[TheClimate.Vote] August 9, 2017 - Daily Global Warming News

[Richard Pauli]

/August 9, 2017/

*PHOTOS: A 'Massive' Wildfire Is Now Blazing In Greenland 
<http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/08/08/542305822/photos-a-massive-wildfire-is-now-blazing-in-greenland>*
In a region better known for its ice and snow, it's a fire that now has 
scientists struggling to learn more. Since at least the end of last 
month, a stretch of land in western Greenland has been alight with a 
with a "sizable wildfire," NASA says.
The agency's European counterpart, the ESA, was a little more emotive in 
a recent tweet sharing imagery from one of its satellites: "This 
Sentinel-2 image of Greenland shows [a] massive forest fire," the ESA 
tweeted. "Yes it is Greenland."
The fire is burning roughly 90 miles northeast of Sisimiut, a town of 
about 5,500 that rests on the island's west coast, according to NASA. 
Citing local reports, the publication Climate Central reports the fire 
observed by the agency consists of a series of blazes - the largest of 
which is about 3,000 acres.
Researcher Stef Lhermitte of the Netherlands' Delft University of 
Technology strung together a week of images of the fire, as seen from space.
"These fires appear to be peatland fires, as there are low grass, some 
shrub, and lots of rocks on the western edge of the Greenland Ice 
Sheet," Jessica L. McCarty of Miami University told Wildfire Today.
As The New York Times has pointed out, peat is especially vulnerable to 
the effects of climate change - drying out as temperatures rise - and 
especially dangerous for exacerbating climate change if it burns.
"It's carbon that has accumulated over several thousands of years," one 
researcher told the paper last year. "If it were to be released, the 
global CO2 concentration would be much higher."
NASA notes the fire, while not unprecedented in Greenland, still makes 
for an "unusual event" on an island mostly covered by ice. The agency 
points to an analysis pulled together by Lhermitte, who demonstrates 
that NASA satellites have detected an "exceptional" number of wildfires 
in 2017.
http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/08/08/542305822/photos-a-massive-wildfire-is-now-blazing-in-greenland
*Wildfire Burns across (Formerly) Icy Greenland 
<https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/wildfire-burns-across-formerly-icy-greenland/>*
Grasses and low vegetation on the defrosting, drying tundra are igniting ...
there is evidence of fires burning in Greenland over the past 17 years 
of MODIS satellite records kept by NASA. But because of how NASA's 
algorithms interpret the satellite data, there's low confidence that 
every fire on the map actually occurred.
Jason Box, an ice sheet researcher with the Geologic Survey of Denmark 
and Greenland, said he observed a lightning-sparked fire in the late 
1990s, but that otherwise, fires are rare....
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/wildfire-burns-across-formerly-icy-greenland/
*Wildfires are burning in Greenland 
<http://wildfiretoday.com/2017/08/07/wildfires-are-burning-in-greenland/>*
Historically, wildfires in Greenland occur infrequently.
http://wildfiretoday.com/2017/08/07/wildfires-are-burning-in-greenland/
*

Here's what you need to know about the government report on climate 
change. For starters, it's real 
<http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-climate-change-report-20170808-htmlstory.html>*
The conclusions contained in a draft federal report on climate change 
are unequivocal: Human-induced global warming is real, and left 
unchecked, the consequences could be dire.
Although not new, the findings are at odds with claims by President 
Trump and members of his administration, who continue to assert that the 
extent of the human contribution to climate change is not clear.
In June, Trump announced that the U.S. would withdraw from the agreement 
reached in Paris in 2015, in which nearly 200 countries pledged to 
reduce emissions of heat-trapping greenhouse gases, saying the deal was 
bad for the country.
The report's authors, however, say the factors driving climate change 
are quite clear.
"Many lines of evidence demonstrate that human activities, especially 
emissions of greenhouse gases, are primarily responsible for the 
observed climate changes over the last 15 decades," the authors wrote. 
"There are no alternative explanations."
The report, a synthesis of the available science prepared by 13 
government agencies, is part of the National Climate Assessment, which 
is mandated by Congress and is supposed to be published every four years.
The latest draft has been extensively reviewed, and the authors are 
waiting for permission from the Trump administration to release the 
report to the public - which probably explains why it was leaked to the 
New York Times....
http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-climate-change-report-20170808-htmlstory.html


*what does the solar eclipse mean for solar power?  (Press Release - 
Duke Energy) 
<https://illumination.duke-energy.com/articles/what-does-the-solar-eclipse-mean-for-solar-power#.WYh4JYc4i0Q.twitter>
*This unusual eclipse is a balancing act for energy companies
When the Great American Eclipse glides over the country on Aug. 21, the 
moon will block more than 90 percent of the Carolinas' sunshine. That 
much darkness presents a first-of-its-kind puzzle for the Duke Energy 
employees managing solar energy.
Duke Energy manages energy from more than three quarters of the roughly 
3,200 megawatts of solar power in North Carolina, but because it has a 
diverse mix of energy sources and a plan in place, Roberts said the 
company expects to meet customer demand during the eclipse.
As the third largest city in the path of totality, Columbia, S.C., 
considers itself the Total Eclipse Capital of the East Coast. Columbia 
is hosting more than 50 events as part of its Total Eclipse Weekend Aug. 
18-21. Viewers, according to the event website, will experience the 
longest period of totality for a metro area on the East Coast for up to 
2 minutes and 36 seconds of complete darkness.
https://illumination.duke-energy.com/articles/what-does-the-solar-eclipse-mean-for-solar-power#.WYh4JYc4i0Q.twitter


*The Extinction Event Gains Momentum 
<https://www.counterpunch.org/2017/08/08/the-extinction-event-gains-momentum/>*
August 8, 2017 by ROBERT HUNZIKER
"In the next few decades we'll be driving species to extinction a 
thousand times faster than we should be," Dr. Stuart Pimm, conservation 
ecologist, Duke University.
"It is quite possible that the baby boomer generation is the most 
impactful generation that this planet has ever seen,"(Source: Racing 
Extinction directed by Louie Psihoyos, Discovery Channel, 2015).
The Great Suffocation
Imagine for a moment that phytoplankton, the foundation of the aquatic 
food web startlingly dies off. All of a sudden gone! Phytoplankton feeds 
everything from microscopic zooplankton to multi-tonne Blue Whales (the 
largest animal on Earth). But first and foremost, every 2nd human breath 
is oxygen produced by phytoplankton. Without phytoplankton, life dies.
According to Dr. Boris Worm, marine research ecologist at Dalhousie 
University and head of the Worm Lab study of marine biodiversity: The 
planet has lost 40% of plankton production over the past 50 years, 
primarily as a consequence of climate change/global warming. "We are 
changing the geology of the planet. We are changing the ocean chemistry… 
The anthropocene means that what happens to this planet is now in our 
hands." (Boris Worm, et al, Global Phytoplankton Decline Over the Past 
Century, Nature Vol. 466, Issue 7306, July 29, 2010 and interview in 
Racing Extinction)
"Falling oxygen levels caused by global warming could be a greater 
threat to the survival of life on Earth than flooding, according to 
researchers from the University of Leicester." The study claims an 
increase of water temps of six degrees Celsius, which could occur as 
soon as 2100, could stop oxygen production by phytoplankton. (Source: 
Global Warming Disaster Could Suffocate Life on Planet Earth, Research 
Shows, University of Leicester Press Office, Dec. 1, 2015)....
"No one knows exactly how marine life around the world will fare as the 
seas continue to sour, but fear is spreading. 'People who are aware are 
panicked,' said Dewey, who recently traveled to New York to speak at the 
United Nation's first Ocean Conference. 'The level of awareness is 
increasing rapidly and the story is getting out there." (Source: Lisa 
Stiffler, Investigate West, Climate Change Turns Puget Sound Acidic and 
Region's Signature Oysters Struggle to Survive, July 10, 2017)...
Skyrocketing CO2..
"The rate of carbon dioxide growth over the last decade is 100 to 200 
times faster than what the Earth experienced during the transition from 
the last Ice Age," Peter Tans, atmospheric scientist at ESRL, said in a 
press release. "This is a real shock to the atmosphere." (Source: Brian 
Kahn, Carbon Dioxide Is Rising at Record Rates, Climate Central, March 
2017).
According to Dr. Jen Veron, former chief scientist, Australian Institute 
of Marine Science: "There's been five mass extinctions… there's been one 
common factor in all, a massive increase in carbon dioxide, and we've 
never had a carbon dioxide spike like we're having now" (Source: Racing 
Extinction)
Unfortunately, growth of CO2 in the atmosphere is accelerating, not 
decelerating or holding steady,..  ... it is believed the oceans have 
turned from carbon sinks to new sources of CO2 emission. "Oceans appear 
to have turned from sinks into sources of CO2, releasing CO2 into the 
atmosphere." (Source: Accelerating Growth in CO2 Levels in the 
Atmosphere, Arctic News, Feb. 25, 2017).
It is mind boggling how much science-based evidence exists about the 
destructiveness of human-generated carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. 
The world community knows this. Otherwise, why did 195 countries adopt 
the Paris Agreement in 2015?...
Still, with/without Trump, too little too late remains the major 
question mark overhanging the Paris Agreement, and furthermore, it's not 
properly structured to stop the extinction event.
https://www.counterpunch.org/2017/08/08/the-extinction-event-gains-momentum/


*(video) This Day in Climate History August 9, 1974 
<http://youtu.be/32GaowQnGRw> -  from D.R. Tucker*
August 9, 1974: President Nixon leaves office in disgrace four years 
after establishing the EPA and NOAA.
http://youtu.be/32GaowQnGRw

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