[airship]

If China really does have firm contracts with Iran to the tune of $100 billion or more, I think the Chinese would have sufficient justification under the generally accepted terms of "protection of vital national interests", should they decide to base on Iranian territory over the next few months (with Iran's prior approval naturally), assorted ballistic and/or cruise missile installations equipped with (but not exclusively) conventional warheads, modern anti-aircraft batteries, together with a few ex. Russian submarines to patrol the Gulf. Obviously, all these installations would be under the direct control of the Chinese. Sort of like how the US contributes to the defence of S. Korea.

I see that even Turkey has also recently concluded large contracts with Iran for their natural gas and oil. Presumably, should these ever "fall through" due to any attacks on Iran's oil & gas production facilities, the Turks would immediately feel obliged to invade Norther Iraq in order to secure the oil and gas resources which will inevitably free the rest of Europe from the present Russian "yoke"...?!

But I'm digressing from the original subject.

The biggest school I ever attended as a child had just under a thousand students aged from about 6 to 18 years old. I seem to recall that I knew every single boy and girl by at least their 1st name. That is my global reference, so to speak.

What I consider as a very real threat to both people and wildlife due to accelerated climate change as a result of our (human) activities and/or progress admittedly pales into insignificance compared to the destruction of wildlife habitats and their populations, due entirely to the human population explosion.

It's hard to reconcile on the one hand, an exploding human population of nearly 7 billion, and on the other, the dwindling numbers of at least, the larger wild animals with whom we share this globe. An example would be Indian tigers, which have dwindled from possibly over 100,000 in number at the beginning of the 20th century to as few as 3,000 today. It would be much more easier to be on 1st name terms with the remaining 3,000 tigers today than the other 7 billion humans, I believe. And in retrospect, suggests that 1 tiger might be actually be worth the equivalent of 2.3 million humans...should one be forced to make an unbiased comparison - in view of the current norm where in reality, a single tiger isn't even worth a single human life. But the Bible says it's OK - we were given dominion over all other life, after all. And if anyone's really worried, well, they can just build an ark, leading the remaining wildlife aboard, 2 by 2...?!

[outmywindow]

Ahhh........Business as usual. Compensate future dock building by an extra 3ft.
__________________________________________________ _

Industrial nations reach 2020 climate compromise

VIENNA (Reuters) - Industrial nations agreed a compromise at U.N. climate talks on Friday that stiff 2020 targets for greenhouse gas cuts would be useful pointers for future work on a new climate treaty, delegates said.

A draft text to be put to delegates for approval at the end of the August 27-31 meeting noted that leading climate scientists reckon that cuts in greenhouse gas emissions of 25 to 40 percent below 1990 levels are needed by 2020 to slow global warming.

It said that the range "provides useful initial parameters for the overall level of ambition of further emissions reductions."

It fell short of calls by the European Union and developing nations for the range to be a stronger "guide" for future work on a new pact beyond 2012. Countries including Russia and Japan had objected to the idea of a "guide," fearing it was too binding.

[catmando]

Here's a new twist;


http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/transcripts/3310_sun.html

[outmywindow]

Originally Posted by catmando

Here's a new twist;
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/transcripts/3310_sun.html

I actually read about 1/2 of that article .
But, being told that I'm still of sound body and mind, I will just go with the Global Satellite Imaging evidence as supplied by NASA and it's scientists.

You can see how the Passage on the Canadian side is finally navigable, although only for a limited time at present, this will change over time and have huge implications for global commercial shipping.
The ice cap melt spans 1979-2003

[outmywindow]

Coming to a Beach near you?
_______________________________________________
Marian Wilkinson Environment Editor
March 27, 2008


A MASSIVE ice shelf bigger than Greater Sydney has begun to collapse in Antarctica under the pressure of climate change, new satellite images reveal.

The disintegration of the 13,680-square-kilometre Wilkins Ice Shelf began on February 28 when a large iceberg fell away. This triggered a runaway impact this month, according to scientists from the US National Snow and Ice Data Centre, when 570 square kilometres of the shelf crumbled.

The most recent satellite images taken by the centre on Easter Sunday show the ice shelf is hanging on by a single strip of ice, six kilometres wide, strung between two islands on the south-west Antarctic Peninsula.

The centre's lead scientist, Ted Scambos, who first spotted the disintegration this month, said the ice shelf collapse was taking place in one of the fastest-warming regions on Earth.

In the past 50 years, the temperature in the western Antarctic Peninsula has risen almost three degrees, or 0.5 degrees each decade.

"The collapse underscores that the Wilkins region has experienced an intense melt season," Dr Scambos said.
"Regional sea
ice has all but vanished, leaving the ice shelf exposed to the action of the waves."

The scientific team that charted the Wilkins collapse included members of the British Antarctic Survey who organised flights over the shelf after being alerted.

"The ice shelf is hanging by a thread," David Vaughan, of the British Antarctic Survey, said.

One of Australia's leading Antarctic scientists, Dr Ian Allison, who examined the new data yesterday, said the collapse was an indication of how quickly change can happen in the polar regions when a critical point is reached.

"This area is showing extreme warming," Dr Allison said, "The climate models all predict that with anthropogenic [human induced] warming the biggest increases are going to occur in the polar regions. And the biggest warmings we are seeing are in the Arctic and the Antarctic peninsula area."

Dr Allison said it was likely the Wilkins Ice Shelf would hold on now because winter was approaching but it would continue its collapse next January. "I expect about one-third of the ice shelf to go fairly quickly next season," he said.

This would make the collapse the largest since the Larsen B shelf disappeared over 30 days in 2002.

The rapid warming of the polar regions is causing concern among snow and ice scientists because of fears that large ice sheet and glacier melts will trigger a rise in the global sea level.

[AMG]

Just be aware of the wording, this is an Ice Shelf, which is already floating and will not rise the sea level. Ice Sheets are land based and would rise sea levels if released. But the main reason ice sheets in Antarctica would fall into the sea is that they collapse under the pressure of added snowfall, which at least in theory is making things equal. Another reason could be active vulcanoes under the ice, not really human caused global warming...

[outmywindow]

H2O Facts


-Of all water on earth, 97.5% is salt water, and of the remaining 2.5% fresh water, some 70% is frozen in the polar icecaps. The other 30% is mostly present as soil moisture or lies in underground aquifers.

-In the end, less than 1% of the world's fresh water (or about 0.007% of all water on earth) is readily accessible for direct human uses.
-If all the earth's water fit in a gallon jug, available fresh water would equal just over a tablespoon.
-A person can live about a month without food, but only about a week without water.
-Some of the world's largest cities, including Beijing, Buenos Aires, Dhaka, Lima, and Mexico City, depend heavily on groundwater for their water supply. It is unlikely that dependence on aquifers, which take many years to recharge, will be sustainable.
-Most of the earth's surface consists of water; there is much more water than there is land.
-Water can not only be found on the surface, but also in the ground and in the air.
-There is the same amount of water on earth as there was when the earth was formed. The water that came from your faucet could contain molecules that Neanderthals drank.
-The overall amount of water on our planet has remained the same for two billion years.
-There are two kinds of water; salt water and freshwater. Salt water contains great amounts of salt, whereas freshwater has a dissolved salt concentration of less than 1%. Only freshwater can be applied as drinking water.
-Water consists of three atoms, 2 Hydrogen atoms and an Oxygen atom, that are bond together due to electrical charges.
-The weight of a water molecule depends on the number of moles present, as it is 18 grams per mole.
-Water moves around the earth in a water cycle. The water cycle has five parts: evaporation, condensation, precipitation, infiltration and surface run-off.
-In a 100-year period, a water molecule spends 98 years in the ocean, 20 months as ice, about 2 weeks in lakes and rivers, and less than a week in the atmosphere.
-Groundwater can take a human lifetime just to traverse a mile.
-Most of the earth's surface water is permanently frozen or salty.
-Water regulates the earth's temperature.
-Water freezes at zero degrees Celcius.
-Water vaporizes at a hundred degrees Celcius.
-Water is the only substance that is found naturally on earth in three forms: liquid, gas, solid.
-If water changes phase its physical appearance changes due to parting of water molecules. In the solid phase the water molecules are close together and in the gaseous phase they are the furthest apart.
-Frozen water is 9% lighter than water, which is why ice floats on water.
-A litre of water weighs 1.01 kilograms.
-It doesn't take much salt to make water "salty." If one-thousandth (or more) of the weight of water is from salt, then the water is "saline."
-Saline water can be desalinated for use as drinking water by going through a process to remove the salt from the water.
-When water contains a lot of calcium and magnesium, it is called hard water. Hard water is not suited for all purposes water is normally used for.
-As oceans are very wide and there are multiple to be found on earth, oceans store most of the earth's water. This is apparently 97% of the total amount of water on earth, 2% of which is frozen.
-80% of the earth's water is surface water. The other 20% is either ground water or atmospheric water vapor.
-Over 90% of the world's supply of fresh water is located in Antarctica.
-The earth's total amount of water has a volume of about 344 million cubic miles.
315 million cubic miles is seawater.
9 million cubic miles is groundwater in aquifers.
7 million cubic miles is frozen in polar ice caps.
53,000 cubic miles of water pass through the planet's lakes and streams.
4,000 cubic miles of water is atmospheric moisture.
3,400 cubic miles of water are locked within the bodies of living things.
The total amount of water in the body of an average adult is 37 litres.

[AMG]

Let me add that sea ice is breaking up at the West Antarctica Peninsula is not the whole story. The Antarctic region has more ice than for many years. This graph shows that it is 2 million square km:s more than normal. In fact, the Arctic also has more ice than in many years this winter, despite all pictures with sad Polar Bears...

[outmywindow]

Originally Posted by AMG

In fact, the Arctic also has more ice than in many years this winter, despite all pictures with sad Polar Bears...

Interesting...since Polar Bears only live on the North Pole, are you saying that the NASA Satellite images are a HOAX meant to confuse humanity.

[AMG]

Originally Posted by outmywindow

Interesting...since Polar Bears only live on the North Pole, are you saying that the NASA Satellite images are a HOAX meant to confuse humanity.

I think the Arctic is very close to the North Pole..? Here is the most recent ice map from NASA:

[outmywindow]

Originally Posted by AMG

Here is the most recent ice map from NASA:

I haven’t seen this one before, NASA was referring to the one in post #49 (scroll up)

[AMG]

I was only referring to winter ice and this year it was more sea ice between Greenland and Canada than over the last 15 years says NASA. What will happen next summer we´ll see, it depends a little on La Nina I guess.

[starty1]

Some very technical stuff but usually if my bath is overflowing i just pull the plug.

[brian eiland]

Thought it might be an interesting diversion to inject a little humor to this discussion.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhZK2KFV8SU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W77IqQW9xzU

[Codger]

When I start to feel overwhelmed by the caterwauling chorus of those experts that seem to have taken on the cause of global warming with the fervour of a snake handling tent preacher there is some solace to be found in the well reasoned even tempered heresies of Freeman Dyson.

For a small dose of thoughtfulness scroll down to "The Third Culture"

http://www.edge.org/documents/archiv...19.html#dysonf