The Harvest Hockey! <> Off the shelf! <> A wind of change

03/09/2008 by admin.

In his journal, Charles Lamb records the importance of the Harvest Hockey to the local farming community.  Perculiar then that the climate ‘hockey stick’ graph first presented in 1998 has been vindicated ten years later by scientists.  Assessments of an array of evidence, including extra data covering 2,000 years and more methods to anaylse the information led them to conclude that Northern Hemisphere temperatures are ‘anomolously warm’. 

The ‘hockey stick’ graph includes the shaft of the stick, representing a sharp upturn in temperatures since the industrial age.

As if to ratify the findings, scientists have reported a collosal loss of ice shelves in Canada’s High Arctic. Floating tongues of ice attached to the Ellesmere Island, which have lasted for thousands of years, have seen more than a quarter of their cover has broken away to become floating sea-ice. Loss of ice in the Arctic, and in particular the extensive sea-ice, has global implications. The “white parasol” at the top of the planet reflects energy from the Sun straight back out into space, helping to cool the Earth. 

Further loss of Arctic ice will see radiation absorbed by darker seawater and snow-free land, potentially warming the Earth’s climate at an even faster rate than current observational data indicates.

Scientisits have confirmed that another consequence of a warming world is evidence of the strongest storms becoming stronger - they are delivering a more powerful punch. A 1 degree rise in ocean temperatures would increase the incidence of stronger storms by about one third.  Our readers will know that we recorded a fierce storm and a wind of change in the lead up to the discovery of Charles Lamb’s journal.

Posted in Q76 Are you going to take action now to save our world?, Q36 Should a good life cost the Earth?, Q.3 Do you have a good imagination? | No Comments »