Environment

Arctic Tipping Points - #3: More About Feedback This series is a follow-on to my 3-part series Arctic Ice 2010.  It begins with part #1: Background And Recent History.  In Arctic Tipping Points - #2: Some Feedback Mechanisms I wrote: A stable dynamic system may react in opposition to a disturbing force, tending to bring the system back into the original stable regime.  Alternatively, the system may amplfy or augment the disturbing force, thus bringing the system more rapidly into a new, different stable regime.  For any given system, the point at which the system begins to…

Well, so much to add. CERP is going on the web. Soon you will be able to see what it is without having to wade through a few hundred pages :) When it comes online I will post a link, probably will be hosted on their website but maybe we can get a version on our end... Also we are working on a glossary of environmental terms. http://demeterdesign.net/downloads.html Check it out, let us know what you think and how we can improve it.

Arctic Tipping Points - #2: Some Feedback Mechanisms In part #1: Background And Recent History I wrote: The global warming trend observed in direct measurements and a very wide range of proxy data since about 1860 has led many climate researchers to discuss the possibility that we humans are engineering a new tipping point through our profligate use of fossil fuels. Of particular concern is the possibility that if the Arctic is ice free in summer, or if the Greenland ice sheet shrinks, or worse: both, then climate change may be inevitable and irreversible. Tipping points A stable dynamic…

Well Done, My Old China In London, U.K. 'my old china' is a friendly term for 'friend'.  It originated in the rhyming slang expression: 'china plate', rhyming with 'mate'. Edit: a reader has spotted an error.  The reference should be to an interview, not a visit. In a recent visit to Australia interview on Australian TV, US President Barack Obama on Thursday said China can't be allowed to wait until its standard of living improves before tackling climate change. "It is in our interests, both of our countries interests for China to be successful, for China to be prosperous, because…

Arctic Tipping Points - #1: Background And Recent History It is Spring, and with each passing day a greater area of Arctic sea ice has 24 hours of - albeit weak - sunshine every day. It is not surprising to see ice melting in these Lands Of The Midnight Sun.  What is surprising to many is the current extent of ice, and rate of loss, compared with past records. "Every school boy learns that at the two ends of the earth the year is composed of one day and one night of equal length, and the intervening periods of twilight; but the mere recital of that fact makes no real impression on his…

CO2 As A Greenhouse Gas A greenhouse keeps an air volume warm mainly by enclosing it as fixed volume of air.  From that perspective, the term 'greenhouse gas' is a somewhat unfortunate choice of term.  But we seem to be stuck with it. Obsolete books and web site pages continue to describe the atmosphere in terms of 'well-mixed gases'.  That is counterfactual.  Gases entering the atmosphere from whatever source can take a very long time indeed to become well distributed even even within a single hemisphere.  Or even within a single atmospheric layer. Figures cited for…

Understanding Climate : #6 - Hypsography I am trying to explain in this series the most important aspects of the sciences most relevant to climate as a cross-disciplinary study.  My intention is to help my readers to build up a sort of 'mental model' of the most important components of the earth's climate sytems. The first parts covered mainly astronomical considerations: axial tilt, orbital eccentricity and solar variation, for example. I now turn to the topic of hypsography. New readers may wish to start at Understanding Climate : #1 - Components Of Climate. --------------------------…

Understanding Climate : #5 - Variations In Sunshine Insolation variation I am trying to explain in this series the most important aspects of the sciences most relevant to climate as a cross-disciplinary study.  This is the 5th part of the mainly astronomical section.  In part 2, I introduced the idea of, in a manner of speaking, building a model of our earth-moon-sun system.  In part 3 I continued with a discussion of seasons and their primary astronomical causes.  In part 4 I began to discuss the astronomical factors affecting annual insolation - how much heat the earth…

Arctic Ice 2010 #3 - The State Of The Ice Arctic Ice 2010 - a short series of articles. The first part - Arctic Ice 2010 #1 - The Nature Of Sea Ice was an introduction to the behaviour of Arctic sea ice. The second part Arctic Ice 2010 #2 - What People Are Saying discussed current media and blog reports about the state of the Arctic. This third part describes the state of the Arctic ice as of April 2010. It is hard for anyone to know what to believe from reports on the web.  Arctic ice shrinking.  Arctic ice melting.  Ice recovering.  Ice free summer 2010. In order to…

Arctic Ice 2010 #2 - What People Are Saying Arctic Ice 2010 - a short series of articles. The first part - Arctic Ice 2010 #1 - The Nature Of Sea Ice was an introduction to the behaviour of Arctic sea ice. This second part will discuss current media and blog reports about the state of the Arctic. The third part will describe the state of the Arctic ice as of April 2010. Polar ice basicsDue to the tilt of the earth's axis, the Arctic warms as the Antarctic cools and vice versa.  It appears as if the snow and ice are somehow transported from pole to pole during the course of a year. …