[GWSG] Totten totters; Greenland risk up; climate refugees; National Climate Assessment; anti-solar busyness; Trump inspires action

[Tilley, Al]

1. Totten Glacier is the largest glacier in the Antarctic. Because its outlet is grounded below sea level, relatively warm waters welling up from below can destabilize it. Winds, projected to increase with increasing atmospheric heat, drive such currents. Totten's grounding slopes down from the edge of the sea for a considerable distance, and so poses a greater risk of destabilization. Totten itself holds ten to twenty feet of sea level rise, and acts as a stopper for inland glaciers. https://www.wired.com/story/wind-is-driving-rapid-melt-in-antarcticas-biggest-glacier/

Some further info from phys.org: https://phys.org/news/2017-11-east-antarctica-contribution-sea.html



2. New maps show that two to four times as many glaciers in Greenland as we had known extend more than 600 feet below sea level, and thus are susceptible to melting from warm currents.   https://phys.org/news/2017-11-greenland-glaciers.html In April 2016 NASA's late lead scientist for coastal inundation Margaret Davidson warned the nation's insurance industry at a RIMS conference that because of what we were learning from the polar ice sheets we should expect that within a few years we would have projections of multimeter sea level rise by midcentury. The Totten and Greenland OMG studies could have been on her mind; both were underway at that time.



3. A study by the Environmental Justice Foundation warns that tens of millions of people will be displaced by climate change in the next decade. The study highlights the Middle East and Africa. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/nov/02/climate-change-will-create-worlds-biggest-refugee-crisis



4. A National Climate Assessment is due every four years. One just got published, and though it contains little to surprise list members, its sheer appearance and solidity constitutes news. Thanks to Tom Larson for the references. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/03/climate/us-climate-report.html

The report itself, which finds "no convincing alternative" to the theory that humans are causing climate change, mostly by burning fossil fuels:  https://science2017.globalchange.gov/



5. In the past year twenty entities working in twelve states attempted to obstruct key policies supporting the development of solar power in the US. https://science2017.globalchange.gov/



6. Trump's determinedly reactionary policies on climate have inspired a general movement to organize for climate action around the planet. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/theworldpost/wp/2017/11/03/paris-agreement/?utm_term=.0a0153bf3945 ?

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