Month: April 2015

Nothing to see here, move along.

NASA Earth Observatory:

In California and other states, snowfall is critical to fresh water supplies. In the mostly arid climate west of the Rockies, snow cover laid down on the mountains in winter is a liquid checking account that is usually drawn down each summer and fall when rainfall is sparse. As California heads into another year of drought, the snow-white bank account in the mountains is unusually low on funds.

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite captured two natural-color images of the snow cover in the Sierra Nevada in California and Nevada. The top image was acquired on March 27, 2010, the last year with average winter snowfall in the region. The second image was acquired on March 29, 2015. In addition to the significantly depleted snow cover, note the change of color in the Central Valley of California and the lack of snow in the interior of Nevada. (Most of the white in 2015 is cloud cover.)

Looking closely at the Tuolumne River Basin in the Sierra Nevada, scientists working with NASA’s Airborne Snow Observatory (ASO) found the snowpack there contained just 40 percent as much water in 2015 as it did at its highest level in 2014—which was already one of the two driest years in California’s recorded history. In its first springtime acquisition of 2015, the ASO team quantified the total volume of water contained in the basin: On March 25, the mountain snowpack was 74,000 acre-feet, or 24 billion gallons. In the same week of 2014, the snow total was 179,000 acre-feet.

Below, graph from ClimateCentral compares current snowpack to recent history.

Continue reading “Satellite Shows Dwindled California Snowpack”

Below, why China’s water crisis forced the climate deal with Obama.

Continue reading “Not Just California – the Water Crisis is Here, Now”

Viewers may recognize Jim White from previous posts, he was leader of a National Academy of Science study on Abrupt climate change, and our team interviewed him in San Francisco in 2013.
Jim was also the voice-over in my Florida sea level rise video that talked about the ban on the word “climate change” – 4 months before the national brouhaha we’ve seen on that – I’m convinced that the subsequent news stories and national kerfuffle arose from the posting of that video.

Here Dr. White is addressing an audience at December’s AGU meeting, and summarizing the science of abrupt change.

My video on that topic is below.

Continue reading “The Weekend Wonk: Jim White at AGU”

As always, folkies lead the way on issues of conscience, consciousness, and now, climate.

This and a whole album available at www.sawyerlawson.com/music.

Soo-prahz, soo-prahz, soo-prahz.

“Death Blows” and “Final nails in the coffin” of climate science show up in  my inbox as regularly as emails from nigerian princes.
Meanwhile, the planet continues to warm.

MediaMatters:

Conservative media are grossly distorting a recent study on aerosols’ climate impact as a “death blow to global warming hysteria.” But the study’s author himself stated in response that his research does not contradict the scientific consensus on global warming.

A recent study provided new estimates for the rate at which aerosols — tiny particles of matter suspended in the atmosphere – deflect the sun’s rays, measuring what is known as aerosol “radiative forcing.” The study from Germany’s Max Planck Institute for Meteorology, which analyzed data from 1850 to 1950, found that the level of radiative forcing from aerosols is “less negative” than commonly believed, suggesting that aerosols do not cool the atmosphere as much as previously thought.

According to right-wing media, the study represents a “death blow to global warming hysteria.” The reasoning behind the claim, which originated in a Cato Institute blog post, is that climate models rely on aerosols to offset much of the projected greenhouse gas effect from carbon dioxide. So if aerosols offset less warming than commonly believed, Cato claims “the amount of greenhouse gas-induced warming must also be less” and “we should expect less warming from future greenhouse gas emissions than climate models are projecting.” The Cato blog post was picked up by the Daily Caller, American Thinker, Alex Jones’ Infowars, Investors’ Business Daily, and Rush Limbaugh. Daily Caller even claimed that the recent study directly disputes the scientific findings of the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, writing: “Basically, the IPCC says aerosols deflect a lot of warming — the opposite of the Max Planck study’s finding.”

Note: the blog  post in question was penned by Pat Michaels, notorious tool of fossil fuel interests, see here:

Media Matters again, below:

Continue reading “Another “Death blow” to Climate Science? Soo-prahz! Turns Out it’s a Crock…”

I’ve posted elsewhere on the page today, on the latest attempt to distort an honest scientists research to fit climate denial claims.

Watch the video here to see how the disinformation echo chamber distorts and repeats a false talking point until they begin to believe it themselves.  It’s a template.

Below, see how the black magicians of climate denial turn a scientific paper’s conclusions upside down. Continue reading “Reposting: How Climate Crocks are Born”

Teachable moment.

Reposting Tom Painter of NASA on the importance of Snowpack in California.
Worth repeating because the Sacramento Bee has published a series of pictures from a Yosemite webcam that underscore the severity of the issue. The mountain snowpack, which serves as a natural storehouse for water during the dry California summers is at 5 percent of normal.

Sacramento Bee:

Snow in California’s Sierra Nevada range typically reaches its greatest depths in late March, covering peaks like Yosemite’s famed Half Dome.

But this is the fourth consecutive year of drought in California. Earlier this month, state officials reported that the Sierra snowpack, which much of California relies on for water, is just five percent of its normal depth.

At Yosemite, Half Dome is generally quilted with snow by this time of year. The iconic peak stands roughly 9,000 feet tall — and is today virtually snow free, with no big snow storms in the forecast for the remainder of the month.

These images, taken by a Yosemite Conservancy webcam, show Half Dome on March 19 of each year from 2011 to 2015.

March 19, 2011 – Before Drought

March 19, 2012 – First Year of Drought

Continue reading “California Snowpack Story in Pictures”

Washington Post:

But the most alarming feature of the state’s water shortage remains hidden from view, scientists say. California is running low on groundwater, the vast pools of water stored in underground aquifers that took thousands of years to fill up but are now being drained to irrigate farm fields and run sink taps.

Groundwater usage has surged as the state’s drought has dragged on, jumping to an estimated 65 percent of the fresh water used in 2014, from under 40 percent in normal years. This year, that number could hit 75 percent.

With summer’s baking heat still to come, and with projections by NASA scientists that water reservoirs could run dry, groundwater could account for virtually all of California’s water by year’s end, said Jay Famiglietti, a NASA senior water scientist who uses satellites to study the problem.

“It’s more scary than people realize,” Famiglietti said.

Already, the state is showing signs of groundwater exhaustion. The water table is dropping two feet a year in parts of the thirsty, agricultural Central Valley. Even urban water utilities have noticed declines. Wells are running dry. Farmers are forced to dig deeper in the search for water.

And as the water is pumped up, the ground sinks down. In some places, the pace of subsidence could reach one inch a month for the rest of the year, said Thomas Harter, a groundwater hydrologist with the University of California at Davis. That could end up further damaging infrastructure, such as the state’s vital network of water canals.

New York Times:

James Jared Taylor who lives in Desert Hot Springs said he had been driving to his teaching job in Riverside County, east of Los Angeles, when he noticed the spray from a sprinkler was blowing into the street. It rankled Mr. Taylor, 57, who is cutting back his yard watering to once a week, and whose summer wardrobe of Birkenstocks and a bathing suit limits his laundry loads.

Continue reading “Drought, Groundwater and Agriculture in California”

Yes, it’s been clear for a long time.

I unearthed and posted this some time ago, but I see its making the rounds again.