(Copy Paste from the daily Mail)
- Research from the University of Hawaii claims that man-made global warming is now inevitable
- The Earth is going to dangerously heat up over the next 50-years
- The tropics will bear the brunt of the disastrous temperature increases of as much as seven-degrees-centigrade
- Millions of people will be displaced, millions of species will be threatened with extinction
- Major
cities such as New York and London will fight to survive the rise in
temperatures the likes of which humans have never experienced before
By
James Nye
PUBLISHED:
02:08 GMT, 10 October 2013
|
UPDATED:
08:36 GMT, 10 October 2013
Hot Topic of Research: Camilo Mora and his
team predict that in about a decade, Kingston, Jamaica, will probably be
off-the-charts hot — permanently, Singapore in 2028. Mexico City in
2031. Cairo in 2036. Phoenix and Honolulu in 2043 as global warming
takes hold.
The Earth is racing towards an
apocalyptic future in which major cities such as New York and London
could become uninhabitable because of irreversible man-made climate
change within 45-years according to a sobering new study published this
week.
Humanitarian
crisis' could unfold, as hundreds of millions of global warming refugees
pour illegally across borders fleeing the consequences of the
temperature rises which might leave entire regions of the planet extinct
of life.
And while the
doomsday clock is ticking, with the first signs of change expected at
the end of this decade, researchers of the study claim that it is too
late to reverse and mankind needs to prepare for a world where the
coldest years will be warmer than what we remember as the hottest.
Indeed, the study from the University
of Hawaii published online Wednesday in the journal Nature predicts that even if we utilized all resources to stop
and halt our current carbon emissions, the changes are irrevocable and can only be postponed.
All
things remaining the same, New York City will begin to experience
dramatic, life altering temperatures by 2047, Los Angeles by 2048 and
London by 2056.
However,
if harmful greenhouse emissions are stabilized, New York would be able
to stave off the inevitable changes until 2072 and London until 2088.
The first U.S. cities to
feel the changes would be Honolulu and Phoenix, followed by San Diego and
Orlando, in 2046. New York and Washington will get new climates
around 2047, with Los Angeles, Detroit, Houston, Chicago, Seattle,
Austin and Dallas a bit later.
Climate Departure: This map shows the cities
irrevocable climate change will hit first and what year it will begin if
nothing is done to stabilize carbon dioxide emissions
Apocalyptic Future? By 2046 New York and
Washington will get new climates around 2047 - Eventually, the coldest
year in a particular city or region will be hotter than the hottest year
in its past
Abandoned Trafalgar Square in London: By 2043,
147 cities, more than half of those studied, will have shifted to a
hotter temperature regime that is beyond historical records according to
the study
Study leader Camilo Mora calculated that the
last of the 265 cities to move into their new climate will be
Anchorage, Alaska — in 2071. There’s a five-year margin of error on the
estimates.
By 2043, 147 cities — more than half of those studied — will have
shifted to a hotter temperature regime that is beyond historical
records - in what is known as Climate Departure.
The current projections from
the team led by biologist Mora predict that the epicenter of global
warming will be at the tropics which will bear the brunt of the initial
changes, with temperature rises beginning in or around Manokwari,
Indonesia by 2020.
However, if the current emissions were
stopped today, Manokwari, which is directly on the Equator, would still
experience temperature changes in 2025.
Epicenter: Mora forecasts that the unprecedented heat starts in 2020 with Manokwa, Indonesia
'We are used to the
climate that we live in. With this climate change, what is going to
happen is we're going to be moving outside this comfort zone,' said
Camilo Mora, the study's lead author, to NBC News.
'It is going to be uncomfortable for us as humans and it will be very uncomfortable for species as well.'
The
study claims that by 2050 between 1 and 5 billion people will live in
areas with an unprecedented climate, said study co-author Ryan Longman, a
graduate student at the University of Hawaii.
'Countries
first impacted by unprecedented climate change are the ones with the
least economic capacity to respond. Ironically, these are the countries
that are least responsible for climate change in the first place,' he
said.
'By expanding our
understanding of climate change, our paper reveals new consequences for
biodiversity and highlights the urgency to take action now.'
Frightening Projections: Mora forecasts that the
unprecedented heat starts in 2020 with Manokwa, Indonesia. Then
Kingston, Jamaica. Within the next two decades, 59 cities will be living
in what is essentially a new climate, including Singapore, Havana,
Kuala Lumpur and Mexico City.
Future Planet: These projections of global
temperature change based on two different climate scenarios show the
world from 1986-2005 and what could unfold at the end of this century
with a rise in average temp from 32 to 39 degrees centigrade
The study from Mora and
the University of Hawaii, Manoa, shifts the way in which climate
scientists have been examining the implications of greenhouse emissions.
While
most have focused on the rapidly warming climate in the Arctic and the
effects on wildlife such as polar bears and also sea levels, Mora's team
are concerned with the effects on people - specifically the tropics -
where the majority of the world's population lives and whose citizens
have contributed the least to global warming.
It
is in the already warm tropics that an increase of only a couple of
degrees can alter the balance of life, crippling crops, spreading
disease and leading to mass migration away to cooler climes.
'The
warming in the tropics is not as much but we are rather more quickly
going to go outside that recent experience of temperature and that is
going to be devastating to species and it is probably going to be
devastating to people,' said Stuart Pimm, a conservation biologist at
Duke University, to NBC News.
Mora
and his colleagues collated global climate models and built an index of
estimates on when a given spot on the globe will change beyond
temperatures experienced on Earth over the past 150 years between 1860
and 2005.
Lost Forever: A new study on the timing of
climate change calculates the probable dates for when cities and
ecosystems across the world would regularly experience never-seen heat
environments based on about 150 years of record-keeping
To arrive at their
projections, the researchers used weather observations, computer models
and other data to calculate the point at which every year from then on
will be warmer than the hottest year ever recorded over the last 150
years.
Climate Departure: The Tipping Point for Global Warming
Climate departure is how scientists monitoring global warming measure when the environment has actually changed forver
A
city or nation hits climate departure when the average temperature of
its coldest year from that point on is predicted to be hotter than the
average temperature of its hottest year measured over the past 150
years.
According to the new study for example, New York City's climate departure date is 2047.
That means every year after 2047 will be warmer than New York's hottest date on record from 1860 to 2005.
The University of Hawaii's study predicts that Planet Earth's climate departure date is 2047
This
indicates how rapidly the globe and mankind is set to feel the effects
of man-made climate change - at least according to the new study
For example, the world
as a whole had its hottest year on record in 2005. The new study,
published Wednesday in the journal Nature, says that by the year 2047,
every year that follows will probably be hotter than that record-setting
scorcher.
Eventually, the coldest year in a particular city or region will be hotter than the hottest year in its past.
'On
average, the tropics will experience unprecedented climate change 16
years earlier than the rest of the world, starting as early as 2020' in
Manokwari, Indonesia, Mora said in a briefing with reporters on Tuesday.
He
added that if mankind continued to burn fossil fuels, the threshold for
the planet as an average globally is 2047 - with temperatures rising by
as much as seven degrees centigrade.
If greenhouse gas emissions are stabilized, this date is delayed only by 20 years, as an average.
But, those extra 20 years bought through emissions cuts would could prove crucial for many species’ survival, Mora said.
'Imagine you are on a highway, and you spot an obstacle in the road up ahead,' Mora said.
'Should you step on the gas, or hit the brake?'
'Hitting
an obstacle at a slower speed will minimize the damage to the car and
its occupants, in much the same way as hitting a climate threshold at a
slower speed would reduce the ramifications for biological systems.
'The speed at which you face that obstacle is going to make a huge difference.'
Climate Change Refugees: The changing
temperatures could render some nations uninhabitable and lead to
uncontrollable migration across borders
Mora admits that his
study is subject to geographic variables, saying that the changes he is
predicting will not occur at the same time across the world.
However,
he has narrowed down his projections to a 5-year margin of error either
side, which he calls 'remarkable', given that the study used 39
different models from 21 teams in 12 countries.
Skeptics
such as Eric Post, a biologist at Penn State University, said that
while he disagree with the precision of Mora's study, as with all
climate change work, the public and politicians must take note.
'If
the assessment by Mora et al. proves accurate, conservation
practitioners take heed — the climate change race is not only on, it is
fixed, with the extinction finish line looming closest for the tropics,'
he wrote in Nature magazine.
Mora's
research has led him to the conclusion that all the species in any of
the regions affected by adverse temperature rises have three stark
choices.
Either they move to a cooler climate, adapt to the warmer climate or become extinct.
However,
this is where conflict could arise amongst nations as desperate and
starving people try to migrate en-mass north or south to escape the arid
land they have come to live in.
'We
have these political boundaries that we cannot cross as easily. Like
people in Mexico — if the climate was to go crazy there, it is not like
they can move to the United States,' said Mora to NBC News.
Too
Late To Stop: The 2047 date for the whole world is based on continually
increasing emissions of greenhouse gases from the burning of coal, oil
and natural gases. If the world manages to reduce its emissions of
carbon dioxide and other gases, that would be pushed to as late as 2069,
according to Mora.
The Mora team found that
by one measurement — ocean acidity — Earth has already crossed the
threshold into an entirely new regime. That happened in about 2008, with
every year since then more acidic than the old record, according to
study co-author Abby Frazier.
Of the species studied,
coral reefs will be the first stuck in a new climate — around 2030 — and
are most vulnerable to climate change, Mora said.
Judith Curry, a Georgia
Institute of Technology climate scientist who often clashes with
mainstream scientists, said she found Mora’s approach to make more sense
than the massive report that came out of the U.N.-sponsored
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change last month.
Pennsylvania State
University climate scientist Michael Mann said the research 'may
actually be presenting an overly rosy scenario when it comes to how
close we are to passing the threshold for dangerous climate impacts.'
'By some measures, we are already there,' he said.
