The gulf stream is slowing
The powerful ocean current that bathes Britain and northern Europe in warm waters from the tropics has weakened dramatically in recent years, a consequence of global warming that could trigger more severe winters and cooler summers across the region, scientists warn today.
Researchers on a scientific expedition in the Atlantic Ocean measured the strength of the current between Africa and the east coast of America and found that the circulation has slowed by 30% since a previous expedition 12 years ago.
The current, which drives the Gulf Stream, delivers the equivalent of 1m power stations-worth of energy to northern Europe, propping up temperatures by 10C in some regions. The researchers found that the circulation has weakened by 6m tonnes of water a second. Previous expeditions to check the current flow in 1957, 1981 and 1992 found only minor changes in its strength, although a slowing was picked up in a further expedition in 1998.
The current is essentially a huge oceanic conveyor belt that transports heat from equatorial regions towards the Arctic circle. Warm surface water coming up from the tropics gives off heat as it moves north until eventually, it cools so much in northern waters that it sinks and circulates back to the south. There it warms again, rises and heads back north. The constant sinking in the north and rising in the south drives the conveyor.
Global warming weakens the circulation because increased meltwater from Greenland and the Arctic icesheets along with greater river run-off from Russia pour into the northern Atlantic and make it less saline which in turn makes it harder for the cooler water to sink, in effect slowing down the engine that drives the current. Thermal expansion of ocean water will double the increase from glacial melting and runoff from rivers and streams that empty in reaching the ocean.
The researchers measured the strength of the current at a latitude of 25 degrees N and found that the volume of cold, deep water returning south had dropped by 30%. At the same time, they measured a 30% increase in the amount of surface water peeling off early from the main northward current, suggesting far less was continuing up to Britain and the rest of Europe. According to climate modelers, the drop in temperature caused by a slowing of the Atlantic current will, in the long term, be swamped by a more general warming of the atmosphere.
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Friday, March 12, 2010
Climate Change, Time to deal With It
Global warming has become perhaps the most complicated issue facing world leaders. On the one hand, warnings from the scientific community are becoming louder, as an increasing body of science points to rising dangers from the ongoing buildup of human-related greenhouse gases — produced mainly by the burning of fossil fuels and forests. On the other, the technological, economic and political issues that have to be resolved before a concerted worldwide effort to reduce emissions can begin have gotten no simpler, particularly in the face of a global economic slowdown.
At the heart of the debate is a momentous tussle between rich and poor countries over who steps up first and who pays most for changed energy menus. People worldwide must come to the realization that we will have to pay now or later but we will pay in the end and the cost to the economies of the world will suffer greater the longer we wait.
96 percent of the worlds glaciers are shrinking.
The continued retreat of glaciers will have a number of different quantitative impacts. In areas that are heavily dependent on water runoff from glaciers that melt during the warmer summer months, a continuation of the current retreat will eventually deplete the glacial ice and substantially reduce or eliminate runoff. A reduction in runoff will affect the ability to irrigate crops and will reduce summer stream flows necessary to keep dams and reservoirs replenished. This situation is particularly acute for irrigation in South America, where numerous artificial lakes are filled almost exclusively by glacial melt. Central Asian countries have also been historically dependent on the seasonal glacier melt water for irrigation and drinking supplies. In Norway, the Alps, and the Pacific Northwest of North America, glacier runoff is important for hydropower.
Pine Island glacier in Antarctic is being depleted at the rate of 16 meters per year loss of ice depth Larson ice shelves a and b are already gone with Larson B being the size of Rhode Island
The recent collapse of Wordie Ice Shelf, Prince Gustav Ice Shelf, Mueller Ice Shelf, Jones Ice Shelf, Larsen-A and Larsen-B Ice Shelf on the Antarctic Peninsula has raised awareness of how dynamic ice shelf systems are. Jones ice Shelf had an area of 35 km2 in the 1970s but by 2008 it had disappeared.
Wordie Ice Shelf has gone from an area of 1500 square kilometers in 1950 to 140 km2 in 2000.
Prince Gustav Ice Shelf has gone from an area of 1600 km2 to 11 km2 in 2008.
After their loss the reduced buttressing of feeder glaciers has allowed the expected speed-up of inland ice masses after shelf ice break-up.
. The Wilkins Ice Shelf is another ice shelf that has suffered substantial retreat. The ice shelf had an area of 16,000 km2 (6,200 sq mi) in 1998 when 1,000 km2 (390 sq mi) was lost.
In 2007 and 2008 significant rifting developed and led to the loss of another 1,400 km2 (540 sq mi) of area.
Studies show of 244 glaciers on the peninsula, 212 have retreated an average of 600 m (2,000 ft) from where they were when first measured in 1953.
The greatest retreat was seen in Sjogren Glacier, which is now 13 km (8.1 mi) further inland than where it was in 1953. There are 32 glaciers that were measured to have advanced; however, these glaciers showed only a modest advance averaging 300 m (980 ft) per glacier, which is significantly smaller than the massive retreat observed.
Arctic arches that contain sea ice from escaping into the Pacific at the Bering Strait and the Atlantic at the Nords strait have failed to stop the doubling of ice released into the oceans with real possibilities of further diluting salt water and effecting ocean currents.
Geophysical Research Letters, used satellites and buoys to show that winds since 2000 had pushed huge amounts of thick old ice out of the Arctic basin past Greenland. The thin floes that formed on the resulting open water melted quicker or could be shuffled together by winds and similarly expelled. The pace of change has far exceeded what had been estimated by almost all the simulations used to envision how the Arctic will respond to rising concentrations of greenhouse gases linked to Global warming. Proponents of cuts in greenhouse gases cited the meltdown as proof that human activities are propelling a slide toward climate calamity.
The Greenland glaciers that cover the island contain enough water to raise sea level twenty feet, or seven meters. It was once thought (and that was only six years ago) that the glaciers would be self-sustaining even in a warming world because of size and so on. We now know that not only are the edges melting fast, but the surface melt is seeping through the ice to lubricate the junction between the glacier and the rock underneath. This is the unexpected factor that has turned scientific attention onto this escalating problem. When this happens much of this mountain of water will flow into the sea. Already twenty-one of the great glacial masses are moving seawards eight times faster than ten years ago and disintegrating three times faster than in the preceding five years. The Greenland, Alaskan and West Antarctic ice sheets together hold about 25% of the fresh water on the planet. The effects of the collapse of either ice sheet would be huge. Once you lost one of these ice sheets, there's no putting it back for thousands of years, if ever.
If they disintegrate, sea level could rise nearly 20 meters, possibly in only one decade. This would swamp most cities and ports, as well a much of the best agricultural land.
At the heart of the debate is a momentous tussle between rich and poor countries over who steps up first and who pays most for changed energy menus. People worldwide must come to the realization that we will have to pay now or later but we will pay in the end and the cost to the economies of the world will suffer greater the longer we wait.
96 percent of the worlds glaciers are shrinking.
The continued retreat of glaciers will have a number of different quantitative impacts. In areas that are heavily dependent on water runoff from glaciers that melt during the warmer summer months, a continuation of the current retreat will eventually deplete the glacial ice and substantially reduce or eliminate runoff. A reduction in runoff will affect the ability to irrigate crops and will reduce summer stream flows necessary to keep dams and reservoirs replenished. This situation is particularly acute for irrigation in South America, where numerous artificial lakes are filled almost exclusively by glacial melt. Central Asian countries have also been historically dependent on the seasonal glacier melt water for irrigation and drinking supplies. In Norway, the Alps, and the Pacific Northwest of North America, glacier runoff is important for hydropower.
Pine Island glacier in Antarctic is being depleted at the rate of 16 meters per year loss of ice depth Larson ice shelves a and b are already gone with Larson B being the size of Rhode Island
The recent collapse of Wordie Ice Shelf, Prince Gustav Ice Shelf, Mueller Ice Shelf, Jones Ice Shelf, Larsen-A and Larsen-B Ice Shelf on the Antarctic Peninsula has raised awareness of how dynamic ice shelf systems are. Jones ice Shelf had an area of 35 km2 in the 1970s but by 2008 it had disappeared.
Wordie Ice Shelf has gone from an area of 1500 square kilometers in 1950 to 140 km2 in 2000.
Prince Gustav Ice Shelf has gone from an area of 1600 km2 to 11 km2 in 2008.
After their loss the reduced buttressing of feeder glaciers has allowed the expected speed-up of inland ice masses after shelf ice break-up.
. The Wilkins Ice Shelf is another ice shelf that has suffered substantial retreat. The ice shelf had an area of 16,000 km2 (6,200 sq mi) in 1998 when 1,000 km2 (390 sq mi) was lost.
In 2007 and 2008 significant rifting developed and led to the loss of another 1,400 km2 (540 sq mi) of area.
Studies show of 244 glaciers on the peninsula, 212 have retreated an average of 600 m (2,000 ft) from where they were when first measured in 1953.
The greatest retreat was seen in Sjogren Glacier, which is now 13 km (8.1 mi) further inland than where it was in 1953. There are 32 glaciers that were measured to have advanced; however, these glaciers showed only a modest advance averaging 300 m (980 ft) per glacier, which is significantly smaller than the massive retreat observed.
Arctic arches that contain sea ice from escaping into the Pacific at the Bering Strait and the Atlantic at the Nords strait have failed to stop the doubling of ice released into the oceans with real possibilities of further diluting salt water and effecting ocean currents.
Geophysical Research Letters, used satellites and buoys to show that winds since 2000 had pushed huge amounts of thick old ice out of the Arctic basin past Greenland. The thin floes that formed on the resulting open water melted quicker or could be shuffled together by winds and similarly expelled. The pace of change has far exceeded what had been estimated by almost all the simulations used to envision how the Arctic will respond to rising concentrations of greenhouse gases linked to Global warming. Proponents of cuts in greenhouse gases cited the meltdown as proof that human activities are propelling a slide toward climate calamity.
The Greenland glaciers that cover the island contain enough water to raise sea level twenty feet, or seven meters. It was once thought (and that was only six years ago) that the glaciers would be self-sustaining even in a warming world because of size and so on. We now know that not only are the edges melting fast, but the surface melt is seeping through the ice to lubricate the junction between the glacier and the rock underneath. This is the unexpected factor that has turned scientific attention onto this escalating problem. When this happens much of this mountain of water will flow into the sea. Already twenty-one of the great glacial masses are moving seawards eight times faster than ten years ago and disintegrating three times faster than in the preceding five years. The Greenland, Alaskan and West Antarctic ice sheets together hold about 25% of the fresh water on the planet. The effects of the collapse of either ice sheet would be huge. Once you lost one of these ice sheets, there's no putting it back for thousands of years, if ever.
If they disintegrate, sea level could rise nearly 20 meters, possibly in only one decade. This would swamp most cities and ports, as well a much of the best agricultural land.
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Rebuild New Orleans
City and Port of New Orleans is one of the nations leading ports with over 500 hundred million tons shipped through annually. Right now local taxes collected on shipping accounts for 31 million dollars annually. Taking in to consideration the devastation incurred by hurricane Katrina and the still left unfinished cleanup and rebuilding needed to be done it seems quite reasonable to impose a surtax of freight coming through the port. With its new shipping terminal to be completed within the next two years it is projected that shipping traffic could double or triple in the next decade. The convergence of five major rail systems right into port of new Orleans and rail being one of the least expensive ways to ship products only guarantees growth that is projected. With ten million tourists coming to experience New Orleans per year there is another source of revenue to expand the rebuilding and cleanup of toxic waste that were deposited in the ninth ward and other areas. A reasonable surtax imposed on both shipping and tourist visits could generate one hundred million or more dollars per year to be used in the cleanup and rebuilding of New Orleans. The employment situation in the greater New Orleans area would improve by the influx of new revenue. With employment improvement tax revenues rise and a circle of good things happen with new businesses growing to support a better economic enviorment, further enhancing employment growth for years to come. With the right economic tools utilized New Orleans could become a model on how to reinvent a city that was virtually destroyed by Katrina.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Climate Change is no Hoax
The gulf stream is slowing, the arctic is thawing, methane is being released in enormous quantities from the permafrost which is thawing in Siberia and now Alaska and the northern reaches of Canada Methane is twenty times more powerful as CO2. Pine Island Glacier in Antarctica is losing sixteen meters per year in depth. Several years ago a chunk of Antarctica the size of the state of Rhode Island broke away. CO2 is at the highest levels in the atmosphere in recorded history. Ocean temperature has risen one degree worldwide with three degrees being catastrophic. The Greenland ice sheet is melting faster than scientist ever thought it would in our lifetime. Droughts are becoming prevalent where they never were. Scientist are alarmed at the rate of change happening around the world and the Republican party is still worried about corporate profits instead of focusing on climate change legislation. The Chinese leadership has acknowledged climate change and altered their own economic goals. Can you say catastrophic, you better because what is happening is we have reached a point of no return we just won't acknowledge it in terms of the earth is undergoing monumental changes that threaten the very existence of mankind. Our failure to act has caught up with us, I feel very sorry for future generations we have let them down in a bigger way than can ever be imagined.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Government Contractors
There is inherent danger in the United States Government endorsing and hiring a company that is a mercenary organization. They are a danger to the security of our country all the while claiming to be in the security business. If our military needs more people for combat, support or any other positions we must recruit more people into the military or if we must, reinstate the draft. But for us a country to hire mercenaries and other people to support our military is a dangerous avenue to start down. Who is to stop these thugs if they someday decide they don't like the policies being passed as legislation, are they going to start a domestic insurrection. We as a people must call, e mail or write letters to our congressmen and senators to demand an end to this type of action, we must let them know that we will not tolerate any excuses in the dismantling of the Haliburton type companies that undermine the very essence of what the Unites States is all about. This is the kind of dangerous organization who can and will start a domestic revolution or initiate their own domestic terror attacks to further their own ambitions.
Friday, September 25, 2009
The real cost of oil
Everyday we awaken to a new day and start it as every other day going on not paying serious attention to the one issue that so ties so many other issues into itself that it becomes so complex we do not fully understand the cost incurred. The present use of fossil fuels and oil in particular as the issue, needs to be discussed and forcefully debated to insure America's economic and military power into the new century. The new super charged economies of China and India will continue to increase the pressure for more oil when all geologists agree we are close to the pinnacle of known proven reserves and the ability to tap them. Oil is after all a finite resource that will soon begin its slow decent of production resulting in even higher cost.
The United States is now ending a war in Iraq that had it would never had been in for not be it the west's vast consumption and need for oil from the middle east we quite simply would never had gone to the middle east to start a war with a third world nation. The more competition there is for oil the more resources both military and economic are wasted in trying to secure our availability of oil. The largest oil companies in the world advertise their quest for new energy resources, this is simply not true, and they want to exploit the proven reserves that twenty years ago were more difficult to gain access to, not fund research for new energy sources. So we must assume they have no interest in doing so. Oil is so ingrained in our daily lives that if we fail to develop alternative fuels thousands of products from car parts to food containers and all plastic products we use will continue to spiral up in price with the cost of oil. All of the consumer products will need to be manufactured from new resources. It takes years of intensive research to develop new safe materials that will replace those in use in society today. Without a real national energy plan that recognizes the need for the United States to first reduce the thirst for oil in manufactured products, while developing an alternative to oil as fuel for industry and automobiles we will continue to be reactive instead of proactive in understanding the true cost. The cost of can only be measured not in the cost per barrel but in the cost in economic and military expenditure in lives lost or ruined, countries destroyed to maintain our access to oil the life blood of our economy.
United States government expenditures on the war in Iraq has already cost seven hundred billion dollars, a conservative estimate . It has now been reported the ultimate price of the Iraq war could top two trillion dollars inclusive of all lifelong treatment and payouts for injuries sustained. Trillions of dollars invested by the United States in new energy resources and energy independence would have gone a long way in the research and development of Hydrogen as the fuel of choice, that much seed money into a new and viable source of energy would have a positively tremendous effect on the economy. One may argue that oil has brought great wealth to many impoverished nations and that is true but at a political price.
Of all the major countries producing oil there are no democracies in the Middle East producers the only democracy in the Middle East is Israel and only time will tell in Iraq. Here in lies our hypocrisy as we support both militarily and economically the rich oil kingdoms were no democracy is present. Many of the oil rich Middle East countries use monies earned through their oil resources to sponsor terrorism either through training or harboring terrorist as well as suicide bombers. Terrorism is now part of the world as we know it and we will be fighting religious fundamentalists for eternity in their quest, Saudi Arabia is the biggest culprit as they allow the teaching of the Wahabbinism the most radical sect of Islam in their country who enjoys great financial backing from many prominent Saudi nationals. Syria, Iran and Pakistan are all complicit in one way or another in providing support for terror.
It all comes back to oil, they have it, we need it and we must really consider the real price of oil now and how much are we willing to sacrifice in economic terms military terms lives lost and countries destroyed in the future and when we arise and realize we have I misdirected energy policy and institute change to free America from a group of people from a region in the world that have clearly demonstrated they do not wish to engage people of the world with a pluralistic view.
Oil by its nature is the single largest contributor to pollution on the planet from the moment it comes from the well through its processing, oil spills from pumping, spills from tankers and the emissions from combustion contributes to more ecological disasters, pollution and cancers than any other fossil fuel on earth. These financial costs are so vast they are hard to measure but are surely into the hundreds of billions of dollars. The elected government officials do not protect their citizens against big oil and big business, pittance fines for oil spills and environmental miscues, heath problems resulting from pollution that lead to fatal diseases that are offered financial settlement is not protection. Money after your dead is not protection. The closer our policy is examined the more ridiculous it becomes, our elected government officials grant tax breaks to the industry that is the single largest contributor to ecological and health problems in the industrialized world. An industry whose access to oil in the Middle East requires forces the United States Government to act militarily to support that access and profits derived there from. Some of the profits are used against the United States by terrorists. Terror protection is not green, red, or amber warning on potential attacks, it is far more than that, it starts with being oil money being made and used against us by countries that pretend to be our friends. Our elected officials swear to uphold the constitution, they are responsible for the defense and economic welfare of the nation, and they are failing on the energy question miserably in doing so forcing a military hand to support the flawed policy.
Leadership is the only answer to the energy question with the failure of all big oil, the automobile industry and the American people unable or unwilling to quench their thirst for oil. Only visionary leadership willing to build the national coalition of government and private investment will America emerge with an energy policy that will provide one of the great economic leaps in the manufacturing and technological age. Visionary leaders are not influenced by lobbyist nor are they afraid to tell the truth, ask for sacrifice and engage the people to
succeed through the next American Century. Americans have been challenged several times in their short history and have always responded coming up big, done the right thing and been the envy of the world. The only question is, will we summon the leadership, devotion to cause and make the sacrifice to change the world one more time. That time has come as we forge ahead into the uncharted future with expectations and hope that we can succeed where others have failed, making the United States the envy of the world and not its scapegoat for their own social ills. In closing the true cost of oil is thousands of dollars per barrel not the market price we read in the Wall Street Journal in the commodities listings.
Thomas McMahonMillis Ma.tommic856@verizon.net
The United States is now ending a war in Iraq that had it would never had been in for not be it the west's vast consumption and need for oil from the middle east we quite simply would never had gone to the middle east to start a war with a third world nation. The more competition there is for oil the more resources both military and economic are wasted in trying to secure our availability of oil. The largest oil companies in the world advertise their quest for new energy resources, this is simply not true, and they want to exploit the proven reserves that twenty years ago were more difficult to gain access to, not fund research for new energy sources. So we must assume they have no interest in doing so. Oil is so ingrained in our daily lives that if we fail to develop alternative fuels thousands of products from car parts to food containers and all plastic products we use will continue to spiral up in price with the cost of oil. All of the consumer products will need to be manufactured from new resources. It takes years of intensive research to develop new safe materials that will replace those in use in society today. Without a real national energy plan that recognizes the need for the United States to first reduce the thirst for oil in manufactured products, while developing an alternative to oil as fuel for industry and automobiles we will continue to be reactive instead of proactive in understanding the true cost. The cost of can only be measured not in the cost per barrel but in the cost in economic and military expenditure in lives lost or ruined, countries destroyed to maintain our access to oil the life blood of our economy.
United States government expenditures on the war in Iraq has already cost seven hundred billion dollars, a conservative estimate . It has now been reported the ultimate price of the Iraq war could top two trillion dollars inclusive of all lifelong treatment and payouts for injuries sustained. Trillions of dollars invested by the United States in new energy resources and energy independence would have gone a long way in the research and development of Hydrogen as the fuel of choice, that much seed money into a new and viable source of energy would have a positively tremendous effect on the economy. One may argue that oil has brought great wealth to many impoverished nations and that is true but at a political price.
Of all the major countries producing oil there are no democracies in the Middle East producers the only democracy in the Middle East is Israel and only time will tell in Iraq. Here in lies our hypocrisy as we support both militarily and economically the rich oil kingdoms were no democracy is present. Many of the oil rich Middle East countries use monies earned through their oil resources to sponsor terrorism either through training or harboring terrorist as well as suicide bombers. Terrorism is now part of the world as we know it and we will be fighting religious fundamentalists for eternity in their quest, Saudi Arabia is the biggest culprit as they allow the teaching of the Wahabbinism the most radical sect of Islam in their country who enjoys great financial backing from many prominent Saudi nationals. Syria, Iran and Pakistan are all complicit in one way or another in providing support for terror.
It all comes back to oil, they have it, we need it and we must really consider the real price of oil now and how much are we willing to sacrifice in economic terms military terms lives lost and countries destroyed in the future and when we arise and realize we have I misdirected energy policy and institute change to free America from a group of people from a region in the world that have clearly demonstrated they do not wish to engage people of the world with a pluralistic view.
Oil by its nature is the single largest contributor to pollution on the planet from the moment it comes from the well through its processing, oil spills from pumping, spills from tankers and the emissions from combustion contributes to more ecological disasters, pollution and cancers than any other fossil fuel on earth. These financial costs are so vast they are hard to measure but are surely into the hundreds of billions of dollars. The elected government officials do not protect their citizens against big oil and big business, pittance fines for oil spills and environmental miscues, heath problems resulting from pollution that lead to fatal diseases that are offered financial settlement is not protection. Money after your dead is not protection. The closer our policy is examined the more ridiculous it becomes, our elected government officials grant tax breaks to the industry that is the single largest contributor to ecological and health problems in the industrialized world. An industry whose access to oil in the Middle East requires forces the United States Government to act militarily to support that access and profits derived there from. Some of the profits are used against the United States by terrorists. Terror protection is not green, red, or amber warning on potential attacks, it is far more than that, it starts with being oil money being made and used against us by countries that pretend to be our friends. Our elected officials swear to uphold the constitution, they are responsible for the defense and economic welfare of the nation, and they are failing on the energy question miserably in doing so forcing a military hand to support the flawed policy.
Leadership is the only answer to the energy question with the failure of all big oil, the automobile industry and the American people unable or unwilling to quench their thirst for oil. Only visionary leadership willing to build the national coalition of government and private investment will America emerge with an energy policy that will provide one of the great economic leaps in the manufacturing and technological age. Visionary leaders are not influenced by lobbyist nor are they afraid to tell the truth, ask for sacrifice and engage the people to
succeed through the next American Century. Americans have been challenged several times in their short history and have always responded coming up big, done the right thing and been the envy of the world. The only question is, will we summon the leadership, devotion to cause and make the sacrifice to change the world one more time. That time has come as we forge ahead into the uncharted future with expectations and hope that we can succeed where others have failed, making the United States the envy of the world and not its scapegoat for their own social ills. In closing the true cost of oil is thousands of dollars per barrel not the market price we read in the Wall Street Journal in the commodities listings.
Thomas McMahonMillis Ma.tommic856@verizon.net
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