Month: April 2017

Uncategorized 21 Apr 2017

Still lots of East Coast sea ice but prof tells CBC it doesn’t bode well for polar bears

via polarbearscience
http://ift.tt/1oHvY57

Davis Strait polar bears around Newfoundland and Labrador are currently experiencing what one polar bear specialist refers to as “failed” sea ice conditions, causing bears to come ashore in droves. I’m not making this up.

Sea ice extent Canada 2017 April 21 CIS

The ice was so thick in the Strait of Belle Isle between Newfoundland and southern Labrador last week that a ferry was stuck for 24 hours and had to be rescued by an icebreaker.

The boats of fisherman on the north shore of Newfoundland are stuck in thick ice that’s not expected to clear until mid-May at the earliest and they can’t get out to fish.

boats-in-ice-near-twillingate_CBC_19 April 2017

See this video posted on Twitter two days ago.

#Twillingate http://pic.twitter.com/dm6qOXVr24

— Rory (@jeddore1972) April 19, 2017

The same thing (perhaps even worse) happened in 2007, see Twillingate in the spring of 2007 below:

Twillingate-heavy ice-20070523_2007 CBC David Boyd photo

Yet, in 2007 there was not a single polar bear reported onshore in Newfoundland (as far as I am aware) but this year there were almost a dozen. And the photos show fat, healthy bears – not animals struggling to survive.

East Coast March April polar bear sightings 2017 V3_9 April

According to Andrew Derocher, that’s proof “failed” sea ice is the reason that polar bears came ashore this year but not last year (when there was also lots of ice in late March/early April, see additional maps and graphs below). Last year there were sightings in the middle of winter (January/February) in Labrador and Newfoundland (which I reported here) and one bear was shot in Newfoundland in early May when he advanced on local RCMP officers.

#polarbears & people don’t mix well. Bears use land when sea ice conditions fail. We expect more events like this. https://t.co/MDJIGaHCmb http://pic.twitter.com/5l7QVY4hgU

— Andrew Derocher (@AEDerocher) April 10, 2017

I think Derocher believes he’s set the record straight by offering an interview of his own to refute the things I said to the CBC last week (I talked on two Newfoundland radio stations, which generated a print CBC article). But Newfoundlanders have to deal with used car salesmen just like the everyone else, so I expect they are having a good laugh right now at the expert who’s blaming their polar bear troubles on a lack of sea ice.

Sea ice graph for the week of 16 April 1969-2017 for Newfoundland, showing the so-called “failed” ice conditions of this year that are actually higher than average:

East Newfoundland same week 16 April 1968-2017

Note there was less sea ice in 2016, when there were only a few polar bear sightings, and slightly more ice in 2007, when there were none.

Here’s what the ice was like earlier in the month:

Sea ice extent Canada 2017 April 2 CIS

via polarbearscience http://ift.tt/1oHvY57

April 21, 2017 at 03:14AM

Uncategorized 21 Apr 2017

Solar Company Gets $25 Million In Taxpayer Subsidies, Goes Bankrupt

via Climate Change Dispatch
http://ift.tt/2jXMFWN

Solar company Suniva Inc. filed for bankruptcy Wednesday after receiving millions in government subsidies to manufacture solar panels.

via Climate Change Dispatch http://ift.tt/2jXMFWN

April 21, 2017 at 02:56AM

Uncategorized 21 Apr 2017

Shale Gas Could Heat British Homes By Early 2018

via The Global Warming Policy Forum (GWPF)
http://www.thegwpf.com

Matt Lambert, director of government and public affairs at Cuadrilla, says the county can become a European hub for the controversial fracking industry. He has said homes in Lancashire could be heated by shale gas as early as the beginning of next year.

$Image result for GWPF frack on$

A senior figure at fracking firm Cuadrilla Resources has said homes in Lancashire could be heated by shale gas as early as the beginning of next year.

Matt Lambert, the firm’s director of government and public affairs, spoke at BusinessCloud’s Lancashire Powerhouse event in Lytham on Wednesday.

He told editor Chris Maguire that there has been a great deal of “scaremongering” about the potential damage fracking does to the environment and said the opportunity to explore huge natural reserves of shale gas in the county is “too good to miss”.

The fracking process involves injecting water, sand or chemicals at high pressure into rock below ground to force open cracks and extract the gas and oil within.

“At heart it’s a safe, well-tried engineering process. In Lancashire there’s a tremendous amount of shale gas underneath the ground and an opportunity to get that out safely with limited impact on the environment,” Lambert said.

“Probably as early as the beginning of next year, we will be heating homes in Lancashire with Lancashire gas.

“We’re looking forward to finding out whether shale gas really works here in Lancashire.”

Many business figures have spoken about the opportunities fracking could bring to the local economy while Government has handed out more than 100 licences to fracking firms.

However they must also receive planning permission from local councils – and Lancashire County Council rejected Cuadrilla’s proposals in 2015.

Cuadrilla went through the appeals process to press ahead with its exploration site near Blackpool.

“We had a High Court case judicial review last week where the judge essentially dismissed all the challenges to those appeals,” Lambert said.

With the prospect of tens of thousands of jobs being created in the semi-rural county, Lambert believes that more people will look favourably on the industry when it becomes operational.

“I think then people will begin to understand. They will start to see real jobs, real supply side contracts coming through and say: what was the fuss about?”

Technology has been the enabler for the industry, which now accounts for more than half of the United States’ oil output with 300,000 wells delivering 4.3 million barrels of oil a day.

“It is made possible by directional drilling which allows you to drill under the ground for several kilometres – that’s what opened up shale gas for the United States and what makes the opportunity available here,” added Lambert.

“We need to get that started here and make Lancashire a hub for the industry in Europe.”

Full post

via The Global Warming Policy Forum (GWPF) http://www.thegwpf.com

April 21, 2017 at 02:54AM

Uncategorized 21 Apr 2017

Huh? James Hansen Used to Say LESS Greenhouse Gas Causes Global Warming

via Current News – Principia Scientific International
http://ift.tt/1kjWLPW

Back in 1986 NASA’s climate “expert” James Hansen claimed ozone depletion would result in catastrophic warming. No mention of CO2.
"A dramatic loss of ozone over the Antarctica proves the “greenhouse” effect” is real and presages a gradual warming of the earth that threatens floods, drought, human misery in a few decades and — if not checked — eventually extinction of the human species,…

Click title above to read the full article