[TheClimate.Vote] April 21, 2018 - Daily Global Warming News Digest
Richard Pauli
richard at theclimate.vote
Sat Apr 21 10:59:27 EDT 2018
/April 21, 2018/
[new military quote]
*"The damn thing melted" - Secretary of the Navy Richard Spencer on the
Arctic, April 19, 2018
<https://climateandsecurity.org/2018/04/20/senior-military-leaders-take-climate-change-in-the-arctic-seriously/#more-15810>*
Then on Thursday, April 19, asreported in/USNI News/,
<https://news.usni.org/2018/04/19/navy-to-release-arctic-strategy-this-summer-will-include-blue-water-arctic-operations>Secretary
of the Navy Richard Spencer, and Chief of Naval Operations Admiral John
Richardson, both highlighted these climate-related Arctic
challengesduring and after a posture hearing
<https://www.armed-services.senate.gov/hearings/18-04-19-posture-of-the-department-of-the-navy>before
the Senate Armed Services Committee, in the context of their decision to
revise the 2014 Arctic Strategy. From the/USNI/article
<https://news.usni.org/2018/04/19/navy-to-release-arctic-strategy-this-summer-will-include-blue-water-arctic-operations>:
*"Asked what triggered the decision to revise the 2014 document now,
Richardson said "the Arctic triggered it" - and Spencer added, "the
damn thing melted."*
"The Arctic ice caps are as small as they've been in my lifetime,"
Richardson said.
"And that gives rise to strategic changes. Waterways that are open.
The secretary mentioned the blue-water Arctic. Continental shelves
that are exposed, and the resources on those shelves. So there are
strategic issues that arise from that shrinking of the icecap. And
then there's this National Defense Strategy that's changed our focus
as well. So it's really, from a number of perspectives, about time
to do that again."
By our count,16 senior defense leaders
<https://climateandsecurity.org/2018/02/21/chronology-of-u-s-military-leadership-on-climate-change-and-security-2017-2018/>during
this Administration have raised concerns about a changing climate, and
its implications for the military mission.
https://climateandsecurity.org/2018/04/20/senior-military-leaders-take-climate-change-in-the-arctic-seriously/#more-15810
- - - - -*
Navy to Release Arctic Strategy This Summer, Will Include Blue Water
Arctic Operations
<https://news.usni.org/2018/04/19/navy-to-release-arctic-strategy-this-summer-will-include-blue-water-arctic-operations>*By:
Megan Eckstein
April 19, 2018
CAPITOL HILL - The Navy will release a new Arctic strategy this summer
to reflect the potential for "blue-water Arctic" operations, service
leadership said today.
Navy Secretary Richard V. Spencer told the Senate Armed Services
Committee that a Navy Arctic Strategy was set for release this summer,
as a follow-up to the 2014 U.S. Navy Arctic Roadmap.
Spencer noted that Russia is paving 12,000-foot runways and building up
a military presence in the Arctic in the name of "search and rescue," he
said while making air-quotes. The U.S. Navy, meanwhile, does not have
ice-hardened ships and has minimal presence in the region, aside from
the annual ICEX submarine event.
"We need to have presence up there," he told lawmakers.
https://news.usni.org/2018/04/19/navy-to-release-arctic-strategy-this-summer-will-include-blue-water-arctic-operations
- - - - -
[Russian dog fight]
*20 fighter jets played war game in Arctic sky
<https://thebarentsobserver.com/en/security/2018/04/20-fighter-jets-played-war-game-arctic-sky>*
Pilots from the Russian Air Force and Northern Fleet together hunted
down and destroyed simulated violators of Russian Arctic airspace.
by Atle Staalesen - April 18, 2018
More than 20 aircrafts participated in the drills, the Northern Fleet
informs. Among them was a group of Mig-31 interceptor planes, which was
supported by four teams of Su-24 supersonic attack aircrafts.
The aircrafts belong to the air wing of the Northern Fleet, as well as
to the Air Force, and the joint exercise included strikes against
simulated enemy targets in the Arctic.
The exercise took place in both daytime and night time, the Northern
Fleet informs. The pilots conducted independent search of violators of
the country's Arctic airspace and shot with missiles against targets.
This helps the pilots perfect their skills in complicated and
high-altitude flying, a press release reads. For the crews of the
Mig-31s, it helps enhance coordination and improve efficiency in
intercepting and eliminating enemy air targets...
https://thebarentsobserver.com/en/security/2018/04/20-fighter-jets-played-war-game-arctic-sky
[I knew it!]
*Republicans more persuasive than scientists on climate change
<https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/04/180418141344.htm>*
Date:
April 18, 2018
Regardless of political affiliation, people are more likely to believe
facts about climate change when they come from Republicans speaking
against what has become a partisan interest in this country, says a new
University of Connecticut study.
In fact, Republicans are even more persuasive than scientists when it
comes to correcting misinformation about climate change, researchers found.
"Unfortunately, correcting misinformation is much harder than simply
providing 'facts'," says Lyle Scruggs, professor of political science at
UConn, who co-authored the paper with Salil Benegal, a recent UConn
Ph.D. graduate, now at DePauw University. The study is published in
Climatic Change.
"For science issues such as climate change, we might expect scientists
to be a credible and neutral authority," says Benegal. "However,
partisanship increasingly influences perceptions of scientific
credibility."...
- - - -
The findings have implications for environmental communication
strategies that seek to improve awareness about climate change.
"Citing Republican elites who endorse the scientific consensus on
climate change may be the most effective way to persuade citizens that
climate change is a real and important problem," says Scruggs. "That may
be a step forward in reducing the partisan gap in public opinion on the
subject."
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/04/180418141344.htm
[like layers of vinegar and oil]
*Study reveals new Antarctic process contributing to sea level rise and
climate change
<https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/04/180418141520.htm>*
Date: April 18, 2018
Source: University of Tasmania
Summary: A new study has revealed a previously undocumented process
where melting glacial ice sheets change the ocean in a way that further
accelerates the rate of ice melt and sea level rise. The research found
that glacial meltwater makes the ocean's surface layer less salty and
more buoyant, preventing deep mixing in winter and allowing warm water
at depth to retain its heat and further melt glaciers from below.
- - - - - -
"This process is similar to what happens when you put oil and water in a
container, with the oil floating on top because it's lighter and less
dense," Mr Silvano said.
- - - - -
"The same happens near Antarctica with fresh glacial meltwater, which
stays above the warmer and saltier ocean water, insulating the warm
water from the cold Antarctic atmosphere and allowing it to cause
further glacial melting.
"We found that in this way increased glacial meltwater can cause a
positive feedback, driving further melt of ice shelves and hence an
increase in sea level rise."
The study found that fresh meltwater also reduces the formation and
sinking of dense water in some regions around Antarctica, slowing ocean
circulation which takes up and stores heat and carbon dioxide.
"The cold glacial meltwaters flowing from the Antarctic cause a slowing
of the currents which enable the ocean to draw down carbon dioxide and
heat from the atmosphere.
*"In combination, the two processes we identified feed off each
other to further accelerate climate change."*
Mr Silvano said a similar mechanism has been proposed to explain rapid
sea level rise of up to five metres per century at the end of the last
glacial period around 15,000 years ago.
"Our study shows that this feedback process is not only possible but is
in fact already underway, and may drive further acceleration of the rate
of sea level rise in the future.
"Currently the ice shelves resist the flow of ice to the ocean, acting
like a buttress to hold the ice sheet on the Antarctic continent.
*"Where warm ocean waters flow under the ice shelves they can drive
rapid melting from below, causing ice shelves to thin or break up
and reducing the buttressing effect.*
"This process leads to rising sea levels as more ice flows to the ocean.
"Our results suggest that a further increase in the supply of glacial
meltwater to the waters around the Antarctic shelf may trigger a
transition from a cold regime to a warm regime, characterised by high
rates of melting from the base of ice shelves and reduced formation of
cold bottom waters that support ocean uptake of atmospheric heat and
carbon dioxide," Mr Silvano said.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/04/180418141520.htm
[PBS NOVA program]
*"Decoding the Weather Machine"
<https://www.thirteen.org/programs/nova/decoding-the-weather-machine-vgqhot/>*
EPISODE S45 E7:
Disastrous hurricanes. Widespread droughts and wildfires. Withering
heat. Extreme rainfall. It is hard not to conclude that something's up
with the weather, and many scientists agree. It's the result of the
weather machine itself-our climate-changing, becoming hotter and more
erratic. In this 2-hour documentary, NOVA will cut through the confusion
around climate change.
AIRED: 3/9/2018 | 1:53:21 | EXPIRES: 5/16/2018
https://www.thirteen.org/programs/nova/decoding-the-weather-machine-vgqhot/
[Video lecture starts about 16 minutes in]
*Antarctica & The Southern Ocean: Prof Matthew England (February 2018)
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ck8u1-XS9rM>*
Understanding Climate Change
Published on Mar 5, 2018
Main lecture starts around the 16:00 mark
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ck8u1-XS9rM
[Russian Travel]
*Five nuclear-powered voyages to melting North Pole
<https://thebarentsobserver.com/en/travel/2018/04/five-nuclear-powered-voyages-north-pole>*
Been there, seen that: 600 tourists pay up to $43,000 each to crush
through the ice towards the top of the world before it melts away.
By Thomas Nilsen - April 18, 2018
"50 let pobedy" - the most powerful icebreaker ever built will serve as
a cruise-ship for some of the best-paying travelers this summer. With
start in Murmansk, the nuclear-powered giant sails towards the North
Pole five times from June to August. Each tour takes 120 passengers.
Poseidon Expeditions, one of the operators organizing the tours,
promotes the feeling of crushing through the ice like this:
"As we make our way across the ice cap, you witness firsthand the
ship's awesome power as massive ice blocks give way under the
enormous bulk of the spoon-shaped bow. The sensation of being on
deck at this time is surreal and unforgettable."
Maybe more unforgettable today than tomorrow. The sea ice is currently
melting away in record speed. Arctic sea ice gets thinner and younger,
making it move faster and breaks up more easily. This is the
consequences of global warming, making the last few winters in the high
north weirdly warm.
National Snow & Ice Data Center at the University of Colorado Boulder
follows the development by studying satellite data. As the Arctic sea
ice was at its maximum extent in March, the centre concluded that 2018
became the second lowest extent in the 39-year satellite record, falling
just behind 2017. Worse: the four lowest seasonal maxima have all
occurred during the last four years.
*Polar scientists predict the North Pole could be ice free within a few
decades. In summer.*
Russia's fleet of nuclear-powered icebreakers is state-owned and
operated by Rosatomflot in Murmansk. Director of the fleet, Vyacheslav
Ruksha, says bringing tourists to the North Pole in the summer season
isn't among the most profitable voyages the icebreakers make.
https://thebarentsobserver.com/en/travel/2018/04/five-nuclear-powered-voyages-north-pole
[Every day has been Earth Day]
*These various Earth Days in Climate History - April 21, 1993 - 2012
- from D.R. Tucker*
April 21, 1993: President Clinton pledges to combat carbon pollution
in an Earth Day address.
http://c-spanvideo.org/program/DayAd
http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=46460
- - - - -
April 21, 2004: At a Washington, D.C. press conference, Martha Marks
of Republicans for Environmental Protection issues an Earth Day
message to the GOP, urging the party to "[pursue] bipartisan solutions
to the very real problem of global warming, instead of stonewalling
and hoping the problem will go away."
http://web.archive.org/web/20040602191537/http://www.rep.org/opinions/speeches/44.html
- - - - -
April 21, 2007: At the White House Correspondents' Association dinner,
White House senior advisor Karl Rove reacts scornfully to a request by
environmentalist Laurie David to have the George W. Bush
administration reconsider its approach to the climate-change issue.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/22/AR2007042200353.html?hpid=moreheadlines
http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/46501
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/23/washington/23rove.html?_r=0
- - - - - -
April 21, 2008: Americans for Prosperity--the front group owned by
billionaire oilmen (and climate-change deniers) Charles and David
Koch--kicks off a "Hot Air Tour" intended to stir up opposition to
bipartisan climate-change legislation in the US Senate.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=3210645&mesg_id=3210645
- - - - -
April 21, 2012: Former EPA Administrator Christine Todd Whitman,
former New York Times columnist Bob Herbert, meteorologist Paul
Douglas, political consultant Victoria DeFrancesco Soto and
progressive radio host Sam Seder discuss the politics of climate
change on MSNBC's "Up with Chris Hayes."
http://www.mediaite.com/tv/chris-hayes-asks-republican-meteorologist-to-help-convince-gop-of-climate-change/
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