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Archive for February 26th, 2013
NASA: Climate change thins forests in eastern US
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 26th, 2013
USA Today: Years of drought and high temperatures are thinning forests in the upper Great Lakes and the eastern United States, NASA satellites show.
Nearly 40% of the Mid-Atlantic's forests lost tree canopy cover, ranging from 10% to 15% between 2000 and 2010, according to a NASA study released this week. Other afflicted areas include southern Appalachia, the southeastern coast and to a lesser extent, the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada.
"There has been a series of summers — growing seasons for...
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Alberta regulator issues orders against Plains Midstream Canada
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 26th, 2013
Reuters: Alberta's Energy Resources Conservation Board, which regulates pipelines in the province, issued four "high-risk enforcement actions" on Tuesday against Plains All American Pipeline LP's Canadian unit as it wrapped up an investigation into one of the province's largest-ever oil spills.
The regulator said Plains Midstream Canada must implement new risk assessment procedures; conduct an emergency response exercise; and confirm that it has improved its backfill technique. The orders follow the April...
21 inches of snow? Blizzard buries Kansas record
Posted by Mother Nature Network: Douglas Main on February 26th, 2013
Mother Nature Network: The blizzard that pounded the southern Plains states yesterday, Feb. 25, added to the dumping the area received just days ago and has broken the all-time monthly snowfall record for Wichita, Kan. Yesterday's storm dropped nearly 7 inches (17.8 centimeters) of snow on that city, bringing the monthly total to 21 inches (53 cm) — the most snow the city has seen in any month since records have been kept, according to the National Weather Service. The snowfall also broke the city's record for February...
Wave Patterns In The Atmosphere Help Explain Weather Extremes
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 26th, 2013
RedOrbit: In recent years, the world has suffered from severe regional weather extremes such as the heat wave in the US in 2011, or the one in Russia in 2010 that coincided with the unprecedented Pakistan flood. There is one common physical cause behind these individual events, according to a new study from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research [PIK].
The findings of the study, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences [PNAS], suggest man made climate change repeatedly disturbs...
2nd major snowstorm in a week paralyzes parts of Midwest, knocks out power to more than 100K
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 26th, 2013
Washington Post: Schools and major highways in the Texas Panhandle remained closed for a second day Tuesday. Interstate 27 reopened between Amarillo and Lubbock, about 120 miles to the south, but the Texas National Guard was still working to clear much of Interstate 40 from the Oklahoma border to the New Mexico state line.
Some other roads reopened as sunny conditions began to thaw ice and snow-packed surfaces.
Just a day earlier, whiteout conditions had made virtually all Panhandle roads impassable. A hurricane-force...
Global warming and airflow changes ’caused US and EU heatwaves’
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 26th, 2013
Reuters: Global warming may have caused extreme events such as a 2011 drought in the United States and a 2003 heatwave in Europe by slowing vast, wave-like weather flows in the northern hemisphere, scientists said on Tuesday.
The study of meandering air systems that encircle the planet adds to understanding of extremes that have killed thousands of people and driven up food prices in the past decade.
Such planetary airflows, which suck warm air from the tropics when they swing north and draw cold air...
Peace and Dead Sea at a New Low
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 26th, 2013
Inter Press Service: Two of the three main objectives of the Red Sea-Dead Sea canal project grapple with how to "save the Dead Sea" and "build a symbol of peace in the region." With Israeli-Palestinians relations and the Dead Sea at an all time low, questions arise whether the "˜Red-Dead Canal' (as it is known in environmental jargon) could save not only the hyper-saline desert lake but peace itself.
If the grand project gets the green light from the World Bank, its implementation will depend on donors' investment....
Scottish Water Plans Biggest Wastewater Works in Century
Posted by Bloomberg: Randall Hackley on February 26th, 2013
Bloomberg: Scottish Water Ltd., the fourth- biggest U.K. water company, is planning the largest improvement in Glasgow’s wastewater infrastructure in at least a century.
The publicly owned utility said the 250 million-pound ($379 million) works program intends to improve the water and environmental conditions of the River Clyde and help control sewer flooding from heavier rainfall amid climate change.
Network upgrades and water-system works will include safety valves on the River Clyde and tributaries...
Germany Agrees on Regulation to Allow Fracking for Shale Gas
Posted by Bloomberg: Stefan Nicola and Tino Andresen on February 26th, 2013
Bloomberg: German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government agreed on draft regulation to allow the tapping of shale gas via hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, a practice the opposition says may harm the environment.
The legislation would outlaw fracking in water protection areas and near drinking water wells and would make environmental impact studies mandatory for new projects, Environment Minister Peter Altmaier and Economy Minister Philipp Roesler said in a joint letter obtained by Bloomberg News. The measures...
Extreme weather linked to climate change
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 26th, 2013
Agence France-Presse: Scientists said they have identified a physical mechanism behind the extreme weather that has plagued many parts of the world in recent years - and that it is tied to climate change.
Since 2010, for example, the US and Russia have each suffered scorching heat waves, while Pakistan saw unprecedented flooding.
Scientists from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) have traced the events to a disturbance in the air currents in the northern hemisphere, in a new study out on Monday...