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Archive for November, 2015
Revealing glacier flow with satellite images
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 30th, 2015
ScienceDaily: Frank Paul, a glaciologist at the University of Zurich in Switzerland, has created animations from satellite images of the Karakoram mountain range in Asia to show how its glaciers flow and change. The images of four different regions compress 25 years of glacier changes into just one second, revealing the complex glacier behaviour in the Karakoram. The animations are published today (26 November) in The Cryosphere, an open access journal of the European Geosciences Union (EGU). The new animations...
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Paris Deal Would Herald Important First Step on Climate Change
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 29th, 2015
New York Times: President Obama and more than 100 world leaders will convene with thousands of diplomats on Monday on the outskirts of Paris to open two weeks of intense negotiations aimed at forging an accord that could begin to avert the most devastating effects of global warming and redefine the economy of the 21st century.
Here is a guide to what is at stake. If the talks fail — as they did in two previous attempts to achieve such a deal — then nations will continue on a trajectory that scientists say locks...
Shrinking ‘Himalayan’ Glaciers Ignite Fresh ‘Climate Change’ Concerns – Report
Posted by Inquisitr: Kamran Shah on November 29th, 2015
Inquisitr: Scientists have warned that shrinking Himalayan glaciers have initiated a pattern of potentially disastrous lake formations that could imperil settlements downstream in the event of an unanticipated overspill. New research has sparked fresh climate change concerns among scientists after a visiting team of researchers disclosed some extraordinary findings.
The eastern and central Himalayan region, home to nine out of 10 world`s loftiest peaks including Mount Everest has been experiencing a rapid...
Worldwide climate rallies draw tens of thousands
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 29th, 2015
Associated Press: Tens of thousands of people have taken part in rallies around the world on Sunday, calling on leaders to halt climate change on the eve of a major conference in Paris. Because of a state of emergency in France imposed after the Nov. 13 Paris attacks, many of the rallies are taking place outside the country.
But French police and activists clashed in Paris, with riot police firing tear gas to disperse protesters throwing projectiles. Here are some of the rallies that took place on Sunday.
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Rain and ice batter central U.S. as Texas death toll rises to four
Posted by Reuters: Karen Brooks on November 28th, 2015
Reuters: Flooding and travel delays are likely over the holiday weekend for a swath of south and central United States stretching from Texas to Kentucky, bringing up to a foot of rain in some places and killing at least four, weather forecasters said Saturday.
At the same time, an ice storm stretching from New Mexico through West Texas and Oklahoma and up to Kansas City knocked out power for tens of thousands of residents by Saturday morning. The system is expected to lead to airport delays across the...
What happened to California regulators’ vows to make steam injections safer?
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 28th, 2015
LA Times: On the morning of the day he died, David Taylor and his crew were looking for a "chimney" - a fissure in the earth where steam and oil periodically spurted into the air in an oil field west of Bakersfield.
Taylor, a construction supervisor for Chevron, had been battling a long-standing problem near a dormant well in the Midway-Sunset oil field. His job was to control leaks at Well 20 in a primordial tableau of sinkholes, small bubbling pools of scalding water and geysers that on occasion spewed...
Rachel Notley will sell a ‘different’ Alberta at climate change talks
Posted by CBC: None Given on November 28th, 2015
CBC: Premier Rachel Notley says she's heading to climate change talks in Paris to show the world it`s dealing with a new Alberta.
"I think it's just very, very important for people to see that they're dealing with a different thing now in Alberta, and hopefully they'll view our efforts to engage in international trade more positively as a result," she said.
One focus at the conference will be selling Alberta's new climate change plan in meetings with stakeholders and governments, focusing on buy-in...
Counties oppose bills to pre-empt fracking bans
Posted by Tallahassee Democrat: Jeff Burlew on November 28th, 2015
Tallahassee Democrat: County commissioners across Florida are opposing a push by lawmakers that would short-circuit their ability to regulate or ban fracking in their communities.
About 20 counties, from Leon to Miami-Dade, and nearly 40 cities, including Tallahassee, have passed resolutions or ordinances banning fracking, an unconventional drilling technique that’s generated controversy over environmental and health concerns. As of late October, the bans were in place in cities and counties representing roughly 8...
Energy-rich Russia pays little attention to climate change
Posted by Associated Press: Katherine Jacobsen on November 28th, 2015
Associated Press: When forest fires roared through Siberia this summer, so vast that the smoke blocked vast Lake Baikal from satellite view, Russian officials blamed the blazes on arsonists and disorganized fire crews. Environmentalists say there was another culprit: global warming.
As temperatures rise worldwide, areas such as Siberia are suffering increasingly long dry spells. Russia's national weather agency says the country is the fastest-warming part of the world.
But Russia has taken little action to reduce...
Rain and ice in central US linked to three deaths in flash flooding
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 28th, 2015
Guardian: Heavy rain and icy conditions are likely to stick around through most of the Thanksgiving holiday weekend in parts of the central US due to a slow-moving, complex weather system that’s being blamed for at least three flash-flooding deaths.
“There’s a pretty substantial shield of rain extending from parts of Texas across a lot of Oklahoma and into the mid-Mississippi Valley,” said John Hart, a meteorologist with the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma.
The National Weather Service issued...