Dr. Jim White turns his attention to ice. The accelerated melting of the Arctic sea ice and the ice caps of Greenland and Antarctica.
Concentrations of carbon dioxide – after water vapor the most important greenhouse gas – are measured in parts per million. The organization 350 dot org expresses in its name that – to be safe from catastrophic climate change – we should not go over 350 ppm of CO2 in the atmosphere. However in late 2016 the measurements at Mauna Loa, Hawaii, went over 400 ppm for the first time in modern history. (And on March 9, 2017 the reading was 405 ppm)
When a visionary scientist, Charles Keeling, began daily readings for CO2 concentration from Mauna Loa in 1958, the concentrations were only 318 ppm. And the pre-industrial age “normal” was 280 ppm. Hundreds of weather stations around the world are now recoding CO2 concentrations and they all show the same accelerating trend – going up.
Dr. Jim White teaches at the University of Colorado. He specializes in Global change, paleoclimate dynamics, and the human impact on climate. As a paleoclimate scientist Dr. White addresses those who belittle the effect of warming. He says that in earth history ” On average every degree of temp change is about 20 meters of sea level. That is a huge number.”
Professor Jim White spoke at the annual Weather and Climate Summit to an audience of weather-casters and meteorologists from the U.S. and Canada. They met in Breckenridge, Colorado, from January 8 to 12, 2017.
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