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Antarctica’s Record Heat Wave Brings Temps 50°F Above Normal

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05 Aug, 2024

This post was originally published on Eco Watch

Far above Earth’s poles, swirling in the frigid stratosphere, are the polar vortexes: massive, freezing whirlwinds that strengthen in the winter and weaken in the summer. Right now, despite being in the dead of winter, Antarctica’s vortex is undergoing an unprecedented weakening, causing a massive heat wave across the continent.

“This heat wave is a near-record (or record) event for the region of Antarctica it’s having the biggest impact on,” Edward Blanchard, an atmospheric scientist at the University of Washington, told The Washington Post in an email. 

Antarctica’s vortex has weakened significantly in July, causing temperatures on massive swathes of the continent to soar to more than 50 degrees (10°C) above normal levels while pushing massive amounts of freezing air toward the equator. 

These vortex weakenings are usually caused when warm air very quickly rises to the top of the vortex, destabilizing it.

Amy Butler, an atmospheric scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, told The Washington Post that atmospheric waves have jostled the vortex this year, leading to high-altitude temperatures to soar in a sudden stratospheric warming (SSW) event.

This year’s Antarctic SSW is already leading to unusually cold temperatures in the southern hemisphere, with Australia, New Zealand and the Southern Cone of South America experiencing unusual cold fronts. SSWs may not be the only factor in the vortexes destabilizing, however. Earth has seen record high temperatures since July, which scientists believe may have been a factor here. Antarctica has been warming twice as fast as the rest of the planet, according to a 2023 article in the journal Nature, as The Washington Post reported.

SSWs can have immense consequences on their respective hemispheres. In January 2014, an SSW led to a harsh winter in the U.S., causing subzero temperatures in multiple states. 2021’s SSW was particularly brutal, leading to a devastating winter when much of the continental U.S. saw temperatures dip well below zero and during which most of Texas’ electrical grid infamously went dark.

There’s typically a delayed effect between an SSW and colder weather farther from the poles, which can take up to a month. With the Antarctic’s record-high temperatures and SSW continuing, it’s hard to say to what extent this will have on conditions in the southern hemisphere or how far toward the equator areas will be affected in the coming weeks.

The United States’ extremely cold winter in 2021. NOAA

Michael Dukes, director of forecasting at MetDesk, told The Guardian that most scientists have thought that the most significant effects of human-caused climate change would happen at the poles. “This is a great example of that,” he said. “In Antarctica generally that kind of warming in the winter and continuing in to summer months can lead to collapsing of the ice sheets,” he added.

The post Antarctica’s Record Heat Wave Brings Temps 50°F Above Normal appeared first on EcoWatch.

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Land water loss causes sea level rise in 21st century

Land water loss causes sea level rise in 21st century

An international team of scientists, led jointly by The University of Melbourne and Seoul National University, has found global water storage on land has plummeted since the start of the 21st century, overtaking glacier melt as the leading cause of sea level rise and measurably shifting the Earth’s pole of rotation.

Published in Science, the research combined global soil moisture data estimated by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecast (ECMWF) Reanalysis v5 (ERA5), global mean sea level measurements and observations of Earth’s pole movement in order to estimate changes in terrestrial (land) water storage (TWS) from 1979 to 2016.

“The study raises critical questions about the main drivers of declining water storage on land and whether global lands will continue to become drier,” University of Melbourne author Professor Dongryeol Ryu said.

“Water constantly cycles between land and oceans, but the current rate of water loss from land is outpacing its replenishment. This is potentially irreversible because it’s unlikely this trend will reverse if global temperatures and evaporative demand continue to rise at their current rates. Without substantial changes in climate patterns, the imbalance in the water cycle is likely to persist, leading to a net loss of water from land to oceans over time.”

Between 2000 and 2002, soil moisture decreased by around 1614 gigatonnes (1 Gt equals 1 km3 of water) — nearly double Greenland’s ice loss of about 900 Gt in 2002–2006. From 2003 to 2016, soil moisture depletion continued, with an additional 1009 Gt lost.

Soil moisture had not recovered as of 2021, with little likelihood of recovery under present climate conditions. The authors say this decline is corroborated by independent observations of global mean sea level rise (~4.4 mm) and Earth’s polar shift (~45 cm in 2003–2012).

Water loss was most pronounced across East and Central Asia, Central Africa, and North and South America. In Australia, the growing depletion has impacted parts of Western Australia and south-eastern Australia, including western Victoria, although the Northern Territory and Queensland saw a small replenishment of soil moisture.

Image credit: iStock.com/ZU_09

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