A near-record low snowfall and a May that had essentially no rainfall have resulted in an early and already severe forest fire season in Interior Alaska. In Fairbanks, we have forest fires every direction except south and south west. Even though it's only the end of May, we already have a few fires that have burned more than 40,000 acres.
We had severe fire seasons in 2004 and 2006, and a bad one in 2009. But in no year in my 50 years in Fairbanks have we had a bad fire season under way in May. As I write this, there are a nearly unbelievable 253 active fires, with only 15 of them staffed. Until we get a week of rain - and there is no precipitation in the long term forecast - we are stuck with dim orange sunlight, a few miles or less of visibility, burning eyes and a persistent, hacking cough.
Oh Jim, I am so sorry to read this. When I was there in 2005 there were fires all around Fairbanks and the sky was that dim orange sunlight you mention. Thanks for bringing this to my attention via email.
[the sum total of all CO2 out-gassed by active volcanoes amounts to about 1/150th of anthropogenic emissions. ]
Then termites must really be a huge problem:
"One interesting side-note is that some scientists acknowledge that output of CO2 from termites is more that twice that from all fossil fuel combustion."
P.R. Zimmerman, 'Termites: A Potentially Large Source of Atmospheric Methane, Carbon Dioxide, and Molecular Hydrogen,' Science, 11/5/82, pp. 563-565, as quoted on page 110 in Whatever Happened to the American Dream by Larry Burkett.
I'm not sure this forum is the right place to discuss global warming issues, but a couple of things about your comment:
(1) Termites contribute methane, not CO2, to the atmosphere. Because methane is a much more powerful solar heat absorbing gas, methane is of more concern. Methane is a byproduct of the bacterial metabolism of cellulose in termite guts. Sure, termites breathe, and like all animals exhale CO2, but it's the methane that's the issue with cellulose-eating critters.
(2) Termites are carbon neutral. That is, they consume living or recently living things. Burning fossil fuels is not carbon neutral, or at least it's only carbon neutral measured in geological epochs.
(4) Up until the industrial revolution, CO2 and methane levels were relatively stabile across the last 15,000 years. Termite contribution to CO2 and methane concentrations was presumably stable across the same period.
(5) Global warming is about increases in CO2 and methane. The only known source of increases in greenhouse gases across the last 200 years are burning of fossil fuels.
(6) If I'm reading your citation correctly, it's from 1982? I'm a little suspicious of 28 year old data in the context of global warming and energy consumption.
Discussion
7 repliesWe had severe fire seasons in 2004 and 2006, and a bad one in 2009. But in no year in my 50 years in Fairbanks have we had a bad fire season under way in May. As I write this, there are a nearly unbelievable 253 active fires, with only 15 of them staffed. Until we get a week of rain - and there is no precipitation in the long term forecast - we are stuck with dim orange sunlight, a few miles or less of visibility, burning eyes and a persistent, hacking cough.
Very unfortunate and puzzling.
The sun has just come out a century-record low sunspot count. No one seems to correlate that to climate change.
Volcanoes have erased our uny efforts at carbon reduction.
Guess we have little choice but to watch as things change--as they have over the eons.
the fisch
Yeah, hope we get some rain real soon. That smoke makes for a nasty summer.
Larry, fwiw, the sum total of all CO2 out-gassed by active volcanoes amounts to about 1/150th of anthropogenic emissions.
Cheers
Carl
[the sum total of all CO2 out-gassed by active volcanoes amounts to about 1/150th of anthropogenic emissions. ]
Then termites must really be a huge problem:
"One interesting side-note is that some scientists acknowledge that output of CO2 from termites is more that twice that from all fossil fuel combustion."
P.R. Zimmerman, 'Termites: A Potentially Large Source of Atmospheric Methane, Carbon Dioxide, and Molecular Hydrogen,' Science, 11/5/82, pp. 563-565, as quoted on page 110 in Whatever Happened to the American Dream by Larry Burkett.
I'm not sure this forum is the right place to discuss global warming issues, but a couple of things about your comment:
(1) Termites contribute methane, not CO2, to the atmosphere. Because methane is a much more powerful solar heat absorbing gas, methane is of more concern. Methane is a byproduct of the bacterial metabolism of cellulose in termite guts. Sure, termites breathe, and like all animals exhale CO2, but it's the methane that's the issue with cellulose-eating critters.
(2) Termites are carbon neutral. That is, they consume living or recently living things. Burning fossil fuels is not carbon neutral, or at least it's only carbon neutral measured in geological epochs.
(3) Termites contribute about 3% of total methane emissions.
(4) Up until the industrial revolution, CO2 and methane levels were relatively stabile across the last 15,000 years. Termite contribution to CO2 and methane concentrations was presumably stable across the same period.
(5) Global warming is about increases in CO2 and methane. The only known source of increases in greenhouse gases across the last 200 years are burning of fossil fuels.
(6) If I'm reading your citation correctly, it's from 1982? I'm a little suspicious of 28 year old data in the context of global warming and energy consumption.