Thawing of permafrost could become the epicenter of climate change

Gas locked inside Siberia's frozen soil and under its lakes has been seeping out since the end of the last ice age 10,000 years ago. But in the past few decades, as the Earth has warmed, the icy ground has begun thawing more rapidly, accelerating the release of methane — a greenhouse gas 23 times more powerful than carbon dioxide — at a perilous rate.

Some scientists believe the thawing of permafrost could become the epicenter of climate change. They say 1.5 trillion tons of carbon, locked inside icebound earth since the age of mammoths, is a climate time bomb waiting to explode if released into the atmosphere.http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory?id=12204420

Parker Liautaud

The future of our planet lies in the hands of people like Parker Liautaud"
-Douglas Stoup, World Renowned Polar Explorer

Parker Liautaud is a 16-year-old polar adventurer and environmental activist. He is the youngest ever to even attempt a full expedition to the North Pole, and has two polar expeditions under his belt so far... http://www.parkerliautaud.com/about.htm

Les glaciers du mont Ararat menacés par le réchauffement climatique

ISTANBUL, 8 sept 2010 (AFP) - Les glaciers du mont Ararat menacés par le réchauffement climatique (étude)http://www.la-croix.com/afp.static/pages/100908083918.h7rfie3h.htm

Les glaciers du mythique mont Ararat, dans l'est de la Turquie, ont perdu 30% de leur surface en une trentaine d'année, vraisemblablement en raison d'une augmentation de la température environnante, a affirmé mercredi à l'AFP l'auteur d'une étude sur le sujet.

"Nous avons utilisé des images satellites pour analyser la réponse des glaciers au sommet du mont Ararat face au changement climatique. Nous avons découvert qu'ils avaient perdu 30% de leur surface entre 1976 et 2008", a déclaré le géologue Mehmet Akif Sarikaya, dont la recherche n'a pas encore été publiée.

"La surface des glaciers est passée de 8 km/2 en 1976 à environ 5,5 km/2 en 2008, soit une rétraction d'environ sept hectares par an", a poursuivi le chercheur, professeur assistant à l'université Fatih d'Istanbul et chargé de recherches à l'université d'Omaha (Etats-Unis.

Le scientifique a désigné le réchauffement du climat autour du mont Ararat comme la cause la plus probable de la fonte des glaciers, qui pourrait selon lui menacer à terme leur existence.

"Nous avons cherché les raisons de la fonte et avons établi que la température avait progressé de 0,03 degré par an" durant la période étudiée, a-t-il expliqué, sans pour autant rejeter d'autres éventuels facteurs, comme l'augmentation des précipitations, l'ensoleillement et la topographie.

Le géologue n'était pas en mesure de s'exprimer sur les causes de ce réchauffement ni sur son lien éventuel avec un phénomène global de changement climatique.

Il a également refusé de se prononcer sur les nouvelles possibilités que cette fonte pourrait offrir dans la recherche de l'arche de Noé.

L'arche de Noé, d'après la Bible, est une grande embarcation construite sur l'ordre de Dieu afin de sauver Noé, sa famille et toutes les espèces animales d'un déluge sur le point d'arriver.

Selon certains spécialistes, le mont Ararat (5.137 m) serait le lieu où l'arche se serait échouée à la fin de son périple. De nombreuses équipes ont tenté de retrouver l'arche sur le mont Ararat, sans résultat probant.

Climate Skeptic Changes Tune

Hear that Congress? Bjorn Lomborg, the self-proclaimed “skeptical environmentalist” who is perhaps the world’s most famous climate-change skeptic, will declare climate change "undoubtedly one of the chief concerns facing the world today" and a "challenge humanity must confront” in an upcoming book. Lomborg has never denied that manmade climate change exists; rather, he has typically argued that it does not present much of a threat to mankind and that our resources would be better spent on other problems. In the book, Smart Solutions to Climate Change: Comparing Costs and Benefits, Lomborg calls for a $100 billion annual investment to fight climate change. The book looks at eight ideas that could help, focusing mostly on investments in renewable energy and also geo-engineering solutions, like “cloud whitening.” He calls for a carbon tax to fund these investments.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/aug/30/bjorn-lomborg-climate-change-u-turn?om_rid=CaPHit&om_mid=_BMfPhgB8UdPslY

Un bloc de glace géant se détache d'un glacier du Groenland

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Un immense bloc de glace de quatre fois la taille de l'île de Manhattan s'est détaché d'un glacier polaire dans le nord du Groenland, à environ 1.000 kilomètres au sud du Pôle Nord, a annoncé un universitaire américain.

Selon Andreas Muenchow, de l'université de Delaware (est), l'Arctique n'avait pas perdu une telle masse de glace depuis 1962.

Des images satellites de la Nasa montrent que le glacier Petermann, qui mesure 70 kilomètre de long, a ainsi rétréci d'environ un quart avec le détachement du bloc de glace, d'une superficie d'au moins 260 kilomètres carrés, note le chercheur dans un communiqué.

L'eau douce contenue dans cet iceberg pourrait "alimenter l'ensemble du réseau public d'eau potable américain pendant 120 jours", affirme-t-il.

La calotte glaciaire du Groenland, le plus grand réservoir d'eau douce de l'hémisphère Nord, a fondu à un rythme alarmant au cours des dernières années sous l'effet du réchauffement climatique, selon un rapport du Conseil arctique publié fin 2009.

La vitesse d'écoulement des glaciers du Groenland qui débouchent sur la mer affecte directement le niveau des océans, qui monte actuellement d'environ 3 mm par an.

Recognition of the human right to safe drinking water and sanitation at the UN

The 3rd Commission of the 64th General Assembly of the United Nations made history yesterday by overwhelmingly adopting a resolution proclaiming the Human Right to Safe drinking Water and Sanitation. Presented by Bolivia and 33 other states, the resolution received 122 votes in favour with no votes against and 41 abstentions.

Founding President Mikhail Gorbachev of Green Cross International (GCI) said “the actions and voices of millions of citizens have brought the global movement for the right to water this far. I hope that more people will join us to help bring us closer to the ultimate goal — a world where everyone’s right to safe water and sanitation is not just recognized but is also fulfilled.”

http://news.myjoyonline.com/international/201008/50028.asp

Clear Signs of a Warming World

Global warming signs unmistakable, report says. A new report by 300 scientists has flagged the past decade as the hottest on record and compiled 10 "unmistakable" indicators that the world is getting warmer.

http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2010/07/29/climate-change-study-noaa.html

Huge chunk of ice breaks off of glacier in Greenland

A 2.7-square-mile (7-square-kilometer) section has broken off Greenland's Jakobshavn Isbrae glacier, NASA scientists report. Greenland's ice sheet, which is 2 miles (3.2 km) thick and covers an area about the size of Mexico, has been losing ice mass at an accelerating rate over the last decade. The ice sheet discharges much of its ice through fast moving glaciers that flow into the sea, with large chunks breaking off into the ocean. This most recent breakup last week pushed the calving front – where the ice sheet meets the ocean – back nearly a mile (1.5 km) in one day. The front is now farther inland than at any time previously observed.

The U.S. National Snow and Ice Data Centre, the Colorado-based institute that tracks the annual cycle of winter ice buildup and summer thaw, says in its latest report that June's rapid melt - which followed a similar record-setting retreat in May - means the polar ice cover remained on pace to shrink more than it did in 2007, when an unprecedented loss of ice first prompted scientists to raise alarms about the Arctic as a harbinger of global climate change.

Mikhail Gorbachev on the Right to Water...

The right of every human being to safe drinking water and basic sanitation should be recognized and realized.

The United Nations estimates that nearly 900 million people live without clean water and 2.6 billion without proper sanitation. Water, the basic ingredient of life, is among the world’s most prolific killers. At least 4,000 children die every day from water-related diseases. In fact, more lives have been lost after World War II due to contaminated water than from all forms of violence and war.

This humanitarian catastrophe has been allowed to fester for generations. We must stop it.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/17/opinion/17iht-edgorbachev.html?_r=1

Mikhail Gorbachev was the leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 until its dissolution in 1991. He is a founding member of Green Cross International and is on its board.

The incredible shrinking solar cell

The next generation of solar cells will be small. About the size of lint. But the anticipated impact: That’s huge.

Some of these emerging electricity-generating cells could be embedded in windows without obscuring the view. Engineers envision incorporating slightly larger ones into resins that would be molded onto the tops of cars or maybe the roofs of buildings. One team of materials scientists is developing microcells that could be rubber-stamped by the millions onto a yard of fabric. When such cells shrink in size — but not efficiency — it becomes hard to imagine what they couldn’t electrify.

http://www.sciencenews.org/view/feature/id/61141/title/The_incredible_shrinking_solar_cell

Get Used to Heat Waves...

Folks sweating out the heat wave battering parts of the country may just have to get used to it.

As global warming continues such heat waves will be increasingly common in the future, a Stanford University study concludes.

"In the next 30 years, we could see an increase in heat waves like the one now occurring in the eastern United States or the kind that swept across Europe in 2003 that caused tens of thousands of fatalities," Noah Diffenbaugh, an assistant professor of environmental Earth system science at Stanford, said in a statement.

Diffenbaugh and Moetasim Ashfaq, a former Stanford postdoctoral fellow now at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, used a series of computer models of climate to calculate changes in the future with increased levels of carbon dioxide and other gases in the atmosphere. Their findings are reported in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.

They calculate that within 30 years average temperature could be 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit, or 2 Celsius, higher than in the mid-1800s.

That level of increase has been reported by others and most atmospheric scientists expect it to lead to warming and a change in a variety of weather and climate conditions.

Diffenbaugh and Ashfaq focus specifically on heat waves over the United States.

They reported that an intense heat wave equal to the longest on record from 1951 to 1999 is likely to occur as many as five times between 2020 and 2029 over areas of the western and central United States.

In addition, they said the 2030s are projected to be even hotter.

"Occurrence of the longest historical heat wave further intensifies in the 2030-2039 period, including greater than five occurrences per decade over much of the western U.S. and greater than three exceedences per decade over much of the eastern U.S.," the researchers reported.

"I did not expect to see anything this large within the next three decades. This was definitely a surprise," Diffenbaugh said.

The research was funded by the Energy Department and the National Science Foundation. The climate model simulations were generated and analyzed at Purdue University.

RANDOLPH E. SCHMID, AP Science Writer

Jean-Michel Cousteau: Use of Oil Dispersants in Gulf 'A Mistake'

Jean-Michel Cousteau: Use of Oil Dispersants in Gulf 'A Mistake'

The Rundown caught up with ocean explorer and occasional PBS host Jean-Michel Cousteau to chat about what his team discovered on dives last week into the Gulf of Mexico oil leak.

Cousteau, founder of the Ocean Futures Society and son of another famous explorer Jacques Cousteau, spoke with us Monday from the bridge of the cruise ship m/s Paul Gauguin somewhere between the Cook Islands and Bora Bora.

Cousteau discussed the controversial use of dispersants to break up the oil:

"To add another chemical to the ocean, I think has some long-term consequence which we are not even aware of what it's going to do. Personally, I think it was a mistake. We are much better equipped to capture oil at the surface provided that the weather allows that to happen."

Cousteau said the smaller particles of oil are sneaking under booms set up along the coast seeping into marshland and killing it. It's creating a "monumental problem" that's effecting millions of birds, not to mention plankton -- the foundation of the marine food chain.

He also spoke about the risks that his divers took to get the underwater views of the oil spill.

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2010/06/jean-michel-cousteau-use-of-oil-dispersants-a-mistake.html

Accelerated Ice Loss from Greenland

After little net change in the 1990s, Greenland is now melting and shedding billions of tons of ice, according to NASA satellite observations. This trend especially concerns scientists because meltwater and ice emptying into the ocean raise global sea level. Currently, sea level is increasing at about 1.25 inches per decade, and researchers estimate Greenland is contributing about 15% of this rate. Greenland holds a great deal of ice; if all of it returned to the ocean, sea level would rise about 23 feet. (Such a loss would take many centuries to play out, even with substantially more warming than today.)
http://www.climatecentral.org/gallery/graphics/accelerated_ice_loss/

Ice cap thaw will awaken Icelandic volcanoes?

Some scientists suggest that climate change and its consequences on Ice cap thaw in Iceland may awaken volcanoes in the future...
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE63E3Y220100416

"Our work suggests that eventually there will be either somewhat larger eruptions or more frequent eruptions in Iceland in coming decades," said Freysteinn Sigmundsson, a vulcanologist at the University of Iceland.

"Global warming melts ice and this can influence magmatic systems," he told Reuters. The end of the Ice Age 10,000 years ago coincided with a surge in volcanic activity in Iceland, apparently because huge ice caps thinned and the land rose.

Celine Cousteau: Environmentalism Should be Taught in Schools

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/02/04/celine-cousteau-environme_n_164001.html