Archive by date | March 2009

Settling of dust warms tropical Atlantic

Settling of dust warms tropical Atlantic

Warming of surface waters in the tropical North Atlantic Ocean has been linked to increasing hurricane activity (Nature News, subscription), but climatologists differ on what’s driving the temperature rise. Now a study published in Science (subscription) suggests that a large chunk of the warming trend is due neither to anthropogenic climate change nor to a natural cycle in ocean circulation – the two main contenders previously. The new theory: it’s dust in the wind.  Read more

European views on prospects for a global climate deal

In the latest issue of the McKinsey Quarterly, economists Nicholas Stern and Michael Grubb, along with European Commissioner Janez Potočnik, share their views on whether governments will agree a global climate deal at the UN climate change conference in December in Copenhagen. Check out the interactive video available here or read the transcript.  Read more

Results cast doubt on potential ‘climate fix’

Results cast doubt on potential ‘climate fix’

Cross posted from The Great Beyond A controversial experiment which poured iron into the Southern Ocean has also poured cold water on the idea that such ‘ocean fertilization’ can mitigate against climate change. The Lohafex project was investigating suggestions that carbon dioxide can be removed from the atmosphere by promoting algal blooms with iron. Despite protests from some groups, researchers aboard the Polarstern research vessel carried out their experiment this month. However, the Alfred-Wegener institute, which was backing Lohafex, says “only a modest amount of carbon sank out of the surface layer by the end of the experiment. Hence, the  … Read more

New head of US oceans agency speaks out

New head of US oceans agency speaks out

Jane Lubchenco, a marine tidal ecologist at Oregon State University, is on the job this week as the new head of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. She replaces Vice-Admiral Conrad Lautenbacher, who led NOAA until last October, and becomes the first woman to head up the agency, which is a sprawling beast charged with everything from managing US fisheries to running the country’s operational earth-monitoring satellite programme.  Read more

Q&A: Trapped under ice

Q&A: Trapped under ice

The team behind a new Antarctic ice-mapping submarine is breathing a sigh of relief at its safe return, Daniel Cressey reports over on Nature News. The Autosub 3 robot submarine was sent out early this year on a 110-kilometre journey under Pine Island Glacier, which juts out into the Admunsen Sea. But, Cressey writes, there was no guarantee that the sub would ever come back:  … Read more

Reconciling sea ice models with reality

Reconciling sea ice models with reality

The Arctic has been losing summer sea ice fast. At the end of the melt season in September 2008 the ice extent was barely above its record low of 2007, even after a much cooler summer. Most climate models did not anticipate the pace of this ice disappearance and still can’t replicate it. And as shown in the figure above, the futures projected by models are all over the map.  Read more