Climate Science Glossary

Term Lookup

Enter a term in the search box to find its definition.

Settings

Use the controls in the far right panel to increase or decrease the number of terms automatically displayed (or to completely turn that feature off).

Term Lookup

Settings


All IPCC definitions taken from Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis. Working Group I Contribution to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Annex I, Glossary, pp. 941-954. Cambridge University Press.

Home Arguments Software Resources Comments The Consensus Project Translations About Support

Twitter Facebook YouTube Mastodon MeWe

RSS Posts RSS Comments Email Subscribe


Climate's changed before
It's the sun
It's not bad
There is no consensus
It's cooling
Models are unreliable
Temp record is unreliable
Animals and plants can adapt
It hasn't warmed since 1998
Antarctica is gaining ice
View All Arguments...



Username
Password
New? Register here
Forgot your password?

Latest Posts

Archives

Skeptical Science New Research for Week #7, 2021

Posted on 17 February 2021 by Doug Bostrom

Geoengineering heats up

Sorry, that was irresistible. By chance in this edition of New Research are two intriguing papers including different perspectives on the subject of geoengineering, a topic increasingly arousing emotions. Happily both of these papers are open access and free to read. A third article underlines that enthusiasm for or reliance on geoengineering isn't yet founded on full information about the forces we're contemplating, essentially supporting the case for both sets of conclusions offered by the other two papers.

Smith & Henly reason for circumspect and thorough research into stratospheric aerosol injection, a topic of recent negative attention and even calls to restrict or terminate such investigations.These impulses to don blinkers seem ironic given that a major part of our problem with climate change is a concerted effort on the part of vested interests to restrict scientific research, pretend that we can't establish facts and generally draw a cloak of ignorance down on progress. The abstract of "Updated and outdated reservations about research into stratospheric aerosol injection"  is worth quoting in entirety:

In this paper, we seek to ground discussions of the governance of stratospheric aerosol injection research in recent literature about the field including an updated understanding of the technology’s deployment logistics and scale, pattern of effects, and research pathways. Relying upon this literature, we evaluate several common reservations regarding the governance of pre-deployment research and testing including covert deployment, technological lock-in, weaponization, slippery slope, and the blurry line between research and deployment. We conclude that these reservations are no longer supported by literature. However, we do not argue that there is no reason for concern. Instead, we enumerate alternative bases for caution about research into stratospheric aerosol injection which are supported by an up-to-date understanding of the literature. We conclude that in order to establish the correct degree and type of governance for stratospheric aerosol injection research, the research community must focus its attention on these well-grounded reservations. However, while these reservations are supported and warrant further attention, we conclude that none currently justifies restrictive governance of early-stage stratospheric aerosol injection research.

Ignorance isn't a reliable foundation for bliss, of course. With no effective means of coherent global geoengineering governance likely to emerge before panic over rapid climate change knock-on effects may ensue, it seems better to have more information about what we might expect from sulphate injection, whether as a semi-voluntary "choice" in the face of inevitability, or as bystander victims of hasty error. 

Meanwhile, Murray & DiGiorgio describe thought-provoking observations in "Will Individual Actions Do the Trick? Comparing Climate Change Mitigation through Geoengineering versus Reduced Vehicle Emissions," with a reasoned claim that plausible alternative actions to geoengineering are available. The authors also point out the possible negative effects of wishful thinking around geoengineering. This seems duly cognizant, especially given that geoengineering can't be implemented as a deployable technology at this moment or in the immediate future, when action needs to be taken now. The abstract: 

Geoengineering is the focus of a large debate over potential solutions to climate change. However, in the midst of geoengineering and other large-scale proposals, such as reducing emissions at an industrial level, the role of individual actions to reduce emissions is often overlooked. Given the current and fast-paced changes we have seen as emissions are reduced by COVID-19 social distancing strategies, it is time to re-examine the impact that individual actions can have. This paper considers how one individual action (reducing carbon dioxide emissions from gasoline-fueled private vehicles), when adopted at a global scale, may have an effect that is comparable to the effects of geoengineering. This paper also argues that the role of geoengineering as a safeguard against climate change may be encouraging complacency and reducing motivation for individual action.

Finally, with excellent timing as a dessert for the dinner made by the previous two papers come Visioni et al with "Is Turning Down the Sun a Good Proxy for Stratospheric Sulfate Geoengineering?" One doesn't need  to read the entire work to understand the bigger message in relation to deploying geoengineering before understanding is fully filled in and cemented. The plain language summary as kindly supplied by the authors and their publishing journal JGR Atmospheres

Injecting SO2 in the stratosphere has been proposed as a method to temporarily cool the planet by partially reflecting the incoming solar radiation. To assess the eventual side-effects of this method, some climate model simulations have simply reduced the solar constant in the model rather than simulating the actual aerosols that would be produced. We show here what the limits of emulating stratospheric sulfate injection this way are, and what are the physical causes behind the differences from simulations where stratospheric aerosols are simulated.

The even shorter plain language version in connection with the two previous papers: arguably, we don't yet know how to do geoengineering in a fully predictable, confidently safe way. 

More precisely: if we can't yet competently model sulphate injection as a standard operating procedure, we don't have a numerical grasp of sulphate injection as an engineered technology. Engineering by empirical methods is generally frowned upon because it isn't actually engineering, in the sense of using mathematical models  of material properties and behaviors to predict performance. It's hence reasonable to say that more information is necessary before proceeding with prolonged deployments of sulphate injection at scale.

This is all an argument to learn more about the deep subject of geoengineering, and by inference and common sense to also exploit such alternatives as we may already have in hand. In other words, pay close attention to expert advice implicit in this week's first two highlighted articles. The authors are not prescriptive— it's up to us to tease out paths to remedies thanks to our information by their effort.

144 Articles

Physical science of climate change, effects

A Conceptual Model of Polar Overturning Circulations
Haine et al 2020 Journal of Physical Oceanography
Open Access pdf DOI: 10.1002/essoar.10503487.1

New insights into the drainage of inundated ice-wedge polygons using fundamental hydrologic principles
Harp et al 2021 
Open Access pdf DOI: 10.5194/tc-2020-351 (preprint)

Observations of climate change, effects

Increasing lifetime maximum intensity of rapidly intensifying tropical cyclones over the western North Pacific
Song et al 2021 Environmental Research Letters
Open Access DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/abdbf1

Long-Term Changes in Inland Water Surface Temperature across China Based on Remote Sensing Data
Wang et al 2021 Journal of Hydrometeorology
DOI: 10.1175/jhm-d-20-0104.1

Implications of the 2019–2020 megafires for the biogeography and conservation of Australian vegetation

Cascading hazards in the aftermath of Australia's 2019/2020 Black Summer wildfires
Kemter et al 2021 Earth's Future
Open Access pdf DOI: 10.1029/2020ef001884

A Later Onset of the Rainy Season in California
Lukovi? et al 2021 Geophysical Research Letters
Open Access pdf DOI: 10.1029/2020gl090350

Detectable increases in sequential flood-heatwave events across China during 1961-2018
Chen et al 2021 Geophysical Research Letters
DOI: 10.1029/2021gl092549

Phenological tracking of a seasonal climate window in a recovering tropical island bird species
Taylor et al 2021 Climatic Change
Open Access pdf DOI: 10.1007/s10584-021-02971-y

Climate, fuel, and land use shaped the spatial pattern of wildfire in California's Sierra Nevada
Chen et al 2021 Journal of Geophysical Research
DOI: 10.1029/2020jg005786

Meteorological environments associated with California wildfires and their potential roles in wildfire changes during 1984-2017
Dong et al 2021 Journal of Geophysical Research
DOI: 10.1029/2020jd033180

Rapid Arctic warming and its link to the waviness and strength of the westerly jet stream over West Asia
Alizadeh & Lin 2021 Global and Planetary Change
DOI: 10.1016/j.gloplacha.2021.103447

Snow cover loss compounding the future economic vulnerability of western China
Wu et al 2021 Science of The Total Environment
Open Access DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.143025

Spring leads in the Beaufort Sea and its interannual trend using Terra/MODIS thermal imagery
Qu et al 2021 Remote Sensing of Environment
DOI: 10.1016/j.rse.2021.112342

Rainfall trends over a North Atlantic small island in the period 1937/1938–2016/2017 and an early climate teleconnection

Climatic trends variability and concerning flow regime of Upper Indus Basin, Jehlum, and Kabul river basins Pakistan

Observed changes in precipitation during recent warming: The Czech Republic, 1961–2019
Brázdil et al 2021 International Journal of Climatology
DOI: 10.1002/joc.7048

A 41-years bioclimatology of thermal stress in Europe
Antonescu et al 2021 International Journal of Climatology
DOI: 10.1002/joc.7051

Increasing importance of temperature as a contributor to the spatial extent of streamflow drought
Brunner et al 2021 Environmental Research Letters
Open Access DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/abd2f0

Long-term analysis of rainfall-induced landslides in Umbria, central Italy
Gariano et al 2021 Natural Hazards
DOI: 10.1007/s11069-021-04539-6

Relationship between two types of heat waves in northern East Asia and temperature anomalies in Eastern Europe
Yang et al 2021 Environmental Research Letters
Open Access DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/abdc8a

On the occurrence of the worst drought in South Asia in the observed and future climate
Aadhar & Mishra 2021 Environmental Research Letters
Open Access DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/abd6a6

Instrumentation & observational methods of climate change, effects

Influence of interannual variability in estimating the rate and acceleration of present-day global mean sea level
Moreira et al 2021 Global and Planetary Change
DOI: 10.1016/j.gloplacha.2021.103450

Reconciling global mean and regional sea level change in projections and observations
Wang et al 2021 Nature Communications
Open Access pdf DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-21265-6

Urbanization Effects on Estimates of Global Trends in Mean and Extreme Air Temperature
Zhang et al 2020 Journal of Climate
DOI: 10.1175/jcli-d-20-0389.1

Incorporating the stable carbon isotope 13C in the ocean biogeochemical component of the Max Planck Institute Earth System Model (preprint)

Local and regional modes of hydroclimatic change expressed in modern multidecadal precipitation oxygen isotope trends
Putman et al 2021 Geophysical Research Letters
DOI: 10.1029/2020gl092006

Tide-only inundation: a metric to quantify the contribution of tides to coastal inundation under sea-level rise

Modeling, simulation & projection of climate change, effects MSWE

Heterogeneous snowpack response and snow drought occurrence across river basins of northwestern North America under 1.0°C to 4.0°C global warming
Shrestha et al 2021 Climatic Change
Open Access pdf DOI: 10.1007/s10584-021-02968-7

Global exposure to flooding from the new CMIP6 climate model projections
Hirabayashi et al 2021 Scientific Reports
Open Access pdf DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-83279-w

Estimating the Thermodynamic and Dynamic Contributions to Hydroclimatic Change over Peninsular Florida
Misra & Bhardwaj 2021 Journal of Hydrometeorology
DOI: 10.1175/jhm-d-20-0159.1

Exploring assumptions in crop breeding for climate resilience: opportunities and principles for integrating climate model projections
Whitfield et al 2021 Climatic Change
Open Access pdf DOI: 10.1007/s10584-021-02997-2

Roles of Surface Albedo, Surface Temperature and Carbon Dioxide in the Seasonal Variation of Arctic Amplification
Dai 2021 Geophysical Research Letters
Open Access pdf DOI: 10.1029/2020gl090301

Projecting Global Mean Sea-Level Change Using CMIP6 Models
Hermans et al 2021 Geophysical Research Letters
DOI: 10.1029/2020gl092064

Weakened ENSO-Ningaloo Niño/Niña Teleconnection under Greenhouse Warming
Liu et al 2021 Geophysical Research Letters
DOI: 10.1029/2020gl091326

Sensitivity of the Baltic Sea overturning circulation to long-term atmospheric and hydrological changes
Placke et al 2021 Journal of Geophysical Research
Open Access pdf DOI: 10.1029/2020jc016079

Past Variance and Future Projections of the Environmental Conditions Driving Western U.S. Summertime Wildfire Burn Area
Brey et al 2021 Earth's Future
Open Access pdf DOI: 10.1029/2020ef001645

Disentangling the regional climate impacts of competing vegetation responses to elevated atmospheric CO2

The Southern Annular Mode in 6th Coupled Model Intercomparison Project models
Morgenstern & Morgenstern 2021 Journal of Geophysical Research
Open Access DOI: 10.1002/essoar.10504632.1

Variation of sea ice and perspectives of the Northwest Passage in the Arctic Ocean
Lei et al 2021 Advances in Climate Change Research
Open Access DOI: 10.1016/j.accre.2021.02.002

Evaluation of a climate simulation over the Yellow River Basin based on a regional climate model (REMO) within the CORDEX
Pang et al 2021 Atmospheric Research
DOI: 10.1016/j.atmosres.2021.105522

Projected changes in the characteristics of the East Asian summer monsoonal front and their impacts on the regional precipitation
Li et al 2021 Climate Dynamics
DOI: 10.1007/s00382-021-05687-y

Expansion of drylands in China with an additional half a degree warming
Yang et al 2021 International Journal of Climatology
DOI: 10.1002/joc.7052

The impact of atmospheric moisture transport on winter Arctic warming: Radiation versus latent heat release
Hao et al 2021 International Journal of Climatology
DOI: 10.1002/joc.7054

Elevation-dependent warming in the Eastern Siberian Arctic

A deep learning model for predicting climate-induced disasters

Advances in climate & climate effects modeling, simulation & projection

Observational constraint on cloud feedbacks suggests moderate climate sensitivity

Sensitivity of projected climate impacts to climate model weighting: multi-sector analysis in eastern Africa
Kolusu et al 2021 Climatic Change
Open Access pdf DOI: 10.1007/s10584-021-02991-8

Climate response to introduction of the ESA CCI land cover data to the NCAR CESM

Effects of thermodynamics, dynamics and aerosols on cirrus clouds based on in situ observations and NCAR CAM6
Patnaude et al 2020 
Open Access pdf DOI: 10.5194/acp-21-1835-2021

Incorporating the stable carbon isotope 13C in the ocean biogeochemical component of the Max Planck Institute Earth System Model (preprint)

Effective radiative forcing in a GCM with fixed surface temperatures
Andrews et al 2021 Journal of Geophysical Research
Open Access DOI: 10.1002/essoar.10504260.1

Sensitivity of projected climate impacts to climate model weighting: multi-sector analysis in eastern Africa
Kolusu et al 2021 Climatic Change
Open Access pdf DOI: 10.1007/s10584-021-02991-8

Uncertainty of ENSO-amplitude projections in CMIP5 and CMIP6 models
Beobide-Arsuaga et al 2021 Climate Dynamics
Open Access pdf DOI: 10.1007/s00382-021-05673-4

Assessment of GCMs simulation performance for precipitation and temperature from CMIP5 to CMIP6 over the Tibetan Plateau
Lun et al 2021 International Journal of Climatology
DOI: 10.1002/joc.7055

Projection of future extreme precipitation: a robust assessment of downscaled daily precipitation
Pham et al 2021 Natural Hazards
DOI: 10.1007/s11069-021-04584-1

Cryosphere & climate change

Observed Antarctic sea ice expansion reproduced in a climate model after correcting biases in sea ice drift velocity

Brief communication: Do 1.0 °C, 1.5 °C or 2.0 °C matter for the future evolution of Alpine glaciers?
Compagno et al 2021 
Open Access pdf DOI: 10.5194/tc-2021-31 (preprint)

ISMIP6-based projections of ocean-forced Antarctic Ice Sheet evolution using the Community Ice Sheet Model
Lipscomb et al 2021 The Cryosphere
Open Access pdf DOI: 10.5194/tc-15-633-2021

An exploratory modelling study of perennial firn aquifers in the Antarctic Peninsula for the period 1979–2016
van Wessem et al 2021 The Cryosphere
Open Access pdf DOI: 10.5194/tc-15-695-2021

Degrading permafrost and its impacts
Iijima et al 2020 Journal of Soils and Sediments
Open Access DOI: 10.21820/23987073.2020.6.29

Spring leads in the Beaufort Sea and its interannual trend using Terra/MODIS thermal imagery
Qu et al 2021 Remote Sensing of Environment
DOI: 10.1016/j.rse.2021.112342

Seasonal sea-ice variability and its trend in the Weddell Sea sector of West Antarctica
Kumar et al 2021 Environmental Research Letters
Open Access DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/abdc88

Paleoclimate

Enhanced Moisture Delivery into Victoria Land, East Antarctica During the Early Last Interglacial: Implications for West Antarctic Ice Sheet Stability
Yan et al 2021 
Open Access pdf DOI: 10.5194/cp-2021-7 (preprint)

A Modified Milankovitch theory that reconciles contradictions with the paleoclimate record
Wong 2021 
Open Access pdf DOI: 10.5194/cp-2021-10 (preprint)

Biology & climate change

Vulnerability of global biodiversity hotspots to climate change
Sander & Wardell-Johnson 2011 Journal of Vegetation Science
DOI: 10.1111/j.1654-1103.2011.01293.x

Global progress in incorporating climate adaptation into land protection for biodiversity since Aichi targets
Carrasco et al 2021 Global Change Biology
DOI: 10.1111/gcb.15511

Mechanisms matter: Predicting the ecological impacts of global change
Boult & Evans 2021 Global Change Biology
Open Access pdf DOI: 10.1111/gcb.15527

Regional disparity in extinction risk: Comparison of disjunct plant genera between eastern Asia and eastern North America
Song et al 2021 Global Change Biology
DOI: 10.1111/gcb.15525

Microclimates hold the key to spatial forest planning under climate change: Cyanolichens in temperate rainforest
Ellis & Eaton 2021 Global Change Biology
DOI: 10.1111/gcb.15514

Implications of the 2019–2020 megafires for the biogeography and conservation of Australian vegetation

Phenological tracking of a seasonal climate window in a recovering tropical island bird species
Taylor et al 2021 Climatic Change
Open Access pdf DOI: 10.1007/s10584-021-02971-y

Ocean acidification reduces skeletal density of hardground-forming high-latitude crustose coralline algae
Williams et al 2021 Geophysical Research Letters
DOI: 10.1029/2020gl091499

Patterns, Drivers, and Ecological Implications of Upwelling in Coral Reef Habitats of the Southern Red Sea
DeCarlo et al 2021 Journal of Geophysical Research
Open Access pdf DOI: 10.1002/essoar.10503370.1

Heatwave-induced synchrony within forage fish portfolio disrupts energy flow to top pelagic predators
Arimitsu et al 2021 Global Change Biology
DOI: 10.1111/gcb.15556

Global fading of the temperature–growth coupling at alpine and polar treelines
Camarero et al 2021 Global Change Biology
DOI: 10.1111/gcb.15530

Forecasting impacts of ocean acidification on marine communities: Utilizing volcanic CO2 vents as natural laboratories

Divergent responses of permafrost peatlands to recent climate change
Sim et al 2021 Environmental Research Letters
Open Access DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/abe00b

Time traveling seeds reveal that plant regeneration and growth traits are responding to climate change
Everingham et al 2021 Ecology
DOI: 10.1002/ecy.3272

Species' specific responses of a marsh-forest ecotone plant community responding to climate change
Jobe & Gedan 2021 Ecology
DOI: 10.1002/ecy.3296

Unusually large upward shifts in cold-adapted, montane mammals as temperature warms
McCain et al 2021 Ecology
DOI: 10.1002/ecy.3300

Warming effects on wood decomposition depend on fungal assembly history
Edman et al 2021 Journal of Ecology
DOI: 10.1111/1365-2745.13617

Shape of species climate response curves affects community response to climate change
Bonachela et al 2021 Ecology Letters
DOI: 10.1111/ele.13688

GHG sources & sinks, flux

Restoration thinning in a drought-prone Idaho forest creates a persistent carbon deficit
Stenzel et al 2021 Journal of Geophysical Research
DOI: 10.1029/2020jg005815

Trophic interactions regulate peatland carbon cycling
Wyatt et al 2021 Ecology Letters
DOI: 10.1111/ele.13697

Regional CO2 fluxes from 2010 to 2015 inferred from GOSAT XCO2 retrievals using a new version of the Global Carbon Assimilation System

The northern European shelf as an increasing net sink for CO2

Estimating Greenhouse Gas Emissions From Peat Combustion in Wildfires on Indonesian Peatlands, and Their Uncertainty
Rodríguez Vásquez et al 2021 Global Biogeochemical Cycles
DOI: 10.1029/2019gb006218

The Greater Mekong's climate-water-energy nexus: how ENSO-triggered regional droughts affect power supply and CO2 emissions
Chowdhury et al 2020 
Open Access DOI: 10.1002/essoar.10504393.1

Continuous dynamics of dissolved methane over two years and its carbon isotopes (δ13C, Δ14C) in a small Arctic lake in the Mackenzie Delta
McIntosh Marcek et al 2021 Journal of Geophysical Research
DOI: 10.1029/2020jg006038

Regional-scale, sector-specific evaluation of global CO2 inversion models using aircraft data from the ACT-America project
Gaudet et al 2021 
DOI: 10.1002/essoar.10505705.1

Forest thinning in ponderosa pines increases carbon use efficiency and energy flow from primary producers to primary consumers
Doughty et al 2021 Journal of Geophysical Research
DOI: 10.1029/2020jg005947

Spatiotemporal assessment of land use/land cover change and associated carbon emissions and uptake in the Mekong River Basin
Tang et al 2021 Remote Sensing of Environment
DOI: 10.1016/j.rse.2021.112336

Spatial variations in daytime methane and carbon dioxide emissions in two urban landscapes, Sakai, Japan
Takano & Ueyama 2021 Urban Climate
Open Access DOI: 10.1016/j.uclim.2021.100798

High microbial diversity stabilizes the responses of soil organic carbon decomposition to warming in the subsoil on the Tibetan Plateau
Xu et al 2021 Global Change Biology
DOI: 10.1111/gcb.15553

Greening of the earth does not compensate for rising soil heterotrophic respiration under climate change
Naidu & Bagchi 2021 Global Change Biology
DOI: 10.1111/gcb.15531

Illegal logging, governance effectiveness and carbon dioxide emission in the timber-producing countries of Congo Basin and Asia
Piabuo et al 2021 Environment, Development and Sustainability,
Open Access pdf DOI: 10.1007/s10668-021-01257-8

Significant sedge-mediated methane emissions from degraded tropical peatlands
Akhtar et al 2020 Environmental Research Letters
Open Access DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/abc7dc

The climatology of ambient CO2 concentrations from long-term observation in the Pearl River Delta region of China: roles of anthropogenic and biogenic processes
Mai et al 2021 Atmospheric Environment
DOI: 10.1016/j.atmosenv.2021.118266

Impacts of urbanization on carbon emissions: An empirical analysis from OECD countries
Wang et al 2021 Energy Policy
DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2021.112171

Evaluating stream CO2 outgassing via drifting and anchored flux chambers in a controlled flume experiment
Vingiani et al 2020 
Open Access DOI: 10.5194/bg-2020-327-rc2

CO2 removal & mitigation science & engineering

The climate benefit of carbon sequestration
Spring et al 2011 Advanced Materials Research
Open Access pdf DOI: 10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2005.04.002

Geoengineering climate

Is Turning Down the Sun a Good Proxy for Stratospheric Sulfate Geoengineering?
Visioni et al 2021 Journal of Geophysical Research
Open Access DOI: 10.1002/essoar.10504448.1

Updated and outdated reservations about research into stratospheric aerosol injection
Smith & Henly 2021 Climatic Change
Open Access pdf DOI: 10.1007/s10584-021-03017-z

Will Individual Actions Do the Trick? Comparing Climate Change Mitigation through Geoengineering versus Reduced Vehicle Emissions
Murray & DiGiorgio 2021 Earth's Future
Open Access pdf DOI: 10.1029/2020ef001734

Black carbon

Asian emissions explain much of the Arctic Black Carbon events
Backman et al 2021 Geophysical Research Letters
DOI: 10.1029/2020gl091913

Aerosols

Ice nucleation ability of Ammonium Sulfate aerosol particles internally mixed with Secondary Organics
Bertozzi et al 2021 
Open Access pdf DOI: 10.5194/acp-2021-53 (preprint)

Factors controlling marine aerosol size distributions and their climate effects over the northwest Atlantic Ocean region
Croft et al 2020 
Open Access pdf DOI: 10.5194/acp-2020-811

Changes in Clear-Sky Shortwave Aerosol Direct Radiative Effects Since 2002
Loeb et al 2021 Journal of Geophysical Research
DOI: 10.1029/2020jd034090

Decarbonization

The role of renewables in the Japanese power sector: implications from the EMF35 JMIP
Shiraki et al 2021 Sustainability Science
Open Access pdf DOI: 10.1007/s11625-021-00917-y

Coal communities and the U.S. energy transition: A policy corridors assessment
Roemer & Haggerty 2021 Energy Policy
DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2020.112112

Consumer acceptance of the energy transition in Switzerland: The role of attitudes explained through a hybrid discrete choice model
Motz 2021 Energy Policy
Open Access DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2021.112152

Public acceptance of renewable electricity generation and transmission network developments: Insights from Ireland
Koecklin et al 2021 Energy Policy
Open Access DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2021.112185

Climate change communications & cognition

Scientific methods, media coverage, public awareness and climate change
Hannachi & Hansson 2021 Tellus A
Open Access pdf DOI: 10.1080/16000870.2021.1883231

‘A change of heart’: Indigenous perspectives from the Onjisay Aki Summit on climate change

The psychology of balancing gains and losses for self and the environment: Evidence from a carbon emission versus travel time tradeoff task
Bökman et al 2021 Journal of Environmental Psychology
Open Access DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvp.2021.101574

Climate Change Risk Perceptions, Facilitating Conditions and Health Risk Management Intentions: Evidence from Farmers in Rural China

Agronomy, animal husbundry, food production & climate change

The role of certification, risk and time preferences in promoting adoption of climate-resilient citrus varieties in Indonesia
Hasibuan et al 2021 Climatic Change
DOI: 10.1007/s10584-021-03015-1

Exploring assumptions in crop breeding for climate resilience: opportunities and principles for integrating climate model projections
Whitfield et al 2021 Climatic Change
Open Access pdf DOI: 10.1007/s10584-021-02997-2

Assessment of crop risk due to climate change in Sao Tome and Principe
Costa Resende Ferreira et al 2021 Regional Environmental Change
Open Access pdf DOI: 10.1007/s10113-021-01746-6

Vulnerability of European wheat to extreme heat and drought around flowering under future climate
Senapati et al 2021 Environmental Research Letters
Open Access DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/abdcf3

Antarctic krill fishery effects over penguin populations under adverse climate conditions: Implications for the management of fishing practices
Krüger et al 2020 Ambio
DOI: 10.1007/s13280-020-01386-w

Status and drivers of food insecurity and adaptation responses under a changing climate among smallholder farmers households in Bagmati Province, Nepal

Farmers’ adaptation to climate-smart agriculture (CSA) in NW Turkey
Everest 2020 Environment, Development and Sustainability,
DOI: 10.1007/s10668-020-00767-1

Economics & finance of climate change & mitigation

Snow cover loss compounding the future economic vulnerability of western China
Wu et al 2021 Science of The Total Environment
Open Access DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.143025

The influence of environmental regulations on business innovation, intellectual capital, environmental and economic performance
Trevlopoulos et al 2021 Environment Systems and Decisions
DOI: 10.1007/s10669-021-09802-6

‘Fair’ inequality, consumption and climate mitigation
Millward-Hopkins & Oswald 2021 Environmental Research Letters
Open Access DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/abe14f

Inventories of extreme weather events and impacts: Implications for loss and damage from and adaptation to climate extremes

Climate change mitigation public policy research

Achieving the climate goal with intergovernmental transfers to the forestry sector: insights from the Indian experience

Will Individual Actions Do the Trick? Comparing Climate Change Mitigation through Geoengineering versus Reduced Vehicle Emissions
Murray & DiGiorgio 2021 Earth's Future
Open Access pdf DOI: 10.1029/2020ef001734

Development and application of a life cycle energy consumption and CO2 emissions analysis model for high-speed railway transport in China
Yan-Zhe et al 2021 Advances in Climate Change Research
Open Access DOI: 10.1016/j.accre.2021.02.001

Illegal logging, governance effectiveness and carbon dioxide emission in the timber-producing countries of Congo Basin and Asia
Piabuo et al 2021 Environment, Development and Sustainability,
Open Access pdf DOI: 10.1007/s10668-021-01257-8

Delinking the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme from the Kyoto Protocol: comparing theory with practice
Kerr et al 2021 Climate Policy
DOI: 10.1080/14693062.2021.1879722

Revisiting the determinants of renewable energy investment - New evidence from political and government ideology

Carbon Capture and Storage in the United States: Perceptions, preferences, and lessons for policy
Pianta et al 2021 Energy Policy
Open Access DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2021.112149

Policies for low-carbon and affordable home heating: A French outlook
Giraudet et al 2021 Energy Policy
Open Access pdf DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2021.112140

Climate change impacts on human health

Projecting heat-related excess mortality under climate change scenarios in China

Estimating summertime heat stress in a tropical Indian city using Local Climate Zone (LCZ) framework
Kotharkar et al 2021 Urban Climate
DOI: 10.1016/j.uclim.2021.100784

Climate change and infrastructure risk: Indoor heat exposure during a concurrent heat wave and blackout event in Phoenix, Arizona
Stone et al 2021 Urban Climate
DOI: 10.1016/j.uclim.2021.100787

A 41-years bioclimatology of thermal stress in Europe
Antonescu et al 2021 International Journal of Climatology
DOI: 10.1002/joc.7051

From Paris to Makkah: heat stress risks for Muslim pilgrims at 1.5 °C and 2 °C
Saeed et al 2021 Environmental Research Letters
Open Access DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/abd067

Anthropogenic climate change is worsening North American pollen seasons
Anderegg et al 2021 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Open Access pdf DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2013284118

Climate change, aeroallergens, and the aeroexposome
Beggs 2021 Environmental Research Letters
Open Access pdf DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/abda6f

Climate change adaptation & adaptation public policy research

Synthesis of Indicators, Datasets, and Frameworks Available to Establish Resilience and Adaptation Indicators: Case Study of Chesapeake Bay Region, USA

Do hazard mitigation plans represent the resilience priorities of residents in vulnerable Texas coastal counties?
Sullivan et al 2021 Natural Hazards
DOI: 10.1007/s11069-021-04545-8

Climate change impacts on human culture

Thermal power generation is disadvantaged in a warming world
Coffel & Mankin 2020 Environmental Research Letters
Open Access DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/abd4a8

Climate change reduces winter overland travel across the Pan-Arctic even under low-end global warming scenarios
G\u00e4deke et al 2021 Environmental Research Letters
Open Access DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/abdcf2

Migration towards Bangladesh coastlines projected to increase with sea-level rise through 2100
Bell et al 2021 Environmental Research Letters
Open Access DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/abdc5b

The implications of future climate change on the blue water footprint of hydropower in the contiguous US
Zhao et al 2020 Environmental Research Letters
Open Access DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/abd78d

Other

Snow cover and vegetation greenness with leaf water content control the global land surface temperature

Climate: a dynamical system with mismatched space and time domains

Informed opinion, nudges & major initiatives

Environmental policies to cope with novel disturbance regimes–steps to address a world scientists' warning to humanity
Leverkus et al 2021 Environmental Research Letters
Open Access DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/abdc5a

The Anthropocene: comparing its meaning in geology (chronostratigraphy) with conceptual approaches arising in other disciplines
Zalasiewicz et al 2021 Earth's Future
Open Access pdf DOI: 10.1029/2020ef001896

Degrading permafrost and its impacts
Iijima et al 2020 Journal of Soils and Sediments
Open Access DOI: 10.21820/23987073.2020.6.29

Building capacity for societally engaged climate science by transforming science training
Rozance et al 2020 Environmental Research Letters
Open Access DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/abc27a

 


Obtaining articles wihout journal subscriptions

We know it's frustrating that many articles we cite here are not free to read. One-off paid access fees are generally astronomically priced, suitable for such as "On a Heuristic Point of View Concerning the Production and Transformation of Light but not as a gamble on unknowns. With a median world income of US$ 9,373, for most of us US$ 42 is significant money to wager on an article's relevance and importance. 

  • Unpaywall offers a browser extension for Chrome and Firefox that automatically indicates when an article is freely accessible and provides immediate access without further trouble. Unpaywall is also unscammy, works well, is itself offered free to use. The organizers (a legitimate nonprofit) report about a 50% success rate
  • The weekly New Research catch is checked against the Unpaywall database with accessible items being flagged. Especially for just-published articles this mechansim may fail. If you're interested in an article title and it is not listed here as "open access," be sure to check the link anyway. 

How is New Research assembled?

Most articles appearing here are found via  RSS feeds from journal publishers, filtered by search terms to produce raw output for assessment of relevance. 

Relevant articles are then queried against the Unpaywall database, to identify open access articles and expose useful metadata for articles appearing in the database. 

The objective of New Research isn't to cast a tinge on scientific results, to color readers' impressions. Hence candidate articles are assessed via two metrics only:

  • Was an article deemed of sufficient merit by a team of journal editors and peer reviewers? The fact of journal RSS output assigns a "yes" to this automatically. 
  • Is an article relevant to the topic of anthropogenic climate change? Due to filter overlap with other publication topics of inquiry, of a typical week's 550 or so input articles about 1/4 of RSS output makes the cut.

A few journals offer public access to "preprint" versions of articles for which the review process is not yet complete. As it is the journal's decision to do so, we respect that and include such items in New Research. These are flagged as "preprint."

The section "Informed opinion, nudges & major initiatives" includes some items that are not scientific research per se but fall instead into the category of "perspectives," observations of implications of research findings, areas needing attention, etc.

Articles are presented with a title link via the original publisher URL so as to preserve provenance information, and when (usually) available, a more permanent DOI link. When a publicly accessible PDF version of an article is found, a direct link is provided.

Suggestions

Please let us know if you're aware of an article you think may be of interest for Skeptical Science research news, or if we've missed something that may be important. Send your input to Skeptical Science via our contact form.

Journals covered

A list of journals we cover may be found here. We welcome pointers to omissions, new journals etc.

Previous edition

The previous edition of Skeptical Science New Research may be found here.

0 0

Printable Version  |  Link to this page

Comments

Comments 1 to 14:

  1. With respect geothermal, it is not new technology, and it does work but there are technical limitations.  One is efficiency,  which varies dependent on temp. difference source and discharge.  And this brings up another problem.  When you have ground water,  the source of heat has to be well below ground water in order to have an efficient system.  I know from personal experience what difference ground water can have.  Early in my career I worked in mine in Arizona where their wes no ground water,  at least above 2000ft.  At 2000ft rock in the work area was over 90dF.  I later worked in a mine in Virginia where the ground water extended below 1000ft.  Workers needed extra cloths to keep warm. My experience tells me that geothermal would not be practical in many areas of the US.

    0 0
    Moderator Response:

    [TD] I removed the extra blank space at the bottom of your comment, and changed your double spacing to single spacing. Do those things yourself next time please.

  2. Geothermal energy will be practical in some areas of the US and impractical in others, the same way a "traditional" thermal generation plant will be more or less practical, dependent on such matters as fairly ample water supply. 

    Jamesh, I'm wondering: why are you reviewing/remarking on geothermal energy here? There are no articles on geothermal energy in this batch of papers and the "editorial content" ahead of this week's list has no relevance to geothermal energy systems. 

    It looks as though you've found your way to the wrong page and hence accidentally created a non sequitur.  What thread did you have in mnd?

    0 0
    Moderator Response:

    [TD] I think Jamesh read only the "Geoengineering" title of this post, and assumed that meant geothermal. I let Jamesh's comment stand, because we sorta let the New Research posts act as entry points for commenters who have not yet found their way to more appropriate posts' threads. But if Jamesh continues to comment without actually reading anything first, we will start deleting the comments.

  3. Even as it is, James statement is only partially true, since enhanced geothermal can work in a much larger variety of situations, as in Soultz Sous Foret.

    0 0
  4. I did read the the complete posting on geoengineering and did not perceve that strataspheric aerosol injection had anything to do with engineering. Engineering always deals with known scientific principals.  In any case I wish to move on to the issue of the melting of polar ice sheets.  How do I access postings on that subject?

    0 0
  5. jamesh:

    Look to the top of any page here. Under the "Skeptical Science" banner, you  will see a row of menu items, saying :Home   Arguments   Software..."

    Below that is a box. It says "Search". You can type in that box, and then click on "Go" below it.

    You can also  read further down below that, where it says "Most Used Climate Myths". If you don't find what you want there, at the bottom of the thermometer you can click on "View All Arguments...".

    ..and as to your comment about "stratospheric aerosol injection", since we know the effects of adding aerosols to the stratosphere - because, well, scientists have studied it and understand it, and know the principles involved - then yes, it is geo-engineering.

    0 0
  6. James... There's the Antarctic ice sheet, the Greenland ice sheet and Arctic sea ice. Did you have one in mind?

    0 0
  7. James: also note that two of the three that Rob mentions are ice on land, while the third is floating sea ice.

    ...and there is also floating sea ice around Antarctica. Item 10 on the Most Used Climate Myths ("Antarctica is gaining ice") starts off by talking about the differences between sea ice and land ice.

    0 0
  8. Rob @ Bob   Thank you for your comments re ice sheets..Actually the ice sheet that  I wanted to talk about is the one that covered New York State, which at max was about 9000ft thick.  I joined the Hudson-Mohawk Society of Professional Geologists in 2017 and learned a lot about ice sheets.  I think they are all alike, but if you all are interested, I will share what I have learned.

    0 0
    Moderator Response:

    [TD] Share that only in the thread of a relevant post, not here. If there are no relevant posts then you are looking at the wrong site.

  9. Basically, jamesh's point he wishes to contest (the existence of land-based ice sheets that have since disappeared, like the Laurentide Ice Sheet) is a variant of the skeptic argument, "The Climate Has Changed Before" (so therefore this iteration of climate change is normal).

    He needs to take his argument to that link, where I'm sure it will be prompted and thoroughly refuted.

    After all, that the climate changed naturally before the impacts of humans became the dominant forcing of climate is uncontentious.

    That the impacts of human activities are now the dominant forcing of climate is equally uncontentious, from a scientific basis.

    Trust Climate Scientists

     

    0 0
  10. "I did read the the complete posting on geoengineering and did not perceve that strataspheric aerosol injection had anything to do with engineering. Engineering always deals with known scientific principals."

    Thank you for echoing and reinforcing the point made in our bloviation section of NR, even as you're humiliating yourself by adopting a conspicuously awkward and visibly uncomfortable rhetorical posture.

    James Watt was an engineer who produced engineering artifacts in the absence of full knowledge of the materials and their behavior available to him. At best his work was "semi-empirical" but nonetheless, he was an engineer. He would have been happier and more productive if he'd been able to engineer with a full deck of information, of course. 

    To geoengineer to our best modern ability as opposed to 18th century practice Watt was forced to adopt requires material property and behavior information. Foreclosing research on these matters will make optimal geoengineering employing reliable numeric models impossible.

    Smith & Henly are encouraging us not to pretend to be in the predicament of James Watt, when it comes to geoengineering. Their topic is entirely about geoengineering. 

    But you already knew this, Jamesh. You're pretending to be ignorant. It's not a good look and more in the practical sense it has a very detrimental effect on your credibility and capacity to influence other peoples' thinking, that being your obvious objective here. You should try to do better. 

    0 0
  11. Doug;  You have me at a disadcantage.  I was informed by the site manager that I had to show respect to other contributors;  I am determined to abide by that rule;  Also, I was told to keep my comments non political, and I intend to abdide by that rule.  That leaves scientific facts, which I am prepared to discuss with interested parties.  If you have no interest in a strictly technical discussion then I respect that.  In which case I have nothing further to say to you;  end of discussion.

    ptical Science asks that you review the comments policy. Thank you.

    0 0
    Moderator Response:

    [JH] You are not a Moderator on this site. 

  12. Jamesh, ignoring the actual potential technical discussion on hand and rather swerving into rhetorical artifice and acting a role was a choice you made. You're making your own rules and writing your own script; don't pretend to be surprised when others follow your rules and critique your drama.

    You are duly being accorded the respect you've earned. 

    It may help to remember that some of us have been reading and abiding the same stale rhetorical stylings for over a decade. What seems original to you is in fact extremely tiresome, boring. Patience has limits. 

    Noted: while dancing about with words, you've not yet managed to plant your feet on topic. A "discussion" was never started. If/when you choose to honestly discuss something germane to a topic included in this week's NR, you might actually be able to process  a conversation to a conclusion here.

    For my part I find myself wasting too much time on you and time is valuable. I'm getting nothing in the way of novelty or entertainment from spending time replying to your effort, which is substandard compared to the "state of the art" in science denial. That waste of minutes is now concluded. So on that point we're in full agreement even when we've arrived at the same juncture from poles apart. 

    0 0
  13. James @8... Would you like someone to suggest a thread where you can take up a discussion on the last glacial maximum? I tried to suggest a thread for a previous topic you wanted to discuss and you didn't begin a discussion. 

    0 0
  14. Jamesh @ 8:

    As you seem to be struggling to find appropriate places to discuss stuff, let me try to help you.

    First, The the most recent ice sheet to cover New York State would have been the Laurentide Ice Sheet, which covered pretty much all of Canada and the northern US states. It had several distinct and somewhat independent areas of motion, though.  "Polar" is probably not a good descriptor for it.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurentide_Ice_Sheet

    If you want to argue that it represents evidence that climate has changed before and therefore humans can't be the cause now, then the reasons why that argument are wrong is #1 on the Most Used Climate Myths page "Climate's changed before":

    https://skepticalscience.com/climate-change-little-ice-age-medieval-warm-period.htm

    If you want to use it to argue that climate scientists were predicting a return to ice age conditions in the 1970s, then the reasons why that argument are wrong is #11 on the Most Used Climate Myths page "Ice Age predicted in the 1970s":

    https://skepticalscience.com/ice-age-predictions-in-1970s.htm

    If you want to use it to argue that we are now heading into another glacial period, then the reasons why that argument are wrong is #14 on the Most Used Climate Myths page "We're heading into another ice age":

    https://skepticalscience.com/heading-into-new-little-ice-age.htm

    If you want to use it to argue that the current warming is just a continued pattern from a previous cold period, then the reasons why that argument are wrong is #48 on the Most Used Climate Myths page "We're coming out of the Little Ice Age":

    https://skepticalscience.com/coming-out-of-little-ice-age.htm

    If you want to use it to argue that climate follows natural cycles and the current warming is no different, then the reasons why that argument are wrong is #56 on the Most Used Climate Myths page "It's a Natural Cycle":

    https://skepticalscience.com/global-warming-natural-cycle.htm

    If you want to use it to argue that you know of some special factor affecting climate that climate science has ignored, and you are the only one that knows this, then you might want to go to Climate Myth #130 "Climate Skeptics are like Galileo":

    https://skepticalscience.com/climate-skeptics-are-like-galileo.htm

    If you want to use it to argue that humans can survive large shift in climate, then Climate Myth #197 "Humans survived past climate changes" is your destination:

    https://skepticalscience.com/humans-survived-past-climate-changes.htm

    0 0

You need to be logged in to post a comment. Login via the left margin or if you're new, register here.



The Consensus Project Website

THE ESCALATOR

(free to republish)


© Copyright 2024 John Cook
Home | Translations | About Us | Privacy | Contact Us