Comments by "" (@craigkdillon) on "PBS Terra" channel.

  1. California keeps wanting to build a water pipeline from Lake Michigan to Los Angeles. People here in Chicago don't know how much others want our water. We must NEVER let them have it.
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  2. The idea that the jet streams are affected by the warming of the poles is NOT new.. I had discussions with climatologists on that topic in 2010. My contention was (and is) that many deserts will become wetter, not dryer for two reasons. 1. As the Earth warms there is more water vapor in the air, thus more rain. Warmer temps also means more energy, so rain storms will be more windy, too. 2. The jet streams help control our climate zones. They help define the latitude of deserts. Deserts created by a mountain shadow effect, are not impacted. But, deserts like the Sahara, Arabian, Mojave, Sonoran, and Kalahari are defined the by jet streams. NOW, if the jet streams break down, having huge meanders, or even disappearing altogether, the weather patterns, and thus the rain patterns will become unpredictable -- more random. We should see dry years in normally very wet areas. AND, see wet years in deserts. Therefore, dry areas, like Los Angeles, should also see very wet years from time to time. So, the deserts should NOT become dryer, but wetter. At least, that is how I analyze it. So far, climatologists, who study this all the time, with powerful computers to do detailed modelling disagree with me. I might be wrong. If so, I would like to learn how I am wrong.
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  3. A pool or a bath is the best way of cooling off. Better than air conditioning. Water has a high specific heat. When immersed in 85 F water, that will quickly chill your body to under 98 F. If you are in high + humid conditions -- keep your bathtub full, and dip yourself in it every time you feeling hot. It will be cooling, refreshing, and its cheap.
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  4. Basically, the weakening of the jet stream allows polar air to come down here. It also allows warm temperate air to go up north. So, while we were being hammered with blizzards here in Chicago, Alaska experienced much warmer weather. This will continue --- for awhile. The Arctic will eventually warm to the point where the polar air won't be that cold.
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  5.  @copisetic1104  I doubt you have been to either one.
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  6.  @copisetic1104  BTW, why do you use a Chicago slang term for your name, if you don't like Chicago???
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  7.  @copisetic1104  BTW - do you even know what copasetic means?
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  8.  @poll2dock  You are letting Coca Cola steal your ground water -- which is the same as the Great Lakes. Lake Michigan and Lake Huron are the same lake hydrologically. The ground water connects them.
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  9.  @pauletheridge2412  You might be right. The global water shortage will make our resource look great. The Great Lakes have 25% of the world's fresh water. AND, it is pretty clean. Plus, we have some pretty great beaches right her in Chicago, and the dunes in Indiana and Michigan have even better beaches.
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  10. Desalinization is not cheap. The fresh water of the Great Lakes is abundant and cheap.
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  11. If the AMOC shuts down, then we would have a Global Anoxic Event. The AMOC brings oxygen to the ocean depths, allowing fish and other animals to live in the deep ocean. GAE's happened during the Cenozoic a number of times. They are associated with extinction events, and the depositing of material that became our oil reserves. IF the AMOC shuts down, that would mean the end of the current climate era - the Holocene. What would come after will probably not be very nice. The changes talked about here we would hope for. The likely changes from shutting down the AMOC are too horrible to contemplate. But, hey, the Republicans in North Carolina passed a law outlawing Global Warming. So, we are all good. Right?
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  12. So much ignorance. So much false hope. 1. Climate and cryosphere processes act on large time scales much larger than humans are comfortable with. A "long time" is a blink to the planet. 2. The heat already present in the ocean/air system is enough to drive sea level rise for the next 1000 years, and raise the oceans 70 ft. How do I know that?? Simple, the oceans were 70 ft higher during the Pliocene - 2.5 mya. CO2 levels in the atmosphere were only 390 ppm, lower than the 415 ppm today. PLUS - our CO2 level is rising 2+ppm/year. By 2050, CO2 will be around 485ppm. But, even if we could STOP CO2 levels rising, and keep them at the current level of 415ppm, oceans would still rise to Pliocene levels ---- +70 Feet deeper than today. The only question is how long will it take?? Each year, research indicates it will happen sooner than was predicted the year before. By 2100, it may only be a meter or two. But, the process will continue to speed up. So, 2200 may see a rise of 10+ meters. And, 2300 may see 20+ meters.
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  13. Sea level rise has not really begun to happen in earnest. So far, people have been affected marginally with storm surge increase, and some tidal increase. However, as it accelerates, land will start to be lost to the sea, AND this process will accelerate. Eventually, cities like Miami, Tampa, Jacksonville, Galveston, and Charleston will be lost to the sea. The only question is, When??
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  14.  @punchfreneticallydot  Sea level rise will accelerate. It already has, but the increases are measured in millimeters. In time, it will become inches per year, and then possibly feet/year. When climate ages end and a new one starts sea levels change quickly -- like in decades, not centuries or millennia.
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  15. You should not conflate flooding (temporary) with sea level rise (permanent).
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  16. This is great. The ONLY way to stop the process of Global Warming is to do CO2 removal. First, you MUST understand how bad the problem IS. 1. 3.5 mya in the Pliocene, CO2 levels were 390ppm, AND oceans were 75 feet deeper. SO, if we STOP increasing CO2 levels and KEEP them at current levels, we will still get oceans 75 ft deeper. It will just take longer, but it will get there. 2. CO2 is now rising at about 2 ppm per year. So, CO2 will be at 500 ppm by about 2060. That will make global warming go higher faster. We need this now. But, the political will is not there yet, and will take years to develop. It will happen when capitalists finally realize that today's world, their source of wealth, will disappear if they don't let us stop it.
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