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Human Impact

Page updated and moved to: Index of Human Impact on nature (HIoN)

10 Responses to “Human Impact”

  1. J.W. said

    March 22, 2018 at 7:29 am

    WMO has confirmed a provisional finding that 2016 was the warmest year on record since the 19th century, when records began, with 2017 and 2015 tying for second place, thanks to “man-made emissions of greenhouse gases.”

    Reply

  2. Tom D. said

    November 11, 2017 at 2:39 pm

    [The nitrate time bomb]

    Global patterns of nitrate storage in the vadose zone
    https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-017-01321-w

    Abstract:
    Global-scale nitrogen budgets developed to quantify anthropogenic impacts on the nitrogen cycle do not explicitly consider nitrate stored in the vadose zone. Here we show that the vadose zone is an important store of nitrate that should be considered in future budgets for effective policymaking. Using estimates of groundwater depth and nitrate leaching for 1900–2000, we quantify the peak global storage of nitrate in the vadose zone as 605–1814 Teragrams (Tg). Estimates of nitrate storage are validated using basin-scale and national-scale estimates and observed groundwater nitrate data. Nitrate storage per unit area is greatest in North America, China and Europe where there are thick vadose zones and extensive historical agriculture. In these areas, long travel times in the vadose zone may delay the impact of changes in agricultural practices on groundwater quality. We argue that in these areas use of conventional nitrogen budget approaches is inappropriate.

    https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-017-01321-w

    Reply

  3. Digi S. said

    November 7, 2017 at 9:42 am

    Two kids, aged 7 and 11, sue Trump over climate change “policies”

    [Q]
    Two children, backed by the Clean Air Council environmental group, sued US President Donald Trump and two of his Cabinet members on Monday to try to stop them from scrapping a package of pollution-reduction rules known as the Clean Power Plan.

    The lawsuit, filed in federal court in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, says the United States is “relying on junk science” and ignoring “clear and present dangers of climate change, knowingly increasing its resulting damages, death and destruction.”

    It was the latest legal action that green advocates have taken to combat Trump administration efforts to roll back environmental regulations through rule changes at agencies like the US Department of Interior and the US Environmental Protection Agency.

    The two young plaintiffs, aged 7 and 11, are identified only by their first and last initials in the court papers, which allege that both are suffering from the effects of a rapidly warming climate. [/Q]
    [thefinancialexpress.com]

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  4. Liz C. said

    March 1, 2017 at 4:38 pm

    Total subsidence in California’s San Joaquin Valley between May 7, 2015 and Sept. 10, 2016, as measured by ESA’s Sentinel-1A and processed at JPL. Two large subsidence bowls are evident, centered on Corcoran and southeast of El Nido, with a small, new feature between them, near Tranquility. Credit: European Space Agency and others.

    Since the 1920s, excessive pumping of groundwater at thousands of wells in California’s San Joaquin Valley has caused land in sections of the valley to subside, or sink, by as much as 28 feet (8.5 meters). This subsidence is exacerbated during droughts, when farmers rely heavily on groundwater to sustain one of the most productive agricultural regions in the nation.
    http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=6761

    Also of concern is the Eastside Bypass, a system designed to carry flood flow off the San Joaquin River in Fresno County. The bypass runs through an area of subsidence where the land surface has lowered between 16 and 20 inches (41 and 51 centimeters) since May 2015, on top of several feet of subsidence measured between 2008 and 2012. DWR is working with local water districts to analyze whether surface deformation may interfere with flood-fighting efforts, particularly as a heavy Sierra snowpack melts this spring. A 5-mile (8-kilometer) reach of the Eastside Bypass was raised in 2000 because of subsidence, and DWR estimates it may cost in the range of $250 million to acquire flowage easements and levee improvements to restore the design capacity of the subsided area.

    “The rates of San Joaquin Valley subsidence documented since 2014 by NASA are troubling and unsustainable,” said DWR Director William Croyle. “Subsidence has long plagued certain regions of California. But the current rates jeopardize infrastructure serving millions of people. Groundwater pumping now puts at risk the very system that brings water to the San Joaquin Valley. The situation is untenable.”

    Click to access JPL%20subsidence%20report%20final%20for%20public%20dec%202016.pdf

    Reply

  5. TG said

    August 18, 2016 at 4:43 am

    NOAA/NCDC:
    For the 15th consecutive month, the global land and ocean temperature departure from average was the highest since global temperature records began in 1880. This marks the longest such streak in NOAA’s 137 years of record keeping. The July 2016 combined average temperature over global land and ocean surfaces was 0.87°C (1.57°F) above the 20th century average, besting the previous July record set in 2015 by 0.06°C (0.11°F). July 2016 marks the 40th consecutive July with temperatures at least nominally above the 20th century average. The last time July global land and ocean temperatures were below average was in 1976 (-0.09°C / -0.16°F). Although continuing a record streak, July 2016 was also the lowest monthly temperature departure from average since August 2015 and tied with August 2015 as the 15th highest monthly temperature departure among all months (1,639) on record. However, since July is climatologically the globe’s warmest month of the year, the July 2016 global land and ocean temperature (16.67°C / 62.01°F) was the highest temperature for any month on record, surpassing the previous record set in July 2015. July 2016 was the 379th consecutive month with temperatures at least nominally above the 20th century average. The last month with temperatures below the 20th century average was December 1984 (-0.09°C / -0.16°F).

    The worldwide ocean surface temperature during July 2016 was 0.79°C (1.42°F) above the 20th century average, the highest global ocean temperature for July in the 137-year record. This value surpassed the previous record set in 2015 by 0.04°C (0.07°F). July 2016 marks the 40th consecutive July with global ocean temperatures at least nominally above the 20th century average. July 2016 tied with August 2015 as the eighth highest departure from average among all 1,639 months in the record. The 13 highest monthly global ocean temperature departures have all occurred in the past 13 months.

    The January–July 2016 global land and ocean temperature was the warmest such period on record at 1.03°C (1.85°F) above the 20th century average, besting the previous record set in 2015 by 0.19°C (0.34°F).

    NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, State of the Climate: Global Analysis for July 2016, published online August 2016, retrieved on August 18, 2016 from http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/global/201607.

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  6. TG said

    August 16, 2016 at 4:47 pm

    July 2016 was hottest month ever recorded on Earth – NOAA will release its findings on August 17.

    Reply

  7. Sandy said

    August 5, 2016 at 11:35 am

    Flesh-eating ulcer blamed on possums spreading to Melbourne
    http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-08-05/flesh-eating-ulcer-spreading-to-melbournes-outskirts/7693106

    Cases of a flesh-eating ulcer that can lead to limb amputations are at record levels in Victoria, with the disease spreading from coastal towns to inner Melbourne.

    The number of Buruli ulcers, thought to be spread by mosquitos, has more than tripled in five years.
    http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/flesheating-buruli-ulcer-cases-soar-as-disease-spreads-to-melbourne-20160804-gqksnw.html

    IMAGE
    Image

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  8. ROSCOE said

    July 3, 2013 at 7:13 pm

    [Probably! Moderator]

    Reply

  9. Fan Saidu said

    May 15, 2013 at 12:06 pm

    I like your website, thanks for the info.

    Reply

  10. seeker said

    September 2, 2011 at 9:48 am

    I liked your article v. much, thanks!

    Reply

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