Arctic

Do we Have Until 2050 to become Carbon Neutral? What if 27 Climate Feedback Loops are Working together to Shorten our Deadline?

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Feedback loops are central notions in science. There are two kinds, negative and positive. Negative feedback loops, despite their name, are actually good if you are looking for stability. So for instance say you are too hot, so you sweat. The sweat evaporates, cooling you off. In fact, it could […]

Arctic

Climate Crisis: Atmospheric rivers are hitting the Arctic more often, and increasingly melting its Sea Ice

The Conversation

By Pengfei Zhang, Penn State | – (The Conversation) – Atmospheric rivers, those long, powerful streams of moisture in the sky, are becoming more frequent in the Arctic, and they’re helping to drive dramatic shrinking of the Arctic’s sea ice cover. While less ice might have some benefits – it would allow more shipping in […]

Arctic

‘Blue marble’: how half a Century of Climate Change has altered the Face of the Earth

The Conversation

By Robert Poole, University of Central Lancashire; Nick Pepin, University of Portsmouth, and Oliver Gruner, University of Portsmouth | – In December 1972, Nasa’s final Apollo mission (Apollo 17) took the iconic “Blue Marble” photo of the whole Earth. Many, including science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke, had expected that the sight of Earth from […]

Arctic

Why the Arctic turning into a Lukewarm Puddle should be a bigger Headline than a bit of Inflation

Tom Engelhardt

( Tomdispatch.com ) – Let me start 2023 with a glance back at a December news moment that caught my eye. To do so, however, I have to offer a bit of explanation. First, the obvious: I’m an old guy and, though I spend significant parts of any day scrolling through endless websites covering aspects […]

Arctic

2022 Revealed how Major Arctic Climate Shifts endanger People, Ecosystems and Wildlife

The Conversation

By Matthew L. Druckenmiller, University of Colorado Boulder; Rick Thoman, University of Alaska Fairbanks; and Twila Moon, University of Colorado Boulder | – In the Arctic, the freedom to travel, hunt and make day-to-day decisions is profoundly tied to cold and frozen conditions for much of the year. These conditions are rapidly changing as the […]

Arctic

3-Alarm Fire on Planet Earth: Current Climate Policies will Heat it by extra 5.4° F. (3C) by 2100, for 1st time in Millions of Years

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – William J. Ripple et al. writing in BioScience warn that we are deep into a climate emergency, which they call “code red on planet earth.” They point to the increased frequency and severity of weather-related disasters, producing “untold human suffering.” Human-driven global heating, especially in the Arctic, which is warming […]

Arctic

What’s going on with the Greenland ice sheet? It’s losing ice faster than forecast and now irreversibly committed to at least 10 inches of sea level rise

The Conversation

By Alun Hubbard, University of Tromsø | – I’m standing at the edge of the Greenland ice sheet, mesmerized by a mind-blowing scene of natural destruction. A milewide section of glacier front has fractured and is collapsing into the ocean, calving an immense iceberg. Seracs, giant columns of ice the height of three-story houses, are […]

Arctic

The Arctic is warming Four Times faster than the Global Average

Daniel T. Cross

By Daniel T Cross | – ( Sustainability Times ) – Climate change is upon us, but not all regions of the world are experiencing it at the same rate. Polar regions have especially been affected by warming temperatures and a new analysis of temperature rises in the Arctic shows just how much. An international […]

Arctic

Greenland loses 6 Billion Tons of Ice in Three Days, harbinger of Unprecedented Coastal Flooding

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – CNN and The Independent reported this week on a massive ice melt in Greenland, with on the order of 6 billion tons of ice lost in three days. The melting was because of a heat wave at the top of the world, caused by our burning coal, gasoline and methane […]