Climate science
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A new study published recently in the journal Nature indicates that the ocean is absorbing heat and getting warmer at a much quicker rate than previously estimated. The study indicates that it could be gaining 60% more energy each year than previously documented. This could mean that global climate models are underestimating how much warming…
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Our latest question from the Georgia Climate Project’s Roadmap of important research questions on Georgia’s future climate vulnerability addresses the changing risk of extreme events such as hurricanes, floods and droughts. It asks how the changes in the risks is affecting the costs of addressing climate change on different time scales and what the implication…
Posted in: Climate science -
I recently ran across this story from January 2018 which describes an invited talk that Edward Geller, famous physicist and part of the Manhattan Project, gave to a gala celebration noting the 100th anniversary of the petroleum industry. According to a transcript of the speech, given in 1959, Geller warned petroleum executives that the increase…
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Atlas Obscura had a very interesting post in October that discussed how scientists are using prehistoric sand ripples that have been preserved in rocks from about 200 million years ago to determine what the weather was like. These scientists from MIT used rocks from Massachusetts that had both preserved ripples and dinosaur tracks on old…
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In the last few weeks I have run across two new methods for estimating precipitation amounts in places where no rain gauge is present (which is most of the US). These methods incorporate new techniques for filling in the gaps between surface rain gauges using radar data. NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information posted a…
Posted in: Climate science -
Georgia Climate Project: How can Georgia increase climate sequestration in agriculture and forestry?
This week’s question from the Georgia Climate Project’s Roadmap has to deal with opportunities that Georgians might have for capturing carbon from the air using trees or agricultural techniques. Pulling carbon dioxide from the air has the benefit of reducing the increase in greenhouse gases that is occurring across the world, but could also present…
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Yale Environment 360 has an interesting story which shows how different climate zones around the world are shifting in response to warming temperatures. The article shows 7 pairs of maps describing changes in climatic variables like plant hardiness zones and the “tornado alley” over time. I think you will be interested to see how some…