[TheClimate.Vote] February 15, 2018 - Daily Global Warming News Digest -

[Richard Pauli]

/February 15, 2018/

[USA Today]
*Even in best-case scenario for climate change, extreme weather events 
likely to continue increasing, experts say 
<https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/science/2018/02/14/extreme-weather-disasters-paris-climate-agreement/336885002/>*
The landmark Paris Agreement, signed by nearly every nation on Earth 
except the U.S., aims to keep the world's temperature from rising to 
dangerous, climate-shifting levels of 2 degrees Celsius above 
pre-industrial levels.
Now, a new study finds that even the best-case scenario of "only" a 
1-degree rise could increase the likelihood of extreme weather - 
including floods, droughts and heat waves - in the U.S. and around the 
world.

    The frequency of extreme climate and weather events is already
    increasing, and many experts say man-made climate change is an
    important motivating factor...

Keeping the world's temperature to a 1-degree Celsius (1.8 degrees 
Farenheit) rise is informally known as an "aspirational" target of the 
Paris Agreement, compared with the actual commitment of a 2-degree 
Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) rise...
Another 2 to 3 degrees Celsuis of global warming would likely lead to 
three times as many record-breaking wet days across large chunks of the 
U.S., the study said.
More worrisome, several studies have found that even if every nation 
follows through on its pledges to cut greenhouse-gas emissions - already 
a big if - worldwide average temperatures would be likely to rise closer 
to 3 degrees Celsius (5.4 degrees Farenheit) this century, the 
Massachusetts Institute of Technology said.
While greater increases in the likelihood of extreme weather events 
would be reduced if the world achieves the Paris deal's aspirational 
target, "we still will be living in a climate that has substantially 
greater probability of unprecedented events than the one we're in now," 
Diffenbaugh said.
Previous studies from Diffenbaugh's team found global warming has 
increased the odds of the hottest events across more than 80% of the 
planet, while also increasing the likelihood of both wet and dry extremes.
The research appeared Wednesday in the peer-reviewed journal Science 
Advances, a publication of the American Association for the Advancement 
of Science.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/science/2018/02/14/extreme-weather-disasters-paris-climate-agreement/336885002/


[new view]
*US intel chief deviates from Trump denial, warns about climate change, 
potential for 'upheaval' 
<https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2018/02/14/world/politics-diplomacy-world/u-s-intel-chief-deviates-trump-denial-warns-climate-change-potential-upheaval/>*
WASHINGTON - The top U.S. intelligence official issued a warning on 
Tuesday about the dangers of climate change in testimony that was 
seemingly at odds with the skepticism of President Donald Trump and 
other members of his administration.
"The impacts of the long-term trends toward a warming climate, more air 
pollution, biodiversity loss, and water scarcity are likely to fuel 
economic and social discontent - and possibly upheaval - through 2018," 
said Dan Coats, the director of national intelligence...
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2018/02/14/world/politics-diplomacy-world/u-s-intel-chief-deviates-trump-denial-warns-climate-change-potential-upheaval/


[radar records of bats]
*Bats as barometer of climate change 
<https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/02/180212190935.htm>
**Shifting behavioral patterns due to environmental change could have 
far-reaching implications for agriculture globally*
Bats spend every night hard at work for local farmers, consuming over 
half of their own weight in insects, many of which are harmful 
agricultural pests, such as the noctuid moths, corn earworm and fall 
armyworm. And now they are arriving earlier in the season, and some of 
them are reluctant to leave. It seems the bats know more about climate 
change than we had realized.
Historical radar data from weather monitoring archives have provided 
unprecedented access to the behaviours of the world's largest colony of 
migratory bats and revealed changes in the animals' seasonal habits with 
implications for pest management and agricultural production.
The work, which focuses on the Bracken Cave colony in southern Texas, is 
the first long-term study of animal migration using radar...findings are 
published today in Global Change Biology.
"These bats spend every night hard at work for local farmers, consuming 
over half of their own weight in insects, many of which are harmful 
agricultural pests, such as the noctuid moths, corn earworm and fall 
armyworm," says Wainwright.
"Our initial goal was just to show that the populations could be 
monitored remotely without disturbing the colony. We weren't expecting 
to see anything particularly noteworthy. The results were surprising,"...
  Using the radar data, the pair measured the population exiting the 
cave every night for 22 years, from 1995 to 2017, enabling them to 
record seasonal and longer-term changes.
"We found that the bats are migrating to Texas roughly two weeks earlier 
than they were 22 years ago. They now arrive, on average, in mid March 
rather than late March," says Wainwright...
This bat study "presents a new perspective on adaptation to global 
change, answering some longstanding questions while raising many 
more,"...They also note that "weather radar networks are key 
infrastructure around much of the world...and hold the promise of 
providing continental surveillance of bat populations, as well as their 
ongoing responses to global change."
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/02/180212190935.htm


*U.S. Intelligence Community: Impacts of Climate Change Raise the Risk 
of Conflict in 2018 
<https://climateandsecurity.org/2018/02/14/u-s-intelligence-community-impacts-of-climate-change-raise-the-risk-of-conflict-in-2018/>*
For the past ten years, beginning with the last year of the George W. 
Bush Administration, the U.S. intelligence community (IC) has annually 
warned policy-makers of the security implications of climate change. 
This year is the eleventh. Yesterday, during a hearing of the Senate 
Select Committee on Intelligence, the National Intelligence Council 
(NIC) Director Dan Coats released the annual "Worldwide Threat 
Assessment," which reflects the perspective of the entire U.S. 
intelligence community regarding the most significant risks to national 
security. Notably, the assessment includes a robust section titled 
"Environment and Climate Change" which not only details a range of 
security threats related to climate change, but also asserts that these 
risks, combined with other natural resources stresses, "*are likely to 
fuel economic and social discontent-and possibly upheaval-through 
2018.*" In other words, the U.S. intelligence community believes these 
threats are not on the distant horizon, but rather, already occurring 
and likely to increase political instability this very year.
The assessment also notes that "Extreme weather events in a warmer world 
have the potential for greater impacts and *can compound with other 
drivers to raise the risk of humanitarian disasters, conflict, water and 
food shortages, population migration, labor shortfalls, price shocks, 
and power outages.*"

The warning of the potentially destabilizing impacts of climate change 
is even more concerning than the NIC's 2017 assessment, which identified 
the likelihood of an increase in extreme weather events as a result of 
climate change, but stopped short of addressing the heightened 
probability of attendant social and economical upheaval and conflict. 
This is noteworthy as it is the first Worldwide Threat Assessment that 
is wholly a product of analysis conducted under the current 
Administration, and affirms the apolitical approach of the IC...Below, 
see the most relevant excerpts.
*From the "Environment and Climate Change" section:*
The impacts of the long-term trends toward a warming climate, more air 
pollution, biodiversity loss, and water scarcity are likely to fuel 
economic and social discontent-and possibly upheaval-through 2018.
The past 115 years have been the warmest period in the history of modern 
civilization, and the past few years have been the warmest years on 
record. Extreme weather events in a warmer world have the potential for 
greater impacts and can compound with other drivers to raise the risk of 
humanitarian disasters, conflict, water and food shortages, population 
migration, labor shortfalls, price shocks, and power outages. Research 
has not identified indicators of tipping points in climate-linked earth 
systems, suggesting a possibility of abrupt climate change.
Worsening air pollution from forest burning, agricultural waste 
incineration, urbanization, and rapid industrialization-with increasing 
public awareness-might drive protests against authorities, such as those 
recently in China, India, and Iran.
Accelerating biodiversity and species loss-driven by pollution, warming, 
unsustainable fishing, and acidifying oceans-will jeopardize vital 
ecosystems that support critical human systems. Recent estimates suggest 
that the current extinction rate is 100 to 1,000 times the natural 
extinction rate.
Water scarcity, compounded by gaps in cooperative management agreements 
for nearly half of the world's international river basins, and new 
unilateral dam development are likely to heighten tension between 
countries...
Challenges from urbanization and migration will persist, while the 
effects of air pollution, inadequate water, and climate change on human 
health and livelihood will become more noticeable. Domestic policy 
responses to such issues will become more difficult-especially for 
democracies-as publics become less trusting of authoritative information 
sources.
https://climateandsecurity.org/2018/02/14/u-s-intelligence-community-impacts-of-climate-change-raise-the-risk-of-conflict-in-2018/
For previous U.S. intelligence community assessments covering climate 
change, see the Intelligence section of our Resource Hub. 
<https://climateandsecurity.org/resources/u-s-government/intelligence/>
https://climateandsecurity.org/resources/u-s-government/intelligence/
Read thecomplete 2018 Worldwide Threat Assessment here. 
<https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/documents/os-dcoats-021318.PDF>  
(28 pages) 
https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/documents/os-dcoats-021318.PDF


[ice records]
*NASA's longest running survey of ice shattered records in 2017 
<https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/02/180213183558.htm>*
Last year was a record-breaking one for Operation IceBridge, NASA's 
aerial survey of the state of polar ice. For the first time in its 
nine-year history, the mission, which aims to close the gap between two 
NASA satellite campaigns that study changes in the height of polar ice, 
carried out seven field campaigns in the Arctic and Antarctic in a 
single year. In total, the IceBridge scientists and instruments flew 
over 214,000 miles, the equivalent of orbiting the Earth 8.6 times at 
the equator...
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/02/180213183558.htm


[motivation]
*Pride tops guilt as a motivator for environmental decisions 
<https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/02/180213120429.htm>*
A lot of pro-environmental messages suggest that people will feel guilty 
if they don't make an effort to live more sustainably or takes steps to 
ameliorate climate change. But a recent study from Princeton University 
finds that highlighting the pride people will feel if they take such 
actions may be a better way to change environmental behaviors.
Elke U. Weber, a professor of psychology and public affairs at 
Princeton's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, 
conducted the study -- which appears in the academic journal PLOS ONE -- 
along with Ph.D. candidate Claudia R. Schneider (who is visiting 
Princeton's Department of Psychology through the Ivy League Exchange 
Scholar Program) and colleagues at Columbia University and the 
University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Past research has shown that anticipating how one will feel afterward 
plays a big role in decision-making -- particularly when making 
decisions that affect others. "In simple terms, people tend to avoid 
taking actions that could result in negative emotions, such as guilt and 
sadness, and to pursue those that will result in positive states, such 
as pride and joy," said Weber, who also is the Gerhard R. Andlinger 
Professor in Energy and the Environment.
Pro-environmental messaging sometimes emphasizes pride to spur people 
into action, Weber said, but it more often focuses on guilt. She and her 
colleagues wondered which is the better motivator in this area.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/02/180213120429.htm


[legal frenzy]
*Exxon Sues the Suers in Fierce Climate-Change Case 
<https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-02-13/exxon-sues-the-suers-in-fierce-bid-to-defeat-climate-lawsuits>*
As climate-change lawsuits against the oil industry mount, Exxon Mobil 
Corp. is taking a bare-knuckle approach rarely seen in legal disputes: 
It's going after the lawyers who are suing it.
The company has targeted at least 30 people and organizations, including 
the attorneys general of New York and Massachusetts, hitting them with 
suits, threats of suits or demands for sworn depositions. The company 
claims the lawyers, public officials and environmental activists are 
"conspiring" against it in a coordinated legal and public relations 
campaign.
Exxon has even given that campaign a vaguely sinister-sounding name: 
"The La Jolla playbook." According to the company, about two dozen 
people hatched a strategy against it at a meeting six years ago in an 
oceanfront cottage in La Jolla, Calif.
"It's an aggressive move," said Howard Erichson, an expert in complex 
litigation and a professor at Fordham University School of Law in New 
York. "Does Exxon really need these depositions or is Exxon seeking the 
depositions to harass mayors and city attorneys into dropping their 
lawsuits?"...
Some experts say Exxon's strategy goes beyond mere litigation tactics.
"People often try to use litigation to change the cultural 
conversation," said Alexandra Lahav, a professor at the University of 
Connecticut School of Law, pointing to litigation over guns and gay 
rights as examples. "Exxon is positioning itself as a victim rather than 
a perpetrator."
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-02-13/exxon-sues-the-suers-in-fierce-bid-to-defeat-climate-lawsuits


[Map for $ale]*
**Global Warming Map Shows What Happens When the Earth Gets 4 Degrees 
Warmer <https://mymodernmet.com/parag-khanna-global-warming-map/>*
We read a lot about global warming in the headlines, and climate change 
is certainly one of the biggest concerns for most scientists, but what 
would the actual impact on our geography look like? International 
relations expert and best-selling author Parag Khanna gives a glimpse 
into our possible future with his global warming map.
Khanna's world map shows what Earth would look like if-or when-it 
becomes 4 degrees Celsius (39.2 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer. Though first 
published by New Scientist in 2009, the map is still a haunting reminder 
that we can't afford to sit back when it comes to saving our environment...
Warmer temperatures mean even bigger changes for colder climates, with 
Khanna suggesting that the melting of the Himalayan glaciers will cause 
populations to abandon Bangladesh and southern India. Canada and Siberia 
will transform into hubs of agriculture, warmer climates making them now 
suitable to produce much of the world's food supply. And suddenly, 
living in Antarctica won't mean bundling up. In fact, Antarctica's 
western coast will be densely populated, taking on people who find 
themselves fleeing from their once habitable land.
It all seems like strange fiction, but scientists have warned that it's 
a sad reality. Since 2013, researchers have predicted that by the end of 
the century the world will arrive at this point of no return. "Four 
degrees Celsius would likely be catastrophic rather than simply 
dangerous," Professor Steven Sherwood of the University of New South 
Wales in Australia told The Guardian at the time. "For example, it would 
make life difficult, if not impossible, in much of the tropics, and 
would guarantee the eventual melting of the Greenland ice sheet and some 
of the Antarctic ice sheet."
https://mymodernmet.com/parag-khanna-global-warming-map/


[Audio podcast- long]
*Why we need to rethink climate change, with Timothy Morton - books 
podcast 
<https://www.theguardian.com/books/audio/2018/feb/13/why-we-need-to-rethink-climate-change-with-timothy-morton-books-podcast>*
Tue 13 Feb 2018
When you first hear some of philosopher Timothy Morton's ideas, they may 
sound bizarre. He argues that everything in the universe - from algae 
and rocks to knives and forks - has a kind of consciousness. That we 
need to scrap the concept of "nature" as being distinct to civilisation. 
And, he says, we're ruled by a kind of primitive artificial 
intelligence: industrial capitalism.
- play audio [start 12 mins in] 
https://www.theguardian.com/books/series/books/podcast.xml
These ideas may sound strange, but sit down with Timothy for five 
minutes and they start to make sense. His latest book, Being Ecological, 
explores the relationship between humanity and the environment and why 
the world's current approach to climate change isn't working. We don't 
need endless "factoids" or "guilt-inducing sermons", he says, we need to 
radically change how we think about nature - and stop distinguishing 
between humans and non-human beings.
Timothy sat down with Sian in the studio and talked about what a human 
can do on an individual level to tackle global warming, his work with 
Björk and how pop culture can help in philosophical conversation.
https://www.theguardian.com/books/audio/2018/feb/13/why-we-need-to-rethink-climate-change-with-timothy-morton-books-podcast
-
[book review]
*Being Ecological by Timothy Morton review - a playfully serious look at 
the environment 
<https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/jan/20/being-ecological-timothy-morton-review>*
There are not too many 'scary facts' in this ambitious book, which draws 
on both Kantian philosophy and Star Wars to explain our relationship to 
the world
om the outset, Timothy Morton is very clear about the kind of book he 
isn't writing. This is not another "confusing information dump, slapping 
you upside the head to make you feel bad". What he terms "ecological 
information delivery mode", heavy in "factoids" and accompanied by a 
"guilt-inducing sermon", is counterproductive. Deluging readers with 
scary facts about global warming, which is what most environmental 
writers do, is "inhibiting a more genuine way of handling ecological 
knowledge". To understand the true gravity of the current situation we 
need "to start to live the data".

    At the heart of this immensely ambitious book is a radical critique
    of how we know and relate to the world around us. Morton argues that
    our scientific age is characterised by an epistemological gulf
    between objects and data: "things are mysterious, in a radical and
    irreducible way". Critical of a scientistic approach to knowledge,
    he believes the world can be grasped only by moving to a viewpoint
    that is both experiential and reflexive. The observer needs to be
    part of the equation: "Being ecological includes a sense of my weird
    inclusion in what I'm experiencing."

In order to "live ecological knowledge", Morton thinks we need to break 
through the "massive firewall" our Neolithic ancestors built between 
humans and non-humans some 12,000 years ago, as they began creating 
agriculture and theistic religions. Today we need to abandon the 
arrogance of anthropocentrism. In a memorable analogy, drawing on both 
Kantian philosophy and Star Wars, Morton observes that the idea of "mind 
melding with a non-human being" resembles the Force, an invisible field 
that permeates and binds everything. Sensing this "force", the 
underlying connectedness of all things, is an experience Morton 
describes as "attunement".
To read Being Ecological is to be caught up in a brilliant display of 
intellectual pyrotechnics. The playful seriousness of Morton's prose 
mixes references to Blade Runner and Tibetan Buddhism with lyrics from 
Talking Heads and concepts from German philosophers. He doesn't offer a 
plan to make society more environmentally friendly; instead, in what is 
an inspiringly idealistic book, he calls for a paradigm shift in our 
relationship to the world.
*Being Ecological* is published by Pelican.
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/jan/20/being-ecological-timothy-morton-review


[Southeast Chill]
*Polar vortex defies climate change in the Southeast US 
<https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/02/180213183555.htm>*
Overwhelming scientific evidence has demonstrated that our planet is 
getting warmer due to climate change, yet parts of the eastern U.S. are 
actually getting cooler. According to a Dartmouth-led study in 
Geophysical Research Letters, the location of this anomaly, known as the 
"U.S. warming hole," is a moving target.
During the winter and spring, the U.S. warming hole sits over the 
Southeast, as the polar vortex allows arctic air to plunge into the 
region. This has resulted in persistently cooler temperatures throughout 
the Southeast. After spring, the U.S. warming hole moves north and is 
located in the Midwest.
The study found that winter temperatures in the U.S. warming hole are 
associated with a wavier jet stream, which is linked to natural climate 
cycles over the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, and potentially to climate 
change. Previous research has illustrated that warming temperatures and 
melting Arctic sea ice set up conditions for a wavier jet stream. The 
study revealed that the jet stream over the U.S. became wavier in the 
late 1950's, coincident with the start of the warming hole. As such, 
since the late 1950's, the polar vortex has been cooling the 
southeastern U.S. during the winter.
"By discovering that the U.S. warming hole's location depends on the 
season, we've found a new way to help understand this phenomenon," says 
Jonathan M. Winter, an assistant professor of geography at Dartmouth and 
principle investigator for the research. "For example, the recent 
extreme cold snaps in the Southeast, which seem counterintuitive to 
global warming, may be related to the U.S. warming hole," added Trevor 
F. Partridge, a graduate student in earth sciences at Dartmouth and the 
study's lead author.
While the wintertime U.S. warming hole was found to be associated with 
the wavier jet stream, this was not the case for summertime 
temperatures. This conclusion supports previous studies that find 
connections between the summer warming hole in the Midwest and 
intensified farming, increased irrigation and air pollution, which 
primarily impact climate in summer and autumn.
The study provides new insight on when the U.S. warming hole occurred 
and where it is located spatially. Using National Oceanic and 
Atmospheric Administration data from 1,407 temperature stations and 
1,722 precipitation stations from throughout the contiguous U.S. from 
1901 to 2015, the researchers examined temperature and precipitation 
data over time for all stations, and identified stations that were 
persistently cooler than average from 1960 to 2015. Daily temperatures 
in the warming hole cooled by an average of 1.2 degrees Fahrenheit since 
1958, compared to a global average warming of about 1 degree Fahrenheit 
over the same period. The findings provide greater context on the cause 
of the U.S. warming hole, a phenomenon that has large implications for 
both the U.S. agricultural sector, and Midwest and Southeast weather now 
and potentially into the future.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/02/180213183555.htm


[climate modeling]
*Projecting the impacts of climate change 
<http://news.mit.edu/2018/projecting-impacts-climate-change-0213>*
Joint Program researchers advocate for improved modeling approach.
Mark Dwortzan  Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change
February 13, 2018
How might climate change affect the acidification of the world's oceans 
or air quality in China and India in the coming decades, and what 
climate policies could be effective in minimizing such impacts? To 
answer such questions, decision makers routinely rely on science-based 
projections of physical and economic impacts of climate change on 
selected regions and economic sectors. But the projections they obtain 
may not be as reliable or useful as they appear: Today's gold standard 
for climate impact assessments - model intercomparison projects (MIPs) - 
fall short in many ways...
Developed over the past 26 years, the MIT Integrated Global System 
Modeling (IGSM) framework allows researchers to custom-design 
climate-change scenarios and assess climate impacts under those 
scenarios. For a given climate change scenario, they can use the 
framework to analyze the chain of physical changes at the regional and 
sectoral levels, and then estimate economic impacts at those levels...
In the study, Monier and his co-authors applied the IGSM framework to 
assess climate impacts under different climate-change scenarios - "Paris 
Forever," a scenario in which Paris Agreement pledges are carried out 
through 2030, and then maintained at that level through 2100; and "2C," 
a scenario with a global carbon tax-driven emissions reduction policy 
designed to cap global warming at 2 degrees Celsius by 2100. The 
assessments show that "Paris Forever" would lead to a wide range of 
projected climate impacts around the world, evidenced by different 
levels of ocean acidification, air quality, water scarcity, and 
agricultural productivity in different regions. The "2C" scenario, 
however, would mitigate a substantial portion of these impacts. The 
researchers also explored additional scenarios developed by Shell 
International regarding the potential development of low-carbon energy 
technologies...
http://news.mit.edu/2018/projecting-impacts-climate-change-0213
-
[modeling paper]
*Toward a consistent modeling framework to assess multi-sectoral climate 
impacts <https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-02984-9>*
Erwan Monier, Sergey Paltsev, Andrei Sokolov,...
doi:10.1038/s41467-018-02984-9
13 February 2018
*Abstract*

    Efforts to estimate the physical and economic impacts of future
    climate change face substantial challenges. To enrich the currently
    popular approaches to impact analysis-which involve evaluation of a
    damage function or multi-model comparisons based on a limited number
    of standardized scenarios-we propose integrating a geospatially
    resolved physical representation of impacts into a coupled
    human-Earth system modeling framework. Large internationally
    coordinated exercises cannot easily respond to new policy targets
    and the implementation of standard scenarios across models,
    institutions and research communities can yield inconsistent
    estimates. Here, we argue for a shift toward the use of a
    self-consistent integrated modeling framework to assess climate
    impacts, and discuss ways the integrated assessment modeling
    community can move in this direction. We then demonstrate the
    capabilities of such a modeling framework by conducting a
    multi-sectoral assessment of climate impacts under a range of
    consistent and integrated economic and climate scenarios that are
    responsive to new policies and business expectations.
    https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-02984-9


[classic video from 2014]*
**A Report | Opening Keynote by Naomi Oreskes 
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAmZzVlELfw>*
Published on Oct 24, 2014
The Anthropocene Project. A Report
Opening Keynote: "Man as a Geological Agent: Historical and Normative 
Perspectives on the Anthropocene" by Naomi Oreskes (Department of the 
History of Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAmZzVlELfw


[Video fiction - time machine]
*Climate Scientist wants to invent Time Machine, Transmission 2049 
<https://youtu.be/FDKJLGETg_I>*
https://youtu.be/FDKJLGETg_I
is a short film produced by Climate State. Will our future be 
apocalyptic? What if you could turn back time? What if our actions today 
make the difference?
http://climatestate.com/2018/02/12/climate-scientist-wants-to-invent-time-machine-transmission-2049/


*This Day in Climate History February 15, 2010 
<http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=123671588&sc=emaf> 
- from D.R. Tucker*
February 15, 2010:
NPR's Christopher Joyce reports:

    "Most [climate scientists] don't see a contradiction between a
    warming world and lots of snow. That includes Kevin Trenberth, a
    prominent climate scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric
    Research in Colorado.
    "'The fact that the oceans are warmer now than they were, say, 30
    years ago means there's about on average 4 percent more water vapor
    lurking around over the oceans than there was, say, in the 1970s,'
    he says.
    "Warmer water means more water vapor rises up into the air, and what
    goes up must come down.
    "'So one of the consequences of a warming ocean near a coastline
    like the East Coast and Washington, D.C., for instance, is that you
    can get dumped on with more snow partly as a consequence of global
    warming,' he says.
    "And Trenberth notes that you don't need very cold temperatures to
    get big snow. In fact, when the mercury drops too low, it may be too
    cold to snow."

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=123671588&sc=emaf

/-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
//Archive of Daily Global Warming News 
<https://pairlist10.pair.net/pipermail/theclimate.vote/2017-October/date.html> 
//
/https://pairlist10.pair.net/pipermail/theclimate.vote//
///
Send email to subscribe <a%20href=%22mailto:contact at theClimate.Vote%22> 
to news clippings. /

        *** Privacy and Security: * This is a text-only mailing that
        carries no images which may originate from remote servers.
        Text-only messages provide greater privacy to the receiver and
        sender.
        By regulation, the .VOTE top-level domain must be used for
        democratic and election purposes and cannot be used for
        commercial purposes.
        To subscribe, email: contact at theclimate.vote with subject: 
        subscribe,  To Unsubscribe, subject: unsubscribe
        Also youmay subscribe/unsubscribe at
        https://pairlist10.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/theclimate.vote
        Links and headlines assembled and curated by Richard Paulifor
        http://TheClimate.Vote delivering succinct information for
        citizens and responsible governments of all levels.   List
        membership is confidential and records are scrupulously
        restricted to this mailing list.

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://pairlist10.pair.net/pipermail/theclimate.vote/attachments/20180215/374c59a7/attachment.html>