Melting Canadian Glaciers

A new study published in the Geophysical Research Letters indicates that about 20 percent of all the ice contained in Canada's glaciers could melt by the end of this century if global average temperatures increased by 3 degrees Celsius (5.4 F) and by 8 Celsius (14.4 F) in the Canadian Arctic.

Previous studies still anticipated a heavy melt of Canada's glaciers resulting in an increase in global sea levels of around 2 centimeters. However, the new study indicates that we can expect a sea level rise of 3.5 centimeters, almost double the previous finding. That is 75 percent more water than previously thought,

This data applies only to Canadian glaciers. When other melting glaciers (ie Greenland, Russia, South-America, etc...) are factored into the equation, sea level rises are considerably higher.

According to a U.N. panel of climate scientists sea levels will rise by between 18 and 59 cm this century, or more if a thaw of vast ice sheets in Antarctica or Greenland accelerates."This alone would lead to an increase in sea levels by about 3.5 cm (1.4 inch)."

Lead author of the study, Jan Lenaerts, of the University of Utrecht said that the trend seemed unstoppable because a thaw of white glaciers would expose dark-colored tundra that would soak up more of the sun's heat and further accelerate the melt.

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Satellite Animation: Review of Extreme Weather in 2012 (Video)

Watch the nearly year-long satellite animation as Weather Underground calls out the most significant weather events of the past year, including Superstorm Sandy and Hurricane Isaac.


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Pakistan's Sustainable Development Strategy

As announced at the Rio+20 summit, Pakistan has a new national sustainable development strategy (NSDS) that will see the creation of a knowledge management system that is based on science, technology and innovation. As reported by SciDev, the knowledge management system will support key economic, environmental and social goals through academic research and foster solution-driven innovation for policy, information gathering, and technology development.

Pakistan's climate change response objectives include disaster risk reduction and management; vulnerability mapping; community-based adaptation; sustainable land management and building climate resilient infrastructure.

Like many countries around the world Pakistan has been devastated by natural disasters like floods and cyclones that will only increase in a world ravaged by global warming. Many areas of the country are vulnerable to natural disasters including floods along the Indus river is high, and droughts from Baluchistan to the Thar desert.

"Pakistan is at the apex of climate vulnerability in Asia," Ali Tauqeer Sheikh, chief executive officer of the non-government organisation, Leadership for Environment and Development, said.

"Most of Pakistan’s landmass is vulnerable to extreme events and they will need investments in adaptive capacity," Anjum Assad Amin, member of Pakistan’s National Disaster Management Authority, said. "There is an inescapable linkage between climate impacts and sustaining future development in the country," the strategy document notes.

Pakistan’s economic growth has slumped to 2.6 per cent in the past three years and the country is beset by large inefficiencies in the agriculture, energy and water sectors, putting stress on natural resources.

The strategy will encourage growth while respecting UN millennium development goals and the proposed sustainable development goals. It is expected to attract support from the private sector.

The estimated cost of adapting to future climate impacts is US$14 billion each year

© 2012, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

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Floods in the Philipines Underscore the Deadly Toll from Climate Change

The deadly floods and landslides in the Philippines are but the latest example of the catastrophic impacts of extreme weather from climate change. There are almost one thousand people missing after flash floods and landslides swept houses into rivers and out to sea, killing more than 650 people in the southern Mindanao region on Friday December 16 and Saturday December 17.

The cities of Cagayan de Oro and Iligan on Mindanao Island were worst hit when Typhoon Washi slammed ashore, sending torrents of water and mud that leveled villages. This is very unusual weather for the region, which is not usually subject to typhoons.

Flash floods washed away entire houses with families inside in dozens of coastal villages around Cagayan de Oro and Iligan. "This is the first time this has happened in our city," Vicente Emano, mayor of Cagayan de Oro, said in a radio interview.

Typhoons normally strike the central Visayas region and the south and east of Luzon, the main island in the north. Officials and residents did not expect such a huge volume of water cascading down mountains into river systems because the area was not in the typhoon belt.

Local officials are being inundated with dead bodies which threaten to provoke an outbreak of disease."Local mortuaries are no longer accepting cadavers and they are even asking people to bury the dead at once because there are too many bodies even in hallways," Brigadier General Roland Amarille, head of an army task force in Iligan said.

As is often the case some of the poorest areas were hardest hit. Most of the fatalities were from a slum area on an island sandwiched by two rivers in Iligan. "About 70% of the houses on the island were washed into the sea," Amarille said.

Gwendolyn Pang, secretary general of the The Philippine National Red Cross (PNRC) said, "This poses challenges to us … We need to educate people with this kind of change in climate. The volume of rainfall for one month fell in just one day."

© 2011, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

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