Scientists suggest a giant sunshade in the sky could solve global warming

It sounds like the stuff of science fiction: the creation, using balloons or jets, of a manmade atmospheric sunshade to shield the most vulnerable countries in the global south against the worst effects of global warming.

Solar geoengineering has been floated as an
‘outlandish and unsettling’ answer to climate change.

But amid mounting interest in “solar geoengineering” – not least among western universities – a group of scientists from developing countries has issued a forceful call to have a greater say in the direction of research into climate change, arguing that their countries are the ones with most at stake.

Scientists have long known that manmade events like pollution in the atmosphere, smoke from forest fires and volcanic eruptions can create a cooling effect.

Read the story from The Guardian by Peter Beaumont - “Scientists suggest a giant sunshade in the sky could solve global warming.”

Finding common ground amid climate controversy

Scientists have been researching human-caused climate change for more than 50 years, inexorably fitting together puzzle pieces of atmospheric composition, interactions between different parts of the Earth system, rates of change, and feedback mechanisms.

Their efforts have led to huge strides in understanding of the Earth. But one variable stands out as perhaps more stubborn than the rest; a factor that defies laws of physics: human behavior. A number of physical scientists have wandered into the unfamiliar territory of social science as they try to understand what leads people to accept or reject the findings of scientific endeavors. They’ve learned that to better grapple with the problems of human-driven climate change, they must also learn more about what makes humans “tick.”

That’s one of the motivations behind the recent Yale Climate Connections “Common Ground” series, the subject of a brief video made as part of a presentation in December 2017 at the fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union, AGU. The ideological stalemate around climate change in the U.S. by now is sadly familiar, with an intractable gulf separating the ranks of — by whatever terms seem adequate or inadequate — “believers” and “doubters.”

Read the Yale Climate Connections story by Karin Kirk - “Finding common ground amid climate controversy.”

‘Harder and riskier': Carbon removal needed if Paris goals don't rise

Greenhouse gas emission cuts must be at least 20 per cent deeper than pledged under the Paris climate accord or the world will have to begin the costly direct removal of atmospheric carbon to avoid dangerous climate change, a new study argues.

Emissions impossible? Delays in cutting emissions make it
 more likely that carbon will have to be directly captured
if dangerous climate change is to be avoided.

The Germany-based researchers examined the action needed if nations failed to deliver greater carbon curbs by 2030 but still kept global warming to under 2 degrees, compared with pre-industrial levels.

"Each tonne of CO2 we don't emit, we don't have to remove from the atmosphere afterwards in an expensive and strenuous way," said Jessica Strefler from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and the lead author of the paper published on Thursday in Environmental Research Letters.

Read Peter Hannam’s story from The Age - “‘Harder and riskier': Carbon removal needed if Paris goals don't rise.”

Why the Bomb Cyclone hitting the east coast is so unusual

NOW, THE FIRST thing you should know about a bomb cyclone is it’s just a name—and unlike a sharknado, it’s not a literal one. The very real scientific term describes a storm that suddenly intensifies following a rapid drop in atmospheric pressure. Bombing out, or “bombogenesis,” is when a cyclone’s central pressure drops 24 millibars or more in 24 hours, bringing furious winds that can quickly create blizzard conditions and coastal flooding.

A "bomb cyclone" is stalking America's east coast.

It’s actually not that rare a phenomenon; meteorologists estimate these kinds of storms break out in the Northern Hemisphere about 10 times a year. They can go by other names, like Nor’easter and mid-latitude cyclone, which may explain why you’ve never heard of one before Winter Storm Grayson started dumping snow in Tallahassee on Wednesday morning. But Grayson isn’t your typical bombogenerator.

It’s what happens when everything comes together just right (or just wrong). Grayson is expected to explode up the East Coast between now and Friday, intensifying as it makes its way from Florida to Nova Scotia, blowing record snowfalls around at category 3 hurricane wind speeds. “This storm is a synoptic meteorologist’s dream,” says Paul Huttner, who watches the weather for Minnesota Public Radio. “It’s a perfect alignment of the three things we look for.”

Read the Wired story by Megan Molteni - “Why the Bomb Cyclone hitting the east coast is so unusual."

Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is rising at the fastest rate ever recorded

Smoke billows from smokestacks
 and a coal-fired generator at a steel
factory in November 2015 in the
industrial province of Hebei, China. 

For the second year in a row, atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations have climbed at a record pace. According to data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, carbon dioxide levels jumped by three parts per million in both 2015 and 2016 and now rest at about 405 parts per million.

It’s the biggest jump ever observed at the agency’s Mauna Loa Baseline Atmospheric Observatory in Hawaii, where the measurements were recorded. Similar observations have been recorded at stations all over the world, said Pieter Tans, who leads the Carbon Cycle Greenhouse Gases group at NOAA’s Greenhouse Gas Reference Network.

Throughout the last decade, the average rate of increase has been around 2.3 parts per million per year, Tans added.

Read The Washington Post story - “Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is rising at the fastest rate ever recorded.”

Health experts slam Turnbull government's air pollution proposals.”

Gina McColl writes
about air pollution.

Doctors and health experts have criticised a government review of vehicle emissions and air pollution for under-reporting the health risks, sidelining the Minister for Health, and potentially putting thousands of Australians' lives at risk.

Australian fuel quality and emissions standards are "appalling", the atmospheric and respiratory specialists say. Of the 35 countries in the OECD, our petrol quality is ranked last, below Mexico, Turkey and Estonia.

Draft proposals to address these quality concerns were quietly released days before Christmas by the Minister for the Environment and Energy, Josh Frydenberg, and the Minister for Urban Infrastructure, Paul Fletcher.

The review acknowledges 1483 premature deaths in 2012 were due to outdoor air pollution (a sharp increase from 882 in 2005), about half of which could be attributed to road transport pollution. It indicates the cost to the Australian economy from these premature deaths at $7.8 billion

Read Gina McColl’s story in today’s Melbourne Age - “Health experts slam Turnbull government's air pollution proposals.”

Aerial pictures illustrate extent of Mississippi River flooding

New aerial photography by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration released Monday are providing a glimpse of the extent and severity of last week's devastating flooding along hundreds of miles of the Mississippi River and its tributaries.

Along those rivers, thousands of Americans rang in the New Year with their homes and businesses underwater after three days of unusual winter rainstorms sent the rivers over their banks.

Read the Inside Climate News story - “New Aerial Photographs Show Midwest Flooding Devastation.”