Ice Melt

By Marta Moreno Ibáñez, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) | – (The Conversation) – Ottawa’s famous Rideau Canal, which turns into the world’s largest ice rink every winter, is too thin to open this winter. Antarctic sea ice concentration reached a record low on Feb. 13. The orange line represents the median sea ice […]

Antarctica

Arctic and Antarctic Ice Sheets in Danger if we blow Past Paris Limit of 1.5° C. (2.7° F) extra Heating

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Jun-Young Park et al. write in Nature Communications that the collapse of the Arctic and Antarctic ice sheets may come sooner than climate scientists had expected if humanity misses the Paris Climate Treaty goal of keeping extra global heating to 2.7° F. (1.5° C ) above the pre-industrial average. Humanity […]

Antarctica

Do we Have Until 2050 to become Carbon Neutral? What if 27 Climate Feedback Loops are Working together to Shorten our Deadline?

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Feedback loops are central notions in science. There are two kinds, negative and positive. Negative feedback loops, despite their name, are actually good if you are looking for stability. So for instance say you are too hot, so you sweat. The sweat evaporates, cooling you off. In fact, it could […]

Antarctica

More Evidence that the Massive Thwaites Glacier is Melting Fast, Threatening the world’s Coasts

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Thwaites Glacier in Antarctica is in the news again. We are fascinated with it because it is the Godzilla of glaciers, 80 miles across and as massive as Florida. If the ice sheet holding it back were to melt, and if Thwaites plopped into the ocean, it would all […]

Arctic

Climate Crisis: Atmospheric rivers are hitting the Arctic more often, and increasingly melting its Sea Ice

The Conversation

By Pengfei Zhang, Penn State | – (The Conversation) – Atmospheric rivers, those long, powerful streams of moisture in the sky, are becoming more frequent in the Arctic, and they’re helping to drive dramatic shrinking of the Arctic’s sea ice cover. While less ice might have some benefits – it would allow more shipping in […]

Arctic

‘Blue marble’: how half a Century of Climate Change has altered the Face of the Earth

The Conversation

By Robert Poole, University of Central Lancashire; Nick Pepin, University of Portsmouth, and Oliver Gruner, University of Portsmouth | – In December 1972, Nasa’s final Apollo mission (Apollo 17) took the iconic “Blue Marble” photo of the whole Earth. Many, including science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke, had expected that the sight of Earth from […]

Climate Crisis

Shrinking Glaciers threaten Chinese and Indian Energy Transitions

The Third Pole

By Alok Gupta ( Third Pole ) – As glaciers shrink and monsoon rainfall becomes more unpredictable due to climate change, uncertainty around the viability of hydropower projects in the Hindu Kush Himalayas is increasing. A recent study on the state of a glacier on the southeastern Tibetan Plateau raises questions about the region’s long-term water supply and […]

Arctic

Why the Arctic turning into a Lukewarm Puddle should be a bigger Headline than a bit of Inflation

Tom Engelhardt

( Tomdispatch.com ) – Let me start 2023 with a glance back at a December news moment that caught my eye. To do so, however, I have to offer a bit of explanation. First, the obvious: I’m an old guy and, though I spend significant parts of any day scrolling through endless websites covering aspects […]

Arctic

2022 Revealed how Major Arctic Climate Shifts endanger People, Ecosystems and Wildlife

The Conversation

By Matthew L. Druckenmiller, University of Colorado Boulder; Rick Thoman, University of Alaska Fairbanks; and Twila Moon, University of Colorado Boulder | – In the Arctic, the freedom to travel, hunt and make day-to-day decisions is profoundly tied to cold and frozen conditions for much of the year. These conditions are rapidly changing as the […]