[TheClimate.Vote] July 3, 2018 - Daily Global Warming News Digest

Richard Pauli richard at theclimate.vote
Tue Jul 3 10:52:06 EDT 2018


/July 3, 2018/

[stop. please.]
*'Relentless' heat wave to grip northeastern US into July 4 
<https://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/relentless-heat-wave-to-grip-northeastern-us-into-july-4/70005343>*
https://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/relentless-heat-wave-to-grip-northeastern-us-into-july-4/70005343

[the heat index: a quantity expressing the discomfort felt as a result 
of the combined effects of the temperature and humidity of the air]
*Current Heat Index Map <https://weather.com/maps/current-heat-index>*
https://weather.com/maps/current-heat-index
- - - - -
[Chart to calculate heat index]
*Heat Index <https://www.weather.gov/safety/heat-index>*
https://www.weather.gov/safety/heat-index
- - - - -
[do-it-yourself math]
*Heat Index Calculator <http://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/html/heatindex.shtml>*
http://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/html/heatindex.shtml
- - - - -
[Methane surface map]
*Methane at surface [ ppbv ] (provided by CAMS, the Copernicus 
Atmosphere Monitoring Service)
Saturday 30 Jun, 00 UTC T+60 Valid: Monday 2 Jul, 12 UTC 
<https://atmosphere.copernicus.eu/charts/cams/methane-forecasts?time=2018063000,60,2018070212&projection=classical_north_america&layer_name=composition_ch4_surface>*
https://atmosphere.copernicus.eu/charts/cams/methane-forecasts?time=2018063000,60,2018070212&projection=classical_north_america&layer_name=composition_ch4_surface


[Wildfire Today]
*Wildfire potential increases in California and the Northwest 
<http://wildfiretoday.com/2018/07/02/wildfire-potential-increases-in-california-and-the-northwest/>*
MDT July 2, 2018)

    "Abnormally dry conditions along the West Coast allowed for a
    northward expansion of drought into western Oregon and Washington in
    June. Some improvement was noted across the southern Great Plains
    while drought emergence was observed across the Lower Mississippi
    River Valley. Preexisting drought conditions and continued drier
    than average conditions across the Southwest allowed for a normal
    progression of the fire season across the Four Corners Region until
    mid-month when the remnants of Hurricane Bud moved north from Mexico
    and produced widespread wetting rainfall that reduced the elevated
    large fire potential in that area. While rainfall amounts that were
    greater than 200% of average were received across Arizona, New
    Mexico, and portions of southwestern Colorado, the Great Basin and
    California remained very dry receiving less than 10% of average
    precipitation. Temperatures across the West were near average for
    the month from the Pacific Coast east to the Continental Divide.
    East of the Divide, temperatures were near average.

http://wildfiretoday.com/2018/07/02/wildfire-potential-increases-in-california-and-the-northwest/
- - - - - -
[From LA Times]
*Wildfire in Yolo County spreads to 44,500 acres; only 3% containment 
<http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-county-fire-20180702-story.html>*
A wildfire burning through the Yolo County countryside grew to 44,500 
acres overnight, fire officials said Monday.
More than 1,200 fire personnel battled the blaze into the morning, 
ordering evacuations and establishing control lines in the face of hot, 
gusty winds.
Fire officials said red flag conditions - a perilous mix of low 
humidity, strong winds and high temperatures - could continue to fuel 
the fire.
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-county-fire-20180702-story.html


[One would think this should be a top story in a national newscast]
*Rhode Island Becomes the First State to File Climate Suit Vs. Oil 
Industry 
<https://www.climateliabilitynews.org/2018/07/02/rhode-island-climate-liability-suit/>*
Rhode Island is suing 21 oil and gas companies, state attorney general 
Peter Kilmartin announced on Monday, becoming the first U.S. state to 
attempt to hold the industry responsible for climate change-driven damages.
"For a very long time, there has been this perception that 'Big Oil' was 
too big to take on, but here we are-the smallest state, the Ocean 
State-taking on the biggest, most powerful corporate polluters in the 
world," Kilmartin said, adding that Rhode Island has too much at stake 
not to sue.
The suit was filed in Bristol County Superior Court and alleges that the 
21 companies-including oil giants Exxon, BP, Shell, Chevron, 
ConocoPhillips and others- knowingly contributed to climate change and 
failed to adequately warn Rhode Island citizens about the risks posed by 
their products.
The state alleges the companies' actions caused sea level rise and 
violated state laws by polluting, impairing and destroying the state's 
natural resources, interfering with the public's ability to use and 
enjoy those resources...
https://www.climateliabilitynews.org/2018/07/02/rhode-island-climate-liability-suit/


[just a reminder]
*Climate Will Have Real Estate Impacts -and Soon 
<https://climatecrocks.com/2018/07/02/climate-will-have-real-estate-impacts-and-soon/>*
July 2, 2018
Video https://youtu.be/qRGuQKv4gPU
New study looks at chronic flooding risk in coming decades from climate 
warming with subsequent sea level rise and tidal flooding.
video https://youtu.be/jCIiK3mKUug
https://climatecrocks.com/2018/07/02/climate-will-have-real-estate-impacts-and-soon/


[after permafrost melts, does it become peat?]
*More Saddleworth-style fires likely as climate changes, scientists warn 
<https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jun/29/more-saddleworth-style-fires-likely-as-climate-changes-scientists-warn>*
Saddleworth fires will also exacerbate problems as the UK's peatlands 
store huge amounts of carbon that they will release
Fri 29 Jun 2018 10.35 EDT
Firefighters tackle the wildfire on Saddleworth Moor
Northern Europe should brace itself for more upland fires like the one 
on Saddleworth Moor this week as the climate changes and extreme weather 
events become more common, scientists have warned.
As the army joined firefighters to tackle the blaze near Manchester and 
a second fire was reported on nearby upland, scientists said similar 
events are increasingly likely in future, with potentially devastating 
consequences for the environment and human health.
Guillermo Rein, professor of fire science at Imperial College London, 
said recent studies showed "climate change is expected to increase the 
fire frequency and severity of wildfire in Europe".
- - - -
Dr Richard Payne of the University of York agreed, saying that 
"devastating events like we are seeing today at Saddleworth Moor are 
likely to happen more often in the future". He also warned the fires 
would exacerbate climate change, as the UK's peatlands store huge 
amounts of carbon that is then released.
"The UK's peaty moorlands are crucial for the carbon they lock away as 
peat," he said. "Since the last ice age these peatlands have helped cool 
our climate but fires can reverse that effect, rapidly returning carbon 
to the atmosphere as carbon dioxide."
The fire at Saddleworth Moor could also have more immediate health 
implications. Prof Susan Page of the University of Leicester said peat 
fires release toxic chemicals into the air as well as small particulates 
that have long-term health implications - especially for children or 
those with existing respiratory conditions.
- - - - -
He said: "With none of the current pollution abatement strategies in the 
early industrial period, these moors were on the receiving end of a 
whole range of quite nasty industrial pollutants. So these peats are a 
store of past pollution, which could be remobilised in the current fires 
with unknown consequences for human health."
- - - - -
"What we need to do is get this dry hard habitat back to being a wetland 
environment that can resist fire more effectively and across which water 
travels much more slowly," he said.
Thomas Smith at the LSE said other UK moorlands were highly susceptible 
with "moderate to very high fire danger ratings across most of the UK 
and the Republic of Ireland".
He said that besides the Saddleworth Moor fire, there were at least two 
fires burning in the Northumberland national park this week, "one of 
which appears to be quite large at over 2km across".
"The last time we had conditions similar to this was in spring 2011," he 
said, "when there were fires breaking out across the whole of the UK and 
the Republic of Ireland, from a forest fire in Berkshire to moorland 
fires in the Scottish Highlands. I should imagine that fire and rescue 
services in areas at risk will be preparing themselves for a busy weekend."
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jun/29/more-saddleworth-style-fires-likely-as-climate-changes-scientists-warn


AUDIO
* Introducing a teacher-friendly book on climate change 
<https://www.yaleclimateconnections.org/2018/07/the-teacher-friendly-book-on-climate-change/>*
The authors are raising money to send it to as many science teachers as 
possible.
Searching for information about climate change can turn up confusing or 
misleading material. So one group is helping teachers sort fact from 
fiction.
Moore: "They're in this very mixed-message environment where they're 
hearing a whole bunch of different things, and it's really difficult to 
know what to think, to know what to do. And so we really felt like we 
couldn't sit by."
Alexandra Moore is with the Paleontological Research Institution 
<https://www.priweb.org/>, which last year published a book called The 
Teacher Friendly Guide to Climate Change 
<https://teachclimatescience.wordpress.com/>. It covers the basic 
science of climate change, impacts in different regions, and solution 
strategies.
Now, the organization is raising funds to distribute the guide for free 
to as many teachers as possible. The campaign started after a group that 
dismisses climate science sent its own book to schools across the U.S.
Moore: "We were inspired to reach out to all the teachers in the country."
Moore says the money raised so far is enough to send the book to about a 
quarter of the public high school science teachers in the U.S.
Moore: "We need to get out there and make sure that this message is 
heard, that our message is effective and we are really taking this 
information to the teachers and to the students who depend on them."
https://www.yaleclimateconnections.org/2018/07/the-teacher-friendly-book-on-climate-change/
- - - - -
*The Teacher-Friendly Guide to Climate Change 
<https://teachclimatescience.wordpress.com/>*
TFG Climate Change is written for teachers who could benefit from a 
"teacher-friendly" resource that includes both the basics of climate 
change science and perspectives on teaching a subject that has become 
socially and politically polarized.  Our audience is high school Earth 
science and environmental science teachers, and the guide is written to 
provide the information and graphics that a secondary school teacher 
needs in the classroom.  The book also speaks to a wider audience, 
including educators of other grade levels, subjects, and contexts, as 
well as non-teachers who find the approach helpful.  Climate change is a 
scientific issue, but it is also a historical, social, psychological, 
and economic issue that can only be deeply understood through 
mathematics, language and art.
TFG Climate Change is funded by the National Science Foundation, and 
published by the Paleontological Research Institution (PRI) in Ithaca, 
New York.  Founded in 1932, the Paleontological Research Institution has 
outstanding programs in research, collections, publications, and public 
education. The Institution cares for a collection of nearly three 
million specimens (one of the 10 largest in the U.S.), and publishes 
Bulletins of American Paleontology, the oldest paleontological journal 
in the Western Hemisphere, begun in 1895. PRI is a national leader in 
the development of informal (i.e., outside the classroom) Earth science 
education resources for educators and the general public.
TFG Climate Change is the latest book in a series of Teacher-Friendly 
Guides™ published by the Paleontological Research Institution, and 
written by expert scientists and educators in their respective fields. 
Access all the previous Teacher-Friendly Guides™ on the PRI website at 
teacherfriendlyguide.org.
Our Mission: The Paleontological Research Institution serves society by 
increasing and disseminating knowledge about the history of life on Earth.
https://teachclimatescience.wordpress.com/


[clever]
*Smartphones used to track migrations caused by climate change 
<https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/06/180628120053.htm>*
Date: June 28, 2018
Source: FECYT - Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology
Spanish researchers have developed a system that tracks human 
displacement caused by climate change using the tracks of mobile phones. 
With this model, which was tested during a severe drought in Colombia in 
2014, it was determined that the portion of the population that migrated 
due to this event was 10% during the six months of the study.
Natural disasters such as earthquakes and floods cause sudden population 
movements, as people try to find safe areas or follow government 
instructions. These changes have already been captured and modelled 
using geo-located tweets or cell phone records.
Now, Spanish experts have applied the smartphone migration tracking 
system for the first time to a more long-term phenomenon such as climate 
change.
The study, in which Enrique Frias-Martinez, researcher at Telefónica 
Research, in Madrid, Spain, has participated, has used aggregated and 
encrypted cell phone metadata to predict the migration caused by a 
severe drought in 2014 in La Guajira, Colombia. La Guajira is a rural 
department located in northeast Colombia, on the border with Venezuela, 
and is mainly inhabited by the aboriginal population of the Wayuus.
As Frias-Martinez explains to Sinc, in the research, which received 
funding from the National Science Foundation of the USA, cell phone 
traces were used "to identify population flows in the municipalities of 
the area affected by the drought."
This information -he adds- "was then used to monitor migrations using 
radiation models, which take into account not only the characteristics 
of the population and the distance between origin and destination, but 
also the economic opportunities of the place where they end up."
On the basis of this solution, the authors proposed a variation based on 
considering the climate of the destination area as an addition to the 
concept of economic opportunity to predict the migrations caused by 
climate change.
- - - -
"We have verified that, with cell phone traces, these migrations can be 
characterized with a success rate of over 60%, both in terms of the 
total number of people who migrate and the place where they move to."
The researcher says that "since displacements caused by climate change - 
especially by extreme drought and soil erosion- are going to be 
increasingly frequent, this mobile tracking system could be very useful, 
especially if we take into account that these devices are already 
widespread in developing countries."
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/06/180628120053.htm


*This Day in Climate History - July 3, 2013 
<http://mediamatters.org/research/2013/07/03/study-media-still-largely-fail-to-put-wildfires/194733> 
- from D.R. Tucker*
July 3, 2013: Media Matters notes that mainstream media entities have 
largely failed to point out that wildfires are likely to be more severe 
due to human-caused climate change.

    A (2013) study of wildfire coverage from April through July 1 finds
    that print and TV media only mentioned climate change in 6 percent
    of coverage, although this was double the amount of coverage from a
    year ago. While many factors must come together for wildfires to
    occur, climate change has led to hotter and drier conditions in
    parts of the West that have increased the risk of wildfires.

http://mediamatters.org/research/2013/07/03/study-media-still-largely-fail-to-put-wildfires/194733


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