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Australia dithers as another heatwave strikes
Posted by New Scientist: Michael Slezak on January 15th, 2014
New Scientist: Australia is trying to cut deaths from heat stress by educating the public about the risks, says Liz Hanna of the Australian National University in Canberra. But this isn't enough. "With a warming planet, no longer are these rare events," says Hanna. "So it is time that Australia got serious about heat and how we are going to manage these events."
In an as-yet-unpublished study, Hanna and her colleagues found that older suburbs in Canberra with more trees were up to 7 °C cooler than newer, less...
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Could China combat smog with artificial rain?
Posted by New Scientist: Michael Slezak on December 5th, 2013
New Scientist: China plans to open the heavens to bring back its blue skies.
According to local news reports, a document released by the China Meteorological Administration says that from 2015, local weather authorities will be allowed to use cloud seeding to create rain and clear the country's notorious smog. It's part of the government's plan to invest 1.7 trillion yuan ($277 billion) in tackling air pollution. But will it work?
Programmes to generate artificial rain have been running since the 1950s. In...
Australian inferno previews fire-prone future
Posted by New Scientist: Michael Slezak on January 18th, 2013
New Scientist: CLIMATE change is ramping up fire risk around the world. In Australia, home to some of the most fire-prone regions on Earth, the bush fires raging now could be a taster of what's to come.
Parts of the world where the fire risk is rising can learn from Australia's experience, says John Handmer, director of the Centre for Risk and Community at RMIT University in Melbourne. A good place to start would be "uninhabitable zones" - places where the fire risk is so high no homes should be built.
Such...
Arctic permafrost is melting faster than predicted
Posted by New Scientist: Michael Slezak on November 28th, 2012
New Scientist: We may be closer to a major climate tipping point than we knew. Earth's permafrost – frozen soil that covers nearly a quarter of the northern hemisphere and traps vast amounts of carbon – may be melting faster than thought and releasing more potent greenhouse gasses. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) released a report yesterday reviewing the most up-to-date research on Arctic permafrost. It claims temperature projections due in 2014 from the International Panel on Climate Change are...