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European Satellite Confirms UW Numbers: Arctic Ocean is on Thin Ice

By Guest PostFebruary 20, 2013Environmentandy ridout, arctic ocean, Arctic sea ice, arctic waters, assimilation system, axel schweiger, below the ice, cloud, cryosat 2 satellite, data, duncan wingham, european satellite, european space agency, extent, ice ocean modeling, icesat, jinlun zhang, katharine giles, land elevation satellite, NASA, ocean surface, pan arctic, piomas, polar scientist, rosemary willatt, satellite observation, seymour laxon, thin ice, total volume, uk, university of washington, vulnerable, warming

The September 2012 record low in Arctic sea-ice extent was big news, but a missing piece of the puzzle was lurking below the ocean’s surface. What volume of ice floats on Arctic waters? And how does that compare to previous summers? These are difficult but important questions, because how much ice actually remains suggests how vulnerable the ice pack will be to more warming.

New satellite observations confirm a University of Washington analysis that for the past three years has produced widely quoted estimates of Arctic sea-ice volume. Findings based on observations from a European Space Agency satellite, published online in Geophysical Research Letters, show that the Arctic has lost more than a third of summer sea-ice volume since a decade ago, when a U.S. satellite collected similar data. (more…)

Study Shows Rapid Warming on the West Antarctic Ice Sheet

By Guest PostDecember 25, 2012Environmentandrew monaghan, Antarctic, Antarctica, below sea level, byrd station, climate change, contribution, data, david bromwich, discovery, earth, greenland, ice sheet, ice shelf, ice shelves, julien nicolas, larsen b, meteorological observation, ocean, ohio state university, polar night, sea-level rise, solar panels, southern hemisphere, surface melting, temperature, wais, wais glaciers, warming, west antarctic

COLUMBUS, Ohio — In a discovery that raises further concerns about the future contribution of Antarctica to sea level rise, a new study finds that the western part of the ice sheet is experiencing nearly twice as much warming as previously thought.

The temperature record from Byrd Station, a scientific outpost in the center of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS), demonstrates a marked increase of 4.3 degrees Fahrenheit (2.4 degrees Celsius) in average annual temperature since 1958—that is, three times faster than the average temperature rise around the globe. (more…)

Experiment Would Test Cloud Geoengineering as Way to Slow Warming

By Guest PostAugust 20, 2012Environment, Scienceairplane, burning fuel, climate science, climatological impact, cloud geoengineering, Environment, global warming, john latham, long lived clouds, marine cloud brightening, particle, phenomenon, pollutant, rob wood, salt water, satellite, science fiction, sea salt, sensor, ship trails, sky, sunlight, warming

Even though it sounds like science fiction, researchers are taking a second look at a controversial idea that uses futuristic ships to shoot salt water high into the sky over the oceans, creating clouds that reflect sunlight and thus counter global warming.

University of Washington atmospheric physicist Rob Wood describes a possible way to run an experiment to test the concept on a small scale in a comprehensive paper published this month in the journal Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society.

The point of the paper — which includes updates on the latest study into what kind of ship would be best to spray the salt water into the sky, how large the water droplets should be and the potential climatological impacts — is to encourage more scientists to consider the idea of marine cloud brightening and even poke holes in it. In the paper, he and a colleague detail an experiment to test the concept. (more…)

Global Extinction: Gradual Doom as Bad as Abrupt

By Guest PostFebruary 8, 2012Environment, Sciencebrooks ellwood, canadian arctic, carbon dioxide, charles henderson, coal deposit, dead zone, earth, ellesmere island, extinction, factor, fossil, geologic history, geology, global extinction, greenhouse, greenhouse gas, h richard lane, harry rowe, indian ocean, katherine freeman, marine life, mass extinction, national science foundation, ocean, permian period, permian triassic boundary, sedimentary rock, siberian traps, siberian volcanic activity, south china, steven bates, tethys, the great dying, thomas algeo, timothy lyons, united states, university of calgary, university of cincinnati, volcanic deposit, volcanic rock, volcanism in siberia, warming, west blind fiord

*In “The Great Dying” 250 million years ago, the end came slowly*

The deadliest mass extinction of all took a long time to kill 90 percent of Earth’s marine life–and it killed in stages–according to a newly published report.

It shows that mass extinctions need not be sudden events.

Thomas Algeo, a geologist at the University of Cincinnati, and 13 colleagues have produced a high-resolution look at the geology of a Permian-Triassic boundary section on Ellesmere Island in the Canadian Arctic. (more…)

Study Portends Greater Anticipated Global Warming

By Guest PostNovember 25, 2010Environmentaxel lauer, carbon dioxide, clouds, el niño, global climate models, global mean cloud, global warming, greenhouse gases, kevin hamilton, reflection, solar radiation, warmer climate, warming

Current state-of-the-art global climate models predict substantial warming in response to increases in greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide. The models, though, disagree widely in the magnitude of the warming we can expect. The disagreement among models is mainly due to the different representation of clouds. Some models predict that global mean cloud cover will increase in a warmer climate and the increased reflection of solar radiation will limit the predicted global warming. Other models predict reduced cloudiness and magnified warming. (more…)

Lower Part of Earth’s Atmosphere is Warming, Data Review Concludes

By Guest PostNovember 16, 2010Environmentatmosphere, climate models, earth, lower part, north carolina state university, troposphere, warming

The troposphere, the lower part of the atmosphere closest to the Earth, is warming in ways that are broadly consistent with both theoretical expectations and climate models, according to a new scientific study from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the NOAA-North Carolina State University Cooperative Institute for Climate and Satellites (CICS).

Since the development of the first climate models in the 1960s, the troposphere has been projected to warm along with the earth’s surface because of the increasing amounts of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. This expectation has not significantly changed even with major advances in climate models. (more…)

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