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California’s snowpack: Now zero percent of normal—a worst case scenario for state’s water supply
Posted by Slate: None Given on May 30th, 2015
Slate: California's current megadrought hit a shocking new low this week: On Thursday, the state's snowpack officially ran out. At least some measurable snowpack in the Sierra mountains usually lasts all summer. But this year, its early demise means that runoff from the mountains--which usually makes up the bulk of surface water for farms and cities during the long summer dry season--will be essentially non-existent. To be clear: there's still a bit of snow left, and some water will be released from reservoirs...
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NASA: 10,000-Year-Old Ice Shelf in Antarctica Soon Be Completely Gone
Posted by Slate: None Given on May 16th, 2015
Slate: Earth's polar regions are in the midst of a stunning transformation. As global warming accelerates, evidence of change is perhaps most obvious in our planet's ice.
More than a decade ago, scientists watched in awe as Antarctica's Larsen B Ice Shelf shattered almost completely in just six weeks. No one had ever seen such a large mass of ice vanish so quickly.
Now, a new study from NASA, released this week, predicts that what remains of Larsen B will be totally gone in less than five years. Since...
New Study Says Climate Change Helped Spark Syrian Civil War
Posted by Slate: None Given on March 3rd, 2015
Slate: By now, it's pretty clear that we're starting to see visible manifestations of climate change beyond far-off melting ice sheets. One of the most terrifying implications is the increasingly real threat of wars sparked in part by global warming. New evidence says that Syria may be one of the first such conflicts.
We know the basic story in Syria by now: From 2006-2010, an unprecedented drought forced the country from a groundwater-intensive breadbasket of the region to a net food importer. Farmers...
South Aral Sea basin is now “completely dried”
Posted by Slate: None Given on September 27th, 2014
Slate: The Aral Sea--a huge part of it at least--is no more. According to NASA, "for the first time in modern history, the eastern basin of the South Aral Sea has completely dried.' Humans have been farming the Aral Sea area in Central Asia for centuries, and the lake has gone through spectacular boom-and-bust cycles in the past. But the lake hasn't been this dry in a long, long time. Speaking with NASA, Philip Micklin, a geographer emeritus from Western Michigan University, said, "it is likely the first...
Iraq Crisis Should Make Us Thankful For America’s Oil Boom
Posted by Slate: None Given on June 21st, 2014
Slate: But the quiet response is also a sign of something bigger. It's a subtle demonstration of how North America's fracking-fueled oil boom is paying dividends by making the world market more resilient.
Energy traders always add a fear premium onto oil. When instability (a raging civil war, for instance) hits a major petro-producer, prices race up, as buyers start to fret about potential nightmare scenarios that would cut off their supply. In the case of Iraq, that might mean attacks on pipelines or...