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Top climate scientists: It's getting hot in here
Judging by today's weather, I wouldn't believe it. But scientists have warned that the UK should take active steps to prepare for global temperature rise of 4C that would have catastrophic effects. Even though the EU is aimed at limiting emissions globally so that temperatures do not rise more than 2C, the chief scientific adviser to the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs says, "we don't know in detail HOW to limit greenhouse gas emissions to realise a 2 degree target, [so] we should be prepared to adapt to 4C." That's virtually putting the UK in a different climate zone altogether.
This means heavier rains in winter and drier summers with increased flooding both in coastal regions and inland. And as we've seen from the detrimental floods that have happened around the world in the last couple of years, this has huge implications on agriculture, transportation, and human welfare.
Interestingly, this article didn't give a timeline for when we might hit 4C. Judging by today's weather, I wouldn't believe it. But scientists have warned that the UK should take active steps to prepar... more -
Fossil Suggests Antarctica Much Warmer in Past
A college student's new discovery of fossils collected in the East Antarctic suggests that the frozen polar cap was once a much balmier place.
The well-preserved fossils of ostracods, a type of small crustaceans, came from the Dry Valleys region of Antarctica's Transantarctic Mountains and date from about 14 million years ago. The fossils were a rare find, showing all of the ostracods' soft anatomy in 3-D.
The fossils were discovered by Richard Thommasson during screening of the sediment in research team member Allan Ashworth's lab at North Dakota State University.
Because ostracods couldn't survive in the current Antarctic climate, their presence suggests that the southern-most continent hasn't always been as frigid as it is today.
"Present conditions in this Antarctic region show mean annual temperatures of minus 25 degrees C (Celsius) [minus 13 degrees Fahrenheit]," said Mark Williams of the University of Leicester, co-author with Ashworth of the fossil-find report in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B. "These are impossible conditions to sustain a lake fauna with ostracods."
The authors think the ostracods and the habitat they lived in were the last vestiges of a tundra ecosystem, similar to those found in Patagonia, that once thrived in Antarctic coastal regions, before an intense period of cooling gave rise to the Antarctic environment we see today. A college student's new discovery of fossils collected in the East Antarctic suggests that the frozen polar cap was once a much b... more -
2007: Second Hottest Year on Record :(
With 2005 as the current leader...
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