Envirographs - EnviroGraphs

Per capita CO2 emissions in Europe

Preparedness for climate change (top) and coastal flooding (bottom), from States at Risk

As wold population increase following grey wolf reintroduction to Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho, ranchers have become the wolves’ greatest antagonist, blaming them for killing their livestock. But coyotes are the primary source of livestock loss, and wolves can help drive coyotes out of areas.

Good read by Brad Plumer on the recent drop in China’s CO2 emissions.

Extent of surface melt over Greenland’s ice sheet on July 8 (left) and July 12 (right). Measurements from three satellites showed that on July 8, about 40 percent of the ice sheet had undergone thawing at or near the surface. In just a few days, the melting had dramatically accelerated and an estimated 97 percent of the ice sheet surface had thawed by July 12.

On average in the summer, about half of the surface of Greenland's ice sheet naturally melts. But this year the extent of ice melting at or near the surface jumped dramatically. According to satellite data, an estimated 97 percent of the ice sheet surface thawed at some point in mid-July, a larger area than at any time in more than 30 years of satellite observations. This extreme melt event coincided with an unusually strong ridge of warm air, or a heat dome, over Greenland. The ridge was one of a series that has dominated Greenland's weather since the end of May

The decline of arctic sea ice since 1980

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Change in mean sea level over the past two decades. The lull in 2011 was the result of La Nina, not a pause in climate change.

This graph shows greenhouse gas emissions from major point sources (power plants, industrial boilers) by state. It becomes clear immediately that Texas is a major outlier, representing far greater emissions than any other state. Indiana, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Louisiana, Illinois and Florida are other states with large emissions.

From Nature:

“[U]nlike the other [large American] predators, coyotes have thrived in the past 150 years. Once restricted to the western plains, they now occupy most of the continent and have invaded farms and cities, where they have expanded their diet to include squirrels, household pets and discarded fast food.

Researchers have long known the coyote as a master of adaptation, but studies over the past few years are now revealing how [they] succeed where many other creatures have suffered. Coyotes have flourished in part by exploiting the changes that people have made to the environment.

Also, fun fact: 

The [coyotes] that arrived in the northeastern United States and Canada in the 1940s and 50s were significantly larger on average than those on the Great Plains...  [Researchers] found that these northeastern coyotes carried genes from Great Lakes wolves, showing that the two species had interbred as the coyotes passed through that region. “Coyotes mated with wolves in the 1800s, when wolf populations were at low density because of human persecution,” says Kays. In those circumstances, wolves had a hard time finding wolf mates, so they settled for coyotes.

Compared with the ancestral coyotes from the plains, the northeastern coyote–wolf hybrids have larger skulls, with more substantial anchoring points for their jaw muscles. Thanks in part to those changes, these beefy coyotes can take down larger prey.

Yes, the eastern US is frigid. Yes, the average global temperature is warmer than average.

Temperature anomalies on December 29, 2017