By Franziska Kersten, PhD Candidate in Marine Geology and Paleontology – Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Bremerhaven (Germany). The 2007 IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) Synthesis Report discusses ocean acidification and its potential to harm marine calcifiers (e.g. corals) in the future. Yet a recent report in Science unequivocally states that parts of the […]
carbon dioxide
Carbon Balance in the Arctic under Study
July 3, 2012
By Penny Paugh Over half of the Arctic is covered by forest. Snow blanketing over a forest actually keeps the soil at a fairly high temperature. Most climate models do not account for the size of forestry in that area, but some are models are now beginning to account for this variable. Climate modeler Isabelle […]
Role of Phytoplankton in Atmospheric Regulation
June 19, 2012
By Penny Paugh Scientists have been examining the self-regulating factors of climate and the oceans. A study conducted at NOAA’s Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory in Seattle, WA, has been looking at the role of the tiny organisms and the planet’s atmosphere. “For many years, we thought that chemical emissions from phytoplankton was the major player in […]
Part 7: Earth’s Carbon Cycle
April 20, 2012
Luisa Cristini, PhD, University of Hawaii at Manoa [Note from the editor: This is the seventh 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 carbon cycle is the biogeochemical cycle by which […]
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 […]
The Medieval Climate Anomaly
January 21, 2012
By Gavin Roy Since the Industrial Revolution in the 18th and 19th centuries, carbon dioxide in the atmosphere from the burning of fossil fuels has increased from 280ppm (parts per million) to 390ppm across the globe. This has led to a net warming in the atmosphere to a magnitude that is still being quantified. Complicating […]
Recent studies on melting permafrost
January 8, 2012
Scientists in Siberia, Alaska and the Arctic are researching what happens when the tiny microbes, the residue of animals and plants that lived thousands of years ago, become exposed with melting that has been occurring with the warming of the planet. They have found that typically melting permafrost releases carbon dioxide. In September 2006, a […]
Water Vapor, CO2, and Global Warming
September 23, 2010
By Anita Dotson MYTH: Water vapor is the most important, abundant greenhouse gas. So if we’re going to control a greenhouse gas, why don’t we control it instead of carbon dioxide (CO2)? This is a common misconception in the debate over greenhouse gases and the causes of global warming. Both water vapor and carbon dioxide […]
A reponse to global warming skeptic John Stossel
December 2, 2009
By Virginia Noel ABC News reporter, John Stossel, has stated that he doesn’t fear global warming. In March, at a gathering of climate change skeptics, he criticized coverage of climate change by the “socialist media.” He finished alerting the audience to the scourge of global warming “scare mongering.” He encouraged the audience to dispel the […]