SEA RISE FASTER, MELTING FASTER

Polar ice adding more to rising seas: study

(PhysOrg.com) -- The Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets are losing mass at an accelerating pace, according to a new NASA-funded satellite study. The findings of the study -- the longest to date of changes in polar ice sheet mass -- suggest these ice sheets are overtaking ice loss from Earth's mountain glaciers and ice caps to become the dominant contributor to global sea level rise, much sooner than model forecasts have predicted.

CLIMATE CLOCK RUNNING OUT?

Perhaps it has already.
One of the world's foremost experts on climate change is warning that if humans don't moderate their use of fossil fuels, there is a real possibility that we will face the environmental, societal and economic consequences of climate change faster than we can adapt to them.http://www.physorg.com/news/2010-12-climate-scientist-world-widespread-forestalled.html

Thompson list the following as supportive evidence:

• The ice fields atop Mount Kilimanjaro have lost 85 percent of their coverage since 1912;

• The Quelccaya ice cap in southern Peru – the largest tropical ice field on Earth, has retreated 25 percent since 1978;
• Ice fields in the Himalayas that have long shown traces of the radioactive bomb tests in the 1950s and 1960s have since lost that signal as surface melting has removed the upper layers and thereby reduced the thickness of these glaciers;
• All of the glaciers in Alaska's vast Brooks Range are retreating, as are 98 percent of those in southeastern Alaska. And 99 percent of glaciers in the Alps, 100 percent of those in Peru and 92 percent in the Andes of Chile are likewise retreating;
• Sea levels are rising and the loss of ice coverage in the North Polar region continues to increase annually.

"Everyone will be affected by global warming," Thompson wrote. "But those with the fewest resources for adapting will suffer the most."
Add the above with probable failure of the UN Climate Summit in Mexico it is clear that time is not on our side. People are still talking about carbon reductions years in the future; there has been no major move to alternative energies; there is no concerted effort to deal with climate change impacts and, the issues concerning the economy has center staged climate into a minor concern. People just don't get it and that is a shame because millions of lives are threatened and we just keep sleeping while 'our beds are burning.'

SUMMIT OF THE STATES? THE TUNDRA, ATLANTA AND MORE

A recent AP report (10/17) indicates that the Tundra, worldwide, is warming up. Caribou are on the decline as they have a hard time dealing with change and shrubs are taking hold in was once a permanent frozen wasteland. In the article NOAA said that the change was is rapid and occurring from Alaska to Siberia. This past year sea ice saw a reduction of 23%. As shrubs begin to take a foothold in the Tundra, the area warms even further as the darker earth absorbs more heat.

On the other side of the globe, residents of Ghoramara are fleeing rising sea levels as two islands are being swallowed by the sea. They have landed on the Sunderbans and are the first of what is being called “climate change refugees.”

Back on the home front, the city of Atlanta is down to a 90 day water supply. With no plans in place for getting more water, we may see climate refugees here in the good old US of A. According to state officials, Lake Lanier, which supplies water for some 3 million residents, may well go dry in the next three months. A dry summer and no hurricane activity have brought the region to a major crisis. If a La Nina develops the situation may get even worse

Water is also of great concern in India and China. According to an ANI article, the snows of the Himalayas are melting at an alarming rate. Some 500 million people in South Asia and 250 million people in China may also find themselves with dry faucets. One model run by the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment indicates that the North Pole may be free of ice by 2070.
An important thing to keep in mind is that many of these models are not capable of keeping pace with rapid changes in the climate. Few were able to take into account the thawing of the Tundra and the release of methane gas and now they have to take into account the greening of the Tundra. The fact that there still has been no real breakthrough in greenhouse gas reduction plans does not bode well.

The upcoming climate change meeting in Bali in December may be “make or break” for the planet. While the U.S. will attend the session, the Bush Administration is still rejecting the idea of mandatory limits of greenhouse gases, pushing instead for voluntary curbs. The problem is the point is being missed. While there is no question that we must reduce greenhouse gasses, climate change is happening now. The effects are being felt now and they only promise to get worse. Yes, we must try to stop making it worse, but we must plan now to deal with the effects that are already happening. We have no real plans for Atlanta; we do not know the impact of a thawing Tundra: glaciers and sea ice are disappearing at a more rapid rate than projected by most models and we have done nothing to deal with these issues.

Most experts had predicted that climate change would mostly affect third world countries. With 43% of the U.S. under a drought and Atlanta about to go dry, this may very well not be the case. Where will the dollars come from to quench a thirsty Atlanta? What will have to cut to pay the bill? We still have not managed to address the issues from Hurricane Katrina so what makes us think we can deal with other looming disasters? Perhaps there should be a Summit of the States here at home and some real planning can get started.