ClimateCrocks: Dr. Richard Rood is a Veteran NASA Atmospheric Scientist, currently teaching at theUniversity of Michigan’s College of Atmopheric, Oceanic, and Space Sciences. Dr. Rood also posts regularly on Dr. Jeff Master’s Weather Underground. I sat down with Dr. Rood not long ago to talk about developments in climate science. This is a small, but significant…
Published on Oct 30, 2013 A simple yet effective clip explaining hydroxyl creation in the Earth’s atmosphere, what they do as “nature’s broom” and the benefit of their existence. Related Wikipedia: Hydroxyl RadicalThe hydroxyl radical is often referred to as the “detergent” of the troposphere because it reacts with many pollutants, often acting as the first step to their…
NASA: A look at how the historic DaisyWorld model illustrates earth science concepts, such as albedo and feedback loops. This webshort was produced as an educational tie-in with the Science on a Sphere feature LOOP. The Albedo Effect Explained With The Daisyworld Model A look at how the historic DaisyWorld model illustrates earth science concepts,…
The recent slow down in global warming has been attributed to a number of factors, including excess heat being stored in the deep ocean and reductions of certain greenhouse gases. Now add volcanic eruptions to the mix of contributing factors. A new analysis published in Nature Geosciences on Sunday shows that a series of relatively small…
Update: As pointed out by one of the authors, Rhiannon Mondav, the microbe is not considered an entire new discovery. (See comment below). Phys.org explains: Scientists from The University of Queensland have discovered a microbe that is set to play a significant role in future global warming. UQ’s Australian Centre for Ecogenomics researcher Ben Woodcroft said…
America’s natural gas system is leaky and in need of a fix, new study finds A review of more than 200 earlier studies confirms that U.S. emissions of methane are considerably higher than official estimates. Leaks from the nation’s natural gas system are an important part of the problem. This finding has important implications for…
By Michael E. Mann via HuffingtonPost: An interesting new paper by Matthew England and colleagues just published in the journal Nature Climate Change tosses another hat in the ring when it comes to explanations of the so-called “hiatus” or “pause” (I prefer “speed bump”) in global warming. As I have discussed previously, the fact that global surface temperatures have not increased…
BBC: New research suggests that the main system that helps determine the weather over Northern Europe and North America may be changing. The study shows that the so-called jet stream has increasingly taken a longer, meandering path. This has resulted in weather remaining the same for more prolonged periods. The work was presented at the…
Repost from 2012: Kate Scow – Professor of Soil Science and Microbial Ecology, UC Davis setup an excellent wiki entry about flooding on soils. Flooded soils occur with complete water saturation of soil pores, and generally result in anoxic conditions of the soil environment. Flooded soil environments may include such ecosystem as: rice paddies; wetlands (swamps,…