Climate Change News & Discussions

[Time_Traveller]

Human-driven climate change has 'slowed the Earth's rotation' and could affect how we measure time, study suggests

Wednesday 27 March 2024 21:24, UK



The melting of polar ice due to human-driven climate change has slightly slowed the Earth's rotation - and it could affect how we measure time, according to a study.

Although the disappearance of the ice has reduced the speed of the planet's rotation, the Earth is still spinning a bit faster than it used to.

The overall increase in speed means that for the first time in history, world timekeepers may have to consider subtracting a second from our clocks.

This means clocks may have to skip a second - called a "negative leap second" - around 2029 to keep universal time in sync with the Earth's rotation, according to the study published in the Nature journal.

If it wasn't for the impact of melting ice, the time change would have been needed three years earlier in 2026.

https://news.sky.com/story/human-driven ... s-13102985

[weatheriscool]

[weatheriscool]

Study says since 1979 climate change has made heat waves last longer, spike hotter, hurt more people
https://phys.org/news/2024-03-climate-l ... eople.html
by Seth Borenstein

Climate change is making giant heat waves crawl slower across the globe and they are baking more people for a longer time with higher temperatures over larger areas, a new study finds.

Since 1979, global heat waves are moving 20% more slowly—meaning more people stay hot longer—and they are happening 67% more often, according to a study in Friday's Science Advances. The study found the highest temperatures in the heat waves are warmer than 40 years ago and the area under a heat dome is larger.

Studies have shown heat waves worsening before, but this one is more comprehensive and concentrates heavily on not just temperature and area, but how long the high heat lasts and how it travels across continents, said study co-authors and climate scientists Wei Zhang of Utah State University and Gabriel Lau of Princeton University.

From 1979 to 1983, global heat waves would last eight days on average, but by 2016 to 2020 that was up to 12 days, the study said.

Eurasia was especially hit harder with longer lasting heat waves, the study said. Heat waves slowed down most in Africa, while North America and Australia saw the biggest increases in overall magnitude, which measures temperature and area, according to the study.

"This paper sends a clear warning that climate change makes heat waves yet more dangerous in more ways than one," said Lawrence Berkeley National Lab climate scientist Michael Wehner, who wasn't part of the research.

[weatheriscool]

[weatheriscool]

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[wjfox]

[wjfox]

[weatheriscool]

[wjfox]

[Time_Traveller]

Could the "planting" of marine clouds delay Earth's warming?

06/04/2024 12:00

As levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere continue to rise and the impacts of climate change become more costly, the scientific community is redoubling efforts to investigate the potential risks and benefits of artificially shading the Earth's surface to slow down global warming.

Marine Cloud Brightening (MCB) is one of two main methods of modifying solar radiation that are being proposed to offset the worst effects of global warming as decarbonisation advances. MCB proposals involve injecting salt spray into shallow sea clouds to illuminate them, increasing their reflection of sunlight (albedo) and reducing the amount of heat absorbed by the water below.

A group of 31 atmospheric scientists has now presented a consensus physical science research roadmap to build the knowledge base needed to assess the feasibility of MCB approaches. Their roadmap is described in a new article published in the journal Science Advances.

"Interest in MCB is growing, but policymakers do not currently have the information they need to make decisions about whether and when MCB should be used," said lead author Graham Feingold, a researcher at NOAA's Chemical Sciences Laboratory. .
Current MCB proposals are based on saltwater spraying, which would mimic plumes of sulphur-rich emissions from ship smokestacks or volcanoes, to increase aerosol concentrations in the lower marine atmosphere.

https://www.yourweather.co.uk/news/scie ... rming.html

[wjfox]

[firestar464]

People like this are basically the types that get featured on r/iamverysmart

[firestar464]

People like this are basically the types that get featured on r/iamverysmart

[weatheriscool]

Scientists confirm record highs for three most important heat-trapping gases

Source: The Guardian

The levels of the three most important heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere reached new record highs again last year, US scientists have confirmed, underlining the escalating challenge posed by the climate crisis. The global concentration of carbon dioxide, the most important and prevalent of the greenhouse gases emitted by human activity, rose to an average of 419 parts per million in the atmosphere in 2023 while methane, a powerful if shorter-lasting greenhouse gas, rose to an average of 1922 parts per billion.

Levels of nitrous oxide, the third most significant human-caused warming emission, climbed slightly to 336 parts per billion. The increases do not quite match the record jumps seen in recent years, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa), but still represent a major change in the composition of the atmosphere even from just a decade ago.

Through the burning of fossil fuels, animal agriculture and deforestation, the world’s CO2 levels are now more than 50% higher than they were before the era of mass industrialization. Methane, which comes from sources including oil and gas drilling and livestock, has surged even more dramatically in recent years, Noaa said, and now has atmospheric concentrations 160% larger than in pre-industrial times.

Noaa said the onward march of greenhouse gas levels was due to the continued use of fossil fuels, as well as the impact of wildfires, which spew carbon-laden smoke into the air. Nitrous oxide, meanwhile, has risen due to the widespread use of nitrogen fertilizer and the intensification of agriculture. “As these numbers show, we still have a lot of work to do to make meaningful progress in reducing the amount of greenhouse gases accumulating in the atmosphere,” said Vanda Grubišić, director of Noaa’s global monitoring laboratory.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/environment ... ate-crisis

[Time_Traveller]

Climate change: 'Uncharted territory' fears after record hot March

2 hours ago

Climate change could move "into uncharted territory" if temperatures don't fall by the end of the year, a leading scientist has told the BBC.

The warning came as new data showed last month was the warmest March on record, extending the run of monthly temperature records to ten in a row.

It's fuelled concerns among some that the world could be tipping into a new phase of even faster climate change.

A weather system called El Niño is behind some of the recent heat.

Temperatures should temporarily come down after El Niño peters out in coming months, but some scientists are worried they might not.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-68665166

[wjfox]

European court rules human rights violated by climate change inaction

11 minutes ago

A group of older Swiss women have won a partial victory in their climate case in the European Court of Human Rights.

The women, mostly in their 70s, said that their age and gender made them particularly vulnerable to the effects of heatwaves linked to climate change.

The court said Switzerland's efforts to meet its emission reduction targets had been woefully inadequate.

It is the first time the powerful court has ruled on global warming.

The ruling is binding and can trickle down to influence the law in 46 countries in Europe including the UK.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-68768598

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[weatheriscool]

[Tadasuke]

It is clear now. Global warming is real.


I can feel it with my whole body unfortunately. I don't feel great when it's hot. It was the hottest January, hottest February, hottest March and now the hottest April. I hate it and it's not my fault. wjfox was probably correct about climate change, before it got this bad

The culprits are predominantly all people who:
- opposed nuclear power plants
- eat and drink too much, smoke
- buy too much unnecessary stuff
- oppose abortions
- drive cars too much or fly too much
- drive vehicles which burn too much fuel
- start or continue wars for whatever reason
- spend money on military instead of much more important areas
- vote for stupid politicians, elect stupid leaders
- start fires by accident or by intention

Honestly it's all crazy and insane, wtf we were doing. People were stupid! Still are. Religion, wars, honor, weird ideologies and dogmas, greed, pride, narrow mindedness, ignorance, neglect and stupid sh*t like that are the primary causes.

I'm still sticking to my predictions. We will have only doubling of GDP PPP after each 20 years, because of how stupid we are, because of climate change, because of wars, because of insanity, because of repeating similar mistakes over and over again and because of making welcomed changes too late. (－‸ლ)