Will Blocking the Sun Slow Climate Change?

First Nation in the Americas to Lose All Its Glaciers

The USGS defines a glacier as an ice body of at least 25 acres in size. Venezuela, once home to 6 glaciers, now has none after its last one was recently classified as being too small to qualify. Five of Venezuela’s glaciers had largely melted away by 2011, and thawing has worsened over the last decade. The last glacier which was previously more than 1100 acres is slightly smaller than 5 acres now, making Venezuela the first country in the Americas to lose all of its glaciers. Previous forecasts in the area estimated that the glacier could last another decade, but the combination of human-caused global warming and warmer temperatures from El Nino sped up the time table. At least 80% of glaciers worldwide are on track to almost disappear by 2100 because of current global warming conditions. However, if Venezuela’s glaciers are a sign, full melt could happen earlier than expected.

Marina E. Franco, Axios

Blocking the Sun to Slow Climate Change

Wealthy donors in Silicon Valley and on Wall Street are committed to funding research to block the sun and slow climate change. They have vowed to continue raising money to create innovations and technologies to limit global warming. One method they’re researching is brightening clouds from a decommissioned aircraft carrier to limit the amount of sunlight that enters the Earth’s atmosphere. They are also looking into stratospheric aerosol injections and assessing the role of aerosols in the atmosphere. One group plans to provide $40 million to research sun-blocking and other solar geoengineering technology. Not only are billionaires interested in this type of research, but the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy is also researching methods to keep the sun’s rays from accelerating global warming.

Gabriel Hays, Fox News

How Climate Change Affects Weather Forecasts

Climate change is causing the weather to get more erratic across the United States. Rain storms that used to happen once in a lifetime are now happening every few years. Heat waves are hotter, and last longer. Hurricanes are hitting land with stronger winds and higher storm surge. Climate change is increasing the frequency of impactful events like these. Climate change is making it trickier to forecast the weather. The director of the National Weather Service said that is happening because weather forecasters often rely on understanding past weather patterns to predict future weather conditions, but the future no longer looks like the past. The good news though, is that weather forecasting technology has greatly improved in the last decade. The NWS now issues more localized forecasts and warnings to help protect people from extreme weather, but adds that they are only useful if people actually heed the warnings and take action.

Rebecca Hersher, NPR

What’s in the works for ClimateWatch?

Our goal is to bring you the latest in climate issues, trends, forecasts, innovations, and more. One way we’re hoping to do that in the future is by including an in-depth analysis from one of our experts! Stay tuned for that, you won’t want to miss it.