Wasps seen above the Arctic Circle

[Dogmudgeon]

The newest bellwether of climate change is the appearance of wasps -- in this case, yellow jackets -- above the Arctic Circle.

IQALUIT - Southern Canadians wouldn't take a second look at a yellowjacket wasp circling around their picnic, but the discovery of the insect far north of the Arctic Circle has entomologists, well, buzzing.

Noire Ikalukjuaq, the mayor of Arctic Bay, found a specimen of Vespula intermedia, or yellowjacket wasp, outside the community recently. Arctic Bay is on the northern tip of Baffin Island, at more than 73 degrees latitude.

"I didn't know what that was at the time I saw it," recalled Ikalukjuaq, who managed to take a picture of the insect. "It didn't look scary to me, but I'll know better next time I see one."

...

Ikalukjuaq said other people in the community have also told him they've seen wasps this summer.

The original article is at http://www.cbc.ca/story/science/national/2004/09/09/wasp040909.html

--bkl

[burrowowl]

1. It isn't getting any better

is it. The Native People will have to create a new word for the stingers. :(

[whirlygigspin]

2. harbinger warning

I've been hearing stories like this for the past few summers, but never as far up as Baffin.

scary, next up: Innu banana plantations

[burrowowl]

4. Well the Dole United Fruit

type bananas are going under, maybe near the Artic will be their salvation. Alaska, the new banana republic after Florida.

[MnFats]

3. "I read the report prepared by the bureaucracy."

...Bush's response when asked about a report on climate change prepared by HIS OWN administration, which warned of course of warming. Of course, he did NOT read the report.

This guy should be dumped for his environmental record alone.....

[brokensymmetry]

5. On your other thread...

you brought out the possibility that this meant the permafrost might have thawed.

But doesn't that mean that the area starts adding lots of additional carbon to the atmosphere?

So...even if we decided to cut carbon emissions this afternoon, we may already have pushed global warming over some critical tipping point?

[Dogmudgeon]

6. Yes to all

Deep permafrost thawing has been observed for several years now, and is a major threat to buildings in Alaska.

The area is already producing large amounts of GHGs, primarily CO2 and methane, because of the activation of organic decomposition, especially in the soil. This change has already been detected. In addition, oceanic warming is allowing an increased release of methane from seabed methane clathrate ice slurries -- world-wide.

I think we've been beyond the "tipping point" since about 1990. There has also been a recent major influx of "cosmic dust" since the late 1990s which I strongly suspect plays a big part in climate on all the planets. But that's just my personal wild hair.

If we're lucky, the changes will produce a "climate flip-flop" to a new minor ice age in the next ten years.

If we're not so lucky, the weather will get hotter each year for about fifty years, and the climate flip-flop will be more intense, and lead to a major ice age around mid-century.

If we're shit-out-of-luck, we will defeat the state-change mechanism that causes the "flip-flop", and a runaway greenhouse will be established. Within 2000 years, the Earth would be a sterilized autoclave; in 100,000, the Earth would be a twin of Venus.

But we're not going to do anything until we realize that we're up the creek without a paddle. That will probably take a few more years, though recent weather disasters -- a glut of hurricanes and typhoons, July snow in Europe, unusually strong Eurogales, partial monsoon failure in Asia, etc. -- may compel this awareness sooner than later.

--bkl

[kestrel91316]

7. "Tipping point" - a rather important concept here...............n/t