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Entkorken der Ost-Antarktis führt zu Anstieg des Meeresspiegels

By Guest PostMay 10, 2014Environmentanders levermann, antarktis, climate change, datenreport 2016, ipcc, karriere, lyman page, Nature, nicole tieben, ozean, pik, studienabbruch

Das Abschmelzen bereits einer kleinen Menge Eis an der ostantarktischen Küste könnte eine große Wirkung haben – nämlich dass große Eismassen unaufhaltsam jahrtausendelang in den Ozean fließen und damit den Meeresspiegel ansteigen lassen. Dies zeigt eine jetzt von Wissenschaftlern des Potsdam-Instituts für Klimafolgenforschung (PIK) veröffentlichte Studie in Nature Climate Change. Die Ergebnisse beruhen auf Computersimulationen des antarktischen Eisflusses mit verbesserten Daten zum Untergrund der Antarktis.

„Das Wilkes-Becken der Ost-Antarktis ist wie eine gekippte Flasche“, erklärt Leitautor Matthias Mengel, „wenn der Korken gezogen wird, entleert sie sich.“ Das Becken bildet das größte marine Landeis-Gebiet in der Region. Derzeit hält ein Eisstück an der Küste die dahinter liegenden Eismassen zurück: eben wie ein Korken, der den Inhalt einer Flasche zurückhält. Ein Abschmelzen von Eis an der Küste könnte diesen relativ kleinen Korken verschwinden lassen – und damit einen Meeresspiegelanstieg von 300 bis 400 Zentimetern verursachen. „Der vollständige Meeresspiegelanstieg wäre letztlich bis zu 80 mal größer als der durch das anfängliche Abschmelzen des Eiskorkens“, sagt Ko-Autor Anders Levermann. (more…)

A better water wing to harvest tidal energy

By Guest PostApril 13, 2014Sciencearpa-e, cipher256, climate change, energy, entebbe main hospital, henry waxman, kenneth breuer, midwife, prenatal care, progress, projektionseffekt, prossy alanyo, renewable, robert busingye, sheldon whitehouse, smartphone based, source of energy, ultrasound alternative, winsenga

The eternal ebb and flow of tides — 24 x 7 x 365 — makes them a dependable source of energy, but how to harness all that, especially in shallow water? Shreyas Mandre and colleagues at Brown have developed an efficient water wing and optimized its performance with a “secret sauce.”

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — When it comes to raw power and absolute reliability, it doesn’t get much better than the tides. That’s why tidal power is such an attractive option as a renewable form of energy. But designing a device to gather tidal energy in shallow water, where the ebb and flow move fastest and the energy potential is highest, has proven problematic. (more…)

Surviving and thriving under climate change in the world’s deltas

By Guest PostApril 12, 2014EnvironmentBangladesh, climate change, egypt, halil rud fluss, India, ipcc, jiroft kultur, kerman gebirge, mesopotamien, neil adger, nile delta, peter pfaelzner, provinz kerman, quantum licht, robert nicholls, university of exeter

Researchers from the University of Exeter are investigating the effect of climate change on deltas in South Asia and Africa to understand how people will respond and adapt.

Deltas are economic and environmental hotspots, with many large deltas in South, South-East and East Asia and Africa. The new $13 million project examines four deltas that are home to almost 200 million people, many of whom are farmers who provide food for a large proportion of the population.

The project will work with scientists, demographers and social scientists in the Nile delta in Egypt, the Ganges-Brahmaputra in Bangladesh and India, the Mahanadi in India and the Volta in Ghana. (more…)

A Few Winners, But Many More Losers

By Guest PostApril 9, 2014Environment, Naturebe good scientists, biomedicine, clayton morrison, climate change, david danielson, desert tortoise, habitat loss, ilan gur, innovation gap, mihai surdeanu, new mexico, northern arizona university, pascale ehrenfreund, raising computers, reach project, sebastien lounis, shift, steven kaye, tele handshake, U.S. Geological Survey, university, western united states

Southwestern Bird and Reptile Distributions to Shift as Climate Changes

Dramatic distribution losses and a few major distribution gains are forecasted for southwestern bird and reptile species as the climate changes, according to just-published research by scientists with the U.S. Geological Survey, the University of New Mexico, and Northern Arizona University.

Overall, the study forecasted species distribution losses – that is, where species are able to live – of nearly half for all but one of the 5 reptile species they examined, including for the iconic chuckwalla. The threatened Sonoran (Morafka’s) desert tortoise, however, is projected to experience little to no habitat losses from climate change. (more…)

UCLA study yields more accurate data on thousands of years of climate change

By Guest PostApril 8, 2014Environmentaradhna tripati, atmosphere, borneo, business world, change, climate change, data, data science, david ediger, diamond eye, Environment, global warming, greenhouse gas levels, last ice age, models, papua new guinea, robert eagle, sustainability, tropical pacific ocean, ucla study

Research also helps unravel the mystery of retreating glaciers in the Pacific Ocean’s western tropics

Using a cutting-edge research technique, UCLA researchers have reconstructed the temperature history of a region that plays a major role in determining climate around the world.

The findings, published online Feb. 27 in the journal Nature Geoscience, will help inform scientists about the processes influencing global warming in the western tropical Pacific Ocean. (more…)

Deforestation of sandy soils a greater threat to climate change

By Guest PostApril 3, 2014Environmentclimate change, CO2, deforestation, erdwaerme, fruehwarnsystem, global warming, hawaii, microbial community, northern alaska, nutzung der geothermie, prinzip, scientists, soil ph, threat, yale university

Deforestation may have far greater consequences for climate change in some soils than in others, according to new research led by Yale University scientists — a finding that could provide critical insights into which ecosystems must be managed with extra care because they are vulnerable to biodiversity loss and which ecosystems are more resilient to widespread tree removal.

In a comprehensive analysis of soil collected from 11 distinct U.S. regions, from Hawaii to northern Alaska, researchers found that the extent to which deforestation disturbs underground microbial communities that regulate the loss of carbon into the atmosphere depends almost exclusively on the texture of the soil. The results were published in the journal Global Change Biology. (more…)

Network news climate change stories rarely report both impact, action

By Guest PostMarch 26, 2014Environment, Media, Politicsabc, amphiprion melanopus, anemonefish, cbs, climate change, climate change impacts, das fahrrad, entacmaea quadricolor, greenhouse gas emission, issue, jared wadley, mein rad, nbc, network, news, political conflict, politician, ribbon reefs, richard ling, Rutgers University, university of michigan

ANN ARBOR — When it involves climate change coverage, viewers don’t always get the complete picture from U.S. network television, according to a University of Michigan study.

Major networks—ABC, CBS and NBC—show the impact or actions taken in climate change stories, but rarely combine the components in the same broadcast to give viewers better coverage, the study shows. (more…)

Warmer temperatures push malaria to higher elevations

By Guest PostMarch 14, 2014Environment, Healthanti-malarial drugs, antioquia region, changes in climate, climate change, Colombia, debre zeit region, ecologist, ethiopia, fluctuations in rainfall, global warming, malaria, menno bouma, mercedes pascual, mosquito borne disease, temperature change, university of michigan, warmer temperature

ANN ARBOR — Researchers have debated for more than two decades the likely impacts, if any, of global warming on the worldwide incidence of malaria, a mosquito-borne disease that infects more than 300 million people each year.

Now, University of Michigan ecologists and their colleagues are reporting the first hard evidence that malaria does—as had long been predicted—creep to higher elevations during warmer years and back down to lower altitudes when temperatures cool. (more…)

Tag Archives: climate change