“It is abundantly clear that climate disruption is happening now and everywhere,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned earlier this month. “Every week brings us news of more climate-related devastation. And climate impacts are only going to increase in severity and frequency.”

https://www.news.com.au/technology/environment/climate-change/in-for-a-roasting-australia-on-brink-of-apocalyptic-conditions/news-story/73d731e4a07f6b9c39b18897faa0e085


Quote:

‘In for a roasting’: Australia ‘on brink’ of ‘apocalyptic’ conditions Something strange is happening in the air above Antarctica that hasn’t happened since 1992 — and it has dire consequences for Australia. Jamie Seidel news.com.auSEPTEMBER 11, 20199:35AM The Arctic is on fire. Now, Antarctica is suddenly experiencing a heatwave. And that means a looming rainfall apocalypse for Australia. According to a recent report by senior researchers from the Australian Bureau of Meteorology, we’re in for higher than normal spring temperatures. And less rain. It’s all because of record warm temperatures in the air swirling above Antarctica. It’s producing a domino effect. The stratospheric “polar vortex” has been disrupted. It could even reverse direction. It’s pushing stormy Southern Ocean wind streams over Tasmania, New Zealand’s South Island and South America’s Patagonia. This is away from its regular route over the Australian mainland. And that means NSW and southern Queensland — already in parts devastated by bushfires so early in the season — are set to face worsening conditions and an even more catastrophic bushfire season. SUDDEN STRATOSPHERIC WARMING “The warming began in the last week of August when temperatures in the stratosphere high above the South Pole began rapidly heating,” the article published in The Conversation reads. Four senior Bureau of Meteorology forecasters compiled it. “Thanks to improvements in modelling and the Bureau’s new supercomputer, these types of events can be forecast better than ever before.” It foresees a looming stronger-than-usual melt of sea ice. It foresees a shift in the typical wind temperatures and patterns coming off the Antarctic continent. “In the coming weeks the warming is forecast to intensify, and its effects will extend downward to earth’s surface, affecting much of eastern Australia over the coming months,” the forecasters warn. It is likely to be the most severe Antarctic warming event on record. The previous highest Antarctic air temperatures were in September 2002. These resulted in Australia’s fourth driest winter on record, with spring-autumn mean-maximum temperatures the highest “by considerable margins”. This year is shaping up to be worse than 2002. Picture: BOM WORLD OF FIRE This year has been unprecedented in the northern hemisphere. Wildfires have swept through the Arctic, burning large swathes of Canada, Norway, Sweden and Siberian Russia. These are regions packed full of fuel — from dense forests through to ancient peat bogs. Usually, it doesn’t burn because it’s frozen or wet. But year after year of warming temperatures have dried out growing patches. “The north is a big tinderbox, but it’s been limited from burning by the climate,” Merritt Turetsky at the University of Guelph in Canada told New Scientist. “If you remove those climatic constraints, all those fuels are ready to go.” And it’s adding to a warming feedback loop. Fires are killing the vegetation. That exposes the permafrost below to the sun’s heat. And that releases the carbon dioxide and methane within. Both gases then serve to trap even more heat in the atmosphere, further accelerating the feedback loop. Antarctica has no such forests. But the extent of its sea ice determines the temperature and course of ocean currents and winds. As the ice retreats, those long-establish flows weaken and shift. “It is abundantly clear that climate disruption is happening now and everywhere,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned earlier this month. “Every week brings us news of more climate-related devastation. And climate impacts are only going to increase in severity and frequency.” POLAR FALLOUT The Antarctic is the engine room of the southern hemisphere’s climate. Every winter, westerly winds begin to swirl at speeds of up to 200km/h high above the South Pole. The mechanics are relatively simple. It’s cold above the pole, which is experiencing months of darkness. But the Southern Ocean is still being warmed by the sun. And, as the sun begins its southward march with the onset of spring, the polar vortex is gradually weakened. “However, in some years this breakdown can happen faster than usual,” the meteorologists write. In such instances, unusually hot air intrudes over Antarctica — disrupting the temperature mix producing the high-speed westerly winds. “Very rarely, if the waves are strong enough they can rapidly break down the polar vortex, actually reversing the direction of the winds so they become easterly,” the article continues. The only time this has been seen to happen was September 2002. It’s on the brink of happening again. “Impacts from this stratospheric warming are likely to reach earth’s surface in the next month and possibly extend through to January,” the meteorologists warn. And that means even less rainfall ...

Oh noes. Guteres is now a climate scientist? And he is afraid for the planet?

He must be flying in gliders now. ;D ;D ;D ;D

Planes are so passé. ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D


Laugh till you cry wrote on Sep 12^th, 2019 at 9:11am:

The Arctic is on fire.

Wot? All of it? ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

lee wrote on Sep 12^th, 2019 at 3:07pm:

Oh noes. Guteres is now a climate scientist? And he is afraid for the planet? He must be flying in gliders now. ;D ;D ;D ;D Planes are so passé. ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D Laugh till you cry wrote on Sep 12th, 2019 at 9:11am: The Arctic is on fire. Wot? All of it? ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

Why take LTYC to task over that.  He did not say it.  Some wank journalist did.

Aussie wrote on Sep 12^th, 2019 at 3:16pm:

Why take LTYC to task over that.  He did not say it.  Some wank journalist did.

And he mindlessly repeated it. ;)

lee wrote on Sep 12^th, 2019 at 3:32pm:

Aussie wrote on Sep 12th, 2019 at 3:16pm: Why take LTYC to task over that.  He did not say it.  Some wank journalist did.       And he mindlessly repeated it. ;)

Nope...he quoted his source......in full.  Schmedia crap followed by what the UN bloke said.

Ya see Lee, that is what you do.....seize on some dumbarse thing which is totally irrelevant to the point, highlight it, dramatise it, and down hill the topic goes, Petal.   ;) ;) ;) ;)

LTYC - do you agree that we've had extreme hot and cold events?

Do you agree that Australia is a land of droughts and flooding rains?

Areas of vegetation in the arctic have a layer of decaying vegetation called muskeg which slowly converts to peat over hundreds of years. This muskeg is drying out and is highly combustible when ignited and in fact keeps burning below it's surface long after the trees above it are no longer on fire after the fire has passed.

The muskeg keeps burning at the interface with the soil after surface fire is extinguished.

That is why fires in Canada have often been hard to extinguish.

Similar fires have been experienced in Australia where there are dried layers of cattle dung.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/rural/2019-02-13/why-is-the-ground-burning-on-an-outback-nt-cattle-station/10802676

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PC3y4_1UsOA

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/here-s-how-wildfires-can-burn-underground-for-months-or-even-years-1.5111276


Quote:

Here's how wildfires can burn underground for months or even years Bethany Lindsay · CBC News · Posted: Apr 27, 2019 6:00 AM PT | Last Updated: April 28 Underground fires can smoulder through the winter and reappear again the next spring. (Wil Fundal/CBC News) For months, remnants of last summer's destructive Alkali Lake wildfire have been smouldering underground in northwestern B.C. Now that spring has come, they're coming out of hibernation, flaming up to the surface. A handful of small wildfires have popped up in recent weeks, growing to cover up to 5,000 square metres. These subterranean blazes, known as ground fires, are tricky to manage, but they're not uncommon and they're especially prevalent in areas with lots of organic material in the soil, according to fire ecologist Robert Gray. "You need a combination of very deep ground fuel — that means duff and litter and roots and buried logs — and then you need drought conditions," Gray told CBC. "If you have that combination, then you have fires that can get into that deep, deep, dried organic material, and with just a little bit of oxygen they can hang on for years." Wildfire emerges from hibernation near Telegraph Creek, B.C. When this happens, it's because there are just enough tiny spaces in the soil and between pieces of wood material to hold oxygen and keep the combustion going. These fires can smoulder metres below the surface, like the recent peat fires in the U.K. It can happen even if there's a layer of snow on the ground above — the snow acts as an insulator for the fire, Gray said — but it'll melt if there's enough heat being generated below. This fire behaviour is why the devastating Fort McMurray wildfire that started in the spring of 2016 wasn't fully extinguished until the summer of 2017. Firefighters watching for flare-ups The B.C. Wildfire Service has now stationed a small crew of firefighters in Dease Lake to monitor for new flare-ups from last summer's fire near Telegraph Creek, and keep them under control. The wildfire destroyed 27 buildings in the tiny community of Telegraph Creek last year, but thankfully the flare-ups this year have been at least four kilometres from human habitation, according to fire information Carolyn Bartos. Bartos said the wildfire service monitors previous fire sites through the winter by using infrared scanners and overhead flights to search for smoke or flames — and that activity will continue until the fire is fully suppressed. "I've heard some reports that there has been smoke detected throughout the winter," she said of the Alkali Lake fire. When wildfires burrow underground, there's not much crews can do to manage them apart from watching and waiting for them to burn themselves out, according to Gray. 'Not even close to enough': After 15 years of warnings, B.C. far behind on wildfire prevention "There's a safety element to these things, because they are burning underground. The surface can cave in if it's deep," he said. "Even if it's only a metre deep underground, if you step anywhere close to it, you can get third-degree burns if you wind up in what we call an ash pit." The good news is that underground fires smoulder over relatively small areas compared to wildfires at the surface. 'It blows my mind': How B.C. destroys a key natural wildfire defence every year But as the climate continues to change, there's a growing likelihood that vestiges of one summer's wildfires will wait out the winter underground and appear again the next year. "Longer fire seasons, drier conditions, less precipitation — those are going to exacerbate drought conditions, so there's definitely a climate change signal for that," Gray said.

Aussie wrote on Sep 12^th, 2019 at 3:38pm:

Nope...he quoted his source......in full.  Schmedia crap followed by what the UN bloke said.

Yes. he did.


Aussie wrote on Sep 12^th, 2019 at 3:38pm:

Ya see Lee, that is what you do.....seize on some dumbarse thing which is totally irrelevant to the point, highlight it, dramatise it, and down hill the topic goes, Petal.

Poor petal so Arctic fires are completely irrelevant? ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

But never mind petal, I am sure you took something extremely relevant from it - like his interminable plane trips with his large carbon footprint. But it is always someone else's fault. or perhaps his neighbours cat; for the emissions. ;)

Laugh till you cry wrote on Sep 12^th, 2019 at 4:19pm:

Areas of vegetation in the arctic have a layer of decaying vegetation called muskeg which slowly converts to peat over hundreds of years. This muskeg is drying out and is highly combustible when ignited and in fact keeps burning below it's surface long after the trees above it are no longer on fire after the fire has passed. The muskeg keeps burning at the interface with the soil after surface fire is extinguished. That is why fires in Canada have often been hard to extinguish.

And since well before the whiteman.
Laugh till you cry wrote on Sep 12^th, 2019 at 4:19pm:

Similar fires have been experienced in Australia where there are dried layers of cattle dung.

Yes must be hundreds of feet thick. ;) Those lazy arsed dung beetles are to blame.

I took nothing relevant from it...other than to highlight your cling on crap, Petal.   ;)

Aussie wrote on Sep 12^th, 2019 at 5:19pm:

I took nothing relevant from it...

Because there was nothing of relevance there.

You finally got the point petal. ;)

lee wrote on Sep 12^th, 2019 at 7:03pm:

Aussie wrote on Sep 12th, 2019 at 5:19pm: I took nothing relevant from it... Because there was nothing of relevance there. You finally got the point petal. ;)

lee declares itself irrelevant? Superfluous? Extraneous?

.

---