Understanding Arctic ecology and climate science
Dr. Susan Natali, Arctic program director and senior scientist at Woodwell Climate Research Center, discusses the effect of permafrost thaw and wildfires on northern ecosystems, the Arctic population, and the global climate. Esri scientist Dr. Sheridan Moore investigates how mapping and analytics are informing Arctic ecology and global climate action.
Listen on Esri & the Science of Where.
Lawrence Livermore grabs two spots in DOE’s Energy Earthshot program
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) scientists will lead and co-lead projects in support of the Department of Energy’s (DOE) new Energy Earthshot program.
The Energy Earthshots Initiative calls for innovation and collaboration to tackle the toughest topics in energy-related research. In January, DOE announced Office of Science funding for the Energy Earthshot Research Centers (EERCs) — they will build off a concept the DOE successfully demonstrated in the previous Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRCs) and the Scientific Discovery Through Advanced Computing (SciDAC) program. The new centers will support fundamental research to accelerate breakthroughs in support of the Energy Earthshots Initiative.
Read more on Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
NCCS hosts modeling analysis of carbon uptake by global boreal forests
According to NASA research, summer 2023 was Earth’s hottest since global records began in 1880. In this changing climate, the Arctic and boreal region is experiencing the strongest warming trends – close to four times the global average.
“This warming is having profound (often contrasting) impacts on the landscape and carbon cycle,” said Jennifer Watts, Assistant Scientist at Woodwell Climate Research Center in Falmouth, Massachusetts. For instance, “permafrost and seasonally frozen soils in this region hold more carbon than is currently in the entire atmosphere,” she said. As these soils thaw in warmer temperatures, solid carbon stored in them can become food for microbes and get converted into carbon dioxide or methane gas. “Adding these additional sources of carbon dioxide or methane into the atmosphere is very bad for our Earth because it further accelerates climate change, including the warming of Arctic-boreal regions,” Watts said.
Continue reading on NASA Center for Climate Simulation.
This summer previewed the security threats of climate change: The US needs to do more
Extreme weather events during this past summer — the hottest ever recorded — have highlighted the immediate danger of climate change to not only individuals, but also global security.
As fossil fuel emissions continue to increase (carbon emissions are on course for another record high), we will have to navigate a world of more severe extremes and their deadly impacts. Record high temperatures across the globe this summer were a case in point, with nearly half the world’s population facing at least 30 days of extreme heat. Heatwaves in turn fueled unprecedented wildfire seasons, such as the ongoing Canadian blazes that have burned 16.5 million hectares, displaced tens of thousands of Indigenous residents, and spread unhealthy air quality across North America. Maui’s wildfires were the deadliest the United States has seen in over a century, exceeding deaths in the United States from terrorism in any year following the 9/11 attacks. Southern Europe has been battling widespread forest fires as well, with Greece experiencing the largest wildfire on record in the European Union. Across the Mediterranean, devastating flooding in Libya has resulted in over 5,000 casualties.
Continue reading on Just Security.
Why September’s record-warm temperatures have scientists so worried
After months of record planetary warmth, temperatures have become even more abnormal in recent weeks — briefly averaging close to 2 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels, a global warming threshold leaders are seeking to avoid.
“I thought we had seen exceptional temperatures back in July,” said Zeke Hausfather, climate research lead for the payment company Stripe. “What we’ve seen this week is well above that.”
The trend adds to near-certainty that 2023 will be Earth’s warmest on record, and heightens threats of the extreme conditions the heat could fuel around the world.
Read more on The Washington Post.
Q&A: How scientists tackle the challenges of estimating wildfire CO2 emissions
Wildfires – and their emissions – have made headlines around the world this year.
From the otherworldly haze that blanketed much of the US east coast in June to the devastating fire that ripped through Hawaii’s Maui in early August, the impacts of fire are becoming increasingly tangible beyond typically fire-prone regions.
Wildfires are fuelled, in part, by climate change. But they also change the climate, emitting around 5.3bn tonnes of CO2 to the atmosphere in 2022 – more than any country contributed from fossil-fuel burning that year, except China.
Continue reading on Carbon Brief.
Fossil fuels are everywhere. How quickly could we actually phase them out?
Climate activists—and the U.N. Secretary-General—are calling for an end to fossil fuels. It could happen faster than you might think.
The world just lived through the hottest summer on record. Off the coast of Florida, the ocean temperature hit triple digits, killing coral reefs. Greece battled record wildfires. The extreme rain in Libya—where at least 11,000 people died in floods after dams collapsed—was made 50 times more likely by climate change. Phoenix spent 31 days above 110 degrees. Sea ice in Antarctica shrank to a record low, prompting what scientists called a “five-sigma event” that killed as many as 10,000 penguin chicks.
Despite the fact that extreme climate impacts are already obvious, most companies and countries are still making only incremental changes to cut emissions (or, in some cases, are moving backward, like in the U.K., where the prime minister now wants to slow down plans to move to electric vehicles). But what would be possible if we committed to actually moving fast on climate action beginning with the largest challenge: phasing out fossil fuels?
Exploring Arctic sustainability: Enhancing resilience, addressing land degradation and permafrost thaw through Indigenous empowerment
For an entire week in Arendal, a town on the Southern tip of Norway, a Lavvu stood high on a hill, overlooking the seaside town below. Every year since 2012, the political world of Norway has convened for Arendalsuka, a weeklong celebration of Norwegian democracy known for open-air and open-access discussions between civil society, political parties, and wide-ranging public interest groups. Yet this year, the sight of this Lavvu–a traditional nomadic tent of the Sami people—was far less striking than the sounds emanating from within: empowered voices of Arctic Indigenous youth leaders speaking directly to government officials, civil society, and institutional experts on the need for urgent action to address land conflicts, land degradation, and permafrost thaw across the circumpolar North.
Read more on Harvard Belfer Center’s website.