Caption: Radar image of Katrina
Image source: USCG Center for Coastal & Watershed Studies
Flooding in Thailand, extraordinary heavy snow in Japan & South Korea, hurricanes, rapid thawing of the west Siberian peatlands, large extent of sea ice reduction…..all these are combine sounding a stark warning that global warming may soon spiral out of contro. It added added the ominous phrase "tipping point" entered the vocabulary of climate science in 2005.
Meanwhile, after Katrina smashed across New Orleans, the US still keep their role of being the “world’s biggest chimney”. The US greenhouse gas emissions reached a record high in 2004 (related report) with 7122 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emitted, which is 16% higher than in 1990 and responsible for about one-quarter of the world’s carbon dioxide emissions. The situation seems not improve this year and they are refused to ratify any related treaty as usual. This year we had 26 tropical storms (14 were categorised as hurricane), 12 more than 2004 and the most for any year since records began in 1928. The warming globe is blamed for more and stronger hurricanes (related report). Just wonder when the US, as well as the rest of the worlds, can learn lessons from climate changes.
Some good news in the year is the Kyoto Protocol is about to begin. Hopefully it can go some help to deal with the crazy climate, at least to raise the cautions and concerns by more countries. A pair of satellites by NASA will soon depart to spot the world's polluters from space. It is believed that they will take on the politically charged task of measuring carbon dioxide and could eventually help determine whether nations are meeting their CO2 emission targets.
Let’s see how things going on in 2006.
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