APES Current Events

Antarctica's coast was not known for katabatic winds, which turns out, it causes snowflakes produced and in turn decreases the formation of the ice caps. precipitation was down 17% in higher regions and 35% in lower regions, this could also be aggravated by climate change. There are many things that directly influence the air temperatures and cause less snowfall. What else can catalyze this characteristic? In addition to that, how will the ocean be effected? Will less ice caps mean higher ocean temperatures, or will the temperature stay the same. Not to mention the ocean levels, will they raise or lower? Link:  Katabatic Wind

I found this article very interesting because even though there might be more flowering time, the flowers become more poor. This causes a food shortage for the bees. This experiment was done by a team at Florida State University to get the real reason for the decline in Bee population across the world. I don't know if I agree with global warming being  the only reason that bees are dying but it could have a part in it. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/09/170929093356.htm

     Scientists recently found material generated by microbes in a 3.95 billion year old rock in northern Labrador in northeastern Canada. Finding any signs of life in rocks between 4 billion and 3.6 billion years ago is sparse because that is during the Eoarchean Era where life started to form. Earliest hints of life were from 3.7 billion years ago in a rock in Greenland found in 2016, and a rock with hints of life from 3.8 billion years ago found in 1996 in Akilia Island, Greenland.  Tsuyoshi Komiya, a geologist at the University of Tokyo said that this may be the oldest evidence found of life. " The researchers examined the oldest known metasedimentary rocks, ones made from sediment that got buried underneath subsequent rock and subjected to high pressures and temperatures, causing the sediment to crystallize." The carbon isotopes show that the Labrador rocks were of biological origin. The study was exciting and to know how far back it was when life started, and I...

Apparently everything we seem to be doing to "help" the climate doesn't seem to be working. In fact there is currently a chunk of Antarctica melting that is about 300,000 square miles in size. Roughly double the size of California. Unfortunately I do not believe this type of instance will be the last, however things like this will become more common as the year(s) go on. Part of this is due to El Niño, however, climate change is partially to blame. http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/19/weather/antarctica-melt-texas-rain-climate-change-trnd/index.html

Although the numbers are unknown, the Tsunami that hit Japan six years ago has brought new marine life across the Pacific Ocean.  Most of the marine life floated over on the debris, plastic or fiber glass, which we of humans have a lot of. So we caused the shift in marine life just as much as the natural disaster. Tsunami

http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/climate_desk/2017/09/half_of_puerto_rico_doesn_t_have_clean_drinking_water.html                  Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico leaving this piece of U.S territory in a crisis. Almost half of Puerto Rico is without power, leaving hospitals and other health services unable to stay open with no power source.The U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency is sending loads of water in their first shipment to help due to many water systems not in use without power include waste water systems. Along with water and backup generators for the hospitals, the U.S. sent a 1,000 bed hospital ship to assist with medical care. The U.S. is also helping states like Texas and Louisiana affected by the hurricane, but Puerto Rico doesn't think they are being aided sufficiently. Can the United States do more Puerto Rico?

With a growing change in climate, it is no surprise that many bees are dying and their entire population is being threatened. The flower growth and flower season is not the same as it once was and there is a lacking supply of food for the furry insects to eat and supply themselves with food and supplies to sustain themselves. Reading this article put things into perspective for me. I felt that the humans are at fault for this. I feel like something of this magnitude should not be allowed. I mean, you can kill a human and you could die for doing that, but you can kill an entire species of bees and nothing happens? It seems the only thing this article is proving is that bees are dying, humans are doing nothing to help, and our species is self-centered and does not care about the environment. We have to do something before there isn't any more time to do anything. Once the bees are entirely gone, the entire ecosystem will be messed up and it is an unknown as to what will happen. Cli...