Environment – Page 90

Melting Sea Ice: the Disaster Scenario

Posted on 2016/03/312019/09/20 by admin

According to a new study published in the journal Nature, the disaster scenario of rising sea levels could play out much sooner than expected. Thwaites Glacier in Antarctica may become unstable in the next 30 to 50 years.

“We are not saying this is definitely going to happen,” said David Pollard, a researcher at Pennsylvania State University and a co-author of the new paper. “But I think we are pointing out that there’s a danger, and it should receive a lot more attention.”

If this does happen, sea levels could rise 6 feet in this century inundating coastal cities.

“You could think of all sorts of ways that we might duck this one,” said Richard B. Alley, a leading expert on glacial ice at Pennsylvania State University. “I’m hopeful that will happen. But given what we know, I don’t think we can tell people that we’re confident of that.”

In another study published in the journal Nature, scientists forecast “Millions projected to be at risk from sea-level rise in the continental United States”.

“Sea-level rise (SLR) is one of the most apparent climate change stressors facing human society. Although it is known that many people at present inhabit areas vulnerable to SLR few studies have accounted for ongoing population growth when assessing the potential magnitude of future impacts4. Here we address this issue by coupling a small-area population projection with a SLR vulnerability assessment across all United States coastal counties. We find that a 2100 SLR of 0.9 m places a land area projected to house 4.2 million people at risk of inundation, whereas 1.8 m affects 13.1 million people—approximately three times larger than indicated by current populations. These results suggest that the absence of protective measures could lead to US population movements of a magnitude similar to the twentieth century Great Migration of southern African-Americans. Furthermore, our population projection approach can be readily adapted to assess other hazards or to model future per capita economic impacts.”

Humans Set World Pollution Record

Posted on 2016/03/22 by admin

by Daniel Brouse

Scientists wrote in the journal Nature Geoscience, “Given currently available records, the present anthropogenic carbon release rate is unprecedented during the past 66 million years.”

The largest known natural surge is believed to have happened 56 million years ago and was likely caused by a release of frozen methane beneath the seabed.

“Our results suggest that future ocean acidification and possible effects on marine calcifying organisms will be more severe than during the PETM (Paleoeocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum),” said lead author Richard Zeebe of the University of Hawaii. “Future ecosystem disruptions are likely to exceed the relatively limited extinctions observed at the PETM.” It is believed in previous warming animals had more time to adapt. In the current warming trend, creatures (such as humans) will unlikely be able to adapt. The warming rate is too fast.

Article from Nature Geoscience:
Anthropogenic carbon release rate unprecedented during the past 66 million years
by Richard E. Zeebe, Andy Ridgwell & James C. Zachos

Abstract
Carbon release rates from anthropogenic sources reached a record high of ~10 Pg C yr−1 in 2014. Geologic analogues from past transient climate changes could provide invaluable constraints on the response of the climate system to such perturbations, but only if the associated carbon release rates can be reliably reconstructed. The Palaeocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) is known at present to have the highest carbon release rates of the past 66 million years, but robust estimates of the initial rate and onset duration are hindered by uncertainties in age models. Here we introduce a new method to extract rates of change from a sedimentary record based on the relative timing of climate and carbon cycle changes, without the need for an age model. We apply this method to stable carbon and oxygen isotope records from the New Jersey shelf using time-series analysis and carbon cycle–climate modelling. We calculate that the initial carbon release during the onset of the PETM occurred over at least 4,000 years. This constrains the maximum sustained PETM carbon release rate to less than 1.1 Pg C yr−1. We conclude that, given currently available records, the present anthropogenic carbon release rate is unprecedented during the past 66 million years. We suggest that such a ‘no-analogue’ state represents a fundamental challenge in constraining future climate projections. Also, future ecosystem disruptions are likely to exceed the relatively limited extinctions observed at the PETM.

More Human Induced Climate Change Experiments

Australia: Great Barrier Reef Fading Fast

Posted on 2016/03/21 by admin

Global warming is causing a mass “die-off” on the Great Barrier Reef. Authorities have enacted the highest emergency response level.

“The corals in the remote far north of the reef experienced extremely hot and still conditions this summer, and were effectively bathed in warm water for months, creating heat stress that they could no longer cope with,” said Russell Reichelt, the chairman of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority.

The weather conditions are causing extreme bleaching resulting in the death of large amounts of coral.

“This is the worst coral bleaching event ever to hit this most pristine part of the Great Barrier Reef,” said WWF spokesman Richard Leck. “We can turn this around. The reef can recover but we must speed up the shift to clean, renewable energy and we must build reef resilience by reducing runoff pollution from farms and land clearing. Australia must speed up the transition to clean energy – like solar and wind – by setting a target of 100 percent renewable electricity by 2035.”

Feedback Loops

Posted on 2016/03/15 by admin

Feedback loops accelerate global warming.

In the 1990’s, the Membrane Domain started publishing research on human induced climate change. The research team was the first to put forth the hypothesis that global warming is an exponential phenomenon. Up to that point, the scientific community had based their forecasts on a linear event. The Membrane Domain suggested the model was more like a bathtub curve or hockey stick curve.

Since that time, the hypothesis has been proven. One of the main factors are chain reactions that are caused by the result. The chain reactions have been given the name “feedback loops”.

“Feedback in general is the process in which changing one quantity changes a second quantity, and the change in the second quantity in turn changes the first. Positive feedback amplifies the change in the first quantity….” (Wikipedia)

An example of a feedback loop, it the melting of Arctic sea ice. Methane, one of the most severe greenhouse gases, is trapped under the ice. However, when global warming causes the sea ice to melt, methane is released. When methane is released it intensifies global warming, resulting in more ice melting. In turn, more methane is released causing an acceleration in global warming… and so on.

Another example was sited in a report by NASA:
Greenland’s snowy surface has been getting darker over the past two decades, absorbing more heat from the sun and increasing snow melt. The feedback loops work like this: During a warm summer with clear skies and lots of solar radiation pouring in, the surface starts to melt. As the top layers of fresh snow disappear, old impurities, like dust from erosion or soot that blew in years before, begin to appear, darkening the surface. A warm summer can remove enough snow to allow several years of impurities to concentrate at the surface as surrounding snow layers disappear. At the same time, as the snow melts and refreezes, the grains of snow get larger. This is because the meltwater acts like glue, sticking grains together when the surface refreezes. The larger grains create a less reflective surface that allows more solar radiation to be absorbed.

A third example of feedback loops can be witnessed as a result of ethanol in gasoline. Ethanol in gasoline causes an increase tropospheric ozone. Tropospheric ozone is a result of a volatile reaction that occurs from vehicle emissions, a warm temperature and ultraviolet light. Tropospheric ozone causes tree death and deforestation. The decline in trees lessens the carbon dioxide sink that trees provide resulting in more global warming. More global warming results in more days when the conditions are right for the creation of tropospheric ozone.

Greenland Is Melting

Posted on 2016/03/042019/09/20 by admin

NASA — Greenland’s snowy surface has been getting darker over the past two decades, absorbing more heat from the sun and increasing snow melt, a new study of satellite data shows. That trend is likely to continue, with the surface’s reflectivity, or albedo, decreasing by as much as 10 percent by the end of the century, the study says.

Greenland's Darkening Ice — Greenland’s Darkening Ice

The Columbia study says:
Greenland’s snowy surface has been getting darker over the past two decades, absorbing more heat from the sun and increasing snow melt, a new study of satellite data shows. That trend is likely to continue, with the surface’s reflectivity, or albedo, decreasing by as much as 10 percent by the end of the century, the study says.

While soot blowing in from wildfires contributes to the problem, it hasn’t been driving the change, the study finds. The real culprits are two feedback loops created by the melting itself. One of those processes isn’t visible to the human eye, but it is having a profound effect.

The results, published in the European Geosciences Union journal The Cryosphere, have global implications. Fresh meltwater pouring into the ocean from Greenland raises sea level and could affect ocean ecology and circulation.

“You don’t necessarily have to have a ‘dirtier’ snowpack to make it dark,” said lead author Marco Tedesco, a research professor at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and adjunct scientist at NASA Goddard Institute of Space Studies. “A snowpack that might look ‘clean’ to our eyes can be more effective in absorbing solar radiation than a dirty one. Overall, what matters, it is the total amount of solar energy that the surface absorbs. This is the real driver of melting.”

The feedback loops work like this: During a warm summer with clear skies and lots of solar radiation pouring in, the surface starts to melt. As the top layers of fresh snow disappear, old impurities, like dust from erosion or soot that blew in years before, begin to appear, darkening the surface. A warm summer can remove enough snow to allow several years of impurities to concentrate at the surface as surrounding snow layers disappear. At the same time, as the snow melts and refreezes, the grains of snow get larger. This is because the meltwater acts like glue, sticking grains together when the surface refreezes. The larger grains create a less reflective surface that allows more solar radiation to be absorbed. The impact of grain size on albedo – the ratio between reflected and incoming solar radiation – is strong in the infrared range, where humans can’t see, but satellite instruments can detect the change.

“It’s a complex system of interaction between the atmosphere and the ice sheet surface. Rising temperatures are promoting more melting, and that melting is reducing albedo, which in turn is increasing melting,” Tedesco said. “How this accumulates over decades is going to be important, because it can accelerate the amount of water Greenland loses. Even if we don’t have a lot of melting because of atmospheric conditions one year, the surface is more sensitive to any kind of input the sun can give it, because of the previous cycle.”

Oceans Rising at Fastest Rate

Posted on 2016/02/23 by admin

A study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences states that oceans are rising at a faster rate than any time in the last 3,000 years.

“We can say with 95 percent probability that the 20th-century rise was faster than any of the previous 27 centuries,” said Bob Kopp, a climate scientist at Rutgers University. It is likely that the current sea level rise is the greatest in history; however, it is difficult to research earlier in time.

Mann of Penn State says, “The study nonetheless reiterates the conclusion we reached [in 2011] that the acceleration in sea level rise over the past century is unprecedented over at least the past millennium, and that this acceleration is directly related to the spike in surface temperature over the past century.”

The sea level rise caused primarily by greenhouse gases, could force the emptying of coastal cities.

The Fall of the Arctic King

Posted on 2016/02/19 by admin

Famous wildlife photographer, Sebastian Copeland, utilized a graphic picture to raise awareness of human induced climate change. “‘For the state of the ice in general, we’re headed into uncharted territory. There’s no doubt about it. The frozen remains of this young bear point to starvation. The faster retreat of the sea ice, a bear’s favoured spot for seal hunting, leads to longer fasting periods and the demise of more animals from starvation.”

Polar Bear Starves Due to Global Warming

Contrails Versus Chemtrails

Posted on 2015/12/292015/12/29 by admin

by Daniel Brouse

When jet engines fly across the sky, there are two different things that happen. Both are likely causing harm to the environment. Neither are being done on purpose. That is to say — there is no conspiracy to spray chemicals. There is no such thing as intentional “chemtrails”.

What is really happening?

#1 — Jet fuel combustion. The jet fuel exhaust that you can’t see is CO2, particulates and gases which contribute to human induced climate change. They are a major cause of global warming and ocean acidification. The European Union states, “Aviation is one of the fastest-growing sources of greenhouse gas emissions. Someone flying from London to New York and back generates roughly the same level of emissions as the average person in the EU does by heating their home for a whole year.”

In 2013, aircraft accounted for nearly 11 percent of carbon dioxide emissions from the U.S. transportation sector, making them responsible for about 3 percent of total U.S. carbon dioxide emissions. (Center for Climate and Energy Solutions)

#2 — Water vapor. Jet engines at high altitude, under certain atmospheric conditions, condense water into droplets to form Condensation trails (contrails). These contrails are the clouds that you can see with the naked eye. Dr. Sidd Mukherjee of the Membrane Domain says, “It is clear that contrails contribute to warming (form high level cirrus that blocks more outgoing radiation than incoming solar) and this effect was seen when air traffic was suspended in 2001.”

Another effect recently studied is caused by jet exhausts generating a layer of ice crystals, ice haze, that promotes a more diffuse type of light. Chuck Long, from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), said what was occurring is an example of “accidental geoengineering”. He said, “If you look up the definition of geoengineering, it includes large-scale manipulation of parts of the climate system or the environment, and I believe this ice haze from jet traffic does satisfy that requirement.”

The ice haze is scattering the light as it falls on the Earth. The researchers do not think the “sub-visual contrail-generated ice haze” has a major effect on global warming; however, it may have some significant effects on biology, says Prof. Martin Wild of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology. Plants prefer diffuse light. Mr. Wild explained, “If you have a canopy structure, the direct light is absorbed by the uppermost leaves. Everything below is shaded and so misses out on that energy. But diffuse light can travel deeper into the canopy and can be absorbed by the plants lower down. So in that sense, if you have more diffuse light those lower plants will profit.” What is good for low level plants may be bad for solar panels: “If you’re decreasing the direct light, then you’re decreasing the energy available for those concentrator systems.”

Significant Climate Events

Posted on 2015/12/19 by admin

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)

> November 2015 was the warmest November on record for the globe.
> January-November 2015 (YTD) was the warmest such period on record for the globe.
> September-November (N. Hemisphere fall) was the warmest such period on record for the globe.
> The November 2015 average global sea surface temperature was also the highest on record.

Records date back 136 years.

Accidental Geoengineering: Jet Contrails Linked to Ice Haze

Posted on 2015/12/16 by admin

The BBC reports that scientists have been looking for a reason why the total amount of solar radiation reaching the earth’s surface has been increasing. A study suggests that part of the reason is that jet exhausts could be generating a layer of ice crystals that promotes a more diffuse type of light. This is why clear blue skies are getting more of a whitish tint. The scientists have been discussing their thinking at the American Geophysical Union meeting in San Francisco. Chuck Long, from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), said that if his thinking was correct then what is occurring is an example of “accidental geoengineering”.

“If you look up the definition of geoengineering, it includes large-scale manipulation of parts of the climate system or the environment, and I believe this ice haze from jet traffic does satisfy that requirement,” he told reporters.

Dr Long’s analysis suggests this “something” is high-altitude ice particles, and he links their production to the water and other emissions in aircraft contrails.

“You have to have a mechanism to generate the ice crystals and there is nothing in nature up there necessarily that we can identify that would consistently produce these ice particles, except the very well correlated and well documented increase in the commercial air traffic over the continental United States,” he told BBC News.

Category: Environment