80 million Olympic swimming pools
Greenland’s ice sheet lost 11 billion tons of surface ice in one day. July is on pace to become the hottest month ever recorded. Wildfires are raging across the Arctic.
We are already feeling the effects of the climate emergency. But Trump and Republicans in Congress refuse to even acknowledge the basic science of this crisis, much less take action to address it. The oil and gas industry donated almost $24 million to Republican candidates last election cycle — and they’re getting their money’s worth.
He was linking to CNN:
After months of record temperatures, scientists say Greenland’s ice sheet experienced its biggest melt of the summer on Thursday, losing 11 billion tons of surface ice to the ocean — equivalent to 4.4 million Olympic swimming pools.
Granted we don’t know how many tons of surface ice Greenland normally loses on an August day.
This July alone, Greenland’s ice sheet lost 197 billion tons of ice — the equivalent of around 80 million Olympic swimming pools — according to Mottram. She told CNN the expected average would be between 60-70 billion tons at this time of year.
60-70 billion tons for the whole summer, for July, what?
Not clear, but it’s a lot, and it’s not a good trend. Meanwhile Trump is busy stirring up racists day in and day out.
I can understand corruption. I can understand why and how it works. I don’t know what my personal price would be. It’s never come up and, given my profession, is very unlikely to ever do so. What I don’t get is how cheaply US politicians sell themselves. I really don’t. 24 million spread over dozens or hundreds of politicians in exchange for fucking the world? That’s the unbelievable part, that these people are such cheap rubes.
oil and gas industry donated almost $24 million
Quite apart from everything else it seems sad how little that is compared to what is at stake. Like knifing somebody in the back to walk away with ten dollars.
Related, I don’t think the article’s conversion from billions of tons to millions of swimming pools adds any clarity. It’s a heck of a lot of water.
Global Mean Sea Level (GMSL) Rates
CU: 3.3 ± 0.4 mm/yr
AVISO: 3.3 ± 0.6 mm/yr
CSIRO: 3.3 ± 0.4 mm/yr
NASA GSFC: 3.2 ± 0.4 mm/yr
NOAA: 3.2 ± 0.4 mm/yr (w/ GIA)
http://sealevel.colorado.edu/
The arithmetic: 3.3 ± 0.4 mm/yr (CSIRO) ~ 33mm/decade (= 3.3 cm/decade ~ 33 ± 4 cm/century ~ 330 cm/1,000 yrs: ie 3.3 metres/1,000 yrs ~ 33 metres/10,000 yrs. And that is without the great hunk of Antarctica’s Totten Glacier slowly but steadily sliding into the sea, and also that the rate of sea-level rise does not change; which is on the face of it, unlikely.
So how long before the audience needs scuba gear in order to attend a performance of The Pearl Fishers by Bizet at Sydney Opera House? Or before enthusiasts can ride their surfboards right through the Piazza del San Marco in Venice? (No need for gondolas then.)
Sackbut @ 3, no, true. It made a catchy title but it’s a silly comparison.
A million metric tons of water is a cube 100 meters on a side. (Source: http://flash.esva.net/bigthings.htm) Frozen, it will be a bit bigger.
So a billion tons, then is going to be a thousand times as big, so a cube 1000 meters on a side. So a cubic kilometer, if my math is right.
So our 11 billion tons is approximately 11 cubic kilometers.