© R.Curry, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution/Science/USGCRP
Drought
The major Atlantic ocean current, to which also the Gulf stream belongs, may have been losing stability in the course of the last century. This is shown in a new study published in Nature Climate Change. The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, or AMOC, transports warm water masses from the tropics northward at the ocean surface and cold water southward at the ocean bottom, which is most relevant for the relatively mild temperatures in Europe. Further, it influences weather systems worldwide. A potential collapse of this ocean current system could therefore have severe consequences.
"The Atlantic Meridional Overturning really is one of our planet's key circulation systems," says the author of the study, Niklas Boers from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Freie Universität Berlin and Exeter University. "We already know from some computer simulations and from data from Earth's past, so-called paleoclimate proxy records, that the AMOC can exhibit - in addition to the currently attained strong mode - an alternative, substantially weaker mode of operation. This bi-stability implies that abrupt transitions between the two circulation modes are in principle possible."
© Reuters / Shamil Zhumatov
FILE PHOTO. Altyn-Emel national park in Almaty region, Kazakhstan.
FILE PHOTO. Altyn-Emel national park in Almaty region, Kazakhstan.
The reason for this intervention, which has come after the resignation of an agriculture minister and against the wishes of some farmers and exporters, is a severe drought in much of the west of the country. Following on from a dry winter, it has lasted for months and already inflicted great damage to pastures, the livestock depending on them, and the communities who, in turn, need the livestock.
Comment: Rather tellingly, albeit unsurprisingly, the author forgets to mention the record breaking cold temperatures that are occurring with an increasing frequency across the planet; and, in failing to include them, he avoids having to explain why they were not predicted, nor can they be explained, by the much debunked theory of global warming for which he seems to show a preference.
That said, extreme weather of all kinds is on the rise, and it does pose a threat to life on our planet, but the drivers behind cyclical climate change are much greater than 'human emissions':
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Extreme weather is slamming crops across the globe, bringing with it the threat of further food inflation at a time when costs are already hovering near the highest in a decade and when hunger is on the rise...
Bloomberg provides the below 'Emerging Market Food Vulnerability Scorecard' graphic:
Comment: The coronavirus crisis, in addition to earth changes affecting crop growth, and the losing value of currency which is set to get much worse in Western nations in particular, have made the production, availability, purchasing and distribution of food - a MAJOR global issue the likes of which we haven't seen in generations.
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The lake - the second largest in Turkey and one of the largest hypersaline lakes in the world - is among the favorite habitat of migratory animals and has long been a hatching ground for flamingos. Though it is shallow and gets little precipitation throughout the year, its salty nature is conducive to the nesting of migratory birds. However, the drought stemming from climate change has led to a recession of lake's waters, making finding food a challenge for flamingos.
Carcasses of birds now dot the lake's parts in the Cihanbeyli district of Konya. The birds had arrived to the lake in March for their incubation season. Mehmet Emin Öztürk, a nature photographer who is a frequent visitor to the area in the summer, says Lake Tuz had been "a paradise for flamingos, but now (it has) turned into a nightmare."
- The eight individual billion-dollar events of 2021 include: two flood events focused in California (January 24-29) and Louisiana (May 14-19); the historic mid-February winter storm and cold wave with impacts focused in Texas; two severe storm events in late-March (24-25 and 27-28) across many southeastern and eastern states, respectively; two severe storm events focused across Texas and Oklahoma in mid-to-late April (12-15 and 27-28); and the expanding Western drought and heatwave that has amplified throughout 2021.
- In addition to significant economic impacts, the eight events identified during the first half of 2021 resulted in at least 331 fatalities.
- The most costly U.S. event so far in 2021 was the February 10-19 Winter Storm and Cold Wave with total, direct losses of approximately $20 billion. This is now the most costly U.S. winter storm event on record surpassing (nearly doubling the inflation-adjusted cost of) Superstorm 1993.
- The January-June 2021 inflation-adjusted costs are at a near-record pace for the first six months, at nearly $30 billion — trailing only 2011.
- Since these billion-dollar disaster records began in 1980, the U.S. has sustained 298 separate weather and climate disasters where overall damages/costs reached or exceeded $1 billion (based on the CPI adjustment to 2021) per event. The total cost of these 298 events exceeds $1.975 trillion.
© YouTube/Adapt 2030 (screen capture)
© YouTube/Reuters (screen capture)
© AP Photo/Noah Berger
A car crosses Enterprise Bridge over Lake Oroville's dry banks Sunday, May 23, 2021, in Oroville, Calif. At the time of this photo, the reservoir was at 39% of capacity and 46% of its historical average.
A car crosses Enterprise Bridge over Lake Oroville's dry banks Sunday, May 23, 2021, in Oroville, Calif. At the time of this photo, the reservoir was at 39% of capacity and 46% of its historical average.
But now the mighty lake — a linchpin in a system of aqueducts and reservoirs in the arid U.S. West that makes California possible — is shrinking with surprising speed amid a severe drought, with state officials predicting it will reach a record low later this summer.
While droughts are common in California, this year's is much hotter and drier than others, evaporating water more quickly from the reservoirs and the sparse Sierra Nevada snowpack that feeds them. The state's more than 1,500 reservoirs are 50% lower than they should be this time of year, according to Jay Lund, co-director of the Center for Watershed Sciences at the University of California-Davis.
© AFP/Getty
Brazil suffered a severe drought in 2017 (seen here in the northeastern state of Ceara) that damaged coffee and soy crops and led to energy and water rationing
Brazil suffered a severe drought in 2017 (seen here in the northeastern state of Ceara) that damaged coffee and soy crops and led to energy and water rationing
Brazil's government agencies warned of droughts this week as the country faces its worst dry spell in 91 years, increasing fears of energy rationing, hitting hydroelectric power generation and agriculture while raising the risk of Amazon fires.
Late on Thursday, the Electricity Sector Monitoring Committee (CMSE), which is linked to Brazil's Mines and Energy Ministry, recommended that the water regulator ANA recognize a state of "water scarcity," after a prolonged drought hit Central and Southern parts of Brazil along the Paraná river basin.
Separately, a weather monitoring agency linked to the Agriculture Ministry issued its first "emergency drought alert" for June to September, saying rains are likely to remain scarce in five Brazilian states during that period.
The lack of rain across much of Brazil has negative implications for grain cultivation, livestock and electricity generation, as Brazil relies heavily on hydro dams for its power. The dry weather could lead to severe fires in the Amazon rainforest and Pantanal wetlands, scientists said.
Comment: See in addition: 69 dead, 5 still missing in floods in Henan, China - 12.9 million people affected - 972,000 hectares of farmland damaged
A catalogue of crop failures