Global Warming Will Bring Violent Storms And Tornadoes, NASA Predicts
ScienceDaily (Aug. 31, 2007) —

NASA scientists have developed a new climate model that indicates that the most violent severe storms and tornadoes may become more common as Earth's climate warms.


Previous climate model studies have shown that heavy rainstorms will be more common in a warmer climate, but few global models have attempted to simulate the strength of updrafts in these storms. The model developed at NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies by researchers Tony Del Genio, Mao-Sung Yao, and Jeff Jonas is the first to successfully simulate the observed difference in strength between land and ocean storms and is the first to estimate how the strength will change in a warming climate, including "severe thunderstorms" that also occur with significant wind shear and produce damaging winds at the ground.

>>>

The central and eastern areas of the United States are especially prone to severe storms and thunderstorms that arise when strong updrafts combine with horizontal winds that become stronger at higher altitudes. This combination produces damaging horizontal and vertical winds and is a major source of weather-related casualties. In the warmer climate simulation there is a small class of the most extreme storms with both strong updrafts and strong horizontal winds at higher levels that occur more often, and thus the model suggests that the most violent severe storms and tornadoes may become more common with warming.

The prediction of stronger continental storms and more lightning in a warmer climate is a natural consequence of the tendency of land surfaces to warm more than oceans and for the freezing level to rise with warming to an altitude where lightning-producing updrafts are stronger. These features of global warming are common to all models, but this is the first climate model to explore the ramifications of the warming for thunderstorms.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/...


note: one thing that I wonder is this; the lower, mid troposphere is warming while the stratosphere is cooling (this was predicted in early climate models)
so would this not add to the strength of these systems given the temps difference alone - more turbulence, etc.?

Also, 2008 is on track to break all records if trends continue for number and strength of tornadoes. The number of fatalities has already broken previous records (just heard that last night on the Weather channel) even with far better warning systems in place. See details here:

http://www.spc.noaa.gov/climo/torn/monthly...

globally. Thought I'd throw this in because the global "cool-aid" is one of the deniers most used modes of disinformation these days.

Caveat being that global warming actually could cause another "ice age" by shutting down the Thermohaline circulation and/or AMOC (commonly called the "gulf stream") from all that melted ice in the Arctic.
North America has seen cooler temps because of a very strong la Nina which persisted longer than usual. It's beginning to wane now and we might see el Nino before long which will warm sea surface temps, create more extreme weather, etc.

Here's the latest graph for this last March and you can plainly see which areas of the globe are heating up the fastest.



Dr. Master's blog on Wunderground has an excellent explanation of the effects of la Nina, how it works and more.

http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMaste...

to reach their bloody limit of 275,000 seal pups!


May take weeks to finish small-boat hunt: sealers
April 21, 2008, CBC News

The last phase of the East Coast seal hunt could continue for another month, a sealing group says.

The hunt for longliners was halted over the weekend, but the small-boat hunt is still underway.

Frank Pinhorn, president of the Canadian Sealers' Association, said Monday that sealers in vessels less than 10 metres long still have about 100,000 seals left in their quota. The federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans set an overall quota of 275,000 harp seals in this year's hunt, including now-completed phases in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

"So, they should have a very good hunt, from now, say, to the middle of May, anyway."

Participation in the opening days of the hunt at the Front — the traditional name given to sealing waters off Newfoundland's northeast coast — was very low, partly because of low pelt prices and high fuel costs.

Pinhorn said that while many fishermen stayed home, some longliners were to take between 1,500 and 3,000 seals each.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/newfoundland-labr...


On the same day, ABC World News reports this:

Canada's seal hunt wraps up
Posted Mon Apr 21, 2008 7:19am AEST

Canada's Department of Fisheries and Oceans has officially closed the last and largest phase of the seal hunt off Newfoundland and Labrador.

Officials say participation for this year's hunt was low, mainly because of the high price of fuel and the low price of pelts, which were selling for about half of what they were a year ago.

Hunting conditions were far from ideal, with heavy sea ice and snow hampering the sealers.

At least three boats were abandoned over the past week because of ice, and nearly a dozen others required assistance from the Canadian Coast Guard.

Federal officials say only about 80 per cent of this year's quota of 275,000 seals were taken.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/04...

(I did email them, correcting their error and isn't it just like them to get the story backwards and totally incorrect!) ARRRGGGHHH..

How you can help:

Sign the Pledge at US Humane Society's website:

http://www.hsus.org/protect_seals.html

Sign the petition to the EU to let them know you want them to ban all seal products (which they intend to do before summer):

http://www.hsus.org/about_us/humane_societ...

It's Earth Day, let's stop this barbaric hunt!

and the ensuing loss if sea ice upon which these mother seals depend to give birth. Further, the Canadian DFO hasn't done a population survey since 2004. Also, their so called surveys are so shoddy and untrustworthy, that in fact, they have no idea of what the seal population is now.

Here's a report from the IFAW about observed conditions in 2007 after nearly 9 years of sea ice loss:

"The ice conditions this year are among the worst on record. Scientists have recorded below average ice conditions in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and off Newfoundland for the past nine out of 11 years. In 2002, 75% of harp seal pups born in the Gulf died due to lack of ice before the hunt even began. This year, the ice conditions appear to be even worse than in 2002 and scientists with IFAW are concerned that pup mortality will be extremely high.

“It’s highly likely that this year we could have close to 100% pup mortality in the Gulf of St. Lawrence due to the poor ice conditions caused by rising temperatures,” said Dr. David Lavigne, IFAW’s science adviser, who recently co-authored a report on the impacts of global warming on harp seals."
(more info at the link):
http://www.ifaw.org/ifaw/general/default.a...

There is another article from New Scientist about the threats to the Harp, Hooded seal populations due to global climate change. Remember that last year saw the least amount of sea ice in recorded history in the Arctic.

http://environment.newscientist.com/channe...

Seal predators which are Killer whales, Polar bears and Greenland sharks are declining too from the effects of global warming. Altogether, our oceans are dying for many reasons, not the least of which is overfishing and Canada's infamous poor management of their fisheries which have decimated Cod stock, etc.

Harp seals do consume the larger predators that feed on young Cod fish as well.
In a very sad irony, one scientist suggests that the rotting bodies of harp seal pups might be creating hypoxic conditions (lack of oxygen) in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, thereby causing deaths of thousands of Cod and other fish. Nearly half a million rotting bodies of dead seals thrown overboard could conceivable create such hypoxic events. See this link for details:

http://www.fisherycrisis.com/seals/hypoxia...

Lastly, it is dumb statements like yours that have turned the world against not only the Canadian harp seal hunt in particular but Canadian government policies and attitudes in general. Educate yourself!

in the St. Lawrence Seaway from studies I've recently read. That is for another post but it appears that much of the depletion of the Cod fish has been from hypoxic events (lack of oxygen) in the oceans in question. Part of this is due to global climate change but consider this; last year with the massive ice melt, there was nearly 100% mortality rate of Harp seal mortality because of the loss of sea ice. Add to that the rotting bodies of nearly a half million rotting seal corpses that take up oxygen to decompose (that is just one year's figure's estimates but does include thousands of wounded seal pups who die a long, painful death but manage to slip away from the hakipiks of the Sealers hits (I've recently seen a video that showed the sealer hitting a seal at least 10 times, yet the seal pup slithers off into icy water to die later on).

In the study at the link, it's well known by now that these rotting corpses can cause these hypoxic events which will kill Cod as well as many other species of fish. Study up and know that we humans are upsetting the oceans on a grand scale and we must stop before we are left eating the only source of food we can get............the Dandelions out of our lawns!!!

http://www.fisherycrisis.com/seals/hypoxia...

such a great idea, why are they too stupid to NOT do this?

snip from article at the link:


After experiencing first hand the beauty of the harp seal nursery, world-renowned photographer Nigel Barker joined The Humane Society of the United States in calling on the Canadian government to end the commercial slaughter of baby seals in favor of the more humane — and lucrative — eco-tourism industry.

Since Canada banned commercial whale hunting in the 1970's, the whale-watching industry has thrived and is now worth more than the commercial seal hunt.

"Years ago, the Canadian government successfully turned its commercial whale hunt into a multimillion-dollar whale-watching industry, and there is absolutely no reason the government cannot do the same with seals," said Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of The HSUS. "By continuing this appalling and inhumane hunt, the government is turning what should be an economic asset — the world's largest migration of these highly charismatic marine mammals — into a liability. The new economies of the major nations of the world will be built around sustainable and humane practices, not the reckless exploitation of wildlife and natural resources."

Barker said, "Witnessing hundreds of thousands of harp seals with their beautiful white coat pups in this awe-inspiring frozen landscape is enough to take even the most seasoned photojournalist's breath away. Of course, the thought of the impending slaughter with the use of clubs, sharp spikes and guns in only a few weeks' time shatters what should be a celebration of life and promise and instead fills you with dread and remorse for the inhumane way we treat our fellow animals."

http://www.hsus.org/press_and_publications...

since they've been lying about how the observers are treated for years.
I've seen footage from the Int. Humane Society's website, that showed how the Canadian coast guard went after them and would have rammed their boat, nearly did in one instance last year. Had the boat been larger and less maneuverable, they would have been hit or grazed.
I've also seen pictures of hunters taking aim with guns, right at the photographer/observers.

This is a barbaric business and it's been estimated that about 40% of the injured seals get away only to die in those waters.
It's simply time to stop these hunts. Rich women can wear something else beside seal fur coats.

http://www.harpseals.org/index.html

http://blog.stopthesealhunt.com /

Raw video from March 28, 2008 seal hunt (graphic):
http://blog.stopthesealhunt.com/2008/03/if...

Short videos from the US Humane Society about the hunt, the threats, etc:

http://video.hsus.org/?&fr_story=f5ffff9ad...

What you can do to stop the seal hunt:

http://www.all-creatures.org/alert/alert-2...

By now after all the years of Harp Seal hunts, we all must know how tragically brutal, savage and barbaric these hunts are. Within hours, this hunt will start again. The bludgeoning death of 12 day old to 2 month old Harp seals will be the reason for the season.

After years of fighting this senseless slaughter, the largest marine mammal hunt on earth, there's no end in sight. Fully 300,000+ Harp seal pups will die at the hands of Canadian fishermen whose yearly income is upped by a mere 5% for the fun of it.

Why? Because Prada, Gucci, Versaci, Dolce & Gabbana, all the folks who supply rich bitches with their vanity wares, are going to be hard at work to fashion coats, neckties, assorted goodies made from baby Harp seal pelts.

Their skinned bodies are left to rot in the Arctic ice, what's left of it.

Just in the past few moments, I heard that the Canadian government will NOT allow any observers this year. First time ever!
The US Humane Society has always been allowed to observe albeit to the great endangerment of life and limb as the hunters threaten them, chase them away, etc.

There are ways to help fight this Marine Mammal Holocaust. First off, start by boycotting Red Lobster Restaurant, Publix Market, two of the biggest buyers of Canadian seafood. Let them know why too.

This link will provide you with email contact information to many Canadian govt. people as well as detailing all the major brands of Canadian seafood products which you can boycott.

http://www.all-creatures.org/alert/alert-2...

Please send this to as many friends as you can.

Also, The IFAW (International Fund for Animal Welfare) has a website here that will update the events and also provides some very good but graphic videos about the slaughter.

http://blog.stopthesealhunt.com/campaign_u...

Also, the US Humane Society has a very great website with little videos easily viewed to show what and how it actually happens. Their first hand accounts are priceless and heartbreaking.

http://video.hsus.org/index.jsp?s&fct=true

Finally, I hope that with the many great souls here, we can be of one voice to somehow put an end to such an unspeakably horrific and bloody event this year.
May we all here work to that end~

I watched the whole testimony of the four scientists present and while I've studied global warming for many years, I found their testimony to be shocking. Given that I know about the American Petroleum Industry's attempts to manipulate news regarding the science and what we hear, including Exxonmobil's millions of dollars to insure climate skeptics are well funded, I had no idea how sweeping were the many actions of the Administration's "gatekeepers" to keep the truth from the public.

Especially chilling was the testimony of Dr. Shindell (NASA/Goddard), a leading climate scientist, as he explained how documents were watered down, wording changed, etc., before given to the press for publication.
One Philip Cooney, Chief of Staff of the White House "Council on Environmental Quality." More info. on this guy here:

A 2002 Exxon memo recently obtained by Greenpeace through FOIA coaches one of the President's top environmental advisers Philip Cooney, chief of staff at the White House Council on Environmental Quality on how to "improve" administration research on climate change by emphasizing "significant uncertainties" in the science. The New York Times later revealed that Cooney, a former lobbyist for the American Petroleum Institute which is generously funded by Exxon, made myriad changes to government climate studies designed to weaken their strong conclusions about the need to act on global warming. Typically Cooney would insert the words "significant and fundamental" before "uncertainties" in the reports. Cooney, a non scientist, helped suppress or alter several major taxpayer funded scientific studies on global warming including a decade-long study commissioned by this President's father. Cooney resigned two days after the Times broke the story. But don't feel badly. Within a week ExxonMobil announced it had hired him.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-f-ken...

All in all, after the scientists told of the massive manipulation of their works (paid for by US taxpayers), to hide the truth, it was enough to make a grown woman weep.