Scientist: Fire in Israel is a typical example of climate change effects in Mediterranean

Climate scenarios for the region predict an advance of the desert about 300 kilometers to the north

2010-12-09

(Press-News.org) Haifa / Leipzig. The fire disaster in the Carmel Mountains near Haifa is a typical example of climate change effect and a taste of the future, says Dr. Guy Pe'er, one of the authors of Israel's first report to the UN on climate change. Ten years ago, Dr. Pe'er and other Israeli scientists collated knowledge about the effects of climate change for Israel. They warned already in the year 2000 of expected climatic fluctuations, heat events, decreased rainfall and delayed late winter rainfall, all of which would lead to increased risk of intense forest fires.

According to "Israel's National Report on Climate Change", prepared by Pe'er and other members of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev on behalf of the Israeli Ministry of the Environmental Protection, the frequency, intensity and extent of the fires would increase due to the prolongation of droughts, increase in water evaporation and an increased frequency of intense heat waves. At a warming of 1.5 degrees by the year 2100, which is by now considered a conservative scenario, models predict the desert to expand northward by 300 to 500 kilometers to the north. Mediterranean ecosystems, such as the one occurring in the Carmel Mountains, would thus disappear from Israel. Forest fires in the Carmel mountain range in northern Israel was preceded by eight months of drought and occurred during a heat wave with temperatures around 30ºC. Normally, first rainfall should have come in September or October, and the maximal daily temperature at this time of year should be around 15-20ºC.

The Carmel mountain range, northern Israel, rises to 546 meters above Sea Level. The combination of high rainfall (average of 800 mm per year), mountainous landscape and little human-pressure have resulted in rich and diverse vegetation, including Israel's largest natural pine forest. Therefore, large parts are nowadays protected within National Parks and Conservation Areas.

Dr. Guy Pe'er, currently a fellow at the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), Leipzig, has witnessed three forest fires in the year 1989 where large areas of the Carmel mountains were burnt, penetrating the outskirts of his native city of Haifa. "Following the fire I spent over a year studying the recovery process of the vegetation and the Mesopotamian fellow deer at the reintroduction centre at the Carmel forest. It was there that I've learned that fires are something natural and nature can recover if no further disturbances occur." Guy Pe'er is nevertheless overwhelmed by the intensity and extent of the fire: the largest fire in 1989 has destroyed an area which was ten times smaller than the current one.

The worst forest fire ever in the history of Israel has spanned a total area of 5000 hectares, taken the lives of 42 people and burned 250 houses down. Damages are estimated at more than 55 million €. Israel has since then been engaged in heavy debates on responsibility: how did the government, the ministers and the fire-brigade contribute to this failure? Guy Pe'er holds a different opinion, suggesting that the discussion should involve the longer and more substantial causes of this fire, namely climate change. "It's a matter of our consumption, our society and habits. We consume more than we need and more than Earth can sustain, and by that we bring about climate change and risk our own future. Can we behave as responsible humans and change our habits?" says Pe'er. From the perspective of the Israeli conservation biologist the international politics should reflect this incident onto the ongoing UN conference on Climate Change in Cancun, and ensure that its decisions will finally lead to the mitigation of climate change. Because climate change is not fiction: Israelis these days have got a glimpse of what may awaits the coming generations.

INFORMATION:

More Information:
Dr. Guy Pe'er
Helmholtz-Zentrum für Umweltforschung (UFZ)
phone: +49-341-235-1646
http://www.ufz.de/index.php?en=15885
or
Tilo Arnhold (UFZ press office)
phone: 0341-235-1635
email: presse@ufz.de

Publication: Israel's National Report on Climate Chance (2000):
http://nasa.proj.ac.il/Israel-Research/Climate_Change_Israel_National_Report.html

Links:
Mount Carmel forest fire: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Carmel_forest_fire
Mount Carmel mountains: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Carmel

[Attachments] See images for this press release:

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Rapid population aging will raise critical challenges for Asian governments

2010-12-09

BEIJING -- Responding to the challenges posed by a rapidly aging population will be one of the most difficult tasks for Asian governments in the first half of this century, says a report released today by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Indian National Science Academy, Indonesian Academy of Sciences, U.S. National Academy of Sciences, and the Science Council of Japan. The report, which discusses these challenges and identifies needed research to help policymakers better respond to them, was released at the opening of an international conference on aging in ...

Toddlers with autism show improved social skills following targeted intervention

2010-12-09

Targeting the core social deficits of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) (http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/autism-spectrum-disorders-pervasive-developmental-disorders/index.shtml) in early intervention programs yielded sustained improvements in social and communication skills even in very young children who have ASD, according to a study funded by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), part of the National Institutes of Health. The study was published online December 8, 2010, in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry. Although some research suggests ...

For some, laparoscopic technique not always better

2010-12-09

If skin is the body's fortress against germ invaders, shouldn't minimally invasive surgeries – operations guided by camera probes, conducted entirely within the abdomen – carry less risk for serious infection than procedures that slice the same cavity wide open? New research published in the December Annals of Surgery is challenging that assumption – at least for a subset of patients. Researchers from theUniversity of Rochester Medical Center (URMC) analyzed thousands of appendectomies (appendix removals) and found that, for a small group, the danger of deep abdominal ...

Sinking organic materials produce carbon dioxide

2010-12-09

Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology in Bremen, Germany and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.) in Cambridge, Massachusetts have found a remarkable effect while studying how marine particles sink, which could affect the way scientists assess global carbon fluxes. Their question - How fast does organic material and debris clumped together forming porous particles settle to the sea floor? Microbes colonizing these particles degrade the organic matter and release carbon dioxide back to the water. The downward velocity of the particles ...

Climate scientist warns world of widespread suffering if further climate change is not forestalled

2010-12-09

COLUMBUS, Ohio – One of the world's foremost experts on climate change is warning that if humans don't moderate their use of fossil fuels, there is a real possibility that we will face the environmental, societal and economic consequences of climate change faster than we can adapt to them. Lonnie Thompson, distinguished university professor in the School of Earth Sciences at Ohio State University, posed that possibility in a just-released special climate-change edition of the journal The Behavior Analyst. He also discussed how the rapid and accelerating retreat of the ...

Mayo Clinic finds seizure generation in brain is isolated from surrounding brain regions

2010-12-09

ROCHESTER, Minn. -- Mayo Clinic (http://www.mayoclinic.org/) researchers found that the part of the brain generating seizures in individuals with epilepsy is functionally isolated from surrounding brain regions. The researchers hope this finding could be a clinical biomarker to help identify individuals with abnormal brain function. This study was presented at the American Epilepsy Society's (http://www.aesnet.org/) annual meeting in San Antonio on Dec. 4. Epilepsy (http://www.mayoclinic.org/epilepsy/) is a disorder characterized by the occurrence of two or more seizures. ...

Common genetic influences for ADHD and reading disability

2010-12-09

Milan, Italy, 8 December 2010 – Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and developmental reading disability (RD) are complex childhood disorders that frequently occur together; if a child is experiencing trouble with reading, symptoms of ADHD are often also present. However, the reason for this correlation remains unknown. A new study reported in the latest special issue of Cortex (http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/00109452), dedicated to "Developmental Dyslexia and Dysgraphia", has suggested that the disorders have common genetic influences, which may ...

Youth report favorable impressions of community street outreach workers

2010-12-09

A new study by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Center for Injury Research and Policy finds that youth generally perceive community street outreach workers positively, regardless of whether they have personally worked with one. Street outreach workers are typically members of the community who intervene to prevent conflict and retaliation, and in some programs, also connect individuals with needed services, such as housing, health care and job training. While communities across the United States are increasingly using street workers as a strategy to connect at-risk youth ...

Widening our perceptions of reading and writing difficulties

2010-12-09

Milan, Italy, 8 December 2010 – Learning to read and write are complex processes, which can be disrupted in various ways, leading to disorders known as dyslexia and dysgraphia. Two new studies, published in a recent special issue of Elsevier's Cortex (http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/00109452) provide evidence of this variety, suggesting that effective treatment needs to take it into account. A group of researchers from the Universities of Bari and Rome in Italy studied the reading and writing abilities of 33 Italian dyslexic children, comparing their performance ...

Shoo, fly! Catnip oil repels bloodsucking flies

2010-12-09

Catnip, the plant that attracts domestic cats like an irresistible force, has proven 99 percent effective in repelling the blood-sucking flies that attack horses and cows, causing $2 billion in annual loses to the cattle industry. That's the word from a report published in ACS' biweekly Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. Junwei Zhu and colleagues note that stable flies not only inflict painful bites, but also transmit multiple diseases. Cattle harried by these bloodsuckers may produce less meat and milk, have trouble reproducing, and develop diseases that can ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Linearizing tactile sensing: A soft 3D lattice sensor for accurate human-machine interactions

Nearly half of Australian adults experienced childhood trauma, increasing mental illness risk by 50 percent

HKUMed finds depression doubles mortality rates and increases suicide risk 10-fold; timely treatment can reduce risk by up to 30%

HKU researchers develop innovative vascularized tumor model to advance cancer immunotherapy

Floating solar panels show promise, but environmental impacts vary by location, study finds

Molecule that could cause COVID clotting key to new treatments

Root canal treatment reduces heart disease and diabetes risk

The gold standard: Researchers end 20-year spin debate on gold surface with definitive, full-map quantum imaging

ECMWF and European Partners win prestigious HPCwire Award for "Best Use Of AI Methods for Augmenting HPC Applications” – for AI innovation in weather and climate