Global Warming

Did Icebergs Warm the World?

Greg Schnippel — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 21:41:08 -0800

New research indicates that freshwater from melting icebergs may have led to the collapse of the North Atlantic Current and caused previous periods of abrupt global warming.

Current Warming Sharpest Climate Change in 5,000 Years

Greg Schnippel — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 20:45:48 -0800

Research on Arctic and North Atlantic ecosystems shows the recent warming trend counts as the most dramatic climate change since the onset of human civilization 5,000 years ago.

Geoengineering: How to Cool Earth--At a Price

Greg Schnippel — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 09:28:44 -0700

When David W. Keith, a physicist and energy expert at the University of Calgary in Alberta, gives lectures these days on geoengineering, he likes to point out how old the idea is. People have been talking about deliberately altering climate to counter global warming, he says, for as long as they have been worrying about global warming itself. As early as 1965, when Al Gore was a freshman in college, a panel of distinguished environmental scientists warned President Lyndon B.

Driving Mr. Lynx -- Assisted Migration to help Species Survive Climate Change

Greg Schnippel — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 15:41:49 -0700

A growing number of ecologists worry that conservation-as-usual won't be able to keep up with the predicted pace of climate change. To some of them, assisted migration, or helping plant and animal species make the move to a more survivable climate, is a more proactive tool for preserving nature's richness, and possibly the only hope for saving certain species.

The Methane Time Bomb

Greg Schnippel — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 22:05:03 -0700

The first evidence that millions of tons of a greenhouse gas 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide is being released into the atmosphere from beneath the Arctic seabed has been discovered by scientists.
The Independent has been passed details of preliminary findings suggesting that massive deposits of sub-sea methane are bubbling to the surface as the Arctic region becomes warmer and its ice retreats.

Abrupt Climate Change Focus Of U.S. National Laboratories

Greg Schnippel — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 11:47:59 -0700

Abrupt climate change is a potential menace that hasn’t received much attention. That’s about to change. Through its Climate Change Prediction Program, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Biological and Environmental Research (OBER) recently launched IMPACTS – Investigation of the Magnitudes and Probabilities of Abrupt Climate Transitions – a program led by William Collins of Berkeley Lab’s Earth Sciences Division (ESD) that brings together six national laboratories to attack the problem of abrupt climate change, or ACC
See also:
Matter & Energy
* Nature of Water

White Roofs, Streets could Curb Global Warming

Greg Schnippel — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 08:40:01 -0700

If the 100 largest cities in the world replaced their dark roofs with white shingles and their asphalt-based roads with concrete or other light-colored material, it could offset 44 metric gigatons (billion tons) of greenhouse gases, the study shows. That amounts to more greenhouse gas than the entire human population emits in one year, according to a recent article in the Los Angeles Times. The strategy could also offset the growth in carbon dioxide emissions, which account for about 75% of greenhouse gases, for the next 10 years.

Cloud-Seeding Ships could Combat Climate Change

Greg Schnippel — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 11:45:25 -0700

It should be possible to counteract the global warming associated with a doubling of carbon dioxide levels by enhancing the reflectivity of low-lying clouds above the oceans, according to researchers in the US and UK. John Latham of the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, US, and colleagues say that this can be done using a worldwide fleet of autonomous ships spraying salt water into the air.

Climate Change Likely to Trigger Global Destabilization

Greg Schnippel — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 19:35:02 -0700

Large methane release could cause abrupt climate change

Greg Schnippel — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 19:35:01 -0700