[GWSG] Sensitivity; wind & sun; habitat>; Ice2Sea; moving shorelines; moving zombies

[Tilley, Al]

1.  If you are as hazy about climate sensitivity as the Economist, you will enjoy this clear and brief explanation of what it is and how it is estimated.  http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/climate-consensus-97-per-cent/2013/may/10/climate-change-warming-sensitivity

2.  Warren Buffet’s MidAmerican Energy is adding 1,050 megawatts of wind energy in Iowa by 2015, increasing the current wind production of 5000 megawatts in the state.  Energy rates are expected to go down as a result of the additional wind power.   http://www.eenews.net/public/climatewire/2013/05/10/1
At the end of 2012 the US had 60 gigawatts of wind energy, 6% of the total energy produced.  New wind energy installations increased 100% in 2012.  http://thecleanrevolution.org/quickfacts/us-installs-record-13-gw-of-new-wind-energy-in-2012?dm_i=6R6,1H9D0,LUPUO,511LW,1
In the last half of 2012 97% of the new energy in California was solar.  http://reneweconomy.com.au/2013/nearly-100-of-new-california-electricity-to-be-solar-in-2h-2013

3.  The climatic range of many common species of animals and plants will shrink over the coming decades, threatening their extinction, according to a study in Nature Climate Change.  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-22500673#<http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-22500673>

4.  The European Union’s Ice2Sea project projects 3.5-36.8 cm of sea level rise from ice sheets and glaciers by 2100, using an array of models.  http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2013/05/scienceshot-the-big-unknown-in-s.html  The study anticipates a slowdown in Greenland’s rate of melt.  http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/14/climate-ice-idUSL6N0DV2V420130514
A study published in Science last fall found that Greenland was melting 5 times as fast as it was in the early ‘90s. http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/nov/29/greenland-antarctica-4-trillion-tonnes-ice  I remember reading sometime last fall that the Ice2Sea study closed out data submission too early to include the recent work on Greenland, but I cannot find my source for verification.  Perhaps someone will be able to find the data closeout date for Ice2Sea (as I cannot).  The full Ice2Sea report itself is due next fall, at which point (if not before) all shall be made clear.  Meanwhile, I do not mean to imply that Ice2Sea was somehow ignorant of the fall 2012 Greenland study.  In fact, several Ice2Sea scientists were involved.   http://www.ice2sea.eu/news/press-release1203/   Here is a current Ice2Sea summary report.  Their comments on Greenland are on pages 22, 28, 31, and elsewhere.  http://www.ice2sea.eu/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/From_Ice_to_High_Seas.pdf

5.  Empirical studies of sea level rise using ancient shorelines need to include historical changes in shoreline elevation.  Particularly, a rising shoreline in the US NE appears to have led to overestimation of sea levels 3 million years ago.  http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/05/130516142551.htm?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily%2Fearth_climate+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Earth+%26+Climate+News%29

6.  Zombie climate theories, dead for decades, continue to move about on such news outlets as Fox News and the Wall Street Journal.  Increasingly, serious work on climate does not bother to endorse such basic positions as the contributions of fossil fuel combustion to warming.  http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/planet-oz/2013/may/17/zombie-climate-sceptic-theories-newspapers-tv
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