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Public Release: 2-Dec-2012
Record high for global carbon emissions Global CO2 emissions are set to rise again in 2012, reaching a record high of 35.6 billion tonnes -- according to the University of East Anglia. Contact: Lisa Horton Public Release: 1-Dec-2012
Long-term research reveals how climate change is playing out in real ecosystems Around the world, the effects of global climate change are increasingly evident and difficult to ignore. However, evaluations of the local effects of climate change are often confounded by natural and human induced factors that overshadow the effects of changes in climate on ecosystems. Now, a group of scientists writing in the journal BioScience report a number of surprising results that may shed more light on the complex nature of climate change. Contact: Lori Quillen Public Release: 30-Nov-2012
NASA's TRMM satellite video reveals 2012 hurricane season rainfall The 2012 Atlantic Hurricane season was a busy one as there were 19 tropical cyclones. A new NASA animation using data from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission satellite known as TRMM shows rainfall from tropical cyclones in the western Atlantic, as measured from space. Contact: Rob Gutro Public Release: 30-Nov-2012
NASA sees 'hot towers' in intensifying Typhoon Bopha Bopha intensified into a typhoon today, Nov. 30, as it continues to affect the islands in Micronesia in the western North Pacific Ocean. NASA's TRMM satellite captured rainfall data of Bopha and noticed "Hot Tower" thunderstorms as it was intensifying from a tropical storm into a typhoon. Contact: Rob Gutro Public Release: 30-Nov-2012
Geoscientists cite 'critical need' for basic research to unleash promising energy resources Developers of renewable energy and shale gas must overcome fundamental geological and environmental challenges if these promising energy sources are to reach their full potential, according to a trio of leading geoscientists. Their findings will be presented on Dec. 4, at 5:15 pm (PT), at the fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco in Room 102 of Moscone Center West. Contact: Mark Shwartz Public Release: 30-Nov-2012
Ancient microbes survive beneath the icy surface of Antarctic lake Researchers funded by the National Science Foundation describe in a new publication a viable community of bacteria that ekes out a living in a dark, salty and subfreezing environment beneath nearly 20 meters of ice in one of Antarctica's most isolated lakes. Contact: Peter West Public Release: 30-Nov-2012
UI researcher predicts more intense North Atlantic tropical storms Tropical storms that make their way into the North Atlantic, and possibly strike the East Coast of the United States, likely will become more intense during the rest of this century. That's the prediction of one University of Iowa researcher and his colleague as published in an early online release in the prestigious Journal of Climate, the official publication of the American Meteorological Society. Contact: Gary Galluzzo Public Release: 30-Nov-2012
Carbon dioxide could reduce crop yields High-yielding dwarf plant varieties lose their advantage due to increasing carbon dioxide concentration. Contact: Jos H. M. Schippers Public Release: 30-Nov-2012
Clearest evidence yet of polar ice losses After two decades of satellite observations, an international team of experts brought together by ESA and NASA has produced the most accurate assessment of ice losses from Antarctica and Greenland to date. This study finds that the combined rate of ice sheet melting is increasing. Contact: Robert Meisner Public Release: 29-Nov-2012
NASA sees Tropical Storm Bopha moving through Southern Yap state NASA's TRMM and Aqua satellites captured images of Tropical Storm Bopha as it continues to move through Micronesia in the western North Pacific Ocean and trigger warnings and watches throughout. Contact: Rob Gutro Public Release: 29-Nov-2012
A human-caused climate change signal emerges from the noise By comparing simulations from 20 different computer models to satellite observations, Lawrence Livermore climate scientists and colleagues from 16 other organizations have found that tropospheric and stratospheric temperature changes are clearly related to human activities. Contact: Anne Stark Public Release: 29-Nov-2012
New approach allows past data to be used to improve future climate projections Climate scientists are still grappling with one of the main questions of modern times: how high will global temperatures rise if the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide doubles. Many researchers are turning to the past because it holds clues to how nature reacted to climate change before the anthropogenic impact. The divergent results of this research, however, have made it difficult to make precise predictions about the impact of increased carbon dioxide on future warming. Contact: Kristina Baer Public Release: 29-Nov-2012
International study provides more solid measure of melting in polar ice sheets Climatologists have reconciled their measurements of ice loss in Antarctica and Greenland over the past two decades. A second article looks at how to monitor and understand accelerating losses from the planet's two largest continental ice sheets. Contact: Hannah Hickey Public Release: 29-Nov-2012
When good service means bad behavior Economists and professionals praise the merits of competition, as it leads to lower prices and improvements in quality. But in the automobile smog-testing industry, competition can lead to corruption and even public health problems. Contact: Amy Blumenthal Public Release: 29-Nov-2012
Integrating science and policy to address the impacts of air pollution An article in this week's Science magazine by Dr Stefan Reis of the NERC Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UK) and colleagues from six countries examines how science and policy address air pollution effects on human health and ecosystems, and climate change in Europe. Contact: Barnaby Smith Public Release: 29-Nov-2012
Clearest evidence yet of polar ice losses The Ice Sheet Mass Balance Inter-comparison Exercise has confirmed that both Antarctica and Greenland are losing ice. Contact: Esther Harward Public Release: 29-Nov-2012
Grand Canyon as old as the dinosaurs, suggests new study led by CU-Boulder An analysis of mineral grains from the bottom of the western Grand Canyon indicates it was largely carved out by about 70 million years ago -- a time when dinosaurs were around and may have even peeked over the rim, says a study led by the University of Colorado Boulder. Contact: Rebecca Flowers Public Release: 28-Nov-2012
Study IDs kerosene lamps as big source of black carbon Kerosene lamps, the primary source of light for more than a billion people in developing nations, churns out black carbon at levels previously overlooked in greenhouse gas estimates, according to a new study led by researchers at UC Berkeley and the University of Illinois. The new findings result in a twentyfold increase to previous estimates of black carbon emissions from kerosene-fueled lighting. The good news is that affordable, cleaner alternatives exist. Contact: Sarah Yang Public Release: 28-Nov-2012
Infrared NASA imagery sees Tropical Storm Bopha grow a tail Tropical Storm Bopha continues to intensify in the western North Pacific Ocean as it heads toward Yap State, triggering more warnings and watches. Infrared imagery from NASA's Aqua satellite captured over two days revealed that the storm had consolidated, intensified and developed a large band of strong thunderstorms south of the center, that resemble a tail. Contact: Rob Gutro Public Release: 28-Nov-2012
Geosphere builds momentum with 17 newly published studies and a new series Geosphere articles posted online Nov. 16, 2012, cover a variety of topics, such as the geophysics of the Hogri fault zone, 5 km offshore of the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant; using web-based GIS technologies and readily available global remote sensing datasets for investigations of arid land; the structure and evolution of the US Sierra Nevada; the ANDRILL McMurdo Ice Shelf and Southern McMurdo Sound Drilling Projects; and climate-tectonic interactions in the southern Alaskan orogen. Contact: Kea Giles Public Release: 28-Nov-2012
Women 16-49 at risk of multiple pollutants In a new analysis of thousands of US women of childbearing age, Brown University researchers found that most exceeded the median blood level for two or more of three environmental pollutants that could harm brain development of fetuses and babies: lead, mercury, and polychlorinated biphenyls. Contact: David Orenstein Public Release: 28-Nov-2012
New study shows how climate change could affect entire forest ecosystems The fog comes in, and a drop of water forms on a pine needle, rolls down the needle, and falls to the forest floor. The process is repeated over and over, on each pine needle of every tree in a forest of Bishop pines on Santa Cruz Island, off the coast of Santa Barbara. That fog drip helps the entire forest ecosystem stay alive. Contact: Gail Gallessich Public Release: 28-Nov-2012
USDA study shows trends in public and private agricultural R&D Analysis published by the US Department of Agriculture's Economic Research Service (ERS) in the most recent issue of the journal Science examine the relationship between public and private investments in research and development (R&D) and their importance in agricultural input industries. The Science article is drawn from a recent ERS study that provides new details on the rapid growth and changing composition of private investments in global agricultural R&D and traces the implications for agriculture. Contact: Mary Conley Public Release: 28-Nov-2012
Scientists develop new approach to support future climate projections Scientists have developed a new approach for evaluating past climate sensitivity data to help improve comparison with estimates of long-term climate projections developed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Contact: Glenn Harris Public Release: 28-Nov-2012
Skeletons in cave reveal Mediterranean secrets Skeletal remains in an island cave in Favignana, Italy, reveal that modern humans first settled in Sicily around the time of the last ice age and despite living on Mediterranean islands, ate little seafood. The research is published Nov. 28 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Marcello Mannino and colleagues from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Germany. Contact: Jyoti Madhusoodanan |