Polar Melting Research Articles

Global view on China's foggy-haze associated with air-pollutant conveyor belts.

Upper air and surface data from 1960 to 2016, NCEP reanalysis from 1990 to 2016, air composition data from 2015 to 2016, and data from the drift automatic weather station in the Arctic from August 2012 to February 2013 are used to analyze the heavy foggy haze in China from a global perspective. Our findings show that sensitive foggy haze in winter is located in the eastern region of China because of the comprehensive effect of multi-factor meteorological conditions and the response to climate change under global warming as follows. (1) For the past half-century, two winter monsoon airflows blow from the East Asian continent and adjacent sea to North China. The airflow in the intermediate zone (North China) between the two winter monsoon airflows generates a retained circulation owing to the Earth's rotation because wind velocities over land and sea are different and their wind intensities are weakened. The circulation retention index has been on the rise in recent years, causing a "static stability" that retains or stabilizes air masses over this area. (2) Under global warming, polar ice has shrunk to a historical lowest over the years. The melting polar ice results in explosive heating and humidification in the lower troposphere leading to increased aerosol concentrations, which is conducive to maintaining or strengthening the Arctic haze. (3) The two winter monsoon pathways run over the Eurasian continent and the surface of the adjacent Sea of Okhotsk, thus affecting North China. These results are consistent with the airflow of the pollutant conveyor belt channeling from the Arctic haze zone. As a result, the pollutant conveyor belt from the Arctic haze zone as well as the pollutant conveyor belts from West Asia and North Africa contribute substantially to the high frequency of winter foggy haze over eastern China.

Comparison of international transport corridors in the Arctic based on the autoregressive distributed lag model

This article examines the modeling of international transport corridors using the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model. The modeling of international transport corridors makes allowance for the potential capacity to develop the Arctic transport environment in the context of polar ice melting and increasing time of navigation on the seas of the Arctic Ocean. The authors build models for the Northern Sea Route, the Trans-Siberian Railway (TSR), the Southern Sea Route (transport corridor of the Suez Canal), the Northwest Passage, and analyze the natural, organizational, technological, and economic factors that affect the endogenous variable of the international transport corridor model. When building the transport corridor models, the authors take the volume of transit traffic via the international corridor in time t as the endogenous variable for all corridors. Exogenous variables are selected according to the variables that have the highest impact on the volume of traffic via each transport corridor and feature most prominently in the literature reviewed in this article. For the Northern Sea Route, these variables include Russia’s GDP, the number of ships passing through the route, the number of nuclear icebreakers, the average tariff, and the minimum ice coverage in the Arctic. For the Southern Sea Route (transport corridor of the Suez Canal) – EU’s GDP, the number of ships passing through the route, the average tariff, and the volume of commercial transit cargo. The methodology for determining the parameters of the model includes the following procedures: flux balance analysis, analysis of the autocorrelation between endogenous and exogenous variables, multicollinearity analysis.

Legitimacy and Non-Domination in Solar Radiation Management Research

The environmental impacts of anthropogenic climate change, from an increase in global temperatures melting polar ice caps to the generation of extreme weather events, appear to be happening even mo...

Puerto Rico sea level trend in regional context

Sea level (SL) is rising in Puerto Rico due to regional influences from weaker trade winds, in addition to global influences of thermal expansion and polar ice melt. The linear increase of SL has steepened in recent decades from +0.175 to +0.725 cm/yr. The faster rate of SL rise is partly attributed to diminishing ice volume (r = −0.80), notwithstanding a recent decline in the Atlantic Multi-decadal Oscillation. A sophisticated point-to-field regression analysis (N = 5980) demonstrates that daily fluctuations of SL in Puerto Rico are significantly enhanced by locally warmer sea temperatures via reduced evaporation, and correspond with lower air pressure accompanying late summer storms. These features point to regional air-sea interactions that affect SL rise over and above the background global signal. Extrapolating these trends, a rise of more than 0.3 m is expected by 2050.

Potential Opportunities for the Arctic Transport Space

Two distinct routes from Europe to South-East Asia via the seas of the Arctic Ocean are considered in the work: the Northern Sea Route (NSR) and the Northwest Passage. Potential opportunities for the Arctic transport space under the conditions of melting polar ice and expanding navigation period on the Arctic Ocean are substantially increasing. Some alternatives to the NSR and Northwest Passage are described: a) by sea – this is the transport artery going along the Suez Canal; b) by land – these are the transport arteries including the Trans-Siberian Railway (Trans-Sib). The research is aimed at creating a model of the international transport corridor. The model is based on the autoregressive distributed lags (ADL) model. Separate models are constructed for the Northern Corridor, the Trans-Siberian railway, the transport corridor of the Suez Canal and the Northwest Passage. Factors influencing the endogenous variable of the model, consisting in the volume of goods transported for all corridors, are analysed. The exogenous variables were selected separately for each model. The time series covers the 1990-2013 period. The major steps of the implementation of the ADL-model are described: testing the endogenous and exogenous variables for auto-correlation; checking for stationarity of the time series; regression analysis. Finally, conclusions pertaining to the comparison of the NSR with other transport corridors are drawn.

Rapid glaciation and a two-step sea level plunge into the Last Glacial Maximum.

The approximately 10,000-year-long Last Glacial Maximum, before the termination of the last ice age, was the coldest period in Earth's recent climate history1. Relative to the Holocene epoch, atmospheric carbon dioxide was about 100 parts per million lower and tropical sea surface temperatures were about 3 to 5 degrees Celsius lower2,3. The Last Glacial Maximum began when global mean sea level (GMSL) abruptly dropped by about 40 metres around 31,000 years ago4 and was followed by about 10,000 years of rapid deglaciation into the Holocene1. The masses of the melting polar ice sheets and the change in ocean volume, and hence in GMSL, are primary constraints for climate models constructed to describe the transition between the Last Glacial Maximum and the Holocene, and future changes; but the rate, timing and magnitude of this transition remain uncertain. Here we show that sea level at the shelf edge of the Great Barrier Reef dropped by around 20 metres between 21,900 and 20,500 years ago, to -118 metres relative to the modern level. Our findings are based on recovered and radiometrically dated fossil corals and coralline algae assemblages, and represent relative sea level at the Great Barrier Reef, rather than GMSL. Subsequently, relative sea level rose at a rate of about 3.5 millimetres per year for around 4,000 years. The rise is consistent with the warming previously observed at 19,000 years ago1,5, but we now show that it occurred just after the 20-metre drop in relative sea level and the related increase in global ice volumes. The detailed structure of our record is robust because the Great Barrier Reef is remote from former ice sheets and tectonic activity. Relative sea level can be influenced by Earth's response to regional changes in ice and water loadings and may differ greatly from GMSL. Consequently, we used glacio-isostatic models to derive GMSL, and find that the Last Glacial Maximum culminated 20,500 years agoin a GMSL low of about -125 to -130 metres.

Comparison of filter smoke number and elemental carbon from thermal optical analysis of marine diesel engine exhaust

The interest on contribution of shipping to global warming and especially on polar ice melting has increased. The International Maritime Organization is working toward reporting and estimation of black carbon emissions from shipping. The filter smoke number method is discussed as one possible candidate for onboard determination of black carbon/soot concentration of the engine exhaust gas, and it has recently been considered as one of the best candidates for further evaluation in the International Council on Clean Transportation 4th workshop on marine black carbon emission. Proven, standardized technology and small size and simple operation of the filter smoke meter make it a potential choice for actual onboard use. In our study, we evaluated the validity of the filter smoke number method for measuring soot emission by looking at correlations between the filter smoke number and elemental carbon analyzed using thermal optical transmittance analysis. Until now the conversion of the filter smoke number to black carbon /soot emission has been performed with equations derived from high-speed engines operating with distillate fuels. We introduce optimized calculation parameters for filter smoke number to black carbon/soot conversion, which are derived from light and heavy fuel oil measurements. These new parameters can be utilized with improved accuracy for the estimation of the black carbon emission from filter smoke number measurement with marine fuel qualities.

The Rest Is Silence: Postmodern and Postcolonial Possibilities in Climate Change Fiction

Climate change is one of the most prominent symptoms of an age of unprecedented human impact on the biosphere—the age sometimes called the Anthropocene. In identifying humanity as a geological agent, the term “Anthropocene” exposes the fallacy of human exceptionalism, reminding us of the entangled nature of human and nonhuman agency, and the vast and decidedly nonhuman proportions of human action. For, as climate change and other Anthropocene events make clear, the effect of humans on their environment will far outlast human dimensions of individual lifetimes and even historical epochs: some of the impacts of humans’ activity—for example, species depletion—are irrevocable; others, such as polar ice-melt, are reversible (if at all) over immense durations of time. But in its recognition of the imbrication of human action with the biosphere (in all its human and nonhuman complexity), the concept of the Anthropocene captures a profoundly and existentially disturbing paradox. That is, even as we must confront the damaging illusion of human agency existing aloof and apart from nonhuman “nature,” we must also consider how to recuperate a nuanced view of human agency that enables humans to engage more fully with the unprecedented crisis now engulfing human and nonhuman organisms and environments.

News

FigureFigureFigureIt began as a day like any other at the picturesque unpopulated beach. The king tide surged under a full moon, which lined up with the sun to exert a higher-than-usual gravitational pull. In the distance, cold water lapped at the deck of a remote boardwalk that decades ago had perched a few feet above the water's surface. If the past few years of rising sea level continued, the boardwalk platform would be underwater at times next year. Restaurants had already abandoned the location, and now the sturdy posts were only occasionally used as a mooring for fishing boats. “Charlene, be careful. Don't get so close to the water. What if a great white shark jumps up and bites you?” The young mother had an adventurous fourth grader, who looked back and defiantly dipped a toe in the water. She was a feisty little girl. Like most other children her age, however, she was not a particularly strong swimmer or fast runner. Mom was focused on her daughter's antics and didn't notice when, in time with the waves striking the surf, the water level under the dock dropped by eight inches, held for 30 seconds, climbed halfway back, and then dropped by a foot. What happened next caught her and hundreds of thousands of other people living in adjacent coastal communities unprepared. A small tidal wave, caused by an offshore earthquake, compounded the local effect of sea level rise caused by melting polar ice. It was already the case in this embattled oceanfront that cliffs had eroded and dwellings collapsed, but these events were skillfully predicted so that people could be moved out of harm's way. But as is almost always the way with a storm surge, a torrential cloudburst onto parched ground that drains into a slot canyon, a rising river in the aftermath of Midwestern summer rains, or a tsunami, extreme sudden flooding catches people by surprise. Overwhelmed by the magnitude of events, the bystanders try to hold their ground. But the water always wins, as relentless tons of liquid engulf defenseless humans. The ocean became a monster. Mother and daughter were separated when the small hump in the ocean flowed past them, rolling the surface of the dock like a carpet being flipped for a cleaning. The height of the water they encountered was five feet above normal, a decent wave by surfing standards. They had no way to ride it and were tumbled like rag dolls, driven by the sea onto land, where they struck utility poles and parked cars. Bones were broken. Reflexively inhaling, their lungs filled with sand and debris-laden water. They had only a moment of fear and agony before they became unconscious. If by some miracle they had survived, after four minutes of oxygen deprivation, they would have suffered irreparable severe brain damage and been profoundly disabled for the rest of their lives. Flood is the most common natural disaster in developed and developing countries, and they are expected to increase worldwide in intensity and frequency from extreme weather events and sea level rise. Their impact can be deadly and widespread. Dozens of floods have resulted in more than 10,000 deaths apiece in the 20th century alone. Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans in 2005, causing hundreds of deaths and displacing thousands of people. The effects of floods on human health are diverse and vary in time and scope. Direct and instantaneous effects, such as trauma or drowning, occur in the chaos of rising, rushing waters. Days after the flood, the risk of infectious disease spikes due to exposure to stagnant and contaminated water. Months to years later, the toll on mental health from loss and displacement becomes evident. The nature and extent of impact upon a given population depend on the flood characteristics and baseline vulnerability and resources of the victims, such as infrastructure and isolation, and access to emergency services and post-flood relief resources. This excerpt is from Enviromedics: The Impact of Climate Change on Human Health, available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Books, Inc. In it, Drs. Lemery and Auerbach clarify science, dispel myths, and explain the threats of climate change to human health.

Variability in diatom and silicoflagellate assemblages during mid-Pliocene glacial-interglacial cycles determined in Hole U1361A of IODP Expedition 318, Antarctic Wilkes Land Margin

The Earth is currently experiencing climatic changes that will result in similar environmental conditions to those experienced during the mid-Pliocene (5.3–3.6 million years ago [Ma]), such as similar atmospheric CO2 concentrations, elevated sea surface temperature, and higher sea-levels due to polar ice melt. Studying the temporal distribution of Antarctic diatoms and silicoflagellates from this epoch provides insights into environmental conditions and sea-ice configurations during that time, and remains the only way to realistically estimate future phytoplankton community responses and Southern Ocean sea-ice extent during large-scale transient changes of similar magnitude to that anticipated by anthropogenic causes. In this study, we identified and quantified diatoms and silicoflagellates in a sediment core section obtained from the Antarctic Wilkes Land margin (IODP Expedition 318, Hole U1361A), spanning four glacial and interglacial cycles around the Gauss/Gilbert geochron boundary (3.6 Ma) between about 3.69 and 3.56 Ma. Two major abundance peaks (around 79.66 and 76.86 mbsf; representing time intervals around 3.65 Ma and 3.58 Ma, respectively) were identified. Both peaks temporally match previously determined high productivity warm intervals (interglacials). Diatom and silicoflagellate assemblages in these two interglacial periods differed: the abundance peak in the older sediments is dominated by the pennate diatoms Fragilariopsis barronii, Rouxia naviculoides and Rouxia antarctica; indicative of seasonal, meltwater associated stratification. The abundance peak in the younger sediments is composed principally of Chaetoceros resting spores, suggesting higher productivity, strong stratification and prolonged ice-free, open water conditions. Analysing highly abundant diatoms and environmental indicator species from this IODP Site in relation to the previously determined palaeo-productivity proxy Ba/Al allowed us to refine the age model. Our study provides orbital-scale insights into the variability of Antarctic diatom and silicoflagellate assemblages during the mid-Pliocene, thereby offering a reference for future predictions of extant diatom responses to ongoing climate change.

Control of ice growth and recrystallization by sulphur-doped oxidized quasi-carbon nitride quantum dots

Carbonaceous particles, as one of the main sources of atmospheric aerosols, have great influence on the climate change, such as ice formation, precipitation and polar ice melting. Because sulphur-containing emissions can significantly affect the chemical compositions and properties of carbonaceous particles through various aging processes, it is critical to investigate the influence of sulphur-doped carbon materials on ice formation. Here, we synthesized a sulphur-doped carbon nanomaterial–sulphur-doped oxidized quasi-carbon nitride quantum dots (S-OCNQDs), and investigated the influence of chemical structure on ice growth and recrystallization. The experimental results show that the S-OCNQDs can inhibit ice growth/recrystallization. In addition, we found that forming more hydrogen-bonds with ice contributes to enhancing the efficiency of ice growth/recrystallization inhibition and that heteroatom-doping is a promising way to regulate the ice growth/recrystallization. This work correlates the specific chemical structures of carbon nanomaterials with their performance in inhibiting ice growth/recrystallization through their density of hydrogen-bonds formed with ice. It is instructive for understanding the effect of sulphur-doping on ice formation as well as the design of efficient anti-icing materials.

Examining the Interaction between Consumption and Greenhouse Gas Emissions Using a Calibrated Dynamic Optimization Model

Nowadays, excessive exploitation of resources, on the one hand, and pollution, wastes and waste production and consumption, on the other hand, have posed major obstacles to the development of countries. Among the risks that have recently attracted much attention, one can refer to increasing greenhouse gases, ozone destruction, melting of polar ice, loss of species, and erosion of agricultural land. The key cause of the depletion of natural resources, emissions, and environmental degradation is overconsumption, which must be managed for the sake of sustainable development. In this paper, we investigate the effect of consumption on sustainable development based on the pattern proposed by Lambert (1985) and Stokey (1998). To achieve this purpose, an optimal control model has been used that focuses on the interaction between the consumer’s behavior and environmental degradation. In order to solve the model in a numerical manner, a risk-averse utility function is taken into account, and the model is optimized in accordance to the principle of maximum Pentryagyn to find the optimal values of consumption and emissions studied in stable conditions. The model parameters are set using the calibration procedure, and, finally, the results of changing the parameters are evaluated by scenarios. After the model is solved, the optimal path of the variables and the way to achieve the optimal points in a steady state are determined. The results are analyzed in a phase diagram. Showing high consumption and emission values vis a vis the optimal situation in Iran, the results suggest that Iran is getting far from the optimal sustainable state. This is because of the lack of sustainability of consumption patterns in Iran.

Negative Feedback in the Polar Ice System

One of the ingredients of the anthropogenic global warming hypothesis is the existence of large positive feedback in the climate system. An example is polar ice that, once melted, turns into blacker water that will increase radiation absorption and this rein-forces the melting. This causes a run-away scenario with a point of no return. Here it is shown that the polar ice can also have negative feedback aspects, where a melting of polar ice will cause it to reappear.

Legal Instruments for Marine Sanctuary in the High Arctic

In response to heightened threat to Arctic marine biodiversity due to polar ice melt, the following paper seeks to use qualitative secondary research to analyze existing anthropogenic threat to Arctic marine life and to evaluate current efforts on the part of the Arctic Council to protect biodiversity through a network of state-created marine protected areas (MPAs). We conclude that the current method for MPA creation fails to offer adequate pathways for creation of MPAs in Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (ABNJ), the high seas which fall beyond individual countries’ exclusive economic zones (EEZs). Thus, our central research question is to determine what legal basis and mechanisms exist for the creation of MPAs in ABNJs, with particular focus on the Arctic marine environment. In keeping with The United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity’s (UNCBD) precautionary approach, along with specific rules embodied within The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), we find a basis for creation of MPAs in the ABNJ. The text evaluates findings from the Boulogne-sur-Mer international conference of 2011 to suggest that such MPA creation in ABNJ could be approached via four pathways: regional agreement, UNCLOS implementing agreement, UNCBD additional protocol, or an Arctic Sanctuary modeled on the Antarctic Treaty. While we explore all four options, we argue that, due to geopolitical constraints, a comprehensive regional agreement offers the best path to High Arctic MPA creation.

The Next Great War, Cold Peace, or Mutual Gain?

Asian Perspective 40 (2016), 161-171 BOOK REVIEW ESSAY The Next Great War, Cold Peace, or Mutual Gain? Walter C. Clemens Jr. Richard N. Rosecrance and Steven E. Miller, eds. The Next Great War? The Roots of World War I and the Risk of U.S.-China Conflict. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2014. Aaron L. Friedberg. A Contestfor Supremacy: China, America, and the Strugglefor Mastery in Asia. New York: W. W. Nor­ ton, 2011. Wang Jisi and Kenneth G. Lieberthal. “Addressing U.S.-China Strategic Distrust,” Washington, DC: Brookings Institution, John L. Thornton China Center Monograph Series, No. 4 (March 2012), www.brookings.edu/~/media/research/files/papers/2012 /3/30-us-china-lieberthal/0330_china_lieberthal .pdf. Thomas J. Christensen. The China Challenge: Shaping the Choices ofa Rising Power. New York: W. W. Norton, 2015. Henry M. Paulson. Dealing with China: An Insider Unmasks the New Economic Superpower. New York: Hachette, 2015. Jeffrey Lewis. Paper Tigers: China’ s Nuclear Posture. London: International Institute for Strategic Studies and Routledge, 2014. Lyle J. Goldstein. Meeting China Halfway: How to Defuse the Emerging US-China Rivalry. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 2015. Morton Abramowitz and Stephen Bosworth. Chasing the Sun: Rethinking East Asian Policy. New York: The Century Foun­ dation, 2006. A CENTURY AFTER THE BEGINNING OF WORLD WAR I IN 1914, SOME observers are asking whether China and the United States are des­ tined to fight for hegemony, as did Germany and Great Britain in 161 162 The Next Great War 1914 and, more than two millennia earlier, Sparta and Athens. Other analysts question whether anything—including these wars—is inevitable in human affairs. These issues give rise to competing hypotheses and answers as well as to still more ques­ tions. Whether readers agree or disagree with the works reviewed here, each deserves attention for its contribution to fathoming and shaping the alternative futures open to China, the United States, and indeed all humanity. The future relationship between China and the United States is one of the mega-changes and mega-challenges of our age. China’s rise is the geopolitical equivalent of the melting polar ice caps: gradual change on a massive scale that can suddenly lead to dramatic turns of events. Were there factors contributing to the Great War that suggest lessons for Sino-US relations today? Four­ teen authors address these questions in The Next Great War? None of these chapters purports to provide the entire picture or even a definitive facet. Still, each embodies a deep analysis rich in heuristics that can spark further research on Sino-US relations, though most of the chapters debate the origins of World War I. Taken together, the essays provide a broad catalog of the many factors that produced the guns ofAugust 1914 and that could con­ duce to other wars. The factors are wide ranging, from familiar doctrines about the shifting balance of power to the mental and emotional qualities of leaders and the cult of the offensive espoused by many strategists. Graham Allison’s chapter argues that China and the United States must work to escape the “Thucydides Trap”—the “dangers that can arise when a rising power challenges a ruling power—as Athens did Sparta . . . and as Germany did Britain a century ago.” Describing the interactions of Athens and Sparta and other Greek city-states, Thucydides asserted, “It was the rise ofAthens and the fear that this instilled in Sparta that made the [Peloponnesian] war inevitable.” Some of the events described by Thucydides in The Peloponnesian War do not square with the inevitability thesis. Still, the sentence quoted has spawned a theory ofhegemonic war, a theory dear to structural realists. They typically predict that ris­ ing powers will seek to deliver a quietus to a weakening hegemon, or that the hegemon will wage a preventive or preemptive war against challengers before it becomes too late. Walter C. Clemens Jr. 163 A similar “trap” has often recurred, according to Allison: “In twelve of sixteen cases in the past 500 years when a rising power challenged a ruling power, the outcome was war.” Since war was avoided in four cases, Allison concedes that hegemonic war is not inevitable. But since China has...

Isle of Man, Galapagos and sunspot data show net cooling hid double exponential ocean warming danger: +3°C in 2014, +4°C likely by 2016.

Anthropogenic global warming (AGW) heat is trapped by the greenhouse gas (GHG) blanket, and the ocean surface layer. It is 93% in the ocean and drives atmospheric warming. The 111-year mean daily surface temperatures are 10.5±0.5°C at Port Erin (PE) Isle of Man compared with 9.6±4.8°C in Central England (CET) air. The Port Erin 5½-year max-min heat cycle synchronizes to the 11-year solar heat pump sunspot cycle. Tropical heat arrives 2 years after a solar maximum on wind-driven currents in the stratified sea surface. Runoff from bottom-up melted Arctic icesheets arrives 3½ year later at solar minimum. These warm and cold waters are the biodiversity source. PE is unique with seasonal meltwaters of Pacific and Atlantic origin. The North Pacific warms twice as fast as other oceans. All ocean near-surface gyre currents harmonize with sunspot cycles. Net cooling by polar icemelt masks catastrophic exponential ocean warming and icemelt. Eleven counter-rotating surface gyres carry heat and nutrients globally in verified ocean surface circulation system.Exponential growth is unsustainable in a finite system. It trends to infinity. Double-exponential gets there twice as quickly. The GHG blanket, grown double-exponentially for 250 years, is now in control. Ocean heat absorption takes 150-250 years. Arctic icemelt increases double-exponentially. The Arctic long-term annual freeze-melt volume cycle is 16.8±1.3 thousand cubic km per year. Polar land icemelt adds ~500 km3 per year. Freeze-brine of salinity >40‰ and temperature –1°C, sinks to the bottom. Equatorial evaporative-brine of salinity >36.4‰ and >28°C floats subsurface under fresh warm layers thickening westwards in tropical meridional cells to ~75m depth. This is consistent with observed extreme weather.Heat imbalance forced Pacific Ocean temperatures above proposed limits of +2°C in 1993, to +3°C in 2014, and is on track for +4°C for 2016. Century-long daily records confirm processes ongoing for 300 years. Coast locations are where impacts are felt and real-time data collected. Corporate governance degraded physics teaching in only 60 years. Individual discovery and data collection was lost. Big science is unnecessary. Satellites cannot do plankton tows. Computer models are governed by the rule of ‘garbage-in garbage-out’. They must be verified by in situ data that cannot be collected retrospectively. Continuous timeseries surface profile data from fixed ocean station locations on a global variable-boundary network are essential. Scientists, if well-trained in ocean experimental physics, can do the hard work.Time-poor scientists, stripped of their intellectual property rights, under rewarded, poorly educated, and ruthlessly exploited by growth-obsessed commercial interests, missed catastrophic global warming and multiple extreme consequences. Climate scientists abandoned classical physics and Newton-Hooke field verification in favor of unverified beliefs, models, and apps. Climate studies confuse heat with temperature, do not include basal icemelt, density temperature-salinity function, Clausius-Clapeyron evaporation exponential skin temperature function, asymmetric brine-heat sequestration, solar and tidal pumping, infra-red GHG heat trap, vertical tropical cells, freshwater warm pools; or wind-driven surface currents at 3 percent of windspeed. Climate model mistaken assumptions lead to the absurd conclusion that evaporation in the Labrador Sea at midnight in midwinter is greater than at the midday Equator.The Isle of Man provides an ideal location for continued monitoring and mitigation research, teaching and public service in a dedicated non-commercial independent multidisciplinary university-type setting. Quality teaching is the major priority. Commercial monopoly rights need replacement with free, fully open discussions and publications. Quality not quantity should be paramount. Internationally competitive academics should control subservient lower paid support staff.Every day without ocean surface data means vital scientific truth lost of interest and concern to all populations. Predictions are groundless without accurate continuous ocean surface data. Skeptics, politicians, statisticians, those with stakes in the status quo, and established research censors obstructing scientific progress squabble in ignorance while the globe burns.

Myles in Space: Science Fiction and Cruiskeen Lawn

This essay details the frequent appearances of science fiction tropes and plots in the Cruiskeen Lawn column, from excursions to the moon and death-rays to interstellar banshees and metallic-skinned Martian slave drivers. Noting also the presence of Ronald Arbuthnott Knox’s God and the Atom in O'Nolan's personal library, Fennell considers how O'Nolan uses these sci-fi tropes to explore geopolitical, philosophical, and theological themes, including the atomic bomb, Cold-War politics, melting polar ice caps, worries for a third world war and the conflict between science and religion under modernity.To read the article, click Download or View PDF.

Martian ice melt is not a sign of climate change

Global warming isn't happening on Mars, so face up to it on Earth. That's the conclusion of an analysis of the Red Planet's melting polar ice cap, which shows that Swiss-cheese-like pits forming in the ice are part of a natural cycle, not unusual warming. Shane Byrne at the University of Arizona and his colleagues say the pit size changes naturally every 100 years or so. He used images of the south pole from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter to track changes in the pits over four Martian years and create a model of their formation. This showed that thin carbon dioxide ice starts out smooth, but as gas freezes onto it, some places end up lumpier. The areas with the highest slopes absorb more sunlight eventually melting to create the pits.

Review of <em>The Great Immensity</em>

The Great Immensity had me at “climate change musical.” After reading that brief descriptor of the play, I envisioned campy yet incisive songanddance numbers about unprecedented heat waves, sealevel rise, melting polar ice caps. I imagined the kitschy, queer appeal of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, but with more scientists and activists and fewer charming lumberjacks turned sortof kidnappers. But with a few exceptions, such as a sardonic number about the pathetic state of international climate change policy (“oceans must be better protected / science must be respected . . . these agreements are not legal / these agreements are not binding”), The Great Immensity is not that kind of climate change musical. For better or worse. In my view, it’s both better and worse. Developed by the Brooklynbased Civilians theater group, The Great Immensity focuses on American cameraman Karl (Chris Sullivan), a multipleEmmy winner for his work on the Discovery Channel’s Shark Week. Estranged from his wife Phyllis (Rebecca Hart) while posted at a scientific research center in Panama, Karl’s despair over environmental degradation and the ineffectiveness of the mainstream media leads him to team up with the Earth Ambassadors, an international youth group led by a precocious American girl named Julie (Erin Wilhelmi). They set a goal of hatching a major media stunt that will get the world to watch, and to act. Their deadline for pulling it off is the eve of an international climate change summit in Paris. At a time at which emotions around climate change find little outlet in public media— instead, we are bombarded with facts and figures and

The Study of time variation process of MSL by satellite altimetry

Abstract. In the paper the exact mean sea level of observations TOPEX-/Poseidon satellite Instantaneous sea level height between 1992 and 2003 have been determined. It is assumed that the sea level height, in addition to tidal changes and polar motion, expose increasing the risk of permanent polar ice melting phenomena and moving tectonic plates. to implementation property of repetition time observations of sea level height and time series observations collected in the satellite motion is used Gulf of Oman and the Persian Gulf. In here the observations with a linear series of periodic tidal changes and changes in polar motion is uniformly formulated. Computing was used by least squares method to remove the tidal effects can result.