Terra360 Weblog

Vast regions of Antarctica melted in the recent past

We can only imagine what would happen if this was much more extensive.

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2007-058

this JPL page also has an excellent view in high resolution of Antarctica as a whole

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/images/earth/arctic/arctic20070515-hi-res.jpg

Blue Ice and the Blue Moon

On June 30th, I hope to have a panorama with both the moon and the sun in it, perhaps it really will be blue over the "blue lagoon".

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2007/30may_bluemoon.htm?list53518

Global Warming update

Meanwhile... a thousand years is but a blink of the eye in geologic time.

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Library/GlobalWarmingUpdate/

Sub glacial lakes in Antarctica

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17626

Just when you thought it was safe to go swimming...

Antarctica conservation

This a superb blog at the Natural History Museum in London on conservation in Antarctica:

http://piclib.nhm.ac.uk/antarctica/

Climate Change: Why We Can't Wait

Hopefully it won't take water literally lapping at Washington's back door to make the change.

###

Climate Change: Why We Can't Wait

By James Hansen, The Nation
Posted on April 21, 2007
http://www.alternet.org/story/50795/

This is an adaptation of a talk delivered February 26 at the National Press Club. Comments relating to policy are Dr. Hansen's personal opinion and do not represent a NASA position.

"There's a huge gap between what is understood about global warming by the relevant scientific community and what is known about global warming by those who need to know: the public and policy-makers. We've had, in the past thirty years, one degree Fahrenheit of global warming.

But there's another one degree Fahrenheit in the pipeline due to gases that are already in the atmosphere. And there's another one degree Fahrenheit in the pipeline because of the energy infrastructure now in place..."

READ ON HERE:

http://www.alternet.org/story/50795/

Warming up in California

"Average temperatures in California rose nearly two degrees Fahrenheit during the second half of the 20^th century, with urban areas blazing the way to warmer conditions. When scientists at NASA and California State University, Los Angeles, analyzed observations from 331 weather stations between 1950 and 2000, they found that average temperatures rose in 6 out of 7 of the state’s major climatic sub-regions. The scientists concluded that small increases measured in many rural areas may reflect the contribution of global warming due to rising greenhouse gas concentrations. Larger changes in and around urban areas are mostly due to growing population and the conversion of natural areas to urban ones."

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17616

Climate Change 2.0

The other shoe dropped yesterday from the IPCC and you can read it all here:

http://www.ipcc.ch/SPM6avr07.pdf

The BBC has a good summary here:

Billions face climate change risk
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6532323.stm

and

Stark picture of a warming world
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6524325.stm

also a sample of what life will be like on the island of Malta
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6525069.stm

Only a fool could say the science is still out on this issue.  Yes, the science IS OUT.

Read it.

Climate Change

The IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) is having a press conference about the release of its new report tomorrow:

http://www.ipcc.ch/

Serious Swimming

http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn11544&feedId=online-news_rss20

..."One mother and calf made the 8300-kilometre (5160-mile) trip in 161 days."

That is a trek.