SixteenShells posted:

we're going to seed clouds with DU dust

TeenageArchipelago posted:

Like I can't think of why they would do it instead of something like dust or some other neutral but natural particles, but still lmao

RandomBlue posted:

it begins:

https://archive.is/tX7oN posted:

Scientists Are Freaking Out About Ocean Temperatures

“It’s like an omen of the future.”

“The North Atlantic has been record-breakingly warm for almost a year now,” said Brian McNoldy, a researcher at the University of Miami. “It’s just astonishing."

By David Gelles

Feb. 27, 2024

From his office at the University of Miami, Brian McNoldy, an expert in hurricane formation, is tracking the latest temperature data from the North Atlantic with a mixture of concern and bewilderment.

For the past year, oceans around the world have been substantially warmer than usual. Last month was the hottest January on record in the world’s oceans, and temperatures have continued to rise since then. The heat wave has been especially pronounced in the North Atlantic.

“The North Atlantic has been record-breakingly warm for almost a year now,” McNoldy said. “It’s just astonishing. Like, it doesn’t seem real.”

Across the unusually warm Atlantic, in Cambridge, England, Rob Larter, a marine scientist who tracks polar ice levels, is equally perplexed.

“It’s quite scary, partly because I’m not hearing any scientists that have a convincing explanation of why it is we’ve got such a departure,” he said. “We’re used to having a fairly good handle on things. But the impression at the moment is that things have gone further and faster than we expected. That’s an uncomfortable place as a scientist to be.”

Spin the globe to the south, and the situation is similarly dire.

“The sea ice around the Antarctic is just not growing,” said Matthew England, a professor at the University of New South Wales who studies ocean currents. “The temperature’s just going off the charts. It’s like an omen of the future.”

What’s driving the heat?

Global warming, caused by the burning of fossil fuels, has been driving up global temperatures on land and in the sea for decades now. Over the past year, worldwide average temperatures were more than 1.5 degrees Celsius, or 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit, higher than before the industrial age. New data from a variety of sources has led some climate scientists to suggest that global warming is accelerating.

Protecting groundwater. After years of decline in the nation’s groundwater, a series of developments indicate that U.S. state and federal officials may begin tightening protections for the dwindling resource. In Nevada, Idaho and Montana, court decisions have strengthened states’ ability to restrict overpumping. California is considering penalizing officials for draining aquifers. And the White House has asked scientists to advise how the federal government can help.

Weather-related disasters. An estimated 2.5 million people were forced from their homes in the United States by weather-related disasters in 2023, according to new data from the Census Bureau. The numbers paint a more complete picture than ever before of the lives of people affected by such events as climate change supercharges extreme weather.

Amazon rainforest. Up to half of the Amazon rainforest could transform into grasslands or weakened ecosystems in the coming decades, a new study found, as climate change, deforestation and severe droughts damage huge areas beyond their ability to recover. Those stresses in the most vulnerable parts of the rainforest could eventually drive the entire forest ecosystem past a tipping point that would trigger a forest-wide collapse, researchers said.

A significant threshold. Over the past 12 months, the average temperature worldwide was more than 1.5 degrees Celsius, or 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit, higher than it was at the dawn of the industrial age. That number carries special significance, as nations agreed under the 2015 Paris Agreement to try to keep the difference between average temperatures today and in preindustrial times to 1.5 degrees Celsius, or at least below 2 degrees Celsius.

New highs. The exceptional warmth that first enveloped the planet last summer is continuing strong into 2024: Last month clocked in as the hottest January ever measured, and the hottest January on record for the oceans, too. Sea surface temperatures were just slightly lower than in August 2023, the oceans’ warmest month on the books.

Given the overall warming trend, higher temperatures in the oceans aren’t a complete surprise. Oceans absorb most of the additional heat that greenhouse gasses trap near the surface of the Earth, and have been steadily warming for years. The current El Niño weather cycle is also leading to additional heat in the Pacific Ocean and allowing more energy to be released into the atmosphere.

Yet the past year has come as a shock even to those who follow the data closely.

“We all know that there’s been a rapid warming, particularly over the last few decades,” Larter said. “But over the last 18 months, it’s jumped up beyond what we expected.”

Scientists are offering a range of explanations for the record heat in the North Atlantic.

One surprising factor may be a reduction in pollution in the area. In 2020, a new rule went into effect that limited the amount of sulfur dioxide contained in the fuel used by container ships. That has reduced the amount of particulate matter in the air, which let in more solar radiation and contributed to global warming.

“When those aerosols were in the sky above the shipping lanes, they helped create a cloud cover, and there’s much less now,” McNoldy said. “That’s a legitimate thing.”

But the reduction of sulfur dioxide alone can’t explain the North Atlantic’s extreme heat, scientists said.

Another factor may be the complex feedback loops in the Earth’s weather patterns. The North Atlantic has been unusually clear lately, with fewer clouds than normal to block the sunlight from heating the water. The area has also been less windy than normal, which may have also led to a spike in temperatures.

Without strong winds, colder water from deeper in the ocean doesn’t rise to the surface as readily, England said.

What comes next

In the near term, McNoldy said the warmer waters in The Atlantic could fuel a strong and lengthy hurricane season.

“Compared to other fairly significant hurricane seasons, this is way warmer at this point in the year,” he said.

The marine heat is also expected to reduce Arctic sea ice, Larter said.

“What’s bad news for sea ice has a lot of knock-on effects,” he said. “The formation of sea ice is the process that really drives a lot of the ocean’s circulation. And if the overturning circulation slows down, that really has climate impacts across the world.”

Recent research has suggested that as glaciers melt and more fresh water enters the Atlantic, a crucial ocean current could falter, potentially leading to drastic changes in global weather patterns, such as a rapid reduction in temperatures across Europe.

McNoldy said it was too early to say whether the ongoing heat wave is part of the early stages of such a change. “I hope it’s not something much worse, like, you know, like some significant change in the ocean current,” he said. “That would have far greater implications.”

Hubbert posted:

i've been owned



reposting content now

Hubbert posted:

Hubbert posted:

further and faster

toggle posted:

4d3d3d posted:

AaaaAAAHHHH!!!! AAAAAAAAAA!!!!

Microplastics posted:

Record Nice

Microplastics posted:

Can't remember the last time I had a crack ping.

Microplastics posted:

Can't remember the last time I had a crack ping.

Microplastics posted:

Can't remember the last time I had a crack ping.

mags posted:

there are fresh horrors to behold every wonderful day

mdemone posted:

I only get one when I interact with younger people and/or less-informed people.

which is almost all the time.

oh dear I should call my therapist

Microplastics posted:

Can't remember the last time I had a crack ping.

SniperWoreConverse posted:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LhcqMTlzHw

Cup Runneth Over posted:

lol it went over 80 degrees today. summer is going to be hell.

SniperWoreConverse posted:

i will never get over how much my parents value poison and using poison and just having it around. Gotta have them pesticides and herbicides

silicone thrills posted:

These days the climate situation doesn't really ever crack ping me - altho the pnw 2021? heat dome cracked me pretty hard.

Its the garbage / plastic / pesticides situations that keep getting me lately.

Dog Case posted:

They'll put the sulphur back into the ship oil and then also add it to regular car gas and jet fuel