A study has found widespread mass loss of glaciers and ice caps in Greenland since the start of the 20th century.
The research provides critical insights into long-term changes to the glaciers and ice caps as a result of climate change, which has contributed about one fifth to global sea-level rise in the last decade.
Using historical data, scientists mapped 5,327 glaciers and ice caps that existed at the end of the Little Ice Age in 1900, a period of wide-spread cooling when average global temperatures dropped by as much as 2°C. They were then able to reveal that these fragmented into 5,467 glaciers and ice caps by 2001.
The study—Mass Loss of Glaciers and Ice Caps Across Greenland Since the Little Ice Age—published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, said Greenland's glaciers have lost at least 587 km3 of ice over the last century, accounting for 1.38 millimeters of sea-level rise.
It estimated that the speed at which the water melted between 2000 and 2019 was three times higher that the long-term—since 1900—average.
Lead author, Dr. Jonathan L. Carrivick from the School of Geography at the University of Leeds, said, "The impact of meltwater run off from Greenland into the North Atlantic extends beyond global sea-level rise, affecting North Atlantic ocean circulation, European climate patterns, and Greenlandic fjord water quality and marine ecosystems."
"This has immense implications on humans too, with these glacier changes having a direct impact on the economic activities of fishing, mining, and hydropower, as well as affecting people's health and behavior."
From the very first response within the cited Twitter thread:
Unfortunately you could broadcast this to the general public and they wouldn’t get it. They’d think 0.4°F warmer is nothing because in their understanding of temperature 0.4°F is minuscule.
Carbon dioxide levels measured at NOAA’s Mauna Loa Atmospheric Baseline Observatory peaked at 424 parts per million in May, continuing a steady climb further into territory not seen for millions of years, scientists from NOAA and Scripps Institution of Oceanography offsite link at the University of California San Diego announced today.
Measurements of carbon dioxide (CO2) obtained by NOAA’s Global Monitoring Laboratory averaged 424.0 parts per million (ppm) in May, the month when CO2 peaks in the Northern Hemisphere. That is an increase of 3.0 ppm over May 2022, and represents the fourth-largest annual increases in the peak of the Keeling Curve in NOAA’s record. Scientists at Scripps, which maintains an independent record, calculated a May monthly average of 423.78 ppm , also a 3.0 ppm increase over their May 2022 average.
Carbon dioxide levels are now more than 50% higher than they were before the onset of the industrial era.
Climate Crisis Is on Track to Push One-Third of Humanity Out of Its Most Livable Environment by Abrahm Lustgarten
June 6, 2023
Introduction:
(ProPublica) )Climate change is remapping where humans can exist on the planet. As optimum conditions shift away from the equator and toward the poles, more than 600 million people have already been stranded outside of a crucial environmental niche that scientists say best supports life. By late this century, according to a study published last month in the journal Nature Sustainability, 3 to 6 billion people, or between a third and a half of humanity, could be trapped outside of that zone, facing extreme heat, food scarcity and higher death rates, unless emissions are sharply curtailed or mass migration is accommodated.
The research, which adds novel detail about who will be most affected and where, suggests that climate-driven migration could easily eclipse even the largest estimates as enormous segments of the earth’s population seek safe havens. It also makes a moral case for immediate and aggressive policies to prevent such a change from occurring, in part by showing how unequal the distribution of pain will be and how great the improvements could be with even small achievements in slowing the pace of warming.
“There are clear, profound ethical consequences in the numbers,” Timothy Lenton, one of the study’s lead authors and the director of the Global Systems Institute at the University of Exeter in the U.K., said in an interview. “If we can’t level with that injustice and be honest about it, then we’ll never progress the international action on this issue.”
The notion of a climate niche is based on work the researchers first published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in 2020, which established that for the past 6,000 years humans have gravitated toward a narrow range of temperatures and precipitation levels that supported agriculture and, later, economic growth. That study warned that warming would make those conditions elusive for growing segments of humankind and found that while just 1% of the earth’s surface is now intolerably hot, nearly 20% could by 2070.
U.S. Deal Could Plug Turkmenistan’s Colossal Methane Emissions by Damian Carrington
June 2, 2023
Introduction:
(The Guardian) The US is in negotiations with Turkmenistan over an agreement to plug the central Asian nation’s colossal methane leaks.
Turkmenistan was responsible for 184 “super-emitter” events in which the powerful greenhouse gas was released in 2022, the highest number in the world. One caused climate pollution equivalent to the rate of emissions from 67m cars.
US officials hope that some leaks from Turkmenistan’s oil and gas industry could be halted by the start of the UN’s Cop28 climate summit in late November. Success would represent a major achievement in tackling the climate crisis.
Further Extract:
New satellite data is increasingly putting the spotlight on nations with major methane leaks. These include the US, where new regulations will impose large fines for leaks, and Russia.
In early May, the Guardian revealed that methane leaks alone from Turkmenistan’s two main fossil fuel fields caused more global heating in 2022 than the entire carbon emissions of the UK. Emissions of the gas were “mind-boggling” and an “infuriating” problem that should be easy to fix, experts said.
