this post was submitted on 07 Oct 2024
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Discussion of climate, how it is changing, activism around that, the politics, and the energy systems change we need in order to stabilize things.

As a starting point, the burning of fossil fuels, and to a lesser extent deforestation and release of methane are responsible for the warming in recent decades: Graph of temperature as observed with significant warming, and simulated without added greenhouse gases and other anthropogentic changes, which shows no significant warming

How much each change to the atmosphere has warmed the world: IPCC AR6 Figure 2 - Thee bar charts: first chart: how much each gas has warmed the world.  About 1C of total warming.  Second chart:  about 1.5C of total warming from well-mixed greenhouse gases, offset by 0.4C of cooling from aerosols and negligible influence from changes to solar output, volcanoes, and internal variability.  Third chart: about 1.25C of warming from CO2, 0.5C from methane, and a bunch more in small quantities from other gases.  About 0.5C of cooling with large error bars from SO2.

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[–] [email protected] 13 points 3 weeks ago

It's interesting how all the pearl-clutching rhetoric behind climate-driven immigration I hear coming from the US (right) seems to be under the assumption people will be clamoring to move there as shit continues to hit the proverbial fan. However, from this layperson's perspective it seems emigration will be the far bigger reckoning for America.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

Any idea on what the measurements are on the Y axis?

Edit: if you follow the link if shows the measurements are in kJ/cm^2^. Which is something someone smarter than me will have to explain.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

k = thousand

J =joules

/ = per

cm² = square centimeter

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

How many degrees are off from the avg tho? Just something to compare it to.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

Look at the averages on that chart. Eyeballing it, the average should be around 70 kJ/cm2, currently it's about 85.

So it's about 20 percent more energy.

It doesn't translate directly to temperatures as the values represent how much energy is in a column of water that is 1cm2 at the top, and that column extends down until the water temperature drops below 26 degrees Celsius.

So it could be that the top of the column of warm water is mostly the same temperature as before but extends deeper, as opposed to the top of the column being a lot hotter than usual.

When the column is shorter, a hurricane will mix it with cooler water lower down via wave action, reducing the amount of energy available after it passes by. This year the column of water is deeper than usual, which allows two hurricanes to develop over the same patch of ocean in quick succession.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 weeks ago

Thanks for the explanation 👌

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

I was assured by (checks notes) the Governor of Florida that charts like these are fake news because global warming is fake news.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 weeks ago

Silly, now you've broken the law in Florida because you've talked about climate change. That and signing petitions will get you a visit from the police! Totally normal state governmental functions.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Does that mean we get a rainy winter in europe?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

I don't think I've seen studies of any kind of teleconnection between Gulf of Mexico conditions and European weather, though higher temperatures tend to mean both more intense rain and more intense droughts.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

Gulf stream is the teleconnection. It transports summer heat of Mexico to europe winter, major factor to mild climate in europe. With all the hubub about it weaking due to climate change, i thought this was common knowledge. Guess more in europe?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Look at something like this and it's pretty clear that the impact of this year's events aren't obvious like that. Not impossible, but I don't think I've seen what you're describing.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Thanks for the map, but it is, more or less.

The Gulf Stream influences the climate of the coastal areas of the East Coast of the United States from Florida to southeast Virginia (near 36°N latitude), and to a greater degree, the climate of Northwest Europe. A consensus exists that the climate of Northwest Europe is warmer than other areas of similar latitude at least partially because of the strong North Atlantic Current.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_Stream

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Yes, but that's very different from saying "I can discern an change in behavior of European weather based on what this storm did"

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 weeks ago

More because of why that storm came to be; lots of warm water