Wednesday News And Notes From The Anthropocene
Sea Ice, Al Gore, and a Polar Bear enjoying a...polar plunge.
Red Lights Flashing On Antarctic Sea Ice: Climate modelers have been remarkably accurate in predicting the ongoing planetary warming and its consequences. But when the models have been off, more often than not they have underpredicted the rate at which change is happening. And one massively important process—the warming of Antarctica, and the consequent loss of sea ice—is occurring faster than expected:
Antarctica is likely warming at almost twice the rate of the rest of the world and faster than climate change models are predicting, with potentially far-reaching implications for global sea level rise, according to a scientific study.
Scientists analysed 78 Antarctic ice cores to recreate temperatures going back 1,000 years and found the warming across the continent was outside what could be expected from natural swings.
In West Antarctica, a region considered particularly vulnerable to warming with an ice sheet that could push up global sea levels by several metres if it collapsed, the study found warming at twice the rate suggested by climate models.
Climate scientists have long expected that polar regions would warm faster than the rest of the planet – a phenomenon known as polar amplification – and this has been seen in the Arctic.
Dr Mathieu Casado, of the Laboratoire des Science du Climat et de l’Environnement in France and lead author of the study, said they had found “direct evidence” that Antarctica was also now undergoing polar amplification.
What happens at the poles, despite their distance from where most of humanity lives, will have major consequences on humanity (mainly sea level rise, but also warming oceans and greenhouse acceleration). This study is one more datapoint that absolutely cries out for greater urgency in the phasing out out of fossil fuels.
Al Gore vs. Fossil Fuel Companies: Whatever you think of Al Gore, he fully grasps the nature of the challenges in front of us. And few are capable of explaining it more clearly. Here, he gets animated about what it will take to move past fossil fuels, and what is standing in our way:
Moment Of Planetary Zen: This is so beautiful. Seeing what we are losing helps me fight, and make different choices (click on image):
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