Rising sea threatens Bapu's Dandi
7 Jun 2008, 0441 hrs IST,Hitarth Pandya & Melvyn Thomas,TNN
SURAT/BHAVNAGAR: Has global warming started wreaking havoc on Gujarat's winding coastline? A high tide in the Arabian Sea doesn't normally create panic.
But on Friday its rising waters threatened to drown Saifee Villa where Mahatma Gandhi had taken on the British by picking up a pinch of salt at Dandi. Besides, waters were not too far away from Iran Shah, where the Parsis have kept the Holy Fire at Udwada.
Seawater also entered some coastal villages of Surat and Bhavnagar. An alert has also been sounded at Alang, asking fishermen not to venture into the sea. In Bhavnagar, Katpur, Kotda and Jashwantpura villages saw seawaters entering their fields.
"The water has already reached near Dastoor Bag. One can see the water at the rear compound wall of Atash Behram. Generally this happens during the monsoon but this time, it has happened before the monsoon," said local resident Shukkar Tandel at Udwada.
At Dandi, the water reached the makeshift police chowky at the beach. "I had to warn tourists not to go too close to the water since it was deep. Had there been a marginal increase in the water level, it would have entered the village," said forest official PH Mahida at Dandi beach.
Magan Patel, sarpanch of Dabhari village in Surat, said: "A road separates our village from the sea but it was inundated on Friday. We had a similar situation in 1998 when seawaters had entered the village washing away the earthen embankments. This time too the embankment was washed away."
Manish Lodhari, secretary of National Fish Workers' Association said the sea along coastal Saurashtra was volatile.
Showing posts with label globalwarming. Show all posts
Showing posts with label globalwarming. Show all posts
Saturday, June 7, 2008
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Poor countries appeal to rein in global warming
Uphill Battle Marks New Round of Climate Talks in Germany Amid Concern by Poorer Nations
By ARTHUR MAX
June 2, 2008
(source:ABC News: Technology & Science)
Poor countries appealed to a 162-nation climate conference Monday to move faster on an agreement to rein in global warming, saying they already are suffering from floods and cyclones brought on by rising temperatures. The appeal came at the opening of a two-week meeting where the 2,000 delegates intend to start tackling the details of a new climate change agreement that is to take effect after 2012. "We are concerned over the slow progress of the last two years," said Amjad Abdulla of the Maldives, speaking for a group known as the Least Developed Countries. Climate change "for us is not a distant reality, but a present reality," he said. The recent cyclones that have battered Myanmar and Bangladesh "should be a wake-up call to all of us." The Bonn meeting builds on a landmark accord reached last December on the Indonesian island of Bali. For the first time, the United States, China and India had indicated they would join a coordinated effort to control the carbon emissions blamed for global warming. In Bali, delegates agreed to conclude a new climate change treaty by December 2009. They later adopted a negotiating timetable at another conference in Bangkok. "We have to roll our sleeves up and get down to work," Yvo de Boer, the U.N.'s top climate change official, said in an interview Sunday. Scientists say the world's carbon emissions must peak within the next 10 to 15 years and then fall by half by mid-century to avoid potentially catastrophic changes in weather patterns, a rise in sea levels that would threaten coastal cities and the mass extinction of plants and animals. The new climate change pact will succeed the first phase of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which requires 37 industrialized nations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions an average of 5 percent below 1990 levels by 2012. Delegates in Bonn will begin work on how to help developing countries adapt to anticipated changes in their climate, on transferring new technologies to help them avoid hefty carbon emissions as they expand their economies, and on how to raise the trillions of dollars required over the next decades to curb climate change.
By ARTHUR MAX
June 2, 2008
(source:ABC News: Technology & Science)
Poor countries appealed to a 162-nation climate conference Monday to move faster on an agreement to rein in global warming, saying they already are suffering from floods and cyclones brought on by rising temperatures. The appeal came at the opening of a two-week meeting where the 2,000 delegates intend to start tackling the details of a new climate change agreement that is to take effect after 2012. "We are concerned over the slow progress of the last two years," said Amjad Abdulla of the Maldives, speaking for a group known as the Least Developed Countries. Climate change "for us is not a distant reality, but a present reality," he said. The recent cyclones that have battered Myanmar and Bangladesh "should be a wake-up call to all of us." The Bonn meeting builds on a landmark accord reached last December on the Indonesian island of Bali. For the first time, the United States, China and India had indicated they would join a coordinated effort to control the carbon emissions blamed for global warming. In Bali, delegates agreed to conclude a new climate change treaty by December 2009. They later adopted a negotiating timetable at another conference in Bangkok. "We have to roll our sleeves up and get down to work," Yvo de Boer, the U.N.'s top climate change official, said in an interview Sunday. Scientists say the world's carbon emissions must peak within the next 10 to 15 years and then fall by half by mid-century to avoid potentially catastrophic changes in weather patterns, a rise in sea levels that would threaten coastal cities and the mass extinction of plants and animals. The new climate change pact will succeed the first phase of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which requires 37 industrialized nations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions an average of 5 percent below 1990 levels by 2012. Delegates in Bonn will begin work on how to help developing countries adapt to anticipated changes in their climate, on transferring new technologies to help them avoid hefty carbon emissions as they expand their economies, and on how to raise the trillions of dollars required over the next decades to curb climate change.
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Antarctic warming slows down
Climate models off on Antarctic warming - LiveScience- msnbc.com
Climate models off on Antarctic warming
Change is less than predicted; concern remains about 'ice sheet edge'
updated 4:27 p.m. ET, Fri., May. 9, 2008
Antarctica hasn’t warmed as much over the last century as climate models had originally predicted, a new study finds.
Climate change's effects on Antarctica are of particular interest because of the substantial amount of water locked up in its ice sheets. Should that water begin to melt, sea levels around the globe could rise and inundate low-lying coastal areas.
The new study, detailed in the April 5 issue of the journal Geophysical Research Letters, marks the first time that researchers have been able to give a progress report on Antarctic climate model projections by comparing climate records to model simulations (these comparisons have been done for the other six continents). Information about Antarctica's harsh weather patterns has traditionally been limited, but temperature records from ice cores and ground weather stations have recently been constructed, giving scientists the missing information they needed.
"This is a really important exercise for these climate models," said study leader Andrew Monaghan of the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Co.
Temperature gap
Monaghan and his team found that while climate models projected temperature increases of 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit (0.75 degrees Celsius) over the past century, temperatures were observed to have risen by only 0.4 F (0.2 C).
"This is showing us that, over the past century, most of Antarctica has not undergone the fairly dramatic warming that has affected the rest of the globe," Monaghan said.
The gap between prediction and reality seemed to be caused by the models overestimating the amount of water vapor in the Antarctic atmosphere. The cold air over the southernmost continent handles moisture differently than the atmosphere over warmer regions.
The models did, however, correctly capture the increases in snowfall over Antarctica in the late 20th century, followed by a decrease in the last decade.
One reason that Antarctica hasn't warmed as much as other parts of the globe is the existence of the ozone hole overhead: It alters wind patterns, creating a swirling belt of winds around the landmass that keeps comparatively warm air from seeping in, preserving the continent's frigid temperatures.
One important exception to this rule is the Antarctic Peninsula, which has warmed by several degrees, in part because winds there draw in warmer air from the north.
Mixed verdict
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has estimated that sea levels could rise by 7 to 23 inches (18 to 59 centimeters) globally this century, in part due to ice melt at the poles and from mountain glaciers.
The new study, funded by the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Energy, suggests that warming in Antarctica could offset this amount by about 2 inches (5 centimeters) if the continent warms by 5.4 F (3 C), as warmer air would hold more moisture and generate more snowfall, which contributes to the growth of the ice sheets, locking up any additional water in the these large masses of ice. That would mean a rise of only 5 to 21 inches (13 to 54 centimeters).
But these projections are by no means certain — if melt from Antarctic ice sheets outweighed the snowfall that contributes to their growth, sea level rise could be higher.
"The research clearly shows that you can actually slow down sea-level rise when you increase temperatures over Antarctica because snowfall increases, but warmer temperatures also have the potential to speed up sea-level rise due to enhanced melting along the edges of Antarctica," Monaghan said. "Over the next century, whether the ice sheet grows from increased snowfall or shrinks due to more melt will depend on how much temperatures increase in Antarctica, and potentially on erosion at the ice sheet edge by the warmer ocean and rising sea level."
The findings of the study don't call into question model projections for other parts of the globe, Monaghan said. "The models are really doing quite a good job at simulating the 20th century changes over the six inhabited continents," he told LiveScience.
© 2008 LiveScience.com. All rights reserved.
Climate models off on Antarctic warming
Change is less than predicted; concern remains about 'ice sheet edge'
updated 4:27 p.m. ET, Fri., May. 9, 2008
Antarctica hasn’t warmed as much over the last century as climate models had originally predicted, a new study finds.
Climate change's effects on Antarctica are of particular interest because of the substantial amount of water locked up in its ice sheets. Should that water begin to melt, sea levels around the globe could rise and inundate low-lying coastal areas.
The new study, detailed in the April 5 issue of the journal Geophysical Research Letters, marks the first time that researchers have been able to give a progress report on Antarctic climate model projections by comparing climate records to model simulations (these comparisons have been done for the other six continents). Information about Antarctica's harsh weather patterns has traditionally been limited, but temperature records from ice cores and ground weather stations have recently been constructed, giving scientists the missing information they needed.
"This is a really important exercise for these climate models," said study leader Andrew Monaghan of the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Co.
Temperature gap
Monaghan and his team found that while climate models projected temperature increases of 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit (0.75 degrees Celsius) over the past century, temperatures were observed to have risen by only 0.4 F (0.2 C).
"This is showing us that, over the past century, most of Antarctica has not undergone the fairly dramatic warming that has affected the rest of the globe," Monaghan said.
The gap between prediction and reality seemed to be caused by the models overestimating the amount of water vapor in the Antarctic atmosphere. The cold air over the southernmost continent handles moisture differently than the atmosphere over warmer regions.
The models did, however, correctly capture the increases in snowfall over Antarctica in the late 20th century, followed by a decrease in the last decade.
One reason that Antarctica hasn't warmed as much as other parts of the globe is the existence of the ozone hole overhead: It alters wind patterns, creating a swirling belt of winds around the landmass that keeps comparatively warm air from seeping in, preserving the continent's frigid temperatures.
One important exception to this rule is the Antarctic Peninsula, which has warmed by several degrees, in part because winds there draw in warmer air from the north.
Mixed verdict
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has estimated that sea levels could rise by 7 to 23 inches (18 to 59 centimeters) globally this century, in part due to ice melt at the poles and from mountain glaciers.
The new study, funded by the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Energy, suggests that warming in Antarctica could offset this amount by about 2 inches (5 centimeters) if the continent warms by 5.4 F (3 C), as warmer air would hold more moisture and generate more snowfall, which contributes to the growth of the ice sheets, locking up any additional water in the these large masses of ice. That would mean a rise of only 5 to 21 inches (13 to 54 centimeters).
But these projections are by no means certain — if melt from Antarctic ice sheets outweighed the snowfall that contributes to their growth, sea level rise could be higher.
"The research clearly shows that you can actually slow down sea-level rise when you increase temperatures over Antarctica because snowfall increases, but warmer temperatures also have the potential to speed up sea-level rise due to enhanced melting along the edges of Antarctica," Monaghan said. "Over the next century, whether the ice sheet grows from increased snowfall or shrinks due to more melt will depend on how much temperatures increase in Antarctica, and potentially on erosion at the ice sheet edge by the warmer ocean and rising sea level."
The findings of the study don't call into question model projections for other parts of the globe, Monaghan said. "The models are really doing quite a good job at simulating the 20th century changes over the six inhabited continents," he told LiveScience.
© 2008 LiveScience.com. All rights reserved.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
