[GWSG] Project Amp; DOT req. cc plans; SF slr; UCS map; cc & weather; above avg.; warm water rises; PIG melts

[Tilley, Al]

1.  The Department of Energy is supplying $1.4 billion in loan guarantees to Project Amp, which intends to support 733 megawatts of commercial rooftop solar installations in the next 4 years.  http://www.energy.gov/news/10391.htm

2.  The Department of Transportation now requires that climate change mitigation and adaptation be integrated into transportation planning.  The new policy requires risk-management methods and tools, and recognizes the need to plan in a context of uncertainty.    http://www.dot.gov/docs/climatepolicystatement.pdf  The DOT is in Phase 2 of a model study of the impacts of climate change on transportation in the Central Gulf Coast region.  http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/hep/climate/gcs_overview.htm

3.  San Francisco is experiencing clashes among interested groups as it develops regulatory controls on development in areas expected to suffer from sea level rise.  332 square miles will be slated for no new development.  As maps of sea level rise impact become available, property values will probably decrease in the threatened regions.  The strains developing in the Bay Area are likely to be experienced in any coastal community planning for adaptation to climate change.  http://www.sfexaminer.com/local/2011/07/environmentalists-developers-clash-over-how-deal-rising-tide

4.  The Union of Concerned Scientists has developed an interactive global map of the current impact of climate change in 5 categories: terrestrial ecosystems, temperature, freshwater, oceans, and people.  It is updated monthly.  http://news.mongabay.com/2011/0629-hance_hotmap.html

5.  The Scientific American has begun a three-part series on the implications of climate change for extreme weather events.  Munich Re joins climate scientists in the position that we would not be seeing the effects we are were it not for climate change.  http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=extreme-weather-caused-by-climate-change  The UN expects to release a report on the issue in November.  http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/un-panel-to-release-report-in-november-on-link-between-climate-change-and-extreme-events/2011/06/28/AGA1jwpH_story.html

6.  The global temperature has been warmer than the 20th Century average every month for the past 25 years.  http://www.ky3.com/sns-ap-us-sci-more-global-warming,0,4278327.story

7.  As new, relatively salty sea ice melts, it sinks and relatively warm water surfaces, driving faster melting—lately, 3 times as fast as studies had anticipated.  http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/technology/science/canadian-scientists-discover-new-clues-to-rapid-arctic-ice-melt/article2078461/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=feedburner&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheGlobeAndMail-Front+%28The+Globe+and+Mail+-+Latest+News%29

8.  Pine Island Glacier in the West Antarctic is about the size of Texas.  It has detached from an undersea ridge which once penned it in, and it is moving into the ocean at a rate of 2.5 miles a year.  Deep warm water is now reaching the ice sheet’s underside.  http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/06/110626145308.htm  The story reports an estimate of the sea level rise implications of the Pine Island Glacier and its tributaries as 9 inches; other sources give 3-6 feet, with the involvement of the neighboring Thwaites Glacier.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pine_Island_Glacier
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