Australian Academy of Science The science of climate change: questions and answers An updated edition of The science of climate change: questions and answers will be released in mid-2014. This publication aims to address confusion created by contradictory information in the public domain. What is climate change? The science of climate change: questions and answers was prepared by a working group of nine members co-chaired by Drs Ian Allison and Mike Raupach FAA, FTSE. Getting rich off global warming On the opening morning of the inaugural National Adaptation Forum, I was eating breakfast at a stand-up table in the exhibition hall when a mustachioed man of middle age plopped his cherry Danish next to my pile of conference literature, a mess of pamphlets and reports with titles like Getting Climate Smart: A Water Preparedness Guide for State Action, and Successful Adaptation: Linking Science and Policy in a Rapidly Changing World. The nametag dangling above the Danish identified the man as Michael Hughes, director of public works for the Chicago suburb of Elmhurst. Like many attendees, Hughes was part of a new national emergency-response team without being fully aware of it. He had arrived in Denver knowing little about “adaptation,” the anemic catchall for attempts to fortify our natural and built environments against the epochal temperature spike in progress. “I hadn’t even heard the term ‘adaptation’ a month ago,” he told me, taking a bite. And yeah, it’s pronounced, “Noah.”
The Earth Institute - Columbia University Sea-level Rise - CSIRO & ACECRC We love the coast. Coastal regions, particularly some low-lying river deltas, have very high population densities. In excess of 150 million people live within 1 metre of high tide level, and 250 million within 5 metres of high tide. The Oceans are changing. A recent issue of the journal Science has focused on a number of aspects of ocean change, including sea-level rise. A (pdf) reprint of this editorial can be obtained from here. This sea-level rise is a response to increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and the consequent changes in the global climate. On this web site, we attempt to bring together information on sea level rise and its causes. Photos: Bruce Miller, 2006 Our most recent estimate of changes in global averaged sea level since 1993 are estimated from satellite altimeter data (red) and since 1880 by combining in situ sea level data from coastal tide gauges and the spatial patterns of variability determined from satellite altimeter data (blue). [top]
Carbon Negative Strategies Emerging as Global Warming Solution Scientists at the Stanford University Global Climate and Energy Project have proposed taking the global warming fight to a whole new level. The problem is that we’re so far behind in greenhouse gas emissions management, that it’s time to get more aggressive. Rather than simply trying to reduce the carbon we put into the atmosphere, the Stanford team proposes a carbon negative strategy in which plants are deployed on a massive scale to grab carbon out of the atmosphere. Great idea, but there’s a way to make it even better. A Biomass, Carbon Negative Strategy As described yesterday in our sister site PlanetSave, the Stanford team has identified the biomass as one of the most promising ways to achieve carbon negative systems, on a large scale. These biomass-based systems are called bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS). The basic idea is to break the carbon cycle. However, there’s a catch. In other words, industrial carbon capture has to be part of the solution, too. CO vs.
Gas pipelines supplying Europe 'in real danger from exploding tundra' - top scientist Yerkutinskaya funnel. Picture: Aleksandr Sokolov New analysis by satellite and helicopter shows gas pipelines run right over swelling tundra which is deeply unstable due to the release of underground methane that had been frozen in permafrost - now thawing - for thousands of years, revealed Russia's leading expert on the new phenomenon, Professor Vasily Bogoyavlensky. In one recent explosion, permafrost soil was thrown around 1 kilometre from the epicentre of the blast, highlighting the huge force, scientists discovered. Flames shot into the sky, and a 50 metre-deep crater was formed from the eruption. The process is seen as caused by the warming Arctic climate and has vast implications for the energy industry in polar regions. Seyakhinskaya funnel. Gas from Yamal is crucial to both Russia and the European energy system, with exports in particular to Poland and Germany. Most are harmless but the difficulty for experts is identifying which are dangerous. 'Do you understand?
UK Met Office - Climate guide Find out about climate, climate change and climate science in our climate guide The following pages include information around what climate is and what influences it, how and why our climate is changing and the work we undertake to help the UK prepare for future changes. If you would like to find out more about the climate services we provide, including Climate Service UK, you can do so on the climate services section of our website. For more in-depth information about climate research go to our research web pages. The Met Office also hosts the National Climate Information Centre which holds national and regional climate information for the United Kingdom.
Home Page Cities in Russia may COLLAPSE by 2050 due to thawing permafrost Towns and cities across the east of Vladimir Putin's vast empire could 'collapse' in the coming decades because of thawing permafrost. Ground that was once solid is crumbling due to climate change, and the impact for buildings across Arctic and Siberian regions will be 'devastating' by 2050, says a new US-Russian report. Problems are expected even sooner in Anadyr, the capital of the extreme eastern region on Chukotka, where Chelsea tycoon Roman Abramovich once served as governor. Towns and cities across the east of Vladimir Putin's vast empire could 'collapse' in the coming decades because of thawing permafrost. Permafrost is a thick, subsurface layer of soil that remains below freezing point throughout the year. It primarily occurs in polar regions such as Siberia and the Arctic. Rising temperatures caused by climate change can cause permafrost to thaw and melt. If towns and railways are underpinned by permafrost, warming temperatures can lead to structural instabilities.