Alfred Tennyson wrote:We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
Tanada wrote:Not quite a deluge but over the last four days I have emptied a total of 2.5+" (63mm) of rain out of my gauge. Fields are flooded and the drainage system is straining to deal with it all.
New research from UC Santa Barbara geologist James Kennett and colleagues examines a shift from a glacial to an interglacial climate that began about 630,000 years ago. Their research demonstrates that, although this transition developed over seven centuries, the initial shift required only 50 years. Called a deglacial episode because of its association with the melting of large Northern Hemisphere ice sheets, this interval illustrates the extreme sensitivity to change of Earth's climate system. The findings appear in the journal Paleoceanography.
"One of the most astonishing things about our results is the abruptness of the warming in sea surface temperatures," explained co-author Kennett, a professor emeritus in UCSB's Department of Earth Science. "Of the 45 degree Fahrenheit total, a shift of about 40 degrees occurred almost immediately right at the beginning."
"Kennett noted that this remarkable record of paleoclimate changes also raises an important question: What process can possibly push Earth's climate so fast from a glacial to an interglacial state? The researchers may have discovered the answer based on the core's geochemical record: The warming associated with the major climatic shift was accompanied by simultaneous releases of methane -- a potent greenhouse gas.
"This particular episode of climate change is closely associated with instability that caused the release of methane from gas hydrates at the ocean floor," Kennett said. "These frozen forms of methane melt when temperatures rise or pressure decreases. Changes in sea level affect the stability of gas hydrates and water temperature even more so.
"The clear synchronism of this rapid warming and the onset of the destabilization of gas hydrates is important," Kennett concluded. "It suggests that methane hydrate instability and the warming are somehow linked, which is an interesting and potentially important observation. The beauty of these paleoclimate records from the Santa Barbara Basin is that you can actually determine these relationships at high fidelity."
The ministry said that on average, 87 millimetres of rain fell in Hulunbuir over the weekend and as much as 223 millimetres at the Morin Dawa monitoring station.
Extreme weather has hit several parts of the world in recent weeks with flooding in Europe and heatwaves in North America, adding to worries about climate change.
NASA scientists have studied 17 years of gravity observations of our planet to understand how the global water cycle is changing.
The rate at which plants and the land surface release moisture into the air has increased on a global scale between 2003 and 2019. These processes are collectively known as evapotranspiration, and a new NASA study has calculated its increase by using observations from gravity satellites.
By gauging the mass change of water between the oceans and the continents, the researchers determined that evapotranspiration’s rate of increase is up to two times higher than previous estimates. This is important because evapotranspiration represents a critical branch of the global water cycle – a cycle that creates the conditions for life on land.
While it is known that a warming climate should increase the rate of evapotranspiration, accurate global measurements have, until now, been elusive.
“Our study found that evapotranspiration has increased by about 10% since 2003, which is more than previously estimated, and is mostly due to warming temperatures,” said Madeleine Pascolini-Campbell, a postdoctoral researcher at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, who led the study. “We hope that this information about the water cycle will help to better inform the development and validation of climate models.”
Climate change increases our risk of both heavy rains and extreme droughts. But why – and how – is that? Aren't the two contradictory?
Science has shown that climate change touches every corner of our planet’s ecosystem, and the water cycle is no exception. Because the processes involved are highly dependent on temperature, changes in one have consequences on the other. Specifically, as global temperatures have steadily increased at their fastest rates in millions of years, it’s directly affected things like water vapor concentrations, clouds, precipitation patterns, and stream flow patterns, which are all related to the water cycle.
So how does climate change impact the water cycle? We’ve created an infographic below that illustrates what’s going on, but we’ll describe it here too. Put simply, water evaporates from the land and sea, which eventually returns to Earth as rain and snow. Climate change intensifies this cycle because as air temperatures increase, more water evaporates into the air. Warmer air can hold more water vapor, which can lead to more intense rainstorms, causing major problems like extreme flooding in coastal communities around the world.
But it doesn’t end there. At the same time that some areas are experiencing stronger storms, others are experiencing more dry air and even drought. Like we mentioned above, as temperatures rise, evaporation increases and soils dry out. Then when rain does come, much of the water runs off the hard ground into rivers and streams, and the soil remains dry. The result? Still more evaporation from the soil and an increased risk of drought.
Check out the infographic below to see how climate change is affecting the water cycle.
The lives of millions of people in Henan have been upended since the weekend in an unusually active rainy season that has led to the rapid rise of a number of rivers in the vast Yellow River basin.
Many train services across Henan, a major logistics hub in central China, have been suspended. Many highways have also been closed and flights delayed or cancelled.
Roads in a dozen populous cities have been flooded. Videos on social media showed residents, their arms interlocked, wading across streets in fast-moving water. One video showed an adult and a child being swept away on a major artery choked with half-submerged vehicles.
From the evening of Saturday until late Tuesday, 617.1 millimetres (mm) of rain had drenched Zhengzhou - almost on par with the city's annual average of 640.8 mm.
FamousDrScanlon wrote:Central Chinese province swamped after heaviest rain in 1,000 years
Rescuers pulled inflatable boats in flood waters gushing through streets of Turkey's Black Sea district of Arhavi on Thursday to bring those stranded to safety.
Footage released by the country's interior ministry showed distressed residents being evacuated from flooded homes. Access to dozens of villages in Arhavi were blocked and rescue efforts were under way - with officials saying 200 people had been evacuated.
Floods are common along Turkey's Black Sea coastal region at this time of year. Last week, at least six people were killed and two others went missing in flood waters in Black Sea province of Rize
The storms are not seasonal for the south and the east of Yemen, which is usually dry this time of year.
The country’s northwestern highlands experience seasonal rain from late spring through early fall.
The storms also damaged crops, roads, and telecommunications infrastructure.
Seven people were killed by floods and another one was killed by lightning in 16 provinces, Mahdi Valipour, an official with the Iranian Red Crescent Society, said on Friday.
More than 200 rescue and relief groups are working in 61 counties affected by natural disasters, he noted.
The IRCS forces have provided relief for some 5,000 people, accommodating 835 ones in shelters and relocating 58 others to safe regions.
Terrified passengers trapped in flooded subway cars in Zhengzhou, China. Water cascading down stairways into the London Underground. A woman wading through murky, waist-deep water to reach a New York City subway platform.
Subway systems around the world are struggling to adapt to an era of extreme weather brought on by climate change. Their designs, many based on the expectations of another era, are being overwhelmed, and investment in upgrades could be squeezed by a drop in ridership brought on by the pandemic.
The recent flooding is yet another example of the kind of extreme weather that is consistent with changing climate around the world.
Just days before the China subway nightmare, floods in Germany killed some 160 people. Major heat waves have brought misery to Scandinavia, Siberia and Pacific Northwest in the United States. Wildfires in the American West and Canada sent smoke across the continent this past week and triggered health alerts in cities like Toronto, Philadelphia and New York City, giving the sun an eerie reddish tinge.
Flash floods have inundated roads and highways in recent weeks, as well. The collapse of a portion of California’s Highway 1 into the Pacific Ocean after heavy rains this year was a reminder of the fragility of the nation’s roads.
But more intense flooding poses a particular challenge to aging subway systems in some of the world’s largest cities.
In New York, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority has invested $2.6 billion in resiliency projects since Hurricane Sandy swamped the city’s subway system in 2012, including fortifying 3,500 subway vents, staircases and elevator shafts against flooding. Even on a dry day, a network of pumps pours out about 14 million gallons, mainly groundwater, from the system. Still, flash flooding this month showed that the system remains vulnerable.
“It’s not supposed to be a pond,” said Joe Bouchard, a retired captain and former base commander. “It is now.”
In the past 10 years, Norfolk Naval Shipyard has suffered nine major floods that have damaged equipment used to repair ships, and the flooding is worsening, according to the Navy. In 2016, rain from Hurricane Matthew left 2 feet of water in one building, requiring nearly $1.2 million in repairs.
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