Global warming could make the Summer Olympics nearly impossible by 2085

[eppur_se_muova]

JOSH HRALA
15 AUG 2016

Researchers have claimed that global warming could make many cities around the world too hot to host the Summer Olympic Games in the coming decades.

The team concludes that in just 70 years, only eight Northern Hemisphere cities outside Western Europe will be cool enough to host the games, making it increasingly hard for organisers to continue with their current system.

"Climate change could constrain the Olympics going forward," said lead researcher Kirk Smith from the University of California, Berkeley. "And not just because of rising sea levels."

Smith and his colleagues came to this conclusion by analysing heat radiation, humidity, temperature, and wind data from two separate climate models focused on possible Olympic Games sites, which combined make up a model they call the wetbulb globe temperature (WBGT).

Using the WBGT, the team predicted the temperatures of various cities in the Northern Hemisphere in the coming decades, with populations of over 600,000 people - one of the current stipulations for a city to host the games.
***
more: http://www.sciencealert.com/global-warming-might-kill-off-the-summer-olympics-by-2085?perpetual=yes&limitstart=1

[villager]

1. The "winter" Olympics will *be* the (former) "Summer Olympics"

And there will be no "Winter Olympics," as presently understood.

Unless they want to keep some of the ice skating events at indoor arenas, a stable power grid willing.

[eppur_se_muova]

2. There's been surprisingly little mention of the fact that it's Winter in Rio.

I thought they might hold a Southern Hemisphere Summer Games in the SH's actual summer -- but noooooooooo !

Moving the Olympics to different countries is supposed to randomize the advantage of playing close to home for the various teams. But SH athletes train on a different seasonal schedule -- isn't that a permanent disparity between Northern and Southern Hemisphere teams ?

[muriel_volestrangler]

10. Do SH athletes train on a different schedule?

There might be one or two sports that's true for, I suppose, but not for most. Most sports already have an international schedule.

[scscholar]

3. Who cares about this bread and circus garbage...

what about day to day life?

[eppur_se_muova]

4. It does drive home the magnitude of what's happening ...

... in a way that might get through to more people than warnings about weather disasters which are always someplace else (until they aren't), for most people.

Suggest to people that playing outdoor sports in the Summer in almost the entire Northern Hemisphere (not someplace else for Americans) might become impossible, and you've got their attention.




ETA: Wonder what Mitt Romney would think about this. The Winter Olympics put some polish on his resume, but his party denies AGW altogether.

[Binkie The Clown]

5. Given the past history of global warming timetables, I'd guess...

... that instead of 2085, it's more like 2035.

[caraher]

6. That summary doesn't make it clear what projections they are using

They may have used one of the more pessimistic projections.

Or not... in which case you may be right

[Binkie The Clown]

7. I'm obviously just talking off the top of my head, but...

...it sure seems to me that every time I turn around I see more headlines with the words "sooner", "faster", "worse" than expected, describing the current state of climate change.

[PoutrageFatigue]

9. That's probably closer to reality...

...

[NNadir]

8. Wow. And here I was hearing from Greenpeace how 2085 would be a solar and wind...

...nirvana.

It's nice to see that someone is being realistic about what we are doing to the future generations that Greenpeace always tells us will do all the things we don't do for ourselves now.

2016 is, by itself, a disaster.