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A River Ran Through It

By Guest PostOctober 17, 2010Nature, Sciencealan tessier, arizona state university, climate change, colorado, colorado river delta, downstream, ecosystems, food chain, grand canyon, humans, irrigation, jacques finlay, john sabo, las vegas, los angeles, minneapolis, Mississippi, new york city, Phoenix, river flows, rivers, sea of cortez, small tributaries, storm floods, streams

About the image: A now dry Colorado River delta branches into the Baja/Sonoran Desert near the Sea of Cortez. Image credit: Pete McBride

Rivers and streams supply the lifeblood to ecosystems across the globe, providing water for drinking and irrigation for humans as well as a wide array of life forms from single-celled organisms up to the fish humans eat.

But humans and nature itself are making it tough on rivers to continue in their central role to support fish species, according to new research by a team of scientists including John Sabo, a biologist at Arizona State University.

Globally, rivers and streams are being drained due to human use and climate change. These and other human impacts alter the natural variability of river flows.

Some affected rivers have dried and no longer run, while others have seen increases in the variability of flows due to storm floods. (more…)

Many Still Do Not Understand The ‘Why’ of Climate Change

By Guest PostOctober 16, 2010Culture, Environmentaerosol spray, anthony leiserowitz, climate change, coral bleaching, global warming, greenhouse effect, ozone layer, renewable energy, yale university

Sixty-three percent of Americans believe that global warming is happening, but many do not understand why, according to a national study conducted by researchers at Yale University.

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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…)

The Root Impact of Climate Change

By Guest PostSeptember 23, 20101 commentEnvironmentatmospheric changes, christopher s bond, climate change, david koppenaal, dong xu, gary stacey, interdisciplinary plant group, jianlin cheng, ljiljana paša-tolić, melting glaciers, nutrient uptake, plant roots, rising ocean levels, root hair cells, university of missouri

COLUMBIA, Mo. — When people discuss climate change, they usually think of impacts above ground, such as atmospheric changes, rising ocean levels, or melting glaciers. Less attention is paid to the effects right under their feet. Now, with the help of a $1.2 million grant from the federal Plant Feedstock Genomics for Bioenergy program, University of Missouri researchers are peering underground to see how climate change affects plant roots.

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Desert Dust Reduces Colorado River Flow

By Guest PostSeptember 21, 20102 commentsEnvironmentalan hamlet, brad udall, cires, climate change, colorado river basin, cooperative institute for research in environmental sci, desert dust, hydrology model, jayne belnap, land management, lower dust, rocky mountains, snow dusted, snowmelt, university of california, university of colorado, university of washington, water management

Dark-colored dust that settles on snow in the Upper Colorado River Basin makes the snow melt early and robs the Colorado River of about 5 percent of its water each year, says a new study co-authored by researchers from the University of Colorado at Boulder-based Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, or CIRES.

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Why “Scientific Consensus” Fails to Persuade

By Guest PostSeptember 18, 2010Culture, Scienceamerican public, climate change, dan kahan, donald bramand, egalitarian values, Environment, environmental risks, fictional author, hank, jenkins-smith, nuclear waste disposal, scientific consensus, university of oklahoma, yale university

Suppose a close friend who is trying to figure out the facts about climate change asks whether you think a scientist who has written a book on the topic is a knowledgeable and trustworthy expert. You see from the dust jacket that the author received a Ph.D. in a pertinent field from a major university, is on the faculty at another one, and is a member of the National Academy of Sciences. Would you advise your friend that the scientist seems like an “expert”? (more…)

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