Climate Letter #1332

A primer on Earth’s energy budget (Forbes).  This slick presentation of a basic fundamental of climate science was prepared by an astrophysicist with the intent of keeping it simple but reasonably complete, and I recommend it for everyone to study.  Once you get interested and have questions you can do a basic search of the subject and find dozens of other explanations that may have slightly different numbers and will go as far as you want into spelling out more details.  Note that the amount of energy absorbed by the surface itself that is produced by the greenhouse effect is more than double the amount collected from sunlight, which gives the gases a great deal of leverage as the grow.  Sunlight absorption is leveraged at times, in this case mostly by changes in albedo, where the norm of about 31% can find all sorts of ways to go up or down a point or two.  Adding just one watt per square meter to the surface collection is expected to result over time in a gain of three-quarters of a degree to surface air temperature as an effect of outbound re-radiation.

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The chart from NASA in the story above shows a current ongoing imbalance of 0.6 watt per square meter on average for the whole Earth surface.  That is a critical number because it represents a lag in re-radiation, one that that is almost entirely due to the way energy is processed at ocean surfaces when captured.  A meaningful amount is caught by circulating water action and carried downward, where it heats the cool waters below the surface, some of it extending all the way to the bottom of the sea.  There is no similar activity on land surfaces, where practically all of the heat is quickly re-radiated upward into the atmosphere.  That difference explains why air temperatures over land are rising more rapidly than the air above ocean surfaces.  Once ocean waters below the surface become thoroughly saturated with added heat that will no longer happen, and the 0.6 imbalance will have disappeared along with a catching up of air temperatures above the ocean surface.  The 0.6 figure is an estimate, which other sources believe to be a bit low, but still enough to suggest that another half degree of air temperature increase is in the pipeline waiting for further warming of deep ocean waters.to be completed.
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This is a good time to bring up an interactive map of heating records for every point (64,800) on the Earth surface, for those who have not seen it.  Give it time to load, read the materials below about what the numbers mean, and then start exploring.  The records for most places begin in 1850.  Wherever you look, you can see that records of temperature increases over land will easily outpace those above the oceans, even when the pixels are side by side.  Pixels straddling the divided type of coastlines are always intermediate.
–I believe that whenever we stop increasing greenhouse energy the temperature increases of air over land will also stop rising, while increases over the oceans will continue until the imbalance phenomenon described above is eliminated and their average increase finally matches that expressed over land.
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The polar vortex may be ready to split into three pieces (Axios).  Events of this type are becoming more common as the Arctic warms, resulting in severe winter weather conditions in places farther south.
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New poll numbers from NBC News show solid increases in the percentage of Americans who see an urgent need for climate action (Esquire).  There is still a huge partisan divide, but severe weather events are having a noticeable effect overall.
Carl

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Climate Letter #1331

Just a short letter today, as real news is hard to find.

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The CO2 pathway followed its regular track in 2018, gaining a bit more than 2 ppm all along its normal seasonal course.  The two charts on this link, which are interactive, give you the best possible picture of what is going on.  There was an accelerating pattern of growth prior to the year 2000 but since then the typical annual increase has held close to the same as that of the past year.  The weekly and monthly numbers are always full of “noise” but the end result is a highly stable trend, making us wonder what it will take to even bring about a true slowdown, much less a complete reversal.  The goal of “zero emissions,” which is hoped for later in this century, would only cause the top curve to level out, which would be a tremendous accomplishment, and not bend it downward even a bit.  The latter would require the actual removal of substantial quantities of CO2 gas from the air, which is only a pipe dream at this time.
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How synthetics are altering human biology and the web of life (Aeon).  The author of this lengthy report has a PhD in environmental sociobiology and knows this underreported subject very well.  Because the effects are slowly accumulating, nearly invisible to observe and ultimately devastating this phenomenon should command the same level of interest as climate change, plastic waste, soil erosion and others of that same nature.

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Climate Letter #1330

Today there are not many stories to choose from, but I have found one that deals in a thoughtful and timely way with the most fundamental issues surrounding public attitude development.  David Roberts is a climate change journalist who is well-qualified to handle that job in a realistic way.  He covers a lot of ground in this essay and adds links to several pieces of specialized work that are also worth taking time to read.  The idea that truly radical changes are required is not easy for most people to assimilate, but any other approach to possible avoidance of a catastrophic outcome looks less and less convincing as the years roll by.

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Roberts makes several references by link to a rather tough-minded group called the Institute for New Economic Thinking, which he clearly draws some of his ideas from.  They have produced a paper exposing the destructive nature of popular attitudes that support unchecked economic growth, a view that certainly needs to be taken seriously.  This link gives you access to the publication, on PDF.  They have other papers available that also look interesting.
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Looking ahead to a new year, I always wonder about what purpose these letters serve and whether there is a way to make them more relevant.  There are all kinds of needs to be met, depending on each person in the audience, and no way to serve them all.  My highest priority has been to address those persons who have an interest in the science involved, want to learn more about its many principles and nuances, and wish to be alerted to anything that is new and possibly important.  The motivation to act on behalf of the climate is something that should come naturally, but I believe motivation can always use strengthening, and the best way to strengthen it—for practically everyone—is through deepening of the underlying knowledge.  The study of climate change is only partly about the knowledge of existing facts, which have become largely indisputable.  The hard part is about making the best possible assessments of what happened in the past, long before any written records were kept, and then to draw the clearest possible picture of what is most likely to happen in the future, either within or beyond control by human behavior, and always more uncertain than we wish.
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There is a bit of new science that helps to explain the way Earth’s climate changed in the past as a result of natural fluctuations in the atmospheric CO2 level.  The change we are making today in that level is much, much more rapid, but it seems reasonable to expect that the outcome would be comparable.
Carl

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Climate Letter #1329

Researchers are taking a close look at the complexity of climate change impacts (Scientific American).  There are ripple effects that often have surprisingly large consequences.  Many community planners are lagging far behind in making necessary preparations and can be helped by these kinds of studies.

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Australia is deeply troubled by rising temperatures.  Most of the population lives in coastal areas that are relatively cool but still sweltering and breaking records, with summer peaks still to come.  The biggest problems are experienced by farmers, who are not getting the rainfall they need and must also worry about fires.
–This global weather map (scroll down) clearly shows maximum temperatures averaging about 45C (113F) for a full half of the continent today, and not much cooler anywhere else.  This is a link you may want to keep on hand and watch for what develops over the next couple of months.
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What does the term “climate change” mean for the world today?  This report from BBC provides a good summary of things made very clear by facts on the ground.  There are high costs, and they are growing.  As Michael Mann puts it, “The impacts are no longer subtle.”
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A story about fifteen emerging trends that have significant effects on biodiversity, but are not commonly recognized.  Just two of these are directly attributed to climate change, both described at the top of the list.  One of the two could be especially troublesome on a global scale, dealing with the huge amount of mercury that is likely to be released by melting permafrost.  “Because mercury is toxic to humans and other animals, harms brain and reproductive function, and alters the function of plants and microbes, this release could have consequences for life around the world.”
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An optimistic report about the future of electrified aviation.  The CEO of a company that is pioneering development of commuter-size battery-operated aircraft expects to have  9-passenger planes available for the market in two or three years, with a prototype ready to demonstrate in 2019.  He believes it is inevitable that improvements in battery technology that are on the way, along with lighter-weight construction materials, will enable much larger planes to be in the air not long thereafter.  Economic factors alone greatly favor making the switch from diesel.
Carl

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Climate Letter #1328

A new impact analysis tied to the Amazon Forest Dieback hypothesis.  The hypothesis states that there is a tipping point for deforestation, beyond which there is no way to control the full conversion of the tropical jungle to an open savanna.  Currently, deforestation stands at 17-19%, while the tipping point, as recently amended, has been reduced to a range of just 20-25%.  The new study is based only on economic costs, which show that prevention is far more attractive for the Brazilian nation, which recently elected a new president who uses a totally different set of standards for guidance.  The rest of the world, plus innumerable species other than humans, also have an interest in the future of this enormous rainforest.

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‘Climate change impact on Iran doubles world average’ (Tehran Times).  “The effects of climate change on Iran has more than doubled on average compared to other parts of the world, while southern provinces of the country are more likely to bear the consequences…”  Other sources show much of the entire country rising at about 2.4C over the global pre-industrial average.

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The city of Hong Kong has a unique set of challenges with respect to the impact of heat waves.  That has made it useful as a case study for planning agencies.  The heat island effect is unusually strong because of the compact nature of its structures and lack of greenery.  Many people lack air-conditioning, leaving them especially vulnerable, and they may also be advised not to linger outdoors in the strong tropical sun.  The high and growing number of elderly persons have extra difficulties in coping.
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An excellent overview of all the things that are going wrong because of climate change.  Bob Berwyn, a veteran climate reporter for Inside Climate News, has a complete set of up-to-date notes, many of them uncommonly seen, mostly with charts.  The short video at the end, featuring the managing editor of ICN, is a frank type of statement that captures the true sense of urgency that is required if the worst risks are to be avoided.
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A pair of photographers who bring us images of some of the worst damage being done right now give us their own unique perspectives on the climate change story.
Carl

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Climate Letter #1327

A historical analysis of three different trends of temperature change, by Dana Nuccitelli.  Each year is characterized as being influenced by El Nino conditions, La Nina, in-between the two, or volcanic, differences in these four being the principal cause behind all the wiggles in the historical temperature charts.  Dana has compiled separate temperature charts for each type for comparison, leaving out volcanoes, finding each of their trends to be quite consistent.  2018 has been a La Nina year, but one of the weaker ones of that type.  We still need to experience the cooling of a strong type of La Nina before concluding that the overall shape of the trajectory has been bent toward a stronger upward curve, but plus 0.18C per decade appears to be safely entrenched on the low end.

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A new study surveys and collates the many ways that climate stresses in various parts of the globe find ways to intersect and influence each other, leading to dynamic interactions.  When this happens we get either a one-way domino effect or mutually amplifying feedbacks, both of which can bring nasty surprises. “We’re surprised at the rate of change in the Earth system. So much is happening at the same time and at a faster speed than we would have thought 20 years ago. That’s a real concern…..We’re heading ever faster towards the edge of a cliff.”
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From The Times of India, a review of ten of the year’s top climate-related stories.  You may find some details here that  are applicable but previously overlooked.  Based on my daily work, I have no doubt that climate change was in the news more in 2018 than any other since starting to write these letters five years ago.
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Every individual has a carbon footprint.  This story is about a family in Germany that made a serious effort to bring their numbers down.  They were not quite able to reach their goal, but ended up with a little less than half of the average for all German families, and still seem to be living quite comfortably.
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The search for a scriptural base on the side of climate action (The Guardian).  The author has found reasons for why evangelicals in the US have had particular difficulty in dealing with this issue, and describes some of the efforts being made to confront it.
Carl

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Climate Letter #1326

A forecast for global temperatures from the UK weather bureau.  The central estimate from the Met Office is plus 1.10C from the pre-industrial baseline, with a full range of 0.98-1.22.  That compares with the actual record of 1.15 which was set in 2016, and 1.08 in 2015, the #2 year so far.  A modest El Nino is figured in, but with a lower impact than that of the record year.  The overall trajectory since 1975 still follows a highly linear pathway which, if extended without interruption, would reach plus 1.5C by about 2040.

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The political response to climate change is being compared to the appeasement policy of Neville Chamberlain.  The author, writing for The Guardian, sees a number of global economic threats like those of the 1930s, on top of which climate change is invading world order much like Hitler’s armies did.  His evaluation of the current moment is interesting:  “Katowice was the real Munich and the feeble UN accord the equivalent of the piece of paper Chamberlain brought back home with him from his meeting with Hitler. Appeasement doesn’t work and merely delays necessary policy action. That was true in the late 30s and it is true again today. Ultimately, policymakers have a choice. They can put their economies on an environmental war footing or they can continue to bottle it. In the 30s, they acted in time, but only just. For today’s appeasers, the moment of truth is nigh.”
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The New York Times has an in-depth report, beautifully illustrated, showing how the warming of ocean waters is changing the nature of life on the Galapagos Islands.  There have always been roller coaster swings in those temperatures but now the baseline is rising, posing stiff challenges for adjustment by many iconic species.
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Some new thoughts about the prospects for ice sheet melting in Antarctica.  Evidence has been found that Antarctica, not Greenland, was responsible for most of the sea level rise—about 20 to 30 feet—that occurred during the late stages of the last interglacial period about 120,000 years ago.  Maximum temperatures during that period are thought to have been about one degree higher than what we have today—and are soon likely to match as things now look.  The evidence, while not yet conclusive, suggests that the West Antarctic portion of the continent’s ice largely disappeared for awhile at that time.  “Our record thus provides the first direct indication of a much smaller last interglacial West Antarctic ice sheet,” the research paper says, adding the work provides the historic geological context for the susceptibility of the West Antarctic ice sheet to collapse again.”
–A write-up in Science magazine provides a more expanded review of the study from which the above story was derived, with information about more testing to be done in 2019:
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A review of current progress in battery technology.  The featured product, developed at MIT, is heading toward the commercial production stage for likely availability by 2020.  Other new prospects are also discussed.
Carl

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Climate Letter #1325

Two new papers show why there was no “pause” in the global warming trend during this century.  These are a bit esoteric, and were composed mainly for the benefit of scientists who set up models for climate behavior and need to keep them fresh.  There are plenty of fluctuations in the observed temperature data, as clearly seen on all historical charts, which are due to any number of temporary conditions of an unusual nature.  The problem for scientists is to understand and consolidate the precise causes of each fluctuation.  Learning how to do that is an ongoing process and the best current models demonstrate a significant ability not to be fooled by erroneous interpretations.  Both of the papers, which are related in authorship, have DOI links at the end of the story if you wish to read them.

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More comment on the study that was featured in yesterday’s letter.  The link below sets up the chart that I recommended for the important story it tells about global climate history since 1900.  The top part of the first chart is worth another look, and it also helps to read the lower note about what is signified by each of the three lines.  This is a perfect example of a “pause” in the global warming trend, as it occurred in much of the last century, which was much greater than the one talked about in the story above.  It was not so much a pause as just a failure of air temperatures to do much of anything in response to a slowly rising trend of greenhouse gas forcing.  There was indeed a small response until about 1940, but that is when the post-depression cooling effect of aerosol pollution really kicked in and grew at a very much faster rate for 30-some years, after which it basically stabilized while shifting toward new regional sources.  Once pollution stopped growing actual temperatures could start to fully reflect the growth rate of greenhouse gases, but with some catching up still to be finished once the air becomes totally clear.  The aerosol pollution effect is very hard to measure, but we know it is there and that fairly good estimates can be generated, and we also know its cooling impact is of huge proportions.  The best example of such is seen in that stretch of time between the late 1930s and early ’70s.  (Don’t tell Donald Trump that the EPA was responsible for much of the warming trend we have seen ever since, as that will give him a new excuse for wrecking the agency.)
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A new study shows how models have correctly depicted the drought episodes affecting Cape Town, South Africa.  Three authors of the study give us an explanation of how the work was done and what it means.  “The results from different models vary but they all show that the risk of drought has increased substantially because of global warming. Our best estimate is that the risk of a drought of this size has increased by a factor of just over three…..In addition to assessing current risk, our analysis also showed that with a further doubling of global warming over today from 1.0 to 2.0 degrees – likely to happen sometime in the next 50 years – there is a further threefold increase in risk of severe drought.”
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A fascinating twist on the economic impact of sea level rise.  In Miami, as one would expect, it turns out that all of the low-lying real estate is owned by wealthy parties while the high ground belongs to the lower classes.  Because of the growing threat of sea level rise, far-sighted developers are starting to snap up anything they can buy on the higher ground, leading to a boom in prices, and a new set of problems for the city and those who are displaced.
Carl

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Climate Letter #1324

An important new study has key information about the historical masking effect of air pollution.  The effect, which is the result of burning fossil fuels, has blocked enough sunlight to reduce the warming caused by greenhouse gas emissions by a significant amount.  The actual amount of blocking over time has not been at all uniform with respect to either global regions or time periods, depending on when and where fossil fuel burning is being increased and when and where the most efforts are being made to clean up its pollution effects.  All of that is revealed in the study with an assortment of charts.  A key point is that once CO2 is added to the atmosphere it stays there for centuries while pollution must constantly be replenished on a practically daily basis.  Here is the main story:

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–Here is a separate link to just the figures used in the study.  The one at the top provides what I believe is the best information you can get from the study, for both the main details and also an overall explanation of what lies behind the overall global warming trend that we see all the time in various charts.  There just wasn’t much net warming before about 1975 because it was held back by huge amounts of pollution in the early developing countries like Europe and the US.  After that got cleaned up the temperature uptrend we see could get underway, but with a new set of effects caused mainly by the Chinese development trend that started around that same time.  Air pollution is destined to finally disappear if fossil fuel burning ever ends, as it must.
–One more comment:  The study does not provide any help with interpreting the temperature changes that come about because of all the net forcing effects.  Instead, everything is expressed in terms of watts per square meter, an immediate type of effect that is statistically applied, on average, to the entire surface of the globe, usually shown as a gain or loss over time.  Temperature changes will always follow, but only over extended periods of time.  As a rule of thumb, most scientists accept the idea that every net change of one watt per square meter will eventually lead to a change of 0.75C in the global temperature average once everything is in equilibrium.  The study calculations show that an end to the current air pollution caused by burning fossil fuels would add almost one watt of solar radiation to the amount that now reaches the surface.
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A new report stresses the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture.  This sector is the world’s largest source of non-CO2 emissions, in the form of methane and nitrous oxide.  These emissions represent 10-12% of the total power of all greenhouse gas emissions caused by human activity, making them an important part of any mitigation program.  There are some practical ways discussed for how this can be accomplished, with varying degrees of difficulty.
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A report on the cement industry and its massive CO2 emissions (BBC News).  This story is full of information about the growth and overall importance of a vital industry that produces 8% of the total CO2 emissions due to human activity, that somehow must be abridged.  The larger share of these emissions come from the processing of raw material, the rest from the required energy that is involved.  “If the sector has any hope of meeting its commitments to the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change, it will need to look at overhauling the cement-making process itself, not only reducing the use of fossil fuels.”  Possible ways of meeting that goal are discussed.
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A new forecast for global coal demand from the IEA.  The dirtiest of all fuels currently provides 27% of the world’s energy.  That market share is slowly falling, but there is still too much growth in demand coming from Southeast Asia.
Carl

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Climate Letter #1323

What was accomplished at the big UN climate conference in Poland?  There is quite a bit of variance in the takeaways, depending on what one may have been hoping for.  This link has a pretty good overview of the context and the main result.  “The two-week-long UN talks in Poland ended with clarity over the “rulebook” that will govern how the Paris agreement of 2015 is put into action, but the crucial question of how to lift governments’ targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions was left unanswered.”

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A Guardian editorial sees real progress in the fact that the set of rules agreed upon requires all nations to follow certain standards for the way they measure and report the emission cuts they have already pledged to carry out.  “Minds will now turn to the next deadline: 2020, when countries must demonstrate that they have met old targets and set new, much tougher ones.”

–Reuters puts more emphasis on the fractious behavior that characterized most of the two-week meeting, and the fact that the rules had to be saved by a last-minute compromise in an overtime session.    https://in.reuters.com/article/climate-change-accord/analysis-climate-talks-pass-baton-in-race-to-stop-global-warming-

BBC is in agreement about the importance of the transparency rules, but laments the lack of any sign of real ambition that could be agreed upon for doing more in the way of emission cuts.
Bill McKibbin has been following the disinvestment movement since it began in 2012 and can now give us a progress report that is rather amazing   The total size of responses to the campaign comes to just under $8 trillion (!) and pressures are growing on institutions that have not yet participated to join in.  The ability of producing companies to raise capital is being seriously impaired, and their credit ratings are falling.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/dec/16/divestment-fossil-fuel-industry-trillions-dollars-investments-carbon-
–Another well-known climate writer and activist, Australian Paul Gilding, has much more to say about the financial future of oil and gas companies that fail to completely transform themselves in a timely way, which he thinks will be common to most of them.  This prospect could serve as a more practical type of reason for investors to reconsider their current holdings.
A quick look at how technology has fired up the Industrial Revolution, along with and just like the energy of fossil fuels.  This chart shows the growth of world GDP per capita over 2000 years, getting a strong push from all the major inventions of just the last two hundred.  It really is a different world from the one even our most recent ancestors knew.
Carl

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