[TheClimate.Vote] April 20, 2019 - Daily Global Warming News Digest
Richard Pauli
richard at theclimate.vote
Sat Apr 20 09:22:00 EDT 2019
/April 20, 2019/
[Climate sensitivity of 5 degrees C]
*New climate models forecast a warming surge*
https://science.sciencemag.org/content/364/6437/222
[inaction certifies doom]
*Our leaders are ignoring global warming to the point of criminal
negligence. It's unforgivable*
Tim Winton
Humanity survived the cold war because no one pushed the button. On
climate change, the button has been pushed again and again...
- -
Worse than that, their policies, language, patronal obligations and acts
of bad faith are poisoning us, training citizens to accept the prospect
of inexorable loss, unstoppable chaos, certain doom. Business as usual
is robbing people of hope, white-anting the promise of change. That's
not just delinquent, it's unforgivable.
Over the last 15 years in Australia our national governments have failed
to respond effectively to the challenge of climate change, and for most
of that time we actually gave ourselves the luxury of calling it a
challenge. Now it's more of a crisis.
- -
I worry that this widely-shared grief and unfocussed rage may become the
signal human disposition of our time, that the Anthropocene will be
marked by fury and hopelessness. This frightens me just as much as the
prospect of beachside properties falling into the sea, or even the death
of our coral reefs. Acidifying cultures are as chaotic and dangerous as
acidifying oceans.
- -
Because there's something bigger at stake here than culture wars and the
mediocrity of so-called common-sense. It's the soil under our feet, the
water we drink, the air we breathe.
Life. It's worth the fight. But, by God, after decades of appeasement,
defeatism and denialism, it's going to take a fight. Time's short. So,
let's give our grief and fury some shape and purpose and reclaim our
future together. Enough cowardice. Enough bullshit. Time for action.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/apr/20/our-leaders-are-ignoring-global-warming-to-the-point-of-criminal-negligence-its-unforgivable
[Australia acts]
*Extinction Rebellion activists stop coal train in Brisbane*
Climate change protesters face charges after railway line blocked near port
One protester is in custody and another was taken to hospital after
Extinction Rebellion activists stepped in front of a moving coal train
headed for the Port of Brisbane.
The train driver was forced to slam on the emergency brakes after a
group of protesters climbed on to the freight tracks in Wynnum on
Thursday afternoon, police said.
"Then three men approached the carriages [and] one of them got up on to
the carriage … the man wouldn't come down," a police spokesman said on
Friday.
Officers coaxed him down about 7.45pm and he was charged with
obstructing the railway, trespass and obstructing police. He remains in
custody and will appear in the Cleveland magistrates court on Saturday...
- - -
An Extinction Rebellion activist, Emma Dorge, said the group was
protesting against the lack of action in Australia in response to the
global climate crisis.
"We can't wait any more, we're taking direct action so people understand
the danger the planet is in," she said.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/apr/19/extinction-rebellion-activists-stop-coal-train-in-brisbane
[XR discussion]
*Rupert Read's Ch5 interview discussing the Extinction Rebellion London
Protests*
Rupert Read
Published on Apr 19, 2019
Rupert Read's Channel 5 interview discussing the Extinction Rebellion
Protests in London - May 18th 2019
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wM6CQOsMUMk
[PBS report video with full transcript links migration and climate changes]
*In Niger, rising temperatures mean barren fields -- but fertile ground
for terrorism*
In the African Sahel, located between the Sahara Desert and the equator,
the climate has long been inhospitable. But now rising temperatures have
caused prolonged drought and unpredictable weather patterns,
exacerbating food shortages, prompting migration and contributing to
instability in countries already beset by crisis. Special correspondent
Mike Cerre reports from Niger...
Joshua Busby:
Because they're fragile governments that, when they're exposed to
climate hazards and are subject to other kinds of security problems
at the same time, they're ill-equipped to be able to handle those
problems simultaneously.
Mike Cerre:
Changing climate conditions are also contributing to the perfect
storm of growing terrorist threats in Mali, Niger and Chad, where
the American military has forward-deployed more troops and trainers
than anywhere else in Africa...
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/in-niger-rising-temperatures-mean-barren-fields-but-fertile-ground-for-terrorism
[tracking methane]
*New Crop of Satellites Will Identify Biggest Contributors to Climate
Change*
By Aaron Clark - April 18, 2019
A wave of satellites set to orbit the Earth will be able to pinpoint
producers of greenhouse gases, right down to an individual leak at an
oil rig.
More than a dozen governments and companies have or are planning to
launch satellites that measure concentrations of heat-trapping gases
such as methane, which is blamed for about one quarter of man-made
global warming. They are looking to track nations, industries, companies
and even individual facilities to identify some of the biggest
contributors to climate change...
https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/international/2019/04/18/524208.htm
[The Economist]
*Understanding how crop diseases and climate change interact is vital*
But such understanding is poor
In the past 150 years, the concentration of carbon dioxide in the
atmosphere has risen from 280 parts per million (ppm) to 410 ppm. For
farmers this is mixed news. Any change in familiar weather patterns
caused by the atmospheric warming this rise is bringing is bound to be
disruptive. But more carbon dioxide means more fuel for photosynthesis
and therefore enhanced growth--sometimes by as much as 40%. And for
those in temperate zones, rising temperatures may bring milder weather
and a longer growing season. (In the tropics the effects are not so
likely to be benign.) What is not clear, though, and not much
investigated, is how rising CO2 levels will affect the relation between
crops and the diseases that affect them.
History suggests that is an oversight. Devastating crop diseases do
suddenly emerge from obscurity--often becoming epidemic far from their
place of origin. In the 1840s, for example, a hitherto obscure fungus
from Mexico devastated the Irish potato crop for several years, bringing
about a famine that killed a million people. It would not be at all
surprising if a changing climate led to conditions that caused similar
epidemics...
https://www.economist.com/science-and-technology/2019/04/20/understanding-how-crop-diseases-and-climate-change-interact-is-vital
[Paul Beckwith video]
*Arctic Feedbacks Stopping Winter Sea-Ice Refreezing: Part 1 of 2*
Paul Beckwith
Published on Apr 18, 2019
I discuss the very latest cutting edge scientific understanding on a
powerful Arctic feedback that keeps regions of open, ice-free Arctic
from refreezing during the dead of winter (December 1st to February
28th). Albedo feedbacks are NOT happening at this time since the Arctic
is in total 24/7 darkness. What IS happening: turbulent heat flux
(sensible + latent) plus increased upwelling long-wave radiation brings
heat from the ocean up into the lowest 1.5 km of the atmosphere; more
downwelling long-wave radiation prevents sea-ice formation. This
feedback increased 8.9% per year from 1979 to 2016.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOjT6ekEBFM
- - -
[Second video]
*Arctic Feedbacks Stopping Winter Sea-Ice Refreezing: Part 2 of 2*
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DD6nGSxDm4
- -
[Source material]
*Vertical Feedback Mechanism of Winter Arctic Amplification and Sea Ice
Loss*
*Abstract*
Sea ice reduction is accelerating in the Barents and Kara Seas.
Several mechanisms are proposed to explain the accelerated loss of
Arctic sea ice, which remains to be controversial. In the present
study, detailed physical mechanism of sea ice reduction in winter
(December-February) is identified from the daily ERA interim
reanalysis data. Downward longwave radiation is an essential element
for sea ice reduction, but can primarily be sustained by excessive
upward heat flux from the sea surface exposed to air in the region
of sea ice loss. The increased turbulent heat flux is used to
increase air temperature and specific humidity in the lower
troposphere, which in turn increases downward longwave radiation.
This feedback process is clearly observed in the Barents and Kara
Seas in the reanalysis data. A quantitative assessment reveals that
this feedback process is being amplified at the rate of ~8.9% every
year during 1979-2016. Availability of excessive heat flux is
necessary for the maintenance of this feedback process; a similar
mechanism of sea ice loss is expected to take place over the sea-ice
covered polar region, when sea ice is not fully recovered in winter.
*Introduction*
Over the past decades, rapidly enhanced atmospheric warming has been
observed in the Arctic. The accelerated warming is pronounced in the
lower troposphere during the cold season. An accompanying drastic
reduction of sea ice has pronounced implications for global climate
changes by affecting energy exchange between ocean and atmosphere9, and
is often referred to as a key factor for accelerated warming in the
Arctic. A particularly significant sea ice reduction can be found over
the Barents and Kara Seas, which potentially influences cold winter
extremes over the Eurasian continent. Physically, sea ice loss involves
a positive ice-atmosphere feedback, which leads to an enhanced warming
signal in the Arctic region. This feature is generally referred to as
Arctic amplification6,9,20. Previous studies have proposed the physical
mechanisms of Arctic amplification, which involve the effect of
atmospheric heat transport, oceanic heat transport, cloud and water
vapor changes, and/or diminishing sea ice cover. The accurate physical
process of the Arctic amplification, however, is subject to debate.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-38109-x
[Beckwith rants...video]
*Idiotic, Inane Climate Policies by Canadian Politicians of all Ilks
(excepting Green's*)
Paul Beckwith
Published on Apr 19, 2019
There is nothing like a family Easter trip to Toronto to get my creative
rant juices flowing. I let loose about monsoon-like rainfall with spring
snowmelt about to cause massive Quebec/Ontario flooding, the pathetic
state of Canadian politicians of all ilks (Alberta NDP cheerleading tar
sands/pipelines, recently replaced by climate denying morons of the
newly elected United Conservative Party under Jason Kenney; Turdeau's
federal Liberal lunacy plan of buying pipelines to fund climate action,
Doug Ford's Ontario Conservative Party propaganda with gas station
stickers, and Andrew Scheer's federal Conservative climate nuttiness.
God help us with these Neanderthals at the helm. Abrupt climate change
mayhem is exceeded only by even more abrupt political stupidity.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6414tdTTcA
*This Day in Climate History - April 20, 2002 - from D.R. Tucker*
April 20, 2002: The Guardian reports:
"The head of the international scientific panel on climate change, which
has called for urgent action to curb global warming, was deposed
yesterday after a campaign by the Bush administration, Exxon-Mobil and
other energy companies to get him replaced.
"At a plenary session of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
(IPCC) in Geneva, Robert Watson, a British-born US atmospheric scientist
who has been its chairman since 1996, was replaced by an Indian railway
engineer and environmentalist, R K Pachauri.
"Dr Pachauri received 76 votes to Dr. Watson's 49 after a
behind-the-scenes diplomatic campaign by the US to persuade developing
countries to vote against Dr Watson, according to diplomats. The British
delegation argued for Dr Watson and Dr Pachauri to share the chairmanship.
"The US campaign came to light after the disclosure of a confidential
memorandum from the world's biggest oil company, Exxon-Mobil, to the
White House, proposing a strategy for his removal."
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/apr/20/internationaleducationnews.climatechange
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