Humor4u

The NASA image below shows the October 2021 temperature anomaly. The Arctic is heating up enormously, with anomalies showing up of up to 9.1°C.  The image below shows that the global temperature over the past century, i.e. from 1920 to 2020, has risen by 1.3°C. The image shows anomalies from 1900-1920. When adjusting data to reflect a pre-industrial base, ocean air (2m) temperatures and higher polar anomalies, temperatures may have crossed 2°C long ago. The image below shows two trends, based on NASA 1880-October 2021 data, adjusted to reflect a pre-industrial base, ocean air (2m) temperatures and higher polar anomalies. The linear trend (green) misses the point that the temperature rise is accelerating. The polynomial trend (black) shows the potential for 3°C to be crossed by 2026. Acceleration of the temperature rise may speed up further soon, for a number of reasons: Aerosols: As cleaner alternatives become more economic, and as calls for cleaner air become stronger,...

by Andrew Glikson Once again, the hopes of billions have been raised, only to be dashed, this time by the cruel joke of COP26, the reality being that “ By 2030, governments are planning to extract 110% more fossil fuels than their Paris Agreement pledge to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels would permit ”. Misrepresentations abound: The United Nations upper global temperature target of 1.5°C takes no account of the fact that, without the transient short-lived aerosols effect of over 0.5 to 1.0 Watt/m⁻² , the mean global heating is nearing ~2.0°C. It is the cumulative concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, which controls temperatures, triggering feedbacks from land and oceans, and which has reached a high level of combined CO₂+CH₄+N₂O of >500 ppm CO₂-equivalent . Only sequestration / drawdown from this level may be able to lower terrestrial temperatures. Polar temperature changes are critical: The Arctic temperature anomaly reache...

 by Andrew Glikson There can be little doubt that, had the US, China and Russia been on the same page, an advanced agreement was likely to be reached at COP26 , but since it is not, the collapse can be laid at the feet of human tribalism and eternal conflict since the dawn of civilization, ultimately leading to a mass extinction of species . Climate scientists have practically been excluded from COP meetings, dominated as they are by economists, lawyers and politicians. To date no address has been made by leading climate scientists, including authorities such as James Hansen , Michael Mann , Joachim Schellnhuber , Will Steffen and other , leaving delegates and populations unaware of the ultimate consequences of global climate devastation. With the exception of David Attenborough and references to “ one minute to mid-night ”, the science-based projections of global heating have only received faint echoes among the assembly of warring tribes at COP-26, dominated by nationalism, vest...

by Andrew Glikson Figure 1. Comparison of atmospheric samples contained in ice cores and more recent direct measurements, provides evidence that atmospheric CO₂ has increased since the Industrial Revolution. (Credit: NASA , data: Luthi, D., et al. 2008; Etheridge, D.M., et al. 2010; Vostok ice core data/J.R. Petit et al.; NOAA Mauna Loa CO2 record.) [ Figure 2. from earlier post ] While the world, for very good reasons, is relying on medical research in order to save the lives of millions, the “powers to be” are hardly listening to what climate science is saying about the existential threat to billions posed by global heating. Since 1751 the world has emitted over 1.5 trillion tonnes of CO₂ . The atmospheric level of CO₂ was 413.2 parts per million (ppm) in 2020, growing at peak rates of 2.5-3.0 ppm/year , representing the greatest acceleration since the dinosaur mass extinction of 66 million years ago. “ The last time the Earth experienced a comparable concentration of CO₂ was 3-5 m...

September 2021 was the second warmest September on record, after September 2020, according to NASA, Copernicus and James Hansen , despite the cooling effect of the current La Niña. Above NASA map shows that the Arctic Ocean was hit severely by high temperatures. The NASA map shows an anomaly of 0.96°C compared to 1951-1980. With COP26 to be held in Glasgow, from October 31 to November 12, 2021, it's important to realize that using the period from 1951 to 1980 as a base is not the same as pre-industrial. So, how much has the temperature risen from pre-industrial and what are the prospects? Will COP26 deliver? [ from earlier post ] Let's do the calculations once more. The trend in the image below indicates that the NASA data need to be adjusted by 0.29°C to change the base from 1951-1980 to 1900.  Of course, 1900 is still not pre-industrial. The chart below shows three trends: The green trend is based on unadjusted NASA data (1951-1980 base).  The lilac...

Novelist Abdulrazak Gurnah has been awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, the first black African to win the prize for almost two decades.   He was born in Zanzibar (Tanzania) but he migrated as a teenager to the UK, escaping from ethnic persecution and eventually became a professor of Post-colonial Literatures at the University of Kent in Canterbury. His novels talk about the experience of colonialism, refugees, migration and individual dignity.  In this three minute interview NPR's culture reporter Neda Ulabyis talks about his life and works.  You will come across interesting words like: shortlisted, fate, to flee, civil unrest, scholarly work, to be batted around, to track, marquee names, overdue, sprawling, to reconcile cultural chasms with their dreams, a clip, linen, a chubby face, uprooted [people]. Below, you can also watch a 6 minute BBC interview to Mr. Gurnah himself after he learnt he had won the Nobel Prize, which can be heard with subtitles. Both reco...

by Andrew Glikson “Burning all fossil fuels would create a different planet” (Hansen, 2016) While at present the world is necessarily investing in medical research in order to save the lives of millions, global heating is threatening the lives of billions over the century, yet authorities are hardly listening to what climate science is projecting as the Earth is heating. Since the Paris climate conference in April 2016, when the mean atmospheric carbon dioxide level reached 403.3 ppm, induced by annual emissions of some 400 billion tons of CO₂, the atmospheric level has risen to near 420 ppm, growing at peak rates of 2.5-3.0 ppm/year , the highest recorded since the dinosaur mass extinction of 66 million years ago. Although the target of the Glasgow meeting is to reach agreement for limiting mean global temperature to 1.5⁰C, due to the short-term mitigating effect of ~0.5–1.0⁰C by aerosols on global temperatures mean global warming is already tracking toward 2⁰C (Figure 1). Figure 1...