| Headline |
Author |
Published |
Section |
So uncool
Eighth warmest June on record means 'Great Ice Age of 2008' is still over |
Joseph Romm |
17 Jul 2008 |
Gristmill |
| I know we're supposed to be going into a period of cooling, at least according to people who don't believe in the scientific method, but for those who do, NOAA's National Climatic Data Center reports in its 'Climate of 2008 June in Historical Perspective': Based on preliminary data, the globally averaged combined land and sea surface temperature was the eighth warmest on record for June and the ninth warmest for January-June year-to-date period. It is pretty darn h ... |
|
| Topics: Arctic, climate, climate change impacts, climate science, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (all these topics) |
|
|
Guess I won't be seaing you
Arctic sea ice update: 2008 poised to repeat -- or beat -- 2007 |
Joseph Romm |
13 Jun 2008 |
Gristmill |
| For months, the deniers have been extolling the fact that the Arctic sea saw record refreezing last fall. And they have been claiming that this somehow fits into the absurd claim that the planet is now in a major cooling trend. But back in the real world, the planet keeps warming, and the Arctic is taking the worst of it, which could lead to potentially catastrophic methane emissions from the tundra, as noted here. The National Snow and Ice Data Center just reported:A ... |
|
| Topics: Arctic, climate, climate change impacts, climate science (all these topics) |
|
|
I'm melting
Breaking news: Permafrost loss linked to Arctic sea ice loss |
Joseph Romm |
12 Jun 2008 |
Gristmill |
| A major new study published Friday in Geophysical Research Letters by leading tundra experts has found 'Accelerated Arctic land warming and permafrost degradation during rapid sea ice loss.' The lead author is David Lawrence of the National Center for Atmospheric Research, who I interviewed for my book and recently interviewed again via email about his recent work. The study's ominous conclusion:We find that simulated western Arctic land warming trends during rapid sea ... |
|
| Topics: Arctic, climate, climate change impacts, climate science, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (all these topics) |
|
|
Slip of the tundra
CO2 released from disappearing permafrost must be factored into climate projections |
Joseph Romm |
23 May 2008 |
Gristmill |
| What is the point of no return for the climate -- the level of CO2 concentrations beyond which catastrophic outcomes are virtually unstoppable? No one knows for sure, but my vote goes for the point at which we start to lose a substantial fraction of the tundra's carbon to the atmosphere -- substantial being 0.1 percent per year! As we saw in my last post, frozen away in the permafrost is more carbon than the atmosphere currently contains (and much of that is in the fo ... |
|
| Topics: Arctic, climate, climate change impacts, climate science, greenhouse-gas emissions (all these topics) |
|
|
The permafrost won't be perma for long
More carbon in the Arctic than previously thought |
Joseph Romm |
23 May 2008 |
Gristmill |
| The tundra is probably the single most important amplifying carbon-cycle feedback. None of the IPCC's climate models, however, include carbon emissions from a defrosting tundra as a feedback. Yet, as NOAA reported last month, levels of methane (a far more potent greenhouse gas than CO2) rose last year for the first time since 1998, which may be an early indication of thawing permafrost. So it seems like a good a time for a review and update of what we know. The tund ... |
|
| Topics: Arctic, climate, climate change impacts, climate science, greenhouse-gas emissions (all these topics) |
|
|
Arctic ice shrinks by an Alaska plus a Texas
Ice loss hits record low this month in the Arctic |
Joseph Romm |
25 Sep 2007 |
Gristmill |
| Hitting a record low on September 16, 2007, the Arctic lost half a million square miles of ice compared to its last record low just two years ago. For all the details, check out the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) website, which notes 'the Northwest Passage is still open, but is starting to refreeze.' We are still on track for an ice free Arctic by 2030, decades ahead of the climate models. This post was created for ClimateProgress.org, a project ... |
|
| Topics: Arctic, climate, climate change impacts, climate science (all these topics) |
|
|
Will polar bears go extinct by 2030? Part II
Loss of summer ice in the Arctic will threaten polar bear survival |
Joseph Romm |
11 Sep 2007 |
Gristmill |
| We've seen the USGS predict that two-thirds of the polar bear population will be wiped out by 2050. But that analysis assumes the Arctic will still have summer ice then. The USGS acknowledges (PDF) their projection is 'conservative' since it is based upon an average of existing climate models and 'the observed trajectory of Arctic sea ice decline appears to be underestimated by currently available models.' In fact, the Arctic now is poised to lose all its ice by 2030 ... |
|
| Topics: Arctic, climate, climate change impacts, climate science, habitat loss, polar bears, wildlife (all these topics) |
|
|
Shrinky-Dinky Do
Great Lakes, Arctic sea ice shrinking to record lows |
|
14 Aug 2007 |
Daily Grist |
| Shrinky-Dinky Do Great Lakes, Arctic sea ice shrinking to record lows It could be a summer of record lows in two of the world's iconic places: the Great Lakes and the Arctic seas. Water levels in Lakes Huron, Michigan, and Superior are well below normal, and Superior could soon hit a record low set in 1926. The U.S. and Canada have undertaken a five-year study that c ... |
|
| Topics: Arctic, Canada, climate, climate change impacts, climate science, news, United States (all these topics) |
|
|
©2008. Grist Magazine, Inc. All rights reserved. Gloom and doom with a sense of humor®.