Scientists Discover Massive Recent Slowdown in Melting of Antarctica ‘Doomsday’ Glacier

Forget coral reefs and polar bears – they are so yesterday’s climate scare stories. The real big one, the tipping point du jour, is the collapse of the West Antarctica ice shelf and the prospect of global flooding on a biblical scale last reported in the times of Noah. It’s in rapid retreat says every scaremonger from Sir David Attenborough to the BBC’s resident green activist Justin Rowlatt. It is in retreat – a natural process as the Earth slowly moves out of an ice age. But now, new scientific work has found the process at the huge Thwaites Glacier in Antarctica – nicknamed the ‘Doomsday Glacier‘ for the supposed approaching catastrophe of its swift demise – is much slower than in the recent past.

For the whole article.

Scientists Discover Massive Recent Slowdown in Melting of Antarctica ‘Doomsday’ Glacier

The Tonga Eruption’s 50 Million Tons of Water Vapor May Warm Earth For Months to Come

More than eight months after the underwater volcano near Tonga erupted on Jan. 14, scientists are still analyzing the impacts of the violent blast, and they’re discovering that it could warm the planet.

Recently, researchers calculated that the eruption of Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apa spewed a staggering 50 million tons (45 million metric tons) of water vapor into the atmosphere, in addition to enormous quantities of ash and volcanic gases.

This massive vapor injection increased the amount of moisture in the global stratosphere by about 5 percent, and could trigger a cycle of stratospheric cooling and surface heating – and these effects may persist for months to come, according to a new study.

More at the link.

https://www.sciencealert.com/the-tonga-eruptions-50-million-tons-of-water-vapor-may-warm-earth-for-months-to-come

This should be the absolute peak of hurricane season—but it’s dead quiet out there

Perhaps what is most striking about this season is that we are now at the absolute peak of hurricane season, and there is simply nothing happening. Although the Atlantic season begins on June 1, it starts slowly, with maybe a storm here or there in June, and often a quiet July before the deep tropics get rolling in August. Typically about half of all activity occurs in the 14 weeks prior to September 10, and then in a mad, headlong rush the vast majority of the remaining storms spin up before the end of October.

While it is still entirely possible that the Atlantic basin—which includes the Atlantic Ocean, Gulf of Mexico, and Caribbean Sea—produces a madcap finish, we’re just not seeing any signs of it right now.

https://arstechnica.com/science/2022/09/this-should-be-the-absolute-peak-of-hurricane-season-but-its-dead-quiet-out-there/

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