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05-12-2016, 05:50 PM
(This post was last modified: 05-12-2016, 06:20 PM by pbrower2a.)
The National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) hadn’t updated its near-real time daily chart of Arctic sea ice levels in more than a month. A satellite that monitors the ice malfunctioned, forcing the center to suspend the service.
Researchers missed a lot during those dark weeks.
Using information from a different satellite, the NSIDC provisionally updated its Arctic sea ice data on May 6 — and the findings were alarming.
![[Image: 5734355013000001053815bf.png]](http://img.huffingtonpost.com/asset/scalefit_630_noupscale/5734355013000001053815bf.png)
Comment from me: 2 standard deviations means less than a 5% chance of an event being random.
According to the data, the Arctic sea ice melt season is running as much as one month earlier than average. Unless weather patterns change dramatically, that could mean a record year for summer melting of Arctic ice.
The ice already appears to be disappearing at a pace far faster than in 2012, when Arctic ice extent hit a record low.
Mark Serreze, the director of the NSIDC, told Mashable that there is evidence of fractures in the ice cover north of Greenland, which is “quite unusual” for this time of year.
“To me, it suggests a thinner, weaker ice cover,” he said.
In 2013, the U.S. Navy predicted an ice-free Arctic this summer. Now some reports show this prediction may indeed be realized.
This spring, the European Space Agency’s CryoSat 2 satellite revealed that ice cover across the Arctic Ocean was, on average, 15 percent thinner than it was at the same time last year. In March, the NSIDC announced that Arctic sea ice had reached a record minimum for winter maximum extent. If Arctic sea ice levels plummet below 2012 levels this summer, it will be the second historic low of the year.
“I’ve never seen such a warm, crazy winter in the Arctic,” Serreze said in a statement earlier this year. “The heat was relentless.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/arct...d4d6f22b14
What Will Ice-Free Arctic Summers Bring?
This summer's record melt suggests the Arctic may lose its ice cap seasonally sooner than expected. What impacts can we expect?
By David Biello on September 24, 2012
On Sunday, September 16, (2012 -- PB) the sun did not rise above the horizon in the Arctic. Nevertheless enough of the sun's heat had poured over the North Pole during the summer months to cause the largest loss of Arctic sea ice cover since satellite records began in the 1970s. The record low 3.41 million square kilometers of ice shattered the previous low—4.17 million square kilometers—set in 2007. All told, since 1979, the Arctic sea ice minimum extent has shrunk by more than 50 percent—and even greater amounts of ice have been lost in the corresponding thinning of the ice, according to the U.S. National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC).
"There is much more open ocean than there used to be," says NSIDC research scientist Walt Meier. "The volume is decreasing even faster than the extent [of surface area] as best as we can tell," based on new satellite measurements and thickness estimates provided by submarines. Once sea ice becomes thin enough, most or all of it may melt in a single summer.
Some ice scientists have begun to think that the Arctic might be ice-free in summer as soon as the end of this decade—leaving darker, heat-absorbing ocean waters to replace the bright white heat-reflecting sea ice. The question is: Then what happens? Although the nature and extent of these rapid changes are not yet fully understood by researchers, the impacts could range from regional weather-pattern changes to global climate feedbacks that exacerbate overall warming. As Meier says: "We expect there will be some effect…but we can't say exactly what the impacts have been or will be in future."
http://www.scientificamerican.com/articl...lications/
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.
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That's a very depressing reality. I hope this brings more attention to the fact that something must be done to slow down climate change.
"We have it in our power to begin the world over again."
—Thomas Paine, Common Sense (1776)
"History doesn't repeat itself, but it often rhymes."
—Mark Twain
'98 Millennial
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An open Arctic would have huge climatic effects throughout middle and high latitudes in the Northern Hemisphere. Most of the Arctic is open-water surface, and where open water replaces ice, the open water becomes a very absorbent surface instead of a reflective surface. Should the Arctic be open in the early summer, then even the North Pole becomes intensely warmed in the summer.
![[Image: X654108.gif]](http://www.fao.org/3/a-x6541e/X654108.gif)
Such would drastically change the ocean currents, rainfall patterns, and wind regimes.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.
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Progress on solar cell technology.
Quote:https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/20...121811.htm
… “A new solar cell configuration developed by engineers at the University of New South Wales has pushed sunlight-to-electricity conversion efficiency to 34.5% — establishing a new world record for unfocused sunlight and nudging closer to the theoretical limits for such a device.”…
… whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Phil 4:8 (ESV)
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CNN reports Warm seas threaten Great Barrier Reef treasure
This shouldn't be a surprise to anyone, but the process is continuing.
That this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth.
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A positive development in power production.
Quote:http://www.scientificamerican.com/articl...-s-waters/
Offshore Wind Arrives in U.S. Waters
“The first offshore wind farm in the United States is set to begin delivering power to Rhode Island’s electricity grid by year’s end, a milestone that could help reshape energy markets from New England to South Florida,”…
… whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Phil 4:8 (ESV)
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Technology advancement.
Quote:http://www.scientificamerican.com/articl...-and-air1/
“Bionic Leaf Makes Fuel from Sunlight, Water and Air
A new device that combines chemistry and synthetic biology could prove key to renewable fuels and even chemicals—and combating climate change”…
… whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Phil 4:8 (ESV)
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Renewables surging.
Quote:http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-36420750
… "New solar, wind and hydropower sources were added in 2015 at the fastest rate the world has yet seen, a study says.
Investments in renewables during the year were more than double the amount spent on new coal and gas-fired power plants, the Renewables Global Status Report found. For the first time, emerging economies spent more than the rich on renewable power and fuels.”…
… whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Phil 4:8 (ESV)
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There will be a price to pay for the closing of nuclear plants.
Quote:http://scitation.aip.org/content/aip/mag...8Z,FM6S9,1
Decline of US nuclear industry is accelerating
… "Over the past few years, US companies have closed or announced plans to close eight reactors with a combined capacity of 6300 MW. Fertel claimed that another 15 to 20 plants are at risk of closure over the next 5 to 10 years. “We’re driving companies to make decisions that our nation will regret for the next 20 or 30 years, or longer, on the basis of short-term, unsustainable price signals,” …Replacing all the shuttered plants with new natural-gas generation would wipe out about one-quarter of the carbon emissions reductions that are projected in the administration’s Clean Power Plan. The changeover would also cancel out 40% of the cuts to greenhouse gas emissions that the US committed to in December at the Paris climate change conference.”…
… whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Phil 4:8 (ESV)
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But this involves a positive feedback. The low longitudes correspond with the parts of the Arctic most open to the relatively warm waters of the North Atlantic. The ice cap atop the Arctic Ocean is getting thinner, and melting earlier. Ab earlier melt implies that more of the Arctic will have an absorptive surface instead of a reflective surface. Open waters in the Arctic don't get much sunlight for real warming, but sunlight in the High Arctic is extremely intense around the North Pole around the summer solstice. When the ice goes, then the Arctic Ocean could get seasonally hot.
From mid-May until about the start of August places north of 80N in fact receives more sunlight than the equator at all times (ignoring effects of clouds). Just imagine how warm the Arctic waters could be in July. The heat will have to go somewhere, and it will evaporate surface waters -- that rise as gigantic thunderheads. The open Arctic will not be a benign shipping lane in the summer. The deep thunderheads will also make a mess of air travel across the Arctic. Thus a flight between New York and Tokyo that has its Great Circle Route going near the North Pole might have to be diverted to avoid the great thunderstorm of the polar summer.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.
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One of the world’s largest coal companies, Peabody Energy, paid a prominent scientist and dozens of others to promote climate change denial, new documents reveal.
The company’s list of creditors, filed to comply with financial disclosure requirements as part of its recent bankruptcy, shows just how many different organizations and individuals Peabody Energy paid to deny climate change. The watchdog group Center for Media and Democracy published a breakdown of creditors that details their affiliations.
One such creditor is Roy Spencer, who teaches at the University of Alabama, Huntsville. Spencer, a vocal denier of climate change science who writes a popular blog, has a Ph.D. in meteorology from University of Wisconsin-Madison and was once employed by NASA, according to his website. The Senate often asks him to testify about climate science.
Spencer’s website claims he “has never been asked by any oil company to perform any kind of service. Not even Exxon-Mobil.”
Yet, Peabody Energy’s bankruptcy documents show that Spencer is a creditor. As part of a Greenpeace undercover investigation published in late 2015, Spencer reportedly told Greenpeace representatives that he had received $4,000 from Peabody Energy in exchange for testifying at a hearing about climate science in Minnesota.
The documents that were released this week do not say how much money Peabody Energy’s creditors were owed, so it’s unclear whether the company has ever paid Spencer more than the $4,000 he told Greenpeace about.
“The entities listed in Peabody’s creditor matrix makes up a very large proportion of the climate denial movement,” said Nick Surgey, the Center for Media and Democracy’s research director.
Normally, these payments would be untraceable, Surgey said. It’s only because Peabody Energy and its rivals, Arch Coal and Alpha Natural Resources, filed for bankruptcy in the last 12 months that these payments are coming to light.
“Just the sheer volume of individuals, scientists, nonprofits and political organizations espousing climate change denial and opposition to efforts to tackle climate change is astonishing,” said Surgey.
The question of whether companies should be allowed to provide funding for researchers has been a sticky one in the scientific community since at least the 1980s, according to David Resnik, a bioethicist for the National Institutes of Health and the chair of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences institutional review board.
It’s a conflict of interest for companies to fund research that could be good for their business. It might not always lead to bias on the part of the researcher, but it certainly doesn’t help avoid the impression of bias, Resnik told The Huffington Post.
Different institutions have various rules about what kind of funding needs to be disclosed, he added. For example, government-backed agencies like the NIH have very strict rules about financial conflicts of interest. Universities and peer-reviewed journals usually have some rules, but each institution sets and polices its own rules.
“The point [of disclosure rules] is to try to deal with potential bias and to assure the public’s trust,” Resnik said.
Peabody Energy declined to comment to HuffPost about “alliances with particular organizations,” but said that it “has a track record of advancing responsible energy and environmental policies, and we support organizations that advocate sustainable mining, energy access and clean coal solutions, in line with our company’s leadership in these areas.”
Spencer did not return a request for comment.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.
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Climate Change-Ruined Crops May Cause Half A Million Deaths In 2050
http://www.healthynaturalcures.org/clima...aths-2050/
The first-ever assessment of how global warming might affect the quality of people’s diet – and subsequently their health – has come to a disturbing conclusion: By 2050, climate change could cause over half a million deaths due to poor diet. Reduced crop productivity, due to either an increase in severity of droughts or floods, for example, would have an impact on the composition of diets, which in turn would affect millions of people’s bodyweight.
“Much research has looked at food security, but little has focused on the wider health effects of agricultural production,” explains Dr. Marco Springmann, who co-authored the paper published in The Lancet, in a statement. “Changes in food availability and intake also affect dietary and weight-related risk factors such as low fruit and vegetable intake, high red meat consumption, and high bodyweight. These all increase the incidence of non-communicable diseases such as heart disease, stroke, and cancer, as well as death from those diseases.”
The results show that even a slight reduction in the amount of food, and thus calorific intake of a person, could seriously impact people’s health. For example, the paper shows that if we continue to pump out greenhouse gases and fail to address climate change, the shift in food production could lead to an average reduction of food availability per person of 3.2 percent, which equates to 99 fewer calories per day. In addition, there could be a 4 percent reduction in fruit and vegetable intake. Just small changes in diet can quickly add up, and this, say the researchers, could be enough to kill 529,000 extra people by 2050.
The regions they predict to be hardest hit will be low- and middle-income countries, with China and India accounting for almost three-quarters of climate-related deaths due to these changes in dietary composition. They note that there might be some positive effects, due mainly to a reduction in the number of people with obesity, but are quick to point out that these are more than offset by the increase in the number of people who will become underweight and equally at risk.
“Climate change is likely to have a substantial negative impact on future mortality, even under optimistic scenarios,” says Dr. Springmann. “Adaptation efforts need to be scaled up rapidly. Public-health programs aimed at preventing and treating diet and weight-related risk factors, such as increasing fruit and vegetable intake, must be strengthened as a matter of priority to help mitigate climate-related health effects.”
On the flip side, facing climate change head-on and reducing carbon emissions while also educating people could have the opposite effect, reducing the number of deaths per year. If we move into a future without global warming, and an increase in food availability and consumption, it could prevent an estimated 1.9 million deaths annually.
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06-21-2016, 01:09 AM
(This post was last modified: 06-21-2016, 01:10 AM by Eric the Green.)
Conservatives Don't Deny Climate Science Because They're Ignorant. They Deny It Because of Who They Are.
http://m.motherjones.com/environment/201...illiteracy
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We need better batteries
Quote:Stanford Start-Up Amprius Aims to Mass Produce High-Energy Lithium Ion Batteries
http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/plug..._TECH_BLOG
Amprius has developed a new manufacturing technique that will enable mass production of its ultrahigh-density silicon nanowire lithium ion batteries
"For years, researchers around the world have worked to increase the amount of energy that can be stored in a lithium-ion battery. While many designs and techniques have emerged from research labs around the world, few have made it from the laboratory to the marketplace. But now, Stanford battery startup Amprius has developed a new large-scale manufacturing technique for advanced silicon electrodes that could actually enable mass production of high-energy lithium-ion batteries in the near future, and help bring the next generation of electric vehicles and consumer electronics to fruition.”…
… whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Phil 4:8 (ESV)
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It is too soon to abandon nuclear power.
Quote:Decline of US nuclear industry is accelerating
http://scitation.aip.org/content/aip/mag...ip-live-06
… "Replacing all the shuttered plants with new natural-gas generation would wipe out about one-quarter of the carbon emissions reductions that are projected in the administration’s Clean Power Plan. The changeover would also cancel out 40% of the cuts to greenhouse gas emissions that the US committed to in December at the Paris climate change conference.”…
… whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Phil 4:8 (ESV)
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Big batteries to the rescue.
Quote:World's Largest Storage Battery Will Power Los Angeles
http://www.scientificamerican.com/articl...GYSUS_NEWS
“By 2021, electricity use in the west Los Angeles area may be in for a climate change-fighting evolution….Five years from now, if current plans work out, the “peaker” will be gone, replaced by the world’s largest storage battery, capable of holding and delivering over 100 megawatts of power an hour for four hours. The customary afternoon peak will still be there, but the battery will be able to handle it without the need for more fossil fuels. It will have spent the morning charging up with cheap solar power that might have otherwise been wasted.”…
… “It was the first time an energy storage device had won a competition against a conventional power plant.”…
… whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Phil 4:8 (ESV)
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Need better power grid systems.
Quote:Germany enlists machine learning to boost renewables revolution
http://www.nature.com/news/germany-enlis...Y-20160713
Grids struggle to cope with erratic nature of wind and solar power.
… “although Germany is the world’s poster child for renewable energy, its grids cannot yet cope with the erratic nature of wind and solar power.”…
… "At about 45,000 megawatts, Germany’s wind-power capacity is the third largest in the world, behind China’s and the United States’. And Germany is outperformed only by China in solar capacity. But the pace of the country’s switch to renewables and its ambitions are unrivalled. Renewables now provide about one-third of domestic electricity and the government has promised that by 2050, at least 80% of the country’s electricity will come from renewables.”…
… whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Phil 4:8 (ESV)
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(06-06-2016, 01:28 PM)radind Wrote: There will be a price to pay for the closing of nuclear plants.
Quote:http://scitation.aip.org/content/aip/mag...8Z,FM6S9,1
Decline of US nuclear industry is accelerating
… "Over the past few years, US companies have closed or announced plans to close eight reactors with a combined capacity of 6300 MW. Fertel claimed that another 15 to 20 plants are at risk of closure over the next 5 to 10 years. “We’re driving companies to make decisions that our nation will regret for the next 20 or 30 years, or longer, on the basis of short-term, unsustainable price signals,” …Replacing all the shuttered plants with new natural-gas generation would wipe out about one-quarter of the carbon emissions reductions that are projected in the administration’s Clean Power Plan. The changeover would also cancel out 40% of the cuts to greenhouse gas emissions that the US committed to in December at the Paris climate change conference.”…
I haven't seen any evidence that the utility industry is interested in anything that impacts profits, so forcing a change to these policies will require regulatory action ... which is not in the cards either. As long as one major party sees climate change as a political ruse, we're stuck.
Intelligence is not knowledge and knowledge is not wisdom, but they all play well together.
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Posts: 10,013
Threads: 103
Joined: May 2016
(06-06-2016, 01:28 PM)radind Wrote: There will be a price to pay for the closing of nuclear plants.
Quote:http://scitation.aip.org/content/aip/mag...8Z,FM6S9,1
Decline of US nuclear industry is accelerating
… "Over the past few years, US companies have closed or announced plans to close eight reactors with a combined capacity of 6300 MW. Fertel claimed that another 15 to 20 plants are at risk of closure over the next 5 to 10 years. “We’re driving companies to make decisions that our nation will regret for the next 20 or 30 years, or longer, on the basis of short-term, unsustainable price signals,” …Replacing all the shuttered plants with new natural-gas generation would wipe out about one-quarter of the carbon emissions reductions that are projected in the administration’s Clean Power Plan. The changeover would also cancel out 40% of the cuts to greenhouse gas emissions that the US committed to in December at the Paris climate change conference.”…
We need to replace nuclear with solar. Delay is not a reasonable option.
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