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Politics : The Environmentalist Thread -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Thomas A Watson who wrote (11951)	4/27/2007 2:18:15 PM
From: Wharf Rat	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 36918

I'll make it easy. 2 posts. So the number of words don't overwhelm you ."clearly spring 07 has seen record breaking cold." April weather set to break record The UK Met Office has released figures showing that this month is set to be the warmest April since records began in England more than 300 years ago. The data has been compiled from observations that go into the Central England Temperature record. This series, which dates back to 1659, is the world's longest running temperature series. The provisional mean figure for April 2007 is 11.1C (52.0F) - that is 3.2C (5.8F) above the long-term average. Meteorologists say in addition, the 12-month rolling period ending in April 2007 is also set to be the warmest on record - nearly 2C above the long-term average for the period. Wales is also likely to set a new high. The provisional mean temperature for the month is 9.7C (49.5F), 2.5C (4.5F) above the 30-year average for April. The current spell of warm weather, set to continue across the weekend, has prompted the Department for Environment, Food and Agriculture (Defra) to issue its first "summer smog" warning for 2007. It forecasts moderate ozone levels from Saturday across south-east England and the Midlands. On Sunday, high ozone levels are likely to extend to the rest of England and Wales, officials warn. They have urged people that are sensitive to ozone to take precautions, such as avoiding exercising outdoors in the afternoon. Wildlife concerns Ecologists say the unseasonable weather could leave wildlife vulnerable if the dry spell continues into the summer. Shallow root species will be especially vulnerable if we do have a dry summer Dr Tim Sparks, Centre for Ecology and Hydrology Tim Sparks, from the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, said the below-average rainfall was causing concern among ecologists. "It has not been the month of showers," he told BBC News. "If it is this dry in April, it does not bode well for the summer. "Shallow root species will be especially vulnerable if we do have a dry summer." Dr Sparks was one of the lead authors of a Europe-wide study, published last August, that provided "conclusive proof" that the seasons were changing. The researchers found that spring was beginning on average six to eight days earlier than it was 30 years ago. He said that the latest figures from the Met Office came as no real surprise, and were consistent with climate models that projected a rise in temperatures. "Certainly, this year is going to see a very early spring, there is no doubt about that. We have seen lots of things leafing or flowering a lot earlier that we would expect to see them appear. "This spring has demonstrated that different species change at different rates to temperature," he added. "The most obvious sign of this at the moment is that oak trees have come out into leaf very well, but many ash trees are still quite bare. This could present problems for local food chains, he observed. "You may have a situation where an insect relies on a particular plant, and birds or other animals rely on that insect further up the food chain. "If there is a breakdown in the synchrony between them then it could be disastrous," Dr Sparks warned. "We may have a butterfly species, for example, whose caterpillars feed on only a very narrow range of plants. "They must maintain synchrony with those plants; if they don't then that species will suffer badly." Story from BBC NEWS: news.bbc.co.uk Published: 2007/04/27 09:31:44 GMT © BBC MMVII

To: Thomas A Watson who wrote (11951)	4/27/2007 2:19:38 PM
From: Wharf Rat	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 36918

2006 Was Earth's Fifth Warmest Year 02.08.07 Climatologists at the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York City have found that 2006 was the fifth warmest year in the past century. Image right: The five warmest years since the late 1880s, according to NASA scientists, are in descending order 2005, 1998, 2002, 2003 and 2006. Credit: NASA Other groups that study climate change also rank these years as among the warmest, though the exact rankings vary depending upon details of the analyses. Results differ especially in regions of sparse measurements, where scientists use alternative methods of estimating temperature change. Goddard Institute researchers used temperature data from weather stations on land, satellite measurements of sea surface temperature since 1982 and data from ships for earlier years. Images above: The upper graph shows global annual surface temperatures relative to 1951 to 1980 mean, based on surface air measurements at meteorological stations and ship and satellite measurements for sea surface temperature. Over the past 30 years the Earth has warmed by about 0.6°C or 1.08°F. The lower image is a color map of temperature anomalies in 2006 relative to the 1951 to 1980 mean. Areas that were warmest in 2006 are in red, and areas that have cooled are in blue. Note that the Arctic has warmed significantly. These temperatures are for the calendar year 2006. “2007 is likely to be warmer than 2006,” said James Hansen, director of NASA GISS, “and it may turn out to be the warmest year in the period of instrumental measurements. Increased warmth is likely this year because an El Nino is underway in the tropical Pacific Ocean and because of continuing increases in human-made greenhouse gases.” Image left: This animation shows a basic demonstration of the increase in annual mean temperature in five year increments from 1880 through 2006. Warmest temperatures are in red. Click on image to view animation. + High resolution still Credit: NASA/GISS Most places on the globe have warmed in recent decades, with the greatest warming at high latitudes in the Arctic Ocean, Alaska, Siberia and the Antarctic Peninsula. Most ocean areas have warmed. Climatologists say that warming is not due to local effects of heat pollution in urban areas, a point demonstrated by warming in remote areas far from major cities. Image above: This graph shows temperature changes since 1950 for both the entire world and just for the low latitudes (23.6° North to South). Since 1950, world temperatures rose by 0.6°C (1.08° F) while the low latitude temperatures rose by 0.4°C (0.72°F). Blue semi-circles mark La Niñas, red rectangles mark El Niños, and green triangles mark large volcanoes. Credit: NASA. In their analysis for the 2005 calendar year, GISS climatologists noted the highest global annual average surface temperature in more than a century. nasa.gov