Scripps tweets daily atmospheric C02 reading as it nears 400 ppm

April 23rd, 2013 by Scripps Institution of Oceanography

(click on graph to expand – graph courtesy of Scripps C02 program)

For the first time in human history, concentrations of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO2) could rise above 400 parts per million (ppm) for sustained lengths of time throughout much of the Northern Hemisphere as soon as May 2013.

To provide a resource for understanding the implications of rising CO2 levels, Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego is providing daily updates of the “Keeling Curve,” the record of atmospheric CO2 measured at Hawaii’s Mauna Loa.

These iconic measurements, begun by Charles David (Dave) Keeling, a world-leading authority on atmospheric greenhouse gas accumulation and Scripps climate science pioneer, comprise the longest continuous record of CO2 in the world, Continue reading

Earth Day is celebrated on 22 April

April 22nd, 2013 by Kars4Kids

A History of Earth Day by Kars4Kids (click to expand – image courtesy of Kars4Kids.org)

Earth Day, which was established in 1970, occurs on the 22 April each year.

Kars4Kids, which recycles cars, has produced a timeline showing the history of Earth Day and lists some of the activities people and communities engage in during the annual celebration.

Working out how a capital city can be climate neutral by 2050

April 15th, 2013 by Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research

Satellite view of Berlin taken on 3 November 2006 (click image to expand – image courtesy of NASA Goddard Space Flight Center)

Berlin aims to be climate neutral in the year 2050.

A team of experts from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), on behalf of the Berlin Senate, the executive body governing the city of Berlin, will work to show how this goal can be achieved.

Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, PIK director, said “if the German capital is pioneering in climate protection to maintain the 2°Celsius limit with regard to global warming, nations will have to act as well as bold local authorities.”

Michael Müller, Berlin Senator for Urban Development and the Environment, highlighted the significance of this feasibility study.

“Berlin has to be a highly energy-efficient and modern city and Continue reading

Is a society guided by sustainability still possible?

April 13th, 2013 by Island Press

(click book cover to go to publisher’s website)

In today’s society, the word “sustainable” has become practically meaningless, with most sustainable products just a step less bad than conventional alternatives.

Because of the power of “sustainababble,” the world has largely ignored the rich spectrum of political, cultural, and technological changes that would set us on the path to a truly sustainable future.

Although the science of sustainability is clearer than ever, we still face the question of whether transforming our society into one guided by sustainability is even possible.

This new volume of State of the World 2013 — which features contributions from experts at the Worldwatch Institute as well as from environmental thought leader David Orr, freshwater Continue reading

Increased C02 emissions could lead to more clear air turbulence during transatlantic flights

April 8th, 2013 by Nature Climate Change

A high altitude jet airliner flying over Guernsey on 22 October 2011 (click image to expand – ©RLLord)

Climate change may lead to bumpier transatlantic flights by the middle of the 21st century, suggests work published in the letter “Intensification of winter transatlantic aviation turbulence in response to climate change‘ in the journal Nature Climate Change.

The study reports that clear-air turbulence is likely to change significantly with the doubling of carbon dioxide from pre-industrial levels, which is expected in the next 40 years.

Dr Paul Williams from the University of Reading and Dr Manoj Joshi from the University of East Anglia‘s School of Environmental Sciences used climate simulations to investigate changing conditions in the transatlantic flight corridor in response to carbon dioxide levels.

Clear-air turbulence is linked to atmospheric jet streams, which are projected to strengthen with climate change. Continue reading

Atmospheric waves amplified and stuck in their tracks during recent extreme weather events

April 4th, 2013 by Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research

The world has suffered from severe regional weather extremes in recent years, such as the heat wave in the United States in 2011 or the one in Russia 2010 coinciding with the unprecedented Pakistan flood.

Behind these devastating individual events there is a common physical cause according to scientists of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK).

Their study published in the US Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences suggests that man-made climate change repeatedly disturbs the patterns of atmospheric flow around the globe’s Northern hemisphere through a subtle resonance mechanism.

clouds over St Peter Port on 26 January 2012 (click image to expand – ©RLLord)

“An important part of the global air motion in the mid-latitudes Continue reading

Political & economic short-termism driving civilisation to destruction

March 29th, 2013 by University West

Climate scientists have shown through their research that the ongoing rise in global temperature will cause the sea level to rise, which will drown coastal communities, and cause severe weather, which will kill many people.

So why don’t politicians act on these findings?

Social scientist Stellan Vinthagen shows that today’s power relations prohibit change.

The world is heading towards a catastrophic global average temperature increase of 4°Celsius.

The consequences are a rising sea level, droughts, floods and lethal heat waves.

Stellan Vinthagen, Associate Professor of Sociology at University West in Sweden, states that it is the prevailing power structures that make politicians paralyzed. And he sees social scientists as a key group for this to change. Continue reading

Atlantic hurricane storm surges will increase with global warming

March 26th, 2013 by National Oceanography Centre

Extreme storm events of the magnitude of Hurricane Katrina will occur more frequently because of climate change, according to a study involving the National Oceanography Centre in Liverpool.

The research, published in the paper ‘Projected Atlantic hurricane surge threat from rising temperatures‘ in ‘Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA (PNAS) concludes that the threat from hurricane-induced storm surges in the Atlantic will increase significantly as global temperatures rise.

Storm surges are localised increases in sea level, brought about by hurricanes, that can devastate coastal populations.

The Rocquaine Bay sea wall collapsed during a storm surge on 10 March 2008 (click image to expand – ©RLLord)

During the 2005 Hurricane Katrina event, it was the storm surge that caused the widespread coastal flooding of New Orleans. Continue reading

A carbon price necessary with other actions to meet emission targets

February 7th, 2013 by Mark Golden

Diesel exhaust emissions from the Guernsey Electricity power Station on 2 February 2009 (click image to expand - ©RLLord)

To fight climate change, corporations and consumers should have to pay for emitting greenhouse gases, speakers at a recent Stanford University energy conference agreed, but other government actions are still needed.

Several countries, as well as the state of California, have instituted a price on carbon, either by taxing greenhouse gas emissions directly or by issuing a limited number of emission permits that utilities and other heavy polluters must purchase.

Many supporters of putting a price on carbon insist that governments should otherwise drop all other climate change rules and let the free market do its work once the tax takes effect.

Speakers at the US-Australian Dialogue on Energy conference on 16 January 2013 did not see the issue that way. Continue reading

Carbon dioxide can provoke fear

February 4th, 2013 by Nature

Zawadi Mungu at Oregon Zoo breathes out C02 as he yawns on 8 January 2012 (click image to expand - image courtesy of Major Clanger Flickr photostream, published under creative commons license)

The amygdala, a small region of the brain, is not necessarily required for fear and panic in people, according to a study published in the paper ‘Fear and panic in humans with bilateral amygdala damage‘ in the journal Nature Neuroscience.

These results are surprising, because decades of research in humans and animals had suggested that the amygdala has an influential role in fear.

To show this, Jon Wemmie and colleagues tested three rare patients with damage to their amygdala, who do not experience fear.

Inhaling carbon dioxide (CO2) stimulates breathing and can provoke fear and even trigger panic attacks, as was experienced by the three patients in this study. Continue reading