eastern seaboard

Canadian wildfires and global emissions

October 14, 2024 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

The wildfires that burned vast amounts of Canada’s boreal forests in 2023 produced enormous amounts of smoke that found its way into American cities, working its way down the eastern seaboard and even producing unsafe air in Florida.

Researchers at Cal Tech and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory analyzed the carbon emissions associated with these fires last year and found that they were greater than those of all but three countries: China, the US, and India.

Boreal forests have historically been a natural defense against climate change by storing carbon in trees rather than adding carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. The fires in Canada, fueled by hot and dry weather, were extraordinary when compared with historical records. But such fires are likely to be increasingly common as the climate continues to warm.

However, the hot and dry weather that fueled the 2023 fires was exceptional in many ways, involving early snow melt and so-called flash droughts. This year’s fires in Canada are still bigger than average, but so far have not been as destructive as last year’s.

Canada has been warming at about twice the global rate. The extreme temperatures last summer were a major factor in the fueling of the fires, which burned an area almost the size of Florida.

Forests absorb about a quarter of global carbon emissions, but the increasing frequency and intensity of fires are calling into question their ability to continue to do so. Parts of the Canadian forests are not regrowing after fires as they have in the past, partly because blazes burn trees so frequently and intensely.

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Canada’s Wildfires Were a Top Global Emitter Last Year, Study Says

Photo, posted June 8, 2023, courtesy of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Offshore wind in the U.S. at last

January 4, 2024 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

There have been large offshore wind farms in Europe for over 30 years. Five Asian countries have had offshore wind installations for 7 years, with China now leading the world in total installed capacity. The United States has been talking about offshore wind power for a long time and has been moving toward actually installing it in fits and starts.

As of early December, there is finally a wind turbine off the coast of eastern Long Island that has begun sending electricity onto the U.S. grid. The South Fork Wind Farm will soon have 12 turbines generating 132 megawatts of offshore wind energy to power more than 70,000 homes.

Meanwhile, the first five turbines for the Vineyard Wind I project off the coast of Massachusetts have been installed and will be sending 65 megawatts of power to the electric grid in Massachusetts just weeks after the New York installation turned on.

Vineyard Wind I is planned to expand into a 62-turbine, 806-megawatt project when fully operational. That is enough electricity to power an estimated 400,000 homes and businesses.

There are multiple offshore wind projects in various stages of development along the eastern seaboard. There are also various projects in the planning stages on the west coast, where the deep seabeds require the use of much more challenging floating turbine installations.

While it is encouraging to see that offshore wind is finally happening here in the United States, it is sobering to realize that there is more than 63 thousand megawatts of offshore wind power capacity installed globally comprising more than 11,000 turbines. We have a lot of catching up to do.

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Decades after Europe, South Fork Wind sends first commercial wind power onto US grid

First five turbines installed at Vineyard Wind 1

Photo, posted June 14, 2022, courtesy of Stephen Boutwell/BOEM via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Too hot for people

November 22, 2023 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

The effort to mitigate the effects of climate change has a goal of keeping the global temperature increase below 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels. To date, the average global temperature has increased by more than 1 degree. We hear about rising sea levels, powerful storms, and various other alterations in climate and weather patterns. A new interdisciplinary study by three institutions looked at the impact of surpassing the 1.5-degree level upon people being able to withstand heat and humidity.

Humans can only withstand certain combinations of heat and humidity before their bodies begin to experience heat-related health problems such as heat stroke and heart attacks.

In human history, temperatures and humidity that exceed human limits have been recorded only a limited number of times and only for a few hours at a time, in the Middle East and Southeast Asia.

According to the new study, if global temperatures increase by 2 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels, the 2.2 billion residents of Pakistan and India’s Indus River Valley, the one billion people living in eastern China, and the 800 million residents of sub-Saharan Africa will annually experience many hours of heat surpassing human tolerance.

If the warming continues further to 3 degrees, heat and humidity levels that surpass human tolerance would affect the Eastern Seaboard and the middle of the US from Florida to New York and from Houston to Chicago.

The worst heat stress will occur in regions that are not wealthy and that are experiencing rapid population growth. But even wealthy nations will not escape from the expansion of conditions that are too hot for people.

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Climate-driven extreme heat may make parts of Earth too hot for humans

Photo, posted June 28, 2018, courtesy of Ivan via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Once In A Lifetime Floods And Climate Change | Earth Wise

January 8, 2021 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Superstorm Sandy was the deadliest hurricane of 2012 and one of the most destructive hurricanes ever to hit the United States. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Superstorm Sandy caused an estimated $74.1 billion dollars in damages. That figure made it the fourth-costliest storm in U.S. history, trailing only Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and hurricanes Harvey and Maria in 2017. Superstorm Sandy affected 24 states and all of the eastern seaboard.

New York was one of the states pummeled by Superstorm Sandy. The storm brought flood-levels to the region that had not been seen in generations. But according to a new study published in the journal Climatic Change, those flood levels could become much more common.

Researchers at Stevens Institute of Technology have found that 100-year and 500-year flood levels could become regular occurrences by the end of the century for the thousands of homes surrounding Jamaica Bay, NY. The researchers say climate change is the culprit.

Using anticipated greenhouse gas concentration levels, the research team created simulations to find the probability of different flood levels being reached by the end of the century. The researchers found that the historical 100-year flood level would become a one-year flood level by the year 2100. 500-year floods, like Superstorm Sandy, would become a four-year flood level by the end of the century.

While this particular study is specific to Jamaica Bay, it does serve as an example of just how severe and costly the consequences of climate change will be.

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Once in a lifetime floods to become regular occurrences by end of century

Photo, posted October 29, 2012, courtesy of Rachel via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Rising Seas On The East Coast

June 6, 2018 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Global sea levels are rising by about a tenth of an inch per year, but in some places, the rise is faster… much faster. From 2011 to 2015, sea levels rose up to 5 inches – an inch per year – in some locales along the Eastern Seaboard. Places like Norfolk, Virginia and Miami are experiencing so-called sunny day flooding, something that had not been expected for decades according to climate projections. So, what is going on?