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Archive for July 17th, 2015
Thirsty birds are dying all over California — thanks, climate change
Posted by Grist: Amelia Urry on July 17th, 2015
Grist: You know that historic and disastrous drought currently turning California into one big heap of straw? You know how it’s probably being exacerbated by climate change? And indicative of the conditions that will become more common as the climate continues to warm? As if that weren’t bad enough on its own, there’s more: All those hot and dry conditions mean that climate change is basically flipping the bird to birds, which are in serious trouble as they make their long migrations over parched California....
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Greenland ice sheet melting more rapidly from impact of rainfall
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 17th, 2015
Environmental News Network: According to a new study published in Nature Geoscience, the Greenland ice sheet has been shown to accelerate in response to surface rainfall and melt associated with late-summer and autumnal cyclonic weather events. Samuel Doyle and an international team of colleagues led from Aberystwyth University's Centre for Glaciology combined records of ice motion, water pressure at the ice sheet bed, and river discharge with surface meteorology across the western margin of the Greenland ice sheet and captured...
Oregon implements rare fishing restrictions to help fish during drought
Posted by Reuters: Shelby Sebens on July 17th, 2015
Reuters: Oregon wildlife officials are restricting fishing on most of the state's rivers in a first-of-its-kind effort to help fish populations that are dying off from high water temperatures as the state suffers ongoing drought conditions. Starting on Saturday and until further notice, fishing for trout, salmon, steelhead and sturgeon will be prohibited in most Oregon rivers, including part of the Willamette River, which runs through the middle of Portland and will be closed to fishing at all hours. Most...
Paradise Fire Presents Difficult Puzzle For Washington Firefighters
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 17th, 2015
National Public Radio: Over 1,600 acres of old-growth rainforest have burned in Washington's Olympic National Park. As Ashley Ahearn of KUOW reports, the wildfire is expected to persist through the rest of the summer.
AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:
More than 1,600 acres of old growth rain forest have burned in Washington's Olympic National Park. It's the largest fire but not the first to burn in the rain forests of the park. Ashley Ahearn from member station KUOW reports.
ASHLEY AHEARN, BYLINE: The Paradise Fire is burning...
Montana train derailment spilled 35,000 gallons of crude oil
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 17th, 2015
Reuters: A train derailment in rural eastern Montana spilled 35,000 gallons (132,489 liters) of crude oil and forced the evacuation of about 30 people, a U.S. official said on Friday in an email to state officials. About 20 cars on the Berkshire Hathaway-owned BNSF [BNISF.UL] crude oil train went off the rails east of Culbertson, Montana, on Thursday evening, officials said. There was no fire and no injuries were reported. A hazardous materials team from BNSF responded to the scene and contained the spilled...
International report confirms: 2014 Earth’s warmest year on record
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 17th, 2015
ScienceDaily: In 2014, the most essential indicators of Earth's changing climate continued to reflect trends of a warming planet, with several markers such as rising land and ocean temperature, sea levels and greenhouse gases - setting new records. These key findings and others can be found in the State of the Climate in 2014 report released online by the American Meteorological Society (AMS). The report, compiled by NOAA's Center for Weather and Climate at the National Centers for Environmental Information is...
2014 Set Multiple Global Climate Records, NOAA Analysis Concludes
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 17th, 2015
Yale Environment 360: Several climate measures indicate that 2014 was the warmest year on record, according to a new report compiled by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Based on data collected from 413 scientists and 58 countries, the analysis found that sea surface temperatures, upper ocean heat content, and global sea level all achieved record levels in 2014. Four independent global data sets also indicated that 2014 global surface temperatures were the warmest on record. Earlier this year,...
Major greenhouse gases hit record highs in 2014: Report
Posted by Hill: Timothy Cama on July 17th, 2015
Hill: The Obama administration Thursday unveiled new standards meant to better protect streams in Appalachia from the controversial mountaintop removal coal mining process.
The proposed rule, from the Interior Department’s Office of Surface Mining (OSM), would update three-decade-old standards that create a buffer zone around streams, prohibiting mining activities and waste from getting near them and harming the ecosystem. Administration officials characterized the rule as a common-sense approach that...
Hotter, wetter, stormier: Study says 2014 climate melted records
Posted by Bloomberg: Alex Nussbaum on July 17th, 2015
Bloomberg: Global sea levels swelled to a high, tropical cyclones continued to multiply and the world’s thermometer set a record in 2014, according to a new report tracking the earth’s climate. The report, an “annual physical” for the world’s climate, found evidence of warming around the globe, from shrinking glaciers and Arctic sea ice to record levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. The compendium of data from 413 researchers in 58 countries was released Thursday by the American Meteorological Society....
Will Our Demand For Food Threaten Our Supply of Water?
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 17th, 2015
National Public Radio: Ecologist Jon Foley says agriculture is the "most powerful force unleashed on this planet since the end of the ice age." He says we're using too much of it to irrigate, and we have to rethink how we farm.
About Jon Foley
Jon Foley focuses on the complex relationship between global environmental systems and human civilization, using computer models to analyze changes in land use and resources around the world. Foley is the executive director of the California Academy of Sciences, where he heads...