What is Happening Under Pine Island Glacier?

NASA photo of Pine Island Glacier Nov 13, 2011

NASA will be taking a detailed look UNDERNEATH Pine Island Glacier in Antarctica this year and in years to come. One of the most critical questions is what are the underlying sea currents doing that might be accelerating the advance of Pine Island Glacier into the sea, as is being observed.

An excellent summary about what could be one of the most important global warming implications for all mankind. The video is also very good.

Where's the Beef?

It would be good for Earth and all life on it, if this was a current valid question. But it is not. Anyway, some tidbits from the linked Washington Post article by Ezra Klein from July 2009:

• "livestock accounts for 18% of worldwide greenhouse gas emissions."
• "switching to a vegan diet would have a bigger impact than trading in your gas guzzler for a Prius."

And from me, more vegetables and less livestock is also a much healthier way to eat. Thanks to Dorothy Greet for providing this article and her great class on Plant Based Nutrition at Osher Lifelong Learning, Lewes, DE.

ITER - Thermonuclear Fusion

Image from the Belgian portal to ITER

We talked a bit about fusion energy production in our last Osher class, so I felt it worthwhile to refresh my knowledge of where this stands. The title link is to a page on the ITER site which has a very good summary of fusion research to date, and an outlook for the future.

If you like what you read on the linked page, please browse the site more fully. It is amazing technology and an easy to navigate site! There are also several other approaches to controlled nuclear fusion which I will review in the future, but ITER is the biggest, most researched, and most funded approach.

Note: ITER was originally an acronym for International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor. Now ITER is just ITER, but for Latin lovers, it can also be The Journey.

Optimistic Signs of Emissions Reduction Efforts

In this article from the Financial Times, a link is made between top-down governmental efforts to enact binding legislation to reduce carbon emissions, and voluntary bottom-up efforts by industry, and governments to reduce emissions on their own.

The article contains many positive and encouraging efforts, from those of PepsiCo and DuPont, to California, China and Indonesia. However, looking at today's bottom line, actual carbon emissions are still rising, for instance up 5.3% in 2010. Hopefully this figure will soon begin to show a significant decline.

Risk of Extreme Events...SREX

The title link is to a special IPCC web page devoted to Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation (SREX).  From the IPCC press release:

Rajendra Pachauri, Chair of the IPCC, said today: “This summary for policymakers provides insights into how disaster risk management and adaptation may assist vulnerable communities to better cope with a changing climate in a world of inequalities”.

“It also underlines the complexity and the diversity of factors that are shaping human vulnerability to extremes--why for some communities and countries these can become disasters whereas for others they can be less severe,” he added.

The site contains an interesting slide show which can be accessed at the link Generic Presentation, just below the video, which is not yet available.

Is Congress Really Listening?

It would appear they are, at least some of them. On Monday Physicist Richard Mueller from Berkley presented the findings by his study group to the House Committee on Natural Resources.

Mueller: "We confirm that over the last 50 years, temperature has risen 0.9 degrees Celsius, or 1.6 degrees Fahrenheit. This is the same number that the IPCC (UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) says."

Ranking committee Democrat Ed Markey lamented the United States' failure to act and applauded Australia's recent approval of a carbon tax to force its coal-fired power stations and other major emitters to "pay to pollute."

"The attacks on climate science have been a colossal distraction from the debate we should be having Congress on what actions should be taken to reduce pollution, create jobs, reclaim our lead in the clean energy race." (Markey)

Class 5 Tipping Points

Title link takes you to Powerpoint program in the cloud.

Class 4 Wildlife and Vegetation Changes

The Title link goes to the original program in Powerpoint format, and now located in Google Docs (aka The Cloud). Note that some links did not convert to active links, but you can still cut and paste them into you browser window to get to the referenced site.

"Wake Up, Freak Out"... RE Tipping Points

This short video is on the agenda for our Osher Climate Class 11/14, but I recommend watching it more than once (I am up to 3x). It really cuts through to the fundamentals of tipping points so succinctly.

Alaskan "Hurricane"

A rare and powerful storm has been buffeting Alaska. For a satellite photo and storm details see the title link. Global warming a factor???

Sea Level Rise and South Florida

The title link is to an article in the Ledger from Lakeland Florida, and provides some first hand insight into what is expected in in the Miami area, and the Everglades. A couple of paragraphs from the article:

"If things continue as predicted, the bottom floors of the hotel where we were meeting would be part of Biscayne Bay — well offshore in Biscayne Bay — by the turn of the century.

And even the parts of Dade County that aren't underwater will be uninhabitable because the rising sea level will have made much of the Biscayne Aquifer, the shallow aquifer that supplies drinking water in this part of Florida, too salty to drink."

Monitoring Instantaneous Sea Level, aka Tide Level

The title link provides a plot of water levels at the Brandywine Light monitoring station in the center of the DE Bay off of Prime Hook Beach. The above plot is from that station showing the water level peaked at approximately 8.3 feet on October 29, 2011.

Due to the dunes north of Prime Hook Beach having been repeatedly washed out by several storms over the past few years, Prime Hook Road was approximately 1.5 feet under water at the worst on Oct 29. This exceptionally high tide was due to a strong Nor'easter and 'spring' tide conditions (new moon plus moon close to earth). Fortunately the current Nor'easter is occurring with the moon at about 1/2 full, so the tides for Nov 5 have only peaked at a little under 6 feet.

Climate Refugees - Osher Class 3 - Updated 11/2

Update:
The book David Weber referred to and summarized  was:
"The coming population crash and our planet's surprising future"

by Fred Pearce.  It can be found in the Lewes public library.

Original Post:
Below are the links used in the class on Oct 31, 2011.

Newtok, Alaska, Town of 350 relocates to higher ground.

Cateret Islands map, and trailer  for "Sun Comes Up" about their relocation attempts.

Article from Financial Times about 'environmental migration'. Also see Oct 24 post in this blog.

Climate refugees in 2050, link to International Organization for Migration page on 'Migration and Climate Change' (see paragraph 3).

Link to movie, "Climate Refugees". Link to 2 trailers is at top of their page. We watched 1/2 of trailer #2. This site also contains the 'Take Action' page with 11 tips we reviewed.

Climate Change Vulnerability Index by Maplecroft.

The most and the least vulnerable countries, from USA Today.

Below, photo of Haiti, the most vulnerable country, from Hispanically Speaking News, June 13, 2011.