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global warming & greenhouse science
 feature
story
Siberian trees pull
snow job on scientists
07/08: Answers at
last to head-scratching growth questions, with implications for global
warming.
web
news
09/15:
Rise
in sea level could double / Discovery
09/10:
Climate
disaster possible by 2100 / BBC
08/05:
Radical
climate changes occur without global warming / New Scientist
06/03:
Sun's changes may cause global warming / BBC
web
resources ...
... current information
News:
Yahoo Full Coverage, Global Warming
...
reference
Note: Because
of the controversial nature of global warming, the links below are accompanied
by explanations, so you'll know where you are headed.
Since
late 1978, satellites have provided a record of the temperature in two
regions of the Earth's atmosphere:
the lower troposphere (the lowest 5 miles of the atmosphere) and the
lower stratosphere (covering an altitude range of about 9-12 miles).
A NASA chart shows the temperature anomaly (departure from normal) recorded
by the satellites. The data covers a relatively short period of time
and does not provide conclusive evidence of global warming. See the
NASA temperature
anomaly chart.
Policy.com
offers information from both sides of the issue.
University
of Massachusetts Climatologists reconstructed the global temperature
over the past 600 years, using natural records such as tree rings. They
say 1997, 1995 and 1990 were the warmest. More.
Another
NASA image uses color bands to show the current
temperature variations around the globe.
In
an 03/29/99 opinion
article, the director of the National Climatic Data Center argues
that a National plan needed to measure human effects on the climate.
NOAA
has produced the Paleo
Perspective, a Web "handbook" that looks at the topic from the
perspective of past climate change.
ez
weather reference
El
Niño & La Niña
Global Warming
Hurricanes
Jet
Stream
Lightning
Nor'easters
Pressure: High/Low
Tornadoes
Weather
Fronts
Wind Chill Factor
Your
local forecast
NWS
warnings
Satellite images
U.S.
radar image
Best selling book
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Global
warming is real,
11-member panel says
 01.17.00:
Despite conflicting data, surface temperatures are said to be climbing.
Dramatic
thinning and shrinking of polar ice
 12/02:
Strong new satellite data plus a new study that shows humans may be
to blame.
Sea could rise six feet or more in coming centuries
10/28: Even if global warming is halted, water will wipe out several
island nations.
Vast
Antarctic ice streams seen in satellite images
 10/19:
Radar images create benchmark for glacial movement and climate change.
Summer
was hot and dry
09/23:
Another scorching season produces little rain.
Fire
Web covers much of globe from space
09/21: By studying
intensity of wildfires, researchers hope to learn more about emissions
that fuel global warming.
Great
civilization on the Nile may owe its start to climate change
 07/12:
The Earth wobbled 9,000 years ago, making the Sahara out of a green
spot.
Heat
wave gone, hot debate lingers
07/07: Heat waves like the one that broke last night in the East invite
questions about global warming.
Global
warming increasingly fueled by jet contrails
06/24: More than 5 percent of the sky is covered in
some places.
World's
fastest glacier near critical melting point
 06/21:
More icebergs may flow into shipping lanes, or a rapid retreat may
ensue.
Global
warming may reduce western snowpack, move forests
06/04: Shift could threaten water supplies, change agricultural practices
and even move forests.
Study
said to confirm recent acceleration of global warming
05/13: 20th Century is the warmest of this millennium.
Global
warming may make winter in much of U.S. more miserable
04/19: If carbon dioxide in the atmosphere increases unchecked over
the next century, people in the large portions of the United States
will find winter wetter and snowier, according to new information
from a computer model created by government and university scientists.
Approaching
solar maximum expected to change climate
 04/12:
As the Sun approaches a peak cycle in the massive energy it flings
toward Earth -- due in 2000 -- a new report confirms that such a solar
maximum does more than just agitate Earth's upper atmosphere.
Antarctic
ice shelves falling apart rapidly
 04/09:
Two huge ice shelves have melted and crumbled, losing nearly half
as much area in the past year as in the past four decades combined.
Greenhouse
gas may kill coral reefs
04/05: Researchers who conducted a laboratory study based on possible
increases in greenhouse gases say tropical coral reefs could be damaged
by the buildup of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. [Updated 04/09/99]
Urban
heat island worsens smog and creates man-made thunderstorms
03/22: Between 1973 and 1998, nearly 350,000 acres of forest were
cleared in the 13 metropolitan counties of Atlanta. The result? An
island of sorts. A heat island, one which creates its own thunderstorms
and exacerbates pollution problems.
Warmest
decade of millennium reverses long cooling trend, researchers say
03/04: Using ice cores and ancient tree rings as evidence, a group
of researchers said yesterday that the current decade is turning out
to be the warmest of the millennium, with 1998 the warmest year of
all.
Rising
Arctic temperatures could have snowball effect on global warming
02/25: By artificially increasing the temperature in small plots of
Arctic soil, Ohio State researchers found elevated levels of carbon
dioxide emissions out of the ground. The finding points to a possible
snowball effect for global warming, the scientists said.
Skiers:
Climate model sees less snow in 2080
01/29: Global warming
would shrink Western snowpack.
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Fertilise
the sea, thwart global warming
 04.07.00:
Chile could profit from a plan to dump nitrogen into the ocean.
 Warmer
and wetter
01.31.00: Water vapor
in Earth's atmosphere increased 2 percent over past 11 years.
Overstating climate
change
01.11: Factors used to estimate climate change don't reflect the entire
picture, says Colorado State University researcher Roger Pielke. At
the 11th Symposium on Global Change Monday, Pielke argued that General
Circulation Models only look at a subset of the effects of greenhouse
gases and aerosols, failing to incorporate other important effects,
such as land-use change and the biological effect of increased carbon
dioxide. As a result, Pielke said, the range of possible scenarios predicted
for the 21st century may be larger than commonly figured. "This does
not mean that we should not worry about future changes in climate,"
Pielke said. "Rather, it should raise serious questions as to our ability
to reliably predict such changes."
Losing the forests
for the sea
10/18: A new study published in the journal Ecology shows that rising
sea levels have been killing trees in Florida's coastal parks and nature
reserves. The world's oceans have been rising for about 10,000 years,
and while the recent annual rate has been about 1.5 millimeters, this
can mean 2 meters (6 feet) of saltwater encroachment on flat coastal
land. Trees die as a result, the study found, though in some cases the
trees live but cease to reproduce, leaving green forests that have been
doomed for decades. The University of Florida study shows that red cedars
are among the first to go, while cabbage palms delay death longer. Researchers
said other factors may play a role in the deaths, and that one remaining
question is whether human activity has contributed to global warming,
possibly accelerating the rising sea level.
Plant more trees
09/30: Seems it's not just the forests of the tropics that soak up all
those greenhouse gases. As a sign that planting trees in dry places
might benefit the environment, researchers have found that increased
levels of greenhouse gases have led to faster tree growth in arid regions,
according to a story in this week's New
Scientist magazine. Looking at tree rings, Xiahong Feng of Dartmouth
College found that the rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide the past 200
years has made trees in dry places grow faster. Plants soak up carbon
dioxide, combining it with water to create other chemicals. In regions
where lack of water limits tree growth, the total biomass may have increased,
the story reports, suggesting that arid forests may be more important
to the study of global warming
than previously believed.
Industrial-strength
sunblock
09/22: Industrial pollution is often blamed for adding greenhouse gases
to the atmosphere, in turn contributing to global warming. But some
particles seem to have the opposite effect, by creating more clouds
which reflect sunlight back to space. The phenomenon affects climate
locally, and probably regionally, say researchers from Italy's Consilio
Nazionale delle Ricerche and the University of Washington, who reported
their findings in last week's journal Nature. Organic particles, such
as those produced when agricultural waste is burned, appear to decrease
the surface tension of tiny aerosols in the atmosphere, allowing more
cloud droplets to form. The result could be a 1 percent increase in
reflected sunlight.
Greenhouse: More
or less
09/16: Revealing how science is not always an exact science, researchers
are questioning their own forecasts of greenhouse gas emissions for
the next century, warning that they could be much too high, or maybe
much too low. According to a story in this week's New
Scientist magazine, the biggest unknown is how technology will develop
to minimize emissions, which are believed by many scientists to contribute
to global warming. The story is
based on the draft of a United Nations report on emissions scenarios.
Due for publication in March, the report will represent the consensus
view of hundreds of scientists and economists.
Rising urban
tide
06/08: Though the field of urban climate study is in its infancy, a
report issued last week outlines some of the problems New York City
may face as the climate changes. A gradual rise in sea level is already
eroding the urban shoreline, according to NASA researcher Cynthia Rosenzweig.
And the rising tide appears poised to bring more salt up the Hudson
River in coming years, threatening the city's fresh water supply. Rosenzweig
says city agencies can use the study to help mitigate future problems
with aging roads, public health, coastal erosion, water supply and wetlands
issues.
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