Climate science
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Many of my scientist friends read this essay by Ethan Siegel in Forbes.com and nodded our heads yes. We spend a lot of our time debating about scientific principles with both other scientists and non-scientists, often to the point of pulling our hair out. And I like my hair! This essay distills the debate into two…
Posted in: Climate science -
A couple of weeks ago I posted a request for input into the Georgia Climate Research Roadmap, which is an effort to identify and rank “Georgia’s Top 40” climate research questions. According to their web site, this process begins with you: they are asking experts from across the state to submit candidate questions pertinent to…
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If you are interested in watching the progression of the summer melting of the ice sheet on Greenland, you will find the web site for the National Snow and Ice Data Center useful. You can see daily updates of the melting conditions from satellites at https://nsidc.org/greenland-today/. Why do we care? A melting Arctic can change energy…
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The bright orange and pink clouds in Edvard Munch’s “The Scream” have long been thought to be a product of a volcanic eruption, most likely the very large eruption of Krakatoa in 1883. Volcanic eruptions shoot sulfuric acid droplets and ash high into the atmosphere, producing spectacular sunsets around the world that have been linked…
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As I was browsing today, I ran across this really interesting article on how most people are killed or injured by lightning. Surprisingly, direct strikes only cause issues 3-5 percent of the time. The greatest cause of problems is ground current, where lightning hits the ground and travels along the surface (especially if the ground…
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According to Scientific American, “on Tuesday, the Mauna Loa Observatory recorded its first-ever carbon dioxide reading in excess of 410 parts per million (it was 410.28 ppm in case you want the full deal). Carbon dioxide hasn’t reached that height in millions of years. It’s a new atmosphere that humanity will have to contend with,…
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Related to my previous post on the warming climate, one of the consequences that we see from the warmer conditions in recent years is a shift in the planting zones. These zones are linked to the average annual minimum temperature in each location, which helps determine what plants can survive the winter months. Here is…