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Dusty Springs in Asia, Africa Can Increase Snow in Calif
Posted by Climate Central: Lauren Morello on February 28th, 2013
Climate Central: A dusty spring in Asia and Africa can increase snowfall thousands of miles away in California's Sierra Nevada mountains, according to a new study.
The process begins when winds stir up tiny particles of dust, pollution, bacteria and heavy metals from the Taklimakan and Gobi deserts in Asia and the Sahara in northern Africa.
In a matter of days, those particles -- known to scientists as aerosols -- travel halfway around the world, carried high above the Earth by the Jet Stream. When they run...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Dusty Springs in Asia, Africa Can Increase Snow in CalifNASA Probes Show ‘Alarming’ Water Loss in Middle East
Posted by Climate Central: Lauren Morello on February 19th, 2013
Climate Central: Parts of the Middle East are losing groundwater reserves at "an alarming rate,' according to a new analysis of NASA satellite data.
From the beginning of 2003 to the end of 2009, portions of Iran, Iraq, Turkey and Syria that lie within the Tigris and Euphrates river basins shed 117 million acre-feet of water. That's roughly equivalent to the volume of the Dead Sea.
About one-fifth of that water disappeared during a drought that began in 2007, which decreased snowpack that feeds the rivers and...
Thinning Ice Is Turning Arctic into an Algae Hotspot
Posted by Climate Central: Lauren Morello on February 14th, 2013
Climate Central: Shrinking, thinning Arctic sea ice appears to be accelerating the growth of algae in polar waters, a new study finds, a development that could alter the region's ability to absorb carbon from the atmosphere.
Scientists cruising central Arctic waters last summer aboard the research ship Polarstern were stunned to discover dense, shaggy deposits of the algae Melosira arctica clinging to the bottom of sea ice.
The green color of water in a melt pond atop Arctic sea ice hints at the riotous growth...
Climate Change Set to Batter U.S. Agriculture, Forests
Posted by Climate Central: Lauren Morello on February 7th, 2013
Climate Central: Climate change is likely to transform U.S. agriculture by mid-century, reducing yields of many staple crops and the productivity of livestock operations, according to a new government analysis.
Rising temperatures and shifting precipitation patterns will also harm the nation's forests, increasing their vulnerability to fires, insect infestations and disease.
Those are some of the dramatic projections outlined in a pair of analyses released Tuesday by the Agriculture Department. The documents,...
Study Downplays Risk of Catastrophic Amazon ‘Dieback’
Posted by Climate Central: Lauren Morello on February 6th, 2013
Climate Central: In a warming world, tropical forests may be hardier than previously thought.
For scientists who study the Amazon, the worst-case scenario has long been clear. As the planet warms, some models suggest, the rainforest will dry and die, sending a massive shot of carbon into the atmosphere to further warm the planet.
That risk now appears to be smaller than researchers feared, according to a study published Wednesday in Nature. It estimates that for every degree Celsius of warming, the Amazon and...