By Andrew Glikson “History is a nightmare from which I am trying to wake” (James Joyce) Figure 1. Extinctions CC from: The five mass extinctions in Earth History. The rate of the current rise of greenhouse gas levels and thereby temperatures is higher by more than an order of magnitude than that of previous mass extinctions. (Figures 11.2, 11.5). Glikson. A.Y., 2023 The Trials of Gaia. War ─ the mass sacrifice of young generations throughout history, culminating in the barbarism of empires such as the Roman “Pax Romana”, represents the repeated collapse of sanity with transi ..read more

The temperature in the Tropics (23.5°S-23.5°N, 0-360°E) reached a new record high on April 20, 2024 of 26.913°C (or 80.44°F).  The image below shows the monthly temperature anomaly over the past few years through March 2024, when the anomaly reached a record high of 1.448°C (or 2.606°F).   Note that anomalies in the above image are calculated from 1951-1980 as a base. When calculated from a pre-industrial base, anomalies will be much higher. The rise in temperature threatens to cause widespread loss of life of people, livestock and wildlife, crop failure and ecosys ..read more

The North Atlantic Ocean is heating up, as more sunlight starts reaching the Northern Hemisphere. The above image, adapted from Climate Reanalyzer, shows sea surface temperatures up to April 11, 2024. The image shows that 2024 temperatures have been significantly higher than 2023 temperatures for the same date. The annual maximum temperature in 2023 was reached on August 31. Temperatures can be expected to rise dramatically over the next few months, in line with the change in seasons.  2024 temperatures to exceed 2023 temperatures? The image below, adapted from NOAA, shows global ocean ..read more

The MADNESS of NUCLEAR and CLIMATE HORROR by Andrew Glikson The 24-hour media news cycle clouds the minds of people, perpetrators and hapless victims alike, to the future dimension, whether that of future generations or of the natural world itself. During the 20-21ˢᵗ centuries, as mean global temperature keeps rising toward 4°C, a failed brain neuron or a damaged computer chip can trigger a nuclear catastrophe, while the 24-hour media news cycle can blind humanity to the future. The conditions emerge where the world is largely taken over by the banality of evil, insane mass murders ..read more

[ click on images to enlarge ] The above image shows monthly Atlantic surface temperatures through February 2024 (background image), highlighting the potential for the slowing down of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) to contribute to more heat accumulating at the surface of the Atlantic and methane to erupt from the seafloor of the Arctic Ocean. As temperatures rise, feedbacks are kickong in with greater ferocity, resulting in creased ocean stratification, less reflectivity, heavier melting of Greenland's ice and freshwater runoff from land and rivers, all of ..read more

On March 15, 2024, the daily average carbon dioxide (CO₂) at Mauna Loa, Hawaii, was 427.93 parts per million (ppm), as illustrated by the image below, adapted from NOAA.  This is the highest daily in situ average in the NOAA record at Mauna Loa, which is the more remarkable since the annual CO₂ maximum is typically reached in May, so even higher values are likely to be reached over the next few months. The image below, adapted from NOAA, shows CO₂ for the last 31 days at Mauna Loa.  The image below, adapted from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, shows that CO₂ at Mauna Loa w ..read more

The sea surface (60°S-60°N, 0-360°E) reached record high temperatures end February 2024 and early March 2024 (records going back to 1981). Sea surface temperatures look set to get even higher in March 2024. Why can sea surface temperature be expected to keep rising through March 2024? The highest sea surface temperatures for the year are typically reached in March.  This was the case for the previous years on record going back to 1981, except for the year 2023 when the current El Niño started to emerge, resulting in the highest peak for the year occurring in August 2023.  There ..read more

   Stephen Salter (2012) Stephen Hugh Salter, MBE, FRSE, Emeritus Professor of Engineering Design at the University of Edinburgh, was born December 7, 1938, and passed away peacefully on February 23, 2024, at the age of 85. Stephen Salter was a giant who persisted to dedicate his life to combating climate change, and he did so in many ways until the very end.  Stephen's work on wave energy led to Salter's Duck (1974), a device able to both generate energy and reduce wave strength. In 1977, Stephen built a multi-directional wave tank at the University of Edinburgh ..read more

The temperature is rising rapidly in the tropics. The image below shows the situation in the tropics (23.5°S-23.5°N, 0-260°E) through February 14, 2024, when the average daily surface air temperature was 26.3°C, i.e. 1.3°C above 1979-2000. On April 24, 2016, it was 26.8°C, the highest temperature on record in the tropics, 1°C above 1979-2000, as the above im age also shows. The image below shows temperature anomalies over the years.  Note that the above anomalies are calculated from 1979-2000, which isn't pre-industrial. When calculated from a genuinely pre-industrial base, anomalie ..read more

Climate change denial and the rise of fascism by Andrew Glikson but they can be sure that they won't be recorded for their crimes in history -- because there won't be any history” (Noam Chomsky, 2023, in a letter to the author) Extreme planetary heating, the failure of effective mitigation and the rise of denial around the world combine to lead to a seventh mass extinction of species. While originally Global warming constituted an unintended consequence of the 18-20ᵗʰ centuries industrial revolution, the collapse of attempts to arrest it in the 20-21st centuries is already leading ..read more