Another Volcano, Another Cold Snap
by Bill ChameidesNov 13, 2009
filed under: Greenland, volcanoes, El Nino-Southern Oscillation, solar cycle, La Nina, Mount Tambora, global warming, Antarctica, Pulse of the Planet, sulfur dioxide, Mount Pinatubo, global cooling, solar variation
Analysis of sulfur isotopes in ice cores fingers a volcano in the 19th-century dip in global temperatures.
The Nano Race
by Bill ChameidesNov 03, 2009
filed under: Pulse of the Planet, research, health, policy, carbon, nanotechnology
The race between finding new applications for nanoparticles and determining if they are safe is still very much in question.
Arctic Plankton Sing the Global Warming Blues
by Bill ChameidesOct 28, 2009
filed under: climate change, Arctic, oceans, Pulse of the Planet, global warming, research, phytoplankton, science
The canary in the climate change mine is singing a new and slightly different tune.
Climate Update: Of Ice and Men
by Bill ChameidesOct 13, 2009
filed under: climate, National Snow and Ice Data Center, climate change, Arctic, Pulse of the Planet, global warming, ice, sea ice
If ice is the canary in the climate mine, the canary is melting.
The Waxing Sun and Warming Climate
by Bill ChameidesOct 05, 2009
filed under: greenhouse gas emissions, solar, Sun, solar cycle, greenhouse gases, global warming, radiative forcing, Pulse of the Planet, climate change, sunspots
You don’t have to be a climate scientist to know that the Sun is the main driver of climate.
On Thinner Ice
by Bill ChameidesSep 29, 2009
filed under: sea level rise, Greenland, greenhouse gas emissions, climate change, pulse of the planet, Pulse of the Planet, global warming, water, ice sheets, Antarctica, ice, temperatures
New satellite, new instrument, same result: glaciers are thinning.
You Are What Your Farmed Fish Eat
by Bill ChameidesSep 14, 2009
filed under: food, science, fish, oceans, Pulse of the Planet, paper, aquaculture, waste, farmed fish, overfishing
You can take the fish out of the ocean and raise them in a farm, but you don’t necessarily get the ocean’s protein from the farmed fish.
Medieval Warm Period and Hockey Stick Revisited
by Bill ChameidesAug 31, 2009
filed under: hockey stick, Medieval Warm Period, climate change, oceans, Pulse of the Planet, global warming, Michael Mann, Delia Oppo, temperatures, carbon dioxide emissions, U.S. National Academy of Sciences
Were global temperatures during the beginning of the last millennium as warm as today? New study says ”yes.“ But what does it mean?
Monsoon Fails, India Suffers
by Bill ChameidesAug 24, 2009
filed under: Nature, Moetasim Ashfaq, Geophysical Research Letters, India, global warming, Pulse of the Planet, monsoon, Matthew Rodell, drought
Failure of the summer monsoon is spelling disaster for 600 million farmers in India.
The Ups and Downs of Global Haze
by Bill ChameidesAug 19, 2009
filed under: Journal of Geophysical Research - Atmospheres, Martin Wild, aerosols, air pollution, global dimming, pulse of the planet, global warming, surface solar radiation, global brightening
Tiny particles suspended in the atmosphere can affect the climate. How? A special issue in the Journal of Geophysical Research – Atmospheres sheds some light on the subject.
We Don’t Know Clouds After All
by Bill ChameidesJul 27, 2009
filed under: clouds, feedback, climate change, Pulse of the Planet, global warming, iris effect, Dick Lindzen, climate skeptics, water vapor, carbon dioxide emissions, research, science
Clouds have been the hook climate skeptics have been hanging their “you-can’t-predict-future-climate” hat on for years. The hook appears to be melting as a result of new research.
Drink Up Your Soft Drink - Another Critical Habitat in Decline
by Bill ChameidesJul 09, 2009
filed under: seagrasses, Pulse of the Planet, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, water pollution, seagrass meadows, habitat degradation, pollution
A new paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences takes stock of the global status of seagrass meadows. Seagrass meadows?
Day After Tomorrow Not Any Time Soon
by Bill ChameidesJun 03, 2009
filed under: abrupt climate change, climate, Geophysical Research Letters, oceans, Pulse of the Planet, ice, research, ice sheets, ice age, Younger-Dryas, climate disruption, Amy Bower, climate change, Susan Lozier, science
Model simulations predict a global warming-induced ice age is not in the cards this century. Cool ... or should I say, "Neat"?
Deep Ocean Revisions Do Not Spell Global Warming Rethink
by Bill ChameidesMay 20, 2009
filed under: climate, climate change, oceans, Pulse of the Planet, global warming, research, science
A new paper suggests that our model for the circulation of the deep ocean may be wrong. But claims that all global warming science should therefore be thrown overboard just don’t hold water.
Staring Down the Double-Barrel Climate Shotgun
by Bill ChameidesApr 29, 2009
filed under: wetlands, climate change, oceans, Pulse of the Planet, global warming, research, climate disruption, science, carbon dioxide emissions, permafrost, methane
Surprises in the climate system can very quickly make global warming a whole lot worse than predicted. One such surprise could come from a sudden release of methane, from one or both of two major sources. Thanks to a new paper, we probably know which barrel of that double-barrel shotgun to worry about first.
Is Soot Melting the Ice?
by Bill ChameidesApr 14, 2009
filed under: aerosols, climate change, Arctic, Pulse of the Planet, global warming
A few months back on a flight to the West Coast I looked out the window to see a strange site: instead of being white, the snow-covered Rockies had a gray tinge. A new paper suggests a similar phenomenon may be responsible for melting the Arctic’s polar ice cap.
Whither the West Antarctic Ice Sheet?
by Bill ChameidesMar 24, 2009
filed under: sea level rise, climate, Greenland, climate change, Pulse of the Planet, global warming, ice sheets, Antarctica
Mention global warming, and you might think of rising sea levels inundating coastal cities and island nations. But how much could sea levels rise? Two new papers shed some light.
Pulse of the Planet: Good News From Africa - Tropical Forests Inhale
by Bill ChameidesFeb 23, 2009
filed under: greenhouse gases, climate, greenhouse gas emissions, climate change, Pulse of the Planet, forests, global warming, missing sink
A heretofore unrecognized ally has emerged In the global warming fight: tropical forests.
Pulse of the Planet: Can’t Turn Down the Heat
by Bill ChameidesFeb 09, 2009
filed under: isotopes, fossil fuels, Susan Solomon, Sherwood Rowland, climate change, Pulse of the Planet, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Mario Molina, carbon-13, carbon-12, Paul Crutzen, carbon dioxide emissions
Imagine you’re in the shower and you turn up the hot water, but it gets too hot – scalding hot. What do you do? Turn the hot water down, of course. But what if you can’t? And what if you can’t even get out of the shower? You’d probably regret having turned up the hot water tap. A new paper shows that that kind of scenario is what we're facing in the case of global warming.
Pulse of the Planet: Climate Is on the March
by Bill ChameidesJan 26, 2009
filed under: tilt, animals, climate change, Pulse of the Planet, global warming, research, moths, seasons, obliquity, science, Northwest Hawaiian Island Marine Monument, Milankovitch theory
As students from Duke’s Nicholas School of the Environment visit the Papahanaumokuakea (pronounced Pa-pa-hah-now-mo-koo-ah-keh-ah) Marine National Monument, two new papers suggest that subtle but profound changes in the Earth’s climate are underway that could threaten that very ecosystem.
