Lethal Trajectories - Michael Conley [37]
TO: Clayton McCarty
RE: Climate-change Findings
September 18, 2017
OVERVIEW:
The following information was compiled from data provided from our third-generation climate-change satellites. Using International Earth Information Systems (IEIS) guidelines, the satellites were designed to measure several climate-centric components, including carbon and methane levels, global temperatures, gravitationally measured ice-sheet densities, glacial ice-melt rates, hydrologic patterns and ocean wide acidity levels, health of oceanic ecosystems, droughts, freshwater levels, agricultural and desertification trends, rain forest and carbon sink absorption rates, eco-pollution patterns and structural mechanisms, and a host of other data.
The data is currently being fed into the IEIS climate-change clearinghouse in Houston. It will be cross-checked and disseminated to the global scientific community for review and commentary.
OBSERVATIONS:
The results are startling and greatly exceed virtually all previous worst-case-scenario projections. The overall conclusion is that Earth is far sicker than anyone had previously imagined. Key findings include:
Methane Time-Bombs: An enormous amount of methane is being released into the atmosphere daily. With 21 times the heat-retaining capacity of CO2, it is accelerating the greenhouse gas (GHG) atmospheric build-ups beyond all levels previously projected in our computer models. Three key sources of methane build-ups are:
Sub-sea permafrost melts in the Arctic Ocean that are oozing out enormous amounts of methane-locked ice crystals called methane hydrates,
Siberian Shelf permafrost melts covering an area the size of France, Spain, and Germany combined, and
North American permafrost tundra melts that far exceed earlier projections and are growing in intensity as Earth becomes warmer.
Antarctic Ice Melts: While the disintegration of major ice shelves has been observed for years, the recent early stage Larsen C disintegration, combined with accelerated disintegration rates of other ice shelves, is alarming. (Ice shelves resting on water act like dams that prevent the ice sheets, which rest on land, from flowing into the sea. Once the shelves are gone, there is nothing to prevent the massive Antarctic ice sheets from flowing directly into the water and melting, causing global sea levels to rise.) As ice-flow rates into the sea increase, coastal areas and low-lying islands will be at increasing risk from rising sea levels.
Further, Antarctic ice-sheet density levels are diminishing at far greater rates than previously recorded. The East Antarctic ice sheet regions, which were kept colder by depleted ozone levels (man-made), are now starting to heat up. The loss of ice-sheet density could impact water vapor levels and hydrologic patterns, but exact projections will not be available for some time.
Arctic and Polar Regions: The summer Arctic ice is now all but gone, and the density of old ice is thinning dramatically. With less of a white-ice surface to reflect the sun’s solar energy (the albedo effect), more and more heat and CO2 is being absorbed by the oceans. Ocean acidity levels are rising beyond any previous projections, and a negative feedback loop is clearly in force. (This particular feedback loop suggests that reduced solar reflectivity and higher temperatures are reducing ice surfaces; less ice means that more heat and CO2 are retained in the oceans and atmosphere. More heat means less ice, and less ice means more heat in this deadly, self-perpetuating loop.)
Greenland and Glacial Ice Melts: The rate of ice melts and underwater melting—which, in effect, lubricates and accelerates the movement of glacial ice toward the sea—has exceeded all previous ice density and movement levels. Coupled with the Antarctic ice melts,