miercuri, 18 iunie 2014

ENFIM ATÉ COMEÇARMOS A MORRER AFOGADOS JÁ MORREMOS DE MORTE MATADA DURANTE A IV GUERRA ECONÓMICA GLOBAL 1914-2014 CEM ANOS DE GUERRAS ECONÓMICAS EM LARGA ESCALA

Antarctic ice melt has doubled to 159 GIGATONNES (that's 430,000 Empire State Buildings) a year since 2010, satellite reveals

  • Esa's CryoSat-2 mission has provided new data on the Antarctic ice sheet
  • It surveyed the region from 2010 to 2013 and found losses had doubled
  • In total the ice sheet is losing 159 gigatonnes (159 billion tonnes) each year
  • That is twice the rate of ice loss found in the last survey from 2005 to 2010
  • And just this loss alone will raise sea levels by half a millimetre a year
  • But sea levels will rise much more when other factors are considered

Three years of observations show that the Antarctic ice sheet is now losing 159 gigatonnes (159 billion tonnes) of ice each year - twice as much as when it was last surveyed in 2012.
A team of scientists from the UK Centre for Polar Observation and Modelling, led by researchers at the University of Leeds, have produced the first complete assessment of Antarctic ice sheet elevation change.
They used measurements collected by Esa's CryoSat-2 satellite mission, which carries an altimeter, an instrument to measure altitude, specially designed for this task.
A survey from 2010 to 2013 by Esa's CryoSat-2 satellite shows that the Antarctic Ice Sheet is now losing 159 Gigatonnes of ice each year, enough to raise global sea levels by 0.45 millimetres per year. Colour scale ranges in this image from -1 to +1 metres (3.3 feet) per year
A survey from 2010 to 2013 by Esa's CryoSat-2 satellite shows that the Antarctic Ice Sheet is now losing 159 Gigatonnes of ice each year, enough to raise global sea levels by 0.45 millimetres per year. Colour scale ranges in this image from -1 to +1 metres (3.3 feet) per year

In sharp contrast to previous altimeter missions, CryoSat-2 surveys virtually the entire Antarctic continent, reaching to within 135 miles (215 kilometres) of the South Pole.
This has  enabled a fivefold increase in the sampling of coastal regions where today's ice losses are concentrated.

WHAT 159 GIGATONNES IS EQUAL TO

79.5 trillion laptops
2.27 trillion people
14.5 billion Hubble Space Telescopes
381 million International Space Stations
3.06 million Titanics
430,000 Empire State Buildings
397 times the world’s human population
32 teaspoons of neutron star
22% of the mass of carbon stored in Earth’s atmosphere
Overall, the pattern of imbalance continues to be dominated by glaciers thinning in the Amundsen Sea sector of West Antarctica.
However, thanks to the improved capabilities of CryoSat-2, problem areas such as the rugged terrain of the Antarctic Peninsula can now also be surveyed.
 

On average West Antarctica lost 134 gigatonnes of ice, East Antarctica three gigatonnes, and the Antarctic Peninsula 23 gigatonnes in each year between 2010 and 2013 - a total loss of 159 gigatonnes each year.
The polar ice sheets are a major contributor to global sea level rise and, when combined, the Antarctic losses detected by CryoSat-2 are enough to raise global sea levels by 0.45 millimetres each year alone.
The largest loss of ice is occurring at the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, with the Pine Island Glacier shown here. West Antarctica is losing 139 gigatonnes of the total 159 gigatonnes every year, which is double the rate of ice loss from 2005 to 2010
The largest loss of ice is occurring at the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, with the Pine Island Glacier shown here. West Antarctica is losing 139 gigatonnes of the total 159 gigatonnes every year, which is double the rate of ice loss from 2005 to 2010

In West Antarctica, ice thinning has been detected in areas that were poorly surveyed by past satellite altimeter missions.
These newly-mapped areas contribute additional losses that bring altimeter observations closer to estimates based on other approaches.
But the average rate of ice thinning in West Antarctica has also increased, and this sector is now losing almost one third (31%) as much ice each year than it did during the five year period (2005 to 2010) prior to CryoSat-2's launch.
Lead author Dr Malcolm McMillan from the University of Leeds said: 'We find that ice losses continue to be most pronounced along the fast-flowing ice streams of the Amundsen Sea sector, with thinning rates of between 4 and 8 metres [13 to 26 feet] per year near to the grounding lines of the Pine Island, Thwaites and Smith Glaciers.'
This sector of Antarctica has long been identified as the most vulnerable to changes in climate and, according to recent assessments, its glaciers may have passed a point of irreversible retreat.
Launched in 2010, CryoSat carries a radar altimeter that can 'see' through clouds and in the dark, providing continuous measurements over areas like Antarctica that are prone to bad weather and long periods of darkness.
The radar can measure the surface height variation of ice in fine detail, allowing scientists to record changes in its volume with unprecedented accuracy.
ESA¿s Earth Explorer CryoSat-2 mission (artist¿s illustration shown) was launched on 8 April 2010 and is dedicated to precise monitoring of changes in the thickness of marine ice floating in the polar oceans and variations in the thickness of the vast ice sheets that blanket Greenland and Antarctica
ESA¿s Earth Explorer CryoSat-2 mission (artist¿s illustration shown) was launched on 8 April 2010 and is dedicated to precise monitoring of changes in the thickness of marine ice floating in the polar oceans and variations in the thickness of the vast ice sheets that blanket Greenland and Antarctica

Professor Andrew Shepherd, also of the University of Leeds, who led the study, added: 'Thanks to its novel instrument design and to its near-polar orbit, CryoSat allows us to survey coastal and high-latitude regions of Antarctica that were beyond the capability of past altimeter missions, and it seems that these regions are crucial for determining the overall imbalance.
'Although we are fortunate to now have, in CryoSat-2, a routine capability to monitor the polar ice sheets, the increased thinning we have detected in West Antarctica is a worrying development.
'It adds concrete evidence that dramatic changes are underway in this part of our planet, which has enough ice to raise global sea levels by more than a metre [3.3 feet].
'The challenge is to use this evidence to test and improve the predictive skill of climate models.'
And Professor David Vaughan of the British Antarctic Survey said: 'The increasing contribution of Antarctica to sea-level rise is a global issue, and we need to use every technique available to understand where and how much ice is being lost.
'Through some very clever technical improvements, McMillan and his colleagues have produced the best maps of Antarctic ice-loss we have ever had.
'Prediction of the rate of future global sea-level rise must begin with a thorough understanding of current changes in the ice sheets - this study puts us exactly where we need to be.'
And finally Dr Ian Joughin at the University of Washington, author of a recent study simulating future Antarctic ice sheet losses, concluded: 'This study does a nice job of revealing the strong thinning along the Amundsen Coast, which is consistent with theory and models indicating this region is in the early stages of collapse.

vineri, 13 iunie 2014

FROM THE OIL AGE TO THE PLASTIC AGE AND BACK....THE NIXON ADMINISTRATION DECLINES THE IRANIAN OFFER OF IRANIAN CRUDE OIL THOUSAND MILLLION OF BARRELS OVER TEN YEARS AT THE PRICE OF ONE DOLLAR PER BARREL IN 1964 - O XÁ DA PÉRSIA OU REZA PAHLEVI DO IRÃO OFERECE UM ACORDO DE MIL MILHÕES DE DÓLARES 1964-1974 UMA PECHINCHA ....NIXON DIZ QUE A I-DEI-A TEM FALTA DE MÉRITO POLÍTICO IN NOVEMBER 1970' TEN MILLION OF BARRELS PER DAY IN THE U.S. OF A THE BIGGEST OIL MOGUL...THE LAST OIL RECORD IN AMERICA

Arctic ice melt to release 1 trillion pieces of plastic into sea

Increasing ice melt due to climate change will pose a major threat to marine life, report says 

May 27, 2014 1:40PM ET

As the Arctic ice melt accelerates due to climate change it could release more than 1 trillion pieces of plastic into the ocean over the next decade, possibly posing a major threat to marine life, a new scientific report said.

The report, titled “Global Warming Releases Microplastic Legacy Frozen in Arctic Sea Ice,” said ice in some remote locations contains at least twice as much plastic as previously reported areas of surface water such as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch – an area of plastic waste estimated to be bigger than the state of Texas.

Researchers behind the report, published last week in the scientific journal Earth’s Future, said they found the unusual concentrations of plastics by chance while studying sediments trapped in ice cores. The researchers are based at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire.

Many scientists and activists have raised alarms over the massive amount of plastic waste building up in the world’s oceans. In the film “Midway,”  showed how tens of thousands of baby albatrosses are dying – their bodies filled with plastic most likely from the Garbage Patch – on the Pacific atoll of Midway, one of the most remote islands on the planet. 

Increasing ice melt due to climate change will likely release the even-higher concentrations of plastic trapped in Arctic ice into the sea, and thus into the food chain, the new report in Earth’s Future said.  “The environmental consequences of microplastic fragments are not fully understood, but they are clearly ingested by a wide range of marine organisms including commercially important species,” the report said.
The term “microplastics” refers to tiny particles created as plastic materials that break down but never biodegrade. They are being increasingly found on surface waters and shorelines around the world. 
Plastic materials are introduced to the ocean by various means, including from cosmetic ingredients known as microbeads, from the release of semi-synthetic fibers such as rayon from washing machines, and from larger discarded plastic items. The plastics reach the sea via sewers, rivers, and littering along coastlines or at sea.
Researchers said in the new report that Arctic ice contains such high concentrations of plastics because of the way sea ice forms. It concentrates particulates from the surrounding waters, and the particulates become trapped until the ice melts. Scientists said in the report that they found 38-234 plastic particles per cubic meter of ice in some parts of the Artic areas they studied.
In the next decade the scientists predict that at least 2,000 trillion cubic meters of Arctic ice will melt. If that ice contains the lowest concentrations of microplastics reported in the study, this could result in the release of more than 1 trillion pieces of plastic, the report said.
Researchers worry that a wide range of organisms could ingest the microplastics, leading to physical injury and poisoning.
Plastic products often contain potentially harmful additives to make them last longer, the report said. Other studies have shown that small fragments of plastic can act a bit like magnets, attracting pollutants from the environment and making them even more toxic.
have shown that tiny plastic “microbeads,” added to many body cleansers and toothpastes, have been found in major lakes and other waterways used for drinking water. The studies said the plastic balls absorb toxic chemicals released into the environment, and are then eaten by fish and thus introduced into the food chain.
Mass production of plastic began in the 1940s, and by 2009 at least 230 million tons of plastic were produced each year – equivalent to the weight of a double-decker bus every two seconds