New Interactive Climate Change Map Shows Global Similarities

Interesting Engineering - Shelby Rogers

Tehran and Salt Lake City aren't that different when one looks at their climate change impact, according to scientists.

ClimateEx Interactive | University of Cincinatti

A new interactive map shows how the world is more connected than ever before -- specifically with regard to climate change. The ClimateEx map project from researchers with the University of Cincinnati not only tells users about an area's climate history; it can pair up a city with its "climate twin" across the globe.
In order to create the map, geography professor Tomasz Stepinski and his team had to gather over 50 years worth of meteorological data across 50,000 international weather databases throughout the world.
"The map demonstrates climate change over time but also climate diversity. The concept is powerful and can inspire a lot of research," Stepinski said.
Stepinski is a massive fan of statistics. Another famous project of his involved a highly-detailed map of racial diversity found in every neighborhood in the United States. However, he's long been a fan of climate research and wanted to combine his two passions. Originally from Poland, Stepinski spent a large part of his career looking for how statistics could best be represented visually.
"I've lived in Houston, Tucson and Cincinnati. Climatically speaking, they couldn't be farther apart," he said.
Stepinski teamed up with fellow Polish researcher Pawel Netzel and developed this visual way for climatologists and other scientists to study patterns and compare climates over time in nearly any location around the world.

ClimateEx Interactive | University of Cincinatti

ClimateEx also details which parts of the globe have been most affected by global warming and other climate issues. While the poles and surrounding areas show distinct changes, the tropics do as well. Stepinski noted that it's due to monthly rainfall.
"When people think about climate change, they think about temperature: global warming," he said. "But climate has many components, including precipitation. People often consider temperature and precipitation separately. But our mathematical model includes both."

ClimateEx Interactive | University of Cincinatti

Netzel said even beyond using it for climate research, the map is a fun tool for anyone looking for their ideal climates elsewhere in the world.

"Using ClimateEx, it is easy to get answers to questions such as where in the world do we have a climate similar to Houston's? Where can I find a place with a climate as pleasant as Florida's?"

"ClimateEx is mostly an educational tool," Netzel said. "Using ClimateEx, it is easy to get answers to questions such as where in the world do we have a climate similar to Houston's? Where can I find a place with a climate as pleasant as Florida's?"
This also gives users a tool in finding places that could be more greatly affected by larger weather events like hurricanes, monsoons, flooding, severe storms, snow, or droughts given the area's history and trajectory.
"ClimateEx enables an easy search for locations where climate change may lead to the occurrence of such extreme phenomena in the future," he said. "The user simply indicates the location where tornadoes are presently frequent and ClimateEx finds all locations where in 50 years the climate will be conducive to tornadoes."
Netzel also qualified what type of use the ClimateEx map would be perfect for.
"It can support strategic, long-term planning and decision-making on the future development of urbanized space," he said. "It helps to prepare for emerging threats such as increasing the frequency or appearance of extreme weather phenomena. Knowledge about the possibility of hazards will give city planners time to prepare appropriate response plans."
In a statement, Stepinski was direct about his feelings for those who don't worry about climate change and write off global warming as just a 'phase.'
"If you were looking at climate change at a scale of a million years, you wouldn't worry too much," Stepinski said. "But if you see dramatic changes on the order of a few decades, it's a big problem. Personally I'm not happy there are people who seem to disregard this as not much of a problem. It is a problem."
And as for Cincinnati's climate twin? Stepinski said it's Vicenza, Italy -- not a bad place to be if the team ever wanted a vacation.
"You will see that both Cincinnati's and Vicenza's climates have a similar progression of weather conditions throughout the year," he said. "So a person would experience the passing of the seasons in the same way in both places."

Links

• ClimateEx Interactive
• World's future climate change hotspots mapped
• New Interactive Map Shows Climate Change Everywhere In World
• Our changing climate
• Where climate change will hit NZ hardest revealed in new interactive map

Losing Nemo? Wider Effects Of Mass Great Barrier Reef Bleaching Emerge

Fairfax - Peter Hannam

Bleaching in the world's reefs over the past couple of years is immediately evident from the stark images of corals shedding their myriad colours for a ghostly white.
While as much as half the corals of the Great Barrier Reef died during the marine heatwaves of 2016 and 2017, researchers are only now beginning to assess the toll on the many species that rely on corals for food and shelter.

Researchers at Lizard Island on the Great Barrier Reef are studying the impacts of coral bleaching on fish and anemones that depend on them. Photo: University of Wollongong 

"A lot of the attention is on the corals," Marian Wong, a marine biologist from the University of Wollongong, said. "The public's perception is that the fish are mobile enough to just swim away."
In fact, clownfish - made famous by the Finding Nemo film  - and other species such as coral goby fish "are just terrible swimmers, designed to sit in their little spot their whole lives", she said.

Abundance of coral goby fish has dropped away markedly around Lizard Island. Photo: Catheline Froehlich

Dr Wong is part of a team of researchers who have made use of the Australian Museum's research station on Lizard Island to examine how sea anemones and fish have fared since the mass bleaching events. Where baseline data is available, early signs - at least from the far-north Queensland site - aren't pretty.

Around Lizard Island, there were about 13 species of coral gobies, a social fish often found in groups.
Now there is only a "very, very low abundance", Dr Wong said. "It's almost a complete location extinction of gobies there."
Anna Scott, a researcher from the Southern Cross University, studies sea anemones.

Clownfish are among the species hammered by the coral bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef in 2016 and 2017. Photo: University of Wollongong

These species, related to corals, also bleach when stressed by high temperatures, expelling the algae that provide them their vivid colours and much of their energy.
When anemones die, anemone fish - including clownfish - lose the protection of the stinging tentacles and become easy prey for other fish.

Marian Wong, a marine biologist at the University of Wollongong, at Lizard Island.Photo: University of Wollongong

A visit last month to Lizard Island revealed "the first signs of recovery" in anemones, Dr Scott said. Since the area had not been mapped before, the recent work will serve as a baseline for future comparisons.
"There's a decline in numbers [of anemones from the bleaching] but we don't know the scale of it," she said.
While many changes may be subtle, others are obvious even to the casual observer.
The recent visit was notable for the absence of beautiful butterfly fish - which typically swim in pairs. "I don't think I saw a single one," Dr Wong said.
Whether coral, anemones and the fish that depend on them return in numbers resembling their more recent abundance likely hinges on "whether or not they are given time [to recover] without these warming events", Dr Wong said.
"These will keep happening if we continue, business as usual, with our use of fossil fuels."

Links

• World's Coral Reefs Face New Peril From Beneath Within Decades
• Great Barrier Reef In 'Deep Trouble' As Climate, Other Threats Mount: Official
• 'Wasteful Stunt': Turnbull Government Accused Of Doing Too Little To Save Reef
• Great Barrier Reef: Rising Temperatures Turning Green Sea Turtles Female
• Great Barrier Reef Will Be Dead By 2100, Says David Attenborough's Blue Planet II
• Why Climate Change Is A Key Issue In The Queensland Election
• Warming Limit Of 1.2 Degrees Needed To Save Great Barrier Reef: Expert Panel
• While Corals Die Along The Great Barrier Reef, Humans Struggle To Adjust
• The Great Barrier Reef Isn’t Listed As ‘In Danger’ – But It’s Still In Big Trouble
• World's Coral Reefs Face New Peril From Beneath Within Decades
• Global Warming’s Toll On Coral Reefs: As If They’re ‘Ravaged By War’
• Can Corals Survive Climate Change?
• Coral Bleaching: Researchers Struggle To Find Anywhere In Pacific Ocean Untouched
• Countries With Coral Reefs Must Do More On Climate Change – UNESCO
• 50 Reefs: World-First Global Plan Says Only 10 Pc Of Coral Reefs Can Be Saved From Extinction
• Enough PR Spin: We Need A Real Plan For The Reef That Includes Ditching Coal
• Great Barrier Reef: Most Coral Now Dead North Of Port Douglas Off Far North Queensland, Scientists Say
• NASA Begins Study Of Australia's Great Barrier Reef
• Great Barrier Reef: Government Must Choose Which Parts To Save, Says Expert
• Global Coral Bleaching Continues For a Record Third Year

Earth Hour: Millions Participate In Global Switch-Off To Raise Climate Change Awareness

The Independent - Josh Gabbatiss

Annual event sees global blackout as environmentalists hope to 'send a powerful message that we must act now' to save planet

Sydney Harbour Bridge and Opera House were among the first landmarks around the world to dim their lights for Earth Hour AFP

Millions of people in countries around the world switched off their lights for Earth Hour to raise awareness about climate change and other environmental issues.
Since beginning in Sydney in 2007, Earth Hour has spread to more than 180 countries, with tens of millions of people joining in – from turning off the porch lights to letting the Sydney Opera House go dark.
The 11th Earth Hour event focused on support for biodiversity – specifically forests, oceans and wildlife conservation.
Australia was the first nation to turn its lights off at 8.30pm local time, with other countries following suit as the sun set across the globe.
Key landmarks participating in the annual event included the Eiffel Tower in Paris, the Pyramids of Egypt and New York's Empire State Building.
In Jordan, the Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature arranged 11,440 candles on a hilltop in the capital of Amman, establishing a Guinness World Record for the largest candle mosaic.
Last year nearly nine million people took part in the event across the UK, where the lights went off in Tower Bridge, Brighton Pier and 400 other landmarks across the country.
The initiative, which is managed by WWF, is meant to “inspire millions to take action for our world”.
Earth Hour's 60 minutes are "an opportunity to adopt a shifting of the consumption culture, and behaviour change towards sustainability", said Indian Environment Minister Harsh Vardhan.

Marina Bay Sands hotel and resort with the lights switched off during the Earth Hour environmental campaign in Singapore (Getty Images)

Though switching off lights can result in a slight dip in electricity usage, the action is supposed to be largely symbolic.
However, besides the global blackout, the Earth Hour campaign has had some tangible achievements over the years.
These have included a ban on plastics in the Galapagos Islands and planting new forests in Uganda
To mark Earth Hour this year, WWF asked the public to make a "promise for the planet" – a small step in their own lives to help reduce their environmental footprint – such as refusing plastic cutlery or carrying a reusable coffee cup.

Filmmakers use 100-year-old photograph to map effect on climate change on a glacier

While these promises are small individually, WWF stated that “millions of people taking these actions together will have a massive, powerful impact”.
"This Earth Hour, millions of people around the UK are sending a powerful message that we must act now on climate change and pollution to save our planet,” said Tanya Steele, chief executive of WWF.
The launch of the event was accompanied by a report that warned of a surge in plastic use in the coming years across the UK.

Ancient Temple of Parthenon atop Acropolis hill in the dark during Earth Hour (Getty Images)

While the focus of Earth Hour is largely on individual measures that can be taken to help the planet, campaigners also called for strong action from Government and businesses to tackle issues like plastic waste.
“We can’t do it solely on people’s goodwill,” said Gareth Redmond-King, head of climate and energy at WWF UK.

Links

• Earth Hour 2018
• Earth Hour: Lights off to preserve the planet's environment
• Lights Around the World Go Dark for Earth Hour
• 'It's more than just turning off the lights': what else to do for Earth Hour
• Photos: Dubai's Burj Khalifa goes dark for Earth Hour
• Watch: UAE switches off to save planet Earth
• Sydney goes dark as Earth Hour climate campaign kicks off