Holy cow. Imagine the consequences of several heavily populated nations suffering widespread floods, droughts and food and energy shortages: Hard to comprehend the scale of the flood disaster in Pakistan, the 5th most populated nation in the world. Nearly 1400 dead, 1 million houses damaged or destroyed, and 50,000,000 people displaced. 1/3 of the country is underwater.pic.twitter.com/NFd15q3g7I— Colin McCarthy (@US_Stormwatch) August 30, 2022
Alternating with massive rainfall and flooding. That’s basically where we’re at in California, this past year we had record breaking rain and snowfall followed by months of extreme drought.
A study recently came out about the increased likelihood of a mega flood in California given climate change. For reference, there was a flood in the 1850’s that turned the entire Central Valley into a hundreds-miles-long lake, and afterwards the current city of Sacramento was basically built on top of the drowned ruins of the previous version. Given how much of the nation’s (and world’s) food supply comes from this region it really ain’t gonna be pretty if (when) it happens again, let alone for the millions of people now living there.
I was stationed near Jacobabad for a few months, I was just wandering if it was one of the cities affected. I guess that it does not matter then.
Yup. At the moment, we are #3. But we will soon be passed by Pakistan and Indonesia. And if you want to see some insane numbers, take a look at Bangladesh and their population per square mile/km.
Context Flooding in Yellowstone this year: Flooding in Pakistan, currently (or the past few days): https://www.npr.org/sections/pictureshow/2022/08/30/1119979965/pakistan-floods-monsoon-climate
All of this talk about Greenland icesheet melting and raising sea level by 1 ft is interesting but the impact it has on the Gulf Stream is huge. Basically interferes with the warm waters that flow north to sink and circulate back towards the Gulf. Eventually the Gulf Stream could stop and we will have just hot water sitting on top. Should be fun.
The importance of the Gulf Stream should not be understated. First, nutrients that are at the bottom of the ocean get pushed up and end up in feeding areas starting from Stellwagen National Marine Sanctuary area all the way to the Mediterranean. That is why the area is rich in fishing. This will be severely disrupted. The other part of that equation is that particular gyre keeps the UK warmer than Moscow or Quebec, which are similar in latitude. If things continue, little kids in Liverpool will be wearing ushankas in their old age. In South America, the Amazon rainforest will be either substantially drier or wetter.
The variability of outcomes is one of the most difficult things for dumbs to grasp about introducing chaos into a system. Then, the idea that order reemerges after major climate shifts or descents into chaos is cited sophomorically as rationalization/justification for the continued input of chaos, as if those events weren't all accompanied by things like mass extinction. Oh well.
My wife got her PhD in physical oceanography many years ago and used to go out on research vessels to get temp and salinity data in the gulf stream although most of her work was with estuaries.
Dumb question incoming... Since the Greenland ice sheet has been melting for hundreds of years (thousands, millions?), do we actually know that an increase in the rate of melting will block the Gulf Stream when the "natural" rate of it melting increased sea levels but had no adverse impacts on the Gulf Stream?