The global climate tipping points are not waiting for the world to get its shit together to treat climate breakdown as its existential threat. The news of heatwaves across the earth so far this spring and summer have made news and worried layman and scientists alike that a ‘normal’ climate does not seem to exist anymore. The sad fact is that we are only at the beginning of a crisis that has brought danger and death to large swathes of the planet. As Mike Udama noted in a tweet about the heatwave in Europe, “Remember - the wildfires, the droughts, the heatwaves happening across the world are within "safe" climate change (1.2°C warming). We are on course to double that.”
From July 15th through July 17th, 2022, a moderate heatwave caused extreme melting in northern Greenland. The melting was enough to cover Joe Manchin’s West Virginia under a foot of water.
Pituffik, Greenland (CNN)The water off the coast of northwest Greenland is a glass-like calm, but the puddles accumulating on the region's icebergs are a sign that a transformation is underway higher on the ice sheet.
Several days of unusually warm weather in northern Greenland have triggered rapid melting, made visible by the rivers of meltwater rushing into the ocean. Temperatures have been running around 60 degrees Fahrenheit -- 10 degrees warmer than normal for this time of year, scientists told CNN.The amount of ice that melted in Greenland between July 15 and 17 alone -- 6 billion tons of water per day -- would be enough to fill 7.2 million Olympic-sized swimming pools, according to data from the US National Snow and Ice Data Center.Put another way, it was enough to cover the entire state of West Virginia with a foot of water."The northern melt this past week is not normal, looking at 30 to 40 years of climate averages," said Ted Scambos, a senior research scientist at the National Snow and Ice Data Center at the University of Colorado. "But melting has been on the increase, and this event was a spike in melt."
Climate Change Is Turning the Alps From White to Green, Study Finds
The Alps, the most extensive and tallest mountain range located entirely within Europe, are a symbol of natural beauty and famous for winter sports. But, as the planet warms up due to climate change, the iconic white-capped peaks of the Alps are steadily turning green.
A study of high-resolution satellite data from 1984 to last year has revealed that areas with vegetation above the treeline in the Alps have increased by 77 percent since 1984, according to a press release from the University of Basel.
“The scale of the change has turned out to be absolutely massive in the Alps,” said lead author of the study professor Sabine Rumpf of the University of Basel, as reported by The Guardian.
The growing season has been lengthened by increased temperatures and rainfall, with plants spreading as they become taller and thicker. An increase in high-altitude vegetation could pose a threat to specialist Alpine plant species, Rumpf said, as they have adapted to the extreme conditions but aren’t extremely competitive and are at risk of being pushed out by more aggressive plants commonly found at lower altitudes.
“The unique biodiversity of the Alps is therefore under considerable pressure,” Rumpf said in the press release.
Meanwhile, melting has been nonstop in the Alps since the heatwave began.
A glacier collapsed in Kirghizistan.
Swiss communities are most vulnerable to glacial outburst floods in the Alps.