having it both ways

Antarctic ice decreases

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While I was at Palmer, just across the mountains of the Peninsula, the massive Larsen B ice shelf began collapsing at catastrophic speed, changing forever the outline of the east coast. It was dramatic evidence of warming.

After the ferocious summer, changes on the Antarctic peninsula continued faster than scientists had ever anticipated. They were of greater speed, scale and magnitude than had ever been considered possible. Scientists say that they were shocked by warming so fast, intense and widespread.

SciencePoles, interview with Meredith Hooper, 20 Aug 2007

less fires in boreal forests

Despite increasing temperatures since the end of the Little Ice Age (circa 1850) wildfire frequency has decreased as shown in many field studies from North America and Europe. We believe that global warming since 1850 may have triggered decreases in fire frequency in some regions and future warming may even lead to further decreases in fire frequency…

The simulation and fire history results suggest that the impact of global warming on northern forests through forest fires may not be disastrous and that contrary to the expectations of an overall increase in forest fires there may be large regions of the Northern Hemisphere with a reduced fire frequency.
M.D. Flanagan and others, Journal of Vegetation Science Vol 9, Issue 4, pages 469 – 476, August 1998

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Snowdon going downhill

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The data collected by experts from the (Bangor) university suggests that a white Christmas on Snowdon – the tallest mountain in England and Wales – may one day become no more than a memory. The figures indicated that this winter Snowdon is on track to have less snow than any of the last 10 years.The results appear to back the growing body of evidence to support climate change.
BBC News 20 Dec 2004

Earth speeds up

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Climate change can also affect the Earth’s spin. Previously, Felix Landerer of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. and colleagues showed that global warming would cause Earth’s mass to be redistributed towards higher latitudes. Since that pulls mass closer to the planet’s spin axis, it causes the planet to rotate faster – just as an ice skater spins faster when she pulls her arms towards her body.
New Scientist 20 Aug 2009

Earth slows down

Belgian scientists have identified a hitherto unsuspected benefit of global warming – more time for all of us. They say increasing levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere will slow the Earth’s rotation. They used computer models to analyse the effect of adding 1% more CO2 to the atmosphere annually.
BBC News, 12 Feb 2002
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see also – having it both ways

more rain

Climate change ”cannot be ruled out” as a factor in recent heavy rainfalls, such as the flash flooding in Sydney on March 8, the wettest March day for more than 25 years, a report by the federal government’s Climate Commission says. The chief commissioner, Tim Flannery, said NSW was highly vulnerable to climate change.
Sydney Morning Herald, Environment, 14 May 2012
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thanks to Firey

less coral reefs

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Coral reefs will be the first global ecosystem to collapse in our lifetimes. More than 450 scientists from over 60 countries are participating in the “Effects of Climate Change on the World’s Oceans” symposium. When CO2 in the atmosphere reaches a concentration of 450 to 500 parts per million (ppm), the oceans will mostly be too acidic for corals to grow.
IPS News, May 2008

more coral reefs

Coral reefs could be growing 35 per cent faster by the next century because of global warming. A team from the University of New South Wales, in Sydney, modelled interactions between the atmosphere, oceans and ice and found that warmer water would increase the rate of coral calcification, outweighing the detrimental effect of lower calcium carbonate levels. By 2100, corals would be growing 35 per cent faster than they do today, they predicted.
The Scotsman, 8/12/04

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The Earth is doomed!

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“The climate centres around the world, which are the equivalent of the pathology lab of a hospital, have reported the Earth’s physical condition, and the climate specialists see it as seriously ill, and soon to pass into a morbid fever that may last as long as 100,000 years.”
James Lovelock, The Independent Thursday 16 January 2006

(—thanks to Mervyn)

The Earth is not doomed!

Environmental scientist James Lovelock, renowned for his terrifying predictions of climate change’s deadly impact on the planet, has gone back on his previous claims, admitting they were ‘alarmist’.

“The problem is we don’t know what the climate is doing.We thought we knew 20 years ago. That led to some alarmist books – mine included – because it looked clear cut, but it hasn’t happened”.

He added that other environmental commentators, such as former vice president Al Gore, are also guilty of exaggerating their arguments.

The Daily Mail (Australia) 24 April 2012
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—thanks to Mervyn

oceans more salty

Global warming is making the sea more salty, according to new research that demonstrates the massive shifts in natural systems triggered by climate change.

Experts at the UK Met Office and Reading University say warmer temperatures over the Atlantic Ocean have significantly increased evaporation and reduced rainfall across a giant stretch of water from Africa to the Carribean in recent years. The change concentrates salt in the water left behind.
The Guardian, 27 Oct 2008
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global warming causes decline in trade winds

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The vast looping system of air currents that fuels Pacific trade winds and climate from South America to South-East Asia may be another victim of climate change, according to scientists. The system has weakened by 3.5 per cent over the past 140 years and the culprit is probably human-induced climate change, scientists report in today’s issue of the journal Nature.
ABC (Australia) News 5 May 2006 “Global warming weakens air currents”

trade winds cause decline in global warming

Stronger than normal trade winds in the central Pacific are the main cause of a 13-year halt in global surface temperatures increases, an Australian study reveals.The authors reject the study gives impetus to climate change deniers and instead suggest that when the winds ease, global warming will accelerate rapidly.
ABC Science (Australia) 10 Feb 2014 “Warming slowdown caused by Pacific winds”
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Antarctica gaining weight

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The eastern half of Antarctica is gaining weight, more than 45 billion tons a year as snow and ice pile up, according to a new scientific study. ”It’s been long predicted by climate models,” said Dr. Curt H. Davis, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Missouri and the lead author of a paper that was published on the Web site of the journal Science yesterday. ”This is the first observational evidence.”
New York Times, 20 May 2005

Antarctica losing weight

From 2010 to 2013, West Antarctica, East Antarctica and the Antarctic Peninsula lost 134 billion, 3 billion and 23 billion tonnes of ice each year respectively. Dr Malcolm Macmillan from Leeds University, who was the lead author of the study, said the area has long been identified as the most vulnerable to changes in climate and assessments suggest its glaciers may have passed a point of irreversible retreat.
The Independent (UK) 19 May 2014
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winds decrease

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Windmills, one of the Netherlands’ trademarks, may go idle because of less wind as a result of climate change, Dutch scientists predict. “It’s too late now to avoid the temperature rise. It’s unchangeable,” a spokesman for the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute said. “But if we are doing our very best, by reducing CO2 levels by 60 to 80 percent between now and 2050, we can avoid a temperature rise higher than 1-2 degrees (Celsius).”
Counter Currents 27 Oct 2005

winds increase

As a result of stronger winds caused by global warming, seeds and pollen are being carried over longer distances across Germany. An increase in temperature of only a couple of degrees may increase the dispersal of plants in Northern forests and the spread of plant species into forest clearings after felling or forest fires. University of Helsinki researcher Anna Kuparinen headed the international research into the impact of global warming on seed and pollen dispersal.
www.alphagalileo.org/, 11 Jun 2009
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