Ken Caldeira: We had a paper come out comparing effects of natural gas versus coal plants, aimed at understanding how much methane leakage there could be from natural gas before it caused more near-term warming than coal. The answer depends on how efficient the different power plants are, but one thing that is clear is…
Peter Sinclair interviewed Dr Rahmstorf in Reykjavik, 2013.
An animation of daily Arctic sea ice extent in summer 2014, from March 21, 2014 to Sept. 17, 2014 – when the ice appeared to reach it’s minimum extent for the year. It’s the sixth lowest minimum sea ice extent in the satellite era. The data was provided by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency from…
We will likely see one of the lowest extents as the ice melt quickens. NASA: As we head toward September, the Arctic is approaching its annual minimum sea ice extent (i.e., the total area covered by at least 15 percent of ice). While it appears 2014 will neither match nor surpass the 2012 record low,…
The preliminary results from scientists studying the mysterious holes (craters), that began emerging in recent times in Siberia, indicate that climate change may be a cause. The Russian crater research team led by Alexei Plekhanov of the Scientific Centre of Arctic Studies, explained a possible mechanism, in a Nature interview. The past two summers were…
The study New constraints on atmospheric CO2 concentration for the Phanerozoic (DOI: 10.1002/2014GL060457), by Peter J. Franks, Dana L. Royer, David J. Beerling , Peter K. Van de Water, David J. Cantrill, Margaret M. Barbour, and Joseph A. Berry, estimates CO2 in Earth history based on a new climate proxy. Estimates are in particular based…
Recently a mysterious Siberian crater has been discovered, which subsequently raised questions about the circumstances surrounding the crater formation. Theories include Pingo formation and connections to the thawing of permafrost (ClimateState reported). Robert Scribbler, summed it up: One theory on the feature is that it might be a pingo — a melting of a permafrost water pocket…
New evidence suggest that the longest interglacial (the time in between ice ages) – a warming period, called Marine Isotope Stage 11, more than 400,000 years ago, created nearly complete deglaciation of southern Greenland, thus contributed 4-6 meters to global sea level rise at that period. Overall se alevel rose about 6-13 meters above present…
Access the report State of the Climate in 2013 (PDF) NBC: Leading climate scientists on Thursday issued their annual physical of Earth, comparing the planet in 2013 to a patient that’s only getting worse and highlighting problems with key vital signs: from record warmth in Australia and China to sea levels that continue to rise…