Asian Cities' Air Quality Getting Worse, Experts Warn

Asian Cities’ Air Quality Getting Worse, Experts Warn

HONG KONG — Air pollution has worsened markedly in Asian cities in recent years and presents a growing threat to human health, according to experts at a conference that began on Wednesday.

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Altaf Qadri/Associated Press

New Delhi is enveloped by a blanket of smog, caused by a mixture of pollution and fog

Clean Air Asia, a regional network on air-quality management, aggregated data from more than 300 cities in 16 Asian countries and found that levels of fine particulate matter — a key pollutant in terms of its impact on human health — were below targets recommended by the World Health Organization in just 16 cities, most of them in Japan.

Carbon pollution up to 2 million pounds a second

Carbon pollution up to 2 million pounds a second

WASHINGTON — The amount of heat-trapping pollution the world spewed rose again last year by 3 percent. So scientists say it's now unlikely that global warming can be limited to a couple of degrees, which is an international goal.

Last year, all the world's nations combined pumped nearly 38.2 billion tons of carbon dioxide into the air from the burning of fossil fuels such as coal and oil, according to new international calculations on global emissions published Sunday in the journal Nature Climate Change. That's about a billion tons more than the previous year.The overwhelming majority of the increase was from China, the world's biggest carbon dioxide polluter. Of the planet's top 10 polluters, the United States and Germany were the only countries that reduced their carbon dioxide emissions.

Greenland Ice Sheet Continues to Thin

Greenland Ice Sheet Continues to Thin

By Becky Oskin, OurAmazingPlanet Staff Writer

OurAmazingPlanet

updated 12/3/2012 6:25:06 PM ET

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SAN FRANCISCO — The disappearing Greenland Ice Sheet continues to thin along its edges, and could soon open up in the north, according to the latest results of satellite and aerial studies presented here today at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union.

The broad view is that the entire Greenland ice sheet is thinning, and has done so for 20 years, researchers reported at the meeting. But regionally, Greenland presents a more complicated story. Portions of the giant ice cap, one of the biggest blocks of ice on Earth, are melting faster than others, but a few places also seem to be getting thicker, scientists said.

Greenland is now losing about 22 gigatons (22 cubic kilometers) of ice a year, said Beata Csatho, a professor at the University of Buffalo in New York. All of that melting ice adds to rising global sea levels, and future melting is expected to further contribute to that rise.

At climate talks, UN chief rejects warming doubts

At climate talks, UN chief rejects warming doubts

DOHA, Qatar — Pointing to the destruction caused by Hurricane Sandy and other weather disasters this year, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told an international climate conference Tuesday that it was time to "prove wrong" those who still have doubts about global warming.

Ban, addressing delegates at the annual U.N. climate talks, said time is running out for governments to act, citing recent reports showing rising emissions of greenhouse gases, which most scientists say are causing the warming trend.

"The abnormal is the new normal," Ban told environment ministers and climate officials from nearly 200 countries. "This year we have seen Manhattan and Beijing under water, hundreds of thousands of people washed from their homes in Colombia, Peru, the Philippines, Australia."

5 caveats about the autism and air pollution study

5 caveats about the autism and air pollution study. 

Did you read about it? Air pollution levels within a certain range during a woman’s pregnancy and her baby’s early months are linked to an increased risk for autism! Here’s a list of five reasons you should take the “Air pollution linked to autism” headlines with a salt shaker in hand. Emily Willingham, Forbes.

California's urban, transportation policies contribute to children's asthma

California's urban, transportation policies contribute to children's asthma.

California's effort to reverse urban sprawl and encourage denser development may mean more children will live closer to polluted high-traffic areas. A new study estimates that near-road air pollution is at least partially responsible for 8 percent of childhood asthma cases in Los Angeles County. The authors reported that their findings "suggest that there are large and previously unappreciated public health consequences of air pollution" in metropolitan areas and that "compact urban development strategies should be coupled with policies to reduce near-roadway pollution exposure."

Sea-level Rise Outpaces Expert Predictions

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) projected an annual sea level rise last year in 2011 of 2 millimeters per year. According to new satellite data, there appears to be a stark difference between their projections and reality. Sea-levels are rising 60 percent faster than predicted, at a rate of 3.2 millimeters per year. Global temperatures, on the other hand, are continuing to rise at the consistent pace which IPCC predicted. The study shows that the increased rate in sea-level rise is not significantly affected by internal variability in Earth's climate system, but is rather reflective of a general trend.

Permafrost Carbon

November 28, 2012 10:34 AM - Andy Soos, ENN

Permafrost is defined as subsurface material that remains below 0o C (32o F) for at least two consecutive years. Because permafrost soils remain frozen for long periods of time, they store large amounts of carbon and other nutrients within their frozen framework during that time. Permafrost represents a large carbon reservoir that is seldom considered when determining global terrestrial carbon reservoirs. Carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane emissions from thawing permafrost could amplify warming due to anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. This amplification is called the permafrost carbon feedback. Permafrost contains about 1700 gigatonnes (Gt) of carbon in the form of frozen organic matter, almost twice as much carbon as currently in the atmosphere. If the permafrost thaws, the organic matter will thaw and decay, potentially releasing large amounts of CO2 and methane into the atmosphere. This organic material was buried and frozen thousands of years ago and its release into the atmosphere is irreversible on human time scales. Thawing permafrost could emit 43 to 135 Gt of CO2 equivalent by 2100 and 246 to 415 Gt of CO2 equivalent by 2200. Uncertainties are large, but emissions from thawing permafrost could start within the next few decades and continue for several centuries, influencing both short-term climate (before 2100) and long-term climate (after 2100)

Computer Models of Earth's Climate Change Confirmed on Mars

Computer models of Earth's climate change confirmed on Mars 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Computer models have accurately forecast conditions on Mars and are valid predictors of climate change on Earth, U.S. and French astronomers said on Tuesday.

These computer programs predicted Martian glaciers and other features on Earth's planetary neighbor, scientists found.

"Some public figures imply that modeling of global climate change on Earth is 'junk science,' but if climate models can explain features observed on other planets, then the models must have at least some validity," lead researcher William Hartmann of the Planetary Science Institute said in a statement.

Will We Need to Pull Carbon Out of the Atmosphere to Save Ourselves?

Will we need to pull carbon out of the atmosphere to save ourselves?

This year saw the Arctic sea ice extent fall to a new and shocking low, while the U.S. experienced it warmest month ever on record (July), beating even Dust Bowl temperatures. Meanwhile, a flood of new research has convincingly connected a rise in extreme weather events, especially droughts and heatwaves, to global climate change, and a recent report by the DARA Group and Climate Vulnerability Forum finds that climate change contributes to around 400,000 deaths a year and costs the world 1.6 percent of its GDP, or $1.2 trillion. All this and global temperatures have only risen about 0.8 degrees Celsius (1.44 degrees Fahrenheit) since the early Twentieth Century. Scientists predict that temperatures could rise between 1.1 degrees Celsius (2 degrees Fahrenheit) to a staggering 6.4 degrees Celsius (11.5 degrees Fahrenheit) by the end of the century.

Searing Temperatures for the US

Searing Temperatures 

If there were any climate change denialists located in the United States, over the last nine months, their arguments have been shattered by rising temperatures and the highest average over nine months with severe drought conditions disabling many economic sectors and livelihoods.

According to the U.S. Drought Monitor (October 2012), "64.6 percent of the contiguous U.S. was experiencing moderate-to-exceptional drought, slightly larger than the extent of drought at the end of August. The percent area of the nation experiencing exceptional drought, the worst category of drought, remained nearly constant at about 6 percent."

January to September was recorded by the National Climate Data Centre as the warmest first nine months of any year with national temperature of 59.8° F, a 1.2° F rise from previous spike in 2006 and 3.6° F higher than the 2006 national average.

A Grand Experiment to Rein In Climate Change

LEGGETT, Calif. — Braced against a steep slope, Robert Hrubes cinched his measuring tape around the trunk of one tree after another, barking out diameters like an auctioneer announcing bids. “Twelve point two!” “Fourteen point one!” 

Mr. Hrubes’s task, a far cry from forestry of the past, was to calculate how much carbon could be stored within the tanoak, madrone and redwood trees in that plot. Every year or so, other foresters will return to make sure the trees are still standing and doing their job.

Such audits will be crucial as California embarks on its grand experiment in reining in climate change. On Jan. 1, it will become the first state in the nation to charge industries across the economy for the greenhouse gases they emit. Under the system, known as “cap and trade,” the state will set an overall ceiling on those emissions and assign allowable emission amounts for individual polluters. A portion of these so-called allowances will be allocated to utilities, manufacturers and others; the remainder will be auctioned off.

Ramin Rahimian for The New York Times

Scientists Adopt Tiny Island as a Warming Bellwether

Scientists Adopt Tiny Island as a Warming Bellwether

Matthew Ryan Williams for The New York Times

TATOOSH ISLAND, Wash. — From a stretch of rocky shoreline on this tiny island, one can, on any given morning, watch otters floating on their backs, elephant seals hauling out of the water and a bald eagle flying past murres huddled along a cliff face. The startled birds perform a synchronized dive into the sea, their ovoid black-and-white bodies resembling miniature penguins.

It appears as if the island’s wildlife is thriving at this remote outpost, which is also a former Coast Guard station crowned by a decommissioned lighthouse. It was also once a whaling base for the Makah tribe, who maintain treaty rights to the land.

Non-Native Plants Show a Greater Response Than Native Wildflowers to Climate Change

Warming temperatures in Ohio are a key driver behind changes in the state's landscape, and non-native plant species appear to be responding more strongly than native wildflowers to the changing climate, new research suggests

This adaptive nature demonstrated by introduced species could serve them well as the climate continues to warm. At the same time, the non-natives' potential ability to become even more invasive could threaten the survival of native species already under pressure from land-use changes, researchers say.

The research combines analyses of temperature change and blooming patterns of 141 species of Ohio wildflowers since 1895. Overall, the average temperature increased 1.7 degrees Fahrenheit (0.9 degrees Celsius) in Ohio between 1895 and 2009. And 66 wildflower species -- or 46 percent of the 141 studied -- flowered earlier than usual in response to that warming.

This change in flowering patterns not only alters the landscape, but affects the availability of food for insects and birds and can influence the reproductive success of the plants themselves.

This kind of wildflower data is difficult to come by because historical observations of flowering trends simply don't exist in most states.

Outback Tornado

Pictures: Fire "Tornado" Spotted—How Do They Form?

Outback Tornado

Video still courtesy Chris Tangey, Alice Springs Film & TV

A fire tornado blazes near Curtin Springs, Australia, in a still of a recently released video.

Chris Tangey of Alice Springs Film and Television was filming a wildfire when a small twister touched down, "causing it to build into a spinning flame," according to Australia's WPTV.com. (Watch a video of the fire tornado.)

Also known as fire whirls, fire devils, or even firenados, these whirlwinds of flame are not really rare, just rarely documented, Jason Forthofer, a mechanical engineer at the U.S. Forest Services's Missoula Fire Sciences Laboratory in Montana, said in 2010. (Also see "Fire Tornado Seen Spinning Over Hungary.")

As Tangey told Northern Territory News, "It sounded like a jet fighter going by, yet there wasn't a breath of wind where we were."

A Global Hawk Turns Hurricane Hunter

Pictures: Drones Take on Hurricanes, Environment Work

A Global Hawk Turns Hurricane Hunter

Photograph by Reed Saxon, Associated Press

While the American Civil Liberties Union and the Obama Administration duked it out in court last week over the U.S. military’s use of lethal drone strikes in the war on terror, NASA launched its own drone mission in the ongoing battle to understand and predict deadly storms.

An unmanned Global Hawk plane (pictured above) left NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility, in Virgina, on September 19. The drone is set to target the eye ofHurricane Nadine, which has been brewing over the Azores and the North Atlantic Ocean for about a week.

This will be the Global Hawk’s third trip into the storm this year—the first of athree-year, 30-million-dollar experiment to use high-altitude, long-distance drones that can “spy,” or collect data, on the evolution of tropical storm intensity.

Unlike more commonly used manned hurricane hunter planes, the Global Hawks, with a wingspan of 116 feet (35 meters) and a jet engine, can stay in the air for up to 30 hours and travel up to 11,000 miles (17,700  kilometers).

“We’re getting to areas that you just can’t get to with a manned aircraft,” said Ramesh Kakar, who leads weather research for NASA’s Earth science projects.

Ozone Layer Recovers as Montreal Protocol Turns 25

OZONE LAYER RECOVERS AS MONTREAL PROTOCOL TURNS 25

NEW YORK, New York, September 17, 2012 (ENS) – Earth’s ozone layer is now on track to recover during the next 50 years, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Sunday on the 25th anniversary of the 1987 Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer. Emissions of ozone-depleting chemicals such as refrigerants into the atmosphere have caused holes to open annually over both poles.

“A quarter-century ago, one of the greatest challenges facing humanity – the thinning of the ozone layer that protects life on Earth from the harmful ultraviolet rays of the Sun – led to what is arguably the best example yet of global cooperation on an environmental issue,” said the secretary-general in his message on the International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer, observed annually on September 16.

NASA’s Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite measured the chemistry, dynamics, and energy of the ozone layer as it orbited the Earth from 1991 through 2011. (Photo courtesy NASA Goddard Flight Center)

Global observations have verified that atmospheric levels of key ozone depleting substances are going down. Scientists believe that with implementation of the protocol’s provisions the ozone layer should return to pre-1980 levels sometime between 2050 to 2075.

Ban said the Montreal Protocol is “not merely a success in meeting its immediate objectives, it offers substantive lessons and inspiration in addressing other global challenges and turning them into opportunities for common progress.”

“I urge governments and all partners to apply the same spirit to the other great environment and development challenges of our times. Together, we can achieve the future we want,” Ban said.

A hole in the ozone layer over Antarctica, first observed in 1979 and confirmed as an annual event in 1984, led to negotiation of the Montreal Protocol.

Environment News Service (http://s.tt/1onCc)

Australia’s Unique Species Face ‘Unstoppable’ Climate Danger

AUSTRALIA’S UNIQUE SPECIES FACE ‘UNSTOPPABLE’ CLIMATE 

SYDNEY, Australia, September 19, 2012 (ENS) – The impact of climate change on Australia’s unique plants, animals and ecosystems will cause extinctions and lost ecosystem services and require new ways of thinking about biodiversity conservation, finds Australia’s national science agency.

Conducted by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, CSIRO, the study modeled 100 percent of Australia’s land mass and did detailed ecological analyses of four priority biomes, covering around 80 percent of Australia.

Eucalypt forest in Victoria, Australia (Photo by Fir0002/Flagstaffotos)

“Climate change is likely to start to transform some of Australia’s natural landscapes by 2030,” said lead researcher Dr. Michael Dunlop. “By 2070, the ecological impacts are likely to be very significant and widespread.”

“Many of the environments our plants and animals currently exist in will disappear from the continent,”  he said. “Our grandchildren are likely to experience landscapes that are very different to the ones we have known.”

Environment News Service (http://s.tt/1omBH)

What's with Frosty? Why Isn't He Showing Up On Time?

Check out this graph of America's "Growing Season" — it measures the number of continuous days and nights when it never gets below 32 degrees. You could call this our "frost-free" time of year. In many places, the frost-free season begins in the spring and ends somewhere in October.

As you can see, over the 20^th century, it's been staying frost-free longer...and longer...and longer...

EnlargeU.S. EPA

What's With Frosty? Why Isn't He Showing Up On Time?

Oregon's Prized Pinot Noir Grapes Will Take the Heat of Climate Change

EnlargeGreg Wahl-Stephens/AP

Pinot noir grapes are notoriously finicky about the weather, and climate change has winemakers in Oregon thinking about the future.

Some grapes like it hot.

But for growers of Pinot Noir, mild summers tempered by chilly nights and fresh ocean air make for award-winning, fortune-finding wines. Such a climate has turned Oregon into a producer of some of the world's most highly regarded Pinot Noir. This variety, which seemed to receive a strong sales boost from the 2004 film Sideways, accounts for about 60 percent of Oregon's wine production and 70 percent of Oregon's total wine sales.

But as global warming nudges average temperatures upward across the planet and causes tumultuous, grape-damaging weather changes, winemakers in Oregon are wondering just how their superstar grape will fare — if at all.

How Oregon's Prized Pinot Noir Grapes Will Take The Heat Of Climate Change