The rising oceans: Coastal societies must adapt to the reality of rising sea levels and more frequent coastal flooding

By Dr John Church, CSIRO Fellow at the Centre for Australian Weather and Climate Research08 February 2011 Today there are more than 140 million people and a trillion dollars in infrastructure in the first one metre above high tide level around the world. Coastal areas (people, infrastructure and the environment) are already affected by extreme […]

Image of the Day: The 14 Artificial Islands of Durrat Al Bahrain Viewed from Orbit

Caption by M. Justin Wilkinson, NASA-JSCFebruary 7, 2011 [cf. Image of the Day: Artificial Archipelagos, Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Photo gallery: Satellite images of the ghost cities of China] At the southern end of Bahrain Island, at the furthest point from the cities of the kingdom, a new complex of 14 artificial islands has risen out […]

Pollutants in aquifers may threaten future Of Mexico’s fast-growing ‘Riviera Maya’

Tokyo, Japan (SPX) Feb 08, 2011 – Pharmaceuticals, illicit drugs, shampoo, toothpaste, pesticides, chemical run-off from highways and many other pollutants infiltrate the giant aquifer under Mexico’s “Riviera Maya,” research shows. The wastes contaminate a vast labyrinth of water-filled caves under the popular tourist destination on the Yucatan Peninsula. The polluted water flows through the […]

Asia faces climate-induced migration ‘crisis’

[cf. Climate mass migration fears ‘unfounded’] Singapore (AFP) Feb 6, 2011 – Asia must prepare for millions of people to flee their homes to safer havens within countries and across borders as weather patterns become more extreme, the Asian Development Bank warns. A draft of an ADB report obtained by AFP over the weekend and […]

Alaska seeing impact of climate change in its infrastructure, villages – ‘Many years ago this would have been unheard of’

By Molly Rettig, Fairbanks Daily News MinerJan 30, 2011 FAIRBANKS — Climate change has already begun to make life difficult for state transportation managers. And they expect it to become a bigger and more expensive challenge if warming trends continue as predicted. “With over 6,600 miles of coastline and 80 percent of the state underlaid […]

‘Hidden plumbing’ helps slow Greenland ice flow: Hotter summers may slow down flow of glaciers

ScienceDaily (Jan. 26, 2011) — Hotter summers may not be as catastrophic for the Greenland ice sheet as previously feared and may actually slow down the flow of glaciers, according to new research. A letter published in Nature on 27 January 2011 explains how increased melting in warmer years causes the internal drainage system of […]

Graph of the Day: Greenland Ice Melt Area, 1979–2010

The figure shows the standardized melting index anomaly for the period 1979 – 2010. In simple words, each bar tells us by how many standard deviations melting in a particular year was above the average. For example, a value of ~2 for 2010 means that melting was above the average by two times the ‘variability’ […]

New melt record for Greenland ice sheet

Contact: Dr. Marco Tedesco, Cryosphere Processes Laboratory, The City College of New York, mtedesco(at)sci(dot)ccny(dot)cuny(dot)eduMartin Sommerkorn, WWF Global Arctic Programme, msommerkorn(at)wwf(dot)noJanuary 20, 2011 New York (Vocus/PRWEB) – New research shows that 2010 set new records for the melting of the Greenland Ice Sheet, expected to be a major contributor to projected sea level rises in coming […]

Graph of the Day: Deepwater Channel Beneath Pine Island Glacier, 2009

Caption by Kathryn Hansen and Michael CarlowiczJanuary 19, 2011 In October 2009, a series of flights over Antarctica led to the discovery of a hidden feature beneath a floating ice shelf. Scientists participating in NASA’s Operation IceBridge mapped the water depth and seafloor topography beneath Pine Island Glacier and found a deepwater channel—a likely pathway […]

Incessant rain causing Indonesia crop failures

By Anthony Deutsch in CianjurJanuary 16 2011 20:44 Indonesian farmer Ujang Majudin pointed to rows of rotting chilli peppers, tomatoes and egg plants as clouds gathered again over his fields, already water-logged by incessant rain. With sharply declining yields and revenue, he faces the toughest season since taking over the family farm 15 years ago. […]

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