Although lakes cover a small fraction of Earth’s continental land surface, organic carbon burial in their sediments is “considerably higher than in ocean sediments.” The burial of carbon in China’s Lake Qinghai is no exception, and illustrates another negative feedback by which Earth’s biosphere and hydrosphere can retard the rate-of-rise of CO2-induced global warming… Read More
Roman and Medieval Warmth in the Arctic Atlantic Region (4 Mar 2014)
Once again, another study of real-world data suggests the warmest intervals of both the Roman and Medieval Warm Periods were warmer than the warmest interval of the Current Warm Period, suggesting there is nothing unusual, unnatural, or unprecedented about the planet’s current level of warmth… Read More
Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide: Reducing Its Own Greenhouse Effect (4 Mar 2014)
Using the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory’s comprehensive Earth System Model ESM2G and a reconstruction of historical land-use change, the six scientists of this study were able to determine that historical CO2-enhanced vegetation growth “lowered the historical atmospheric CO2 concentration by fully 85 ppm,” thereby avoiding what they calculate to be “an additional 0.31 ± 0.06°C warming,” which is a rather impressive feat for the biosphere… Read More
Intertidal Macroalgae and the Threat of Global Warming (4 Mar 2014)
Caught between the worlds of sea and shore, intertidal plants are well prepared to deal with the potential negative consequences of the “dreaded” phenomenon of rising temperature… Read More
CMIP3 & CMIP5 Models Characterizing Amazonian Precipitation (5 Mar 2014)
One would assume the newer model would perform better than the older one, yet as shown in this study, “model improvements of present-day climate do not necessarily translate into more reliable projections.” Apparently, in the case examined here, “further efforts are needed for constraining the pattern of the SST response and the soil moisture feedback in global climate scenarios”… Read More
Effects of Climate Change and Local-Scale Stressors of Coral Reefs (5 Mar 2014)
How do the two threats compare with each other? Once again, it is shown that reducing local-scale stressors can indeed “conserve reefs under climate change”… Read More
CMIP5 Models of North American Climate (5 Mar 2014)
Are they better than the CMIP3 generation models which they replaced? In the words of the researchers who conducted this study, “there are some models that have improved for certain features (e.g., the timing of the North American monsoon),” but they say others “have become worse” in terms of the more basic “continental seasonal surface climate”… Read More
Dr. Idso is the founder, former president, and currently chairman of the Center for the Study of Carbon Dioxide and Global Change.
