NASA: ATMOSPHERIC RIVERS WILL INCREASE THEIR INTENSITY

https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=7141

A new NASA-led study shows that climate change is likely to intensify extreme weather events known as atmospheric rivers across most of the globe by the end of this century, while slightly reducing their number. 

The new study projects atmospheric rivers will be significantly longer and wider than the ones we observe today, leading to more frequent atmospheric river conditions in affected areas.

"The results project that in a scenario where greenhouse gas emissions continue at the current rate, there will be about 10 percent fewer atmospheric rivers globally by the end of the 21st century," said the study's lead author, Duane Waliser, of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. "However, because the findings project that the atmospheric rivers will be, on average, about 25 percent wider and longer, the global frequency of atmospheric river conditions -- like heavy rain and strong winds -- will actually increase by about 50 percent."

Video of Gerard Moss on ‘flying river’ in Brazil:

https://youtu.be/jT0FgvjRthY

NICKEL MINING IN THE AMAZON: THE MOST POLLUTING ORE IN THE WORLD

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2018/may/15/brazil-xikrin-catete-river-amazon?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Let’s start with this statement of a Canadian geologist about copper ore:

“This area to the west is an area designed for nickel. Nickel is the worst of things that can happen. It is the most polluting ore, the most lethal ore there can be”.

The Xikrin, who have lived alongside the Cateté river in the Amazon rainforest in northern Brazil for centuries, have a mantra: “The river is our life.” Surrounded by an abundance of plant species, they swim and bathe here.

To fish, the tribe use timbó, a toxic vine that reduces the concentration of oxygen in the water, forcing the fish to come to the surface, where they are shot with arrows. “If we use hooks to fish, only one of our families will eat fish,” explains former tribal chief Onkray Xikrin. “But with timbó the whole village can eat.”

But the River Cateté is dying, and with it the way of life of the Xikrin. In 2010 Mineração Onça Puma, a company owned by the mining company Vale, began extracting nickel in the nearby hills, which have tributaries flowing into the Cateté. Vale is one of the world’s largest producers of nickel.

Around this time, the Xikrin who were diving into the river say they began suffering itchy skin and burning eyes. The tribe also noticed a decline in the quantity and diversity of fish. In 2015, tests by a professor at the Federal University of Pará found traces of nickel in the sediment of the river at almost double the safe level downstream from the mines, but no trace upstream. The tests also found unsafe levels of iron, chromium and copper.