Throughout the record global heat of 2016 and on into 2017, the world's sea ice has taken a merciless pounding. In the Northern Hemisphere, extreme warming of the polar region pushed Arctic sea ice extents to record low daily ranges throughout the winter, spring and fall of 2016. And even today, after many months of daily record lows, sea ice in the Arctic remains more reduced ( [ 486 more words ]

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Drought in Chile has now lasted for more than a ten years. Yearly precipitation deficits have ranged from 30-70% for most of central Chile for the last decade. But the ongoing drought's intensity has increased since 2011. The result has been "an unprecedented drought in terms of intensity, spatial and temporal extent." Over recent days, the forests of Central Chile appear to have finally succumbed to the unprecedented and unrelenting punishment. [ 530 more words ]

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Around its edge zone, and from glacier top to ice shelf bottom, Antarctica is melting. Above-freezing surface temperatures during the austral summer of 2016 and 2017 have resulted in the formation of numerous surface melt ponds around the Antarctic perimeter. Meanwhile, large cracks are growing through Antarctic ice shelves as warmer ocean currents melt the towering floating glaciers from below. The overall picture is one of a critical frozen region undergoing rapid change due to the human-forced heating of our world. [ 1,466 more word ]

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Over just the past three years, global temperatures have risen by about 0.4 degrees Celsius. This was an extreme acceleration in the rate of warming. One that is unmatched in all of the past 136 years of climate record keeping. During 2016, according to NASA, global temperatures hit 1.21 C above 1880s averages. This is a new record high to shatter all previous heat records. [ 314 more words ]

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It wasn't too long ago that the cost of an average solar energy power plant was above 10 cents per kilowatt hour and the world was raving at the low prices for Middle East solar generation in the range of 6 cents per kilowatt hour. At that time, to the shock, awe, and dismay of many, solar energy began to become earnestly competitive with traditional power plants based on price of energy alone. [ 1,453 more word ]

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A river of moisture arises from the Pacific Ocean and links up with a procession of enormous storms that bring heavy surf, flooding rains, and mountain snows to the U.S. West. It's a weather narrative that one usually associates with a strong El Nino during winter time. But the powerful El Nino ended last year and it failed to bring the expected rains. [ 1,226 more word ]

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Neven -- one of the world's most beloved sea ice trackers -- has again taken a break from his much-earned sabbatical to issue yet one more warning on the state of global sea ice. His report, based on this month's bombshell National Snow and Ice Data Center statement, can best be described as an urgent call for action on the part of the global community to redouble efforts aimed at reducing the wide-ranging and expanding harms caused by the terrible warming trend we have artificially forced upon our world. [ 1,138 more word ]

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Electric vehicle (EV) performance has been improving so quickly and prices have been falling so fast that the internal combustion engine (ICE) wouldn't be able to compete for much longer. You will soon be able to get Porsche performance for Buick prices and when you get that, neither Porsche nor Buick are able to compete. -- Tony Seba ***** We talk a lot here about tipping points. [ 1,504 more word ]

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Earlier this morning, warm winds rushing in from the south ahead of an extensive frontal system draped across central and eastern North America pulled 32 + degree Fahrenheit (0 + C) temperatures into the southern coastal area of Hudson Bay. These temperatures were around 30 to 35 degrees (F) above normal. An odd event to say the least. One that would have been far less likely to happen without the added kick provided by global warming in the range of 1.2 C above 1880s averages. [ 512 more words ]

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According to NOAA, carbon dioxide -- a key heat trapping gas -- increased its atmospheric concentration by 2.77 parts per million during 2016. This was the third fastest rate of increase in the NOAA record following 2015 at a 3.03 ppm annual increase and 1998 at a 2.93 annual increase. Earlier trends had indicated that 2016 might be on track to beat 2015 as a new record year. [ 648 more words ]

http://robertscribbler.com/…/noaa-atmospheric-co2-increased…

It's happened before. Ice shelves on the northern Antarctic Peninsula released large chunks of ice into the Southern Ocean as the world warmed up. They developed a concave shape which became unstable. Then they collapsed. The ultimate collapse of Larsen A occurred in 1995. In 2002, further up the Antarctic Peninsula, the larger Larsen B Ice Shelf succumbed to the same fate. [ 650 more words ]

http://robertscribbler.com/…/antarctica-is-about-to-lose-a-…

Over the following days everything in PDX dried out -- the air, trees, soil. There was a snapping sensation as all moisture was expelled. Like ... second crack (coffee roasting). I felt it. It smelled acrid... It’s no wonder the Pacific Northwest is burning in explosive wildfires. -- David T. Lange in his description of impacts caused by the Ridiculously Resilient Ridge during 2015… [ 1,061 more word ]

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The sparks of resistance to a harmful domination of energy supplies by the fossil fuel industry are out there. They are the lights of clean power generation blooming like stars across a world blackened by smokestack emissions and imperiled by climate change. **** In the U.S., backward-looking republicans like Donald Trump, Paul Ryan, James Inhofe and Mitch McConnell appear to be gearing up to fight against both… [ 2,199 more words ]

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If we've learned anything this year, it's that few of Antarctica's submerged coastal glaciers are safe from the warming ocean. Places that we once thought wouldn't be vulnerable to melt for decades or centuries are now starting to feel the heat of rising water temperatures. The heat comes in the form of great floods of warmer than normal waters running beneath the ocean surface and then eating away at the undersides of ice shelves and sea fronting glaciers. [ 578 more words ]

http://robertscribbler.com/…/a-flood-of-warm-water-the-size…

Solar -- it's not just a clean power source producing zero emissions and almost no local water impact, it's also now one of the best choices on the basis of how much energy you get back for your investment. And with climate change impacts rising, solar's further potential to take some of the edge off the harm that's coming down the pipe makes speeding its adoption a clear no-brainer. [ 791 more words ]

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