My claims are now supported by a peer reviewed paper showing that the stable 28 month cycle of equatorial stratospheric wind reversal (QBO–Quasi-biennial oscillation) has been disrupted in an unprecedented fashion (first time in 60 years) by jet streams crossing the equator.
Paul is again a feature guest on Alex Smith’s Radio Ecoshock, ‘Extreme Climate News & Science‘ (dk). This is a wide ranging hour long interview:
As Alex introduces Paul, ‘It’s been summer in the Northern Hemisphere, when viewers and journalists drift into platitudes and cat videos. Meanwhile the planet is going through extreme changes, not seen during the time of humans.We’re going to spend this program going through the science that should have been foot-high headlines around the world. Plus some small signals of big things to come‘.
You can also click here, if your system does not allow SoundCloud.
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After discussing rapid climate change in context, Paul tells more of the story of his viral video and the ensuing Washington Post article and follow up including rebuttal and responses.
He then goes on to discuss the three major factors affecting our earth: raise in land and ocean temperature, extreme rate of melting of ice caps and draining into oceans, and statistics of the skyrocketing extreme weather events in severity, frequency, and intensity.
He then goes on to further discuss the need to replace Arctic sea ice, which is trending down very rapidly. This includes Pauls classic scientific illustration, of the amount of energy needed to melt one kilogram of ice, being equivalent to the amount of energy to raise the resulting 1 kilogram of meltwater to 80 degrees celsius. He then discusses the role of the decline of snow cover, in reflecting radiation.
He then explicates abrupt loss of sanity, the death by 1,000 cuts we witness day after day now, and climate change deniers. He concludes by discussing his unique perspective, as a long term professional educator, as to the views of the young, and the need to connect the dots. Paul’s points towards a tipping point in humanbehavior. Mentions of Peter Wadhams new book, A Farewell To Ice, and closes with role of Jevons Paradox.
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And, for good measure, one of Paul’s recent videos, incase you had not already seen it.
Sorry Folks, Arctic Sea-Ice On Last Legs // Published on Sep 8, 2016
Arctic Sea Ice has been pulverized, hacked to pieces, smashed to smithereens; you can use whatever phrase you want. See immediate image below
The Arctic blast furnace.
With a week or two left in the 2016 melt season, and another storm in the long range forecast, all bets are off.
I discuss extent, area, thickness, volume, surrounding sea and air temperature, trends and what it means to us, lower-latitude mortals. Not a pretty picture; expand extreme weather events around the globe to notch up in frequency, severity and duration.
Ice minimums in record years 2012 and 2007. Now, 2016 had smoked 2007 and pushes towards 2012.
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As many of you know, Extinction Radio is thankfully back. Michael Ferrigan and Susan Livingston are doing a really good job, continuing what Gene, Peter and Ivey did and which the prior of course founded and now returned to the helm. Its great that they are having Paul back (dk).
In addition to our esteemed friend and colleague Jennifer Hynes being the featured guest this week, as well as a regular guest in her new regular Climate Rodeo Roundup, Paul has a nice short(see link below).
Just so you know, she also discussed Peter Wadams recent dismissal from Cambridge, according to excuse of age, it was said. Please do your own due diligence and be aware. Stated as report, not final truth. But where there is smoke there is fire. If this is indeed true, its most alarming.
Back to Paul. The ENTIRE show is really worth a real listen (and by all means listen to all of it), but those in a hurry can hear him (Paul!) explicate the planet weather, very ‘top down’, in just a few minutes, by going to the 45:50 mark: ‘Paul Beckwith – The Situation in Greenland‘, about 6:13 long. As Mike aptly says, its not as if Paul just has SOME lecturing experience or is new at this!
In five minutes he totally kicks it.
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As Paul says, ‘There is almost no funding for big-picture thinking like me; lots for specialists. Opposite to what world needs to understand climate system emergency’. Then ‘I rely on you, my viewers to support my videos.
Please chip in a few bucks’ at the easy to use Donate feature, here.
I first met Baba Brinkman in Lima, Peru at the COP20. In Paris, at COP21 we reconnected and I arranged to have him be part of one of my press conferences, in which he did the Laudato Si rap, which was awesome–loyal and/or long time followers will definitely remember it: ‘Rap Music and Moral Obligation On Climate Matters.
His new album is set to be released September 30th, and he making a pre-release page with four preview tracks available for public streaming at, The Rap Guide to Climate Chaos, by Baba Brinkman (dk: Really, really outstanding. Just REALLY good).
His ‘latest album is now finished, after a marathon seven-month recording and revising process … the results are as epic as the subject’ which ‘the album explores…The Rap Guide to Climate Chaos takes you on an auditory journey through the science, politics, and economics of global warming, looking at it through the eyes of researchers, climate deniers, activists, the Pope, and many perspectives in between’ His ‘goal with this album’ was ‘to alert people to the scale and urgency of the challenge, and also to create a sense of optimism around what we can still do to remedy things’.
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Paul is again on Extinction Radio in their second of their newly reinstated series, included with today’s episode featuring Derrick Jensen. His interview resumes with Mike Ferrigan in his sustained role as a ‘Regular Contributor‘ and thus promises to continue.
‘Conversation with Paul Beckwith’, starts at 1:42:26 mark (102:26), by clicking here. About 14:09 long. BTW, our very good friend Peter Melton is also amply featured at the 47:35 mark (about 27:33 long). [dk]
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My latest video, ‘Abruptly Shifting Sands of Climate Change’ // Published on Aug 23, 2016
As I trudged across the massive sand dunes in Jockey’s Ridge Park in the Outer Banks, North Carolina, just south of famous Kitty Hawk (location of the first flight) at Kill Devils Hill I thought that I may as well rant on abrupt climate change.
If my verbal tirade is somewhat disjointed and incoherent,then please forgive me. Perhaps it can be attributed to overexposure to sun, wind, heat and sandblasting?
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Putting the SUN to bed just south of Avon in The Outer Banks, South Carolina. It was too hot to hold in one hand, so I tried a basketball hold and it got away from me. A special thanks goes to my brilliantly talented photographer Edward…
Along side, another angle on the spectacular sunset.
One Day, My Son, This Will All Be Underwater // Published on Aug 23, 2016
The last time the Earth was this warm, global sea levels were 6 to 9 meters (20 to 30 feet) higher.
In Earth history, sea level has varied from about 120 meters (400 feet) lower to about 70 meters (240 feet) higher.
If Greenland and Antarctica ice cap melt rates continue to double every 7 years or so (exponentially) then I calculate that we will see 7 meters (24 feet) of rise by 2070.
Surely, we must not less this happen. We must apply the three-legged stool to prevent this, and stabilize our climate.
Can Greenland Ice Caps Collapse? Part 1 of 2 // Published on Aug 16, 2016
Is it possible that vast portions of Greenland’s ice cap could calve/slide off the continent, causing spikes in global sea level rise? As we lose Arctic sea-ice and snow cover and get much warmer northern temperatures, how much would this destabilize Greenland ice?
I look at ice melt evidence/behaviour from 21,000 years ago to the onset of the Holocene to try and assess present day risks from Greenland, using slides from my friend Veli Albert Kallio of the Sea Research Society.
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Can Greenland Ice Caps Collapse? Part 2 of 2 // Published on Aug 16, 2016
Demise of Arctic Sea-Ice: Part 1 of 2 // Published on Aug 16, 2016
There is very little Arctic sea-ice left this year. The trend is a rapid decline to essentially nothing (- 1 million square km); the “blue-ocean event” as I call it (should have trademarked this).
If the ongoing massive cyclones continue to shred the ice over the next 4 or 5 weeks of this summers melt season, then “nothing left” could be this year; otherwise before 2020 is an excellent wager.
‘On behalf of NATO Association of Canada, I had the privilege to interview Paul Beckwith, climate system scientist and part-time professor in Climatology at University of Ottawa, working on his PhD in abrupt climate change. Mr. Beckwith discusses the main challenges that we are facing when it comes to climate policy, biggest environmental concerns to Canada, and geoengineering as an alternative to tackling climate change.
Please tell us a bit about your educational background and any current undertakings that you are working on.
I’m a part-time professor at the university of Ottawa, where I teach Climatology and Meteorology. I have a B.Eng. Engineering Physics degree and M.Sc. Physics degree in laser optics, a field in which I worked for many years. I’ve always been concerned with climate change and decided to formalize my knowledge by coming back to university to study and teach climate change. My research topic is abrupt climate change, which deals with how quickly the climate system is changing now, how quickly it has changed over the past, and from that information we can hopefully determine how fast it will be changing in the future.
National Snow and Ice Data Center, 18 hours ago (about 7:50 am Friday)
In the context of abrupt climate change, what would you say is the biggest security threat that Canadians are facing?
I think Canadians and just about anybody else in the world is facing similar threats. I like to call it “death by a thousand cuts”. We have a fairly resilient society, cities and what we are seeing is that extreme weather events are rapidly rising and affecting our society negatively. Toronto had a big flooding in the summer of 2013, a few weeks after Calgary had one. Around the same time, Colorado had a flooding two months after. Currently, we are seeing vast portions of Louisiana under water. We also have had droughts, which threaten food security. So I see food security as being one of the main problematic issues as a result of abrupt climate change events.
It can all be related to the Arctic warming, which is quickly losing sea ice in the summer and snow cover in the spring. As a result, the Arctic is getting a lot darker, absorbing a lot more solar radiation, meaning that it’s heating up much faster that the equator. All of these things are causing more extreme weather events, and as a result because it is warmer, there is about 7% more water vapour in the atmosphere than there was in the pre-industrial levels. This is causing our resources to be used up, major damages in infrastructure and damages to people’s health.
You attended the COP 21 conference in Paris, which for the first time reached an agreement requiring all nations to pledge action on climate change. However, given that there is no actual binding mechanism in international agreements, how would you rate the success of the COP 21 conference?
Paris was important and it did achieve more than previous conferences had done, but I didn’t get a sense of urgency from policy-makers …. Full interview, continues here.
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Its nice to have Extinction Radio back. My interview with Michael Ferrigan here: ‘Conversation with Paul Beckwith: Jet Stream and POTUS Election‘, starts at 1:24:09 mark (84:09), by clicking here. About 24:26 long. Thank you Mike. A lot of hard work was done previously by Gene, Peter, and Ivy. And now Mike, Susan, and Oliva similarly continue this labor of love. Thank you for the inclusion. I am always glad to return, and support their getting the message out. Speaking of message:
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Easy to use Please Donate feature, simply click here. More to come… Where will we be in a year? This site started eleven months ago, and went live in November. Every bit helps. Thank you! Each of you who help, make this all be able to continue as it is. Thank you twice.
Well known and respected creator of entertaining and comprehensible videos of sometimes daunting subjects, especially in climate system science, meteorology, oceanography and Earth Sciences at YouTube.
Frequently called upon for commentary by fellow educators, activists, and public. Physicist, Engineer, and part-time professor at the University of Ottawa. He is in a Ph.D. program, with a focus on Abrupt Climate System Change.
