ocean temperatures break records, the challenge of “managed retreat”, 30-year-old federal policies get important updates, Colorado River diversion dilemma gets real, who should build and own transmission lines?

The BBC reports that average global ocean temperature has recently spiked to an all-time high. Such a rapid and large increase has never before been recorded, and it will likely have major implications for weather and ocean ecosystems. Wired notes that temperatures that used to be described as marine heatwaves have become normal, as greenhouse gases are adding more and more heat to the ocean every year. A warmer Southern Ocean is a key reason that Antarctic ice melt is accelerating.

Yale e360 reports on an important new study modeling the change of ice formation in the Southern Ocean, which has profound implications for global ocean circulation. With less ice forming in the ocean, and more freshwater entering coastal areas from glacial melt, surface water in the Southern Ocean and around Greenland is already becoming less salty and less dense, and so less able to sink. The sinking of denser ocean water is a key driver of circulation. “The slowing of ocean circulation will profoundly alter the ocean overturning of heat, fresh water, oxygen, carbon, and nutrients, with impacts felt throughout the global ocean for centuries to come,” concludes the study’s lead author.

Salon reports further that altered major currents in the Southern Ocean will impact phytoplankton production around the world because these currents carry vital nutrients to far-ranging locations. The study’s authors indicate that sometime between 2050 and 2100 the impacts on surface productivity will become apparent. While there is uncertainty in these conclusions because of the complexity of the processes being modeled, this is another example of how ecological linkages between the atmosphere and oceans can drive global change in ways that could be very damaging to civilization…

emergence of extreme weather as climate warms now unequivocal, California’s “big melt” has begun, Biden Administration air-pollution rules will boost EVs, emissions of private jets and superyachts, changing climate story from despair to opportunity

A new study confirms with satellite data what has been predicted by physicists and computer models for decades. Our warming climate has fueled more intense drought and heavier rainfall globally over the last 20 years, which is indisputable evidence that the carbon we’ve emitted is exacerbating extreme weather. While there was much confidence in the model projections, “This is an observation,” one of the study’s co-authors told The Washington Post, “It’s actual data.”

The Washington Post describes how climate change is driving up the price of homes throughout much of the American west. Fires and flooding both damage the existing housing stock and limit where new housing can be constructed. “The median price of a home in Sonoma County, where Santa Rosa is the seat of government, has risen by more than 25 percent since the Tubbs Fire, according to recent monthly sales figures. That increase was even more precipitous before recent interest-rate hikes cooled the market.”

This problem is exacerbated by our construction of millions of homes in places that were known to be vulnerable to fires or floods. This is causing a forced migration due to climate change. Over 3 million Americans have lost their homes in recent years, and many will never be able to return. An excellent op-ed in The Guardian notes that “the total number of displaced will swell by millions and tens of millions, forcing Americans from the most vulnerable parts of the country into an unpredictable, quasi-permanent exile from the places they know and love…”