Highest-ever Emissions; Big Jump in Greenland Icemelt

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December 4, 2018

Greenhouse gas emissions will hit an all-time high, scientists say, and that has meant a consequent rise in global temperatures.

Carbon emissions

The study, by the Global Carbon Project at Stanford University, found that the world total of carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel sources will be 37 billion tons in 2018, a 2.7-percent increase over the 2017 total, which was itself an increase from the year before.

This is exactly the opposite of what is supposed to be happening under the terms of the 2015 Paris Agreement. That global commitment to reducing the acceleration of global warming set a target of no more than a 1.5° Celsius rise in temperatures by 2030. A recent study concluded that carbon emissions would have to be cut in half in order to reach that goal.

The study noted that emissions had increased much less markedly from 2014 to 2016 but had taken off again in 2017 and then surged again this year.

Greenland icemelt

Also, research has found that Greenland is shedding its ice more quickly than at any time in the industrial era. A study by the Woods Hold Oceanographic Institution found that surface melt from the world's largest (non-continent) island has accelerated at what they say is an alarming rate.

Focusing on ice melt more than icebergs that break off and head out to sea, the researchers did precise calculations after drilling ice cores from the island's center, which experiences an annual melt-then-refreeze cycle. In the 20th Century, meltwater runoff was higher by 33 percent than before the mid-1800s, the initial stages of the Industrial Revolution. The results further showed that the melt speed had increased markedly in just the past 20 years.

Because today's temperatures are higher, each degree of warming doubles the amount of ice melt, the researchers said, warning that further ice melt would result in more extreme amounts of sea level rise.

All of this comes in the wake of the COP24 conference, in Katowice, Poland, which is taking place under urgency in the wake of other recent reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Challenge (IPCC), the U.N., and from American scientists–all of which warned of the need for nearly immediate action to stem the tide of global warming.

More than 180 countries ratified the Paris Agreement, but it doesn't become operational until 2020. Part of the responsibility of those attending the COP24 conference is to hammer out the details on what will be common rules on ensuring that nations that are party to the agreement keep to their promises.

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Social Studies for Kids
copyright 2002–2018
David White

Social Studies for Kids
copyright 2002–2019
David White