[GWSG] Nuisance flooding rising; new Arctic system?; sequestering CO2 in basalt; SF's new climate tax

[Tilley, Al]

1.  NOAA reports that not only did nuisance tidal flooding increase in US cities in 2015, in many locations it exceeded the recent rate of increased flooding.  That is to say, the flooding rate accelerated more vigorously.  Among the record setting cities are Washington, D.C.; Charleston, S.C.; Norfolk, VA; La Jolla and San Francisco, CA; and Key West, Mayport, and Fernandina Beach, FL.  http://www.canadianunderwriter.ca/insurance/nuisance-flooding-exceeds-trends-breaks-records-united-states-noaa-1004093397/   Here's the NOAA report itself.  The period is meteorological 2015, May 2015-April 2016.  The threshold for nuisance flooding (also called "sunny-day" and "recurrent" flooding) was set by the National Weather Service's indicators for flooding with "minor impact."  Where hurricane protections are in place, as in Galveston, TX, the impact threshold is higher and nuisance flooding was not reported.  Nuisance flooding can compromise water supply and sewage.  27 long-term tidal gauges across the US and another gauge in the Miami area were included in the study.  Nuisance flooding is sea level rise's calling card, a promise of worse to come.  What is happening in Singapore and Sydney?  http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/monitoring-content/sotc/national/2016/may/sweet-marra-nuisance-flooding-2015.pdf



2.  The record Greenland melt of 2015 was aided by a northward loop of the jet stream, which may well become more common in a kind of loose positive feedback-the Arctic warms, loosening the jet stream, which loops north and warms the Arctic, loosening the jet stream, and so on.  The meltwater weakens the AMOC, disrupting the transfer of heat from the Arctic (while augmenting the sea level rise on the US East Coast).  A major forcing in the system is the changing albedo of the Arctic as the sea ice lessens and dark water spreads, absorbing more solar warmth.  https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2016/06/09/weird-jet-stream-behavior-could-be-making-greenlands-melting-even-worse-scientists-say/?postshare=6251465485513993&tid=ss_tw  The National Geographic supplies a useful overview of the systems involved in the new formulation (which, as Chris Mooney says, has its critics).  http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/06/ice-melting-greenland-jet-stream-weather-climate-change/



3.  Icelandic scientists have injected CO2 from a geothermal power plant into basalt, where it forms limestone after about two years.  The process appears to be commercially viable.  http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/jun/09/co2-turned-into-stone-in-iceland-in-climate-change-breakthrough



4.    San Francisco voters have approved a tax of $1 a month on each property parcel to support climate mitigation and adaptation.  http://grist.org/climate-energy/bay-area-voters-approve-a-whole-new-kind-of-climate-tax/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=daily-horizon  ?

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