Study: Why Antarctic Sea Ice Continues to Expand Despite Global Warming

Posted on July 5, 2016 by CanucksBanter

A new study showed that the cooler-tan-average sea surface temperature at the Eastern Pacific has provided the Antarctic sea ice with the right condition to increase its growth rate. (Photo : Frances M. Ginter/Getty Images)

John Raphael Jul 05, 2016

A new study revealed that the increase of sea ice in the Antarctic despite global warming caused by climate change can be largely explained by a natural climate fluctuation.

The study, published in the journal Nature Geosciences, suggests that the change of phase of the Interdecadal Pacific Oscillation (IPO) from positive to negative, or vice versa, could initiate chain reaction of climate impact that may affect the sea ice formation in the Antarctic region.

Since the IPO shifted to its negative phase in 1999, the rate of sea ice growth in the Antarctic rose nearly fivefold between 2000 and 2014. The negative phase of IPO is characterized by cooler-than-average sea surface temperatures in the Eastern Pacific, facilitating the expansion of Antarctic sea ice.

“Compared to the Arctic, global warming causes only weak Antarctic sea ice loss, which is why the IPO can have such a striking effect in the Antarctic,” explained study’s co-author Cecilia Bitz from University of Washington in a statement.

According to the study, the above average coolness of sea surface in the Eastern Pacific changes precipitation, resulting to large-scale changes to the wind that extends all the way to Antarctica. This may lead to the deepening of a low pressure system off the coast of Antarctica known as Amundsen Sea Low. This system forces the wind from its western flank to blow the sea ice northward, away from Antarctica, which in turn results to the expansion of the extent of the sea ice coverage.

However, scientists believe that the IPO has once again shifted to its positive phase in 2014. The change of IPO from negative to positive means upcoming period of warmer Eastern Pacific Ocean temperature. Following the trend of IPO shifts, researchers predicted that the increase in the area of sea ice in the Antarctic might begin to slow down, or even retreat in the next ten years.

Source: Study: Why Antarctic Sea Ice Continues to Expand Despite Global Warming : News : Nature World News

Hiring Confidence in Alberta Remains Flat

Posted on July 5, 2016 by CanucksBanter

Hiring levels clearly are not recovering until 2017 at the earliest.

CALGARY, July 5, 2016 /CNW/ – Human Resources Institute of Alberta (‘HRIA’) today released the Hiring Confidence Index results from its semi-annual Alberta HR Trends survey.

“Hiring confidence in Alberta overall remains flat for the second-half of 2016. Forty-five percent (45%) of survey respondents indicated that they expect their organization’s total number of employees in Alberta to remain the same over the next six (6) months,” said HRIA’s Interim CEO, Janice MacPherson.

“However, for the twenty-five percent (25%) of respondents who indicated that they expect their total number of employees to increase over the same time period, the upside is that a majority of Human Resources Professionals are confident that they can find workers with equivalent experience and qualifications to fill open positions. Unfortunately, the percentage of respondents expecting their total number of employees to increase is the second lowest in Western Canada, and below the Western Canadian average. Hiring levels clearly are not going to be recovering until 2017 at the earliest.”

The Hiring Confidence Index (HCI) forms part of the Alberta HR Trends Report commissioned by HRIA as part of a regular series to help fill the labour information void for HRIA members and Alberta employers. The Alberta HR Trends research initiative was started inDecember 2013 in collaboration with Abingdon public opinion research firm and was expanded in 2016 to include all four western Canadian provinces, in partnership with their respective Human Resources provincial associations.

RELATED LINKS

Alberta Hiring Confidence Index Report

Source: Hiring Confidence in Alberta Remains Flat

Workers on both sides of Pacific oppose trade pact: Thomas

Posted on July 5, 2016 by CanucksBanter

SYDNEY, Australia, July 5, 2016 /CNW/ – Workers on both sides of the Pacific Ocean oppose the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the President of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union says.

“I’m talking to working people on the other side of the world, and they’re echoing the sentiments I’m hearing about this latest trade deal from my members and Canadians at large,” said Warren (Smokey) Thomas from a union conference in Australia. “People don’t want to see public services cut and privatized, they don’t want public assets sold, and they don’t want more price-gouging by pharmaceutical companies. Yet this is exactly what the TPP would mean for all of us.”

A guest of the Health Services Union New South Wales/Australian Capital Territory (HSU), Thomas is meeting with union leaders and touring worksites to meet frontline health and social services workers.

“Our answer to the Trans-Pacific Partnership is Trans-Pacific Solidarity,” he said. “Working people working together can build a better, fairer world. I truly believe that.”

In a letter today to Canada’s House of Commons Standing Committee on International Trade, Thomas outlined the multitude of ways the TPP would hurt all countries in the areas of trade, jobs, labour protections, and public services. He also pointed out the agreement’s total omission of the subject of climate change.

“While the federal government has committed to studying the potential impacts of the agreement, we have not seen a single update from them. This is not research-based policy-making.”

Perhaps the most ominous parts of the TPP, according to Thomas, are the “standstill” and “ratchet” provisions. The standstill provision requires governments to move only in the direction of greater privatization, while the ratchet provision bans governments from reversing any privatization efforts.

“Canadians don’t want to see their elected governments giving up power to corporations,” Thomas warned. “Signing on to this deal would set in motion a chain of events that threaten the hard-won victories of the global labour movement. It would have detrimental effects on generations of workers to come.”

SOURCE Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU)