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Archive for November 9th, 2013
Sea level limbo in the Caribbean: How low can you go?
Posted by WLRN: Tim Padgett on November 9th, 2013
WLRN: The folks in the Bahamas hamlet of Dunmore Town seem blissfully unaware of sea level rise. One resort hotel operator I called in Dunmore, which sits on Harbour Island, dismissed it altogether.
“I was just down at our beachside bar,” she said. “I didn’t notice the sea level rising.” (Yes, she was serious.)
I told her I’d call back in 50 years. That’s because recent studies warn that by then, if sea level rise projections of about three feet or more in this century are correct, three-fourths...
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Arid parts of Kenya could get more rain as climate shifts – report
Posted by Reuters: Geoffrey Kamadi on November 9th, 2013
Reuters: Dry areas of Kenya could gain additional rainfall as a result of shifting weather patterns, a report on climate change and food security says.
Drier region not normally associated with crop production, such as Kitui, Samburu and Isiolo, could begin seeing enough rain to transform them into maize growing regions, according to the report, contained in a new book from the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and partner organisations.
The chapter on Kenya assesses how shifting...
Super Typhoon Haiyan: A Hint of What’s to Come?
Posted by Climate Central: Andrew Freedman on November 9th, 2013
Climate Central: Super Typhoon Haiyan was one of the most intense tropical cyclones at landfall on record when it struck the Philippines on Nov. 7. Its maximum sustained winds at landfall were pegged at 195 mph with gusts above 220 mph. Some meteorologists even proclaimed it to be the strongest tropical cyclone at landfall in recorded history.
Haiyan's strength and the duration of its Category 5 intensity -- the storm remained at peak Category 5 intensity for an incredible 48 straight hours -- raises the question...
Super Typhoon Haiyan a Wake-Up Call for UN Climate Summit
Posted by Huffington Post: Jamie Henn on November 9th, 2013
Huffington Post: The timing is tragically ironic. As Super Typhoon Haiyan -- one of the strongest storms ever recorded -- smashes into the Philippines, sending millions fleeing for safety, negotiators from around the world are beginning to arrive in Warsaw, Poland for the latest installment of the United Nations Climate Talks, COP 19.
Climate change is loading the dice for extreme weather events like Haiyan. The storms strength and rapid development have been aided by unusually warm ocean waters and warm, moist...
Ecuador in new probe to see if climate change worsens El Nino
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 9th, 2013
PhysOrg: Think Galapagos and you think nature in its most pristine expression. But the destructive weather phenomenon called El Nino turns coral reefs there a sickly white and sea iguanas scrawny.
And now, in an unprecedented experiment, scientists using unmanned submarines in the waters off the Ecuadoran archipelago are probing whether global warming is related to El Nino.
There is not yet conclusive evidence of a link. But experts are very serious about the possibility that climate change is making...
Siberia: Sold down the river
Posted by Ecologist: Margarita Baranova on November 9th, 2013
Ecologist: At the end of the 1970s, building started on the Boguchany Hydroelectric Power Plant (BoGES), in the eastern part of Russia's vast Krasnoyarsk Region. It was planned as the fourth hydropower scheme on the Angara river, a tributary of the mighty Yenisei. By the early 1990s the course of the river had been blocked by a concrete dam; and some villages in the area, scheduled for flooding, had been evacuated and demolished. But then came the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the project was frozen for...
Typhoon Haiyan flattens houses, triggers floods in Philippines; at least four dead
Posted by Reuters: Rosemarie Francisco on November 9th, 2013
Reuters: Typhoon Haiyan, possibly the strongest storm ever to hit land, was barreling out of the Philippines on Saturday after it flattened houses, triggered landslides and floods and knocked out power and communications across a number of islands.
In the central Philippines, nearly all houses in Tacloban in Leyte province with a population of about 220,000, were toppled and casualties were feared to be massive, a disaster official said.
"Almost all houses were destroyed, many are totally damaged. Only...