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New methodology for adapting Mediterranean basins to the demands of climate change
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 24th, 2016
PhysOrg: The paper, published in Global Environmental Change, is the result of a research project designed to establish selection criteria when choosing what climate change actions to take, based on economic and environmental principles.
Evaluating all options before embarking on expensive projects
By means of an optimisation model, the system selects the best combination of actions based on the nature of the basin, demand planning forecasts, economic factors and different plausible climate change scenarios....
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Study of Saharan dust offers insights into past and possible impact on future climate change
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 24th, 2016
PhysOrg: A small team of researchers from the U.S. and France has found evidence of cycles of Saharan dust movement into the atmosphere in the past and has used the information they gathered to predict dust level changes heading into the future. In their paper published in the journal Nature, the team describes the nature of their study and why they believe changes in the Sahara could mean more potent Atlantic storms in the future.
Wind pulling dust into the atmosphere from the Saharan desert has more...
Study Finds Climate Change Could Be Leading To Better Wine
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 23rd, 2016
National Public Radio: A new study in the journal Nature Climate Change finds weather plays a role in determining the quality of wine produced.
Microbes Are Likely Speeding Up the Melting of the Glaciers
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 23rd, 2016
Yale Environment 360: As if soaring global temperatures weren’t bad enough, scientists reported this week that microbes are also speeding up the melting of Arctic ice. The problem lies in cryoconite, the soil-like composite of dust, industrial soot and photosynthetic bacteria that darkens the surface of ice and causes it to melt, scientists from Aberystwyth University in Wales said. As it melts, ice leaves behind small water-filled holes full of bacteria. The sun-loving microbes then shape the pockmarks’ depth and size...
Could fungi help pine forests withstand climate change?
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 23rd, 2016
PhysOrg: Arthur Conan Doyle's famous literary detective Sherlock Holmes once noted that "the little things are infinitely the most important." It's a belief that investigators at the University of Alberta obviously share. Whether they're seeking to understand the tiniest forms of life, taking small steps toward major breakthroughs or influencing students in subtle but profound ways, U of A researchers and educators are proving that little things can make a big impact. The lodgepole pine is one of the most...
Human carbon release rate is unprecedented in the past 66 million years of Earth’s history
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 21st, 2016
ScienceDaily: The earliest instrumental records of Earth's climate, as measured by thermometers and other tools, start in the 1850s. To look further back in time, scientists investigate air bubbles trapped in ice cores, which expands the window to less than a million years. But to study Earth's history over tens to hundreds of millions of years, researchers examine the chemical and biological signatures of deep sea sediment archives.
New research published today in Nature Geoscience by Richard Zeebe, professor...
Solar fuels: Refined protective layer for the ‘artificial leaf’
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 21st, 2016
ScienceDaily: The team was able for the first time to produce a hybrid structure that converts 12 per cent of the incident solar energy into the form of hydrogen. The results have now been published in Advanced Energy Materials.
The "artificial leaf" consists in principle of a solar cell that is combined with further functional layers. These act as electrodes and additionally are coated with catalysts. If the complex system of materials is submerged in water and illuminated, it can decompose water molecules....
Forests Help Quench Urban Thirst
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 21st, 2016
Inter Press Service: The next time you turn on the tap to fill the kettle, you might want to spare a thought for the forest that made it possible. It may be a hundred kilometres away or more from where you are sitting, but the chances are that you owe your cup of tea, in part at least, to the trees that helped to capture the water, and to filter it on its long journey to you the consumer.
The importance of forests to the water cycle cannot be overstated. They slow down the flow of water, percolating it gently through...
Australia: Climate Council call for action against global warming amid record-breaking March heat
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 21st, 2016
AAP: AUSTRALIA’S record-breaking autumn heat is just a taste of what’s to come if we continue to lag behind global powers who are moving away from fossil fuels to combat climate change. Environmental experts have warned Australia will continue to experience record-breaking heat and extreme weather in the wake of a damning report that reveals a notable climb in average temperatures across the country at the start of March. Maximum temperatures in the first four days of this month were four degrees above...
ADB commits $123.3 million to improve Manila’s water supply
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 21st, 2016
Reuters: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) said on Monday it would lend $123.3 million to the Philippines to modernize water supply in the capital, Manila, to reduce the risk of shortages as demand for water rises in the megacity. The loan will allow the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System, a government-owned company supplying raw water to Manila to build a fourth tunnel, allowing it to upgrade other existing tunnels, the Manila-based lender said in a statement. "The Angat transmission system provides...