Climate – Page 9 – PossibleThreat Articles

Cutting emissions gradually will avert sudden jump in warming

September 18, 2019 0 Comments Climate, Environmental Awareness, Environmental Issues, Environmental Policy, Environmental Science, Global Warming, Pollution, Renewable Energy

Steadily reducing fossil fuel emissions over coming years will prevent millions of premature deaths and help avoid the worst of climate change without causing a large spike in short-term warming that some studies predict, new analysis from finds. The finding dispels the misconception that the air-quality and climate benefits of transitioning to clean energy play out at different timescales — a sticking point in recent climate negotiations.

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Dust from a giant asteroid crash caused an ancient ice age

September 18, 2019 0 Comments Asteroids, Comets and Meteors, Climate, Early Climate, Environmental Issues, Fossils, Global Warming, Nebulae, Origin of Life, Satellites

About 466 million years ago, long before the age of the dinosaurs, the Earth froze. The seas began to ice over at the Earth's poles, and new species evolved with the new temperatures. The cause of this ice age was a mystery, until now: a new study argues that the ice age was caused by global cooling, triggered by extra dust in the atmosphere from a giant asteroid collision in outer space.

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Rethinking scenario logic for climate policy

September 18, 2019 0 Comments Climate, Environmental Awareness, Environmental Issues, Environmental Policy, Environmental Science, Geoengineering, Global Warming, Weather

Current scenarios used to inform climate policy have a weakness in that they typically focus on reaching specific climate goals in 2100 – an approach which may encourage risky pathways that could have long-term negative effects. A new study presents a novel scenario framework that focuses on capping global warming at a maximum level with either temperature stabilization or reversal thereafter.

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Actions to save coral reefs could benefit all ecosystems

September 18, 2019 0 Comments Climate, Coral Reefs, Ecology, Ecology Research, Extinction, Fish, Global Warming, Marine Biology

Scientists say bolder actions to protect the world's coral reefs will benefit all ecosystems, human livelihoods and improve food security.

News Science

Greenland's growing 'ice slabs' intensify meltwater runoff into ocean

September 18, 2019 0 Comments Climate, Environmental Awareness, Geography, Global Warming, Ice Ages, Oceanography, Snow and Avalanches, Storms

Thick, impenetrable ice slabs are expanding rapidly on the interior of Greenland's ice sheet, where the ice is normally porous and able to reabsorb meltwater. These slabs are instead sending meltwater spilling into the ocean, according to a new assessment, threatening to increase the country's contribution to sea level rise by as much as 2.9 inches by 2100.

News Science

Scientists forecasted late May tornado outbreak nearly 4 weeks in advance

September 18, 2019 0 Comments Atmosphere, Climate, Global Warming, Natural Disasters, Severe Weather, Storms, Tornadoes, Weather

Scientists report that they accurately predicted the nation's extensive tornado outbreak of late May 2019 nearly 4 weeks before it began.

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Mechanism modeling for better forecasts, climate predictions

September 18, 2019 0 Comments Atmosphere, Climate, Environmental Awareness, Geography, Global Warming, Oceanography, Severe Weather, Weather

Modeling currents together with wind and waves provides more accurate predictions for weather forecasts and climate scientists.

News Science

Role of Tambora eruption in the 1816 'year without a summer'

September 18, 2019 0 Comments Climate, Environmental Awareness, Environmental Science, Global Warming, Natural Disasters, Recycling and Waste, Volcanoes, Weather

A new study has estimated for the first time how the eruption of Mount Tambora changed the probability of the cold and wet European 'year without a summer' of 1816. It found that the observed cold conditions were almost impossible without the eruption, and the wet conditions would have been less likely.

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Peatlands trap CO2, even during droughts

September 17, 2019 0 Comments Climate, Drought, Endangered Animals, Endangered Plants, Environmental Awareness, Environmental Issues, Global Warming, Nature

Scientists studied the two species of moss that make up the peatland. They discovered that in hot weather and drought conditions, one species resists, whereas the other is negatively impacted. In wet weather conditions the opposite takes place. Peatland however survives in the end. Although peatlands make up only 3% of the Earth's surface, they store one third of CO2 present in soil. Preserving peatlands would therefore limit the impact of future climate change.

News Science

Elusive compounds of greenhouse gas isolated

September 17, 2019 0 Comments Air Quality, Atmosphere, Climate, Environmental Issues, Geochemistry, Geography, Global Warming, Sustainability

Nitrous oxide (N2O) is a potent atmospheric pollutant. Although naturally occurring, anthropogenic N2O emissions from intensive agricultural fertilization, industrial processes, and combustion of fossil fuels and biomass are a major cause for concern. Researchers have isolated elusive transition metal compounds of N2O that provide clues into how it could be used in sustainable chemical technologies.