[TheClimate.Vote] August 15, 2018 - Daily Global Warming News Digest
Richard Pauli
richard at theclimate.vote
Wed Aug 15 10:58:35 EDT 2018
/August 15, 2018/
[Hot town, Summer in the city 122F]
*Halfway to boiling: the city at 50C
<https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2018/aug/13/halfway-boiling-city-50c>*
It is the temperature at which human cells start to cook, animals suffer
and air conditioners overload power grids. Once an urban anomaly, 50C is
fast becoming reality
by Jonathan Watts and Elle Hunt
Imagine a city at 50C (122F). The pavements are empty, the parks quiet,
entire neighbourhoods appear uninhabited. Nobody with a choice ventures
outside during daylight hours. Only at night do the denizens emerge, HG
Wells-style, into the streets - though, in temperatures that high, even
darkness no longer provides relief. Uncooled air is treated like
effluent: to be flushed as quickly as possible.
School playgrounds are silent as pupils shelter inside. In the hottest
hours of the day, working outdoors is banned. The only people in sight
are those who do not have access to air conditioning, who have no escape
from the blanket of heat: the poor, the homeless, undocumented
labourers. Society is divided into the cool haves and the hot have-nots...
- - -
Hospitals see a surge in admissions for heat stress, respiratory
problems and other illnesses exacerbated by high temperatures. Some set
up specialist wards. The elderly, the obese and the sick are most at
risk. Deaths rise.
At 50C - halfway to water's boiling point and more than 10C above a
healthy body temperature - heat becomes toxic. Human cells start to
cook, blood thickens, muscles lock around the lungs and the brain is
choked of oxygen. In dry conditions, sweat - the body's in-built cooling
system - can lessen the impact. But this protection weakens if there is
already moisture in the air.
A so-called "wet-bulb temperature" (which factors in humidity) of just
35C can be fatal after a few hours to even the fittest person, and
scientists warn climate change will make such conditions increasingly
common in India, Pakistan, south-east Asia and parts of China. Even
under the most optimistic predictions for emissions reductions, experts
say almost half the world's population will be exposed to potentially
deadly heat for 20 days a year by 2100...
- - - -
The city at 50C could be more tolerable with lush green spaces on and
around buildings; towers with smart shades that follow the movement of
the sun; roofs and pavements painted with high-albedo surfaces; fog
capture and renewable energy fields to provide cooling power without
adding to the greenhouse effect.
But with extremes creeping up faster than baselines, Niyogi says this
adapting will require changes not just to the design of cities, but how
they are organised and how we live in them. First, though, we have to
see what is coming - which might not hit with the fury of a flood or
typhoon but can be even more destructive.
"Heat is different," says Niyogi. "You don't see the temperature creep
up to 50C. It can take people unawares."
https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2018/aug/13/halfway-boiling-city-50c
[Vector-borne disease]
*Significant rise in mosquito "disease danger days" in U.S., report
warns
<https://www.cbsnews.com/news/significant-rise-in-mosquito-disease-danger-days-in-u-s-report-warns/>*
On a daily basis, everyone can help keep their families safe by:
Using an EPA-registered insect repellent that contains 20 percent or
more DEET, picaridin, or IR3535 on exposed skin.
Wearing long-sleeved shirts and long pants.
Treating outdoor gear, such as boots, pants, socks, and tents, with
permethrin or use permethrin-treated clothing and gear.
Conduct a full-body tick check using a hand-held or full-length
mirror to view all parts of your body upon return from tick-infested
areas. Parents should check their children for ticks.
Taking steps to control ticks and fleas on pets.
Taking steps to control mosquitoes, ticks, and fleas inside and
outside your home, including using screens on windows and air
conditioning when available. Once a week, empty out items that hold
water, such as tires, buckets, planters, toys, pools, birdbaths,
flowerpots, or trash containers to prevent mosquitoes from breeding
there.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/significant-rise-in-mosquito-disease-danger-days-in-u-s-report-warns/
[KUOW Radio 14 minutes]
*Are smoky skies in Seattle the new summer norm?
<http://www.kuow.org/post/are-smoky-skies-seattle-new-summer-norm>*
By BILL RADKE & ALISON BRUZEK
Bill Radke talks about the haze lingering over Seattle from fires in
British Columbia and the eastern part of the state. Our questions about
the smoke are answered by Sim Larken, research meteorologist for the
U.S. Forest Service and Erik Saganic, air quality forecaster with the
Puget Sound Clean Air Agency.
"dry forests, kiln dry"
http://www.kuow.org/post/are-smoky-skies-seattle-new-summer-norm
http://www.tinyurl.com/y8gs4pk6
[Trenberth is a top climate scientist]
*Climate change and wildfires - how do we know if there is a link?
<http://www.homelandsecuritynewswire.com/dr20180814-climate-change-and-wildfires-how-do-we-know-if-there-is-a-link>*
By Kevin Trenberth
Published 14 August 2018Share|
Once again, the summer of 2018 in the Northern Hemisphere has brought us
an epidemic of major wildfires. These burn forests, houses and other
structures, displace thousands of people and animals, and cause major
disruptions in people's lives. To many people, it has become very clear
that human-induced climate change plays a major role by greatly
increasing the risk of wildfire. There is huge complexity and
variability from one fire to the next, and hence the attribution can
become complex. The way to think about this is from the standpoint of
basic science - in this case, physics: Global warming does not cause
wildfires, but it exacerbates the conditions which make wildfires more
likely, thus raising the risk of wildfire.
- - - - -
These burn forests, houses and other structures, displace thousands of
people and animals, and cause major disruptions in people's lives.The
huge burden of simply firefighting has become a year-round task
costingbillions of dollars
<https://theconversation.com/a-perfect-storm-of-factors-is-making-wildfires-bigger-and-more-expensive-to-control-100800>,
let alone thecost of the destruction
<https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/california-wildfires_us_5b62a5cbe4b0b15aba9fc03b>.
The smoke veil can extend hundreds or even thousands of miles,affecting
air quality and visibility
<https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/aug/02/wildfire-events-air-quality-health-issues-in-western-us>.
Tomany people
<http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol-ca-skelton-jerry-brown-wildfires-20171214-story.html>,
it has become very clear that human-induced climate changeplays a major
role
<https://theconversation.com/wildfires-in-west-have-gotten-bigger-more-frequent-and-longer-since-the-1980s-42993>by
greatly increasing the risk of wildfire.
Yet it seems the role of climate change is seldom mentioned in many or
even most news stories about the multitude of fires and heat waves. In
part this is because the issue ofattribution
<http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nclimate2657>is not usuallyclear
<https://www.ametsoc.net/sotc2017/StateoftheClimate2017_lowres.pdf>. The
argument is that there have always been wildfires, and how can we
attribute any particular wildfire to climate change?
- - - - -
*Global warming is happening*
To understand the interplay between global warming and wildfires,
consider what's happening to our planet.
The composition of the atmosphere is changing from human activities:
There has been over a 40 percent increase incarbon dioxide
<http://www.cgd.ucar.edu/staff/trenbert/trenberth.pdf/ClimateChange18_ENRLfinal_summary.pdf>,
mainly from fossil fuel burning since the 1800s, and over half of the
increase is since 1985. Other heat-trapping gases (methane, nitrous
oxide, etc.) are also increasing in concentration in the atmospherefrom
human activities
<https://www.ametsoc.net/sotc2017/StateoftheClimate2017_lowres.pdf>. The
rates are accelerating, not declining (as hoped for with theParis
agreement
<https://theconversation.com/paris-agreement-on-climate-change-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly-52242>).
This leads to anenergy imbalance
<http://www.nature.com/nclimate/journal/v6/n2/full/nclimate2876.html>for
the planet.
http://www.homelandsecuritynewswire.com/dr20180814-climate-change-and-wildfires-how-do-we-know-if-there-is-a-link
*How climate change is making 'red tide' algal blooms even worse
<https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/capital-weather-gang/wp/2018/08/14/how-climate-change-is-making-red-tide-algal-blooms-even-worse/>*
by Angela Fritz - August 14
Red tide is killing Florida's southwest coast. Fish, manatees, sea
turtles - some of them endangered - and nine dolphins have washed up
dead on the beaches, and all of them are confirmed or suspected to have
been poisoned by the algal bloom. The body of a young whale shark was
found on a beach in late July, and biologists believe that it was the
first known whale shark to have been killed by red tide.
Now the toxic algae - /Karenia brevis/ - is working up the coast from
Sanibel Island to Tampa Bay. *Respiratory irritation in humans has been
reported as far north as Manatee County, just south of Tampa Bay, where
high concentrations of the algae were measured last week.* The water off
Pinellas County - Clearwater, Largo, St. Petersburg - had elevated
concentrations of red tide beyond a normal "background" state for the
first time this month.
Florida Gov. Rick Scott declared a state of emergency for seven counties
on the southwest coast Tuesday...
- - - - -
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/capital-weather-gang/wp/2018/08/14/how-climate-change-is-making-red-tide-algal-blooms-even-worse/
[Paleoclimatology]
*Is the Dinosaur Extinction Story Wrong?
<https://climatecrocks.com/2018/08/14/is-the-dinosaur-extinction-story-wrong/>*
And if so, what does that mean to us?
Could the Cretaceous extinction have been more due to climate change
than asteroid impact?
Below, discussion of an earlier extinction that scientists think was
indeed climate related.
https://climatecrocks.com/2018/08/14/is-the-dinosaur-extinction-story-wrong/
*This Day in Climate History - August 15, 2004
<http://www.amazon.com/Boiling-Point-Politicians-Journalists-Crisis--And/dp/0465027628/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1387936832&sr=8-1&keywords=boiling+point+ross+gelbspan>
- from D.R. Tucker*
August 15, 2004: In the New York Times, Al Gore reviews Ross Gelbspan's
"Boiling Point: How Politicians, Big Oil and Coal, Journalists, and
Activists Are Fueling the Climate Crisis -- and What We Can Do to Avert
Disaster," the follow-up to his seminal 1997 book "The Heat Is On: The
Climate Crisis, the Cover-Up, the Prescription."
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/15/books/hot-enough-for-us.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm
http://www.amazon.com/Boiling-Point-Politicians-Journalists-Crisis--And/dp/0465027628/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1387936832&sr=8-1&keywords=boiling+point+ross+gelbspan
http://www.amazon.com/The-Heat-Is-On-Prescription/dp/0738200255/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1387936855&sr=8-1&keywords=the+heat+is+on+ross+gelbspan
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