climate findings

--text posts are at the blistered orb--

Lots of new work, e.g. Environ Res Letters, Geophys Res Letters, PNAS etc., is about the how-to of measurement. I didn't link to this. Nature has an interesting research cluster on city adaptation. The Tamino blog has good posts on the death spiral of the arctic ice. Geology has items on methane clathrates; one on how typhoons roiling the waters can unzip the deposits, another on how massively/abruptly the deposits, once unzipped, would let go. Coincidence? Science has items on the Eocene heatspike (+ 6 C degrees) and new docu of its correlation with CO2. Nice work, but I don't understand why this makes headlines (e.g. Sci Am), let alone why this gets published in 2010. 1950 would've make more sense, no? Do we need more proof? Or is this just disenlightenment zeigeist, whereby the obvious needs to be shown time and again?

THE UNFOLDING CHANGES

(evaporation up 1982-1997; soil moisture down 1998-2008)
M Jung recent decline in the global land evapotranspiration trend
Nature 467 (2010): 951-954

(additional warming of at least 5-6 C likely)
various climate change evidence from the geological record
Geological Society (London) conference statement Nov 2010
... press: Earth will take 100,000 years to recover 2 Nov 10

(three excellent posts by Tamino on the arctic melt)
G Foster history of arctic sea ice (part 1) Open Mind Oct 16
G Foster can we talk? Open Mind Oct 28
G Foster how likely? Open Mind Nov 3

(Nagoya, no Copenhagen, got work done!)
[staff] world gets 2020 vision for conservation 2 Nov 10
Nature 468 (2010): 14
[staff] geoengineering faces ban 2 Nov 10
Nature 468 (2010): 13-14
[staff] welcome and unexpected progress
Science 330 (2010): 742-743
... various global diversity outlook 3 UNEP (May 2010)
... 2 C global warming too high for diversity Die Zeit

(how to do science in the disenlightenment)
S Lewis how to beat the media in the climate street fight
Nature 468 (2010) online doi 10.1038/468007a

UNDERSTANDING GLOBAL HEATING

(when seafloor CH4 lets go, it does so abruptly)
N Bangs et al massive methane release triggered by erosion
Geology 38 (2010): 1019-1022

(I sure hope CH4 deposits are elsewhere when this happens!)
K Rogers et al mass failures, tropical cyclone, submarine canyons
Geology 38 (2010): 1051-1054

(learning more about the PT extinction: nasty causal cascades )
T Algeo et al anomalous sediment fluxes and bio consequences
Geology 38 (2010): 1023-1026

(proof of high CO2 when it was hot--who'd have guessed?)
P Pearson increased atmospheric CO2 in mid-eocene
Science 330 (2010): 763-764

(ditto)
P Bijl mid-eocene atmo CO2 and temperature variations
Science 330 (2010): 819-821

(summary of the OMG! CO2-climate link by Sci Am)
[staff] CO2 triggered a global warming event 40 mya
Scientific American Nov 4

[staff] Brazil's climate modellers are set to go global
Nature 468 (2010): 20

MEANS & ISSUES OF MITIGATION

(water-starved communities plant fog-harvesting forests)
G Vince out of the mist
Science 330 (2010): 750-751

(financial incentives alone won't fuel urban adaptation)
R Buckley climate economics: hot in the city
critical review of M Kahn Climatopolis (Basic Books 2010)
Nature 467 (2010): 915-916

(environmental review details 'unacceptable' impacts)
[staff] mountaintop minding plans close to defeat
Nature 467 (2010): 1021

(water management research must focus on urban areas)
[editorial] save our cities
Nature 467 (2010): 883-884

(scientists must help mayors to prepare for a warming world)
C Rosenzweig et al cities lead the way in climate action
Nature 467 (2010): 909-911

(it's time for a holistic science of society & environment)
L Bettencourt/G West a unified theory of urban living
Nature 467 (2010): 912-913

(truly green buildings: how skyscrapers could trap CO2)
R Armstrong / N Spiller synthetic biology: living quarters
Nature 467 (2010): 916-918

(new ranching techniques could shave 7% off agri GHGs)
P Thornton/M Herrero reduced livestock emissions in tropics
PNAS 107 (45: 2010) doi 10.1073/pnas.o912890107

CIVIL EVOLUTION

(kids learn to interact better in public)
C Saulter why public transit is good for kids Grist 1 Nov 2010

(how to reduce farmers' vulnerability to climate impacts)
FAO launches website on climate-smart agriculture
UN FAO newsfeed 4 Nov 2010