SOS delicate balance of Nature: Greenland ice melting faster & faster; sea rising, flooded Australia, Pakistan, Brazil, Malaysia

(quote)

A new record was set last year for the melting of the Greenland ice sheet, according to a paper published Friday in Environmental Research Letters, suggesting one of the world's biggest potential contributors to sea level rise could be an even more significant factor than previously thought -

"This past melt season was exceptional, with melting in some areas stretching up to 50 days longer than average," said Marco Tedesco, the paper's lead author and the director of the Cryosphere Processes Laboratory at the City College of New York. "Melting in 2010 started exceptionally early at the end of April and ended quite late in mid- September."

While the eight researchers from the U.S., Belgium and Holland do not provide a specific estimate for how much melting took place in 2010, which has tied 2005 as the warmest year on record, they write an analysis of several different data sources "paints a portrait of strongly negative surface mass balance during 2010."

The scientists examined surface temperature anomalies over the Greenland ice sheet surface, as well as estimates of surface melting from satellite data, ground observations and models.

They noted that summer temperatures up to 5.4 Fahrenheit above average, along with reduced snowfall, helped contribute to the high level of melt. As bare ice was exposed earlier and for longer than in previous years it absorbed more heat from the sun, creating what is known as an "albedo" effect in which melting is accelerated.

In an e-mail, Tedesco noted that he and his colleagues estimate based on computer modeling that runoff in 2010 is 530 gigatons a year, compared to a 1958-2009 average of 274 gigatons a year and a 1979-2009 average of 285 gigatons a year.

Different aspects of the study were funded by NASA, the National Science Foundation and the World Wildlife Fund.

WWF climate specialist Dr. Martin Sommerkorn said in a statment that the findings had serious implcations for rising sea levels worldwide.

"Sea level rise is expected to top three feet by 2100, largely due to melting from ice sheets," Sommerkorn said. "And it will not stop there - the longer we take to limit greenhouse gas production, the more melting and water level rise will continue."

The new findings come as conservative House Republicans are pressing to cut federal fuding for international climate change initiatives. The Republican Study Committee budget plan released Thursday includes a provision to "eliminate taxpayer subsidies to the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change" which it says will produce a "$12.5 million annual savings."

Having just sustained the worst flooding in decades, residents of Queensland, Australia are now facing threats from dangerous tropical cyclones. Tropical Cyclone Anthony just made landfall today and a much more powerful storm, Yasi, is on track for a strike this week.

Anthony made landfall at 10:00pm local time on Australia's northeastern coast near Bowen, Queensland. While not a particularly strong system, heavy rainfall and damaging wind gusts are accompanying the storm. Of greater concern is Tropical Cyclone Yasi, a storm currently approximately 1,200 miles northeast of Brisbane. Yasi currently features winds of 45 knots (51 mph) and gusts to 55 knots (63 mph). The storm is going to be encountering favorable conditions that is going to allow it to increase in strength considerably.

Jan 30, 2011: Australia braces for cyclone as flood mop up continues Sydney - North-eastern Australia was bracing Sunday for a cyclone heading towards the coast with heavy rain and winds of 140 kilometres per hour. Weathermen predicted Cyclone Anthony would strike the north coast of Queensland near Townsville early Monday morning. It was not expected to affect southern areas of the state already devastated by floods earlier this month. The Bureau of Meteorology said another potential cyclone was developing near Fiji which could also reach the Queensland coast at the end of this week. Elsewhere, central Australia has been hit by record high temperatures surpassing 40 degrees Celsius every day for the past 15 days.

Several visitors at the popular Uluru National Park collapsed and were taken to hospital Sunday when temperatures reached 46 degrees.

January 31, 2011 Queensland: Cyclone Anthony hit Australia's already flood damaged northeast in the early hours of Monday - with winds of up to 80 miles an hour. Sparks few from downed power cables as rain lashed the streets.

Queensland has already suffered months of flooding since heavy rains began in November. At least thirty five people have been killed by the extreme weather and it's damaged or destroyed at least thirty thousand homes and businesses. Meanwhile a more potent cyclone is brewing in the South Pacific. Forecasters say that Cyclone Yasi is expected to hit Queensland on Wednesday or Thursday with winds of up to 162 miles an hour. Residents in Bowen woke up to assess the damage done by Cyclone Anthony. Local woman Margaret Bean, says she thinks it's going to be bad.

"I've been through cyclones stacks of times, you know, here in Bowen. And I think this is a savage one that's out there now", she said. Fearing the worst storm the state has ever had to deal with emergency evacuation shelters are being made available and disaster management officials are on high alert.

Jan 31, 2011 (Bernama) -- The government has ordered the Malaysian Armed Forces to mobilize all personnel and assets to assist in operations to evacuate flood victims following the major flood occurring in at least five states and resulted in the death of three people so far.

Six months after Pakistan's epic floods demolished this farming village in the southern province of Sindh, its residents still live in limbo on a roadside. "Where will we go if there are more floods. We don't even have enough money to run away." Monsoon floods began roaring through Pakistan in late July last year, leaving about 11 million people homeless.

Updated January 27, 2011 - The United Nations Children's Fund says malnutrition rates have reached alarming levels in areas hit by last year's floods in southern Pakistan. UNICEF says up to 23 per cent of children in the southern Pakistani province of Sindh are suffering from malnutrition.

The rates are higher than the 15 per cent emergency threshold set by the World Health Organisation. UNICEF says hundreds of thousands of children in areas devastated by floods in August last year are at risk. Some people have returned to their villages and farms, but they have missed their crop-planting season. The concern now is not only the current situation, but that there is no more food in the pipeline on farms. Malnutrition levels are already worse than in several African nations, including Chad and Niger.

Jan. 30, 2011: A raging river has swept at least 30 people to their deaths after swamping a bus and a truck that tried to cross, police in Bolivia said. Chuquisaca police chief Iver Marquez said volunteer rescuers have recovered 30 bodies so far, and more people are feared missing. Thirteen people managed to reach safety on dry land. Mr Marquez told state-run news agency ABI that police and soldiers have joined locals in the remote southern area to look for more victims. He said the vehicles became trapped in the muddy waters of the Molle Punku River on Friday night.

Intense hail hours earlier unleashed the flash flood in the river, which is dry much of the year. There is no bridge where the vehicles were trying to cross.

(unquote)

Photos courtesy of AFP / Torsten Blackwood, Reuters / Tim Wimborne, Adam Bessell, Chris Cotton, Reuters / Tim Wimborne, Marc Grimwade / Getty Images, Reuters / Tim Wimborne, Dean Saffron, AFP / Behrouz Mehri, Xihua, and efoodsglobalbusinessnetwork.blogspot.com

Image Gallery: The most striking photos of the floods