[✔️] June 29, 2021 - Daily Global Warming News Digest

[👀 Richard Pauli]

/*June 29, 2021*/

[records]
*Pacific Northwest Heat Wave Is Buckling Roads And Melting Power Cables*
Temperature records are shattering across a region that rarely deals 
with intense heat.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/pacific-northwest-heat-wave-roads_n_60da357ce4b085480fe39872

- -

[boosting one economy]
*Hotel prices surge as Washingtonians search for air conditioning to 
escape record-setting heat*
https://www.q13fox.com/news/hotel-prices-surge-as-record-setting-heat-hits-western-washington


[where is it sunshine all day long]
*Ground Temperatures Hit 118 Degrees in the Arctic Circle*
The ongoing climate crisis is not going to spare Siberia.
Isaac Schultz - 6/22/21
Newly published satellite imagery shows the ground temperature in at 
least one location in Siberia topped 118 degrees Fahrenheit (48 degrees 
Celsius) going into the year’s longest day. It’s hot Siberia Earth 
summer, and it certainly won’t be the last...
But the ground temperature being so warm is still very bad. Those 
temperatures beleaguer the permafrost—the frozen soil of yore, which 
holds in greenhouse gases and on which much of eastern Russia is built. 
As permafrost thaws, it sighs its methane back into the atmosphere, 
causing chasms in the Earth...
Besides the deleterious effects of more greenhouse gases in the 
atmosphere, the permafrost melting destabilizes the Siberian earth, 
unsettling building foundations and causing landslides. It also exposes 
the frozen carcasses of many Ice Age mammals, meaning paleontologists 
have to work fast to study the species that thrived when the planet was 
much colder. For all the talk of reanimating the woolly mammoth, one’s 
got to remember: the place they knew is long gone.

The same region also suffered through a heat wave that led to a very 
un-Siberian air temperature reading of 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 
degrees Celsius) exactly a year ago to the day from the new freak heat. 
It’s the hottest temperature ever recorded in the region. It was also in 
the 90s last month in western Siberia, reflecting that the sweltering 
new abnormal is affecting just about everywhere. And it’s not just the 
permafrost suffering; wildfires last year in Siberia pumped a record 
amount of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, ensuring more summers like 
this are to come.
https://gizmodo.com/ground-temperatures-hit-118-degrees-in-the-arctic-circl-1847144505



[new and important - HDWI data display represents wildfire risk]
*The Hot-Dry-Windy Index (HDWI)*
Experimental/Research Site
Server appears to be running normally again. Check dates carefully still 
and let us know if you see any further issues.

        What is HDW?
        The Hot-Dry-Windy Index (HDW) was designed to help users
        determine which days are more likely to have adverse atmospheric
        conditions that make it more difficult to manage a wildland
        fire. It combines weather data from the surface and low levels
        of the atmosphere into a first-look product.

        HDW was designed to be very simple – a multiplication of the
        maximum wind speed and maximum vapor pressure deficit (VPD) in
        the lowest 50 or so millibars in the atmosphere. Because HDW is
        affected by heat, moisture, and wind, seasonal and regional
        variability can be found when comparing HDW values from
        different locations and times.

HDWI Status: Updated at 0751 UTC / 28 Jun 2021

HDWI Forecasts, 30-year CFSR Climatology, and 30-day GEFS analysis 
archive available through the dropdowns here:
https://eamcweb3.usfs.msu.edu/HDW/images/HDW_GEFS/HDW_GEFS_53.0_-119.5.png
https://www.hdwindex.org/


[7 years ago]
*Study Examines Link Between Drought, Earthquakes*
By Conan Nolan and Andrew Lopez -  May 16, 2014
Groundwater pumping amid California’s historic drought may be affecting 
earthquakes along the San Andreas fault, according to a new study.

The pumping, which has been going on for decades in the usually fertile 
San Joaquin Valley, is now leading to an increase in temblors in the 
area, according to the study, spearheaded by Western Washington 
University, which was published in the science journal Nature.

"As the valley is going down, you are unclamping the San Andreas fault,” 
said Dr. Susan Hough of the U.S. Geological Survey. "When you take out 
the water, it’s the weight of the water that is affecting the crust and 
the faults.”

The study suggests that while the Central Valley is sinking, the 
mountain ranges that surround it are climbing....

"An earthquake that is induced is going to happen anyway. If you hasten 
it a little bit, maybe it will happen in September instead of January, 
but it’s not really a game changer,” Hough said.

https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/national-international/study-finds-link-between-drought-earthquakes/70952/

- -

[everything is connected]
*How Droughts Influence Earthquakes*
Diandong Ren and Rong Fu
Accepted: November 02, 2019
*Abstract*

    Earthquakes result from strain build-up from without and weakening
    from within faults. A generic co-seismic condition is presented that
    includes just three angles representing, respectively, fault
    geometry, fault strength, and the ratio of fault coupling to
    lithostatic loading. Correspondingly, gravity fluctuations, bridging
    effects, and granular material production/distribution form an
    earthquake triad. As a dynamic constituent of the gravity field,
    groundwater fluctuation is the nexus between the triad components.
    It is pivotal in regulating major seismic irregularity, by reducing
    natural (dry, or purely tectonic, stationary seismicity)
    inter-seismic periods and by lowering magnitudes. Specifically, to
    exert stress on the fault, groundwater does not need to reside deep
    in proximity to the locked fault interface, as it can work remotely.
    It can act mechanically-direct (MD), by a differential de-loading
    and superimposing a seismogenetic lateral stress field, thereby
    aiding plate-coupling, from without, or mechanically-indirect (MI)
    by enhancing fault fatigue, and hence weakening the fault, from
    within. To verify this hypothesis, gravity measurements, and a
    numerical model, are used. The remote action hypothesis is globally
    applicable. Detailed results are presented for the Himalayan and New
    Zealand regions. The gravity recovery and Climate experiment (GRACE
    measurements) reveals that major earthquakes (Mw 5 and above) always
    occur in the dry stage, indicating drought and associated
    groundwater extraction is an important trigger for major
    earthquakes. By exploring 73 historical records successfully
    reproduced by the model, it is found that for collisional (e.g., the
    peri-Tibetan Plateau) and strike-slip (e.g., the San Andreas Fault)
    systems, the MD mechanism dominates, because the orographically
    induced spatially highly variable precipitation is channeled into
    greater depth by through-cut faults. Droughts elsewhere also are
    seismogenetic, but likely through MI effects. In a warming future
    climate, mechanisms identified here play a greater role in
    increasing the recurrence frequency of major earthquakes, but also
    in slightly reducing their severity.

https://scholars.direct/Articles/environmental-studies/aes-3-025.php?jid=environmental-studies



[Nexus Hot News Denier Roundup]
*New Big Oil Plan To Disclose Emission Reductions Simply Ignores 90% Of 
Their Pollution*

Much like the Republican Party’s greenwashing, the oil industry is 
responding to public pressure on climate change with empty gestures 
meant to make it sound like they’re taking the problem seriously, 
without actually doing anything serious.

This spring, the American Petroleum Institute updated its public stance 
on climate, claiming it was open to a possible carbon price. But of 
course, there was a catch: They wanted consumers to pay the price for 
pollution, not the polluters. They get to look like they’re taking a big 
new step away from extremist climate denial, while actually remaining 
firm in their refusal to stop polluting or accept any responsibility for 
the damage their products cause.
Last week, API took another industrial-sized-ass-covering step, 
announcing a new template for oil and gas companies to use to provide 
“transparency” (their term) about greenhouse gas emissions, and the 
progress being made to reduce those pollutants. Aaron Padilla of API 
told reporters that the template “gives a foundational picture of a 
company’s work to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions.”

It’s clearly meant to be a way for companies to highlight the token 
efforts they’re making to address climate change to ward off further 
government regulation. They can point to these disclosures to claim the 
industry is already tackling the problem. But what it really shows is 
that the industry is still in steadfast denial about its culpability for 
the climate crisis.

The template itself, provided as a one-page spreadsheet, is actually 
pretty simple. The first section is for their Scope 1 emissions, things 
like methane leaks and flaring from the drilling process. The second is 
their Scope 2 emissions, covering heating and cooling facilities and 
other indirect pollution that they generate in the course of producing 
fossil fuels.

You may expect Scope 3 emissions to come next, given "Scope 3 emissions 
are approximately 90% of an upstream oil and gas companies' emissions, 
and every major investor-led group working on climate change expects 
such companies to report them,"  Carbon Tracker’s Robert Schuwerk 
explained to S&P Global.

But they aren’t mentioned in the template, and as Schuwerk said, 
“leaving that out is a glaring omission.”

In an accompanying guidance doc, API addresses Scope 3 emissions only 
once, in a footnote acknowledging that they’re ignoring Scope 3 
emissions (maybe next time!).

Instead, they skip straight onto “GHG mitigation” efforts, like carbon 
capture or renewable energy credits purchased so companies can get 
credit for nibbling around the edges of the problem caused primarily by 
the products they’re selling.

Similarly, sections 4 and 5 give companies spots to give themselves 
credit for reducing the intensity of their Scope 1 extraction emissions 
– claiming kudos for producing fewer emissions while producing fossil 
fuels that, once sold and burned, will completely swamp those reductions 
– and any other GHG reduction targets they may feel like disclosing. 
Lastly, section 6 is just a place for them to have a third-party 
verification.

If you’re wondering, then, just how much of the climate crisis the oil 
industry can be trusted to address, this gives an answer: 10%, at most.

https://newsletter.climatenexus.org/surfside-condo-collapse-could-be-a-preview-of-floridas-climate-future
- -
https://www.spglobal.com/marketintelligence/en/news-insights/blog/google-hyper-scalers-leading-charge-in-industry-push-to-go-24-7-carbon-free



[Take it to court]
*Climate change: Courts set for rise in compensation cases*
By Matt McGrath
Environment correspondent
June 28, 2021
There's likely to be a significant increase in the number of lawsuits 
brought against fossil fuel companies in the coming years, say researchers.

Their new study finds that to date, lawyers have failed to use the most 
up-to-date scientific evidence on the cause of rising temperatures.

As a result, there have been few successful claims for compensation.

That could change, say the authors, as evidence linking specific weather 
events to carbon emissions increases.

Ministers 'should urge public to eat less meat'
Climate action is still hotly contested in Australia
A billion new trees might not turn Ukraine green
So far, around 1,500 climate-related lawsuits have been brought before 
the courts around the world.

There have been some notable successes for environmental groups, such as 
in a recent case against Shell decided by a civil court in the Netherlands.
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-57641167



[news of insane governments]
*Texas Matters: The State Of Climate Change Denial*
June 25, 2021
https://www.tpr.org/podcast/texas-matters/2021-06-25/texas-matters-the-state-of-climate-change-denial?



[The news archive - looking back]
*On this day in the history of global warming June  29, 2013*
President Obama discusses his climate action plan in his weekly radio 
address.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2013/06/29/weekly-address-confronting-growing-threat-climate-change 




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