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Global Warming...New Report...and it ain't happy news

 
 
Walter Hinteler
 
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Reply Wed 22 May, 2024 08:26 am
Climate crisis in the Antarctic: ‘doomsday glacier’ is melting even faster than expected.

Widespread seawater intrusions beneath the grounded ice of Thwaites Glacier, West Antarctica
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Walter Hinteler
 
  2  
Reply Wed 5 Jun, 2024 06:48 am
Alle Vögel sind schon da ("All the Birds are there") is one of the best-known German spring and children's songs. The text was written in 1835 by August Heinrich Hoffmann von Fallersleben (1798-1874) and published in his poems in 1837. The first musical setting by Ernst Richter also appeared in the same year.

With the marsh warbler, quail and turtle dove, the last bird species have now returned to Germany from their wintering grounds. Like other wild animals, migratory birds have a kind of internal clock. This tells them when they should return to us from warmer climes. And migratory birds have apparently ‘reset’ this internal clock in recent years.

The University of Kassel has analysed bird migration data from a period of 180 years. The result: birds are now returning earlier - sometimes several weeks earlier.
And this is largely due to climate change.

The study by the University of Kassel shows that almost all bird species are returning earlier today than 180 years ago. Depending on the species, birds have adapted differently to climate change. According to the study, there are species whose return has only changed by a few days - for example the tree pipit. The swallow, on the other hand, returns almost a month earlier, according to the study.

Previous studies have also shown that climate change is having an impact on the behaviour of migratory birds. This time, however, the study organisers found that the return of the birds has shifted forward more than previous studies had shown.

Study (Abstract, in English)
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Walter Hinteler
 
  2  
Reply Fri 7 Jun, 2024 08:14 am
Enormous, heavy rainfall led to severe flooding in southern Germany.
Climate change also played a role in this, an analysis shows: the rainfall was up to ten per cent heavier than without man-made global warming.

Southern Germany floods mostly strengthened by human- driven Climate Chang
Quote:
Press Summary (First Published 2024/06/07)

• Floods similar to the June 2024 Southern Germany floods are up 2 mm/day (up to 10%) wetter in the present than they have been in the past.

• This was a somewhat uncommon event.

• We mostly ascribe the heavy precipitation associated with the Southern Germany floods to human driven climate change and natural climate variability likely played a modest role.
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hightor
 
  2  
Reply Fri 7 Jun, 2024 11:44 am
Carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere are surging "faster than ever" to beyond anything humans ever experienced, officials say

Quote:
One of the major drivers of the exceptional heat building within Earth's atmosphere has reached levels beyond anything humans have ever experienced, officials announced on Thursday. Carbon dioxide, the gas that accounts for the majority of global warming caused by human activities, is accumulating "faster than ever," scientists from NOAA, the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the University of California San Diego found.

"Over the past year, we've experienced the hottest year on record, the hottest ocean temperatures on record, and a seemingly endless string of heat waves, droughts, floods, wildfires and storms," NOAA Administrator Rick Spinrad said in a press release. "Now we are finding that atmospheric CO2 levels are increasing faster than ever."

The researchers measured carbon dioxide, or CO2, levels at the Mauna Loa Atmospheric Baseline Observatory. They found that atmospheric levels of the gas hit a seasonal peak of just under 427 parts per million in May — an increase of 2.9 ppm since May 2023 and the fifth-largest annual growth in 50 years of data recording.

It also made official that the past two years saw the largest jump in the May peak — when CO2 levels are at their highest in the Northern Hemisphere. John Miller, a NOAA carbon cycle scientist, said that the jump likely stems from the continuous rampant burning of fossil fuels as well as El Niño conditions making the planet's ability to absorb CO2 more difficult.
https://assets3.cbsnewsstatic.com/hub/i/r/2024/06/06/338b4bc2-71a0-42ae-be54-85649a2dee51/thumbnail/620x465/aec772b6b9c6dd4fa8b981bcfdc1d8d1/unnamed.png?v=94cbb61397dbf7eca3740fa55510ba88
This graph shows the full record of monthly mean carbon dioxide measured at Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii. The carbon dioxide data on Mauna Loa constitute the longest record of direct measurements of CO2 in the atmosphere. NOAA Global Monitoring Laboratory

The surge of carbon dioxide levels at the measuring station surpassed even the global average set last year, which was a record high of 419.3 ppm — 50% higher than it was before the Industrial Revolution. However, NOAA noted that their observations were taken at the observatory specifically, and do not "capture the changes of CO2 across the globe," although global measurements have proven consistent without those at Mauna Loa.

CO2 measurements "sending ominous signs"

In its news release, NOAA said the measurements are "sending ominous signs."

"Not only is CO2 now at the highest level in millions of years, it is also rising faster than ever," Ralph Keeling, director of Scripps' CO2 program, said in the release. "Each year achieves a higher maximum due to fossil-fuel burning, which releases pollution in the form of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Fossil fuel pollution just keeps building up, much like trash in a landfill."

Carbon dioxide "acts like a blanket in the atmosphere," NOAA explained — much like other greenhouse gases that amplify the sun's heat toward Earth's surface. And while carbon dioxide is essential in keeping global temperatures above freezing, having such high concentrations shoots temperatures beyond levels of comfort and safety.

That warming is fueling extreme weather events, and the consequences are aleady being felt, with deadly floods, heat waves and droughts devastating communities worldwide and agriculture seeing difficult shifts.

The news from NOAA comes a day after the European Union's climate change service, Copernicus, announced that Earth has now hit 12 straight months of record-high temperatures, a trend with "no sign in sight of a change."

"We are living in unprecedented times. ... This string of hottest months will be remembered as comparatively cold," Carlo Buontempo, director of Copernicus, said.

cbs
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