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Trouble For Emperor Penguins | Earth Wise

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Emperor penguins are the tallest and heaviest of all living penguin species.  The loss of sea ice in Antarctica last year has led to unprecedented breeding failure in some emperor penguin colonies.

In a study published by the British Antarctic Survey, researchers found that no chicks survived from four of the five known emperor penguin colonies in the central and eastern Bellinhausen Sea.   Satellite images showed the loss of sea ice at breeding sites, well before chicks would have developed waterproof feathers.

Emperor penguins are dependent on stable sea ice that is firmly attached to the shore from April through the end of the year.  Arctic sea ice reached an all-time low in December 2022 with the most extreme loss seen in the central and eastern Bellinghausen Sea where there was a 100% loss of sea ice late the year.

This year, the sea ice extent in Antarctica is still far below all previous records for this time of year.  As of August, when oceans normally are freezing up, there were still areas that were ice-free.

Emperor penguin populations have not had to contend with large-scale hunting, habitat loss, overfishing, or other human-caused problems in the modern era, but climate change may be their undoing.  They have previously responded to incidents of sea ice loss by moving to more stable sites in the following year.  But this strategy will not be successful if the sea ice habitat is affected across entire regions of Antarctica.

Scientists are predicting that 90% of emperor penguin colonies will be quasi-extinct by the end of the century, assuming current global warming trends continue.

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Loss of sea ice causes catastrophic breeding failure for emperor penguins

Photo, posted October 7, 2017, courtesy of Christopher Michel via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Why Was the Summer So Hot? | Earth Wise

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Many places around the world have experienced extraordinary heat waves this summer.  The 31 days of high temperatures 110 degrees or more in Phoenix is a prime example but many other places suffered from extreme and relentless heat.  Why did this happen?

The overarching reason is climate change, which has warmed the Earth by 2.2 degrees Fahrenheit since the preindustrial era.  This change on a global level is enough to make heatwaves far more likely.  For example, the concurrent heatwaves in Europe and North America were 1000 times more likely to have occurred because of climate change.

But there hasn’t been a sudden increase in global temperature that would make this summer so much hotter.  Instead, what really has happened is three other factors all came into play at the same time.

The first is the 2022 eruption of Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha-apai, which is an underwater volcano in the South Pacific.  That eruption did not produce much in the way of planet-cooling aerosols in the atmosphere.  Instead, it vaporized huge amounts of seawater, sending water vapor into the atmosphere, which helps trap heat.

The second is a change in the amount of energy radiating from the sun.  That actually rises and falls a small amount every 11 years.  Currently, it is in the upswing and will reach its next peak in 2025.

Finally, there is the arrival of the El Niño in the Pacific, whose balmy ocean waters radiate heat into the air.

The combination of all these factors when added to the already warming climate is a recipe for temperatures to soar to uncharted highs.  We can expect more heat waves, forest fires, flash floods, and other sorts of extreme weather.

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It’s Not Just Climate Change: Three Other Factors Driving This Summer’s Extreme Heat

Photo, posted February 27, 2017, courtesy of Giuseppe Milo via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Missing Antarctic Sea Ice | Earth Wise

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It is summer here in the United States, but it is winter in Antarctica.  Antarctic sea ice is water that forms and melts entirely in the ocean and it has a pattern of growth and reduction that has been monitored by satellites for the past 44 years.  The area of sea ice that surrounds the continent of Antarctica is known as the sea ice ‘extent’ and it had been quite stable for much of those years.

In 2016, the sea ice extent began to decline.  Since then, there have been several record summer lows with both the summers of 2021/22 and 2022/23 setting new minimum records.

This August, the deviation from all previous records intensified.  This winter’s sea ice extent is over 900,000 square miles below the long-term average, an area about the size of Greenland or, for example, Texas and Alaska combined.

Climate models have long predicted that Antarctic sea ice would reduce as a result of global warming but the current change to sea-ice extent is so dramatic that it is difficult to explain.  Sea ice extent is affected by multiple factors including the El Niño Southern Oscillation, the strength of the southern hemisphere jet stream, and regional low-pressure systems.  The warming climate is certainly the overall force that is changing Antarctic sea ice extent over time.

Antarctic sea ice extent is important because it covers a vast area of the dark Southern Sea with a bright white surface that reflects the sun’s energy back into space, helping to reduce temperatures at the pole and protecting glaciers and polar ice sheets. 

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The mystery of the missing Antarctic sea ice

Photo, posted November 7, 2016, courtesy of Rob Oo via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Phoenix Is Frying | Earth Wise

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The mythical Phoenix is a bird that repeatedly dies in a fire of its own making.  During July, the five million inhabitants of greater Phoenix Arizona may have felt like they were reliving that myth as multiple temperature records were shattered in a massive heatwave.

On June 30, the high temperature in Phoenix was 110 degrees.  From then on, the daily highs were relentlessly at or above 110 degrees, topping out at 119 on July 20.  The previous record for consecutive days at or above 110 was 18 set in June 1974.  The streak continued all the way until July 31, when incoming desert monsoons resulted in the high temperature dropping to 107 degrees – ending the streak at 31 days.  Along the way, there were 16 days with temperatures at or above 115 degrees. 

During the month, there were 17 consecutive days when the lowest temperature in Phoenix was at least 90 degrees.  The previous record for that was 7 days, set in 2020.  Because of these lofty low temperatures, July was also the hottest month in terms of average temperature with a reading well above 102 degrees.  It was the first time that the average temperature has ever been in three digits.  The previous record was 99.1 degrees in 2020.

Phoenix is an extreme case, but it was not alone in having a hot July.  Globally, it was the hottest July on record that included major heat waves in the U.S., Mexico, China, southern Europe, and elsewhere.  The daily record for the hottest average temperature on Earth ever measured was also broken several times during the month.

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Phoenix heat wave is shattering temperature records

Photo, posted September 22, 2022, courtesy of Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Can All Plant Species Survive? | Earth Wise 

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Many animal populations around the world are struggling and people are mostly to blame.  Species are declining because of all sorts of things including changes in land and sea use, pollution, invasive species, and climate change.

Like many animal species, plants are also struggling to adapt to a human-dominated world.  Plants provide the planet with food, oxygen, and energy, and are used to produce fibers, building materials, and medicines.  Even though plants are easier and cheaper to protect, they are often overlooked in conservation efforts. 

According to a paper recently published in the journal Trends in Plant Science, preventing all future land plant extinctions across the globe is possible with the right approaches.  The author of the paper, Richard Corlett of the Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden in China, writes that “if zero extinction is potentially achievable for plants, a less ambitious target would be inexcusable.” 

According to the paper, one big barrier in plant conservation is the lack of trained specialists, especially in tropical areas where there is a backlog of unidentified species.  It’s likely that many “dark extinctions,” which is when species slip away without us knowing they existed, have already occurred.

Another roadblock in preventing plant extinctions is information access, which can be solved by building an online “metaherbarium.”  This collaborative database would link digitized records from herbarium specimens with photographs, status assessments, and recovery plans.

Finally, the creation of “microreserves” – which are tiny pieces of protected land designed to get around space constraints – would further contribute to effective conservation of targeted plant species. 

Zero plant extinctions should be the goal.   

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‘Zero plant extinction’ is possible, says plant ecologist

Photo, posted May 16, 2008, courtesy of Andrew Otto via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Weaning Off Fossil Fuels | Earth Wise            

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We recently talked about California producing 97% of its electricity from renewables on one sunny afternoon in April.  On May 8th, the state produced enough renewable electricity to meet 103% of consumer demand.  These sorts of records are likely to be increasingly commonplace in the spring when the weather is still fairly mild.

But even while renewables were producing more electricity than California needed, natural gas power plants in the state were still running.

Turning off the gas power plants is not possible.  The reason is that as the sun sets and solar farms stop producing power, California has to quickly replace the power with electricity from other sources.  Natural gas plants are massive industrial facilities that cannot be turned on and off rapidly.  Some take as many as 4 to 8 hours to switch on.  Operators back them down as far as they can go, but even when there is plenty of solar power during the day, natural gas plants are still running.

The state is rapidly building huge battery storage projects as an alternative to gas plants, but so far, they are still only a small fraction of what is needed.   Wind power is another part of the solution along with hydropower.  California imports some power from other states as well and, in fact, also exports power when there is excess.  But keeping the energy system balanced and stable is an ongoing challenge.

California is building huge amounts of solar, huge amounts of wind, and huge amounts of energy storage, which should get the state to at least 90% of the way to a clean grid.  It’s the last 5-10% that is much harder to accomplish before natural gas is no longer part of the energy system.

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California just ran on 100% renewable energy, but fossil fuels aren’t fading away yet

Photo, posted January 10, 2014, courtesy of F.G. via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Fires Are Larger And More Frequent | Earth Wise

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According to a new study by the University of Colorado Boulder, wildfires have gotten much larger and much more frequent across the United States since the year 2000.  The rise in wildfires in recent years has been attributed to the changing climate and the new research shows that large fires have become more common and have been spreading into new areas that previously did not burn.

The researchers analyzed data from over 28,000 fires that occurred between 1984 and 2018 using satellite imagery along with detailed state and federal fire history records.

The results are that there were more fires across all regions of the contiguous U.S. from 2005 to 2018 compared to the previous 20 years.  In the West and East, fire frequency doubled, and in the Great Plains, fire frequency quadrupled.  The amount of land burned each year at least tripled in those regions.

The team discovered that the size of fire-prone areas increased in all regions of the contiguous U.S. in the 2000s, meaning that the distance between individual fires has been getting smaller than it was in previous decades and the fires have been spreading into areas that did not burn in the past.

This comprehensive study confirms what has been assumed by the media, public, and firefighting officials.  The results also align with increasing risk trends such as the growing development of natural hazard zones. Projected changes in climate, fuel, and ignitions suggest that there will be more and larger fires in the future.  More large fires plus intensifying development mean that the worst fire disasters are still to come.

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U.S. Fires Four Times Larger, Three Times More Frequent Since 2000

Photo, posted May 3, 2013, courtesy of Daria Devyatkina via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Spring Is Coming Earlier In Britain | Earth Wise

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The United Kingdom has some of the most detailed records of seasonal changes anywhere in the world.  Since the 18th century, observations of seasonal changes have been recorded by scientists, naturalists, amateur and professional gardeners, and organizations such as the Royal Meteorological Society.  Researchers at two British institutions have collected and collated these records into a database they call Nature’s Calendar, which currently has about 3.5 million records going back to 1736.

By analyzing more than 400,000 observations of 406 plant species in Nature’s Calendar, they found that the average first flowering date from 1987 to 2019 is a full month earlier than the average from 1753 to 1986.  The change correlates very well with rising global temperatures.

The ecological risks associated with earlier flowering times are high.  When plants flower too early, a late frost can kill them – a phenomenon most gardeners have experienced at some point or another.  Beyond that, plants, insects, birds, and other wildlife have co-evolved to be synchronized with plants in their development stages.  A certain plant flowers and attracts a certain kind of insect, which then attracts a particular kind of bird, and so on.  If plants get out of sync with the animals in the ecosystem and the animals can’t change their behavior quickly enough, it can lead to species collapse.

If global temperatures continue to increase at their current rate, spring in the UK could eventually start in February, creating serious problems for many of the species that inhabit forests, gardens, and farms.  The dangers of climate change are not just about extreme weather.

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UK plants flowering a month earlier due to climate change

Photo, posted February 1, 2012, courtesy of Mandy via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

The Hottest June | Earth Wise

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A series of heatwaves from coast to coast caused June 2021 to be the hottest June on record in the U.S. The average June temperature across the contiguous U.S. was 72.6 degrees Fahrenheit, making it the hottest June in 127 years of record keeping and breaking the previous record set in 2016 by nearly a full degree. Eight states had their hottest June on record and six others marked their second hottest June.

One of the most extreme heatwaves in modern history impacted the Pacific Northwest of the U.S. and western Canada late in the month.  Temperature records were not merely broken in the region; they were smashed over an incredibly hot four-day period from June 26th through June 29th when all-time records over 100 degrees were set at dozens of locations.

Portland, Oregon’s average high temperature over this period was 112 degrees, breaking the previous 3-day record by an amazing 6 degrees.  The high on June 28th was 116 degrees, an all-time record for the city.  Seattle set back-to-back all-time heat records of 104 on June 27th and then 108 on June 28th.  In the previous 126 years, Seattle had only hit 100 degrees three times.  It reached that mark 3 days in a row in June.

Crossing the border, the town of Lytton, British Columbia reached a temperature of 121 degrees on June 29th, the third day in a row in which the town registered a new all-time high temperature ever measured in Canada.  To put this in perspective, this temperature is hotter than has ever been recorded in Las Vegas.

June was a hot month indeed.

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June 2021 was the hottest June on record for U.S.

Astounding heat obliterates all-time records across the Pacific Northwest and Western Canada in June 2021

Photo, posted July 7, 2021, courtesy of Poyson / GPA Photo Archive via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Record Carbon Dioxide Levels | Earth Wise

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The coronavirus pandemic caused a temporary dip in the burning of fossil fuels around the world as many human activities were diminished or curtailed entirely.  Despite this, the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere set a record in May, reaching the highest levels in human history.

Scientific instruments atop the Mauna Loa volcano in Hawaii measured an average of 419 parts per million for the month, according to analysis from both the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

This level is about half a percent more than the previous record of 417 ppm, set in May of 2020.  Carbon dioxide is the largest greenhouse gas contributor driving global warming and, according to scientists, there hasn’t been this much of it in the atmosphere for millions of years.

Global emissions of carbon dioxide were actually 5.8 percent lower in 2020 than 2019, as a result of pandemic lockdowns.  This was the largest one-year drop ever recorded.  But humanity was still responsible for emitting more than 31 billion tons of carbon dioxide last year.  About half of that CO2 is absorbed by the world’s trees and oceans, but the other half lingers in the atmosphere for thousands of years, gradually warming the planet via the greenhouse effect.

As long as we keep emitting carbon dioxide, it is going to continue to pile up in the atmosphere.  The only way to stop it is for the world’s nations to zero out their net emissions, mostly by switching away from fossil fuels to technologies that do not emit carbon dioxide, such as electric vehicles fueled by wind, solar, or nuclear power.

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Carbon Dioxide in Atmosphere Hits Record High Despite Pandemic Dip

Photo, posted August 7, 2013, courtesy of Gerry Machen via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Radar Satellites And Hazard Mitigation | Earth Wise

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Scientists have concluded that the changing climate is primarily the result of increased human-caused greenhouse gas emissions.  Some of the effects of global climate change include melting glaciers, warming oceans, intensifying storms, and rising seas.

Another consequence of global climate change is natural disasters like floods and wildfires.  Climate change is increasing the frequency and severity of wildfires and increasing the odds of record-breaking floods in many parts of the United States and all around the world.

As a result, scientists in Australia have turned to technology for better assistance in keeping tabs on these climate change-driven natural disasters.  Researchers from Curtin University in Perth, Australia have found that satellites can improve the ability to detect, monitor, prepare for, and withstand natural disasters, including floods, wildfires, and earthquakes.

The research team used Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data, which was acquired by the European Space Agency Sentinel-1 satellite.  The researchers also used data acquired by other satellites to evaluate these Australia-specific case studies.

According to the researchers, SAR data provides remote monitoring capabilities of Earth’s surface around the clock and in all weather, which is something that traditional optical Earth Observation (EO) imagery cannot do. The ability to function through fog, clouds, rainfall, and smoke is what makes SAR so valuable.

The research team says that the data can be used to improve how people track and respond to natural disasters, by precisely mapping topography, tracking movements of the ground, and mapping damage to infrastructure. 

As the climate continues to change, the ability to mitigate hazards like floods and wildfires will be increasingly important. 

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Radar satellites can better protect against bushfires and floods

Photo, posted May 11, 2007, courtesy of Bert Knottenbeld via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

A Global Assessment Of Groundwater Wells | Earth Wise

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Water is a fundamental need for every human being on the planet.  Each person requires more than five gallons of clean and safe water a day for drinking, cooking, and keeping clean.

Groundwater wells remain one of the primary sources of drinking water.  In fact, more than half of the world’s population gets its drinking water from groundwater wells.  Groundwater wells also sustain more than 40% of irrigated agriculture.

Researchers from UC Santa Barbara have recently compiled the most comprehensive assessment of groundwater wells to date.  Their research, which was recently published in the journal Science, spanned 40 countries, which collectively account for more than 50% of all groundwater pumping. 

According to the survey’s findings, many wells are at risk of running dry – up to one in five wells, to be exact.  The researchers compared the depths of water tables against well depths. They found that 6% to 20% of the wells in the study were at risk of running dry if water levels continue to decline by just a few meters.

In many areas where groundwater levels are declining, the research team found that new wells are not being drilled deeper to keep pace with the falling water table. As a result, newer wells are just as vulnerable as older wells should groundwater levels continue to decline.  

The researchers hope to expand on this study to include data from China, Iran, and Pakistan, three major users of groundwater from which the researchers could not obtain records.  The researchers also plan to investigate how quickly water tables are dropping and where the trend is accelerating.   

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The largest assessment of global groundwater wells finds many are at risk of drying up

Photo, posted January 20, 2018, courtesy of François Molle via Water Alternatives Photos on Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

New Records For U.S. Wind Power | Earth Wise

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Wind-powered electricity has been increasing its contribution to the American energy mix for years as the number of installed turbines has rapidly grown.  In the final months of 2020, wind power set a number of new records.  Strong wind conditions in November and December, especially in the central states, led to record output from wind turbines.

On April 10, 2019, the U.S. set a record for daily electricity generation from wind turbines in the lower 48 states by producing 1.42 million megawatthours.  That record stood until several different days during November and December.  The newest record was set on December 23 when wind generation reached 1.76 million MWh.  That constituted 17% of total electricity generation in the U.S.   For the entire year of 2020, wind power accounted for 9% of U.S. electricity generation.

Late 2020 also saw new records set for hourly dispatch of wind resources.  On December 22, between 9 and 10 pm Eastern Time, 82 gigawatts of electricity sourced from wind power was dispatched across the U.S., breaking the one-month-old previous record of 73.4 GW.  Wind power varies considerably over the course of a day.  During December, wind power across the country varied between that record of 82 GW to a low of 14.6 GW.

The contributions from wind power are expected to continue to grow.  The U.S. currently has over 112 GW of installed wind capacity.  Project developers and grid operators plan to add another 12.2 GW of new wind capacity to the U.S. grid by the end of 2021.  More than half of that new capacity will be in Texas and Oklahoma.

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U.S. wind generation sets new daily and hourly records at end of 2020

Photo, posted July 12, 2010, courtesy of Tom Shockey via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Climbing To Escape The Heat | Earth Wise

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Colorado has warmed by nearly 3.5 degrees Fahrenheit since the 1980s because of human-caused climate change.   As a result, many mammal species have shifted uphill to escape the heat.

The golden-mantled ground squirrel is a popular sight among tourists in the Rocky Mountains.  It is one of the most photographed animals there as they pose on rocks near roadsides and in campgrounds.  According to University of Colorado research recently published in the journal Ecology, these squirrels have shifted their range upward by 659 feet.  The new study looked at the ground squirrels along with 46 other small mammals.  On average, these animals have shifted their range upward by more than 400 feet since the 1980s.

The researchers visited multiple sites in Colorado’s Front Range and San Juan mountains over the course of several years to collect records of the current ranges of these 47 animals. They then compared the findings from their surveys to over 4,000 historic records from collections dating back to the 1980s.

The researchers expected to see some changes, but not of the magnitude they observed.  For example, before 1980, the pygmy shrew was never detected above about 9,800 feet in elevation.  Today, its maximum extent is more than 11,800 feet.

Montane mammals – which are those who already live at higher elevations – have moved up an additional 1,100 feet on average.  If this trend continues, some animals and even entire communities may be pushed to the tops of mountains with nowhere else to go.  According to the researchers, the study paints a stark picture of a mountain range in crisis.

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Small mammals climb higher to flee warming temperatures in the Rockies

Photo, posted September 6, 2002, courtesy of Franco Folini via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

The Hot Year Continues | Earth Wise

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The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s monthly global climate report for October reports yet another month of high temperatures.  October 2020 was the fourth-hottest October on record, continuing the pace for the year to be the second hottest on record.

The 10 warmest Octobers have occurred since 2005 and the seven warmest have all occurred in the last seven years.  Europe had its warmest October ever, surpassing the previous record set in 2001.

For the year to date, the global temperature was a full degree Celsius (or 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit) above the 20th century average.  This was just 0.03 Celsius degrees lower than the record set in 2016.   Europe and Asia have had their warmest year-to-date period on record.

Other notable observations in the report included that Arctic sea ice coverage was almost 37% below the 1981-2010 average and was the smallest October coverage on record.  The previous record was set last year.

Heat records were set around the world including parts of the northern and western Pacific Ocean, southern North America, South America, eastern Europe, the northern Middle East, the eastern Mediterranean Sea, southern Asia, and in small areas across the Indian and Atlantic Oceans.

Despite the record global temperatures, the Northern Hemisphere’s snow coverage in October was the 10th largest over the past 53 years.  The snow coverage in North America was the largest on record for October.

Adding in the extremely active hurricane season, with 12 hurricanes and 29 tropical depressions, weather around the world continues to be anything but typical.

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Remarkably warm October fuels march toward 2nd-hottest year

Photo, posted February 8, 2016, courtesy of Jasmin Toubi via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

A Hot July | Earth Wise

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The numbers are in and, unsurprisingly, July was a hot month.  July 2020 tied for the second-hottest July on record for the planet, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.  In our own backyard, the Northern Hemisphere saw the hottest July ever, breaking the previous record set just last year.

The July 2020 global temperature was 62.06 Fahrenheit, which is 1.66 degrees above the 20th-century average.  The combined land and ocean surface average temperature for the Northern Hemisphere, the highest ever recorded for July, was 2.12 degrees F above average, breaking the previous record by 0.14 degrees.

Record-hot July temperatures were also recorded across parts of southeastern Asia, northern South America, across the west and northern Pacific Ocean, the northern Indian Ocean, and parts of the Caribbean Sea.

The year-to-date global land and ocean surface temperature was the second highest in the 141 years of record keeping at 58.79 degrees Fahrenheit, which is 1.89 degrees F above the 20th-century average. 

So far it is been the hottest year to date on record across a large portion of northern Asia, parts of Europe, China, Mexico, northern South America, as well as the Atlantic, northern Indian and Pacific oceans.

Meanwhile, the extent of sea ice in the Arctic for July 2020 was the smallest ever measured in the 42 years of record-keeping, over 23% below the 1981-2010 average.  July’s Arctic sea ice extent was smaller than the previous record (set last year) by 120,000 square miles, an area roughly the size of New Mexico.

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July 2020 was record hot for N. Hemisphere, 2nd hottest for planet

Photo, posted July 24, 2018, courtesy of Maria Eklund Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Alaska Is Getting Wetter | Earth Wise

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Siberia has been in the news for record-setting heat waves and wildfires, but it is not the only northern region experiencing unusual weather.   Alaska, apart from setting its own warm weather records, is experiencing the rainiest five years in its century-long meteorological record.

Extreme weather in the Arctic is being driven by an aspect of climate change called Arctic amplification, which leads to temperatures rising faster than the global average.  The physical basis of Arctic amplification is well understood, but its effects over time are much less predictable.

The past five years included two summers with average precipitation, one that was a little drier than usual, and two of the wettest summers on record.    Researchers have taken measurements of how far below the surface permafrost has thawed by the end of summer over a wide range of Alaskan environments.

About 85% of Alaska sits upon permafrost and the increasing rainfall over the past five years is leading to a deeper thaw of permafrost across the state.  The wettest summer on record was 2014 and permafrost didn’t freeze back to previous levels even when the next couple of summers were relatively drier.

The study demonstrated how different types of land cover govern relationships between summer rainfall and permafrost thaw.  As Alaska becomes warmer and wetter, the vegetation cover is projected to change, and the increasing occurrence of wildfires will disturb larger areas of the landscape.  These conditions are likely to lead to a feedback loop driving more and more permafrost thawing.

Fundamental changes to Alaskan ecosystems are occurring on an unprecedented timescale – not gradually over decades or lifetimes, but over mere months or years.

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Alaska is getting wetter. That’s bad news for permafrost and the climate.

Photo, posted June 10, 2011, courtesy of Peter Rintels via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

A Record Antarctic Temperature | Earth Wise

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It is still early in the year, but extreme weather events are already piling up.  January was the warmest month on record globally and there have been many records shattered in Europe and Asia.  A number of places in Eastern Europe, including parts of Russia, have seen temperatures 12 to 13 degrees above average.

While the warming of the Arctic has been in the news with increasing frequency, the Antarctic is also seeing rising temperatures and is one of the fastest-warming regions in the world. 

On February 6th, Esperanza Base along Antarctica’s Trinity Peninsula measured a temperature of 65 degrees Fahrenheit, which is the highest temperature ever recorded on that continent.   This rather balmy temperature narrowly beat out the previous record of 63.5 degrees, which occurred in March of 2015.

This one-time reading is certainly anomalous, and scientists say it is associated with a ridge of high pressure that was lingering over the region for several days.  Local wind conditions led to additional warming.

However, the conditions leading to record-breaking high temperatures are not one-time anomalous events. Over the past 50 years, temperatures in the Antarctic have surged by an extraordinary 5 degrees in response to the Earth’s rapidly warming climate.  A rise of five degrees in day-to-day weather is no big deal. A five-degree rise in a region’s average temperature is enormous.

About 87% of the glaciers along the west coast of Antarctica’s Trinity Peninsula have retreated over that 50-year period, most of which doing so during just the past 12 years.

Some researchers claim that the new temperature record is an extreme event that doesn’t tell us anything about the changing climate.  Many others are convinced that there will be many more high temperature records to follow.

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Antarctica just hit 65 degrees, its warmest temperature ever recorded

Photo, posted February 24, 2019, courtesy of Mike via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Another Hot November

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This past fall saw yet more of the high temperatures the world has been experiencing in recent times.  Both the season (September through November) and the year to date were the second hottest in recorded history.  November itself was the second-hottest November in the 140-year global climate record.

The high temperatures were felt at both ends of the world.  Sea ice coverage across both the Arctic and Antarctic oceans fell to near-record lows in November.  Arctic sea ice coverage was nearly 13% below the 1981-2010 average, while Antarctic coverage was 6.35% below average.

The average global land and ocean surface temperature for November was 1.66 degrees Fahrenheit above the 20th century average.  The year-to-date global temperature was 1.69 degrees Fahrenheit above the 20th century average.  These numbers correspond to almost a 1-degree Celsius increase, which should be compared with the Paris Climate Accord goal of keeping that increase to no more than 1.5 degrees.

November was the hottest November on record for South America, Africa, and the Hawaiian Islands.  The Caribbean had its second-hottest November, and Europe had its seventh hottest on record.

The world’s average sea surface temperature ranked second warmest for the year to date and was only 0.05 degrees cooler than the all-time record.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issues monthly global climate reports and for quite some time, these reports seem to all be the same.  Another new record for heat or at least another near record.  We have to expect that this trend will continue at least until the world starts making progress in dealing with its root cause.

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November 2019 was 2nd hottest on record for the planet

Photo, posted July 20, 2016, courtesy of Salehin Chowdhury via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

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