Earthweek: Diary of a Changing World
Week ending Friday, February 23, 2018
Harsher Climate
A new study concludes that extreme weather events will become far more likely and intense around the world even if the Paris climate agreement’s goal of keeping global warming to less than 2 degrees Celsius is met.
Researchers from Stanford and Columbia universities expanded on earlier studies of climate records, which demonstrated how carbon emissions have increased the probability of recording-breaking hot, wet and dry events, even in the present warmer climate.
Another report, in the journal Nature Communications, cautions that even if the Paris agreement’s goals are met, sea level is still likely to rise at least 2 to 4 feet by the year 2300.
Earthquakes
Britain’s strongest quake in 10 years caused structural damage in southwest England and Wales.
$ VWURQJ TXDNH ZUHFNHG about 200 homes in southern Mexico’s Oaxaca state.
(DUWK PRYHPHQWV ZHUH also felt in Iceland, northern Taiwan and the San Francisco Bay Area. Sleep Singing
Argentine researchers KDYH IRXQG WKDW ]HEUD ÀQFKes seem to be practicing their songs while they sleep without actually making a sound.
It’s long been known that the birds’ brains spontaneously reproduce the same patterns in their sleep that they use when singing during the day. But scientists from the University of Buenos Aires have found that WKH ÀQFKHV· YRFDO PXVFOHV are also moving during their avian slumber.
The only thing keeping the tiny birds from actually singing while sleeping is WKH DEVHQFH RI DQ DLU ÁRZ through their throats. Scientists think the sleep “singing” may be how the birds learn new songs or keep their existing tunes stable. Dist. by: Andrews McMeel Syndication ©MMXVIII Earth Environment Service Day Zero Respite
The day of reckoning for drought-parched Cape Town has been pushed back to at least July 9, at which time all water taps across the South African metropolitan area are slated be turned off due to critically low water reserves.
Authorities had warned that “Day Zero” would arrive as early as March. But conservation efforts and leak repairs in recent weeks have given residents more time before they are likely to be forced to go to local distribution points for fresh water.
Residents and tourists have been asked to use only 13 gallons per day to preserve the remaining supply.
Primate Peril
Roughly half of the orangutans living on Borneo have disappeared over the past 16 years due to hunting and vast destruction of their habit.
Researchers say much of the loss of 100,000 of the island’s orangutans is due to logging operations that clear the land to make way for palm plantations and mining.
Field researcher Serge Wich says targeted killings and RWKHU GLUHFW FRQÁLFWV EHWZHHQ WKH RUDQJXWDQV DQG KXPDQV are pushing the primates beyond their well-known ability to adapt to a changing landscape.
Sumatran Eruption
A blast from northern Sumatra’s Mount Sinabung volcano sent ash and other debris falling over nearby settlements and crops.
A red alert was issued for aviation after the ash plume soared nearly 24,000 feet into jet routes.
Tropical Cyclones
Remnants of Cyclone Gita triggered widespread ÁRRGLQJ DQG VHYHUDO PXGslides across central and southern New Zealand. Roads were washed out, and ÁLJKWV LQ DQG RXW RI WKH FDSLtal, Wellington, were halted.
:DUP LQODQG ´RFHDQVµ FDXVHG E\ ZHHNV RI ÁRRGing rains in the remote desert of northwestern Australia helped Cyclone Kelvin intensify, and even form an eye, after it moved ashore.