2018 is the International Year of the Reef

international year of the reef

2018 has been designated the International Year of the reef. This is in fact the 3rd “International Year of the Reef”. The first was in 1997 in response to the increasing threats Coral Reefs then faced and was designed to increase awareness of that. It worked well because over 225 organisations spread across 50 nations … Read more

Polar Vortex and the Cold snap in a warming world

It is quite natural wonder how it is possible to have record breaking cold snaps if the world is warming. You might expect record breaking heat waves because temperatures are rising, so how is it possible to also have record breaking cold snaps? I stated to address this in a posting yesterday with two observations … Read more

Explaining the Extreme Weather events of 2016

extreme weather 2016

The American Meteorological Society has issued a report that very decisively and clearly points the finger at humans as the cause of extreme weather events. That is a first. This latest version of the report examines 27 papers. Within the Abstract they clearly maintain their policy of having a neutral stance … As in past years, … Read more

Trump Nominee Kathleen Hartnett White blocked

Kathleen Hartnett White

Last November I was writing about the nomination of Kathleen Hartnett White to head the Council on Environmental Quality. She was up before a senate committee to endorse her in the role and I was at that time mulling over just how grossly inappropriate she was for that position. Not the right person If you searched diligently … Read more

Climate: How have humans transformed the planet?

vegetation biomass

Rather obviously our planet contains rather a lot of vegetation. What is also understood to some degree is that this vegetation does influence our climate (Hint: plants absorb CO2). What is perhaps not so well appreciated is that humans have had a rather profound influence upon the currently existing quantity biomass. Well yes, we all … Read more

2017 Arctic Report card published by NOAA

Arctic Report Card

For the past 12 years now NOAA has been published an annual Arctic Report card and the 2017 issue is now available on-line. The report card exists because something quite extraordinary has been happening in the Arctic and 2017 has not seen any pause in that. Highlights Arctic shows no sign of returning to reliably … Read more