u/CorvidCorbeau

SS: Related because this new study discovered that rapid warming events during ice ages are not quite as new as our extraordinary present day situation suggests. The researchers discovered a rapid spike in global temperatures ~304 million years ago, during an ice age, in which CO2 increased from 300 to 700 ppm and the world warmed by ~7.5°C over 175,000 years, presumably started by volcanic activity and driven to completion by the release of vast amounts of carbon from the permafrost.

One thing to note: the article says sea surface temperature increased by ~7°C but this seems to be wrong. The paper attributes that to global mean surface temperature.

SS: Related because the unprecedented, record-shattering El Nino continues to bless us with some harrowing figures. Now the NOAA detected a peak subsurface anomaly of 10°C. Granted this is because water at those depth isn't supposed to be so hot, and this figure will be smaller as this warm mass finally reaches the surface, it is still an astonishing observation. Brace yourselves for a moment that will be in the history books.

SS: I know my home country is not often mentioned here, given how lightweight it is on the global stage, but I figured this is worth mentioning. The Danube's water level is at historic lows at the moment, projected to reach a deficit of -134cm, which forces the Paks nuclear facility to shut down. Current projections indicate the deficit could exceed -140cm soon. This is on top of our lakes also being at record low levels, leading to some shocking sights.

SS: Related to collapse since as we've seen from numerous past posts lately, Europe's wildfires are ravaging the continent, especially France. However, a new map by the JRC, showing fire weather forecasts suggests we're not in the clear yet, in fact the fires can get even worse. If you live in affected area, please watch out for alerts and stay safe!

SS: As most of us know by now, the pollution we continue to emit every day contains materials that actually benefit us, such as reflective aerosols that reduce the amount of radiative forcing the Earth experiences.

Reducing the emissions of these beneficial pollutants will make the already dire global warming situation even worse, and this is yet another way through which we are shown that regardless of which direction we go, regarding emissions, no path remains that lets us get away with the last few centuries' damage and destruction without consequences.

The projected reduction in AMOC strength is significant and although the study says methane emission cuts could offset it, the natural methane emissions we will experience could potentially render this point moot.

SS: Scientists created an optimized model which describes how microbes produce methane in the global oceans, and their findings warn that the warming oceans will result in less mixing between the surface- and deep waters, creating a phosphate shortage close to the surface, which creates favorable conditions for methane-producing microbes.

Most of the methane produced through this process escapes to the atmosphere, as only ~2% is oxidized in time. Their simulation of future emissions shows that while this source of methane isn't that big (around 2Tg/year) it could almost double in the future under an aggressive global warming scenario.

SS: Related to collapse because well, we all know why. Arctic sea ice is not only decreasing in its extent but also its thickness, which makes it increasingly likely that even a moderate disturbance, such as a lighter heatwave or smaller arctic storms can result in record low ice coverage.

As we can see, we are trending towards the first ice free September in the arctic, maybe not this year, but way sooner than we'd like.