Post on 19-Jan-2018
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EVIDENCE OF PLANET EARTH’S FRAGILITY
May 12, 2014
Walter Hays, Global Alliance for Disaster Reduction, Vienna,
Virginia, USA
LATEST EVIDENCEMay 12, 2014
ANTARCTICA’S THWAITES GLACIER ICE SHELF BEGINS TO BREAK UPIan Joughin, a glaciologist at the
University of Washington in Seattle
WEST ANTARCTICA:THWAITES ICE SHELF IS BREAKING UP
THWAITES GLACIER
• Thwaites Glacier is losing several meters (tens of feet) of ice elevation every year.
WARNINGPlanet Earth may be at greater risk than ever before if global climate change proves to be a
long-term threat
Source: SCIENCE, May 2014
• Two teams of scientists say the long-feared collapse of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet has begun, kicking off what they say will be a centuries-long, "unstoppable" process that could raise sea levels by as much as 4 m (15 ft).
Source: SCIENCE, May 2014
• They estimate that Thwaites Glacier will probably disappear entirely in somewhere between 200 and 1,000 years.
• That loss alone would raise global sea level by nearly 2 feet (60 centimeters).
Source: SCIENCE, May 2014
• The glacier serves as a linchpin for the rest of the West Antarctic Ice sheet, which has enough frozen mass to cause another 10 to 13 feet (3 to 4 meters) of sea level rise.
IF PLANET EARTH CONTINUES WARMING UP,
- - -
MANY LOCATIONS WILL HAVE ENVIRONMENTS AT HIGHER RISK AS TEMPERATURE INCREASES AND SEA
LEVEL RISES, AS HYPOTHESIZED
CITIES (PEOPLE, PROPERTY, AND INFRA-STRUCTURE) MAY BE AT HIGHER RISK
IMPACT: NORTHEAST USA: 1 METER RISE IN SEA LEVEL
IMPACT:FLORIDA: 1 METER RISE IN SEA LEVEL
IMPACT: LOUISIANA: 1 METER RISE IN SEA LEVEL
MONITORING, MITIGATION, AND ADAPTATION
MEASURES: WAYS TO COPE WITH
GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE
CURRENT NEEDS
Planet Earth’s changes in exposure and risk over time have created a need for:
Technology to monitor global climate change, warn people, and protect property, and infrastructure.
EVIDENCE OF GLOBAL WARMING CITED IN THE
PAST
KANAI FJORD, ALASKA
NORTHWEST TERRITORIES, CANADA
GREENLAND
WENGEN, SWITZERLAND
MT KILIMANJARO, TANZANIA
GREAT BARRIER REEF, AUSTRALIA
ANTARCTICA: WILKINS ICE SHELF DISINTEGRATION
SOUTH GEORGIA ISLAND
DALIAN, CHINA
Natural Phenomena that Change our Environment
Planet Earth is warming up, as shown by:
Advance of deserts
1/6 OF WORLD’S POPULATIONS AFFECTED BY DESERTIFICATION
Natural Phenomena that Change our Environment
Planet Earth is warming up, causing:
Droughts
DROUGHT IN CHINA: 2007
Natural Phenomena that Change our Environment
Planet Earth is warming up, which causes:
Rivers to dry up.
COLORADO RIVER BASIN, WESTERN USA
LOS ANGELES RIVER: SUMMER 2007
.
ELBE RIVER, GERMANY: SUMMER, 2007