Climate
As the warming climate causes ice and snow to retreat, vegetation is increasing towards the Arctic. A new analysis of satellite data, collected since 1982, has revealed a vigorous increase in vegetation growth between the 45th parallel north and the Arctic Ocean. In many places, the climate has shifted north by as much as 4 to 6 degrees of latitude and now resembles what was found 400 to 700 kilometres to the south in 1982. At that rate, by the end of this century, northern Sweden could get temperatures similar to southern France now. Howvever, the rate of vegetaion increase … Continue Reading
Data collected from Antarctic and Greenland ice cores seems to show CO2 levels rising centuries after temperature increases. However, new research suggests that this may be a misinterpretation of the evidence. Scientists have been using bubbles of air trapped in the ice when it was formed to detemine the CO2 level in the air at the time, the isotopes of elements like hydrogen, carbon and oxygen in the ice to calculate the temperature at which it formed and the depth of the ice sample in the core to estimate its age. This work led to the conclusion that CO2 levels … Continue Reading
When Trisha Atwood of the University of British Columbia studied the effect of removing predator fish from ponds and rivers in Canada and Costa Rica, she found a consistent pattern – carbon dioxide emissions increased more than tenfold after the predators were removed. Wiping out the top predator results in a "trophic cascade" in which the top predator's prey proliferate, which puts pressure on the species that the prey eats and so on down the food chain. Changes to species at the bottom of the food chain, in this case photosynthesising algae, can dramatically increase the amount of CO2 that … Continue Reading
Daniel Harrison, a postgraduate research engineer at the University of Sydney, has published results of research demonstrating that fertilisation of the ocean with iron does not store carbon long enough to be an attractive contributor to climate management. Ocean iron fertilisation is a process that attempts to encourage phytoplankton growth in regions with unused nutrients with the aim of storing carbon away from the atmosphere. Dr Harrison found that, while iron fertilisation of high-nutrient, low-chlorophyll regions of the ocean captures and stores carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, it does not store carbon long enough to be an attractive contributor to … Continue Reading
Scientists at the University of Western Sydney have embarked on a large-scale study of how the natural environment would cope with the atmospheric conditions which are expected if if no significant action is taken to reduce carbon emissions. The centrepiece of the study is six fibreglass and steel ring structures 28 metres high and 25 metres in diameter in native woodland at Richmond, west of Sydney. The structures contain an array of sensors and equipment that will deliver CO2 to the trees within the rings and create an atmosphere where CO2 is at 550 ppm – the level expected within … Continue Reading
U.S. scientists using satellite data have established a more accurate figure of the amount of annual sea level rise from melting glaciers and ice caps. There are more than 160,000 glaciers and ice caps worldwide but annual changes in mass have been directly measured for only 120 of them and, in most cases, only within the last 30 years. For the first time, researchers used the GRACE (for "Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment") satellite system, operated by NASA and Germany, to look at loss of ice by all glaciers and ice caps around the world. Data, collected for the years … Continue Reading
A new GreenBiz Cafe video is now on YouTube. Take a look:
Just in case you’re still not sure that the climate is behaving a little strangely, in 2011: Greenhouse gases rose to record levels; Temperatures were the 11th highest ever recorded; The Arctic Sea ice melt almost equalled the 2007 record; The world had its 300th consecutive month of above average temperatures; North America experienced massive flooding of the Mississippi and Missouri; Australia experienced floods which covered an area larger than France and Germany combined; Floods in Thailand claimed 730 lives; The United States was hit by 1,600 tornadoes in six months; North China’s worst drought in 60 years continued; Somalia … Continue Reading
A study published in Science journal, claims to have narrowed the range by which the world’s temperature can be expected to rise with a doubling of carbon dioxide concentrations from pre-industrial levels. Earlier studies, including the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) 2007 report, have precicted a rise of between 2.0°C and 4.5°C, with a mean of about 3°C. The new study predicts that the Earth’s surface temperatures would rise by between 1.7°C and 2.6°C with a mean value of 2.3°C. The new analysis uses palaeoclimate data going back to the latter stages of the most recent Ice Age, 21,000 … Continue Reading
Videos
Renewables News- New Aussie Technology to Clean Polluted WaterScientists from Deakin University, together with French colleagues, say that they have manufactured a lightweight and reusable material that can absorb up to 33 times its weight in a wide range of spilt oils, chemical solvents and dyes, while repelling … Continue Reading → […]
- Aussie Researchers Make Efficient Solar Cells from Low-grade SiliconResearchers at the University of New South Wales have found a way to make very high efficiency solar cells out of cheap, low-grade silicon. It has been known for several decades that hydrogen atoms can be introduced into the atomic … Continue Reading → […]
- First Aussie “Hot Rocks” Power Plant Begins ProducingThe first power plant in Australia to produce electricity using an enhanced geothermal ("hot rocks") system has begun producing electricity in the far north-east of South Australia. The one-megawatt Habanero pilot plant near outback Innamincka is operated by Geodynamics. Geodynamics … Continue Reading → […]
- New Aussie Technology to Clean Polluted Water
