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| Science & Technology |
| Record Arctic Snow Loss May Be Prolonging North American Drought |
| 2012-09-26 |
| We've got no one to blame but ourselves. Back in the sixties when that famous fore teller of man made global warming, the Prophet Tiny Tim (PBUH) warned us, did anyone listen? Oh no and now we are paying the price. Melting Arctic snow isn’t as dramatic as melting sea ice, but the snow may be vanishing just as rapidly, with potentially profound consequences for weather in the United States. Across the Arctic, snow melted earlier and more completely this year than any in recorded history. In the same way ice loss exposes dark water to the sun’s radiant heat, melting snow causes exposed ground to heat up, adding to the Arctic’s already super-sized warming. This extra heat retention appears to alter the polar jet stream, slowing it down and causing mid-latitude weather patterns to linger. It’s even possible that the ongoing North American drought, the worst since the Dust Bowl of the 1930s, was fueled in part by climate change in the Arctic, making it a preview of this new weather pattern’s ripple effects. “In the past, whatever happened in the Arctic stayed in the Arctic. But now it seems to be reaching down from time to time in the mid-latitudes,” said climatologist James Overland of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration. “When you combine the new influence of the Arctic with other effects, such as El Niño, we’re seeing the more extreme weather events.” Over the last several weeks, public attention has been seized by the disappearance of ice in the Arctic Ocean, which in September covered a smaller area than at any other time in the climate record, a fitting exclamation point to its 50 percent decline since the late 1970s. |
| Posted by:tipper |
| #3 They still refuse to recognize the consequences to the wobble of the earth's axis created by the millions of issues of National Geographic magazines store in attics and basements in North America. It's like an imbalanced load in an upright washing machine. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2012-09-26 21:17 |
| #2 Wehell, iff local background distortions on GUam are any measure, IIUC what the Artic is trying hard NOT to say is that Solar Activity vee Terra Firma is such that the ice caps are being overwhelmed by latent heat. * IIRC TOPIX, FREEREPUBLIC, LUCIANNE > seems that Scientists are claiming that up to 100.0Milyuhn people around the world could die by year 2030 as just due to GWCC = GWCC-led happenstance. Aka the SUN - you know, MAN-MADE AND ONLY MAN-MADE ACTIVITIES. But I digress ... |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2012-09-26 20:29 |
| #1 the worst since the Dust Bowl of the 1930s I wonder what caused THAT climate change? I mean, since we hadn't burned all that hydrocarbon by then. |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2012-09-26 19:56 |