New USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map for gardeners shows a warming climate
Wintertime minimum temperatures in the U.S. have risen so much in recent decades that the United States Department of Agriculture decided last week to update their Plant Hardiness Zone Map for gardeners for the first time since 1990. The Plant Hardiness Zone Map is the standard by which gardeners and growers can determine which plants are most likely to thrive at a location. The map is based on the average annual minimum winter temperature, divided into 10-degree F zones. Compared to the 1990 version, zone boundaries in the new 2012 edition of the map have generally shifted one 5-degree Fahrenheit half-zone warmer than the previous map throughout much of the United States. This is mostly a result of using temperature data from a longer and more recent time period. The old 1990 map was based on temperature data from only a 13-year period of 1974-1986, while the new map uses data from the 30-year period 1976-2005.
Figure 1. Comparison of the 1990 and 2012 USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Maps. Image credit: USDA and Arbor Day Foundation
Northwards, ho!
While humans are generally not attuned enough to nature's rhythms to tell if the climate is changing, plants and animals know the climate is changing. Many species of animals, insects, and plants have shifted their ranges poleward and to higher elevations in recent decades because of global warming. The 2007 IPCC report stated that "numerous studies document a progressively earlier spring by about 2.3 to 5.2 days per decade in the last 30 years in response to climate warming. That report also documented over 400 species that have moved their ranges poleward or to higher elevations because of climate change. For example, conifer trees expanded northwards into former tundra areas at a rate of 12 km per year between 1982 - 2000 in portions of Canada (Fillol and Royer, 2003.) Holly plants moved northwards by several hundred kilometers in recent decades into coastal Norway, Northeast Germany, Denmark, and coastal Sweden in response to warming temperatures (Walther et al., 2005.) As the climate continues to warm, plant and animal species previously unknown in many regions will appear, and will disappear from places they used to inhabit.
Figure 2. Change in the boundary line between conifer forest (taiga) and tundra between 1982 (grey line) and 2000 (white line) over Canada. In the grey box marked "Transect", the rate of northwards migration was 12 km per year, or 228 km (142 miles) in nineteen years. Image credit: Fillol and Royer, 2003, "Variability analysis of the transitory climate regime as defined by the NDVI/Ts relationship derived from NOAA-AVHRR over Canada", Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium, 2003. IGARSS '03. Proceedings. 2003 IEEE International.
Jeff Masters
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Egyptian official: 73 dead, hundreds hurt in riots after soccer game
no actually my knees were not jerking. I dont say anything without confidence behind it.
Death toll approaching 100 in the Europe cold wave, temperatures expected to drop below -30 C in parts of Poland, Romania & Bulgaria tonight.
Tropical cyclones will cause $109 billion in damages by 2100, according to Yale and MIT researchers in a paper published in Nature Climate Change.
That figure represents an increased vulnerability from population and especially economic growth, as well as the effects of climate change. Greater vulnerability to cyclones is expected to increase global tropical damage to $56 billion by 2100 double the current damage from the current rate of $26 billion per year if the present climate remains stable.
Climate change is predicted to add another $53 billion of damages. The damage caused by climate change is equal to 0.01 percent of GDP in 2100.
The United States and China will be hardest hit, incurring $25 billion and $15 billion of the additional damages from climate change, respectively, amounting to 75 percent of the global damages caused by climate change. Small islands, especially in the Caribbean, will also be hit hard, suffering the highest damages per unit of GDP.
The research reveals that more intense storms will become more frequent with climate change. "The biggest storms cause most of the damage," said Robert Mendelsohn, the lead economist on the project. "With the present climate, almost 93 percent of tropical cyclone damage is caused by only 10 percent of the storms. Warming will increase the frequency of these high-intensity storms at least in the North Pacific and North Atlantic Ocean basins, causing most of the increase in damage."
The authors based their estimates on a future global population of 9 billion and an annual increase of approximately 3 percent in gross world product until 2100. "More people making a lot more income will put more capital in harm's way," he said.
Tropical cyclones today cause $26 billion in global damages, which is 4 percent of gross world product. North America and East Asia account for 88 percent of these damages, because these regions have powerful storms and well-developed coastlines.
The future economic damage from tropical cyclones will be less than $1 billion a year in Europe and South America because there are few storms there, and the damage in Africa will be low because, Mendelsohn said, there is "relatively little in harm's way." Damages in Asia and Central America are expected to grow rapidly in concert with high economic growth. The Caribbean-Central America region will have the highest damage per unit of gross domestic product 37 percent.
"When you calculate damages as a fraction of GDP, island nations are hit disproportionately hard," he said.
More information: The paper, "The Impact of Climate Change on Global Tropical Cyclone Damage," is available at http://www.nature.com
Provided by Yale University (news : web)
Posted on February 1, 2012
February 1, 2012 – SPACE – The star cluster and the comet are both located in the constellation Hercules, high overhead in northern hemisphere skies before sunrise. Sky and Telescope offers a sky map of the comet’s path. Observers with computerized GOTO telescopes can track the comet by plugging in orbital elements from the Minor Planet Center. At the moment, Comet Garradd has an astronomical magnitude of +6.5, invisible to the naked eye but an easy target for backyard telescopes. Forecasters expect it to brighten by a factor of ~2 in the weeks ahead as the comet approaches Earth for a 1.3 AU close encounter in early March. This could be a good time to invest in a Comet Hunter. –Space Weather
it isn't an issue of lack of confidence...so much as lack of evidence
CFC's have nothing to do with atmospheric CO2 content. Ultraviolet Radiation and Greenhouse Gases are independent of one another.
A Superfund site is an uncontrolled or abandoned place where hazardous waste is located, possibly affecting local ecosystems or people. Sites are listed on the National Priorities List (NPL) upon completion of Hazard Ranking System (HRS) screening, public solicitation of comments about the proposed site, and after all comments have been addressed.
Over the past 20+ years, Superfund has located and analyzed tens of thousands of hazardous waste sites, protected people and the environment from contamination at the worst sites, and involved states, local communities, and other partners in cleanup. Superfund measures its cleanup accomplishments through various criteria including construction and post construction completions of hazardous waste sites.
Serving Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and 6 Tribes
Rose Hill, NC - EPA Region IV
NRC#: 917748
Uploaded by AnacostiaWS on Jun 15, 2010
Concerned members of Friends of Lower Beaverdam Creek (FLBC) in Prince George's County, Maryland found potential pollution in Tuxedo Business Park while they were hiking. The case was reported to AWS and our Water Quality Specialist, Masaya Maeda, investigated and documented this case.
Carp invasion threatens North American fish industry
Posted on February 1, 2012
February 1, 2012 – Environmentalists in North America are looking at options to control an invasive species of fish, the Asian carp, which threatens to squeeze out other species if its numbers continue to grow. Imported as a farmed species in the 1970s, Bighead and Silver carp from China were first seen as a way to produce cheap food, but floodwaters overwhelmed the fish farms, spreading the fish throughout the U.S. Midwest. The threat from the species is so grave that authorities could end up spending billions of dollars and physically separating two river basins. –Al
Link
Published: January 31st, 2012 at 10:40 PM EDT By Enenews
109 comments
Report: ‘Empty’ Reactor No. 4 was actually filled with nuclear fuel — Only a matter of time before melt-out
Source: Numayu Date: Jan 31, 2012
Translated by Fukushima Diary:
[...] The nuclear worker is trustworthy. [...] Please read the post below as a story I heard from a Fukushima worker. [...]
Tepco was planning to start reactor 4 in the AM of 311.
(The nuclear fuel was in reactor.) [...]
Soon after the earthquake hit it, meltdown started.
Because reactor 4 was stand-by, cooling system could not be started either. [...]
The damage of reactor 4 is serious. [...]
In the container vessel of reactor4, melted fuel is stocked, but there is no technology developed to pick it up, it’s only the matter of time for it to have melt-out. The longest time would be one year.
If another earthquake hits it, it’s over.
Technically speaking, if it goes melt-out, it would flow to the sea.
Pacific ocean side of Japan and west side of America won’t be inhabitable anymore.
Sea contamination level increased on 1/30/2012
Posted by Mochizuki on February 1st, 2012
Tepco announced the samples taken at intake of reactor 2 and 3 contained more radiation then the ones of 1/29/2012.
1/30/2012
At intake of reactor 2
Cesium 134 : 130,000 Bq/m3
Cesium 137 : 170,000 Bq/m3
At intake of reactor 3
Cesium 134 : 260,000 Bq/m3
Cesium 137 : 340,000 Bq/m3
TEPCO says 8.5 tons of water leaked from Fukushima No. 4 reactor TOKYO, Feb. 1, Kyodo
Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Wednesday that 8.5 tons of radioactive water leaked from the No. 4 reactor of the crisis-hit Fukushima Daiichi power plant because a pipe connected to the reactor dropped off, but added that the liquid has not flowed outside the reactor building.
At the time of the devastating earthquake and tsunami last March 11, the reactor's fuel rods were in its spent fuel pool due to maintenance work that was taking place. The water contains radioactive materials as it is mixed up with water that is in contact with the fuel in the spent fuel tank.
According to the utility known as TEPCO, water was found to have leaked onto the floor of the No. 4 unit building at 10:30 p.m. Tuesday. The leak was stopped at 10:43 p.m. by closing a valve, officials said.
Spoken like a true thirteen year old.
As for why that's posted here, it does raise some*hope that survival traits can be passed between some species fast enough to allow adaptation to keep up with rapid ClimateChange.
* Which is better than having nothing to hope upon.
"Publishing a map like this destroys their credibility."
I agree that credibility is important. When you speak in terms of us and them (the reference to "their") it destroys yours. Whatever happens will affect all of us. Perhaps you just misspoke?
I started to notice the crickets in my area(south of Edmonton) in 2007, and by Aug 2008 they made themselves at home!
NWS HYDROMETEOROLOGICAL PREDICTION CENTER CAMP SPRINGS MD
357 PM EST WED FEB 01 2012
VALID 00Z THU FEB 02 2012 - 00Z SAT FEB 04 2012
...EXTREMELY WARM CONDITIONS WILL COME TO AN END ACROSS THE
EASTERN U.S....
...A SURFACE CYCLONE DEVELOPING OVER THE SOUTH CENTRAL U.S. WILL
BRING A SWATH OF HEAVY SNOW TO THE CENTRAL PLAINS LATE IN THE
FORECAST PERIOD...
A COLD FRONT MOVING TOWARDS THE EASTERN SEABOARD WILL GRADUALLY
BRING AN END TO THE EXTREMELY WARM CONDITIONS ACROSS THE EASTERN
THIRD OF THE COUNTRY. THE NORTHERN PORTION OF THE FRONT IS
EXPECTED TO PUSH OFF THE NORTHEAST COAST BY WEDNESDAY
EVENING...BRINGING COOLER AND DRIER CONDITIONS TO THE UPPER OHIO
VALLEY...SOUTHERN NEW ENGLAND...AND NORTHERN MID-ATLANTIC STATES
BY EARLY THURSDAY MORNING. A FEW LINGERING SNOW SHOWERS WILL BE
POSSIBLE ACROSS INTERIOR NEW ENGLAND THROUGH THURSDAY AFTERNOON AS
THE ANCHORING SURFACE LOW STRENGTHENS AND MOVES UP THE COASTLINE.
THE SOUTHERN PORTION OF THE BOUNDARY WILL BE SLOWER TO PUSH
THROUGH THE TENNESSEE AND MISSISSIPPI VALLEYS WEDNESDAY
NIGHT...ALLOWING FOR SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS FROM THE
CENTRAL GULF COAST...NORTHWARD INTO THE LOWER OHIO RIVER
VALLEY...AND EASTWARD OFF THE SOUTHERN MID-ATLANTIC AND SOUTHEAST
COAST. MOST PRECIPITATION ACROSS THE REGION WILL BE LIGHT IN
NATURE...BUT A STREAK OF MORE MODERATE RAINS WILL BE POSSIBLE NEAR
A SURFACE WAVE ALONG THE FRONT TRACKING FROM THE TENNESSEE VALLEY
TO THE VIRGINIA COAST. ENERGY ALOFT WILL HELP STRENGTHEN THE WAVE
AS IT TRACKS NORTHEASTWARD AND AIDE IN PUSHING THE SOUTHERN
PORTION OF THE FRONT OFF THE CAROLINA COAST. PRECIPITATION SHOULD
COME TO AND END...AND TEMPERATURES SHOULD BEGIN TO FALL ACROSS
MUCH OF THE SOUTHERN MID-ATLANTIC STATES AND SOUTHEAST BY EARLY
THURSDAY AFTERNOON.
A WEAK COLD FRONT DROPPING SOUTH AND EAST THROUGH THE NORTHWESTERN
CORNER OF THE COUNTRY WEDNESDAY NIGHT WILL CONTINUE TO TRIGGER
WIDESPREAD...BUT LIGHT...SNOW SHOWERS ACROSS THE INTERMOUNTAIN
WEST AND NORTHERN TO CENTRAL ROCKIES. SOME ISOLATED AREAS OF MORE
MODERATE SNOWFALL ACCUMULATIONS WILL BE POSSIBLE IN THE WAKE OF
THE FRONT...ALONG THE FAVORED SLOPES OF THE HIGHER TERRAIN. THE
ENERGY ALOFT SUPPORTING THIS FRONT IS EXPECTED TO AMPLIFY AS IT
CROSSES THE WESTERN U.S. WEDNESDAY EVENING AND EVENTUALLY CARVE
OUT A BROAD TROUGH OVER THE FOUR CORNERS REGION. BY THURSDAY
EVENING...A PIECE OF THE ENERGY ALOFT WILL EJECT OUT OF THE
ROCKIES AND AIDE IN STRENGTHENING A SURFACE LOW OVER THE SOUTHERN
HIGH PLAINS. AS THE LOW DEEPENS AND TRACKS NORTHEASTWARDS ON
FRIDAY...WIDESPREAD PRECIPITATION IS EXPECTED TO BREAK OUT ACROSS
THE SOUTH CENTRAL U.S.. SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS AHEAD OF A TRAILING
COLD FRONT...HEAVY RAINS AHEAD AND ALONG A STRENGTHENING WARM
FRONT...AND ACCUMULATING SNOWS TO THE NORTHWEST OF THE LOW TRACK
WILL ALL BE POSSIBLE WITH THIS DEVELOPING SYSTEM.
GERHARDT
Most CO2The largest source of CO2 I should have said, about 40% -- is produced from generating electricity. If we would stop that then it would be an immediate end to this discussion.You misspelled ignorance.
The cuts will fall most heavily on the airline's maintenance operations, which will lose 4,600 jobs. More than 4,000 additional ground worker jobs will be eliminated, as will 2,300 flight attendant jobs.
Management will be reduced by 1,400 employees
Our votes mean nothing in the presidential election.
The president is not elected by popular vote.
The only reason the popular vote exists is to make you feel like you matter. You don't.
World carbon dioxide emissions are projected to rise from 26.9 billion metric tons in 2004 to 33.9 billion metric tons in 2015 and 42.9 billion metric tons in 2030.
The Keeling Curve will have a slope of 4 or more by 2030.
After all, the oceans absorb so much right now, but even if that could continue indefinitely, the Keeling Curve doesn't go up by the total CO2 we produce. It goes up by the excess that isn't going into Ocean Acidification.
Numbers like that suggest a 100% increase in the excess, therefore slope becomes something like 4 to 4.5.
Then, if the oceans come into equilibrium, the CO2 being sequestered there won't happen any more, and the slope will increase to as much as 6 or 7.
Slope might reach 3 by 2020, I guess.
The annual fluctuation in carbon dioxide is caused by seasonal variations in carbon dioxide uptake by land plants. Since many more forests are concentrated in the Northern Hemisphere, more carbon dioxide is removed from the atmosphere during Northern Hemisphere summer than Southern Hemisphere summer. This annual cycle is shown in the inset figure by taking the average concentration for each month across all measured years.
The grey curve shows the average monthly concentrations, and red curve is a moving 12 month average.
Ya think there's a correlation between population increasing at over 12% per decade and pollution.
Beijing is buried in garbage and feces right now.
New York City is shipping out garbage by the megatons on trains to other states, because they have no place to put all the waste they make.
yah think that whole "throw away a plastic bottle with a 500 year life expectancy after just one use," thing might contribute?
hehe.
Ain't seen nothing yet.
When they run out of oil, the food industry is going to require a replacement for all that nice plastic packaging that keeps meats and cheeses fresh, and for now, the only real solution I can think of is loads and loads of salt and preservatives. There aren't enough trees to cut down to make the amount of wax paper or other wrappers you'd need, especially when the population is supposed to be 9 billion in 20 or 30 years.
the deli will be selling rotten food, or else everything will be shipped in much more expensive, recyclable glass containers, since there's enough sand I guess.
And to think, that small piece of foam is the direct cause as to why we saw the shuttle's final go last year.
If you mix molten metals together you get an alloy.
Nobody denies this but if you say that mixing high proportions of gases into the atmosphere that were either not naturally present or were locked up in a solid stable state,previously, then a lot of people say it wont have any effect, or that in "their facts" it is having the opposite effect from what the evidence points to.
We can have blends and alloys but we don't seem to be able to have the properties of the atmosphere changed!
There are compounds and mixtures, most people would agree that food mixes and alloys are compounds (difficult to separate again,)Few people seem to be able to grasp that the pollution in the atmosphere will act like a compound as well and be virtually impossible to separate in a reasonable amount of time. IE Lifetimes.
The result of this atmospheric experiment is an irreversible compound,its effects are becoming more evident. Sometimes you have just got to accept the evidence and the results!
Arctic coast beach holidays next?
what are you trying to prove?
i dont care
Now...that is the same thing as blocking, right? a strong ridge in the mid to northern latitudes to block the jet stream from continuing east??
1) You missed FatPenguin's point entirely, which was to provide a different atmospheric counter-example against the idea that "Nothing man can do can affect the environment."
2) CFCs are extremely powerful greenhouse gases.
3) CFCs are broken by UV-catalysis to react with atmospheric oxygen to produce carbon dioxide plus fluorine and chlorine compounds. Those fluorine and chlorine compounds, not the CFCs, in turn catalyse the breakdown of ozone.
4) Ozone is both a UV shield and an extremely powerful greenhouse gas. Methane is an extremely powerful greenhouse gas broken down into water and CO2 by reactions with hydroxyl radicals (OH from the UV-breakup of H20) and ozone. And ozone is broken down by its interaction with methane.
I think he is asking for physical, scientifically confirmed proof of God so that you can confirm your theories that you constantly state about creationism and the supposed age of the planet....
"the deli will be selling rotten food, or else everything will be shipped in much more expensive, recyclable glass containers, since there's enough sand I guess."
The food solution is simple though a bit hard to accept.
Today's mass manufactured, basic,instant,convenience foods and snacks will have to be replaced by a sot of thick soup similar to baby foods. This will come in endless flavours and be supplied in returnable containers which will be charged a deposit for at the point of purchase. Glass will probably not be used new much as it needs a lot of energy to make it,so some form of plastic container will be utilized.
The privileged few millions/billions will still be able to get food that looks like food but at a high price.
I'm sure "space station food," will become much more the norm in the near future.
Well I haven't been ignored yet... lol
High pressure centred over northern Russia is preventing weather systems in the North Atlantic Ocean from reaching the British Isles. As a result, most places are seeing dry and settled weather. The clockwise circulation around this high pressure is drawing very cold air across the UK from the east.
Updated: 0730 UTC on Wed 1 Feb 2012
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