Atmospheric
A new study comparing the composite output of 22 leading global climate models with actual climate data finds that the models do an unsatisfactory job of mimicking climate change in key portions of the atmosphere.
This research, published in the Royal Meteorological Society’s International Journal of Climatology, raises new concerns about the reliability of models used to forecast global warming.
“The usual discussion is whether the climate model forecasts of Earth’s climate 100 years or so into the future are realistic,” said the lead author, Dr. David H. Douglass from the University of…
Climate scientists warned the United Nations Climate Conference in Bali of the need to act immediately to cut greenhouse gas emissions, with a window of only 10-15 years for global emissions to peak and decline, and a goal of at least a 50 per cent reduction by 2050.
They stated that if immediate action is not taken, millions of people will be at risk from extreme events such as heat waves, drought, floods and storms, with coasts and cities threatened by rising sea levels, and many ecosystems, plants and animal species in serious danger of extinction.
The researchers have issued a ‘Bali…
Al Gore showing pictures of the Hurricane Katrina disaster without coming right out and claiming global warming caused it was a little too clever for some atmospheric scientists but a group of
University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers have found that Atlantic hurricanes may be more vulnerable to climate change than the world's other hurricane hot spots.
But in their paper published today in the "Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society," co-authors Jim Kossin and Dan Vimont caution against only looking at one piece of the puzzle.
"Sea surface temperature is a bit overrated," says…
Scientists analysing data gathered by Cassini have confirmed the presence of heavy negative ions in the upper regions of Titan’s atmosphere. These particles may act as building blocks for more complicated organic molecules.
The discovery was completely unexpected because of the chemical composition of the atmosphere (which lacks oxygen - responsible for forming negative ions in the lower ionosphere of the Earth - and mainly consists of nitrogen and methane). The observation has now been verified on 16 different encounters.
Prof Andrew Coates, researcher at University College London’s Mullard…
Scientists at Brookhaven National Laboratory have developed a new tool for quantitatively measuring elusive atmospheric chemicals that play a key role in the formation of photochemical smog.
Better measurements will improve scientists' understanding of the mechanisms of smog formation and their ability to select and predict the effectiveness of various mitigation strategies. The Brookhaven scientists have been issued a U.S. patent for their apparatus, which is available for licensing.
The device measures atmospheric hydroperoxyl radicals - short-lived, highly reactive intermediates involved…
The first “State of the Carbon Cycle Report” for North America, released online this week by the U.S. Climate Change Science Program, finds the continent’s carbon budget increasingly overwhelmed by human-caused emissions.
North American sources release nearly 2 billion tons of carbon into the atmosphere each year, mostly as carbon dioxide. Carbon “sinks” such as growing forests may remove up to half this amount, but these current sinks may turn into new sources as climate changes.
“By burning fossil fuel and clearing forests human beings have significantly altered the global carbon cycle,”…
There are wide-ranging predictions about the coming solar cycle peak in 2012 and its influence on Earth's warming climate and the $88 million Solar Radiation and Climate Experiment(SORCE) mission, launched in 2003 can help find answers, according to the chief scientist on the project.
Senior Research Associate Tom Woods of CU-Boulder's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics said the brightening of the sun as it approaches its next solar cycle maximum will have regional climatic impacts on Earth. While some scientists predict the next solar cycle -- expected to start in 2008 -- will be…
Tel Aviv University Professor (and alumnus) Hudi Benayahu, head of TAU's Porter School of Environmental Studies, has found that soft corals, an integral and important part of reef environments, are simply melting and wasting away. And Prof. Benayahu believes this could mean a global marine catastrophe.
Environmental stress, says Benayahu, is damaging the symbiotic relationship between soft corals and the microscopic symbiotic algae living in their tissues. There is no doubt that global warming is to blame, warns the marine biologist, explaining that this symbiotic relationship is key for the…
Atmospheric scientists are just about the only group that doesn't have a crime drama on television but that may change. In every crime drama there needs to be a victim, in this case the atmosphere, and we might have a part-time criminal in ozone. There's even a pretty good name for the show - 'Windprofilers.'
Ozone is a colorless, toxic gas named for the Greek word for smell because of its pungent odor.
In the stratosphere, acting as friend, it forms the ozone layer, which fends off harmful ultraviolet solar rays.
During pollution events, ozone turns to foe as it interacts with other…
Geologists have uncovered evidence of when Earth may have first supported an oxygen-rich atmosphere similar to the one we breathe today. The study suggests that upheavals in the earth’s crust initiated a kind of reverse-greenhouse effect 500 million years ago that cooled the world’s oceans, spawned giant plankton blooms, and sent a burst of oxygen into the atmosphere.
That oxygen may have helped trigger one of the largest growths of biodiversity in Earth’s history.
Matthew Saltzman, associate professor of earth sciences at Ohio State, reported the findings Sunday at the meeting of the…