See it! Friday night’s moon and star

Patrick Casaert of Meaux, France caught the moon and Aldebaran on February 23, 2018. Patrick runs the Facebook page La Lune The Moon.

Did you see a star in the moon’s glare last night? It was the bright star Aldebaran, considered the Eye of the Bull in the constellation Taurus. We’re in the midst of a series of 49 monthly occultations of Aldebaran by the moon. In other words, the moon has been passing directly in front of this star – hiding it from view – each month, beginning on January 29, 2015. The final occultation for this series will be on September 3, 2018. There was an occultation of Aldebaran last night (February 23, 2018), but – from around the world – most people witnessed the moon and star either before the occultation, or after it. The EarthSky community captured the pair from around the world. Thanks to all who submitted!

Jenney Disimon in Sabah, North Borneo caught Aldebaran and the moon, as the moon was setting. See Aldebaran at the top left of the photo? Notice that Aldebaran is on the dark side of the moon. A waxing moon always moves in the direction of its darkened side. Thus, as the hours passed, Aldebaran was getting close to the moon.

Moon and Aldebaran from Deirdre Horan in Dublin, Ireland. This is after the occultation! Notice Aldebaran is now on the other side – the illuminated side – of the moon.

Moon and Aldebaran on February 23 from Omar OK.

View larger. | April Singer in New Mexico caught the pair on February 23, too. By then, the moon had moved in its orbit, so that its distance from Aldebaran was much farther away than what had been seen from Europe, for example. April wrote: “For tonight, it’s close but no occult!” Visit April Singer Photography.

Bottom line: Photos of the February 23, 2018 moon and the bright star Aldebaran.

from EarthSky http://ift.tt/2owS9Mz

Patrick Casaert of Meaux, France caught the moon and Aldebaran on February 23, 2018. Patrick runs the Facebook page La Lune The Moon.

Did you see a star in the moon’s glare last night? It was the bright star Aldebaran, considered the Eye of the Bull in the constellation Taurus. We’re in the midst of a series of 49 monthly occultations of Aldebaran by the moon. In other words, the moon has been passing directly in front of this star – hiding it from view – each month, beginning on January 29, 2015. The final occultation for this series will be on September 3, 2018. There was an occultation of Aldebaran last night (February 23, 2018), but – from around the world – most people witnessed the moon and star either before the occultation, or after it. The EarthSky community captured the pair from around the world. Thanks to all who submitted!

Jenney Disimon in Sabah, North Borneo caught Aldebaran and the moon, as the moon was setting. See Aldebaran at the top left of the photo? Notice that Aldebaran is on the dark side of the moon. A waxing moon always moves in the direction of its darkened side. Thus, as the hours passed, Aldebaran was getting close to the moon.

Moon and Aldebaran from Deirdre Horan in Dublin, Ireland. This is after the occultation! Notice Aldebaran is now on the other side – the illuminated side – of the moon.

Moon and Aldebaran on February 23 from Omar OK.

View larger. | April Singer in New Mexico caught the pair on February 23, too. By then, the moon had moved in its orbit, so that its distance from Aldebaran was much farther away than what had been seen from Europe, for example. April wrote: “For tonight, it’s close but no occult!” Visit April Singer Photography.

Bottom line: Photos of the February 23, 2018 moon and the bright star Aldebaran.

from EarthSky http://ift.tt/2owS9Mz

The skywatcher

Image via RV Photography.

RV Photography shot this photo at Mälarhusens Strand, a beach in southern Sweden. He wrote:

The sun is creeping ever nearer to the horizon and soon dawn will be here… Time for one last shot and then sit and watch the sky for awhile.

You’ve got to stop and take the time to enjoy it as well as shoot it.

Bottom line: Photo of Milky Way over Mälarhusens Strand.

from EarthSky http://ift.tt/2HIvbuE

Image via RV Photography.

RV Photography shot this photo at Mälarhusens Strand, a beach in southern Sweden. He wrote:

The sun is creeping ever nearer to the horizon and soon dawn will be here… Time for one last shot and then sit and watch the sky for awhile.

You’ve got to stop and take the time to enjoy it as well as shoot it.

Bottom line: Photo of Milky Way over Mälarhusens Strand.

from EarthSky http://ift.tt/2HIvbuE

News digest – ‘mini tumours’, thyroid drugs, 100,000 Genomes Project, and… do superfoods prevent cancer?

• We reported how scientists are testing cancer drugs on miniature replicas of a patient’s tumour. These lab-grown organoids mimicked how well drugs worked in patients on a clinical trial, and the avatars could one day help doctors tailor treatment. BBC News also had the story.
• Brain tumour research in the UK will receive a £45 million boost, as we announced new funding alongside the Government. Our press release has more on the drive to transform diagnosis and treatment of the diseases that has been stubbornly hard to beat.

UK brain tumour research set to be transformed with £45m funding boost from us and the Government @DHSCgovuk https://t.co/alXaeaWxTn pic.twitter.com/nH6mJy2Sqe

— Cancer Research UK (@CR_UK) February 22, 2018

• A new targeted drug could be used to treat a small number of advanced cancers no matter where they grow in the body, according to new trial results. We reported the innovative clinical trial that is trying to treat a cancer based on its DNA rather than where it develops.
• An NHS research project to uncover the genetic causes of cancers and rare diseases has reached the halfway mark. The 100,000 Genomes Project aims to read the DNA of diseases to improve diagnosis and treatment. Check out our news report for more.
• About 100,000 NHS posts, or 1 in 11, are vacant, according to new figures. The Guardian reports hospital deficits are twice as high as planned even after a winter bailout. We’ve talked before about how the NHS is struggling to diagnose cancers early due to staff shortages and needs more support.
• On average Britons are consuming 50% more calories than they realise, according to new figures. The estimates suggest men typically take in 1,000 more calories than they estimate every day, while for women it’s 800 calories. The Telegraph had more on this.
• Three thyroid cancer treatments have been approved for routine use on the NHS in England, two of which will move from the Cancer Drugs Fund. We reported on the NICE recommendation that will give new options for patients where other treatments haven’t worked.
• Drinking one or more sugary soft drinks a day could increase cancer risk, reports the Guardian. Sugary drinks promote weight gain and obesity increases the risk of 13 types of cancer, but this Australian study suggests these drinks might increase risk regardless of waist size.

And finally

• ‘Do superfoods prevent cancer?’, asks the Guardian. As part of a month long partnership with us they’re taking a closer look at the disease, including mythbusting, meeting our nurses, and giving advice and support for end of life care.

Michael

from Cancer Research UK – Science blog http://ift.tt/2sSEHrO

• We reported how scientists are testing cancer drugs on miniature replicas of a patient’s tumour. These lab-grown organoids mimicked how well drugs worked in patients on a clinical trial, and the avatars could one day help doctors tailor treatment. BBC News also had the story.
• Brain tumour research in the UK will receive a £45 million boost, as we announced new funding alongside the Government. Our press release has more on the drive to transform diagnosis and treatment of the diseases that has been stubbornly hard to beat.

UK brain tumour research set to be transformed with £45m funding boost from us and the Government @DHSCgovuk https://t.co/alXaeaWxTn pic.twitter.com/nH6mJy2Sqe

— Cancer Research UK (@CR_UK) February 22, 2018

• A new targeted drug could be used to treat a small number of advanced cancers no matter where they grow in the body, according to new trial results. We reported the innovative clinical trial that is trying to treat a cancer based on its DNA rather than where it develops.
• An NHS research project to uncover the genetic causes of cancers and rare diseases has reached the halfway mark. The 100,000 Genomes Project aims to read the DNA of diseases to improve diagnosis and treatment. Check out our news report for more.
• About 100,000 NHS posts, or 1 in 11, are vacant, according to new figures. The Guardian reports hospital deficits are twice as high as planned even after a winter bailout. We’ve talked before about how the NHS is struggling to diagnose cancers early due to staff shortages and needs more support.
• On average Britons are consuming 50% more calories than they realise, according to new figures. The estimates suggest men typically take in 1,000 more calories than they estimate every day, while for women it’s 800 calories. The Telegraph had more on this.
• Three thyroid cancer treatments have been approved for routine use on the NHS in England, two of which will move from the Cancer Drugs Fund. We reported on the NICE recommendation that will give new options for patients where other treatments haven’t worked.
• Drinking one or more sugary soft drinks a day could increase cancer risk, reports the Guardian. Sugary drinks promote weight gain and obesity increases the risk of 13 types of cancer, but this Australian study suggests these drinks might increase risk regardless of waist size.

And finally

• ‘Do superfoods prevent cancer?’, asks the Guardian. As part of a month long partnership with us they’re taking a closer look at the disease, including mythbusting, meeting our nurses, and giving advice and support for end of life care.

Michael

from Cancer Research UK – Science blog http://ift.tt/2sSEHrO

Moon inside Winter Circle February 24

Tonight – February 24, 2018 – the waxing gibbous moon shines inside a large asterism that we in the Northern Hemisphere often call the Winter Circle. It’s a very large star configuration made of brilliant winter stars. Around the world on this night, the moon is inside the Circle. From anywhere in the Northern Hemisphere, look for this pattern to fill up much of the eastern half of sky at nightfall. By mid-evening, the Winter Circle will swing to your southern sky, and then it will drift into your western sky around midnight.

If you’re in the Southern Hemisphere … although it’s not winter for you, these same stars appear around the moon. But, for you, the Circle will appear upside-down with respect to our chart. The star Sirius will be at the top, instead of the bottom.

The Winter Circle is sometimes called the Winter Hexagon. It’s not one of the 88 recognized constellations. Rather, it’s an asterism – a pattern of stars that’s fairly easy to recognize. Our sky chart can’t adequately convey the Winter Circle’s humongous size! It dwarfs the constellation Orion the Hunter, which is a rather large constellation, occupying the southwestern part of the Winter Circle pattern.

Enjoying EarthSky so far? Sign up for our free daily newsletter today!

The Winter Circle in blue. It contains another asterism, or familiar star pattern – called the Winter Triangle – in red. These stars will be out in the evening sky for several months to come. Image via Wikimedia Commons

Here’s how to locate the Winter Circle from mid-northern latitudes. At nightfall and early evening, look high overhead for the bright star Capella. This star marks the top (or more properly, the northern terminus) of the Winter Circle.

As Capella shines way overhead, the constellation Orion the Hunter is prowling in the southern sky. Draw a line downward through Orion’s Belt to find Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky. This star marks the bottom (the southern tip) of the Winter Circle, as seen from our Northern Hemisphere perspective

By the way, tonight’s waxing gibbous moon shows you where the sun resides in front of the backdrop stars in late June or early July. So enjoy the Winter Circle. And contemplate the sun being in this part of the sky when summer returns to the Northern Hemisphere!

Ken Gallagher in Lake Havasu, Arizona, wrote in February, 2017: “Didn’t think the clouds would clear, but alas, they did. Enough to catch the Winter Circle. Hard to make out Aldebaran and Capella, but they are there.”

Bottom line: On the evening of February 24, 2018, the waxing gibbous moon shines inside the huge pattern of stars known as the Winter Circle. Be sure to notice the different colors of these stars!

More on the Winter Circle: Brightest winter stars

EarthSky astronomy kits are perfect for beginners. Order today from the EarthSky store

Donate: Your support means the world to us

from EarthSky http://ift.tt/1onRIST

Tonight – February 24, 2018 – the waxing gibbous moon shines inside a large asterism that we in the Northern Hemisphere often call the Winter Circle. It’s a very large star configuration made of brilliant winter stars. Around the world on this night, the moon is inside the Circle. From anywhere in the Northern Hemisphere, look for this pattern to fill up much of the eastern half of sky at nightfall. By mid-evening, the Winter Circle will swing to your southern sky, and then it will drift into your western sky around midnight.

If you’re in the Southern Hemisphere … although it’s not winter for you, these same stars appear around the moon. But, for you, the Circle will appear upside-down with respect to our chart. The star Sirius will be at the top, instead of the bottom.

The Winter Circle is sometimes called the Winter Hexagon. It’s not one of the 88 recognized constellations. Rather, it’s an asterism – a pattern of stars that’s fairly easy to recognize. Our sky chart can’t adequately convey the Winter Circle’s humongous size! It dwarfs the constellation Orion the Hunter, which is a rather large constellation, occupying the southwestern part of the Winter Circle pattern.

Enjoying EarthSky so far? Sign up for our free daily newsletter today!

The Winter Circle in blue. It contains another asterism, or familiar star pattern – called the Winter Triangle – in red. These stars will be out in the evening sky for several months to come. Image via Wikimedia Commons

Here’s how to locate the Winter Circle from mid-northern latitudes. At nightfall and early evening, look high overhead for the bright star Capella. This star marks the top (or more properly, the northern terminus) of the Winter Circle.

As Capella shines way overhead, the constellation Orion the Hunter is prowling in the southern sky. Draw a line downward through Orion’s Belt to find Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky. This star marks the bottom (the southern tip) of the Winter Circle, as seen from our Northern Hemisphere perspective

By the way, tonight’s waxing gibbous moon shows you where the sun resides in front of the backdrop stars in late June or early July. So enjoy the Winter Circle. And contemplate the sun being in this part of the sky when summer returns to the Northern Hemisphere!

Ken Gallagher in Lake Havasu, Arizona, wrote in February, 2017: “Didn’t think the clouds would clear, but alas, they did. Enough to catch the Winter Circle. Hard to make out Aldebaran and Capella, but they are there.”

Bottom line: On the evening of February 24, 2018, the waxing gibbous moon shines inside the huge pattern of stars known as the Winter Circle. Be sure to notice the different colors of these stars!

More on the Winter Circle: Brightest winter stars

EarthSky astronomy kits are perfect for beginners. Order today from the EarthSky store

Donate: Your support means the world to us

from EarthSky http://ift.tt/1onRIST

Standing Rock is everywhere: one year later

Chief Arvol Looking Horse is the 19th Keeper of the Sacred Bundle and Spiritual Leader of the Lakota, Dakota, Nakota People.

One year after the closing of the camp at the Standing Rock Reservation, Standing Rock is everywhere. Our collective water has been assaulted for many generations to the possible point of no return.

Our Elders foretold of a Black Snake and how the Water of Life — “Mni Woc’oni,” which is our first medicine — would be affected if we did not stop this oncoming disaster. Mni Woc’oni is part of our creation story, and the same story that exists in many creation stories around Mother Earth.

When we say “Mni Woc’oni” — Water of Life — people all over the world are now beginning to understand that it is a living spirit: it can heal when you pray with it and die if you do not respect it. We wanted the world to know there have been warnings in our prophecies and, as we see it, those warnings are now taking place. It was said water would be like gold. It was said that our spirit of water would begin to leave us.

We are at the crossroads.

First sunrise begins to creep onto Oceti Sakowin Camp, October 19th, 2016. Photograph: Ryan Vizzions

In April 2016, after receiving concerns about the construction of an oil pipeline, I was invited to Sacred Stone Camp at the northeastern border of the Standing Rock Reservation in North Dakota to assist with a water ceremony. At that time, not many were there, but it was enough to create a prayer to wake up the people. I told the young people that Standing Rock is everywhere.

Later that month, our indigenous youth set out on foot to run from the Standing Rock Reservation to Washington D.C. in an attempt to bring attention to the poisonous bitumen oil pipeline coming through our treaty territory. For our young people, it was important to explain to U.S. government leaders that this was unacceptable.

As I look back at my experiences at Standing Rock, I think about the circle we created through prayer on December 4, 2016. Our traditional Elders asked all nations to join us and stand in prayer. Thousands, including many religious representatives, joined in prayer on that very cold day. An invitation video was made and sent all over the world.

 A signpost pointing to home, erected in Fall 2016 by those who came to camp at Standing Rock. It is now on display on the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, DC. Photograph: Ryan Vizzions

After the prayers were offered to the fire, I asked the people to surround the camp and ride horseback around the whole perimeter. On this day, President Obama and his administration halted the Dakota Access Pipeline by denying the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers an easement that would have allowed the pipeline to cross beneath Lake Oahe.

 Chief Arvol and Paula Looking Horse and other water protectors walking away from a meeting with law enforcement on the Backwater Bridge at Standing Rock, with a prayer song. Photograph: Ryan Vizzions

The closing of the camp at Standing Rock a year ago and the continued construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline has been a great disappointment. So, too, was the November 2017 spill of 210,000 gallons of oil from the Keystone Pipeline, west of the Sisseton Wahpeton Reservation, despite the tribe’s fight against it since 2003. So, too, was the April 2011 spill of 1.2 million gallons of oil onto Lubicon Cree territory, northeast of Peace River.

 At Standing Rock, water protectors chose to ceremonially burn the camp and its sacred structures, rather than have it bulldozed by outside forces. Photograph: Rob Wilson

What happened at Standing Rock has awakened many of my own people, and people across the world.

It was at Standing Rock that so many came together to share their stories and knowledge of what was happening in their territory, sharing ideas on how to move toward sustainable living in our relationship to land, water, and food. 

 Women water protectors gather to strategize at nightfall. Photograph: Tomas Karmelo Amaya

Standing Rock has marked the beginning of an international movement that will continue to work peacefully, purposefully, and tirelessly for the protection of water along all areas of poisonous oil pipelines and across all of Mother Earth.

In the protection of Mni Woc’oni, it is more than oil pipelines threatening the well-being and future of our water. Near the native territory of the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate, concentrated animal feeding operations or “CAFOs” are draining and degrading the land and water. As a result, the air is toxic, swamps have dried up, and aquifers, to which the people are supposed to have water rights, are being drained. Residents have mortgaged their homes to fight these threats in court and lost. In other places — in mining spills across South America and Africa and at Fukushima — man has gone too far.

Water is a source of life, not a resource.

Click here to read the rest

from Skeptical Science http://ift.tt/2FpVAg1

Chief Arvol Looking Horse is the 19th Keeper of the Sacred Bundle and Spiritual Leader of the Lakota, Dakota, Nakota People.

One year after the closing of the camp at the Standing Rock Reservation, Standing Rock is everywhere. Our collective water has been assaulted for many generations to the possible point of no return.

Our Elders foretold of a Black Snake and how the Water of Life — “Mni Woc’oni,” which is our first medicine — would be affected if we did not stop this oncoming disaster. Mni Woc’oni is part of our creation story, and the same story that exists in many creation stories around Mother Earth.

When we say “Mni Woc’oni” — Water of Life — people all over the world are now beginning to understand that it is a living spirit: it can heal when you pray with it and die if you do not respect it. We wanted the world to know there have been warnings in our prophecies and, as we see it, those warnings are now taking place. It was said water would be like gold. It was said that our spirit of water would begin to leave us.

We are at the crossroads.

First sunrise begins to creep onto Oceti Sakowin Camp, October 19th, 2016. Photograph: Ryan Vizzions

In April 2016, after receiving concerns about the construction of an oil pipeline, I was invited to Sacred Stone Camp at the northeastern border of the Standing Rock Reservation in North Dakota to assist with a water ceremony. At that time, not many were there, but it was enough to create a prayer to wake up the people. I told the young people that Standing Rock is everywhere.

Later that month, our indigenous youth set out on foot to run from the Standing Rock Reservation to Washington D.C. in an attempt to bring attention to the poisonous bitumen oil pipeline coming through our treaty territory. For our young people, it was important to explain to U.S. government leaders that this was unacceptable.

As I look back at my experiences at Standing Rock, I think about the circle we created through prayer on December 4, 2016. Our traditional Elders asked all nations to join us and stand in prayer. Thousands, including many religious representatives, joined in prayer on that very cold day. An invitation video was made and sent all over the world.

 A signpost pointing to home, erected in Fall 2016 by those who came to camp at Standing Rock. It is now on display on the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, DC. Photograph: Ryan Vizzions

After the prayers were offered to the fire, I asked the people to surround the camp and ride horseback around the whole perimeter. On this day, President Obama and his administration halted the Dakota Access Pipeline by denying the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers an easement that would have allowed the pipeline to cross beneath Lake Oahe.

 Chief Arvol and Paula Looking Horse and other water protectors walking away from a meeting with law enforcement on the Backwater Bridge at Standing Rock, with a prayer song. Photograph: Ryan Vizzions

The closing of the camp at Standing Rock a year ago and the continued construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline has been a great disappointment. So, too, was the November 2017 spill of 210,000 gallons of oil from the Keystone Pipeline, west of the Sisseton Wahpeton Reservation, despite the tribe’s fight against it since 2003. So, too, was the April 2011 spill of 1.2 million gallons of oil onto Lubicon Cree territory, northeast of Peace River.

 At Standing Rock, water protectors chose to ceremonially burn the camp and its sacred structures, rather than have it bulldozed by outside forces. Photograph: Rob Wilson

What happened at Standing Rock has awakened many of my own people, and people across the world.

It was at Standing Rock that so many came together to share their stories and knowledge of what was happening in their territory, sharing ideas on how to move toward sustainable living in our relationship to land, water, and food. 

 Women water protectors gather to strategize at nightfall. Photograph: Tomas Karmelo Amaya

Standing Rock has marked the beginning of an international movement that will continue to work peacefully, purposefully, and tirelessly for the protection of water along all areas of poisonous oil pipelines and across all of Mother Earth.

In the protection of Mni Woc’oni, it is more than oil pipelines threatening the well-being and future of our water. Near the native territory of the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate, concentrated animal feeding operations or “CAFOs” are draining and degrading the land and water. As a result, the air is toxic, swamps have dried up, and aquifers, to which the people are supposed to have water rights, are being drained. Residents have mortgaged their homes to fight these threats in court and lost. In other places — in mining spills across South America and Africa and at Fukushima — man has gone too far.

Water is a source of life, not a resource.

Click here to read the rest

from Skeptical Science http://ift.tt/2FpVAg1

Why remote Antarctica is so important in a warming world

Chris Fogwill, Professor of Glaciology and Palaeoclimatology, Keele University; Chris Turney, Professor of Earth Sciences and Climate Change, UNSW, and Zoe Robinson, Reader in Physical Geography and Sustainability/Director of Education for Sustainability, Keele University

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

Ever since the ancient Greeks speculated a continent must exist in the south polar regions to balance those in the north, Antarctica has been popularly described as remote and extreme. Over the past two centuries, these factors have combined to create, in the human psyche, an almost mythical land – an idea reinforced by tales of heroism and adventure from the Edwardian golden age of “heroic exploration” and pioneers such as Robert Falcon Scott, Roald Amundsen and Ernest Shackleton.

Recent research, however, is casting new light on the importance of the southernmost continent, overturning centuries of misunderstanding and highlighting the role of Antarctica in how our planet works and the role it may play in a future, warmer world.

Heroic exploration, 1913. wiki

What was once thought to be a largely unchanging mass of snow and ice is anything but. Antarctica holds a staggering amount of water. The three ice sheets that cover the continent contain around 70% of our planet’s fresh water, all of which we now know to be vulnerable to warming air and oceans. If all the ice sheets were to melt, Antarctica would raise global sea levels by at least 56m.

Where, when, and how quickly they might melt is a major focus of research. No one is suggesting all the ice sheets will melt over the next century but, given their size, even small losses could have global repercussions. Possible scenarios are deeply concerning: in addition to rising sea levels, meltwater would slow down the world’s ocean circulation, while shifting wind belts may affect the climate in the southern hemisphere.

In 2014, NASA reported that several major Antarctic ice streams, which hold enough water to trigger the equivalent of a one-and-a-half metre sea level rise, are now irreversibly in retreat. With more than 150m people exposed to the threat of sea level rise and sea levels now rising at a faster rate globally than any time in the past 3,000 years, these are sobering statistics for island nations and coastal cities worldwide.

An immediate and acute threat

Recent storm surges following hurricanes have demonstrated that rising sea levels are a future threat for densely populated regions such as Florida and New York. Meanwhile the threat for low-lying islands in areas such as the Pacific is immediate and acute.

Much of the continent’s ice is slowly sliding towards the sea. R Bindschadler / wiki

Multiple factors mean that the vulnerability to global sea level rise is geographically variable and unequal, while there are also regional differences in the extremity of sea level rise itself. At present, the consensus of the IPPC 2013 report suggests a rise of between 40 and 80cm over the next century, with Antarctica only contributing around 5cm of this. Recent projections, however, suggest that Antarctic contributions may be up to ten times higher.

Studies also suggest that in a world 1.5-2°C warmer than today we will be locked into millennia of irreversible sea level rise, due to the slow response time of the Antarctic ice sheets to atmospheric and ocean warming.

We may already be living in such a world. Recent evidence shows global temperatures are close to 1.5°C warmer than pre-industrial times and, after the COP23 meeting in Bonn in November, it is apparent that keeping temperature rise within 2°C is unlikely.

So we now need to reconsider future sea level projections given the potential global impact from Antarctica. Given that 93% of the heat from anthropogenic global warming has gone into the ocean, and these warming ocean waters are now meeting the floating margins of the Antarctic ice sheet, the potential for rapid ice sheet melt in a 2°C world is high.

In polar regions, surface temperatures are projected to rise twice as fast as the global average, due to a phenomenon known as polar amplification. However, there is still hope to avoid this sword of Damocles, as studies suggest that a major reduction in greenhouse gases over the next decade would mean that irreversible sea level rise could be avoided. It is therefore crucial to reduce CO₂ levels now for the benefit of future generations, or adapt to a world in which more of our shorelines are significantly redrawn.

This is both a scientific and societal issue. We have choices: technological innovations are providing new ways to reduce CO₂ emissions, and offer the reality of a low-carbon future. This may help minimise sea level rise from Antarctica and make mitigation a viable possibility.

Given what rising sea levels could mean for human societies across the world, we must maintain our longstanding view of Antarctica as the most remote and isolated continent.

from Skeptical Science http://ift.tt/2EOfpNf

Chris Fogwill, Professor of Glaciology and Palaeoclimatology, Keele University; Chris Turney, Professor of Earth Sciences and Climate Change, UNSW, and Zoe Robinson, Reader in Physical Geography and Sustainability/Director of Education for Sustainability, Keele University

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

Ever since the ancient Greeks speculated a continent must exist in the south polar regions to balance those in the north, Antarctica has been popularly described as remote and extreme. Over the past two centuries, these factors have combined to create, in the human psyche, an almost mythical land – an idea reinforced by tales of heroism and adventure from the Edwardian golden age of “heroic exploration” and pioneers such as Robert Falcon Scott, Roald Amundsen and Ernest Shackleton.

Recent research, however, is casting new light on the importance of the southernmost continent, overturning centuries of misunderstanding and highlighting the role of Antarctica in how our planet works and the role it may play in a future, warmer world.

Heroic exploration, 1913. wiki

What was once thought to be a largely unchanging mass of snow and ice is anything but. Antarctica holds a staggering amount of water. The three ice sheets that cover the continent contain around 70% of our planet’s fresh water, all of which we now know to be vulnerable to warming air and oceans. If all the ice sheets were to melt, Antarctica would raise global sea levels by at least 56m.

Where, when, and how quickly they might melt is a major focus of research. No one is suggesting all the ice sheets will melt over the next century but, given their size, even small losses could have global repercussions. Possible scenarios are deeply concerning: in addition to rising sea levels, meltwater would slow down the world’s ocean circulation, while shifting wind belts may affect the climate in the southern hemisphere.

In 2014, NASA reported that several major Antarctic ice streams, which hold enough water to trigger the equivalent of a one-and-a-half metre sea level rise, are now irreversibly in retreat. With more than 150m people exposed to the threat of sea level rise and sea levels now rising at a faster rate globally than any time in the past 3,000 years, these are sobering statistics for island nations and coastal cities worldwide.

An immediate and acute threat

Recent storm surges following hurricanes have demonstrated that rising sea levels are a future threat for densely populated regions such as Florida and New York. Meanwhile the threat for low-lying islands in areas such as the Pacific is immediate and acute.

Much of the continent’s ice is slowly sliding towards the sea. R Bindschadler / wiki

Multiple factors mean that the vulnerability to global sea level rise is geographically variable and unequal, while there are also regional differences in the extremity of sea level rise itself. At present, the consensus of the IPPC 2013 report suggests a rise of between 40 and 80cm over the next century, with Antarctica only contributing around 5cm of this. Recent projections, however, suggest that Antarctic contributions may be up to ten times higher.

Studies also suggest that in a world 1.5-2°C warmer than today we will be locked into millennia of irreversible sea level rise, due to the slow response time of the Antarctic ice sheets to atmospheric and ocean warming.

We may already be living in such a world. Recent evidence shows global temperatures are close to 1.5°C warmer than pre-industrial times and, after the COP23 meeting in Bonn in November, it is apparent that keeping temperature rise within 2°C is unlikely.

So we now need to reconsider future sea level projections given the potential global impact from Antarctica. Given that 93% of the heat from anthropogenic global warming has gone into the ocean, and these warming ocean waters are now meeting the floating margins of the Antarctic ice sheet, the potential for rapid ice sheet melt in a 2°C world is high.

In polar regions, surface temperatures are projected to rise twice as fast as the global average, due to a phenomenon known as polar amplification. However, there is still hope to avoid this sword of Damocles, as studies suggest that a major reduction in greenhouse gases over the next decade would mean that irreversible sea level rise could be avoided. It is therefore crucial to reduce CO₂ levels now for the benefit of future generations, or adapt to a world in which more of our shorelines are significantly redrawn.

This is both a scientific and societal issue. We have choices: technological innovations are providing new ways to reduce CO₂ emissions, and offer the reality of a low-carbon future. This may help minimise sea level rise from Antarctica and make mitigation a viable possibility.

Given what rising sea levels could mean for human societies across the world, we must maintain our longstanding view of Antarctica as the most remote and isolated continent.

from Skeptical Science http://ift.tt/2EOfpNf

New research, February 12-18, 2018

A selection of new climate related research articles is shown below.

The Figure is from paper #24.

Climate change

1. Climate Change Attribution: When Is It Appropriate to Accept New Methods?

2. Does the projected pathway to global warming targets matter?

3. Isolating the meteorological impact of 21st century GHG warming on the removal and atmospheric loading of anthropogenic fine particulate matter pollution at global scale

4. Assessment of climate change in Algeria from 1951 to 2098 using the Köppen–Geiger climate classification scheme

Temperature and precipitation

5. Warm Arctic−cold Siberia: comparing the recent and the early 20th-century Arctic warmings

6. Projected changes in the Asian-Australian monsoon region in 1.5°C and 2.0°C global-warming scenarios

"There is high confidence in projected increases to mean and extreme surface temperatures over AAMR, as well as more-frequent persistent daily temperature extremes over East Asia, Australia and northern India with an additional 0.5^°C warming, which are likely to occur. Mean and extreme monsoon precipitation amplify over AAMR, except over Australia at 1.5^°C where there is uncertainty in the sign of the change. Persistent daily extreme precipitation events are likely to become more frequent over parts of East Asia and India with an additional 0.5^°C warming. There is lower confidence in projections of precipitation change than in projections of surface temperature change. These results highlight the benefits of limiting the global-mean temperature change to 1.5^°C above pre-industrial, as the severity of the above effects increases with an extra 0.5^°C warming."

7. Assessment of short- and long-term memory in trends of major climatic variables over Iran: 1966–2015

8. Evidence that global evapotranspiration makes a substantial contribution to the global atmospheric temperature slowdown

9. The effect of elevation bias in interpolated air temperature datasets on surface warming in China during 1951-2015

10. Dynamical Downscaling of Temperature and Precipitation Extremes in China under Current and Future Climates

11. Investigating the Uncertainty in Global SST Trends Due to Internal Variations Using an Improved Trend Estimator

12. Energy transport, polar amplification, and ITCZ shifts in the GeoMIP G1 ensemble

13. Contrasting local and remote impacts of surface heating on polar warming and amplification

14. Emulating mean patterns and variability of temperature across and within scenarios in anthropogenic climate change experiments

15. 300 years of hydrological records and societal responses to droughts and floods on the Pacific coast of Central America

16. Dynamically-downscaled temperature and precipitation changes over Saskatchewan using the PRECIS model

17. Observed changes in extremes of daily rainfall and temperature in Jemma Sub-Basin, Upper Blue Nile Basin, Ethiopia

Climate forcings and feedbacks

18. Comprehensive Assessment of Global Surface Net Radiation Products and Uncertainty Analysis

19. Climate response to negative greenhouse gas radiative forcing in polar winter

"We find, using a fully coupled Earth system model, that the underlying surface warms despite the GHG addition exerting negative ERF and cooling the troposphere in the vicinity of the GHG increase. This unique radiative forcing and thermal response is facilitated by the high stability of the polar winter atmosphere, which inhibits thermal mixing and amplifies the impact of surface radiative forcing on surface temperature. These findings also suggest that strategies to exploit negative ERF via injections of short-lived GHGs into inversion layers would likely be unsuccessful in cooling the planetary surface."

20. Predicting decadal trends in cloud droplet number concentration using reanalysis and satellite data

21. How well can we represent the spectrum of convective clouds in a climate model? Comparisons between internal parameterization variables and radar observations

22. The Radiative Forcing of Aerosol–Cloud Interactions in Liquid Clouds: Wrestling and Embracing Uncertainty

23. Characteristic Atmospheric Radiative Heating Rate Profiles in Arctic Clouds as Observed at Barrow, Alaska

24. Climate and health implications of future aerosol emission scenarios

25. Climate impact of a regional nuclear weapons exchange: An improved assessment based on detailed source calculations

26. Quantifying anthropogenic dust emissions

Cryosphere

27. Explaining CO2 fluctuations observed in snowpacks

28. Irrigation as a potential driver for anomalous glacier behaviour in High Mountain Asia

"Using a regional climate model, in combination with a moisture-tracking model, we show that the increase in irrigation intensity in the lowlands surrounding HMA, particularly in the Tarim basin, can locally counter the effects of global warming on glaciers in Kunlun Shan, and parts of Pamir and northern Tibet, through an increase in summer snowfall and decrease in net radiance. Irrigation can thus affect the regional climate in a way that favours glacier growth, and future projections of glacier melt, which may impact millions of inhabitants surrounding HMA, will need to take into account predicted changes in irrigation intensity."

29. Increased West Antarctic and unchanged East Antarctic ice discharge over the last 7 years

"Using an optimized flux gate, ice discharge from Antarctica is 1929 ± 40 Gigatons per year (Gt yr−1) in 2015, an increase of 36 ± 15 Gt yr−1 from the time of the radar mapping. Flow accelerations across the grounding lines of West Antarctica's Amundsen Sea Embayment, Getz Ice Shelf and Marguerite Bay on the western Antarctic Peninsula, account for 88 % of this increase. In contrast, glaciers draining the East Antarctic Ice Sheet have been remarkably constant over the period of observation. Including modeled rates of snow accumulation and basal melt, the Antarctic ice sheet lost ice at an average rate of 183 ± 94 Gt yr−1 between 2008 and 2015. The modest increase in ice discharge over the past 7 years is contrasted by high rates of ice sheet mass loss and distinct spatial patters of elevation lowering. The West Antarctic Ice Sheet is experiencing high rates of mass loss and displays distinct patterns of elevation lowering that point to a dynamic imbalance."

30. Climatology of Hail Frequency and Size in China, 1980–2015

Carbon cycle

31. Greenhouse gas emissions from a semi-arid tropical reservoir in northeastern Brazil

32. Differential response of carbon cycling to long-term nutrient input and altered hydrological conditions in a continental Canadian peatland

33. Carbon and nitrogen pools in thermokarst-affected permafrost landscapes in Arctic Siberia

34. What drives long-term variations in carbon flux and balance in a tropical rainforest in French Guiana?

Extreme events

35. Spatiotemporal characterization of current and future droughts in the High Atlas basins (Morocco)

"These models show a decrease in precipitation towards the future up to − 65% compared to the historical period. In terms of drought events, the future projections indicate a strong increase in the frequency of SPI events below − 2, considered as severe drought condition."

36. Variations in droughts and wet spells and their influences in China: 1924–2013

37. New York City Impacts on a Regional Heat Wave

38. Classifying heatwaves: developing health-based models to predict high-mortality versus moderate United States heatwaves

39. Projected trends in high-mortality heatwaves under different scenarios of climate, population, and adaptation in 82 US communities

40. The importance of aerosol scenarios in projections of future heat extremes

41. Interactions between urban heat islands and heat waves

42. Spatiotemporal analysis of hydro-meteorological drought in the Johor River Basin, Malaysia

Atmospheric and oceanic circulation

43. Does Southern Ocean surface forcing shape the global ocean overturning circulation?

44. Forced decadal changes in the East Asian summer monsoon: the roles of greenhouse gases and anthropogenic aerosols

"Furthermore, the experiments with separate forcings indicate that GHG and AA forcing dominate different parts of the SFND pattern. In particular, changes in GHG increase precipitation over southern China, whilst changes in AA dominate in the drought conditions over northern China. Increases in GHG cause increased moisture transport convergence over eastern China, which leads to increased precipitation. The AA forcing changes weaken the EASM, which lead to divergent wind anomalies over northern China and reduced precipitation."

45. ENSO transition from La Niña to El Niño drives prolonged Spring-Summer drought over North China

Climate change impacts

Mankind

46. Is extreme climate or moderate climate more conducive to longevity in China?

"Results of this study show individuals in northwestern China do not live as long as those in eastern and southern China. A moderate climate is more conducive to longevity than extreme climate in China."

47. Impacts and Uncertainties of +2°C of Climate Change and Soil Degradation on European Crop Calorie Supply

48. Assessing Hazard Vulnerability, Habitat Conservation and Restoration for the Enhancement of China’s Coastal Resilience

49. Climate change research in Bangladesh: research gaps and implications for adaptation-related decision-making

50. Induce or reduce? The crowding-in effects of farmers’ perceptions of climate risk on chemical use in China

51. An EPIC model-based wheat drought risk assessment using new climate scenarios in China

52. Famine relief, public order, and revolts: interaction between government and refugees as a result of drought/flood during 1790–1911 in the North China Plain

53. Understanding Resilience of Pastoralists to Climate Change and Variability in the Southern Afar Region, Ethiopia

54. Perceptions of climate and ocean change impacting the resources and livelihood of small-scale fishers in the South Brazil Bight

55. Multi-model projections of future climate and climate change impacts uncertainty assessment for cotton production in Pakistan

Biosphere

56. Future forest landscapes of the Carpathians: vegetation and carbon dynamics under climate change

57. The persistent decline of patterned woody vegetation: The tiger bush in the context of the regional Sahel greening trend

58. Extreme streams: species persistence and genomic change in montane insect populations across a flooding gradient

59. Relative influence of timing and accumulation of snow on alpine land surface phenology

60. Shifting relative importance of climatic constraints on land surface phenology

61. Arctic moistening provides negative feedbacks to riparian plants

62. Impact of ocean acidification and warming on the productivity of a rock pool community

"Rock pool assemblages are robust to ocean acidification and warming."

63. Ongoing changes in migration phenology and winter residency at Bracken Bat Cave

"Using quantitative radar monitoring, we found that spring migration and the summer reproductive cycle have advanced by approximately 2 weeks over the study period."

64. Environmental and phenotypic heterogeneity of populations at the trailing range-edge of the habitat-forming macroalga Fucus serratus

65. Long-term monitoring of an amphibian community after a climate change- and infectious disease-driven species extirpation

66. Simulated sensitivity of African terrestrial ecosystem photosynthesis to rainfall frequency, intensity, and rainy season length

67. Effects of climate on soil phosphorus cycle and availability in natural terrestrial ecosystems

68. Pan European Phenological database (PEP725): a single point of access for European data

Climate change mitigation

69. Reducing fugitive methane emissions from the North American oil and gas sector: a proposed science-policy framework

70. Entrepreneurial activities in policy implementation: Sweden’s national wind coordinators

71. Estimating rooftop solar technical potential across the US using a combination of GIS-based methods, lidar data, and statistical modeling

"At the national level, 8.13 billion m² of suitable roof area could host 1118 GW of PV capacity, generating 1432 TWh of electricity per year. This would equate to 38.6% of the electricity that was sold in the contiguous United States in 2013."

72. Defining transformative climate science to address high-end climate change

73. Take Action Now: Motivational Framing and Action Requests in Climate Advocacy

74. The effect of providing climate and health information on support for alternative electricity portfolios

75. Context matters: Context-related drivers of and barriers to climate information use

76. Ecologically unequal exchange and the carbon intensity of well-being, 1990–2011

77. The impacts of information and communication technology, energy consumption, financial development, and economic growth on carbon dioxide emissions in 12 Asian countries

78. Impact assessment of climate policy on Poland's power sector

79. The cost of achieving South Africa’s ‘fair share’ of global climate change mitigation

80. Cover crops mitigate direct greenhouse gases balance but reduce drainage under climate change scenarios in temperate climate with dry summers

81. Some factors that would affect the retail price for 100% Australian renewable electricity

82. Public perception of energy transition in Korea: Nuclear power, climate change, and party preference

83. Addressing COP21 using a stock and oil market integration index

84. Landscape-scale wildlife species richness metrics to inform wind and solar energy facility siting: An Arizona case study

Other papers

85. Total ozone trends from 1979 to 2016 derived from five merged observational datasets – the emergence into ozone recovery

"This paper commemorates the 30-year anniversary of the initial signing of the Montreal Protocol (MP) on substances that deplete the ozone layer. The MP is so far successful in reducing ozone-depleting substances, and total ozone decline was successfully stopped by the late 1990s. Total ozone levels have been mostly stable since then. In some regions, barely significant upward trends are observed that suggest an emergence into the expected ozone recovery phase."

86. Holocene lowering of the Laurentide ice sheet affects North Atlantic gyre circulation and climate

"The climatic effects of the Laurentide ice sheet lowering during the Holocene are restricted to the North Atlantic sector. Thus, topographic forcing is unlikely to have played a major role in the 8.2 ka event and had only a small effect on Holocene climate change compared to the effects of changes in greenhouse gases, insolation and ice sheet meltwater."

87. Deviations of treeline Norway spruce radial growth from summer temperatures in East-Central Europe

88. Euro-Atlantic atmospheric circulation during the Late Maunder Minimum

from Skeptical Science http://ift.tt/2FpVyVr

A selection of new climate related research articles is shown below.

The Figure is from paper #24.

Climate change

1. Climate Change Attribution: When Is It Appropriate to Accept New Methods?

2. Does the projected pathway to global warming targets matter?

3. Isolating the meteorological impact of 21st century GHG warming on the removal and atmospheric loading of anthropogenic fine particulate matter pollution at global scale

4. Assessment of climate change in Algeria from 1951 to 2098 using the Köppen–Geiger climate classification scheme

Temperature and precipitation

5. Warm Arctic−cold Siberia: comparing the recent and the early 20th-century Arctic warmings

6. Projected changes in the Asian-Australian monsoon region in 1.5°C and 2.0°C global-warming scenarios

"There is high confidence in projected increases to mean and extreme surface temperatures over AAMR, as well as more-frequent persistent daily temperature extremes over East Asia, Australia and northern India with an additional 0.5^°C warming, which are likely to occur. Mean and extreme monsoon precipitation amplify over AAMR, except over Australia at 1.5^°C where there is uncertainty in the sign of the change. Persistent daily extreme precipitation events are likely to become more frequent over parts of East Asia and India with an additional 0.5^°C warming. There is lower confidence in projections of precipitation change than in projections of surface temperature change. These results highlight the benefits of limiting the global-mean temperature change to 1.5^°C above pre-industrial, as the severity of the above effects increases with an extra 0.5^°C warming."

7. Assessment of short- and long-term memory in trends of major climatic variables over Iran: 1966–2015

8. Evidence that global evapotranspiration makes a substantial contribution to the global atmospheric temperature slowdown

9. The effect of elevation bias in interpolated air temperature datasets on surface warming in China during 1951-2015

10. Dynamical Downscaling of Temperature and Precipitation Extremes in China under Current and Future Climates

11. Investigating the Uncertainty in Global SST Trends Due to Internal Variations Using an Improved Trend Estimator

12. Energy transport, polar amplification, and ITCZ shifts in the GeoMIP G1 ensemble

13. Contrasting local and remote impacts of surface heating on polar warming and amplification

14. Emulating mean patterns and variability of temperature across and within scenarios in anthropogenic climate change experiments

15. 300 years of hydrological records and societal responses to droughts and floods on the Pacific coast of Central America

16. Dynamically-downscaled temperature and precipitation changes over Saskatchewan using the PRECIS model

17. Observed changes in extremes of daily rainfall and temperature in Jemma Sub-Basin, Upper Blue Nile Basin, Ethiopia

Climate forcings and feedbacks

18. Comprehensive Assessment of Global Surface Net Radiation Products and Uncertainty Analysis

19. Climate response to negative greenhouse gas radiative forcing in polar winter

"We find, using a fully coupled Earth system model, that the underlying surface warms despite the GHG addition exerting negative ERF and cooling the troposphere in the vicinity of the GHG increase. This unique radiative forcing and thermal response is facilitated by the high stability of the polar winter atmosphere, which inhibits thermal mixing and amplifies the impact of surface radiative forcing on surface temperature. These findings also suggest that strategies to exploit negative ERF via injections of short-lived GHGs into inversion layers would likely be unsuccessful in cooling the planetary surface."

20. Predicting decadal trends in cloud droplet number concentration using reanalysis and satellite data

21. How well can we represent the spectrum of convective clouds in a climate model? Comparisons between internal parameterization variables and radar observations

22. The Radiative Forcing of Aerosol–Cloud Interactions in Liquid Clouds: Wrestling and Embracing Uncertainty

23. Characteristic Atmospheric Radiative Heating Rate Profiles in Arctic Clouds as Observed at Barrow, Alaska

24. Climate and health implications of future aerosol emission scenarios

25. Climate impact of a regional nuclear weapons exchange: An improved assessment based on detailed source calculations

26. Quantifying anthropogenic dust emissions

Cryosphere

27. Explaining CO2 fluctuations observed in snowpacks

28. Irrigation as a potential driver for anomalous glacier behaviour in High Mountain Asia

"Using a regional climate model, in combination with a moisture-tracking model, we show that the increase in irrigation intensity in the lowlands surrounding HMA, particularly in the Tarim basin, can locally counter the effects of global warming on glaciers in Kunlun Shan, and parts of Pamir and northern Tibet, through an increase in summer snowfall and decrease in net radiance. Irrigation can thus affect the regional climate in a way that favours glacier growth, and future projections of glacier melt, which may impact millions of inhabitants surrounding HMA, will need to take into account predicted changes in irrigation intensity."

29. Increased West Antarctic and unchanged East Antarctic ice discharge over the last 7 years

"Using an optimized flux gate, ice discharge from Antarctica is 1929 ± 40 Gigatons per year (Gt yr−1) in 2015, an increase of 36 ± 15 Gt yr−1 from the time of the radar mapping. Flow accelerations across the grounding lines of West Antarctica's Amundsen Sea Embayment, Getz Ice Shelf and Marguerite Bay on the western Antarctic Peninsula, account for 88 % of this increase. In contrast, glaciers draining the East Antarctic Ice Sheet have been remarkably constant over the period of observation. Including modeled rates of snow accumulation and basal melt, the Antarctic ice sheet lost ice at an average rate of 183 ± 94 Gt yr−1 between 2008 and 2015. The modest increase in ice discharge over the past 7 years is contrasted by high rates of ice sheet mass loss and distinct spatial patters of elevation lowering. The West Antarctic Ice Sheet is experiencing high rates of mass loss and displays distinct patterns of elevation lowering that point to a dynamic imbalance."

30. Climatology of Hail Frequency and Size in China, 1980–2015

Carbon cycle

31. Greenhouse gas emissions from a semi-arid tropical reservoir in northeastern Brazil

32. Differential response of carbon cycling to long-term nutrient input and altered hydrological conditions in a continental Canadian peatland

33. Carbon and nitrogen pools in thermokarst-affected permafrost landscapes in Arctic Siberia

34. What drives long-term variations in carbon flux and balance in a tropical rainforest in French Guiana?

Extreme events

35. Spatiotemporal characterization of current and future droughts in the High Atlas basins (Morocco)

"These models show a decrease in precipitation towards the future up to − 65% compared to the historical period. In terms of drought events, the future projections indicate a strong increase in the frequency of SPI events below − 2, considered as severe drought condition."

36. Variations in droughts and wet spells and their influences in China: 1924–2013

37. New York City Impacts on a Regional Heat Wave

38. Classifying heatwaves: developing health-based models to predict high-mortality versus moderate United States heatwaves

39. Projected trends in high-mortality heatwaves under different scenarios of climate, population, and adaptation in 82 US communities

40. The importance of aerosol scenarios in projections of future heat extremes

41. Interactions between urban heat islands and heat waves

42. Spatiotemporal analysis of hydro-meteorological drought in the Johor River Basin, Malaysia

Atmospheric and oceanic circulation

43. Does Southern Ocean surface forcing shape the global ocean overturning circulation?

44. Forced decadal changes in the East Asian summer monsoon: the roles of greenhouse gases and anthropogenic aerosols

"Furthermore, the experiments with separate forcings indicate that GHG and AA forcing dominate different parts of the SFND pattern. In particular, changes in GHG increase precipitation over southern China, whilst changes in AA dominate in the drought conditions over northern China. Increases in GHG cause increased moisture transport convergence over eastern China, which leads to increased precipitation. The AA forcing changes weaken the EASM, which lead to divergent wind anomalies over northern China and reduced precipitation."

45. ENSO transition from La Niña to El Niño drives prolonged Spring-Summer drought over North China

Climate change impacts

Mankind

46. Is extreme climate or moderate climate more conducive to longevity in China?

"Results of this study show individuals in northwestern China do not live as long as those in eastern and southern China. A moderate climate is more conducive to longevity than extreme climate in China."

47. Impacts and Uncertainties of +2°C of Climate Change and Soil Degradation on European Crop Calorie Supply

48. Assessing Hazard Vulnerability, Habitat Conservation and Restoration for the Enhancement of China’s Coastal Resilience

49. Climate change research in Bangladesh: research gaps and implications for adaptation-related decision-making

50. Induce or reduce? The crowding-in effects of farmers’ perceptions of climate risk on chemical use in China

51. An EPIC model-based wheat drought risk assessment using new climate scenarios in China

52. Famine relief, public order, and revolts: interaction between government and refugees as a result of drought/flood during 1790–1911 in the North China Plain

53. Understanding Resilience of Pastoralists to Climate Change and Variability in the Southern Afar Region, Ethiopia

54. Perceptions of climate and ocean change impacting the resources and livelihood of small-scale fishers in the South Brazil Bight

55. Multi-model projections of future climate and climate change impacts uncertainty assessment for cotton production in Pakistan

Biosphere

56. Future forest landscapes of the Carpathians: vegetation and carbon dynamics under climate change

57. The persistent decline of patterned woody vegetation: The tiger bush in the context of the regional Sahel greening trend

58. Extreme streams: species persistence and genomic change in montane insect populations across a flooding gradient

59. Relative influence of timing and accumulation of snow on alpine land surface phenology

60. Shifting relative importance of climatic constraints on land surface phenology

61. Arctic moistening provides negative feedbacks to riparian plants

62. Impact of ocean acidification and warming on the productivity of a rock pool community

"Rock pool assemblages are robust to ocean acidification and warming."

63. Ongoing changes in migration phenology and winter residency at Bracken Bat Cave

"Using quantitative radar monitoring, we found that spring migration and the summer reproductive cycle have advanced by approximately 2 weeks over the study period."

64. Environmental and phenotypic heterogeneity of populations at the trailing range-edge of the habitat-forming macroalga Fucus serratus

65. Long-term monitoring of an amphibian community after a climate change- and infectious disease-driven species extirpation

66. Simulated sensitivity of African terrestrial ecosystem photosynthesis to rainfall frequency, intensity, and rainy season length

67. Effects of climate on soil phosphorus cycle and availability in natural terrestrial ecosystems

68. Pan European Phenological database (PEP725): a single point of access for European data

Climate change mitigation

69. Reducing fugitive methane emissions from the North American oil and gas sector: a proposed science-policy framework

70. Entrepreneurial activities in policy implementation: Sweden’s national wind coordinators

71. Estimating rooftop solar technical potential across the US using a combination of GIS-based methods, lidar data, and statistical modeling

"At the national level, 8.13 billion m² of suitable roof area could host 1118 GW of PV capacity, generating 1432 TWh of electricity per year. This would equate to 38.6% of the electricity that was sold in the contiguous United States in 2013."

72. Defining transformative climate science to address high-end climate change

73. Take Action Now: Motivational Framing and Action Requests in Climate Advocacy

74. The effect of providing climate and health information on support for alternative electricity portfolios

75. Context matters: Context-related drivers of and barriers to climate information use

76. Ecologically unequal exchange and the carbon intensity of well-being, 1990–2011

77. The impacts of information and communication technology, energy consumption, financial development, and economic growth on carbon dioxide emissions in 12 Asian countries

78. Impact assessment of climate policy on Poland's power sector

79. The cost of achieving South Africa’s ‘fair share’ of global climate change mitigation

80. Cover crops mitigate direct greenhouse gases balance but reduce drainage under climate change scenarios in temperate climate with dry summers

81. Some factors that would affect the retail price for 100% Australian renewable electricity

82. Public perception of energy transition in Korea: Nuclear power, climate change, and party preference

83. Addressing COP21 using a stock and oil market integration index

84. Landscape-scale wildlife species richness metrics to inform wind and solar energy facility siting: An Arizona case study

Other papers

85. Total ozone trends from 1979 to 2016 derived from five merged observational datasets – the emergence into ozone recovery

"This paper commemorates the 30-year anniversary of the initial signing of the Montreal Protocol (MP) on substances that deplete the ozone layer. The MP is so far successful in reducing ozone-depleting substances, and total ozone decline was successfully stopped by the late 1990s. Total ozone levels have been mostly stable since then. In some regions, barely significant upward trends are observed that suggest an emergence into the expected ozone recovery phase."

86. Holocene lowering of the Laurentide ice sheet affects North Atlantic gyre circulation and climate

"The climatic effects of the Laurentide ice sheet lowering during the Holocene are restricted to the North Atlantic sector. Thus, topographic forcing is unlikely to have played a major role in the 8.2 ka event and had only a small effect on Holocene climate change compared to the effects of changes in greenhouse gases, insolation and ice sheet meltwater."

87. Deviations of treeline Norway spruce radial growth from summer temperatures in East-Central Europe

88. Euro-Atlantic atmospheric circulation during the Late Maunder Minimum

from Skeptical Science http://ift.tt/2FpVyVr