AFP – Wednesday, September 8SendIM StoryPrint PARIS (AFP) – – Estimates of the rate of ice loss from Greenland and West Antarctica, one of the most worrying questions in the global warming debate, should be halved, according to Dutch and US scientists. In the last two years, several teams have estimated Greenland is shedding roughly 230 gigatonnes of ice, or 230 billion tonnes, per year and West Antarctica around 132 gigatonnes annually. Together, that...
“Unless we curb carbon emissions we risk mass extinctions, degrading coastal waters and encouraging outbreaks of toxic jellyfish and algae.” August 31, 2010 A unique ‘natural laboratory’ in the Mediterranean Sea is revealing the effects of rising carbon dioxide levels on life in the oceans. The results show a bleak future for marine life as ocean acidity rises, and suggest that similar lowering of ocean pH levels may have been responsible for massive extinctions...
From Climate Progress: Many of Asia’s glaciers are retreating as a result of climate change. This retreat impacts water supplies to millions of people, increases the likelihood of outburst floods that threaten life and property in nearby areas, and contributes to sea-level rise. Talk about your well-timed studies — see “One-fifth of Pakistan is under water.” The U.S. Geological Survey collaborated with 39 international scientists — “the most knowledgeable glaciologists for each geographic region...
“Microscopic life crucial to the marine food chain is dying out. The consequences could be catastrophic.” July 29, 2010 Scientists may have found the most devastating impact yet of human-caused global warming — a 40% decline in phytoplankton since 1950 linked to the rise in ocean sea surface temperatures. If confirmed, it may represent the single most important finding of the year in climate science.The headlines above are from an appropriately blunt article in...
New species of frogs in Panama are being lost nearly as fast as they are being found to a deadly fungal disease that is sweeping through the region.In an effort to document the diversity of frogs in Central America before the disease sweeps through the entire region, scientists are discovering new species, some of which are going extinct, and some of which are surviving.In Panama’s Omar Torrijos National Park, 11 new species of frogs...
Can weather change the demographics of an island over the course of a single lifetime? If we take Pablo Preciado’s word for it, it can. Pablo Preciado is the leader of the island of Carti Sugdub, one of the Panamanian islands. Global warming and erosion of the coral reefs are threatening to submerge a lot of Caribbean islands that make up Panama.Pablo Preciado says that in his childhood floods were rare and the water...
We hear a lot of talk about carbon dioxide as the most dangerous climate culprit. And we should. So far, loading the atmosphere with CO2 is the single biggest cause of climate disruption. But, in the final analysis, methane may prove to be the most deadly of all greenhouse gases. via t r u t h o u t | BP’s Methane Monster: From the Gulf to the Globe.
Last month tied May 1998 as the hottest on record in the NASA dataset. More significantly, following fast on the heels of easily the hottest April — and hottest Jan-April — on record, it’s also the hottest Jan-May on record .Also, the combined land-surface air and sea-surface water temperature anomaly for March-April-May was 0.73°C above the 1951-1980 mean, blowing out the old record of 0.65°C set in 2002.The record temperatures...
AP Photographer Charlie Riedel just filed the following images of seabirds caught in the oil slick on a beach on Louisiana's East Grand Terre Island. As BP engineers continue their efforts to cap the underwater flow of oil, landfall is becoming more frequent, and the effects more evident. (8 photos total) See the rest of the pictures here Caught in the oil – The Big Picture – Boston.com.
Are We Stuck With ‘Blah, Blah, Blah, … Bang’? By ANDREW C. REVKIN I was struck by a comment that followed my latest piece on cutting disaster risks, reacting to this line: “Only direct experience seems to trigger change.” Yeah. It seems Homo S “Sapiens” at large needs to first get hit by the wall before changing path. There will be always someone debating (denying) the science (evidence) of walls and bricks. We can’t...