Cobra_Strike wrote:What I think is interesting...we already HAVE more then 2 degrees increase. Follow me here,
The energy that correlates to that 2 degrees was used to turn the 0 degree ice to 0 degree water.
Next time there will be a larger temp increase because that 0 degree water will begin heating up.
The amount of carbon dioxide being absorbed by the world's oceans has reduced, scientists have said.
they say it is a tremendous surprise and very worrying because there were grounds for believing that in time the ocean might become 'saturated' with our emissions - unable to soak up any more."
He said that would "leave all our emissions to warm the atmosphere".
Of all the CO2 emitted into the atmosphere, only half of it stays there; the rest goes into carbon sinks.
There are two major natural carbon sinks: the oceans and the land "biosphere". They are equivalent in size, each absorbing a quarter of all CO2 emissions.
As well, large areas of the Arctic sea ice are now only one metre deep, which means the thickness of the ice has halved since 2001 (Bjornes, 2007) and down from a thickness of 3.5 metres in the early 1960s, and around about 2.5 metres in the late 1980s and early 1990s (Blakemore and Sandell, 2006). The decrease in both extent and thickness suggests that the summer sea ice has lost more than 80 per cent of its volume in 40 years. When the sea ice thins to around half a metre in thickness, it will be subject to even more rapid disintegration by wave and wind action.
turmoil wrote:As well, large areas of the Arctic sea ice are now only one metre deep, which means the thickness of the ice has halved since 2001 (Bjornes, 2007) and down from a thickness of 3.5 metres in the early 1960s, and around about 2.5 metres in the late 1980s and early 1990s (Blakemore and Sandell, 2006). The decrease in both extent and thickness suggests that the summer sea ice has lost more than 80 per cent of its volume in 40 years. When the sea ice thins to around half a metre in thickness, it will be subject to even more rapid disintegration by wave and wind action.
That's pretty amazing. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that an ice sheet losing 80 percent of its volume would collapse pretty quickly at a certain point. It seems the IPCC estimates for Arctic ice cover were not based on volume.
Does anyone get the feeling that these guys really have no clue what they are doing? Nobel peace prize for what exactly?
roccman wrote:This is bad...really bad.
And there is not a damn thing that can be done.
The 2°C warming cap was always a political compromise, but with the speed of change now in the climate system and the positive feedbacks that 2°C will trigger, it looms for perhaps billions of people and millions of species as a death sentence.
If, for example, instead we were to apply a 0.5°C (or lower) precautionary warming cap, it would be necessary for the level of target atmospheric greenhouse gases at equilibrium not exceed about 320 ppm CO2e, a point we passed more than half a century ago.
Zardoz wrote:Nevertheless, it's staggering to get such definitive confirmation of our worst fears, and to learn that things may be far worse, and much farther beyond any possible point of retrieval, than even the most pessimistic among us thought possible.
zoidberg wrote:Secondly what is the danger of missing summer arctic sea ice? Is it in making Greenland's ice sheet more likely to melt? I read some handwaving in that regard, but nothing that firmly substantiates a link between the two. Furthermore....
Ah to hell with playing devil's advocate on this one. Does anyone have a nice world map showing the outlines of today's coastlines against the world with a 1 meter rise in the ocean? Might as well start planning for it.
americandream wrote:I reckon any hope of carbon mitigation is wishful thinking if we persist in maintaining the growth paradigm. The two cannot be reconciled.
Hemp pulp does not require as much (if any) of the acids needed to break down lignin as wood, does not require ozone layer destroying bleach, does not cause dioxin pollution, and has been called the "archivist's perfect paper." Restrictions on hemp have led to the destruction of about 70% of American forests since 1937, which were cut for paper.
The environmental performance of hemp based natural fiber mat thermoplastic (NMT) has been evaluated in this study by quantifying carbon storage potential and CO2 emissions and comparing the results with commercially available glass fiber composites. Non-woven mats of hemp fiber and polypropylene matrix were used to make NMT samples by film-stacking method without using any binder aid. The results showed that hemp based NMT have compatible or even better strength properties as compared to conventional flax based thermoplastics. A value of 63 MPa for flexural strength is achieved at 64% fiber content by weight. Similarly, impact energy values (84-154 J/m) are also promising. The carbon sequestration and storage by hemp crop through photosynthesis is estimated by quantifying dry biomass of fibers based on one metric ton of NMT. A value of 325 kg carbon per metric ton of hemp based composite is estimated which can be stored by the product during its useful life. An extra 22% carbon storage can be achieved by increasing the compression ratio by 13% while maintaining same flexural strength. Further, net carbon sequestration by industrial hemp crop is estimated as 0.67 ton/h/year, which is compatible to all USA urban trees and very close to naturally, regenerated forests. A comparative life cycle analysis focused on non-renewable energy consumption of natural and glass fiber composites shows that a net saving of 50000 MJ (~3 ton CO2 emissions) per ton of thermoplastic can be achieved by replacing 30% glass fiber reinforcement with 65% hemp fiber. It is further estimated that 3.07 million ton CO2 emissions (4.3% of total USA industrial emissions) and 1.19 million m3 crude oil (1.0% of total Canadian oil consumption) can be saved by substituting 50% fiber glass plastics with natural fiber composites in North American auto applications. However, to compete with glass fiber effectively, further research is needed to improve natural fiber processing, interfacial bonding and control moisture sensitivity in longer run.
Emisions will not be reduced significantly because coal will be used as a substitute for oil as well as being used as a source for electricity. Keep an eye on the artic and Greenland. Give it another 10 years at which point the melting should be enough to make it clear that significant impacts will be felt before long then.
shortonoil wrote:The earth’s temperate regions, where 90% of the planet’s population resides, are rapidly transforming into desserts.
A chunk of ice the size of the Isle of Man has started to break away from Antarctica in what scientists say is further evidence of a warming climate.
Satellite images suggest that part of the ice shelf is disintegrating, and will soon crumble away.
He said: "We flew along the main crack and observed the sheer scale of movement from the breakage.
"Big hefty chunks of ice, the size of small houses, look as though they've been thrown around like rubble - it's like an explosion."
A 41-by-2.5km (25-by-1.6 mile) berg appears to be breaking away, with much of the Wilkins Ice Shelf protected only by a thin strip of ice spanning two islands.
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