[GWSG] Geofixes; gw tsunamis?; 2 Hansen works; Filchner-Ronne unstable; AU carbon tax; slr in N FL

[Tilley, Al]

1.  The New Yorker surveys geoengineering technologies and the cases for and against their deployment.  http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/05/14/120514fa_fact_specter  I wish they had included biochar as a carbon sequestration technology.  I wish they had not so quickly dismissed the idea of suffering major dislocations to achieve near zero emissions.  (We seem equipped to adapt to dislocation.)  I wish they had emphasized that geoengineering cannot be used to continue business as usual, at least not sustainably, using any of the technologies discussed.

2.  A British scientist argues that melting glaciers can foster earthquakes and volcanoes (and, in a secondary effect, tsunamis).  It is not a mainstream view, though it seems sensible because as ice sheets melt they alter geostatic tensions.  http://e360.yale.edu/feature/could_a_changing_climate_set_off_volcanoes_and_quakes/2525/

3.  James Hansen and Makiko Sato’s draft paper “Climate Sensitivity Estimated From Earth’s Climate History” addresses the calculation of climate sensitivity and thus the pace of climate change.  Because the rapidity of the changes we are now producing is unprecedented in earth’s history no firm timelines are likely, though runaway warming is an approaching consequence.  The paper improves the author’s previous account of changes in sea level and temperature through reanalysis of the data from oxygen isotopes in ocean sediments and significantly narrows the range of climate sensitivity yielded by historical evidence.     http://www.columbia.edu/~jeh1/mailings/2012/20120508_ClimateSensitivity.pdf  In his NY Times Op-ed article “Game Over for the Climate” Hansen corrects President Obama’s position in a recent interview by explaining why we must not exploit tar sands or shale but instead begin a transition away from fossil fuels.  http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/10/opinion/game-over-for-the-climate.html?_r=1&emc=tnt&tntemail0=y

4.  An article in Nature anticipates that the redirection of a warm current will speed mass loss in the Filchner-Ronne Antarctic Ice Shelf by a factor of 20 in the remainder of this century.  The ice shelf is the second largest in the Antarctic.  Its loss would unblock ice sheets in both the West and the East Antarctic, and would lead to an addition of around 4.4 mm of sea level rise a year.  http://worldnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/05/10/11637277-vast-antarctic-ice-sheet-in-play-with-global-warming?lite   More on this report from the EU Ice2sea project:  http://dawn.com/2012/05/10/new-antarctic-ice-shelf-threatened-by-warming/  Wikipedia on the Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filchner-Ronne_Ice_Shelf

5.  The Australian Senate has passed a carbon tax on major emitters.  http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/nov/08/australia-senate-passes-carbon-tax  It is part of a Labor Party program to cut greenhouse gas emissions 80% by 2050.  http://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/senate-passes-carbon-tax-20111108-1n4p1.html  Thanks to Tom Larsen for pointing me toward this story.

6.  A report on last week’s presentation to the Ponte Vedra Sierra Club of the GTM National Estuarine Research Reserve’s progress in its study of the impact of sea level rise on the region:  The project has been diminished in funding, time, and scope, but is still a major step for the region. It is now a 2 year $280,000 project. They will have a vulnerability study done by fall with maps for sea level rise levels. They will carry out a series of workshops for stake holders in the region beginning in the fall and continuing for the next several months. Here's a web site for the project: http://nerrs.noaa.gov/NSCIndex.aspx?ID=700   (Jim Crooks asked for this and I thought other list members in the area would be interested.)
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