|
REPLY TO THREAD
|
|
Subject
|
PNW warming more rapidly than anywhere on Earth!
|
|
User Name
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Font color:
Font:
|
|
|
|
|
|
Original Message
|
from the October 27, 2005 edition - [link to www.csmonitor.com]
A rapid warm-up for the Northwest
Climate change conferences are convening in Seattle and British Columbia this week.
By Brad Knickerbocker | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
ASHLAND, ORE. - It“s unlikely that Seattle“s 605-foot Space Needle will be under water any time soon, or that Alaska will become as famous for its fruit trees and berries as Oregon is.
But there are growing indications that the Pacific Northwest, from Oregon to British Columbia to Alaska, is warming up faster than elsewhere on the planet - a trend that“s likely to accelerate, according to scientists at the University of Washington in Seattle.
Glaciers and snowpacks in the Cascade and Olympic Mountains are shrinking. So is Arctic sea ice in Alaska, where the permafrost in some areas is turning mushy. Record- setting temperatures in Anchorage this summer reached a balmy 79 degrees F. Water levels in Puget Sound are rising. Annual patters of stream flow are changing in ways that could adversely impact irrigation, domestic water supplies, fish runs, and hydropower production, while increasing the risk of forest fires and tree-killing insects.
In Seattle and Victoria, British Columbia, this week, agency officials, scientists, tribal leaders, and others are participating in major conferences addressing climate change.
"Even the most conservative scenarios show the climate of the Pacific Northwest warming significantly more than was experienced during the 20th century," the University of Washington“s Climate Impacts Group reported last week. The Puget Sound region warmed at a rate "substantially greater" than that of Earth“s average surface air temperature, the scientists found.
[link to www.csmonitor.com]
|
|
Pictures (click to insert)
|
 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  | | | Next Page >> |
|
