Climate Change News & Discussions

weatheriscool
Posts: 12973
Joined: Sun May 16, 2021 6:16 pm

Re: Climate Change News & Discussions

Post by weatheriscool »

Arctic open-water periods are projected to lengthen dramatically by 2100
https://phys.org/news/2021-06-arctic-op ... gthen.html
by University of Manitoba
A team from the Centre for Earth Observation Science at the University of Manitoba has published a paper in the Nature journal Communications Earth & Environment that addresses a large gap in our understanding of Arctic Sea Ice coverage.

Their paper, "Arctic open-water periods are projected to lengthen dramatically by 2100," reports on the how sensitive the seasonal retreat and advance of Arctic sea ice in specific regions are to different thresholds of global warming, that is, what happens to the ice for every degree of warming.

The crucial information that this paper provides is knowing how long the problem will last, says lead author Alex Crawford. He likens it to sports: the most important information to a coach or fan isn't the type of an injury a player has, but rather how long that player will be out of action.
weatheriscool
Posts: 12973
Joined: Sun May 16, 2021 6:16 pm

Re: Climate Change News & Discussions

Post by weatheriscool »

Scientists establish new records of Singapore's sea-level history
https://phys.org/news/2021-06-scientist ... story.html
by Nanyang Technological University
A close up of the core sample. The sample is put through rigorous laboratory methods and statistical analysis to obtain data to reconstruct Singapore's sea level history. Credit: NTU Singapore

Climate scientists at the Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU, Singapore) have extended the known record of Singapore's sea level to almost 10,000 years ago, providing a more robust dataset to aid future predictions of sea level rise.

One of the main challenges in researching climate change is to reconstruct its history over thousands of years. To have a better sense of the potential causes and effects of future changes, scientists need to learn from and understand the past.

Extracting ancient sediments from a depth of up to 40 m underground at a site at Singapore's Marina South, an international team led by NTU researchers put the samples through rigorous laboratory methods (e.g., identifying microfossils such as foraminifera) and statistical analysis to obtain data to reconstruct Singapore's sea-level history.
weatheriscool
Posts: 12973
Joined: Sun May 16, 2021 6:16 pm

Re: Climate Change News & Discussions

Post by weatheriscool »

Substantial carbon dioxide emissions from northern peatlands drained for crop cultivation
https://phys.org/news/2021-06-substanti ... thern.html
by University of Exeter
A new study shows that substantial amounts of carbon dioxide were released during the last millennium because of crop cultivation on peatlands in the Northern Hemisphere.

Only about half of the carbon released through the conversion of peat to croplands was compensated by continuous carbon absorption in natural northern peatlands.

Peatlands are a type of wetland which store more organic carbon than any other type of land ecosystem in the world.

Due to waterlogged conditions, dead plant materials do not fully decay and carbon accumulates in peatlands over thousands of years.

Therefore, natural peatlands help to cool the climate by capturing carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere through photosynthesis and trapping carbon in soils.
User avatar
wjfox
Site Admin
Posts: 8733
Joined: Sat May 15, 2021 6:09 pm
Location: London, UK
Contact:

Re: Climate Change News & Discussions

Post by wjfox »

User avatar
caltrek
Posts: 6509
Joined: Mon May 17, 2021 1:17 pm

Re: Climate Change News & Discussions

Post by caltrek »

The Climate Bill Even Big Ag Loves
But will it dent emissions?

https://www.motherjones.com/food/2021/0 ... riculture/

Introduction:
Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) normally doesn’t see climate change as a major societal threat in need of a policy response. A magnet for agribusiness and oil-industry campaign contributions, she pleaded ignorance about climate science at a debate in 2014. She added, “I can’t say one way or another what is the direct impact, whether it’s manmade or not. I’ve heard arguments from both sides.” Yet Ernst has managed to find a piece of climate legislation she likes—one that involves one of her state’s major industries: agriculture.

It’s called the Growing Climate Solutions Act, and Ernst counts among 49 senators on both sides of the partisan divide sponsoring it. Outside supporters include the National Milk Producers Federation, the National Pork Producers Council, and the United States Cattlemen’s Association. The American Farm Bureau Federation, an insurance conglomerate and agribusiness lobbying powerhouse that has long opposed federal regulation to cut greenhouse gas emissions, is pushing it, as is the US Chamber of Commerce, a champion of unfettered oil and natural-gas drilling.

Some Big Green groups back it, too. “Passage of the Growing Climate Solutions Act would be a big win for agriculture, conservation, and the climate,” argued a recent statement from the Nature Conservancy, echoing similar enthusiasm from the Environmental Defense Fund. In late April, the bill sailed through the Senate Agriculture Committee, and likely has the votes to pass the full Senate, although it has yet to be scheduled for a vote.
Don't mourn, organize.

-Joe Hill
weatheriscool
Posts: 12973
Joined: Sun May 16, 2021 6:16 pm

Re: Climate Change News & Discussions

Post by weatheriscool »

Carbon dioxide levels hit 50% higher than preindustrial time
By SETH BORENSTEINan hour ago
The annual peak of global heat-trapping carbon dioxide in the air has reached another dangerous milestone: 50% higher than when the industrial age began.

And the average rate of increase is faster than ever, scientists reported Monday.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said the average carbon dioxide level for May was 419.13 parts per million. That’s 1.82 parts per million higher than May 2020 and 50% higher than the stable pre-industrial levels of 280 parts per million, said NOAA climate scientist Pieter Tans.

Carbon dioxide levels peak every May just before plant life in the Northern Hemisphere blossoms, sucking some of that carbon out of the atmosphere and into flowers, leaves, seeds and stems. The reprieve is temporary, though, because emissions of carbon dioxide from burning coal, oil and natural gas for transportation and electricity far exceed what plants can take in, pushing greenhouse gas levels to new records every year.
https://apnews.com/article/business-cli ... 92c0457e62
User avatar
Time_Traveller
Posts: 2105
Joined: Sun May 16, 2021 4:49 pm
Location: Clermont, Indiana, USA, October 7th 2019 B.C.E

Re: Climate Change News & Discussions

Post by Time_Traveller »

'Glacier blood' could be key to understanding impacts of climate change
about 8 hours ago

Atop the French Alps, thousands of feet above sea level, the normally white snow sometimes appears stained with blotches of what appears to be dark red blood, some of which extend for miles.

But no, these aren't the sites of violent mountaintop massacres — the spooky red stains, known as "glacier blood," actually come from microalgae that live in the snow, and scientists recently trekked into the Alps to study these mysterious organisms.

The expedition is part of the AlpAlga project, an effort to study microalgae living in the mountains, 3,280 to 9,842 feet (1,000 to 3,000 meters) above sea level. Much like the microalgae that inhabit oceans, lakes and rivers, snow-borne microalgae help form the base of the food web of a mountainous ecosystem and likely react to pollution and climate change in a similar fashion, said Eric Maréchal, a coordinator of the AlpAlga consortium and a director of the Laboratory of Cellular and Plant Physiology, a research facility in Grenoble, France.
https://www.livescience.com/glacier-blo ... ition.html
"We all have our time machines, don't we. Those that take us back are memories...And those that carry us forward, are dreams."

-H.G Wells.
User avatar
wjfox
Site Admin
Posts: 8733
Joined: Sat May 15, 2021 6:09 pm
Location: London, UK
Contact:

Re: Climate Change News & Discussions

Post by wjfox »

User avatar
Time_Traveller
Posts: 2105
Joined: Sun May 16, 2021 4:49 pm
Location: Clermont, Indiana, USA, October 7th 2019 B.C.E

Re: Climate Change News & Discussions

Post by Time_Traveller »

António Guterres on the climate crisis: ‘We are coming to a point of no return’
Fri 11 Jun 2021

Wealthy countries risk an “unforgivable lost opportunity” by not emerging from the Covid-19 pandemic with newly green economies to address the climate crisis, the United Nations secretary general has warned.

Before meeting the leaders of the world’s major economic powers at the G7 summit in the UK, António Guterres said he was concerned that the richest nations have pumped billions of dollars more into fossil fuels than clean energy since the pandemic, despite their promises of a green recovery.

“I’m more than disappointed, I’m worried about the consequences,” Guterres told the Guardian at the UN headquarters in New York, as part of a Covering Climate Now consortium of interviews alongside NBC News and El Pais. “We need to make sure we reverse the trends, not maintain the trends. It’s now clear we are coming to a point of no return.

“To spend these trillions of dollars and not use this occasion to reverse the trends and massively invest in the green economy will be an unforgivable lost opportunity.”

A recent analysis showed the G7 countries – the UK, US, Canada, Italy, France, Germany and Japan – have committed $189bn to support oil, coal and gas, as well as offer financial lifelines to the aviation and automotive sectors, since the outbreak of the coronavirus. This is over $40bn more than has been directed towards renewable energy.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment ... andemic-g7
"We all have our time machines, don't we. Those that take us back are memories...And those that carry us forward, are dreams."

-H.G Wells.
weatheriscool
Posts: 12973
Joined: Sun May 16, 2021 6:16 pm

Re: Climate Change News & Discussions

Post by weatheriscool »

Pine Island Glacier's ice shelf is ripping apart, speeding up key Antarctic glacier
https://phys.org/news/2021-06-island-gl ... pping.html
by University of Washington
For decades, the ice shelf helping to hold back one of the fastest-moving glaciers in Antarctica has gradually thinned. Analysis of satellite images reveals a more dramatic process in recent years: From 2017 to 2020, large icebergs at the ice shelf's edge broke off, and the glacier sped up.

Since floating ice shelves help to hold back the larger grounded mass of the glacier, the recent speedup due to the weakening edge could shorten the timeline for Pine Island Glacier's eventual collapse into the sea. The study from researchers at the University of Washington and British Antarctic Survey was published June 11 in the open-access journal Science Advances.

"We may not have the luxury of waiting for slow changes on Pine Island; things could actually go much quicker than expected," said lead author Ian Joughin, a glaciologist at the UW Applied Physics Laboratory. "The processes we'd been studying in this region were leading to an irreversible collapse, but at a fairly measured pace. Things could be much more abrupt if we lose the rest of that ice shelf."
Post Reply