[TheClimate.Vote] February 5, 2020 - Daily Global Warming News Digest
Richard Pauli
richard at theclimate.vote
Wed Feb 5 09:13:49 EST 2020
/*February 5, 2020*/
[4 minute audio or text NPR news]
*Climate And Floodwaters Are Top Of Mind For Some Iowa Voters...*
"Climate change, as we hear about it every day through the national
media, I don't believe is our problem," Baldwin says. "I believe
climate's changing and I believe climate's been changing since the
inception of this planet, right? All I know is what is obvious to me,
and that is when it rains, the water has nowhere to go except to the
Mississippi River. But is it related to what -- driving cars and eating
beef? I'm not convinced of that."
Baldwin plans to vote for President Trump. He's more concerned about the
economy in general than climate change. He thinks local factors are the
bigger reason for flooding in urban areas, such as paving over grassy
areas that would naturally absorb rain...
Beyond the presidential contest, factors local to Davenport are also at
play in how the business owners think about their future. Davenport
doesn't have a permanent flood wall, in contrast to other cities of its
size along the Mississippi.
"Our riverfront is one of the major attributes of our community," former
Mayor Frank Klipsch told reporters from The Associated Press last year.
"We want to be able to maintain that and embrace the Mississippi River."
Mid-March to mid-June saw 95 days of water above flood stage, with the
Mississippi reaching a record crest in early May. City officials
estimated the damage at $3.5 million. That estimate doesn't take into
account lost business revenue and wages, which a business group
estimated could reach $30 million in the city of 100,000 people.
https://www.npr.org/2020/02/03/801651773/climate-and-floodwaters-are-top-of-mind-for-some-iowa-voters
[NYT Opinion]
*Mother Nature Scoffs at Trump's Mideast Peace Plan*
Climate change and other conditions don't respect boundary lines.
By Thomas L. Friedman
TEL AVIV -- To get a different perspective on the Trump-Kushner peace
plan, I decided to call the best Middle East analyst I know. Her name is
Mother Nature...
- - -
If you build on my formula, any peace will have to involve mutual
respect and respect for my ecosystems -- in contrast to the zero-sum
thinking of the political extremists now driving this story and messing
with Mother Nature. It's not smart to mess with Mother Nature. Ask the
Australians.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/04/opinion/middle-east-climate-change.html
[Aussie media shows it]
*Climate change: Australian TV audience boos sceptical senator*
04 Feb 2020
In an incident that has got Australia talking, Senator Jim Molan was
booed while speaking on a panel TV discussion on the bushfire crisis.
The Liberal Party politician was talking about climate change on ABC's
Q&A programme, and cast doubt on whether it was caused by human activity.
Mr Molan later said he wasn't "relying on science" for his views, and
defended the government's climate change policy.
Government critics say human-induced climate change has been a major
contributing factor to the bushfires, and that action must be taken to
address rising global temperatures.
https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-australia-51369140/climate-change-australian-tv-audience-boos-sceptical-senator
- - -
[Daily Mail responds]
*Alan Jones accuses ABC's Q&A program of being 'out of touch' and
'biased' after conservative senator after he was heckled during a
climate change debate*
- Presenter Alan Jones labelled Q&A 'clearly biased' after Monday's
fiery episode
- Liberal senator Jim Molan was laughed at and heckled by ABC show's
audience
- Politician had said he was not convinced climate change was caused by
humans
- Mr Molan was mocked after saying he wasn't relying on evidence for his
opinion
- But Jones said as he wasn't a scientist Molan was not expected to have
evidence
- The 2GB radio host claimed Q&A was not 'even-handed' and show had
'clear bias'
Broadcaster Alan Jones has labelled Q&A 'out of touch' and 'clearly
biased' after a fiery episode discussing climate change and the bushfire
crisis on Monday night.
Liberal senator Jim Molan was laughed at and heckled by the show's
audience as he admitted he was not convinced humans were causing climate
change.
Q&A host Hamish Macdonald also pressed Mr Molan for evidence changes in
the climate was not human-induced, to which the latter responded 'I'm
not relying on evidence.'
But Jones hit out at Macdonald's line of questioning in his debut show,
saying the senator was a politician and should not be expected to have
detailed evidence...
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7963075/Alan-Jones-explodes-Q-bushfire-debacle-says-conservatives-NEVER-ABC-show.html
[Many commercials in broadcast TV]
*Believe in a Seventh Generation (:30)*
Feb 4, 2020
Seventh Generation
What if we were meant to be the next greatest generation? Stand with
Seventh Generation against climate change.
https://youtu.be/xu4EEEHuLeQ
https://youtu.be/KYs2fevWdRY
https://youtu.be/hOJcafVptyM
https://youtu.be/OlOdsQ8zCww
https://youtu.be/8RZefq1gx5I
https://youtu.be/OANqgiyycPI
[in the US, lower 48 that is,]
*Where America's Climate Migrants Will Go As Sea Level Rises*
Climate experts expect some 13 million coastal residents in the U.S. to
be displaced by the end of this century.
see the map -
https://cdn.theatlantic.com/assets/media/img/posts/2020/01/journal.pone.0227436.g003/ca112f54a.png
In the worst-case scenario, in which sea levels rise by six feet by
2100, the resulting map shows portions of almost all counties on the
East and West Coasts, and along the Gulf of Mexico, under water. It also
shows that cities closest to the flood-prone areas, and that aren't
typically attractive destinations for newcomers, could see a
higher-than-average influx of migrants. In Florida, for example, that
means people may increasingly move to the shrinking core of the
peninsula as the coastlines disappear into the ocean. Demographer Mathew
Hauer, whose climate migration research was a building block for
Dikina's, explained in Audubon Magazine that people tend to move to
familiar places nearby, where they might already have friends, family,
or some other support network. People may also flock to major urban
centers like Dallas and Houston, which the model predicts will absorb
the most migrants, and drive up the pace of urbanization.
https://www.citylab.com/environment/2020/02/climate-change-migration-map-sea-level-rise-coastal-cities/605440/
-- -
[more in the journal Plos One]
*Modeling migration patterns in the USA under sea level rise*
Abstract
Sea level rise in the United States will lead to large scale migration
in the future. We propose a framework to examine future climate
migration patterns using models of human migration. Our framework
requires that we distinguish between historical versus climate driven
migration and recognizes how the impacts of climate change can extend
beyond the affected area. We apply our framework to simulate how
migration, driven by sea level rise, differs from baseline migration
patterns. Specifically, we couple a sea level rise model with a
data-driven model of human migration and future population projections,
creating a generalized joint model of climate driven migration that can
be used to simulate population distributions under potential future sea
level rise scenarios. The results of our case study suggest that the
effects of sea level rise are pervasive, expanding beyond coastal areas
via increased migration, and disproportionately affecting some areas of
the United States.
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0227436
[Canada fuels]
*When it comes to climate hypocrisy, Canada's leaders have reached a new
low*
Bill McKibben
A territory that has 0.5% of the Earth's population plans to use up
nearly a third of the planet's remaining carbon budget
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/feb/05/when-it-comes-to-climate-hypocrisy-canadas-leaders-have-reached-a-new-low
[Homeland Security News Wire - Floods]
*Wildfires Increase Winter Snowpack -- but That Isn't Necessarily a Good
Thing*
Published 5 February 2020
Fires burns trees, and more burnt trees mean more snow into the system
initially because of reduced trees that usually block and hold the snow
temporarily on branches. This is a good outcome for north-facing slopes
where the snowpack will hold in the shade, but If the snow falls on a
south-facing, sun-exposed aspect with a deep snowpack and a rapid spring
melt, there is a higher chance of erosion, loss of nutrients, and
potential of flooding for downstream communities. "The larger and more
severe the wildfire, the increased flood potential for valleys," says an
expert.
Deep in the Tushar mountains, some three hours south of BYU's campus,
Ph.D. student Jordan Maxwell and two other students found themselves in
deep snow, both literally and figuratively.
It was December 2014 and the students had just started field work under
the tutelage of BYU professor Sam St. Clair for research on the impact
of wildfires on snowpack levels. Unfortunately, the snowmobiles they'd
been using could go no further and there were still dozens of
measurements they needed to take.
"So, we put on our skis and got to work," Maxwell said.
The students would go on to log between 15 and 20 miles of backcountry
skiing each day in the field, measuring snow depth levels and snow water
equivalency at 30 sampling spots within the footprint of the Twitchell
Canyon Fire, a 2010 mega-fire that consumed 45,000 acres and was the
largest active wildfire in the United States at the time.
BYU says that the team also measured the presence, height and diameter
of trees at each location and whether or not those trees were killed by
the fire. After crunching the data, collected over that winter and the
next, they found pretty impressive numbers: there was an 85 percent
greater snow depth in areas that burned completely compared to areas
that didn't burn at all.
"Fires mean more snow into the system initially because of reduced trees
that usually block and hold the snow temporarily on branches," said St.
Clair, a professor of plant and wildlife sciences. "It's a really good
outcome for north-facing slopes where the snowpack will hold in the
shade, but If you've got a south-facing (sun-exposed) aspect with a deep
snowpack and a rapid spring melt, now there is a higher chance of
erosion, loss of nutrients and potential of flooding for downstream
communities. The larger and more severe the wildfire, the increased
flood potential for valleys."
The research also revealed a 15 percent increase in snow-water
equivalent -- the amount of water contained within the snowpack -- for
every 20 percent increase in tree mortality in the burned areas.
The findings, recently published in Environmental Research Letters,
represent the first study to examine the effects of burn severity on
snow accumulation and water equivalence using direct measures. The
researchers believe the study has considerable implications for water
forecasting, especially given that snow-water resources from mountain
watersheds provide fresh water for over 20% of the global human
population and more than 65% of Utah's water resources.
According to St. Clair, the new data helps paint a more complete picture
on water security. To estimate future water resources, he said
hydrologists should not only consider topography, aspect (north vs.
south facing slopes) and how wet or dry a winter is, they also need to
account for the increasing number and severity of wildfires and burn
potential to properly assess the risks for flooding and drought.
"Wildfire regimes are changing forest ecosystems, and now we know
they're impacting water hydrology too," St. Clair said. "This is our
future -- increased fired due to climate change. As a fire ecologist,
this research is now in the center of what everyone cares about."
Added Maxwell: "This project was impactful in the scientific community
because it shows that not only an increase in the number of fires or in
the area they burn, but also the severity of the fire, may have a large
effect on the amount and quality of water that's available for us to
use. As climate anomalies become more frequent, we have seen and will
likely continue to see more severe fires."
http://www.homelandsecuritynewswire.com/dr20200205-wildfires-increase-winter-snowpack-but-that-isn-t-necessarily-a-good-thing
[innovation]
*Lasers etch a 'perfect' solar energy absorber*
In a paper in Light: Science & Applications, the lab of Chunlei Guo,
professor of optics also affiliated with Physics and the Material
Sciences Program, describes using powerful femto-second laser pulses to
etch metal surfaces with nanoscale structures that selectively absorb
light only at the solar wavelengths, but not elsewhere.
A regular metal surface is shiny and highly reflective. Years ago, the
Guo lab developed a black metal technology that turned shiny metals
pitch black. "But to make a perfect solar absorber," Guo says, "We need
more than a black metal and the result is this selective absorber."
This surface not only enhances the energy absorption from sunlight, but
also reduces heat dissipation at other wavelengths, in effect, "making a
perfect metallic solar absorber for the first time," Guo says. "We also
demonstrate solar energy harnessing with a thermal electric generator
device."
"This will be useful for any thermal solar energy absorber or harvesting
device," particularly in places with abundant sunlight, he adds.
The work was funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Army
Research Office, and the National Science Foundation.
https://m.phys.org/news/2020-02-lasers-etch-solar-energy-absorber.html
[video Paul Beckwith on abrupt change]
*Our Abrupt Climate Disruption Bus has left the Station: Crazy Winter
Heat across Europe: Part 2 of 2*
Feb 4, 2020
Paul Beckwith
I continue my chat on unprecedented, widespread winter heat in Europe.
Since the Arctic is warning much faster than lower latitudes, jet
streams are much slower and wavier. A given location can be in a jet
stream ridge (hot, dry) for several days, then in a trough (cold,wet)
for several days, and then back again to hot. Rapid, extreme temperature
and precipitation variations (oscillations) caused me to first coin the
terms "weather whiplashing" and "weather wilding" many years ago. They
are worsening in our "climate casino", wreaking havoc on
infrastructure, flora (plants) and fauna (animals).
Please support my abrupt climate system change videos by donating at
http://paulbeckwith.net
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bzo3F6YOZnM
- -
[Paul Beckwith video lecture is slow to start]
*The ABRUPT Climate Change Bus has left the Station: Incredibly Warm
Winter in Europe: Part 1 of 2*
Feb 3, 2020
Paul Beckwith
Much of Europe is undergoing incredible warmth, with the January
temperature anomalies as large as 5.5 C to 8 C above normal. Early
February is even warmer, i.e. NW Italy hit +27 C (80.6 F), Switzerland
hit +24 C (75.2 F), and parts of Spain unbelievably hit +28 C (82.4 F).
It is winter there now, but seems more like summer. In a few days
anomalies will go from +8 C to -8 C; a perfect example of "weather
whiplashing", or "weather wilding" in our climate casino. If you follow
my videos you know why. I explain the crucial role that abrupt climate
disruption plays on the jet streams.
Please support my research and educational videos on our ongoing abrupt
climate system change emergency by donating at http://paulbeckwith.net
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDN7atyZ-r4
[not a trivial stunt - brave message]
*Antarctica's glaciers are melting so fast, you can swim in them. In a
Speedo...*
..Lewis Pugh, a British endurance swimmer and ocean advocate, doesn't
want anyone to forget about the melting glaciers of Antarctica, and to
get our attention, he decided to go for a swim.
On January 23, Pugh, who's 50, became the first person to swim in one of
the supraglacial lakes of East Antarctica. These are lakes and rivers
that form on the surface of thick glacial ice as it melts from above. A
study of supraglacial lakes in Antarctica published last fall found more
than 65,000 of them at the peak of the summer melt season in January
2017. Most of the lakes were spotted on the ice shelf, the part of the
glacier that hangs over the ocean and is not grounded on the seafloor,
making it more vulnerable to calving (i.e., falling off)...
https://grist.org/climate/antarcticas-glaciers-are-melting-so-fast-you-can-swim-in-them-in-a-speedo/
[Digging back into the internet news archive]
*On this day in the history of global warming - February 5, 1990 *
Addressing a special IPCC gathering in Washington, D.C., President
George H. W. Bush acknowledges the reality of human-caused climate
change, but says that solutions to the problem of a warming planet must
not inhibit worldwide economic growth.
http://web.archive.org/web/20100811144431/http://bushlibrary.tamu.edu/research/public_papers.php?id=1514&year=1990&month=all
http://c-spanvideo.org/program/PresidentialAddress28
http://articles.latimes.com/1990-02-05/news/mn-275_1_global-warming
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