The IPCC’s report a few years ago on climate change appears to have vastly underestimated the rate of Arctic ice melt. This is confirmed by data reported in a Globe article today, Arctic ice is melting faster than expected, report says, by the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Program.
It says that Arctic temperatures in the past six years were the highest since measurements began in 1880, and that feedback mechanisms believed to accelerate warming in the climate system have now started kicking in.
One mechanism involves the ocean absorbing more heat when it’s not covered by ice, which reflects the sun’s energy. That effect has been anticipated by scientists “but clear evidence for it has only been observed in the Arctic in the past five years,’’ AMAP said.
So what exactly does that mean?
The melting of Arctic glaciers and ice caps, including Greenland’s massive ice sheet, are projected to help raise global sea levels by 35 to 63 inches by 2100, AMAP said, though it noted that the estimate was highly uncertain.
That’s up from a 2007 projection of 7 to 23 inches by the UN panel, which didn’t consider the dynamics of ice caps in the Arctic and Antarctica.
What will a five foot rise in sea level do to Boston? To NYC?
Clearly the climate scientists have erred on the side of understating the effects of climate change.
It has been obvious for some time that the costs of preventing further damaging climate change (increased energy prices, that the Republicans keep whining about) are tiny compared with the costs of the catastrophe that awaits not that far down the road.
I live on the 4th floor of a high-rise building, and I have a balcony. I will install davits when the time comes.
Here’s your answer for a rise of 3 meters (10 ft)
3 meter sea level rise images
I called up Senator Brown’s office to discuss his vote against EPA limits on CO2 emissions. When I asked if the Senator believes that global warming is taking place the aide had to put me on hold to go talk to a higher up to discover what the right response was. The aide came back some minutes later with a canned response on business regulation but acknowledged when pressed that he (the aide in question) could not say whether he believed that global warming is taking place.
Even with the best efforts in the world this will be a hard problem to confront, but a vote for Scott Brown at this point is a vote for climate destruction. That is another reality neither he, nor a lot of people in the Commonwealth, wish to confront.
Did the study link CO2 increases with the reduced ice cap? Or is that your inference?
The People’s Senator opposes any action to curb the greenhouse gas emissions that are causing environmental destruction at an accelerating rate and will inflict extraordinary damage that our kids will have to deal with. But he says he likes kids, so who cares.
The People’s Senator lacks the guts to come clean on his beliefs on global warming. Apparently he thinks the I just don;t know enough line will work indefinitely. It’s not that hard to figures this out for anyone who cares to try.