tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-157365822008-12-29T21:04:20.432+13:00ESTARA blog associated with EStarFuture, a New Zealand company that agonises about the woeful state of the Earth, and is doing what it can to help fix the terrible mess we have made of it through our chronic addiction<BR>to Black Stuff--coal and oil.<BR>'We do not see things as they are. We see things as we are.' --Anais Nin.<BR>'Now everything is changed, except man's thinking.' --Einstein.Nobilangelohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13944826985221698841noreply@blogger.comBlogger222125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15736582.post-17465732977186401682008-12-29T21:01:00.000+13:002008-12-29T21:04:20.454+13:00CLIMATE-CHANGE LINK TO SEVERE STORMS
A NASA-funded study of five years of data from its Aqua spacecraft shows that the frequency of extremely high clouds in the tropics--the type associated with severe storms, torrential rain and hail--has been increasing as a result of global overheating.
For every 1-degree Celsius rise in average sea-surface temperature the team saw a 45% increase in the Nobilangelohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13944826985221698841noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15736582.post-11246376804295223852008-12-19T20:53:00.000+13:002008-12-19T20:56:22.406+13:00GLOBAL OVERHEATING WILL AFFECT USA SOONER
A report to the American Geophysical Union predicts a significant risk of abrupt climate-change due to global overheating affecting the US, says
Sea-level rises are expected to 'substantially exceed' the 600mm now projected for 2100, but how much is not yet known. This blog has previously predicted 1.5 metres. We shall see.Nobilangelohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13944826985221698841noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15736582.post-21863324854218607822008-12-17T20:20:00.000+13:002008-12-17T20:23:58.974+13:00GREENLAND's 2008 ICE-LOSS TRIPLE 2007'S
The ice-loss from Greenland in the summer of 2008 is three times the record-breaking loss seen a year ago, reports
ScienceDaily.Nobilangelohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13944826985221698841noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15736582.post-72918591077711319232008-11-21T19:02:00.000+13:002008-11-21T19:05:40.020+13:00WARMEST OCTOBER RECORDED SINCE 1880
The global average for land temperatures in October were the warmest since records began in 1880, reports the
NCDC/NOAA website. The average for land was up 1.12 degrees Celsius on the 1961-1990 base average.
The global average for land plus ocean was the second warmest on record. For land in the southern hemisphere it was the second warmest, for land in the Nobilangelohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13944826985221698841noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15736582.post-14510481138929508182008-11-17T18:44:00.000+13:002008-11-17T18:47:14.342+13:00GAIA ON THE ROCKS
Minerals have evolved too, reports ScienceDaily.
Two-thirds of the over 4000 minerals on Earth owe their existence, directly or indirectly, to living organisms--which of course owe their existence to them, and so on.Nobilangelohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13944826985221698841noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15736582.post-13594767309005474192008-11-06T20:32:00.000+13:002008-11-06T20:34:43.732+13:00COATING A HUGE BOOST FOR SOLAR-CELLS
A new nano coating for silicon solar cells boosts their absorption of sunlight from a maximum of 67.4% to a massive 96.21%, thus giving near-perfect absorption, right across the entire spectrum of sunlight. Even better, they function at that high level no matter what angle the light is coming from. That means static panels will no longer be less efficient Nobilangelohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13944826985221698841noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15736582.post-58225272824655322672008-10-30T21:12:00.000+13:002008-10-30T21:15:48.304+13:00CLIMATE-CHANGE SEEPS INTO THE SEA
And life seeps out...Nobilangelohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13944826985221698841noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15736582.post-16127018518745627692008-10-01T15:15:00.000+13:002008-10-01T15:28:30.992+13:00MACHINE TO TAKE CO2 OUT OF AIR?
This article in ScienceDaily and this link describe 'a simple machine' being developed at university that could, if multiplied across the planet, remove billions of tonnes of carbon-dioxide from the atmosphere.
Richard Branson, head of the Virgin Group, has offered a $25 million prize to anyone who can devise a system to remove a billion tonnes of CO2 per year Nobilangelohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13944826985221698841noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15736582.post-71484387349021286772008-09-18T18:24:00.000+12:002008-09-18T18:27:40.646+12:002005 LEVELS MAKE WARMING UNSTOPPABLE
ScienceDaily reports a study by the authoritative Scripps Oceanographic Institute, showing that the planet will warm about 2.4 degrees Celsius (4.3F) above pre-industrial levels, even under extremely conservative greenhouse-gas emission scenarios.
Even if we held to the 2005 levels, irreversible warming will lead to a significant loss of biodiversity and theNobilangelohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13944826985221698841noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15736582.post-49755040929475177842008-08-29T20:10:00.002+12:002008-08-29T22:20:02.178+12:00GREENLAND HEADING BACK TO GREEN
Modelling of why Greenland stopped being green and became covered with ice indicates that it was the drop three million years ago in the global concentration of carbon-dioxide in the atmosphere from high to pre-industrial levels, reports ScienceDaily.
The present level is now approaching those ancient levels.
No wonder Arctic ice-coverage is on the verge of Nobilangelohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13944826985221698841noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15736582.post-70329276966256576852008-08-29T20:10:00.000+12:002008-08-29T20:20:34.721+12:00OCEAN ACIDIFICATION HAMPERS REPRODUCTION
As this ScienceDaily article warns, the rising acidification of the ocean looks likely to have a major impact on the ability of marine animals to reproduce.
The oceans are already 25% more acid than they were at the start of the industrial revolution and look to be heading towards 300% by 2100. Sperm do not function as well in a more acid environment.Nobilangelohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13944826985221698841noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15736582.post-51352518148121418352008-08-19T12:41:00.001+12:002008-08-19T12:47:46.608+12:00ARTIFICIAL PHOTOSYNTHESIS BREAKTHROUGH FOR HYDROGEN
A breakthrough in creating artificial photosynthesis by mimicking nature looks as if it has the potential to usher in a low-cost hydrogen age, reports ScienceDaily.Nobilangelohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13944826985221698841noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15736582.post-75344282903998696002008-08-19T12:41:00.000+12:002008-08-19T12:44:03.274+12:00SLIME ARISING TO KILL THE OCEANS
ScienceDaily reports that human activities are cumulatively driving the health of the world's oceans down a death spiral that only prompt action can reverse.Nobilangelohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13944826985221698841noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15736582.post-15694398644128872352008-07-08T18:40:00.000+12:002008-07-08T18:48:40.577+12:00CHANGE IN SEA-CHEMISTRY A HUGE THREAT
ScienceDaily reports a dire warning about the changing chemistry of the oceans due to the amount of carbon-dioxide they have been forced to absorb through human activity.
They have absorbed about 40% of the CO2 that we have emitted over the past two centuries. That has slowed global warming but at a serious cost: the extra carbon dioxide has caused the Nobilangelohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13944826985221698841noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15736582.post-1498482812976053082008-07-03T09:45:00.000+12:002008-07-03T09:48:51.233+12:00PENGUINS ARE CANARIES SCREAMING ALARM
Like canaries dying in a coal-mine, the declining populations of the world's penguins are sounding the alarm at the deteriorating state of the oceans and Antarctica, reports ScienceDaily.Nobilangelohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13944826985221698841noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15736582.post-13446490920104475142008-06-20T19:43:00.000+12:002008-06-20T19:53:24.224+12:00ARCTIC ICE MELTING FASTER THAN IN 2007
As this BBC report details, the Arctic ice is already melting faster than it did in 2007, the year in which it shrank to a record minimum, which is leading scientists to predict that Arctic summers will be ice-free within 5-10 years.
That prediction used to be for 2080, then it was moved forward to 2050, then to 2030 (now one leading scientist has been Nobilangelohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13944826985221698841noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15736582.post-53147325136338809972008-06-16T11:13:00.000+12:002008-06-16T11:19:53.432+12:00ANTARCTIC ICE BREAKING UP IN WINTER
Even winter is not protecting the inexorable breakup of Antarctic ice. The Wilkins iceshelf, off the southern tip of South America, has just lost another 160 square kilometres. Now a strip only 2.7 kilometres wide is left to protect thousands of square kilometres, reports
ScienceDaily.Nobilangelohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13944826985221698841noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15736582.post-22806730559233528312008-06-09T19:27:00.001+12:002008-06-09T20:22:19.711+12:00DEADLY EFFECT OF RISE IN OCEAN ACIDITY
Scientists studying life round natural CO2 vents in the Mediterranean have found exactly the effect predicted--a significant drop in biodiversity--reports the BBC.
The oceans are thought to have absorbed about half the extra CO2 put into the atmosphere in the industrial age, which has lowered its pH by 0.1, from 8.2 to 8.1, i.e., made it more acidic (pH isNobilangelohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13944826985221698841noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15736582.post-73586773463358270002008-06-09T19:27:00.000+12:002008-06-09T19:30:02.574+12:00WHY DIESEL PARTICLES CAUSE DISEASE
How the particles emmitted by diesel engines increase the risk of cardiovasulcar disease and mortality has now been mapped, reports ScienceDaily.
The dissertation clarifies previously unknown mechanisms that can explain why air-pollution in particulate form causes heart-attacks, stroke, and increased mortality. It shows that diesel exhaust causes a rapid Nobilangelohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13944826985221698841noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15736582.post-25709784738879404772008-05-30T17:51:00.000+12:002008-05-30T17:53:53.059+12:00WILL AN ANCIENT CLIMATE-CHANGE REPEAT?
A
ScienceDaily report on an international study of the abrupt, runaway climate-change that took place 635 million years ago, due to a massive release of methane, raises the possibility that we may trigger a similar event, and cause a global temperature rise of tens of degrees.Nobilangelohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13944826985221698841noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15736582.post-23875629052343551792008-05-19T15:02:00.001+12:002008-05-19T15:07:27.326+12:00REACTIVE NITROGEN AS SERIOUS AS CO2?
ScienceDaily reports the growing alarm among scientists at the increase in the environment of reactive nitrogen, which may be as serious a problem for the human race as the growing concentration of carbon-dioxide in the atmosphere.
In its inert form, nitrogen is harmless and abundant, making up 78 percent of the Earth's atmosphere. But in the past century, Nobilangelohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13944826985221698841noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15736582.post-10571050189414519982008-05-19T15:02:00.000+12:002008-05-19T15:03:52.888+12:00CARBON-DIOXIDE HIGHEST IN 800,000 YEARS
ScienceDaily reports that the study of Antarctic ice-cores has established that the present concentration of carbon-dioxide is higher than it has been at any time during the past 800,000 years. It is now a bit more than 380 parts per million, compared to a range of about 200-300 parts per million during that time. The current concentration of methane is Nobilangelohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13944826985221698841noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15736582.post-53188083515233463162008-05-16T20:36:00.000+12:002008-05-16T20:39:21.033+12:00OVER A QUARTER OF WORLD'S WILDLIFE GONE
Between a quarter and a third of the world's wildlife has been lost since 1970, according to data compiled by the Zoological Society of London, reports the BBC.
The Society says populations of land-based species fell by 25%, marine ones by 28% and freshwater ones by 29%, and that humans are wiping out about 1% of all other species every year--that one Nobilangelohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13944826985221698841noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15736582.post-21739309937429235252008-05-15T20:06:00.000+12:002008-05-15T20:09:33.452+12:00GLOBAL OVERHEATING IS CHANGING NATURE
Major changes in the Earth's natural systems are being driven by global warming, according to a vast analysis, says a BBC report, citing research published in the journal Nature.Nobilangelohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13944826985221698841noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15736582.post-44602234544999540742008-04-28T18:45:00.002+12:002008-04-29T18:09:34.159+12:00WE ARE ADDING CO2 14000 TIMES FASTER
Research on bubbles of ancient atmospheres in Antarctic ice shows that we are adding carbon-dioxide to the atmosphere 14,000 times faster than natural processes, throwing the global system so far out of equilibrium that it will not recover for hundreds of thousands of years.
The full report is in ScienceDaily.
The BBC's report has a simpler presentation of Nobilangelohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13944826985221698841noreply@blogger.com