2020 Could Be the Worst Year for Arctic Ice Ever (and Joe Biden Won't Ban Fracking)
by Thomas Neuburger
"Joe Biden will not ban fracking."
—Kamala Harris, October 7, 2020
This is your friendly, periodic reminder that while Joe Biden dithers about fracking and support for fossil fuel, the planet is changing rapidly as we speak.
How rapidly? The planet is changing so fast that Biden may still be alive when the error of his ways becomes obvious to us all.
2020 Is Looking Like the Worst Year for Arctic Sea Ice Ever
Above is a map of the Laptev Sea, a part of the Arctic Ocean. The Laptev Sea is suffering the same fate as the rest of the Arctic — it's losing its ice at an alarming rate. As you can see from the graph below, 2020 is shaping up to be an unprecedented year — even surpassing in icelessness the previous worst year, 2018, marked in yellow. (Chart courtesy of climatologist Zach Labe.)
The same things is happening in the Siberian Sea (again the previous worst year, 2012, is marked in yellow):
Nothing even comes close to 2020 in our records for sea ice along the Siberian #Arctic...
— Zack Labe (@ZLabe) October 21, 2020
[*Note that the basin is geographically constrained (same maximum sea ice cover = flat line)] pic.twitter.com/gFelUw3xSq
This is, of course, a natural result of record high air temperatures over the Arctic:
Record high temperatures in the Siberian #Arctic over the last 3 months!
— Zack Labe (@ZLabe) October 20, 2020
(and record low sea ice https://t.co/bwHNUDYmEL) pic.twitter.com/U4PfBmO15p
Not only is the extent of sea ice rapidly diminishing; the volume of ice — which takes into account its thickness — is also shrinking to a shadow of its former self:
Climate Deniers Push Biden to Stay With Fracking for "Strong Environmental" Reasons
While this is going on, Team Biden is being lobbied (or quietly encouraging others to lobby them) to stay the course on fracking because fracking "could actually help the climate." You read that right. As a recent Politico piece argues, "abruptly ending fracking today would make [the] decarbonization process harder, not easier."
The Politico piece is propaganda (of course) written by two men associated with the Breakthrough Institute, an energy company-friendly think tank founded by known climate denier — and Republican-invited witness at the most recent House science hearing — Michael Shellenberger.
A sample from Shellenberger's House testimony: "If the Greenland ice sheet were to completely disintegrate, sea levels would rise by seven meters, but over a 1,000-year period. And for that to happen, temperatures would have to rise far more than anyone imagines."
No, Mr. Shellenberger; if the Greenland ice sheet were to completely disintegrate — and it's disappearing 600% faster than models have predicted — global sea level would rise by seven meters within a few years or less, not ten centuries. If you fill a bathtub, it doesn't take a week for new water to reach the back. Water doesn't get stuck like that — it flows.
The end of winter Arctic ice is coming. Ten bad years could do it. Joe Biden may even live to see that day, especially if he helps cause it.
Labels: climate change, Gaius Publius, Joe Biden, sea ice, Thomas Neuburger
posted by Gaius Publius @ 9:00 AM
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7 Comments:
all true. and the acceleration of it is a consequence of not only resonance built into the system but of humankind not doing jack shit about it.
And everything is happening "600% faster than projections" because our projections were inherently flawed in that they didn't take into consideration that very resonance nor did they allow for increased burning of fuels for heat because of increases in populution.
And this has been true since 1960 which is about when climate science became a thing.
Bottom line: it's already too late. population has to start to plummet now; oil/gas/coal has to be left in the ground starting now; all energy must be derived from the sun starting now; AND resequestration of a trillion tons per year must start now.
note: as we refine our models, it becomes clear that our last chance to affect all of the above to keep to the projected 1.5 deg. C was back in the early '70s.
and, of course, none of those thing has a ghost of a chance of EVER happening.
Say good bye to the jet stream. Next year will be bad for the weather.
Likely a large reduction in world Agricultural output.
no democrap would dare encumber a major donor like big oil.
so the race is on: economic collapse or civil war or climate conflagration...
since neither party will do jack shit, I wonder what the sports books have on these.
The more the ice melts, the faster the oceans rise and make life on Earth impossible to humanity. The thawing of the methane clathrates under the ice will make the air unbreathable.
And even then JAYzu$$ won't show up and declare the Rapture has begun.
methane degrades pretty quickly. It will contribute persistent CO2 as it does, but it won't make the air unbreathable.
CO2 may not even be the biggest problem. As the seas rise and temps increase, the increase of water vapor in the atmosphere will contribute more to greenhouse conditions than the same amount of CO2.
all components of the resonance baked into the system.
Our vector is probably the same as what happened to Venus. it'll take a billion years, but we won't be able to survive even a tiny fraction of that process.
You ever breathe air well over 130 degrees Fahrenheit, 6:35? Your lungs don't like that very much.
There is more to hazardous conditions than chemical contamination.
True, 11:59. But it'll take decades to get there.
I've breathed air up to 138, btw. it wasn't impossible.
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