The role of near-record sea surface temperatures

Torrential rains inundated a heavily populated, steep-sloped area about 40 miles north of Rio de Janeiro on Tuesday and Wednesday, triggering flash floods and mudslides that have claimed at least 511 lives. Rainfall amounts of approximately 300 mm (12 inches) fell in just a few hours in the hardest-hit regions, Teresopolis and Nova Friburgo. Many more people are missing, and the death toll is expected to go much higher once rescuers reach remote villages that have been cut off from communications. The death toll makes the January 2011 floods Brazil’s worst single-day natural disaster in its history. Brazil suffers hundreds of deaths each year due to flooding and mudslides, but the past 12 months have been particularly devastating. Flooding and landslides near Rio in April last year killed 246 people and did about $13 billion in damage, and at least 85 people perished last January during a similar event.

Following fast on the heels of another extreme drought hitting the Amazon comes devastating Brazilian floods.  According to scientists, this climate-whipsawing from mega-drought to mega-flood will become increasingly common as human emissions intensify the hydrological cycle (see Study: Global warming is driving increased frequency of extreme wet or dry summer weather in southeast, so droughts and deluges are likely to get worse).  Indeed, it’s just happened to both Australia and this country (see “Hell and High Water hits Georgia“).

In this Wunderblog repost, Meteorologist and former hurricane hunter Dr. Jeff Masters has the story — and an analysis of the “departure of temperature from average for the moisture source regions of the globe’s four most extreme flooding disasters over the past 12 months”
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This is a pretty good story by Scientific American on Concentrated solar thermal power Solar Baseload “” a core climate solution.  Figure from DOE.

How to Use Solar Energy at Night:  Molten salts can store the sun’s heat during the day and provide power at night

Near Granada, Spain, more than 28,000 metric tons of salt is now coursing through pipes at the Andasol 1 power plant. That salt will be used to solve a pressing if obvious problem for solar power: What do you do when the sun is not shining and at night?

The answer: store sunlight as heat energy for such a rainy day.

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I’m not certain what is more inane:  That Hannity would say this — or that he actually believes such an invasion would lower oil prices for Americans. Think Progress has the story (with video) in this cross-post.

Friday’s Hannity on Fox News featured a discussion by the Great American Panel about high gas prices, which host Sean Hannity claimed are “now gonna go up to three, four, five dollars a gallon again.”  The panel ruefully noted that Arab sheiks possess great amounts of oil, and pointed out a recent statement by Kuwait’s oil minister that he believes the market can withstand $100-per-barrel oil. After noting that Kuwait is a country that “would not exist [but] for us,” Hannity angrily offered his remedy:

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Kalen Pruss explains how the Great Lake State can keep growing green industries, in this CAP cross-post.

The 2010 midterm elections ushered dozens of new climate science deniers into statehouses and the U.S. Capitol. Michigan may buck this trend, however. Freshly inaugurated Gov. Rick Snyder (R) supported clean energy policies during last year’s race. He bested very conservative primary opponents despite a strong conservative resurgence throughout the Midwest. Snyder described himself as a “good green Republican” as he won the statehouse by a substantial margin, handily defeating Democrat Virg Bernaro in the general election. Michigan could turn out to be a clean energy bright spot in a disappointing election season if Snyder stays true to his campaign.

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