The Long-Term Fate of Organic Carbon in Semiarid Grassland Soil

Published July 24, 2013

How does it impact the rate-of-rise of the atmosphere’s CO2 concentration? When all was said and done – and the several pluses and minuses accounted for – Zhou et al. concluded that “given that the absolute increase of [soil organic carbon] SOC in the recalcitrant SOC pool was much greater than the decrease in labile SOC, and that the mean residence time of recalcitrant SOC is much greater, our results suggest that soil C storage at 10-20 cm depth may increase with increasing temperature in this semiarid grassland,” which thus represents a net negative feedback on predicted global warming… Read More

Tropical Precipitation Extremes: How Well Are They Modeled? (23 Jul 2013)
Not that well. In fact, the authors of the present study conclude that “until the full range of deep convective processes in the tropics is more realistically represented in climate models, they cannot be used to predict the changes of extreme precipitation events in a changing (warming) climate”… Read More

Corals Moving Northward in the Western Mediterranean Seas (23 Jul 2013)
If one species of coral can do it, it is likely that many species of coral can do so… Read More

Southern Ocean Bottom Water Formation in CMIP5 Models (23 Jul 2013)
Due to the fact that the authors of this study indicate that “bottom water formation processes are poorly represented in ocean models and are a key challenge for improving climate predictions,” we should be extremely cautious in accepting what they currently predict about future climate change… Read More

Climate Change Conversations: Establishment Scientists Getting It Wrong (24 Jul 2013)
In contrast to the contention of Shakhashiri and Bell that people should support officials who promote policies and practices aimed at decreasing anthropogenic CO2 emissions, most rational men and women should seek to determine – as best they can, based upon real-world observations rather than theoretical models – which of the two opposing scientific factions seems to them to be the more likely to have the more correct view of the matter… Read More

Synergies Among Stressors: Reducing One to Reduce the Effect of the Other (24 Jul 2013)
When there is little that can be done about a global stressor, reducing a local stressor can often reduce the impact of the global stressor as well… Read More

Holocene Temperatures at the Western Greenland Ice Sheet Margin (24 Jul 2013)
New data reveal, once again, that there is nothing unusual, unnatural or unprecedented about current temperatures along the western Greenland Ice Sheet margin – or anywhere else on the planet, for that matter – for temperatures there currently fall well within the extreme bounds experienced over the course of the Holocene. And it should also be realized that starting from the coldest point of the entire Holocene (the depths of the Little Ice Age), one could well expect that once started, warming (for whatever reason) could well be anticipated to be substantial… Read More