CCBF Blog

Climate Science Update for Copenhagen - 24Nov09

The ‘Copenhagen Diagnosis‘, a report by 26 scientists from around the world was released on 24th Nov 2009.    It is intended as an update to the IPCC 2007 Working Group 1 report. Like the IPCC report, everything in the Copenhagen Diagnosis is from the peer-reviewed literature, so there is nothing really new. But the report summarizes and highlights those studies, published since the (2006) close-off date for the IPCC report, that the authors deemed most relevant to the negotiations in Copenhagen (COP15) next month. This report was written for policy-makers, stakeholders, the media and the broader public, and has been sent to each and every one of the COP15 negotiating teams throughout the world.

Among the points summarized in the report are that:

·        The ice sheets are both losing mass (and hence contributing to sea level rise). This was not certain at the time of the IPCC report.

·        Arctic sea ice has declined faster than projected by IPCC.

·        Greenhouse gas concentrations have continued to track the upper bounds of IPCC projections.

·        Observed global temperature changes remain entirely in accord with IPCC projections, i.e. an anthropogenic warming trend of about 0.2 ºC per decade with superimposed short-term natural variability.

·        Sea level has risen more than 5 centimeters over the past 15 years, about 80% higher than IPCC projections from 2001.

·        Perhaps most importantly, the report articulates a much clearer picture of what has to happen if the world wants to keep future warming within the reasonable threshold (2°C) that the European Union and the G8 nations have already agreed to in principle.

The full report is available at www.copenhagendiagnosis.org.

Copied by Robert Gibson from realclimate

Sequestering Carbon: Algae and Engineers

By Mr. TC Yee

Algae: putting carbon dioxide in a bind

German utility RWE Power has initiated a cutting edge project that is investigating the use of marine microalgae to capture carbon dioxide (CO2) produced during lignite combustion.

Source: Algae: putting carbon dioxide in a bind

Engineers set to convert carbon dioxide into solid rock

Icelandic experts hope to dispose of 30,000 tonnes of the greenhouse gas each year. Engineers in Iceland are set to convert carbon dioxide to solid rock as a way to tackle global warming.

Source: Engineers set to convert carbon dioxide into solid rock

Personal views: Facing with the increasing emission of carbon dioxide all over the world, various innovative ideas have been raised to tackle the challenges. Unfortunately, most of the concepts or technologies put forward are still in the infant stage or incurring unjustified energy consumption in the proposed processes. 

Our Ocean's Ecological Recession

by Mr. TC Yee

Coral reefs: Vital to the oceans, vital to humans

Coral reefs are dying off at record rates, thanks to pollution, disease and global warming. Scientists worldwide are trying to come up with new ideas to conserve and protect not just the coral reefs, but also the biodiversity and human economies that depend upon them for their survival. Last month, a group of 155 scientists from 26 countries issued a document dubbed "The Monaco ...
Source: Coral reefs: Vital to the oceans, vital to humans [Scientific American]

Bleak forecast on fishery stocks
By James Morgan Science reporter, BBC News, Chicago

The world's fish stocks will soon suffer major upheaval due to climate change, scientists have warned.
Source: Bleak forecast on fishery stocks [BBC News]

Personal views: With the rapid increase of seafood consumption worldwide for health and dining habit change, the demand for various species of fish and shellfish is never witnessed in our nature history. Even the market force has brought in fish farming (aquaculture), the reliance on our oceans to cope with our desires has never diminished. Unfortunately, more and more evidences are exhibited that many fishes and other marine lives are getting less and less in some parts of the world where they used to live in large crowds. Further more alarming news is on reports of the emergence of so called dead zones being found in oceans where practically no life could be traced. Is climate change coupled with deteriorating marine ecologies the culprit to take away the delicious food from people or rather we ourselves are to be blamed?

Cutting CO2 is absolutely necessary.... but what if it doesn't work? Where can we turn next? What is plan B?

by Dr. Adam D. Switzer

I read with great interest this recent article:

http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/climate-scientists-its-time-for-plan-b-1221092.html

The article reports on a poll (of leading scientists) by The Independent in the UK and suggests that some possibly many scientists suggest we need to think about plan B....

The article correctly points out that....

"The collective international failure to curb the growing emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere has meant that an alternative to merely curbing emissions may become necessary"

At the bottom of the article a number of 'Plan B's' are presented.... Where do I stand you may ask?

I'm with John Shephard on this one... he stated that "Geoengineering options... must not be allowed to detract from efforts to reduce CO2 emissions directly" ... prepare for Plan B but remember it makes a lot of sense to have a good go at "Plan A" first.... unfortunately we don't seem to be making much progress on Plan A so we may be calling on Plan B earlier then we thought.