“Plants losing appetite for carbon dioxide amid effects of warming climate.
“…peak carbon sequestration occurred in 2008, and since then the amount of carbon dioxide absorbed by plants has declined by an average of 0.25% a year. “The findings are very stark. Emissions now need to fall by 0.3% per year, just to stand still. That’s a tall order since they typically increase by 1.2% per year,” said James Curran.”
“Are we underreporting greenhouse gas emissions?
“…According to a 2023 report by Climate TRACE, a coalition of researchers and NGOs using AI and satellite technology to track emissions, approximately 3 billion tons of CO₂-equivalent emissions went unreported globally in 2021 alone.1 This amounts to nearly 5% of total global emissions that year.”
“Global sea ice continues to set new record daily lows. Yesterday’s record low extent was 2,053,000 square kilometers below the 1991-2020 average.
“I know I’ve been posting these images a lot lately, but the ongoing collapse of global sea ice is quite obviously the top story on the planet right now.” [Prof Eliot Jacobson]
https://bsky.app/profile/climatecasino.net/post/3lj3lklyvts2x
“More and more February warm records in this eternal record warmth in northern Norway yesterday. Add 11.2C [52.2F] Veiholmen to the list.
“Hundreds of records have been falling no-stop for weeks all over the Arctic.”
https://x.com/extremetemps/status/1894296280979103986
“Investigations after incident on Widerøe flight: Severe turbulence over Norway…
“Flight WF516 from Bergen to Molde, operated by a De Havilland Canada Dash 8-400 (registration LN-WDP), encountered a situation that resulted in injuries to two people… the aircraft had to return to Bergen due to severe turbulence.”
“Norway’s Melting Glaciers Are Spilling Out Troves of Lost Artifacts…
“Norway is at the forefront of …glacial archaeology. With about 4,500 artifacts discovered, the country claims more than half of the planet’s glacial archaeology findings, according to Espen Finstad, who co-leads the Norwegian program, called Secrets of the Ice.”
https://www.sciencealert.com/norways-melting-glaciers-are-spilling-out-troves-of-lost-artifacts
“More heat pumps, fewer kebabs – Is this the way to stop climate change? [UK]
“Four in five cars should be electric and half of homes should have heat pumps within 15 years. That’s according to the government’s independent climate advisers, the Climate Change Committee.”
“Glacier blood : why are the peaks of the Alps turning red?
“The presence of these algae is increasing across the Alps, and scientists believe that rising global temperatures are to blame. Warmer conditions allow microalgae to multiply more rapidly…”
https://glassalmanac.com/glacier-blood-why-are-the-peaks-of-the-alps-turning-red/
“Valencia leader faces awkward questions over flood tragedy…
“The whereabouts of Mr Mazón that day have been under intense scrutiny, after it emerged he had not been in his office managing the emergency as the tragedy unfolded throughout the afternoon because he was having lunch with a journalist in a restaurant.”
“Historic Cold: New Record Set at -6.2°C [Turkish Cyprus].
“Coldest day in 50 years! On February 25, 2025, Geçitkale recorded a historic low of -6.2°C [20.8F], setting a new temperature record. Many other locations, including Vadili, Akdoğan, and Nicosia, also reported their lowest-ever temperatures.”
https://www.kibrispostasi.com/c140-DAILY_NEWS/n551896-historic-cold-new-record-set-at-62c
“Drought-hit Morocco asks citizens not to slaughter sheep on Eid al-Adha.
“Rainfall was 53% lower this year than the average of the last 30 years, causing a lack of pasture for livestock to feed on. Meat production has dropped, leading to higher prices in the local market and higher imports of live cattle, sheep and red meat.”
“Zimbabwe plans to expand coal use to address drought-induced blackouts…
“At its worse two years ago, “we were going through 23 hours a day of no electricity,” explained Manjonjo, who lives in the Hwange area in northwestern Zimbabwe. “It would be very hard for any government in the world to justify not producing coal…””
“Health experts urge people to take precautions as heatwave intensifies across the country [Uganda].
“With the current heatwave sweeping across the country, those who spend long hours outdoors are feeling its intense impact. Health experts are now urging people to rethink their exposure to the scorching sun…”
“Kapoeta South schools defy heatwave closure order [South Sudan]…
“The heatwave has already had severe consequences in other parts of the country. Last week, 12 pupils reportedly collapsed during school hours in Juba due to soaring temperatures.”
https://www.radiotamazuj.org/en/news/article/kapoeta-south-schools-defy-heatwave-closure-order
“Wildfires break out in 2 Kenya forests, threatening key water catchment areas…
“”Our teams are working around the clock to contain the fires, which have been intensified by the ongoing dry spell,” Lucy Mwati, a senior director with the Kenya Wildlife Service overseeing mountain conservation, told Anadolu.”
“Somalia faces escalating crisis amid drought, conflict and price hikes.
““Worsening drought, erratic rainfall and ongoing conflict are eroding livelihoods, pushing families deeper into crisis,” said Etienne Peterschmitt, head of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Somalia.”
https://news.un.org/en/story/2025/02/1160521
“RECORD HEAT IN THE INDIAN OCEAN. Years of record heat and it’s just getting worse: 2023/2024 records are being swept away one by one.
“TMin 29.3C [84.7F] Juan de Nova Island, FRENCH SOUTHERN TERRITORIES – February Highest Minimum Record.”
https://x.com/extremetemps/status/1894724129745732087
“Mauritius, La Reunion brace for ‘dangerous’ cyclone…
“The “expected scenario is a direct impact on Reunion Island,” said Celine Jauffray, of Meteo-France, on Wednesday… Gusts of more than 150 kph were expected on the highest points of La Reunion, accompanied by heavy rain and rough seas.”
https://www.voanews.com/a/mauritius-la-reunion-brace-for-dangerous-cyclone/7989831.html
“Kuwait is experiencing its coldest day in six decades as an intense Siberian cold wave grips the country, sending temperatures plummeting to record lows [8c / 46.4F].
“Meteorologist Issa Ramadan confirmed that the extreme cold front has shattered long-standing temperature records for this time of year.”
“Death toll hits 39 after floods and hail in Afghanistan.
“Thirty-nine people have died in two provinces in Afghanistan due to hail and heavy rain. . . According to reports,— The victims, who had traveled to the area for leisure, — Were caught off guard when the floods surged unexpectedly, throwing them into a deep ravine.”
https://www.wionews.com/videos/death-toll-hits-39-after-floods-and-hail-in-afghanistan-8761252
“Delhi Weather: Record February Heat Signals How Next 3-4 Months Will Be.
“Delhi hit a Feb record of 34.1°C on February 26 [also a record Feb TMin], signalling a tough summer ahead. The capital faces a growing risk of rising temperatures and potential heatwaves over the next four months.”
“Sri Lanka’s habitats of endemic flora, fauna disrupted by forest fires…
“As many as 40 small scale and large scale forest fires have occurred throughout the country as of February 24, 2025… The recent forest fire at the Ravana Ella sanctuary had reportedly destroyed over 600 acres of the forest area which is home to an abundance of flora and fauna.”
“China will experience crazy temperature fluctuations in early March.
“Temperature will rise by 20-25C, then plummet by 20-30C. Central China will first rise to 25C and then usher in a blizzard! It is possible that both warm and cold records will be broken in one week!”
https://x.com/yangyubin1998/status/1894716178444275993
“How China plans to eliminate severe air pollution within months…
“”The battle for blue skies remains unchanged,” Li Tianwei said according to a transcript on the Ministry of Ecology and Environment’s website on Monday.” [“Hold on to your hats, China!” says Jim Hansen co-author, Leon Simons]
https://www.independent.co.uk/asia/china/air-pollution-quality-china-b2704109.html
“Over 80 homes lost, 2,000 people told to evacuate in Japan wildfire.
“More than 80 homes appear to have burned down and some 2,000 people have been ordered to evacuate after a wildfire broke out in a northeastern Japan city, local authorities said Thursday, as the region was hit by its third fire in around a week.”
“Starting from tomorrow, a historic heat wave will take the whole of East Asia with hundreds of records coming…
“[Already] some February minimum temperature records like 26.9 [80.4F] Ca Mau, VIETNAM.”
https://x.com/extremetemps/status/1894695520687517991
“Last year was the hottest year on record for [Malaysia’s] Cameron Highlands, with the average daily temperature being 18.91ºC [66F], says the Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability Ministry.
“…temperatures at the hill resort rose by 0.86% in the past decade.”
https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2025/02/27/cameron-highlands-hits-record-heat-in-2024
“Tropical Cyclone Alfred intensifies to category four system as it remains off north Queensland coast.
“On Thursday afternoon the Bureau of Meteorology advised the cyclone had become category 4, and was sitting 770km north-east of Mackay in northern Queensland. The BoM advised it would continue to strengthen during the rest of Thursday and into Friday morning.”
“Crocodiles in Australia Are Shifting Their Behavior Because of Climate Change, and It Might Harm Their Ability to Hunt…
“The animals are resilient, but “they are already close to their physiological thermal limit,” per the paper, published this month in Current Biology. “The impact of future predicted rises in temperature remains unknown.””
“South Australia facing severe water crisis amid driest summer in 33 years…
“”Because we have had no rain in January of February this year that means we are totally dependent on rainfall in April to October this year because we have no sub-soil moisture,” farmer John Lush said.”
“Drought declared in Taranaki amid ‘desperate conditions’ [NZ].
“”We’ve got farmers that have been in the area for a really long time, that are comparing it to the drought we had in the 1970s, which was the worst drought that had been seen here for a really long time,” Leedom Gibbs said.”
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/top/543159/drought-declared-in-taranaki-amid-desperate-conditions
“Three tropical cyclones are churning in the South Pacific at the same time, satellite images show, in a rare occurrence for the region…
“Seeing three in a row is particularly unusual this season as the planet is in a La Niña phase, which cools ocean temperatures, depriving tropical storms of fuel.”
“Buy a passport, save a nation? Nauru’s unique plan to fight climate change…
“Officials estimate that nearly all of the 21-square-kilometre island’s 12,000 residents will eventually need to move to higher ground. The problem? Nauru lacks inhabitable land, and the first phase of this ambitious relocation project could cost about €60 million.”
https://www.euronews.com/green/2025/02/26/buy-a-passport-naurus-unique-plan-to-fight-climate-change
“Paint them white: how Brazil is keeping trains on track…
“…just last week, a train in the Brazilian state of Rio de Janeiro derailed after the tracks expanded and buckled after being heated to a sizzling 71 degrees Celsius (160 degrees Fahrenheit) by the sun… it highlighted the need for a solution to the search for a way to keep the country’s tracks cool…”
https://uk.news.yahoo.com/paint-them-white-brazil-keeping-203258416.html
“SOUTH AMERICA HEAT WAVE – yesterday was another exceptionally hot day with the February hottest day in history tied at Cordoba, ARGENTINA with 42.2C [108F].
“Also record hot nights Tmins: 29.0 Chamical and 28.4 Ceres plus others. Bad News – the extreme heat will last weeks.”
https://x.com/extremetemps/status/1894425168338157788
“‘The forests are going up in flames – so is the rule of law’: Argentina’s climate of fear…
“Since January, more than 35,000 hectares (86,500 acres) of forest, farmland and pine plantations have burned. In recent days, several new fires have broken out on the eastern slopes of the Andes.”
“Ecuador declares emergency due to heavy rains in eight provinces.
“According to authorities, the rainfall that has fallen in the country in February is close to that caused by the El Niño phenomenon in 1988. “In the last eight days it has rained as much as it did in the entire month of February last year,” the mayor of Manabí told local media.”
https://www.telesurtv.net/ecuador-declara-emergencia-por-intensas-lluvias-en-ocho-provincias/
“CARIBBEAN RECORD HEAT. Record heat in the Tropics is all over and relentless.
“Today In the US VIRGIN ISLANDS the St Thomas Airport Charlotte Amalie tied its hottest February night in history with a minimum temperature of 80F/26.7C (=29 Feb 2010).”
https://x.com/extremetemps/status/1894769775433413056
“Key West flooded by rain. Nearly 7 inches fell in 3 hours early Monday, forecasters say.
“According to the National Weather Service, the rain gauge at Key West High School measured 6.87 inches, “most of it in just three hours this AM,” the agency said in a statement on X Monday night.”
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/florida-keys/article300925849.html
“EXCEPTIONAL HEAT IN SW USA:
“97F [36.1C] in California (Palm Springs), 95F in Texas and 94F in Arizona on the same day. Some records of February Highest temperature: 94F El Centro CA; 92F Laguna AZ; 92F Wellton AZ.”
https://x.com/extremetemps/status/1894919442448162904
“Wildfire debris washes up on LA beaches after major rainstorm…
“After last week’s major rainstorm, beaches in southern California have been littered with timber, twisted metals, construction materials and charred silt and sediment originating from the Palisades fire in January.”
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/feb/25/los-angeles-wild-fire-beaches
“There were never any climate havens: floods in the midwest, hurricanes in Appalachia…
“the media have conflated places where climate-related immigration has already been observed with “places where some scholars think there’s a lower comparative risk that in the future may represent a potential”.”
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/feb/26/there-are-no-climate-havens
“Kentucky flooding and cold weather death toll rises to 22; FEMA to tour damage.
“”This has been a painful, difficult disaster,” Beshear said Monday. “There aren’t many natural disasters where we lose 22 people. After the widespread flooding in 2022 and the tornadoes in 2021, this is one of the most deadly disasters certainly since I’ve been governor.””
“Critical ocean circulation [AMOC] won’t entirely collapse because of climate crisis – but it’s still in trouble…
“While all models showed a weakening of the AMOC by 20-81 per cent over 90 years, none predicted a complete collapse… a key mechanism, wind-driven upwelling in the Southern Ocean, can prevent its total collapse…”
“How Climate Change Will Affect the Seasons…
““The Earth’s system is a very precarious balance,” says Ben Kirtman, professor of atmospheric sciences at the University of Miami. “And so when the length of the seasons [starts changing], you can affect the Earth’s system in a way that is unanticipated.””
https://time.com/7262007/climate-change-seasons/
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You can read the previous “Climate” thread here. I’ll be back tomorrow with an “Economic” thread.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=osYgAnBRubI
Scotland’s Rainforests under threat.
Thank you, Curt. The specific threat talked about in the video is invasive Rhododendron. We have quite a lot of that on Islay.
Apparently, bees that gather its grayanotoxin-containing nectar process it into a honey that, “causes light-headedness and hallucinations… In Nepal and parts of Turkey this so-called ‘mad honey’ is deliberately produced… Mad honey, or deli bal in Turkish, is also thought to enhance sexual performance. Perhaps unsurprisingly, mad honey poisoning is most commonly observed in middle-aged men 😉.”
https://theapiarist.org/mad-honey/
That is pretty interestnig. It reminds me of Saffron poisoning. I have read that that conusming to much saffron can lead to death. I have also read that one of the symptoms of Saffron poisoning is uncontrollable laughter. But I have never seen it explicitly spelled out what level of Saffron is toxic.
I myself think that this knowledge could be used for political porpises. ;(
“Four in five cars should be electric and half of homes should have heat pumps within 15 years. That’s according to the government’s independent climate advisers, the Climate Change Committee.”
Heat pumps – great.
Cars – no.
Cutting back on animal products – not in the sense implied. There is this silly notion that around 50% of agriculture is devoted to animal feed and “we” (whoever that is) should just stop doing it. The type of people who say this also tend to be those who at some point in their lives believed milk comes from the supermarket. Concepts like hay, manure, pasture, grazing, calories, proteins, carbs and their mysterious interrelationships… just white noise in the background while they selfie themselves eating spiritually cleansed vegan manna.
I have a heat-pump because it was mandated by building regs and hate the thing. The electricity that powers it is so expensive in the UK that there is, certainly for me, zero financial upside; and our electricity often comes from a diesel-burning power station anyway.
They are expensive to buy, install and maintain, so I live in fear of it dying, and noisy to boot.
I did not mean to imply the actual mass scale roll-out (if any) will be in any way effective let alone beneficial to us peasants. But in theory it could be.
“Plants losing appetite for carbon dioxide amid effects of warming climate. …peak carbon sequestration occurred in“Plants losing appetite for carbon dioxide amid effects of warming climate. …peak carbon sequestration occurred in 2008”
Isn’t one of the denier arguments that plants love CO2? Yes, but too much too soon, and with not enough time to adapt, and fauna gets overwhelmed, much like drinking water from the firehouse:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgPgsvxxxKE
You remember this 80s movie, Pan?
“Isn’t one of the denier arguments that plants love CO2?”
James, yes. 🙄 I probably should have included this article in the thread but it was getting long:
“Rising temperatures cause plants to leak more water, reducing their ability to absorb carbon and potentially turning them into carbon sources, worsening climate change.”
https://scitechdaily.com/plants-are-leaking-and-it-could-make-global-warming-even-worse/
I think of myself as a bit of an 80’s connoisseur but I have never heard of that movie, so thank you for the heads-up… a comedy masterwork by Weird Al Jankovic, the internet tells me.
Hello Pan
Well, just a quick word about Zimbabwe. I have a soft spot for the country. I have been there often and I know the Hwange district well.
This is a typical dead end street that you get stuck in if you depend on an energy system that has long since passed its sell-by date. Zimbabwe is bankrupt, the infrastructure is totally destroyed, and all investors who still want to do anything with fossil fuels will have to deal with a world that is slamming the door ever harder on coal.
China, once the last saviour of African coal projects, has already withdrawn. European and American banks are no longer investing in coal anyway, and even African development banks prefer to look at solar and wind energy rather than a rusty, outdated power plant that can only be kept going with duct tape and hope.
And yet… What else can Zimbabwe do? The Kariba dam is barely producing anything due to the drought (thanks a lot, climate change). Gas and renewable energy are too expensive to scale up quickly, and meanwhile people are going days without power. So yes, you go back to the only option that still works: coal.
The sad thing is that this is a vicious circle. More coal means more emissions, which in turn causes more extreme drought, leaving Kariba with even less water and Zimbabwe needing even more coal. Meanwhile, the rest of the world promises mountains of money for climate financing, but when push comes to shove, none of those fine words materialise.
The hardest blows are being dealt to the fringes of the energy system. And Zimbabwe is right on the edge of that abyss.
Thank you for your insights, Zip.
Poor Zimbabwe – from “Africa’s breadbasket” to net importer of food. Another currency crisis afoot, I see:
“Zimbabwe firms brace for hyperinflation accounting under ZiG…
“The ZiG is the nation’s sixth attempt at a functioning local currency since 2009. It has shed 95% of its value since its debut, amid exchange-rate volatility that forced authorities to devalue the currency in September.”
https://www.moneyweb.co.za/news/africa/zimbabwe-firms-brace-for-hyperinflation-accounting-under-zig/