1974 replies to this topic

[Gray-Wolf]

http://nsidc.org/new...permafrost.html


this is why I do not think we will avoid the high end of temp predictions. If I'm proved correct then we can expect further warming from 'extra' melted permafrost/hydrates.

[Coast]

Owwwww, farting dinosaurs!!!!

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Dinosaur gases 'warmed the Earth'

Giant dinosaurs could have warmed the planet with their flatulence, say researchers.

British scientists have calculated the methane output of sauropods, including the species known as Brontosaurus. By scaling up the digestive wind of cows, they estimate that the population of dinosaurs - as a whole - produced 520 million tonnes of gas annually. They suggest the gas could have been a key factor in the warm climate 150 million years ago.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/17953792

[BornFromTheVoid]

The latest methane hydrate "breakthrough"

http://newenergyandf...cess-developed/
http://www.jogmec.go...ease_120502.pdf

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U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Steven Chu contributed a statement to an announced breakthrough in research into tapping the vast fuel resource of methane hydrates that could eventually bolster already massive U.S. natural gas reserves...

...For experts the methane hydrates resource is the largest reserve of hydrocarbons in the planetary crust. So far humanity has not devised a process to economically harvest this immense energy wealth. Today’s DOE announcement may point the way to a new era in abundant energy to build out a bigger and better world economy.

[Weather Ship]

Biodiversity loss ranks with climate change and pollution in terms of impacts to environment

(Santa Barbara, Calif.) –– A recent study published by an international research team working at UC Santa Barbara's National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS) has found that loss of biodiversity impacts the environment as significantly as climate change and pollution. The study, titled, "A global synthesis reveals biodiversity loss as a major driver of ecosystem change," was published May 2 in the journal Nature.
"For the past 15 years, ecologists have built a rich understanding of the consequences of humans driving species extinct. What we didn't know before this paper is whether those impacts of species loss rank up there with those from the major drivers of environmental change," said Jarrett Byrnes, a postdoctoral fellow with NCEAS.

http://www.eurekaler...--blr050912.php

[Weather Ship]

Possibly a step towards using hydrogen as a sustainable energy solution?

Nanosheet Catalyst Discovered to Sustainably Split Hydrogen from Water

Low-cost non-noble electrocatalyst efficiently generates hydrogen gas for fuel

UPTON, NY – Hydrogen gas offers one of the most promising sustainable energy alternatives to limited fossil fuels. But traditional methods of producing pure hydrogen face significant challenges in unlocking its full potential, either by releasing harmful carbon dioxide into the atmosphere or requiring rare and expensive chemical elements such as platinum.
Now, scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory have developed a new electrocatalyst that addresses one of these problems by generating hydrogen gas from water cleanly and with much more affordable materials. The novel form of catalytic nickel-molybdenum-nitride – described in a paper published online May 8, 2012 in the journal Angewandte Chemie International Edition – surprised scientists with its high-performing nanosheet structure, introducing a new model for effective hydrogen catalysis.

http://www.bnl.gov/b...y.asp?prID=1414

[Weather Ship]

STATISTICAL ANALYSIS PROJECTS FUTURE TEMPERATURES IN NORTH AMERICA

COLUMBUS, Ohio - For the first time, researchers have been able to combine different climate models using spatial statistics - to project future seasonal temperature changes in regions across North America.
They performed advanced statistical analysis on two different North American regional climate models and were able to estimate projections of temperature changes for the years 2041 to 2070, as well as the certainty of those projections.
The analysis, developed by statisticians at Ohio State University, examines groups of regional climate models, finds the commonalities between them, and determines how much weight each individual climate projection should get in a consensus climate estimate.
Through maps on the statisticians’ website, people can see how their own region’s temperature will likely change by 2070 - overall, and for individual seasons of the year.

http://researchnews..../modelcombo.htm

[Weather Ship]

UMD Finding May Hold Key to Gaia Theory of Earth as Living Organism


Discovery ultimately could lead to better climate understanding and prediction

COLLEGE PARK, Md.  Is Earth really a sort of giant living organism as the Gaia hypothesis predicts? A new discovery made at the University of Maryland may provide a key to answering this question. This key of sulfur could allow scientists to unlock heretofore hidden interactions between ocean organisms, atmosphere, and land -- interactions that might provide evidence supporting this famous theory.
The Gaia hypothesis -- first articulated by James Lovelock and Lynn Margulis in the 1970s -- holds that Earth's physical and biological processes are inextricably connected to form a self-regulating, essentially sentient, system.

http://newsdesk.umd....?ArticleID=2698

[BornFromTheVoid]

A plastic eating fungus?

http://www.fastcoexi...at-your-plastic

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The group of students, part of Yale’s annual Rainforest Expedition and Laboratory with molecular biochemistry professor Scott Strobel, ventured to the jungles of Ecuador. The mission was to allow "students to experience the scientific inquiry process in a comprehensive and creative way." The group searched for plants, and then cultured the microorganisms within the plant tissue. As it turns out, they brought back a fungus new to science with a voracious appetite for a global waste problem: polyurethane

The journal article abstract here http://aem.asm.org/content/77/17/6076

[Weather Ship]

1,000 years of climate data confirms Australia's warming

In the first study of its kind in Australasia, scientists used 27 natural climate records to create the first large-scale temperature reconstruction for the region over the past 1,000 years.

http://phys.org/news...-australia.html

[BornFromTheVoid]

An update on the atmospheric CO2 increase. Found the rate of increase recently to be much more than I'd though was.

http://www.esrl.noaa...nds/weekly.html

[laserguy]

BornFromTheVoid, on 18 May 2012 - 12:26 , said:

An update on the atmospheric CO2 increase. Found the rate of increase recently to be much more than I'd though was.

http://www.esrl.noaa...nds/weekly.html

CO2 Trends.PNG

Are you having a larf? Four parts per million. Say it slowly now. Does this mean we can expect global meltdown,finally? Actually it's me that's having a laff; never stopped since all this AGW malarkey was invented.

[BornFromTheVoid]

laserguy, on 18 May 2012 - 20:28 , said:

Are you having a larf? Four parts per million. Say it slowly now. Does this mean we can expect global meltdown,finally? Actually it's me that's having a laff; never stopped since all this AGW malarkey was invented.

Melt down? No need to panic LG! Also, I said the rate of increase, not absolute increase. Say it slowly if you're having trouble keeping up

[Gray-Wolf]

i think we have to remember that not only are our emissions rising certain of the planets sinks are failing and ,over time ,will become net producers of CO2.

We also have to remember that we are seeing a net increase in CH4 emissions across the Arctic Tundra regions as the 'meltdown' (just for you L.G.) there continues and increases. This CO4 will also eventually add to our CO2 burden as it degrades over time.

As for Global meltdown? Well lets see how long the Planet can 'absorb' our forcing before it has to 'flip' state to one more suited to the then 'mix' of atmospheric gasses.( remember our oceans are a huge energy sink and that we know less about our oceans, and their processes, than we do about our Moon......we do know that we have been able to add a great deal of energy into them over the last 150yrs!)

[Weather Ship]

Earth's water cycle intensifying with atmospheric warming


A clear change in salinity has been detected in the world’s oceans, signalling shifts and an acceleration in the global rainfall and evaporation cycle.

• 26 April 2012

In a paper published today in the journal Science, Australian scientists from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, California, reported changing patterns of salinity in the global ocean during the past 50 years, marking a clear fingerprint of climate change.

http://www.csiro.au/...ic-warming.aspx

[Weather Ship]

Toxic mercury, accumulating in the Arctic, springs from a hidden source

Cambridge, Mass. - May 21, 2012 - Environmental scientists at Harvard have discovered that the Arctic accumulation of mercury, a toxic element, is caused by both atmospheric forces and the flow of circumpolar rivers that carry the element north into the Arctic Ocean.
While the atmospheric source was previously recognized, it now appears that twice as much mercury actually comes from the rivers.
The revelation implies that concentrations of the toxin may further increase as climate change continues to modify the region's hydrological cycle and release mercury from warming Arctic soils.

http://www.seas.harv...a-hidden-source