Posts Tagged ‘antarctica’

Greenland ice sheet is disintegrating

Written By: - Date published: 4:48 pm, August 28th, 2020 - 34 comments

For the last 30 years, earth scientists have been warning that Greenland was nearing a tipping point into complete disintegration. Now authors of a new study published in Nature has claimed that, even if the climate now reverted to the levels where it was stable a few decades ago, that would still happen. It is now clear that the IPCC worst case for Greenland is what is now being observed.

Arctic monkey wrenching

Written By: - Date published: 6:15 am, February 28th, 2018 - 121 comments

“This is more than just a temperature anomaly. It is an off-the-scale event. Why is the Arctic meltdown not headline news in every paper?” – George Monbiot

If someone said hey, your house is going to burn down, we don’t know if it’s in the next hour or next week, what would you do?

Living without our fridge – 4-6C hotter

Written By: - Date published: 12:56 pm, January 1st, 2017 - 100 comments

My first degree about 35 years ago was in earth sciences. And one of my lifelong passions has been reading the history, prehistory, and evolutionary history of humans. The timescales give me an appreciation of the farcical attempts of humans to stop crapping in our narrow evolutionary space over the last century. We’re going to live in a hot hot world we weren’t evolved for.

NRT: Climate change: Point of no return

Written By: - Date published: 1:18 pm, May 14th, 2014 - 26 comments

As has been long anticipated under current conditions, the West Antarctic Ice Sheet *will* melt with a more than average 3 metre rise in world sea levels. The only remaining question is how long it will take to melt. No Right Turn explains points out the slowly unfolding disaster…

A plea to deaf ears

Written By: - Date published: 8:51 am, January 19th, 2013 - 12 comments

The Antarctic Ocean Alliance is hoping that Key’s experience in Antarctica will move him to join the effort to create a marine reserve there. Seems unlikely to me – but I hope that Key proves me wrong…

Cronyism

Written By: - Date published: 8:24 am, December 1st, 2012 - 19 comments

It appears that Murray McCully is up to his clique-ish ways again. He’s appointed his old mate, and Sky political lobbyist Tony O’Brien to the board of Antarctic New Zealand. What’s that you say? Lobbying doesn’t have much to do with our interests on the white continent and its surrounding waters? Neither does Pay TV?

What we need more of is science

Written By: - Date published: 6:42 pm, December 15th, 2011 - 22 comments

There was a very good science piece on Nine-to-Noon this morning, covering some of Kathryn Ryan’s trip to Antarctica. It got me thinking: we need a lot more science in our media – we’d get a better country out of it.

CCD Myths – East Antarctica

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 pm, May 11th, 2009 - 20 comments

In east Antarctica, the sea ice sheets have been larger recently. Predictably this has been seized on by the scientifically simple-minded climate change deniers (CCD’s) as evidence that climate change models are incorrect. This is despite it being predicted very closely by the same climate models well before it happened. I remember it being pointed […]

Key paralytic as ice melts

Written By: - Date published: 11:45 am, April 7th, 2009 - 42 comments

John Key’s government is at the climate change talks in Bonn avoiding doing their part in combating more climate change in the future (along with Russia and the Ukraine). Meanwhile the British Antarctic Survey is reporting that the Wilkins ice shelf is likely to disappear shortly. A large part of the Wilkins Ice Shelf on […]