Climate Change News & Discussions

[weatheriscool]

NASA space mission takes stock of carbon dioxide emissions by countries
https://phys.org/news/2023-03-nasa-spac ... arbon.html
by Sally Younger, Jet Propulsion Laboratory

A pilot project has estimated emissions and removals of carbon dioxide in individual nations using satellite measurements.

A NASA Earth-observing satellite has helped researchers track carbon dioxide emissions for more than 100 countries around the world. The pilot project offers a powerful new look at the carbon dioxide being emitted in these countries and how much of it is removed from the atmosphere by forests and other carbon-absorbing "sinks" within their borders. The findings demonstrate how space-based tools can support insights on Earth as nations work to achieve climate goals.

The international study, published in Earth System Science Data and conducted by more than 60 researchers, used measurements made by NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2) mission, as well as a network of surface-based observations, to quantify increases and decreases in atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations from 2015 to 2020. Using this measurement-based (or "top-down") approach, the researchers were then able to infer the balance of how much carbon dioxide was emitted and removed.

[wjfox]

[weatheriscool]

'Aim higher, act faster, or risk losing it all': Climate change report offers 'final warning'
Source: The New Daily

Humanity has had its “final warning” on the state of our climate, according to an alarming new scientific report.

More than 300 scientists signed off on the latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, with the most authoritative global body on climate change urging countries to “aim higher, act faster, or risk losing it all” in its final report of the 2020s.

The IPCC Climate Change 2023: Synthesis Report, compiled by hundreds of scientists from 67 countries, was released on Monday, and it draws together the contributions of the IPSS’s sixth assessment cycle.

Read more: https://thenewdaily.com.au/life/science ... c-warning/

[wjfox]

[wjfox]

[caltrek]

Court Rules Greta Thunberg and Others Can Sue Sweden for 'Insufficient Climate Policy'
by Jessica Corbett
March 21, 2023

Introduction:

(Common Dreams) A Swedish court on Tuesday ruled that hundreds of youth climate activists including Greta Thunberg can collectively sue Sweden for the government's "insufficient climate policy."

More than 600 people under age 26, including 20-year-old Thunberg, signed the 87-page document that is the basis for the lawsuit, which was filed in Stockholm in November and coincided with a march through the city.

"Sweden has never treated the climate crisis like a crisis," Anton Foley of the youth-led group Aurora, which prepared and filed the class-action suit, said at the time. "Sweden is failing in its responsibility and breaking the law."

The Nacka District Court determined Tuesday that the case can proceed and gave the Swedish government three months to respond.

"The district court has today issued a summons in a high-profile class-action lawsuit," the court said. "In the case, demands have been made for the district court to determine that the state has an obligation to take certain specified measures to limit climate change."

Read more here: https://www.commondreams.org/news/swed ... mate-case

[weatheriscool]

Millionaires will burn through 2/3 of world's carbon budget by 2050

To limit global warming to below 1.5°C, we can only burn a certain amount of carbon.

But millionaire emissions alone will deplete 72 per cent of this allowance before 2050, according to a paper published in the latest Cleaner Production Letters journal.

“Continued growth in emissions at the top makes a low-carbon transition less likely, as the system's capacity to decarbonize,” the scientists warn.

https://www.euronews.com/green/2023/03/ ... ientists-w

[wjfox]

[wjfox]

I know we have 2 or 3 climate deniers on this forum. I have to ask, what are you thinking when you see graphs like this?

Do you really imagine yourself more qualified than legions of experts with PhDs, who've studied this subject in exquisite detail, for decades? What exactly do you find so difficult to accept?

What's your alternative theory?

[weatheriscool]

Rising temperatures are pushing India towards the deadly "wet bulb" threshold
https://qz.com/rising-heat-pushes-india ... 1850277293

India is moving towards fatal climatic conditions. This year saw the country’s hottest February in 122 years, and it is only likely to get worse.

The central and western regions of the hot tropical country are expected to experience heat waves in March-May, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD). Summer temperatures in northern India regularly soar beyond 40°C in May and June, the hottest months of the year. Topping 50°C is unusual, but that is happening, too.

Climate scientists are now worried about an increased possibility of deaths if human body temperatures exceed the “wet bulb” threshold of 35°C. A Lancet study found a 55% spike in fatalities in India between 2000-2004 and 2017-2021 due to extreme heat. This is besides the loss of labour hours and the resultant loss of income.

[Time_Traveller]

Antarctic ocean currents heading for collapse - report

1 day ago

Rapidly melting Antarctic ice is causing a dramatic slowdown in deep ocean currents and could have a disastrous effect on the climate, a new report warns.

The deep-water flows which drive ocean currents could decline by 40% by 2050, a team of Australian scientists says.

The currents carry vital heat, oxygen, carbon and nutrients around the globe.

Previous research suggests a slowdown in the North Atlantic current could cause Europe to become colder.

The study, published in the journal Nature, also warns the slowdown could reduce ocean's ability to absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-austra ... gn=KARANGA

[wjfox]

[caltrek]

The Corporate Media's Shocking Silence on Latest Tipping Points Study
by Julie Hollar
April 5, 2023

Introduction:

(Common Dreams) On the heels of the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report (3/20/23), which featured scientists running out of ways to emphasize how urgently deep cuts in fossil fuel use are needed, a troubling new climate study has emerged. Published in the prominent peer-reviewed science journal Nature (3/29/23), the study found that a little-studied deep ocean circulation system is slowing dramatically, and could collapse this century. One IPCC author not involved in the study declared it "headline news." Unfortunately, science doesn't guide US corporate media, which were virtually silent on the landmark study.

The authors modeled the effects of Antarctic meltwater on deep ocean currents crucial to marine ecosystems. Similar to the more well-studied Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) that the Gulf Stream is a part of, and which is also known to be dangerously weakening, the Antarctic overturning circulation has major planetary impacts. It pushes nutrient-dense water from the ocean floor up toward the surface, where those nutrients support marine life. The Nature study, which also refers to the current as the Antarctic Bottom Water, found that this circulation system is projected to slow down 42% by 2050, with a total collapse "this century," according to study co-author Matthew England (CNN.com, 3/29/23).

This is indeed "headline news," with major impacts on the sustainability of marine ecosystems and the ocean's capacity to absorb carbon dioxide, accelerating climate change. And this deep warming could cause further ice melt, which isn't incorporated into the study's models—meaning this could all happen even faster than their model predicts.

Yet FAIR could find no record of any US newspaper even mentioning the Nature study in the week since it came out—let alone giving it the front-page coverage it inarguably deserves. Nor did we find mentions on national TV news programs, aside from CNN anchor Michael Holmes interviewing England for the network's 3 a.m. airing of CNN Newsroom (4/1/23). Aside from science- and environment-focused news outlets (Conversation, 3/29/23; Grist, 4/3/23, picked up by Salon, 4/3/23), almost no major US-based web outlets offered reports either, with the exception, again, of CNN.com (3/29/23), which ran a creditable article by Australian-based journalist Hilary Whiteman.

Read more of the Common Dreams article here: https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/m ... ng-points

Here is the presentation of the climate study report as found in Nature: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586 ... T1Yraw%3D

[weatheriscool]

20 Times Quicker – Ice Sheets Can Collapse Far Faster Than Previously Thought Possible
https://scitechdaily.com/20-times-quick ... -possible/
By Newcastle University April 8, 2023

Scientists discover that during periods of global warming, ice sheets can retreat at a pace of up to 600 meters per day, which is 20 times quicker than the previous highest recorded rate of retreat.

An international team of scientists, headed by Dr. Christine Batchelor from Newcastle University in the United Kingdom, utilized high-resolution imagery of the ocean floor to uncover the rapid pace at which a former ice sheet that stretched from Norway receded at the end of the last Ice Age, approximately 20,000 years ago.

The team, which also included researchers from the universities of Cambridge and Loughborough in the UK and the Geological Survey of Norway, mapped more than 7,600 small-scale landforms called ‘corrugation ridges’ across the seafloor. The ridges are less than 2.5 m high and are spaced between about 25 and 300 meters apart.

These landforms are understood to have formed when the ice sheet’s retreating margin moved up and down with the tides, pushing seafloor sediments into a ridge every low tide. Given that two ridges would have been produced each day (under two tidal cycles per day), the researchers were able to calculate how quickly the ice sheet retreated.

[weatheriscool]

Troubled Waters: Record-Breaking Rates of Sea-Level Rise Found Along the U.S. Southeast and Gulf Coasts

https://scitechdaily.com/troubled-water ... lf-coasts/
By Tulane University April 10, 2023

Researchers found rates of sea-level rise of about a half an inch per year since 2010 — three times higher than the global average over the same period.

A Tulane University study found that sea levels along the U.S. Southeast and Gulf coasts have accelerated at record-breaking rates of half an inch per year since 2010 due to compounding effects of climate change and natural variability. The study emphasizes the urgency of addressing climate change to protect vulnerable coastlines.

Sea levels along the U.S. Southeast and Gulf coasts have been rapidly accelerating, reaching record-breaking rates over the past 12 years, according to a new study led by scientists at Tulane University.

In the study, published today (April 10, 2023) in the journal Nature Communications, researchers said they had detected rates of sea-level rise of about a half an inch per year since 2010. They attribute the acceleration to the compounding effects of man-made climate change and natural climate variability.

“These rapid rates are unprecedented over at least the 20th century and they have been three times higher than the global average over the same period,” says Sönke Dangendorf, lead author and the David and Jane Flowerree Assistant Professor in the Department of River-Coastal Science and Engineering at Tulane.

The authors studied a combination of field and satellite measurements since 1900, pinpointing the individual contributors to the acceleration.

[wjfox]

Climate models warn of possible ‘super El Niño’ before end of year

Tue 11 Apr 2023 16.00 BST

Climate models around the globe continue to warn of a potential El Niño developing later this year – a pattern of ocean warming in the Pacific that can increase the risk of catastrophic weather events around the globe.

Some models are raising the possibility later this year of an extreme, or “super El Niño”, that is marked by very high temperatures in a central region of the Pacific around the equator.

The last extreme El Niño in 2016 helped push global temperatures to the highest on record, underpinned by human-caused global heating that sparked floods, droughts and disease outbreaks.

Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology said in a Tuesday update that all seven models it had surveyed – including those from weather agencies in the UK, Japan and the US – showed sea surface temperatures passing the El Niño threshold by August.

But the bureau and climate scientists warned that forecasts were much less reliable during the southern hemisphere autumn and outlooks should be “viewed with some caution”.

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-n ... nd-of-year

[wjfox]

[weatheriscool]

US energy secretary says G7 can lead global emissions cuts
Source: AP

By ELAINE KURTENBACH today

OTARU, Japan (AP) — Wealthy nations can lead by example in cutting carbon emissions, though much faster action is needed to stem global warming, U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said Friday in an interview with The Associated Press.

Granholm and other senior energy and environment officials from the Group of Seven advanced economies are in Hokkaido in northern Japan this week for meetings on climate change, energy security and related issues.

“That’s what we hope to do is lead by example,” Granholm said after touring the world’s first and only liquefied hydrogen carrier, a ship that showcases Japanese efforts to transform heavily polluting coal into emissions-free hydrogen power.

At the G-7 summit in May last year, member nations set a common goal of achieving a fully or predominantly decarbonized electricity supply by 2035.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/energy-emiss ... d1cda6605f

[weatheriscool]

[weatheriscool]

Also the second hottest march globally. First is 2016.