Scientists foresee sharp rise in deadly heat stress as global temperatures climb – “Because the response is nonlinear, for each fraction of a degree the climate warms, the increase in heat stress is ever greater”

27 March 2017 (Loughborough University) – In December 2015, the international community pledged to limit global warming to below 2°C to prevent dangerous climate change. However, new analysis suggests that even if this target is met, the dangers to society posed by heat stress are likely to escalate. Writing in the Proceedings of the National […]

Sub-ice phytoplankton blooms in Arctic Ocean increasing rapidly as sea ice thins – “The meter decline in sea ice thickness in the Arctic in the past 30 years has dramatically changed the ecology”

By Leah Burrows29 March 2017 (Harvard Gazette) – In 2011, researchers observed something that should be impossible — a massive bloom of phytoplankton growing under Arctic sea ice in conditions that should have been far too dark for anything requiring photosynthesis to survive. So, how was this bloom possible? Using mathematical modeling, researchers from the […]

UW professor: The information war is real, and we’re losing it

By Danny Westneat29 March 2017 (The Seattle Times) – A University of Washington professor started studying social networks to help people respond to disasters. But she got dragged down a rabbit hole of twitter-boosted conspiracy theories, and ended up mapping our political moment. It started with the Boston marathon bombing, four years ago. University of […]

Curbing emissions with a new “carbon law” – “Alarming inconsistencies remain between science-based targets and national commitments”

23 March 2017 (Stockholm Resilience Centre) – An international team of researchers led by centre director Johan Rockström propose a solution for the global economy to rapidly reduce carbon emissions. The authors argue a carbon roadmap, driven by a simple rule of thumb or “carbon law” of halving emissions every decade, could catalyse disruptive innovation. […]

Arctic sea ice maximum at record low for third straight year – Antarctic minimum lowest in the satellite record

22 March 2017 (NSIDC) – Arctic sea ice appears to have reached its annual maximum extent on March 7. This is the lowest maximum in the 38-year satellite record. NSIDC will post a detailed analysis of the 2016 to 2017 winter sea ice conditions in our regular monthly post in early April. On 7 March […]

China kickstarting new coal boom in Pakistan

By Lucy EJ Woods17 March 2017 (Climate Home) – Chinese investments are speeding up new coal developments in the Thar region of Pakistan, despite local water scarcity and pollution and an abundance of solar energy potential. The CEO of Sindh Engro Coal Mining Company (SECM), Shamsuddin Ahmad Shaikh, said on Thursday that with government and […]

Carbon dioxide levels rose at record pace for 2nd straight year in 2016 – “The rate of CO2 growth over the last decade is 100 to 200 times faster than what Earth experienced during the transition from the last Ice Age”

10 March 2017 (NOAA) – Carbon dioxide levels measured at NOAA’s Mauna Loa Baseline Atmospheric Observatory rose by 3 parts per million to 405.1 parts per million (ppm) in 2016, an increase that matched the record jump observed in 2015. The two-year, 6-ppm surge in the greenhouse gas between 2015 and 2017 is unprecedented in […]

Vicious circle of drought and forest loss in the Amazon – “Frequent extreme drought events have the potential to destabilize large parts of the Amazon forest”

13 March 2017 (Potsdam Institute) – Logging that happens today and potential future rainfall reductions in the Amazon could push the region into a vicious dieback circle. If dry seasons intensify with human-caused climate change, the risk for self-amplified forest loss would increase even more, an international team of scientists finds. If however there is […]

Trump to drop global warming from U.S. government environmental reviews

By Jennifer A Dlouhy14 March 2017 (Bloomberg) – President Donald Trump is set to sign a sweeping directive to dramatically shrink the role climate change plays in decisions across the government, ranging from appliance standards to pipeline approvals, according to a person familiar with the administration’s plan. The order, which could be signed this week, […]

New estimate of ocean heat finds more warming – “The planet is warming quite a lot more than we thought”

10 March 2017 (NCAR) – The oceans may be storing 13 percent more heat than previously estimated, according to a new study co-authored by scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). The finding, published in the journal Science Advances, is based on a new analysis of how ocean temperatures have changed since 1960. […]

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