MULTI-YEAR ARCTIC ICE ALL GONE
ScienceDaily reports that an Arctic expert who recently surveyed the region says that the thick, hard multi-year ice in the Arctic has in effect all vanished, leaving only 'rotten' ice that can easily be sailed through.
Friday, 30 October 2009
Monday, 26 October 2009
MUD SAYS WARMING IS NOT NATURAL
Sediment at the bottom of a remote Artctic lake shows that the warming in the late twentieth century was unlike anything caused by natural events during the last 200,000 years, reports ScienceDaily.
Sediment at the bottom of a remote Artctic lake shows that the warming in the late twentieth century was unlike anything caused by natural events during the last 200,000 years, reports ScienceDaily.
Saturday, 10 October 2009
15M YEARS AGO C02 WAS THIS HIGH
New research, reported in ScienceDaily shows that the last time carbon-dioxide was at its present 387 parts per million was 15 million years ago. The research uses a new method of calculating carbon-dioxide levels that enables data to be extracted back to about 20 million years. It checks against data extracted from ice-cores going back 800,000 years, which was the previous limit.
15 million years ago the planet was radically different, which suggests that we have put it on an inelectable path to an environment inimical to our civilisation.
New research, reported in ScienceDaily shows that the last time carbon-dioxide was at its present 387 parts per million was 15 million years ago. The research uses a new method of calculating carbon-dioxide levels that enables data to be extracted back to about 20 million years. It checks against data extracted from ice-cores going back 800,000 years, which was the previous limit.
15 million years ago the planet was radically different, which suggests that we have put it on an inelectable path to an environment inimical to our civilisation.
Thursday, 1 October 2009
TWO-METRE RISE IN OCEANS UNSTOPPABLE
ScienceDaily News reports that experts have told a climate conferene at Oxford University that a rise of at least two metres in the world's sea levels is now almost unstoppable.
'The crux of the sea level issue is that it starts very slowly but once it gets going it is practically unstoppable,' said Stefan Rahmstorf, a scientist at Germany's Potsdam Institute and a widely recognised sea level expert. 'There is no way I can see to stop this rise, even if we have gone to zero emissions.'
He said the best outcome was that after temperatures stabilised, sea-levels would only rise at a steady rate 'for centuries to come,' and not accelerate.
Most scientists expect at least 2 degrees Celsius warming as a result of man-made greenhouse gas emissions, and probably more. The world warmed 0.7-0.8 degrees last century.
Rahmstorf estimated that if the world limited warming to 1.5 degrees then it would still see a two-metre rise in sea-levels over a period of centuries, causing some island nations to disappear. His best guess was a one-metre rise this century, assuming three degrees warming, and up to five metres over the next 300 years.
'There is nothing we can do to stop this unless we manage to cool the planet. That would require extracting the carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. There is no way of doing this on the sufficient scale known today' he said.
Scientists say that ice melt acquires a momentum of its own--for example warming the air as less ice reflects less heat, warming the local area.
'Once the ice is on the move, it's like a tipping point which reinforces itself,' said Wageningen University's Pier Vellinga, citing various research.
He thinks that above a two-degree rise in global average temperature there is a 50% chance that the Greenland ice-sheet will disintegrate, which 'will result in about a seven-metre sea-level rise, and the time frame is about 300-1000 years.'
Speakers in Oxford used history to back up their arguments on rising seas. They said that three million years ago the planet was 2-3 degrees warmer and the sea 25-35 metres higher, and 122,000 years ago 2 degrees warmer and 10 metres higher.
ScienceDaily News reports that experts have told a climate conferene at Oxford University that a rise of at least two metres in the world's sea levels is now almost unstoppable.
'The crux of the sea level issue is that it starts very slowly but once it gets going it is practically unstoppable,' said Stefan Rahmstorf, a scientist at Germany's Potsdam Institute and a widely recognised sea level expert. 'There is no way I can see to stop this rise, even if we have gone to zero emissions.'
He said the best outcome was that after temperatures stabilised, sea-levels would only rise at a steady rate 'for centuries to come,' and not accelerate.
Most scientists expect at least 2 degrees Celsius warming as a result of man-made greenhouse gas emissions, and probably more. The world warmed 0.7-0.8 degrees last century.
Rahmstorf estimated that if the world limited warming to 1.5 degrees then it would still see a two-metre rise in sea-levels over a period of centuries, causing some island nations to disappear. His best guess was a one-metre rise this century, assuming three degrees warming, and up to five metres over the next 300 years.
'There is nothing we can do to stop this unless we manage to cool the planet. That would require extracting the carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. There is no way of doing this on the sufficient scale known today' he said.
Scientists say that ice melt acquires a momentum of its own--for example warming the air as less ice reflects less heat, warming the local area.
'Once the ice is on the move, it's like a tipping point which reinforces itself,' said Wageningen University's Pier Vellinga, citing various research.
He thinks that above a two-degree rise in global average temperature there is a 50% chance that the Greenland ice-sheet will disintegrate, which 'will result in about a seven-metre sea-level rise, and the time frame is about 300-1000 years.'
Speakers in Oxford used history to back up their arguments on rising seas. They said that three million years ago the planet was 2-3 degrees warmer and the sea 25-35 metres higher, and 122,000 years ago 2 degrees warmer and 10 metres higher.
Saturday, 26 September 2009
FAST-MELTING ICE AT POLES MAPPED
The most comprehensive picture of the rapidly thinning glaciers along the coastline of the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets has been created using satellite lasers, marking an important step forward in the quest to make more accurate predictions for future sea level rise.
Researchers from British Antarctic Survey and the University of Bristol describe how analysis of millions of NASA satellite measurements from both of these vast ice sheets shows that the most profound ice loss is a result of glaciers speeding up where they flow into the sea.
The scientists compared the rates of change in elevation of both fast-flowing and slow-flowing ice. In Greenland, for example, they studied 111 fast-moving glaciers and found 81 thinning at rates twice that of slow-flowing ice at the same altitude. They found that ice loss from many glaciers in both Antarctica and Greenland is greater than the rate of snowfall further inland.
In Antarctica some of the fastest thinning glaciers are in West Antarctica (Amundsen Sea Embayment) where Pine Island Glacier and neighbouring Smith and Thwaites Glacier are thinning by up to 9 metres per year.
Full report in ScienceDaily.
The most comprehensive picture of the rapidly thinning glaciers along the coastline of the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets has been created using satellite lasers, marking an important step forward in the quest to make more accurate predictions for future sea level rise.
Researchers from British Antarctic Survey and the University of Bristol describe how analysis of millions of NASA satellite measurements from both of these vast ice sheets shows that the most profound ice loss is a result of glaciers speeding up where they flow into the sea.
The scientists compared the rates of change in elevation of both fast-flowing and slow-flowing ice. In Greenland, for example, they studied 111 fast-moving glaciers and found 81 thinning at rates twice that of slow-flowing ice at the same altitude. They found that ice loss from many glaciers in both Antarctica and Greenland is greater than the rate of snowfall further inland.
In Antarctica some of the fastest thinning glaciers are in West Antarctica (Amundsen Sea Embayment) where Pine Island Glacier and neighbouring Smith and Thwaites Glacier are thinning by up to 9 metres per year.
Full report in ScienceDaily.
Monday, 14 September 2009
DRAMATIC ARCTIC RESPONSES TO GLOBAL OVERHEATING
'The Arctic as we know it may soon be a thing of the past,' says Eric Post, associate professor of biology at Penn State University, who led a large international team that carried out wide-ranging studies in 2008 of the biological responses to Arctic warming.
The paper by Post's research team shows that the effects of Arctic warming have been dramatic so far, especially considering that the warming amounts to only about 1-degree Celsius over the last 150 years. He said it is difficult to predict what will happen with the anticipated 6-degree warming over the next century.
Full report in ScienceDaily.
'The Arctic as we know it may soon be a thing of the past,' says Eric Post, associate professor of biology at Penn State University, who led a large international team that carried out wide-ranging studies in 2008 of the biological responses to Arctic warming.
The paper by Post's research team shows that the effects of Arctic warming have been dramatic so far, especially considering that the warming amounts to only about 1-degree Celsius over the last 150 years. He said it is difficult to predict what will happen with the anticipated 6-degree warming over the next century.
Full report in ScienceDaily.
Saturday, 5 September 2009
LESS SUN BUT ARCTIC IS GETTING WARMER
Detailed research into the Arctic climate has revealed that although it has been receiving progressively less energy from the sun for the past 8000 years, a decline that will not reverse for another 4000 years, and which means it should be getting cooler, it suddenly started warming round about 1900 and has since been warming at an accelerating rate.
It is now 1.2 degrees Celsius warmer than it was in 1900, higher than it has been for two thousand years. Till the twentieth century it had been cooling 0.2 degrees Celsius per thousand years.
Full report in ScienceDaily.
Detailed research into the Arctic climate has revealed that although it has been receiving progressively less energy from the sun for the past 8000 years, a decline that will not reverse for another 4000 years, and which means it should be getting cooler, it suddenly started warming round about 1900 and has since been warming at an accelerating rate.
It is now 1.2 degrees Celsius warmer than it was in 1900, higher than it has been for two thousand years. Till the twentieth century it had been cooling 0.2 degrees Celsius per thousand years.
Full report in ScienceDaily.
Wednesday, 19 August 2009
MODELS AGREE: WE ARE MAKING AIR WETTER
An exhaustive study of climate models has found the unmistakable fingerprint of human activity is the cause of the inexorable rise of the amount of water vapour in the atmosphere--it has been rising at 0.4kg/cu.m per decade since 1988.
Full report in ScienceDaily.
An exhaustive study of climate models has found the unmistakable fingerprint of human activity is the cause of the inexorable rise of the amount of water vapour in the atmosphere--it has been rising at 0.4kg/cu.m per decade since 1988.
Full report in ScienceDaily.
Monday, 17 August 2009
WARMER ARCTIC MELTING METHYL HYDRATE
The warming of an Arctic current over the last thirty years has triggered the release of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, from methane hydrate stored in the sediment beneath the seabed, reports ScienceDaily.
Scientists at the National Oceanography Centre Southampton working in collaboration with researchers from the University of Birmingham, Royal Holloway London and IFM-Geomar in Germany have found that more than 250 plumes of bubbles of methane gas are rising from the seabed of the West Spitsbergen continental margin in the Arctic, in a depth range of 150 to 400 metres.
Methane released from gas hydrate in submarine sediments has been identified in the past as an agent of climate change. The likelihood of methane being released in this has been widely predicted.
The warming of an Arctic current over the last thirty years has triggered the release of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, from methane hydrate stored in the sediment beneath the seabed, reports ScienceDaily.
Scientists at the National Oceanography Centre Southampton working in collaboration with researchers from the University of Birmingham, Royal Holloway London and IFM-Geomar in Germany have found that more than 250 plumes of bubbles of methane gas are rising from the seabed of the West Spitsbergen continental margin in the Arctic, in a depth range of 150 to 400 metres.
Methane released from gas hydrate in submarine sediments has been identified in the past as an agent of climate change. The likelihood of methane being released in this has been widely predicted.
ANTARCTIC GLACIER THINNING MUCH FASTER
The Pine Island Glacier is losing ice four times faster that it was ten years ago. If melting continues at that rate it will vanish in a hundred years, a sixth the time that was previously estimated, reports ScienceDaily.
The 5,400 square kilometre region now affected is big enough to impact the rate at which sea-levels will rise around the world. It contains enough ice to almost double the IPCC's best estimate of the rise this century, so how it will respond to the accelerated thinning of great concern.
The Pine Island Glacier is losing ice four times faster that it was ten years ago. If melting continues at that rate it will vanish in a hundred years, a sixth the time that was previously estimated, reports ScienceDaily.
The 5,400 square kilometre region now affected is big enough to impact the rate at which sea-levels will rise around the world. It contains enough ice to almost double the IPCC's best estimate of the rise this century, so how it will respond to the accelerated thinning of great concern.
Tuesday, 11 August 2009
OCEANS BEING PROFOUNDLY DAMAGED BY HUMANS
'The climate is currently warming faster than the worst case known from the fossil record, about 56 million years ago, when temperatures rose about 6 degrees over 1000 years. If emissions continue it is not unreasonable to expect ... warming of 5.5 degrees by the end of this century.'
'Scientists expect ocean oxygen-levels to decline by about six per cent for every one degree increase in temperature and areas in the sea which are low in oxygen to grow by at least 50 per cent. This has major implications for the world’s most productive fishing waters in the cool temperate regions. The seas provide around one sixth of humanity’s protein food and any loss in fisheries production will have a direct impact on us.'
Full report in ScienceDaily.
Then there's the rubbish collecting in a vast area of the Pacific.
'The climate is currently warming faster than the worst case known from the fossil record, about 56 million years ago, when temperatures rose about 6 degrees over 1000 years. If emissions continue it is not unreasonable to expect ... warming of 5.5 degrees by the end of this century.'
'Scientists expect ocean oxygen-levels to decline by about six per cent for every one degree increase in temperature and areas in the sea which are low in oxygen to grow by at least 50 per cent. This has major implications for the world’s most productive fishing waters in the cool temperate regions. The seas provide around one sixth of humanity’s protein food and any loss in fisheries production will have a direct impact on us.'
Full report in ScienceDaily.
Then there's the rubbish collecting in a vast area of the Pacific.
Wednesday, 5 August 2009
EARTH'S CYCLES FALLING OUT OF SYNC
The Earth's biogeochemical cycles, the natural interlocked biological, chemical and geological cycles that were once operating in concert, are falling out of sync because of the impact humans are having on the planet, reports ScienceDaily.
The Earth's biogeochemical cycles, the natural interlocked biological, chemical and geological cycles that were once operating in concert, are falling out of sync because of the impact humans are having on the planet, reports ScienceDaily.
Tuesday, 4 August 2009
BACTERIA PLUS MUD EQUALS ELECTRICITY
Scientists at the University of Massachusetts have discovered how to multiply eight-fold the power-output of Geobacter bacteria, which produce electricity from mud, creating the promise of using bugs and wastewater to produce household electricity. The microbial fuel-cell. Details in ScienceDaily.
Scientists at the University of Massachusetts have discovered how to multiply eight-fold the power-output of Geobacter bacteria, which produce electricity from mud, creating the promise of using bugs and wastewater to produce household electricity. The microbial fuel-cell. Details in ScienceDaily.
Friday, 31 July 2009
SIXTH EXTINCTION WAVE BECOMING A TSUNAMI
A bleak picture of what humans are doing to the planet's biosphere, especially in Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific islands (Oceania), is painted by a landmark new study. Over 1200 species of birds are now extinct in Oceania.
Globally, the average extinction rate is now some 1,000 to 10,000 times faster than the rate that prevailed over the past 60 million years.
Full report in ScienceDaily.
A bleak picture of what humans are doing to the planet's biosphere, especially in Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific islands (Oceania), is painted by a landmark new study. Over 1200 species of birds are now extinct in Oceania.
Globally, the average extinction rate is now some 1,000 to 10,000 times faster than the rate that prevailed over the past 60 million years.
Full report in ScienceDaily.
Tuesday, 23 June 2009
CO2 HIGHER NOW THAN IN PAST 2M YEARS
A new study, reported on ScienceDaily, which was able to reconstruct carbon-dioxide levels in the sharpest detail ever and over a much longer period than any previous one, shows that the peak average over the past 2.1 million years has been 280 parts per million--which was the level before human activity raised it to its present level of 385ppm.
Another study on ScienceDaily shows that glaciers can vanish in a geological eyeblink.
Not a pleasant conjunction of studies. Yet all the fools who run the world can think of as the Arctic melts away is that they will now be able to get at the oil and gas beneath it.
And fools of the same breed are excited about a new technique that will enable the human race to extract even more fossil fuels--folly fuels--from the earth.
A new study, reported on ScienceDaily, which was able to reconstruct carbon-dioxide levels in the sharpest detail ever and over a much longer period than any previous one, shows that the peak average over the past 2.1 million years has been 280 parts per million--which was the level before human activity raised it to its present level of 385ppm.
Another study on ScienceDaily shows that glaciers can vanish in a geological eyeblink.
Not a pleasant conjunction of studies. Yet all the fools who run the world can think of as the Arctic melts away is that they will now be able to get at the oil and gas beneath it.
And fools of the same breed are excited about a new technique that will enable the human race to extract even more fossil fuels--folly fuels--from the earth.
Monday, 15 June 2009
GREENLAND ICE-SHEET MELTING FASTER THAN EXPECTED
A report in ScienceDaily cites a new study showing that Greenland's ice-sheet is melting faster than expected, and is contributing up to 25% of the global rise in ocean levels.
The oceans are now rising 3mm a year, and Greenland has been contributing about 0.7mm of that since 1995. About 265 cubic kilometres of ice have been lost each year.
A report in ScienceDaily cites a new study showing that Greenland's ice-sheet is melting faster than expected, and is contributing up to 25% of the global rise in ocean levels.
The oceans are now rising 3mm a year, and Greenland has been contributing about 0.7mm of that since 1995. About 265 cubic kilometres of ice have been lost each year.
Saturday, 13 June 2009
CLIMATE DAMAGE WILL LAST FOR MILLENNIA
From the American Association for the Advancement of Science: 'The idea that we are already committed to a certain amount of surface air temperature increase and sea-level rise over the coming century, even if we could immediately halt all CO2 emissions, has become well known in scientific and science policy circles. The longer-term outlook is less well understood. Eby et al. use a complex, coupled climate-carbon cycle model to investigate how long anthropogenic climate change will persist as a function of how high the concentration of atmospheric CO2 rises. They calculate how long it will take for half of the total emissions to be removed from the atmosphere, what the maximum global average sea surface temperature increase will be, and how long it will take for 80% of that sea surface thermal anomaly to decay. The results suggest that atmospheric CO2 can persist at high concentrations for several thousand years, and that sea surface temperature increases can last many times longer than that. It looks, then, like we are in this for the long haul.'
From the American Association for the Advancement of Science: 'The idea that we are already committed to a certain amount of surface air temperature increase and sea-level rise over the coming century, even if we could immediately halt all CO2 emissions, has become well known in scientific and science policy circles. The longer-term outlook is less well understood. Eby et al. use a complex, coupled climate-carbon cycle model to investigate how long anthropogenic climate change will persist as a function of how high the concentration of atmospheric CO2 rises. They calculate how long it will take for half of the total emissions to be removed from the atmosphere, what the maximum global average sea surface temperature increase will be, and how long it will take for 80% of that sea surface thermal anomaly to decay. The results suggest that atmospheric CO2 can persist at high concentrations for several thousand years, and that sea surface temperature increases can last many times longer than that. It looks, then, like we are in this for the long haul.'
Thursday, 21 May 2009
CLIMATE PROJECTIONS ARE NOW FAR WORSE
New climate-change projections by MIT, published this month in the American Meteorological Society's Journal of Climate, and reported in ScienceDaily, show that climate-change, if no action is taken, will be much worse than previously thought--a median probability of surface warming of 5.2 degrees Celsius by 2100, with a 90% probability range of 3.5 to 7.4 degrees.
New climate-change projections by MIT, published this month in the American Meteorological Society's Journal of Climate, and reported in ScienceDaily, show that climate-change, if no action is taken, will be much worse than previously thought--a median probability of surface warming of 5.2 degrees Celsius by 2100, with a 90% probability range of 3.5 to 7.4 degrees.
Tuesday, 19 May 2009
PARTICULATES REPROGRAM GENES IN THREE DAYS
A new study, reported in
ScienceDaily, shows that certain particulates in polluted air can reprogram genes in as little as three days--genes responsible for the suppression of tumours.
To avoid cancer, stop breathing pollution.
A new study, reported in
ScienceDaily, shows that certain particulates in polluted air can reprogram genes in as little as three days--genes responsible for the suppression of tumours.
To avoid cancer, stop breathing pollution.
Wednesday, 13 May 2009
COSMIC-RAY MODEL SHOOTS CLIMATE-SCEPTICS DOWN
A favourite theory of climate-change sceptics, who say the problem is caused by cosmic rays caused by increased solar activity, not greenhouse gases, has been buried by a new study, reported in ScienceDaily.
Sorry, guys, you will have to accept the truth sooner or later. And you'd better sell your oil shares quick...
A favourite theory of climate-change sceptics, who say the problem is caused by cosmic rays caused by increased solar activity, not greenhouse gases, has been buried by a new study, reported in ScienceDaily.
Sorry, guys, you will have to accept the truth sooner or later. And you'd better sell your oil shares quick...
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