[TheClimate.Vote] April 25, 2018 - Daily Global Warming News Digest

Wed Apr 25 10:40:59 EDT 2018

/April 25, 2018/

[Summers very hot, winters very cold]
*Collapse of the Atlantic Ocean heat transport might lead to hot 
European summers 
<https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/04/180424112906.htm>*
Science Daily
Severe winters combined with heat waves and droughts during summer in 
Europe. Those were the consequences as the Atlantic Ocean heat transport 
nearly collapsed 12,000 years ago. The same situation might occur today, 
according to a new study published in Nature Communications.
Record-breaking cold ocean temperatures across the central North 
Atlantic in recent years suggest that the northward oceanic heat 
transport through the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) 
has reached a long-term minimum and might be the weakest for at least 
1,600 years. Most climate models project that the already observed 
slowdown will continue under global warming scenarios although a 
complete collapse appears unlikely -- at least based on current models.
However, the climate history tells that we do not need to wait for a 
complete collapse to get a drastic climate response. A new study 
published in Nature Communications investigates how the strong cooling 
of the North Atlantic Ocean in response to a partial collapse of the 
AMOC impacted the European climate around 12,000 years ago. The period, 
called the Younger Dryas (YD), is the latest and one of the most extreme 
rapid cooling events that occurred during a phase of rapid warming at 
the climate transition from the late-glacial to our current warm 
climate, the Holocene...
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/04/180424112906.htm
- - --
[in Nature Communications]
*Warm summers during the Younger Dryas cold reversal 
<https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-04071-5>*
Our climate simulation provides robust physical evidence that 
atmospheric blocking of cold westerly winds over Fennoscandia is a key 
mechanism counteracting the cooling impact of an AMOC-slowdown during 
summer. Despite the persistence of short warm summers, the YD is 
dominated by a shift to a continental climate with extreme winter to 
spring cooling and short growing seasons...
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-04071-5

[Not in my state]
*New Jersey governor signs drill ban to thwart Trump plan 
<https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/new-jersey-governor-signs-drill-ban-to-thwart-trump-plan/2018/04/20/f2e7d73a-44b2-11e8-b2dc-b0a403e4720a_story.html?utm_term=.dc56ca4677c9>*
By Wayne Parry - April 20
POINT PLEASANT BEACH, N.J. - On the anniversary of the largest marine 
oil spill in the petroleum industry, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy signed 
a bill Friday prohibiting oil and natural gas drilling in state waters, 
as well as preventing infrastructure like pipelines that could support 
drilling in more distant federal waters.
It is one of numerous coastal states using state-level laws to try to 
thwart President Donald Trump's proposal to allow drilling in federal 
waters more than 3 miles offshore along most of America's coastline.
The Democratic governor noted the anniversary of the 2010 Deepwater 
Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, warning that a similar 
catastrophe could happen anywhere.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/new-jersey-governor-signs-drill-ban-to-thwart-trump-plan/2018/04/20/f2e7d73a-44b2-11e8-b2dc-b0a403e4720a_story.html?utm_term=.dc56ca4677c9

[Nexus Hot News]
*Weather Whiplash Set to Ramp Up in CA: 
<https://mailchi.mp/climatenexus/weather-whiplash-to-intensify-in-ca-pruitt-gives-thumbs-up-to-biomass-more?e=95b355344d>*
Climate change will increase "weather whiplash" in California as the 
state will increasingly swing between intense wet and dry periods, 
according to new research. A study published Monday in the journal 
Nature Climate Change predicts that while the long-term average annual 
precipitation in the state won't vary greatly, California may experience 
intense precipitation extremes in the future, as the frequency of 
whiplash events is set to double in Southern California by 2100. The 
study also finds that drastic events like the state's megaflood of 
1861-1862, which put much of the state underwater in a 43-day deluge, 
could become three times more likely as the planet warms. (LA Times $, 
San Francisco Chronicle, USA Today, Wired, KQED, Earther, Mashable, CBS)
https://mailchi.mp/climatenexus/weather-whiplash-to-intensify-in-ca-pruitt-gives-thumbs-up-to-biomass-more?e=95b355344d

[Not that cold in Alaska]
*What happened to winter? Vanishing ice convulses Alaskans' way of life 
<https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/apr/21/alaska-climate-change-winter-way-of-life?>*
Arctic Dispatches, part 1: The past winter was the warmest on record in 
the Arctic, putting a lifestyle that has endured for millennia at risk: 
'The magnitude of change is utterly unprecedented'
- - - -
"There's no reason why this sort of warmth won't continue. Within the 
lifetime of middle-aged adults, the Arctic has completely changed," said 
Rick Thoman, a NOAA climate scientist based in Fairbanks, Alaska. "The 
magnitude of change is utterly unprecedented. For a lot of the people 
who live there, it's completely shocking."
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/apr/21/alaska-climate-change-winter-way-of-life?

[Wherever birds fly]
*How migratory birds are moving Lyme disease to new places and peoples 
<http://www.ehn.org/migratory-birds-are-moving-lyme-disease-to-new-places-and-peoples-2561494303.html>*
ehn.org
A mass migration would deliver more ticks and likely more disease to 
Canada in coming years, in the form of beautiful waves of song sparrows 
and wrens, red-winged blackbirds, and warblers...
  - - -
When Scott studied that report of 80,000 dogs and the tick-borne 
diseases they harbored, published in 2011, he noticed something that the 
study authors had not. The highest rates of infected dogs, he saw, were 
not along coastlines or near cut up bits of forest that are known to be 
hot-beds of Lyme disease.

Rather, the line of highest infection closely followed invisible aerial 
highways used by songbirds-the common yellowthroat, golden-crowned 
sparrow, Swainson's thrush-on their annual north- south migration. As 
Scott had long believed, birds were dispersing ticks as they always had, 
but with a new and insidious kick; one called Borrelia burgdorferi, the 
Lyme disease pathogen...
- - - -
Some birds arrived in Nova Scotia so infested with ticks that 
researchers posited they had to have stopped along the Atlantic flyway 
in the northeastern United States, where the ticks have been rampant for 
decades. Some of the imported ticks came from as far south as Brazil and 
dropped their cargo as far north as the Yukon.
This excerpt is from "Lyme" <https://islandpress.org/books/lyme>by Mary 
Beth Pfeiffer.
http://www.ehn.org/migratory-birds-are-moving-lyme-disease-to-new-places-and-peoples-2561494303.html

[genomic planning]
*New model could help build communities of climate change-defying trees 
<https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/04/180424133553.htm>*
Researchers in Australia have developed a model to help build plant 
communities that are more resilient to climate change.
Their research, published in the journal eLife, could lead to improved 
decisions around where seeds are sourced during reforestation efforts, 
to ensure that newly planted trees are strong enough to tolerate their 
future climate.
"Many species are facing rapid changes in their environments due to 
global warming and other human disturbances. Increased variation in a 
species' genetic material, known as its genome, may allow a species to 
better adapt to these changes," says first author Megan Supple, who 
conducted this research while a postdoctoral researcher at The 
Australian National University (ANU) in Canberra.
"Those working on projects to restore native plant communities need to 
decide what seeds to plant at a given reforestation site. Genomic 
analyses can be used to identify source populations that are better 
adapted to the current and predicted climates at these sites. By 
selecting seeds with a high level of genomic diversity and adaptations 
to climate, the restored community will be more resilient to the changes 
they face in the future."..
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/04/180424133553.htm

[Viewing data]
*Watch how quickly humans are changing the planet in these animations of 
NASA satellite images 
<https://www.recode.net/2018/4/21/17263376/earthtime-satellite-time-lapse-photos-humans-planet-earth>*
 From rising sea levels to an increase in wildfires.
By Shirin Ghaffary
A new website, EarthTime, aims to shows how humans have dramatically 
changed the planet - such as how glaciers are melting and where refugees 
are migrating - through time-lapse satellite photos.
The site's interactive maps use images taken by NASA satellites from 
1984 to 2016, overlaid with over 300 geospatial data sets from the World 
Bank, Berkeley Earth and WWF, among others.
https://www.recode.net/2018/4/21/17263376/earthtime-satellite-time-lapse-photos-humans-planet-earth
[visualizing data]
*UNLOCKING THE POWER OF DATA <https://earthtime.org/#stories>*
EarthTime enables users to interact with visualizations of the Earth's 
transformation over time. Combining huge data sets with images captured 
by NASA satellites between 1984 and 2016, EarthTime brings to life 
patterns of natural change and human impact.
Users of EarthTime can view compelling animations accompanied by 
fact-based narratives from international experts. Drawing upon 
EarthTime's vast data library, the stories below are curated in honor of 
Earth Day 2018. Explore these stories to learn more about our collective 
impact on the planet.
https://earthtime.org/#stories

[Academic question for the future]
*(Re)claiming Just Transition 
<https://medium.com/just-transitions/stevis-e147a9ec189a>*
"We have recently entered a period of deep contestation over the 
ownership and meaning of Just Transition. It is, therefore, important to 
think about it systematically so that we can, at the very least, 
differentiate initiatives that co-opt and dilute its promise from 
initiatives that contribute to a global politics of social and 
ecological emancipation."
The Adapting Canadian Work and Workplaces (ACW) research project is 
pleased to share with you a new article by Collaborating Researcher, 
Professor Dimitris Stevis of Colorado State University.
*Who controls the meaning of the phrase "Just Transition"?*
Dr. Stevis argues that we have recently entered a period of deep 
contestation over the ownership and meaning of Just Transition.
https://medium.com/just-transitions/stevis-e147a9ec189a

    As any concept, whether democracy or sustainability, becomes more
    prominent it becomes increasingly contested. This is no mere
    disagreement over definitions. Rather it reflects competition over
    investing terms with particular meanings.

    That is now the case with Just Transition, a concept that has been
    around for several decades but has only recently become globalized.
    It is important that we demand that green transitions serve the
    common good because they are not inherently socially just and, in
    fact, are frequently less just than other transitions, such as
    gender or racial emancipation. Nor are they necessarily ecologically
    just. Decarbonized industrial policy can be as ecologically unjust
    as the current, carbon-based, industrial policy by externalizing
    harms across space, time and ecosystems.

    It is, therefore, important to think about it systematically so that
    we can, at the very least, differentiate initiatives that co-opt and
    dilute its promise from initiatives that contribute to a global
    politics of social and ecological emancipation.

To receive an email notification when new research is posted by The 
Adapting Canadian Work and Workplaces to Respond to Climate Change (ACW) 
project based at York University, please subscribe here:
http://www.adaptingcanadianwork.ca/subscribe/
https://medium.com/just-transitions/stevis-e147a9ec189a

[future gasoline complexity]
*Low Octane: The Surprising Reason Shale Oil Makes a Poor Fuel for 
High-Tech Cars and Trucks 
<https://www.desmogblog.com/2018/04/24/octane-surprising-reason-shale-oil-makes-poor-fuel-high-tech-cars-and-trucks>*
By Sharon Kelly - Tuesday, April 24, 2018
Shale oil, which the Energy Information Administration projects will 
represent a rising proportion of American oil supplies in the coming 
decades, has a surprising Achilles heel: its low octane levels, which 
make it a poor fit for the high-efficiency car engines of the future.
For financially troubled shale drillers, that's bad news, since it 
suggests demand for their oil could fall even if the price of a 
higher-octane oil barrel rises.
For the rest of the country, shale oil's quality issues raise important 
questions about whether building infrastructure to support decades of 
shale oil production is smart public policy, because a shale oil boom 
could ironically spell higher prices at the gas pump for American 
drivers. Or if shale oil makes regular but not premium gas cheap, that 
could deter Americans from buying premium-fueled cars despite better gas 
mileage, undermining plans to cut tailpipe pollution by building better 
engines...
more at: 
https://www.desmogblog.com/2018/04/24/octane-surprising-reason-shale-oil-makes-poor-fuel-high-tech-cars-and-trucks

[Video Lesson in Ice Melting - call it paleo-cryo-climatology]
*Meltwater Pulse 2B <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71l9lzLsBRc>*
YaleClimateConnections
Published on Jun 1, 2014
Independent videographer Peter Sinclair's 'This is Not Cool' video 
explores recent headline-grabbing research on Antarctic glacial melting, 
the first video produced under the name Yale Climate Connections, 
formerly The Yale Forum on Climate Change & The Media.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71l9lzLsBRc
*

This Day in Climate History - April 25, 2014 
<https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/rachel-maddow-will-us-energy-companies-disrupt-obamas-russia-policy/2014/04/24/8c13dab6-ca6a-11e3-95f7-7ecdde72d2ea_story.html?utm_term=.48fd49a26786>  
-  from D.R. Tucker*
April 25, 2014:   In the Washington Post, Rachel Maddow discusses the 
fossil fuel industry's interests in Russia.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/rachel-maddow-will-us-energy-companies-disrupt-obamas-russia-policy/2014/04/24/8c13dab6-ca6a-11e3-95f7-7ecdde72d2ea_story.html?utm_term=.48fd49a26786 

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