Extreme Weather

Global Warming and the Future of Storms

Fri, 2013-07-26 23:11 — Kathy Gilbeaux

submitted by Albert Gomez

Hurricane Sandy battered towns along the United States east coast. Photograph: Scott Eisen/REUTERS

New research by Kerry Emanuel suggests that hurricanes will become more frequent and more intense

guardiannews.com - by John Abraham - July 26, 2013

Very recently, a publication appeared by perhaps the world's best-known hurricane scientist, Dr. Kerry Emanuel of MIT. Dr. Emanuel combined global computer simulations with more regional simulations to look into the future at the evolution of storms. What he found was surprising.

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STUDY - Downscaling CMIP5 climate models shows increased tropical cyclone activity over the 21st century
http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2013/07/05/1301293110.abstract

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India Floods In June Leave Over 5,700 Missing And Presumed Dead

Tue, 2013-07-16 18:10 — Kathy Gilbeaux

A rescue boat sailing through the water logged lanes during flood in river Yamuna on June 20, 2013 in New Delhi, India. Low-lying areas along the Yamuna remained submerged for the second consecutive day though the water level in the river started receding today. (Photo by Arijit Sen/Hindustan Times via Getty Images)

CLICK HERE - Red Flood alert in India from 23/06/2013 00:00 UTC to 15/07/2013 23:59 UTC -
Global Disaster Alert and Coordination System (GDACS)

huffingtonpost.com - by BISWAJEET BANERJEE - July 16, 2013

LUCKNOW, India -- More than 5,700 people missing since floods devastated northern India last month are being presumed dead, even as rescue officials struggle to bring aid to affected villages, top officials said Tuesday.

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Scientists Predicted A Decade Ago Arctic Ice Loss Would Worsen Western Droughts. Is That Happening Already?

Thu, 2013-07-04 22:57 — Kathy Gilbeaux

thinkprogress.org - by Joe Romm - June 30, 2013

(SEE LINKS BELOW FOR 2004 STUDY, 2005 STUDY, AND 2013 CRYOSAT ARTICLE)

Scientists predicted a decade ago that Arctic ice loss would bring on worse western droughts. Arctic ice loss has been much faster than the researchers — and indeed all climate modelers — expected (see “CryoSat-2 Confirms Sea Ice Volume Has Collapsed“).

It just so happens that the western U.S. is in the grip of a brutal, record-breaking drought. Is this just an amazing coincidence — or were the scientists right and what would that mean for the future? I ask the authors.

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Stop Talking About the Weather and Do Something: Three Ways to Finance Sustainable Cities

Sat, 2012-11-10 23:12 — Maeryn Obley

Submitted by Albert Gomez

hbswk.hbs.edu - November 6th, 2012

The wrath of Hurricane Sandy has illuminated a fundamental question: How do we ensure that our cities are resilient in the face of inevitable future disasters? A destroyed city is not a sustainable city. I'm making the case that it's time to stop complaining about climate change.

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The battle against Big Energy's rush to ruin our planet

Fri, 2012-11-02 19:30 — Maeryn Obley

One plume of oil from BP's 2010 Deepwater Horizon well blowout produced a slick 22 miles long and a mile wide. Photograph: Ted Jackson/Times Picayune/AP

Image: One plume of oil from BP's 2010 Deepwater Horizon well blowout produced a slick 22 miles long and a mile wide. Photograph: Ted Jackson/Times Picayune/AP

guardian.co.uk - October 31st, 2012 - Daryl Hannah

Extreme killer superstorms, historic drought, vanishing sea ice, an increase in ocean acidity by 30%, the hottest decade on record and mega forest fires have increasingly become our new reality.

"That's all happened when you raise the temperature of the earth one degree," says author Bill McKibben, "[t]he temperature will go up four degrees, maybe five, unless we get off coal and gas and oil very quickly." Additional temperature rises could compromise our safety and cause incalculable damage from a large number of billion-dollar disasters in coming years – if we don't address our emissions, insist upon an appropriate climate policy and curtail the rogue fossil fuel industry.

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Sandy forces climate change on US election despite fossil fuel lobby

Thu, 2012-11-01 21:38 — Maeryn Obley

Currie Wagner looks over the debris from his grandmother Betty Wagner's house, destroyed by Sandy, in New Jersey. Photograph: Julio Cortez/AP

Image: Currie Wagner looks over the debris from his grandmother Betty Wagner's house, destroyed by Sandy, in New Jersey. Photograph: Julio Cortez/AP

guardian.co.uk - October 31st, 2012 - Bill McKibben

Here's a sentence I wish I hadn't written – it rolled out of my Macbook in May, part of an article for Rolling Stone that quickly went viral:

"Say something so big finally happens (a giant hurricane swamps Manhattan, a megadrought wipes out Midwest agriculture) that even the political power of the industry is inadequate to restrain legislators, who manage to regulate carbon."

I wish I hadn't written it because the first half gives me entirely undeserved credit for prescience: I had no idea both would, in fact, happen in the next six months.

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It's Global Warming, Stupid

Thu, 2012-11-01 19:34 — Maeryn Obley

Hurricane Sandy churns off the coast of Florida as a line of clouds associated with a powerful cold front approaches the U.S. East Coast on Oct. 26, 2012

image: Hurricane Sandy churns off the coast of Florida as a line of clouds associated with a powerful cold front approaches the U.S. East Coast on Oct. 26, 2012

businessweek.com - November 1st, 2012 - Paul M. Barrett

Men and women in white lab coats tell us—and they’re right—that many factors contribute to each severe weather episode. Climate deniers exploit scientific complexity to avoid any discussion at all.

Clarity, however, is not beyond reach. Hurricane Sandy demands it: At least 40 U.S. deaths.

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Video - International Space Station View of Hurricane Sandy

Mon, 2012-10-29 14:42 — Kathy Gilbeaux

nasa.gov

A camera aboard the International Space Station captured this view of Hurricane Sandy on Oct. 26, 2012.

(VIDEO SOURCE AT NASA.GOV)

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The Great Barrier Reef Has Lost Half of its Coral in the Last 27 Years

Thu, 2012-10-04 17:12 — Kathy Gilbeaux

Barnards after cyclone Larry. Image: AIMS Long-term Monitoring Team.

Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS)
October 2, 2012

Can we save the Reef by controlling crown of thorns starfish?

(ABSTRACT AND LINK TO STUDY - BELOW)

The Great Barrier Reef has lost half its coral cover in the last 27 years. The loss was due to storm damage (48%), crown of thorns starfish (42%), and bleaching (10%) according to a new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences today by researchers from the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) in Townsville and the University of Wollongong.

"We can't stop the storms but, perhaps we can stop the starfish. If we can, then the Reef will have more opportunity to adapt to the challenges of rising sea temperatures and ocean acidification", says John Gunn, CEO of AIMS.

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Extreme Weather Means Extreme Food Prices Worldwide, Aid Agency Warns

Sun, 2012-09-09 00:22 — Kathy Gilbeaux

Somali girls line up to receive a hot meal in Mogadishu last year after the worst drought in the Horn of Africa in decades, compounded by war, put millions in danger of starvation. Roberto Schmmidt/AFP/Getty Images

npr.org - by Elizabeth Shogren - September 6, 2012

Reducing greenhouse gases and saving the polar bears tend to dominate discussions on climate change. But to the booming world population, one climate change issue may be even more pressing – hunger.

A new report by a leading international relief agency warns that climate change will increase the risk of large spikes in global food prices in the future, and lead to more hungry people in the world.

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Oxfam report - Extreme Weather, Extreme Prices
http://www.oxfamamerica.org/publications/extreme-weather-extreme-prices

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