Category: Global Warming

Climate Change Extreme Weather Global Warming Polar Vortex Science

It’s damn cold, but heat records in the U.S. still dominate

sudshr47 February 1, 2019

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Yes, records for cold temperatures are breaking as an off-balance polar vortex sloshes over a vast region of the U.S. 

And while it sure feels frigid out there, overall, the number of daily cold records set in the U.S. has been consistently dwarfed by the number of warm or high temperature records. The score isn’t even close. High records over the last decade are outpacing low records by a rate of two to one.

Earth has warmed by 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit (1 degree Celsius) since the late 1800s, and this boost in warming translates to significantly more heat records than cold records. But during winter — particularly when biting Arctic air sometimes washes over the U.S. — cold records will still be made.  Read more…

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Climate Change Climate Environment Global Warming Science

Extreme weather — not politicians — convinces Americans that climate change is real

sudshr47 January 22, 2019

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Americans find today’s climate science increasingly convincing, and a damaging mix of exceptional drought, storms, and record-breaking heat is the reason why. 

The results of a new survey — conducted in November 2018 by the University of Chicago’s Energy Policy Institute and the research organization The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research — found that nearly half of Americans said today’s climate science “is more convincing than five years ago, with extreme weather driving their views.”

Overall, seven in 10 Americans reported that climate change is happening. 

“The results of the survey demonstrate that most Americans consider climate change a reality and acknowledge that human activity is at least somewhat responsible,” Trevor Tompson, director of The AP-NORC Center, said in a statement.  Read more…

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Agriculture Climate Change Coffee Global Warming Science

60% of the planet’s wild coffee species face extinction. What that means for your morning caffeine kick.

sudshr47 January 16, 2019

A triple whammy of disease, climate change, and deforestation has threatened around 60 percent of the planet’s wild coffee species. While this hasn’t yet imperiled the world’s coffee supply, it jeopardizes your favorite coffee’s resiliency in the fac…

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Carbon Dioxide Climate Change Global Warming Science

Guess what? U.S. carbon emissions popped back up in a big way

sudshr47 January 8, 2019

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For three straight years, carbon dioxide emissions in the U.S. dropped. But in 2018, emissions of the potent greenhouse gas shot back up. 

A new report by the Rhodium Group — a research institution that analyzes global economic and environmental trends — found that in 2018 carbon dioxide emissions rose 3.4 percent from the prior year. That’s the second largest gain in the last two decades. 

This rise comes at a time when global scientists have repeatedly urged nations to ambitiously cut their carbon emissions, as rising temperatures have stoked prolonged droughts and heat waves while boosting the odds of record-breaking storms. Read more…

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Australia Climate Change Extreme Weather Global Warming Heatwave

Australia swelters in extreme weather as one town breaks heat record

sudshr47 December 28, 2018

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Australians will be cranking up the pedestal fans, as extreme heatwave conditions sear across most of the country.

Temperatures have soared above average across much of the continent, peaking at 49.1°C (120.38°F) in the town of Marble Bar in Western Australia, according to the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM).

Much of Australia is experiencing a #heatwave#Temperatures peaked at 49°C today in Marble Bar in the W. High temperatures will continue over the next few days away from the S coast. Some places could reach December records, eg Canberra, which currently stands at 39.2 degrees pic.twitter.com/I3I89E0g8b

— Met Office (@metoffice) December 27, 2018 Read more…

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2018 Climate Change Global Warming Nasa Science

2018 takes the podium as one of the hottest years on record. Let’s look deeper.

sudshr47 December 20, 2018

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“We’ve known since the 1980s that Earth has had a fever,” stressed Sarah Green, an environmental chemist, in a recent interview.

That fever continued, undiminished, in 2018. 

NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies keeps track of Earth’s changing temperatures with a data bank that reaches back to the 1880s. This year will end up as the 4th-warmest year in recorded history, Gavin Schmidt, the director of the NASA program, said over email.

“I’d emphasize that any one year’s temperature is not that important, but the long-term trends are — and they are unmistakable and furthermore, exactly in line with predictions made years ago,” Schmidt, a climate scientist, said. “The trends are due almost entirely to us (and specifically the fossil-fuel related increases in CO2).” Read more…

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Climate Change Global Warming Science Trump Administration

The U.S. surrendered its climate leadership on the world stage

sudshr47 December 18, 2018

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When the dust cleared and the gavel dropped, the United States’ place at the 2018 global climate negotiations — a two-week long affair in Poland attended by nearly 200 nations — had been sealed.

The superpower’s behavior will almost certainly be remembered as equal parts bizarre and unhelpful, not least for its resistance — on the global stage — to climate science that has been intensively studied for decades, confirmed and re-confirmed by distinguished institutions like NASA.

After wrapping up talks at the United Nations Climate Change Conference late Saturday night, Earth’s nations did eventually find an agreeable way to keep the historic 2015 Paris climate agreement alive, which is humanity’s emerging plan to dramatically reduce today’s extreme and unprecedented rise in carbon emissions.  Read more…

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Arctic Arctic Warming Climate Change Global Warming Noaa

The Arctic we once knew is gone

sudshr47 December 11, 2018

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Atop the globe, there’s probably no turning back.

Melting trends in the Arctic today are increasingly stark. The 2018 Arctic Report Card, produced by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), depicts a thawing world that is continuing to warm and melt at an unprecedented pace.

“I think that the report demonstrated everything we’ve been seeing for the last decade,” Jeremy Mathis, a NOAA Arctic scientist who was not involved with this report, said in an interview. 

“The changes in the Arctic are happening faster than they’re happening anywhere else on the rest of the planet.”

Loss of November #Arctic sea ice volume since 1979…

+ Data information: https://t.co/MJsb1hjtBx
+ Additional graphics: https://t.co/uzWknWmNnX pic.twitter.com/TKk1MIrba9

— Zack Labe (@ZLabe) December 8, 2018 Read more…

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Carbon Emissions Climate Change Global Warming Science

When will humanity ever hit the peak of its ever-growing carbon emissions?

sudshr47 December 7, 2018

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We were duped. 

Or, at least, we were given some false hope. In the three years between 2014 and 2016, global carbon emissions from the burning of fossil fuels had finally stopped increasing and leveled out. Emissions weren’t yet going down — but there was the potential that they had peaked. 

Perhaps, mused scientists, this was the fruitful beginning of humanity’s collective response to alter the course of history, and in doing so, avoid the mounting woes wrought by climate change. 

But, no. With 2017 came news that emissions had ticked up. And, critically, the newly-released 2018 Global Carbon Budget Report shows that carbon emissions bumped up yet again in 2018, and are now at their highest levels on record. Read more…

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Climate Change Global Warming Greenland Science Sea Level Rise

Greenland is in hot water

sudshr47 December 5, 2018

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Scientists have watched Greenland’s colossal ice sheet shrink at an accelerated rate for the last 20 years.

Now, researchers have solid proof that the current melting of Earth’s second-largest ice sheet — which is about 2.5 times the size of Texas — is quite abnormal compared to previous centuries. Researchers published their report Wednesday in the journal Nature. 

“We see now that it’s melting faster than at any point in at least the last three and a half centuries, and likely the last seven or eight millennia,” Luke Trusel, a geologist at Rowan University and an author of the study, said in an interview. Read more…

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