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Scientists nearly double sea level rise projections for 2100, because of Antarctica
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 31st, 2016
Washington Post: Sea levels could rise nearly twice as much as previously predicted by the end of this century if carbon dioxide emissions continue unabated, an outcome that could devastate coastal communities around the globe, according to new research published Wednesday.
The main reason? Antarctica.
Scientists behind a new study published in the journal Nature used sophisticated computer models to decipher a longstanding riddle about how the massive, mostly uninhabited continent surrendered so much ice during...
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Antarctic model raises prospect of unstoppable ice collapse
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 31st, 2016
Nature: Recent studies suggest that the Antarctic ice sheet is much less stable than scientists once thought.
Choices that the world makes this century could determine the fate of the massive Antarctic ice sheet. A study published online this week in Nature1 finds that continued growth in greenhouse-gas emissions over the next several decades could trigger an unstoppable collapse of Antarctica’s ice -- raising sea levels by more than a metre by 2100 and more than 15 metres by 2500.
“That is literally...
Study: Antarctic ice may melt faster than expected
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 31st, 2016
Associated Press: Warmer air, less frigid water and gravity may combine to make parts of Antarctica's western ice sheet melt far faster than scientists had thought, raising sea levels much more than expected by the end of the century, according to a new study.
New physics-based computer simulations forecast dramatic increases in melting in the vulnerable western edge of the continent. In a worst case scenario, that could raise sea level in 2100 by 18 to 34 inches (46 to 86 centimeters) more than an international...
British health systems ‘unprepared for devastating effects of climate change’
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 30th, 2016
Guardian: British health systems are unprepared for the “devastating” effects of climate change, leading health bodies have warned.
As extreme weather events such as flooding or heatwaves become more common, the UK Health Alliance on Climate Change urged ministers not to “wait for disaster” before acting.
The new alliance, made up of leading health bodies including royal colleges, medical faculties, medical publications and doctors’ organisations, called on the government to be “properly prepared”. ...
$1tn could be wasted on ‘unneeded’ new coal plants, report warns
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 30th, 2016
Guardian: Almost $1tn of investment in new coal-fired power stations could be wasted if growing concerns about climate change and air pollution leave the plants unused, according to a new report.
About 1,500 new coal plants are in construction or planning stages around the world but electricity generation from the fossil fuel has fallen in recent years, the detailed report from the Sierra Club, Greenpeace and CoalSwarm found. In China, existing plants are now used just 50% of the time, coal use is falling...
Could Pacific waters give early warning of East Coast heat waves?
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 29th, 2016
Christian Science Monitor: For much of the United States east of the Rocky Mountains, the summer of 2012 brought a heat wave that smashed temperature records, triggered extensive crop failures, and helped fuel a powerful line of thunderstorms known as a derecho, which moved eastward out of Indiana to leave nearly 4 million customers without power as it eventually swept through the mid-Atlantic states. The heat wave and derecho accounted for more than 100 deaths.
Inspired by that summer's events, a team of researchers says...
Arctic sea ice reaches new record low mark for wintertime
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 29th, 2016
Telegraph: Arctic sea ice hit a record low level for the second straight year this month amid high winter temperatures over the Arctic Ocean, according to scientists.
The National Snow and Ice Data Centre says ice covered a maximum of 5.607 million square miles of the Arctic Ocean in 2016. That's 5,000 square miles less than the old record set in 2015 - a difference slightly smaller than the state of Connecticut.
It's also 431,000 square miles less than the 30-year average. That difference is the size...
Desert mangroves are major source of carbon storage, study shows
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 29th, 2016
ScienceDaily: Researchers found that short, stunted mangroves living along the coastal desert of Baja California store up to five times more carbon below ground than their lush, tropical counterparts. The new study led by researchers at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego estimates that coastal desert mangroves, which only account for one percent of the land area, store nearly 30 percent of the region's belowground carbon.
"Mangroves represent a thin layer between ocean and land, and yet we...
2016 Arctic sea ice wintertime extent hits another record low
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 29th, 2016
ScienceDaily: Arctic sea ice appears to have reached a record low wintertime maximum extent for the second year in a row, according to scientists at the NASA-supported National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) and NASA.
Every year, the cap of frozen seawater floating on top of the Arctic Ocean and its neighboring seas melts during the spring and summer and grows back in the fall and winter months, reaching its maximum yearly extent between February and April. On March 24, Arctic sea ice extent peaked at 5.607...
Impacts of salinity determined for agave
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 28th, 2016
ScienceDaily: As groundwater levels decline, identifying plants that can thrive in low water conditions is increasingly important. A new study focused on Agave, a species that has the ability to be highly water-use efficient in hot, drought-prone environments. The authors said that Agave, traditionally used as a source of food, beverages, and fiber, has the potential to be cultivated more widely to produce alternative sweeteners, bioenergy, and for other end uses. They said that determining how Agave species respond...