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 […]
research
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 […]
Part 4: The Land
March 20, 2012
Luisa Cristini, PhD, University of Hawaii at Manoa. [Note from the editor: This is the fourth 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.] Many characteristics of the climate are influenced by the […]
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 […]
Are Tornadoes Becoming More Common?
March 8, 2012
We are only about two months into 2012, but already the United States has had 183 confirmed tornadoes and 49 associated fatalities as of March 7. With the debate about global warming and its consequences at the forefront of the nation’s attention, the public likely has many weather-related questions. What is to blame for the […]
Tracking Pollutants in the Atmosphere
March 6, 2012
By Penny Paugh Researchers have launched the 5-phase HIPPO (HIAPER Pole-to-Pole Observation) project that generates detailed mapping, vertically and across latitudes, of the global distribution of greenhouse gases, black carbon and related chemical species in the atmosphere. Scientists hope HIPPO’s detailed view will allow them to more realistically approximate the global atmosphere’s chemical distribution and […]