Hello from Cancun and COP 16! This afternoon the U.S. Center sponsored a talk titled "Tropical Cyclones and Climate Change". The speakers included Tom Knutson (NOAA), Scott Braun (NASA) and William Putman (NASA). The discussion focused on improving our understanding of how future tropical cyclones may change due to global warming. Dr. Knutson presented the …
Category: Science
The future of oil and the wedge of hope
Most greenhouse gases that people emit come from fossil fuels, so understanding how much fossil fuels we're likely to burn in the coming decades is a crucial climate issue. I've been learning a lot about "peak oil" and related ideas lately, and have been having some heretical thoughts—or at least they feel heretical to me, …
"CO2: The Thermostat that Controls Earth’s Temperature"
As a non-climate scientist, I found Dr. Richard Alley's 2009 AGU presentation, "The Biggest Control Knob: Carbon Dioxide in Earth's Climate History," to be particularly educational. NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies just published a modeling study that further substantiates Dr. Alley's argument that carbon dioxide acts as Earth's thermostat because of the dynamic …
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Redrawing rivers to reduce water insecurity?
I've seen some stunning headlines recently.. "Water map shows billions at risk of 'water insecurity'", "China moving heaven and Earth to bring water to Beijing", "Huge parts of world drying up due to land evapotranspiration" Most scientists agree that the climate change is already underway -- irrespective of who's to blame and how much we …
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TX & VA v. EPA GHG Endangerment Finding
Here's the latest example of why communicating climate science is so important. From a petition filed by Texas asking the EPA to reconsider its Endangerment Finding that "the current and projected concentrations of the six key well-mixed greenhouse gases--carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs), and sulfur hexafluoride (SF6)--in the …
Reflections on Copenhagen
As COP15 comes to a close without a clear path forward forward from Kyoto, it is difficult not to become dismayed at the growing gulf between the urgency of climate science and the pace of international negotiations. While it provides little solace, there is little doubt that the economic calamities of the past two years …
New climate books. And some solutions.
I'm in a Bellona Foundation session with the authors of three new climate books Science as a Contact Sport: Inside the Battle to Save Earth's Climate, by Stephen Schneider, my friend and former Stanford colleague, about his decades of work to move climate change onto the political agenda and keep it there, against skeptics and …
IPCC press briefing
I managed to get into the press briefing. RK Pachauri, the IPCC chair, led off, pointing out that the IPCC has 21 years of experience now and its process has stood the test of time. IPCC reports peer reviewed twice, and chapter authors are required to respond to all comments, and to justify their responses. …
Group on Earth Observations plans carbon monitoring system at 1 km resolution
I am sitting in a presentation from the Group on Earth Observations. The presenter has just described a carbon cycle monitoring system that would reach a 1 km resolution by 2025 — which would allow direct detection of violations of an eventual carbon treaty. I find this a bit difficult to imagine, but I'm willing …
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