No Atlantic Hurricane by August in First Time in 11 Years — A ’Head-Scratcher’
No Atlantic Hurricane by August in First Time in 11 Years – Bloomberg
New paper finds algae have to manufacture their own CO2 due to a paucity in the atmosphere: ‘A paper published in Nature finds that marine algae, which evolved and thrived with atmospheric CO2 levels 15 times higher than the present, required a novel adaptation to adjust to the relatively low CO2 levels during the Cenozoic era, when CO2 levels were still more than twice current levels’
New paper finds algae have to manufacture their own CO2 due to a paucity in the atmosphere
http://hockeyschtick.blogspot.com/2013/08/new-paper-finds-algae-have-to.html
A paper published today in Nature finds that marine algae, which evolved and thrived with atmospheric CO2 levels 15 times higher than the present, required a novel adaptation to adjust to the relatively low CO2 levels during the Cenozoic era, when CO2 levels were still more than twice current levels. According to the paper, this novel adaptation was to manufacture their own CO2 at the reaction site for photosynthesis, required due to a paucity of CO2 in the atmosphere. Algae evolved more than 500 million years ago, when CO2 levels were ~15-17 times higher than the present; current CO2 levels are near the lowest levels of the past 500 million years.
Algae evolved more than 500 million years ago, when CO2 levels were ~15-17 times higher than the present.
Late Miocene threshold response of marine algae to carbon dioxide limitation
Clara T. Bolton
& Heather M. Stoll
Nature 500, 558–562 (29 August 2013) doi:10.1038/nature12448
Received
21 January 2013
Accepted
12 July 2013
Published online
28 August 2013
Article tools
Coccolithophores are marine algae that use carbon for calcification and photosynthesis. The long-term adaptation of these and other marine algae to decreasing carbon dioxide levels during the Cenozoic era1 has resulted in modern algae capable of actively enhancing carbon dioxide at the site of photosynthesis. This enhancement occurs through the transport of dissolved bicarbonate (HCO3−) and with the help of enzymes whose expression can be modulated by variable aqueous carbon dioxide concentration, [CO2], in laboratory cultures2, 3. Coccolithophores preserve the geological history of this adaptation because the stable carbon and oxygen isotopic compositions of their calcite plates (coccoliths), which are preserved in the fossil record, are sensitive to active carbon uptake and transport by the cell. Here we use a model of cellular carbon fluxes and show that at low [CO2] the increased demand for HCO3− at the site of photosynthesis results in a diminished allocation of HCO3− to calcification, which is most pronounced in larger cells. This results in a large divergence between the carbon isotopic compositions of small versus large coccoliths only at low [CO2]. Our evaluation of the oxygen and carbon isotope record of size-separated fossil coccoliths reveals that this isotopic divergence first arose during the late Miocene to the earliest Pliocene epoch (about 7–5 million years ago). We interpret …
New paper finds the majority of East Antarctic glaciers have advanced in size since 1990
New paper finds the majority of East Antarctic glaciers have advanced in size since 1990
http://hockeyschtick.blogspot.com/2013/08/new-paper-finds-majority-of-east.html
A new paper published in Nature finds that a majority of the outlet glaciers along the East Antarctic ice sheet have advanced in size over the past 20 years from 1990 to 2010. According to the paper, “Despite large fluctuations between glaciers—linked to their size—three [significant] patterns emerged: 63 per cent of glaciers retreated from 1974 to 1990, 72 per cent advanced from 1990 to 2000, and 58 per cent advanced from 2000 to 2010.” According to the authors, “In the 1970s and 80s, temperatures were rising and most glaciers retreated. During the 1990s, temperatures decreased and most glaciers advanced. And the 2000s saw temperatures increase and then decrease, leading to a more even mix of retreat and advance.” “When it was warm and the sea-ice decreased, most glaciers retreated, but when it was cooler and the sea ice increased, the glaciers advanced.” [Note: Antarctic sea ice is currently near record-high levels]
Excerpt from the paper:
Here we present multidecadal trends in the terminus position of 175 ocean-terminating outlet glaciers along 5,400 kilometres of the margin of the East Antarctic ice sheet, and reveal widespread and synchronous changes. Despite large fluctuations between glaciers—linked to their size—three epochal patterns emerged: 63 per cent of glaciers retreated from 1974 to 1990, 72 per cent advanced from 1990 to 2000, and 58 per cent advanced from 2000 to 2010.
East Antarctic Ice Sheet Could Be More Vulnerable to Climate Change Than Previously ThoughtAug. 28, 2013 — The world’s largest ice sheet could be more vulnerable to the effects of climate change than previously thought, according to new research from Durham University.A team from the Department of Geography used declassified spy satellite imagery to create the first long-term record of changes in the terminus of outlet glaciers — where they meet the sea — along 5,400km of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet’s coastline. The imagery covered almost half a century from 1963 to 2012.Using measurements from 175 glaciers, the researchers were able to show that the glaciers underwent rapid and synchronised periods of advance and retreat which coincided with cooling and warming.The researchers said this suggested that large parts of the ice sheet, which reaches thicknesses of more than 4km, could be more susceptible to changes in air temperatures and sea-ice than was originally believed.Current scientific opinion suggests …
Article in Nature suggests ‘high-carbon addictions’ such as using your iPhone can be ‘treated’ the same way as drug addiction
Article in Nature suggests ‘high-carbon addictions’ such as using your iPhone can be ‘treated’ the same way as drug addiction
http://hockeyschtick.blogspot.com/2013/08/article-in-nature-suggests-high-carbon.html
An article published today in Nature Climate Change likens drug and alcohol addictions to the use of central heating, air conditioning, international air travel, and meat consumption, and proposes creation of a new field called ‘neuroconservation’ to treat these “high-carbon” “addictions” using the same techniques used to treat drug addicts. According to the article, “The parallels between holding back on another whisky or switching off a smartphone are clear, but could the research on temporal discounting in alcohol or drug dependency be usefully transposed to conservation? [Neuroconservationist] Zald thinks it could.”
Carbon fix
Nature Climate Change 3, 765 (2013) doi:10.1038/nclimate1998
Published online
28 August 2013
Article tools
Lessons from addiction may help to transform our high-carbon lifestyle.
It is often said that those of us who live in affluent, developed countries are ‘addicted’ to our high-carbon lifestyles, which depend on profligate use of energy and material resources. Think of central heating, air conditioning, our reluctance to wean ourselves off international air travel — whether for business or pleasure — and the amount of meat that we consume in our diets.
Our love affair with the petrol engine is a case in point. In their advertisements, automobile manufacturers often still portray models of cars as outward symbols of male potency, power and career success, or — especially for brands targeted at young women — a penchant for fun and glamour. This is all reminiscent of the way that cigarette brands were once marketed — and to some extent, shamefully, still are in parts of the developing world. Parallels could also be drawn between the way that, in these days of environmental awareness, motor manufacturers increasingly emphasize ‘green credentials’ such as fuel-efficient engines, with the way that the tobacco industry tried to shift attention to low-tar brands when the evidence that smoking causes lung and other cancers became unassailable.
But it would stretch credulity to push the comparison too far; obviously cars are not ‘habit forming’ in the sense that cigarettes are, and certainly do not have the addictive characteristics of certain hard drugs. The habit-forming effects of drugs such as nicotine and heroin are mediated by specific receptors in the brain. But it is of course meaningless to talk of a specific ‘brain receptor’ activated by exposure to a car …
Lomborg On Cook 97% Survey: ‘It Turns Out They Have Done Pretty Much Everything Wrong’
…Der Spiegel: Scientists Hopelessly Stumped By Present Ocean Cooling, Still Insist They Are Certain About The Future!
…Warmist Catherine Hayhoe: Only YOU can control the climate! ‘The power to change climate lies in hands of every individual on the planet, not a single gov’t–or technology!’
…