Scientists who warn of climate shifts often forecast a model that looks at increases in sea levels over the next number of centuries. But a new study has pegged the peril as occurring much closer to our own lifetime.
Within the next 50 years, the oceans will dramatically rise seven feet, while the loss of heat-regulating currents from melting polar ice caps will result in megastorms never before seen in earth’s modern history.
According to the New York Times on March 22, scientists estimate that by the end of this century, the planet will already be suffering from catastrophic consequences of global warming and climate change – killer storms will ravage the landscape and large parts of the polar ice sheets will disintegrate, raising sea levels and flooding major coastal cities.
The findings were released this week by the European science journal Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics. The research paper is citing a cause-and-effect relationship that is not new. As fossil fuel use increases, heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere will quickly reach a critical point, resulting in an abrupt climate shift that will pour freshwater from melting ice in Greenland and Antarctica into the oceans, raising the seas to perilous levels.
“We’re in danger of handing young people a situation that’s out of their control,” said James E. Hansen, a retired NASA climate scientist who led the study. “That would mean loss of all coastal cities, most of the world’s large cities and all their history.”
"AND ANOTHER THING"
Antarctica’s hottest day? This week, it was colder in San Francisco, Washington D.C., Seattle and Chicago than it was in Antarctica – the geographic South Pole.
Writes The Washington Post: “Need another indicator of climate warming in Antarctica? A trio of weather bloggers at Weather Underground report the temperature there likely hit a record-breaking 63.5F (17.5C) Tuesday. The balmy reading was logged at Argentina’s Esperanza Base, which lies on the northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula.”
The previous record for warmest Antarctica temps? The day before, when recorded temperatures reached 63.3 degrees Fahrenheit. Those readings were recorded at the Marambio Base, a small islet just off the coast of the Antarctic Peninsula.
http://www.examiner.com
What the fuck can I add this this scary shit?
We are fucked coming, and going. We told ya so didn't we. Btw more than half of this benighted country still thinks that all this is a commie liberal Hoax.
That along with Science History, and Culture...all Hoaxes praise da Lawd. Our grandchildren will spit on the damp ground, and curse our names for this. Because we had 50 years to start doing something to at least moderate the pace of the End of the World,....and Didn't.
Aw well at least they'll still be delivering the pizza for a few more years. Look after your loved ones bless you, and good luck.
Stay Tuned.
Yep, I think this is pretty much all true, with one proviso. The planet will not be suffering; it will be just fine. Sure, there will continue to be plenty of species loss, but this has happened before, and the planet recovered. Life is very persistent phenomenon. We humans, however, will not be fine - at least a lot of us won't. I think humanity will survive, but at a price. Other civilizations will eventually arise after this one has completed its current downward trajectory, but perforce they'll operate at a considerably lower lever of complexity and resource-intensiveness than ours. And we won't be making any more Moon landings. We'll have to reconcile ourselves to living on the only life-sustaining planet we'll ever know.
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P.S. - I don't mean to suggest that the loss of so many species isn't a tragedy. It is. But it's not the end of life on Earth.
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