Page 28 - aruba-today-20180620

A28 SCIENCE
Wednesday 20 June 2018

In this March 5, 2018 file photo sunlight shimmers off the snow
and waters of Lake Tahoe in South Lake Tahoe, Calif.
Associated Press
Lake Tahoe clarity

sinks to all-time In this Aug. 12, 2016 file photo, a group of tourists walk in front of the Tuco glacier in Huascaran

low in 2017 National Park during a tour called the "Route of climate change" in Huaraz, Peru.
Associated Press

Allergies, glaciers, and pikas:

INCLINE VILLAGE, Nev. 1997.
(AP) — Scientists at Lake Officials at the Tahoe climate change in action
Tahoe say the clarity of the Environmental Research
alpine lake that straddles Center say the combination
the California-Nevada line of extreme drought and
sank to an all-time low last heavy rainfall washed BY SETH BORENSTEIN ing up eight days earlier like Miami Beach, Florida,
year. 12,000 tons of sediment into WASHINGTON (AP) — You and the marmots are com- and Norfolk, Virginia, flood
Experts say the 9.5-foot Tahoe's waters in 2017. don't just feel the heat of ing out of hibernation five frequently with high tides.
(2.8-meter) decline was UC Davis engineering global warming, you can days earlier, according —The number of acres
most likely due to a professor Geoffrey see it in action all around. to data gathered by the burned in the U.S. by wild-
convergence of drought, Schladow says Some examples of where Rocky Mountain Biological fire has doubled com-
record precipitation and measurements taken so climate change's effects Lab. pared with 30 years ago.
warm temperatures. far this year already are have been measured: —On average, during the Last year, more than 10 mil-
The dinner-sized disc used showing improvement —Glaciers across the globe past 30 years there have lion acres burned. Over the
to measure clarity was and are more in line are melting and retreating, been more major hurri- last five years, an average
only visible as deep as 59.7 with the long-term trend. with 279 billion tons of ice canes (those with winds of of 6.7 million acres burned
feet (18 meters). The worst The five-year average is lost since 2002, according more than 110 mph), they a year. From 1984 to 1988,
level recorded previously approximately 70 feet (21 to NASA's GRACE satel- have lasted longer and about 2.8 million years
was 64.1 feet (20 meters) in meters).q lite. Jakobshavn Glacier in they produced more en- burned, on average.
Greenland is flowing faster ergy than the previous 30 —Allergies have gotten
CERN starts major than any other glacier on years, according to an As- worse with longer growing
Earth. In 2012, it hit a record sociated Press analysis of seasons and more potent

upgrade to reap more pace of about 75 inches storm data. Other studies pollen. High ragweed pol-
per hour (1.9 meters). In have shown that the first len days have increased by
2017, it slowed down to 40 named storm in the Atlantic between 15 and 29 days
data at atom smasher inches per hour (1 meter). forms nearly a month ear- since 1990 in a swath of
lier than 30 years ago and the country from Oklaho-
The Portage Glacier in Alas-
ka has retreated so much it storms are moving slower, ma City north to Winnipeg,
GENEVA (AP) — The world's CERN, started work Friday cannot be seen from the allowing more rain to fall. Canada, according to a
largest particle smasher on a project to boost the visitor center that opened —Across the globe, seas U.S. Department of Agricul-
is kicking off a major up- number of infinitesimal col- in 1986. have risen about 3 inches ture study.
grade to churn out 10 times lisions, known as "luminos- —In the Rocky Mountains, since 1993. That doesn't —In the western United
more data and help unlock ity," in its Large Hadron Col- the first robins of spring are sound like much, but it is States the cute rodent
the secrets of physics. lider by installing high-tech arriving 10.5 days earlier enough to cover the en- called a pika needs weath-
The European Organization magnets. than 30 years ago. The first tire United States in water er around freezing for most
for Nuclear Research, or q larkspur wildflower is show- about 9 feet deep. Places of the year. But those habi-
tats are shrinking, forcing
them to higher altitudes.
University of Colorado's
Chris Ray, a pika expert,
said she hasn't definitively
linked climate change
to dramatic reductions in
pika populations, but she
found that they have dis-
appeared more from plac-
es that are warming and
drying.q