Climate Letter #1623

Researchers have developed better tools for predicting future losses of ice mass from Antarctica (University of Gothenburg).  The study was focused on the role of the steep ice cliffs widely found at glacial fronts.  Today they help to hold down the melting that would otherwise occur beneath the glacial undersides, thus resisting a potentially more rapid collapse.  “…around two-thirds of the thermal energy that travels up towards the continental shelf from the deep sea never reaches the ice…..This also means that the floating glaciers—the ice fronts in particular—are key areas that should be closely monitored. If the ice walls were to disappear, much greater levels of thermal energy would be released towards the ice on land.”  Future monitoring should help to pin down the currently very wide estimates of the amount and timing of future sea level rise that is sure to come from the potentially major Antarctic source.

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Another study has found that wind-driven rotating ocean currents are shifting poleward because of climate change (Inside Climate News).  “Eight major wind-driven ocean currents, known as gyres, circulate around vast areas of ocean: three in the Atlantic, three in the Pacific, and one each in the Indian and Antarctic Oceans…..moving toward the poles at a rate of about a mile every two years, potentially depriving important coastal fishing waters of important nutrients and raising the risk of sea level rise, extreme storms and heatwaves for some adjacent land areas…..The poleward shift is bad news for the East Coast of the U.S., because it makes sea level rise even worse…..At about 40 degrees latitude north and south, where the effects of the shifting currents are most evident, sea level rise is already 8 to 12 inches more than in other regions…..no reason to think the changes will slow down or stop anytime soon.”
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A humanitarian catastrophe due to the locust invasion in East Africa has grown much more threatening (reliefweb).  It is complicated by the fact that over 14 million displaced persons are being sheltered in the most-exposed region and there is already a major shortage of assistance funding for them without the locust threat, placing great pressure on the host populations.  “According to FAO, the invasion is escalating……millions are resurfacing in farming areas placing the March to May planting season at serious risk. If left unchecked, the numbers of crop-eating insects could grow 500 times by June.  (It’s unclear what methods are available to halt an invasion threat of this magnitude.)
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In Zimbabwe nearly 8 million people, half of them children, are deeply troubled by a mixture of economic and climate crises (reliefweb).  The economic problems are fairly normal in this country, but not so the weather.  “The country’s food emergency is also part of a regional climate crisis, with roots in a severe drought htat began in 2018.  Many rivers, wells and dams have dried up, and children and their families often have to travel hours each day to collect water. While some parts of the country received erratic and uneven rainfall between November 2019 and January 2020, much of the rain fell on parched land, resulting in flooding and topsoil erosion, further impeding the ability of families to farm.  The lean season is due to peak during January to March   but is expected to last much longer as many farmers have lost their crops and will have nothing to harvest come March.”  (All the attention given to the coronavirus pandemic can only distract from the fulfillment of outside help needed for this situation and the one described above.)
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More fine photo journalism from The Guardian, this time showing what it is like living in Australia when temperatures soar.  Indigenous people whose ancestors have lived in the interior regions for countless generations are among those featured.
Carl

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