Desdemona Despair – Page 34 – Blogging the End of the World™

Estimated conifer vegetation climate mismatch (VCM) in the Sierra Nevada (2015-2020). (a) The conifer HSM projected to contemporary climate and overlayed on the modern conifer distribution (EVeg) reveals that up to 19.5% of modern conifer forest is in VCM, primarily along the low-elevation western slope of the Sierras. The total area of conifers shown is 40,495 km2, of which ∼32,500 km2 are in equilibrium with the modern climate. (b) Mean Temperature of Wettest Quarter and Mean Annual Precipitation were the most important predictors in the HSM (meanMTWQ = 0.518, SEMTWQ = 0.209 and meanMAP = 0.418, SEMAP = 0.139). Standard error bars are included in the barplot. (c) Boxplots show the difference between modern (2015–2020) and historical (1915–1955) climate within the conifer VCM regions. Change in climate is calculated as the number of standard deviations the modern climate differs from the historical period. Though the differences were statistically significant for each climate variable (p < 8.45 × 10−12, independent t-test), Precipitation of Driest Month showed the greatest decrease (mean = −2.41, SD = 2.84) and MTWQ the greatest increase (mean = 1.59, SD = 0.329) between the historical and modern climate. Mean Annual Precipitation changed the least within the VCM area (mean = 0.165, SD = 0.395). Boxplots include the median line, a box denoting the interquartile range, and whiskers showing values ±1.5 × the interquartile range. Graphic: Hill, et al., 2023 / PNAS Nexus

May 29, 2023

Researchers are discovering “zombie forests” in new places across the western U.S. – “Our maps force some critical – and difficult – conversations about how to manage impending ecological transitions”

By Brendan O’Leary 13 May 2023 (The Cool Down) – It’s no secret that our warming atmosphere has resulted in extreme weather all over the world, but there’s also a less noticeable consequence at work as well. Rising ambient temperatures mean that thousands of coniferous forests in California will be unable to replenish their numbers once they die. What […]

Aerial view near Jungersen Gletschur in Greenland. The white lines show where scientists believe the glacier edges were in 1900. Photo: Bob Elberling

May 29, 2023

Accelerated melting of glaciers in Greenland – Greenland’s glaciers have lost at least 587 cubic km of ice over the last century

26 May 2023 (University of Leeds) – A study has found widespread mass loss of glaciers and ice caps in Greenland since the start of the 20th century. The research provides critical insights into long-term changes to the glaciers and ice caps as a result of climate change, which has contributed about one fifth to […]

Angela Crawford watches as a wildfire called the McKinney fire burns a hillside above her home in Klamath National Forest, California, on Saturday, 30 July 2022. Crawford and her husband stayed, as other residents evacuated, to defend their home from the fire. Photo: Noah Berger / AP Photo

May 28, 2023

Insurance giant State Farm halts sale of new home policies in California due to wildfires – “State Farm General Insurance Company made this decision due to historic increases in construction costs outpacing inflation, rapidly growing catastrophe exposure, and a challenging reinsurance market”

By Gloria Oladipo 27 May 2023 (The Guardian) – The insurance giant State Farm, America’s biggest car and home insurer by premium volume, will halt the sale of new home insurance policies in California, citing wildfire risk and inflation of construction costs. Starting on Saturday, the company will not accept insurance applications for business and personal lines […]

Two of three male spotted owls released into the wild in the Fraser Canyon. Two died and the other was injured and returned to captivity. Photo: BC government

May 27, 2023

“All I see are ghosts”: fear and fury as the last spotted owl in Canada fights for survival

By Leyland Cecco 26 May 2023 Spô’zêm First Nation, Canada (The Guardian) – On a rainy spring morning, huddled under the shelter of an ancient cedar, Jared Hobbs hoots, whoops and squawks. In years past, he could lure curious owls by drawing on his extensive repertoire. Among them are the whoo whoo whoo whooo territorial calls, alarm […]

Satellite view of the Iberian Peninsula on 11 May 2023 and 11 May 2023. These images, acquired by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite, show where green vegetation in May 2022 turned brown by May 2023. The sparse rainfall further parched soils that were already unusually dry in 2022. According to a recent report by Copernicus Climate Change Services, soil moisture across all of Europe in 2022 was the second lowest in the past 50 years. Unseasonable heat exacerbated the prolonged drought. On 26 April 2023, hot air from North Africa swept over southern Spain and pushed the temperature at the Córdoba airport to 38.8°C (101.8°F), the highest April temperature recorded in continental Spain. Photo: Allison Nussbaum / NASA Earth Observatory

May 27, 2023

Drought in Spain spurs largest-ever claim for agricultural insurance – 2023 sees the highest number of fires and the most extensive burned area since 2006

By Akankshita Mukhopadhyay 26 May 2023 (Reinsurance News) – The drought in Spain would be the largest claim ever paid by the Spanish agricultural insurance, according to professional services firm Aon. Agroseguro, the leading agricultural insurance provider in Spain, is bracing for an unprecedented payout of over €300 million ($325 million) in compensations due to […]

A water meter stands in dry wetland in Donana natural park, southwest Spain as unprecedented drought hits the nation in 2023. Photo: Bernat Armangue / Africanews / AP Photo

May 27, 2023

“Murderers” and “criminals”: Meteorologists face unprecedented harassment from conspiracy theorists – “It was one of the hardest experiences in social media in my life”

By Laura Paddison 27 May 2023 (CNN) – “Murderers.” “Criminals.” “We are watching you.” These are just a handful of the threats and abuse sent to meteorologists at AEMET, Spain’s national weather agency, in recent months. They come via social media, its website, letters, phone calls – even in the form of graffiti sprayed across […]

a–f, Fraction of population (%; a–c) and absolute population (billion people; d–f) exposed to unprecedented temperatures (MAT ≥29 °C; a,d), left outside the niche due to temperature change only (b,e,) and left outside the niche due to temperature change and demographic change (c,f) for different SSPs. Calculations are based on MAT averaged over the 20-year intervals and population density distribution at the centre year of the corresponding intervals. Data are presented as mean values with the shaded regions corresponding to the 5th–95th percentiles. Graphic: Lenton, et al., 2023 / Nature Sustainability

May 27, 2023

Current climate policies will leave more than a fifth of humanity exposed to dangerously hot temperatures by 2100 – “For every 0.1°C of warming above present levels, about 140 million more people will be exposed to dangerous heat”

By Alex Morrison 22 May 2023 (University of Exeter) – Current climate policies will leave more than a fifth of humanity exposed to dangerously hot temperatures by 2100, new research suggests. Despite the Paris Agreement pledge to keep global warming well below 2°C (compared to pre-industrial levels), current policies are projected to result in 2.7°C warming by the […]

Two people shield themselves from the sun under an umbrella in Clementi, Singapore during a heatwave in April 2023. Photo: Gaya Chandramohan / CNA

May 27, 2023

Singapore farms see damaged crops, depleted livestock yields from recent hotter weather – “There are certain pests which are more prevalent in hot temperatures”

By Chloe Choo and Calvin Yang 23 May 2023 SINGAPORE (Channel News Asia) – Singapore’s farms are feeling the heat, as recent higher temperatures have damaged some crops and depleted livestock yields. Experts told CNA that erratic weather patterns could continue due to climate change, affecting food security and inflating prices. Singapore has been under a warm […]

Satellite view of Super Typhoon Mawar capture by the Japanese satellite Himawari on Friday morning local time, 26 May 2023. Photo: RAMMB / CIRA

May 27, 2023

Super Typhoon Mawar strengthens into most powerful storm on Earth in more than 2 years – Record-setting storm is among the 10 most powerful on record globally

By Matthew Cappucci 26 May 2023 (The Washington Post) – The most powerful storm system on Earth in more than two years, Super Typhoon Mawar, is raging through the Pacific, stirring up 70-foot waves amid 200 mph gusts as the atmospheric buzz saw cruises over warm ocean waters. The meteorological monstrosity could maintain Category 5-equivalent […]

A car is pictured stranded in floodwater after floods on 24 March 2023 near Corcoran, California, the biggest city near Lake Tulare. Photo: David Mcnew / Getty

May 25, 2023

California’s ghost lake nears size of Lake Tahoe

By Robyn White 23 May 2023 (Newsweek) – A ghost lake in California could expand to the size of Lake Tahoe. Lake Tulare in the San Joaquin Valley used to be the largest freshwater lake in the Western U.S. It dried up some 80 years ago when the land was re-developed for agricultural purposes. But […]