UPDATED 8/16...As the U.S. Congress turns its back on climate legislation, by taking the summer off, climate anomalies around the world continue to break records and worry scientists.
According to a report in the Guardian.co.uk, regions across the world have been buffeted by extremes of weather, drought and floods. Sometimes an area is hit by one extreme, followed soon after by another.
A glacier in Greenland calved a massive iceberg, which was described to be four times the size of Manhattan. The floating island is the largest in the Northern Hemisphere. As with any iceberg, only 10% of it can be seen, while 90% of it is under water.
Parts of South America are under a cold snap, which has resulted in snow storms in Argentina, and millions of fish and marine life dying from 32 F. degree temperatures in Bolivia. The tropical region rarely gets below 68 degrees during the summer.
Winds have cleared the air somewhat around the city of Moscow, but hundreds of fires still blaze across Russia.
In recent weeks, residents of the city were subjected to breathing air so laden with toxins it was compared to smoking four packs of cigarettes per day. Normal temperatures in Moscow, has rarely ever hit three digits, but in recent weeks, the heat has risen to 108 degrees in some areas. Air conditioners are a rare commodity and people have been advised to stay home and cover their mouths with masks, even indoors. Asthma and respiratory diseases have been claiming 700 lives per day. Concerns have been raised over the possibility of radioactive smoke being produced by fires burning over land that was soaked with nuclear waste material by the Chernobyl explosion. Such contaminated smoke could spread across parts to Europe.
Pakistan has been soaked by torrential rains for almost a week and more is anticipated to come. More than one fifth of the country is under water, from Islamabad to Karachi near the sea. Casualties have exceeded 1,600 dead, with 20 million people adversely affected and in need of shelter, food, and supplies.
There are 3.5 million children in Pakistan, who are drinking dirty water, and are in danger of perishing from dysentery, cholera, and other related diseases.
"The extremes of rainfall are getting heavier and are entirely consistent with climate change predictions," said Helen Chivers, a spokeswoman with the Met Office, in the UK.
China is still shoveling out from under major mudslides in that country, launched by record rain, which has killed over 300 people.
Parts of Australia, still suffers from a decade long drought that has been labeled "the big dry".
Eastern areas of the United States, was scorching under a record heat wave for several weeks in July.
New York Mayor Bloomberg warned that heat exhaustion was a real concern and ordered cooling centers to be set up around the city.
A report derived from an array of independent data sources was released in July by NOAA and says in part:
If the land surface records were systematically flawed and the globe had not really warmed, then it would be almost impossible to explain the concurrent changes in this wide range of indicators produced by many independent groups. The warming of the climate system is unequivocal.
The greenhouse gases most likely responsible for that warming, such as carbon dioxide, continue to accumulate in the lower atmosphere.
Without a change in direction, some experts warn the human race could become extinct in 100 years.
***Jean Williams 2010
Comments
It's all true. For years I was a critic, but I'm big enough to admit now that we were wrong. Take a look at the weird stuff happening everywhere.
Climate change is real and we'd better do something FAST. Even if it . . .gulp . . . costs money.
I liked the article, but I am skeptical of the last line. What experts have warned that the human race might face extinction in the next 100 years?
"Parts of Europe are under a cold snap, which has resulted in snow storms in Argentina, and millions of fish and marine life dying from 32 F. degree temperatures in Bolivia."
- Last time I checked, Europe does not include Argentina or Bolivia.
Geography lesson, thanks for the "duh" heads up. Noted and corrected.
There have been many predictions that we may have already passed the tipping point of being able to reverse the damage being caused by trapped greenhouse gases in our atmosphere. Most scientists don't want to say it out loud, but the increasing weather anomolies and wild patterns around the world are more evidence mounting every year and lately, every day. Why do you think there has been an increased push in privatizing space travel--because when the human race sucks this planet dry, they will need to inhabit another home. Science fiction? Our great grand children will find out.
Parts of Europe are under a cold snap, which has resulted in snow storms in Argentina, and millions of fish and marine life dying from 32 F. degree temperatures in Bolivia."
- Last time I checked, Europe does not include ArgParts of South America are under a cold snap, which has resulted in snow storms in Argentina, and millions of fish and marine life dying from 32 F. degree temperatures in Bolivia. The tropical region rarely gets below 68 degrees during the summer.
entina or Bolivia.
Bolivia doesn't have sea ("marine life"), and at this time of the year, it's winter in South America, not summer. Bolivia is located at high altitudes, it's normal to have temps. below 68F even on summer at most of its territory. Argentina and Peru are suffering most with not so usual cold winter.
Luciana, the reports I read claimed that millions of fish, alligators, turtles, and dolphins were dead at the mouth of the river and above. "Marine life" is appropropriate, since there isn't a river on Earth that doesn't eventually empty into the ocean.
nitpicking the point of my small text is that isn't so odd to have these low temperatures in Bolivia or despite it is located at the tropics. And here at South America we learn that "marine" reffers only to "sea/ocean", so I apologize if you guys learn things differently and for you "marine" also reffers to rivers, lakes and also the sea.
Nolongerindenial, good for you! Most of the climate-skeptic think tanks are well funded by oil companies and other organizations, that have a vested interest to muddy the sciene and cloud the argument. Conservatives say they want to protect the environment, just as long as it doesn't cost them anything or inconvenience them in any way. It can't be done without a cost, but it is an investment in the future of the planet and the human race.
Those of us still denying the depressing facts about climate change are either tragically stupid or profoundly corrupt or both.
We'd better do something FAST???? Please, there nothing that we can do, it's called change, something that people cannot swallow.
Victor, you are right, but the conservative right-winged radicals of the Rush Limbaugh ilk, will never admit that climate change is real and caused by human activity. They think they will be dead and gone by the time it gets really bad, so why bother? All those closed-minded talking heads at Fox News are morons, but they get to laugh all the way to the bank for propagating ignorance and stupidity about global warming.
The problems in Russia, China and Pakistan are man- made. Climate extremes happen. It poor management that is to blame..
Salvano Briceno of the U.N.'s International Strategy for Disaster Reduction pointed to aggravating factors in the latest climate catastrophes: China's failure to stem deforestation, contributing to its deadly mudslides; Russia's poor forest management, feeding fires; and the settling of poor Pakistanis on flood plains and dry riverbeds in the densely populated country, squatters' turf that suddenly turned into torrents.
People who shrug off these climate caused disasters as "extremes happen" and blame it on "poor management" are shrouded in their warm and fuzzy blanket of denial. Never in the history of record keeping in Pakistan has all three major rivers flooded their banks at the same time. It's not just poor Pakistanis that are being affected it is everyone, including government officials and dwellings. China's mudslides were caused by the onslaught of incessant torrential rains that caused the mud to flow, trees and all. The forests and foliage of Russia's lands dried up so fast under sweltering heat that fires sparked every where and moisture content of the soil was non existent. What about Greenland? I suppose they "mismanaged" the temperature of the ocean, which facilitated the glacial melt and break up.
SO! Some years we have troubles and other years we don't. No weather we have had recently is any worse that has happened in the past. It just gets reported quicker and seems like there are more disasters. Go back a hundred and fifty years ago and if something happened in China, then the newspapers of the day may or may not have reported it three months later.
You can down-play these extreme events all you want, but they are exactly what has been predicted by climate scientists on a global level. 150 years ago, there weren't almost 7 billion people on the planet spewing out industrial pollution and carbon dioxide emissions by the tons every single day.
As a meteorologist, I find this article scientifically appalling. The world always has wild and crazy weather. This has nothing to do with climate change. The earth has at most warmed half a degree due to man's influence and most of this has been in the arctic in the winter and at night. There has been no global increase in extreme weather. If so, I'd like to see the scientific publication. On the topic of extreme weather, the science simply says "could be if" and "possibly" and "models suggest".
You find the truth scientifically ap-palling? Because the events reported in this article are true and varifiable. Calling your self a "real meteorologist" doesn't mean anything, and it is especially suspect, when you say things like, "there has been no global increase in extreme weather". Sorry, but I will take NOAA's word for it.
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