Blog Archive
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2009
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November
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- Methane, the ticking time bomb, will go off!
- Scientific American (December 2009), "Methane -- A...
- James Hansen: Never-Give-Up Fighting Spirit -- Le...
- Gavin Schmidt, RealClimate: The CRU hack -- context
- Combined Global Land and Marine Surface Temperatur...
- Peter Laut, J. Atmos. Solar-Terr. Phys., 2003, Sol...
- Spencer Weart, science historian, expresses his co...
- Australian climate row highlights Copenhagen rifts
- Climate change: How global warming is having an im...
- Arctic warming spike predicted for February 2010
- Rising sea level poses risk to Qatar, neighbours
- NOAA: 2009 Arctic Report Card, updated -- section ...
- Nordell & Gervet, Intl. J. Global Warming,Trapping...
- H. Damon Matthews et al., Nature 459 (2009), The p...
- Damon Matthews, Nature (June 2009), Carbon emissio...
- E. D. Schulze et al., Nature Geoscience (Nov. 2009...
- Detlef Schulze et al., Nature Geoscience, Intensiv...
- Timothy J. Garrett, Climatic Change (Nov. 2009), A...
- "Is global warming unstoppable? "based on paper by...
- A. Shiklomanov: A general increase of river disch...
- James Hansen: Storms of My Grandchildren
- Global warming challenging Canada's northern infra...
- Jeffrey Park, Geophys. Res. Lett., 36 (2009), A re...
- Jeffrey Park: Oceans absorbing carbon dioxide mor...
- The Manufactured Doubt industry and the hacked ema...
- CNN: Sea level rise could cost port cities $28 tr...
- Michael Mann Responds to CRU Hack
- "Blessed Unrest" by Paul Hawken: book review by La...
- George Monbiot: Global warming rigged? Here's the...
- The Guardian: Climate scientist Phil Jones at cent...
- BBC: Rising sea levels: A tale of two cities -- R...
- Climatic Research Unit update - November 24, 2009,...
- Plans for Copenhagen by Leon Simons, Dutch Country...
- Research fraud by Douglass, Christy, Pearsona & Si...
- A little dark humor to warm our beleaguered souls
- Eli Rabett: Ed Darrell found something interestin...
- 2009 predicted to be in the top 5 warmest years on...
- The Copenhagen Diagnosis: Climate Science Report
- Arctic expedition to initiate methane hydrate expl...
- China's emissions from coal increase despite econo...
- Al Gore to techies: Shake off the lethargy
- The Global Warming Denial Machine
- Duke Energy's Jim Rogers: Why nuclear power will ...
- Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States...
- Lester R. Brown: A hotter planet means less on ou...
- Seth Borenstein: Climate change speeds up since 1...
- A. R. Desai et al., Nature Geosci., Stronger winds...
- Richard Black of the BBC: East Antarctic ice sheet...
- J. L. Chen, C. R. Wilson, D. Blankenship & B. D. T...
- Yamamoto-Kawai, McLaughlin, Carmack, Science 326, ...
- New radar technique (REFRACTT) locates storm-fueli...
- Climate sceptic James Delingpole's cheap shot at N...
- Wettest November in Wales since records began in 1...
- Current sea-surface-temperature anomalies -- bizar...
- How Andrew Revkin of the New York Times sold out t...
- Andy Revkin sells out to the fossil fuel interests...
- Antarctic temperature spike surprises climate rese...
- Real Climate: The CRU hack
- Dozen lesser-known chemicals (chlorofluorocarbons ...
- MIRAS instrument on ESA's SMOS satellite up and ru...
- M. Yamamoto-Kawai et al., Science 326, Aragonite u...
- Der Spiegel bought off by fossil fuel interests!!!
- U.S. group sees worsening coastal flooding threat ...
- National Geographic photographer in Antarctica
- S. Khatiwala, F. Primeau, T. Hall, Nature 462, Rec...
- Real Climate: A Treeline Story by Raypierre
- World on course for catastrophic 6 °C rise, reveal...
- Clouds Can Reveal Shape of Continents
- Oceans Said to Absorb Fewer Emissions
- MSU/AMSU Channel TLT Brightness Temperature Anomal...
- MSU/AMSU Channel TLT Brightness Temperature Anomal...
- BBC's Richard Black: Greenland ice loss 'accelera...
- Laurie Williams & Allan Zabel: Cap-and-trade mirage
- EPA ORDERS EMPLOYEES TO REMOVE YOUTUBE CLIMATE VIDEO
- Joseph Romm: Record high temperatures far outpace...
- Nitrate concentrations in Greenland ice have almos...
- A. Luque & U. Ebert, Nature Geosci., Emergence of ...
- Lightning storms at mid-latitudes and in the subtr...
- NewScientist: Tuna in peril as catches reach trip...
- A. Montenegro et al., Glob. Planet. Change, 2009, ...
- NewScientist: Trees in far north provide biggest ...
- NewScientist: Mini ice age took hold of Europe in...
- Richard A. Kerr, Science, 326, Both of the World's...
- Jeffery P. Severinghaus, Science 326, Atmospheric ...
- Richard A. Kerr, Science, 326, Amid worrisome sign...
- Michiel van den Broeke et al., Science 326, Partit...
- Wet phases in the Sahara/Sahel region and human mi...
- H. Cheng, R. L. Edwards, W. S. Broeker, G. H. Dent...
- Greenland's mass loss increases to 0.75 mm per yea...
- Antarctic iceberg on walkabout toward Australia
- Peak Oil Already Here: Key oil numbers were disto...
- Rajendra Pachauri: India 'arrogant' to deny globa...
- Greenland ice and Himalayan glaciers: What’s going...
- Greenland's ice sheet melting faster than ever
- Anders Levermann: Global warming increases the ri...
- J. Nye et al., Changing spatial distribution of fi...
- Federal study shows fish species moving toward mor...
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- J. Oster, I. P. Montañe, W. D. Sharp & K. M. Coope...
- Jessica Oster et al., Cave stalagmite ring study l...
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November
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Saturday, November 28, 2009
CNN: Sea level rise could cost port cities $28 trillion
Sea level rise could cost port cities $28 trillion
The melting of ice caps in Greenland and the Antarctic could mean sea levels rising by 0.5 meters, the report says.
Possible rise in sea levels by 0.5 meters by 2050 could put at risk more than $28 trillion worth of assets, report says
by Peter Wilkinson, CNN, November 23, 2009, London, England (CNN)-- A possible rise in sea levels by 0.5 meters by 2050 could put at risk more than $28 trillion worth of assets in the world's largest coastal cities, according to a report compiled for the insurance industry.
The value of infrastructure exposed in so-called "port mega-cities," urban conurbations with more than 10 million people, is just $3 trillion at present.
The rise in potential losses would be a result of expected greater urbanization and increased exposure of this greater population to catastrophic surge events occurring once every 100 years caused by rising sea levels and higher temperatures.
The report, released on Monday by WWF and financial services Allianz, concludes that the world's diverse regions and ecosystems are close to temperature thresholds -- or "tipping points."
Any one of these surge events could unleash devastating environmental, social and economic changes amid a higher urban population.
According to the report, carried out by the UK-based Tyndall Centre, the impacts of passing "Tipping Points" on the livelihoods of people and economic assets have been underestimated.
Global temperatures have already risen by at least 0.7 °C and the report says a further rise by 2-3 °C in the second half of the century is likely unless deep cuts in emissions are put in place before 2015.
The consequent melting of the Greenland and the West Antarctic Ice Shield could lead to one such tipping point scenario, possibly a sea level rise of up to 0.5 meters by 2050.
The report focuses on regions and phenomena where such events might be expected to cause significant environmental impacts within the first half of the century.
For example a hurricane in New York, which could cost $1 trillion now, would mean a $5 trillion insurance bill by the middle of the century, the report adds.
"If we don't take immediate action against climate change, we are in grave danger of disruptive and devastating changes," said Kim Carstensen, the Head of WWF Global Climate Initiative.
"Reaching a tipping point means losing something forever. This must be a strong argument for world leaders to agree a strong and binding climate deal in Copenhagen in December."
Link: http://edition.cnn.com/2009/TECH/science/11/23/climate.report.wwf.allianz/index.html
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