NASA VIDEO SHOWS THE WORLD WARMING

This brilliant video from NASA  shows the change in temperature across the globe from 1880 to 2011. The colours show the amount of deviation from the 1951-1980 average. The animation clearly shows the warming trend, particularly since the mid-1970s, and the differences in different parts of the world so you can see how your part of the world has changed. 2011 was the ninth warmest year since 1880.

EXPECT THE SEA TO RISE 1.5 TO 4M

Sea-levels round the world can be expected to rise by several metres in coming centuries, if global warming carries on. Even if it is limited to 2 degrees Celsius, the global mean could continue to rise to 1.5-4m above present levels by 2300, with the best estimate being 2.7m, says a study just published in <i>Nature Climate Change.</i>

Reductions in emissions that allow warming to drop below 1.5 degrees Celsius could limit the rise strongly.


Full report in  ScienceDaily.

400PPM, TIPPING-POINT NEAR, ARCTIC EFFECT

The world recently passed the point where carbon-dioxide emissions have raised the level of that gas in the atmosphere to 400 parts per million.

By no coincidence a group of scientists around the world is warning that population growth, widespread destruction of natural ecosystems, and climate-change may be driving Earth toward an irreversible change in the biosphere, a global tipping-point that would have destructive consequences unless we do something.

'It really will be a new world, biologically, at that point,' warns Anthony Barnosky, professor of integrative biology at the University of California, Berkeley, and lead author of a review paper appearing in the June 7 issue of the journal <i>Nature.</i> 'The data suggests that there will be a reduction in biodiversity and severe impacts on much of what we depend on to sustain our quality of life, including, for example, fisheries, agriculture, forest products and clean water. This could happen within just a few generations.'

Full story onScienceDaily.

America's winters have already been tipped into a new era. The dramatic melt-off of Arctic sea-ice due to climate-change is hitting closer to home than millions of Americans might think, because melting Arctic sea ice can trigger a domino effect that leads to greater odds of severe winter weather outbreaks in the Northern Hemisphere's middle latitudes -- such as the 'Snowmageddon' storm that hamstrung Washington, D.C. in February 2010.

Full story on ScienceDaily.

And Arctic tundra is being replaced by trees. In just a few decades shrubs have turned into trees as a result of the warming Arctic climate, creating patches of forest which, if replicated across the tundra, would significantly accelerate global warming.

Full story on ScienceDaily.