climate change

NOAA releases 2009 Climate Assessment report

NOAA has released the "State of the Climate" report for 2009. It was a warm year.
State of the Climate
Here is the beginning of the abstract:

National Academy of Sciences Reports on Climate Change

The National Academy of Sciences has begun to issue reports on national priorities in response to global climate change. These reports are housed on a new website called America's Climate Choices .
May 19, 2010

STRONG EVIDENCE ON CLIMATE CHANGE UNDERSCORES NEED
FOR ACTIONS TO REDUCE EMISSIONS AND BEGIN ADAPTING TO IMPACTS

Catastropic nature of global warming

Professor S. Antony Norbert, Department of Geography, University of Colombo writes in the Colombo Daily News (October 16, 2007) about the Catastrophic nature of Global Warming

Here is the article:

"The phrase ‘Global Warming’ has become familiar recently as environmental issues have hit the headlines. Within the past decade, there has been a considerable rise in public awareness and interest in climate change and in the possible impact of human activities on global climate.

Hotter Summers Predicted for the Eastern US

Temperature Changes Predicted for Eastern US

Climate modelers at NASA Goddard Institute for Space Science at Columbia University have recently reports the results of a study based on their latest models. This study indicates that the Eastern US, from Chicago to Atlanta to Washington, may experience summer temperature extremes several degrees hotter than current conditions by the year 2080, due to the impacts of greenhouse gas emissions.

Temperature Changes Predicted for Eastern US

Temperature Changes Predicted for Eastern US

A computer model projection of average daily maximum temperatures over the eastern United States for July 2085 (left) and July 1993 (right). Areas in violet shading show temperatures of 26°C (79°F); green 30°C (86°F); yellow 34°C (93°F); red 38°C (100°F); dark purple 42°C (108°F). Credit: NASA/GISS

NPR and National Geographic's new Climate Connections Program

A year-long series of reports on the science and the impacts of climate change, this program offers schools and the public a wealth of information.
Climate Connections
Check back every week for new content!
You can subscribe to the Climate Connections RSS Feed Here: RSS

Waiting for "Real" Science while Failing to Fund Same

Recently the National Academy of Sciences held a review of the current and future scientific needs for satellites that provide data about the Earth system and its climate. This review concluded that since 2000 NASA's Earth science satellite program has been failing to meet the needs of scientists to a steady and improving data resource. In an editorial in the Boston Globe (January 31, 2007), Derrick Z. Jackson describes this as President Bush's "Sputnik Moment," and quotes the NAS report's cochair:

"'Since 2000, this thing has gone off a cliff,' said Berrien Moore, cochair of the National Academy of Sciences panel on studying Earth from space and director of the Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans and Space at the University of New Hampshire. Moore said the Bush administration has created a 'perfect storm' with the 'collapse of the earth science budget, down 30 percent at NASA,' and the inept development of a polar-orbiting environmental satellite system by NOAA and the Pentagon. The system is three years behind schedule and $3 billion over budget, and many climate-detection instruments have been thrown out to slash costs.

Washington Post Climate Change Link Page

The Washington Post maintains an archive on its reporting about climate change:

The Threat of Climate Change

This archive includes articles about policy, science, and impacts. It traces the Bush Administration's stance on climate change over the years.

Clarity on Climate Change: the Japan Times

This Japan Times (conservative) Editorial outlines the results of the Stern Report. It notes that rather immediate human inputs to the climate will have extreme longer term impacts:

"Another report has highlighted evidence of the serious, long-term consequences of global warming. Yet governments continue to pay only lip service to the threat. As the new study makes clear, the cost of environmental destruction will be severe -- but there is still time to avoid the worst impacts, if the world takes immediate and cooperative action.

The latest warning is from former World Bank chief economist Nicholas Stern, who was tasked by Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer with providing an independent assessment of the economics of climate change. His conclusions are striking and simple. First, "the scientific evidence points to increasing risks of serious, irreversible impacts from climate change associated with business-as-usual paths for emissions."

If atmospheric CO2 and global temperatures continue to rise, how much will the sea level rise in the next 500 years?

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