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  • Bandt raises bushfires climate link again

    Bandt raises bushfires climate link again

    AAP Steve Lillebuen – November 17, 2013, 1:24 pm

    Greens deputy leader Adam Bandt has warned the deadly Black Saturday disaster could be repeated every two years unless the federal government takes global warming seriously.

    Mr Bandt was accused of politicising the NSW bushfires tragedy last month when he linked climate change with the crisis.

    He again raised the politically charged point on Sunday ahead of a debate on the carbon tax repeal.

    He told a climate change rally in Melbourne that the 2009 Victorian fires, which killed 173 people, could happen far more frequently.

    “Unless we get global warming under control, the kind of horrific tragedies that we saw during Black Saturday might start happening once every two years here in Victoria,” he told a crowd of thousands.

    Prime Minister Tony Abbott has described attempts to link bushfires with climate change as “complete hogwash” and a “bizarre” argument, given Australia has always had bushfires.

    But Mr Bandt accused the coalition of not taking real action on climate change.

    “Yes, (Mr Abbott) is right that we have always been a country prone to bushfires, but I say, why the hell would you wish more of them on us?” he said.

    “That is what is in store unless we get global warming under control.”

    Labor opposition environment spokesman Mark Butler and Tim Flannery of the Climate Council also addressed the crowd.

    No one from the coalition spoke, but organisers said they were invited.

    The event was one of hundreds throughout Australia as part of a national day of action.

    United Firefighters Union secretary Peter Marshall attended the event.

    He said he believed in the link between bushfires and climate change.

    “There is no sceptic at the end of a fire hose,” he said.

  • Doomsday scenario wipes out whole countries as waters rise 216 feet

    Doomsday scenario wipes out whole countries as waters rise 216 feet

    By Western Morning News  |  Posted: November 16, 2013

    The worst-case scenario: if all the ice melted, sea levels would rise to cover large areas of eastern England and northern Europe. The pale blue line denotes the existing coastlinesThe worst-case scenario: if all the ice melted, sea levels would rise to cover large areas of eastern England and northern Europe. The pale blue line denotes the existing coastlines

    Comments (1) Vast swathes of the Westcountry would be swamped by rising seas if all the Earth’s ice was to melt, new interactive maps show.

    The Doomsday scenario, albeit in 5,000 years’ time, was painted by National Geographic in a series of interactive maps demonstrating the catastrophic effect of a mass ice melt.

    It is estimated that the loss of some five million cubic miles of ice – 80 per cent of which is in the East Antarctica ice sheet alone – would lead to a sea level rise of about 216 feet.

    The maps show the global consequences with continental coastlines being totally redrawn and entire cities engulfed.

    In Europe, cities including London and Venice would be submerged, as would the whole of the Netherlands and most of Denmark. It would also cause the Mediterranean to expand and swell the Black and Caspian seas.

    In the Westcountry, a swathe of the north Cornwall and Devon coast would be lost as well as parts of the south and east Devon shore. The largest ingress would be across Somerset. The Scillies – highest point, Telegraph on St Mary’s, is 160ft above current sea level – would vanish completely.

    Over on the other side of the UK, water would surge miles inland on the South East and East coasts.

    Scientists have estimated that it could take 5,000 years for temperatures to rise enough to melt all the ice on the planet. The largest concentrations of ice on Earth are found in Greenland and Antarctica.

    A spokesman for the Met Office, based in Exeter, said warming of the Earth had seen global sea levels rise by 1.7mm per year over the last century. The rate had accelerated to 3mm per year since the early 1990s.

    Latest reports to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), he said, showed waters rose 19cm between 1901 and 2010.

    “Broadly speaking about half of that is due to melting ice from various sources,” he explained. “The other half is due to thermal expansion, sea water expanding as it gets warmer.

    “The National Geographic maps appear to show one component of sea level rise that we could see over time.”

    The spokesman said there was “no specific research” on the impact of sea level rises on the UK.

    However, he said studies of Hurricane Sandy, the massive storm which caused vast damage in the United States in 2012, showed increased water levels would make the future impact of such events worse.

    The National Geographic maps show parts of Asia, including China and Bangladesh would be completely flooded, with water claiming land occupied by some 760 million people based on current population levels.

    The entire Atlantic seaboard in the United States would vanish, wiping out Florida and the Gulf Coast.

    Australia would gain a new inland sea but would lose much of the narrow coastal strip where four out of five people now live.

    National Geographic said even without the flood waters, the Earth’s rising heat “might make much of it uninhabitable.” It said: “If we burn all the Earth’s supply of coal, oil, and gas, adding some five trillion more tonnes of carbon to the atmosphere, we’ll create a very hot planet with an average temperature of perhaps 80 degrees Fahrenheit (27C) instead of the current 58 (14C).”

  • Ocean acidity Q&A: scientists warn of growing threat to life

    Ocean acidity Q&A: scientists warn of growing threat to life

    Published 15 November 2013 Media coverage Leave a Comment

    The acidity of the world’s oceans is increasing at an “unprecedented rate”, scientists say, warning that seawater will be 170 per cent more acidic by 2100 if current trends continue.

    The study was led by the International Biosphere-Geosphere Programme, and follows a meeting of 500 of the world’s leading experts on ocean acidification last year. Their findings will be formally presented in Poland next week.

    What is happening?

    The BBC reports a fundamental change in the chemistry of the world’s oceans, which have become 26 per cent more acidic since the start of the industrial revolution. Earlier this month, the International Programme on the State of the Ocean found that the rate and speed of change in the ocean was greater than previously thought, and warned that some seawater will become uninhabitable for some organisms within decades.

     

    Why are acidity levels rising?

    The authors of the State of the Ocean report say, with “very high confidence”, that acidification is being caused by carbon dioxide emissions resulting from human activity. They say these changes are already measurable, and that the legacy of fossil fuel emissions will be felt for centuries.

    Why is increasing acidity a problem?

    Acidification matters not just because it changes the pH level of the ocean, but also because of the impacts it would have on the ecosystem. Many shell-forming marine organisms are very sensitive to changes in pH, while acidification also harms marine creatures that rely on calcium carbonate to build coral reefs. An expert quoted by the BBC said that molluscs would struggle to survive at the pH level predicted for 2100. Professor Jean-Pierre Gattuso of the French national research agency CNRS warns that changes to tiny organisms and molluscs can have a “cascading impact on the whole food chain.”

    What are the potential consequences?

    Professor Gattuso says some of the effects of rising acidity are already being seen in pteropods – sea snail-like organisms – in the Southern ocean, which have suffered shell erosion. The Arctic and Antarctic are currently suffering most from rising acidity, since cooler waters there hold more carbon dioxide. By 2020, scientists expect that species which build their shells from calcium carbonate will retreat from the polar regions. By 2100, the predicted acidity levels would affect tropical coral reefs as well as colder waters. The authors of the State of the Oceans study say the knock-on economic effects could be huge. Ban Ki-moon, the Secretary General of the UN, has described oceans as “integral to all of humanity” and said that their degradation would influence virtually all aspects of life on the planet.

    What is the evidence for these predictions?

    Scientists can predict what might happen if a certain level of acidity occurred by studying areas – such as those near CO2 vents and volcanoes – that already have raised levels of acidity. Research at these deep sea vents suggests that around 30 per cent of the ocean’s biodiversity could be lost by the end of this century if this pace of change continues.

    What can be done to address the problem?

    Scientists say that reducing CO2 emissions is “the only way to minimise long-term, large-scale” risks associated with acidification. Wendy Broadgate, the deputy director of the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme, told website Science Daily that reducing other “stressors” such as pollution and overfishing, could help to reduce the impact of ocean acidification by building resistance into the ecosystem. Experts say that attempts to reduce ocean acidity by adding large volumes of crushed limestone to the water would be expensive and impractical on the necessary scale. The UN says that there is currently “no global international instrument specifically dedicated to addressing ocean acidification”, but that the Convention of the Law of the Sea requires states to protect and preserve the marine environment. ·

    The Week, 14 November 2013. Article.

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  • Greenland’s Ice Is MELTING? (PHOTOS)

    • The Tipping Points

    Greenland’s Ice Is MELTING? (PHOTOS)

    By Devin Brown Published: Nov 15, 2013, 5:28 PM EST weather.com

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    Tim Elam works on deploying the Ice Diver, which if successful will melt its way through the ice with electrical heating. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

    Could what’s happening with the melting of the Greenland Ice Sheet create a domino effect and push the entire climate system out of balance? Tipping Points host Bernice Notenboom is on a mission to discover whether or not the recent changes in climate around the world is affecting the Greenland Ice Sheet, and if the Sheet itself is approaching a dangerous tipping point.

    The moulins are a huge and obscure factor in Greenland’s journey to a dangerous tipping point. moulins are large channels of fresh melt water flowing across the ice sheet, and have the potential to destabilize entire climate systems. Glacial streams of melt water accumulate in moulins. According to Dr. Alan Hubbard from Aberystwyth University’s Centre for Glaciology, the water gets to the base of the ice sheet and kind of hydraulically lifts the ice sheet up, up to a meter, at any one time when that water accumulates creating a large impact on the sheet itself.

    For more on moulins and the other factors threatening the Greenland Ice Sheet tune in to Tipping Points, Saturday 9/8c only on The Weather Channel.

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  • 4 Reasons for the 72-hour Beach Advisory

    4 Reasons for the 72-hour Beach Advisory

    What exactly happens in this 72-hour period that magically turns water that can give you diarrhea, an eye infection, bronchitis or worse into water safe for human contact?

    Posted by Michelle Mowad (Editor) , November 15, 2013 at 12:31 PM
    patch
    Patch file photo.
    Patch file photo.

    Written by Christina S. Johnson/California Sea Grant at Scripps Institution of Oceanography

    Surfers know that they should stay out of the water for at least 72 hours after it rains to avoid getting sick.

    This is especially true after a “first flush” storm, the first heavy rain of the season, when an accumulation of grit, grime and pathogens built up during the dry season are carried in runoff, storm drains and rivers to the beach, and perhaps your favorite surf spot.

    “We’ve done the monitoring and we know bacteria counts spike after it rains and go back to normal, in general, in 72 hours,” said Keith Kezer, an environmental health specialist with San Diego County’s Beach and Bay Monitoring Program.

    But what exactly happens in this 72-hour period that magically turns water that can give you diarrhea, an eye infection, bronchitis or worse into water safe for human contact?

    Kezer listed four processes that naturally reduce “fecal indicator” bacteria counts, which when elevated trigger beach closures. We thought we’d share, as an interesting FYI, since the rainy season and the good surf will soon be upon us.

    Here they are:

    1. Dilution. Harmful bacteria that are swept into coastal waters in a pulse of runoff are dispersed and diluted by ocean currents. “The solution to pollution is dilution” was the old adage. Notably, enclosed beaches, which are less exposed to ocean currents, may have high fecal indicator bacteria counts for 10 days after a rain, according to a recent UCLA study.
    2. Ultraviolet radiation. Sunlight kills a lot of bacteria.
    3. Seawater. Salt is also lethal to some microbes.
    4. Predation. Bacteria are part of the food chain and are grazed on by free-living protozoans and other microbes. It’s a microscopic jungle out there.

    California Sea Grant is currently funding research that is looking to develop the next generation of water-quality testing technologies, including a better understanding of viral pollution, which is not currently monitored at beaches.

    Below are two of our ongoing research projects, summarized with contact information for the lead investigators.

    In-situ Detection of Indicator Organisms by Digitization and Concentration in Microfluidic Picoliter Droplets
    R/CONT-219 Feb. 2013–Jan. 2014
    Sindy Tang, SU, 650-723-5385, sindy@stanford.edu

    The researcher has designed but not fully tested an intensely high-tech approach for monitoring low concentrations of pathogenic bacteria in water samples. In the method, water samples are mixed with probes that enzymes in bacteria convert to a fluorescent-colored product. Picoliter (trillionth-of-a-liter) droplets are formed from this mixture and the brightly colored drops are then counted to estimate bacterial concentrations. The key step in the approach is the ability to form the droplets, within which a single cell will have a very high effective concentration, on the order of 10^9 cfu/mL. Besides amplifying the pathogenic signal, the approach also reduces the assay time for detecting bacteria, which is critical for protecting public health. The main objective of this proof-of-concept project is to demonstrate the ability to form the droplets and count cells for the fecal indicator bacteria Escherichia coli and Enterococcus sp. The method’s accuracy will be verified for samples with known cell counts. The scientist will also characterize the rate at which color intensity builds in “incubating” droplets, as a function of droplet size, to identify an optimal drop size and assay time for the bacteria. The enzyme-substrate probe technology to be employed in this project has been approved and is expected to become adopted by the EPA. Outcomes from this project will further efforts to quantitatively measure low concentrations of water-borne pathogens through a technique that “packages” the EPA method in picoliter containers.

    Noroviruses in Coastal Waters: Implications for Seafood Cultivation and Human
    Health
    R/CONT-216 Feb. 2012–Jan. 2014
    Stefan Wuertz, UCD, 530-754-6407, swuertz@ucdavis.edu
    Karen Shapiro, UCD, 530-754-6144, kshapiro@ucdavis.edu
    Woutrina Miller, UCD, 530-219-1369, wamiller@ucdavis.edu

    Fragments of single-stranded RNA known as noroviruses are the leading cause of food-borne
    disease outbreaks in United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Though
    outbreaks usually occur in small areas of high population density, such as nursing homes or
    cruise ships, the scientists leading this project have detected the virus in all types of freshwater discharges, including rural runoff. This project will investigate whether livestock or other animals may be capable of carrying and spreading the viruses. Researchers will also test whether noroviruses are present in coastal waters of Central California at concentrations that pose a human health risk. Field work will focus on detecting the viruses in seawater and suspended aggregates formed in estuaries and the marine environment. Also of interest is the degree to which local mussels accumulate the viruses and their correlation with concentrations of zoonotic pathogens (e.g., Cryptosporidium, Giardia, and Salmonella) and fecal indicator bacteria. The anticipated outcome of the project is an improved assessment of the presence, or absence, of noroviruses along Central California, and a first estimate of the level of risk the pathogens pose to those who consume raw shellfish grown or harvested locally.

  • Methane Emissions “Through The Roof” As Arctic Melts Faster Than Predicted: Arctic Study Group

    Methane Emissions “Through The Roof” As Arctic Melts Faster Than Predicted: Arctic Study Group

    arcitic sea iceArctic methane emissions this month were recorded at historic-high levels, causing great concern among climatologists, who cite rapidly melting Arctic sea-ice and warming oceans as the main causes.

    As reported in the blog Arctic News, ”huge amounts of methane are now escaping from the seabed of the Arctic Ocean, penetrating the sea ice, and entering the atmosphere, in a process that appears to be accelerating, resulting in levels as high as 2662 ppb (at 14384 feet altitude) on November 9, 2013.” Experts generally agree that this amount is roughly twice the globally ‘safe’ level.

    Another study group, the Alamo Project, said, “Greenhouse gases are escaping the permafrost and entering the atmosphere at an increasing rate – up to 50 billion tons each year of methane, for example — due to a global thawing trend. This is particularly troublesome because methane heats the atmosphere with 25 times the efficiency of carbon dioxide. The release of all this stored carbon could change climate in the Arctic in ways researchers have yet to fully understand.”

    Methane is one of most potent greenhouse gasses on earth — it is called “the canary in the coal mine” of climate change. It traps more heat in the atmosphere, more rapidly, than carbon. Since 1750 (the dawn of the coal-burning industrial revolution), atmospheric methane has increased by 150%.  The recent increase, however, has reached levels not seen on earth in almost 500,00o years according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

    The current rate of methane emissions are a sign that dangerous “climate feedback loops” are underway.

    Huge amounts of methane lay trapped under the frozen waters of the Arctic — perfectly safe while they lay dormant and frozen. The dramatically warming Arctic ocean, however, has begun to “thaw” the methane gas, which then rises through the ocean and is released into the atmosphere. The Arctic Methane Emergency Group (AMEG) explains this in terms of “climate change feedback” loops — a cascade of events which compound each other. (For examples of many of the other climate change feedback loops now occurring, see this excellent overview by University of Arizona professor Guy McPherson.)

    One of the principal players in climate change feedback loops is Arctic sea ice. Scientists have become increasingly alarmed at the rate of sea ice melting. Last year, Arctic sea-ice melted down to the lowest level ever recorded. (Attributable, mostly, to human initiated greenhouse gas emissions). Scientists predicted, at the time, that the Arctic could become entirely ice free as early as 2020 – with dramatic implications for climate change.”We are on the edge of one of the most significant moments in environmental history as sea ice heads towards a new record low,” said John Sauven, director of Greenpeace UK, at the time. “The loss of sea ice will be devastating, raising global temperatures that will impact on our ability to grow food and causing extreme weather around the world.”

    This month’s readings, however, are even more worrisome. The recent AMEG report suggests that the current “catastrophic” explosion of methane emissions will further increase the climate feedbacks so dramatically that Arctic sea ice may, indeed, “disappear completely” as early as September 2014.

    Peter Wadhams, Professor of Ocean Physics at the University of Cambridge, put the importance of arctic sea ice in perspective:

    The present thinning and retreat of Arctic sea ice is one of the most serious geophysical consequences of global warming and is causing a major change to the face of our planet.  The scientific community has drawn attention to the risk of dangerous climate change if the world does not reduce emissions of carbon dioxide – a worthy and critical objective. However, I wish to point toward a much more immediate problem that does not seem to be recognised among the climate change community at large: This is the problem of rapid retreat of Arctic sea ice, and likely consequence of catastrophic methane feedback.

    In summary: Rapidly warming temperatures have accelerated the melt of sea ice and permafrost, which in turn has now begun to cause the release of huge amounts of methane — which will cause even greater atmospheric warming.

    And what’s the industry’s response to a melting arctic and the dramatic implications this holds for climate change? Always ready for opportunity, Shell last week announced new plans to drill for oil in the newly navigable Arctic waters north of Alaska.

    Photo Credit: NASA Goddard Photo and Video / Foter.com / CC BY

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    About the Author

    Don Lieber’s writing and research has been published by the United Nations, The Associated Press, The International Campaign to Ban Landmines, The Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers, E-The Environmental Magazine and others. He contributes regularly to PlanetSave.com.

    Read more at http://planetsave.com/2013/11/15/methane-emissions-roof-arctic-melts-faster-predicted-arctic-study-group/#RSXxccvWzeQUH4x1.99