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Caution
Technical information and scientific data from the US Government agencies (NASA, EPA…) are subject to variation due to political expediency.
This caution also extends to the UN organizations (e.g., FAO, WHO…).
FIRE-EARTH will no longer reprint photos from NASA, as of August 2011.
WARNING: About 20 percent of the global population could perish by 2016
FIRE-EARTH’s population model shows mass die-offs resulting from human impact on the planet and the planetary response to the anthropogenic harm could occur by early 2016.
RANDOM. The mass die-offs would occur randomly.
UNSTOPPABLE. Once triggered, the chain-reaction created by the dynamics of mass die offs would burst out of control.
FIRE-EARTH Climate Models show climate change forcings and feedbacks switching global weather patterns onto “primordial tracks.”
The extreme weather events triggered by anthropogenic climate change have a four-prong impact on humans over the next 50 months. FIRE-EARTH models forecast:
Food production:
Average decline of 22% in the global agricultural output
Loss of topsoil and worsening of soil quality
Increases in the size and occurrence of dead zones
Large decline in marine food sources
Spread of Disease
Substantial increases in the spread of diseases
vector borne
Air borne
water borne
food borne
Increase in the spread of human immunodeficiency
Significant decline in air quality (and corresponding increase in chronic respiratory diseases)
Worsening of water pollution
Physical Safety
Major increases in the number of deaths and injuries, as well as large scale displacements due to the loss of shelter and livelihood caused by extreme weather and geophysical events including:
Tornadoes
Hurricanes
Storms and Extreme Weather
Flash Flooding
Drought and Deluge
Extremes of Temperature
Wildfires
Loss of “Seasons”
Earthquakes*
Tsunamis*
Volcanic activity*
The Combined Effect
Social upheaval, regional conflicts and wars caused by mass migrations and scarcity of basic resources resulting from the combined effects of the above.
[June 21, 2011] Mass die-offs resulting from human impact and the planetary response to the anthropogenic assault could occur by early 2016. SYMBOLIC COUNTDOWN: 1,730 Days Left to the ‘Worst Day’ in Human History
Red Flag, Severe Weather, Tornado and Flood Warnings, Hazardous Weather Outlook Throughout the U.S.
FIRE-EARTH Climate Models show climate change forcings and feedbacks switching global weather patterns onto “primordial tracks.”
The extreme weather events triggered by anthropogenic climate change have a four-prong impact on humans over the next 50 months. FIRE-EARTH models show:
FIRE-EARTH Climate Models show climate change forcings and feedbacks switching global weather patterns onto “primordial tracks.”
The extreme weather events triggered by anthropogenic climate change have a four-prong impact on humans over the next 50 months. FIRE-EARTH models forecast:
1. Food production:
Average decline of 22% in the global agricultural output
Loss of topsoil and worsening of soil quality
Rapid Climate Change & Extreme Weather Events
Drought and Deluge
Extremes of Temperature
Heatwaves and Late Frosts
Desertification and Dust Storms
Increases in the size and occurrence of dead zones
Large decline in marine food sources
2. Spread of Disease
Substantial increases in the spread of diseases
Vector borne
Air borne
Water borne
Food borne
Increases in the spread of human immunodeficiency viruses
Significant decline in air quality (and corresponding increase in chronic respiratory diseases)
Other viral diseases
Massive rises in mental illnesses
3. Physical Safety
Major increases in the number of deaths and injuries, as well as large scale displacements due to the loss of shelter and livelihood caused by extreme weather and geophysical events including:
Tornadoes
Hurricanes
Storms and Extreme Weather
Climate Change
Extreme Rain Events
Flash Flooding
Drought and Deluge
Landslides
Extremes of Temperature
Wildfires
Loss of “Seasons”
Earthquakes*
Tsunamis*
Volcanic activity*
Poisoned and Polluted Environment
4. The Combined Effect
Social upheavals, regional conflicts and wars caused by mass migrations and scarcity of basic resources resulting from the combined effects of the above.
Click image to enter NWS interactive portal.
Weather Forecast Map 18-19 June
Click image to enlarge.
GOES Western US SECTOR Infrared Image
GOES Eastern US SECTOR Infrared Image Click images to enlarge.
*[NOTE: Earth's geophysical activity help the planet to stay alive and healthy. Earthquakes and volcanic activity are among natural phenomena that comprise our planet's defense mechanisms. If you have difficulty understanding the concept of planetary self defense, consider the protective role of Earth's magnetic field against solar winds. Whereas CMEs, solar winds and geomagnetic storms are classified as external threats, the impact of harmful human activity on the planet can be regarded as internal threats.]
Artist’s impression of Earth’s magnetosphere. Source: NASA.
Simulation of Earth’s magnetic field in interaction with (solar) interplanetar magnetic field (IMF): The animation illustrates the dynamical changes of the global magnetic field in the course of a disturbance: a temporary compression of the magnetosphere by enhanced flow of the solar wind is followed by a tailward stretching of the field lines. Eventually, the increase of the tail magnetic field results in a sudden collapse of the nightside field (a substorm) and a gradual recovery of the magnetosphere to its pre-storm configuration. Source: NASA.
A Message to the Discovery Channel Science Team [and others]
Unless otherwise stated, ideas, concepts and information posted on this blog are the intellectual properties of the blog authors. Plagiarizing these ideas are unethical and run against the spirit of science.
Nine of the 10 warmest years have occurred since 2000, World Meteorological Organization (WMO) confirmed
The first 10 years of this millennium were the hottest decade since records began in the 1830s.
“The main signal is that the warming trend continues and is being strengthened year after year,” WMO Secretary-General told reporters.
“The trend, unfortunately, will continue for a number of years but the amplitude will depend on the amount of greenhouse gases released. It will depend on action taken to minimize the release of greenhouse gases.”
[What happened to the tipping point, still a taboo subject, WMO?]
Between 2001 and 2010, global temperatures averaged 0.45ºC (0.83ºF) above the 1961-1990 base and set a new record high for a 10-year period since climate records began in the 19th century, WMO said.
Top 10 Warmest Years
The 1901-2000 average combined land and ocean annual temperature is 13.9°C (56.9°F), the annually averaged land temperature for the same period is 8.5°C (47.3°F), and the long-term annually averaged sea surface temperature is 16.1°C (60.9°F). Source: NOAA.
Global Disasters in 2011 Could Impact 1/3 to 1/2 of the Human Population
The impact of anthropogenic and human-enhanced natural disasters on the population will be 600 percent more severe in 2011 compared with 2010: Fire-Earth Forecast
Earth is critically wounded and diseased as a result of human assault and battery.
Humans’ first wave of serious [near-fatal] assault on the planet began in the early 1980s and has since heightened in severity.
Our feverish planet‘s fight against the “human pathogens” is entering a critical phase. The earth is reacting by deploying geophysical phenomenon in her defense mechanism, as a result of which the impact of natural disasters on human population is intensifying.
In 2007 EDRO models showed that the intensity of disasters caused as a result of the human assault on the planet, and the planet’s struggle to heal herself, would lead to the first wave of collapse of the population centers globally by about 2012.
It already has!
The collapse has already started and would ultimately lead to the extinction [possibly near-extinction] of human race.
For the EDRO forecast to be true, the final years leading to the start of collapse, namely 2010, 2011 and 2012, must necessarily be progressively more disastrous.
Based on their models, Fire-Earth Moderators forecasted in December 2009 that the year 2010 would prove to be the most disastrous year on record. And with more than 100 days left to the end of this year, their forecast has already proven to be true and accurate.
What about 2011?
Fire-Earth models show that the impact of anthropogenic and human-enhanced natural disasters would be about 600 percent more severe in 2011 compared with this year.
Based on their findings, the Moderators estimate that between one-third and one-half of the world population could be affected in some way by various disasters that are forecasted to occur in 2011.
The death toll from rainstorm and landslides in central China reaches 12, with 42,000 people displaced
About 200,000 hectares of crops, 35 million tons of fish stocks, 2,850 heads of cattle and 105,000 poultry have been destroyed, a govt official said.
Meanwhile the death toll from rainstorms and landslides in central China’s Hunan Province reached 12, Xinhua reported the Hunan flood-control and drought relief spokesperson as saying.
The Day After: Where have all the Chinese Gone?
A worker is seen clearing debris from a a flooded street in Xinyu, East China’s Jiangxi province on May 13, 2010. (Xinhua Photo). Image may be subject to copyright. See FEWW Fair Use Notice.
At least 42,000 people have been relocated in the past 24 hours as the rainstorms pummeled more than 280 towns and communities in Hunan.
The rainstorms have destroyed or damaged 10,200 hectares of crops and 480 residential buildings in the region.
“The violent weather occurred five days after storms that killed 11 people and left two others missing in Hunan.” Xinhua said.
Heavy rains are forecast to continue buffeting Hunan province over the next 5 days “and neighboring Guangdong Province for the next two days, provincial meteorological authorities said Thursday.” Xinhua said.
People mend the road destroyed by the strong rainfall in Fengjia Town of Xinhua County, Loudi City, central China’s Hunan Province, May 8, 2010. (Xinhua/Guo Guoquan). Image may be subject to copyright. See FEWW Fair Use Notice.
In the bordering Jiangxi Province, flood levels rose to more than 6 meters near the railway station in Xinyu, the worst-hit city in Jiangxi, the report said.
“It was the strongest rain in the city since 1984, said Ge Suping, director of the Xinyu government.”
Since about May 5, flooding caused bu rainstorms in south China have left at least 86 people dead, 16 missing, and more than 200 injured, as well as causing about 5.9 billion yuan ($864 million) in direct economic losses.
Serial No 1,726. Starting April 2010, each entry on this blog has a unique serial number. If any of the numbers are missing, it may mean that the corresponding entry has been blocked by Google/the authorities in your country. Please drop us a line if you detect any anomaly/missing number(s).
Impact of Climate Change Despite the Massive Efforts of Fossil Fuel Industries to Spread Disinformation
The following is a summary of an EPA report titled ‘Climate Change Indicators in the United States’
Two points about the report and the summary:
What impacts of Climate Change are evident in the US also apply globally, with little or no exception.
Fire-Earth Moderators have selected those ‘Indicators’ that can be verified independently.
[NOTE: An indicator represents the current state of certain environmental conditions over a given area and a specified period of time. For example, temperature, precipitation, sea level, and greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere.]
Key Findings: Climate Change Indicators in the United States Report
The Greenhouse Effect(All images and captions are sourced from the EPA report)
The Earth receives energy from the sun, then radiates much of this energy back toward space. However, certain gases in the atmosphere, called greenhouse gases, absorb some of the outgoing energy and trap it in the atmosphere. This “greenhouse effect” occurs naturally, but human activities have substantially increased the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, causing the Earth to trap more heat. This in turn is changing the Earth’s climate.
U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions
In the United States, greenhouse gas emissions caused by human activities increased by 14 percent from 1990 to 2008. Carbon dioxide accounts for most of the nation’s emissions and most of this increase. Electricity generation is the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States, followed by transportation.
Global Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Worldwide, emissions of greenhouse gases from human activities increased by 26 percent from 1990 to 2005. Emissions of carbon dioxide, which account for nearly three-fourths of the total, increased by 31 percent over this period.
Atmospheric Concentrations of Greenhouse Gases
Concentrations of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere have risen substantially since the beginning of the industrial era. Almost all of this increase is attributable to human activities.
Climate Forcing
Climate or “radiative” forcing is a way to measure how substances such as greenhouse gases affect the amount of energy that is absorbed by the atmosphere. An increase in radiative forcing leads to warming while a decrease in forcing produces cooling. From 1990 to 2008, the radiative forcing of all the greenhouse gases in Earth’s atmosphere increased by about 26 percent.
U.S. and Global Temperature
Average temperatures have risen across the lower 48 states since 1901, with an increased rate of warming over the past 30 years. Average global temperatures show a similar warming trend, and 2000–2009 was the warmest decade on record worldwide. Within the United States, parts of the North, the West, and Alaska have seen temperatures increase the most.
Heat Waves
The frequency of heat waves in the United States decreased in the 1960s and 1970s, but has risen steadily since then. The percentage of the United States experiencing heat waves has also increased. The most severe heat waves in U.S. history remain those that occurred during the “Dust Bowl” in the 1930s, although average temperatures have increased since then.
Drought
Over the period from 2001 through 2009, between 30 and 60 percent of the United States experienced drought conditions at any given time. However, the data for this indicator have not been collected for long enough to determine whether droughts are increasing or decreasing over time.
U.S. and Global Precipitation
Average precipitation has increased in the United States and worldwide. Since 1901, precipitation has increased at an average rate of more than 6 percent per century in the lower 48 states and nearly 2 percent per century worldwide.
Heavy Precipitation
In recent years, a higher percentage of precipitation in the United States has come in the form of intense single-day events [See Hydrokong.] Eight of the top 10 years for extreme one-day precipitation events have occurred since 1990. The occurrence of abnormally high annual precipitation totals has also increased.
Tropical Cyclone Intensity
The intensity of tropical storms in the Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean, and Gulf of Mexico did not exhibit a strong long-term trend for much of the 20th century, but has risen noticeably over the past 20 years. Six of the 10 most active hurricane seasons have occurred since the mid-1990s. This increase is closely related to variations in sea surface temperature in the tropical Atlantic.
Ocean Heat
Several studies have shown that the amount of heat stored in the ocean has increased substantially since the 1950s. Ocean heat content not only determines sea surface temperature, but also affects sea level and currents.
Serial No 1,642. Starting April 2010, each entry on this blog has a unique serial number. If any of the numbers are missing, it may mean that the corresponding entry has been blocked by Google/the authorities in your country. Please drop us a line if you detect any anomaly/missing number(s).
Half the Energy Entering Earth System is Missing [sic]
What Happened to Basic Physics: A Bullshit Report by National Center for Atmospheric Research
Really? Could you permanently trap heat, as if by black magic? Is this trick cumulative too?
If this is good science, there is just one thing left for the National Center for Atmospheric Research to do! Only one guess allowed.
This satellite map shows the amount of solar radiation (watts per square meter) reflected during September 2008. Along the equator, clouds reflected a large proportion of sunlight, while the pale sands of the Sahara caused the high reflectiveness in North Africa. Neither pole is receiving much incoming sunlight at this time of year, so they reflect little energy even though both are ice-covered. (NASA map by Robert Simmon, based on CERES data.)
How much is the sum total of the missing energy?
“The gap between what’s entering the climate system and what’s leaving is about 37 times the heat energy produced by all human activities, from driving cars and running power plants to burning wood,” Reuters reported the report co-author John Fasullo of the U.S. National Center for Atmospheric Research as saying.
Absorbed sunlight is balanced by heat radiated from Earth’s surface and atmosphere. This satellite map shows the distribution of thermal infrared radiation emitted by Earth in September 2008. Most heat escaped from areas just north and south of the equator, where the surface was warm, but there were few clouds. Along the equator, persistent clouds prevented heat from escaping. Likewise, the cold poles radiated little heat. (NASA map by Robert Simmon, based on CERES data.)
Energy lurking deep in the ocean?
Are the oceans evaporating? Is the air temperature rising by 20 degrees Celsius each month? Are there any signs that the heat is taking time off at a popular holiday resort in the Caribbeans? So, where’s the heck is this missing energy? Is this a spoof?
“It might lurk in deep ocean waters in areas sensors don’t reach. Some of it could be the result of imprecise measurement or processing of satellite or sensor data. But the greenhouse-caused heat gap is definitely there,” Reuters reported the authors as saying.
Half of the energy gap is unaccounted for, Fasullo and his co-author Kevin Trenberth said. “It hasn’t left the climate system but it hasn’t been detected with satellites, ocean sensors or other technology,” Reuters reported them as saying.
Try recalibrating your instruments instead of playing “silly buggers” with fundamental physics!
Well, things started getting out of hand around late 1970s to early 1980s. So the authors are probably talking about a 30-year period where half of the energy arriving, stayed behind. Here’s some basic calculation:
Total rate of solar energy received by the planet: ~ 180 prtawatts, PW [one PW is 10^15]
[NOTE: about half of that energy, 90PW, reaches the Earth's surface]
180 ÷ 2 = 90 PW retained by Earth system [according to the report authors]
90PW x 25 years x 31,556,926 seconds= 7.1 Exp10 PJ [71 yottajoules, or 71Exp24] is the total rate of energy lurking in the oceans [according to the report authors]
Volume of water on earth: 1.3 billion cubic kilometers of water [1.3Exp21 liter]
Definition of Mean Calorie [4.19J]: The amount of energy required to warm one gram of air-free water by 1°C under standard atmospheric pressure.
Energy required to raise the temperature of 1kg [~1 liter] of ocean water by one degree: ~ 4.2 kJ.
The average rise in the ocean temperatures, if what the authors are saying were remotely plausible: ~ 13 degrees°C
On average, 340 watts per square meter of solar energy arrives at the top of the atmosphere. Earth returns an equal amount of energy back to space by reflecting some incoming light and by radiating heat (thermal infrared energy). Most solar energy is absorbed at the surface, while most heat is radiated back to space by the atmosphere. Earth’s average surface temperature is maintained by two large, opposing energy fluxes between the atmosphere and the ground (right)—the greenhouse effect. NASA illustration by Robert Simmon, adapted from Trenberth et al. 2009, using CERES flux estimates provided by Norman Loeb.)
How do we removed the last vestiges of credibility from the impact of GHG on Earth
Blame the ghost energy on the rise in greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Then come up with dumb statement like “half of the energy coming into Earth’s climate system is missing, but it could eventually reappear as another sign of climate change.”
The net effect of the above would work magic on rubbishing everything associated with GHG cause of climate change.
“The heat will come back to haunt us [like a ghost] sooner or later [as all nasty ghosts do,]” Trenberth said. “It is critical to track the build-up of energy in our climate system so we can understand what is happening and predict our future climate.”
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Serial No 1,520. Starting today, each new post on this blog has been allocated a serial number. If any of the numbers is missing, it may mean the corresponding entry has been blocked by the authorities/Google in your country. Please drop us a line, if you detect any missing numbers.
submitted by a reader
Obama Hates Himself, His Kids, His Family and Rest of the World
He hates himself because he is emotionally unstable, has a weak character and has been trodden on all his life.
His hatred for rest of the world is all too evident in Iraq and Afghanistan. He has the blood of thousands of people on his hands, and it won’t wash off.
But, above all, he hates his kids. He couldn’t give a damn if they had a chance, a future, or not.
He has just unveiled plans for a “limited expansion” of offshore oil and gas drilling shamelessly disguised as winning Republican support for new strategies to fight climate change.
The moratoriums on offshore exploration which were secured in the 1980s are all out of the window. [This is what the President had earlier called "hope and change."]
Oh, and he hates wildlife, especially in the coastal areas.
President B.O. is a pathological liar, too.
AssociatedPress — March 31, 2010 — Reversing a ban on oil and gas drilling off most U.S. shores, President Barack Obama announced an expansive new policy that could put oil and natural gas platforms in waters along the Atlantic coastline, the Gulf of Mexico and parts of Alaska.
If the national security of a country entails the health and well-being of its people, then Obama’s plan to expand offshore oil and gas drilling is a direct threat to the national security of the United States.
Here’s the unintelligent lies he delivered at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland recently:
“Today we’re announcing the expansion of offshore oil and gas exploration, but in ways that balance the need to harness domestic energy resources and the need to protect America’s natural resources.”
“Drilling alone can’t come close to meeting our long-term energy needs, and for the sake of our planet and our energy independence, we need to begin the transition to cleaner fuels now,” Obama said.
Just exactly what are our “long-term energy needs?” What exactly are your plans for saving the planet? What are “cleaner fuels?” How much cleaner are they? Exactly, how much of these cleaner fuels do you have in mind?
Note that everything is left vague and in a haze of uncertainty in the hope that somehow you’ll figure it out, making sense out of his utter nonsense. He hopes the majority will never catch on to the truth. Will you ever stop bullcrapping?
“I know that we can come together to pass comprehensive energy and climate legislation that’s going to foster new energy—new industries, create millions of new jobs, protect our planet, and help us become more energy independent,” Obama added.
What a load of hot doublespeak, Mr President.
“My administration will consider potential new areas for development in the mid and south Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico.”
Meanwhile, his administration announced the cancellation of oil and gas drilling leases in the Bristol Bay area [for now, at least!] as well as four other [useless, unwanted] leases in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas off the north coast of Alaska. The region will remain available to “future scientific research to assess their suitability for leasing.”
DOI Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Strategy – Lower 48 – Click image to enlarge.
DOI Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Strategy – Eastern Coast of Mexico Planning Area – Click image to enlarge.
DOI Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Strategy – Alaska Strategy – Click image to enlarge.
“There will be those who strongly disagree with this decision,” said Obama with a smirk.
No shit, Mr B.O.
What would his plan really mean
Continued addiction to oil
More intense, faster paces of climate change
Wilder climatic swings
Deadlier weather patterns
More oil spills
More sea and coastal pollution
Additional threats to marine life
More threats to the livelihood of coastal communities
May something have mercy on hid kids because, sure as climate change, nature will be inclement.
The Earth Institute at Columbia University (EICU) believes they may have the answer to at least one part of that question. Drought and deluge seem to have driven the ancient Khmer civilization to collapse.
Kudos to EICU for identifying at least one of the probable causes of collapse of the ancient Khmer Empire. And we are convinced they can do a lot more to explore the role of the above-mentioned factors in the looming collapse.
The following is a public release by the EICU:
Did climate influence Angkor’s collapse?
Evidence suggests changing environment can bring down a civilization
Decades of drought, interspersed with intense monsoon rains, may have helped bring about the fall of Cambodia’s ancient Khmer civilization at Angkor nearly 600 years ago, according to an analysis of tree rings, archeological remains and other evidence. The study, published this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, may also shed light on what drives—and disrupts—the rainy season across much of Asia, which waters crops for nearly half the world’s population.
The temple of Angkor Wat, Cambodia (aerial photo). The religious complex of Angkor Wat was center of a civilization that depended for irrigation on a vast network of canals, embankments and reservoirs. Credit: Charles J Sharp
Historians have offered various explanations for the fall of an empire that stretched across much of Southeast Asia between the 9th and 14th centuries, from deforestation to conflict with rival kingdoms. But the new study offers the strongest evidence yet that two severe droughts, punctuated by bouts of heavy monsoon rain, may have weakened the empire by shrinking water supplies for drinking and agriculture, and damaging Angkor’s vast irrigation system, which was central to its economy. The kingdom is thought to have collapsed in 1431 after a raid by the Siamese from present-day Thailand. The carved stone temples of its religious center, Angkor Wat, are today a major tourist destination, but much of the rest of the civilization has sunk back into the landscape.
“Angkor at that time faced a number of problems—social, political and cultural. Environmental change pushed the ancient Khmers to the limit and they weren’t able to adapt,” said the study’s lead author, Brendan Buckley, a climate scientist and tree-ring specialist at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. “I wouldn’t say climate caused the collapse, but a 30-year drought had to have had an impact.”
Scientists led by Buckley were able to reconstruct 759 years of past climate in the region surrounding Angkor by studying the annual growth rings of a cypress tree, Fokienia hodginsii, growing in the highlands of Vietnam’s Bidoup Nui Ba National Park, about 700 kilometers away. By hiking high into the mountain cloud forests, the researchers were able to find rare specimens over 1,000 years old that had not been touched by loggers. After extracting tiny cores of wood showing the trees’ annual growth rings, researchers reconstructed year-to-year moisture levels in this part of Southeast Asia from 1250 to 2008. The tree rings revealed evidence of a mega-drought lasting three decades—from the 1330s to 1360s– followed by a more severe but shorter drought from the 1400s to 1420s. Written records corroborate the latter drought, which may have been felt as far away as Sri Lanka and central China.
The droughts may have been devastating for a civilization dependent on farming and an irrigation system of reservoirs, canals and embankments sprawling across more than a thousand square kilometers. The droughts could have led to crop failure and a rise in infectious disease, and both problems would have been exacerbated by the density of the population, Buckley says.
The study also finds that the droughts were punctuated by several extraordinarily intense rainy seasons that may have damaged Angkor’s hydraulic system. During a normal monsoon season, Angkor’s hydraulic network could have handled heavy downpours, but after extended droughts, the system may have been vulnerable to massive siltation and clogging, the study suggests. Layers of coarse debris and other sediments found blocking some canals appear to have been laid down suddenly. In other spots, apparently sudden erosion cut canals as much as 8 meters below the surrounding landscape, potentially destabilizing the hydraulic system. Archeologists have found additional evidence that canals were rebuilt and rerouted to cope with water shortages.
In compiling the longest tropical tree ring record to date, researchers found that the third-driest, and the driest, years in the last 760 years occurred back to back in 1402 and 1403, about three decades before Angkor’s fall. The second driest was 1888, which coincided with the 1888-1889 El Niño, a cyclical warming of the tropical Pacific Ocean. By correlating known El Niño cycles measured with modern instruments, researchers have documented how the cyclical warming and cooling of the tropical Pacific Ocean brings rain to some places and drought to others. The authors of the current study and other researchers suggest that El Niño, possibly abetted by longer, decades-long cycles across the Pacific basin, may have played an important role in shutting down the monsoon rains in this region, creating withering droughts in the past. Some scientists suspect that warming of the global climate may intensify these cycles in the future, raising the possibility of alternating Angkor-like droughts and destructive floods that could affect billions of people.
Similar studies suggest that abrupt environmental changes may have pushed other ancient civilizations over the edge, including the Anasazi people of the southwestern United States; the Maya people of Central America, and the Akkadian people of Mesopotamia. There is some evidence that other once-powerful kingdoms in what is now Vietnam and Myanmar may have fallen during the late 1700s, following extreme dry and wet periods.
“Both human society and the erth’s climate system are complex systems capable of unexpected behavior. Through the long-term perspective offered by climate and archaeological records, we can start to identify and understand the myriad ways they may interact,” said study coauthor Kevin Anchukaitis, a tree ring scientist at Lamont. “The evidence from monsoon Asia should remind us that complex civilizations are still quite vulnerable to climate variability and change.”
0O0
Related link: An audio slideshow follows the researchers in their search for ancient trees to unlock the workings of the Asian monsoon.
Drought in southwestern China caused by climate change: Chinese experts
Chinese meteorologists say the ongoing severe drought in southwest China is caused by climate change.
The drought has left more between 18 and 62 million people and 11.7 million to more that 20 million livestock with insufficient drinking water “over a region encompassing the southwestern provinces of Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan, the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and the municipality of Chongqing, data from the Ministry of Civil Affairs showed.”
[Note: the figures vary widely depending on each day's published definition of "affected by drought" and "short of drinking water." See also data entries in 2010: Year One of Human-Enhanced Disasters.]
A parched reservoir in Green Pool Dame at Shilin County, Kunming City, Yunnan Province (February 2, 2010). Photo:AFP/Getty Images. Image may be subject to copyright. Click image to enlarge.
“The direct reason for the drought is light rain and high temperatures,” Ren Fuming, a leading expert at China’s National Climate Center, told Outlook Weekly, a popular magazine in China, Xinhua said.
Zhang Peiqun, another senior meteorologist with the center, who agrees with Ren Fumings, aid the rainfall in worst-affected Yunnan province is the lowest in living memory while the average temperature since the beginning of winter has been the highest on record.
“The decreased rainfall during the rainy season led to less water in store and high temperatures resulted in greater evaporation, directly causing the severe drought,” Zhang said.
Zhang believes complicated ocean currents and anomalous atmospheric circulation are responsible for the drought. [See: Kelvin waves in Your Worst Fears About El Niño.]
“Zhang said the lingering cold air mass that formed last September in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau had fenced off the warm and moist currents from the Indian Ocean and the Bay of Bengal, and at the same time the cold air from the north has had difficulty reaching the Yunnan-Guizhou plateau hinterland.” Xinhua reported.
“The cold and warm currents can’t converge to produce rain, so there is little rain,” Zhang said.
Sun Honglie, director of the national expert committee on climate change, said he believed the drought was was caused by anomalous atmospheric currents.
“It is not an environmental or ecological problem,” he said. “But the drought is bound to have an impact on the ecological system.”
“Another expert, Chen Yiyu, an academic at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, also said the year has seen anomalous climate conditions globally and that the drought in China is part of the phenomenon.” Xinhua said.
[Note: They are probably refering to the impact of El Niño.]
Water Severely Rationed
In Fuyuan County there has been no tap water since late 2009, residents said, complaining that “rationed water supply has not been steady, and that they have had to fetch water themselves from a village three miles away.” Epoch Times said.
“Each family is given four water tickets every two weeks and each ticket entitles the bearer to 100 kg (about 26 gallons) of water, which is not enough for daily use at all, especially for a large family of six or seven. So we have to fetch water from somewhere else. I haven’t taken a shower for a few months.” a resident was reported as saying.
Statistics released recently indicated that as of March 17, 2010, some “43,486,000 hectares (about 17.6 million acres) of crops were affected by the drought, among which 940,000 hectares (about 380,566 acres) yielded zero production, causing a direct economic loss of 19 billion yuan (US$2.8 billion).”
Worst Ever Drought in SW China is Getting Even Worse!
The numbers of people and livestock short of drinking water in SW China have risen from 11 million and 2 million respectively just 5 days ago to more that 20 million people and 12 million livestock today.
The deadly drought is now spreading to other parts of China including the northwest, north and northeast China.
Up to 60 million people throughout China are now affected by severe drought, and experts say it can only get worse.
A massive dust storm swept across eastern China on March 12, 2010. The dust appears to have been transported by winds from the west, which is consistent with soil erosion caused by the drought. Source NASA. Click image to enlarge.
Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region in south China, one of the country’s poorest areas is suffering its worst drought in 58 years ever, with only 2.2 mm of rain since October 2009, People’s Daily reported.
“Since last September, rainfall in Guangxi, as well as neighboring Yunnan and Guizhou provinces, has fallen to the lowest levels since 1952, said the China Meteorological Administration. Coupled with persistent high temperatures, the lack of rain has resulted in a severe drought that is affecting about 11 million people.”
That report was released 5 days ago. The ongoing drought, which has lasted 3 harvests, has affected more than 6.5 million hectares of farmland across the country, today’s media report said.
“Relief work is becoming difficult because the dry conditions have lasted for such a long time, reducing available water sources.”
“Southwest China is facing the most severe situation. Nearly 90 per cent of China’s drought-affected farmland is in Yunnan, Guizhou, Guangxi, Sichuan and Chongqing. And more than half of that is in Yunnan province.” Zhang Xu, Dep. Director-General of Drough Relief HQ, was reported as saying.
“We should detail a water supply plan, consolidate water management, economize our use of water, and use every method to ensure water supply.”
Farmers in China’s Yunnan province face a bleak future, if the drought continues. Image captured from CCTV news. Image may be subject to copyright. Click image to enlarge.
The drought has affected the last three harvest seasons. Experts say the hot and dry weather will continue in southwest China for the foreseeable future.
These conditions in the region are described as the “worst in a century.” But no one really knows how bad the worst conditions might have been then.
The government is urging people to use water sparingly. The irony of it being that there is NO water to use, sparingly or not. The authorities were also quoted as saying that the “choice of whether to use water for people or farming is becoming more difficult.”
Surely, someone must have mistranslated that last line. They couldn’t possibly have meant that. Could they?
Dinosaur Extinction Highly Improbable as a Result of a Single Event
Barringer Crater from space. [The crater is also known as 'Meteor Crater' and 'Canyon Diablo Crater.'] Barringer Crater, is a 1,300-meter (0.8 mile) diameter, 174-meter (570-feet) deep hole in the flat-lying desert sandstones 30 kilometers (18.6 miles) west of Winslow, Arizona. Since the 1890s geologic studies here played a leading role in developing an understanding of impact processes on the Earth, the moon and elsewhere in the solar system. This view was acquired by the Landsat 4 satellite on December 14, 1982. Diablo Canyon arroyo is to the west (left). The ghost town of Diablo Canyon is on the canyon to the north and out of the picture. The bulk of the meteorite is believed to be embedded in the south side of the crater under the rim. Credit: NASA Visible Earth.
The following excerpts are from a news report by Cambridge University, England:
Asteroid killed off the dinosaurs
“Our work lets us visualise the astonishing events of the few minutes after impact. The front of the asteroid hit the Earth while the far side was still out in the upper atmosphere [sic,] punching a hole though the Earth’s atmosphere.
[Note: Readers would recall that the asteroid is believed to have been about 10km long.]
“As the asteroid vapourised explosively, it created a crater 30 km deep and 100 km across, with sides as high as the Himalayas. However within only two minutes the sides collapsed inwards and the deepest parts of the crater rebounded upwards to leave a wide, shallow hollow.
“These terrifying events led to darkness and a global winter, resulting in the extinction of more than 70% of known species. The tiny shrew-like mammals which were around at that time proved better adapted to survival than the cumbersome dinosaurs, and the removal of these dominant animals paved the way for the radiation of the mammals and eventual emergence of humans on Earth.” — Dr Penny Barton, who led the seismic survey and a co-author of the review
Just about every single paragraph of the review, the ones available on the internet that this author has read, features a glaring improbability.
Animation showing the Chicxulub Crater impact. Credit: University of Arizona, Space Imagery Center. Click image to enlarge and animate.
Science Fiction, or Crotch Science?
The Chicxulub asteroid impact and mass extinction at the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary Summary or Review
The Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary approximately 65.5 million years ago marks one of the three largest mass extinctions in the past 500 million years. The extinction event coincided with a large asteroid impact at Chicxulub, Mexico, and occurred within the time of Deccan flood basalt volcanism in India. Here, we synthesize records of the global stratigraphy across this boundary to assess the proposed causes of the mass extinction. Notably, a single ejecta-rich deposit compositionally linked to the Chicxulub impact is globally distributed at the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary. The temporal match between the ejecta layer and the onset of the extinctions and the agreement of ecological patterns in the fossil record with modeled environmental perturbations (for example, darkness and cooling) lead us to conclude that the Chicxulub impact triggered the mass extinction. AAAS Review
Was the impact of 10-km bolide that formed the Chicxulub crater so catastrophic that it drove 70 percent of the world species to extinction in a short period?
The ChicxulubParadox:
The adverse environmental impact of the Chicxulub Asteroid, which lasted for a relatively short period [years,] drove dinosaurs, 70 percent of all species to extinction.
Dinosaurs eventually became extinct over a relatively long period [millions of years.]
If the K-T extinction occurred as a direct result of the Chicxulub impact that led to “environmental perturbations (for example, darkness and cooling),” it must have necessarily led to a global ‘famine’ also, necessitating a rapid [and total] occurrence.
The comprehensive mechanisms needed for large-scale species extinction cannot be driven by a single event, albeit of a catastrophic magnitude, whose consequences could have only lasted for a relatively short period.
A single catastrophic event capable of wiping off large percentage of all species, could only occur if it occurs in totality, for example, by vaporizing the ocean water, consuming the entire range of flora, extracting the air from the atmosphere, or flooding the entire planet. In that case, the remaining 50, 40, or even 30 percent of fauna, whose survival depended on the same shared resources, natural services and environmental factors, could not have survived.
Conclusion:
The environmental damage caused by the Chicxulub impact was not total, and could not have had lasting consequences, either. The planet would have recovered from the effects of the impact in a few seasons.
A plethora of evidence suggests that dinosaurs and the other 70 or so percent of the species that allegedly became extinct, did not all die off in a few short seasons.
[You cannot blame the extinction of dinosaurs on an asteroid impact, if the extinction occurred over a period of couple of million years after the impact!]
Another View of Barringer Crater. Source: USGS
Note: Fire-Earth moderators may comment on the above at a later date.
Mountaintop removal is a major violation of nature with deadly consequences—Fire-Earth
“There has been a global, 30-year increase in surface mining, which is now the dominant driver of land-use change in the central Appalachian ecoregion of the United States. One major form of such mining, mountaintop mining with valley fills, is widespread throughout eastern Kentucky, West Virginia, and southwestern Virginia. Upper elevation forests are cleared and stripped of topsoil, and explosives are used to break up rocks to access buried coal. Excess rock (mine ‘spoil’) is pushed into adjacent valleys, where it buries existing streams.”Mountaintop Mining Consequences, M. A. Palmer et al.
Growth of Mountaintop Removal, West Virginia, 1984-2009
Click images to enlarge
large image (0.73 MB, JPEG) acquired September 17, 1984
Closeup: Mountaintop removal. Photo by Vivian Stockman; source: OVEC; flyover courtesy SouthWings. [Original caption: What does it say about human nature that we allow this kind of destruction to go on?]
The following is a recent feature article by NASA Earth Observatory :
Mountaintop Mining, West Virginia
Below the densely forested slopes of southern West Virginia’s Appalachian Mountains is a layer cake of thin coal seams. To uncover this coal profitably, mining companies engineer large—sometimes very large—surface mines. This time-series of images of a surface mine in Boone County, West Virginia, illustrates why this controversial mining method is also called “mountaintop removal.”
Based on data from NASA’s Landsat 5 satellite, these natural-color (photo-like) images document the growth of the Hobet mine as it moves from ridge to ridge between 1984 to 2009. The natural landscape of the area is dark green, forested mountains, creased by streams and indented by hollows. The active mining areas appear off-white, while areas being reclaimed with vegetation appear light green. A pipeline roughly bisects the images from north to south. The town of Madison, lower right, lies along the banks of the Coal River.
In 1984, the mining operation is limited to a relatively small area west of the Coal River. The mine first expands along mountaintops to the southwest, tracing an oak-leaf-shaped outline around the hollows of Big Horse Creek and continuing in an unbroken line across the ridges to the southwest. Between 1991 and 1992, the mine moves north, and the impact of one of the most controversial aspects of mountaintop mining—rock and earth dams called valley fills—becomes evident.
The law requires coal operators to try to restore the land to its approximate original shape, but the rock debris generally can’t be securely piled as high or graded as steeply as the original mountaintop. There is always too much rock left over, and coal companies dispose of it by building valley fills in hollows, gullies, and streams. Between 1991 and 1992, this leveling and filling in of the topography becomes noticeable as the mine expands northward across a stream valley called Stanley Fork.
The most dramatic valley fill that appears in the series, however, is what appears to be the near-complete filling of Connelly Branch from its source to its mouth at the Mud River between 1996 and 2000. Since 2004, the mine has expanded from the Connelly Branch area to the mountaintops north of the Mud River. Significant changes are apparent to the ridges and valleys feeding into Berry Branch by 2009. Over the 25-year period, the disturbed area grew to more than 10,000 acres (15.6 square miles).
According to a report from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, nearly 40 percent of the year-round and seasonal streams in the Mud River watershed upstream of and including Connelly Branch had been filled or approved for filling through 1998. In 2009, the EPA intervened in the approval of a permit to further expand the Hobet mine into the Berry Branch area and worked with mine operators to minimize the disturbance and to reduce the number and size of valley fills.
Still, some scientists argue that current regulations and mitigation strategies are inadequate. After doing a survey of research on mountaintop mining and valley fills, the scientists concluded that the impacts on stream and groundwater quality, biodiversity, and forest productivity were “pervasive and irreversible” and that current strategies for mitigation and restoration were not compensating for the degradation.
Noise Pollution from NZ Oil Exploration, Tourist Boats and Toxic Pollution Strand 150 Whales to Their Deaths
Up to 150 whales died in less than 48 hours after two beachings, New Zealand’s Department of Conservation reported.
Dead whales in Colville Bay on the Coromandel Peninsula, New Zealand. Photo credit: Sally and Doug Morrison/ The Southland Times. Image may be subject to copyright. See Fair Use Notice.
About 30 pilot whales died after they became stranded on Coromandel peninsula yesterday and will be buried by the local Maori.
Meanwhile, up to 120 long-finned pilot whales, both calves and adults, were found dead at the Farewell Spit on Boxing Day.
“More offshore wells have been drilled in the last two years than the rest of the decade combined: 35 on and offshore wells were drilled between January 2008 and July 2009 alone,” said a report.
Dead whales lie on the beach at Farewell Spit on New Zealand’s South Island December 28, 2009. More than 100 pilot whales died after being stranded at Farewell Spit, according to local media. The beached whales were discovered by a tourist plane on Saturday. Photo: New Zealand Department of Conservation/Handout via Reuters.
Each year about 2.5 million tourists visit New Zealand, straining its fragile ecosystems to the breaking point, creating a massive litany of different pollutions, including noise.
Mendo Coast Current wrote: “Studies show that these cetaceans, which once communicated over thousands of miles to forage and mate, are losing touch with each other, the experts said at a U.N. wildlife conference in Rome.”
“The sound of a seismic test, used to locate hydrocarbons beneath the seabed, can spread 1,800 miles under water, said Veronica Frank, an official with the International Fund for Animal Welfare. A study by her group found that the blue whale, which used to communicate across entire oceans, has lost 90 percent of its range over the past 40 years.”
Environmental experts are studying numerous cases of beached whales and dolphins that are believed to have been caused by sound pollution, according to Simmonds.
Just two weeks ago at least five whales died after nine were beached in Mediterranean off the southern coast off Italy, an unusual place for whales to beach themselves.
‘A massive beaching is extremely rare in the Mediterranean,’ biologist Maurizio Wurtz at the University of Genoa said.
Noise pollution from seismic surveys for oil and gas as well as naval activities are believed to have confused whales by interfering with their communication, thus leaving them stranded and ultimately dead, many Conservationists and biologists say.
The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) says man-made ocean noise inhibits cetaceans’ communication and disrupts their feeding.
The level of ocean noise in some regions is doubling each decade, according to IFAW. “Humanity is literally drowning out marine mammals.”
[NOTE: We are also reminded that Coromandel peninsula is the same area where NZ Public Medical Office of Health reported “particularly high” levels of paralytic shellfish poison. See: Toxic shellfish from New Zealand can cause paralysis and respiratory failure within 12 hours of being consumed. http://newzeelend.wordpress.com/2009/01/07/global-food-safety-alert-toxic-nz-shellfish-warning/ ]
