Hottest Week on Record, Hottest June, Record hottest days, Record Low Antarctic sea ice

[Halbhh]

"The world just had the hottest week on record, according to preliminary data. It follows the hottest June on record, with unprecedented sea surface temperatures and record low Antarctic sea ice extent.

"The record-breaking temperatures on land and in the ocean have potentially devastating impacts on ecosystems and the environment. They highlight the far-reaching changes taking place in Earth’s system as a result of human-induced climate change."

Preliminary data shows hottest week on record. Unprecedented sea surface temperatures and Antarctic sea ice loss

The world just had the hottest week on record, according to preliminary data. It follows the hottest June on record, with unprecedented sea surface temperatures and record low Antarctic sea ice extent.

public.wmo.int

World Meteorological Organization

 

[Halbhh]

Above the note about record low Antarctic sea ice in the Southern hemisphere is significant, and it made me wonder of course about ice in the Northern hemisphere lately.

Here's an up to date graph of what percentage of the ice sheet in Greenland is currently melting on the surface (day to day in the graph):

Ice Sheets Today | National Snow and Ice Data Center

About Ice Sheets Today

nsidc.org

Greenland ice is certainly showing significantly higher than average melting this June and early July.

 

[Halbhh]

Greenland can have dramatic melt days when a weather pattern brings unusually warm air over the giant ice covered island.

But the ice is on average almost a mile thick, so it will take a long time to melt even with lots of warm weather. (I'll post an update below in another post)

If all Greenland ice melted (we are nowhere near that today), it would raise sea levels around the world on average about 23 feet, which is expected to only happen very gradually, giving rich enough countries time to protect certain cities where it's possible with towering sea walls vastly larger than anything anywhere today.

 

[Halbhh]

How fast might Greenland melt: it's only by models and educated guessing that any estimate is possible....so there have been many models of how fast places like Antarctic glaciers and Greenland might melt....

But...what what we see over and over is new discoveries of factors that will increase melt rates.

So that old estimates get shown to be too slow, over and over.

Here's one such example, very recent, about how glaciers are melting faster at the sea interface than previously expected.

...
Scientists have determined that in the last 10 to 20 years of steady global warming, the ocean has played an "important role" in the evolution of glaciers, Eric Rignot, professor of system science at the University of California, Irvine, and author of the study, told ABC News.

Melting at the interface between ice sheets and the ocean in the Arctic is much more extensive than previously estimated, according to a study published Monday in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

What is happening at the grounding line -- the junction between a grounded ice sheet and the ocean -- led the researchers to discover much more melting that previously thought at Petermann Glacier in Greenland, according to the paper.

An aerial view of meltwater lakes formed at the Russell Glacier front, part of the Greenland ice sheet in Kangerlussuaq, Greenland, on Aug. 16, 2022.
Lwimages Ab/Getty Images

However, the researchers found that the seawater is "regularly' intruding beneath the glacier for a sizeable distance that was initially assumed to be "very small," Rignot said.

"What we found is that it extends over kilometers," he said. "Not just a few meters, or a few 100 meters, but kilometers."
...

Unlike previous models, the highest ice sheet melt rates recorded were within the zone of grounding line migration, which was estimated to be around 60–100 meters of ice melt per year -- or up to 328 feet per year.
(continues)

Greenland Ice Sheet melting faster than previously thought, scientists say

The Arctic appears to be losing its ability to retain the frigid climate necessary to regulate temperatures in the rest of the world.

abcnews.go.com

 

[wing2000]

...if you own ocean front property, you might want to sell now rather than later...

 

[Halbhh]

...if you own ocean front property, you might want to sell now rather than later...

Or hang life preservers/rings on your elevated house, so you can grab them quick to throw down to people struggling to stay afloat in hurricane storm surges.

 

[Akita Suggagaki]

" Temperatures that are too hot for too long cause coral to bleach and turn white as they expel their algal food source and slowly starve to death. The water is typically in mid-80s in the region, experts said.

Temperatures at a reef managed by the Florida Aquarium were 91 degrees on July 6. "

https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/25/us/florida-ocean-heat-coral-bleaching-climate/index.html#:~:text=Temperatures%20that%20are%20too%20hot,in%20the%20region%2C%20experts%20said.&text=Temperatures%20at%20a%20reef%20managed,91%20degrees%20on%20July%206.

I am afraid it is all too late.

 

[durangodawood]

Im not confident that many people here care about a world increasingly less diverse and thriving in life. Nor about net human suffering. Not until the chaos actually hits them.....

 

[public hermit]

" Temperatures that are too hot for too long cause coral to bleach and turn white as they expel their algal food source and slowly starve to death. The water is typically in mid-80s in the region, experts said.

Temperatures at a reef managed by the Florida Aquarium were 91 degrees on July 6. "

https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/25/us/florida-ocean-heat-coral-bleaching-climate/index.html#:~:text=Temperatures%20that%20are%20too%20hot,in%20the%20region%2C%20experts%20said.&text=Temperatures%20at%20a%20reef%20managed,91%20degrees%20on%20July%206.

I am afraid it is all too late.

I agree, it's probably too late. Folks are trying to anticipate the changes. Like transferring coral that grows better in warmer water, in Minnesota, they're planting trees from the southern part of the state in northern areas where some birch and pines are struggling in the warmer climate.

https://www.npr.org/2023/07/22/1189625714/actions-to-combat-climate-change-from-hydropanels-to-climate-smart-trees

 

[Halbhh]

Just wondering if a tropical storm makes it over towards the Gulf, doesn't get sheared apart and gets into unusually warm water around the Gulf, what that hurricane is going to be like.

 

[wing2000]

Just wondering if a tropical storm makes it over towards the Gulf, doesn't get sheared apart and gets into unusually warm water around the Gulf, what that hurricane is going to be like.

We have already seen rapidly intensifying hurricanes as they approach the coast in recent years.

 

[Halbhh]

We have already seen rapidly intensifying hurricanes as they approach the coast in recent years.

Yes, and I'm thinking that the waters were not as warm in most of those big hurricanes, at least not at this point in late July (try August maybe). If this continues (as it looks to do), it might be we get some pretty serious tropical storm floodings (and/or hurricanes if not wind sheared).

 

[Fantine]

President Biden is doing what he can do by executive action, bypassing a hostile, apathetic and oil-enriched House of Representatives.

Biden looks to provide relief from extreme heat as record high temperatures persist across the US

With heat waves spreading across the United States, President Joe Biden has announced new steps to protect workers, improve weather forecasts and make drinking water more accessible. These actions …

www.bostonherald.com

 

[Always in His Presence]

And six months ago:

https://www.axios.com/2023/02/04/northeast-polar-vortex-record-cold

 

[durangodawood]

And six months ago:

https://www.axios.com/2023/02/04/northeast-polar-vortex-record-cold

Which says:
Human-caused climate change is making extreme cold more rare across much of the U.S. and other parts of the Northern Hemisphere. In fact, the coldest months are warming faster than the warmest months in most states.

Thanks for that.

 

[Whyayeman]

Those doomsday climate predictions made throughout the period from the 1970s onwards were horribly close to the present situation.

Where are the deniers now? Sitting at home with the air con at full blast.

As the man said as he was falling from the tower block roof - 'So far, so good!'

 

[Always in His Presence]

Which says:
Human-caused climate change is making extreme cold more rare across much of the U.S. and other parts of the Northern Hemisphere. In fact, the coldest months are warming faster than the warmest months in most states.

Thanks for that.

Yeah we humans first we make it too cold and in the summer we make it too hot. Go figure.

 

[DaisyDay]

Yeah we humans first we make it too cold and in the summer we make it too hot. Go figure.

Thar's right, less stable, more extreme at both ends but, when averaged globally, quite a bit warmer over all.

 

[Halbhh]

And six months ago:

https://www.axios.com/2023/02/04/northeast-polar-vortex-record-cold

The far more widespread than normal heat waves around the northern hemisphere in the last few weeks have been really surprising even to me even when I expected more heat this summer because of both significant recent year (2022) increases in CO2 (much higher than before), and also the El Nino in combination. But even with that expectation it would be a remarkably hot summer, I've been surprised.

It's a much bigger jump that I guessed even in my expectation of much more heat.

 

[Always in His Presence]

How much CO2 is released in a volcanic eruption?