Tag Archives: coast

People aren’t connecting extreme weather to climate change — at least, not on Google

by biglermyrta910 Posted on December 12, 2012

People aren’t connecting extreme weather to climate change — at least, not on Google

By Philip Bump

This morning, Google unveiled its “Zeitgeist 2012″ report, a look at what the world searched for over the past 12 months. (Well, over the past 11-and-a-third months, anyway.) The No. 1 trending thing people searched for was Whitney Houston, which: OK. But when it came to news events, the most captivating thing was Hurricane Sandy.

Which got us thinking: Did those searches for Sandy prompt more searches on climate change? And the answer is: yes, but not many.

Here’s what search traffic for “Hurricane Sandy” looked like over the course of the year, across the globe. (In all graphs, 100 represents the peak search volume.)
And, here, searches for “climate change” and “global warming.”

See that tiny little tick up at the end of October? Yeah, that’s correlated to Sandy.

The searches for “Hurricane Sandy” were, predictably, centered on the East Coast.

Interestingly, searches for “climate change” were centered in Australia …
… and those for “global warming” in Southeast Asia.
Australia, of course, was battered by floods, as was the Philippines. The only places in the United States that saw much traffic for either term were in the Northeast.

We also wondered if the drought caused any splash on Google. And it did, exactly when you’d have expected.
No doubt thanks to the size of the state’s cities, the searches were centered in Texas.
Google is as close as we can get to gauging the public’s thinking. What we learn, then, is that extreme weather events don’t prompt an immediate, online connection to climate change; or, at least, no connection to the desire to learn more about the issue.

And, if you’re wondering who’s searching for Grist?
Not nearly enough people.

Philip Bump writes about the news for Gristmill. He also uses Twitter a whole lot.

Read more:

Climate & Energy

Also in Grist

Please enable JavaScript to see recommended stories

Originally from:

People aren’t connecting extreme weather to climate change — at least, not on Google

Posted in GE, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on People aren’t connecting extreme weather to climate change — at least, not on Google

Could clones save California’s endangered redwoods — in Oregon?

by Myrna Posted on December 8, 2012

Could clones save California’s endangered redwoods — in Oregon?

By Susie Cagle

True story: My grandmother built her California house entirely from redwood. It’s a really nice house! But it makes me pretty uncomfortable to be inside the place with its massive beams made of ancient, dead trees when we’ve got only 5 percent of old-growth redwood forest left standing today. And as the climate keeps heating up, those trees will be subject to new dangers — and new potential for rebirth further north.

friendshipgoodtimes

According to new research published in the journal Science, the California redwoods, American pines, Australian mountain ash trees and other living giants are in danger of being lost forever if we don’t change how we treat them.

Just as large-bodied animals such as elephants, tigers, and cetaceans have declined drastically in many parts of the world, a growing body of evidence suggests that large old trees could be equally imperiled.

From The Bangkok Post:

The study showed that trees were not only dying en masse in forest fires, but were also perishing at 10 times the normal rate in non-fire years. The study said it appeared to be down to a combination of rapid climate change causing drought and high temperatures, as well as rampant logging and agricultural land clearing.

“It is a very, very disturbing trend,” said Bill Laurance of James Cook University.

“We are talking about the loss of the biggest living organisms on the planet, of the largest flowering plants on the planet, of organisms that play a key role in regulating and enriching our world.”

Large old trees play critical ecological roles, providing nesting or sheltering cavities for up to 30 percent of all birds and animals in some ecosystems.

Some people are now taking action to save the remaining redwoods and repopulate West Coast forests with new-old trees. In Santa Cruz, activists are trying to raise millions to purchase a section of old-growth forest. And this week in Oregon, the Archangel Ancient Tree Archive began planting 250 clones from 28 of California’s biggest, oldest redwoods and sequoias on the southern Oregon coast. From the Associated Press:

David Milarch, co-founder of the Archangel Ancient Tree Archive and the Champion Tree Project, hopes the small plantation south of Port Orford, Ore., will give the ancient giants a leg up on moving north to cooler climes as the climate changes and be the start of a campaign to plant some of the world’s fastest-growing trees all around the globe …

The clones will be planted on Terry Mock’s 150-acre Ocean Mountain Ranch. Mock is a former director of the Champion Tree Project and is turning the ranch into a demonstration of sustainable development. They will go into the ground on the sheltered north slope of a ridge about a mile from the coast near Humbug Mountain. The site is about 40 miles north of the northern tip of the coast redwood’s range, and about 700 miles north of the sequoias in California’s southern Sierra Nevada.

“As things get hotter and drier, redwoods and sequoias should migrate north,” Mock said. “This is a logical spot.”

Another little bit of good news? Until we act like short-sighted jerks and cut them down, it turns out those individual massive trees are still growing. Researchers just found the world’s number 2 biggest tree has actually been dwarfed by its number 3 rival, dispelling the notion that big trees grow more slowly as they age.

Susie Cagle writes and draws news for Grist. She also writes and draws tweets for

Twitter

.

Read more:

Climate & Energy

Also in Grist

Please enable JavaScript to see recommended stories

Original link:  

Could clones save California’s endangered redwoods — in Oregon?

Posted in GE, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Could clones save California’s endangered redwoods — in Oregon?

Watch every hurricane that formed during the third-most-active season in history

by Myrna Posted on November 29, 2012

Watch every hurricane that formed during the third-most-active season in history

By Philip Bump

Here, in just shy of four and a half minutes, is the entire 2012 hurricane season. Assuming, that is, that no tropical storms crop up in the next 36 hours or so; hurricane season ends on Nov. 30.

It’s pretty, in its way. Humbling, watching the patterns and the flow of the clouds as they work their way slowly around the ocean. For the planet, Sandy was just another spinning formation, made and gone and forgotten.

For us, Sandy was the capstone to what the Capital Weather Gang notes was tied for the third-most-active hurricane season in history.

In an average season (using 1981-2010 as a baseline), there are 12.1 named storms, 6.4 hurricanes, and 2.7 major hurricanes. This season ended up with 19 named storms, 10 of which became hurricanes, but just 1 of those became a major hurricane (defined as category 3 or higher on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind scale). The 19 named storms ties for the third greatest number of such storms in a season on record. Historically, only about 3 percent of seasons experience 19 or more named storms. As rare as this feat is, it was amazingly the third consecutive season to have 19 named storms!

Despite this year’s large number of named storms, major hurricane activity was minimal. Of all the seasons with at least 19 named storms, the previous lowest number of “major hurricane days” was 3.75. This year, the total was a meager 0.25 days (six hours).

NOAA

Every storm of 2012. Click to embiggen.

There’s another measure by which 2012 was exceptional.

Another metric for evaluating seasonal activity is known as Accumulated Cyclone Energy, or ACE. ACE is basically a wind energy index used to succinctly characterize a season by the intensity and duration of all of the storms. The 2012 season finished up at 126.2, or about 137 percent of an average season. The median value over the period 1951-2010 is 92.4, and any season that exceeds 103 is considered to be “above normal”; however, there must also be at least two major hurricanes to meet the “above normal” criteria. As of now, Michael is 2012’s only major hurricane, but it’s quite possible that Sandy will be upgraded to a major hurricane when it was near Cuba. Nadine, the fifth-longest-lasting storm on record, contributed to 20% of the total ACE, while Sandy contributed to 11% of the total.

So, in short, this year we had an extremely active and highly energetic hurricane season that resulted in billions of dollars of damage on the East Coast and the Caribbean.

If only there were something humans could do to lessen the amount of energy in the atmosphere and prevent future years of similar intensity.

Source

Third most active hurricane season on record (tie) ends Friday, Capital Weather Gang

Philip Bump writes about the news for Gristmill. He also uses Twitter a whole lot.

Read more:

Climate & Energy

Also in Grist

Please enable JavaScript to see recommended stories

Source:  

Watch every hurricane that formed during the third-most-active season in history

Posted in GE, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Watch every hurricane that formed during the third-most-active season in history

California is about to get drenched by an ‘atmospheric river’

by Myrna Posted on November 27, 2012

California is about to get drenched by an ‘atmospheric river’

By Philip Bump

This is a post about the weather in California, so it’s only appropriate that it begins with a weed reference.

Remember The Pineapple Express?

In the movie, “Pineapple Express” is the name of the high-quality pot the protagonists enjoy. The dealer, Saul Silver, explains where the name comes from:

My guy Red told me it’s when this Hawaiian flood takes special dirt to the weed or some shit. It’s pretty scientific.

Not quite, Saul. (Saul is not good with details for some reason.) Actually, a Pineapple Express is a weather pattern that brings heavy precipitation to the West Coast. It’s a particular type of a phenomenon called an “atmospheric river.” And if you want to know what happens in an atmospheric river, stick around Northern California for a bit.

From The Sacramento Bee:

[G]et ready for an “atmospheric river” late in the week that will bring perhaps 3 inches of rain to the [Sacramento River] valley region, the National Weather Service said today.

The term of art — atmospheric river — tells the story: [National Weather Service meteorologist Darren] Van Cleave describes it as a “garden hose … focused right in our area.” …

Atmospheric rivers, he said, tend to be longer than they are wide. This one fits that description. But they also tend to affect an area for about 12 to 24 hours. Forecasts show this one lingering over the valley beyond Thursday night well into the weekend.

NOAA

This week’s river.

This isn’t just a rainstorm. As noted by @Burritojustice (a Twitter must-follow), in 1862 a lengthy atmospheric river created a massive, temporary lake in the middle of the state. From Weather Underground:

Massive runoff from the mountains during the warm storms filled the Sacramento and San Joaquin Valleys almost from the foothills of the Sierra on the east to the hills on the west side of the Great Valley. A giant lake 250-300 miles long and 20 miles wide apparently formed, some 5,000-6,000 square miles (of what is now some of the most valuable agricultural land in the world and home to about 2 million people).

Climate experts fear that a deluge at that scale — or bigger — could happen again.

On occasions, as it presumably did during December 1861-January 1862, this stream of moisture becomes a persistent feature lasting for days and even weeks and funneling storm after storm towards the West Coast of the United States. …

The USGS suggests that up to 120” of rain might fall in California over the course of such an event (in favored orographic locations) the run-off from which would flood the entire Sacramento and San Joaquin Valleys as well as the basins of Southern California. A very detailed analysis from the report predicts damage to exceed $300 billion with up to 225,000 people permanently displaced (in terms of complete destruction of dwellings) and a further 1.2 million forced into evacuation.

Flooding from a massive “atmospheric river” event would look something like this:

wunderground

According to a report from the state of California [PDF], climate change is bound to make atmospheric rivers more intense, with increased moisture, warmer air, and a longer “season” during which the storms could occur. Scientists also expect a large increase in the number of so-called “50-year flood” events in the Sierras — the sort of precipitation that drowned the state in 1862.

This week’s storm won’t last for weeks, turning California’s bread basket into a soggy mess. But it could happen, someday — and there’s not much you can do to prepare for it. Evacuate as necessary, get a flashlight and canned food, and, of course, stock up on Pineapple Express.

Philip Bump writes about the news for Gristmill. He also uses Twitter a whole lot.

Read more:

Cities

,

Climate & Energy

Also in Grist

Please enable JavaScript to see recommended stories

Originally posted here: 

California is about to get drenched by an ‘atmospheric river’

Posted in GE, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on California is about to get drenched by an ‘atmospheric river’