Climate Letter #1333

More of East Antarctica’s glaciers in the Totten area are found to be losing ice.  All of the melting comes from below, causing their surfaces to lose altitude year by year, as disclosed by satellite readings.  These losses were not detected prior to 2008.  A speeding up of glacial movement has also been measured.  Many natural processes are involved, but on the bottom line:  “New research suggests that more glaciers in East Antarctica are losing ice due to warming oceans.”  Ocean waters that have been warming farther north have had time to circulate all the way to the pole, and that influence is destined to keep growing.

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On Greenland, new signs of methane emissions have been found in glacial meltwater (Scientific American).  The source, while still of uncertain magnitude, is likely to be ancient carbon buried beneath the glaciers much like that known to exist in permafrost areas.  Methane’s potency as a greenhouse gas makes this especially worrisome in an area that is already overheated.
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Alaska’s winter so far has been much warmer than normal, along with greatly reduced snowfall.  The state is considered more vulnerable to climate change than any other, all year long.
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A timely description of the worst extinction event in Earth’s history (Mongabay).  This article was based on interviews with the authors of a study that received much attention when published last month, offering a new explanation of the main cause of the loss of life in marine ecosystems (see CL #1317, Dec. 7).  It reveals further insight into the nature of their research, emphasizing the importance of what humans are presently doing to change the marine environment and why it cannot remain unchecked.  “The ocean cannot be cooled or oxygenated on a global scale by any feasible means. The only sustainable solution to reduce the risk of temperature-dependent hypoxia is to halt the anthropogenic accumulation of CO2 in the atmosphere.”
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China’s colossal international infrastructure project will enable industrial development that would likely be a disaster for the climate (Yale e360).  More than 70 countries have signed on to the Belt and Road Initiative.  “While China has imposed a cap on coal consumption at home, its coal and energy companies are on a building spree overseas.”
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The fascinating story of a California megaflood, winter of 1861-62 (Scientific American, Jan. 1, 2013).  This utterly freakish event had nothing to do with climate change, and no other explanation is given for ”atmospheric rivers” of this magnitude.
Carl

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