spike we now see today.
The Equatorial region also showed elevated heat — consistent with an ongoing weak El Nino (which also nudges Earth into the warm side of natural variability, making regional and global all time heat records more likely). Meanwhile, very few cool pools were found. The notable region being a persistent cool zone in the North Atlantic near melting Greenland (predicted by climate models and a facilitator of unstable weather for North America, the Northern Atlantic, and Europe).
Overall temperature track for 2019 is still behind the record hot year of 2016 (see predicted range by Dr. Gavin Schmidt above). And it appears likely that 2019 will hit in the range of 5th to 1st hottest on record. This year, however, is likely to strike close to or even above 2016 values during some months as the effect of the weak El Nino combined with the larger trend of global heating by fossil fuel burning sets the stage for potential new high temperature records.
(Want to help fight the climate crisis by transitioning to a clean energy vehicle? Get 1,000 to 5,000 free supercharger miles at this link.)
robertscribbler 
Genomik
/ May 21, 2019California just had very abnormal rains and hail in May. 2-6” rain and lots of hail is highly unusual in May. The wine harvest might be affected as this could affect grape ripening. The hail coated large areas of N California and may cause other challenges.
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rhymeswithgoalie
/ May 21, 2019I’ve tried to use the term most appropriate to a particular problem, like ocean expansion and/or glacial melt when discussing SLR, ocean warming and/or ocean heating for ice shelf and marine glacier melting, ocean warming and/or ocean acidification for damage to marine ecosystems, etc. (Using a style guide would imply I have…style.)
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Abel Adamski
/ June 11, 2019Global Heating was the term used by Dr Edward Teller as keynote speaker at the Centenary Symposium of the American Oil Industry in 1959.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/climate-consensus-97-per-cent/2018/jan/01/on-its-hundredth-birthday-in-1959-edward-teller-warned-the-oil-industry-about-global-warming
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PlazaRed
/ May 21, 201921st of May 2019.
Temps tomorrow in Seville, Spain are forecast to be about +36/C, or just touching up to 100/F.
The operative words ate 21st of May 2019?
We have about 4 months to go now until the temps start to drop! They may not go much higher, or they may top out in the mid 40s or higher but its going to be seriously warm here for the next 120 days at least.
Meanwhile the Arctic sea ice is melting away and the Antarctic is not really freezing up at a normal rate.
Que sera sera.
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PlazaRed
/ May 28, 201928th of May 2019.
Temps in the cities of Cordoba and Seville in southern Spain are about to reach or near 40 degrees Centigrade, well over 100/F, Do please bear in mind that this is before the end of May and these temps, or in fact some a lot higher will continue until some time in September.
The land here is as dry as tinder with a lot of abundant dead vegetation from the damp or wet winter, so the wildfires may be the next issue we have to contend with.
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Vic
/ May 22, 2019More than 50% of coral reefs around Tahiti and Moorea have become bleached in recent days. The bleaching has been observed as deep as 100 metres.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2019-05-21/coral-bleaching-french-polynesia/11129634
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redskylite
/ May 22, 2019Slight alarming release from the Moscow based SKOLKOVO INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY – they have discovered a new reason why “a large part of methane escapes into the atmosphere (over the the East Siberian Arctic Shelf), due to the decomposition of gas hydrates crystalline compounds formed from gas and water at low temperature and high pressure. ”
It seems they were investigating partly because it “cause accidents hindering economic activity in the Arctic , one of the most promising hydrocarbon production regions.”
They have released a paper – the translation summary report is a little puzzling to me as I used to spread salt on ice to melt it on my garden path occasionally.
Maybe I missed something in the logic.
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2019-05/sios-sda052119.php
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mlp in nc
/ May 23, 2019Leland Palmer
I’m sure I’m not the only one who would like your thoughts.
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Leo van Lierop
/ May 22, 2019I’ve also changed my language. Instead of denying climate change, I use denying the climate crisis against deniers. Now they can’t say, nobody denies…
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wharf rat
/ May 23, 2019Nearly 5,000 people have been evacuated from their homes in northern Alberta, Canada, to escape a monstrous blaze that has reached nearly 230,000 acres, officials in the province said.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/22/americas/alberta-canada-wildfires/index.html
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eleggua
/ May 23, 2019Worms.
May 20, 2019
“….“Earthworms are yet another factor that can affect the carbon balance,” Werner Kurz, a researcher with the Canadian Forest Service in Victoria, British Columbia, wrote in an email. His fear is that the growing incursion of earthworms — not just in North America, but also in northern Europe and Russia — could convert the boreal forest, now a powerful global carbon sponge, into a carbon spout.
Moreover, the threat is still so new to boreal forests that scientists don’t yet know how to calculate what the earthworms’ carbon effect will be, or when it will appear.
“It is a significant change to the carbon dynamic and how we understand it works,” Ms. Shaw said. “We don’t truly understand the rate or the magnitude of that change.”
The relationship between carbon and earthworms is complex. Earthworms are beloved by gardeners because they break down organic material in soil, freeing up nutrients. This helps plants and trees grow faster, which locks carbon into living tissue. Some types of invasive earthworms also burrow into mineral soil and seal carbon there.
But as earthworms speed decomposition, they also release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. As they occupy more areas of the world, will they ultimately add more carbon to the atmosphere — or subtract it?
That question led to what Ingrid M. Lubbers, a soil researcher at Wageningen University in the Netherlands, christened the “earthworm dilemma” in a paper published in 2013 in Nature Climate Change. Scientists have been keen to resolve it ever since. ….”
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Marcel Guldemond
/ June 27, 2019Oh man, the sheer enormity of complexity (is that the way to put it) with climate breakdown, as every strand on the web of life is affected, is staggering.
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eleggua
/ May 23, 2019List of storm names for 2019 hurricane season
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eleggua
/ May 23, 2019Andrea Kicks Off Hurricane Season Early for the Fifth Consecutive Year
5.21.2019
https://weather.com/storms/hurricane/news/2019-04-23-hurricane-season-named-storms-before-june1
“The Atlantic hurricane season kicked off early for the the fifth-consecutive year Monday, when Subtropical Storm Andrea formed south of Bermuda.
Hurricane season technically runs from June through November, but there’s nothing magical about those dates.
At least one named storm has developed before June each hurricane season since 2015, some of which had impacts in the U.S. and elsewhere in the Atlantic Basin.
The latest one, Andrea, will not impact the United States and is likely to fizzle soon as it becomes absorbed by a cold front….”
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Robert in New Orleans
/ May 23, 2019Another Mississippi rise threatens to trigger Morganza Spillway opening
https://www.nola.com/environment/2019/05/another-mississippi-rise-threatens-to-trigger-morganza-spillway-opening.html
Heavy rains expected in the Midwest portion of the Mississippi River Valley during the next week have prompted Army Corps of Engineers officials to warn interests within the Morganza Floodway portion of the Atchafalaya River Basin that the Morganza Spillway structure could be opened as soon as June 2.
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Robert in New Orleans
/ May 23, 2019If the Old River Control Structure Fails: A Catastrophe With Global Impact
https://www.wunderground.com/cat6/If-Old-River-Control-Structure-Fails-Catastrophe-Global-Impact
Even as technology becomes an ever-bigger part of our world, the Mississippi River remains the very lifeblood of the American economy. If the river were to carve a new path to the Gulf of Mexico down the Atchafalaya River during a massive flood, extremely damaging short- and long-term impacts costing hundreds of billions of dollars would result, along with a dangerous threat to global food supplies.
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mlp in nc
/ June 28, 2019I recommend anyone with an interest in the Mississippi River vs the Corps of Engineers, or even just time on their hands, read “Achafalaya” in John McPhee’s ‘Control of Nature’. He’s no slouch at the other two sections, either.
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Robert in New Orleans
/ May 23, 2019Oh, and I just wanted to give you “props” on your recent interview on Radio Ecoshock. You have a great radio voice and you are a very effective verbal communicator.
https://www.ecoshock.org/2019/05/climate-threats-electric-dreams.html
Every couple of years we spend time with Robert Fanney. Robert has gone through multiple evolutions – and that continues. He is a respected science-fiction writer, he has worked for the premier Defense Analyst “Jane’s” as a risk analyst. Robert Scribbler’s Blog became a home base for an active group of climate watchers. Lately Fanney has moved to video blogging on climate, and then just recently, brought out his interests in clean tech and electric transportation. So it’s definitely time for an update from Robert Fanney on Radio Ecoshock.
PS When are you going to interview Elon Musk?
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wharf rat
/ May 24, 2019The bus wars are over. Electricity — and China — won.
China has 421,000 electric buses. The United States has 300.
https://thinkprogress.org/electric-buses-outsell-diesel-china/
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wharf rat
/ May 25, 2019LikeLike
mlp in nc
/ May 25, 2019Just found SSTA 3.3C in Red Sea. (17.07° N, 42.13° Ex 33.3 °C). That is only 1.7 C from wet bulb.
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mlp in nc
/ May 25, 2019See Dr. Jeff Masters @ Cat 6. May 24, 2019, 2:41 PM EDT
Mississippi River’s Morganza Spillway Expected to Open For 3rd Time in History.
(Completed in 1954, opened previously in 1973, 2011.)
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mlp in nc
/ May 25, 2019When reading Dr. Masters description of the 2011 opening, when they waited until waves were overlapping the structure, I recalled that the gates on the Morganza are opened by chassis on top of it, so if the spillway is completely over topped the gates cannot be opened.
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nwkilt
/ May 26, 2019If the Old River Control Structure Fails: A Catastrophe With Global Impact
https://www.wunderground.com/cat6/If-Old-River-Control-Structure-Fails-Catastrophe-Global-Impact
Failure of the ORCS and the resulting loss of barge shipping that might result could well trigger a global food emergency. The U.S. is one of the world’s largest exporters of grain, and 60% of that grain is transported to market by barges travelling on the Lower Mississippi River. A multi-month interruption in the supplies of more than half of U.S. grain to the rest of the world can be expected to cause a spike in global food prices, and potentially create dangerous food shortages in vulnerable food-insecure nations.
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nzcpe
/ May 26, 2019In New Zealand, you can choose to buy 100% certified carbon zero electricity (at no extra charge!). Is that possible where you live, and if so, does it cost extra?
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Exposing the Big Game
/ May 26, 2019Reblogged this on The Extinction Chronicles.
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wharf rat
/ May 27, 2019Discovering the Climate Change Resilience of Coast Redwood Forests
After a decade of studying the impacts of climate change throughout redwood forests, the Redwoods and Climate Change Initiative (RCCI) shares new insight into how coast redwood trees are growing today.
By Emily Burns, PhD, and Stephen Sillett, PhD
Earth’s climate is changing rapidly, and redwoods are responding. Mature trees alive today have already experienced centuries of climatic fluctuations, including extreme weather predicted to become more frequent. The Redwoods and Climate Change Initiative (RCCI), a research program led by Save the Redwoods League and Humboldt State University, takes a comprehensive look back in time, using tree rings to see what happened when these trees survived droughts and fire. The study compares trees living in northern rainforests with those living in drier forests farther inland and south. Our research began in old-growth forests and is now expanding into second-growth (previously logged) forests, encompassing the full geographic range of coast redwoods (Sequoia sempervirens) (FIGURE 1).
In every part of the forest, our findings show the tremendous carbon sequestration capacity of redwoods, their ability to resist fire, drought, and disease, and where they grow fastest….
Older redwoods gain biomass rapidly simply because they have large crowns full of leaves conducting photosynthesis and an expansive surface area of cambium for production of bark and wood (Sillett et al. 2015b). Cumulatively over centuries, this results in incredible biomass storage in individual trees and the forest as a whole. Rainforests in California’s Del Norte County, which borders Oregon, hold the world record for aboveground biomass, at more than 5,000 Mg ha-1 (2,023 metric tons per acre; Van Pelt et al. 2016), which means in an area nearly the size of two football fields, there is enough heartwood to build 212 homes!
With red heartwood capable of resisting decay for millennia, individual coast redwoods can live over 2,500 years and accumulate over 400 Mg of aboveground biomass, the bulk of which is heartwood (Sillett et al. 2015b). While logged forests lost their major carbon stock when the original trees were cut, our research shows that the oldest second-growth redwood forests alive today have accumulated as much as 1,667 Mg ha-1 (675 metric tons per acre, Sillett et al. 2019). In other words, second-growth redwood forests can accumulate about a third as much aboveground biomass as comparable old-growth forests in much less than 200 years, though the proportion of decay-resistant heartwood is considerably lower (56% vs. 76%, FIGURE 3)….
…in Del Norte County, a 704-year-old redwood (tree 49) with nearly 7,700 m2 (1.9 acres) of leaves in Redwood Experimental Forest witnessed logging of an adjacent forest during the 20th century. Now tree 49 is exhibiting exceptional growth, producing over 1,000 kg yr-1 so far during the 21st century. In 2014, its aboveground biomass increased by an astonishing 1,275 kg (2,811 pounds), which is the fastest growth rate known for any tree worldwide….
After more than a century, redwood forests recovering from 19th-century logging have accumulated more biomass than nearly any forest ever measured
https://www.savetheredwoods.org/redwoods-magazine/spring-2019/discovering-the-climate-change-resilience-of-coast-redwood-forests/
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wharf rat
/ May 27, 2019LikeLike
Syd Bridges
/ May 29, 2019I wonder how long it will be, barring urgent and long overdue action, before the “climate crisis” becomes the “climate catastrophe.” But I agree that the new nomenclature is appropriate and much more realistic. IIRC, “climate change” was coined by GOP strategist Frank Lutz to sound less threatening than global warming. It seems that Mother Nature is now sandblasting that lipstick off the pig.
It will be very interesting to see the final ranking of 2019, with its weak El Nino. Should it top 2016, then I think we will be very well into the crisis.
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Andy_in_SD
/ May 29, 2019More than 500 tornado reports have been made across the nation in the last 30 days.
There are only four other recorded instances when more than 500 US tornadoes were observed in a 30-day period: in 2003, 2004, 2008 and 2011
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wharf rat
/ May 30, 2019Japan’s heatwave in July 2018 could not have happened without climate change.
That is the unequivocal conclusion of a report released last week, as the country battles yet another record-breaking heatwave.
The July 2018 heatwave, which killed 1,032 people, saw temperatures reach 41.1C, the highest temperature ever recorded in the country. Torrential rains also triggered landslides and the worst flooding in decades.
Penned by the Meteorological Society of Japan, the study is the first to establish that some aspects of the international heatwave could not have occurred in the absence of global warming. Scientists reached this conclusion by employing a technique known as event attribution (EA)….
https://www.climatechangenews.com/2019/05/29/deadly-japan-heatwave-essentially-impossible-without-global-warming/
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wharf rat
/ May 31, 2019LikeLiked by 3 people
mlp in nc
/ May 31, 2019The Alberta fires have worsened. 13,282 ppb CO on Earth Nullschool.
https://earth.nullschool.net/#2019/05/31/1200Z/chem/surface/level/overlay=cosc/orthographic=-109.83,56.69,3000/loc=-117.869,58.033
https://calgaryherald.com/news/local-news/wildfires-put-slave-lake-on-evacuation-alert-blanket-edmonton-in-smoke
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Jeremy in Wales
/ June 2, 2019On a slight positive note the UK, as at 9.15pm 2 June has gone 16days and 5 hours without burning coal for electricity. It was only in 2017 that the first coal free period was maintained. OK gas is the main replacement source of energy but we have to eliminate coal.
Great graph in article https://www.theguardian.com/environment/ng-interactive/2019/may/25/the-power-switch-tracking-britains-record-coal-free-run
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wharf rat
/ June 4, 2019Also see
Midwest flooding is drowning corn and soy crops. Is climate change to blame?
This year’s constant deluge of rain has led some to wonder if farmers are finally feeling the predicted impacts of a warming world.
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/2019/06/midwest-rain-climate-change-wrecking-corn-soy-crops/
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eleggua
/ June 16, 2019Thanks for bringing this to my attention.
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wharf rat
/ June 4, 2019LikeLike
Robert in New Orleans
/ June 4, 2019Climate change could pose ‘existential threat’ by 2050:
https://www.cnn.com/2019/06/04/health/climate-change-existential-threat-report-intl/index.html
Twenty days of lethal heat per year. Collapsed eco-systems. And more than one billion people displaced.Those are all probable scenarios that could devastate societies by 2050 if swift and dramatic action isn’t taken to curb climate change, according to a think tank report backed by a former Australian military chief.
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Robert in New Orleans
/ June 4, 2019Link to Paper:
Click to access 148cb0_a1406e0143ac4c469196d3003bc1e687.pdf
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wharf rat
/ June 5, 2019Landing in about 20 minutes…
LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles World Airports, the city agency that manages LAX, and United Airlines on Wednesday will welcome the arrival of “Flight for the Planet,” billed as the most “eco-friendly” commercial flight of its kind.
According to LAWA and the airline, the flight will use sustainable aviation biofuel and eliminate cabin waste while also being carbon-neutral.
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nzcpe
/ June 6, 2019A 1980 paper clearly laid out why climate change is a global tragedy of the commons, but it was ahead of its time and no one noticed.
https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/climate-change-is-a-fourfold-tragedy/
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wharf rat
/ June 6, 2019LikeLiked by 1 person
wharf rat
/ June 6, 2019Energy Vault Funding Breathes Life Into Gravity Storage
Recent investments and patent filings indicate growing interest in a class of energy storage concepts that appear seductively simple but have yet to gain commercial traction.
The speculative field of gravity-based energy storage got a boost recently with news of a strategic investment and new patents.
Swiss-U.S. startup Energy Vault, one of the most high-profile gravity storage players to date, secured financial backing from Cemex Ventures, the corporate venture capital unit of the world’s second-largest building materials giant, and a pledge to help with deployment through Cemex’s ” strategic network.”
Meanwhile, the University of Nottingham and the World Society of Sustainable Energy Technologies confirmed the filing of patent applications for a concept called EarthPumpStore, which uses abandoned mines as gravity storage assets.
Implementing the technology across 150,000 disused open-cast mines in China alone could deliver an estimated storage capacity of 250 terawatt-hours, the University of Nottingham said in a press note.
The announcements indicate growing interest in a class of energy storage concepts that appear seductively simple but have yet to gain widespread acceptance.
Most gravity storage concepts are based on the idea of using spare electricity to lift a heavy block, so the energy can be recovered when needed by letting the weight drop down again.
In the case of Energy Vault, the blocks are made of concrete and are lifted up by cranes 33 stories high. EarthPumpStore, meanwhile, envisages pulling containers filled with compacted earth up the sides of open-cast mines….
https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/energy-vault-funding-breathes-life-into-gravity-storage#gs.gpr3hw
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wharf rat
/ June 7, 2019The largest wildfire in California history was caused by a claw hammer, according to the state’s fire protection agency.
Cal Fire said Thursday that the Ranch Fire, which first sparked last July, began when a Potter Valley property owner was hammering a metal stake into the ground, The Fresno Bee reports.
Cal Fire’s deputy director, Michael Mohler, told the Bee that incident was a “complete accident.”
https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/447333-cal-fire-says-a-hammer-caused-largest-wildfire-in-california-history
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mlp in nc
/ June 7, 2019Levee breaks have taken some pressure off the Morganza.
https://www.nola.com/environment/2019/06/morganza-spillway-opening-delayed-indefinitely.html
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wharf rat
/ June 8, 2019Michael Bloomberg Launches Beyond Carbon, the Largest-Ever Coordinated Campaign Against Climate Change in United States
New York, NY – In a commencement address today at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Michael R. Bloomberg will launch Beyond Carbon, the largest coordinated campaign to tackle climate change ever undertaken in the United States. With a $500 million investment — the largest ever philanthropic effort to fight the climate crisis — Beyond Carbon will work to put the U.S. on track towards a 100% clean energy economy by working with advocates around the country to build on the leadership and climate progress underway in our states, cities, and communities. Bloomberg and his foundation joined forces with the Sierra Club in 2011 to launch Beyond Coal with the goal of closing at least a third of the country’s coal plants. With 289 of 530 closed to date – more than half the country’s coal fleet – Beyond Carbon will aim to close the rest by 2030 and stop the rush to build new gas plants.
https://www.bloomberg.org/press/releases/michael-bloomberg-launches-beyond-carbon-the-largest-ever-coordinated-campaign-against-climate-change-in-united-states/
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Jean Swan
/ June 8, 2019Late Show w Colbert ad for VW electric vehicle I really liked:https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidkiley5/2019/06/06/vw-goes-back-to-the-future-in-new-ad-campaign-to-put-dieselgate-in-rear-view/#2b452133aa55
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Robert in New Orleans
/ June 9, 2019Sea levels may rise much faster than previously predicted, swamping coastal cities such as Shanghai, study finds
https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/21/health/climate-change-sea-levels-scn-intl/index.html
Global sea levels could rise more than two meters (6.6 feet) by the end of this century if emissions continue unchecked, swamping major cities such as New York and Shanghai and displacing up to 187 million people, a new study warns.
Link to cited paper:
https://www.pnas.org/content/116/23/11195
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Marcel Guldemond
/ June 27, 2019At least this much if ice sheets start collapsing which is a plausible thing that could happen. We can assume that most of the big marine terminating glaciers will collapse, we just don’t know when. Some of them might go within 10 years, and some might take another 150. SLR could be up to 3 meters by 2100, and possibly 40-50 cm by 2050. Considering that the next 10 cm will have disastrous effects all over the world, 40 cm will be seriously destabilizing.
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wharf rat
/ June 12, 2019HBO showed this yesterday. It’s on again today at 5 PM, California time
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eleggua
/ June 14, 2019‘Hopes for Cutting Carbon Do Not Yet Match Reality’
Prices on carbon are not strict enough to make significant dents in emissions
June 13, 2019
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/hopes-for-cutting-carbon-do-not-yet-match-reality/
“Global climate awareness may never have been higher, but two recent studies show just how much work the world has to do to turn its carbon-cutting dreams into reality.
The first study, released last week by the World Bank, found 5% of carbon prices employed around the world today are stringent enough to keep global temperatures from rising by more than 2 degrees Celsius.
BP PLC released the second yesterday in the form of its annual statistical review of global energy markets. The bottom line: Energy emissions worldwide were up 2% in 2018, the largest year-over-year increase since 2011.
“My guess is that when our successors look back at Statistical Reviews from around this period, they will observe a world in which there was growing societal awareness and demands for urgent action on climate change, but where the actual energy data continued to move stubbornly in the wrong direction,” Spencer Dale, BP’s chief economist, observed in a post outlining the oil company’s findings.
He framed it “a growing mismatch between hopes and reality.”
The BP report shows why. Renewables grew by 14.5% worldwide in 2018, a robust if slightly lower rate than previous years. But much of those gains were erased by global energy demand, which surged by 2.9%. That pushed up demand for coal by 1.4% and natural gas by 5.3%.
The trend was especially prevalent in the United States, where energy consumption rose by 3.5% in 2018, reversing a decade of declines. The figure is the highest spike in American energy demand in three decades….”
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eleggua
/ June 14, 2019June 2019
Communities in Oregon and Washington most threatened by wildfire identified
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eleggua
/ June 14, 201910 most-threatened communities in Oregon.
(research was commissioned by the U.S. Forest Service’s Northwest Region)
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eleggua
/ June 14, 2019‘Alberta wildfires linked to climate change, scientist says’
University of Alberta professor says ‘We are seeing climate change in action’
Jun 09, 2019
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/alberta-wildfires-climate-change-1.5168355
“…Recent fires have been connected to climate change in two separate research papers published earlier this year by scientists with Environment and Climate Change Canada.
In May 2016, a wildfire near Fort McMurray forced more than 80,000 people to flee the northern Alberta city, destroyed 2,400 buildings and burned nearly 6,000 square kilometres of forest.
A year later, the fire season in British Columbia broke records as 2,117 blazes consumed more than 12,000 square kilometres of bush.
“We are seeing climate change in action,” said University of Alberta wildland fire Prof. Mike Flannigan.
“The Fort McMurray fire was 1 1/2 to six times more likely because of climate change. The 2017 record-breaking B.C. fire season was seven to 11 times more likely because of climate change.”
The largest community evacuated in Alberta so far this year has been High Level. The vast Chuckegg Creek fire still churns in the woods south of town. It grew to 2,660 square kilometres in the first few weeks and remains one of several blazes burning out-of-control in the province….
It takes time for scientists to research and connect individual events to climate change, but Flannigan said it has become a major factor in Canadian fire seasons.
“We burn about 2.5 million hectares a year on average — that’s using about a 10-year average,” he said. “It’s more than doubled since the late ’60s and early ’70s.
“Colleagues and I attribute this to human-caused climate change. I can’t be any more clear than that.”
Most fire experts use a 10-year average for comparisons but, even using a five-year model, the number of fires in Alberta so far this year is already closing in on that number.
Alberta Wildfire data shows that, as of Friday, there were 569 wildfires in the province. The five-year average is 616. But they have already burned nearly 6,692 square kilometres, much higher than the five-year average of 1,387 square kilometres.
“There’s been a lot of research that’s shown as we warm, we get more fire,” says Flannigan.
He says there are three reasons: longer fire seasons, drier fuels and more lightning, which research has shown is increasing by 10 to 12 per cent with every degree of warming….
There’s already one sign that climate change is playing a role on the Chuckegg Creek fire near High Level, said Flannigan.
“Getting May fires up there is really early for that part of the province,” he said, explaining the area would normally start seeing fires in July.
“Same with the Fort McMurray fire. That fire started May 1.
“The 2017 fire season in British Columbia — their busiest month is August — it started July 7 and that was really, really early for extreme fire weather for them.””
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eleggua
/ June 14, 2019Parts of Alberta are experiencing their driest spring on record this year.
“Edmonton’s records go back to 1880, Lloydminster’s go back to 1953, High Level’s go back to 1966 and Fort Vermillion’s go back to 1905. However, across those records, 2019 has been the driest.
For the months of March, April and May, High Level saw only 2.1 millimetres of rain. Fort Vermillion had 10.2 mm, Lloydminster had 29.1 mm and Edmonton had 25.9 mm.
That is a very minimal amount of precipitation. Edmonton has received 33.9 mm of rain so far in June, which has helped the dry conditions. Environment Canada said the regions around High level haven’t seen any.
As of 10 a.m. on Wednesday, there were 17 wildfires burning in Alberta, seven of which were considered to be out of control. The largest of them is the Chuckegg Creek fire, which was nearly 270,000 hectares in size as of Wednesday night. One hectare is larger than a football field.”
– Global News, 6.12.2019
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eleggua
/ June 14, 2019North American Fire Danger, 6 .12 .2019
Note the area in southern Alberta and Saskatoon compared to south of the border in the US.
Low-to-moderate danger in Montana however extreme danger directly over the border in southern Canada.
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eleggua
/ June 14, 2019‘Tesla is delivering 1,000 cars a day en route to record quarter’
Jun. 14th 2019
“…Tesla aims to deliver between 33,000 and 36,000 vehicles in June in North America to break its delivery record….
Furthermore, there are almost 7,000 more deliveries planned over the next 7 days and even more last-minute deliveries are expected over the last week of the quarter as buyers try to get deliveries before the now $3,750 federal tax credit on Tesla vehicles goes down again….
Buyers need to take delivery by the end of the quarter in order to get the full $3,750.
After that, it drops to $1,875 until the end of the year at which point, Tesla buyers will not have access to any federal tax credit unless the law changes within the next 6 months. States like California, New York, Colorado and others offer separate incentives….”
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eleggua
/ June 16, 2019Fox News(!) reposted this piece.
Arctic Permafrost Is Going Through a Rapid Meltdown — 70 Years Early
By Grant Currin, Live Science Contributor | June 13, 2019 03:20pm ET
https://www.livescience.com/65709-arctic-permafrost-melts-decades-early.html
” In the Canadian Arctic, layers of permafrost that scientists expected to remain frozen for at least 70 years have already begun thawing. The once-frozen surface is now sinking and dotted with melt ponds and from above looks a bit like Swiss cheese, satellite images reveal.
“We were astounded that this system responded so quickly to the higher air temperatures,” said Louise Farquharson, a co-author of the study and postdoctoral fellow at the Permafrost Laboratory at the University of Alaska Fairbanks….
The researchers recorded permafrost thawing to depths that were not expected until air temperatures reached levels the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has predicted will occur after 2090, according to one of its “moderate” climate change models. The IPCC, which is a body of the United Nations, provides scientific information to help guide countries’ climate policies.
The researchers believe higher summer temperatures, low levels of insulating vegetation and the presence of ground ice near the surface contributed to the exceptionally rapid and deep thawing.
The most striking evidence is visible to the naked eye. As upper layers of permafrost thaw and ice melts, the land settles unevenly, forming what is known as thermokarst topography. Landscapes in the Canadian Arctic that had been defined by gently rolling hills are now pockmarked with ditches and small ponds. The ground at the northernmost study site sank by about 35 inches (90 centimeters) over the course of the study.
“We had this flat terrain when we started monitoring,” Farquharson told Live Science. “In 10 or so years, we saw the landscape transform.”…”
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mlp in nc
/ June 16, 2019Have a gander at what passes for the Northern Hemisphere jet stream these days.
https://climatereanalyzer.org/wx/DailySummary/#ws250-snowc-topo
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eleggua
/ June 17, 2019Odd. Any image/s from previous year/s at this same time to which to compare it?
Here’s a bit from the article re: Greenland melt posted below by Robert in New Orleans:
“The jet stream, the high-altitude current separating cold air and warm air, has taken unusually erratic meanders.
“The jet stream this week was one of the craziest I’ve ever seen!” Jennifer Francis, one of the leading researchers who has published studies connecting Arctic change and mid-latitude weather, wrote in an email.
Francis had earlier suggested that conditions in the Arctic may have played a role in the extreme jet stream pattern that spurred the tornado swarm and record flooding in the central US during the last two weeks of May.”
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wharf rat
/ June 17, 2019Every year after 2014 will be warmer than every year before 2014
GISS calendar year average above 1951-1980 ‘baseline’:
2014: .73C
2015: .87
2016: .99
2017: .90
2018: .82
2019 is coming on strong, possibly a new record. No chance it will be cooler than 2014, and 2014 was above the next warmest year, 2010’s .70C.
It’s hard to call five-plus years a fluke, and even if it’s a cycle, the signal of .2C rise per decade is rising above the noise. Absent a massive volcanic eruption, we’re not looking back even to the significant warming that was experienced just nine years ago – we’re off in uncharted territory.
Might be something worth betting over for the next time denialists say something foolish.
http://rabett.blogspot.com/2019/06/every-year-after-2014-will-be-warmer.html
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Robert in New Orleans
/ June 17, 2019Breathtaking image shows extent of staggering Greenland ice melt
https://www.theweathernetwork.com/ca/news/article/greenland-loses-staggering-amount-of-ice-in-one-day-glacier-melting-2-gigatons-record-melt-season-anticipated
https://images.twnmm.com/c55i45ef3o2a/OPuKR91dS94eU35MKQI6o/8bf983e2f657e2eb3f782dc1ce5512df/Steffan_Olsen_sled_dogs_on_Greenland_ice_melt_from_twitter_w_permission.jpg?w=680&fm=jpg
Words cannot describe this….
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Robert in New Orleans
/ June 17, 2019Greenland Was 40 Degrees Hotter Than Normal This Week, And Things Are Getting Intense
https://www.sciencealert.com/greenland-was-40-degrees-hotter-than-normal-this-week-and-things-are-getting-intense
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eleggua
/ June 18, 2019Some good news, though likely short term.
‘Major Greenland Glacier Is Growing’
https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/145185/major-greenland-glacier-is-growing
“Jakobshavn Glacier in western Greenland is notorious for being the world’s fastest-moving glacier. It is also one of the most active, discharging a tremendous amount of ice from the Greenland Ice Sheet into Ilulissat Icefjord and adjacent Disko Bay—with implications for sea level rise. The image above, acquired on June 6, 2019, by the Operational Land Imager (OLI) on Landsat 8, shows a natural-color view of the glacier.
Jakobshavn has spent decades in retreat—that is, until scientists observed an unexpected advance between 2016 and 2017. In addition to growing toward the ocean, the glacier was found to be slowing and thickening. New data collected in March 2019 confirm that the glacier has grown for the third year in a row, and scientists attribute the change to cool ocean waters.
“The third straight year of thickening of Greenland’s biggest glacier supports our conclusion that the ocean is the culprit,” said Josh Willis, an ocean scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and principal investigator of the Oceans Melting Greenland (OMG) mission….
…The change is particularly striking at the glacier’s front (solid blue area on the left) between 2016 and 2017. That’s when the glacier advanced the most, replacing open water and sea ice with towering glacial ice. The glacier has not advanced as much since then, but it continues to slow and thicken.
Willis and colleagues think the glacier is reacting to a shift in a climate pattern called the North Atlantic Oscillation, which has brought cold water northward along Greenland’s west coast. Measurements of the temperatures collected by the OMG team show that the cold water has persisted.,,”
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eleggua
/ June 18, 2019“The maps (below) show how the glacier’s height changed between March 2016 and 2017 (top); March 2017 and 2018 (middle); and March 2018 and 2019 (bottom). The elevation data come from a radar altimeter that has been flown on research airplanes each spring as part of OMG. Blue areas represent where the glacier’s height has increased, in some areas by as much as 30 meters per year.
The change is particularly striking at the glacier’s front (solid blue area on the left) between 2016 and 2017. That’s when the glacier advanced the most, replacing open water and sea ice with towering glacial ice. The glacier has not advanced as much since then, but it continues to slow and thicken.”
“Willis compared the glacier’s behavior to silly putty. “Pull it from one end and it stretches and gets thinner, or squash it together and it gets thicker,” he said. The latter scenario is what is happening now as the glacier slows down: Notice that by the third year, thickening is occurring across an increasingly wide area.”
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eleggua
/ June 18, 2019‘Carbon Dioxide Reaches Record Levels, Plus 6 Things to Know About the Greenhouse Gas’
June 14th, 2019
https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/blogs/earthmatters/2019/06/14/carbon-dioxide-reaches-record-levels-plus-6-things-to-know-about-the-greenhouse-gas/
“…Global concentrations of atmospheric carbon dioxide spike every April or May, but in 2019 the spike was bigger than usual….”
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eleggua
/ June 18, 2019‘Starving polar bear ‘can hardly move’, say residents of Norilsk’
18 June 2019
http://siberiantimes.com/ecology/casestudy/news/starving-polar-bear-can-hardly-move-say-residents-of-norilsk/
“Emaciated animal walked 1500km south and away from Arctic Ocean, searching for food.
We reported yesterday on the polar bear that is believed to have crossed the Taymyr Peninsula and arrived in industrial city Norilsk.
Irina Yarinskaya, photographer of Zapolyarnaya Pravda newspaper, took these amazing pictures of the bear’s odyssey amid the downtown traffic.
‘He is seriously hunger-bitten, he is hardly able to blink and keep his eyes open, almost unable to walk,’ Irina said.
‘He was lying for a long time, having a rest, then he crossed the road and entered the industrial zone.
‘He went towards the gravel and sand factory first, then he crossed one more road and headed to a dump.’
Estimates vary, but the bear is believed by locals to have walked some 1,500 km to reach the city.
The animal must have had ‘the wrong compass settings’ to be going to far south. ”
‘Hungry polar bear arrives in industrial Norilsk after walking 1,500 km inland in search of food’
17 June 2019
“The bear ‘had wrong compass settings’ and came south, the first polar bear seen in city since 1970s.
The emergency services initially refused to believe the predator was in a district of the city.
But videos showed the ‘skinny’ wild animal scavenging in the snow for food.
Anatoly Nikolaychyuk, head of Taymyr department of state hunting control, said: ‘I went there tonight and saw him in person.
‘This is a unique and rare case.
‘There are two options now – either to relocate him to the shore, or, perhaps, some zoo will take him.’
Norilsk is some 500 km from the open shore yet locals believe the bear has walked much further to reach the city, crossing the vast Taymyr Peninsula…”
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eleggua
/ June 18, 2019More from Siberia:
‘Alarming wildfires rage near giant ‘Mouth of Hell’ gash in the tundra, a wonder of Siberia’
13 June 2019
http://siberiantimes.com/other/others/news/alarming-wildfires-rage-near-giant-mouth-of-hell-gash-in-the-tundra-a-wonder-of-siberia/
“Destruction of trees by flames could see Batagai Depression ‘rapidly enlarge’ while remote local settlements also threatened.
The fires are now raging some 10 to 15 kilometres from the megaslump crater – a large hole in the frozen Arctic soil which highlights the dramatic speed of thawing permafrost.
The Batagaika or Batagai “megaslump” is a tadpole-shaped depression around one kilometre long, 800 metres wide and 100 metres deep.
It is growing by some 15 to 30 metres a year – but if it is hit by the nearby inferno this would destroy trees on its rim and loosen the soil even more, resulting in further collapses.
Changes in the local climate have seen an ‘almost snowless’ winter in this northern outpost with dry weather exacerbating the risk of wildfires spreading…
Scientists are concerned over the fire reaching the depression.
Dr Petr Danilov, of the Research Institute of Applied Ecology of the North, in Yakutsk, said: ‘If the wildfires access the depression, it surely will have a strong impact on the speed it grows.’
Known by some as the ‘Mouth of Hell’, a locals see this spectacular crater as superstitious, and call it the “gateway to the underworld”.
The gash in the tundra was caused by the Soviets, who cleared forest here, but it is now being enlarged and shaped by climate change, according to scientists.
In the depression, scientists found a perfectly preserved prehistoric baby horse, an extinct foal from the cold-resistant Lenskaya species.
There are hopes DNA from the foal will allow scientists to clone the species back to life.
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eleggua
/ June 18, 2019More on the Batagai Depression:
‘“A Sense of Real Fear”: Climate Change Photog Katie Orlinsky on Documenting Arctic Melt’
August 30, 2018
https://pdnpulse.pdnonline.com/2018/08/a-sense-of-real-fear-climate-change-photog-katie-orlinsky-on-documenting-arctic-melt.html
Photographer Katie Orlinsky has been documenting the impact of climate change for four years, but says what she recently witnessed on assignment for National Geographic frightened her like no other assignment has. National Geographic sent Orlinsky and writer Craig Welch to northern Russia and Siberia for a look at permafrost: the layer of ground below the soil that (usually) remains frozen solid throughout the year. This year, however scientist Nikita Zimov and his father, Sergey, drilled into the ground and found soft mush where the earth should be frozen solid. Welch writes, “For the first time in memory, ground that insulates deep Arctic permafrost simply did not freeze in winter.” Story editor Sadie Quarrier explains that National Geographic plans to publish Orlinsky’s and Welch’s full story in fall 2019. However, “The pressing nature of their discoveries made our coverage of this specific aspect of story more urgent, which is why we decided to file a digital story just days after they returned from the field.”
During her three weeks of fieldwork, Orlinsky traveled to the Batagaika Crater, a 300-foot-deep impression where scientists can examine a wall of permafrost, and are now looking for clues about its thawing.
When National Geographic released the online story, Orlinsky took to social media to share her shocked impressions.
From her years of studying the effect of climate change, she says, she’s gained an understanding of the issue “on an intellectual level.”
“However I had never really felt, in my bones, the weight of it all. I had never felt a sense of real fear, for myself, for those I love most, and for all of humanity. But that was what rushed over me when I finished working in Siberia, my biggest shoot yet for a long term assignment I am doing with writer Craig Welch for National Geographic,” she wrote on social media.
Orlinsky says the earth may be changing sooner than anyone predicted:
“And for me, something already has changed. Standing inside the Batagaika Crater on my last shooting day, watching and listening to the earth as it tumbled down towards me, has affected me in ways I have a difficult time articulating. I wish I could just take everyone there, especially those in political power, to experience it first-hand. But I am grateful that at the very least, I can share my photos.”
Quarrier notes that Orlinsky’s photos from Batagaika “exceeded my expectations.” “We had seen almost no pictures of the Crater and almost pulled the plug on that extra trip due cost, permissions, fire/safety threats and logistics,” she says, but Orlinsky was “determined,” Quarrier says. “I’m so glad she persevered as it really paid off. The light was epic, and she now has a visual record that few have of this crater, which is a place being studied by scientists for clues about climate change.”
© Katie Orlinsky/National Geographic
The Batagaika Crater in the town of Batagay, Russia, is known as the “hell crater” or the “gateway to the underworld.” Over 300 feet deep and more than half a mile long, the depression is one of the largest in the world. Scientists believe it started forming in the 1960s when the permafrost under the area began to thaw after nearby forests were cleared.
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eleggua
/ June 18, 2019The National Geographic article, with many outstanding images by Katie Orlinsky:
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/2018/08/news-arctic-permafrost-may-thaw-faster-than-expected/
“… more than a dozen Arctic climate scientists contacted by National Geographic agree that this year’s active-layer data highlights the limitations of global climate models. The sophisticated computer programs that forecast future climate scenarios often used by government decision-makers simply can’t capture major changes in permafrost.
“When we simulate these things there are a number of processes the models don’t include—processes that multiply the transfer of heat,” says Daniel Fortier, an associate professor of geography with the University of Montreal. “I think it’s safe to say that things are happening faster than we were expecting.”…”
Permafrost can be seen up close along the perimeter of the Batagaika Crater.
© Katie Orlinsky/National Geographic
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wharf rat
/ June 19, 2019ndia’s 6th largest city just ran out of water
In southern India, the four main water reservoirs for the city of Chennai (once known as Madras) have reportedly run completely dry. Chennai is the sixth largest city in India.
“Only rain can save Chennai from this situation,” a Chennai city official told BBC Tamil:
The acute water shortage has forced the city to scramble for urgent solutions, including drilling new boreholes.
Residents have had to stand in line for hours to get water from government tanks, and restaurants have closed due to the lack of water.
(…)
Officials are trying to find alternative sources of water, with the city’s water department starting to identify and extract water from quarries.
But the big concern is the dry reservoirs and low groundwater levels.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-48672330
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mlp in nc
/ June 20, 2019OMG. Many thanks for the post. A city of 4 million runs out of water, is being supplied by tankers, and I have heard nothing about it in the news here (I don’t get cable)?
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eleggua
/ June 20, 2019Moreso due to mismanagement of resources rather than climate change, however.
There’s widespread drought and an ongoing heatwave in India but mismanagement or really, hardly any management, led to the crisis.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jun/19/chennai-in-crisis-water-shortage-with-authorities-blamed-india
‘Chennai in crisis as authorities blamed for dire water shortage’
“…The water shortage in Chennai started several weeks ago and Madras’s high court has criticised the Tamil Nadu state government for inaction. The court accused the government on Tuesday of waiting passively for the arrival of the monsoon instead of proactively handling the water crisis which, it said, did not happen in a day….”
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eleggua
/ June 20, 2019“I don’t get cable”
Read the Guardian daily, online; it’s free. Subscribe online to international news resource feeds; you can set keyword finds and receive notice of publication of articles that include your keyword/s.
Avoid tv news, cable or otherwise, Faux or otherwise, or least avoid any dependence on it.
Can’t recall the last time intentionally watched a ‘live’ tv news broadcast; perhaps a couple of decades or so ago.
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eleggua
/ June 20, 2019I do recall when and where: September 11, 2001, midtown Manhattan. Not quite two decades.
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eleggua
/ June 20, 2019Can’t vouch for any of these aggregator sites/rss feeds. Second article covers ‘free’ rss feeders only. Likely find something useful therein.
https://www.techlicious.com/guide/the-best-news-aggregation-sites/
https://zapier.com/blog/best-rss-feed-reader-apps/
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mlp in nc
/ June 20, 2019eleggua,
Sound advice, thanks.
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eleggua
/ June 27, 2019You’re welcome.
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eleggua
/ June 20, 2019More on Chennai water crisis and possible climate change/crisis connection.
‘Chennai water crisis in India leaves millions reliant on filthy wells and expensive trucked-in supply’
June 20, 2019
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/chennai-water-crisis-millions-rely-wells-trucks-environmentalists-cite-climate-change-today-2019-06-20/
“…
“The water table in Chennai is seriously compromised,” ecologist and biodiversity expert Dr. Jayashree Vencatesan told CBS News. “There is rampant extraction through bore wells in south Chennai. There are no guidelines; things are in a mess.”
Vencatesan has studied 200 years worth of data on Chennai’s monsoon seasons. She told CBS News the data analysis by herself and other researchers at the Care Earth Trust show a marked change around nine years ago; while the overall amount of rain has remained roughly the same, the number of days with rainfall have reduced drastically. In other words, more days with severe downpours and less steady, sustained rainfall. That leads to more quick runoff and less flowing in a controlled way into reservoirs.
“This may be a case of climate change,” she said. …
…
While this year’s monsoon will likely bring relief in the autumn, environmentalists believe there needs to be a long-term water conservation plan to avoid such crises in the future — not just in Chennai but across India.
“Water needs to be treated as a highly limited resource,” Vencatesan said. “There is a gap between government policy and the implementation.”
An alarming report last year by the Indian government’s own research institute, NITI Aayog, warned that 21 Indian cities, including New Delhi, Chennai, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad, would run out of groundwater by 2020.
The report also said 40% of India’s 1.34 billion people would have no access to drinking water by 2030. More than 600 million Indians are facing “acute water shortage” already, according to the report.
…””
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wharf rat
/ June 20, 2019LikeLike
mlp in nc
/ June 23, 2019A little good news. But a thought comes to mind – what if the ‘pinpricks’ of the oil exploration
well let in seawater from above?
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/06/190621140341.htm
Scientists map huge undersea fresh-water aquifer off U.S. Northeast. Biggest such known formation; could signal resources worldwide
. . . The consistency of the data from both study areas allowed to the researchers to infer with a high degree of confidence that fresh water sediments continuously span not just New Jersey and much of Massachusetts, but the intervening coasts of Rhode Island, Connecticut and New York. They estimate that the region holds at least 670 cubic miles of fresh water. If future research shows the aquifer extends further north and south, it would rival the great Ogallala Aquifer, which supplies vital groundwater to eight Great Plains states, from South Dakota to Texas.
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wharf rat
/ June 24, 2019LikeLike
Marcel Guldemond
/ June 27, 2019Hi Robert,
I’ve started a new climate art project. The rough draft is here: http://www.marcelguldemond.com/Climate
please check it out and let me know what you think.
Cheers,
Marcel
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eleggua
/ June 28, 2019Posted about ClimArte here before. You may find it of interest, Marcel.
https://climarte.org/
Wonderful paintings; indeed, the robots do create and inspire narrative. All the best with this new effort.
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eleggua
/ June 28, 2019One hour, 50+ minutes of “debate”. ~7 minutes re: climate change.
The End is Now; the Beginning is Nigh: Peaceful Global Revolution.
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eleggua
/ June 28, 2019Sunrise Movement
https://www.sunrisemovement.org/
“The Democratic National Committee refuses to hold a climate debate, saying it would be ‘impractical’ and ‘against the rules’, but assured us it would be front and center in all primary debates. The first debate proved that wrong. We got 6 minutes of answers, a few crappy questions, and only 4 of the 10 candidates got a chance to answer a question on climate change. That’s downright irresponsible and not how to treat this crisis like the emergency it is. The DNC had their chance and they failed us.
Join our mass call this Tuesday, July 2 to learn how you can turn up the heat on the DNC.”
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eleggua
/ June 28, 2019Errors abound.
‘AP FACT CHECK: Claims from the 1st Democratic debate’
https://abc7news.com/politics/ap-fact-check-claims-from-the-1st-democratic-debate/5367051/
Jay Inslee: We are the first generation to feel the sting of climate change and we are the last that can do something about it. … It is our last chance in an administration, next one, to do something about it.”
THE FACTS: Not quite. This answer implies that after 2025 or 2029, when whoever is elected in 2020 leaves office, it will be too late to fight or limit climate change.
That’s a common misconception that stemmed from a U.N. scientific report that came out last fall, which talked about 2030, mostly because that’s a key date in the Paris climate agreement. The report states that with every half a degree Celsius and with every year, global warming and its dangers get worse. However, it does not say at some point it is too late.
“The hotter it gets the worse it gets but there is no cliff edge,” James Skea, co-chairman of the report and professor of sustainable energy at Imperial College London, told The Associated Press.
The report co-author, Swiss climate scientist Sonia I. Seneviratne this month tweeted, “Many scientists point – rightfully – to the fact that we cannot state with certainty that climate would suddenly go berserk in 12 years if we weren’t doing any climate mitigation. But who can state with certainty that we would be safe beyond that stage or even before that?”
…
Beto O’Rourke, referring to the international climate goal: “If all of us does all that we can, then we’re going to be able to keep this planet from warming another 2 degrees Celsius and ensure that we match what this country can do and live up to our promise and our potential.”
THE FACTS: O’Rourke gets the climate goal wrong.
Since 2009, international summits and the Paris climate agreement list the overarching goal as limiting climate change to no more than 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) from pre-industrial times. That’s somewhere between 1850 and 1880, depending on who is calculating.
There’s a big difference because since pre-industrial times, Earth has already warmed 1 degree Celsius (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit). So the world community is talking about 1 degree Celsius from now and O’Rourke is talking about twice that.
…
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Abel Adamski
/ June 28, 2019Just for fun
Cthulu has been found
https://newatlas.com/cthulhu-fossil-sea-cucumber/59238/
Fossilized remains of “Cthulhu” discovered in England
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mlp in nc
/ June 29, 2019Noctilucent clouds in Paris 48 degees, 49 minutes N.
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap190628.html
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Abel Adamski
/ June 29, 2019That Sargassum bloom and rotten egg gas (H2S) is back in the Carribean – pretty much a fixture now since 2014
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/rotting-seaweed-beaches-sargassum-mexico-carribbean-cancun-playa-del-carmen-tulum-a8978756.html
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mlp in nc
/ July 5, 2019Another article. With the Sargassum and red tides, how long can the affected coasts be livable in the summer?
Scientists discover the biggest seaweed bloom in the world. U of South Florida.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/07/190704191408.htm
Summary:
The record-breaking belt of brown algae stretches from West Africa to the Gulf of Mexico — and it’s likely here to stay, says a team.
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eleggua
/ July 6, 2019Another wonderful coastal multiplier due to warming oceans, flesh-eating bacteria.
Yum.
”Flesh-Eating’ Bacteria On Rise With Climate Change’
June 18, 2019
https://www.webmd.com/skin-problems-and-treatments/news/20190618/flesh-eating-bacteria-on-rise-with-climate-change
“…Five cases of infection with Vibrio vulnificus occurred in 2017 and 2018 along the Delaware Bay, compared to one infection with the devastating bacteria in the eight years prior, researchers said…
…It’s not just in the United States that Vibrio is migrating northward… In Europe, infections with the bacteria have extended as far north as Norway.
Dr. Amesh Adalja is a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, in Baltimore. He said, “Vibrio vulnificus infections contracted in the Delaware Bay, an area not known to be endemic for the bacteria, should serve as an important reminder that infectious diseases can expand from their traditional areas so long as the environment is hospitable to them.” Adalja was not involved with the new report.
“If certain bodies of water have had temperature changes that allow Vibrio vulnificus to flourish in a new region, it will be important that clinicians have heightened awareness of this serious, and sometimes fatal, infection in order to diagnose and treat it appropriately,” Adalja added.
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eleggua
/ July 6, 2019“The horrors of the past meet headlong with the terrors of the future.”
“The lifeboat with the passengers, the captain, and the loyal crew drift for days until they float into the mad world of the Sargasso Sea and its carnivorous seaweed.”
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eleggua
/ July 6, 2019Positive feedback loops.
“To unravel the mystery, the team analyzed fertilizer consumption patterns in Brazil, Amazon deforestation rates, Amazon River discharge, two years of nitrogen and phosphorus measurements taken from the central western parts of the Atlantic Ocean, among other ocean properties.
While the data are preliminary, the pattern seems clear: the explosion in Sargassum correlates to increases in deforestation and fertilizer use, both of which have increased since 2010.
A Recipe for a Doom and Gloom Bloom
The team identified key factors that are critical to bloom formation: a large seed population in the winter left over from a previous bloom, nutrient input from West Africa upwelling in winter, and nutrient input in the spring or summer from the Amazon River. In addition, Sargassum only grows well when salinity is normal and surface temperatures are normal or cooler.
The 2011 bloom was likely caused by Amazon River discharge in previous years, Wang said, but was driven to even larger proportions by the double whammy of upwelling in the eastern Atlantic and river discharge on the western Atlantic.
As noted in the satellite imagery, major blooms occurred in every year between 2011 and 2018 except 2013 — and the cocktail of ingredients necessary explains why. No bloom occurred in 2013 because the seed populations measured during winter of 2012 were unusually low, Wang said.
Hu also explained why the tipping point started in 2011 instead of 2010, even on the heels of significant Amazon discharge in 2009. Significant rain in 2009 introduced freshwater to the ocean, which reduced salinity. Plus, in 2010 the sea surface temperature was higher than normal. Sargassum didn’t bloom in either 2009 or 2010 because these conditions do not favor Sargassum growth.
“This is all ultimately related to climate change because it affects precipitation and ocean circulation and even human activities, but what we’ve shown is that these blooms do not occur because of increased water temperature,” Hu said. “They are probably here to stay.””
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mlp in nc
/ July 1, 2019Some figures for northerly ecoshift.
Analysis finds US ecosystems shifting hundreds of miles north. U. of Nebraska-Lincoln
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/07/190701144652.htm
Researchers used 50 years of data on bird distributions and concluded that ecosystems have shifted northward by hundreds of miles.
The northernmost ecosystem boundary shifted more than 365 miles north, with the southernmost boundary moving about 160 miles from the 1970 baseline.
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eleggua
/ July 2, 2019“”If we can work toward prevention (of changes), we’re going to save ourselves so much money and time,” said Caleb Roberts, lead author and postdoctoral researcher at Nebraska. “We won’t have to worry about specific endangered species, perhaps, because we will be protecting the system they require.””
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eleggua
/ July 2, 2019‘Mexico: Freak storm buries Guadalajara in 2-meter deep hail’
July 1st, 2019
“A freak hail storm has struck Guadalajara, one of Mexico’s most populous cities, burying vehicles in a deluge of ice pellets up to two metres deep.
“I’ve never seen such scenes in Guadalajara,” said the state governor, Enrique Alfaro.
“Then we ask ourselves if climate change is real. These are never-before-seen natural phenomenons,” he said. “It’s incredible.”
Guadalajara, located north of Mexico City and with a population of around five million, has been experiencing summer temperature of around 31C (88F) in recent days.
While seasonal hail storms do occur, there is no record of anything so heavy.
At least six neighbourhoods in the city outskirts woke up to ice pellets up to two metres deep.
While children scampered around and hurled iceballs at each other, civil protection personnel and soldiers brought out heavy machinery to clear the roads.
Nearly 200 homes and businesses reported hail damage, and at least 50 vehicles were swept away by the deluge of ice in hilly areas, some buried under piles of pellets.
While no casualties were reported, two people showed “early signs of hypothermia,” the state civil protection office said.”
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wharf rat
/ July 3, 2019Tesla Q2 2019 Vehicle Production & Deliveries
PALO ALTO, Calif., July 02, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — In the second quarter, we achieved record production of 87,048 vehicles and record deliveries of approximately 95,200 vehicles.
Orders generated during the quarter exceeded our deliveries, thus we are entering Q3 with an increase in our order backlog. We believe we are well positioned to continue growing total production and deliveries in Q3.
https://ir.tesla.com/news-releases/news-release-details/tesla-q2-2019-vehicle-production-deliveries
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wharf rat
/ July 4, 2019Record-breaking temperatures for June
DATE: 2nd July 2019
Summer has barely begun, but temperature records are already being broken. Data released today show that the European-average temperature for June 2019 was higher than for any other June on record. Average temperatures were more than 2°C above normal and it has become the hottest June ever recorded….
…Data provided by the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), implemented by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts on behalf of the European Union, show that the global-average temperature for June 2019 was also the highest on record for the month. It was about 0.1°C higher than that of the previous warmest June, in 2016, following a strong El Niño event.
https://climate.copernicus.eu/record-breaking-temperatures-june
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eleggua
/ July 5, 2019“The Anchorage International Airport has just reached 89 degrees. The all time record high temperature for Anchorage has officially been broken.”
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eleggua
/ July 5, 2019Use of fireworks and firecrackers banned in Anchorage today.
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eleggua
/ July 5, 2019‘As heatwaves sweep Europe, just how hot are our cities going to get?’
by Bill McGuire / July 4, 2019
https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/science-and-technology/climate-change-heat-waves-wet-bulb-weather-patterns
“Imagine feeling so hot that you can barely move or breathe; that despite burning up inside, it is too humid to sweat, so your body can’t cool down. Imagine knowing that—unless you can find an air-conditioned refuge—you have less than six hours to live…
…the key wet-bulb temperature to look out for is 35°C. This flags the onset of a heat and humidity combo at which the human body can no longer lose heat through sweating.
In such circumstances, anyone without access to air conditioning—however young or fit—has only six or so hours to live, whether sheltering in the shade or not. Such sustained heat-death circumstances have yet to emerge.
Yet it can only be a matter of time before this critical threshold is reached, bringing the potential for massive death tolls in the hottest parts of our world.
In July 2015, at Bandar Mahshahr, Iran, the combination of 46°C temperatures and 50 percent humidity brought the wet-bulb temperature within a whisker of 35°C…”
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mlp in nc
/ July 5, 2019Meanwhile, Antarctic sea ice continues to track well below normal. It merited a mention in our local paper, which is surely a first.
https://ads.nipr.ac.jp/vishop/#/extent
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eleggua
/ July 5, 2019Anchorage officially hit 90F yesterday, after I’d posted the 89f reading.
More context:
https://www.npr.org/2019/07/05/738905306/it-was-a-balmy-90-degrees-yesterday-in-anchorage-for-the-first-time-on-record
“The city of 300,000 people also had its hottest June ever, according to the National Weather Service. Average temperature for the month was 60.5 degrees, 5.3 degrees above normal. It was the 16th consecutive month with above-average temperatures.
It was also the driest June on record. The area received just 0.06 inches of rain during the month. Normally, it gets 0.97 inches – meaning the area received just 6% of the precipitation it usually does at that time. April and May were wetter than usual, however.
And it wasn’t just Anchorage. Several Alaskan cities set or matched all-time heat records on Thursday: 89 degrees in Kenai and King Salmon, 88 in Palmer….”
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eleggua
/ July 5, 2019“Then there’s the smoke. Crews have been battling wildfires across the state, and on Monday authorities issued an air quality advisory for south-central Alaska.
With the hot, dry conditions and limited firefighting resources, the Alaska State Fire Marshal’s Office suspended sale and use of fireworks in many areas.
Concerns about air quality spurred officials of the annual Mount Marathon race in Seward to allow runners to defer their entries until next year, Alaska Public Media reported. The race, more than 3 miles up and down a mountain, still took place amid the heat and smoke, but a few of the top-flight runners opted not to run.”
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eleggua
/ July 5, 2019https://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/sweltering-heat-wave-produces-all-time-record-high-in-anchorage-on-independence-day/70008741
‘Anchorage shatters all-time high temperature record as Alaska swelters under heat dome’
7.05.2019
“It also shattered the daily record of 77 F for July 4, which had stood since 1999. Records in Anchorage date back to 1952…
…The heat dome that has set up across the far southern part of the state and brought the unseasonably warm temps to Anchorage will surge northward into next week. Temperatures will take a run at 90 degrees Fahrenheit or higher across several locations across Alaska into next week, threatening to shatter many daily record highs while some locations may topple all-time records.
“A strong area of high pressure has been nearly stationary and baking portions of southern Alaska recently, and it will gradually expand northward through this weekend and into next week,” AccuWeather Meteorologist Ryan Adamson said…
…This is normally the warmest time of the year across Alaska as normal temperatures begin to decline by the middle of the month. While heat of this magnitude is common across the central parts of the state, it is not too common for it to become this warm along coastal locations. Warmer ocean temperatures off the coast have likely aided in this record heat.”
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eleggua
/ July 5, 2019https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/weather/2019/07/05/with-a-high-of-89-anchorage-sets-an-all-time-high-temperature-record/?outputType=amp-type
“…because the temperature of record is collected at an airport, it is sampled more frequently than on the hour, an NWS official in Anchorage said. Upon evaluation of minute-to-minute temperatures, the weather service said, meteorologists saw that at exactly 5 p.m. the temperature spiked to 89.6 degrees before cooling back down to 87.8 five minutes later.
Anchorage’s new highest temperature on record — after rounding – is now 90 degrees on Independence Day, 2019.”
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eleggua
/ July 6, 2019Waking the giant?
‘Second, larger quake shakes Southern California, also near Ridgecrest’
Jul 05, 2019
https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-major-earthquake-southern-california20190705-story.html
“A magnitude 7.1 earthquake struck Southern California Friday night, the second major temblor in less than two days and one that rocked buildings across Southern California, adding more jitters to an already nervous region.
The quake was centered near Ridgecrest, the location of the July 4th 6.2 magnitude temblor that was the largest in nearly 20 years…
When Thursday’s quake hit, scientists had warned that it could lead to an even larger quake. Ridgecrest has been rattled by more than 17 magnitude 4 quakes and at least 1,200 aftershocks since Thursday. A magnitude 5.4 aftershock occurred earlier this morning— strong enough to awaken some residents of Los Angeles about 125 miles away.
Seismologists said Friday evening’s temblor appeared to to be part of the same sequence. Thursday’s large earthquake could’ve actually been the foreshock to today’s magnitude 6.9, said Lucy Jones….”
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eleggua
/ July 6, 2019‘Waking the Giant: How a changing climate triggers earthquakes, tsunamis, and volcanoes’
by Bill McGuire, Emeritus Professor of Geophysical & Climate Hazards at University College London (2011)
http://www.billmcguire.co.uk/books/waking-the-giant.html
“An astonishing transformation over the last 20,000 years has seen our planet flip from a frigid wasteland into the temperate world upon which our civilisation has grown and thrived. This most dynamic episode in Earth history saw the crust bouncing and bending in response to the melting of the great ice sheets and the filling of the ocean basins; triggering earthquakes, spawning tsunamis and provoking a lively response from the world’s volcanoes. Now there are signs that human-induced climate change is encouraging the sleeping giant beneath our feet to stir once again. Could it be that we are on track to bequeath to our children and their children not only a far hotter world, but also a more geologically dangerous one?
The ground beneath our feet may seem safe and solid, but earthquakes, volcanic blasts and other hazardous natural phenomena leave us in no doubt that this isn’t the case. The Earth is a dynamic planet of shifting tectonic plates that is responsive to change, particularly when there is a dramatic climate transition. We know that at the end of the last Ice Age, as the great glaciers disappeared, the release in pressure allowed the crust beneath to bounce back. At the same time, staggering volumes of melt water poured into the ocean basins, warping and bending the crust around their margins. The resulting tossing and turning provoked a huge resurgence in volcanic activity, seismic shocks, and monstrous landslides—the last both above the waves and below. The frightening truth is that temperature rises expected this century are in line with those at the end of the Ice Age. All the signs, warns geophysical hazard specialist Bill McGuire, are that unmitigated climate change due to human activities could bring about a comparable response. Using evidence accumulated from studies of the recent history of our planet, and gleaned from current observations and modelling, he argues convincingly that we ignore at our peril the threats presented by climate change and the waking giant beneath our feet.”
https://www.ucl.ac.uk/earth-sciences/people/academic/prof-bill-mcguire
“McGuire is an academic, science writer and broadcaster. He is currently Professor of Geophysical & Climate Hazards at UCL. Bill was a member of the UK Government’s Natural Hazards Working Group, established in 2005 in the wake of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, and in 2010 a member of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE), addressing the Icelandic ash problem. He is a contributing author on the 2011 IPCC Report on climate change and extreme events and was a member of the Lancet – UCL Commission on the Health Effects of Climate Change. He is an Advisory Board member of the Contraction & Convergence Foundation and a member of the Science Advisory Panel of the Science Media Centre. His current research focus is climate forcing of geological hazards.
Climate forcing of geological hazards; low frequency – high magnitude geophysical hazards and their impacts; geodetic monitoring of active volcanoes; volcano instability and collapse; volcanoes and environmental change; volcanic hazards and their mitigation; volcanic emergency protocols and procedures; identification and characterisation of megatsunami deposits”
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eleggua
/ July 6, 2019Cannot definitely connect these events to climate change (yet), however some things to consider.
‘Volcanic eruptions rock Italian island of Stromboli, 1 hiker is killed’
July 4, 2019
https://www.cnn.com/2019/07/03/europe/stromboli-italy-volcano-eruption/index.html
“Stromboli is one of the eight Aeolian Islands, a volcanic arc north of Sicily and a popular tourist destination. Stromboli has been in a near-continuous eruptive phase for decades.
The volcano is known as “the lighthouse of the Mediterranean” because of its frequent, bright eruptions at night. Wednesday’s eruptions are considerably more severe than normal.”
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eleggua
/ July 6, 2019‘Big earthquakes might make sea level rise worse. Here’s how.
The Samoan islands are sinking faster than expected due to warming alone, and a pair of huge quakes is likely to blame.’
17 June 2019
https://www.nationalgeographic.co.uk/environment/2019/06/big-earthquakes-might-make-sea-level-rise-worse-heres-how
“…a new study, published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth, reveals that the quakes also sparked a slow-burning danger for the more than 55,000 residents of American Samoa: a sea level rise that is five times as fast as the global average…
While the contributions of big earthquakes won’t be the same everywhere, the discovery emphasises the sometimes overlooked effects that geology can have on the increasing number of people around the world who call coastlines home.
“Everybody is talking about climate change issues … but they overlooked the impact of the earthquake and associated land subsidence,” says study leader Shin-Chan Han of the University of Newcastle, Australia, referring to documents from regional governments on sea level rise.
“This is a really important thing to point out,” says geophysicist Laura Wallace of the geoscience consultancy firm GNS Science, Te Pū Ao, in New Zealand, who was not involved in the study. “It obviously has a big impact on the relative sea level changes people are going to see in places like [the Samoan islands].”
…prolonged landscape deformation is what intrigues Han. For years, he’s scoured data from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment, or GRACE, satellites to hunt for the rise and fall of land after a quake. This satellite duo orbited Earth in a line from 2002 to 2017 and precisely tracked the gap between the spacecraft. As they passed over zones with slightly more mass, and thus stronger gravity, the leading craft would feel the tug just before the trailing one. This tweaked the space in between and registered as a wobble in the planet’s gravitational field that can reveal changes in the landmass below.
In the case of the 2009 earthquake, such changes were minute on a day-to-day basis. But eventually, the effects were large enough that Han saw something strange happening in the Samoan islands while poring over the GRACE data.
The 2009 event was a particularly unusual earthquake that initially baffled scientists, since the pair of powerful temblors ripped through the Earth nearly at the same time. One broke along a so-called normal fault, created due to the flex of the oceanic crust as it plunges under another tectonic plate in what’s known as a subduction zone. Another quake broke within the subduction zone due to the compressive forces of the colliding plates….
This data showed slow sinking of the landscape, driven primarily by the normal-fault quake. This particular earthquake causes one side of the landscape to fall in relation to the other, which sent the nearby islands sinking downward.
The team found that nearly a decade after the event, the island of Samoa has sunk by roughly 0.4 inches a year. The situation is particularly acute for American Samoa, which has seen more than 0.6 inches of subsidence each year, and it doesn’t look like it’s stopping anytime soon.
The pace outstrips the estimated rate of global sea level rise, which is creeping upward at some 0.13 inches a year…”
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eleggua
/ July 6, 2019‘Zipingpu Reservoir reveals climate-tectonics interplay around 2008 Wenchuan earthquake’
Chinese Academy of Sciences Headquarters
News Release 18-Jun-2019
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2019-06/caos-zrr061719.php
“The roles of “climate change” versus “tectonics” that dominate erosion and sediment transport over geological time scales have long been a hot topic in Earth science. How to effectively separate their respective roles is a big challenge, like the famous “chicken or egg” question.
A new study led by Prof. JIN Zhangdong from the Institute of Earth Environment (IEE) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences provided a new insight on the interplay between climate and tectonics from a sediment record in the Zipingpu Reservoir around the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake. The findings were published in Science Advances on June 12.
…Based on the precise annual chronology, the roles of a single large earthquake and climate on erosion and sediment transfer were evaluated along with sedimentary and hydrometeorological data. The records demonstrated that the grain size and Rb/Sr ratios of the sediments in the Zipingpu Reservoir responded immediately to the earthquake. However, the changes were muted until two years after the event.
The most obvious seismic signals occurred in 2010 when intense monsoonal runoff facilitated fast material export and drove accumulation of coarser grains and lower Rb/Sr sediments, which were then sustained for several years (Fig. 2).
The results indicated that, although the earthquake mobilized very large amounts of sediment by landsliding, hydrological forcing was necessary to transport this debris from hillslopes to downstream sediment stores, even in a location proximal to the mountain front. …
This study provides direct evidence that can inform the interpretation of paleorecords and help to illuminate the ways in which sedimentary archives reflect the complex interaction of tectonics and climate in controlling sediment transfer in tectonically active mountain ranges. “
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eleggua
/ July 6, 2019Comment by a seismologist today in an interview with the UK Guardian.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jul/05/earthquakes-southern-california-seismologist-ridgecrest
“Lucy Jones, one of the world’s foremost seismologists, spoke to the Guardian on Friday morning about the science behind the quakes, why the region should expect more earthquakes in the coming years, and whether LA is really prepared for disaster.
When we think about future weather disasters in California, where do earthquakes fall on the spectrum, relative to climate change and other threats?
Globally, there’s no point in worrying about the earthquake problem if we aren’t dealing with climate change.
We’re afraid of earthquakes. They really trigger every button in us, that randomness … but the biggest disaster in California history wasn’t an earthquake, it was a flood.
There was so much rain in the winter of 1861-62that it bankrupted the state, destroyed one-third of the taxable land, and killed about 1% of the population. And most Californians don’t even know that it happened.
Those types of really big atmospheric river storms (ARkStorm) are going to get worse. We will probably increase the number of hurricanes that make it out to LA. We’re going to have more flooding problems.”
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eleggua
/ July 6, 2019A lighter note: holy geoengineering!
‘Bishop Plans to Spray City with Holy Water from Helicopter:
‘We Have to Get Rid of the Devil”
6/25/19
https://www.newsweek.com/bishop-holy-water-helicopter-1445828
“A Catholic Bishop plans to spray holy water from a helicopter to exorcise the demons he says are plaguing his town.
Monsignor Rubén Darío Jaramillo Montoya, bishop of Buenaventura, Colombia, is borrowing a navy copter to deluge the city on July 14, the feast day for Buenaventura’s patron saint. “We want to go around the whole of Buenaventura from the air and pour holy water onto it… to see if we exorcise all those demons that are destroying our port,” Montoya told a local radio station. “So that God’s blessing comes and gets rid of all the wickedness that is in our streets.”
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Jean Swan
/ July 6, 2019Oil man Harold Hamm of Okla head of Trump’s shadow Govt:https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/trump-leadership-council-members-full-list-848274/ great audio..
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eleggua
/ July 6, 2019Oh, the irony…
“Trump Leadership Council
Banking, Tech, Trade, and Commerce
Scott Asplundh, Chief Executive Officer, Asplundh Tree Expert”
‘Asplundh Tree Pays Record $95M to Settle Criminal, Civil Immigration Charges’
ICE, Sept. 28, 2017
https://www.lexisnexis.com/LegalNewsRoom/immigration/b/outsidenews/posts/asplundh-tree-pays-record-95m-to-settle-criminal-civil-immigration-charges
“Asplundh Tree Experts, Co., one of the largest privately-held companies in the United States, headquartered in Willow Grove, Pennsylvania, (“Asplundh”), pleaded guilty today to unlawfully employing aliens, in connection with a scheme in which the highest levels of Asplundh management remained willfully blind while lower level managers hired and rehired employees they knew to be ineligible to work in the United States….
The $95 million dollar recovery, including $80 million dollars criminal forfeiture money judgment and $15 million dollars in civil payment, represents the largest payment ever levied in an immigration case.”
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eleggua
/ July 6, 2019McNabb and Hamm’s involvement was known nearly from the get-go. Rolling Stone’s piece exposed many formerly unknown. Only two women on the list, both from the “health care industry”.
There will be blood.
‘An insider’s look at President Trump’
September 7, 2017
http://www.thetribunepapers.com/2017/09/07/an-insiders-look-at-president-trump/
“The Tribune recently sat down in an interview with John McNabb, a retired oil man from Texas who co-founded the Trump Leadership Council along with his good friend, Harold Hamm. Hamm is an American oil and gas businessman worth an estimated $10 billion according to Wikipedia.
McNabb was born near the coal fields of West Virginia according to his bio….
McNabb said they founded the Trump Leadership Council back in April of 2016 out of a concern for the country’s direction and to help advise then-candidate Donald Trump on economic matters. The Council consisted of some of the top American business leaders. The Council represented ten different disciplines including agriculture, energy, transportation, banking, finance, healthcare and defense.
The Trump leadership council met with candidate Trump in person at Trump Tower and presented him with economic feedback…”
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eleggua
/ July 6, 2019‘Trump to claim US is environmental leader in spite of ripping up protections
Exclusive: On Monday president will likely tout America’s clean air and water, even though he’s rescinded rules to cut pollution’
3 Jul 2019
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jul/03/trump-to-claim-us-is-an-environmental-leader-despite-many-rollbacks
“Donald Trump plans to go on the offensive against criticism of his industry-friendly rollbacks of environment protections in a speech on Monday, according to three sources familiar with the plans.
Trump will tout America’s clean air and water, although his administration has advanced many efforts that experts say have undercut the country’s environmental record…
Trump’s environment officials, including Environmental Protection Agency administrator Andrew Wheeler, interior secretary David Bernhardt and council on environmental quality chief Mary Neumayr will be at the White House on Monday for the 3.30pm event titled Presidential Remarks on America’s Environmental Leadership…
Contacted for comment, a White House spokesperson confirmed the president’s plans: “The President will deliver remarks at the White House on Monday and recognize his administration’s environmental leadership and America’s role in leading the world.””
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eleggua
/ July 6, 2019Truth or consequences.
‘We need more leaders who have integrity and candor;’
By Barth Keck | Hartford Courant | Jul 05, 2019
“…I am pleading for a return to candor and integrity from our leaders.
Politicians have always embellished the truth and made empty promises. But that’s not what I’m talking about here. I’m referring to common decency and respect. I’m talking about how our leaders increasingly treat each other callously and purposefully lie to their constituents.
It’s a situation that has been evolving for a long time. In the 2017 book “Fantasyland: How America Went Haywire: A 500 Year History,” author Kurt Andersen faults the “fantasy-industrial complex,” a uniquely American phenomenon.
“America was created by true believers and passionate dreamers, by hucksters and their suckers — which over the course of four centuries has made us susceptible to fantasy,” writes Andersen, “as epitomized by everything from Salem hunting witches to Joseph Smith creating Mormonism, from P.T. Barnum to Henry David Thoreau to speaking in tongues, from Hollywood to Scientology to conspiracy theories, from Walt Disney to Billy Graham to Ronald Reagan to Oprah Winfrey to Donald Trump.”
And there he is — our current president. Trump didn’t create the fantasy-industrial complex, but he has certainly taken advantage of it. Real estate is his primary business, but he’s a carnival barker first and foremost, and he understands the power of media — particularly reality TV and Twitter…
Trump’s simplistic message spoken in his signature smug tone would never get past the deep thinkers of my childhood — people like George Carlin, the shrewd comedian who understood that America’s “most profitable business is still the manufacture, packaging, distribution, and marketing of bullsh—. High-quality, grade-A, prime-cut, pure American bullsh—.”
Back then, a politician peddling poppycock would be laughed out of the room by most mature adults. Or, he’d just be ignored. Today, that person is the president of the United States.
If Americans are lucky, the next president will change course by speaking truthfully, transparently and responsibly. Like Buttigieg did during the recent debate.
I’m not endorsing any particular candidate, once again, just someone who lives in the reality-based world. Which means I won’t endorse anyone who tells lies and then doubles down on them or subsequently ignores them.
In his book, Andersen quotes University of Connecticut philosophy professor Michael Lynch explaining the danger of such a leader: “If I simply deny what I earlier affirmed and act as if nothing happened, then you are left having to decide what I really meant … The most disturbing power of contradiction is that its repeated use can dull our sensitivity to the value of truth itself.”
I, for one, still value truth.
Barth Keck is an English teacher at Haddam-Killingworth High School.”
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mlp in nc
/ July 6, 2019Local boy develops nifty, environmentally friendly city transit. “The most efficient vehicle on the planet”.
“Organic Transit was getting more orders than it could fill, Cotter said. Locals were buying ELFs after seeing them around town, and people from all over the world were sending in online orders. People had to pay for their orders in advance, then they were handmade in Durham over about an eight-month period.”
Goes bankrupt.
Go figure.
https://www.newsobserver.com/news/business/article232242222.html
https://organictransit.com/
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eleggua
/ July 8, 2019” Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world…”
‘Earth’s Ancient Life Forms Are Awakening After 40,000 Years in Permafrost’
DANIEL ACKERMAN, THE WASHINGTON POST
8 JUL 2019
https://www.sciencealert.com/ancient-plants-and-animals-reawaken-after-40-000-years-of-the-deepest-icy-slumbers
“From about 1550 to 1850, a global cold snap called the Little Ice Age supersized glaciers throughout the Arctic. On Canada’s Ellesmere Island, Teardrop Glacier extended its frozen tongue across the landscape and swallowed a small tuft of moss.
Since 1850, the plant lay frozen under a 100-foot-thick slab of ice as humans discovered antibiotics, visited the moon and burned 2 trillion tons of fossil fuels.
Thanks to this latest exploit, evolutionary biologist Catherine La Farge arrived centuries later at Teardrop’s melting edge to find the tuft of the species Aulacomnium turgidum finally free from its icy entombment. The moss was faded and torn but sported a verdant hue – a possible sign of life…
Researchers in a warming Arctic are discovering organisms, frozen and presumed dead for millennia, that can bear life anew. These ice age zombies range from simple bacteria to multicellular animals, and their endurance is prompting scientists to revise their understanding of what it means to survive.
“You wouldn’t assume that anything buried for hundreds of years would be viable,” said La Farge, who researches mosses at the University of Alberta.
In 2009, her team was scouring Teardrop’s margin to collect blackened plant matter spit out by the shrinking glacier. Their goal was to document the vegetation that long ago formed the base of the island’s ecosystem.
“The material had always been considered dead. But by seeing green tissue, “I thought, ‘Well, that’s pretty unusual’,” La Farge said about the centuries-old moss tufts she found.
She brought dozens of these curious samples back to Edmonton, lavishing them with nutrient-rich soils in a bright, warm laboratory. Almost a third of the samples burst forth with new shoots and leaves.
“We were pretty blown away,” La Farge said. The moss showed few ill effects of its multi-centennial deep-freeze…
…mosses are more likely than other plants to survive long-term freezing, said Peter Convey, an ecologist with the British Antarctic Survey.
On the heels of La Farge’s Canadian moss revival, Convey’s team announced it had awakened a 1,500-year-old moss buried more than three feet underground in the Antarctic permafrost.
..Tatiana Vishnivetskaya has studied ancient microbes long enough to make the extreme feel routine. A microbiologist at the University of Tennessee, Vishnivetskaya drills deep into the Siberian permafrost to map the web of single-celled organisms that flourished ice ages ago.
She has coaxed million-year-old bacteria back to life on a petri dish. They look “very similar to bacteria you can find in cold environments [today],” she said.
But last year, Vishnivetskaya’s team announced an “accidental finding” – one with a brain and nervous system – that shattered scientists’ understanding of extreme endurance…
Hulking among the puny bacteria and amoebae were long, segmented worms complete with a head at one end and anus at the other – nematodes.
“Of course we were surprised and very excited,” Vishnivetskaya said. Clocking in at a half-millimeter long, the nematodes that wriggled back to life were the most complex creatures Vishnivetskaya – or anyone else – had ever revived after a lengthy deep freeze.
She estimated one nematode to be 41,000 years old – by far the oldest living animal ever discovered. This very worm dwelled in the soil beneath Neanderthals’ feet and had lived to meet modern-day humans in Vishnivetskaya’s high-tech laboratory…
After protracted slumber in Earth’s icy fringes, bacteria, moss and nematodes are awakening in a new geologic epoch. And for these paragons of endurance, the weather is just right.”
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eleggua
/ July 8, 2019‘The Last Winter’, from 2006, written by Robert Leaver and Larry Fessenden, directed by Fessenden. Sensible presentation of climate change science within the framework of an enviro-horror-thriller film.
“The American oil company KIK Corporation is building an ice road to explore the remote northern Arctic National Wildlife Refuge seeking energy independence.
Independent environmentalists work together in a drilling base headed by the tough Ed Pollack in a sort of agreement with the government, approving procedures and sending reports of the operation.
When one team member is found dead and naked on the snow, the environmentalist James Hoffman suspects that sour gas (natural gas containing hydrogen sulfide) may have been leaked out as a result of runaway climate change (arctic methane release). The sour gas might then be provoking hallucinations and insanity in the group.
After a second fatal incident, he convinces Ed to travel with the team to a hospital for examination. However, weird events end up trapping the group at the base.”
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eleggua
/ July 9, 2019July 8, 2019
Breaching a ‘carbon threshold’ could lead to mass extinction
by Jennifer Chu, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
https://phys.org/news/2019-07-breaching-carbon-threshold-mass-extinction.html
In the brain, when neurons fire off electrical signals to their neighbors, this happens through an “all-or-none” response. The signal only happens once conditions in the cell breach a certain threshold.
Now an MIT researcher has observed a similar phenomenon in a completely different system: Earth’s carbon cycle.
Daniel Rothman, professor of geophysics and co-director of the Lorenz Center in MIT’s Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, has found that when the rate at which carbon dioxide enters the oceans pushes past a certain threshold—whether as the result of a sudden burst or a slow, steady influx—the Earth may respond with a runaway cascade of chemical feedbacks, leading to extreme ocean acidification that dramatically amplifies the effects of the original trigger.
This global reflex causes huge changes in the amount of carbon contained in the Earth’s oceans, and geologists can see evidence of these changes in layers of sediments preserved over hundreds of millions of years.
Rothman looked through these geologic records and observed that over the last 540 million years, the ocean’s store of carbon changed abruptly, then recovered, dozens of times in a fashion similar to the abrupt nature of a neuron spike. This “excitation” of the carbon cycle occurred most dramatically near the time of four of the five great mass extinctions in Earth’s history.
Scientists have attributed various triggers to these events, and they have assumed that the changes in ocean carbon that followed were proportional to the initial trigger—for instance, the smaller the trigger, the smaller the environmental fallout.
But Rothman says that’s not the case. It didn’t matter what initially caused the events; for roughly half the disruptions in his database, once they were set in motion, the rate at which carbon increased was essentially the same. Their characteristic rate is likely a property of the carbon cycle itself—not the triggers, because different triggers would operate at different rates.
What does this all have to do with our modern-day climate? Today’s oceans are absorbing carbon about an order of magnitude faster than the worst case in the geologic record—the end-Permian extinction. But humans have only been pumping carbon dioxide into the atmosphere for hundreds of years, versus the tens of thousands of years or more that it took for volcanic eruptions or other disturbances to trigger the great environmental disruptions of the past. Might the modern increase of carbon be too brief to excite a major disruption?
According to Rothman, today we are “at the precipice of excitation,” and if it occurs, the resulting spike—as evidenced through ocean acidification, species die-offs, and more—is likely to be similar to past global catastrophes.
“Once we’re over the threshold, how we got there may not matter,” says Rothman, who is publishing his results this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. “Once you get over it, you’re dealing with how the Earth works, and it goes on its own ride.”
A carbon feedback
In 2017, Rothman made a dire prediction: By the end of this century, the planet is likely to reach a critical threshold, based on the rapid rate at which humans are adding carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. When we cross that threshold, we are likely to set in motion a freight train of consequences, potentially culminating in the Earth’s sixth mass extinction.
Rothman has since sought to better understand this prediction, and more generally, the way in which the carbon cycle responds once it’s pushed past a critical threshold. In the new paper, he has developed a simple mathematical model to represent the carbon cycle in the Earth’s upper ocean and how it might behave when this threshold is crossed.
Scientists know that when carbon dioxide from the atmosphere dissolves in seawater, it not only makes the oceans more acidic, but it also decreases the concentration of carbonate ions. When the carbonate ion concentration falls below a threshold, shells made of calcium carbonate dissolve. Organisms that make them fare poorly in such harsh conditions.
Shells, in addition to protecting marine life, provide a “ballast effect,” weighing organisms down and enabling them to sink to the ocean floor along with detrital organic carbon, effectively removing carbon dioxide from the upper ocean. But in a world of increasing carbon dioxide, fewer calcifying organisms should mean less carbon dioxide is removed.
“It’s a positive feedback,” Rothman says. “More carbon dioxide leads to more carbon dioxide. The question from a mathematical point of view is, is such a feedback enough to render the system unstable?”
“An inexorable rise”
Rothman captured this positive feedback in his new model, which comprises two differential equations that describe interactions between the various chemical constituents in the upper ocean. He then observed how the model responded as he pumped additional carbon dioxide into the system, at different rates and amounts.
He found that no matter the rate at which he added carbon dioxide to an already stable system, the carbon cycle in the upper ocean remained stable. In response to modest perturbations, the carbon cycle would go temporarily out of whack and experience a brief period of mild ocean acidification, but it would always return to its original state rather than oscillating into a new equilibrium.
When he introduced carbon dioxide at greater rates, he found that once the levels crossed a critical threshold, the carbon cycle reacted with a cascade of positive feedbacks that magnified the original trigger, causing the entire system to spike, in the form of severe ocean acidification. The system did, eventually, return to equilibrium, after tens of thousands of years in today’s oceans—an indication that, despite a violent reaction, the carbon cycle will resume its steady state.
This pattern matches the geological record, Rothman found. The characteristic rate exhibited by half his database results from excitations above, but near, the threshold. Environmental disruptions associated with mass extinction are outliers—they represent excitations well beyond the threshold. At least three of those cases may be related to sustained massive volcanism.
“When you go past a threshold, you get a free kick from the system responding by itself,” Rothman explains. “The system is on an inexorable rise. This is what excitability is, and how a neuron works too.”
Although carbon is entering the oceans today at an unprecedented rate, it is doing so over a geologically brief time. Rothman’s model predicts that the two effects cancel: Faster rates bring us closer to the threshold, but shorter durations move us away. Insofar as the threshold is concerned, the modern world is in roughly the same place it was during longer periods of massive volcanism.
In other words, if today’s human-induced emissions cross the threshold and continue beyond it, as Rothman predicts they soon will, the consequences may be just as severe as what the Earth experienced during its previous mass extinctions.
“It’s difficult to know how things will end up given what’s happening today,” Rothman says. “But we’re probably close to a critical threshold. Any spike would reach its maximum after about 10,000 years. Hopefully that would give us time to find a solution.”
“We already know that our CO2-emitting actions will have consequences for many millennia,” says Timothy Lenton, professor of climate change and earth systems science at the University of Exeter. “This study suggests those consequences could be much more dramatic than previously expected. If we push the Earth system too far, then it takes over and determines its own response—past that point there will be little we can do about it.”
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eleggua
/ July 10, 2019Radical people with radical solutions for radical problems.
‘David Attenborough: polluting planet may become as reviled as slavery ‘
‘Naturalist tells MPs radical action needed to tackle crisis but attitude of young people gives him hope
9 Jul 2019
https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2019/jul/09/david-attenborough-young-people-give-me-hope-on-environment
“The attitude of young people towards tackling the environmental crisis is “a source of great hope”, David Attenborough has told MPs, as he predicted that polluting the planet would soon provoke as much abhorrence as slavery.
Giving evidence to the business, energy and industrial strategy committee on how to tackle the climate emergency, the naturalist and TV presenter said radical action was required…
“We cannot be radical enough in dealing with the issues that face us at the moment. The question is: what is practically possible? How can we take the electorate with us in dealing with these things?”
He said: “The most encouraging thing that I see, of course, is that the electors of tomorrow are already making themselves and their voices very, very clear. And that is a source of great comfort in a way, but also the justification, the reality, that these young people are recognising that their world is the future.
“I’m OK, and all of us here are OK, because we don’t face the problems that are coming. But the problems in the next 30 years are really major problems that are going to cause social unrest, and great changes in the way that we live, and what we eat. It’s going to happen.”…
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eleggua
/ July 11, 2019‘Potential Tropical Storm Barry to Impact Gulf Coast With Severe Flooding, Surge, Wind Threats; Hurricane Watch Issued’
7/10/19
https://weather.com/storms/hurricane/news/2019-07-10-barry-hurricane-tropical-storm-flooding-forecast
” An area of low pressure is likely to develop in the northern Gulf of Mexico.
It will eventually strengthen into Tropical Storm Barry and may become a hurricane before landfall this weekend.
Hurricane, tropical storm and storm-surge watches have been issued on the northern Gulf Coast.
The track of future Barry remains a bit uncertain.
A major threat of rainfall flooding is in play over the northern Gulf Coast and lower Mississippi Valley.
Storm-surge flooding is also likely, particularly to the east of future Barry’s track. “
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eleggua
/ July 11, 2019“A major threat of rainfall flooding is in play over the northern Gulf Coast and lower Mississippi Valley.
Storm-surge flooding is also likely, particularly to the east of future Barry’s track.”
How will ^that^ effect the blue-green algae bloom that has now caused the closure of swimming at all of MIssissipi’s beaches?
Would be great to hear Robert’s analysis.
‘All Mississippi beaches closed as toxic algae bloom blankets state’s coast’
July 7, 2019
https://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/2019/07/07/breaking-mississippi-closes-all-beaches-toxic-algae-bloom-blankets-states-coast/1667999001/
“All of Mississippi’s Gulf Coast beaches have been closed for swimming as the expanding bloom of toxic blue-green algae blankets the state’s waters.
On Sunday the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality announced the closures of Pascagoula Beach West and Pascagoula Beach East, the final two state beaches that were open for swimming…
Sampling in the Pass Christian Harbor, the Bay St. Louis Harbor and the Long Beach Harbor has also indicated the presence of a bloom, according to the agency.
A water contact advisory for a segment of the Jourdan River in Hancock County from the Interstate 10 bridge to the mouth of the river into St. Louis Bay has also been issued.
Closures don’t prevent the use of beaches for sun bathing or recreation, but people and pets shouldn’t swim in the water. The agency also advises that anyone exposed to wash with soap and water and to not eat fish or any other seafood taken from affected areas.
The algal bloom, or rapid growth, is in part caused to the opening of the Bonnet Carre spillway in Louisiana, which introduced an excessive amount of freshwater to the coastline.
The blue-green algae is technically not an algae, but cyanobacteria, which is known to produce toxins. Exposure can cause rashes, stomach cramps, nausea, diarrhea and vomiting.”
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eleggua
/ July 11, 2019‘How a tropical system could impact salinity levels and blue-green algae in the Mississippi Sound’
July 7, 2019
https://www.wlox.com/2019/07/07/how-tropical-system-could-impact-salinity-levels-blue-green-algae-mississippi-sound/
“…
While no one wishes for a tropical system to impact anyone, a weak one coming from the right direction could be beneficial.
According to Dr. Monty Graham from the Department of Marine Sciences at the University of Southern Mississippi, it is more about the wind direction than mixing of waters.
He says a weak tropical system making landfall to our east around Mobile could help improve conditions in the Mississippi Sound.
The reason is because that would put South Mississippi on the west, dry side of the tropical system with north winds.
North winds help push the fresh water trapped in the Mississippi Sound into the Gulf of Mexico.
That would help salinity levels increase.
This could also help reduce the harmful blue-green algae bloom because it is not very tolerant of high salinity levels.
However, if a tropical system made landfall over or west of South Mississippi, that would put the area at risk for the negative impacts a tropical storm or hurricane can bring.
In general, a south wind traps the fresh water in the Mississippi Sound.
In addition, if heavy rain fell over the watersheds of the Pearl, Wolf, or Pascagoula Rivers, that would result in more freshwater intrusion in the Mississippi sound which could drop salinity levels again.”
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mlp in nc
/ July 11, 2019JAXA Arctic sea ice extent has dipped to lowest ever. Piomas Arctic Ice Volume Anomaly 1979-2001, ditto (per Arctische Pinguin).
On Climate Reanalyzer the northern section of the Northwest Passage is almost, but not quite, open.
The cruise lines are betting on the southern route this year. https://en.ponant.com/cruises/the-arctic-the-northwest-passage-a240819-kn0845-2
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eleggua
/ July 12, 2019‘The coal mine that ate Hambacher forest’
July 12, 2019
https://www.bbc.com/news/stories-48931062
“More than a third of Germany’s electricity is still produced by burning coal – mostly dirty brown lignite – and environmental activists are fighting to change this. A small area of forest not far from the Dutch border has become the focal point of their campaign.
It’s almost a uniform that they’re wearing – heavy boots, dark trousers, a hooded fleece and a scarf covering nose and mouth. There are three of them: Mona, Omo and Jim. They appear to be in their early 20s, and they say they want to change the world.
“We’re fighting capitalism and the big companies who are ruling the world and destroying it for profit,” says Jim.
We’re sitting under the trees of the Hambacher Forest, in the west of Germany, 30km (20 miles) from the city of Cologne. They all live in the “Hambi”, as they call it, in tree houses like the one above us, nestling in the branches of an oak.
They’re here because the Hambi is threatened with total destruction. There’s not much of it left now. The forest sits atop one of the largest coalfields in Europe and since mining started in 1978 the trees have been gradually stripped away to allow the excavators access to the riches that lie beneath – millions of tons of coal, coal that keeps industry running in this part of Germany and provides thousands of people with a living.
To add insult to injury, the coal that is extracted here is brown coal, also known as lignite, which emits particularly high levels of carbon dioxide…
RWE has now said it has no plans to start felling again, at least until the late summer of 2020. There are further indications that the forest may yet survive. A government-commissioned report published at the beginning of this year, which recommended that Germany close all its coal-fired power stations by 2038, also said that retaining what remains of the Hambacher Forest would be “desirable.”…
“Coal has a tradition here. It’s a cultural asset,” (activist/photographer Hubert Perschke) says. “And, as outsiders, we’re challenging that. We’re saying clearly that there are more important things – like the climate.”
“The digging machines are enormous “
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eleggua
/ July 12, 2019They certainly are enormous though ^that one^ is mining Pandora, from the film ‘Avatar’.
Here’s a real one from the RWE coal mine:
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eleggua
/ July 12, 2019‘Last month was the hottest June ever recorded — as climate groups warn of an ‘ecological emergency’’
Jul 3 2019
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/07/03/weather-hottest-june-ever-recorded-last-month-eu-data-shows.html
“…Data provided by the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), which is tasked with providing comprehensive climate information for the EU, showed global average temperatures for June 2019 were the highest on record for the month.
In Europe, average continental temperatures ranged approximately 1 degree Celsius (33.8 Fahrenheit) above the previous record for June, set in 1999.
The data also showed European average temperatures were around 2 degrees Celsius hotter than normal and temperatures were 6 degrees Celsius to 10 degrees Celsius above normal over most of France, Germany and northern Spain during the final days of June.
The global average temperature was 0.1 degrees Celsius warmer than the previous June record, set in 2016….”
“We’ve got a hot one for you
Can you take care of it?”
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eleggua
/ July 13, 2019Hyper-reallistic hurricane imagery. Not so realistic gator behaviour in the midst of a Cat5 hurricane. Movie opens today.
“The state of Florida has issued a Category 5 hurricane warning. All residents must evacuate immediately.”
‘Crawl Is a Vicious, Near-Perfect Summer Thrill’
7.12.2019
https://www.vulture.com/2019/07/crawl-2019-review.html
“Growing up in Miami, I learned there are two types of Floridians: those who respect Nature in all her complex glory and those who don’t. Haley Kelley — the dynamic lead of Crawl, played with white-knuckle intensity by Kaya Scodelario — might respect nature, but that doesn’t stop her from defying an evacuation and rushing headlong into a Category 5 hurricane in order to save her father, Dave (a perfectly scuzzy and heartfelt Barry Pepper). When she finds him with a broken leg — bone protruding from gnarled flesh — in the crawl space of their old family home, she doesn’t cower. She continues onward with an unmatched brio as alligators invade their flooded home. For Haley, the bonds of family are more important than her own safety; she’s as awe-inspiring to witness as the dark, ravaging hurricane overhead…
…Walking into Crawl, I didn’t expect to be transported back to my own childhood as a young girl growing up in Miami, a fierce member of my swim team who survived Hurricane Andrew with my family cramped in a windowless bathroom, listening to the wind sing to us.”
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eleggua
/ July 14, 2019Starting tomorrow in the UK.
‘From Monday 15 July Extinction Rebellion’s ‘Summer Uprising – ACT NOW!’ to cause major disruption across five UK cities’
https://rebellion.earth/2019/07/10/from-monday-15-july-extinction-rebellions-summer-uprising-act-now-to-cause-major-disruption-across-five-uk-cities/
” – From Monday 15 July regional Extinction Rebellion groups invite people from across the UK to join them in Bristol, Leeds, Cardiff, Glasgow and London to stage a series of beautiful and disruptive protests during next week under the banner Summer Uprising – ACT NOW.
– They are raising the alarm on why we need to demand of the government ACT NOW to halt biodiversity loss and reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2025.
– Each city will coordinate its own unique protest, drawing attention to different elements of the Climate and Ecological Emergency:
Bristol – Rising sea levels;
Cardiff – The sixth mass extinction;
Glasgow – Solidarity with climate refugees;
Leeds – Planet before profit,
London – Climate justice.
– A thousand rebels have said they are willing to risk arrest and 500 rebels are willing to go to prison over the actions if necessary. Hundreds are prepared to block cities all week if local councils refuse to meet our demands.
– People are invited to come and join the creative resistance, including People’s Assemblies, art actions, music, performances, talks, workshops, food and designated family spaces.
– Extinction Rebellion also announces today that the next major International Rebellion will begin worldwide from Monday 7 October; the announcement comes as preparations begin for the East London Uprising this weekend, 12–14 July.
Time is running out…”
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eleggua
/ July 14, 2019“Just thinkin’ about tomorrow…”
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eleggua
/ July 14, 2019“This is a really good example of how carbon from the surface or the midwater is transferred down into the benthos and consumed by other organisms.”
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eleggua
/ July 14, 2019‘Has Your Doctor Talked To You About Climate Change?’
July 13, 2019
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2019/07/13/734430818/has-your-doctor-talked-to-you-about-climate-change
“…Howard turns to (pulmonologist Dr. Mary) Rice with a question she didn’t encounter in medical school: “Can I ask you: Last summer, why was it so hot?”
Rice, who studies air pollution, is ready.
“The overall trend of the hotter summers that we’re seeing [is] due to climate change,” Rice says, “and with the overall upward trend, we’ve got the consequences of climate change.”
For Rice, connecting those consequences — heat waves, more pollen, longer allergy seasons — to her patients’ health is becoming routine. She is among a very small but growing number of doctors and nurses who discuss those connections with patients…
Climate change is different, says Rice, because an individual patient can’t prevent it. So Rice focuses on steps her patients can take to cope with the consequences of heatwaves, more potent pollen and a longer allergy season…
“It feels like once [the allergy season] starts in the springtime, it doesn’t end until there’s a killing frost,” (patient Mary) Heafy tells Rice, with some exasperation.
“Yes,” Rice nods, “because of global warming, the plants are flowering earlier in the spring. After hot summers, the trees are releasing more pollen the following season. And the ragweed — it’s extending longer into the fall.”…
…Heafy observes that “physicians talk about things like smoking, but I don’t know that every physician talks about the environmental impact.”…
A few nursing schools are adding climate-related courses to their training, to prepare students for conversations with patients.
“Nurses need to catch up quickly,” says Patrice Nicholas, director of the Center for Climate Change, Climate Justice and Health at the MGH Institute of Health Professions in Boston.
Nicholas attributes the delay, in part, to politics. “Climate change really needs to be reframed as a public health issue,” Nicholas says…”
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eleggua
/ July 15, 2019It’s getting hot out there.
Average June temperature anomaly, 1880-2019, Europe and Globe.
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eleggua
/ July 15, 2019It’s on.
‘Extinction Rebellion block traffic in UK cities in ‘summer uprising’ environmental protests ‘
15 July 2019
https://news.sky.com/story/extinction-rebellion-block-traffic-in-uk-cities-in-summer-uprising-environmental-protests-11763711
“Members of Extinction Rebellion have blocked roads in London and four other cities in a new wave of demonstrations demanding faster action against climate change.
Hundreds of environmental protesters obstructed the street outside London’s Royal Courts of Justice on Monday with a big blue boat bearing the words: “Act Now”.
…”
“Activists block traffic on the Strand in central London”
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eleggua
/ July 16, 2019‘Explosive peat moss’
July 15, 2019
“When your fuel moistures are so low, the ground is a flammable nightmare …
Here is what’s going on with the video – This is up here in Alberta Canada. The peat moss is so dry right now (DC > 700) that when you kick it it turns to dust. That dust, when combined with oxygen and heat, is very explosive. Like flour in a campfire…”
(Video at the link above.)
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mlp in nc
/ July 16, 2019Did I just see what I thought I saw? Hard to tell. The friction from the boots enough to cause the moss dust to explode in flames? Where is Johnny Carson when you need him.
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eleggua
/ July 16, 2019Yep, your eyes do not deceive. Granted, they gave it a decent kick but the fact is, it exploded upon impact. And it’s shown in slow-motion, so that’s incredibly rapid combustion.
That site, Wildfire Today, is excellent.
https://wildfiretoday.com/
Bill Gabbert and the majority of commenters are not happy about the nonsense perpetuated by tRump and company. That jive is literally threatening wildfire fighters lives.
p.s. Good to see and read a new post by Robert today.
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eleggua
/ July 16, 2019Here’s Johnny.
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