[V.Narayan]

Warmest ever oceans on record could trigger a year of extreme weather

https://www.bloombergquint.com/amp/b...xtreme-weather

Oceans represent the sink of Mother Earth. A sink which absorbs our sins of pollution, garbage, carbon emissions and what not. Change in ocean temperatures represents a sign that even this vast vast sink is hitting its limits.

What a global crises can be is something we are all experiencing on a mini-scale right now with Covid-19. Even if Covid-19 were to get to be 10X worse it will still not be a patch on the tsunami that climate change will wrought.

Earlier we thought that climate change was a trouble we were dumping on our children or grand children but that is increasingly seeming too optimistic. Climate change and its effects are on us now and will by all counts only worsen. Think of more frequent & stronger hurricanes, giant forest fires, droughts, melting glaciers, hotter & longer summers, erratic rainfall and more.

The geo-politics of the 2020s to the 2050s will be shaped more by climate change and its consequence of water & food supply than anything else.

Some excerpts from the article

Overall, the five warmest years in the world’s seas, as measured by modern instruments, have occurred over just the last half-dozen or so years. It’s “definitely climate-change related,” said Jennifer Francis, a senior scientist at the Woods Hole Research Center in Massachusetts. “Oceans are absorbing about 90% of the heat trapped by extra greenhouse gases,”
Worldwide, sea temperatures were 1.49 degrees Fahrenheit above average in March. That’s the second highest level recorded since 1880 for the month of March, according to U.S. data. In 2016, temperatures were 1.55 degrees above average.

The oceans also play a role in setting the stage for wildfires. In the case of Australia and the Amazon, really warm areas of the ocean can pull rain away from the land, causing drier conditions and, in extreme cases, drought. Last year, for instance, the Indian Ocean was really warm off Africa, so that is where all the storms went. Australia was left high and dry.

I'll let these maps do the talking.

Source:slideshare.net
Causes and impact of Climate change on India

Source:slideshare.net
District wise projected impact of climate change in India

Source:outlookindia.com

[vb-saan]

Thread moved out of Assembly Line. Thank you for sharing!

[V.Narayan]

Groundwater situation in India today



Visual situation of the Grinnell Glacier in Montana, USA between 1906 and 2006. This is the fate of several glaciers. We don't notice it because it is out of sight for most of us.






Source: Ritika Bohra & Raj Kumar Singh


Source: Bigthink.com
The world at 4 degrees C warmer

[hondafanboy]

A very informative thread. Thanks for sharing. It would be nice if someone can list the work that's ongoing towards the water and trees across India. Cauvery calling in Tamilnadu and Water cup initiative in Maharashtra are noteworthy.

https://www.paanifoundation.in/impac...ies-of-change/

[am1m]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

This is the fate of several glaciers. We don't notice it because it is out of sight for most of us.

True, when we were at Chowrikhang in 2016 at the HMI Base Camp, we had to trek for more than an hour to reach the Rathong Glacier every morning. Our instructors told us that in the 90s, the trainees had just a very short walk to reach the glacier to practice, but over the years the glacier had receded. While we were there, there was also a group of researchers from TERI who were studying the glacier, apparently the institute has been studying that glacier for decades and the retreat is definite.

[srishiva]

Thanks for sharing Sir. The current impact of water availability can still be managed by distributing and storing water. We still get a good average amount of rainfall if you consider state level figures.

In my village and surrounding areas, the rain has become so less that whatever you might think of rejuvenation etc will not work. There is no water at all. 60 kms away you have floods. Water management is just not there and we just respond to droughts and floods without thinking overall.

With increasing temperatures and high moisture generated, it might rain heavily in some areas while others might see none. The equilibrium is disturbed by humans.

[libranof1987]

One of the most tragic realities in India is the poor adoption of rainwater harvesting and solar power. Given the abundant rain (most of) India receives and the plentiful sunlight almost the entire year across India, proactive Govt. policies will go a tremendous distance in solving two of India's biggest problems: water and electricity.

When in Tromso, Norway a few years back, I visited the Polar Museum which has been documenting the retreating glaciers and widening fjords through the century. The difference is staggering and beyond alarming.

[Thermodynamics]

Wonderful topic, thanks for bringing it. From time to time we see a lot of reports alarming climate change. Although speculative models have a significant margin for error, it is undeniable that global warming is a reality and it is occurring at a rate like never before.

All we can do is spread awareness (just as this thread), plant trees, adopt greener products, greener transport etc., Most GHG emissions are caused by things that fly and sail, of course we cannot change them but we can still do the little we can.

[dragracer567]

Thanks for this thread, being in the Marine science field, the fight against climate change is something that has always been close to my heart. Here I’ll try to summarise some of the impacts of climate change from a marine context:

1) Increased CO2 in the atmosphere leads to ocean acidification. This directly affects marine life and will lead to the bleaching of corals since they will lose the algae that they are dependent on. Coral reefs are the rainforest as of the ocean, so, this will destroy entire ecosystems. Entire livelihoods will be lost for those dependent on the seas.

2) Also, contrary to popular opinion, oceans are the lungs of the earth, not the amazon with phytoplanktons playing a key role and these phytoplanktons may not survive ocean acidification which will speed up climate change further.

Other problems stemming from climate change in India:

1) The incidences of communicable diseases will increase both due to higher temperatures and flood epidemics.

2) Some of the interior parts of India might be inhabitable due to high temperatures during half the year.

3) Agriculture will be badly hit unless new strains of climate resistant and water conservative crops are invented - this should be a priority.

4) Glaciers in the Himalayas will melt faster leading to unpredictable changes to river flows.

5) Sporadic episodes of droughts and heavy rainfall will wreck havoc and disrupt life as we know it.

6) The low lying coastal area will be at the risk of getting submerged due to the rising sea levels (everyone knows this one).

So, what can we do about it? Unfortunately, leading a more eco-friendly lifestyle may help but the bigger problem is government policy itself. When our powers still comes from fossil fuels, anything we the common people do will make negligible difference. Change needs to come from top down and I hope the world leaders will take this seriously, because Climate Change will make the COVID-19 pandemic seem like a vacation.

[nvldvr]

At present, the issue is to keep CO2 emissions down to contain global warming within 2 degrees. However, we are failing miserably, and in my opinion, we have already crossed the tipping point, where this battle "could have" been won.

The bigger issue will arise when the rising temperatures heat our poles/ frozen permafrost in the Tundra, releasing potentially huge amounts of methane, a much more potent green house gas than CO2 (~30 times more).

That would be the real catastrophy. We humans won't stand a chance against the forces of nature that would be unleashed by the changes in global climate then.

The worst part is, I feel, this scenario is not that far in the future. In all likelihood, we would very well see it within our lives. Our next generations dont stand a chance.

[Miyata]

Among the impacts of climate change (= global warming), in addition to ones mentioned above in opening and subsequent posts, there's also these effects directly on health -

asthma appeared to be triggered by a high pollen count that week. And pollen levels are rising in general because of higher levels of carbon dioxide, which she explained is linked to human-caused climate change.

Climate change presents many threats across the country, Salas noted: Heat stress can exacerbate mental illness, prompt more aggression and violence, and hurt pregnancy outcomes. Air pollution worsens respiratory problems. High temperatures can weaken the effectiveness of medications such as albuterol inhalers and EpiPens.

conditions, such as Lyme disease and West Nile virus, that are spreading to new territory as temperatures rise.

wildfires have become a fact of life,

Climate change right now is a threat multiplier — it makes bad things worse

[Tucker48]

Global warming is real.
Climate change is real.
But it's quite foolish of us to assume we can stop that. Change is an going process. Sahara was green. The earth was way warmer even without humans(no ice at all).
We are still in an ice age and it's a cycle.
Indian plate is moving 5cm/year to north-east.(Himalayas are still rising)

There are numerous other factors at play as well but are hardly ever talked about.

What troubles me that people like Greta claim to be saviours of mother earth even when her carbon footprint is more than a rural family in India (who get no mention).

Humans have thrived in warmer temperatures during the current intergalactic period.
What if now we get to know that except for places around equator every place on earth will have sub zero temperature?(a clear possibility as we are in an ice age)
Will we burn more coal?
OR
We get to know that the ice age is over and all the ice will melt.
Will we take less breaths?

We will have to adapt if its going to be warmer or colder!

I don't support global warming activists as I'm not opposed to global warming. The only thing I'm opposed to is pollution, any kind including that pollutes our brains.

[nvldvr]

Originally Posted by Tucker48

Global warming is real.
Climate change is real.
But it's quite foolish of us to assume we can stop that. Change is an going process. Sahara was green. The earth was way warmer even without humans(no ice at all)


I don't support global warming activists as I'm not opposed to global warming. The only thing I'm opposed to is pollution, any kind including that pollutes our brains.

Well, the primary difference between geological events of the past that you quoted and the current global warming is that whilst those events of the past were all natural, the current global warming (specifically since the dawn of the industrial age) is largely man made. So to shrug your shoulders and say that there is nothing that humans can or could have done to avoid this is not correct IMO.

We as a species would have to adapt to this for sure though, because we have landed ourselves in an almost inextricable situation and there is hardly a way around it. As I mentioned earlier, we may have run out of time already.

[mohansrides]

I will say one thing. The global warming crew sure caught a break. They have never had it so good and things are only looking up for them with this virus staying around for a long time.

Right now, they just fell onto a pile of money. In their wildest wet dreams, they would not have imagined this sort of cessation of human activity on a mass scale. This gives them a chance to demonstrate to the world the upsides to the environment.

[dragracer567]

Originally Posted by nvldvr

Well, the primary difference between geological events of the past that you quoted and the current global warming is that whilst those events of the past were all natural, the current global warming (specifically since the dawn of the industrial age) is largely man made. So to shrug your shoulders and say that there is nothing that humans can or could have done to avoid this is not correct IMO.

Exactly and moreover, climate change occurring naturally is much slower. We've done in 150 years what normally takes 10,000 years, so life just can't adapt quick enough to this change.

I repeat, natural and human-induced climate are wholly different. We need change now and doing nothing is not an option!