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Tropical Forest Diversity Increased During Ancient Global Warming Event

By Guest PostNovember 18, 20101 commentEnvironment, Nature, Scienceangiosperm pollen, atmospheric carbon dioxide, carlos jaramillo, century, Colombia, eldredge bermingham, global warming, joe wright, outcrops, paleocene-eocene thermal maximum, panama, rainforests, scanning electron microscopy image, taxa, temperature increase, tropical areas, Venezuela

The steamiest places on the planet are getting warmer. Conservative estimates suggest that tropical areas can expect temperature increases of 3 degrees Celsius by the end of this century. Does global warming spell doom for rainforests? Maybe not. Carlos Jaramillo, staff scientist at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, and colleagues report in the journal Science that nearly 60 million years ago rainforests prospered at temperatures that were 3-5 degrees higher and at atmospheric carbon dioxide levels 2.5 times today’s levels.

About the image: This is a scanning electron microscopy image of characteristic angiosperm pollen taxa from the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum. Image credit: Francy Carvajal, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (more…)

Researchers Find Ocean Temperature Threshold for Hurricanes is Rising

By Guest PostNovember 10, 2010Environmentatmospheric convection, climate model, global warming, hurricanes, nat Johnson, rainfall, sea surface temperature, shang ping xie, sst, threshold, tropical atmosphere, tropical ocean thunderstorms

Average observed tropical (black) and estimated SST (blue) rose together in the last 30 years. Image credit: University of Hawaii at Mānoa

Scientists have long known that atmospheric convection in the form of hurricanes and tropical ocean thunderstorms tends to occur when sea surface temperature rises above a threshold. So how do rising ocean temperatures with global warming affect this threshold? If the threshold does not rise, it could mean more frequent hurricanes.

A new study by researchers at the International Pacific Research Center (IPRC) of the University of Hawaii at Mānoa shows this threshold sea surface temperature for convection is rising under global warming at the same rate as that of the tropical oceans. Their paper appears in the Advance Online Publications of Nature Geoscience. (more…)

The More We Talk, The Less We Might Agree: Study Shows Discussion Can Hurt Consensus-Building On Science/Technology

By Guest PostNovember 4, 2010Culture, Scienceandrew binder, dietram scheufele, global warming, large-scale research initiatives, manhattan, nbaf, north carolina state university, plum island, public consensus, public issues, san Antonio, science and technology, scientific endeavors, stem cell research, talking it out

When it comes to public issues pertaining to science and technology, “talking it out” doesn’t seem to work. A new study from North Carolina State University shows that the more people discuss the risks and benefits associated with scientific endeavors, the more entrenched they become in their viewpoint – and the less likely they are to see the merit of other viewpoints.

“This research highlights the difficulty facing state and federal policy leaders when it comes to high-profile science and technology issues, such as stem cell research or global warming,” says Dr. Andrew Binder, an assistant professor of communication at NC State and lead author of the study. “Government agencies view research on these issues as vital and necessary for the country’s future, but building public consensus for that research is becoming increasingly difficult.” (more…)

A Wiki for the Biofuels Research Community

By Guest PostOctober 31, 20101 commentEnvironmentbiofuels, biorefinery, blake simmons, carbon neutral, daniel klein marcuschamer, gasoline, global warming, green, harvey blanch, jbei, joint bioenergy institute, lignocellulosic biorefineries, parameters, piotr oleskowicz popiel, sustainable fashion, technoeconomic model, wiki based platform

Blake Simmons (left) and Harvey Blanch of the Joint BioEnergy Institute led the development of a technoeconomic model for optimizing biorefinery operations. Image cedit: Roy Kaltschmidt, Berkeley Lab Public Affairs

Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) have created a technoeconomic model that should help accelerate the development of a next generation of clean, green biofuels that can compete with gasoline in economics and well as performance. This on-line, wiki-based model enables researchers to pursue the most promising strategies for cost-efficient biorefinery operations by simulating such critical factors as production costs and energy balances under different processing scenarios.

“The high production cost of biofuels has been the main factor limiting their widespread adoption,” says JBEI’s Daniel Klein-Marcuschamer. “We felt that a model of the biorefinery operation that was open, transparent about the assumptions it uses, and updatable by the community of users could aid in guiding research in the direction where it is most likely to reduce the production cost of biofuels.” (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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Corals Show Ocean Temperature Boundary Rising with Climate Change

By Guest PostOctober 14, 20101 commentEnvironment, Natureandrea grottoli, branwen williams, climate modelers, computer models, coral reef, corals, el niño, global climate, global warming, gorgonian, isotopes, nitrogen 14, nitrogen 15, ocean circulation, oceanography, offshore, ohio state university, pacific decadal oscillation, palau, pdo, satellite data, thermocline, western tropical pacific

WASHINGTON — Researchers looking at corals in the western tropical Pacific Ocean have found signs of a profound shift in the depth where warm surface water and colder deeper water meet—a shift predicted by computer models of global warming.

The finding is the first physical evidence supporting what climate modelers have been predicting as the effects of global climate change on the subsurface ocean circulation. (more…)

CU-Boulder-Led Hubble Astronomy Team Uncovers Evidence of Early Heated Universe

By Guest PostOctober 8, 2010Scienceastrophysical and planetary sciences, big bang, black hole, black holes, charles danforth, cos, cosmic origins spectrograph, dwarf galaxies, galaxies, global warming, hubble, Hubble Space Telescope, kevin france, michael shull, NASA, quasar beacon, radiation, remote universe, small galaxies, universal warming, universe, university of colorado at boulder

If you think global warming is bad, 11 billion years ago the entire universe underwent what might be called universal warming. The consequence of that early heating was that fierce blasts of radiation from voracious black holes stunted the growth of some small galaxies for a stretch of 500 million years. (more…)

TEDxRedmond Conference Brings Some of the World’s Youngest Artists, Writers and Musicians to Speak on Microsoft Campus

By Guest PostSeptember 16, 2010Technologyadora svitak, adrianna svitak, Al Gore, climate change, environmental activist, environmental policy, global warming, Microsoft, Mt. Everest, mt. kilimanjaro, mt. kosciuszko, paul allen foundation, tedxredmond

REDMOND, Wash. — Sept. 16, 2010 — On Saturday, Sept. 18, some of the nation’s most accomplished and awe-inspiring kids will be descending on the Microsoft campus. The roster includes a 14-year-old mountaineer who has climbed some of the tallest summits in the world including Mt. Everest, Mt. Kilimanjaro and Mt. Kosciuszko; three girls who started a nonprofit after a friend died of a rare form of cancer and have to date raised $250,000; and a 12-year-old environmental activist who has worked closely with Al Gore to raise awareness about global warming.

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