Scientists stunned by Antarctic rainfall and a melt area bigger than Texas

Scientists have documented a recent, massive melt event on the surface of highly vulnerable West Antarctica that, they fear, could be a harbinger of future events as the planet continues to warm.

An iceberg lies in the Ross Sea with Mount Erebus
in the background near McMurdo Station in Antarctica,
 November 11, 2016. A sheet of meltwater lasted for as long
as 15 days in some places on the surface of the Ross Ice
Shelf, the largest floating ice platform on Earth, during the
 Antarctic summer of 2016.

In the Antarctic summer of 2016, the surface of the Ross Ice Shelf, the largest floating ice platform on Earth, developed a sheet of meltwater that lasted for as long as 15 days in some places. The total area affected by melt was 300,000 square miles, or larger than the state of Texas, the scientists report.

That’s bad news because surface melting could work hand in hand with an already documented trend of ocean-driven melting to compromise West Antarctica, which contains over 10 feet of potential sea level rise.

Read The Washington Post story - “Scientists stunned by Antarctic rainfall and a melt area bigger than Texas.”

Climate Change's Most Vulnerable Nations Vow to Run Entirely on Renewable Energy

Zahra Hirji from Inside Climate News.

MARRAKECH, Morocco—As talks on implementing last year's landmark climate treaty closed in Marrakech, a group of 47 developing countries that are highly vulnerable to the climate crisis announced their intention to run on 100 percent renewable energy "as rapidly as possible."

They said this ambition is crucial to their survival in a warming world, as well as an example to other, more prosperous nations.

"We aim to survive and thrive," wrote the member countries of the Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF) in a two-page decision adopted Friday at the climate talks. They also reaffirmed their commitment to keeping warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial temperatures, the most ambitious climate target of the Paris agreement.

This climate action pledge was welcomed by climate officials and experts as one of the more aggressive to come out of the 22nd session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 22). The UNFCCC is the umbrella treaty that led to the Paris Agreement last year.

Read Zahra Hirji’s story on Inside Climate News - “Climate Change's Most Vulnerable Nations Vow to Run Entirely on Renewable Energy.”