“The Arctic region took a beating in 2019, with near-record-warm air and ocean temperatures resulting in widespread melting of the Greenland ice sheet, low sea-ice extents and shifts in the distribution of commercially valuable marine species, according to NOAA’s 14th-annual Arctic Report Card released Tuesday at the American Geophysical Union’s fall meeting in San Francisco.
“The report also found that as the Arctic warms, permafrost regions might already be a net source of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, a feedback that could exacerbate overall global warming.”
“Summer heatwaves and year-round melting of glaciers mean the rate of [Greenland‘s] ice loss is following the “high-end climate warming scenario” produced by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
“There has been a seven-fold increase in ice loss since the 1990s, according to the most comprehensive study to date of ice loss on the world’s largest island.”
“…Inga is troubled: His reindeer [in Arctic Sweden] are hungry, and he can do little about it. Climate change is altering weather patterns here and affecting the herd’s food supply.
““If we don’t find better areas for them where they can graze and find food, then the reindeers will starve to death,” he said.”
https://time.com/5747409/sweden-arctic-reindeer-starving/
“What a destructive, deadly, wet and expensive decade it’s been.
“This year marks the fourth consecutive Atlantic hurricane season with above-average activity, and wraps up a decade that saw some of the most devastating hurricanes to hit the United States in recorded history.”
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/weather/atlantic-hurricane-seasons-2019-2010-graphics-data-n1091986
“The National Meterological Service [Argentina] reported Tuesday that the high temperatures, which exceed 35 degrees, will continue in the center and north of Buenos Aires, the center and east of Córdoba, the south of Entre Ríos, the northeast of La Pampa, the south of Santa Fe and the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires.
“Tuesday in the City of Buenos Aires and its surroundings began with temperatures that reached 37 degrees [99f]…”
https://www.pagina12.com.ar/235809-la-ola-de-calor-no-dio-tregua
“The heavy downpour that affected the capital of São Paulo [Brazil] on Tuesday, December 10th, caused the flooding of streams and rivers, trees crashing and increased traffic jams.
“In Itaquera, in the eastern zone of São Paulo, the Verde river overflowed as a result of the heavy rainfall that affected the neighborhood.”
“Mines across South Africa shut down on Tuesday after flash flooding triggered the most severe power blackouts in more than a decade…
“Heavy rains across parts of South Africa have submerged entire neighborhoods, leading to evacuations and aggravating problems at state-owned utility Eskom, which has been struggling to keep the lights on since 2008.”
“Hopes have been dashed that the recent widespread rain across South Africa’s summer rainfall region would put an end to widespread water-constrained and drought conditions…
“In recent weeks, many parts of the country’s summer rainfall region had been hit by a combination of both extreme heat and heavy and often destructive downpours.”
“A photographer has taken incredible pictures of the ancient Himba tribe as they live through one of the worst droughts in Namibia‘s history.
“Stu McKenzie spent a week with the indigenous tribe shooting a selection of remarkable images to illustrate how the tribe is coping with the water shortage.”
“Kenya’s farmers are grubbing up their coffee bushes to plant other crops as low prices and climate change drive small growers to the brink of collapse…
“…rising temperatures are scorching plants, making them susceptible to diseases such as coffee leaf rust.”
“India’s economic losses linked to extreme weather events were to the tune of $37,808 million for 2018. This was an almost three-fold rise over losses suffered in 2017.
“It also pointed out that temperatures in India were spiraling and that, since 2004, India has experienced 11 of its 15 warmest recorded years.”
https://www.gulftoday.ae/opinion/2019/12/10/india-perilously-poised-on-climate-change
“A climatic phenomenon of near-record intensity has contributed to two extremes on opposite sides of the Indian Ocean — torrential rain in East Africa and exceptionally dry conditions fuelling bushfires in Australia.
“The bushfire season began much earlier than usual in eastern Australia and has been one of the most devastating on record, based on the area burnt.”
“Perth [Australia] is set to be blasted by another record heatwave, with four 40C [104f] days in a row kicking off from tomorrow.
“Bureau of Meteorology spokesman Neil Bennett said the longest run of consecutive 40C days in December was just two, recorded in 1974.”
“In its latest quarterly update, ABARES reports the total volume of [Australia‘s] agricultural production is forecast to fall for a third-consecutive year, which hasn’t happened for more than 60 years…
“…crop production is down and the sheep and cattle herds are continuing to fall as producers run out of pasture, feed and water in NSW and Queensland.”
“Thousands of people have rallied in Sydney to protest against inaction on the climate crisis, after months of bushfires and hazardous smoke in New South Wales and Queensland.
“On Tuesday, the level of dangerous PM2.5 particles in Sydney’s air was as high as 10 times normal, and fires have burnt through nearly 3 million hectares of land across NSW and Queensland this season.”
“Extremely low sea ice in the Bering Sea. Heavy rainfall in the mid-Atlantic United States. Wildfires in northeast Australia.
“Examinations of these and 16 other extreme weather events that occurred in 2018 found that all but one were made more likely due to human-caused climate change…”
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/fingerprints-climate-change-increasingly-appear-extreme-weather
Read the previous ‘Climate’ thread here and visit my Patreon page here.
