Scienceblogtwo

According to a significant new analysis published in the journal Science, if global temperature increases by more than 1.5°C beyond pre-industrial levels, many climate tipping points might be set off. Five severe climatic tipping points are currently possible at the current rate of global warming, and the dangers are worse with every additional tenth of a degree of warming. An extensive analysis of more than 200 publications published since 2008, when climatic tipping points were first properly defined, allowed an international research team to synthesize the evidence for tipping points, their temperature thresholds, timelines, and implications. From nine to sixteen potential tipping points are now on the list. The study finds that human emissions have already pushed Earth into the tipping points danger zone. It was released ahead of the big conference "Tipping Points: from climate crisis to positive transformation" at the University of Exeter (12–14 September). The melting o...

The 19th of July, when temperatures surpassed 40 degrees Celsius, was the hottest day ever recorded in the United Kingdom (about 104 degrees Fahrenheit). According to climate researchers, the heat wave represents a sample of what British citizens might expect from summer weather in 2050. More than a third of the country is currently experiencing excessive heat in both Europe and the United States. The temperatures are similar to a heat wave that occurred in late June of last year and caused approximately 1,500 fatalities. It also caused average temperatures in the US and Canada to more than quadruple.                                                            Will temperatures rise further and will there be more regular extreme heat events? Yes, according to the most recent estimate of human-caused emissions and atmospheric circulation pat...

For scientists attempting to anticipate the rate of rise in the ocean's surface waters, the Thwaites Glacier in West Antarctica, which is about the size of Florida, has been a major sticking point. When seen on geological periods, this vast ice stream is already in a phase of rapid retreat, which is known as a "collapse," which has raised a lot of questions about how much ice it will eventually lose to the ocean and how quickly. The effects of Thwaites' retreat might be terrifying: if the glacier and its surrounding glacial basins completely vanish, sea level could rise by three to ten feet. Concern is increased by a recent study published in Nature Geoscience that was headed by marine geophysicist Alastair Graham of the College of Marine Science at the University of South Florida. The seafloor in front of the glacier was crucially imaged in high resolution for the first time, providing researchers with a window into how quickly Thwaites advanced and receded in the pa...

Although the ozone hole over Antarctica is well known, few people are aware that the protective ozone in the stratosphere periodically breaks down over the Arctic, depleting the ozone layer there. Prior to that, it occurred in the spring of 2011 and most recently in the months of spring 2020. Climate scientists have recorded weather abnormalities every time the ozone layer has been breached, which has affected the whole northern hemisphere. Those springtimes were extremely warm and dry in Siberia, central and northern Europe, Russia, and especially in the former Soviet Union. However, there were other places, like the arctic regions, where it was damp. These meteorological irregularities were especially noticeable in 2020. Additionally, that spring in Switzerland was abnormally warm and dry. Climate research is divided on the issue of whether the loss of stratospheric ozone causes the observed weather anomalies. Another factor is the stratospheric polar vortex, which develops in the wi...

According to a new research published today in the inaugural issue of Environmental Research: Climate, a new open access magazine, the imbalance of energy on Earth is the most crucial indicator of the scope and consequences of climate change. Kevin Trenberth, a renowned researcher at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), and Lijing Cheng, a climate scientist and co-author, have created a new comprehensive inventory of all the different sources of surplus heat on Earth. In order to identify the imbalance, he looked at energy changes in the climate system's components of the atmosphere, ocean, land, and ice from 2000 to 2019. He then compared these changes to radiation at the top of the Earth's atmosphere. According to Trenberth, whose paper was published today, "the net energy imbalance is calculated by looking at how much heat is absorbed from the Sun and how much is able to radiate back into space. It is not yet possible to measure the imbalance directly; t...