Iowa scientists: Drought a sign of climate change
Source: Associated Press
November 19, 2012 at 7:00 pm
Iowa scientists: Drought a sign of climate change
By David Pitt
Des Moines, Iowa — This year's drought is consistent with predictions that global climate change would bring about weather extremes including more frequent droughts, said a report released Monday.
The Iowa Climate Statement updates the 2010 report, reflecting the year's lingering drought and the belief that it signifies what many scientists have predicted — increasing instability in weather patterns will lead to extremes during both wet and dry years.
Iowa has experienced such extremes in recent years; in 2008, flooding caused an estimated $10 billion in damage, making it the worst disaster in the state's history.
More broadly, this year's drought brought about parched croplands, reducing corn yields across the nation's Grain Belt, from South Dakota to Indiana. And last month's Superstorm Sandy — a combination of a hurricane, a wintry storm and a blast of arctic air — devastated parts of the Eastern seaboard and killed more than 100 people.
The report was signed by 138 scientists and researchers from 27 Iowa colleges and universities. They said they wanted to release the updated report now while the drought is still fresh in the public's mind.
Read more: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20121119/SCIENCE/211190426#ixzz2CiaWYbMh
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"people"... Yeah the president sort of proposes that we march down the nat gas hiway
his advisors are fuckheads because we need more data before we go off half cocked and spend a fortune on a natural gas infrastructure (expensive) that we should be spending on PV, Fuel Cell or wind etc. We should be working on a smart grid?
SoMAS - Fracking, Shale Gas, and America's Energy Future - 70 minutes
Robert Howarth and Larry Cathles, both scientists from Cornell University, stand divided over the size of methane emissions from natural gas wells and how those emissions effect global climate change. - 6 minutes
Nick, I'm guessing you know all that.. i'm just spouting off. Cheers!
