By Pennell Paugh Though the Earth is constantly bombarded by charged particles from the Sun, which emits material in all directions in a process known as the solar wind, sometimes the Sun ramps up magnetic activity on its surface, triggering huge flares of insidious plasma. NASA Science News announced that a huge solar storm occurred […]
Understanding History
Part 6: Water – Earth’s Most Precious Resource
April 12, 2012
Luisa Cristini, PhD, University of Hawaii at Manoa [Note from the editor: This is the sixth in a series of blog entries that will focus on introductory topics in climate dynamics and modeling, and will be a great insight into the current understanding of the science.] One of Earth’s unique and finite resources is water. […]
Should Methane Be Our First Line of Attack to Slow Global Heating?
April 9, 2012
By Penny Paugh Scientist Peter Cox, speaking at the University of Exeter (United Kingdom), recently suggests that the way to win the battle with greenhouse gases is to lower methane emissions. In fact, curbing methane may be the best way to stem dangerous warming. Methane is released in many ways: landfills, livestock, rice paddies, coal […]
Part 5: Energy For Life
April 5, 2012
Luisa Cristini, PhD, University of Hawaii at Manoa [Note from the editor: This is the fifth in a series of blog entries that will focus on introductory topics in climate dynamics and modeling, and will be a great insight into the current understanding of the science.] Nearly all the energy entering the climate system comes […]
Isolating Climate Change Constraints
April 3, 2012
By Penny Paugh There are many factors that affect the global temperature of the planet, including the rise and fall of greenhouse gases, solar activity, light-scattering atmospheric pollutants, heat transfer among the land, sea, and air, and the presence or absence of forests to process carbon dioxide. Researchers at the University of Oxford tweaked three […]
MetEd’s Weather and Climate Educational Modules
March 29, 2012
Note from the editor: The following is an email sent by COMET, a program within the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) that specializes in outreach and education on a broad range of meteorological topics. Listed are their newest “training modules”, which are free and fun to use and provide outstanding scientific information that can […]
Could Climate Change Have Contributed to the Fall of Rome?
March 26, 2012
By Penny Paugh One form of environmental data, tree rings, has provided evidence of a climate shift that, perhaps not coincidentally, occurred from 250 to 550 A.D., a period that coincides with the fall of the Roman Empire. From ancient wood found in medieval castles and Roman ruins, the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow, […]
African Drought and Data Rescue
March 23, 2012
Drought in Africa has been a destructive force to life and property since the beginning of recorded time. Most recently, East Africa suffered a severe drought in 2010 that persisted nearly the entire year. However, one good thing that came out of this catastrophic drought was that it revealed several important hints for predicting future […]
Ozone Hero F. Sherwood Rowland Leaves A Legacy, A Message
March 15, 2012
F. Sherwood Rowland, one of the world’s greatest environmental heroes, passed away last weekend at the age of 84. Rowland worked in the Physical Sciences Department at the University of California, Irvine, and was the first person to sound the alarm over the damaging effects of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) on the ozone layer. In 1985, scientists […]
Part 3: What’s Hot About Ice?
March 12, 2012
By Luisa Cristini, PhD, University of Hawaii at Manoa. [Note from the editor: This is the third in a series of blog entries that will focus on introductory topics in climate dynamics and modeling, and will be a great insight into the current understanding of the science.] The cryosphere is the portion of the Earth’s […]