Phys.org December 17, 2024 Human-induced climate change, and other human activities in Antarctica and the Southern Ocean region are leading to several potential interacting tipping points with major and irreversible consequences. An international team of researchers (UK, Australia) examined eight potential physical, biological, chemical, and social Antarctic tipping points – Ice sheets, Ocean acidification, Ocean circulation, Species redistribution, Invasive species, Permafrost melting, Local pollution, and the Antarctic Treaty System. They discussed the nature of each potential tipping point, its control variables, thresholds, timescales, and impacts, and focused on the potential for cumulative and cascading effects because of their interactions. Their […]
Tag Archives: Climate change
Scientists call for global action on microbial climate solutions
Phys.org November 11, 2024 By publishing concurrently across journals like an emergency bulletin, an international team of researchers (the Netherlands, Germany, UK, China, USA – Indiana University, University of North Carolina) not merely made a plea for awareness about climate change, instead, they demanded immediate, tangible steps that harness the power of microbiology and the expertise of researchers and policymakers to safeguard the planet for future generations. They proposed a multitude of microbe-based solutions, technologies that hold great promise and could be deployed along with other climate mitigation strategies. According to the team these solutions have not been deployed effectively […]
Scientists suggest causes behind one of the most significant climate catastrophes
Phys.org June 17, 2024 Anoxic events are prolonged periods where large expanses of the Earth’s oceans are depleted of dissolved oxygen, which creates toxic waters and leads to mass extinction and habitat loss. The cause of this anoxic event which lasted >500,000 years has been a source of debate among experts. Researchers in the UK used basin sedimentary mercury (Hg) concentrations to determine the timing of volcanism, and neodymium (Nd) and strontium (Sr) isotopes for sedimentary provenance. High Hg concentrations compared to Northern Hemisphere records, and a shift to radiogenic Nd isotopes, indicated Kerguelen LIP volcanic activity and plateau uplift […]
Thunderstorms clumping together: How understanding water vapor helps scientists predict future climate change
Phys.org October 2, 2023 Convective clouds in the atmosphere can aggregate in a variety of ways, from individual cells to larger systems like tropical cyclones and squall lines. An international team of researchers (USA – University of New Mexico, MIT, Germany, Ethiopia, France) used remote sensing datasets of water vapor isotopic composition along with objective measures of convective aggregation to better understand the impact of convective aggregation on the atmospheric hydrologic cycle in the global tropics for the period 2015–2020. When convection was unaggregated, vertical velocity profiles were top-heavy, mixing ratios increased and water vapor δD decreased as the mean […]
Using our oceans to fight climate change
Science Daily July 24, 2023 Membrane carbon capture can play a role in negative emissions technology, such as direct air capture and direct ocean capture. Direct ocean capture has a few potential advantages over direct air capture, such as avoiding land use and coupling with offshore wind and offshore storage. Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh assessed the use and feasibility of hollow fiber membrane contactors (HFMCs) for direct ocean carbon capture with benign aqueous basic carbon dioxide solvents through a multifaceted approach. A 1D HFMC model incorporated fluid dynamics and the chemical kinetics of both ocean water and aqueous […]
Scientists develop 2D nanosheets for sustainable carbon capture
Phys.org July 6, 2023 Mica, a commonly occurring mineral, has significant potential for various applications due to its unique structure and properties. However, due to its non-Van Der Waals bonded structure, it is difficult to exfoliate mica into ultrathin nanosheets. Researchers in Singapore characterized exfoliated 2D mica nanosheets (eMica nanosheets) by various techniques, and their ability to capture CO2 was tested by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). Their results showed an 87% increase in CO2 adsorption capacity with eMica nanosheets compared to conventional mica. Further characterization by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), as well as first-principles calculations, showed […]
US intelligence services see security threat in climate change
Phys.org October 22, 2021 According to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence more extreme weather will increasingly exacerbate a number of risks to US national security interests, from physical impacts that could cascade into security challenges, to how countries respond to the climate challenge. It is driving increased geopolitical tension as countries argue over who should be doing more, cross-border “flashpoints” as countries respond to climate change impact by trying to secure their own interests, and fallout from climate on national stability in some countries. With more than 85 percent of global emissions coming from beyond US borders […]
Research reveals potential of an overlooked climate change solution
Phys.org September 27, 2021 Carbon dioxide removal has an increasingly well-established research agenda and technological foundation. There is no framework for methane removal. While some removal technologies are being developed, modelling of their impacts is limited. An international team of researchers (USA – Stanford University, UC Irvine, University of Pennsylvania, Germany, UK, Canada, France) conducted the first simulations using a methane emissions-driven Earth System Model to quantify the climate and air quality co-benefits of methane removal, including different rates and timings of removal. They defined a novel metric, the effective cumulative removal, and used it to show that each effective […]
Nearly 14,000 Scientists Warn That Earth’s ‘Vital Signs’ Are Rapidly Worsening
Science Alert August 2, 2021 An international team of researchers (USA – Oregon State University, Tufts University, Australia, South Africa) suggests a “three-pronged near-term policy approach”: a significantly higher global price on carbon, a worldwide phase-out and eventual ban of fossil fuels, and development of climate reserves to protect and restore biodiversity and carbon sinks. They have presented a suite of graphical vital signs of climate change over the last 40 years for human activities that can affect GHG emissions and change the climate and climatic impacts using only relevant data sets that are clear, understandable, systematically collected for at […]
Which areas will climate change render uninhabitable? Climate models alone cannot say
Phys.org June 18, 2021 Most habitability assessments, like climate risk assessments more generally, are based on “top-down” approaches that apply quantitative models using uniform methodologies and generalizable assumptions at global and regional scales. According to a team of researchers in the US (Columbia University, Oregon State University, Princeton University) there is a risk that such climate determinism minimizes the potential for human agency to find creative, locally appropriate solutions. Although top-down modeling can serve a useful purpose in identifying potential future “hot spots” for habitability decline and potential outmigration, only by integrating “bottom-up” insights related to place-based physical systems and […]