Phys.org April 30, 2021 Spatial–temporal dynamics of aboveground biomass (AGB) and forest area affect the carbon cycle, climate, and biodiversity in the Brazilian Amazon. An international team of researchers (USA – University of Oklahoma, Caltech, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, France, Denmark, China, UK) investigated interannual changes in AGB and forest area by analysing satellite-based annual AGB and forest area datasets. They found that the gross forest area loss was larger in 2019 than in 2015, possibly due to recent loosening of forest protection policies. However, the net AGB loss was three times smaller in 2019 than in 2015. During 2010–2019, […]
Category Archives: Climatology
Climate has shifted the axis of the Earth, study finds
Science Daily April 25, 2021 Generally, polar motion is caused by changes in the hydrosphere, atmosphere, oceans, or solid Earth. However, short‐term observational records of key information in the hydrosphere limit a better understanding of new polar drift in the 1990s. An international team of researchers (China, Denmark) has introduced a novel approach to quantify the contribution from changes in terrestrial water storage by comparing its drift path under two different scenarios. One scenario assumes that the terrestrial water storage change throughout the entire study period (1981–2020) is similar to that observed recently (2002–2020). The second scenario assumes that it […]
Lightning strikes will more than double in Arctic as climate warms
Science Daily April 5, 2021 An international team of researchers (USA – UC Irvine, UC Berkeley, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, the Netherlands) projected how lightning in high-latitude boreal forests and Arctic tundra regions will change across North America and Eurasia as the climate continues warming and Arctic weather during summertime will be closer to those seen today far to the south, where lightning storms are more common. Looking at over-twenty-year-old NASA satellite data on lighting strikes in northern regions they constructed a relationship between the flash rate and climatic factors. They estimated a significant increase in lightning strikes as a result […]
Aerosol formation in clouds
Science Daily March 24, 2021 Cloud processing is potentially important for secondary organic aerosol (SOA) formation, a major aerosol component: however, laboratory experiments fail to mimic this process under atmospherically relevant conditions. An international team of researchers (Switzerland, UK, USA – Carnegie Mellon University, industry) developed a wetted-wall flow reactor to simulate aqueous-phase processing of isoprene oxidation products (iOP) in cloud droplets. They found that 50 to 70% (in moles) of iOP partition into the aqueous cloud phase, where they rapidly react with OH radicals, producing SOA. Integrating their experimental results into a global model, they showed that clouds effectively […]
On calm days, sunlight warms the ocean surface and drives turbulence
Science Daily March 1, 2021 Over land, afternoon warming can lead to atmospheric convection and turbulence resulting in thunderstorms. Over the ocean, the afternoon convection also draws water vapor from the ocean surface to moisten the atmosphere and form clouds. The warming over the ocean is more subtle and gets stronger when the wind is weak. A team of researchers in the US (Oregon State University, NOAA Boulder Co) gathered lidar data around the clock for about two months. At one point, surface temperatures warmed each afternoon for four straight days with calm wind speeds, giving researchers the right conditions […]
World’s largest lakes reveal climate change trends
Science Daily January 21, 2021 Researchers at Michigan Technological University studied the five Laurentian Great Lakes bordering the U.S. and Canada; the three African Great Lakes, Tanganyika, Victoria, and Malawi; Lake Baikal in Russia; and Great Bear and Great Slave lakes in Canada. These 11 lakes hold more than 50% of the surface freshwater that millions of people and countless other creatures rely on. The rate of carbon fixation, that is the rate at which the algae photosynthesize, indicates change in the whole lake and that has ramifications all the way up the food chain, from the zooplankton to the […]
Parts of The Amazon Rainforest Are Heading For Collapse by 2064, New Report Shows
Science Alert January 1, 2021 Researchers at the University of Florida reviewed recent research on the Amazon rainforest to reach a grim conclusion. Lengthening dry seasons will soon no longer allow the rainforest canopies the five years they need in between dry seasons to recover from fires, allowing flammable grasses and shrubs to take over. Southern Amazonia can expect to reach a tipping point sometime before 2064 at the current rate of dry season lengthening. Like dominos, models predict once 30-50 percent deforestation is reached in the south, this will decrease the amount of rain by up to 40 percent […]
Change in global precipitation patterns as a result of climate change
Science Daily December 17, 2020 An international team of researchers (Germany, Ireland, Brazil, Mexico) demonstrated that regional hydroclimates controlled by the Northern Hemisphere mid-latitude storm tracks and the African and South American Monsoons changed synchronously during the last 10,000 years. They argue that these regional hydroclimate variations are connected and reflect the adjustment of the atmospheric poleward energy transport to the evolving differential heating of the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. These results indicate that changes in latitudinal insolation gradients and associated variations in latitudinal temperature gradients exert important control on atmospheric circulation and regional hydroclimates. Since the current episode of […]
The natural ‘Himalayan aerosol factory’ can affect climate
Science Daily December 7, 2020 Pre-industrial aerosol concentration and composition particles formed directly in the atmosphere from gaseous precursors, constitutes a large uncertainty in the anthropogenic radiative forcing. From their observations taken at the remote Nepal Climate Observatory Pyramid station at 5,079 m above sea level an international team of researchers (Finland, Italy, Switzerland, France, Estonia, USA – industry) shows that up-valley winds funnel gaseous aerosol precursors to higher altitudes. During this transport, these are oxidized into compounds of very low volatility, which rapidly form many aerosol particles. These are transported into the free troposphere, suggesting that the whole Himalayan region […]
Once in a lifetime floods to become regular occurrences by end of century
Science Daily December 2, 2020 Based on the anticipated greenhouse gas concentration by the end of the 21st century a team of researchers in the US (Stevens Institute of Technology, Princeton University) conducted high resolution simulations for different scenarios to find the probability of different flood levels being reached, assuming emissions remain at a high level. They studied how sea level rise and hurricane climatology change would impact the area in the future due to storm surge and wave hazards. They found that the historical 100-year flood level would become a nine-year flood level by mid-century (2030-2050) and a one-year […]