Tag Archives: greenhouse gases

Cutting Specific Atmospheric Pollutants Would Slow Sea Level Rise

By Guest PostApril 25, 2013Environmentaixue hu, amsterdam, anjuli bamzai, atmospheric pollutants, black carbon, boulder, carbon dioxide, carbon dioxide emissions, claudia tebaldi, climate central, climate change, computer model, effect, geochemistry, greenhouse gases, heat trapping pollutants, hydrofluorocarbons, important factor, melting ice, methane, miami, mumbai, NASA, national science foundation, ncar, new york, noaa, rising oceans, san diego, scientist, sea-level rise, sio, soot in exhaust, this century, tokyo, tropospheric ozone, us epa, veerabhadran ramanathan, yangyang x

Decreasing emissions of black carbon, methane and other pollutants makes a difference

With coastal areas bracing for rising sea levels, new research indicates that cutting emissions of certain pollutants can greatly slow sea level rise this century.

Scientists found that reductions in four pollutants that cycle comparatively quickly through the atmosphere could temporarily forestall the rate of sea level rise by roughly 25 to 50 percent.

The researchers focused on emissions of four heat-trapping pollutants: methane, tropospheric ozone, hydrofluorocarbons and black carbon. (more…)

Climate Change Study Strengthens Link to Human Activities

By Guest PostDecember 5, 2012EnvironmentAntarctica, Arctic, atmospheric temperature, benjamin santer, berkeley lab, carbon dioxide, cfcs, chlorofluorocarbons, climate change, climate models, coolants, el niño, evidence, greenhouse gases, higgs boson, human factors, human influence, llnl, michael wehner, pacific decadal oscillation, phenomena, propellants, satellite data, simulations, southern oscillation, stratospheric temperature, tropospheric, tropospheric warming

Computer Models, Satellite Data Reveal Clearest Evidence Yet of Human Influence on Changing Temperatures

New research shows some of the clearest evidence yet of a discernible human influence on atmospheric temperature.

Published online in the Nov. 29 early edition of the Proceedings of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, the study compared 20 of the latest climate models against 33 years of satellite data. When human factors were included in the models, they followed the pattern of temperature changes observed by satellite. When the same simulations were run without considering human influences, the results were quite different.

“We can only match the satellite record when we add in human influences on the atmosphere,” said Michael Wehner, a research scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) Computational Research Division and a coauthor of the article, which involved colleagues from 16 other organizations and was led by Benjamin Santer, an atmospheric scientist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). (more…)

A NASA Weather ‘Eye in the Sky’ Marks 10 Years

By Guest PostMay 7, 2012Environment, Scienceairs, amsu a, atmosphere, atmospheric infrared sounder, bae systems, boston, carbon dioxide, climate change, climate research, earth, energy cycle, eric fetzer, eye, global water, greenhouse gases, hyperspectral sounding, instrument, jet propulsion laboratory, model, monster, moustafa chahine, NASA, sky, tom pagano, water vapor, weather forecasting, weather satellites

For 10 years, it has silently swooped through space in its orbital perch 438 miles (705 kilometers) above Earth, its nearly 2,400 spectral “eyes” peering into Earth’s atmosphere, watching. But there’s nothing alien about NASA’s Atmospheric Infrared Sounder, or AIRS, instrument, a “monster” of weather and climate research that celebrates its 10th birthday in orbit May 4.

AIRS, built by BAE Systems, Boston, under the direction of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., is one of six instruments flying on NASA’s Aqua spacecraft as part of NASA’s Earth Observing System. AIRS, along with its partner microwave instrument, the Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit (AMSU-A), has faithfully measured our planet’s atmospheric temperature, water vapor, clouds and greenhouse gases with unprecedented accuracy and stability. Over the past decade, AIRS and AMSU-A have improved our understanding of Earth’s global water and energy cycles, climate change and trends and how Earth’s climate system is responding to increased greenhouse gases. (more…)

Fossil Raindrop Impressions Imply Greenhouse Gases Loaded Early Atmosphere

By Guest PostApril 2, 2012Environmentames research center, atmosphere, atmospheric pressure, concentration, david catling, earth history, fossilized, greenhouse gases, jelte harnmeijer, latex peels, liquid water, low carbon innovation, peter polivka, pressure broadening, raindrop impression, raindrop velocity, roger buick, sanjoy som, seattle, South Africa, sun, temperature, warm temperature

In ancient Earth history, the sun burned as much as 30 percent dimmer than it does now. Theoretically that should have encased the planet in ice, but there is geologic evidence for rivers and ocean sediments between 2 billion and 4 billion years ago.

Scientists have speculated that temperatures warm enough to maintain liquid water were the result of a much thicker atmosphere, high concentrations of greenhouse gases or a combination of the two. (more…)

Study Indicates Hail May Disappear From Colorado’s Front Range by 2070

By Guest PostJanuary 12, 2012Environmentclimate change, climate models, climate warming, colorado, colorado springs, continental divide, decision-makers, denver, downscaled, downscaling technique, eastern flank, flash floods, foothill communities, fort collins, global climate models, greenhouse gases, hail, hail damage, hailstones, james scott, joseph barsugli, kelly mahoney, michael alexander, nature climate change, precipitation, rain, regional scale models, regional topography, risk of flooding, rocky mountains, runoff, thunderstorms, weather scale

Summertime hail could all but disappear from the eastern flank of Colorado’s Rocky Mountains by 2070, says a new study by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the University of Colorado Boulder’s Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences and the National Center for Atmospheric Research.

Less hail damage could be good news for gardeners and farmers, said lead author Kelly Mahoney, a research scientist at CIRES, but a shift from hail to rain can also mean more runoff, which could raise the risk of flash floods. “In this region of elevated terrain, hail may lessen the risk of flooding because it takes awhile to melt,” Mahoney said. “Decision makers may not want to count on that in the future.” (more…)

NASA: Climate Change May Bring Big Ecosystem Changes

By Guest PostDecember 15, 2011Environmentbiodiversity, biome changes, biosphere, boreal forests, caltech, carbon, climate, climate change, climate model projections, computer modeling, desert, duane waliser, earth, eastern equatorial africa, ecological consequences, ecological sensitivity, ecosystem, element cycles, energy, environmental changes, forest, global climate simulations, grassland, great lakes, great plains, greenhouse gases, himalayas, hotspots, ice, jon bergengren, last glacial maximum, Madagascar, major ecological community type, mediterranean region, melting glaciers, migrate, model projections, modern climate changes, multiple generations, NASA, North America, northern hemisphere, plant communities, rising sea levels, southern south america, tibetan plateau, tundra, water

PASADENA, Calif. – By 2100, global climate change will modify plant communities covering almost half of Earth’s land surface and will drive the conversion of nearly 40 percent of land-based ecosystems from one major ecological community type – such as forest, grassland or tundra – toward another, according to a new NASA and university computer modeling study.

Researchers from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, Calif., investigated how Earth’s plant life is likely to react over the next three centuries as Earth’s climate changes in response to rising levels of human-produced greenhouse gases. Study results are published in the journal Climatic Change. (more…)

U.S. Believers Favor International Action on Climate Change, Nuclear Risk: UMD Poll

By Guest PostDecember 8, 2011Culture, Environmentamericans, author, belief in god, catholics, climate change, combat, conservative, creation, evangelicals, global policy, global poverty, greenhouse gases, john steinbruner, liberal, nuclear risks, nuclear war, poll, religious americans, spiritual obligation, spread of nuclear weapons, steven kull, united states, university of maryland, us population

COLLEGE PARK, Md. – A majority of Americans professing belief in God favor cooperative international efforts to combat climate change and the spread of nuclear weapons, says a new public opinion poll conducted jointly by the University of Maryland’s Center for International and Security Studies at Maryland (CISSM) and its Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA).

The nearly 1,500 Americans surveyed include large numbers of Catholics and Evangelicals.

The study, Faith and Global Policy Challenges: How Spiritual Values Shape Views on Poverty, Nuclear Risks, and Environmental Degradation, also finds that a majority of believers consider addressing global poverty a “spiritual obligation,” and think that the United States should work cooperatively with other nations to reduce it. (more…)

Yale-led Team Finds CO2 Levels Plunged as Antarctica Froze

By Guest PostDecember 3, 2011Environmentalgae, atmosphere, carbon dioxide levels, climate transition, co2 and climate change, critical condition, cryosphere, earth, eocene epoch, eocene to oligocene, freezing of antarctica, fundamental link, geochemist, global climate change, global cooling, greenhouse gases, ice sheets, icing of antarctica, mark pagani, matthew huber, molecules, oligocene, polar ice caps, robert m deconto, sea level, temperatures, yale university, zhonghui liu

A Yale University-led research team has found evidence that carbon dioxide levels in Earth’s atmosphere plunged prior to and during the initial icing of Antarctica, about 34 million years ago. The new findings provide further evidence of atmospheric carbon dioxide’s role as a major trigger of global climate change.

“CO2 is tracking global cooling at that time,” said Yale geochemist Mark Pagani, lead author of a paper published online Dec. 1 in the journal Science. “It’s important to demonstrate that there are obvious linkages between CO2 and climate change. It’s one more piece of evidence that CO2 is a primary lever on climate.” (more…)