Energy

An Iceberg Triple The Size Of San Francisco Breaks Off Antarctica’s Most Endangered Glacier | Here & Now

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An Iceberg Triple The Size Of San Francisco Breaks Off Antarctica’s Most Endangered Glacier | Here & Now

This month, an iceberg nearly the size of Atlanta broke off in Antarctica.

The glacier, known as Pine Island, is considered one of the fastest retreating glaciers in Antarctica, where the climate is changing rapidly. Some parts of the content recently experienced record-high temperatures of nearly 70 degrees Fahrenheit.

The loss of large ice chunks, known as calving, is a routine process that happens to every glacier. In the past, Pine Island would calve every four to six years, glaciologist Alison Banwell says. But now, calving events occur “almost annually” on Pine Island, she says.

Great Lakes, Not so Great Ice

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Great Lakes, Not so Great Ice

Each winter, at least part of North America’s Great Lakes freeze. But whether the year is a boom or a bust for ice cover comes down to air temperatures. This season, warmth has prevailed.

Blue-green open water was still widely visible on February 14, 2020, when the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on the NOAA-NASA Suomi NPP satellite acquired the natural-color images above. Most of the white areas are snow and clouds, but a close look along parts of the shorelines—particularly Lake Superior—reveals small patches of ice.

Albany’s Changing Climate

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Many people think that the climate is warming generally in Albany or maybe that summer days are getting warmer in Albany. The opposite is actually true – in the past twenty years summers are colder then in the 1950s and 1960s. In contrast winters and especially springs are warmer than years past. 

Record Highs, 2000-2017 by Metrological Season

  • Winter (December – February), 16
  • Spring (March – May), 25
  • Summer (June – August), 3
  • Autumn (September – November) , 10

    Most Record Highs Set Per Year:

    • Since 1891: 1947 (9)
    • Since 1970: 1981/2012 (8 each)
    • Since 2000: 2012 (8)

    Coal

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    How dead is coal in New York?

    In November 2002, New York generated 2,100 gigawatt hours of electricity from coal.
    In November 2016, New York generated 22 gigawatt hours of electricity from coal.

    It’s been five and half years (July 2011) since the state has produced more then 1,000 gigawatt hours of electricity in any particular month from coal.

    We are down to two utility-scale power plants that burn coal, Kintigh Generating Station in Somerset, Niagara County (slated for retirement) and Cayuga Operating Station in Tompkins County, north of Ithaca (slated for conversation to natural gas).

    Abandoned Mines In PA That Pose An Extreme Health Or Safety Impact

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    This data set portrays the approximate location of Abandoned Mine Land Problem Areas containing public health, safety, and public welfare problems created by past coal mining. It is a subset of data contained in the Office of Surface Mining (OSM) Abandoned Mine Land Inventory. This layer identifies AML Points representing specific locations within an AML Inventory Site, examples include AML discharge.

    Data Source: PASDA. Abandoned Mine Land Inventory Points. Filtered by sites listed as posing an "Extreme Health or Safety Risk".

    Feds Lower Coal Mine Cleanup Funding for Pennsylvania – The Allegheny Front

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    Feds Lower Coal Mine Cleanup Funding for Pennsylvania – The Allegheny Front

    Pennsylvania is receiving less money from the federal government this year to clean up its old abandoned mines.

    The state is getting $32 million from the federal government’s Abandoned Mine Land (AML) reclamation grant this year, down from the $55 million it got last year. The drop is mostly because a one-time funding stream ended last year. That money came from funds originally withheld from states and American Indian tribes when the abandoned mine fund program was re-authorized in 2006.

    Another factor is a decline in revenues the program receives from a per-ton fee on active coal mining. The money brought in by the fee — which is set to expire next year — has been dwindling as the country moves away from coal. The Energy Information Administration estimated that coal production declined another 9 percent last year, and expects another 14 percent decline this year.