Filed under: Global Warming | Tagged: Global Warming, greenhouse effect | Leave a comment »
How Realistic is Ocean Front Property in Arizona?
Posted on February 27, 2014 by mastadonzq
How Realistic is Ocean Front Property in Arizona?
Due to the melting of the polar caps and the various land-based glaciers all over the world, many islands across the globe are in jeopardy of being submerged. This isn’t a “could happen” scenario as Indonesia has already lost more than 20 of its 1500 islands since 2005. It is also projected that the Maldives will be nothing more than a tropical memory by 2050. As these levels continue to rise, could there really be ocean-front property in Arizona within the next century?
Elevation Matters – Arizona’s mean altitude is 4100 feet above sea level. According to NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the levels have been rising at 0.12 inches per year since 1992. However, it has been reported that this has been a 50-percent increase since the recorded levels of the early 1900s. If the sea levels were to continue at just over one-tenth of an inch per year, it would take 410,000 years in order to submerge Arizona. That also is based on a formula assuming that there is no further increase.
Compounded Problems – At the current rate of melting, NOAA is predicting that the water levels will actually rise by six and one-half feet by 2100. This is a calculation based on the exponential rise of the levels over a period of time. This means that the water will rise approximately 83-percent faster than the 0.12 inches per year as stated above. At that rate, Arizona could become a shore-line state in 69,700 years – plenty of time to pack your sunscreen and surfboard.
Melting Polar Caps – When you see an iceberg in the ocean, it may not look very intimidating at first. When you realize that most of these chunks of ice hide 80-percent of their mass underwater, then you can get a better idea of how large they truly are. This inspires the term, “only the tip of the iceberg.” Although this mass displaces the ocean water around it, it’s also fresh water that is contained within those behemoths. When you consider how much ice was at the North and South poles of this planet that is an incredible amount of fresh water being added to the oceans. This doesn’t include the ancient glaciers that are land-based such as those found in Peru, Alaska and Canada.
Fresh Water Induction – Added large amounts of fresh water to the ocean causes changes in how the currents react. In the movie, “The Day After Tomorrow,” this caused massive storms to populate in a matter of days. In reality, that scenario isn’t far from the truth. According to RealClimate.org, there is scientific evidence to support that the Gulf Stream currents have been reduced by 30-percent. These oceanic streams assist in the weather patterns that can be felt globally. This isn’t including the fact that fresh water puts strain on fish and plant life including decreasing overall buoyancy.
Human Made or Natural Evolution? – There is great debate about the ice-melt as being human made or just natural evolution of the planet. We have scientific evidence that can provide stability for either argument. Scientific discoveries have shown humanity that there have been as many as five ice ages in the past 2.4 billion years. Every two to three hundred million years, the conditions are ripe for the planet to essentially freeze itself. Could the melting of the global ice sheets contribute to hastening our next ultimate winter by altering the weather patterns?
Currently, Arizona is safe from becoming a port city. Although the rising sea levels could displace more than 180,000 families by the end of the century, the state’s sheer altitude provides a great deal of protection. As long as the San Andreas doesn’t snap and sink California, Arizona residents won’t have to worry about donning flood pants.
Ken Myers is a father, husband, and entrepreneur. He has combined his passion for helping families find in-home care with his experience to build a business. Learn more about him by visiting @KenneyMyers on Twitter.
Filed under: Environment, Global Warming, Green Building, News, People, Water, Weather | Tagged: Conservation, Global Warming, greenhouse effect, Oceans, Scientific Studies | Leave a comment »
Climate Change Impacts On Wildlife
Posted on March 6, 2013 by mastadonzq
Guest post by Maria Kruk, an author for Species.com
Global awareness of climate change is obvious. The atmosphere is full of greenhouse gases, hurricanes and storms “attack” more regularly, sea level shifts proportionally to ice melting and more species are getting vulnerable and endangered. Specifically, animal world might experience severe damages in the nearest decades and polar bears, which have already recognized the most threatened because of the Arctic Meltdown, might be not the only victims of global warming process.
- Giant pandas are likely to remain without bamboo leaves and, therefore, main food ration. Regardless high speed of bamboo shoots’ growth, this plant species reproduces very slowly and is unlikely to adapt to climate change issues. According to scientific estimations, bamboo areas in Qin Mountains may disappear by the end of this century, so does one of the primary habitats of giant panda bears.
- Notwithstanding high speed of reproduction among bats’ species, these winged mammals might suffer from temperature cataclysms, especially in Europe and North America. Warm weather and possible drought lead to evaporation from bats’ wings, which are the only mean to accept moisture for bats. These animals are major agents of fertilization and extinction of some bat species is a potential reason of plants’ reproduction decline. Climate change, in addition, threatens to bats’ dormancy periods and meal search.
- Ice melting is an obvious consequence of temperature increase, and walrus species can hereby confirm this. Absence of ice blocks in the Sea of Okhotsk forces these marine animals to come to Alaska shores, in unaccustomed time period for offspring fostering. Previously deserted coasts of Alaska are a shelter for 20 thousand walruses for the fourth year in a row, which come here along with their children. Hence, rapid and wide-scaled meltdown has affected not only Arctic terrestrial species, as it could seem earlier.
- It is a fact of common knowledge that animals possess some adherence to biological clocks, which is why they know when it is the period of reproduction, vegetation, dormancy, etc. It is much influenced by the length of photoperiod and, eventually, the local temperature. Climate change might force wildlife and plant species to reload the biological hours in order to adapt to temperature shifts in their habitat. Especially, it is referred to animals dependent on daytime and sunlight, which comprise the most of animal species.
- Biological diversity and environmental changes are straight consequences of climate change. According to scientific forecasts, the variety of animal and plant species might decrease on 30-40% that will clearly affect food and metabolism chains and energy exchange. Ice melting in the Arctic is a top issue at present, but what about mountainous areas, reduction of forest zones and shores’ flooding? These natural alterations also lead to animals’ extinction and destruction of their common habitat.
Filed under: Environment, Global Warming | Tagged: Animals, Conservation, Global Warming, greenhouse effect, Oceans | 3 Comments »
Why burning carbon is bad, Chaos Theory and Laws of Thermodynamics
Posted on May 15, 2009 by mastadonzq
Givens:
The Earth is a closed system exposed to radiation.
- Second law of thermodynamics, about entropy:
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- The total entropy of any isolated thermodynamic system tends to increase over time, approaching a maximum value or equilibrium.
- First law of thermodynamics, about the conservation of energy:
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- The change in the internal energy of a closed thermodynamic system is equal to the sum of the amount of heat energy supplied to the system and the work done on the system.
A Basic Explanation of Chaos Theory: This is a mathematical theorem that attempts to predict the behavior (results) of complex systems. The result (answer) is K, which is a range of values not an actual number. The greater the number of variables, the larger the value of K. In a system with an infinite number of variables or a system where a large proportion of the variables are unknown, K is also undefinable.
Chaos Theory is the backbone of climate modeling.
Preliminary Conclusions:
Climate Modeling is inherently inaccurate because the unknown variables are too many.
-The chemical composition of the Earth is drastically different than it has ever been before due to our proliferation of heavy elements.
–This means that models based on historical climate change are also invalid.
Hypothesis:
The equilibrium of the planet has been thrown out of balance due to human activity.
The system has had significant additional work done on it by human industrial and population growth, increasing the internal energy and entropy.
The accumulation of heavy elements in the atmosphere has caused a green house effect, whereby the system’s membrane has become less permeable in terms of heat transference while retaining the same degree of permeability in terms of ultraviolet radiation.
The One Conclusion:
The Earth is experiencing an increase in Heat and Entropy.
This does NOT mean anyone has any idea what will happen as a result, all we can do is takes informed steps to minimise the effects of the earth restoring it’s own equilibrium.
Filed under: Environment, Global Warming | Tagged: Global Warming, greenhouse effect, Public Policy | 3 Comments »
The Carbon cycle
Posted on April 4, 2009 by mastadonzq
Go back two hundred years
The carbon cycle has been occurring for four billion years. Plants take carbon from the air and store it in themselves. When the plants die the carbon is either composted or trapped underground to become coal. Animals take carbon from plants and become oil in death.
As a result the level of carbon dioxide is the air has been steadily decreasing since life started to flourish.
Present day
We are putting all the carbon back in the air.
Perhaps a good way to explain the complex phenomenon of global warming is just to say we are turning back the clock, rapidly. The earth will find it’s equilibrium again but it might be a bumpy ride.
Filed under: Global Warming | Tagged: Coal, Global Warming, greenhouse effect, oil | 1 Comment »
Gas Hydrate solid methane
Posted on March 26, 2009 by mastadonzq
collected from the bottom of the ocean. vast amounts. Why can’t drill for it like we do for oil?
Those were the questions I had about the large amount of natural gas trapped mostly on the bottom of the ocean by the pressure and cold temperatures. One obsticle with drilling is the extreme depths…not like offshore oil drilling which is done in relatively shallow waters.
Gas hydrates are crystalline solids consisting of gas molecules, usually methane, each surrounded by a cage of water molecules. Gas hydrate looks and acts like ice, but it contains vast amounts of methane.
The real problem with considering this as a fuel source is the fuel would be Methane. Methane is a Greenhouse gas and when it is burned for fuel it produces Carbon Dioxide. Taking the Hydrate out would also destabilize the sea floor and cause giant Tsunamis. So let’s not spend a lot of time and money on this kind of pipe dream.
Filed under: Environment, Global Warming | Tagged: Global Warming, greenhouse effect, Methane, Nateral Gas, Oceans | 3 Comments »
The thing about logging
Posted on March 18, 2009 by mastadonzq
Logging as practiced by Americans and Canadians in places like New England and the Pacific Northwest is done right. The trees they currently harvest were planted by loggers fifty to a hundred years ago and they will plants new trees after they cut old ones down.
I don’t think cutting down boreal forest is acceptable anymore. Old growth forest ecosystems are not adapted to periodic harvest and are destroyed. With little regulations, no new trees are planted and the land can turn to desert.
Trees that are several hundred years old are giant carbon capture machines and we are using them as toilet paper.
Filed under: Environment, Global Warming | Tagged: Global Warming, greenhouse effect | 9 Comments »
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