Category: Science & technology

In the past week, two high profile reports on global warming were released. One of them concerns the Arctic and another is about the flora and fauna of the United States.

The first report found that on average the Earth has warmed by about one degree Fahrenheit since 1900. This is not really news since it is almost widely known that the average temperature of the Earth has gone up by a few degrees since the industrial revolution. However, what is spectacular is the temperature increase in the Arctic. It is reported that in the last 50 years, the area has experience 4 to 7 degree increase in temperature and this is strikingly different from the average global increase. An earlier report from the Arctic Council, a group of nations within the Arctic Circle that convened a few weeks ago, states that the temperature in the Arctic will likely rise by 8 to 14 degrees in the next 100 years.

The finding has already sparked concerns on the ability of species to adapt to the changing climate.

At the same time, experts at the University of Zurich reported that the glaciers in Switzerland have shrunk as much as 20% of its 1985 size. This only strengthens a report by the United Nations released a year ago, if I am not mistaken, that concludes that the skiing resorts in the Alps are facing extinction in the near future. On the side note, Switzerland is hardly an Arctic nation.

The other major report was conducted by scientists from Austin and Boulders. Quoting the press release,

Global warming has forced U.S. plants and animals to change their behavior in recent decades in ways that can be harmful…

More disturbingly:

The report revealed that some plants are flowering earlier in the spring than ever before and some birds breeding earlier. In addition, species from Edith’s checkerspot butterflies to the red fox have been gradually moving northward or to higher elevations, where more tolerable climate conditions now exist. Some of these species are also disappearing from southern, or lower elevation, portions of their ranges.
From all of these reports, in my opinion for global warming, or climate change at the very least, is getting stronger and harder to refute.

From all of these reports, the empirical evidence for global warming, or climate change at the very least, is getting stronger and harder to refute from my point of view.

In the face of such increasing certainty, I am only glad that the Kyoto Protocol will come into force in less than 80 days. The effect of Kyoto will be slow no doubt but if the current model is correct, the rate of increase in the global temperature should somewhat be abated.

p/s – the NYT picked (reg. req.) up a story on Newmont in Indonesia. Quoting:

In a telephone interview from Denver on Saturday, Mr. Baker said the arsenic levels were basically irrelevant because the arsenic was a kind that would not dissolve in water and enter the food chain. Newmont said that it disagreed with the way the arsenic and mercury levels in the fish were calculated and that it believed that the benthos were not polluted.

He says it is impossible for arsenic to enter the food chain! I would like to see him eating a fish from a pond full of arsenic!

For goodness’ sake, quit lying already.

The NYT in its Op-ed (reg. req.) is calling Indonesian new President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to act. I strongly support that call.

Apart from the Times, many other major newspapers have ran the story on Newmont’s little errand in Sulawesi, Indonesia. The multinational firm will certainly enjoy the publicity, albeit much less than us, the environmentalists.

A few days ago, the European Space Agency released its Envisat observations. According to the news on ESA website, Envisat is the largest environmental satellite at this moment. The most interesting finding is, at least to me, is the distribution of nitrogen dioxide in the world. Practically, it’s the map.

From the map, there are a few large hotspots.

The location and the intensity of the two hotspots are probably expected. One is located somewhere around New England while another concentrated around the Benelux. However, I was surprised to see the size of China’s hotspots.

I know that China has been growing rather fast and has a somewhat questionable environmental record. Yet, I have never thought the pollution in China to be that bad. Though it might be premature to say the distribution of nitrogen dioxide represents the pollution spread on the whole, I do think it is safe to assume such distribution gives a picture of what is happening. After all, nitrogen dioxide is rarely produced in nature.

Another location that I didn’t expect is South Africa. But that is rather because I don’t know much about Africa. But I wonder, what is that big light blue blob near the Gulf of Guinea? What could possibly going on there?

Maybe oil, I think. I don’t know.

For the past few weeks, there has been an alarming rate of news related to the environment, in particular the melting of glaciers, coming out of China. When I first saw it via my usual news feed, I had thought it was just another report but almost everyday since then, the news from there doesn’t seem to give it a break. As right now, it keeps pouring out.

The report came out after a Sino-US team released the result of their observation of the situation in Himalaya near Tibet. The most important finding is that the glaciers there are shrinking at 7% per year and it is expected to disappear within 100 years. Previously, the glaciers have been shrinking at 5%. Seeing the first derivative as increasing is one thing, seeing the second derivative as increasing is another.

This immediately announces the danger of China facing great floods sooner or later, frequently, as mentioned in the report. China so far has been able to tame its rivers through a set of dams. However, I don’t think the dams will be able to control the rivers with the glaciers receding at the current rate.

Despite being concern with this news, I don’t know how bad 7% is. As someone once said to me, one cannot fully understand the statistics until one sees the real thing. But, I once saw a picture of a glacier in South America; it was probably in the Andes. There was a team of explorers wandering off somewhere and the place was full of ice. It was a huge glacier. Ten years later, the same team visited the very same site again and found that the place has been relinquished of its white background. The glacier has in fact receded a few kilometers away upward. If that is how bad 7% is, it is alarming.