climate change – Page 55 – Desdemona Despair

(a) Total, (b) global, (c) linear, and (d) regional and local nonlinear sea-level rise (SLR) rates for three sites (New Jersey, Cheesequake; Florida, Nassau; Scotland, Kyle of Tongue) are shown with the time of emergence for each site. Model predictions are the mean with 1σ uncertainty. Note variable y-axes. Graphic: Walker, et al., 2022 / Nature Communications

February 21, 2022

Onset of modern sea level rise began in 1863, international study finds – “We can be virtually certain the global rate of sea-level rise from 1940 to 2000 was faster than all previous 60-year intervals over the last 2,000 years”

18 February 2022 (Rutgers University) – An international team of scientists including Rutgers researchers has found that modern rates of sea level rise began emerging in 1863 as the Industrial Age intensified, coinciding with evidence for early ocean warming and glacier melt. The study, which used a global database of sea-level records spanning the last […]

Cattle gather next to a column of fire in Santo Tome, Corrientes province, Argentina, on Sunday, 20 February 2022. Fires continue to ravage the Corrientes province that has burnt more than a half-million hectares. Photo: Rodrigo Abd / AP Photo

February 21, 2022

Wildfires ravage northern Argentina – “It never happened to us, we never lived something like this”

By Victor Caivano 21 February 2022 CORRIENTES, Argentina (AP) – Wildfires that have been ravaging northern Argentina for several weeks advanced relentlessly Sunday, although the light rains that began over the weekend gave some hope to firefighters. Corrientes province is the most affected area, where officials said at least eight separate fires continued to burn […]

Maps showing regional sea level linear rates of rise (mm/year) from satellite altimetry over three different time periods: (a) 1993–2006, (b) 2007–2020, and (c) 1993–2020. Linear rates of change of relative sea level (ocean and land height changes) from tide gauges over the same time period are also shown (circles). Graphic: Sweet, et al., 2022 / NOAA

February 19, 2022

U.S. coastline to see up to a foot of sea level rise by 2050 – Report projects a century of sea level rise in 30 years – “These numbers mean a change from a single flooding event every 2-5 years to multiple events each year”

15 February 2022 (NOAA) – The United States is expected to experience as much sea level rise by the year 2050 as it witnessed in the previous hundred years. That’s according to a NOAA-led report updating sea level rise decision-support information for the U.S. released today in partnership with half a dozen other federal agencies. […]

The body of the last freshwater Irrawaddy dolphin in northeastern Cambodia is examined by Department of Fisheries Conservation staff, 15 February 2022. The dolphin was entangled in fishing net and drowned. The Fisheries Administration, in cooperation with WWF-Cambodia, will erect a dolphin statue at the bank of Mekong River at Anlong Chheuteal to commemorate its existence there. Photo: Phen Rattanak / AKP

February 18, 2022

Last freshwater Irrawaddy dolphin in northeastern Cambodia entangled in fishing net and dies – Statue to be erected on bank of Mekong River to commemorate its existence

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia, 16 February 2022 (AP) – The last surviving freshwater Irrawaddy dolphin on a stretch of the Mekong River in northeastern Cambodia has died, apparently after getting tangled in a fishing net, wildlife officials said Wednesday. The aquatic mammal was found dead Tuesday on a riverbank in Stung Treng province, near the border […]

U.S. Drought Monitor map of the U.S. West, 10 February 2022. In February 2022, 95 percent of the Western U.S. was experiencing drought conditions. In summer 2021, according to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, two of the largest reservoirs in North America — Lake Mead and Lake Powell, both on the Colorado River — reached their lowest recorded levels. Graphic: Deborah Bathke / Richard Tinker NOAA / NWS / NCEP / CPC

February 15, 2022

Megadrought in U.S. West worsens to driest in at least 1,200 years – “We need to be preparing for conditions in the future that are far worse than this”

By Seth Borenstein 15 February 2022 (AP) – The American West’s megadrought deepened so much last year that it is now the driest in at least 1,200 years and is a worst-case climate change scenario playing out live, a new study finds. A dramatic drying in 2021 — about as dry as 2002 and one […]

Estimated economic impacts of unmitigated climate change on seven geographical regions in the United States. Over the next 50 years, climate change-induced economic losses in the U.S. could total approximately $14.5 trillion in present-value terms. Graphic: Deloitte

February 7, 2022

Climate change-induced losses in the U.S. could total $14.5 trillion by 2070 – “In a climate-damaged world of 2070, the U.S. could lose nearly 4 percent of GDP in that year alone”

By Rachel Koning Beals 26 January 2022 (MarketWatch) – Definitive and deliberate climate action from Wall Street to Washington and beyond could deliver a $3 trillion gain to the U.S. economy over the next 50 years to 2070. But it’s the toll of inaction that would cost the nation nearly five times that amount, a […]

Cumulative global insured losses by peril in 2021. Aggregated costs for insurers have been largely dominated by the Tropical Cyclone and Severe Weather perils this century. The two perils combined for more than $1 trillion, or 60 percent of the total cumulative industry losses, of which roughly 74 percent was incurred in the United States. The Severe Convective Storm peril has also increasingly separated itself as accounting for the highest number of billion-dollar events. Graphic: Aon

January 27, 2022

Aon: 2021 was third costliest year on record for weather and climate-related events – Germany, Belgium, Austria, Luxembourg, and China recorded the costliest insurance industry events on record

CHICAGO, 25 January 2022 (Aon) – Aon plc (NYSE: AON), a leading global professional services firm, today published its 2021 Weather, Climate and Catastrophe Insight, which evaluates the increasing frequency and severity of disruptive natural disasters and how their resulting economic losses are protected globally. This data serves as the foundation for insights that can help […]

Infographic showing statistics from Oxfam’s annual inequality report, “Inequality Kills”, which in 2021 found that inequality is contributing to the death of at least 21,000 people each day, or one person every four seconds. Meanwhile, a new billionaire is created every 26 hours. Graphic: Oxfam

January 19, 2022

Oxfam report: Inequality Kills – Inequality contributes to the death of at least one person every four seconds, while a new billionaire is created every 26 hours

By Elizabeth Endara 17 January 2022 (Oxfam) – Ahead of the Davos Agenda—the World Economic Forum’s virtual State of the World sessions—Oxfam released our annual inequality report, Inequality Kills, which found that inequality is contributing to the death of at least 21,000 people each day, or one person every four seconds. Meanwhile, a new billionaire is […]

Map showing the extent of the heatwave in Western Australia on 13 January 2022, with large areas seeing temperatures of more than 45°C (113°F). A small town in Western Australia’s Pilbara endured the hottest temperature recorded in Australia in 62 years, with the mercury soaring toward 50 degrees across most of the region. In Onslow it hit 50.7 degrees at 2.26pm, the hottest day in Australia history since 1960, when temperatures in Oodnadatta Airport in South Australia also hit 50.7. Graphic: Bureau of Meteorology MetEye

January 14, 2022

Hottest temperature in Australia since 1960 recorded in Western Australia’s north as mercury soars to 50.7°C (123.3°F)

By Holly Thompson 13 January 2022 (WA Today) – A small town in Western Australia’s Pilbara endured the hottest temperature recorded in Australia in 62 years on Thursday, with the mercury soaring towards 50 degrees across most of the region. In Onslow it hit 50.7 degrees at 2.26pm, the hottest day in Australian history since […]

Satellite view with heat map showing temperatures rising to 45C (113F) in Argentina on 11 January 2022. At the start of 2022, Argentina faced a historic heatwave with temperatures soaring above 40°C. On the day this image was acquired, Buenos Aires recorded a temperature of 41.1°C, the second highest in the history of the Argentine capital. Photo: European Union, Copernicus Sentinel-3A imagery

January 14, 2022

Power grid fails as Argentina hit by record-breaking heatwave – Temperatures hit 45°C (113°F) with extreme heat set to last until the weekend

By Harry Cockburn 12 January 2022 (The Independent) – A historic heatwave with temperatures soaring up to 45°C (113°F) has hit Argentina, causing power grids to fail and leaving at least 700,000 people without electricity in Buenos Aires. Hot dry weather, driven by the Pacific Ocean’s La Niña weather pattern, has made the South American […]