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Ch. 10: Strange weather

Posted: Tue Jun 16, 2020 6:36 pm
by Chris OConnor
A Farewell to Ice: A Report from the Arctic
by Peter Wadhams


Please use this thread to discuss Ch. 10: Strange weather.

Re: Ch. 10: Strange weather

Posted: Mon Oct 05, 2020 9:53 pm
by Robert Tulip
The extremely cold northern winters of recent years have been caused by disruption of the jet stream, possibly caused by melting of summer sea ice at the North Pole.

There is a sharp boundary between polar weather and tropical weather, at the collision zone known as the Polar Front. The jet stream meanders along the polar front, with high level winds up to 200 miles per hour. In recent years the jet stream path has slowed and become far less direct, transferring heat from south to north, another warming feedback process, while also generating blocking weather events that disrupt normal rain and snow patterns.

Recognising the need for scientific caution in extrapolating from short term weather trends, Wadhams notes that different scientists have their own pet theories on the likely causal relations between sea ice melt and global climate. In any event, the rise of extreme and unpredictable weather, such as stronger hurricanes, droughts and floods, is bad for agricultural production.

Some articles are at
https://www.carbonbrief.org/jet-stream- ... her-events
https://www.carbonbrief.org/how-a-warme ... in-britain
https://www.carbonbrief.org/scientists- ... re-winters
https://www.livescience.com/climate-cha ... onger.html