Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide Annual Cycle Visualization from NASA

We have the science to understand and deal with global warming, we just don't have the willpower.

The NASA video in this link from Climate Central is truly amazing...and scary. Be sure to note the CO2 scaling in the key. The effect of vegetative growth on CO2 concentrations is also impressive, and highlights two other key avenues to reduced CO2....(1) stop cutting down forests to raise beef, and (2) promote reforestation and grassland restoration.

Ocean Currents and Accelerated Antarctic Glacial Melting

This has been a well publicized topic in recent news, but thought you might like to view the web page from Cal Tech, as they are behind a lot of the science that is making this happen. Me as a retired engineer, love the simplicity of how they are moving the "robotic ocean gliders" both up and down in the water column, and laterally at the same time, with very little energy being expended....only enough to regulate the buoyancy and move the dive fin positions. And when on the surface, they send all their depth-temperature-position data back to Cal Tech.

So what does this mean for us and Global Warming? Well first we know that the oceans are absorbing at least 90% of the excess solar energy from the Greenhouse Gas Effect and rising greenhouse gas levels in the atmosphere. And one of the greatest concerns of global warming is sea level rise. So now we have warming oceans, the largest heat sink of global warming, acting directly on the largest "ice sink", Antarctic glaciers, the melting of which is THE greatest threat to cause catastrophic sea level rise.

Perhaps we could build underwater habitats for billions of people at less expense than we could stop emitting trillions of tons of CO2. That would probably be more politically acceptable to our Congress, for reason you no doubt already know.

Oceans and IPCC AR-5

From the IPCC AR-5 Summary for Policymakers Report, following is a statement about how the oceans are involved in absorbing the added heat input from the greenhouse gas effect:

Ocean warming dominates the increase in energy stored in the climate system, accounting for more than 90% of the energy accumulated between 1971 and 2010 (high confidence), with only about 1% stored in the atmosphere. On a global scale, the ocean warming is largest near the surface, and the upper 75 m warmed by 0.11 [0.09 to 0.13] °C per decade over the period 1971 to 2010. It is virtually certain that the upper ocean (0−700 m) warmed from 1971 to 2010, and it likely warmed between the 1870s and 1971. 

And a significant additional change is also taking place....ocean acidification:

Since the beginning of the industrial era, oceanic uptake of CO2 has resulted in acidification of the ocean; the pH of ocean surface water has decreased by 0.1 (high confidence), corresponding to a 26% increase in acidity, measured as hydrogen ion concentration. 

Two observable effects from these changes are, one, sea level rise due to thermal expansion of the warming oceans, and two, deterioration of marine ecosystems dependent on calcified exoskeletons, such as shellfish and coral reefs.

So is there any good news from the oceans? I think there is a lot, and one specific item is Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion, or OTEC. More on that in my next post. 

And below, a few pics of zero carbon energy generation based at sea. The top pic is of the Pelamis wave powered electric generator, and bottom, sea based wind turbines. 
Source: BBC article, In Pictures: Green Energy Awards photography contest.

 

Climate Change 2014: IPCC's Fifth Assessment Report (AR-5)

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) on Nov 1, 2014 released a new report titled:

Climate Change 2014

Synthesis Report

It is available in 2 versions: a shorter version of 40 pages for policy makers, and a longer version of 116 pages. Both can be accessed HERE.

Even the shorter version for policymakers is very technical (but I am sure our policymakers have good technical people on their staff). Also many referenced figures are not yet included, and every page has a disclaimer at the bottom saying, "Subject to copy editing and layout".

Even so, there is a vast amount of current information on climate change prepared by some of the world's most qualified scientists. I will begin a series of posts on this subject by quoting a few highlights, then in subsequent posts I will focus on the oceans involvement, as I will be doing a class on The World's Oceans and Climate Change for Osher Lifelong Learning (Lewes, DE) in the spring of 2015.

Following are two paragraphs from page 3 of the 40 page summary for policy makers:

1.1 Warming of the climate system is unequivocal, and since the 1950s, many of the observed changes are unprecedented over decades to millennia. The atmosphere and ocean have warmed, the amounts of snow and ice have diminished, and sea level has risen.

Each of the last three decades has been successively warmer at the Earth’s surface than any preceding decade since 1850. The period from 1983 to 2012 was likely the warmest 30-year period of the last 1400 years in the Northern Hemisphere, where such assessment is possible (medium confidence). The globally averaged combined land and ocean surface temperature data as calculated by a linear trend, show a warming of 0.8 [0.65 to 1.06] °C over the period 1880 to 2012, when multiple independently produced data sets exist.

The Storm of '62

Many Delaware residents have heard of the Storm of '62, even if few of us experienced it. So after Rae Tyson's recent Osher Climate Class, with Molly Murray of the News Journal as the presenter showing several pics of the Storm of '62, I decided to see what pics are available on-line, and the Cape Gazette has a good presentation of these at The Storm of '62 in Photos. Above is the lead photo from their linked web page.

Food Choices and Climate Change

...... or why eating plant based can significantly help save our World.

The following links were my primary sources of information for my Oct 28 presentation on Food Choices and Climate Change at Dorothy Greets’ class for Osher Lifelong Learning.

National Academy of Sciences report:
Land, irrigation water, greenhouse gas, and reactive nitrogen burdens of meat, eggs, and dairy production in the United States
http://www.pnas.org/content/111/33/11996.abstract

The Environmental Working Groups, Meat Eater’s Guide:
http://www.ewg.org/meateatersguide/a-meat-eaters-guide-to-climate-change-health-what-you-eat-matters/reducing-your-footprint/

NASA Global Climate Change - Vital Signs of the Planet:
http://climate.nasa.gov/vital-signs/global-temperature/

J. Morris Hicks web site: Tearing Down the Single Biggest Road Block to Sustainability
http://hpjmh.com/2014/10/23/tearing-down-the-single-biggest-roadblock-to-sustainability/?utm

Delaware Climate Impact Assessment from DNREC

The web page with links for all sections of this report is HERE. There is a superficial summary link on the left side of this page, and to the right are detailed links to all pages in hi-res.

My recommendation is start with the Executive Summary, and then see how much more you want to read. It is a very long report, and does NOT address any action plans. The report is designed to provide action planners with facts, and it does so in great detail with thorough referencing.

This link is thanks to Dr. Daniel Leathers, Delaware State Climatologist, who spoke at Rae Tyson's Oct 15, 2014 class on Climate Change in Delaware.

"Safe Coast Virginia"....and a Delaware connection

The following report was co-authored by Rae Tyson, who is the instructor for the current Osher Lifelong Learning class, Climate Change in Delaware.

Safe Coast Virginia

I highly recommend it, as a great deal of what is presented is applicable to Delaware, because Delaware also has so much infrastructure and investment barely-above-sea level. The recommended "Ten Point Action Plan" is very well thought out and specific... a most welcome addition compared to so many gloom and doom reports with only vague recommendations.

Plant-based Eating, World Health, and Climate Change

Following is a superb link about why plant-based eating is so good for your health. It is from a major health insurance company, Kaiser Permante, so they have a major axe to grind in keeping you healthy...

.....unlike many doctors who have a major stake in making a living having you tested and treated more and more.

What's Possible - a film on climate solutions presented to the UN

What's Possible is a 3 minute film created to inspire delegates to the UN Climate Meeting in NY September 23, of this year.

After watching the film, if you wish to learn more about the interesting background behind it, read this Huffington Post article by the film's producer, Lyn Davis Lear.

The role of oceans relative to increasing greenhouse gas emissions

If you have been following this blog, you know I took the summer off, but now I am back, as the UN convenes in NYC to address climate change. The specific climate issue I wish to focus on is the role of the World's oceans in the presence of increased greeenhouse gas emissions.

The oceans absorb approximately 1/4 of the CO2 emitted into the atmosphere. This is good in that it removes this amount of CO2 from the atmosphere and global warming effects. However, this absorbed CO2 is acidifying the oceans at an alarming rate...."the current level of ocean acidification appears unprecedented, at least over the last 300 million years."(source 9 Sep 2014 UN News article)

Another note of concern, is that the oceans seem to be absorbing less CO2 than previously. For a complete picture of ocean chemistry and Ph history, see pages 4 and 5 the World Meteorological Organization Greenhouse Gas Bulletin for 2013.

The effects of ocean acidification on marine ecosystems is very significant and will be considered in future posts.