Climate Articles
UN fears 'irreversible' damage to natural environment
GENEVA (AFP) – The UN warned on Monday that "massive" loss in life-sustaining natural environments was likely to deepen to the point of being irreversible after global targets to cut the decline by this year were missed.
As a result of the degradation, the world is moving closer to several "tipping points" beyond which some ecosystems that play a part in natural processes such as climate or the food chain may be permanently damaged, a United Nations report said.
The third "Global Biodiversity Outlook" found that deforestation, pollution or overexploitation were damaging the productive capacity of the most vulnerable environments, including the Amazon rainforest, lakes and coral reefs.
"This report is saying that we are reaching the tipping point where the irreversible damage to the planet is going to be done unless we act urgently," Ahmed Djoghlaf, executive secretary of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, told journalists.
Djoghlaf argued that extinction rates for some animal or plant species were at a historic high, up to 1,000 times those seen before, even affecting crops and livestock.
The UN report was partly based on 110 national reports on steps taken to meet a 2002 pledge to "significantly reduce" or reverse the loss in biodiversity.
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Topography of Mountains Could Complicate Rates of Global Warming
CORVALLIS, Ore. – A new study concludes that the future effects of global warming could be significantly changed over very small distances by local air movements in complex or mountainous terrain - perhaps doubling or even tripling the temperature increases in some situations.
In an article to be published in the International Journal of Climatology, researchers from Oregon State University used the unique historical data provided by Oregon's H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest to study potential variations in temperature caused by steep hills and valleys.
Based on a regional temperature increase of about 5 degrees projected for western Oregon by 2100, the study concluded that some locations, such as mountain ridge tops, could actually increase as much as 14 degrees at some times, while cold air pools in the valleys below them with temperature increases similar to the regional average.
"Even if the predictions for average temperature changes are accurate, there's been very little work done on what that may mean in specific locations and situations," said Chris Daly, an OSU professor of geosciences, director of OSU's PRISM Climate Group and expert on the effects of elevation and topography on localized climatic effects.
"We are finding that there's a potential here for tremendous disparities in local effects that we need to learn more about," Daly said. "Some locations may get much warmer than the average while others nearby are affected less, with associated impacts on their ecology, the plant and animals species that live there."
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CO2 Emissions Causing Ocean Acidification to Progress at Unprecedented Rate
WASHINGTON -- The changing chemistry of the world's oceans is a growing global problem, says the summary of a congressionally requested study by the National Research Council, which adds that unless man-made carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions are substantially curbed, or atmospheric CO2 is controlled by some other means, the ocean will continue to become more acidic. The long-term consequences of ocean acidification on marine life are unknown, but many ecosystem changes are expected to result. The federal government's National Ocean Acidification Program, currently in development, is a positive move toward coordinating efforts to understand and respond to the problem, said the study committee.
The ocean absorbs approximately a third of man-made CO2 emissions, including those from fossil-fuel use, cement production, and deforestation, the summary says. The CO2 taken up by the ocean decreases the pH of the water and leads to a combination of chemical changes collectively known as ocean acidification.
Since the beginning of the industrial revolution, the average pH of ocean surface waters has decreased approximately 0.1 unit -- from about 8.2 to 8.1 -- making them more acidic. Models project an additional 0.2 to 0.3 drop by the end of the century. This rate of change exceeds any known to have occurred in hundreds of thousands of years, the report says. The ocean will become more acidic on average as surface waters continue to absorb atmospheric CO2, the committee said.
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Limiting Global Warming: Variety of Efforts Needed Ranging from 'Herculean' to the Readily Actionable, Scientists Say
ScienceDaily (May 4, 2010) — Major greenhouse gas-emitting countries agreed in December climate talks held in Copenhagen that substantial action is required to limit the increase of global average temperature to less than 2 degrees C (3.6 degrees F).
In a paper appearing May 3 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), Veerabhadran Ramanathan and Yangyang Xu, climate researchers at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego, have identified three avenues by which those countries can avoid reaching the warming threshold, a point beyond which many scientists believe climate change will present unmanageable negative consequences for society.
"Without an integrated approach that combines CO2 emission reductions with reductions in other climate warmers and climate-neutral air-pollution laws, we are certain to pass the 2-degree C and likely reach a 4 degree C threshold during this century," said Ramanathan. "Fortunately there is still time to avert unmanageable climate changes, but we must act now."
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Some 500 EU cities pledge to cut CO2 emissions
Five hundred European Union cities pledged on Tuesday to exceed the EU's climate targets, signing up to do more to cut their emissions of climate warming gas.
The EU plans to cut carbon dioxide emissions to one fifth below 1990 levels over the next decade, but the coalition of cities signed up to the Covenant of Mayors which aims to outperform that goal by sharing knowledge and low-carbon strategies.
"Smart green buildings, smart transport and logistics and, in general, the whole concept of smart cities are job-intensive activities that contribute directly to the local economy," said European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso.
"Crucially, they also make a positive contribution to other issues, such as social integration, quality of life, well-being, and the attractiveness of our cities."
European lawmakers said they had persuaded the EU's executive, the European Commission, to redirect several hundred million euros of unused budget into energy-efficiency measures which would help the cities.
The money comes from the European Economic Recovery Plan, which is mostly targeted at gas and power infrastructure, as well as wind power and clean coal technology. But not all projects are starting as planned.
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$100m industry's shrinking danger within 10-15 years
THE BAHAMIAN FISHING industry could face severe contraction in 10 to 15 years due to ocean acidification and ocean temperature increases, brought on by the global warming that threatens to destroy this country's coral reefs, Tribune Business understands.
Climate change expert, Dr Peter Kouwenhoven, said rising ocean temperatures brought on by climate change and an increase in acidity are destroying coral reefs, and the Bahamas is in danger of losing an enormous chunk of its $100 million per annum fishing industry if those fish habitats collapse.
According to Dr Kouwenhoven, the rise in acidity occurs as the ocean absorbs carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, which is released from burning fossil fuels. Those emissions change the acidity of the ocean waters and destroy coral reefs.
Dr Kouwenhoven warned that this effect is irreversible, and is well into the first critical stages of acidification.
And rising ocean temperatures are creating an effect on coral known as bleaching, which also destroys coral reefs.
Bahamian fishermen have recently been hit with an equally vexing menace that threatens their industry - the invasive Lionfish.
The Lionfish is known to be increasing in numbers exponentially, and is worrisome because it feeds on small and medium-sized scale fish that Bahamian fishermen often sell on the open market.
With the Lionfish's insatiable appetite, the threat to fish habitats as a result of global warming and the equally vexing problem with poachers, the Bahamas' fishing industry faces a triple threat that requires tough solutions.
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Earth Could Become Too Hot for Humans
Earth's current warming trend could bring deadly heat for humans.
A new study that looked at reasonable worst-case scenarios for global warming found that if greenhouse gases continue to be emitted at their current rate, temperatures could become deadly in coming centuries.
Researchers calculated the highest tolerable "wet-bulb" temperature - equivalent to what is felt when wet skin is exposed to moving air - and found that this temperature could be exceeded for the first time in human history if greenhouse gas emissions continue at their current rate and future climate models are correct. Temperatures this unbearable for humans haven't been seen during the existence of hominids - the primate family that includes ancient humans - but they did occur about 50 million years ago.
Exposure to wet-bulb temperatures above 95 degrees for six hours or more will create lethal stress levels in humans and other mammals, said study team member Matthew Huber of Purdue University's earth and atmospheric sciences.
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Half the Amazon Could be Lost by 2050, Says Study
In what could easily be considered a worst-case scenario for the fate of the world's largest rainforest, a study led by Brazil's National Institute of Special Research found that the size of the Amazon could be reduced 50 percent by 2050, the 'tipping point' for when it will slowly wither away entirely. Considering forest-threatening factors such as fires, deforestation, and the emission of greenhouse gases, the research found if the regions of the Amazon most crucial to maintaining the biome's climate are lost, large sections of the once lush rainforest may be reduced to a virtual desert.
According to a report from Globo Amazonia, the study conducted by Gilvan Sampaio of National Institute of Special Research (INPE) found that the vegetation of the Amazon will be particularly impacted by rising global temperatures in the years to come, in addition to the continued threats posed by deforestation and fires. But because the Amazon rainforest itself plays a crucial role in regulating the climate worldwide, the rate of vegetation loss will gradually accelerate as there's less forest to maintain it.
"If the Amazon rainforest continues to decline, the southern and southeastern regions of Brazil will receive less water. If they minimize environmental preservation areas, the lands are more vulnerable to fire. Driest territories are dried yet," says Sampaio.
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China Farm Gets Shocking Amount of Power From Cow Poop
A 250,000-head dairy operation in northeast China plans to open the world's largest cow manure-fed power project in September, according to General Electric Co., the company supplying four biogas turbines to the Liaoning Huishan Cow Farm in Shenyang. For comparison, the largest U.S. dairy farms have 15,000 cattle.
The project deals with a few environmental problems in one swoop. As the dairy industry grows in China, it is generating more smelly and polluting waste. Booming electricity demand brings bigger challenges in transmitting power to rural areas, where many dairy farms already happen to be located.
Not to mention climate change. According to a recent U.N. report, the farm-to-table carbon footprint of the dairy sector accounts for 4 percent of greenhouse gas emissions globally. About half of the emissions from milk are methane.
"There is a huge potential in this," said Michael Wagner, marketing leader with GE Energy. "We are looking around the world to expand."
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Report warns of global warning costs
The health risks of global climate change read like a chapter out of the Book of Revelation: plagues from mosquitoes and other insects; floods and droughts that cause sickness and mental anguish; food-borne scourges and malnutrition.
In a report released recently by federal scientists, led by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences in Research Triangle Park, the wide-reaching health problems associated with climate change were laid out to help government officials decide where they should spend research dollars.
Christopher Portier, lead author of the study and a mathematical statistician at the NIEHS, said the magnitude of the health problems, some of which are already occurring, requires an all-hands-on-deck approach among the nation's health agencies. The National Institutes of Health, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, among others, are leading the charge.
"Everybody understands about malaria moving north, and dengue fever moving north, and that is getting support, but other things like cancer and mental health - those have received less attention," Portier said.
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British summer is coming earlier each year, study finds
Scientists say onset of British summer has become increasingly early in the last 50 years, consistent with global warming
Britain is broke and the bank holiday weekend was a washout, but scientists at Sheffield University have some rare good news in these uncertain times: summer is coming earlier each year.
According to a new study, the English summer arrives some 18 days sooner than during the late 1950s, when Harold Macmillan succeeded Anthony Eden in No 10 and announced: "We have a difficult task before us in this country, all of us."
Grant Bigg and Amy Kirbyshire of the department of geography at Sheffield University examined temperature records of central England over recent decades, together with observations of 140 types of summer flowering plant, such as geraniums and roses, and when they came into bloom.
To determine the onset of summer, they looked for the third day of each year when average temperatures reached 14C. That may sound distinctly chilly for summer, but comfortably allows for daytime temperatures above 20C.
"We wondered if we could set a defining moment of when summer begins," Bigg said.
According to the analysis, summer should, on average, arrive in Britain tomorrow.
Records show that in the period 1954-1963, the average date for the third such day was 25 May. By the 1990s, it had shifted forwards to 14 May. By 1998-2007, on average, summer arrived on 7 May. The shift is consistent with global warming, Bigg said. "It's always very difficult to make direct attributions but scientists say global warming is very likely driven by human activity and I think we can say the same thing." The researchers saw a similar, though smaller, pattern with summer plant flowering. On average, the first flowering date for 1954-1963 was 29 May. By 1991-2000 it was 26 May.
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Whatever Happened to the Ozone Hole?
Today the ozone hole, which was first spotted 25 years ago, appears headed for a happy ending, thanks to unprecedented international action.
Could a similar effort rein in climate change? And is the closing ozone hole actually making global warming worse?
Ozone at High Risk From CFCs
The ozone layer lies between about 9.3 and 18.6 miles (15 and 30 kilometers) above Earth's surface. This blanket of ozone, or O3, blocks most of the sun's high-frequency ultraviolet rays.
These UV rays can cause skin cancer and cataracts in humans, as well as reproductive problems in fish, crabs, frogs, and even in the single-celled phytoplankton at the bottom of the ocean food chain.
Ozone is created naturally when oxygen molecules (O2) high in the atmosphere get broken by sunlight into two free oxygen atoms. A free atom can then bond with an unbroken O2 molecule, and ozone is born.
Ozone is unstable, however, and it's easily broken up by trace elements.
Invented in the 1920s, CFCs proved to be an exceptional problem for ozone, because many of these synthetic chemicals can persist for decades, allowing them to make their way into the upper atmosphere.
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NOAA: "North American snow cover for April 2010 was the smallest on record." Go figure!
"The anomaly was the largest of any of the 520 months on record."
Where did all the snow go?
I mean, it was here just a minute ago, uber-fodder for the anti-science crowd (see Was the "Blizzard of 2009? a "global warming type" of record snowfall — or an opportunity for the media to blow the extreme weather story (again)? and Massive moisture-driven extreme precipitation during warmest winter in the satellite record — and the deniers say it disproves (!) climate science).
Sure the global cooling myth died a while ago, and we saw the Hottest March and hottest Jan-Feb-March on record. And sure the Weather Channel asked, "July in April?" because "in the seven-day period from March 29 through April 4, over 1100 daily record highs were either tied or broken in the nation!" But that's all just a big coincidence, no?
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Rising sea levels threaten Taiwan
Taiwan (AFP) – When worshippers built a temple for the goddess Matsu in south Taiwan 300 years ago, they chose a spot they thought would be at a safe remove from the ocean. They did not count on global warming.
Now, as the island faces rising sea levels, the Tungshih township is forced to set up a new temple nearby, elevated by three metres (10 feet) compared with the original site.
"Right now, the temple is flooded pretty much every year," said Tsai Chu-wu, the temple's chief secretary, explaining why the 63-million-dollar project is necessary.
"Once the new temple is completed, we should be able to avoid floods and the threat of the rising sea, at least for many, many years," he said.
The temple of Matsu, ironically often described as the Goddess of the Sea, is only one example of how global warming is slowly, almost imperceptibly piling pressure on Taiwan.
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US CSI, Climate Scene Investigators, is on the job
WASHINGTON (AP) — Heavy snows, cold snaps and heat waves may not be crimes exactly, but CSI is ready to track down the culprits.
This CSI is not on television yet, but the government's Climate Scene Investigators are on the job.
Recall the blizzardy winter along the East Coast this year? Inquiring minds wanted to know how that could happen in an era of global warming.
Enter the Climate Scene Investigators. They say they found no fingerprints of human-induced global warming in the storms. So they held a lineup of suspects and narrowed it down to two co-conspirators — El Nino and the North Atlantic Oscillation, a pair of changing weather patterns in the Pacific and Atlantic oceans.
El Nino conditions in the Pacific often are associated with storms and wetness on the U.S. East Coast, while the North Atlantic pressure change can cause unusually cold conditions in the region.
Combine wet storms and cold weather and what do you get? That's right, last winter's record snows.
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Greenland glacier slide speeds 220 percent in summer
A glacier in Greenland slides up to 220 percent faster toward the sea in summer than in winter and global warming could mean a wider acceleration that would raise sea levels, according to a study published Sunday.
A group of experts led by Ian Bartholomew at Edinburgh University in Scotland said the variability was much stronger than earlier observations of glacier movement in Greenland.
The study, published in the journal Nature Geoscience, is a new piece of a puzzle to understand the world's second biggest ice sheet behind Antarctica. Greenland has enough ice to raise world sea levels by about 7 meters (23 ft) if it all melted.
The study said GPS satellite measurements of the glacier in south-west Greenland, up to 35 km (22 miles) inland and at altitudes of up to 1,095 meters (3,592 ft), showed that the ice in some places slid at 300 meters per year at peak summer rates.
"Our measurements reveal substantial increases in ice velocity during summer, up to 220 percent above winter background values," it said.
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Ocean ecosystems in the age of Cassandra
As warnings mount, how can we speed science into policymaking?
Just within the past month, several news items underscored the dire situation our oceans face. Kristen L. Marhaver, a Ph.D. Candidate in Marine Biology at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography has the story in this repost.
Chemists warned that we must focus more attention on ocean acidification. As the seas absorb more CO2 emissions, pH levels decrease and wreak havoc on marine life, which is why the phenomenon is also called the "evil twin of global warming."
Meanwhile, biologists warned that not enough attention is focused on the rapid extinction of the world's species, some of which will disappear before we've discovered them. Just as researchers sounded those alarms, fishermen sought the cause of the collapse of California's Chinook salmon fishery and marine biologists tried to determine the cause of a new disease spreading across Maui's coral reefs. And that was all before a BP-operated oil rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico and began spewing thousands of gallons a day of crude into the sea.
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Academics urge radical new approach to climate change
A major change of approach is needed if society is to restrain climate change, according to a report from a self-styled "eclectic" group of academics.
The UN process has failed, they argue, and a global approach concentrating on CO2 cuts will never work.
They urge instead the use of carbon tax revenue to develop technologies that can supply clean energy to everyone.
Their so-called Hartwell Paper is criticised by others who say the UN process has curbed carbon emissions.
The paper is named after Hartwell House, the Buckinghamshire mansion, hotel and spa where the group of 14 academics from Europe, North America and Japan gathered in February to develop their ideas.
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Warmer Climate Gives Cheer to Makers of British Bubbly
DITCHLING, England—The English invented sparkling wine in the 17th century, but failed to profit from it because their cold, dank summers yielded crummy grapes. Three decades later, a French monk named Dom Pérignon adapted the idea and devised a winning tipple, Champagne.
The Brits are starting to claw back some ground. In January, a little-known bubbly from the U.K's Nyetimber Estate was crowned "world's best sparkling wine" at a prestigious taste-off in Italy, defeating a dozen Champagnes, including Roederer, Bollinger and Pommery. Last year, when Britain hosted the G-20 meeting, another effervescent Nyetimber was served to President Barack Obama, Germany's Angela Merkel and President Nicolas Sarkozy of France.
English bubbly is on the rise partly due to better winemaking techniques. But some vintners say they're being helped by another, unexpected factor: a warming climate.
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