Have you ever drove through a pouring down "soupy rain" one evening, parked your car. And then rush out the next morning -- late for work -- only to find all your vehicle's windows "foggy and drippy" from the overnight Cold Front, that just passed through. I have.
Now were starting to see the same "contrasting" dynamics on a planetary scale. And if those differences in temperature get deep enough -- the foggy glass can even turn to doubly frosted, inside and out ...
The Climate Science Behind New England’s Historic Blizzard
by Joe Romm, thinkprogress.org/climate -- January 26, 2015
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Another epic blizzard is bearing down on New England. There is a “big part” played by “human-induced climate change,” especially warming-fueled ocean temperatures, according to Dr. Kevin Trenberth, former head of the Climate Analysis Section at the National Center for Atmospheric Research.
I asked Dr. Trenberth to comment on the role climate change has on this latest storm, which is forecast to set records. He explained:
The number 1 cause of this is that it is winter. In winter it is cold over the continent. But it is warm over the oceans and the contrast between the cold continent and the warm Gulf Stream and surrounding waters is increasing. At present sea surface temperatures are more the 2F above normal over huge expanses (1000 miles) off the east coast and water vapor in the atmosphere is about 10% higher as a result. About half of this can be attributed to climate change.
[...]
"
About half" ...
is more than enough, to get about "concerned."
Here are a few more wider-perspective views of Sea Surface Temperature Anomalies, from NOAA. It seems the Atlantic isn't the only Ocean racking up those excess BTU's.
From last November:
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From last this January:
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The reds are 3°C above normal. That's about 5°F. That's toasty.
[Note: the color scales in these maps are more "spread out" than the color scale in the in map in the intro article. Here, in the NOAA SST maps, the first Red bar indicates 3°C above normal; in the intro map the first Red bar kicks in at about 1°C. Thus that intro map has far more Reds than Yellows and Oranges, probably for "dramatic effect."]
Here is the Seasonal Animation (ie looping gif) for those above Atlantic Sea Surface Temperature Anomalies, once again from NOAA.
Here are some more interesting Charts and Animations from NOAA: PSD Map Room Climate Products -- Sea Surface Temperature (SST)
Being a science fan, I love this stuff. So I thought I'd share 'the wealth'.
In one way were "lucky" the Oceans can soak up so much extra heat ...
[Will a strong El Nino, similar to the event of 1997/1998, occur any time soon? -- people.earth.yale.edu]
In another way, this global warming "buffer" is only postponing the inevitable. ... I suspect cooling off the oceans back to a viable source of food and oxygen -- once it really overheats -- will be much harder than we -- with our near-sighted vision -- can ever hope to muster.
It is exceedingly difficult for the human species to set goals and act on a decades-long time-scales. And decades is probably what it will take to dissipate these anomalous ocean heat sinks. Afterall, it's taken decades to capture them.
[The global concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere hit 400 parts per million for the first time in recorded history. -- climate.nasa.gov/news]
As I noted in a post from a few weeks ago ...
The regional fallout from global climate change marches on, as noted by Professor Timmermann, whether this or that record gets broken or not, with each passing CO2-BTU year:
Results
So during 2014 the waters of the northern, north eastern and central Pacific have all warmed significantly. This has had the effect of raising the global average surface temperature to record levels which will almost certainly result in 2014 being reported as the warmest year on record.
[...]
Meanwhile waters off the coast of Hawaii reached 29°C or 30°C through the summer [84.2 to 86°F], according to Timmermann, causing corals to die and bleach. “We have seen temperature anomalies of 4°C in some area -- very extreme. This warming is bad news for salmon fisheries and also for coral. Fish and sea life are experiencing this year what we are projecting for 100 years time,” said Timmermann.
Al Gore had it right, when he
told us this "inconvenient truth," a very short decade ago:
A third root of our ecological troubles is our way of thinking. We are like frogs. Indeed, you dump a frog into a dish filled very hot water, and it will instantly jump out, incurring little damage to itself. But, if you place the same frog in comfortably lukewarm water and then gradually heat the water to a boiling point, the frog never jumps out. Our collective nervous system is like the frog’s. Because the destruction is gradual, we let it happen, sitting there like frogs, not responding.
Of course, the used-to-be 43rd President of the United States, was very quick to add ... "It's important to ..."
"Rescue the frog"
link
It's also important, not to ... "just sit there."
As the Anomalies, so steadily but surely -- become the Norm.