21st Sept.

Completed morning program.Visited SBI.In chamber from 1.30 to 4 pm.

The News of the Day : "The figures speak for themselves. Earth's veil of atmosphere has warmed by 0.8 degrees since the middle of the 18th century when smoke billowing from furnaces of the Industrial Revolution began.

The temperature rise might not sound like a great deal, but make no mistake: the carbon dioxide being churned out today will linger for centuries to come, scientists say.

The polar icesheets, in particular, are vulnerable to a positive feedback loop that tends to boost the speed at which melting occurs. This, in part, is why the Arctic sea ice has shrunk to its smallest extent yet, raising concerns that Arctic summers might be largely free of ice by the 2030s.

Melting of sea ice does not, in itself, lead to a rise in sea level – but the melting of continental ice sheets, such as the Greenland ice cap in the Arctic, does, explains Monash University plant physiologist Roslyn Gleadow.

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"Ice is white and reflects sunlight, ensuring that our polar regions keep cold," Associate Professor Gleadow explains. "Areas that are ice-free are darker in colour and thus absorb sunlight; they also warm faster than if they were covered with ice." This positive feedback mechanism serves to increase the initial warming." An extract from ' The climate change: the inside story' by Peter Spinks in The Sydney Morning Herald dt. 21.09 2012 on line.
Retired to sleep at 10.30 pm.