Global warming is doubling the rate of sea level rise around the world, but attempts to stop it by cutting back on greenhouse gas emissions are likely to be futile, leading researchers will warn today.
The oceans will rise nearly half a metre by the end of the century, forcing coastlines back by hundreds of metres, the researchers claim. Scientists believe the acceleration is caused mainly by the surge in greenhouse gas emissions produced by the development of industry and introduction of fossil fuel burning.
Earth Changes
ST. LOUIS - A geologist from the stable heart of North America caused a stir in the Big Easy when he urged on national television that New Orleans be abandoned.
Timothy Kusky of St. Louis University has received hundreds of angry e-mails.
Timothy Kusky of St. Louis University has received hundreds of angry e-mails.
The Carteret Islands are almost invisible on a map of the South Pacific, but the horseshoe scattering of atolls is on the front-line of climate change, as rising sea levels and storm surges eat away at their existence. For 20 years, the 2,000 islanders have fought a losing battle against the ocean, building sea walls and trying to plant mangroves.
Each year, the waves surge in, destroying vegetable gardens, washing away homes and poisoning freshwater supplies. Papua New Guinea's Carteret islanders are destined to become some of the world's first climate change refugees. Their islands are becoming uninhabitable, and may disappear below the waves.
Each year, the waves surge in, destroying vegetable gardens, washing away homes and poisoning freshwater supplies. Papua New Guinea's Carteret islanders are destined to become some of the world's first climate change refugees. Their islands are becoming uninhabitable, and may disappear below the waves.
St. Louis - No major damage was reported after a minor earthquake shook the St. Louis region.
The tiny quake, centered 10 miles southeast of St. Louis, struck around 11 p.m. Tuesday in East St. Louis, Ill., said Waverly Person, a geophysicist at the National Earthquake Information Center in Denver.
It had a magnitude of 2.5 and probably doesn't signify a larger quake to come, Person said.
Four people called the center and said they felt the quake, Person said. Such quakes happen about two or three times a year in the area, which sits near the New Madrid Fault.
The tiny quake, centered 10 miles southeast of St. Louis, struck around 11 p.m. Tuesday in East St. Louis, Ill., said Waverly Person, a geophysicist at the National Earthquake Information Center in Denver.
It had a magnitude of 2.5 and probably doesn't signify a larger quake to come, Person said.
Four people called the center and said they felt the quake, Person said. Such quakes happen about two or three times a year in the area, which sits near the New Madrid Fault.
Thousands of people in Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick were without electricity Wednesday morning as winds of up to 100 km/h swept through through Atlantic Canada.
Nova Scotia Power said electricity was restored to about 100,000 customers overnight, but roughly 25,000 were still without service.
As many as 11,000 P.E.I. residents also lost power, Maritime Electric reported. Another 8,500 homes and businesses were in the dark in southeastern New Brunswick, but only 650 remained without power by late Wednesday morning.
High winds and up to 70 mm of rain knocked out power across mainland Nova Scotia overnight. Winds were still gusting at 77 km/h in parts of Cape Breton Wednesday morning.
Margaret Murphy, a spokesperson for Nova Scotia Power, said the winds were especially severe in the Windsor and Bridgewater areas.
Nova Scotia Power said electricity was restored to about 100,000 customers overnight, but roughly 25,000 were still without service.
As many as 11,000 P.E.I. residents also lost power, Maritime Electric reported. Another 8,500 homes and businesses were in the dark in southeastern New Brunswick, but only 650 remained without power by late Wednesday morning.
High winds and up to 70 mm of rain knocked out power across mainland Nova Scotia overnight. Winds were still gusting at 77 km/h in parts of Cape Breton Wednesday morning.
Margaret Murphy, a spokesperson for Nova Scotia Power, said the winds were especially severe in the Windsor and Bridgewater areas.
CORVALLIS, Ore. - A temperature analysis of more than 600 boreholes from throughout the Northern Hemisphere suggests that the Earth's climate may be warming at a higher rate than tree-ring analysis and other methods had led scientists to believe.
"If we're right, these boreholes are showing that the Earth is more sensitive to whatever is forcing the climatic change," said Robert N. Harris, an associate professor in the College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences at Oregon State University and a principal investigator in the study.
Results of the research by Harris and colleague David S. Chapman of the University of Utah were just published in the Journal of Geophysical Research. The researchers also will present their data in December at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union.
Borehole temperatures have been measured since the 1920s, but only recently has this temperature analysis been applied to global warming studies. Unlike most "proxy" methods to reconstruct climate models, which depend entirely on statistical analysis, borehole temperature research is based on the physics of heat diffusion.
"If we're right, these boreholes are showing that the Earth is more sensitive to whatever is forcing the climatic change," said Robert N. Harris, an associate professor in the College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences at Oregon State University and a principal investigator in the study.
Results of the research by Harris and colleague David S. Chapman of the University of Utah were just published in the Journal of Geophysical Research. The researchers also will present their data in December at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union.
Borehole temperatures have been measured since the 1920s, but only recently has this temperature analysis been applied to global warming studies. Unlike most "proxy" methods to reconstruct climate models, which depend entirely on statistical analysis, borehole temperature research is based on the physics of heat diffusion.
Some people felt or heard the Summerville earthquake Saturday, but other town residents had no idea it occurred. It measured magnitude 2.6 on the Richter scale, said Pradeep Talwani, director of the South Carolina Seismic Network at the University of South Carolina.
The U.S. Geological Survey measured the quake at magnitude 2.4, said Joyce Bagwell, retired director of the Earthquake Education Center at Charleston Southern University.
"That's what we call a preliminary reading. You really need to get all your data in," Bagwell said.
Bagwell, who lives in Summerville, said she didn't feel the quake, but her son and grandchildren did. A quake has to be at least magnitude 2 to be felt, she said.
The U.S. Geological Survey measured the quake at magnitude 2.4, said Joyce Bagwell, retired director of the Earthquake Education Center at Charleston Southern University.
"That's what we call a preliminary reading. You really need to get all your data in," Bagwell said.
Bagwell, who lives in Summerville, said she didn't feel the quake, but her son and grandchildren did. A quake has to be at least magnitude 2 to be felt, she said.
Tokyo - An earthquake measuring 6.0 on the Richter scale shook southern Japan on Tuesday in the latest major tremor to hit the archipelago, but there were no reports of damage, officials said.
Global warming hits Himalayas
Nawa Jigtar was working in the village of Ghat, in Nepal, when the sound of crashing sent him rushing out of his home. He emerged to see his herd of cattle being swept away by a wall of water.
Jigtar and his fellow villagers were able to scramble to safety. They were lucky: 'If it had come at night, none of us would have survived.'
Ghat was destroyed when a lake, high in the Himalayas, burst its banks. Swollen with glacier meltwaters, its walls of rock and ice had suddenly disintegrated. Several million cubic metres of water crashed down the mountain.
Nawa Jigtar was working in the village of Ghat, in Nepal, when the sound of crashing sent him rushing out of his home. He emerged to see his herd of cattle being swept away by a wall of water.
Jigtar and his fellow villagers were able to scramble to safety. They were lucky: 'If it had come at night, none of us would have survived.'
Ghat was destroyed when a lake, high in the Himalayas, burst its banks. Swollen with glacier meltwaters, its walls of rock and ice had suddenly disintegrated. Several million cubic metres of water crashed down the mountain.
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras - Tropical Storm Gamma weakened into a tropical depression Sunday and drifted off Honduras after torrential downpours lashed the Central American coast, killing 14 people including a young family of four.
