Climate Letter #599

Shifting pattern of snow cover in the Northern Hemisphere.  This is a complicated story, because snow cover has increased in the fall over wide areas but declined even more so in the spring, as depicted here on several charts.  The video interview with Jennifer Francis is very informative.  She expects the winter whiplash pattern to continue indefinitely, and expresses worries about drought-type changes incurred by the early spring.

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Russian agriculture is experiencing hard times.  (This story reads like it is related to the one above.)  Some of the world’s most productive farmland is facing a series of droughts, which began in 2010, widely attributed to warmer temperature patterns.  Moving everything northward is not a viable option.
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New discoveries about Antarctica.  Most interesting is the result of drilling into deep sediments near the coast, using sea ice as a drilling platform.  It established that the nearby continent was ice-free during a time from 14-23 million years ago when average global temperatures were just 3 to 4C higher than those of today.  The CO2 level at the time, which is less certain, is believed to have been just over 500 ppm.  “The drill core suggests not only that Antarctica probably gave up the ice contained in West Antarctica during those periods (capable of raising present day seas by about 10 feet), but also much ice from the larger East Antarctica.”
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How sea level rise has accelerated, and what it means.  A new study, based on a decade of work by three international teams of scientists, has produced what is most likely the best record of how sea level has changed over the past 2800 years.  As expected, the 20th century gain of just under 6 inches was by far the largest change, while about half of individual centuries showed declines.  The post has a dramatic-looking chart to that effect, plus two more charts that deal with the problem of coastal flooding in the US.
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New efficiency record for a solar panel module.  A rating of 22.8% for panels in a form ready to be installed (as opposed to just research materials) has been verified by the NREL, tops in the current market.  This is 17% more productive than the top-rated panels of five years ago, which were 19.5% efficient.  Interesting that the manufacturer, SunPower, is owned by a French oil company, Total S.A.
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How Canadians feel about climate change.  Polling results show very little denial about the reality of climate change, which is unlike US polls, but only 39% believe it is mostly caused by humans.  Moreover, with respect to the latter question, there is a big divide between city dwellers and everyone else.
Carl

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