HUMAN DISPLACEMENT DUE TO CLIMATE CHANGE

>> Saturday, March 26, 2011



Global warming is big issue against us, people not being aware about cause and some general issue of global warming and its effects on our beautiful earth. Now whole world has tried to control on stop mixing co2 in atmosphere by first world’s industries. Common people must aware concern atmosphere of our earth is changing & average temperature rising day by day as result monsoon pattern could be change. Most rivers are depending on glacier and monsoon rain, we better know global warming is effecting on both, glaciers are melting, rivers and sea level will be rise as result small island could be hide and same river costal area will be lost resident land due to floods. People escape from its resident, mostly in costal areas. History is witness, nomadize happen when rivers flow changed, people’s first need is water and water is only major factor of displacement. Mostly Indians know this, since ancient time, human were lived at area of river sindhu at great culture was born near border of Pakistan-India, now entity lost, people were escape from land of Sindhu Area due to Sindhu river changed its flow. Intergovernmental panel on climate changed issued report on water and human society’s relations can be reflect due to climate change, Ocean and sea levels rise, atmospheric trouble in equatorial clime areas, temperature rise, heavy rain, floods and glacier melting is major things. We need concentrate on most important areas. Marshy area of costal sea, farming areas which depending on rivers is flowing result of glacier melting, water drought areas. According to survey, 2% marshy areas of costal sea in world, but 10% people are living on those 2% marshy areas on around the world. Important is every year big hurricanes come across those areas and killing people & doing heavy disaster. And one thing, if sea levels raise then millions of people leaves their area; millions of people will be home less. We aware that, sea level can rise due to climate change. Global warming is directly and indirectly effecting on water and its resources, Water is precious for human lives as we know well. If monsoon pattern change, glacier melting more then expect as result human community came in trouble, since ancient human’s displacement and will be displacement in future, but hope human get resource of water.

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ARCTIC MAY AFFECT WORLDWIDE CLIMATE

>> Tuesday, March 22, 2011







Recently observed change in Arctic temperatures and sea ice cover may be a harbinger of global climate changes to come, according to a recent NASA study. Satellite data -- the unique view from space -- are allowing researchers to more clearly see Arctic changes and develop an improved understanding of the possible effect on climate worldwide.

The Arctic warming study, appearing in the November 1 issue of the American Meteorological Society's Journal of Climate, shows that compared to the 1980s, most of the Arctic warmed significantly over the last decade, with the biggest temperature increases occurring over North America.

"The new study is unique in that, previously, similar studies made use of data from very few points scattered in various parts of the Arctic region," said the study's author, Dr. Josefino C. Comiso, senior research scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. "These results show the large spatial variability in the trends that only satellite data can provide." Comiso used surface temperatures taken from satellites between 1981 and 2001 in his study.

The result has direct connections to NASA-funded studies conducted last year that found perennial, or year-round, sea ice in the Arctic is declining at a rate of nine percent per decade and that in 2002 summer sea ice was at record low levels. Early results indicate this persisted in 2003.

Researchers have suspected loss of Arctic sea ice may be caused by changing atmospheric pressure patterns over the Arctic that move sea ice around, and by warming Arctic temperatures that result from greenhouse gas buildup in the atmosphere.

Warming trends like those found in these studies could greatly affect ocean processes, which, in turn, impact Arctic and global climate, said Michael Steele, senior oceanographer at the University of Washington, Seattle. Liquid water absorbs the Sun's energy rather than reflecting it into the atmosphere the way ice does. As the oceans warm and ice thins, more solar energy is absorbed by the water, creating positive feedbacks that lead to further melting. Such dynamics can change the temperature of ocean layers, impact ocean circulation and salinity, change marine habitats, and widen shipping lanes, Steele said.

In related NASA-funded research that observes perennial sea-ice trends, Mark C. Serreze, a scientist at the University of Colorado, Boulder, found that in 2002 the extent of Arctic summer sea ice reached the lowest level in the satellite record, suggesting this is part of a trend. "It appears that the summer 2003 -- if it does not set a new record -- will be very close to the levels of last year," Serreze said. "In other words, we have not seen a recovery; we really see we are reinforcing that general downward trend." A paper on this topic is forthcoming.

According to Comiso's study, when compared to longer term ground-based surface temperature data, the rate of warming in the Arctic over the last 20 years is eight times the rate of warming over the last 100 years.

Comiso's study also finds temperature trends vary by region and season. While warming is prevalent over most of the Arctic, some areas, such as Greenland, appear to be cooling. Springtimes arrived earlier and were warmer, and warmer autumns lasted longer, the study found. Most importantly, temperatures increased on average by 1.22 degrees Celsius per decade over sea ice during Arctic summer. The summer warming and lengthened melt season appears to be affecting the volume and extent of permanent sea ice. Annual trends, which were not quite as strong, ranged from a warming of 1.06 degrees Celsius over North America to a cooling of .09 degrees Celsius in Greenland.

If the high latitudes warm, and sea ice extent declines, thawing Arctic soils may release significant amounts of carbon dioxide and methane now trapped in permafrost, and slightly warmer ocean water could release frozen natural gases in the sea floor, all of which act as greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, said David Rind, a senior researcher at NASA's Goddard Institute of Space Studies, New York. "These feedbacks are complex and we are working to understand them," he added.

The surface temperature records covering from 1981 to 2001 were obtained through thermal infrared data from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration satellites. The studies were funded by NASA's Earth Science Enterprise, which is dedicated to understanding the Earth as an integrated system and applying Earth System Science to improve prediction of climate, weather and natural hazards using the unique vantage point of space.


Seasons of Change: Evidence of Arctic Warming Grows

SYNOPSIS:

Experts have long regarded Earth's polar regions as early indicators for global climate change. But until the last few years, wide ranging, comprehensive research about overall polar conditions has been challenging to conduct. Now a more than twenty-year record of space based measurements has been analyzed by researchers at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. Based on their findings, evidence of a warming planet continues to grow.

CHANGING SEASONS, CHANGING ICE

Research and data collection of Arctic Ocean ice isn't easy. But in this sequence using data collected by a number of satellites from 1979 to 2003, we see how scientists have been able to stitch together a careful record of sea ice in that part of the world. In 2002 scientists recorded the lowest concentration of sea ice ever in The Arctic. While temperature changes vary across the vast expanse of The Arctic, overall trends suggest that decreasing ice concentrations are due to a significant increase in ocean warming, from rising surface temperatures to the total number of annual "melt days".

Less ice means more open water. More open water means greater absorption of solar energy. More absorption of solar energy means increased rates of warming in the ocean, which naturally tends to yield faster rates of ice loss.

The data used to create these images come from a variety of different instruments flying on a group of satellites; they include the scanning multi-channel microwave radiometer attached to the Nimbus 7 satellite, and the special sensor microwave imagers attached to the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program's F8, F11, and F13 satellites.

Part of the challenge for researchers was in the elimination of "bad data", from atmospheric interference to instrument calibration issues and more. One reason that data acquired by microwave detecting instruments such as those flying on the DMSP satellites is that microwaves can penetrate the cloud cover that frequently blankets the Arctic. One of the most apparent characteristics of Arctic ice is just how dynamic and complex an environment it is. Through continued research and gathering of data, scientists hope to achieve a better level of understanding about the processes at work in the cryosphere.
Read full story on http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/news/topstory/2003/1023esuice.html

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Siberian winds usher in record lows in Beijing

>> Monday, March 21, 2011

FREEZING cold front swept over much of northern China on Sunday with snowstorms snarling traffic and air travel, while some of the coldest temperatures in decades were forecast for coming days.

Gale-force winds sweeping down from Siberia could result in temperatures as low as minus 16 degrees in the capital today, the Beijing meteorological station said. Such temperatures are believed to be the coldest in the capital in 40 years. Yesterday, major highways in Beijing and Tianjin, as well as in the surrounding provinces and regions of Hebei, Shanxi and Inner Mongolia were closed due to the heavy snowfall. Beijing Capital Airport said 120 departures had been postponed and 86 flights cancelled from late Saturday until mid-morning yesterday because of heavy snow and poor visibility. Freezing temperatures have also hit Britain, which is bracing itself for one of the coldest winters for a century. Parts of Scotland have been under snow for nearly three weeks and temperatures are expected to drop to minus 16 degrees. Meteorologists predicted the freezing snap will last until at least mid-January, with snow, ice and severe frosts dominating. And the likelihood is that the second half of the month will be even colder. On New Year’s Day 10 extreme weather warnings were in place, with heavy snow expected in northern England and Scotland. The continued freezing temperatures did not signal bad news for everyone, however. CairnGorm Mountain said it has had its best Christmas holiday season in 14 years. More than 15,000 skiers have used the resort since the start of December, compared with 2000 last year. The cold weather comes despite the Met Office’s long-range forecast, published in October, of a mild winter. That followed its earlier inaccurate prediction of a “barbecue summer”, which was marked by heavy rainfall and the wettest July for almost 100 years. Paul Michaelwaite, forecaster for NetWeather.tv, said: “It is looking like this winter could be in the top 20 cold winters in the last 100 years.” A fleet of gritters in Perth, central Scotland, was grounded because of the cold, leaving roads untreated in temperatures of minus 10 degrees. Perth and Kinross Council said the gritters were unable to leave the depot after the extreme weather led to difficulties in refuelling. Perth resident Ian Thomson said: “I’ve heard of the rail companies blaming the wrong kind of snow and leaves on the line for disruption, but for the council to say it was too cold to get the gritters out is just ridiculous.” Source:theage.com.au

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Ocean wind patterns Could effect

>> Friday, March 18, 2011


Scientists at the University of Liverpool have found that natural variability in the earth's atmosphere could be masking the overall effect of global warming in the North Atlantic Ocean.

Scientists have previously found that surface temperatures around the globe have risen over the last 30 years in accord with global warming. New data, however, shows that heat stored in the North Atlantic Ocean has a more complex pattern than initially expected, suggesting that natural changes in the atmosphere also play a role.

The Liverpool team, in collaboration with the University of Duke in the US, analysed 50 years of North Atlantic temperature records and used computer models to assess how the warming and cooling pattern was controlled. They found that the tropics and mid-latitudes have warmed, while the sub-polar regions have cooled.

Professor Ric Williams, from the University's School of Earth and Ocean Sciences, explains: "We found that changes in the heat stored in the North Atlantic corresponded to changes in natural and cyclical winds above the North Atlantic. This pattern of wind movement is called the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), which is linked to pressure differences in the atmosphere between Iceland and The Azores.

"The computer model we used to analyse our data helped us to predict how wind and heat exchange with the atmosphere affects the North Atlantic Ocean's heat content over time. We found that the warming over the mid latitudes was due to the wind redistributing heat, while the gain in heat in the tropics and loss in heat at high latitudes was due to an exchange of heat with the atmosphere.

"These local changes in heat storage are typically 10 times larger than any global warming trend. We now need to look at why changes are occurring in wind circulation, as this in itself could be linked to global warming effects."

Although natural variability appears to be masking global warming effects in the ocean, scientists still believe that global warming is occurring, as evident through a wide range of independent signals such as rising surface and atmospheric temperatures, reduced Arctic summer sea ice and the reduced extent of many glaciers showing changes in the environment.The research is published in Science. This study was jointly supported by the UK Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and the US National Science Foundation.Source:sciencedaily.com

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Waste Managment

>> Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Waste Management is the term that refers to the collection, processing, recycling, transport, and monitoring of waste products. The waste products means the various materials produced by human activity and is undertaken for reducing their effect on health, environment or aesthetics. Another application of the waste management is to recover the various resources from it. It involves the management of solid, liquid, and gaseous wastes. Each type of waste requires a different methods and fields of expertise. The practices of waste management differ from developed and developing nations. In fact, there is difference in methods used in the urban and rural areas, and also for industrial or residential producers. It is the responsibility of local government authorities to manage non-hazardous residential and institutional waste in metro areas. On other hand the management for non-hazardous commercial and industrial waste is done by the generator. There are various methods of waste disposal including integrated waste management, Plasma gasification, Landfill, Supercritical water decomposition and Incineration. There are lots of concepts about waste management which differ in their usage as per the varying regions or countries. Some of the widely used concepts include Waste hierarchy, Extended producer responsibility and Polluter pays principle. The waste hierarchy points to the “reduce, reuse and recycle” that classify waste management strategies as per their effectiveness in regards to waste minimization. The waste hierarchy is the cornerstone of majority of waste minimization strategies. It focuses on taking out the maximum practical advantages from products and generating least amount of waste. The Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) is a strategy that is intended for the integration of all costs related with products across their life cycles into the market price of the product. The Polluter Pays Principle suggests that in case of waste leading to any impact on the environment, the polluting party is held responsible and it needs to pays for it. The waste management refers to the need for a waste producer to pay for proper waste disposal. source wastemanagement.in.

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Hurricanes Have Doubled Due to Global Warming, Study Says

>> Monday, March 7, 2011



The number of Atlantic hurricanes that form each year has doubled over the past century and global warming is largely to blame, according a new study.
The increase occurred in two major steps of about 50 percent each, one in the 1930s and the second since 1995. "It hasn't been a steady, gradual increase," said Greg Holland, a scientist with the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado. The increases coincide closely with rises in sea surface temperatures in the eastern Atlantic tropics. Previous studies have attributed these rises to human emissions of greenhouse gases. "That [correlation] implies there is a substantial contribution by greenhouse warming to the current crop of tropical cyclones," Holland said. The study also shows that the proportion of major hurricanes to less intense hurricanes has sharply increased in recent years, which agrees with earlier studies showing an increase in stronger storms. However, the new study found the proportion of major hurricanes has fluctuated with a "remarkably constant period of oscillation" over the past century, Holland said. The oscillation appears to be a natural variability not associated with warming. So while the storms' severity seems to fluctuate in a natural cycle, their frequency is on the rise, he explained. "What we're seeing [now] is a high point of major storms, which has been a very, very stable oscillation, combined with a sharp increase in the frequency of all storms, which has been a trend," Holland said. Holland and Peter Webster of the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta published their findings online today in the research journal Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. He is a leading critic of studies that link increased storm intensity to global warming, saying historical data are too crude to determine long-term trends. The same, he argues, is true for storm frequency. "The doubling in the number of storms that they find in their paper is just an artifact of technology, not climate change," he wrote. Airplanes and satellites outfitted with sensitive instruments to monitor tropical storms did not exist a hundred years ago. Aircraft began monitoring hurricanes in 1944, satellites about 1970. Recent research by Landsea finds three to four tropical storms were missed before the mid-1960s. And one storm a year was missed from the 1970s to the 1990s. "When one takes into account these missing storms, the upward trend disappears and large multiyear variations remain," he said. According to Holland, however, the technological improvements cannot account for all the observed increase in tropical storms. His new study accounts for three missed storms per year in the pre-satellite era, and a statistically significant increase is still present, he said. "So, yes there's uncertainty, there's no doubt about that," Holland said. "But it doesn't change our conclusions." Frequency Transitions According to the study, the period from 1900 to 1930 saw an average of six Atlantic tropical storms a year, with four of those storms growing into hurricanes. From 1930 to 1940, the annual average increased to ten, with five hurricanes and five tropical storms. Then, from 1995 to 2005, the average number of storms increased to 15, with 8 hurricanes and 7 tropical storms. Even 2006, which seemed mild in the wake of the record-breaking 2005 season, saw ten tropical storms, the authors note. Holland likened the transition phases to a thunderstorm in the Rocky Mountains—the sun rises and warms up the clear blue skies for hours, and then suddenly a thunderstorm develops. "That's a very good example, but what we're looking at is happening on the global scale," he said. The most recent period has yet to stabilize, leading the authors to conclude there may be even more active hurricane seasons in the future, though other factors may dampen the storm activity. "What I will say is there is no evidence that I'm aware of and nothing I can think of which indicates they are going to go back down," Holland said. Increase your knowledge and be aware about global warming and its impact, for more knowdlage visit (Courtesy:nationalgeographic.com)

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Greenland’s glaciers double in speed

>> Friday, March 4, 2011


The contribution of Greenland to global sea level change and the mapping of previously unknown basins and mountains beneath the Antarctic Ice Sheet are highlighted in a new film released by Cambridge University this morning.
The work of glaciologist Professor Julian Dowdeswell, Director of Cambridge University's Scott Polar Research Institute, is the focus of This Icy World, the latest film in the University's Cambridge Ideas series.
A frequent visitor to both the Arctic and Antarctic, Dowdeswell's research has found that the glaciers around Greenland are the fastest flowing in the world.
He said: "There is evidence that some parts of the ice sheet have doubled in speed up to 10 km per year in the last decade. That means the contribution of Greenland to global sea level change is increasing."
"The numbers of icebergs released into the seas around Greenland is also increasing. We need to know just how fast these changes are taking place.
"Things are changing very rapidly here because the Arctic is the most sensitive part of the global climate system. Over the coming century, temperatures are likely to rise at double the global average here."
Professor Dowdeswell, who has spent a total of more than three years in the polar regions, also reveals that his work in Antarctica as part of an team of international scientists, using radar systems pioneered in Cambridge, has mapped sub-glacial mountains hidden beneath the ice sheet that scientists were not aware of before.
The Scott Polar Research Institute, a research centre within Cambridge University, has about 40 scientists and post-graduate students working on various aspects of polar research. Professor Dowdeswell's next polar trip, funded by a large grant from the UK's Natural Environment Research Council, will be in March and April to the Greenland Ice Sheet.
Airborne radar systems will be used to measure ice thickness and the presence of lubricating water at the ice-sheet bed. This should yield key information relating to the recent speed-up of the ice.
He said: The ice in Antarctica is an average of 2-3 km in thickness, with the deepest ice almost 5 km thick. It's changes in the volume of the ice sheet that will affect global sea level.
"Glacier and ice-sheet change is a reality at both poles. The ice is thinning and retreating and that means water is flowing back into the global ocean. Today, sea level is rising 3mm per year; over the coming century, sea level is likely to rise by up to about 1m and it's actually that rise - with the worst storm waves you can imagine - that could cause real damage.
"In those circumstances, sea defences can be breached and low lying areas of the world can be flooded. That has serious implications for humankind." Resources www.cam.ac.uk

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Proof of Global Warming

>> Thursday, March 3, 2011

Although most scientists are convinced that global warming is very real, a few still harbor doubts. But a new report, based on an analysis of infrared long-wave radiation data from two different space missions, may change their minds. "These unique satellite spectrometer data collected 27 years apart show for the first time that real spectral differences have been observed, and that they can be attributed to changes in greenhouse gases over a long time period," says John Harries, a professor at Imperial College in London and lead author of the study published in Nature.

As the sun's radiation hits the earth's surface, it is reemitted as infrared radiation. This radiation is then partly trapped by the so-called greenhouse gases: carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4) and chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) as well as water vapor. Satellites can measure changes in the infrared radiation spectrum, allowing scientists to detect changes in the earth's natural greenhouse effect and to deduce which greenhouse gas concentrations have changed.

The researchers looked at the infrared spectrum of long-wave radiation from a region over the Pacific Ocean, as well as from the entire globe. The data came from two different spacecraft�the NASA's Nimbus 4 spacecraft, which surveyed the planet with an Infrared Interferometric Spectrometer (IRIS) between April 1970 and January 1971, and the Japanese ADEO satellite, which utilized the Interferometric Monitor of Greenhouse Gases (IMG) instrument, starting in 1996. To ensure that the data were reliable and comparable, the team looked only at readings from the same three-month period of the year (April to June) and adjusted them to eliminate the effects of cloud cover. The findings indicated long-term changes in atmospheric CH4, CO2, ozone (O3) and CFC 11 and 12 concentrations and, consequently, a significant increase in the earth's greenhouse effect.resouces:scientificamerican.com

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Disappearing world-Global warming claims Tropical Island

>> Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Disappearing world: Global warming claims Tropical Island


For the first time, an inhabited island has disappeared beneath rising seas. Environment Editor Geoffrey Lean reports


Rising seas, caused by global warming, have for the first time washed an inhabited island off the face of the Earth. The obliteration of Lohachara island, in India's part of the Sundarbans where the Ganges and the Brahmaputra rivers empty into the Bay of Bengal, marks the moment when one of the most apocalyptic predictions of environmentalists and climate scientists has started coming true.
As the seas continue to swell, they will swallow whole island nations, from the Maldives to the Marshall Islands, inundate vast areas of countries from Bangladesh to Egypt, and submerge parts of scores of coastal cities.
Eight years ago, as exclusively reported in The Independent on Sunday, the first uninhabited islands - in the Pacific atoll nation of Kiribati - vanished beneath the waves. The people of low-lying islands in Vanuatu, also in the Pacific, have been evacuated as a precaution, but the land still juts above the sea. The disappearance of Lohachara, once home to 10,000 people, is unprecedented.
It has been officially recorded in a six-year study of the Sunderbans by researchers at Calcutta's Jadavpur University. So remote is the island that the researchers first learned of its submergence, and that of an uninhabited neighbouring island, Suparibhanga, when they saw they had vanished from satellite pictures.
Two-thirds of nearby populated island Ghoramara has also been permanently inundated. Dr Sugata Hazra, director of the university's School of Oceanographic Studies, says "it is only a matter of some years" before it is swallowed up too. Dr Hazra says there are now a dozen "vanishing islands" in India's part of the delta. The area's 400 tigers are also in danger.
Until now the Carteret Islands off Papua New Guinea were expected to be the first populated ones to disappear, in about eight years' time, but Lohachara has beaten them to the dubious distinction.
Human cost of global warming: Rising seas will soon make 70,000 people homeless
Refugees from the vanished Lohachara island and the disappearing Ghoramara island have fled to Sagar, but this island has already lost 7,500 acres of land to the sea. In all, a dozen islands, home to 70,000 people, are in danger of being submerged by the rising seas. Courtesy: independent.co.uK, Photo published by greenlivingtips.com

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