Study shows major changes in ice and temperatures could cause abrupt effects farther away
About 14,000 years ago, the southwest United States was lush and green, home to saber-toothed cats and mammoths. Meanwhile, the Pacific Northwest was mostly grassland. (more…)
Berkeley Lab method could help scientists learn new ways to boost photovoltaic efficiency
Next-generation solar cells made of super-thin films of semiconducting material hold promise because they’re relatively inexpensive and flexible enough to be applied just about anywhere. (more…)
Multi-institutional study sheds new light into global warming ‘hiatus’
A new multi-institutional study of the so-called global warming “hiatus” phenomenon — the possible temporary slowdown of the global mean surface temperature (GMST) trend said to have occurred from 1998 to 2013 — concludes the hiatus simply represents a redistribution of energy within the Earth system, which includes the land, atmosphere and the ocean. (more…)
For decades, marine chemists have faced an elusive paradox. The surface waters of the world’s oceans are supersaturated with the greenhouse gas methane, yet most species of microbes that can generate the gas can’t survive in oxygen-rich surface waters. So where exactly does all the methane come from? This longstanding riddle, known as the “marine methane paradox,” may have finally been cracked thanks to a new study from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI). (more…)
PORT ARANSAS, Texas — Ocean warming is occurring at such a rapid rate that fish are searching for cooler waters to call home.
A group of international scientists has new evidence that coral reef fish – which struggle to adapt to the warmer ocean temperatures brought about by global climate change – may instead opt to relocate to cooler parts of the ocean. (more…)
Berkeley Lab develops better method of environmental monitoring using the PhyloChip, finds surprising results in Russian River watershed
When the local water management agency closes your favorite beach due to unhealthy water quality, how reliable are the tests they base their decisions on? As it turns out, those tests, as well as the standards behind them, have not been updated in decades. Now scientists from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have developed a highly accurate, DNA-based method to detect and distinguish sources of microbial contamination in water. (more…)
A North Carolina State University study of middle school science classes explored whether teachers’ beliefs about climate change influenced students’ perceptions. (more…)
Across the United States, abandoned oil and gas wells are a significant source of greenhouse gases, particularly methane. Yet there are so many scattered across the country that stopping the leaks — and even determining which wells are leaking — presents an enormous challenge. (more…)
