Antarctic ice shelf breaks up

(Source: News.com.au)

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,25292212-1702,00.html

AN ice bridge which had apparently held a vast Antarctic ice shelf in place during recorded history shattered yesterday and could herald a wider collapse linked to global warming, a leading scientist said.

"It's amazing how the ice has ruptured. Two days ago it was intact," David Vaughan, a glaciologist with the British Antarctic Survey, said of a satellite image of the Wilkins Ice Shelfon the Antarctic Peninsula.

The big dry

(Source: The Economist) Long but well-written article about the water shortage in Australia - which is having a profound effect on that country. (click on title above for full article)

Australia is struggling to cope with the consequences of a devastating drought. As the world warms up, other countries should pay heed. John Howard, Australia's prime minister, arrived here in February and urged the four states through which the Murray-Darling flows to hand their authority over the river to the federal government. After seven years of drought, and many more years of over-exploitation and pollution, he argued that the only hope of restoring the river to health lies in a complete overhaul of how it is managed. As the states weigh the merits of Mr Howard's scheme, the river is degenerating further. Every month hydrologists announce that its flow has fallen to a new record low (see chart). In April Mr Howard warned that farmers would not be allowed to irrigate their crops at all next year without unexpectedly heavy rain in the next few months. A region that accounts for 40% of Australia's agriculture, and 85% of its irrigation, is on the verge of ruin.

Epic drought in Australia

(Source: Independent) Australia has warned that it will have to switch off the water supply to the continent's food bowl unless heavy rains break an epic drought - heralding what could be the first climate change-driven disaster to strike a developed nation. The Murray-Darling basin in south-eastern Australia yields 40 per cent of the country's agricultural produce. But the two rivers that feed the region are so pitifully low that there will soon be only enough water for drinking supplies. Australia is in the grip of its worst drought on record, the victim of changing weather patterns attributed to global warming and a government that is only just starting to wake up to the severity of the position.

Against the tide of chic climate change gloom

(Source: NZ Herald) Deborah Coddington's alternate view on global warming and the Stern Report.

Monsoon intensity increasing with Global Warming

(Source: Scientific American) The monsoon is the great life-giver and the great destroyer of the subcontinent. Without rain from these annual storms, crops wither, animals die and more than half the world's population suffers from potential famine. With too much rain, crops are inundated, animals drown and people suffer from floods and the diseases that follow in their wake. Observations of this critical climate system stretch back decades, and the overall level of rainfall has changed little over the years. But now researchers have discovered a trend within the annual measurements toward fewer, more extreme downpours--a trend that bodes ill for flooding and other natural disasters.

Global Warming Could Disrupt GPS Satellites, Study Says

(Source: National Geographic) A buildup of carbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphere could require changes in the way satellites are launched and might impact the function of global positioning systems (GPS), an international team of atmospheric scientists suggests. Networks of orbiting GPS satellites send signals back to Earth that allow everything from jetfighters to cell phones to pinpoint their exact locations.

Global Warming Already Causing Extinctions, Scientists Say

(Source: National Geographic) No matter where they look, scientists are finding that global warming is already killing species—and at a much faster rate than had originally been predicted.
"What surprises me most is that it has happened so soon," said biologist Camille Parmesan of the University of Texas, Austin, lead author of a new study of global warming's effects.Parmesan and most other scientists hadn't expected to see species extinctions from global warming until 2020.

Potential Ice Shelf Collapse

(Source: Stuff) The Ross Ice Shelf, a raft of ice the size of France, could collapse quickly, triggering a dramatic rise in sea levels, scientists warn. A New Zealand-led drilling team in Antarctica has recovered three million years of climate history, but the news is not good for the future. Initial analysis of sea-floor cores near Scott Base suggest the Ross Ice Shelf had collapsed in the past and had probably done so suddenly.

Icebergs off Otago Coast (NZ)

(Source: NZ Herald) Wednesday November 15, 2006
Icebergs just off Otago are endangering shipping, a fishing boat skipper warned last night. An iceberg 50m high and 200m long was last night only 43 nautical miles southeast of the tip of the Otago Peninsula and was heading towards the coast.
Travelling with it are icebergs the size of a house and it is those that ships will need to look out for, Gavin Pope, skipper of the Thomas Harrison, said from his vessel late last night.

Global warming, anyone ?