Apr 17, 2020 08:07 AM
(This post was last modified: Apr 17, 2020 08:36 AM by C C.)
Study: Warming makes US West megadrought worst in modern age
https://phys.org/news/2020-04-west-megad...n-age.html
EXCERPT: A two-decade-long dry spell that has parched much of the western United States is turning into one of the deepest megadroughts in the region in more than 1,200 years, a new study found. And about half of this historic drought can be blamed on man-made global warming, according to a study in Thursday's journal Science.
Scientists [...] used thousands of tree rings to compare a drought that started in 2000 and is still going—despite a wet 2019—to four past megadroughts since the year 800. What's happening now is "a drought bigger than what modern society has seen," said study lead author A. Park Williams, a bioclimatologist at Columbia University.
Daniel Swain, a UCLA climate scientist who wasn't part of the study, called the research important because it provides evidence "that human-caused climate change transformed what might have otherwise been a moderate long-term drought into a severe event comparable to the 'megadroughts' of centuries past." (MORE - details)
The age of stability is over, and coronavirus is just the beginning
https://theconversation.com/the-age-of-s...ing-136380
INTRO: Humanity has only recently become accustomed to a stable climate. For most of its history, long ice ages punctuated with hot spells alternated with short warm periods. Transitions from cold to warm climates were especially chaotic.
Then, about 10,000 years ago, the Earth suddenly entered into a period of climate stability modern humans had never seen before. But thanks to ever accelerating emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, humanity is now bringing this period to an end.
This loss of stability could be disastrous. If the coronavirus pandemic can teach us anything about the climate crisis it is this: our modern interconnected global economy is much more vulnerable than we thought, and we must urgently become more resilient and better prepared for the unknown.
After all, a stable climate underpins much of modern civilisation. About half of humanity depends on stable monsoon rains for food production. Many agricultural plants need certain temperature variations within a year to produce a stable crop, and heat stress can damage them greatly. We rely on intact glaciers or healthy forest soils to store water for the dry season. Heavy rains and storms can wipe out the infrastructure of whole regions.
These are the sorts of climate impacts that we know about, and have been extensively studied by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). But the biggest risk may yet come from climate-related chaos that we did not expect... (MORE)
https://phys.org/news/2020-04-west-megad...n-age.html
EXCERPT: A two-decade-long dry spell that has parched much of the western United States is turning into one of the deepest megadroughts in the region in more than 1,200 years, a new study found. And about half of this historic drought can be blamed on man-made global warming, according to a study in Thursday's journal Science.
Scientists [...] used thousands of tree rings to compare a drought that started in 2000 and is still going—despite a wet 2019—to four past megadroughts since the year 800. What's happening now is "a drought bigger than what modern society has seen," said study lead author A. Park Williams, a bioclimatologist at Columbia University.
Daniel Swain, a UCLA climate scientist who wasn't part of the study, called the research important because it provides evidence "that human-caused climate change transformed what might have otherwise been a moderate long-term drought into a severe event comparable to the 'megadroughts' of centuries past." (MORE - details)
The age of stability is over, and coronavirus is just the beginning
https://theconversation.com/the-age-of-s...ing-136380
INTRO: Humanity has only recently become accustomed to a stable climate. For most of its history, long ice ages punctuated with hot spells alternated with short warm periods. Transitions from cold to warm climates were especially chaotic.
Then, about 10,000 years ago, the Earth suddenly entered into a period of climate stability modern humans had never seen before. But thanks to ever accelerating emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, humanity is now bringing this period to an end.
This loss of stability could be disastrous. If the coronavirus pandemic can teach us anything about the climate crisis it is this: our modern interconnected global economy is much more vulnerable than we thought, and we must urgently become more resilient and better prepared for the unknown.
After all, a stable climate underpins much of modern civilisation. About half of humanity depends on stable monsoon rains for food production. Many agricultural plants need certain temperature variations within a year to produce a stable crop, and heat stress can damage them greatly. We rely on intact glaciers or healthy forest soils to store water for the dry season. Heavy rains and storms can wipe out the infrastructure of whole regions.
These are the sorts of climate impacts that we know about, and have been extensively studied by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). But the biggest risk may yet come from climate-related chaos that we did not expect... (MORE)