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If anyone ever thought climate sciences were anything but complex, they obviously weren’t looking hard enough. Recent research from prominent UK and Brazilian climate scientists have found a link between reducing sulphur dioxide emissions from burning coal, and the increase in sea surface temperatures in the tropical north Atlantic, that heightens the risk of drought in the Amazon rainforest.
The Amazon is without a doubt one of the planet’s most valuable and important ecological resources; and not for logging. The rainforest contains approximately one tenth of the total carbon stored in land ecosystems, and recycles much of the rain that falls upon its leafy canopy.
Thus, any major change to its vegetation has massive implications for the global climate system.
By Joshua S Hill •
April 21, 2008
In an article that just screams northern-hemispheric superiority, MSNBC has touched only briefly upon new research from scientists at the Carnegie Institute.
According to Cristina Archer and Ken Caldeira of the Carnegie Institution’s Department of Global Ecology, Earth’s jet streams are shifting; possibly as a result of global warming. However they are upfront with the fact that they need to do more research before they can pinpoint what will happen, and why it is happening.
Jet streams are the high-altitude bands of fast moving wind that influence the paths of storms and other weather systems. “The jet streams are the driving factor for weather in half of the globe,” says Archer. “So, as you can imagine, changes in the jets have the potential to affect large populations and major climate systems.”
By Joshua S Hill •
April 20, 2008
The effort to help change the world’s polluting ways is a long road that was never going to be solved overnight. However, with the help of LiveScience.com, maybe we can effectively destroy any hope of it overnight.
I call this story “How to Successfully Undermine Good Ideas” thanks to a recent article written over at LiveScience.com entitled “Top 10 Craziest Environmental Ideas.” And, in short, several of their “zany ideas” are possible chances for survival.
By Joshua S Hill •
March 5, 2008
Over our history eclipses have been the portent of the gods wrath, new things to come, or simply a pretty light show. But would you have expected our last lunar eclipse to have been of any help to researchers looking at climate change?
Researchers at the University of Colorado in Boulder, US, found that Earth’s atmosphere contained very little light-blocking volcanic dust. During the eclipse, Earth blocks sunlight from reaching the moon – hence why […]
By Joshua S Hill •
March 3, 2008
I played around for a few minutes with a heading that said something along the lines of “Scientists alert us to the Obvious… etc” for this story. It seems to me that I am dealing more and more with people who simply intend to live their lives with their heads buried in the sand.
That isn’t to say that […]
By Joshua S Hill •
December 19, 2007
Antarctica has always been the last frontier for scientists on Earth. It even parallels to space exploration, considering just how inhospitable its lands are. Windy, cold, and for half the year a perpetual night time are not conditions that make for a comfy science exploration.But nevertheless, scientists are hell-bent on getting to know the southernmost continent.
So, in this spirit, for the first time West Antarctica (or the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS)) is to be […]
