Giant Holes In The Ground

Look at these photographs:

http://deputy-dog.com/2007/09/09/7-amazing-holes/

There Is A Lava-Spewing Volcano Under Ice Sheets Of Antarctica

Volcano Eruption Under Antarctica Ice Sheet Confirmed

Under Ice Volcano Found In Antarctica

Massive Volcano Beneath Antarctic Ice

Ancient Global Dimming Linked To Volcanic Eruption

Scientists Seek Climate Clues On Antarctic Voyage

King Penguins At Risk

Do You Think The Threat Of Global Warming Will Breathe Life Into The Post-Apocalyptic Genre?

536 AD And All That

No ‘Consensus’ On Climate

Climate Meltdown Isn’t Happening…

***Scientists set off on a voyage to Antarctica to see if the icesheets at the edge of the vast continent are melting faster and whether the Southern Ocean is soaking up less climate-warming carbon dioxide. I dont think cold turkey on fossil fuel is even remotely feasible within a 30-50 year span, but Gore wasnt advocating that - rather a whole series of small measures which together bring down CO2. You can use your votes to live in a pretend-world where global warming isnt happening but that wont stop temperatures rising. Can we put your country down for say 2 million refugees? You think anti-CO2 measures will cause instability but that nothing on what climate change will bring. Oh, and every natural cycle is still working bringing ups and downs with it. Will you scream global warming has stopped with cycle or look at the long term trend? Note also the prediction that 2007, 2008 would be steady (and thats without the La Nina).  Those in disbelief of mankind caused global warming do NOT want pollution and would love to some day have an alternate means of energy. However, we are not Chicken Little that goes around panicking because a glacier is melting or the climate is naturally changing in certain areas. We hate smog as much as the hippies, but would rather a reasonable and practical solution to problems be given, not something that removes our freedoms or ruins our economy. We also believe until that solution is found, we should make the best efforts to continue scientific research to improve and clean up OIL use, AND for God’s sake drill for oil that sits in abundance right under our feet! We can then be free, and frankly, strong enough, financially, to Did you ever wonder why “Greenland” was named that? It’s a hunk of snow and ice right now. Yet, it used to be a warmer place that was green and fully capable of crop growing and supporting life, hence its name. There are so many aspects of the earths weather that can change situations and climate. The most powerful being the sun itself. The sun goes through periods of higher output and lower output. Water vapor, volcanoes, axis tilt, clouds, Earth’s magnetic field, ocean salinity, etc. etc. all contribute to climate, not just CO2 or methane. Real scientific study has found out that CO2 and methane levels change AFTER climate change and not before. You can’t just pick one or two variables out of a complex equation and plug them into a “Thanks for the reminders on the importance of skepticism. I hope you approach AGW with healthy skepticism, as I do. I did not come to accept AGW lightly. I first became aware of the issue in the late 80s and early 90s. At the time, the best science could do was predict warming with a 50% probability. I remained a skeptic, fence sitter, and data watcher for the next 12 years. It is only in the last 3 or so years that I have come to find the evidence compelling. I do still ask with every piece of data that comes if we are seeing a streak that will end soon or the beginning of a long term trend. I still ask what would I expect the data to look like if AGW is in effect and what would I expect the data to look like if it is not. Observational data seems to indicate warming over the last century. The correlation with with ghg is striking, but insufficient without a mechanism. The mechanism has been known since Arrhenius at the turn of the last century and has been replicated in the lab. The models seem to reasonably reconstruct past climate and so might provide reasonable predictions going forward. Still, I sat on the fence. It was the predictions that began to win me over. The patterns of temperature rise - not so much an increase in daytime highs, but higher nighttime lows. The patterns of precipitation - for our region snowfall starting later in the fall and melting earlier in the spring***

[01]
http://xthsee.multiply.com/journal/item/204/Is_Al_Gore_going_to_blame_this_on_global_warming_or_YOU_
[02]
http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1712667_1533032,00.html
[03]
http://homelessonthehighdesert.wordpress.com/2008/03/26/climate-meltdown-isnt-happening-31/
[04]
http://uk.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUKSP273620080322
[05]
http://hjnews.townnews.com/articles/2008/03/20/opinion/letters_to_the_editor/letter01.txt
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http://ve3d.ign.com/articles/news/37214/In-Other-News
[07]
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/03/080319-global-dimming.html
[08]
http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2008/03/536-ad-and-all-that/
[09]
http://arstechnica.com/journals/science.ars/2008/02/03/under-ice-volcano-found-in-antarctica
[10]
http://www.financialexpress.com/news/There-is-a-lavaspewing-volcano-under-ice-sheets-of-Antarctica/264896/
[11]
http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/node/1810
[12]
http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90781/90879/6342042.html

China Corn Harvest May Be Smaller Than Estimated After Drought

China, the world’s second-largest corn producer, harvested 5.5 percent less than previously forecast because of a drought from May to July in northeastern provinces, the U.S. Foreign Agricultural Service said. Production fell to 137 million metric tons in the marketing year that began Oct. 1, compared with a February estimate of 145 million by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. embassy economists in Beijing said today in a report. Output dropped from 145.5 million tons in 2006, even after the number of acres planted last year increased by 3.8 percent, the embassy said. “The weather patterns in 2007 were not favorable for corn growth, in particular during the pollination period,” embassy economists Jorge Sanchez and Jiang Junyang said in today’s report. “Excessively high temperatures and dryness harmed the crop’s development, thus affecting the yield and quality of the grains.” The Chinese government’s official production estimate of 148 million tons is inflated, based on field surveys and samples of the crop, the economists said. This year’s Chinese harvest may increase to 142 million tons because farmers may boost planting to 28.2 million hectares from 28 million after corn prices jumped to a record, the U.S. economists said in the report. Improved seed quality, better management, increased irrigation and normal weather should helped to boost average yields this year, they said. Declining Demand. Corn consumption will fall more than previously expected, mostly because of China’s diminished hog herd after disease ravaged the industry, they said in the report. China is the world’s largest hog and pork producer. Demand for corn in the marketing year that began Oct. 1 will fall to 138 million tons, or 6.8 percent less than a prior USDA forecast of 148 million, the economists said. Increased efficiencies in meat production have also reduced demand for feed corn per unit of meat output, they said. “Swine diseases and high prices for feed ingredients combined to drive small household swine farms out of business,” Sanchez and Jiang said. “In the previous marketing years, household farms were estimated to contribute to about 75 percent of total swine production, and pork production is estimated to account for 60 percent of China’s total meat production.” Reserve inventories of corn were increased to 36.8 million tons, or 29 percent larger than last month’s official USDA forecast of 28.6 million, the economists said. Corn supplies before the harvest in 2009 are forecast to fall 3.7 percent to 35.4 million. Corn futures for May delivery rose 12.5 cents, or 2.3 percent, to $5.67 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade, after earlier rising 3.6 percent to a record $5.7425. Corn has gained 33 percent in the past year on demand for grain-based ethanol and livestock feed. Wheat Outlook. China wheat production in the marketing year that begins July 1 will fall 0.9 percent to 105 million metric tons from 106 million harvested last year, the economists said. Production in 2006 was 104.5 million tons. Wheat reserves before the 2009 harvest are forecast to rise to 42.7 million tons from 40.132 million forecast at the end of June this year, the economists said. Last month the USDA forecast Chinese wheat inventories on July 1 would rise to 39.1 million tons from an estimated 36 million a year earlier. Wheat futures for May delivery rose 17.5 cents, or 1.6 percent, to $11.05 a bushel in Chicago, the biggest gain since Feb. 27. The price is up 25 percent this year and reached a record $13.495 on Feb. 27 on speculation farmers wouldn’t produce enough to meet global demand.

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http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601080&sid=aNaVoxN9BZCw&refer=asia
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http://cryptogon.com/?p=2150
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http://www.wzzm13.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=88485
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http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/business/s/1039301_wheat_hikes_hurt_premier?rss=yes?rss=yes
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http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0305/p99s01-duts.html
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http://www.nationalledger.com/artman/publish/article_272619238.shtml
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http://www.ashleycountyledger.com/articles/2008/03/05/news/h16f076qd.txt
[8]
http://preciouskingdom.blogspot.com/2008/02/snowstorms-in-china-may-have-damaged.html

Arctic Meltdown — The Economic and Security Implications of Global Warming

……Summary: Thanks to global warming, the Arctic icecap is rapidly melting, opening up access to massive natural resources and creating shipping shortcuts that could save billions of dollars a year. But there are currently no clear rules governing this economically and strategically vital region. Unless Washington leads the way toward a multilateral diplomatic solution, the Arctic could descend into armed conflict. The Arctic Ocean is melting, and it is melting fast. This past summer, the area covered by sea ice shrank by more than one million square miles, reducing the Arctic icecap to only half the size it was 50 years ago. For the first time, the Northwest Passage — a fabled sea route to Asia that European explorers sought in vain for centuries — opened for shipping. Even if the international community manages to slow the pace of climate change immediately and dramatically, a certain amount of warming is irreversible. It is no longer a matter of if, but when, the Arctic Ocean will open to regular marine transportation and exploration of its lucrative natural-resource deposits. Global warming has given birth to a new scramble for territory and resources among the five Arctic powers. Russia was the first to stake its claim in this great Arctic gold rush, in 2001. Moscow submitted a claim to the United Nations for 460,000 square miles of resource-rich Arctic waters, an area roughly the size of the states of California, Indiana, and Texas combined. The UN rejected this ambitious annexation, but last August the Kremlin nevertheless dispatched a nuclear-powered icebreaker and two submarines to plant its flag on the North Pole’s sea floor. Days later, the Russians provocatively ordered strategic bomber flights over the Arctic Ocean for the first time since the Cold War. Not to be outdone, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced funding for new Arctic naval patrol vessels, a new deep-water port, and a cold-weather training center along the Northwest Passage. Denmark and Norway, which control Greenland and the Svalbard Islands, respectively, are also anxious to establish their claims. The Arctic has always experienced cooling and warming, but the current melt defies any historical comparison. It is dramatic, abrupt, and directly correlated with industrial emissions of greenhouse gases. In Alaska and western Canada, average winter temperatures have increased by as much as seven degrees Fahrenheit in the past 60 years. The results of global warming in the Arctic are far more dramatic than elsewhere due to the sharper angle at which the sun’s rays strike the polar region during summer and because the retreating sea ice is turning into open water, which absorbs far more solar radiation. This dynamic is creating a vicious melting cycle known as the ice-albedo feedback loop. The environmental impact of the melting Arctic has been dramatic. Polar bears are becoming an endangered species, fish never before found in the Arctic are migrating to its warming waters, and thawing tundra is being replaced with temperate forests. Greenland is experiencing a farming boom, as once-barren soil now yields broccoli, hay, and potatoes. Less ice also means increased access to Arctic fish, timber, and minerals, such as lead, magnesium, nickel, and zinc — not to mention immense freshwater reserves, which could become increasingly valuable in a warming world. If the Arctic is the barometer by which to measure the earth’s health, these symptoms point to a very sick planet indeed……

http://www.foreignaffairs.org/20080301faessay87206/scott-g-borgerson/arctic-meltdown.html