Global warming - problems and solutions

Scientists at the Georgia Institute of Technology have discovered a new climate pattern called the North Pacific Gyre Oscillation. This new pattern explains, for the first time, changes in the water that are important in helping commercial fishermen understand fluctuations in the fish stock. They’re also finding that as the temperature of the Earth is warming, large fluctuations in these factors could help climatologists predict how the oceans will respond in a warmer world. Read the rest of this entry »

Data from faint earth tremors caused by wind-driven ocean waves — often dismissed as “background noise” at seismographic stations around the world — suggest extreme ocean storms have become more frequent over the past three decades. The International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and other prominent researchers have predicted that stronger and more frequent storms may occur as a result of global warming trends. The tiny tremors, or microseisms, offer a new way to discover whether these predictions are already coming true, said Richard Aster, a geophysics professor at the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology. Read the rest of this entry »

Lubricating meltwater that makes its way from the surface down to where a glacier meets bedrock turns out to be only a minor reason why Greenland’s outlet glaciers accelerated their race to the sea 50 to 100 percent in the 1990s and early 2000s, according to University of Washington’s Ian Joughin and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution’s Sarah Das. The two are lead co-authors of two papers posted April 18 on the Science Express website. Read the rest of this entry »

The accuracy of computer models that predict climate change over the coming decades has been the subject of debate among politicians, environmentalists and even scientists. A new study by meteorologists at the University of Utah shows that current climate models are quite accurate and can be valuable tools for those seeking solutions on reversing global warming trends. Most of these models project a global warming trend that amounts to about 7 degrees Fahrenheit over the next 100 years. Read the rest of this entry »

 People could live in glass houses and look at the world through rose-tinted windows while reducing their carbon emissions by 50%, thanks to QUT Institute of Sustainable Resources (ISR) research. Read the rest of this entry »