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AGU Chapman Conference on water vapor - the final report

The AGU Chapman Conference on water vapour and its role in climate has come to a close, and I have headed back to not so sunny London. In addition to getting scientists out of the lab, the meeting afforded great opportunities for normally independent communities to interact. Pupu platters and Longboard Ales led to a very interesting discussion about the meaning of terms such as mean global precipitation and temperature rise. Are statistics such as these preventing scientists from meaningfully communicating results about climate change? This of course comes back to old faithful argument “if the Earth is getting warmer, why did it snow last week?” Definitely something to think about when preparing press releases or giving interviews.

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Posted by Alicia Newton on November 03, 2008
Categories: AGU Chapman Conference on Atmospheric Water, Alicia Newton, Atmospheric Science | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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AGU Chapman conference: water vapor and climate

I'm here in Kailua Kona for the AGU Chapman conference on atmospheric water vapor and its role in climate. Given the high humidity and afternoon rain, the topic seems quite appropriate.

In the keynote lecture, Brian Soden of the University of Miami gave a great introduction to the role of water vapor in climate change. It seems to be a general consensus that there is a positive feedback between water vapor and climate. There has been an increase in water vapor in the atmosphere over the past 15 years, and Soden reported that model simulations show that greenhouse gas emissions are at least in part to blame.

He suggests that increasing atmospheric water vapor will play havoc with atmospheric circulation. Wet regions will get wetter while arid regions will dry even more. In addition, floods and droughts will become more frequent and more extreme.

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Posted by Anna Barnett on October 22, 2008
Categories: AGU Chapman Conference on Atmospheric Water, Alicia Newton, Atmospheric Science, Climate Science | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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