An Almanac of Extreme Weather

THE news from this Midwestern farm is not good. The past four years of heavy rains and flash flooding here in southern Minnesota have left me worried about the future of agriculture in America’s grain belt. For some time computer models of climate change have been predicting just these kinds of weather patterns, but seeing them unfold on our farm has been harrowing nonetheless.

My family and I produce vegetables, hay and grain on 250 acres in one of the richest agricultural areas in the world. While our farm is not large by modern standards, its roots are deep in this region; my great-grandfather homesteaded about 80 miles from here in the late 1800s.

He passed on a keen sensitivity to climate. His memoirs, self-published in the wake of the Dust Bowl of the 1930s, describe tornadoes, droughts and other extreme weather. But even he would be surprised by the erratic weather we have experienced in the last decade.

In August 2007, a series of storms produced a breathtaking 23 inches of rain in 36 hours. The flooding that followed essentially erased our farm from the map.

Contrails or chemtrails?

Some Kaua‘i residents are growing increasingly concerned over what they call ‘chemtrails’ in the sky, suspecting aircraft of spraying potentially harmful chemicals over populated areas. They have been tracking these trails, disseminating information and generating discussion online at kauaisky.blogspot.com. Government agencies assert that ‘persistent contrails,’ line-shaped clouds composed of ice particles, pose no direct threat to public health but may contribute to human-induced climate change.

Contrails or chemtrails?

Wind Power Growth Slows to 2007 Levels

In July, the American Wind Energy Association reported that it was having a lousy year. It appears the third quarter of 2010 wasn’t much better.

According to an analysis released on Friday, the trade group reports having its slowest quarter since 2007, adding just 395 megawatts of wind power capacity.

For the year to date, new installations were down 72 percent.

The reasons are many.

For starters, as any number of unemployed Americans can testify, the nation’s economic engines just aren’t humming like they used to, and that means less demand for electricity over all. Natural gas, the chief fossil-fuel competitor to renewable sources of electricity, is also dirt cheap these days, making wind power a tougher sell for cost-conscious utilities and state regulators.

Research suggests climate change could alter El Nino cycle in the Pacific

Climate change could alter the El Nino cycle in the Pacific, affecting fish stocks and the distribution of nutrients in the ocean, new research suggests.

Scientists recently noticed that El Nino warming is stronger in the Central Pacific than the Eastern Pacific, a phenomenon they call El Nino Modoki, after the Japanese term for “similar, but different.”

Last year, the journal Nature published a paper that found climate change is behind this shift from El Nino to El Nino Modoki.

While the findings of that paper are still subject to debate, a new paper in the journal Nature Geoscience presents evidence that El Nino Modoki affects long-term changes in currents in the North Pacific Ocean.

The research was done by Emanuele Di Lorenzo, associate professor in the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Research suggests climate change could alter El Nino cycle in the Pacific – Hawaii News – Staradvertiser.com

Drought Withers Lush Farmlands in Syria

AR RAQQAH, Syria — The farmlands spreading north and east of this Euphrates River town were once the breadbasket of the region, a vast expanse of golden wheat fields and bucolic sheep herds.

Now, after four consecutive years of drought, this heartland of the Fertile Crescent — including much of neighboring Iraq appears to be turning barren, climate scientists say. Ancient irrigation systems have collapsed, underground water sources have run dry and hundreds of villages have been abandoned as farmlands turn to cracked desert and grazing animals die off. Sandstorms have become far more common, and vast tent cities of dispossessed farmers and their families have risen up around the larger towns and cities of Syria and Iraq.

“I had 400 acres of wheat, and now it’s all desert,” said Ahmed Abdullah, 48, a farmer who is living in a ragged burlap and plastic tent here with his wife and 12 children alongside many other migrants. “We were forced to flee. Now we are at less than zero — no money, no job, no hope.”

East-West Center to help Pacific islands cope with climate change

A federal agency has awarded $3.8 million to the East-West Center to help Hawaii and several Pacific island nations cope with the effect of climate changes.

The five-year grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will help to bring together scientists and decision-makers to help Pacific communities respond to changing climates, East-West spokesman Derek Ferrar said.

The areas included in the Pacific Regional Integrated Science and Assessment program are the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, Federated States of Micronesia, Republic of the Marshall Islands, Republic of Palau, and American Samoa.

East-West Center to help Pacific islands cope with climate change – Hawaii News – Staradvertiser.com

Poll shows many interested in interisland ferry

maui-news-ad

KAHULUI – A public opinion survey of state transportation issues revealed a yearning for an interisland ferry, with 83 percent of those polled by SMS on behalf of the state Department of Transportation saying a marine transportation system should be part of the state’s overall infrastructure, although pro-ferry sentiment was much weaker on Kauai.

An interisland ferry has been part of the state’s long-range transportation planning since the first plan in 1961. That plan, now called the Hawaii Statewide Transportation Plan, is undergoing its sixth revision.

Faraway current set off Mauna Kea glacier

A North Atlantic ocean system also caused more intense storms, a new study revealed

Slowing of the North Atlantic Ocean current system appears to be the reason for more frequent major storms and re-advancing of the glacial age in Hawaii 15,400 years ago, according to a new study.

“These connections are pretty remarkable — a current pattern in the North Atlantic affecting glacier development thousands of miles away in the Hawaiian Islands,” said Oregon State University professor Peter Clark, one of the study’s authors.

Glaciers in Hawaii? Yes — during and just after the last ice age, and the study is shedding light on modern planetary thermodynamics.

Some climate scientists believe global warming could eventually disturb the Gulf Stream in the Atlantic, creating colder temperatures in Europe and elsewhere.

University of Hawaii professor Axel Timmermann said the study confirms his research and that of other scientists that used climate models to predict that a weakening of certain North Atlantic currents would produce more westerly winds and intensified storms in Hawaii.

Soros Has a $100 Billion Plan for Green Initiatives – Yahoo! Finance

 

Billionaire hedge fund manager George Soros recently spoke up on climate change financing.

According the The Wall Street Journal, billionaire hedge fund manager and political activist George Soros is pushing for a $100 billion "Green" fund to be financed by special drawing rights (SDRs). Created by the IMF in 1969, SDRs are what The New York Times called a "virtual currency." They are the based on a basket of four key international currencies, and are normally used as a source of liquidity. Soros suggested the funds could be put to work planting new forests, expanding farming methods, and helping with adaption and energy programs in poor countries.

Back in October, Soros announced plans to invest $1 billion of his own capital in clean energy. He told Bloomberg that the investments "should be profitable but should also actually make a contribution to solving the problem."

As of the most recent regulatory filings Soros’ top-15 U.S.-listed equity holdings included just one alternative energy play, waste to energy firm Covanta (NYSE: CVANews). However his sizable stakes in fertilizer plays Potash (NYSE: POTNews) and Monsanto (NYSE: MONNews) could see an uptick if billions were invested in the agricultural segment of developing nations.