Climate Change / Global Warming Discussion

[Raffy.Roma]

2023 confirmed as world's hottest year on record

Climate records tumbled "like dominoes" in 2023, with temperatures far above any recorded level.

www.bbc.com

The year 2023 has been confirmed as the warmest on record, driven by human-caused climate change and boosted by the natural El Niño weather event.

Last year was about 1.48C warmer than the long-term average before humans started burning large amounts of fossil fuels, the EU's climate service says.

Almost every day since July has seen a new global air temperature high for the time of year, BBC analysis shows.

Sea surface temperatures have also smashed previous highs.

 

[mspohr]

‘We can’t pretend the ecological crisis is separate’: the economist thinking differently about climate breakdown

James Meadway, once a Labour adviser and now a podcast host, says the separation between climate and economy has to end

www.theguardian.com

Radicals as well as the mainstream need to accept “the relationship of humanity to nature isn’t a simple hierarchy”, he says. What we are seeing is “the effects of environmental crisis” being “mediated through the structures of capitalism”.

The problem, Meadway explains, is that it treats the environment as subordinate to humanity’s actions; as if it’s at “our beck and call” to be “exploited” at will. “Once you have floods and wildfires,” he says, “that is the environment imposing itself on us, it’s not intellectually credible to start to think only that we have a problem to deal with. In fact, the problem is dealing with us.”

Meadway is not just telling listeners that industrial capitalism is responsible for anthropogenic climate breakdown – he describes this as accepted by “pretty much everyone” – but on focusing on the feedback this produces. What happens after we’ve “merrily burned” huge amounts of coal and oil and polluted every river and sea on the planet, he asks. This doesn’t just puncture economic orthodoxy – Meadway’s critique is also aimed at parts of the left that are committed to maintaining current levels of consumption, just in a supposedly environmentally sound way.

 

[Raffy.Roma]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1745220859348852916

Former Vice President Al Gore is warning us that the oil industry is kicking off 2024 by spending millions to undermine global progress on the climate crisis. Far from being "part of the solution" as they claimed at COP28, they are aggressively working to prevent any transition away from fossil fuels.

Luckily we have an opposition of high level to the oil industry.

 

[Raffy.Roma]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1745324991896240176

Luckily the world added a historic 510 gigawatts of renewable power capacity in 2023, up 50% from a year before

Under current policies & market trends, global renewable capacity is set to be 2.5 times higher by 2030, not far off the COP28 goal of tripling.

Problem is "will this be enough to prevent the Global Temperature Deviation to overtake the threshold of 1.5 degrees Celsius set by the Agreement of Paris?"

 

[Raffy.Roma]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1745239933562782050

As scientists, we are increasingly being asked to tell the public the truth about the crises we face in simple and direct terms. The truth is that we are shocked by the ferocity of the extreme weather events in 2023. We are afraid of the uncharted territory that we have now entered.

 

[Raffy.Roma]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1745055303450714189

As it can be seen in the reported graphs both Carbon Dioxide CO2 and Methane CH4 concentrations in the atmosphere, which are GHGs, keep increasing in 2023.
The rate of increase of CH4 concentration is lowering in 2023 but CH4 concentration in the atmosphere is increasing anyway.

 

[Raffy.Roma]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1745352342646468778

In 2023 close to 50% of days were more than 1.5°C (Threshold set by the Agreement of Paris for the Temperature Deviation) warmer than the 1850-1900 preindustrial level, and two days in November were, more than 2°C warmer.

 

[mspohr]

‘Astounding’ ocean temperatures in 2023 intensified extreme weather, data shows

Record levels of heat were absorbed last year by Earth’s seas, which have been warming year-on-year for the past decade

www.theguardian.com

Astounding” ocean temperatures in 2023 supercharged “freak” weather around the world as the climate crisis continued to intensify, new data has revealed. The oceans absorb 90% of the heat trapped by the carbon emissions from the burning of fossil fuels, making it the clearest indicator of global heating. Record levels of heat were taken up by the oceans in 2023, scientists said, and the data showed that for the past decade the oceans have been hotter every year than the year before. The heat also led to record levels of stratification in the oceans, where warm water ponding on the surface reduces the mixing with deeper waters. This cuts the amount of oxygen in the oceans, threatening marine life, and also reduces the amount of carbon dioxide and heat the seas can take up in the future. Reliable ocean temperature measurements stretch back to 1940 but it is likely the oceans are now at their hottest for 1,000 years and heating faster than at any time in the past 2,000 years.

 

[mspohr]

‘The wildlife that has come is phenomenal’: the UK farmers holding off floods the natural way

Planting trees, creating floodplains and rewilding rivers are among the new techniques being used to adapt to a heating climate

www.theguardian.com

NFM involves practices such as river restoration, where rivers are returned to their natural wiggly shape rather than the straight lines that were created to make navigation easier when boats were used to transport goods around the country. Another tactic is creating floodplains, and reconnecting rivers to them, so that water stays on the plain when there is heavy rain rather than reaching populated areas. Trees are also being planted near waterways, as they can suck up excess moisture and reduce flooding.

He started by making the area around the becks wilder, cleaning them up less, as well as making them larger so they held more water and protected the rest of the farm from floods. “What we’ve done is a bit of ‘beck wiggling’,” he says. “The beck initially went down in straight lines that have been straightened hundreds of years ago. But we’ve created scrapes [shallow pools] and created pond areas.” The farmland had tended to go right up to the edge of the waterways, and that was another practice Robinson needed to change: “We fenced off a lot of becks from grazing, to help the vegetation growth come back.” Since leaving the sides of the banks to grow, he has started to see forest regeneration, which helps nature as well as averting floods. He has also planted trees, to hold more water and improve the soil.

 

[Raffy.Roma]

‘Astounding’ ocean temperatures in 2023 intensified extreme weather, data shows

Record levels of heat were absorbed last year by Earth’s seas, which have been warming year-on-year for the past decade

www.theguardian.com

Astounding” ocean temperatures in 2023 supercharged “freak” weather around the world as the climate crisis continued to intensify, new data has revealed. The oceans absorb 90% of the heat trapped by the carbon emissions from the burning of fossil fuels, making it the clearest indicator of global heating. Record levels of heat were taken up by the oceans in 2023, scientists said, and the data showed that for the past decade the oceans have been hotter every year than the year before. The heat also led to record levels of stratification in the oceans, where warm water ponding on the surface reduces the mixing with deeper waters. This cuts the amount of oxygen in the oceans, threatening marine life, and also reduces the amount of carbon dioxide and heat the seas can take up in the future. Reliable ocean temperature measurements stretch back to 1940 but it is likely the oceans are now at their hottest for 1,000 years and heating faster than at any time in the past 2,000 years.

Climate change is creating a significantly more stratified ocean, new study finds | NCAR & UCAR News

news.ucar.edu

An article about Oceans Stratification and its importance with respect to the Global Warming and the Ocean Acidification issues.

 

[Raffy.Roma]

Climate change is creating a significantly more stratified ocean, new study finds | NCAR & UCAR News

news.ucar.edu

An article about Oceans Stratification and its importance with respect to the Global Warming and the Ocean Acidification issues.

Ocean stratification is the natural separation of an ocean's water into horizontal layers by density, which is generally stable because warm water floats on top of cold water, and heating is mostly from the sun, which reinforces that arrangement. Stratification is reduced by wind-forced mechanical mixing, but reinforced by convection (warm water rising, cold water sinking). Stratification occurs in all ocean basins and also in other water bodies. Stratified layers are a barrier to the mixing of water, which impacts the exchange of heat, carbon, oxygen and other nutrients.

 

[Raffy.Roma]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1745456655947710855

The amount of energy stored in the Oceans after 2010 because of the energy imbalance caused by the GHE is HUGE.

 

[Raffy.Roma]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1745539727355163034

"Global boiling" of the oceans. The Sea surface #temperature anomalies for the last 12 months have been off the charts.

That's why the Ocean Stratification issue is taking place. (See my post #11091 above)

 

[Raffy.Roma]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1745541616146714659

Paris fighting pollution and the Climate Change issue like this:

-No diesel cars from 2024
-100% cleanenergy buses by 2025
-No petrol cars from 2030
-improving bike and pedestrian infrastructure.

 

[Raffy.Roma]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1745629042148261952

2023 RECORD SEA SURFACE TEMPERATURE
23 August was all time high Sea Surface Temperatures (SST)

 

[Raffy.Roma]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1745775196148281554

WINTER RECORD WARMTH IN CHINA

In China 109 stations broke their highest temperature records for mid January and 12 for all January.

What's NEXT?

 

[Raffy.Roma]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1745805177481814194

Not true that cutting CO2 emissions means shrinking the economy in the USA, but it's the other way round as it can be seen in the reported graph.

 

[Raffy.Roma]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1745840802562220542

According to Berkely Earth we have already overtaken the threshold of 1.5 degrees Celsius set by the Agreement of Paris and in 2023 we got a Global Temperature Deviation of 1.54C. The accuracy of the measurement is 0.06C. So the Temperature Deviation could also be 1.6C.

Think this is really alarming.

 

[Raffy.Roma]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1746040644802630119

According to Berkely Earth the Energy Imbalance of the Earth is increasing (see the yellow area in the reported graph).

And 93% of the Energy Imbalance is absorbed by Oceans. That's also alarming.

 

[Raffy.Roma]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1746040644802630119

According to Berkely Earth the Energy Imbalance of the Earth is increasing (see the yellow area in the reported graph).

And 93% of the Energy Imbalance is absorbed by Oceans. That's also alarming.

Data Overview - Berkeley Earth

Berkeley Earth provides high-resolution land and ocean time series data and gridded temperature data. Our peer-reviewed methodology incorporates more temperature observations than other available products, and often has better coverage. Global datasets begin in 1850, with some land-only areas...

berkeleyearth.org

Berkeley Earth provides high-resolution land and ocean time series data and gridded temperature data. Our peer-reviewed methodology incorporates more temperature observations than other available products, and often has better coverage. Global datasets begin in 1850, with some land-only areas reported back to 1750. The newest generation of our products are augmented by machine learning techniques to improve the spatial resolution. This allows Berkeley Earth to provide the most comprehensive, high-resolution instrumental temperature data product available.