Understanding Global Climate Change
Effects of Warming
http://edu-observatory.org/olli/Climate/Week3.html
Fourth National Climate Assessment (NCA4), Volume I (2017) https://science2017.globalchange.gov Fourth National Climate Assessment (NCA4), Volume II (2018) https://nca2018.globalchange.gov The National Climate Assessment (NCA) assesses the science of climate change and variability and its impacts across the United States, now and throughout this century. Summary Findings These Summary Findings represent a high-level synthesis of the material in the underlying report. The findings consolidate Key Messages and supporting evidence from 16 national-level topic chapters, 10 regional chapters, and 2 chapters that focus on societal response strategies (mitigation and adaptation). Unless otherwise noted, qualitative statements regarding future conditions in these Summary Findings are broadly applicable across the range of different levels of future climate change and associated impacts considered in this report.Fourth National Climate Assessment (NCA4), Volume II (2018) https://nca2018.globalchange.gov The National Climate Assessment (NCA) assesses the science of climate change and variability and its impacts across the United States, now and throughout this century. About This Report Guide To This Report Chapter 1: Overview Chapter 2: Our Changing Climate Chapter 3: Water Chapter 4: Energy Supply, Delivery, and Demand Chapter 5: Land Cover and Land-Use Change Chapter 6: Forests Chapter 7: Ecosystems, Ecosystem Services, and Biodiversity Chapter 8: Coastal Effects Chapter 9: Oceans and Marine Resources Chapter 10: Agriculture and Rural Communities Chapter 11: Built Environment, Urban Systems, and Cities Chapter 12: Transportation Chapter 13: Air Quality Chapter 14: Human Health Chapter 15: Tribes and Indigenous Peoples Chapter 16: Climate Effects on U.S. International Interests Chapter 17: Sector Interactions, Multiple Stressors, and Complex Systems Chapter 18: Northeast Chapter 19: Southeast Chapter 20: U.S. Caribbean Chapter 21: Midwest Chapter 22: Northern Great Plains Chapter 23: Southern Great Plains Chapter 24: Northwest Chapter 25: Southwest Chapter 26: Alaska Chapter 27: Hawaii and U.S.-Affiliated Pacific Islands Chapter 28: Reducing Risks Through Adaptation Actions Chapter 29: Reducing Risks Through Emissions Mitigation Appendix 1: Report Development Process Appendix 2: Information in the Fourth National Climate Assessment Appendix 3: Data Tools and Scenarios Products Appendix 4: Looking Abroad: How Other Nations Approach a National Climate Assessment Appendix 5: Frequently Asked Questions ISU professor of Geological and Atmospheric Sciences Bill Gutowski - Global Climate Change 101 https://isualumblog.wordpress.com/2015/08/20/global-climate-change-101/ ISU professor of Geological and Atmospheric Sciences Eugene S. Takle (ISU) | Outreach Presentations http://www.meteor.iastate.edu/faculty/takle/outreach.html
NOAA | Global Climate Change Indicators https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/monitoring-references/faq/indicators.php NASA | Global Climate Change (Vital Signs of the Planet) http://climate.nasa.gov Halfway to boiling: the city at 50C https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2018/aug/13/halfway-boiling-city-50c At 50C - halfway to water's boiling point and more than 10C above a healthy body temperature - heat becomes toxic. Human cells start to cook, blood thickens, muscles lock around the lungs and the brain is choked of oxygen. In dry conditions, sweat - the body's in-built cooling system - can lessen the impact. But this protection weakens if there is already moisture in the air. A so-called "wet-bulb temperature" (which factors in humidity) of just 35C can be fatal after a few hours to even the fittest person, and scientists warn climate change will make such conditions increasingly common in India, Pakistan, south-east Asia and parts of China. Even under the most optimistic predictions for emissions reductions, experts say almost half the world's population will be exposed to potentially deadly heat for 20 days a year by 2100. IPCC http://www.ipcc.ch
It's probably too late to save the West Antarctic glaciers. And East Antarctica's situation is unexpectedly precarious. http://scitation.aip.org/content/aip/magazine/physicstoday/news/10.1063/PT.5.7074 Researchers have long recognized that the glaciers of West Antarctica are losing mass: Ice is oozing off the continent and into the sea faster than it's being replaced from above. But the long-term implications have been uncertain. Is the mass loss a short-lived response to the thermal forcing of warmer-than-usual ocean waters? Or will the collapse continue unchecked even if the forcing is removed? Two papers widely reported last week [May 2014] conclude that the West Antarctic's unstoppable collapse has probably begun. Discovery of recent Antarctic ice sheet collapse raises fears of a new global flood https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/12/discovery-recent-antarctic-ice-sheet-collapse-raises-fears-new-global-flood Climate MADness (It is NOT A GIVEN that we will survive) http://thebulletin.org/climate-madness Climate Armageddon: How the World's Weather Could Quickly Run Amok [Excerpt] http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-worlds-weather-could-quickly-run-amok/ Have We Passed the Point of No Return on Climate Change? https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/have-we-passed-the-point-of-no-return-on-climate-change/ Humans may be reversing the climate clock, by 50 million years https://phys.org/news/2018-12-humans-reversing-climate-clock-million.html All of the species on Earth today had an ancestor that survived the Eocene and the Pliocene, but whether humans and the flora and fauna we are familiar with can adapt to these rapid changes remains to be seen. The accelerated rate of change appears to be faster than anything life on the planet has experienced before. sam.wormley@gmail.com