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| Heat and cold damage corals in their own ways | | Around the world coral reefs are facing threats brought by climate change and dramatic shifts in sea temperatures. While warming has been the primary focus for scientists and ocean policy managers, cold can also cause significant damage. Scientists have shown that cool temperatures can inflict more damage in the short term, but heat is more destructive in the long run. |
| Global experts question claims about jellyfish populations | | Blooms, or proliferation, of jellyfish have shown a substantial, visible impact on coastal populations -- clogged nets for fishermen, stinging waters for tourists, even choked intake lines for power plants -- and recent media reports have created a perception that the world's oceans are experiencing increases in jellyfish due to human activities such as global warming and overharvesting of fish. Now, a new study questions claims that jellyfish are increasing worldwide and suggests claims are not supported with any hard evidence or scientific analyses to date. |
| Are jellyfish increasing in world's oceans? | | A global study has questioned claims that jellyfish are increasing worldwide. Blooms, or proliferation, of jellyfish have shown a substantial, visible impact on coastal populations -- clogged nets for fishermen, stinging waters for tourists, even choked intake lines for power plants -- and recent media reports have created a perception that the world's oceans are experiencing increases in jellyfish due to human activities such as global warming and overharvesting of fish. Now, a new global and collaborative study questions claims that jellyfish are increasing worldwide and suggests claims are not supported with any hard evidence or scientific analyses to date. |
| Tropical cyclones to cause greater damage, researchers predict | | Tropical cyclones will cause $109 billion in damages by 2100, according to researchers in a new paper. That figure represents an increased vulnerability from population and especially economic growth, as well as the effects of climate change. Greater vulnerability to cyclones is expected to increase global tropical damage to $56 billion by 2100 -- double the current damage -- from the current rate of $26 billion per year if the present climate remains stable. |
| First plants caused ice ages, new research reveals | | New research reveals how the arrival of the first plants 470 million years ago triggered a series of ice ages. The research reveals the effects that the first land plants had on the climate during the Ordovician Period, which ended 444 million years ago. During this period the climate gradually cooled, leading to a series of 'ice ages.' This global cooling was caused by a dramatic reduction in atmospheric carbon, which this research now suggests was triggered by the arrival of plants. |
| Earth's energy budget remained out of balance despite unusually low solar activity, study finds | | A new NASA study underscores the fact that greenhouse gases generated by human activity -- not changes in solar activity -- are the primary force driving global warming. The study offers an updated calculation of Earth's energy imbalance, the difference between the amount of solar energy absorbed by Earth's surface and the amount returned to space as heat. The researchers' calculations show that, despite unusually low solar activity between 2005 and 2010, the planet continued to absorb more energy than it returned to space. |
| Was the Little Ice Age triggered by massive volcanic eruptions? | | Scientists suggest that the Little Ice Age was triggered by an unusual, 50-year episode of four massive volcanic eruptions. This led to an expansion of sea ice and a related weakening of Atlantic currents that caused the cool period to persist for centuries. |
| New study may answer questions about enigmatic Little Ice Age | | According to a new study, the Little Ice Age began abruptly between A.D. 1275 and 1300, triggered by repeated, explosive volcanism, and was sustained for centuries by a self- perpetuating sea ice-ocean feedback system in the North Atlantic Ocean. |
| What do killer whales eat in the Arctic? | | Killer whales are the top marine predator. The increase in hunting territories available to killer whales in the Arctic due to climate change and melting sea ice could seriously affect the marine ecosystem balance. New research has combined scientific observations with Canadian Inuit traditional knowledge to determine killer whale behavior and diet in the Arctic. |
| Good news about carbon storage in tropical vegetation | | Tropical vegetation contains 21 percent more carbon than previously thought. Using a combination of remote sensing and field data, scientists were able to produce the first "wall-to-wall" map (with a spatial resolution of 500 m x 500 m) of carbon storage of forests, shrublands, and savannas in the tropics of Africa, Asia, and South America. |
| What really happened prior to 'Snowball Earth'? | | The large changes in the carbon isotopic composition of carbonates which occurred prior to the major climatic event more than 500 million years ago, known as "Snowball Earth," are unrelated to worldwide glacial events, a new study suggests. |
| Detecting detrimental change in coral reefs | | Over dinner on R.V. Calypso while anchored on the lee side of Glover's Reef in Belize, Jacques Cousteau told Phil Dustan that he suspected humans were having a negative impact on coral reefs. Dustan -- a young ocean ecologist who had worked in the lush coral reefs of the Caribbean and Sinai Peninsula -- found this difficult to believe. It was December 1974. But Cousteau was right. During the following three-plus decades, Dustan, an ocean ecologist and biology professor at the University of Charleston in South Carolina, has witnessed widespread coral reef degradation and bleaching from up close. |
| Underwater river of mud and sand tells tale of climate change and ocean gateways, new oil and gas exploration possibilities | | Mediterranean bottom currents and the sediment deposits they leave behind offer new insights into global climate change, the opening and closing of ocean circulation gateways and locations where hydrocarbon deposits may lie buried under the sea. A team of 35 scientists from 14 countries recently returned from an expedition off the southwest coast of Iberia and the nearby Gulf of Cadiz. There the geologists collected core samples of sediments that contain a detailed record of the Mediterranean's history. The scientists retrieved the samples by drilling into the ocean floor during an eight-week scientific expedition onboard the ship JOIDES Resolution. |
| Barley adapts to climate change | | The upsurge in droughts is one of the main consequences of climate change, and affects crops in particular. However, a biologist has confirmed that in the case of barley at least, climate change itself is providing it with a self-defense mechanisms to tackle a lack of water. |
| Turtles' mating habits protect against effects of climate change | | The mating habits of marine turtles may help to protect them against the effects of climate change. The study shows how the mating patterns of a population of endangered green turtles may be helping them deal with the fact that global warming is leading to a disproportionate number of females being born. |
| Sunshade geoengineering more likely to improve global food security, research suggests | | Carbon dioxide emissions have been increasing over the past decades, causing Earth to get hotter and hotter. There are concerns that a continuation of these trends could have catastrophic effects. This has led some to explore drastic ideas for combating global warming, including the idea of counteracting it by reflecting sunlight away from the Earth. However, it has been suggested that reflecting sunlight away from Earth might itself threaten the food supply. New research examines the potential effects that geoengineering the climate could have on global food production and concludes that sunshade geoengineering would be more likely to improve rather than threaten food security. |
| Carbon dioxide is 'driving fish crazy' | | Rising human carbon dioxide emissions may be affecting the brains and central nervous system of sea fishes with serious consequences for their survival, an international scientific team has found. Carbon dioxide concentrations predicted to occur in the ocean by the end of this century will interfere with fishes' ability to hear, smell, turn and evade predators, says a professor. |
| Multiple partners not the only way for corals to stay cool | | For the first time scientists have shown that corals hosting a single type of zooxanthellae can have different levels of thermal tolerance -– a feature that was only known previously for corals with a mix of zooxanthellae. This finding is important because many species of coral are dominated by a single type of zooxanthellae. |
| NASA finds 2011 ninth-warmest year on record | | The global average surface temperature in 2011 was the ninth warmest since 1880, according to NASA scientists. The finding continues a trend in which nine of the 10 warmest years in the modern meteorological record have occurred since the year 2000. |
| NASA sees repeating La Niña hitting its peak | | La Niña, "the diva of drought," is peaking, increasing the odds that the Pacific Northwest will have more stormy weather this winter and spring, while the southwestern and southern United States will be dry. Sea surface height data from NASA's Jason-1 and -2 satellites show that the milder repeat of last year's strong La Niña has recently intensified, as seen in the latest Jason-2 image of the Pacific Ocean. |
| Food security road map while adapting to climate change | | While recent climate negotiations in Durban made incremental progress toward helping farmers adapt to climate change and reduce agriculture's climate footprint, a group of international agriculture experts urges scientists to lay the groundwork for more decisive action on global food security in environmental negotiations in 2012. |
| Toward twister forecasting: Scientists make progress in assessing tornado seasons | | A new study of short-term climate trends offers the first framework for predicting tornado activity up to a month out with current technology, and possibly further out as climate models improve, giving communities a chance to plan. The study may also eventually open a window on the question of whether tornadoes are growing more frequent due to long-term climate warming. |
| Low temperatures enhance ozone degradation above the Arctic | | Extraordinarily cold temperatures in the winter of 2010/2011 caused the most massive destruction of the ozone layer above the Arctic so far: The mechanisms leading to the first ozone hole above the North Pole have now been investigated. |
| Climate change invites alien invaders: Is Canada ready? | | A comprehensive multi-disciplinary synthesis reveals the urgent need for further investigation and policy development to address significant environmental, social and economic impacts of invasive alien species and climate change. |
| Impact of land use activity in the Amazon basin evaluated | | Portions of the Amazon basin are experiencing a transition in energy and water cycles. Evidence suggests that the Amazon may also be transitioning from a net carbon sink to a net source. This research shows that although the Amazon is resilient to individual disturbances, such as drought, multiple disturbances override this, increasing the vulnerability of forest ecosystems to degradation. This review provides a framework for understanding the associations between natural variability and drivers of change. |
| Climate balancing: Sea-level rise vs. surface temperature change rates | | Engineering our way out of global climate warming may not be as easy as simply reducing the incoming solar energy, according to a climate scientists. Designing the approach to control both sea level rise and rates of surface air temperature changes requires a balancing act to accommodate the diverging needs of different locations. |
| Engineering team completes ambitious Antarctic expedition in the 'deep-field' | | A team of four British engineers has returned to the UK after completing a grueling journey to one of the most remote and hostile locations on the planet to put in place equipment and supplies for an ambitious project later this year. Enduring temperatures of minus 35 C the Subglacial Lake Ellsworth "Advance Party" has successfully paved the way to explore an ancient lake buried beneath 3 km of Antarctic ice. |
| Climate change currently benefits albatrosses | | Due to climate change, wind patterns are changing in the Southern Ocean. Higher wind speeds enable the wandering albatrosses of the Crozet Islands to travel more rapidly in search of food.The phenomenon has modified the distribution of these seabirds and improved their physical condition as well as their breeding success. |
| What can be done to slow climate change? | | Scientists have detailed 14 key air pollution control measures that, if implemented, could slow the pace of global warming, improve health and boost agricultural production. |
| Cold winters caused by warmer summers, research suggests | | Scientists have offered up a convincing explanation for the harsh winters recently experienced in the Northern hemisphere: increasing temperatures and melting ice in the Arctic regions creating more snowfall in the autumn months at lower latitudes. |
| Lake Erie algae and ice make a nice mix in winter | | Scientists have studied Lake Erie over the past five winters during mid-winter, a time when the lake is more than 70 percent covered by ice. They've documented very high concentrations of algae thriving in the water below the ice -- even in the ice itself. |
| Could Siberian volcanism have caused the Earth's largest extinction event? | | Around 250 million years ago there was a mass extinction so severe that it remains the most traumatic known species die-off in Earth's history. Although the cause of this event is a mystery, it has been speculated that the eruption of a large swath of volcanic rock in Russia was a trigger for the extinction. New research offers insight into how this volcanism could have contributed to drastic deterioration in the global environment of the period. |
| Better way to gauge climate costs of land use changes | | Those making land use decisions to reduce the harmful effects of climate change have focused almost exclusively on greenhouse gases -- analyzing, for example, how much carbon dioxide is released when a forest is cleared to grow crops. A new study aims to present a more complete picture -- to incorporate other characteristics of ecosystems that also influence climate. |
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