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Taking Measure of the Greenhouse Effect

By Guest PostOctober 15, 20101 commentEnvironment, Scienceaerosols, andrew lacis, atmosphere, carbon dioxide, climate change, climate models, climate science, clouds, CO2, CO2 emissions, computer simulations, earth, gases, gavin schmidt, goddard institute for space studies, greenhouse effect, greenhouse gases, heat-absorbing components, heat-trapping gas, methane, mining activities, NASA, nitrous oxide, ozone, planet, reto ruedy, ron miller, trace gases, water vapor

WASHINGTON — Scientists have long known that heat-absorbing components of Earth’s atmosphere, such as clouds and certain gases, prevent our planet from being an ice-covered ball. Now a study, for the first time, comprehensively calculates the relative contributions of the components responsible for that heating, known as the greenhouse effect.

Besides clarifying an important aspect of climate science, the study also demonstrates that rising concentrations of one heat-trapping gas — carbon dioxide — leads to much more greenhouse warming than just the heat the gas absorbs directly itself.

Various studies have looked at the contributions of water vapor, CO₂, and other greenhouse gases. But none had systematically estimated the contributions of each of the main players, says climate scientist Gavin Schmidt of NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, and lead author of the new research. (more…)

Cloud-Based Computing System Helps Scientists Study the Breathing of the Biosphere

By Guest PostOctober 13, 2010Environment, Technologybiometeorology, biosphere breathing, california, carbon dioxide, carbon-climate science, chloroplast, climate change, climate science, cloud-based dataset, cycles, dennis baldocchi, ecosystem, evapotranspiration, factors, fluctuations, global scale, ground-based sensor data, humans, microsoft research escience workshop, modisazure, planet, plant life, sacramento river delta, satellite imagery, state-of-the-art biophysical modeling, water systems

*Researchers at University of California, Berkeley, work with Microsoft Research to analyze vast amounts of data without supercomputers.*

BERKELEY, Calif. — Studying the environment would be simple if it weren’t for one thing: Even an isolated ecosystem is unbelievably complicated. Factors to study include water systems, plant life cycles, carbon dioxide fluctuations, resource use by humans, and far more — and each can be studied at the scale of a plant or of the planet, and measured in an instant or over decades. (more…)

Population Change: Another Influence on Climate Change

By Guest PostOctober 12, 2010Environment, Sciencebrian o'neill, carbon dioxide, China, climate change, emission, European Union, fertility, global, greenhouse gas emissions, hewlett foundation, human population, India, industrialized countries, national science foundation, nsf, PET, population environment technology model, sarah ruth, shonali pachauri, united nations, urbanization

*Changes in population, including aging and urbanization, could affect global carbon dioxide emissions*

Changes in the human population, including aging and urbanization, could significantly affect global emissions of carbon dioxide over the next 40 years, according to research results published this week. (more…)

Main Climate Threat from CO2 Sources Yet to Be Built

By Guest PostSeptember 10, 20102 commentsEnvironmentcarbon dioxide, carbon-free technologies, carnegie institution for science, clean energy, climate change, coal-fired power plant, damon matthews, emissions, energy-efficient, ken caldeira, steven davis

Stanford, CA — Scientists have warned that avoiding dangerous climate change this century will require steep cuts in carbon dioxide emissions. New energy-efficient or carbon-free technologies can help, but what about the power plants, cars, trucks, and other fossil-fuel-burning devices already in operation? Unless forced into early retirement, they will emit carbon dioxide into the atmosphere for decades to come. Will their emissions push carbon dioxide levels beyond prescribed limits, regardless of what we build next? Is there already too much inertia in the system to curb climate change?

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Berkeley Lab Part of California Team to Receive up to $122 million for Energy Innovation Hub to Develop Method to Produce Fuels from Sunlight

By Guest PostJuly 24, 20101 commentEnvironment, Scienceartificial, berkeley lab, breakthrough innovations, cal tech, california, carbon dioxide, daniel poneman, energy, fuels, george l. argyros, innovation hub, jcap, joint center for artificial photosynthesis, nathan s. lewis, paul alivisatos, peidong yang, photosynthesis, senator boxer, sunlight, sunlight energy

Washington, D.C. – As part of a broad effort to achieve breakthrough innovations in energy production, U.S. Deputy Secretary of Energy Daniel Poneman announced, on July 22, an award of up to $122 million over five years to a multidisciplinary team of top scientists to establish an Energy Innovation Hub aimed at developing revolutionary methods to generate fuels directly from sunlight.

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First-of-Its-Kind Map Details the Height of the Globe’s Forests

By Guest PostJuly 21, 20101 commentEnvironment, Scienceaqua, atmosphere, canopy, carbon cycles, carbon dioxide, desdynI, douglas fir, ecosystems, height of the world’s forests, icesat, imaging spectrodiometer, lidar, michael lefsky, modis, NASA, richard Houghton, satellite data, satellites, tallest forests, terra, tropical rain forests, woods hole research center

WASHINGTON — Using satellite data, scientists have produced a first-of-its kind map that details the height of the world’s forests. Although there are other local- and regional-scale forest canopy maps, the new map is the first that spans the entire globe based on one uniform method.

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Global Model Confirms: Cool Roofs Can Offset Carbon Dioxide Emissions and Mitigate Global Warming

By Guest PostJuly 20, 20101 commentEnvironment, Scienceberkeley lab, carbon dioxide, carbon emissions, climate change, cool roof, cool the world, curb, doe, emissions, evaporation, goddard space flight center, hashem akbari, keith oleson, light-colored rooftops, model, NASA, ncar, radiation, steven chu, surabi menon, Technology, temperature, topography, urban heat

Can light-colored rooftops and roads really curb carbon emissions and combat global climate change?

The idea has been around for years, but now, a new study by researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory that is the first to use a global model to study the question has found that implementing cool roofs and cool pavements in cities around the world can not only help cities stay cooler, they can also cool the world, with the potential of canceling the heating effect of up to two years of worldwide carbon dioxide emissions.

(more…)

‘Arctic Climate May be More Sensitive to Warming than Thought’

By Guest PostJuly 6, 2010Environmentanthropogenic greenhouse, Arctic, ashley ballantyne, atmospheric, beaver pond site, british columbia, canada, carbon dioxide, dara finney, ecosystem, ellesmere island, geology, natalia rybczynski, permineralization, pliocene, strathcona fiord, vancouver

A new study shows the Arctic climate system may be more sensitive to greenhouse warming than previously thought, and that current levels of Earth’s atmospheric carbon dioxide may be high enough to bring about significant, irreversible shifts in Arctic ecosystems.

(more…)

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