Ants take on Goliath role in protecting trees in the savanna from elephants
Ants are not out of their weight class when defending trees from the appetite of nature's heavyweight, the African elephant, a new study finds. Columns of angered ants will crawl up into elephant trunks to repel the ravenous beasts from devouring tree cover throughout drought-plagued East African savannas, playing a potentially important role in regulating carbon sequestration in these ecosystems.
Giant Greenland iceberg -- largest in the northern hemisphere -- enters Nares Strait
The European Space Agency's Envisat satellite has been tracking the progression of the giant iceberg that calved from Greenland's Petermann glacier on 4 August 2010. A new animation shows that the iceberg, the largest in the northern hemisphere, is now entering Nares Strait -- a stretch of water that connects the Lincoln Sea and Arctic Ocean with Baffin Bay.
Most new farmland comes from cutting tropical forest, research shows
A new study shows that more than 80 percent of the new farmland created in the tropics between 1980 and 2000 came from felling forests, which sends carbon into the atmosphere and drives global warming. But the research team also noted that big agribusiness has largely replaced small farmers in doing most of the tree cutting in Brazil and Indonesia, which may make it easier to rein in the trend.
Climate change implicated in decline of horseshoe crabs
A distinct decline in horseshoe crab numbers has occurred that parallels climate change associated with the end of the last Ice Age, according to a study that used genomics to assess historical trends in population sizes.
Extensive relict coral reef found in southern Pacific
Coral reefs are sensitive to climate change and track sea level. New observations show that an extensive coral reef existed in the southern Pacific Ocean thousands of years ago. Researchers used multi-beam sonar, coring, and dating to examine a relict reef discovered in water about 20-25 meters (65-82 feet) deep around Lord Howe Island in the southern Pacific Ocean.
Marine animals suggest evidence for a trans-Antarctic seaway
A tiny marine filter-feeder that anchors itself to the sea bed offers new clues to scientists studying the stability of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet -- a region that is thought to be vulnerable to collapse. Scientists analyzed sea-bed colonies of bryozoans from coastal and deep sea regions around the continent and from further afield. They found striking similarities in particular species of bryozoans living on the continental shelves of two seas -- the Ross and Weddell -- that are around 1,500 miles apart and separated by the West Antarctic Ice Sheet.
Carnivore species shrank during global warming event
A new study indicates extinct carnivorous mammals shrank in size during a global warming event that occurred 55 million years ago. The study describes a new species that evolved to half the size of its ancestors during this period of global warming.
Acidifying oceans spell bleak marine biological future 'by end of century', Mediterranean research finds
A unique 'natural laboratory' in the Mediterranean Sea is revealing the effects of rising carbon dioxide levels on life in the oceans. The results show a bleak future for marine life as ocean acidity rises, and suggest that similar lowering of ocean pH levels may have been responsible for massive extinctions in the past.
Impact hypothesis loses its sparkle: Shock-synthesized diamonds said to prove catastrophic impact killed off N. American megafauna can't be found
The warming that following the last Ice Age was interrupted by a cold snap that killed off megafauna such as the giant ground sloth and the woolly mammoth. Could this crisis have been caused by an asteroid impact or a comet breaking up in the atmosphere? Unfortunately the geological evidence for such a dramatic event has not stood up to scrutiny. In a new study, a group of scientists challenges the catastrophists last, best hope: shock-synthesized nanodiamonds.
Using underground clues to determine past atmospheric heat
Before a global climate model can be used by scientists to predict future climate patterns, it must first successfully predict the climate of the past as known by historical records or as inferred by proxy data (for example, oxygen isotopes in ice cores and tree ring records). Because historical records are spatially and temporally scarce, many climate models rely on proxy data, which by definition introduce large amounts of error into model calibrations. Reducing these errors is of high importance to climate scientists.
Given the impact of climatic extremes on agriculture and health in Spain, researchers have analyzed the two factors most representative of these thermal extremes between 1950 and 2006 - warm days and cold nights. The results for mainland Spain show an increase in the number of warm days greater than that for the rest of the planet and a reduction in the number of cold nights.
Forest fire smoke in the stratosphere: New insights into pyrocumulonimbus clouds
Meteorologists are now discovering that changes in the frequency of occurrence and intensity of wildfires has substantial consequences for a variety of important problems including atmospheric changes. Superimposed on this important topic is a relatively new discovery: forest fire smoke in the stratosphere, an area of the atmosphere that begins nearly 38 thousand feet above the Earth's surface. As a result, a poorly understood aspect of wildfire behavior -- pyrocumulonimbus firestorm dynamics and atmospheric impact -- is becoming the focus of increasing attention.
The fear that global temperature can change very quickly and cause dramatic climate changes is great around the world. But what causes climate change and is it possible to predict future climate change? New research shows that it may be due to an accumulation of different chaotic influences and as a result would be difficult to predict.
El Niños are growing stronger, NASA/NOAA study finds
A relatively new type of El Niño, which has its warmest waters in the central-equatorial Pacific Ocean, rather than in the eastern-equatorial Pacific, is becoming more common and progressively stronger, according to a new study by NASA and NOAA. The research may improve our understanding of the relationship between El Niños and climate change, and has potentially significant implications for long-term weather forecasting.
Metop-A, Europe's first polar-orbiting satellite dedicated to operational meteorology, will complete its 20,000th orbit of the Earth on 27 August. It will deliver its data to the EUMETSAT Polar System ground station on Svalbard around lunchtime.
'Dry water' could make a big splash commercially, help fight global warming
An unusual substance known as "dry water," which resembles powdered sugar, could provide a new way to absorb and store carbon dioxide, the major greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming, scientists report.
A 'great fizz' of carbon dioxide was produced at the end of the last ice age
Imagine loosening the screw-top of a soda bottle and hearing the carbon dioxide begin to escape. Then imagine taking the cap off quickly, and seeing the beverage foam and fizz out of the bottle. Then, imagine the pressure equalizing and the beverage being ready to drink. Marine scientists say that something similar happened over a 1,000 year period after the end of the last ice age.
Al Werner is feeling the heat this summer. Typically, that wouldn't be a problem to alleviate; a jump in the pool or a visit to the movie theater would cool things down. But there weren't pools or movie theaters in the Norwegian Arctic, where Werner just finished conducting research. There were, however, glaciers -- and, as the geology found, they're melting. Quickly.
How giant tortoises, alligators thrived in High Arctic 50 million years ago
A new study of the High Arctic climate roughly 50 million years ago helps to explain how ancient alligators and giant tortoises were able to thrive on Ellesmere Island well above the Arctic Circle, even as they endured six months of darkness each year.
Captain’s log from the Chukchi Sea: “The water temperature is 7.5 degrees. If we weren’t sailing, it would be a great temperature for a swim!”
Expedition Report:
From our position in the middle of the Chukchi Sea, the sea between the Russian autonomous area of Chukotka and Alaska, the 49th state of the USA, we can look back on a voyage through the Northeast Passage – or the Northern Sea Route, as they say [...]
Energy and Global Warming News for September 3rd: Amazon at lowest levels in 40 years; Water footprint calculator; 3,000 MW offshore wind for France by 2015
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The drop has been caused by a lack of rain and high temperatures.
Amazon at lowest level for 40 years
Officials in the Peruvian city of Iquitos said the river level had fallen to 14.4ft, a point not seen in more than four decades, and was predicted to drop further.
Low levels have brought economic havoc in areas [...]
California’s Prop 23 is bad news for Latino families
The upcoming November election contains a ballot initiative that will threaten all Californians’ health and safety. But the Latino community will suffer disproportionate harm, as CAP’s Jorge Madrid explains.
Proposition 23 will undo California’s Global Warming Solutions Act, also known as Assembly Bill 32, or “A.B. 32,” which has catalyzed billions [...]
Mariner Energy cited for two violations in past six months, totaling $55,000
I know that you are shocked, shocked to learn the owner of the offshore oil and gas platform that exploded yesterday in the Gulf of Mexico had two violations just this year from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s Outer Continental Shelf Civil/Criminal Penalties Program. This not terribly surprising story is brought [...]
Apologies for the loss of service overnight. The primary storage system at our Virginia datacenter failed. CAP’s IT folks worked all night with our storage provider, so kudos to them. Steps will be taken to prevent this from happening again. Thanks for your patience!
Scientists: The Marine Stewardship Council “is failing to protect the environment and needs radical reform” - Are MSC-certified 'sustainable fisheries' in fact unsustainable?
Small fisheries that use highly selective, low-impact techniques, such as hook-and-line fishing or hand picking, are often sustainable, but make up only a tiny fraction of MSC-certified fisheries.
As part of ClimateProgress’s effort to focus attention on the grave threat to ocean life, today’s guest blogger is marine-biologist-turned-filmmaker, Randy Olson.
Fisheries economist Jennifer Jacquet and [...]
Politico on CA Senate debate: “Fiorina’s major stumble came on the issue of Proposition 23.”
Poor Carly Fiorina. To make conservative ideologues happy, she has to abandon science and her previous positions on the key issues of global warming and clean energy (see “The dumbing down of Carly Fiorina” and links below).
But to win election statewide, she has to appeal to the majority of California voters, who understand that clean [...]
Media Matters: Right-wing media shamefully try to pin Discovery Channel bomber’s actions on Gore - CEI's Chris Horner joins the group shark jump
This bizarre tragedy has exposed the shockingly extreme views of some of the anti-science ideologues, as I discussed yesterday.
Media Matters has a must-read post on the latest example of Gore Derangement Syndrome. Right-wingers from Fox News to Drudge to WattsUpWithThat have tried to pin this crazy guy’s actions on the Nobel Prize-winning former vice president.
Typical [...]
One day before its Gulf oil rig exploded, Mariner Energy said Obama “is trying to break us” with moratorium
UPDATE: Now the Coast Guard says they were wrong, the rig explosion did not cause a spill.
No, it’s not even close to BP redux, but the story is noteworthy — and not just for its irony, as TP makes clear:
The U.S. Coast Guard said this morning that a natural gas and oil drilling platform exploded [...]
Energy and Global Warming News for September 2nd: Banks Grow Wary of Environmental Risks; Japan endures hottest summer on record; Doing more while using less energy
Banks Grow Wary of Environmental Risks
Blasting off mountaintops to reach coal in Appalachia or churning out millions of tons of carbon dioxide to extract oil from sand in Alberta are among environmentalists’ biggest industrial irritants. But they are also legal and lucrative.
For a growing number of banks, however, that does not seem to matter.
After years [...]
Ten Nations at 'Extreme Risk' Because of Water Shortages, Report Says
Ten countries worldwide, including five African nations, are at 'extreme risk' because of limited access to clean, fresh water, according to a new global water security index. And the effects of climate change and population growth will exacerbate the stress on these water supplies, potentially threatening stability in many regions, according to the analysis by Maplecroft , a UK- based consulting group. Among the nations most at risk are Somalia, Mauritania, Sudan, Niger, and Iraq. Other nations at extreme risk - including Pakistan, Egypt, and Uzbekistan - are already facing internal and border tensions because of limited water supplies. Click to enlarge. Maplecroft. Global water security index 'There is a risk of water stress exacerbating future risks of conflict, although there is evidence that water scarcity may also help foster cooperation instead,' said Anna Moss, a Maplecroft environmental analyst.
UK Guardian slams Morano for cyber-bullying and for urging violence against climate scientists
I have previously written about The rise of anti- science cyber bullying and the role played by Swift Boat smearer Marc Morano - who believes climate scientists should be publicly beaten.
The UK Guardian has posted an outstanding piece slamming Morano''s 'warped world vision' and the 'award' he just won:
But that this award was announced within hours of Morano posting on his Climate Depot website the email addresses of a climate scientist next to a link to my story from last Monday about the said climate scientist, Stanford University''s Professor Stephen Schneider, receiving death threats and hate mail should cause you to throw down that coffee in disgust.
I would like to close with an observation that I gained from watching World Cup soccer over the past few weeks. In particular, I was struck by the recurring juxtaposition of two advertising billboards in the background of the soccer pitch, one in red by an American company- Mc. Donald' s, the other in blue by a Chinese company- Yingli Solar. I thought to myself, this is the World Cup, the world''s biggest sporting stage, and China is proudly showcasing the future of its economy with a solar technology company. What is the U. S. best able to showcase?
Hamburgers.
I believe this image speaks volumes about the state of play not only in the global clean energy race, but also in the global competitiveness landscape.
Climate scientists: 'The urgent need to act cannot be overstated.' - "Climate change caused by humans is already affecting our lives and livelihoods - with extreme storms, unusual floods and droughts, intense heat waves, rising seas and many changes in biological systems - as climate scientists have projected."
Today, a large body of evidence has been collected to support the broad scientific understanding that global climate warming, as evident these last few decades, is unprecedented for the past 1000 years - and this change is due to human activities. This conclusion is based on decades of rigorous research by thousands of scientists and endorsed by all of the world''s major national science academies .
Although uncertainties remain, they concern issues like the rate of melting of major ice sheets rather than the broader topic of whether the climate is changing.
This is from an article in the Politico, 'The science behind climate science,' by four leading climate scientists ...
IPCC Fumbles Media Relations Strategy, Must Review Basic Principles of Public Relations
Andy Revkin''s revelations over the weekend about the botched media relations strategy deployed by the head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Rajendra Pachauri, demonstrate that the IPCC has failed to learn from its recent missteps in managing public communications. If you don' t have anything to hide, don' t act as if you do. Being thrust into the media spotlight and subjected to sudden intense scrutiny can rattle any organization, and the IPCC is hardly the first institution to be accused of resorting to a "bunker mentality" and evading media inquiries. But, as Revkin points out correctly, sheltering yourself from the press is bound to backfire, creating more skepticism about your activities when you should really focus on explaining your work more clearly and operating with greater transparency.
American Petroleum Institute's Revisionist History on Climate Change Position
API Energy Taxes. png
The American Petroleum Institute, the trade group for the oil and natural gas industry, is trying to re- write history by claiming that it has remained "neutral" about U. S. climate legislation. Nothing could be further from the truth, actually. API orchestrated the entire "Energy Citizens" astroturf campaign last year precisely to fight against climate legislation. Greenpeace USA obtained an internal memo[ PDF] from the desk of API president Jack Gerard detailing polluting interests' plans to launch the nationwide astroturf campaign attacking climate legislation as "tax increases on our industry." The API memo requested API''s member companies to recruit employees, retirees, vendors and contractors to attend the "Energy Citizen" rallies in key Congressional districts nationwide during the August recess last year, no doubt hoping to be confused with a genuine grassroots uprising, much like the tea parties.
Biomass Britain: do fields of energy crops spell an end to grazing livestock?
A new vision to replace our grazing land with energy crops will help reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but many are unwilling to embrace its suggestions for our future diet and countryside
'Uneven' sea level rises threaten Indian Ocean coastal regions
Global warming is adversely affecting certain countries around the Indian Ocean with higher than average sea level rises, according to analysis published in Nature Geoscience
In Merchants of Doubt, Naomi Oreskes and Erik Conway take us on a fascinating trip down what they call Tobacco Road. Take the journey with them, and you' ll see renowned scientists abandon science, you' ll see environmentalism equated with communism, and you' ll discover the connection between the Cold War and climate denial.
read more
CARTI SUGDUB, Panama (Reuters) - Rising seas from global warming, coming after years of coral reef destruction, are forcing thousands of indigenous Panamanians to leave their ancestral homes on low- lying Caribbean islands.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Senate''s two biggest backers of climate change legislation have scaled back ambitions for a broad attack on greenhouse gases with a new draft bill focusing on cutting pollution from electric power utilities.
RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - A powerful storm destroyed about half a billion trees in the Amazon in 2005, according to a study on Tuesday that shows how the world''s forests may be vulnerable to more violent weather caused by climate change.
SINGAPORE (Reuters) - As Chinese policymakers grapple with an expected increase in extreme weather due to global warming, a study has found that periods of cooling between AD 10 to 1900 also caused a wave of disasters, war and upheaval.
World's mangroves retreating at alarming rate: study
ABIDJAN (Reuters) - The world''s mangroves are being destroyed up to four times faster than other forests, costing millions of dollars in losses in areas such as fisheries and storm protection, a report said Wednesday.
EU agrees on carbon permit auction rules from 2013
LONDON (Reuters) - European Union governments on Wednesday unanimously agreed detailed rules for auctioning carbon permits in the third phase of the bloc''s Emissions Trading Scheme from 2013, the EU executive said in a statement.
HONG KONG (Reuters) - Chemists in South Korea and the United States have improved the design of a type of artificial crystal, doubling the amount of carbon- dioxide they can absorb and store.
Renewable Power Investments Outstrip Fossil Fuels in Europe and U.S.
The U. S. and Europe added more power capacity in 2009 from renewable sources than from conventional sources such as coal and oil, and this year or next the world as a whole will add more capacity to the electricity supply from alternative energy sources than from fossil fuels, according to two new reports. The reports, issued by the United Nations Environmental Program and the Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21st Century, said that in 2009 renewables made up 60 percent of newly installed power capacity in Europe and more than 50 percent in the U. S. Although global investment in green energy decreased in 2009, to $162 billion, some countries, such as China, saw rapid growth ...
If Republican leaders were serious -- and gutsy -- about using the Gulf oil spill as an opportunity to put the nation on a sane energy course, they'd pull out a little-noticed bill sponsored by Arizona's Jeff Flake and South Carolina's Bob Inglis and plop it atop their 2010 campaign book.
Australian prime minister lays out climate-change plan
Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard on Friday embraced the same policy on climate change that her predecessor failed to pass, but said in a campaign speech that any action would be delayed until at least 2012.
'Climategate' review clears scientists of dishonesty
An independent report released Wednesday into the leaked "Climategate" e-mails found no evidence to question the "rigor and honesty" of scientists involved.
The controversy known as "climategate" erupted in November 2009 with the publication of more than 1,000 e-mails to and from scientists at the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) of the University of East Anglia in eastern England.
A key Republican senator, instrumental in climate change negotiations in the Senate, has indicated that getting a bill passed this year with bipartisan support is a priority.
Senate debates stripping EPA of authority to regulate greenhouse gases
The U.S. Senate engaged in a heated debate Thursday on an issue at the heart of the fight over energy reform: whether the Environmental Protection Agency should have the authority to impose clear limits on the emission of greenhouse gases.
Scientists reviewing the acclaimed but beleaguered international climate change panel recommended on Monday major changes in the way it is run, but stopped short of calling for the ouster of the current leader.
One of the most destructive and swift coral bleaching events ever recorded is under way in the waters off Indonesia, where water temperatures have climbed into the low 90s.
US says it's committed to cutting greenhouse gases
The United States assured international negotiators Monday it remains committed to reducing carbon emissions over the next 10 years, despite the collapse of efforts to legislate a climate bill.
Longer summers are causing marmots -- which are large, ground-dwelling squirrels -- to become heftier, heartier and more plentiful, according to a 33-year study published in the latest issue of Nature.
Advances in conventional agriculture have dramatically slowed the flow of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, in part by allowing farmers to grow more food to meet world demand without plowing up vast tracts of land, a study by three Stanford University researchers has found.
Report: Decade warmest on record, indicators gloomy
Not only was the past decade the warmest on record, but climate indicators being tracked globally are worsening, scientists reported Wednesday in their annual "State of the Climate."
Despite their tiny size, plant plankton found in the world's oceans are crucial to much of life on Earth. They are the foundation of the bountiful marine food web, produce half the world's oxygen and suck up harmful carbon dioxide.
Senate Democrats are giving up on plans to pass an energy bill that caps emissions of carbon dioxide, saying Republicans refuse to support the measure.
Stephen Schneider, a Stanford University scientist who served on the international research panel on global warming that shared the 2007 Nobel Prize with former Vice President Al Gore, has died. He was 65.
Ancient hunters who stalked the world's last woolly mammoths likely helped warm the Earth's far northern latitudes thousands of years before humans began burning fossil fuels, according to a study of prehistoric climate change.
Researchers using several satellites to monitor Greenland's most active glaciers caught the north limb of the mother-of-all-Greenland glaciers, Jakonbshavn, retreating a mile in a night.
After skiing to the North and South Poles, Eric Larsen now faces an encounter with Mount Everest beginning in late August. It's all part of his plot to alert people to climate change.
Congressional budget experts say a climate and energy bill now stalled in the Senate would reduce the federal deficit by about $19 billion over the next decade, a key selling point for advocates who are struggling to move the bill through a divided Congress.
An investigation into a British climate research center cleared its scientists of serious wrongdoing, but criticized their lack of openness and said some data was misleading.
Lonnie Thompson spent years preparing for his expedition to the remote, mist-shrouded mountains of eastern Indonesia, hoping to chronicle the affect of global warming on the last remaining glacier in the Pacific. He's worried he got there too late.
The U.N. science body on climate change, accused of ignoring its critics and allowing glaring errors to creep into its work, announced that a broader range of experts will write its next report.
The Marxist philosopher says environmentalism is a new opiate of the people, Bill Gates has privatised part of our intellect, and reality is incomplete
