Page 28 - ARUBA TODAY

A28 SCIENCE
Monday 2 deceMber 2019
Warming toll: 1 degree hotter, trillions of tons of ice gone

BY SETH BORENSTEIN — The number of acres
AP Science Writer burned by wildfires in the
Since leaders first started United States has more
talking about tackling than doubled from a five-
the problem of climate year average of 3.3 million
change, the world has acres in 1992 to 7.6 million
spewed more heat-trap- acres in 2018.
ping gases, gotten hotter — The annual average
and suffered hundreds of extent of Arctic sea ice
extreme weather disas- has shrunk from 4.7 million
ters. Fires have burned, ice square miles (12.1 million
has melted and seas have square kilometers) in 1992
grown. to 3.9 million square miles
The first United Nations (10.1 million square kilome-
diplomatic conference to ters) in 2019, according to
tackle climate change was the National Snow and Ice
in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. Data Center.
Here's what's happened to That's a 17% decrease.
Earth since: — The Greenland ice sheet
— The carbon dioxide level lost 5.2 trillion tons (4.7 tril-
in the air has jumped from lion metric tons) of ice from
about 358 parts per million 1993 to 2018, according to
to nearly 412, according to In this Oct. 31, 2019, file photo, a firefighter battles the Maria Fire in Somis, Calif. a study in the Proceedings
the U.S. National Oceanic Associated Press of the National Academy
and Atmospheric Adminis- of Sciences.
tration. That's a 15% rise in — The global average tem- lion and killed more than count far-from-normal tem- — The Antarctic ice sheet
27 years. perature rose a tad more 10,000 people. That's an peratures, drought and lost 3 trillion tons (2.7 trillion
— Emissions of heat-trap- than a degree Fahrenheit average of 7.8 such disas- overall dry spells, abnormal metric tons) of ice from
ping carbon dioxide from (0.57 degrees Celsius) in 27 ters per year since 1993, downpours. 1992 to 2017, according to
fossil fuel and industry years, according to NOAA. compared with 3.2 per — Nine of the 10 costliest a study in the journal Na-
jumped from 6.06 billion — Since Jan. 1, 1993, there year from 1980 to 1992, ac- hurricanes to hit the United ture.
metric tons of carbon in have been 212 weather di- cording to NOAA. States when adjusted for — The global sea level has
1992 to 9.87 billion metric sasters that cost the United — The U.S. Climate Ex- inflation have struck since risen on average 2.9 mil-
tons in 2017, according to States at least $1 billion tremes Index has nearly late 1992. limeters a year since 1992.
the Global Carbon Project. each, when adjusted for doubled from 1992 to 2018, The other one, Andrew at That's a total of 78.3 mil-
That's a 63% increase in 25 inflation. according to NOAA. No. 6, hit in August 1992, limeters, or 3.1 inches, ac-
years. In total, they cost $1.45 tril- The index takes into ac- according to NOAA. cording to NOAA.q

Lobster catch headed for decline, not crash, scientists say

By PATRICK WHITTLE pounds of lobster per year, breeding stock." The other
Associated Press but still enough lobsters to article states that recent
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — A support a robust business high catches have been
pair of studies by Maine- and supply hungry seafood aided by an expanded
based scientists suggest lovers. area in the eastern Gulf
the U.S. lobster industry is Oppenheim and col- of Maine that is especially
headed for a period of de- leagues base their opinion suitable for baby lobsters to
cline, but likely not a crash. on a finding that tempera- grow. The article, authored
Lobster fishermen have ture and the number of by UMaine graduate stu-
brought in record hauls young lobsters populating dent Andrew Goode in the
this decade, a period in shallow coastal areas allow journal Global Change Bi-
which Maine catches that scientists to predict what ology, states that the cool
previously rarely topped lobster catches will look deep-water habitat might
70 million pounds (32 mil- like in four to six years. They have protected the baby
lion kilograms) have rou- published their study in the crustaceans from the neg-
tinely soared above 120 scientific journal Ecological ative impacts of a warming
In this Sept. 5, 2018 file photo, a lobster walks over the top of a million pounds (54 million Applications. ocean.
lobster trap off the coast of Biddeford, Maine. kilograms). The new studies, Robert Bayer, former ex- Both studies rely on data
Associated Press both published with Univer- ecutive director of the Lob- from the American Lobster
sity of Maine scientists as ster Institute and a scientist Settlement Index, which
lead authors, show a fishery who was not involved in was founded by UMaine
in which warming waters the study, said the find- professor Richard Wahle to
off Maine have changed ings square with trends he get an idea of where baby
the dynamics of the lobster has observed in the lobster lobsters are growing.
population. population. Maine's com- Wahle, a co-author on
Noah Oppenheim, author mitment to protecting the both studies, said they "un-
of one of the studies, said lobster population through derscore the importance
his model projects the lob- conservative manage- of having a fine scale, lo-
ster catch in the Gulf of ment has helped, Bayer cal understanding of both
Maine "will return to previ- said. oceanography and organ-
ous historical levels." That "The sky isn't falling," Bayer ism biology" in the era of cli-
means tens of millions fewer said. "We're protecting the mate change.q