Global warming: Study helps quantify how much Alaska’s melting glaciers contribute to sea level rise

Posted on May 24, 2013 by Bob Berwyn

Research aims to fine-tune sea-level rise projections

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The Columbia Glacier in Alaska is one of the most rapidly changing glaciers in the world. Visit this NASA Earth Observatory web page for more information.

By Summit Voice

SUMMIT COUNTY — As part of a global study of melting glaciers and rising sea level, two University of Alaska Fairbanks geophysicists helped compile a global inventory of glaciers, with a focus on Alaska.

Before the study, only about 40 percent of Alaska’s glaciers were inventoried. The two researchers, Anthony Arendt and Regine Hock, concluded that Alaska remains one of the top contributors to global sea level. (more…)

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Study: Sea level changes may affect tropical rainfall patterns

Posted on May 20, 2013 by Bob Berwyn
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How will global warming affect global atmospheric circulation and precipitation patterns? Photo courtesy NASA’s Blue Marble collection.

At lower sea levels, exposed land masses could affect convection

By Summit Voice

FRISCO — Even though scientists are continuously fine-tuning their global warming models, climate change is likely to dish up some big surprises in the decades ahead.

In one recent study, researchers with the University of Hawaii and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution found evidence that past changes in sea level rise had a somewhat unexpected influence across the center of the Indo-Pacific warm pool — a vast region of warm ocean waters in the western Pacific region that is the main source of heat and moisture to Earth’s atmosphere. (more…)

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Global warming: Mt. Everest’s glaciers melting away

Posted on May 15, 2013 by Bob Berwyn

Temperatures up, precipitation down in key Asian watersheds

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A new study finds a decline in snow and ice on Mount Everest (second peak from left) and the national park surrounding it. Photo courtesy Pavel Novak.

FRISCO — Even at the frozen roof of the world in the mighty Himalaya, global warming is evident.

The snow line in the Mt. Everest region has moved uphill by 180 meters (590 feet). Glaciers in the region are shrinking, some by as much as 13 percent in the past 50 years, and precipitation has declined, according to a team of scientists who will present their findings this week at the Meeting of the Americas in Cancún, Mexico.

Glaciers smaller than one square kilometer are disappearing the fastest and have experienced a 43 percent decrease in surface area since the 1960s, according to Sudeep Thakuri, who is leading the research as part of his PhD graduate studies at the University of Milan in Italy. Based on the detailed measurements of satellite images, the pace of melting speeding up, Thakuri said. (more…)

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Common species will also be lost with global warming

Posted on May 13, 2013 by Bob Berwyn
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Even common backyard plants and animals will be affected by global warming. Bob Berwyn photo.

New study projects percent of all plant species will lose half their climatic range

By Summit Voice

FRISCO — Plenty of relatively rare plants and animals have already been flagged because of threats from global warming, but even common backyard plants and animals are likely to decline this century as their climatic ranges shift.

Plants — being sessile— reptiles and particularly amphibians are expected to be at highest risk. Sub-Saharan Africa, Central America, Amazonia and Australia would lose the most species of plants and animals. And a major loss of plant species is projected for North Africa, Central Asia and South-eastern Europe, according to new research from the University of East Anglia published May 12 in the journal Nature Climate Change. (more…)

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Climate: How fast will Greenland’s glaciers melt?

Posted on May 8, 2013 by Bob Berwyn

Study shows topography is a key factor in controlling ice flow

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A giant iceberg that broke off the terminus of Greenland’s Petermann Glacier in July 2012 moves down the fjord toward the Nares Strait. Image courtesy NASA Earth Observatory.

A new study helps pinpoint how many icebergs may from as Greenland's glaciers are subjected to global warming. Photo courtesy British Antarctic Survey.

A new study helps pinpoint how many icebergs may from as Greenland’s glaciers are subjected to global warming. Photo courtesy British Antarctic Survey.

By Bob Berwyn

FRISCO — Greenland’s swift outflow glaciers are sensitive to warming air and ocean temperatures, but a new study published in the journal Nature indicates that the recent acceleration of glacial flow isn’t continuing at a linear rate.

The shape of the ground and seafloor beneath the glaciers is crucial in determining how they respond to climate change — how fast they move and how much they will contribute to sea level rise in coming decades.

“What we are saying is that we shouldn’t extrapolate the rate of the last 10 years into the future … If  you study these glaciers separately, they show different behavior,” said lead author Dr. Faezeh Nick, of the Université Libre de Bruxelles, describing the work done on the Petermann, Kangerdlugssuaq, Helheim and Jakobshavn Isbræ glaciers. Together, they drain about 22 percent of the Greenland ice sheet. (more…)

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WMO: Global warming drives more climate disruption

Posted on May 6, 2013 by Bob Berwyn
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Earth is warming inexorably. Satellite image via NASA’s Blue Marble collection.

World’s top meteorological body concerned about global trends

By Summit Voice

FRISCO —Climate-sensitive economic sectors like agriculture and energy are already feeling the pinch of more extreme fluctuations in the weather, driven by global climate change, according to the World Meteorological Organization, which released its annual climate statement for 2012 last week.

“It is vital that we continue to invest in the observations and research that will improve our knowledge about climate variability and climate change,” said WMO Secretary-General Michel Jarraud. “We need to understand how much of the extra heat captured by greenhouse gases is being stored in the oceans and the consequences this brings in terms of ocean acidification and other impacts,” Jarraud said in the statement. (more…)

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Global warming: More hurricanes in Hawaii?

Posted on May 6, 2013 by Bob Berwyn
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Hurricane Iniki reached Kauai in September 1992 as a Category 4 storm, with winds up to 140 mph.

Study projects two to three times as many storms by the end of the century

By Summit Voice

SUMMIT COUNTY — Large scale shifts in hemispheric circulation patterns and ocean temperatures are likely to steer more hurricanes toward the Hawaiian Islands in coming decades.

A poleward shift of the subtropical jet stream and warmer temperatures over the equatorial central Pacific will combine to make the storms two to three times as likely by the last quarter of the century, according to scientists with the International Pacific Research Center, University of Hawaii at Manoa. (more…)

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NASA study solidifies evidence that global warming will cause more droughts and more extreme rainfall

Posted on May 4, 2013 by Bob Berwyn
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Some parts of the world could see more intense monsoon rainfall as the world warms up. Bob Berwyn photo.

Latest modeling offers a nuanced picture of rainfall changes

By Summit Voice

FRISCO — NASA scientists say one of their latest modeling studies supports previous research suggesting that global warming will intensify rainfall and drought.

An analysis of computer simulations from 14 climate models indicates wet regions of the world, such as the equatorial Pacific Ocean and Asian monsoon regions, will see increases in heavy precipitation because of warming resulting from projected increases in carbon dioxide levels. Arid land areas outside the tropics and many regions with moderate rainfall could become drier.

“In response to carbon dioxide-induced warming, the global water cycle undergoes a gigantic competition for moisture resulting in a global pattern of increased heavy rain, decreased moderate rain, and prolonged droughts in certain regions,” said William Lau of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., and lead author of the study. (more…)

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Global warming: New report eyes significant Arctic threats

Posted on April 29, 2013 by Bob Berwyn

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Coordinated planning needed to address major environmental and social challenges

By Summit Voice

SUMMIT COUNTY — Increased coastal erosion, bigger and more destructive tundra fires and caribou starvation are just a few of the impacts anticipated in a  major new report on the Arctic.

The report, compiled by an interagency working group, calls for an integrated management strategy for the rapidly changing region, using a coordinated approach that uses the best available science to integrate cultural, environmental and economic factors in decision-making about development and conservation.

“This report chronicles how Arctic residents are dealing with rapid, climate change-induced impacts on their resources and traditional ways of life at the same time that new economic activity and opportunities are emerging — notably oil and gas, marine transportation, tourism and mining,” Deputy Interior Secretary David Hayes. (more…)

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Climate study projects less rain in Hawaii

Posted on April 24, 2013 by Bob Berwyn
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Changes in Pacific Ocean-area circulation changes are projected to impact rainfall in the Hawaiian Islands.

Drying trend that started in late 1970s likely to continue

By Summit Voice

FRISCO — Global warming is shifting large-scale Pacific circulation patterns so that fewer  weather disturbances reach the Hawaiian Islands during the rainy season from November through April.

As a result, rainfall has been declining since 1978, and the trend is likely to continue, according to researchers with the University of Hawaii at Manoa and the University of Colorado in Boulder.

“For water resource and ecosystem management, and for other societal needs, we need to know whether this drying trend will continue this century,” said lead researchers Oliver Elison Timm, with the International Pacific Research Center, UHM. (more…)

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