This is, I believe #39 of the irreversible positive feedbacks.
Phytoplankton, reducing greenhouse gases or amplifying Arctic warming?
Phytoplankton,
commonly known as plant plankton that remove carbon dioxide from the
atmosphere through photosynthesis, are potentially a key driver of
Arctic warming under greenhouse warming, a study reveals
This excellent ABC documetary was featured a while back and is a good summary.
Extreme Weather
ABC
In
this special report Anja Taylor looks at the domino effect of
environmental and atmospheric factors that drive the globe to wetter,
hotter, drier and colder extremes.
Will El Nino Break the California Drought? The Odds Are Not Good
Alaska’s Spring Is Becoming More Like California’s Summer
Climate
change’s new normal is causing record-breaking heat and wildfire
risk.
Following
an abnormally warm winter, spring temperatures exceeded 90 degrees
Fahrenheit across a broad swath of interior Alaska in May, breaking
records for the earliest day with temperatures that high.
Eagle,
a town east of Fairbanks with about 120 years’ worth of weather
records, reported a daytime high of 91 degrees on May 23. This was
the earliest day ever with a temperature of over 90 degrees and
“smashed that location’s all-time record for May,” according to
the National Weather Service.
Austria’s Alps Hit By Climate Change
Austria, with its sensitive Alpine regions, has been particularly hard hit by climate change, a major survey says.
The Austrian Climate Change Assessment Report 2014 says average temperatures in Austria have risen by almost 2C since 1880.
This is compared with a global rise of 0.85C in the same period.
The document says that the changes in temperature are mainly man-made and caused by "emissions of greenhouse gases".
The report was put together by more than 200 scientists and presented in Vienna by Austrian Environment Minister Andrae Rupprechter.
For what it's worth - very little
Next Round of UN Climate Negotiations Opens Monday - Bonn, 1 - 11 June
MASS DIE-OFFS
Since April 2014, Bee Population Has Declined 40% – 60%
The
bee population has declined 40-60 percent since 2014.
American
beekeepers have lost 42.1 percent of their hives since April of 2014,
the heaviest loss occurred during the summer. Part of the annual
survey in partnership with the U.S. Department of Agriculture,
beekeepers, reported that they had over two in five of their colonies
die. Now, they have difficulties bringing the number back up.
A
study done by Keith Delaplane said, “What we see with this bee
problem is just a loud signal that there’s some bad things
happening with our agro-ecosystems. We just happen to notice it with
the honeybee because they are so easy to count.”
Plan
makes millions of acres of federal land more bee-friendly but does
not ban the use of neonicotinoids which research shows are closely
linked to bee life loss
EXTREME WEATHER
Firefighters battled wildfires in northern Alberta, Canada's biggest crude-producing region, for a sixth day on Thursday, with two blazes near oil sands facilities still out of control.
North
American moose are dying by the thousands as they struggle with
soaring temperatures and health problems linked to disease and
parasites that thrive in the heat, scientists are finding.
In
north east Minnesota alone, moose numbered about 8,000 a decade ago.
Today, the population is down to 3,500. The story is similar
throughout Canada, New Hampshire and Maine.
"All
across the southern edge of the range, from Nova Scotia, New
Brunswick, Minnesota, Michigan, all across the southern fringe of
their range, moose numbers are in a significant decline," Eric
Orff, biologist with the National Wildlife Federation, told PBS.
More
than 200 dead turtles have washed up on the eastern end of Long
Island in the last few months, and scientists believe they are being
killed by a waterborne biotoxin that’s being found at ten times the
normal level for unknown reasons.
Saxitoxin,
which is believed to have been killing off the diamondback terrapin
turtles, is produced in Red algae blooms. It then collects in
shellfish, which are eaten by turtles. Contamination causes paralysis
and death.
EXTREME WEATHER
As
Southwest states were pummeled with rain, Southeast Alaska dries out.
Heat wave claims 41 more lives in Andhra Pradesh, death toll rises to 2,248 across India
Despite the terrible heatwave in India, causing many deaths (probably wildly under-estimated, the real temperature anomalies are elsewhere - in Russia and Central Asia
Mercury
to rise as wind and showers set to be replaced with soaring
temperatures, which forecasters predict could see country bake for at
least a week
Global
warming could also have a shattering impact on our ability to feed
ourselves
Alberta wildfires burn for 6th day, 10 percent of oil sands crude offline
Firefighters battled wildfires in northern Alberta, Canada's biggest crude-producing region, for a sixth day on Thursday, with two blazes near oil sands facilities still out of control.
The
wildfires have forced producers in the Western Canadian province, the
largest source of U.S. crude imports, to shut in 233,000 barrels per
day of crude production, around 10 percent of total oil sands output.
The
biggest fire, on the Canadian military's Cold Lake Air Weapons Range,
had grown in size to 20,000 hectares (49,000 acres) from 17,000
hectares on Wednesday.
Flood death toll in China reaches 54 with 15,000 homes destroyed and 8 million affected
The
death toll from devastating floods across southern China has risen to
at least 54 people, as torrential rain continues to fall.
Two
people were killed on Tuesday night after a van plunged into a river
as a rainstorm battered Guizhou.
At
least 15,000 homes have been destroyed and more than 250,000 moved to
temporary accommodation after two weeks of heavy downpours across a
number of provinces.
A tornado near Nuremburg, Germany
Heat
wave in Las Vegas
A
scorcher in Las Vegas Nevada on Sunday! Today also marked the second
100° day of the year - the first coming on Saturday. Mother Nature,
however, will provide a little bit of natural air-conditioning by
mid-week.
California's neverending drought
California: Almond
Growers in Danger Because of Severe Drought
Farmers
are now looking into new irrigation technology to use less water
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