And surely, before it does it will convulse and spew forth poisons to rid itself of its deadly human parasites infesting.
Iam said above:
It's most important for preserving bits of history otherwise lost
What's the point - when facing extinction?
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by coffin_dodger » Tue Jun 23, 2015 12:04 pm
And surely, before it does it will convulse and spew forth poisons to rid itself of its deadly human parasites infesting.
It's most important for preserving bits of history otherwise lost
by Iamwhomiam » Tue Jun 23, 2015 1:43 pm
I've been considering starting a project with which I get people to tell stories of how their lives are affected by climate change - refugees of the Syrian Civil War, folks who have lost people in the current Indian heat wave, people for whom the Sahara encroaches on their livelihoods, people who can no longer afford water in California. An engineer friend who works at ExxonMobil believes that deaths from climate change will max out at 10,000, and doesn't believe me that far more have already died as a result. I want to make something that humanizes the current suffering.
by coffin_dodger » Tue Jun 23, 2015 2:59 pm
why waste words here asking silly questions with obvious answers, frittering your life away?
by Iamwhomiam » Wed Jun 24, 2015 2:19 pm
by stillrobertpaulsen » Wed Jun 24, 2015 5:18 pm
by coffin_dodger » Thu Jun 25, 2015 3:08 am
Iamwhomiam » Wed Jun 24, 2015 7:19 pm wrote:coffin_dodger, I apologize for the unnecessary snark. Please do let my remarks offend you; I like you and do not want you to depart. I posed differently the question you asked Robert because I felt his impetus had been obvious. I was wrong to personalize my quoted remark and should have written, "Why should anyone..."
My heartfelt apology.
by Iamwhomiam » Thu Jun 25, 2015 2:14 pm
RI is a strange place - it both attracts and repels me. It's a hard habit to break and you gave me a gracious, heartfelt excuse to continue posting.
by Luther Blissett » Thu Jun 25, 2015 4:14 pm
by Nordic » Sat Jun 27, 2015 2:32 pm
Luther Blissett » Thu Jun 25, 2015 3:14 pm wrote:Here are some incredible interactive graphs that illustrate the factors contributing to global warming:
http://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2015- ... the-world/
by Iamwhomiam » Sat Jun 27, 2015 4:12 pm
by Luther Blissett » Sun Jun 28, 2015 11:42 am
Nordic » Sat Jun 27, 2015 1:32 pm wrote:Luther Blissett » Thu Jun 25, 2015 3:14 pm wrote:Here are some incredible interactive graphs that illustrate the factors contributing to global warming:
http://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2015- ... the-world/
I can't help but believe they are wrong to pooh-pooh the effects of deforestation. Even if not, deforestation is devastating our global ecology. It's not ALL about warming.
by stillrobertpaulsen » Tue Jun 30, 2015 7:22 pm
Study finds no break in global warming
Sunday, June 28, 2015 3:00 PM
WASHINGTON (AP) — Global warming has not stopped or even slowed in the past 18 years, according to a new federal study that rebuts doubters who’ve claimed that that heating trends have paused.
Scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration readjusted thousands of weather data points to account for different measuring techniques through the decades. Their calculations show that since 1998, the rate of warming is about the same as it has been since 1950: about two-tenths of a degree Fahrenheit a decade.
The so-called hiatus has been touted by non-scientists who reject mainstream climate science. Those claims have resonated; two years ago, the United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change felt the need to explain why the Earth was not heating up as expected, listing such reasons as volcanic eruptions, reduced solar radiation and the oceans absorbing more heat.
“The reality is that there is no hiatus,” said Tom Karl, director of the National Centers for Environmental Information in Asheville, N.C., and the lead author of a study published recently in the peer-reviewed journal Science.
Key Date
One key to claims of a hiatus is the start date: 1998. That year there was a big temperature spike; some of the following years were not as hot, though even hotter years followed in 2005, 2010 and 2014, according to NOAA, NASA and temperature records kept in England and Japan. This year is on pace to break last year’s global heat record.
Scientists keep updating the way they measure Earth’s temperatures. This study focuses on the effects of the way ocean temperatures are taken. The old way, going back generations, is with ships.
Sometimes people would dip a bucket in the way; other times they’d measure water that came into the engine. They also did it at various times of day.
The new way is on buoys at the same time of day. Karl said the buoy measurements are more accurate, but can’t be compared directly to the ship measurements for a trend without making adjustments, because that would be comparing apples and oranges. So to come up with a trend using comparable numbers, NOAA increases the buoy temperatures a bit.
A few years ago NOAA made similar adjustments to make land temperatures more comparable decade to decade. But that also caused some non-scientists who reject climate change to cry tampering.
Several outside scientists contacted by the Associated Press said the new and previous adjustments are sound. Kevin Trenberth, climate analysis chief at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, said the new work was “good and careful analysis,” but only confirms what most scientists already knew, that there was no such hiatus.
A few years ago, a group out of University of California Berkeley — funded in part by the Charles Koch Foundation, whose founder is a major funder of climate doubter groups and the tea party — took what was initially billed as a skeptical look at the previous NOAA data.
But they pronounced the earlier adjustments legitimate. The same scientists now say the new NOAA adjustments also are proper.
“NOAA is confirming what we have been saying for some time that the ‘hiatus’ in global warming is spurious,” Berkeley team chief and physicist Richard Muller said in an email.
Muller said global warming continues, but in “many fits and spurts.”
Minority View
John Christy of the University of Alabama Huntsville, one of the minority of scientists who dispute the magnitude of global warming, said the Karl paper “doesn’t make sense” because satellite data show little recent warming.
“You must conclude the data were adjusted to get this result” of no warming pause, Christy wrote in an email. “Were the adjustments proper? I don’t know at this point.”
Others who reject warming, especially non-scientists, point to satellite records by Remote Sensing Systems that appear to show no change in temperature since 1998. Satellites measure a different part of Earth’s atmosphere than ground and ocean monitors that NOAA, NASA and others use.
Carl Mears, senior research scientist for RSS, said those rejecting climate change based on his work or any one dataset are wrong and “seek to deny the reality of human-induced climate change by grasping at straws.”
Mears said the overall data consistently show long-term global warming and that it really hasn’t stopped recently. The NOAA adjustments make sense, he said.
Karl said NOAA didn’t adjust datasets in the Arctic, where it is warming even faster, because there is a lack of reliable long-term records to compare. Had NOAA made those adjustments, the recent warming trend would be slightly larger, he said.
by Luther Blissett » Wed Jul 01, 2015 4:49 pm
Heat dome parked over West shatters temperature records, sparks fires
The West is baking under a heat dome that has sent temperatures soaring to historically high levels, further drying out soils and priming the region for fast-spreading wildfires. The heat wave is noteworthy for its severity, extent and duration.
During the past seven days alone, 465 warm temperature records have been set or tied across the country, mainly in the West, with 49 monthly warm temperature records set or tied, according to the National Center for Environmental Information in Asheville, North Carolina.
These numbers are rising by the hour as the blistering heat wave continues from interior areas of southern California, across the barren Nevada and Utah deserts, northward into western Montana, and west from there toward Washington and Oregon.
The heat doesn't stop at the Canadian border, though, as record-breaking heat has also taken hold in British Columbia and Alberta.
Cranbrook, British Columbia, set an all-time high temperature record of 98 degrees Fahrenheit, or 36.8 degrees Celsius, on Sunday, according to The Weather Network.
According to weather.com, Revelstoke, British Columbia, which is a ski resort community, saw a high temperature of 103 degrees Fahrenheit, or 39.5 degrees Celsius, on Sunday.
With dozens of wildfires still burning in western Canada and Alaska, a thick blanket of smoke has descended over parts of the intermountain West. This has reduced visibility and increased public health risks for people with respiratory ailments in Montana and the Dakotas, for example.
In fact, some of the smoke has reached as far south as Tennessee, based on satellite observations.
Monday was the third day in a row that Salt Lake City had a triple-digit high temperature. The high temperature on June 29 at Salt Lake City was 104 degrees Fahrenheit, or 40 degrees Celsius, which was three degrees below the city's all time high temperature record, according to the National Weather Service.
Salt Lake City typically sees about six 100-degree days per year. So far this year, they've already had four such days. By the end of the day on Tuesday, that will most likely creep up to five.
The extreme heat is not likely to go away anytime soon, either. Computer model forecasts show it may last until early next week before another heat ridge builds over Alaska, further raising wildfire risks there, and potentially giving all but the Pacific Northwest a respite from the heat.
It's possible that some records for heat wave longevity will be tied or broken by this event, which speaks to its unusual nature. The forecast for some parts of the interior Pacific Northwest calls for high temperatures in the lower 100s Fahrenheit through early next week.
The Weather Channel's Jon Erdman and Nick Wiltgen have compiled a comprehensive list of the most impressive temperature records that have fallen. These include the low temperature in Las Vegas on Friday, which was 91 degrees Fahrenheit, or 32.77 degrees Celsius — a temperature most Americans would consider to be a hot daily high temperature. This was the first time Vegas saw a low in the 90s during the month of June.
The heat dome is parked across a region experiencing a historic drought. The Pacific Northwest has seen steadily worsening drought conditions during the past few months, and the combination of high heat, low humidity and afternoon thunderstorms that fail to deliver much rain yet still zap the ground with lightning (so-called dry thunderstorms) are creating conditions ideal for starting major fires.
Although only one destructive wildfire has hit the lower 48 states as a result of this heat wave event, it's likely that many more are on the way given the tinderbox-like conditions in much of the West.
The areas most at risk for thunderstorms are located on the periphery of the heat dome, near stronger upper level winds that can trigger such storms.
This heat wave is posing a particularly significant public health threat because air conditioning is sparse in many parts of the West, including Idaho, Montana, Utah and Wyoming, weather.com reported.
Several all-time high temperature records were set or tied on June 28 in particular. This includes Chief Joseph Dam, Washington, which reached 113 degrees Fahrenheit, or 45 degrees Celsius, beating the previous all-time high temperature record of 110 degrees set in July of 2006.
Chelan, Washington, reached 110 degrees Fahrenheit, or 43.3 degrees Celsius, on June 28, beating the previous record of 109 degrees, set the previous day. Prior to this heat wave, Chelan's highest all-time temperature was 106 degrees, and records there date back to 1890.
According to Weather Underground weather historian Christopher Burt, if the 113-degree reading in Walla Walla, Washington, on June 28 is validated, it would not just be an all-time record for that location, but an all-time record for the state of Washington. The previous Washington record is 112 degrees Fahrenheit, set in 1961, according to Weather Underground.
Idaho may have also set a new all-time state high temperature record, when Lewiston, Idaho, reached 111 degrees Fahrenheit, which is nearly 44 degrees Celsius, on June 28.
Locations in Montana, such as Kalispell and Missoula, have seen temperatures reach 102 degrees Fahrenheit, or 38.9 degrees Celsius, in a state that is not exactly synonymous with "heat." Helena, the state capital, hit 103 degrees Fahrenheit, or 39.4 degrees Celsius, over the weekend.
Many more records are likely to fall before this event ends, and the long-range climate outlooks from the Climate Prediction Center favor continued above average temperatures across the Pacific Northwest and parts of Alaska.
Climate studies show that global warming is raising the likelihood of extreme heat events and is also enhancing their severity across the world, including the U.S.
In other words, get used to seeing new all-time high temperature records.
by Nordic » Wed Jul 01, 2015 5:10 pm
by DrEvil » Wed Jul 01, 2015 5:13 pm
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