Though the eleven year solor cycle as well as the Southern Oscillation hit their minimum 2007 is recorded as second warmth year in the period of instrumental data.
More:
Wikipedia: Solar Cycle
Marshall Space Flight Center: NASA Satellites Capture Start of New Solar Cycle
Goddard Institute for Space Studies : Global Temperature Trends: 2007 Summation
By moving the hand of the Clock closer to midnight the figurative end of civilization the BAS Board of Directors is drawing attention to the increasing dangers from the spread of nuclear weapons in a world of violent conflict, and to the catastrophic harm from climate change that is unfolding.
“The dangers posed by climate change are nearly as dire as those posed by nuclear weapons. The effects may be less dramatic in the short term than the destruction that could be wrought by nuclear explosions, but over the next three to four decades climate change could cause irremediable harm to the habitats upon which human societies depend for survival.”
The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists was founded in 1945 by University of Chicago scientists who had worked on the Manhattan Project and were deeply concerned about the use of nuclear weapons and nuclear war. The Doomsday Clock evoked both the imagery of apocalypse (midnight) and the contemporary idiom of nuclear explosion (countdown to zero).
More: Robert H. Socolow - Facing new unknowns
Last weekend Sweden was hit by a strong storm with wind speeds of more than 100kph. Falling trees killed at least five people and hundreds of thousands were left without power. An estimated amount of that 12 million cubic metres of forest was felled.
The bridge connecting Sweden and Denmark was temporarily shut to all traffic, while nearly all train departures in southern Sweden and parts of Norway were canceled. The Swedish weather service SMHI said the storm was the worst to hit the country in two years.
Germany’s famous North Sea island and symbol Sylt lost 700,00 m3 sand used to protect the coast. Climate scientists warn more and more efforts are needed to save island from rising sea levels and Climate Change.
Tomorrow depression Kyrill is expected to arrive in Germany with hurricane strength. German weather service DWD warns gusts will have up to 150kph and whole country should prepare for heavy rain and Beaufort 11-12.
zdf.de: Orkan “Kyrill” kommt nach Deutschland
Picture credit: Naval Research Laboratory
The world’s 10 warmest years have all occurred since 1994 in a temperature record dating back 150 years. Now as every January the UK MET Office and the University of East Anglia issue a forecast of the global surface temperature for 2007. The Climate Change experts calculated a 95% confidence range of the global forecast for a temperature between 0.38 °C to 0.70 °C above normal.
Different from last years is a moderate-strength El Niño already established in the Pacific, which is expected to persist through the first few months of 2007.
MET press release: 2007 - forecast to be the warmest year yet
Press Release, Pacific Islands Forum, 23rd October, 2006
Global warming and the effects of sea level rise is concern for the Small Island States (SIS).
And incoming chairman of the SIS and the Republic of Kiribati, Anote Tong is urging Australia and all other interested party to participate in active dialogue foreseeing a prospective future for the small island states.
As you all know that Small Island States are low lying islands and vulnerable to global warming and sea level rise.
According to Mr.Tong, even though Australia is already experiencing the impact of global warming through bush fires, it has other pressing prioritizes.
If is going to be true that in the next 50years, Small Island States will diminish than that should be a concern.
Currently member of the SIS are in dialogue with Australia and other International bodies in the hope of having their concerns addressed.
Both the 15th Small Island States and the Leaders and Participants of African, Caribbean Pacific (ACP) met differentlly at Westin Resort & Spa on Denerau.
earth-policy.org: Rising Sea Level Forcing Evacuation of Island Country
SUN Weekend: Global warming: litigation to soon heat up
MetOp-A, Europe’s first polar-orbiting satellite dedicated to operational meteorology, was launched on 19 October 2006 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. It complements Europe’s Meteosat satellites positioned in geostationary orbit and provides better weather and climate information. (more…)
Published in the newstatesman.com today, this cover story from Mark Lynas promotes rationing per capita as an adequate answer to the hard facts we are facing.
You can’t bargain with the planet because it doesn’t care whether or not targets are ‘politically acceptable’. So unless we secure a deal determining how much carbon each nation and each person can emit, we simply will not survive. … (more…)
Using nine different climate models a research team focussed not the averages, but the extremes. Lead author Claudia Tebaldi and colleagues computed 10 different indices of climate extremes, with 5 related to temperature and 5 to moisture. (more…)
This ‘Picture of Day’ introduces a new set of time enabled layers. Satellite photo taken by Daily Aqua, 2006-08-31, shows Cat 3 hurricane John touching California, while the Ernesto system is still visible. (more…)
Greenland is the largest non-continental island in the world. The Greenland Ice Sheet holds about 2.85 million cubic kilometres of ice - 10% of the world’s ice mass. About 81% of the surface is covered by ice and helps to preserve the global energy balance. The ice sheets reflect incoming solar energy and, thus, influence Earth’s temperature.
Greenland is 341,701 sq km large. At the center, 
the ice is anything up to 3 km high. The weight of the massive ice cap has depressed the central land area to form a basin lying more than 300 m below sea level. Highest point is Gunnbjørns Fjeld with 3,693 m.
The most productive glacier is Sermeq Kujalleq (Jakobshavn Glacier) near Ilulissat. It is the fastest glacier on Earth and produces about 10% of all the icebergs in Greenland. Several thousands icebergs are produced from Greenland every year. In 2004 NASA scientists used Radar and Landsat images taken from space and found that the Jakobshavn Glacier has doubled his speed from 1997 to 2003.
Warming increases the rate of ice flow off Greenland, because the meltwater penetrates the ice sheet and forms a thin film between the ice and bedrock, which causes the glaciers to slide off the continent faster. If the greenlandic ice sheet melts completely, it would raise the average sea level about 6.5 metres. To compare: Antarctica’s 30 million cubic kilometers ice volume would rise sea level up to 70 meters.
The seasons are causing different melting behaviour of Greenland’s ice caps. With microwave sensors it is possible to analyse the surface of the ice and to differ between dry snow or ice and melting wet snow. In 2002 the melt started unusually early and the coverage was with 686,350 square kilometers 16% higher than the maximum melt area measured in the past 24 years.
The movement of glaciers towards the coast is not a constant slow journey. 
The speed of blocks of ice big like buildings can reach up to 10 meters per minute and generate seismic waves. Greenland is not a hotspot of seismic activity due to the constellation of the tectonic plates. Researches analyzed more than 100 seismic events between 1993 and 2005 and found one third happend in warm July and August and the amount of events doubled over the period.
NASA’s GRACE satellites measure directly the mass of the ice cap. According to a new analysis by researchers at the University of Arizona at Austin, the loss of ice from Greenlands southeastern region has sped up between 2002 and 2005.
Approximately 239 cubic kilometers is now lost each year and contribute add 0.56 millimeters annually to sea level, mostly from the eastern shorline. Too much fresh water from Greenland will change the circulation of water in the Atlantic Ocean and may alter the direction of the Norwegian Current which keeps Norway’s harbours ice free.
More facts: Basic facts about Greenland, Greenland in Figures 2005, Volume of Earth’s Polar Ice Caps, Impact of Climate Warming on Polar Ice Sheets Confirmed, Vanishing Ice, Earth Observatory Glacier Hazards From Space
Picture Credits: (1, JSC), (2, bigfoto.com) , (3, Larry Rodrigues), (4, Svante Bj
