Thread: Any doubts about Climate Change?

What many people tend to forget, is that most of the worlds major cities are built on rivers and close to the coast. Being at sea level makes them highly susceptible to catastrophic flooding.

Hopefully Bangkok will be one of the first to pay for its insufferable greed.

I think there would be a few polluting cities over the last 100 years that would be way ahead of Bangkok.

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

I wonder if we've actually already reached the tipping point?

He usually isn’t as optimistic as you see him below, but it should give you an idea (jump to 9:00)…….

He: Stefan Rahmstorf

An update:

https://twitter.com/climateofgavin

Originally Posted by Hugh Cow

I think there would be a few polluting cities over the last 100 years that would be way ahead of Bangkok.

Not just referring to pollution. I hate all cities. Bangkok because of the brands and glass skyscrapers hiding the poverty.

Manila is worse but at least the poverty is visible.

Not a patch on Bombay, Delhi, Kolkata...

Planet-warming greenhouse gases surged to new highs as abnormally hot temperatures swept the globe and ice melted at record levels in the Arctic last year due to climate change, a major US report said Wednesday.


The annual State of the Climate Report, compiled by more than 450 scientists from over 60 countries, describes worsening climate conditions worldwide in 2017, the same year that US President Donald Trump pulled out of the landmark Paris climate deal.


The United States is the world’s second leading polluter after China, but has rolled back environmental safeguards under Trump, who has declared climate change a “Chinese hoax” and exited the Paris deal signed by more than 190 nations as a path toward curbing harmful emissions.

The 300-page report issued by the American Meteorological Society and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration mentioned the word “abnormal” a dozen times, referring to storms, droughts, scorching temperatures and record low ice cover in the Arctic.

Here are its key findings:

Greenhouse gas surge

Last year, the top three most dangerous greenhouse gases released into Earth’s atmosphere -— carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide -— reached new record highs.

The annual global average carbon dioxide concentration at the Earth’s surface climbed to 405 parts per million, “the highest in the modern atmospheric measurement record and in ice core records dating back as far as 800,000 years,” said the report.

“The global growth rate of CO2 has nearly quadrupled since the early 1960s.”

Heat records

The record for hottest year in modern times was set in 2016, but 2017 was not far behind, with “much-warmer-than-average conditions” across most of the world, it said.

Annual record high temperatures were observed in Argentina, Bulgaria, Spain and Uruguay, while Mexico “broke its annual record for the fourth consecutive year.”

Smashing more heat records, the highest temperature ever noted — 110.1 degrees Fahrenheit (43.4 Celsius) — so far south anywhere in the world was marked January 27 at Puerto Madryn, Argentina.

The world’s highest temperature ever for May was observed on May 28 in Turbat, western Pakistan, with a high of 128.3 degrees Fahrenheit.

“The 10 warmest years on record have all occurred since 1998, with the four warmest years occurring since 2014,” said the report.

Last year marked either the second or third hottest since the mid 1800s, depending on which data is consulted.

In another alarming milestone, 2017 was also “the warmest non-El Nino year in the instrumental record,” referring to the absence of the occasional ocean

warming trend that pushes temperatures higher than normal.

Abnormal Arctic

Unprecedented heat enveloped the Arctic, where land surface temperature was 2.9 degrees Fahrenheit (1.6 Celsius) above the 1981–2010 average.
Arctic temperatures were the second highest — after 2016 — since records began in 1900.

“Today’s abnormally warm Arctic air and sea surface temperatures have not been observed in the last 2,000 years,” it said.

In March, sea ice extent saw its lowest maximum in the 37-year satellite record.

Meanwhile, the Arctic sea ice minimum in September was the eighth lowest on record and covered 25 percent less area than the long-term average.
Glaciers across the world shrank for the 38th year in a row.

“Cumulatively since 1980, this loss is equivalent to slicing 22 meters off the top of the average glacier.”

In the Antarctic, sea ice extent remained below average all year, with record lows observed during the first four months.

Extreme rain

“Precipitation over global land areas in 2017 was clearly above the long-term average,” said the report.

Warmer ocean temperatures has led to increasing moisture in the air, particularly in the last three years, causing more rain.

Climate change can also exacerbate extreme weather.

Some parts of the world suffered extended droughts, demonstrating that “extreme precipitation is not evenly distributed across the globe.”

‘Most destructive’ coral bleaching

Ocean warming over the last few years has been blamed for widespread coral bleaching, as disease spreads in this precious habitat for fish and marine life.

“The most recent global coral bleaching lasted three full years, June 2014 to May 2017, and was the longest, most widespread and almost certainly most destructive such event on record,” said the report.

https://www.thesouthafrican.com/repo...s-new-heights/

I suggest most here should stop watching CNN and ABC

Originally Posted by Mozzbie47

I suggest most here should stop watching CNN and ABC

And why would that be?

The Earth's global temperature is 1C away from a climatic tipping point that threatens the future of humanity, scientists have warned.


Experts added that the planet is just decades away from the event that would trigger runaway global warming.

The threshold will be reached when average global temperatures are only around 2C higher than they were in pre-industrial times, research suggests.

The findings show that the Earth's temperature is already half way there.

If the tipping point is reached it would create a "Hothouse Earth" state of uncontrollable climate change.

The event would pose "severe risks for health, economies, political stability, and ultimately, the habitability of the planet for humans", international scientists wrote in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.


Their research highlighted 10 feedback processes that were predicted to kick in at around 2C of global warming.

Feedback mechanisms would act "like a row of dominoes", spinning the world into a state of climate change that will alter the landscape of the planet.

In the long-term, the Hothouse Earth climate will stabilise at a global average of 4C - 5C above pre-industrial levels, the study shows.

If that happens it will render swathes of the planet around the equator uninhabitable, with sea levels up to 60 metres (197ft) higher than they are today threatening coastal cities.

The research refers to "tipping elements" that could turn natural carbon storage systems or "sinks" into powerful greenhouse gas emitters.

Professor Johan Rockstrom, a leading member of the team from the University of Stockholm, Sweden, said: "These tipping elements can potentially act like a row of dominoes.

"Once one is pushed over, it pushes Earth towards another.

"It may be very difficult or impossible to stop the whole row of dominoes from tumbling over.

"Places on Earth will become uninhabitable if Hothouse Earth becomes the reality."

The tipping point dangers were identified as thawing permafrost, the release of methane trapped on the ocean floor and weakening land and ocean carbon sinks.

Others include increased carbon dioxide production by ocean bacteria, Amazon rainforest die-back, coniferous forest die-back, reduced northern hemisphere snow cover, loss of Arctic summer sea ice, reduced Antarctic sea ice and melting polar ice sheets.

The scientists wrote: "Our analysis suggests that the Earth system may be approaching a planetary threshold that could lock in a continuing rapid pathway toward much hotter conditions - Hothouse Earth.

"This pathway would be propelled by strong, intrinsic, biogeophysical feedbacks difficult to influence by human actions, a pathway that could not be reversed, steered or substantially slowed.

"Where such a threshold might be is uncertain, but it could be only decades ahead at a temperature rise of (around) 2C above pre-industrial."

"Deep cuts" in greenhouse gas emmissions as well as concerted efforts to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere are required to avoid a Hothouse Earth state, the researchers added.

They argued that this could be done both by preserving natural carbon sinks and using technology.

Dr Phil Williamson, a climate researcher from the University of East Anglia, said: "In the context of the summer of 2018, this is definitely not a case of crying wolf, raising a false alarm. The wolves are now in sight."

Chris Rapley, professor of climate science at University College London, said: "Previous research has shown that an increase in the mean global temperature of 11-12C would make more than half of the land area currently occupied by humans uninhabitable."

"So, a 'runaway' warming to a new and uncontrollable hot state would represent an existential threat to humanity and the majority of existing species."

The scientists warning comes as the Met Office said Britain's heatwave could continue for several months, with higher than average temperatures likely until October.

https://news.sky.com/story/earth-is-...anity-11463536

Originally Posted by jabir

Not a patch on Bombay, Delhi, Kolkata...

Glasgow

Spain to propose ban on sale of petrol, diesel cars from 2040

MADRID (Reuters) - Spain plans to propose a ban on sales of petrol, diesel and hybrid cars from 2040, government sources said on Tuesday, joining a string of countries taking aim at polluting vehicles to help cut greenhouse gas emissions.

The plan is included in a draft document for a law on climate change which Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s government hopes to present to parliament by the end of the year.

“Some of the most important necessary changes affect transport,” the document said. “From 2040, the registration and sale in Spain of passenger cars and light commercial vehicles that directly emit carbon dioxide will not be permitted.”

Once finalised, the climate change law will require approval by parliament, where Sanchez holds less than a quarter of the seats.

Sanchez has struggled to find support for any major proposals, including next year’s budget, in the face of opposition led by the conservative People’s Party which dominates the upper and lower houses.

Britain and France have already pledged to ban petrol and diesel cars from 2040, which will mean big changes for the global car industry and put a squeeze on oil producers' profits.

Some British politicians have said London should bring the ban forward to 2032, a more ambitious deadline already adopted by Scotland, while Denmark wants to make the move by 2030.

Underlining his green ambitions, Sanchez brought environment and energy together into one ministry, which has since passed measures aimed at reducing electricity prices and favors promoting renewable energy.

Under the current climate change plan, Madrid aims to cut greenhouse gas emissions to at least 20 percent below 1990 levels by 2030. The European Union as a whole aims to reduce emissions by at least 40 percent by 2030.

https://uk.reuters.com/article/us-sp...-idUKKCN1NI1SE

Many countries including Australia have a high tax/excise on fuel and this may make them reluctant to bring in the neccessary changes on fossil fuel based engines until they can find another way to increase the tax burden on the population. Australia has some brown coal power stations which are about the highest emitters of pollution in coal fired power stations. Unfortunately if they all closed tomorrow it would have no impact on climate change. Until China USA India Russia Japan the biggest polluters in the world that account for nearly 60% of CO2 emissions on the planet, make significant reductions in polluting the world, their is little hope that any reasonable target will be achieved. We can only hope the biggest emitters will bear the brunt of the effects of climate change. This may spur them on to actually do something.

Originally Posted by Hugh Cow

Many countries including Australia have a high tax/excise on fuel and this may make them reluctant to bring in the neccessary changes on fossil fuel based engines until they can find another way to increase the tax burden on the population. Australia has some brown coal power stations which are about the highest emitters of pollution in coal fired power stations. Unfortunately if they all closed tomorrow it would have no impact on climate change. Until China USA India Russia Japan the biggest polluters in the world that account for nearly 60% of CO2 emissions on the planet, make significant reductions in polluting the world, their is little hope that any reasonable target will be achieved. We can only hope the biggest emitters will bear the brunt of the effects of climate change. This may spur them on to actually do something.

Electricity in this context is "fuel".

https://dailycaller.com/2018/11/14/s...lobal-warming/

^ Oh look a link to a propaganda fake news site. Once again you prove that you are a brainwashed old fool.

Originally Posted by bsnub

^ Oh look a link to a propaganda fake news site. Once again you prove that you are a brainwashed old fool.

A link to a self redacted peer reviewed paper on the oceans storing heat from global warming, of course you would never read it you can’t risk tainting one of your myopic views.

Republican propaganda machine once again demonstrates it's inability to understand science.

The actual statement by the statement acknowledging the error:

These problems, related to incorrectly treating systematic errors in the O2 measurements and the use of a constant land O2:C exchange ratio of 1.1, do not invalidate the study’s methodology or the new insights into ocean biogeochemistry on which it is based. We expect the combined effect of these two corrections to have a small impact on our calculations of overall heat uptake, but with larger margins of error. We are redoing the calculations and preparing author corrections for submission to Nature.

The central conclusion of the study — that oceans are retaining ever more energy as more heat is being trapped within Earth’s climate system each year — is in line with other studies that have drawn similar conclusions. And it hasn’t changed much despite the errors. But Keeling said the authors' miscalculations mean there is a much larger margin of error in the findings, which means researchers can weigh in with less certainty than they thought.

Once again you have been proven wrong posting up shit propaganda from you right wing sources in this thread. I have destroyed countless articles you have posted here over the years and once again you have been utterly destroyed.

Originally Posted by bsnub

Republican propaganda machine once again demonstrates it's inability to understand science.

The actual statement by the statement acknowledging the error:

These problems, related to incorrectly treating systematic errors in the O2 measurements and the use of a constant land O2:C exchange ratio of 1.1, do not invalidate the study’s methodology or the new insights into ocean biogeochemistry on which it is based. We expect the combined effect of these two corrections to have a small impact on our calculations of overall heat uptake, but with larger margins of error. We are redoing the calculations and preparing author corrections for submission to Nature.

how about a link

Originally Posted by bsnub

The central conclusion of the study — that oceans are retaining ever more energy as more heat is being trapped within Earth’s climate system each year — is in line with other studies that have drawn similar conclusions. And it hasn’t changed much despite the errors. But Keeling said the authors' miscalculations mean there is a much larger margin of error in the findings, which means researchers can weigh in with less certainty than they thought.

Once again you have been proven wrong posting up shit propaganda from you right wing sources in this thread. I have destroyed countless articles you have posted here over the years and once again you have been utterly destroyed.

Without a link to who wrote this garbage you have destroyed nothing.

https://scripps.ucsd.edu/news/resear...s-measurements

Originally Posted by bsnub

https://scripps.ucsd.edu/news/resear...s-measurements

The blind leading the blind. Your post seems to have left out the quotes by Keeling admitting to the math errors significantly effecting there research. I believe the results of corrected calculations are needed to tell the whole story.

You did not read the article you moron. Have you bothered to go back in this thread to review your old posts to see how many times I have debunked your right wing propaganda bullshit?

Originally Posted by RPETER65

Your post seems to have left out the quotes by Keeling admitting to the math errors significantly effecting there research.

The math errors were small you imbecile it is your right wing propaganda site that blew it up and exaggerated the error because your puppet masters knew idiots like you would fall for the bullshit.