Climate Crisis AM Edition 2/27/24 Colorado Air Catastrophe
There is a new way to measure the melting of ice in Antarctica. According to an article in Nature titled “Progressive unanchoring of Antarctic ice shelves since 1973,” the authors write, “Here, to extend the ice-shelf thickness change record to encompass the past 50 years, we implement a method that uses optical satellite imagery to track changes in the surface expression of pinning points that we treat as a proxy for ice-shelf thickness change.” The ice has not just melted but has grown thinner in these areas. According to the BBC, “The study’s focus was the ice shelves that fringe 75% percent of Antarctica’s coastline.”
Worst Weather —Mexico City Almost Out Of Water
Water Problem —Lake Mead Running Low
While mercury has declined in the environment, its presence has not dropped in tuna. That may be because mercury continues to exist in deep parts of the oceans. According to research published in Environmental Science & Technology Letters, titled “Stable Tuna Mercury Concentrations since 1971 Illustrate Marine Inertia and the Need for Strong Emission Reductions under the Minamata Convention,” the authors wrote, “…stable long-term trends of tuna mercury concentrations contrast with an overall decline in global anthropogenic mercury emissions and deposition since the 1970s. Modeling suggests that this limited response observed in tunas likely reflects the inertia of surface ocean mercury with respect to declining emissions, as it is supplied by legacy mercury that accumulated in the subsurface ocean over centuries.”
Chicago–75 Degrees
Climate change is often blamed for temperature swings in the US and elsewhere. It will be 75 degrees F in Chicago today, and warm weather covers parts of the country home to over 150 million people. The temperature will be above 90 degrees in Dallas. In both cities, this is about 30 degrees above normal for this time of year. CBS News reports, “According to Climate Central’s Climate Shift Index, climate change made the daily average temperature at least twice as likely to occur in Chicago on Monday. As for Tuesday, climate change is making the daily average temperature at least four times more likely to occur.”
Colorado Air Catastrophe
Climate change has reversed improvements in the air quality in Colorado. According to the recent First Street Foundation study of air nationwide, Colorado cities hardest hit by higher pollution, often from wildfires, include Larimer, Grand, Jackson, and Boulder counties in the northern part of the state. CPR News reports, “The analysis found wildfire smoke is expected to ramp up particulate pollution by as much as 50 percent across the West over the next three decades.”
