Tropical forests which (still) cover around 10% of the global land area contain more carbon per hectare than any other form of vegetation. It’s obvious from that that their growth or decline has a huge impact on the global carbon budget. Read more
Last week I noted that the new bosses in Washington DC, in their swift stride towards distinctly post-Bush environmental policies, had yet to touch the outgoing administration’s 11th-hour battle against applying the Clear Air Act to greenhouse gas emissions from power plants. Read more
Researchers have discovered new hot spots for emissions of the greenhouse gas nitrous oxide: barren patches of peat dotted across northern tundra. And warming in the Arctic – just as it threatens to multiply emissions of carbon dioxide and methane from thawing permafrost and drying bogs – could accelerate the output of this lesser-known climate change culprit, according to a study in Nature Geoscience this week (subscription). Read more
Cross-posted from The Great Beyond At a talk yesterday in Washington, plant ecologist Christian Körner showed just how variable temperatures can be in the mountains, even between patches of land that are close together. This could offer possible escape routes for animals impacted by global warming, as potentially they wouldn’t have to move as far as people think to reach a cooler place to live, he says. Korner’s lab explains the image as follows: Using a high resolution thermal imaging camera, this picture illustrates the large variation of temperatures in an alpine landscape at 2500m elevation in the Swiss Alps. Read more
Cross-posted from The Great Beyond Around 400 cities across Europe have signed up to an agreement to reduce their carbon dioxide emissions by more than the EU’s overall target of 20% by 2020 (from 1990 levels). The ‘covenant of mayors’ initiative, ceremonially launched on 10 February in Brussels, is the brainchild of the European Commission. Participating cities – so far including London, Paris, and Madrid – will submit action plans within a year, including an inventory of baseline CO2 emissions. They’ll have to publicly report once every two years on progress, and will get kicked out of the covenant if … Read more
It is common by now: Every time the weather goes crazy in one part of the world or another, bringing death and destruction through storms, floods or wildfires – such as those still raging in Australia – speculations run wild as to whether it is due to climate change. My Briefing over at Nature news has sparked another such debate. Read more
The LA Times reports that two US federal agencies in the business of financing international fossil fuel projects like oil refineries and power plants have agreed to start scrutinizing the carbon output of these big emitters. Read more
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Climate Feedback is a blog hosted by Nature Publishing Group to facilitate lively and informative discussion on the science and wider implications of global warming. The blog aims to be a forum for debate and commentary on climate science in the Nature Climate Change journal and in the world at large.
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