Arctic ice melt could trigger uncontrollable climate change at global level

[inanna]

Source: The Guardian

Friday 25 November 2016 05.01 GMT

Arctic scientists have warned that the increasingly rapid melting of the ice cap risks triggering 19 “tipping points” in the region that could have catastrophic consequences around the globe.

The Arctic Resilience Report found that the effects of Arctic warming could be felt as far away as the Indian Ocean, in a stark warning that changes in the region could cause uncontrollable climate change at a global level.

Temperatures in the Arctic are currently about 20C above what would be expected for the time of year, which scientists describe as “off the charts”. Sea ice is at the lowest extent ever recorded for the time of year.

“The warning signals are getting louder,” said Marcus Carson of the Stockholm Environment Institute and one of the lead authors of the report. “[These developments] also make the potential for triggering [tipping points] and feedback loops much larger.”

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/nov/25/arctic-ice-melt-trigger-uncontrollable-climate-change-global-level

[TeamPooka]

1. I'll miss all of you. And land, I'll miss land. nt

[Warpy]

7. We'll have lots of land

Unfortunately, it's not where a lot of people are going to need it the most and the land we do have will need to be terraced to feed us, meaning agriculture will go back to being grunt work instead of mechanized.

I just hope we don't have to learn how to breathe methane. That's what's not going to work out too well.

[Hortensis]

26. Yes. One of the dangers is our paying for sea walls

and other remedial measures to protect the property of the wealthy. I'm not inclined, even though we own an extremely modest property on an estuary off Tampa Bay whose eventual end is promised by every storm (used to be only big ones, but no more).

Nevertheless, in imagining how we will deal with sea rise, it helps to remember that people of ordinary means have been pushed inland, away from more and more of our very beautiful and desirable coastal properties, by affluent, and of course stinking rich, people who, if we allow, will arrange for us to pay for the very expensive infrastructure that would protect their investments for another couple decades...

[Warpy]

27. If a storm takes your insured seafront house in Mass.

you can rebuild away from the shore but you can't rebuild on the same piece of land right next to the ocean.

Before that law was passed, it had been quite a racket getting beach front houses rebuilt every couple of years while the beaches continued to erode up to their doorsteps.

[Hortensis]

31. Massachusetts in that respect is a model for all coastal states,

one I feel confidently will be rejected by many.

[MFM008]

2. Thats ok, as long as Maggot voters in the rust belt

think he will bring back "jobs".
Screw the environment.

[hedda_foil]

6. 20 degrees Celsius MORE than normal temps 68 degrees Fahrenheit.

That's 68 degrees HIGHER than normal temperature for this time of year. A staggering amount of warming.

[truthisfreedom]

10. 9/5 times 20C 36F. A change of 20C is a change of 36F.

Let's do an example. Let's say that the temperature should be 10C but it's 30C because it's 20C higher than normal. Then if we use this tool: http://www.rapidtables.com/convert/temperature/celsius-to-fahrenheit.htm we will see that the normal temp of 10C should be 50F but the higher temp of 30C is 86F, and the difference between the normal 50F and higher 86F is 36F. This works for any temperatures you start with in C as long as they're 20C apart.

[hedda_foil]

19. Thank you for explaining that, tif.

I used one of those online converters. I thought the difference between C and F was a little less than 2 degrees but forgot that 0 C is 32 F, so totally misinterpreted the result. The actual temperature rise is alarming enough.

[pbmus]

3. Just too scary and real to read

[SHRED]

4. tRump will remove climate study from NASA

See...all better.

[truthisfreedom]

11. That is truly frightening.

He's a madman if he does that.

[OnlinePoker]

20. Well, it's settled science so what do we need it for? n/t

[SHRED]

21. The science is but how it works isn't exactly

This vital info that must be gained for strategies to combat it.

But you were being sarcastic correct?

[OnlinePoker]

22. You are correct.

[dae]

5. KnR

[byronius]

8. Kim Stanley Robinson's 'Forty Signs Of Rain' is the best description of what follows.

And it's going to be a rough ride. A nearly thirty-foot rise in sea levels once the Laurentian ice shelf goes. 600 million refugees. Washington underwater.

Al Gore might have been able to do something. Maybe 2000 was even too late, but he was our best bet. And he won.

Thanks, GOP.

[TBA]

9. No worries!

God will restore the earth to Eden after the tribulation. Climate change, pollution, even nuclear war is just fine cause God will make it all go away!!!!!!

If I must.... sarcasm... but that is how the fundamentalists think.

[TeamPooka]

12. The Mayans were sooooo close. Missed by that much. nt

[Judi Lynn]

13. Too bad the destruction won't happen only to those who brought this death upon the whole planet. n/t

[Delphinus]

24. I know.

This shows the interconnectedness of all things.

[Achilleaze]

14. "Nah. This is just a freakin Pointy Head Plot. We don't give a shit." - Republicans

[Feeling the Bern]

15. Cartman: Oh, this is all a bunch of tree hugging hippie liberal crap. And Trump told me my wife

and her people were the cause. And he's never told a lie. He's a real American!

I wonder how it will feel evolving gills. . .oops, I mean when God waves his magic Sky Daddy hand on gills just pop out of thin air for people!

[jimlup]

16. Alarming!

Though not totally surprising

[bucolic_frolic]

17. Buy land on the cliffs and in the hills

Oceanfront property will always appreciate nicely

[Dustlawyer]

18. We are all just Lemmings rushing over the cliff!

[tclambert]

23. Not to worry. Trump has the solution. We just never, ever talk about it again.

Et voilà, the problem vanishes!

[benld74]

25. Come 1st snowfall in DC some

Fool will bring another snowball to podium during a speech and proclaim

This is global warming

😡

[milestogo]

28. Sounds like we are past the point of no return.

[NNadir]

29. Florida's electoral votes will, um, be submerged. Oh well...

[NickB79]

30. We can no longer stop catastrophic climate change

We WILL blow past the 2C 'red line' the IPCC warned us about, and due to positive feedback mechanisms like permafrost thaw and massive forest fires, we'll pass 3-4C by the end of this century.

Short of a miracle tech invention that can suck and sequester billions of tons of carbon out of the atmosphere EVERY YEAR FOR THE REST OF THIS CENTURY, at a very low cost, we will lose the coastal cities. We will lose the low-lying islands. We will lose the Asian rice paddies. The Arctic, once fully ice-free in the next decade, will start to absorb so much heat during the summer that the water will eventually stop re-freezing in winter altogether, throwing the jet stream into chaos (a so-called Blue Ocean Event).

Ocean acidification, overfishing and warming waters mean we will lose most of our coral reefs and kelp forests, removing an almost irreplaceable source of protein for over a billion people. In the meantime, increasingly erratic weather will destroy large swaths of farmland globally. We will see food riots and all-out civil wars, like what we are currently seeing in Syria, consume numerous nations around the planet. Countries may choose to wage war on one another to secure resources and pacify their own populations internally (better to send your young men and women off to die in a war than let them foment unrest inside your borders).

This doesn't mean we shouldn't try as hard as we possibly can to cut carbon emissions. Just because we know the future is going to be bad, doesn't mean it couldn't be even worse. Whatever we may lose at 3C, we will lose far, far more at 4C, or 5C, or 6C of warming. What we can cut now might mean the difference between a warmer world where we can keep some of our civilization intact, or having it all smashed back to a hot, brutal, Medieval level of existence.

If you have the ability, now is the time to get your shit in order, and decide what survival strategy you will take to get through the hard times ahead. I'm 37; I expect to live long enough to see a good chunk of global society collapse. My survival strategy revolves around converting my 1.5 acre yard into a permaculture system, ultimately producing enough calories to support 5-6 people.

I once laughed at the Doomsday Preppers on TV. I can't believe I'm now starting to take a few of them seriously.

[Auntie Bush]

32. Poor Polar Bears😪

[bdamomma]

33. is this what

we are giving to other generations????? aren't we better than this?