Some Inspiring News

Bill Gates has made zero carbon emissions the long term goal of his foundation. Finally some funding for r and d and some global recognition.

Arctic Melt Unnerves the Experts

"Astonished by the summer’s changes, scientists are studying the forces that exposed one million square miles of open water — six Californias — beyond the average since satellites started measurements in 1979."

States an article in the NY Times science section. To read the whole article and see an interactive map, click here.

D.O.D Warns of the Dangers of Climate Change

Strengthening Storms

Nature Magazine reported on Jan 28 2010, that:

"The number of strong storms in the western Atlantic could double by the end of the century, despite a drop in the overall number of storms, finds new research.

Morris Bender of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and colleagues applied a two-step ‘downscaling’ technique to increase the resolution of climate models. Using the ensemble-mean of 18 global climate models and 4 regional models, they assessed the climatic response to a ‘business as usual’ emissions pathway. They then employed a hurricane model to simulate storm development in response to the projected warming. In the simulations, the number of category-4 and category-5 storms in the Atlantic Ocean rose 81 per cent by 2100, while the number of storms with winds greater than 65 metres per second increased by 250 per cent. The largest jump in intense storm activity occurred in the western Atlantic Ocean.

The researchers caution that the increasing numbers of the strongest storms could drastically raise the cost of storm damage."

Nature Reports - Climate Change

"Short-term Cooling on a Warming Planet"

How can there be global warming if the earth is currently cooling? This is a common and valid question and here is the answer:


This graph shows Global Average Temperature compared with the Atlantic Multi-decadal Oscillation (AMO) Index. The AMO Index is the average sea-surface temperature over the North Atlantic Ocean. The roughly parallel curves of the two parameters show that they are related: the increase in global temperature over time, coincident with the increase in greenhouse gases observed since the Industrial Revolution, is alternately obscured and enhanced by the AMO.

-Michon Scott, NOAA

For more information and continued discussion, visit Climate Watch Magazine published by NOAA Climate Services.

Natural Cycling vs. Climate Change

This is an essential question that will be returned to continually in climate research. One essential key is the rate of change when considering anthropogenic change and natural change. NOAA has been studying the global carbon cycle and this very question, this is what they've found:

"In the geological history of the Earth, carbon has been cycling among large reservoirs in the land (including plants and fossil fuels), oceans, and the atmosphere. This natural cycling of CO2 usually takes millions of years to move large amounts from one system to another. Now we are looking at these changes occurring in centuries or even decades.

Since the Industrial Revolution in the 19th century, carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has risen by 30 percent. This follows the increase in burning of fossil fuels that began with the rise of industry and transportation."

Read more here.