Showing posts with label climaet change. Show all posts
Showing posts with label climaet change. Show all posts
Monday, 11 December 2017
Michael Mann's lies
David wrote the article with the "doomist" feeling because of our conversation with him.
Friday, 3 November 2017
Friday, 11 March 2016
Extreme weather in the Middle East
Gone
with the wind: Abu Dhabi Airport devastated by severe storm
10
March, 2016
When
it rains, it pours, in the case of Abu Dhabi Airport, which on
Wednesday saw roofs collapse, small planes scatter, and debris smash
into terminal doors in a heavy storm .
The
severe weather conditions forced the airport to suspend all flights
and cancel the UAE Air Expo 2016
Airport
staff and passengers looked on as wind and rain battered the airport,
causing further destruction.
In
one video, a large piece of debris smashed into a set of glass doors,
causing panic among bystanders.
A
post on a frequent flyer site called Boarding Area criticized the
UAE's infrastructure, saying the Emirates are unequipped for severe
weather. "Qatar and the UAE seem to have almost unlimited funds
for completely unnecessary construction, but can't even get basic
things right, like rain-proof buildings. Embarrassing...," it
read.
Though
the worst appears to be over, the bad weather is predicted to
continue over the next few days, though flights schedules are
expected to resume to normal.
Extreme
supercell hailstorms surprise Saudia Arabia and Oman
9
March, 2016
And suddenly the sky started falling on their heads.
Watch these insane pictures and videos of the Tuesday, March 8, 2016 rare supercell storms wreaking havoc Muscat, Oman and Saudi Arabia.
: ;"







Sunday, 6 April 2014
Mackenzie River delta and Arctic melting
River ice reveals new twist on Arctic melt
Mackenzie delta river, before (top) and after (bottom, one day later) onset of dynamic ice
breakup in the central Mackenzie's delta middle channel. Photos by Simon Fraser University
5
April, 2014
A
new study led by Lance
Lesack,
a Simon Fraser University geographer and Faculty of Environment
professor, has discovered unexpected climate-driven changes in the
mighty Mackenzie River’s ice breakup. This discovery may help
resolve the complex puzzle underlying why Arctic ice is disappearing
more rapidly than expected.
|
|
|
Lance
Lesack,
photo by Simon Fraser University |
Lesack
is the lead author on Local
spring warming drives earlier river-ice breakup in a large Arctic
delta.
Published recently in Geophysical
Research Letters,
the study has co-authors at Wilfrid Laurier University, the
University of Alberta and Memorial University.
Its goal was to understand how warming global temperatures and the intensifying Arctic hydrological cycle associated with them may be driving increasing water discharges and more rapid ice breakup in the Arctic’s great rivers.
But the researchers stumbled upon an unexpected phenomenon while trying to figure out why the Mackenzie River’s annual ice breakup has been shortening even though its water discharge isn’t increasing, as in Russian rivers.
Just slightly warmer springs with unexpected snowfall declines — rather than warmer winters or increasing river discharge, as previously suspected — can drive earlier-than-expected ice breakup in great Arctic rivers.
The Mackenzie exemplifies this unexpected phenomenon. The researchers discovered this by accessing records dating back to 1958 of the river’s water levels, snow depths, air temperatures and times of ice breakup.
This finding is significant, as Arctic snow and ice systems are important climate-system components that affect the Earth’s ability to reflect solar radiation.
Its goal was to understand how warming global temperatures and the intensifying Arctic hydrological cycle associated with them may be driving increasing water discharges and more rapid ice breakup in the Arctic’s great rivers.
But the researchers stumbled upon an unexpected phenomenon while trying to figure out why the Mackenzie River’s annual ice breakup has been shortening even though its water discharge isn’t increasing, as in Russian rivers.
Just slightly warmer springs with unexpected snowfall declines — rather than warmer winters or increasing river discharge, as previously suspected — can drive earlier-than-expected ice breakup in great Arctic rivers.
The Mackenzie exemplifies this unexpected phenomenon. The researchers discovered this by accessing records dating back to 1958 of the river’s water levels, snow depths, air temperatures and times of ice breakup.
This finding is significant, as Arctic snow and ice systems are important climate-system components that affect the Earth’s ability to reflect solar radiation.
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|
|
.
|
“Our
surprising finding was that spring temperatures, the period when
river-ice melt occurs, had warmed by only 3.2 degrees Celsius. Yet
this small change was responsible for more than 80 per cent of the
variation in the earlier ice breakups, whereas winter temperatures
had warmed by 5.3 degrees but explained little of this variation,”
says Lesack.
“This is a strong response in ice breakup for a relatively modest degree of warming, but further investigation showed that by winter’s end snow depths had also declined by one third over this period. The lesser snow depths mean less solar energy is needed to drive ice breakup.”
Lesack says this is the first field-based study to uncover an important effect of reduced winter snowfall and warmer springs in the Arctic — earlier-than-expected, climate-change-related ice breakup.
“The polar regions have a disproportionate effect on planetary reflectivity because so much of these regions consist of ice and snow,” says Lesack. “Most of the planetary sea ice is in the Arctic and the Arctic landmass is also seasonally covered by extensive snow. If such ice and snow change significantly, this will affect the global climate system and would be something to worry about.”
Lesack hopes this study’s findings motivate Canadian government agencies to reconsider their moves towards reducing or eliminating ground-based monitoring programs that measure important environmental variables.
There are few long-term, ground-based snow depth records from the Arctic. This study’s findings were based on such records at Inuvik dating back to 1958. They significantly pre-dated remote sensing records that extend back only to 1980. Without this longer view into the past, this study’s co-authors would still be in the dark about the more rapid than expected Arctic melt and planetary heat-up happening.
Backgrounder:
Quotes by Lance Lesack
“This is a strong response in ice breakup for a relatively modest degree of warming, but further investigation showed that by winter’s end snow depths had also declined by one third over this period. The lesser snow depths mean less solar energy is needed to drive ice breakup.”
Lesack says this is the first field-based study to uncover an important effect of reduced winter snowfall and warmer springs in the Arctic — earlier-than-expected, climate-change-related ice breakup.
“The polar regions have a disproportionate effect on planetary reflectivity because so much of these regions consist of ice and snow,” says Lesack. “Most of the planetary sea ice is in the Arctic and the Arctic landmass is also seasonally covered by extensive snow. If such ice and snow change significantly, this will affect the global climate system and would be something to worry about.”
Lesack hopes this study’s findings motivate Canadian government agencies to reconsider their moves towards reducing or eliminating ground-based monitoring programs that measure important environmental variables.
There are few long-term, ground-based snow depth records from the Arctic. This study’s findings were based on such records at Inuvik dating back to 1958. They significantly pre-dated remote sensing records that extend back only to 1980. Without this longer view into the past, this study’s co-authors would still be in the dark about the more rapid than expected Arctic melt and planetary heat-up happening.
Backgrounder:
Quotes by Lance Lesack
- “Our work suggests that the effects of reduced winter snowfall should be further investigated in other aspects of the changing Arctic, such as the surprisingly rapid reduction in sea-ice cover and the unexpected collapses of several Canadian ice shelves.”
- “Our findings should also be of interest to people and industries that exist in the Arctic, where changes in the growth and decay of rivers, lakes or sea-ice may affect their daily lives. Ice roads and shipping over them depend on knowing when the ice roads can be travelled upon or when ferry crossings can be operated during open water.”
Facts:
- Canada’s Mackenzie and several Russian rivers are among the Arctic’s gigantic waterways. The hydrological cycle is the cycling of water from the oceans to the atmosphere and back down to the continents, which the rivers then drain back to the ocean. Planetary warming hastens this cycle, which should lead to higher river discharge, more rapid river ice breakup, and ultimately more extreme weather patterns.
- About a third of the size of Switzerland and reaching 200 kilometres inland, the Mackenzie River delta sits at the end of Canada’s longest river and sustains 45,000 lakes.
- The Mackenzie River delta and other Arctic deltas are considered biological hotspots because their sites have much higher biological productivity and biodiversity than their surrounding Arctic environment. Their peak river levels enhance marine ecosystems by flushing nutrients and organic matter from vast deltas that sit at freshwater-ocean water interfaces into the ocean.
- In 2007 SFU geographer Lance Lesack co-authored a study that found rising water levels in the Mackenzie River delta, induced by climate-related sea-level rise, were three times higher than predicted. The authors worried that the faster-than-expected changes could have important impacts on the region’s human and animal life, and industry.
Press
release by Simon Fraser University
http://www.sfu.ca/pamr/media-releases/2014/river-ice-reveals-new-twist-on-arctic-melt.html
Local spring warming drives earlier river-ice breakup in a large Arctic delta
Lance F. W. Lesack, Philip Marsh, Faye E. Hicks and Donald L. Forbes
Local spring warming drives earlier river-ice breakup in a large Arctic delta
Lance F. W. Lesack, Philip Marsh, Faye E. Hicks and Donald L. Forbes
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