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The chart below is useful when talking to others who haven’t noticed that it’s
unusually hot. I have deleted the last half of the article.
The hottest years (in order) were - 2014,2010,2005, 1998,2013,2003,2002, 2006, 2007, 2008
Anyone see a pattern there?
Ten
Hottest Years on Record
The top 10 hottest years on record have all occurred since 1998.
The top 10 hottest years on record have all occurred since 1998.
In
fact, 2014 was the hottest year ever recorded
What is Causing This?
The
previous decade was the hottest one recorded so far with regions such
as Texas experiencing all time high heat waves.
Human-induced
global warming, as researchers have established, is thecause of
the extreme temperatures in the last ten years.
Not
to mention, studies seeking to establish the cause of global
weather extremes such
as those experienced worldwide, have it that human influence due to
emissions of greenhouse gases through burning of fossil fuels and
deforestation is the cause of the drastic weather changes.
According
to an international collaboration of scientists, the emissions of
carbon dioxide into the atmosphere had a great influence on the rise
in global temperatures.
The
truth is that the increase in these emissions will make it much more
difficult to forestall any climate changes in the future. As a
result, these devastating effects are a cause for concern on a global
scale.
The Ten Hottest Years on Record
Here
are the ten hottest years ever recorded as compiled by NOAA, the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration:
From NOAA
The Dire Consequences
The
average global temperatures, according to records have been the
highest ever in the last ten years since 1998.
Consequently,
record low temperatures and cold days in various regions have been on
a steep decline as the hot days and heat waves in other regions
increase at alarming rates.
The
effect of the rising temperatures is perhaps more visible in the
Arctic region. This is mainly because permafrost is very sensitive to
temperature changes.
Once
the ice melts the result would be a complete disaster especially to
buildings as well as other structures.
Such
cases are spreading in some regions where repairs have to be
conducted on infrastructure due to destabilization.....[ ]
A
new Crystal Geyser Water Co. plant opening at the foot of Mount
Shasta is adding to criticism of companies that are bottling water in
California’s drought.
Crystal
Geyser plans to eventually tap up to 365,000 gallons a day from
groundwater in Northern California’s Siskiyou County, the San
Francisco Chronicle reported Sunday.
Converted
from an old Coca-Cola bottling plant, the facility will become the
latest of 108 bottling operations by various companies in the state,
the Chronicle reported. Operations are due to start this all.
Hundreads of trees sit dead in the San Bernardino National Forest in California, due to drought and the bark beetle.
As
California’s historic drought continues into its fourth year, the
state’s forests are being hit hard by years of below-average
precipitation. According to a new study conducted by the U.S. Forest
Service, at least 12.5 million trees in California’s national
forests have died during the current drought — adding more brittle,
dry vegetation to areas already threatened by potentially explosive
wildfires.
Imagine
visiting Yellowstone this summer. You wake up before dawn to take a
picture of the sunrise over the mists emanating from Yellowstone hot
springs. A thunderhead towers above the rising sun, and the picture
turns out beautifully. You submit the photo to a contest sponsored by
the National Weather Service.
Under a statute signed into law by the
Wyoming governor this spring, you have just committed a crime and
could face up to one year in prison.
Increased
atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations have already caused
large-scale physiological responses of European forests. In
particular, the efficiency of water-use of trees, which is coupled to
the uptake of carbon dioxide during photosynthesis of leaves and
needles has changed significantly. According to the study of a large,
interdisciplinary team of researchers, European broadleaf and
coniferous trees have increased their water-use efficiency since the
beginning of the 20th century by 14% and 22%, respectively.
A new
study by
scientists at Scripps Institution of Oceanography finds that the
Arctic sea may go ice free in the summer faster than previous models
had projected. Somehow climate deniers took this to mean something
completely different.
A Senate estimates hearing has been told the Abbott government has spent $100,000 to lobby against UNESCO listing the Great Barrier Reef as in danger. Photo: Ed Roberts
The
Abbott government has spent $100,000 on travel costs to send
environment department officials to lobby other countries not to list
the Great Barrier Reef as in danger.
The
figure was revealed in a Senate estimates hearing on Monday after
questions from the Greens.
The
government has mounted a massive international effort to avoid
UNESCO's world heritage committee listing the reef as officially in
danger next month.
That
has included establishing a dedicated taskforce within the Department
of Foreign Affairs and Trade and travelling to each of the 21
countries on the committee.
Scientists
have dived under the Antarctic ice to complete the world's first
seafloor ocean acidification experiment in Antarctica – and
findings show life in the deep appears to have changed in response to
the acidic water.
The
team from the Australian Antarctic Division Project were looking to
study the impact of ocean acidification on marine and seafloor
communities
"The
team does not expect to release their findings for several months,
but they say the study will be crucial in examining the scale of the
changes seen in the Southern Ocean: "It's critical that we are
able to get a clearer picture of how ocean acidification will impact
the marine ecosystems into the future," Stark said."
Will the data disappear like Swerus-C3, an international research expedition to the East Siberian Sea?
Climate
change costs the Australian economy $6.2 billion annually as heat
waves reduce productivity and increase absenteeism from work,
according to a study released Tuesday.
The
study, led by Kerstin Zander of Charles Darwin University and based
on surveys conducted across the country between March and October
2014, put the annual loss per person at about $655.
Belize’s waters are pretty much perfect the way they are.
A
World Heritage Site could turn into an oil drilling site, if plans to
allow oil exploration off the coast of Belize go through.
A
proposal from the Belize Ministry of Energy provides guidelines for
oil exploration — and drilling, if oil is found — across most of
the country’s land and water, including along the Belize Barrier
Reef, one of the world’s most ecologically diverse environments.
Oceana Belize, an environmental advocacy group, has launchd
"Ninety-five
percent of all the marine organisms in the ocean depend on adequate
levels of dissolved oxygen," he said. "They tend to be
squeezed by this hypoxia [diminished oxygen] into a very narrow layer
at the surface of the ocean. In the process of being compressed near
the surface, they become a lot more vulnerable to overexploitation by
surface-eaters. This involves some of our most important food fish,
yellowfin tuna for example."
The
past 30 days have been substantially drier than usual nearly
everywhere, though there have been a few localized, notable
exceptions. Convective activity (especially over the Sierra Nevada
and other mountain regions) brought thunderstorms, hail, and heavy
downpours in some spots. Localized heavy snowfall occurred late last
week at the highest elevations, including substantial (and
photogenic) accumulations along the Eastern Sierra near Mono Lake
this past week. In fact, this mid-May snow burst may constitute the
biggest snow event of the entire winter in some parts of the Eastern
Sierra (which is more a testament to the abject lack of snow this
year than the particular strength of the recent event)! Still, on a
statewide and regional basis, Sierra Nevada snow water equivalent
remains at an all-time record low for the date–as it has been now
for the past two consecutive months.
Signs of the drought in Iran — which, according to experts, has lasted for more than two decades — are not very visible in the capital. There are many parks and trees because of the active city government.
But
make no mistake: The city is dry. Its underground water supplies are
depleted, and officials have long warned that, one day, the trees
will dry up and water might need to be rationed.
Outside
Tehran the situation is much worse, and some experts predict that the
south will become uninhabitable if the drought persists.
Dengue
cases soar in Brazil, as death toll climbs – City of Piracicaba
releases transgenic mosquitos
Cases of dengue have soared in Brazil where the disease has caused 229 fatalities this year, the health ministry has said, as authorities try to combat its spread using transgenic mosquitos.
The
health ministry said it had logged 745,900 cases nationwide in the
first 15 weeks of the year — an annual increase of 234 per cent.
That
equates to 367.8 people infected per 100,000 residents, which falls
into the category of an epidemic under parameters used by the World
Health Organization.
The
number of dengue deaths has climbed 44 per cent from the same period
last year, and most of the diagnosed cases have occurred in business
hub São Paulo.
For the first time, plastic particles have been found in the stomachs of tuna and other fish that are a staple of the human diet.
More
than 18 percent of sampled bluefin, albacore, and swordfish caught in
the Mediterranean Sea and tested in 2012 and 2013 carried levels of
plastic pollution in their bodies, according to a study published in
the journal Marine Pollution Bulletin.
Last
week, a 20-million-dollar industry hit the brakes when the Pacific
Fishery Management Council voted to close the West Coast sardine
fishery, effective immediately.....
The
fate of the marine ecosystem – not just an industrial fleet of
fishing vessels – hangs in the balance. Dwindling sardine numbers
have been blamed for pelican nesting failures and a surge in sea lion
pup strandings (both species rely on sardines as a food source).
They’re not alone: sardines are a popular menu item for many
coastal species. By choosing to seat ourselves at this dining table,
we humans are now in competition with the rest of the oceanic food
web
Drive
hunting – when groups of hunters on canoes fan out far off-shore
and clap stones together as they round up dolphins – has been
taking place off the Solomon Islands for many years
Now,
researchers who examined detailed hunting records and interviewed
locals say more than 15,000 dolphins were killed in just one
village's hunts between 1976 and 2013. They published their findings
this week in the journal Royal Society Open Science.
Dust
particles from sand storms in the Sahara desert have blanketed
sections of the Caribbean, affecting air quality in the region. Each
year, Saharan dust storms pass through the region, usually in the
spring and summer months. Meteorologist with the National Weather
Service here, David Sanchez says the dust cloud is a significant
event when it comes to the quality of dust in the air. “It’s
basically high pressure across the Atlantic and all levels of the
atmosphere that brings the dust in.”
Beach
mystery: Another dead whale washes up in Pacifica —
For
the second time in three weeks, a dead whale has washed up on [the
same beach]… “Something’s
going on with nature,”
said Ralph Clement… “This
is kind of eerie.
What are the odds of two whales in the same place? It has to mean
something.”… “This is just not supposed to happen,”
[Courtney] Patterson said. “It’s very unnerving. Is this caused
by a lack of food?”… Jane Nahass said she has been walking on
Pacifica beaches for 26 years and never saw two dead whales so close
together. “Something’s going on,” she said.
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