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“Tampering can be dangerous. Nature can be vengeful. We should have a great deal of respect for the planet on which we live.” — Carl-Gustaf Rossby

But as the new study points out, 90% of the extra heat that our greenhouse gases trap is actually absorbed by the oceans. That means that the upper few meters of the sea have been steadily warming more than a tenth of a degree celsius per decade, a figure that’s accelerating. When you think of the volume of water that represents, and then try to imagine the energy necessary to raise its temperature, you get an idea of the blowtorch that our civilization has become. — Bill McKibben

The scale of ocean warming is truly staggering with the numbers so large that it is difficult for most people to comprehend. — Explaining Ocean Warming

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If there’s one simple fact about past Earth…

Opinion:

¶ “Beauty and power: how Norway is making green energy look good” • On the edge of a forest in northern Norway, an unusual hydroelectric plant is generating a buzz. Øvre Forsland is a big departure from the hulking power stations. It looks more like an elegant, custom‑built home from TV show Grand Designs. [The Guardian]

Øvre Forsland hydroelectric station.
Photograph: Pedro Alvarez for the Observer.

¶ “Dear Theresa: Let it go! Six powerful reasons to dump Hinkley C” • Theresa May ducked out of a signing ceremony to review the Hinkley C nuclear project. Soon she will have to make a decision. In this open letter Scientists for Global Responsibility set out six compelling reasons for her to let the monstrous white elephant go. [The Ecologist]

Science and Technology:

¶ Torrential rains unleashed on south Louisiana in August were made almost twice as…

Science and Technology:

¶ Shipping routes across the Arctic are going to open up significantly this century even with a best-case reduction in CO2 emissions, a new study suggests. University of Reading, UK, researchers have investigated how the decline in sea-ice, driven by warmer temperatures, will make the region more accessible. [BBC]

Sea-ice is in decline but scientists expect a lot of annual variability. SPL

World:

¶ The G20 meeting in China may have been notable for the decision by both China and the US to ratify the Paris climate treaty. But the G20 nations are still taking little action on ending fossil fuel subsidies, despite agreeing to the move in 2009 to end what has been described as the “dumbest policy” in the world. [CleanTechnica]

¶ The London Metropolitan Police is now trialling the use of a range-extended BMW i3 as a patrol car, exploring the…

Globally, it’s been a record-hot year. But nowhere has seen so much anomalous warmth during 2016 as the Arctic. As melt season draws to a close, some dramatic effects are now becoming visible in the NASA satellite shots. Large regions near the North Pole are losing their white covering of sea ice and showing the telltale blue-black of open water:

(Large areas of open water are visible near the North Pole in this LANCE MODIS satellite shot.)

The above image, provided by NASA, shows the Northern Hemisphere polar region on September 5, 2016. To get some sense of the size of this region of low-concentration sea ice, the bottom edge of this capture represents approximately 300 miles. For a point of reference, the North Pole can be seen where the lines of the satellite image frames converge in the lower left-hand side of the capture.

All throughout this satellite shot…