Real Climate Science

Is climate change causing earthquakes? Extreme weather is moving tectonic plates, scientists claim

People who are ridiculed for saying that earthquakes are a result of global warming could actually be right, scientists claim.

Long-term climate change has the potential to spin Earth’s tectonic plates, according to a news study from the Australian National University.

Working with researchers in Germany and France, they have established a link between the motion of the Indian plate over the last ten million years and the intensification of Indian monsoons.

Monsoon rain increased by four metres every year, speeding up the motion in the Indian plate by one centimetre a year, said Dr Giampiero Iaffaldano from the ANU research school of earth sciences.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/

http://understory.ran.org/

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/Economy/story?id=6638175&page=1

With the cold winter weather tapering off, the often repeated comments about “so-called global warming and climate change,” sparked by bitterly cold temperatures and “snowmageddons,” still resonate.

First let’s get the terminology straight. Climate change is the change in climatic conditions of regions which, yes, do include temperature, but also many of the Earth’s other systems. Global warming is the overall increase in temperature across the globe. Simple enough, right?

While the more serious effects of climate change are not being felt by residents of southern Ontario, they are being felt by the communities in northern Canada. Flooding, increased rainfall and increased temperatures are drastically changing the traditional lifestyles of some aboriginal communities, and affecting water quality and health. Yet news and reports are very rare on this increasingly pressing issue. Half of our country cannot be forgotten.

Is it getting hot or is it just me?

Kendra King, Ancaster

Temperatures

Maximum temperatures nationally were the coldest on record with a national anomaly of -2.19°C. Most of Australia recorded below average mean maxima with parts of the north and south of the country recording their coldest March on record. This was partly due to increased cloudiness across most of the country associated with the above average rainfall recorded throughout the month. March 2011 included some contrasts between the majority of Australia and the west and east coasts, which were the only areas that experienced above average daytime temperatures. Temperatures were coolest in the central part of Australia where rainfall was most abnormal, with maximum temperatures more than 3°C below average Similarly, drier conditions matched up with areas of above-normal maxima in western WA.

http://www.bom.gov.au/

h/t to Scarlet Pumpernickel

Fill in the missing words

Climate experts agree that global warming is __ADJECTIVE__ and is caused by ___NOUN___. Yet last week in the House of ___PLURAL NOUN___, an amendment to a bill that would deny the Environmental ___NOUN___  Agency the authority to ___VERB___ greenhouse gases was defeated 184-240. It stated, “Congress ___VERB___ the scientific findings of the Environmental Protection Agency that climate change is ___VERB___, is caused largely by human activities, and poses significant risks for public health and welfare.” Thus, a majority of one chamber of Congress does not agree with the consensus among climate ___PLURAL NOUN___ that global warming is ___NOUN___ and a serious threat to the planet. So how does a nonscientist citizen make an informed decision about global ___NOUN___?

Fortunately, scientists use a process called “peer review” to maintain ___NOUN__ in their published research. Peer review, which can take months to years, requires that research papers submitted for publication are reviewed by anonymous ___ADJECTIVE___ ___NOUN___ to ensure the research is ___ADJECTIVE___ and the conclusions are ___VERB___ by the data. Analysis of ___NOUN___ of peer-reviewed papers on global ___NOUN___ change have shown that well over 95 percent of climate ___PLURAL NOUN___ agree that global warming is ___ADJECTIVE___ and caused by ___PLURAL NOUN___ burning fossil fuels and forests. Moreover, the Academies of ___NOUN___ from 19 countries have ___VERB___ this consensus, as have dozens of scientific organizations in the U.S. Thus, there is a consensus on global warming supported by the global ___NOUN___ community.

http://www.columbian.com

http://news.google.com/newspapers

Los Angeles Times (1923-Current File) – Los Angeles, Calif.
Date:    Apr 3, 1977

At least 328 people were killed and more than 1,000 injured in a tornado which battered wide sections of Bangladesh, authorities said in Dacca. Among the dead were 200 who drowned when a motor launch capsized on the Meghna River near Madarijpur, 80 miles southwest of Dacca.

http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/

CBC News Jan 29, 2010
“Climate change and global warming are partly to blame for the current snow shortage on Vancouver’s Cypress Mountain, according to the David Suzuki Foundation. ” “(CBC)The David Suzuki Foundation says global warming and climate change are in part responsible for what’s happening to a key Olympic venue.”
http://www.cbc.ca/

The Vancouver Province April 14, 2011
Snowfall records at B.C ski resorts are being credited to a winter of consistently cold conditions. Mount Washington, on Vancouver Island is celebrating a record-setting snowfall by extending the ski and snowboard season into the Easter weekend. Mount Washington spokesman Brent Curtain said on Thursday the total snowfall for the resort is now 1,840 cm. The previous record dates back to 1998-99 in which the resort had 1,835 cm of snowfall. Early in the season, Mount Washington had the unusual predicament for a ski resort — they had too much snow. The six metres of snow buried cars and turned the parking areas of the resort into chaos.
http://www.theprovince.com/

h/t to GregW

Businesses are leaving California because of mass climate change stupidity.

WASHINGTON, April 16 (Xinhua) — Climate change is not just an environment issue but also has socioeconomic implications, and it is directly affecting development all over the world, Former Vice President of the World Bank Vinod Thomas said recently during an exclusive interview with Xinhua.

“There is now evidence linking increase in CO2, increase in sea temperature, increase in precipitations in some place and lack of that in some other places, and therefore, more extreme events (happen),” Thomas told Xinhua on the sidelines of the ongoing IMF and World Bank spring meetings in Washington.

“This has been now translating into loss of income, into loss of life and loss of livelihood from Pakistan to Australia, to China, all over the world,” said Thomas, currently director-general of Independent Evaluation Group (IEG) at the World Bank Group.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2011/apr/17/mary-keitany-london-marathon

And a crazy finish at the Emirates with Wegner cussing at Dalglish. ROFL