December 25, 2012 – CLIMATE – …Jim Palmer, professor of climate physics at Oxford University, told AFP the weather extremes are explained by the northern hemisphere “jet stream,” a ribbon of air that speeds around the planet high up in the atmosphere. The stream is akin to a length of rope “that you wiggle a bit,” said Palmer — its undulations differing from year to year. This winter the jet stream is particularly wavy, pulling cold air in over Russia from the far north, and bringing hotter air up from the south over France and its neighbors. “The question: Is the waviness and the unusual configuration of the jet stream the result of climate change? We don’t know. The models are probably not quite good enough to tell us,” said Palmer, though there was “some evidence” this may be the case. -TD
When the ice melts, the Earth spews fire December 24, 2012
December 24, 2012 – GEOLOGY - It has long been known that volcanic activity can cause short-term variations in climate. Now, researchers at the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel (Germany), together with colleagues from Harvard University (Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA) have found evidence that the reverse process also occurs: Climate affects volcanic activity. Their study is now online in the international journal Geology.
…The periods of high volcanic activity followed fast, global temperature increases and associated rapid ice melting. To expand the scope of the discoveries, Dr. Kutterolf and his colleagues studied other cores from the entire Pacific region. These cores had been collected as part of the International Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) and its predecessor programs. …“In times of global warming, the glaciers are melting on the continents relatively quickly. At the same time the sea level rises. The weight on the continents decreases, while the weight on the oceanic tectonic plates increases. Thus, the stress changes within in the earth to open more routes for ascending magma” says Dr. Jegen. …The next step is to investigate shorter-term historical variations to better understand implications for the present day. –Space Daily
aNNa’S FiNaL NoTe: This is what I keep telling people, that they’re not getting. Only I didn’t have the kewl graphics Extinction Protocol cut/copied from other sources. So I cut/copied them from EP. For you. Merry Day-After.
