“An international team of researchers has found evidence implicating a deep underground reservoir as the source of high levels of methane in the waters of the East Siberian Arctic Ocean…
“Prior research has suggested that there are very large deposits of methane located in many places beneath the world’s ocean floors. Prior research has also suggested that if the ocean water is warmed, some or all of the methane can be released.”
[Nothing in the article about the stability of this particular reservoir of methane in a warming world, except the implication that it is already leaking if it is the source of high methane levels in the Laptev. The paper itself may be more illuminating!]
https://phys.org/news/2021-03-east-siberian-arctic-ocean-elevated.html
“According to the Russian Marchuk Institute of Numerical Mathematic, climate gas emissions are leading to a continued rapid temperature increase in the northernmost part of the planet.
“By the end of the century, average temperatures in the central parts of the Arctic could be 20 °С [36F] higher than what is considered normal for the region.”
“Mining magnets: Greenland finds green power can be a curse.
“As Greenland’s ice sheet and glaciers recede, two Australia-based mining companies — one seeking funding in the United States, the other part-owned by a Chinese state-backed firm — are racing for approval to dig into what the U.S. Geological Survey calls the world’s biggest undeveloped deposits of rare earth metals.
“The contest underscores the polluting side of clean energy.”
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2021/03/04/world/arctic-island-rare-earths/
“While some of the coldest weather in a century was gripping millions of Americans for over a week in February, large areas of the globe were basking in the warmest weather ever observed during winter…
“…outside of the US, record warm temperatures for February outpaced the cold records by more than 4 to 1, according to data from NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information.”
https://edition.cnn.com/2021/03/02/weather/record-temperatures-february-us-world/index.html
“The Arctic air that whipped into Texas last month put this season’s Rio Grande Valley harvest on ice, and it has left many farmworkers with no or very little work.
“Paulina, 74, usually harvests crops in the fields of the Rio Grande Valley from 7 a.m. or 8 a.m. until 4 p.m. But she said her work hours have been drastically cut.”
“‘Pure Devastation’: Eastern Kentucky Communities Survey Widespread Flooding: Communities in eastern Kentucky assessed widespread damage caused by devastating flooding on Tuesday, March 2, after a weekend of heavy rain caused the Kentucky River to burst its banks, leaving roads impassable.
“The South Fork of the Kentucky River at Booneville crested more than 17 feet above “Flood Stage” on Monday, according to the National Weather Service.”
https://news.yahoo.com/pure-devastation-eastern-kentucky-communities-191943516.html
“Historic drought deepens in the West as window for rain, snow closes… Almost 80 percent of the Western U.S. is in drought, with nearly 42 percent of the region in “extreme” or “exceptional” drought.
“Water supply and wildfire concerns grow for the dry season.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2021/03/03/drought-worsens-west/
“Drier-than-average conditions are fueling wildfire concerns in parts of the nation’s southern tier as we head deeper into spring.
“The Southern Plains, Southwest and Florida have a higher than usual chance for significant wildland fires over the next few months, according to an outlook from the National Interagency Fire Center.”
https://weather.com/news/weather/news/2021-03-02-spring-wildfire-outlook-united-states
“New climate ‘normal’ for Atlantic hurricanes shows more frequent and intense storms: During the most recent 30-year period, which spans 1991 to 2020, there has been an uptick in the number of named storms and an increase in the frequency of major hurricanes of category 3 intensity or greater in the Atlantic.
“That comes as no surprise amid a spate of extreme hurricane activity that has featured seven Category 5 storms swirling across Atlantic waters in just the past five years.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2021/03/03/hurricanes-atlantic-climate-normal/
“Met Éireann’s weather station at Dublin Airport recorded the highest level of daily sunshine – for a February day – last month. Just over ten hours of sunshine were recorded on Sunday last, February 28th, the highest since records began there some 78 years ago.
“The detail was one of a number of extreme values recorded as part of Met Éireann’s February statement.”
“Record winter temperatures have had a devastating effect on snow conditions in many alpine ski resorts.
“Chamonix recently recorded its highest February temperature ever… Records were also broken in Bourg St Maurice, the valley town in the Savoie down the mountain from Tignes and Val d’Isere.”
https://planetski.eu/2021/03/03/alps-snow-pack-shrinks-in-warm-weather/
“Last week, Russian officials in Moscow and Crimea attempted to assure the Crimean public that this season’s snowfall would ease the water crisis. However, Ukrainian water experts have said the snow is “too temporary and too small” to significantly impact the shortage in any way.
“This comes after 2020 set a record for Crimea’s driest year in a century and a half… the reservoirs had reached a historic low at less than 10% of capacity.“
https://www.irinsider.org/environment-1/2021/3/4/water-crisis-in-crimea
“On Monday, between 7 a.m. and 4 p.m Tetouan [Morocco] recorded heavy rainfall reaching 100 millimeters [3.94 inches]. The flooding submerged 275 houses around the city and swept away 11 vehicles.
“The Tetouan floods followed similar natural disasters in Casablanca and Tangier… flooding in Casablanca from January 6 to 11, recorded a record rainfall of 250 mm [9.8 inches] accounting for 69% of annual rainfall.”
“An Israeli minister accused Iran of being behind one of the worst oil spills ever in Israeli waters, calling it an act of “environmental terrorism.”
“…A Libyan ship that sailed from Iran dumped oil into the sea in early February, Minister of Environmental Protection Gila Gamliel told reporters on Wednesday.
“The ship turned off its tracking system to avoid detection…”
“The severe droughts caused by frequent lack of rainfalls and snowfalls are worrying people in Afghanistan especially in the rural areas where people are mostly engaged in agriculture and livestock breeding…
“‘There is no rainfall, we had only two snowfalls this winter. The wheat is drying up and people are worried and some of them are moving to Herat province,’ said farmer Baz Mohammad who lives in the Moqor district.”
https://menafn.com/1101694782/Afghanistan-Decrease-Rainfalls-Drought-Worrying-Afghans
“Uttarakhand glacier collapse: ‘Mass movements still occurring in Himalayan state [India]’, scientists claim.
“High resolution satellite imagery indicates that mass movement activities are still occurring where the rock and ice collapsed that led to a disaster in Uttarakhand last month, as per latest observations of national and international scientists.”
“India Witness Third Warmest Winter Despite La Niña; Northwest Records Nearly 3°C Warmer February Days.
“Only during the winters of 2016 and 2009, India has recorded warmer mean temperatures than this, and both these years were El Niño years. The peculiarity of winter 2021 being among the warmest despite the Pacific being in the La Niña phase has raised concerns.”
“A prolonged dry spell coupled with an ominous rise in February temperature has triggered unprecedented forest fires in central and eastern Indian states, including Odisha.
“Similipal Tiger Reserve, one of the first tiger habitats to come up in India, has been caught in the inferno.”
“Some banana crops have been wiped out as Cyclone Niran intensifies off the far-north Queensland coast.
“Niran was expected to become a category three storm within 24 hours and while it was not expected to cross the coast, gale-force winds stripped banana trees, leaving farmers in despair.”
“Bolivia registers 36,839 hectares of crops affected by the overflowing of rivers and floods, the Vice Minister of Civil Defense, Juan Carlos Calvimontes, reported on Tuesday.
“”At this moment we have quantified 36,839 hectares in the country,” he said in an interview with the Abya Yala television channel.”
“Panama’s consul to Bogota Telma Deleise Barria Pinzon, her husband and another family member died when their car was swept away by a river in rural Colombia which was battered by heavy rains…
“Torrential rains have caused flooding and increased water levels in different parts of Colombia on Monday and Tuesday.”
“In the Atlantic Ocean, Subtle Shifts Hint at Dramatic Dangers: The warming atmosphere is causing an arm of the powerful Gulf Stream to weaken, some scientists fear…
“”The consequences could include faster sea level rise along parts of the Eastern United States and parts of Europe, stronger hurricanes barreling into the Southeastern United States, and perhaps most ominously, reduced rainfall across the Sahel, a semi-arid swath of land running the width of Africa that is already a geopolitical tinderbox.””
[Some nice graphics; worth a read]
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/03/02/climate/atlantic-ocean-climate-change.html
You can read the previous ‘Climate’ thread here. I’ll be back tomorrow with an ‘Economic’ thread.
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