Obama nominates Moniz for energy, McCarthy for EPA

Obama nominates Moniz for energy, McCarthy for EPA

US President Barack Obama moved to fill a pair of key posts in his energy and environmental team on Monday. Confirming weeks of speculation, the president nominated Massachusetts Institute of Technology physicist Ernest Moniz as secretary of energy while promoting Gina McCarthy to lead the Environmental Protection Agency.  Read more

NASA launches Landsat 8 into orbit

NASA launches Landsat 8 into orbit

NASA successfully launched the world’s latest earth-observing satellite aboard an Atlas V rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California today, crystallizing hopes that US scientists will be able to maintain and enhance a continuous environmental monitoring record that dates back more than four decades.  Read more

Obama’s environmental team makes for the exit

Rumours of Energy Secretary Steven Chu’s imminent departure, swirling for weeks, picked up again on Thursday. If confirmed, the Nobel laureate’s departure would very nearly complete the list of resignations by members of President Barack Obama’s vaunted environment team.  Read more

Draft US climate assessment released for review

A US science advisory committee released a draft climate assessment for public review today, documenting a range of global warming impacts across the United States and declaring that more trouble is on the way in the coming decades.  Read more

UN climate talks stumble as scientists raise alarm

University of Chicago professor Raymond Pierrehumbert traced global warming theory back to its roots in the late 19th century during a keynote lecture at the American Geophysical Union meeting in San Francisco this week. Starting with Svante Arrenhius’ initial calculation of the warming that could be expected from increased carbon dioxide levels in 1896, he moved through the “dark ages” of the early 20th century and into the modern era of climate science, beginning in the 1950s. Decades of work since then has refined and advanced the science, but the early results stand up remarkably well today. “We in climate science have earned a right to be listened to,” Pierrehumbert said. “The question is, ‘Is anyone actually listening?’”  … Read more

Carnegie scientists unveil initial data on Amazon drought

Carnegie scientists unveil initial data on Amazon drought

Scientists were still debating the satellite signal of the megadrought that struck the Amazon Basin in 2005 when another megadrought hit in 2010. That work continues, but this time around the Carnegie Institution for Science in Stanford, California, was ready with a new tool that goes beyond blurry pixels and provides a detailed view of individual trees – and indeed large branches.  Read more

Earth as a marble: black and blue, now and then

Earth as a marble: black and blue, now and then

Astronauts aboard Apollo 17 treated the globe to its first full view of itself on 7 December, 1972, snapping the iconic “Blue Marble” photograph after travelling more than 32,000 kilometres in just over five hours. Very nearly 40 years later, on Wednesday, scientists at the American Geophysical Union meeting in San Francisco treated the world to its latest self-portrait, this one taken at night and appropriately named “Black Marble.”  … Read more

Scientists publish consensus statement on deforestation emissions

Scientists publish consensus statement on deforestation emissions

Back in January, a group from the Woods Hole Research Center in Massachusetts deployed a pantropical forest carbon map to estimate emissions from global deforestation and land use at 8.1 gigatonnes (or 2.2 petagrams of carbon) of carbon dioxide per year from 2000 to 2010 (Nature Climate Change). Five months later, a team led by scientists at consulting firm Winrock International produced their own pantropical forest carbon map and estimated emissions at less than half of that level from 2000-2005 (Science).  Read more

California auction tests second largest carbon market

California auction tests second largest carbon market

Last week the California Air Resources Board (CARB) hosted its first quarterly auction for carbon allowances in a cap-and-trade system that will take effect next year. The results are now in, and they suggest that there were no major surprises during the online event — no real shocks to the system. It’s a positive sign for the state as it prepares to launch what will be the world’s second largest carbon market, behind the European trading system.  Read more

Obama’s first environmental test: EU aviation dispute

Obama's first environmental test: EU aviation dispute

The US Congress reconvened for an all-important lame-duck session on Tuesday, with just six short weeks to strike a difficult compromise that would prevent a budgetary catastrophe of its own making. But all in due time. First, House lawmakers immediately went about passing a bill that would seek to prevent US airlines from getting roped into Europe’s efforts to reduce greenhouse gases – this coming a day after the European Union temporarily backed off in a conditional “gesture of goodwill.”  … Read more