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Scorched Earth: The Past, Present and Future of Human Influences on Wildfires

By Guest PostSeptember 18, 2011Environmentearth, fires, human ignition, jennifer balch, pre human fire history, relative influences of climate, role of fire in natural ecosystems, sustainable fire management practices, university of california at santa barbara, western united states, wildfires

*A new framework for evaluating human influences on wildfires is developed*

Fires have continuously occurred on Earth for at least the last 400 million years. But since the 1970s, the frequency of wildfires has increased at least four-fold, and the total size of burn areas has increased at least six-fold in the western United States alone. Steadily rising, the U.S.’s bill for fighting wildfires now totals $1.5 billion per year.

How much of the increases in the frequency and size of fires are due to human activities? No one knows for sure. But a paper in this week’s issue of the Journal of Biogeography puts the role of fire in natural ecosystems into context and provides support for efforts to plan for future risks from wildfires. (more…)

Water Evaporated from Trees Cools Global Climate

By Guest PostSeptember 17, 2011Environmentatmosphere, central park, earth, emissions of carbon dioxide, evaporated water, evaporation, george ban-weiss, global balance of energy, global climate, global warming, govindasamy bala, greenhouse gas, julia pongratz, ken caldeira, new york, vegetation, water, water vapor

Washington, DC — Scientists have long debated about the impact on global climate of water evaporated from vegetation. New research from Carnegie’s Global Ecology department concludes that evaporated water helps cool the earth as a whole, not just the local area of evaporation, demonstrating that evaporation of water from trees and lakes could have a cooling effect on the entire atmosphere. These findings, published September 14 in Environmental Research Letters, have major implications for land-use decision making.

Evaporative cooling is the process by which a local area is cooled by the energy used in the evaporation process, energy that would have otherwise heated the area’s surface. It is well known that the paving over of urban areas and the clearing of forests can contribute to local warming by decreasing local evaporative cooling, but it was not understood whether this decreased evaporation would also contribute to global warming (more…)

MSU Scientists Suggest How Countries Can Cooperate on Climate

By Guest PostSeptember 16, 2011Environmentclimate change risk, climate policy, greenhouse gas mitigation, linear compensation

EAST LANSING, Mich. — When countries try to work together to limit the effects of climate change, the fear of being the only nation reducing greenhouse gas emissions – while the others enjoy the benefits with no sacrifice – can bring cooperation to a grinding halt. (more…)

Something Odd Is Happening With Namibia’s Weather

By Guest PostSeptember 16, 2011Environmentages of sediments, bedrock outcrops, drainage basins, river sediment, weather in namibia, western namibia

Southwestern African country is no arid desert–this year

Something’s up with the weather in Namibia, say geoscientists Kyle Nichols of Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., and Paul Bierman of the University of Vermont in Burlington, Vt. (more…)

New Video/Images of Walrus Haulout

By Guest PostSeptember 14, 2011Environment, Naturealaska, arctic basin, chukchi sea barrier beach, female walruses, human disturbance, icy cape, inupiaq community, native village of point lay, pacific walruses, point lay, radio tracking walruses, radio transmitters, sea ice, usgs alaska science center, walrus haulouts, walruses

ANCHORAGE, Alaska – The USGS Alaska Science Center has released new high-resolution video of Pacific walruses hauling out near Point Lay, Alaska, in late August, 2011.

Also available on the USGS Alaska Science Center walrus website are animations of the walruses’ movements as tracked by radio transmitters, and FAQs on the ongoing walrus studies. (more…)

Exeter Academic Explains Chemical ‘Risk List’

By Guest PostSeptember 14, 2011Environmentchemical risk list, critical metals, low carbon economy, rare earth elements, risk list, suppliers of metals

A University of Exeter academic has spoken about the many chemical elements we rely on that are at risk.

Professor Frances Wall, Head of the University’s Camborne School of Mines, joined a panel of experts at the British Science Festival to reveal the new chemical ‘risk list’. (more…)

Can Scientists Look at Next Year’s Climate?

By Guest PostSeptember 11, 2011Environmentclimate dynamics, climate forecasts, climate models, climate predictions, climate sensitivity, predicting climate

Is it possible to make valid climate predictions that go beyond weeks, months, even a year? UCLA atmospheric scientists report they have now made long-term climate forecasts that are among the best ever — predicting climate up to 16 months in advance, nearly twice the length of time previously achieved by climate scientists. (more…)

First Global Picture of Greenhouse Gases Emerges from Pole-to-Pole Research Flights

By Guest PostSeptember 10, 2011Environmentandy watt, anne-marie schmoltner, Antarctic, Arctic, black carbon particles, britton stephens, carbon dioxide, climate, concentrations of greenhouse gases, earth, global distribution of gases, gulfstream v aircraft, harvard university, hiaper, hiaper pole to pole observations, high performance instrumented airborne platform for environmental research, hippo, Houston, industrial age, los angeles, national science foundation, natural carbon dioxide uptake and storage, new zealand, nsf, pacific, particles in the atmosphere, portrait of greenhouse gases, ryan spackman, steven wofsy

*Three-year series of scientific missions from Arctic to Antarctic produces new views of atmospheric chemistry*

A three-year series of research flights from the Arctic to the Antarctic has successfully produced an unprecedented portrait of greenhouse gases and particles in the atmosphere.

The far-reaching field project, known as HIPPO, ends this week, and has enabled researchers to generate the first detailed mapping of the global distribution of gases and particles that affect Earth’s climate. (more…)

Category Archives: Environment