COTW: Coal's Demise, Planet's Crisis

More:  The influx of fresh water from the melting Greenland ice cap [chart below] has the potential of shutting down the Gulf Stream, which would be catastrophic say scientists.  Research has found an "almost complete loss of stability over the last century" of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) that includes the Gulf Stream. These ocean currents are already at the slowest level in 1600 years. This circulation is responsible for a significant portion of Europe's relatively mild climate. Scientist studying climate change are becoming increasingly concerned about climate tipping points, which would bring about large, sudden changes in climatic conditions. An analysis from 2019 found that several tipping points have already been crossed such as the Amazon Basin becoming a net emitter of carbon dioxide and the rapid melting of Greenland's land-based ice sheet.

Research on the AMOC shows that it has two states over geologic time: a fast, strong state that has existed for millennia into modern times, and a slow, weak one that may be reoccurring due to global heating. [chart] Eight independent data sets confirm that rising temperatures are increasing the system's instability, a signal that a tipping point in the system is occurring. Scientists cannot pinpoint a time when an AMOC collapse will occur--it could occur in decades or take a century, but there is no doubt the system is changing.  Once the ocean current system is pushed past the tipping point it reaches a new equilibrium (collapsed state) until the present state is exceeded a phenomenon called "hysterisis", see chart.

hysteresis from Stommel, 1961

{02.08.21} The chart below shows the percentage of use for the major energy sources. Natural gas has substantially increased its share of electricity production while coal continues to crash and alternatives such as wind and solar are now the second largest producer, which is good news for the planet:0

Natural gas is still a fossil fuel that produces carbon dixoide as combustion waste product, but is cleaner than coal. The increse in natural gas use is driven by the shale boom in the US, and the need to replace base fuel loads historically handled by coal plants at lower cost. The price of natural gas has dropped considerably since development of shale oil deposits. Gas plants are more easily scaleable and produce less waste to dispose. Renewables have incresed steadily since 2005 when costs have compared more favorably with coal. The only problem with the chart is that the transition to cleaner electricity production is not occurring fast enough to compensate for rampant climate change. Warming is the subject of the next chart that shows the extent of the Greenland's ice sheet melting. Greenland's ice cap is mostly on land, so melting (red) will affect global sea levels:

The recent heat wave that produced record temperatures in the far north has caused a massive melting event that could cover the state of Florida in two inches of water. Nerlerit Inaat airport in the northeast of the Danish territory recorded 23.4 degrees centigrade on Thursday, the highest recorded there since records began. Recorded melting began in 1990 and has accelerated since 2000. The mass of melted ice has quadrupled since then. The Greenland ice sheet, if completely melted, would raise the ocean levels by six to seven meters, enough to inundate many coastal cities.