- Greenland's Glacial Earthquakes Increasing In Frequency
http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Greenlan..._Frequency.html

Ithaca NY (SPX) Mar 24, 2006 - Rise of seismic activity linked to the movement of glaciers may be a response to global warming Seismologists at Columbia University and Harvard University have found a new indicator that the Earth is warming: "glacial earthquakes" caused when the rivers of ice lurch unexpectedly and produce temblors as strong as magnitude 5.1 on the moment-magnitude scale.

- NASA Scientist Claims Warmer Ocean Waters Reducing Ice Worldwide
http://www.terradaily.com/reports/NASA_Sci..._Worldwide.html

Greenbelt MD (SPX) Mar 24, 2006 - According to a NASA scientist, the pieces to a years-old scientific puzzle have come together to confirm warmer water temperatures are creeping into the Earth's colder areas. Those warm waters are increasing melting and accelerating ice flow in polar areas.

Intuit See Signs In Arctic Thaw

By Doug Struck

PANGNIRTUNG, Canada -- Thirty miles from the Arctic Circle, hunter Noah Metuq feels the Arctic changing. Its frozen grip is loosening; the people and animals who depend on its icy reign are experiencing a historic reshaping of their world.

To view the entire article, go to http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...er=emailarticle

- Scientists Set Out To Discover Amount Of Snow On Earth
http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Scientis...w_On_Earth.html

Circle AK (SPX) Mar 20, 2006 - An expedition into the frozen Arctic using dogsled teams kicks off March 12 from Alaska to help NASA find out how much snow blankets the Earth. The trek is one leg of a multi-sponsor five-year Go North! expedition made up of multiple dogsled treks that will explore the Arctic in pursuit of environmental samples and observations.

- Unique Weather Radar To Investigate Snowfall
http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Unique_W...e_Snowfall.html

- Strong Storms Linked With Rising Sea Surface Temperatures
http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Strong_S...mperatures.html

Thanks for starting this for the scientific articles Snuff!

March 24, 2006
WMO Sees Link Between Global Warming and Hurricanes
By REUTERS
Filed at 11:58 a.m. ET

GENEVA (Reuters) - There is growing evidence of a link between global warming and natural disasters such as droughts and flooding, the head of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on Friday.

But Michel Jarraud, secretary general of the United Nations weather agency, said more research was needed into the links between global warming and extreme conditions like hurricanes.

Jarraud told a news briefing: ``We know for certain that there is an intensification of the hydrological cycle, which translates into greater risk in some areas of a rain deficit and accentuated problems of drought linked to climate change.''

``In other regions there is a higher risk of flooding and in others a risk of greater frequency of heat waves,'' he said.

The WMO said last week that greenhouse gases including carbon dioxide -- blamed for global warming and climate change -- had reached their highest levels in the atmosphere.

Scientists warn that greenhouse gas emissions must be slowed and reduced if the earth is to avoid climatic havoc with devastating heat waves, droughts, floods and rising sea-levels sinking low-lying island states and hitting seaboard cities.

Carbon dioxide, which the WMO says accounts for 90 percent of warming over the past decade, is largely generated by human activity involving the burning of fossil fuels.

``We must accentuate research efforts to better understand the links between climate change and a certain number of extreme phenomena,'' Jarraud said.

He noted 2005 was a record year for hurricanes in the Atlantic Ocean, including Hurricane Katrina which devastated New Orleans.

``There is not yet a consensus in the scientific community on the link between hurricanes and global warming, but there are leads. I am fairly confident that in two or three years we will have more credible answers,'' Jarraud said.

Research into the link between climate change and El Nino could take five years, he added.

El Nino, caused by interaction between abnormally warm or cool seas and the atmosphere, typically triggers drought in eastern Australia and Southeast Asia, and floods in western parts of North and South America.



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Sea rise could be 'catastrophic'
By Paul Rincon
BBC News science reporter
Earth could be headed for catastrophic sea level rise in the next few centuries if greenhouse gases continue to rise at present rates, experts say.
A study in the US journal Science suggests a threshold triggering a rise in sea level of several metres could be reached before the end of the century.

Scientists used an ancient period of warming to predict future changes.

Greenland could be as warm by 2100 as it was 130,000 years ago, when melting ice raised sea levels by 3-4m.

The implication is that Greenland would - eventually - melt by as much in response to present warming.

The findings come from two studies published in Science by Dr Jonathan Overpeck, of the University of Arizona in Tucson, and colleagues.

Their computer models show that, in addition to widespread melting of the Greenland ice sheet, this rate of warming could also lead to the collapse of about half of the West Antarctic ice sheet in 500 years.

Past lessons

Dr Overpeck's team used computer models to simulate the climate 130,000 years ago. Because Earth was tilted slightly more than today on its axis, more solar radiation hit the northern latitudes, driving warming there.

The researchers found that melting of the Greenland ice sheet could have raised sea levels by 2-3.5m. But they also concluded that the rest could have come from the West Antarctic ice sheet.

It was not as warm here, but much of the ice sheet remains below sea level. This, they believe, allowed warming ocean waters along with rising sea levels to destabilise it.

"The simulated climate warming agreed well with the observed climate warming," Dr Overpeck told the BBC News website. "So, we had a firm estimate of how much warmth was necessary to cause that much sea level rise."

The researchers then compared this with simulations of future warming to learn how much sea level rise would be expected in future.

They estimate peak rates of sea level rise exceeding 1m per century.

'Danger zone'

"These processes of rapid ice sheet retreat are already happening. It just takes a while to get metres of sea level rise. But our study says that if we warm the Earth by more than two times the equivalent of pre-industrial carbon dioxide levels, we could be entering the danger zone," said Dr Overpeck.

"The ice sheet retreat and sea level rise on the order of what happened 130,000 years ago is inevitable and irreversible."

Geoscientist Michael Oppenheimer of Princeton University, who is not an author on the new paper, told Science: "Palaeoclimate always has a large amount of uncertainty, [but] we should take this as a serious warning sign. You could lock in a dangerous warming during this century."

Other work in the journal Science shows "earthquakes" caused by sudden movement of Greenland's glaciers are rising.

Some of Greenland's glaciers, which are as large as Manhattan and as tall as the Empire State Building, can move 10m in less than a minute, according to Harvard University scientists. This jolt is sufficient to generate seismic waves.

Not only has the frequency of these events increased, but they appear to occur more frequently in late summer than other parts of the year.

When water accumulates at a glacier's base, it acts as a lubricant causing large blocks to lurch down valleys.

"Greenland's glaciers deliver large quantities of fresh water to the oceans, so the implications for climate change are serious. We believe further warming of the climate is likely to accelerate the behaviour we've documented," said co-author Meredith Nettles at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory in New York, US.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/sci/tech/4834806.stm

Published: 2006/03/23 23:43:47 GMT

© BBC MMVI

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2100776,00.html
Britain
The Times March 24, 2006

London 'under water by 2100' as Antarctica crumbles into the sea
By Mark Henderson, Science Correspondent


DOZENS of the world’s cities, including London and New York, could be flooded by the end of the century, according to research which suggests that global warming will increase sea levels more rapidly than was previously thought.
The first study to combine computer models of rising temperatures with records of the ancient climate has indicated that sea levels could rise by up to 20ft (6m) by 2100, placing millions of people at risk.

The threat comes from melting ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica, which scientists behind the research now believe are on track to release vast volumes of water significantly more quickly than older models have predicted. Their analysis of events between 129,000 and 116,000 years ago, when the Arctic last warmed to temperatures forecast for 2100, shows that there could be large rises in sea level.



While the Greenland ice sheet is expected to start melting as summer temperatures in the Arctic rise by 3C degrees to 5C (5.4F-9F), most models suggest that the ice sheets of Antarctica will remain more stable.

The historical data, however, show that the last time that Greenland became this warm, the sea level rise generated by meltwater destabilised the Antarctic ice, leading to a much higher increase than can be explained by Arctic ice alone.

That means that the models of sea-level rise used to predict an increase of up to 3ft by 2100 may have significantly underestimated its ultimate extent, which could be as great as 20ft.

Such a rise would threaten cities such as London, New York, Bombay and Tokyo. Large parts of the Netherlands, Bangladesh and Florida would be inundated, and even smaller rises would flood extreme low-lying areas, such as several Pacific islands and New Orleans.

“Although the focus of our work is polar, the implications are global,” said Bette Otto-Bliesner, of the US National Centre for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado, who led the study. “These ice sheets melted before and sea levels rose. The warmth needed isn’t that much above present conditions.”

Her colleague, Jonathan Overpeck, of the University of Arizona, said: “This is a real eye-opener set of results. The last time the Arctic was significantly warmer than the present day, the Greenland ice sheet melted back the equivalent of two to three metres (6ft-10ft) of sea level. Contrary to what was previously believed, the research suggests the Antarctic ice sheet also melted substantially, contributing another 6ft to 10ft of sea level rise.”

The findings, which are published today in the journal Science, have emerged from a study that used data from ancient coral reefs, ice cores and other natural records to reconstruct the climate during the last gap between Ice Ages. In this interglacial period, between 129,000 and 116,000 years ago, temperatures in the Arctic were between 3C and 5C above present levels — a similar level to that predicted for the end of this century.

The scientists found that meltwater from Greenland raised the sea level by up to 11ft, but coral records showed that the total global rise was between 13ft and 20ft. Dr Overpeck said that the melting of Antarctic ice sheets was the most likely explanation. As sea levels rose, the floating ice shelves off the coast of the continent would have become more likely to break up. That in turn would have allowed glaciers to dump more ice from the continent itself into the sea.

He said that this was particularly worrying at present as the base of the West Antarctic ice sheet lay below sea level, which would allow ice to escape to the sea easily.

Several recent studies have indicated that the Greenland ice sheet, which contains enough water to raise sea levels by 23ft, and the West Antarctic sheet, which holds enough for a 20ft rise, are thinning. Both are expected to take several centuries to melt completely, but could release substantial quantities of water by 2100.

Dr Overpeck said that the results added to the urgency of measures to control the greenhouse gas emissions contributing to global warming.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/264200_northwest24.html

Friday, March 24, 2006

Global warming will change Pacific Northwest
Less snow in winter, worse wildfires are likely

By ROBERT McCLURE
P-I REPORTER

From the crests of the Cascades to Puget Sound, people in the Pacific Northwest can expect to experience changes driven by global warming.

Expect more winter flooding, more summer water shortages, more destructive wildfires and more troubled salmon runs. And, on average, shorter ski seasons.

The news isn't all bad. Maybe you won't have to chain up going over Snoqualmie Pass as often. It won't be as cold, on average, in the winter. In many years, you will be able to get away with starting your spring garden earlier.

This is the forecast from climate experts studying likely effects here. In fact, these changes already are happening.

For instance, the North Cascades have been called America's Alps, but their glaciers are melting. Glaciers lost nearly a third of their mass in the past century. All 117 North Cascades glaciers monitored since 1984 by researchers from Nichols College in Dudley, Mass., have receded. Seven are gone entirely.

The steps being proposed by Mayor Greg Nickels' Green Ribbon Commission are intended to blunt these trends. But there is no way to reverse them.

The biggest impact, say researchers from the Climate Impacts Group at the University of Washington, is disrupting the annual cycle of rain and snow that quenches our thirst, waters our crops, and nurtures Northwest salmon runs.

It all goes back to snow falling in the mountains in the winter. Think of that as a "bank" of stored water. At this time of year, that snow starts to melt. That goes on through most of the summer. This water soaks into the ground and eventually gurgles oceanward in streams and rivers.

But as the climate changes, researchers expect more of this to fall in the winter as rain.

That has several effects. First, expect more of the winter deluges that send rivers over their banks to flood nearby land and buildings.

More winter and spring "rain-on-snow events," as the weather folks call them, will simultaneously suck the banked water out of the mountains and cause destructive mudslides.

Then, come summer, with less water stored in the mountains, rivers that already grow too warm to keep salmon, bull trout and steelhead healthy are likely to run even lower and warmer, on average. These are the same rivers, in many cases, that provide drinking water for people and irrigation for crops. We're likely to see less water available for fish and for people -- even as the population and demand for water increase.

In some cases, the changes will be easy to see. Already, for instance, the downturn in snowfall is allowing trees to take hold in Paradise meadows at Mount Rainier, partially obscuring views of the mountain.

In others, it may be less obvious, at least for a time. Areas with low-lying coastlines such as Olympia, Everett and Mukilteo will have to protect them as the sea level rises, climate scientists say, although the rise is likely to be gradual.

March 24, 2006
Climate Data Hint at Irreversible Rise in Seas
By ANDREW C. REVKIN
Within the next 100 years, the growing human influence on Earth's climate could lead to a long and irreversible rise in sea levels by eroding the planet's vast polar ice sheets, according to new observations and analysis by several teams of scientists.

One team, using computer models of climate and ice, found that by about 2100, average temperatures could be four degrees higher than today and that over the coming centuries, the oceans could rise 13 to 20 feet — conditions last seen 129,000 years ago, between the last two ice ages.

The findings, being reported today in the journal Science, are consistent with other recent studies of melting and erosion at the poles. Many experts say there are still uncertainties about timing, extent and causes.

But Jonathan T. Overpeck of the University of Arizona, a lead author of one of the studies, said the new findings made a strong case for the danger of failing to curb emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases that trap heat in a greenhouselike effect.

"If we don't like the idea of flooding out New Orleans, major portions of South Florida, and many other valued parts of the coastal U.S.," Dr. Overpeck said, "we will have to commit soon to a major effort to stop most emissions of carbon to the atmosphere."

According to the computer simulations, the global nature of the warming from greenhouse gases, which diffuse around the atmosphere, could amplify the melting around Antarctica beyond that of the last warm period, which was driven mainly by extra sunlight reaching the Northern Hemisphere.

The researchers also said that stains from dark soot drifting from power plants and vehicles could hasten melting in the Arctic by increasing the amount of solar energy absorbed by ice.

The rise in sea levels, driven by loss of ice from Greenland and West Antarctica, would occur over many centuries and be largely irreversible, but could be delayed by curbing emissions of the greenhouse gases, said Dr. Overpeck and his fellow lead author, Bette L. Otto-Bliesner of the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo.

In a second article in Science, researchers say they have detected a rising frequency of earthquakelike rumblings in the bedrock beneath Greenland's two-mile-thick ice cap in late summer since 1993. They say there is no obvious explanation other than abrupt movements of the overlying ice caused by surface melting.

The jostling of that giant ice-cloaked island is five times more frequent in summer than in winter, and has greatly intensified since 2002, the researchers found. The data mesh with recent satellite readings showing that the ice can lurch toward the sea during the melting season.

The analysis was led by Goran Ekstrom of Harvard and Meredith Nettles of the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory in Palisades, N.Y., part of Columbia University.

H. Jay Zwally, a NASA scientist studying the polar ice sheets with satellites, said the seismic signals from ice movement were consistent with his discovery in 2002 that summer melting on the surface of Greenland's ice sheets could almost immediately spur them to shift measurably. The meltwater apparently trickles through fissures and lubricates the interface between ice and underlying rock.

"Models are important, but measurements tell the real story," Dr. Zwally said. "During the last 10 years, we have seen only about 10 percent of the greenhouse warming expected during the next 100 years, but already the polar ice sheets are responding in ways we didn't even know about only a few years ago."

In both Antarctica and Greenland, it appears that warming waters are also at work, melting the protruding tongues of ice where glaciers flow into the sea or intruding beneath ice sheets, like those in western Antarctica, that lie mostly below sea level. Both processes can cause the ice to flow more readily, scientists say.

Many experts on climate and the poles, citing evidence from past natural warm periods, agreed with the general notion that a world much warmer than today's, regardless of the cause of warming, will have higher sea levels.

But significant disagreements remain over whether recent changes in sea level and ice conditions cited in the new studies could be attributed to rising concentrations of the greenhouse gases and temperatures linked by most experts to human activities.

Sea levels have been rising for thousands of years as an aftereffect of the warming and polar melting that followed the last ice age, which ended about 10,000 years ago. Discriminating between that residual effect and any new influence from human actions remains impossible for the moment, many experts say.

Satellites and tide gauges show that seas rose about eight inches over the last century and the pace has picked up markedly since the 1990's.

Dr. Overpeck, the co-author of the paper on rising sea levels, acknowledged the uncertainties about the causes. But he said that in a world in which humans, rich and poor, increasingly clustered on coasts, the risks were great enough to justify prompt action.

"People driving big old S.U.V.'s to their favorite beach or coastal golf course," he said, should "start to think twice about what they might be doing."



Copyright 2006The New York Times Company Home Privacy Policy Search Corrections XML Help Contact Us Work for Us Site Map Back to Top

http://www.duluth.com/placed/index.php?sec...story_id=216953

Signs of global warming appearing in Northland

Sarah Fleener
Budgeteer News

Last Updated: Friday, March 24th, 2006 01:51:53 PM

It’s a beautiful sight. A brilliant red cardinal contrasted by the sparkling blues and grays of Lake Superior.
Or is it?

Scientists say cardinals should not be migrating this far north — it’s normally too cold for their taste. But naturalist Andrea Swanson, at Wolf Ridge Environmental Center, has been observing these beautiful birds at her feeder near Silver Bay — and she said it’s an ill-fated sign of global warming.

This, and other signs of climate change can be seen in our area, said Wolf Ridge science projects coordinator Pete Harris. Wolf Ridge is a learning center in Finland, Minn., that has been teaching students, from elementary to graduate, about environmental issues since 1971. “We’re not activists,” said Wolf Ridge’s Executive Director Kim Skyelander. “We give the public both sides of the issue and leave it up to them to decide what they want to do with the information.”

The most current information on climate change says that opossums are moving farther north and flowers are blooming sooner. Lilacs in particular are showing the effects of a warmer climate. Birds can be heard chirping earlier, geese, robins and whippoorwills are returning sooner and frogs are beginning their mating season earlier.

Even the trees are showing signs of change. Hardwood trees, like oak, can be seen in higher numbers in Northland forests. “Before, these trees couldn’t survive the cold. But now, the first little pioneers of these species are saying ‘Hey! We’re here and we want to take this over.”

These facts are examined in a recent report by the National Environmental Trust called “Season Creep: How Global Warming is Already Affecting the World Around Us.” The full report is available online at www. cleartheair.org.
“The science is clear. Global warming isn’t off in the distant future or happening somewhere else. It’s happening right here in Minnesota,” said Jim Gilbert, an environmental studies professor at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, in a press release.

Perhaps the most visible sign in this area is the ice-out dates of lakes and rivers. Harris said our water is freezing later and thawing earlier.
To learn more about the changing of our changing seasons, scientists are hoping to create a national phenology network.

Phenology is the study of the timing of nature. Light, precipitation and temperature all play a hand in how the seasons change. The earth is no stranger to change — and a multitude of landscapes have dominated the Great Lake’s region over the course of thousands of years. What concerns scientists and naturalist is the rate at which the changes are now occurring. Harris said the speed is human induced — and because of the interconnectedness of nature, he’s not sure our existing species will be able to survive these changes.

An analogy of this interdependency is the bee/flower relationship. A bee pollinates a flower — creating food for the bee and germination of the flower. But if the flower blooms and the bee is not ready to pollinate it, or vice versa, the whole system is thrown off. Harris said at this point, the full reach of climate change is unknown. “It is an evolving subject matter,” he said. But, if you would like to see for yourself, Harris recommends keeping a close observation on the first bird of spring, your lilacs or the ice on your lake. Pick one object and record the action year after year.

Harris said there are already many amateur phenologists in Minnesota. Those bird diaries, almanac-type records and cabin journals can be of great value. Like the report, they tell the story of climate change in Minnesota.
For more information visit www.cleartheair.org or www.uwm.edu/Dept/Geography/npn/.

- Glimpse To Past Adds Weight To Global Warming Forecasts
http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Glimpse_..._Forecasts.html

Calgary, Canada (SPX) Mar 27, 2006 - A new examination of the period of global warming that planet Earth underwent 130,000 years ago is helping scientists to confirm the accuracy of projections for the next century - particularly over Canada's North.

- Changes In Agricultural Practices Could Help Slow Global warming
http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Changes_...al_warming.html

Livermore CA (SPX) Mar 27, 2006 - Farmers who plant more crops, increase irrigation coverage and till the land less can have a profound effect on climate.

- Rivers Indicate Earlier Snowmelt In Eastern North America
http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Rivers_I...th_America.html

Washington DC (SPX) Mar 27, 2006 - Scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) have found evidence in eastern North America that the snow is melting and running off into rivers earlier than it did in the first half of the 20th century.

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/GlobalWar...=1772073&page=1

Global warming a major health risk: scientists

Reuters

LONDON Global warming is already causing death and disease across the world through flooding, environmental destruction, heatwaves and other extreme weather events, scientists said in February.

And it is likely to get worse.

In a review published in The Lancet medical journal, the scientists said there was now a near-unanimous scientific consensus that rising levels of greenhouse gases would cause global warming and other climate changes.

"The advent of changes in global climate signals that we are now living beyond the Earth's capacity to absorb a major waste product," said Anthony McMichael of the Australian National University in Canberra and his colleagues, referring to greenhouse gases.

The scientists' review of dozens of scientific papers over the last five years said health risks were likely to get worse over time as climate change and other environmental and social changes deepened.

"The resultant risks to health … are anticipated to compound over time as climate change along with other large scale environmental and social changes continues," they wrote.

The review said climate change would bring changes in temperature, sea levels, rainfall, humidity and winds.

This would lead to an increase in death rates from heatwaves, infectious diseases, allergies, cholera as well as starvation due to failing crops.

They said climate change may already have led to lower production of food in some regions due to changes in temperature, rainfall, soil moisture, pests and diseases.

"In food insecure populations this alteration may already be contributing to malnutrition," it said.

The scientists said sea levels had risen in recent decades, and people had already started moving from some low-lying Pacific islands. Such population movements often increased nutritional and physical problems and disease, they said.

"The number of people adversely affected by El Nino-related weather events over three decades, worldwide, appears to have increased greatly," it said, referring to the weather pattern caused by warming of the Pacific Ocean off South America.

The review called for research to identify groups vulnerable to climate change and said health concerns should be included in international policy debates about global warming.

"Recognition of widespread health risks should widen these debates beyond the already important considerations of economic disruption," they said.

http://www.abcnews.go.com/WNT/GlobalWarmin...=1770428&page=1

Was Confusion Over Global Warming a Con Job?

Some Claim Disinformation Campaign Attempted to Create the Impression Scientists Were Broadly Divided

WASHINGTON, March 26, 2006 — American attitudes about global warming are shifting, according to a new poll by ABC News, Time magazine and Stanford University — but it has taken years for the public perception of the problem to catch up with the warnings.

That lack of concern may have been just what big oil wanted.

It's not as if the information hasn't been out there: A new ad by the Environmental Defense Fund warns time is running out to combat climate change, adding, "Our future is up to you."

But Virginia's top climatologist doesn't buy it.

"The American people have just been bludgeoned with climate disaster stories for God knows how long," said the climatologist, Pat Michaels, "and they're just, they've got disaster fatigue."

Michaels is one of a handful of skeptics still downplaying the danger. But they are a tiny minority.

The vast majority of scientists has determined global warming to be a real threat. So why has it taken so long to convince Americans?

Misinformation Campaign

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Ross Gelbspan blames a 15-year misinformation campaign by the oil and coal industries.

"The point of this campaign was not necessarily to persuade the public that global warming isn't happening," Gelbspan said. "It was to persuade the public that there is this state of confusion."

A 1998 memo by the American Petroleum Institute said, "Victory will be achieved when … average citizens recognize uncertainties in climate science."

To redefine global warming as theory — not fact — the industry funded research by "friendly" scientists such as Michaels.

The industry's influence even extends into the White House — where up until a few months ago a former oil industry lobbyist, Phil Cooney, chief of staff at the White House Council on Environmental Quality, was one of the president's top environmental advisers, editing scientific reports to make global warming seem less threatening.

"From now on, we don't have scientists write reports and just take them," said Rick Piltz of the group Climate Science Watch. "We pass them through a White House filter before they're ever published. I mean, that's scandalous."

A few oil companies, led by BP, have changed their tune and are now aggressively addressing the problem. But some continue to promote the idea there are "uncertainties in the science."

http://www.theage.com.au/news/National/Sen...3441203892.html

Sensors to be installed in Barrier Reef

March 29, 2006 - 4:44PM

Scientists want to install sensors across 400km of the Great Barrier Reef in the first stage of a global marine monitoring network.

Stuart Kininmonth, from the Townsville-based Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS), said sensors would be installed across Davies Reef, Magnetic Island, Heron Island and Orpheus Island in north Queensland.

"The technology is housed in a canister no bigger than a 600ml drink bottle and has the capacity to monitor salinity, humidity, temperature, light, water flow and sediments," he said.

It could also shed light on coral bleaching, water temperature fluctuations and its impact on marine life, and pollution.

Scientists and engineers from around the world are meeting in Townsville to discuss the design of the network.

Sensors are already being trialled at sites in Moorea in French Polynesia, the Kenting coral reef group in Taiwan, the Florida Keys and the Great Barrier Reef.

"So far we have successfully transmitted data over 80km using microwave transmissions trapped inside humidity ducts," Mr Kininmonth said.

"This has enabled us to link isolated reefs with broadband speeds."

- Rapid Temperature Increases Above The Antarctic
http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Rapid_Te..._Antarctic.html

Cambridge UK (SPX) Mar 31, 2006 - A new analysis of weather balloon observations from the last 30 years reveals that the Antarctic has the same 'global warming' signature as that seen across the whole Earth, but is three times larger than that observed globally. The results by scientists from British Antarctic Survey are reported this week in Science.

-----------------

http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-warm02.html

Poll: Americans ready to fight global warming

April 2, 2006

WASHINGTON -- An overwhelming majority of Americans think they can help reduce global warming and are willing to make the sacrifices that are needed, a new poll shows.

After years of controversy, 71 percent of Americans now say they think global warming is real, according to a telephone survey of 1,200 people for the advocacy group Environmental Defense.

Conducted between Feb. 27 and March 2, the poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points and was conducted by the firm Ayres, McHenry & Associates, which predominantly polls for Republican candidates.

The results include:

53 percent think warming is caused more by human activity than by normal Earth cycles.

70 percent think the effects of global warming can be reduced.

59 percent think their efforts as individuals can make a difference in global warming.

At least 90 percent are willing to take the following steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions: recycle, turn thermostats down in winter by 2 degrees, caulk around windows, and combine driving trips when running errands.

Between 80 percent and 90 percent are willing to take these energy-saving actions: wash clothes in cold water, turn down water heater temperature, buy energy-efficient light bulbs, buy energy-efficient appliances, and buy energy-efficient cars.

70 percent are willing to drive less, and walk, bike, car pool or take mass transit.

Does Biodiversity Increase As Rainforest Area Expands During Global Warming
http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Does_Bio...al_Warming.html

Panama, Panama (SPX) Apr 04, 2006 - "Plant diversity seems to increase when tropical forests cover large areas. Shrinking ecosystems may experience biodiversity loss lasting for millions of years."

- Western Prairies Face Impending Water Crisis
http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Western_...ter_Crisis.html

Edmonton, Canada (SPX) Apr 05, 2006 - The Canadian prairies are facing an unprecedented water crisis due to a combination of climate warming, increase in human activity and historic drought, says new research by the University of Alberta's Dr. David Schindler, one of the world's leading environmental scientists.

- Brown University Geologists Create 5-Million-Year Climate Record
http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Brown_Un...ate_Record.html

Providence RI (SPX) Apr 07, 2006 - Using chemical clues mined from ocean mud, Brown University researchers have generated the longest continuous record of ocean temperatures on Earth. The 5-million-year record is a history of temperatures in the eastern equatorial Pacific, or EEP, located off the coast of South America.

Dissecting a World of Trouble

The causes and consequences of global warming are still debated.
But few still dispute its existence. According to NASA, 2005 was
the warmest year since the late 1800s. The next four warmest were
2004, 2003, 2002 and 1998. The last time the Earth was this warm,
by many estimates, was 100,000 years ago. By Anne-Marie O'Connor.
http://email.latimes.com/cgi-bin1/DM/y/e1S...Io30G2B0HQ1B0Es

- Nature Can Help Reduce Greenhouse Gas Up To A Point
http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Nature_C...To_A_Point.html

Flagstaff AZ (SPX) Apr 11, 2006 - Plants apparently do much less than previously thought to counteract global warming, according to a paper to be published in next week's online edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

- Global Warming Capable Of Sparking Mass Species Extinctions
http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Global_W...xtinctions.html

Washington DC (SPX) Apr 12, 2006 - The Earth could see massive waves of species extinctions around the world if global warming continues unabated, according to a new study published in the scientific journal Conservation Biology.

- NASA Earth Science Exhibits Open In Smithsonian Museum
http://www.terradaily.com/reports/NASA_Ear...ian_Museum.html

Washington DC (SPX) Apr 12, 2006 - NASA has announced two new exhibits, "Atmosphere: Change in the Air" and "Arctic: A Friend Acting Strangely," opening April 15 at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington. The exhibits, part of the museum's "Forces of Change" series, feature scientific data from NASA and other agencies on the Earth's changing climate.

- Higher Carbon Dioxide, Lack Of Nitrogen Limit Plant Growth
http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Higher_C...ant_Growth.html

Bethel MN (SPX) Apr 13, 2006 - Earth's plant life will not be able to "store" excess carbon from rising atmospheric carbon dioxide levels as well as scientists once thought because plants likely cannot get enough nutrients, such as nitrogen, when there are higher levels of carbon dioxide, according to scientists publishing in this week's issue of the journal Nature.

- Top UK Scientist Sees Dangerous Rise In Global Warming
http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Top_UK_S...al_Warming.html

London (AFP) Apr 14, 2006 - In a grim warning on climate change, the British government's chief scientist said Friday the world must immediately put into place measures to address global warming, even if they take decades to produce results.

- Lion Mane Linked To Climate
http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Lion_Man...To_Climate.html

Chicago IL (SPX) Apr 18, 2006 - If you were a male lion and could read the latest scientific research, you would want to move to a warmer climate, where your mane would be more impressive. That is, until it started getting smaller, to fit you to your new warmer climate!

- Well-Informed Citizens Consider CO2 Storage To Be Acceptable
http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Well_Inf...Acceptable.html

Leiden, The Netherlands (SPX) Apr 19, 2006 - According to Dutch researchers, if you want to know what the average citizen thinks about new energy options then make sure you inform them properly first. Respondents who are not well informed, only give 'pseudo opinions' which are too fickle to base policy on. This emerges from psychological research into what the Dutch think about various forms of energy generation from fossil fuels in combination with CO2 storage.

- New Book Addresses Societal Impact Of Global Warming
http://www.terradaily.com/reports/New_Book...al_Warming.html

- Carbon Cycle Was Already Disrupted Millions Of Years Ago
http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Carbon_C..._Years_Ago.html

- Scientists Urge Canada To Act Now To Halt Global Warming
http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Scientis...al_Warming.html

Ottawa (AFP) Apr 20, 2006 - Ninety top scientists in Canada pressed Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who is hostile to the Kyoto Protocol, to tackle climate change now or risk devastating consequences for the country.

Scientists condemn US as emissions of greenhouse gases hit record level :

The United States emitted more greenhouse gases in 2004 than at any time in history, confirming its status as the world's biggest polluter. Latest figures on the US contribution to global warming show that its carbon emissions have risen sharply despite international concerns over climate change.
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/scienc...ticle358583.ece

- Ancient And Modern Evidence Suggests Limits To Future Global Warming
http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Ancient_...al_Warming.html

Durham NC (SPX) Apr 21, 2006 - Instrumental readings made during the past century offer ample evidence that carbon dioxide and other "greenhouse gases" in the atmosphere are warming Earth's climate, a team led by Duke University scientists has reported.

- Impact Of Rainfall Reaches To Roots Of Mountains
http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Impact_O..._Mountains.html

- Britain Urges Global Carbon Trading To Spur Eco-Healthy Growth
http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Britain_...thy_Growth.html

New York (AFP) Apr 21, 2006 - Britain's finance minister Gordon Brown on Thursday made a strong pitch for a global carbon trading market as the best way to protect the endangered environment while spurring economic growth.

Warming hits 'tipping point'

Siberia feels the heat It's a frozen peat bog the size of France and Germany combined, contains billions of tonnes of greenhouse gas and, for the first time since the ice age, it is melting

Ian Sample, science correspondent
Thursday August 11, 2005
The Guardian

A vast expanse of western Sibera is undergoing an unprecedented thaw that could dramatically increase the rate of global warming, climate scientists warn today.

Researchers who have recently returned from the region found that an area of permafrost spanning a million square kilometres - the size of France and Germany combined - has started to melt for the first time since it formed 11,000 years ago at the end of the last ice age.

The area, which covers the entire sub-Arctic region of western Siberia, is the world's largest frozen peat bog and scientists fear that as it thaws, it will release billions of tonnes of methane, a greenhouse gas 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide, into the atmosphere.

It is a scenario climate scientists have feared since first identifying "tipping points" - delicate thresholds where a slight rise in the Earth's temperature can cause a dramatic change in the environment that itself triggers a far greater increase in global temperatures.

The discovery was made by Sergei Kirpotin at Tomsk State University in western Siberia and Judith Marquand at Oxford University and is reported in New Scientist today.

The researchers found that what was until recently a barren expanse of frozen peat is turning into a broken landscape of mud and lakes, some more than a kilometre across.

Dr Kirpotin told the magazine the situation was an "ecological landslide that is probably irreversible and is undoubtedly connected to climatic warming". He added that the thaw had probably begun in the past three or four years.

Climate scientists yesterday reacted with alarm to the finding, and warned that predictions of future global temperatures would have to be revised upwards.

"When you start messing around with these natural systems, you can end up in situations where it's unstoppable. There are no brakes you can apply," said David Viner, a senior scientist at the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia.

"This is a big deal because you can't put the permafrost back once it's gone. The causal effect is human activity and it will ramp up temperatures even more than our emissions are doing."

In its last major report in 2001, the intergovernmental panel on climate change predicted a rise in global temperatures of 1.4C-5.8C between 1990 and 2100, but the estimate only takes account of global warming driven by known greenhouse gas emissions.

"These positive feedbacks with landmasses weren't known about then. They had no idea how much they would add to global warming," said Dr Viner.

Western Siberia is heating up faster than anywhere else in the world, having experienced a rise of some 3C in the past 40 years. Scientists are particularly concerned about the permafrost, because as it thaws, it reveals bare ground which warms up more quickly than ice and snow, and so accelerates the rate at which the permafrost thaws.

Siberia's peat bogs have been producing methane since they formed at the end of the last ice age, but most of the gas had been trapped in the permafrost. According to Larry Smith, a hydrologist at the University of California, Los Angeles, the west Siberian peat bog could hold some 70bn tonnes of methane, a quarter of all of the methane stored in the ground around the world.

The permafrost is likely to take many decades at least to thaw, so the methane locked within it will not be released into the atmosphere in one burst, said Stephen Sitch, a climate scientist at the Met Office's Hadley Centre in Exeter.

But calculations by Dr Sitch and his colleagues show that even if methane seeped from the permafrost over the next 100 years, it would add around 700m tonnes of carbon into the atmosphere each year, roughly the same amount that is released annually from the world's wetlands and agriculture.

It would effectively double atmospheric levels of the gas, leading to a 10% to 25% increase in global warming, he said.

Tony Juniper, director of Friends of the Earth, said the finding was a stark message to politicians to take concerted action on climate change. "We knew at some point we'd get these feedbacks happening that exacerbate global warming, but this could lead to a massive injection of greenhouse gases.

"If we don't take action very soon, we could unleash runaway global warming that will be beyond our control and it will lead to social, economic and environmental devastation worldwide," he said. "There's still time to take action, but not much.

"The assumption has been that we wouldn't see these kinds of changes until the world is a little warmer, but this suggests we're running out of time."

In May this year, another group of researchers reported signs that global warming was damaging the permafrost. Katey Walter of the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, told a meeting of the Arctic Research Consortium of the US that her team had found methane hotspots in eastern Siberia. At the hotspots, methane was bubbling to the surface of the permafrost so quickly that it was preventing the surface from freezing over.

Last month, some of the world's worst air polluters, including the US and Australia, announced a partnership to cut greenhouse gas emissions through the use of new technologies.

The deal came after Tony Blair struggled at the G8 summit to get the US president, George Bush, to commit to any concerted action on climate change and has been heavily criticised for setting no targets for reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/climatechange/st...1546824,00.html

- Canada To Adopt US Climate Change Policies
http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Canada_T...e_Policies.html

Ottawa (AFP) Apr 26, 2006 - Ottawa will soon announce new "made in Canada" measures that closely resemble US efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and other air pollutants, Canada's environment minister said Tuesday.

- Diverse Tropical Forests Defy Metabolic Ecology Models
http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Diverse_...ogy_Models.html

Twin Cities MN (SPX) Apr 26, 2006 - As global change accelerates, quantifying the role of forests in the carbon cycle becomes ever more urgent. Modelers seek simple predictors of forest biomass and carbon flux. Over the last decade, the theory of metabolic ecology generated testable explanations, derived from physical and biochemical principles, for a wide range of ecological patterns.

- New climate research yields good and bad news
http://www.spacedaily.com/2006/060426170143.gfceksiq.html

- Project Achieves Milestone In Analyzing Pollutants Dimming The Atmosphere
http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Project_...Atmosphere.html

San Diego CA (SPX) Apr 28, 2006 - A scientific research consortium led by Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego, has reached an important milestone in the tracking of pollutants responsible for dimming Earth's atmosphere.

http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews....-SATELLITES.xml

NASA launches climate satellites
Fri Apr 28, 2006 6:47am ET

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - NASA on Friday launched two research satellites to help scientists refine computer models that forecast the weather and chart global climate change.

CloudSat and CALIPSO blasted off aboard an unmanned Delta rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California at 6:02 a.m. EDT (1002 GMT) after a week of delays for weather and technical issues. The Boeing-built booster originally had been slated to fly last year, but a machinists' strike forced several months of delays.

CloudSat has powerful radar instruments to peer deep into the structure of clouds and map their water content. Although only about 1 percent of Earth's water is held in clouds, it plays a crucial role in the planet's weather, scientists working on the mission said.



"CloudSat will answer basic questions about how rain and snow are produced by clouds, how rain and snow are distributed worldwide, and how clouds affect the Earth's climate," principal investigator Graeme Stephens of Colorado State University said.

Using instruments 1,000 times more powerful than common meteorology radar CloudSat was designed to render three-dimensional maps of clouds that will identify the location and form of water molecules.

Complementary and virtually simultaneous studies by sister probe CALIPSO will pinpoint aerosol particles and track how they interact with clouds and move through the atmosphere. CALIPSO is an acronym for Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations.

Aerosols are formed by natural phenomena like forest fires and human activity such as driving cars. Aerosols are considered a key factor in understanding why the planet is growing warmer and if anything can be done to stem or reverse the change.

Computer models predict average surface temperatures on Earth will increase between 3.5 degrees Celsius and 9 degrees F over the next 100 years.

The uncertainty stems from the role clouds play in moderating heat. Aerosols in the clouds can either cool the planet by reflecting solar energy back into space, or increase temperatures by trapping heat in the atmosphere.

"We need to understand the aerosol effect on climate because it counteracts the effects of greenhouse gases," said CALIPSO principal investigator David Winker of NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia.



© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.

- CryoSat-2 To Receive Ice-Bound Research Support
http://www.terradaily.com/reports/CryoSat_...ch_Support.html

Paris, France (SPX) May 01, 2006 - Students from Climate Change College will assist European scientists in validating the ability of ESA's CryoSat-2 to measure changes in the Greenland ice sheet. Led by Dutch polar explorer Marc Cornelissen, the students will set up camp this week on the ice at point T05 on the Expédition Glaciologique Internationale Groenland line.

- After A Soaring Takeoff, The Kyoto Carbon Market Slams Into Turbulence
http://www.terradaily.com/reports/After_A_...Turbulence.html

Paris (AFP) May 01, 2006 - Dark clouds have suddenly gathered over the fledgling market for carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, where prices plunged by more than half last week as European countries discovered they were polluting far less than they thought.

- Tibetan Glacier Melt Leading To Sandstorms In China
http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Tibetan_...s_In_China.html

Beijing (AFP) May 03, 2006 - Global warming is melting glaciers in China's Tibetan region at a rate of 7.0 percent annually, triggering drought, desertification and sandstorms in other regions, state press reported Tuesday.

- Greenhouse Gas Emissions Increased In 2005
http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Greenhou...ed_In_2005.html

-

Canada To Spend 2 Billion Dollars To Fight Global Warming
http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Canada_T...al_Warming.html

Ottawa (AFP) May 03, 2006 - Canada's Finance Minister Jim Flaherty promised two billion Canadian dollars (1.8 billion US dollars) in his budget Tuesday to help stem global warming, but offered few details, prompting angry reactions from environmentalists.

- Worries About The Ozone Layer Are Not Yet Over
http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Worries_...t_Yet_Over.html

Paris (AFP) May 04, 2006 - Optimism that Earth's protective ozone layer, ravaged by chemicals in the 20th century, may be restored within the next couple of decades is premature, according to a study published on Thursday.

- Dutch Study Sheds Light On Climate Change's Threat To Birds
http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Dutch_St...t_To_Birds.html

Paris (AFP) May 04, 2006 - Environmental scientists in the Netherlands say they have found evidence that climate change can decimate migrating bird species by affecting the date when their main food supply becomes abundant.

- The Human Contribution To Atmosphere Circulation Changes
http://www.terradaily.com/reports/The_Huma...on_Changes.html

Virginia Key FL (SPX) May 05, 2006 - A new study published in this week's issue of Nature is the first to show that human activity is altering the circulation of the tropical atmosphere and ocean through global warming.

- Giant Ozone Hole May Be Forming Over Tibet
http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Giant_Oz...Over_Tibet.html

Beijing (AFP) May 05, 2006 - Chinese scientists have warned a 2.5-million-square-kilometer (one-million-square-mile) ozone hole may be forming over the Tibetan plateau, state media reported Thursday.

- China Environmental Woes Threaten Social Stability
http://www.terradaily.com/reports/China_En..._Stability.html

Beijing (AFP) May 05, 2006 - China's environmental woes are becoming an increasing threat to social stability, with over 50,000 disputes and protests related to pollution recorded last year, state press reported Thursday.