Somalia has gotten the rains it wanted, but then far too much, causing extreme flooding (Phys.org). “The arid Horn of Africa country has always been hostage to climate extremes. Rain is erratic, and drought a feature of life. But catastrophic weather events are occurring in Somalia with ever-greater fury and frequency, trapping millions in a near-constant cycle of crisis.” Droughts and flooding are both increasing in frequency and intensity, leaving no time for people to recover.
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A new study describes an unexpected and growing problem of aridity for the US corn belt (Columbia University). “…climate change has triggered two changes that threaten the region’s crop production; warming temperatures are both increasing the evaporation of soil moisture and causing summer storms to carry more moisture away from the Midwest…..With the polar regions warming faster, there is less of a temperature contrast, thus weakening the storms…..Ting’s models indicate the trend only intensifies in the future under climate change.”
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Rice production in the US has dropped over 20% since 2010 because of changes in weather (New Food Economy). “Weather changes introduce two obstacles to rice production: an increase in diseases like bacterial panicle blight (BPB), and unpredictable rain patterns that make crops more vulnerable than in the past.” In addition, higher nighttime temperatures “hampers the plants’ ability to photosynthesize, to harness energy from sunlight by consuming carbon dioxide and forming carbohydrates. Higher temperatures disrupt the process and lead to decreased yield—chalkier kernels, and fewer of them…..Heat also has a negative effect on pollination.”
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Amazon forest regrowth after deforestation is much slower than previously thought (Lancaster University). The findings of a new study “could have significant impacts for climate change predictions as the ability of secondary forests to soak up carbon from the atmosphere may have been overestimated…..shows that even after 60 years of regrowth, the studied secondary forests held only 40% of the carbon in forests that had not been disturbed by humans.” Biodiversity also showed a poor level of recovery.
–A lengthy article written for Mongabay has much more to say about the extent and consequences of tropical deforestation: https://news.mongabay.com/2019/12/paris-accord-impossible-to-implement-if-tropical-forest-loss-not-stopped/
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A plea to save the world’s largest remaining temperate rainforest (Yale e360). The Tongass National Forest in Alaska is being threatened by the Trump administration with much the same treatment that we are seeing for the Amazon forest under Bolsonaro, just to help the logging industry. “Paul Alaback, a professor of forestry from the University of Montana, spoke about how the Tongass contained more living plant life per area, and stored and sequestered more carbon, than nearly anywhere else on earth.”
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A new world record for electric power produced by one wind turbine in 24 hours (Renew Economy). The world’s largest offshore turbine has begun generating power. It “set a new world record this past weekend by being the first wind turbine ever to generate 262 MWh of clean energy within 24 hours – enough to power 30,000 households, all on its own.”
Carl