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ScienceDaily (Feb. 20, 2012) — Thawing permafrost will have far-reaching ramifications for populated areas, infrastructure and ecosystems. A geographer from the University of Zurich reveals where it is important to confront the issue based on new permafrost maps -- the most precise global maps around. They depict the global distribution of permafrost in high-resolution images and are available on Google Earth.
Global permafrost zones in high-resolution images on Google Earth
Seeded on Tue Feb 21, 2012 11:50 AM EST
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Great find, CO Bob - and a very interesting piece of research.
I'll probably be playing with Google Earth for a while. Thanks.
- 1 vote
#1 - Tue Feb 21, 2012 12:50 PM ESTPR -
Peat fires could accelerate climate change
http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Peat_fires_could_accelerate_climate_change_999.html
For example, in 2007, Alaska's Anaktuvuk River region experienced a "tundra fire" fuelled by peat that covered 1,000 square kilometres. Until then, fire had largely been absent from the tundra since the Holocene epoch-12,000 years ago.
- 1 vote
And then there are the volcano's part in the climate of the earth which we must always figure into the forecasts:
El Chichon. Although the 1980 eruption of Mt. St. Helens lowered global temperatures by 0.1OC, the much smaller eruption of El Chichon lowered global temperatures three to five times as much. Although the Mt. St. Helens blast emitted a greater amount of ash in the stratosphere, the El Chichon eruption emitted a much greater volume of sulfur-rich gases (40x more). It appears that the volume of pyroclastic debris emitted during a blast is not the best criteria to measure its effects on the atmosphere. The amount of sulfur-rich gases appears to be more important. Sulfur combines with water vapor in the stratosphere to form dense clouds of tiny sulfuric acid droplets. These droplets take several years to settle out and they are capable to decreasing the troposphere temperatures because they absorb solar radiation and scatter it back to space
- 1 vote
#2 - Tue Feb 21, 2012 1:02 PM ESTVolcanoes definitely play a role in the planet's climate, mstanley. They always have.
But figuring them into forecasts would be a bit tricky. Outside of flipping a coin, I don't know how one would predict when, where, or how big a contribution volcanoes will make in 2050. It's exactly for reasons like those that climate predictions are given as a range, not a number.
- 1 vote
yep, I know but they can't leave them out either. Some of them are getting Very ActiveEl Chinchon was thought to be a 'dead' volcano, till it blew up in 1982. The geologists etc have been mapping the volcanos a Lot closer since then. ...And then the biggie's too the caldera's are always interesting to watch.
Yellowstone has had more earthquake tremors past couple of years. There was a 3 last week 2/16 close to it. I'm still betting on the Dendi one going first though.
- 1 vote
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