The Daily Blog Open Mic – Wednesday 10th May 2017

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openmike

 

Announce protest actions, general chit chat or give your opinion on issues we haven’t covered for the day.

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8 COMMENTS

  1. 15 Years

    Do you know a child under the age of 15?

    Have you considered what kind of world they will grow up in?

    As the Labour Party stays welded to deep sea oil, and opening new coal mines…..

    Posing questions like this, can get you banned from The Standard, or publicly labeled as a “child exploiter”.

    http://www.msn.com/en-nz/news/techandscience/earth-could-break-through-a-major-climate-threshold-in-the-next-15-years-scientists-warn/ar-BBAXvh1?li=AA59FU&ocid=spartandhp

    • 15 years as if we could be so lucky.
      Sam Carana is giving humans as little as 1 – 4 years
      Hope its okay to post this ?

      Sam Carana added 14 new photos.
      April 24 at 9:28pm ·
      10°C OR 18°F WARMER BY 2021?

      SKYROCKETING EMISSIONS
      On April 21, 2017, it was as hot as 46.6°C/115.8°F in Guinea, in West-Africa. A little bit to the south, at a spot in Sierra Leona, a level of carbon monoxide of 15.28 ppm was recorded, while the temperature there was 40.6°C or 105.1°F. Earlier that day, levels of carbon dioxide of 569 ppm and of sulfur dioxide of 149.97 µg/m³ were recorded at that same spot.

      These high emissions are the signature of wildfires, illustrating the threat of what can occur as temperatures keep rising. Further emissions that come with wildfires are black carbon and methane.

      On April 22, 2017, AM, at an altitude corresponding to 218 mb, methane levels as high as 2402 ppb were recorded (magenta indicates levels of 1950 ppb and higher) and while the image doesn’t specify the location of this peak, it looks related to the magenta-colored area over West Africa and this looks related to the wildfires discussed above. This wasn’t even the highest level recorded that day. While at lower altitudes even higher methane levels were recorded that morning (as high as 2505 ppb), the image illustrates the contribution wildfires can make to methane growth at higher altitudes.

      Also added is an image that compares mean methane levels on the morning of April 22 between the years 2013 to 2017, confirming that methane levels are rising most strongly at higher altitudes, say between 6 to 17 km (which is where the Troposphere ends at the Equator), as compared to altitudes closer to sea level.

      On April 26, 2017, daily average CO₂ levels at Mauna Loa, Hawaii spiked at 412.63 ppm, while some hourly CO₂ averages for that day were well above 413 ppm.

      These high CO₂ levels were likely caused by wildfires, particularly in Siberia. As said, besides emissions of CO₂, wildfires cause a lot of additional emissions. Methane levels as high as 2683 ppb were recorded on April 27, 2017. While the image doesn’t specify where these high levels occurred, there are a lot of magenta-colored areas over Siberia, indicating levels over 1950 ppb. Another image shows carbon monoxide levels as high as 5.12 ppm near Lake Baikal on April 27, 2017.

      Temperatures on April 28, 2017, were as high as 26.5°C or 79.6°F near Lake Baikal. The satellite images show some of the wildfires and also show ice (in the left panel) over Lake Baikal on April 25, 2017, as well as over much of the Angara River that drains Lake Baikal. On April 28, 2017, much of that ice had melted (right panel).

      WARMING OCEANS, ACCELERATING TEMPERATURE RISES

      Oceans are hit by high temperatures as well. An image is added that shows sea surface temperature anomalies on April 21, 2017, at selected locations.

      Graphs are added that show temperature rises for land on the Northern Hemisphere and for oceans globally. The image uses trendlines based on data dating back to 1880, which becomes less appropriate as feedbacks start to kick in that accelerate such temperature rises. Indeed, temperatures could rise even faster, due to feedbacks including the following ones:

      • Less sunlight getting reflected back into space.

      More ocean heat results in less sea ice. This makes that less sunlight gets reflected back into space and instead gets absorbed by the oceans.

      • More ocean heat escaping from the Arctic Ocean into the atmosphere.

      As less heat is mixed down to deeper layers of oceans, more heat accumulates at or just below the surface. Stronger storms increase the possibility that more of this heat gets pushed into the Arctic Ocean, resulting in sea ice loss, which in turn makes that more heat can escape from the Arctic Ocean to the atmosphere, while more clouds over the Arctic Ocean make that less heat can get radiated out into space. As the temperature difference between the Arctic Ocean and the Equator decreases, changes are occurring to the Northern Polar Jet Stream that further speed up warming of the Arctic.

      • More heat remaining in atmosphere due to less ocean mixing.

      Warmer water tends to form a layer at the surface that does not mix well with the water below. This stratification reduces the capability of oceans to take up heat and CO₂ from the atmosphere. Less take up by oceans of CO₂ will result in higher CO₂ levels in the atmosphere, further speeding up global warming. Additionally, 93.4% of global warming currently goes into oceans. The more heat will remain in the atmosphere, the faster the temperature of the atmosphere will rise. As temperatures rise, more wildfires will erupt, adding further emissions, while heat-induced melting of permafrost will also cause more greenhouse gases to enter the atmosphere.

      • More seafloor methane entering the atmosphere

      The prospect of more heat getting pushed from the Atlantic Ocean into the Arctic Ocean also comes with the danger of destabilization of methane hydrates at the seafloor of the Arctic Ocean. Importantly, large parts of the Arctic Ocean are very shallow, making it easy for arrival of more ocean heat to warm up these seas and for heat to destabilize sediments at the seafloor that can contain huge amounts of methane, resulting in eruptions of methane from the seafloor, with much the methane entering the atmosphere without getting decomposed by microbes in the water, since many seas are only shallow.

      These feedbacks are depicted in the yellow boxes on the diagram.

      HOW FAST COULD TEMPERATURES RISE?

      When taking into account the many elements that are contributing to warming, a potential warming of 10°C (18°F) could take place, leading to rapid mass extinction of many species, including humans. So, how fast could such warming take place? It could happen as fast as within the next four years time.
      ——————————————————————————-
      FYI Lake Baikal has something like 300 gigatons of CH4 sitting in/under it’s fast thawing sediments. 50 gt is = to all the CO2 humans have ‘introduced’ to the atmosphere, I could have those numbers slightly skewed … it might be worse ? RA

  2. The cover ups happen in New Zealand as well and recently.
    Transpower grit blasted all their transmission towers between Lower Hutt and Palmerston North about 4 years ago, during the process they scattered cadmium, lead, and zinc all around the bass of each tower, covering roughly 1/2 an acre per tower.
    According to their GWRC permit they were not allowed to drop any of these pollutants/heavy metals on open water ways or swamp areas, yet it was 100% fine to scatter it over crop and grazing land … not
    Transpower faced a $300,000. fine for each transgression = at over 130 individual sites = $39,000,000 they got away with it.
    Maybe that’s why Alison Andrews is paid so much?

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