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Earth Science

Climate Change Has Doubled the Frequency of Ocean Heatwaves (nature.com) 260

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Nature: Scientists analyzed satellite-based measurements of sea surface temperature from 1982 to 2016 and found that the frequency of marine heatwaves had doubled. These extreme heat events in the ocean's surface waters can last from days to months and can occur across thousands of kilometers. If average global temperatures increase to 3.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels by the end of the century, as researchers currently project, the frequency of ocean heatwaves could increase by a factor of 41. In other words, a one-in-one-hundred-day event at pre-industrial levels of warming could become a one-in-three-day event. The study has been published in the journal Nature.
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Climate Change Has Doubled the Frequency of Ocean Heatwaves

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  • by Jarwulf ( 530523 ) on Wednesday August 15, 2018 @10:41PM (#57135148)
    doom really cared about it we'd have gone balls to the wall nuclear power decades ago and have safe hi tech nukepower oozing out of every orifice. But nope, instead they thought a better idea would be to use it as a chance to keep pushing to consolidate power and control in a few hands and tactics that have failed before and will continue to fail again like guilt people into living like monks to save a drop of carbon here and there.
    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by MrKaos ( 858439 )

      doom really cared about it we'd have gone balls to the wall nuclear power decades ago and have safe hi tech nukepower oozing out of every orifice.

      Nuclear power doesn't solve climate change, it offsets the carbon problem into a radio-isotope problem, which is worse that a carbon problem. Nuclear Energy doesn't work because it doesn't provide an energy return on the energy invested. This is mainly because water cooled reactors are less than one percent efficient wrt the energy potential in the fuel.

      There are other reasons, heat load on the environment is another. Nuclear looks great until you begin to understand and analyze it, then it looks like a

      • by Crashmarik ( 635988 ) on Thursday August 16, 2018 @12:42AM (#57135416)

        So much wrong in so short a post.

        Lets start
        1. Nothing "Solves" climate change. The climate is going to keep changing no matter what.
        2. Nuclear in this context is meant to eliminate CO2 emissions which are measured in megatons vs Rad waste which is measured in tons.
        3. Nuclear provides the best energy return currently available
        4. Nuclear power current designs hit 45% efficiency https://energyeducation.ca/enc... [energyeducation.ca]

        Thank you for being an example.

        • by MrKaos ( 858439 ) on Thursday August 16, 2018 @03:18AM (#57135818) Journal

          1. Nothing "Solves" climate change. The climate is going to keep changing no matter what.

          Agreed.

          2. Nuclear in this context is meant to eliminate CO2 emissions which are measured in megatons vs Rad waste which is measured in tons.

          Current stockpiles of pu239 is 70,000 tons, current stockpiles of u235 is 700,000 plus tons, current stockpiles of radioactive mine tailings is also in megatons. Can you point to any Nuclear Industry experts who specialize in dealing with these issues?

          The various mechanisms the man made radio isotope make it into the foodchain is process called bio-accumulate. If that wasn't a problem then we would be able to swim in places like Lake Karachay [wikipedia.org]. Then there is the National Geographic article which took an inventory of the world nuclear waste and found that there is enough to fill a freight train that goes 1 and a half times around the equator of the earth. [nationalgeographic.com]

          Since the nuclear industry do not have a solution to this issue Nuclear energy is not a viable solution to the worlds energy needs. All it means is we have two problems instead of one.

          3. Nuclear provides the best energy return currently available

          No. The peer reviewed science from over 10 universities around the world beg to differ [stormsmith.nl] in a study that uses established methods for industrial energetic input. Nuclear power provides no energetic return on energy invested.

          4. Nuclear power current designs hit 45% efficiency https://energyeducation.ca/enc... [energyeducation.ca]

          Speaking of context, lets go back to the original context of what I said: This is mainly because water cooled reactors are less than one percent efficient wrt the energy potential in the fuel. Specifically I am referring to burnup rate of the nuclear fuel [wikipedia.org] in the once through cycle. Now the wiki article is particularly generous saying that it is 5%, which I don't agree with however it makes my point adequately.

          Second I read the page you sent, thank you. The 45% you are referring to are for reactors that are not deployed and not licensed to produce electricity. Any scaling of Gen IV reactor technology will be occurring very slowly *IF* and thats a big *IF* the materials technology come through to produce them (which I hope it does come through).

          So much wrong in so short a post.

          If I post an opinion on Nuclear Power, I check my facts before I post.

          Thank you for being an example.

          No, Thank you!

          • Current stockpiles of pu239 is 70,000 tons, current stockpiles of u235 is 700,000 plus tons, current stockpiles of radioactive mine tailings is also in megatons. Can you point to any Nuclear Industry experts who specialize in dealing with these issues?

            That isn't an issue that's fuel, and thousand is not mega it's kilo. Do you want to throw in mine tailings for less energy dense fuels ? Or do you wish to just keep on embarrassing yourself here ?

            No. The peer reviewed science from over 10 universities around the world beg to differ [stormsmith.nl]

            Peer reviewed does not mean correct. The IAEA disagrees https://inis.iaea.org/collecti... [iaea.org]

            Speaking of context, lets go back to the original context of what I said: This is mainly because water cooled reactors are less than one percent efficient wrt the energy potential in the fuel. Specifically I am referring to burnup rate of the nuclear fuel [wikipedia.org] in the once through cycle

            No you shouldn't talk about things you don't understand, that was the thermodynamic efficiency of the power plant. I figured you wouldn't recognize it for what it is and you didn't disappoint.

            • by MrKaos ( 858439 )

              Can you point to any Nuclear Industry experts who specialize in dealing with these issues?

              Or do you wish to just keep on embarrassing yourself here ?

              I thought not.

              That isn't an issue that's fuel, and thousand is not mega it's kilo.

              oh boy, here we go again with the magic breeder technology that may have worked if it wasn't lobbied out of existence by the oil and coal industry - quick b lame the nimbys and greenies for ruining the nuclear future you idealize.

              Do you want to throw in mine tailings for less energy dense fuels ?

              First mine tailings have to be created to extract the Uranium ore. Second a lot of CO is created in that process. Third it leaks radon gas permanently and that usually ends rolling down hill to any water source because gravity. Radon is highly water soluble.

              Peer reviewed does not mean correct. The IAEA disagrees

              The IAE

              • You Nuclear Ideologists always have to get personal don't you. You can't talk about the merits and short comings of the technology just kick the magical thinking into overdrive and ridicule anyone that disagrees. For once maybe you should consider the flaws of Nuclear power and propose ways to fix them, instead of labeling me as anti-nuke to justify all slurs and avoid the issues.

                Actually I did consider the flaws of nuclear power. It's just very hard to talk to an idiot that thinks nuclear power plants don

          • by Whibla ( 210729 )

            While there are some interesting links in your post (though, alas, I'm not a subscriber to Nat Geo so I have no idea if that's 'useful' or not, or how the waste it apparently refers to compares with waste from, for example, mine tailings and coal ash), I'm going to have to draw your attention to something you wrote:

            The various mechanisms the man made radio isotope make it into the foodchain is process called bio-accumulate. If that wasn't a problem then we would be able to swim in places like Lake Karachay [wikipedia.org].

            Excuse me for saying so, but, other than being a complete non-sequitur, this is akin to saying nuclear power is bad because we can't swim in nuclear waste cooling pools (which is what Lake Karach

            • by MrKaos ( 858439 )

              Just out of curiosity, how are you at checking and accounting for confirmation bias?

              Which bias are you assuming I have?

          • Current stockpiles of pu239 is 70,000 tons

            This is, of course, irrelevant to nuclear power. Pu-239 is produced for use in nuclear weapons only. A standard reactor doesn't produce Pu-239 any more than a gasoline engine produces plastics as a side-effect.

            • by MrKaos ( 858439 )

              Current stockpiles of pu239 is 70,000 tons

              This is, of course, irrelevant to nuclear power. Pu-239 is produced for use in nuclear weapons only. A standard reactor doesn't produce Pu-239 any more than a gasoline engine produces plastics as a side-effect.

              It's a good point. Considering a reactor core is around 160 tons and IIRC a refuel is on third of the core every eighteen months * 400 reactors world wide for since the 1950s, that's a lot of spent fuel from reactors I haven't included.

              Thanks for pointing that out.

            • This is, of course, irrelevant to nuclear power. Pu-239 is produced for use in nuclear weapons only. A standard reactor doesn't produce Pu-239 any more than a gasoline engine produces plastics as a side-effect.

              Huh?

              In any operating nuclear reactor containing U-238, some plutonium-239 will accumulate in the nuclear fuel.

              https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]

              Of course Pu-239 is produced in a reactor, that's what's called "reactor grade plutonium".

              Reactor-grade plutonium/RGPu is the isotopic grade of plutonium that is found in spent nuclear fuel after the primary fuel, that of Uranium-235 that a nuclear power reactor uses, has (burnt up/burnup).

              https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]

              It's not "reactor grade" only because it is produced in a reactor but because it's only use is in producing power in a reactor, it's worthless for weapons because it contains too much Pu-240 and/or Pu-238.

              In a 2008 paper, Kessler et al. used a thermal analysis to conclude that a hypothetical nuclear explosive device was "technically unfeasible" using reactor grade plutonium from a reactor that had a burn up value of 30 GWd/t using "low technology" designs akin to Fat Man with spherical explosive lenses, or 55 GWd/t for "medium technology" designs.

              According to the Kessler et al. criteria, "high-technology" hypothetical nuclear explosive devices(HNEDs), that could be produced by the experienced nuclear weapons states(NWSs) would be technically unfeasible with reactor-grade plutonium containing more than approximately 9% of the heat generating Pu-238 isotope.

              What this reactor grade plutonium is good for is jump starting fourth generation nuclear power plants.
              https://articles.thmsr.nl/the-... [thmsr.nl]

          • No. The peer reviewed science from over 10 universities around the world beg to differ [stormsmith.nl] in a study that uses established methods for industrial energetic input. Nuclear power provides no energetic return on energy invested.

            I don't think I'm following your reasoning here. It looks like you're referring to Energy Return on Energy Investment (EROEI) graph in section 12, however, the graph for Nuclear EROEI seems is based on the assumption that high quality uranium to fuel nuclear power plants will run out in the year 2070. That makes the EROEI for the plants go to 0 at that point (which is worst than break even, because it represents a 100% loss of the invested energy). I looked for a better source that would give me some com

      • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

        by Anonymous Coward

        If this wasn't posted by MrKaos, one might mistake it for satire, as every last statement within is exactly backwards. Well, except the "My ism, it's full of beliefs.", which is spot on.

        Nuclear "waste" is the best kind of waste; it is small in volume, easily managed, and disappears naturally. Once the fuel is consumed completely--and this can be done in advanced reactors--almost all of the remaining fission products decay to stability after a few centuries. Even in a world powered 100% by nuclear, the amoun

        • by MrKaos ( 858439 )

          Well, except the "My ism, it's full of beliefs.", which is spot on.

          Well at least you can admit to it.

    • For the current stance of environmentalists to make sense, there needs to be just the right amount of climate change. Enough that we need to stop using fossil fuels ASAP. But not so much that we need to switch over completely to nuclear power ASAP. By their reasoning, the rate of climate change falls within a narrow band in between, where we must stop using fossil fuels, but we still have plenty of time to develop renewable power technologies so they become economically feasible.

      That's the kind of mes

"I got everybody to pay up front...then I blew up their planet." "Now why didn't I think of that?" -- Post Bros. Comics

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