The Vatican’s Academy of Sciences published a report titled, “Fate of Mountain Glaciers in the Anthropocene.” It has a special focus on climate change impacts on human’s main source of fresh drinking water supplies - mountain glaciers.
I found it interesting that the report begins with a defense of climate science and a response to common misconceptions. I think this is the first time I’ve seen this, and I’ve read thousands of climate reports over the years.
It also has three sharp, concise recommendations on how to help deal with the impacts - adaptation is one of them.
The Berkshires are a small mountain chain and community located in western Mass and Connecticut (near me!). It’s widely known for its picturesque New Englandy towns with lots of arts, music, hiking, skiing, hunting, fishing, apple picking, and and nice things.
The local paper, called the Berkshire Eagle, posted this really well written piece on how the economy will be impacted by climate change. The locals have not been responding well to the article, but I admire it for being as straightforward as you can get.
By the end of the century, the Berkshire County economy — much like the global economy — may be forever altered by the effects of climate change. Some local economic changes have already begun in response to impacts expected from climate change in the coming decades.
Land-use planners and policy specialists in the insurance industry are preparing for changes likely to be brought on by warmer temperatures and more severe weather events. Local farmers and business owners are already looking to their future, many doubtful about the climate change concept, but still determined to build revenue streams that will withstand climate changes or compensate for weather-generated losses.
In one example of a specific local economic effect likely to result from climate change, Cameron Wake, associate professor with the Institute of Earth, Oceans and Space at the University of New Hampshire and a lead author of the Northeast Climate Impacts Assessment issued by the Union of Concerned Scientists, had a dire assessment of the local ski industry: “By the end of the century, the only ski areas that remain viable [in the Northeast] will be in the western mountains of Maine.”
The pika is toast. More specifically, the American pika is running out of places to live, and global climate change appears to be the primary cause of its decline. This tiny rabbit-like species has the unfortunate trait of being remarkably well-adapted to the cold, highaltitude, montane habitat of the Sierra Nevada and Rocky Mountain ranges in the North American Great Basin.
The pika’s problem is that as global climate change causes surface temperatures to rise, the altitude below which pikas cannot find suitable conditions for survival also is rising.
The pika’s recent decline and gloomy future call to mind the protective capacity of the Endangered Species Act (ESA), often referred to as the “pit bull” of environmental laws. The United States Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS), which administers the ESA for terrestrial and freshwater species, has identified over 1250 animal and plant species in the United States for protection and has exercised its regulatory authority throughout the nation to fulfill the statute’s goal of conserving imperiled species.
The pika’s recent decline and gloomy future call to mind the protective capacity of the Endangered Species Act (ESA), often referred to as the “pit bull” of environmental laws. The United States Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS), which administers the ESA for terrestrial and freshwater species, has identified over 1250 animal and plant species in the United States for protection and has exercised its regulatory authority throughout the nation to fulfill the statute’s goal of conserving imperiled species.
“A meteorite exploded above the Chelyabinsk region (of the Urals). The shock wave blew out windows in several places,” but no meteor fragments hit the ground, an emergencies ministry spokesman told the Interfax news agency.
“According to the preliminary information, four people were injured by flying glass,” the ministry added.
An agency report spoke of several injuries.
Witnesses cited by news agencies spoke of hearing loud explosions which led to panic among residents.
Eagle Lake is located is 5100 feet above sea level in north eastern California about 16 miles north of Susanville in Lassen County. It is the second largest natural freshwater lake wholly in California. Having no natural surface outlet, Eagle Lake is a closed basin lake with its water levels fluctuating with variations of inflow.
Water surface areas have fluctuated between 16,000 to 29,000 acres with a present area of 26,000 acres. The Lake and its immediate drainage are located in a high semi-arid plateau characterized by basaltic lava flows, volcanoes, and cinder cones.
Some of the lava flows are fairly recent, having occurred not more than a few centuries ago. The higher western portion of the drainage basin consists mainly of volcanic mountains that form the east flank of the Cascade Range.
Eagle Lake is well known for its fish and wildlife. Around its shores are located one of the last colonies of nesting osprey and the largest nesting colony of western and eared grebes in the western United States. It is the home of the Eagle Lake Trout which are native only to Eagle Lake.
A slide to analyze volcano debris flows? OK! Video shows how scientists in Oregon analyze how volcanic, avalanche, and other debris flows tumble down mountains. The goal is to identify and forecast hazards to protect property and save lives. Especially important in the coming years as mountains hold less snow pack and glaciers continue to melt.
Debris flows are hazardous flows of rock, sediment and water that surge down mountain slopes and into adjacent valleys. Hydrologist Richard Iverson describes the nature of debris-flow research and explains how debris flow experiments are conducted at the USGS Debris Flow Flume, west of Eugene, Oregon. Spectacular debris flow footage, recorded by Franck Lavigne of the Universite Paris, makes clear the destructive power of these flows. Via USGS.
After seeing links to it over and over on my dash, I had to see what the fuss was all about. And - WOW - what an incredible “gigapan” image of Mt. Everest. The image is 2 gigapixels, which is huge. I picked out a few interesting ones, including a cave, weird geology, a peak, and tents.
My colleague Prof. Brian Helmuth of USC and I tried out his gigapan equipment this past summer in the Netherlands, but alas, we kept running out of time. You can see some of his gigapans of ocean/shore ecosystems, here.
A Gigapan system is really a simple robot on a tripod that you mount your camera on to. It’s not difficult, but does take a lot of time to set up. The robot pivots up and down, taking several pictures in sequence. Once it’s finished, software stitches the photographs together. Anyone can do it. You can see bigger(!) gigapan pictures of Paris, Dubai, Machu Picchu, etc., here.
This picture of Mt. Everest is part of climate research project, documenting the effects of climate change on the mountain. From The Guardian:
Filmmaker and climate-change campaigner David Breashears spent this spring taking around 400 images of Everest and its near neighbours from a vantage point above base camp through a 300mm lens. Now he’s released them digitally stitched together to form one image – click here to see the full image.
The result is a stunning panoramic photograph of the Everest region – with a twist. You can zoom in on specific areas and see the roof of the world in extraordinary detail. From a distance small colourful dots mark the location of base camp. Zooming in, you can pick out each tent clearly – and a man bending down as he washes his face.
The high definition also allows viewers to examine the mountain’s icefall – and even pick out climbers descending between terrifying ice cliffs and crevasses. Think of it as an extreme, alpine version of Where’s Wally.
Breashears, who turns 57 tomorrow, set up GlacierWorks (glacierworks.org) five years ago to produce imagery highlighting the impact of climate change in the Himalayas. He knows Everest well, having directed the hit IMAX film about the peak and reached the summit himself five times.
But even he finds himself poring over his creation with renewed interest. “I find things I’ve never noticed before, especially on how climate change is affecting the mountain.”
By comparing his panorama with photographs from the 1950s, Breashears has been able to pinpoint just how much ice is gone from the mountain: “There are 49,000 glaciers in the Himalayas and most are showing a dramatic and accelerated melt rate.”
One paradox of geology is that weathering a mountain down can actually make it rise higher. Scientists have learned of this peculiar feedback process only in recent years, and the St. Elias Erosion/tectonics Project (STEEP) team is at the forefront of understanding how climate and the movements of Earth’s crust interact to build towering peaks. In this feature video, meet geologists of every stripe collaborating on STEEP in Alaska’s St. Elias Range, one of the most rapidly growing mountain ranges in the world.
To orient yourself to this obscure yet spectacular locale, click “Explore the St. Elias Range” at left. Read more about the science behind the paradigm shift in the essay A Mountain Theory on the Rise.
Classic case of “out with the old, in with the new.” A 350 year-old prayer was used to keep glaciers from expanding and threatening small villages in the mountains of Switzerland. Now those glaciers are melting. And Catholic pilgrims have won the approval of the Vatican to replace the 350 year-old prayer with a new one. The Vatican approved a new prayer to god, this time to keep the glaciers from melting and stop climate change.
“Glacier is ice, ice is water, water is life,” intoned priest Toni Wenger, before beseeching God to stop the glaciers high above them from melting.
By changing a few, crucial words in the liturgy, Father Wenger reversed a Catholic ritual that for 350 years had implored the heavens to push back the glaciers.
The Vatican had approved the change as the effects of global warming became all too tangible in the Alps.
Climate change’s effects are accentuated in mountainous regions, and in the 20th century temperatures in Alpine Switzerland increased by twice the global average. Today Swiss glaciers are shrinking by nearly 33 feet (10 meters) a year, on average. What’s more, alpine communities are reporting more rain and stronger winds than in centuries past.
Follow scientist-adventurer Lonnie Thompson to the 5,670-meter-high Quelccaya ice cap in the Peruvian Andes. Thompson and his team from Ohio State University are racing to core a cylinder of 1,500-year-old ice to unravel the past climate patterns of this region - before our gradually warming climate melts this invaluable record away. By analyzing global ice cores, glaciologists like Thompson now have a well-preserved record for 150,000 years of climate history, allowing us to better predict future climate change.
A blog about the interactions between the built environment, people, and nature.
I'm a climate change consultant specializing in climate adaptation, environmental law, and urban planning based in the U.S. In addition to traveling and hiking, I research, publish, and lecture on how cities can adapt to climate change.
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![Click through. Stunning photographs of recent wildfires in the southwest.
theatlantic:
In Focus: Western Wildfires
The sky turns a brilliant orange as smoke from the High Park Fire fills the sky near Laporte, Colorado, on June 10, 2012.
See more. [Image: Reuters]](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m5u15vo2jI1qcokc4o1_500.jpg)
