RT @DroughtGov: Spotlight on TX, which is trending in the right direction.

65% is in drought w/ 11% in Extreme (D3)/Exceptional (D4) Drought.

On Sept 12, 86% was in drought w/ 44% in D3/D4.

Still, over 20% of TX has been in drought since Oct 2021. drought.gov/states/texas @NOAA @climatexas

NOAA

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RT @DroughtGov: #DroughtMonitor 10/31: This week saw major improvements for almost every state in the Plains and Midwest.

In contrast, every state in the Southeast saw drought develop and/or worsen. #Drought2023's Footprint: 30.7% of USA drought.gov @NOAA

NOAA

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Weather, climate, and water-related sciences provide the underpinnings for #ClimateAction.

There is huge potential for enhancing the benefits of climate science and climate services for the health sector and advancing on the #GlobalGoals. bit.ly/45P99Ah

World Meteorological Organization

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11/2 - Unsettled weather across the #CaribbeanSea associated with AL97 & an stationary front. Behind the front, Gale Warning in effect for the Florida Straits and off SE #Florida. Also, a Storm Warning remains in effect for the Gulf of Tehuantepec. More at hurricanes.gov/marine

NHC_TAFB

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"The onset of [#ElNiño] in 2023 will greatly increase the likelihood of breaking temperature records further, triggering more extreme heat in many parts of the world and in the ocean – and making the challenge even greater” WMO Secretary-General @WMOUNHQ bit.ly/45P99Ah

World Meteorological Organization

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From new tiger numbers to restoring seaweed forests, our winter issue of World Wildlife magazine takes an in-depth look at the connections between animals, people, and our planet. Read now: wwf.to/wintermagazine2023

World Wildlife Fund

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This September, Australia faced the driest season on record, elevating bushfire risk in the region.

This infrared-color image acquired by #Landsat 9 on October 21 shows a burn scar from fires that burned through 31,000 hectares of land. go.nasa.gov/3FAOa9O

NASA Landsat Program

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RT @MidwestClimate: The Midwest tends to see below normal snowfall during moderate-strong El Niño... but what about temperature? 🌡️
Does every mod-strong El Niño look the same? 🤔
All your questions detailed in our Midwest ENSO report here: mrcc.purdue.edu/climatesumma… @NOAAClimate @NOAANCEI @NWSCentral

NOAA Climate.gov

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RT @SeaGrant: It’s American Indian & Alaska Native Heritage Month, and last week @SeaGrant was part of the @NOAA delegation attending @SACNAS #2023NDiSTEM, demonstrating our commitment to include all our communities in #science. Here are some of the highlights from our #student engagement:

NOAA Climate.gov

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RT @BESNet_UNDP: 🗣️ Your voice matters! @IPBES is seeking inputs on institutional arrangements, mechanisms and the overall future role of the policy support function.

Governments, organizations and individuals are invited to contribute by 30 November.

Learn how 👉 ipbes.net/notification/call-…

ipbes

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Today's #AdaptationGap Report reveals the adaptation finance gap is widening.

As we approach #COP28, our nature-based solutions lead @najma_safrica says a global goal for adaptation & urgent NbS uptake must be high on the agenda.

Report via @UNEP : tinyurl.com/2hvpsnwp

UNEP-WCMC

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Storm Ciarán lashes Western Europe and the UK with dangerously strong winds, heavy rain, and even hail.

CIRA

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Trillions of dollars in subsidies & investments continue to finance the destruction of natural ecosystems.

How our financial system is bankrolling extinction and what governments need to do to restore nature

A blog by @crmazzet & @syahrul_fitra ⤵️ greenpeace.org/international…

Greenpeace International

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Forests are crucial in helping us adapt to #ClimateChange.

They:

💧help ensure water availability

🌊 protect against landslides and floods

🏜️ prevent desertification

🧑‍🤝‍🧑 provide alternative livelihoods for people

Via @SDG2030

UN Biodiversity

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During the warm period from OCT 2021 to MAR 2022, 987 daily alerts were issued for extreme heat. @SMN_Argentina is responsible for announcing these weather warnings; the Ministry of Health provides related health care advice. #EarlyWarningsForAll.

🔗 bit.ly/45P99Ah

World Meteorological Organization

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NASA Flights Link Methane Plumes to Tundra Fires in Western Alaska
In Brief:

Methane ‘hot spots’ in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta are more likely to be found where recent wildfires burned into the tundra, altering carbon emissions from the land.
In Alaska’s largest river delta, tundra that has been scorched by wildfire is emitting more methane than the rest of the landscape long after the flames died, scientists have found. The potent greenhouse gas can originate from decomposing carbon stored in permafrost for thousands of years. Its release could accelerate climate warming and lead to more frequent wildfires in the tundra, where blazes have been historically rare.

The new study was conducted by a team of scientists working as part of NASA’s Arctic-Boreal Vulnerability Experiment (ABoVE), a large-scale study of environmental change in Alaska and Western Canada. Researchers found that methane hot spots were roughly 29% more likely to occur in tundra that had been scorched by wildfire in the past 50 years compared to unburned areas. The correlation nearly tripled in areas where a fire burned to the edge of a lake, stream, or other standing-water body. The highest ratio of hot spots occurred in recently burned wetlands.

The researchers first observed the methane hot spots using NASA’s next-generation Airborne Visible/Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS-NG) in 2017. Mounted on the belly of a research plane, the instrument has an optical sensor that records the interaction of sunlight with molecules near the land surface and in the air, and it has been used to measure and monitor hazards ranging from oil spills to crop disease.

<picturehttps://climate.nasa.gov/internal_resources/2736/Photo_of_methane_bubbles.jpeg Methane bubbles pop on the surface of an Alaskan lake being studied by scientists with NASA’s Arctic-Boreal Vulnerability Experiment. A potent greenhouse gas, methane is released in bubble seeps when microbes consume carbon released from thawing permafrost. Credit: NASA/Kate Ramsayer

Roughly 2 million hot spots – defined as areas showing an excess of 3,000 parts per million of methane between the aircraft and the ground – were detected across some 11,583 square miles (30,000 square kilometers) of the Arctic landscape. Regionally, the number of hot spot detections in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta were anomalously high in 2018 surveys, but scientists didn’t know what was driving their formation.

Ice and Fire

To help fill this gap, Elizabeth Yoseph, an intern at the time with the ABoVE campaign, focused on a methane-active region located in a wet and peaty area of the massive delta. Yoseph and the team used the AVIRIS-NG data to pinpoint hot spots across more than 687 square miles (1,780 square kilometers), then overlaid their findings on historical wildfire maps.

“What we uncovered is a very clear and strong relationship between fire history and the distribution of methane hot spots,” said Yoseph, lead author of the new study.

The connection arises from what happens when fire burns into the carbon-rich frozen soil, or permafrost, that underlies the tundra. Permafrost sequesters carbon from the atmosphere and can store it for tens of thousands of years. But when it thaws and breaks down in wet areas, flourishing microbes feed on and convert that old carbon to methane gas. The saturated soils around lakes and wetlands are especially rich stocks of car[...]

bon because they contain large amounts of dead vegetation and animal matter.
“When fire burns into permafrost, there are catastrophic changes to the land surface that are different from a fire burning here in California, for example,” said Clayton Elder, co-author and scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, which developed AVIRIS-NG. “It’s changing something that was frozen to thawed, and that has a cascading impact on that ecosystem long after the fire.”

Rare but Increasing Risk

Because of the cool marshes, low shrubs, and grasses, tundra wildfires are relatively rare compared to those in other environments, such as evergreen-filled forests. However, by some projections the fire risk in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta could quadruple by the end of the century due to warming conditions and increased lightning storms – the leading cause of tundra fires. Two of the largest tundra fires on record in Alaska occurred in 2022, burning more than 380 square miles (100,000 hectares) of primarily tundra landscapes.

More research is needed to understand how a future of increasing blazes at high latitudes could impact the global climate. Arctic permafrost holds an estimated 1,700 billion metric tons of carbon – roughly 51 times the amount of carbon the world released as fossil fuel emissions in 2019.

All that stored carbon also means that the carbon intensity of fire emissions from burning tundra is extremely high, said co-author Elizabeth Hoy, a fire researcher at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “Tundra fires occur in areas that are remote and difficult to get to, and often can be understudied,” she noted. “Using satellites and airborne remote sensing is a really powerful way to better understand these phenomena.”

The scientists hope to continue exploring methane hot spots occurring throughout Alaska. Ground-based investigation is needed to better understand the links between fire, ice, and greenhouse gas emissions at the doorstep of the Arctic.

The study was published in the journal Environmental Research Letters.

News Media Contacts

Jane J. Lee / Andrew Wang
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-354-0307 / 626-379-6874
jane.j.lee@jpl.nasa.gov / andrew.wang@jpl.nasa.gov



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⏱️ Adapting to a changing climate is possible, but the current investment in adaptation is far below what is needed, and every day lost increases the potential losses.
Discover actionable steps that can be taken in @UNEP's 2023 #AdaptationGap Report 👉 ow.ly/UUNt50Q3sxM

UNDRR

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