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Archive for July 24th, 2012
Map reveals sharp increase in U.S. fires since 2001
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 24th, 2012
Mongabay: A new map using NASA data reveals an increase in the frequency and severity of fires in the United States since 2001.
The map, created by John Nelson of IDV Solutions, shows the locations and intensity of major fires in the contiguous 48 United States from 2001 through early July 2012. Fire intensity is scaled by "units of the typical American nuclear power plant’s summertime capacity" with yellow reflecting the most intense conflagrations. The map is based on MODIS fire hotspot data.
The most...
Record 97 percent of Greenland’s ice sheet experienced melting in July
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 24th, 2012
Mongabay: 97 percent of Greenland's ice sheet experienced some degree of melting this July, a record extent of melt, says NASA. Analysis of data from three satellites detected the record melting on July 12. The extent was such Son Nghiem of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory initially questioned the results. “This was so extraordinary that at first I questioned the result,” said Nghiem. “Was this real or was it due to a data error?” Nghiem's observations were subsequently confirmed by Dorothy Hall from NASA’s...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Record 97 percent of Greenland’s ice sheet experienced melting in JulyRains give mild relief to drought, grain prices tumble
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 24th, 2012
Reuters: Welcome rains provided some relief to heat-stressed cities and worried farmers in the U.S. Midwest on Tuesday, but reports of failed crops, wildfires and other fallout from the worst U.S. drought in more than 50 years tempered any optimism.
The first soaking rains for weeks in parts of the northern Midwest sent U.S. corn and soybean prices sharply lower. But those prices still hover around record highs with weather forecasts for August indicating more heat is on the way.
More rain is forecast...
Greenland ice sheet melted at unprecedented rate during July
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 24th, 2012
Guardian: The Greenland ice sheet melted at a faster rate this month than at any other time in recorded history, with virtually the entire ice sheet showing signs of thaw.
The rapid melting over just four days was captured by three satellites. It has stunned and alarmed scientists, and deepened fears about the pace and future consequences of climate change.
In a statement posted on Nasa's website on Tuesday, scientists admitted the satellite data was so striking they thought at first there had to be...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Greenland ice sheet melted at unprecedented rate during JulyU.S. Drought Could Cause Global Unrest
Posted by Wired: Brandon Keim on July 24th, 2012
Wired: Twice in the last five years, rising food prices triggered global waves of social unrest. With drought baking U.S. crops, another round of soaring, society-straining price spikes may happen in coming months. According to researchers from the New England Complex Systems Institute, commodity speculation - investors betting on food prices - will amplify the drought`s market signals, creating a new food bubble and the crises that follow. "The drought is clearly going to kick prices up. It already has....
US politicians must regulate finance to tackle the drought and food-price crisis
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 24th, 2012
Guardian: If you're wondering whether the US drought will create a global food crisis, the answer's easy. It's yes, because there's a food crisis already. The latest year for which we have figures is 2010, when 925 million people were declared malnourished. Soon after the number was announced, the World Bank corrected it upward, and recently said that the number of hungry people is "almost 1 billion".
Make no mistake: the US drought is fierce. In June this year, out of a possible 171,442 temperature records,...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on US politicians must regulate finance to tackle the drought and food-price crisisExtreme Heat Proves Relentless in Central States
Posted by Climate Central: Andrew Freedman on July 24th, 2012
Climate Central: While much of the country has had a brief respite from the extreme heat and humidity that has marked the summer of 2012, in the nation's heartland -- including key agricultural areas from Nebraska to Illinois -- the heat has proven relentless. When the temperature soared to 105°F at 3:00 pm central time, St. Louis tied its all-time record for the most days in a single year with high temperatures of 105°F or greater. The existing record of 10 such days was set in 1934.
High temperature forecast...
Satellites show ice melt across most of Greenland
Posted by MSNBC: Miguel Llanos on July 24th, 2012
MSNBC: Three satellites found that 97 percent of Greenland -- the land mass second only to Antarctica for its volume of ice -- underwent a thaw never before seen in 33 years of satellite tracking, NASA reported Tuesday.
Satellite experts at first didn't trust their readings, especially since they showed an incredible acceleration. Over four days, Greenland's ice sheet -- which covers 683,000 square miles -- went from 40 percent in thaw to nearly entirely in thaw.
"This was so extraordinary that at...
Crops get much-needed drink, more rains needed soon
Posted by Reuters: Sam Nelson and Christine Stebbins on July 24th, 2012
Reuters: Rainfall across the northern U.S. Midwest over the next 10 days will provide some relief for the drought-stricken corn and soybean crops, but more rain is needed to stem further crop losses, agricultural meteorologists said on Tuesday.
Rains from central Minnesota eastward to the northern regions of Illinois, Indiana and Ohio since late Monday through midday Tuesday averaged 0.75 inch to 1.25 inch, said Joel Widenor, an agricultural forecaster with Commodity Weather Group. Heavier amounts of up...
Climate change and the American west
Posted by TomDispatch: William deBuys on July 24th, 2012
TomDispatch: Dire fire conditions, like the inferno of heat, turbulence, and fuel that recently turned 346 homes in Colorado Springs to ash, are now common in the West. A lethal combination of drought, insect plagues, windstorms, and legions of dead, dying, or stressed-out trees constitute what some pundits are calling wildfire’s “perfect storm.”
They are only half right.
This summer`s conditions may indeed be perfect for fire in the Southwest and West, but if you think of it as a “storm,” perfect or otherwise...