Ernel A.

Ramos December 8, 2017

BSE-IB Dr. Charity S. Enriquez

Hottest Years of All Time

The year isn't over yet, but 2017 is already expected to be the second- or third-
hottest year on record, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) announced today
(Nov. 6) at the United Nations climate change conference in Bonn, Germany.  From
January to September 2017, the average global temperature was 1.98 degrees Fahrenheit
(1.1 degrees Celsius) above preindustrial levels, according to the WMO, which is an
agency within the United Nations. Last year's powerful El Niño, the warm phase of a
recurring climate system across the tropical Pacific, basically guarantees that 2016 will
remain the warmest year on record for the time being. But it's still unclear whether 2017
or 2015 will be the second-hottest year on record, the WMO said. [The Year in Climate
Change: 2016's Most Depressing Stories]

Whatever place 2017 gets, the five-year period of 2013 to 2017 is expected to be
the warmest five-year period on record, the WMO reported. This finding is based on five
independently maintained global temperature data sets, the agency said. Moreover, long-
term indicators show that human-caused climate change isn't going away; as carbon
dioxide concentrations continue to increase, sea levels are rising and ocean acidification
is getting worse, the WMO said. Arctic sea-ice coverage is below average, and the extent
of Antarctic sea ice, which was previously stable, is at a near-record low.

"We have witnessed extraordinary weather, including temperatures topping 50

degrees Celsius [122 degrees F] in Asia, record-breaking hurricanes in rapid succession
in the Caribbean and Atlantic reaching as far as Ireland, devastating monsoon flooding
affecting many millions of people and a relentless drought in East Africa," WMO
Secretary-General Petteri Taalas said in the statement. The WMO's findings are
"alarming, but not unexpected," Liz Hanna, an honorary senior fellow at the Climate
Change Institute at the Australian National University, said in the statement. "Global
atmospheric carbon dioxide levels are now 46 percent higher than pre-industrial levels."

Original article on Live Science.

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https://www.livescience.com/60868-extreme-2017-weather-breaks-records.html

Ernel A. Ramos December 8, 2017

BSE-IB Dr. Charity S. Enriquez

Life on Earth May Have Started with a Cosmic Splash

Meteorites slamming into warm, small ponds on the planet's rising land surfaces
more than 4 billion years ago could have delivered those building blocks into an
environment where they could grow and combine into ribonucleic acid, or RNA, said
Ben K.D. Pearce, an astrobiologist at Canada's McMaster University. RNA can reproduce
itself and evolve. In its current form, it takes the genetic code contained in DNA and
forms proteins. Nitrogen compounds like ammonia and hydrogen cyanide likely collected
on bits of dust and rock floating around the sun, snowballing into larger bodies where
they could react to produce nucleobases. "You have get these molecules from space," he
said. And when those space rocks fell to Earth, the nucleobases they held could have
landed in ponds of water and reacted with other chemicals that produced RNA.

Previous studies have put forth that theory, but what Pearce and his colleagues
have done is to use computer models to gauge how probable that would have been.
Nucleotides would have to survive in an environment bombarded with ultraviolet light,
since there was no protective ozone layer at the time, and in water that could have broken
them up. While other scientists, including the famous astronomer Carl Sagan, have
theorized that cosmic dust may have delivered those precursors, Pearce said any
nucleotides riding in on dust particles were likely to have been too small to survive in
their new home.

But by entering data "from all facets of science," including biology, geophysics,
and astrophysics, they've calculated that meteorites would have been a frequent and
durable enough vehicle to deliver the building blocks of life, and wet and dry cycles
could have helped them bond into larger chains that formed RNA. Pearce said the next
step will be to try to test that theory in a laboratory. Researchers at McMaster, located at
the western end of Lake Ontario, are building a "planet simulator" in which they hope to
reproduce the conditions of a primeval Earth and see whether they can get the same
results.

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https://www.livescience.com/60594-meteorites-delivered-building-blocks-of-life.html

Ernel A. Ramos December 8, 2017

BSE-IB Dr. Charity S. Enriquez

139 Countries Could Be Powered by 100% Renewable Energy by 2050

Energy experts at Stanford University reported that using wind, solar, geothermal
and water (hydropower, tidal and wave) energy to electrify all economic sectors that need
power to operate — including the electric grid itself, transportation, heating and cooling,
industrial, and the agriculture, forestry and fishing industries — would
significantly reduce energy consumption, decrease deaths from air pollution, create
millions of jobs, stabilize energy prices and save trillions of dollars on health care and
climate-related costs.

The study looked at the world's energy needs, beginning with 2012 and projecting
out to 2050. In 2012, the world used 12.105 terawatts (TW) of energy, which is equal to
12.105 trillion watts. By 2050, the world will need 20.604 TW if nothing changes and
every country continues with the same approach it currently uses to meet energy demand,
the researchers wrote in the study. Energy is also needed to mine, refine and
transport fossil fuels. As such, switching to 100 percent renewable energy would
eliminate these energy-intensive and environmentally destructive processes, the report
authors said. In their study, Jacobson and his colleagues show how wind, water,
geothermal and solar power can meet the worldwide demand for 11.804 TW of energy
while avoiding the predicted global temperature increase of 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit (1.5
degrees Celsius) above preindustrial levels by 2050. The researchers outline how doing
so would save the lives of 4 million to 7 million people who might have otherwise died
from diseases caused by air pollution, save countries more than $20 trillion overall in
health and climate costs, and produce a net increase of more than 24 million long-term
jobs.

So far, the United States has just 4.2 percent of its total electricity generated by
renewable sources. But the country has an advantage, according to the researchers. The
study found that countries like the U.S., with more land per population size, would have
the easiest time making the transition. Countries expected to have the most difficult time
are those that are small, geographically, but have very large populations. Countries such
as Singapore, Gibraltar and Hong Kong will have the biggest challenges transitioning to
100 renewable energy, according to Jacobson. Still, there are ways to solve the problem,

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he said. These regions could turn to offshore wind energy, or they could exchange energy
with a neighboring country, he added.

https://www.livescience.com/60461-renewable-energy-road-map.html
Ernel A. Ramos December 8, 2017

BSE-IB Dr. Charity S. Enriquez

The World Is Running Out of Sand

Sand and gravel are now the most-extracted materials in the world, exceeding
fossil fuels and biomass (measured by weight). Sand is a key ingredient for concrete,
roads, glass and electronics. Massive amounts of sand are mined for land reclamation
projects, shale gas extraction and beach renourishment programs. Recent floods in
Houston, India, Nepal and Bangladesh will add to growing global demand for sand.

In 2010, nations mined about 11 billion tons of sand just for construction.

Extraction rates were highest in the Asia-Pacific region, followed by Europe and North
America. In the United States alone, production and use of construction sand and gravel
was valued at US$8.9 billion in 2016, and production has increased by 24 percent in the
past five years. Moreover, we have found that these numbers grossly underestimate
global sand extraction and use. According to government agencies, uneven record-
keeping in many countries may hide real extraction rates. The negative consequences of
overexploiting sand are felt in poorer regions where sand is mined. Extensive sand
extraction physically alters rivers and coastal ecosystems, increases suspended sediments
and causes erosion.

Research shows that sand mining operations are affecting numerous animal
species, including fish, dolphins, crustaceans and crocodiles. For example, the gharial
(Gavialis gangeticus) – a critically endangered crocodile found in Asian river systems –
is increasingly threatened by sand mining, which destroys or erodes sand banks where the
animals bask. Sand mining also has serious impacts on people's livelihoods. Beaches and
wetlands buffer coastal communities against surging seas. Increased erosion resulting
from extensive mining makes these communities more vulnerable to floods and storm
surges.

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 Demand will increase further as urban areas continue to expand and sea levels
rise. Major international agreements such as the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable
Development and the Convention on Biological Diversity promote responsible allocation
of natural resources, but there are no international conventions to regulate sand
extraction, use and trade. As long as national regulations are lightly enforced, harmful
effects will continue to occur. We believe that the international community needs to
develop a global strategy for sand governance, along with global and regional sand
budgets. It is time to treat sand like a resource, on a par with clean air, biodiversity and
other natural endowments that nations seek to manage for the future.

https://www.livescience.com/60349-world-running-out-of-sand.html

Ernel A. Ramos December 8, 2017

BSE-IB Dr. Charity S. Enriquez

Arctic sea ice once again shows considerable melting

The sea ice in the Arctic is considered a critical element in climate processes, and
a valuable early-warning system for global warming. Accordingly, the September
minimum extent is an important indicator of climate change. Despite an especially warm
winter, the current extent of sea ice does not represent a new record low; nevertheless, the
amount of ice loss is massive. As sea-ice physicist Marcel Nicolaus from the Alfred
Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) explains,
"This year's sea ice extent is again on a very low level: the observed September value of
the past eleven years has consistently been lower than in any of the previous years."

This winter, the Arctic remained unusually warm, and the sea-ice coverage in
March was lower than in any March before. "Thanks to the relatively cold summer, the
sea ice managed to bounce back somewhat, but this year's September minimum is by no
means a good sign," stresses Lars Kaleschke from University at Hamburg's Center for
Earth System Research and Sustainability. "Though the amount of sea ice is of course
subject to natural fluctuations, the long-term decline is obvious." For comparison, the
summertime minimums in the 1970s and 1980s were roughly seven million square
kilometres.
Several months before the September minimum, scientists from around the globe
provided information on the projected minimum sea-ice areas in the "Sea Ice Outlook."
This year, the Alfred Wegener Institute contributed estimates based on two different
forecasting methods for Arctic seasonal sea-ice, which produced similar results very
close to the actual September minimum: in July, the AWI's dynamic forecasting model
called for a September minimum of 4.93 million square kilometres, while its static model
estimated an area of 4.74 million square kilometres.

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 This year, the spatial distribution of sea-ice differed from the patterns in recent
years, and from the long-term pattern. Less ice than in 2016 was recorded in the Chukchi
and East Siberian Seas. In contrast, more ice was observed north of Svalbard and in the
Beaufort Sea. In some regions on the fringes of the Arctic Ocean, surface melting began
fairly early, while in large regions of the central Arctic Ocean, melt onset was observed a
few days later than the average for 1981 to 2010. The timing of melt onset is not only
important with regard to the overall mass of sea ice; it also determines the lifecycle of the
organisms in and below the sea ice.

https://www.awi.de/nc/en/about-us/service/press/press-release/arktisches-meereis-erneut-
stark-abgeschmolzen.html

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