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Archive for September 19th, 2011
Times Atlas makes ‘absurd’ claims about shrinking of Greenland ice sheet
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 19th, 2011
Telegraph: The latest edition of the Times Atlas of the World claimed15 per cent of Greenland's former ice-covered land has turned "ice-free" in the last 12 years.
But scientists from the Scott Polar Research Institute at Cambridge University say the figures are wrong, and that the ice has melted by less than one per cent during that time.
Professor Liz Morris, a senior associate at the institute, said a "serious error' had been made.
She said the cartographers appeared to have muddled satellite data...
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Britain sees ‘two autumns’ as trees turn at different times
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 19th, 2011
Telegraph: Traditionally the season of "mists and mellow fruitfulness' falls in late September as trees begin to turn gold and shed foliage.
But this year many species lost their leaves early due to one of the warmest and driest springs on record.
The Royal Horticultural Society recorded leaves turning yellow on hazelnut, acer and laburnum at the beginning of August.
Horse chestnuts, or conker trees, lost their leaves early due to the leaf miner moth, from Turkey, that has been spreading across the...
In Ancient Pines, a Startling Shift in Tree Rings
Posted by New York times: Max Bearak on September 19th, 2011
New York times: Some bristlecone pines on Wheeler Peak in Great Basin National Park in eastern Nevada. The renowned bristlecone Prometheus was felled there in 1964.
Nearly 50 years have passed since a glaciologist by the name of Donald R. Currey got his tree-borer stuck in a remote Great Basin bristlecone pine (Pinus longaeva) about 10,750 feet up in the little-visited Humboldt National Forest of eastern Nevada. It would have been an unremarkable inconvenience had it not led to the death of what was shortly thereafter...
Some Pakistani flood victims refuse to flee
Posted by Reuters: Rebecca Conway on September 19th, 2011
Reuters: Rehmat Soomro and her family are threatened by flood waters ravaging southern Pakistan, and could face starvation and disease if they don't leave their village.
But unlike others, they refuse to move to a relief camp because they don't want to mix with other castes.
"We don't want to live with families of another caste," said the 40-year-old widow, standing in front of her small brick house, as waters crept up.
In Pakistan, caste divisions are so deep that some would rather put their lives...
More than 30 million climate migrants in Asia in 2010, report finds
Posted by Guardian: Fiona Harvey, on September 19th, 2011
Guardian: More than 30 million people were displaced last year by environmental and weather-related disasters across Asia, experts have warned, and the problem is only likely to grow worse as climate change exacerbates such problems.
Tens of millions more people are likely to be similarly displaced in the future by the effects of climate change, including rising sea levels, floods, droughts and reduced agricultural productivity. Such people are likely to migrate in regions across Asia, and governments must...
Tracking the Cracks in Greenland’s Ice Sheet
Posted by New York Times: Jim Witkin on September 19th, 2011
New York Times: Research on crevasses in the Greenland ice sheet may help scientists build better computer models to predict the impact of ice bodies on rising sea levels.
In a new study, researchers have observed an expansion of the crevasse fields in one portion of the Greenland ice sheet, a change that they suggest may influence how the ice sheets move toward the ocean and raise sea levels.
The researchers, from the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, a joint institute of the National...
Pakistan floods: monsoons bring more misery to millions – in pictures
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 19th, 2011
Guardian: More than 5 million people have been affected by monsoons that have brought flash flooding to areas of southern Pakistan. Prime minister Yousaf Raza Gilani has cancelled a trip to attend the United Nations in New York in order to co-ordinate emergency aid for flood victims, a move indicative of the situation's seriousness. Sindh province, one of the worst hit areas in last year's floods, has been badly affected, with five districts declared 'calamity areas' by authorities