American Meteorological Society Statement on Climate Chnage

Posting two days in a row!?!?

I just wanted to draw attention to the updated statement on climate change from the American Meteorological Society. Here's the link: [LINK]. It is just a 7 page statement that goes through the following sections:

• Background 
•  How is climate changing? 
•  Why is climate changing? 
•  How can climate change be projected into the future? 
•  How is the climate expected to change in the future? 
•  Final remarks

There is nothing surprising in the statement. The AMS supports the scientific consensus that the Earth's surface and lower atmosphere are warming due to the accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere from combustion of fossil fuels and deforestation. Overall, it is well-written and straight-forward, and I recommend taking a look at it no matter what your background is. My guess is that everyone will get the gist, and if you've got any background in climate science then you'll pick up on some of the details. I'd quibble over some of the word choices here and there, but the substance is fine. Maybe they over emphasize climate models in the future section, because many of the points they make there are not based solely on model projections, but also observations and basic theory. Anyway, go take a look.

Mike Wallace Symposium

For those of you with interests in climate dynamics:
http://www.atmos.washington.edu/wallacesymposium/

EPA rules on greenhouse gases

The EPA today ruled that greenhouse gases are pollutants, and thus can be regulated by the EPA. This is potentially a game-changing decision, since it says that greenhouse gases cause substantive harm to people, just like sulfur emissions (acid rain), CFCs (ozone hole), or mercury (drinking water, fish), which are all regulated. No rules or even targets have been announced, and the EPA (and Obama administration) say they would rather have Congress control greenhouse gas emissions. The bottom line, though, is that if Congress drops the ball (yet again) on adopting strict regulations on greenhouse gas emissions, the administration now has a strong case in stepping forward with its own set of rules. See story in NYTimes.com for more details.

OCO crashes and burns

Well, about 6 hours ago (as of writing time), a Taurus XL rocket built by Orbital Sciences Corporation of Virginia ignited and launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base. It was carrying the Orbiting Carbon Observatory on board, which was a new NASA satellite designed to very accurately (and sensitively) detect carbon dioxide. The goal was to better describe the sources and sinks of atmospheric carbon dioxide. However, that mission will now fall more heavily on the similar Japanese satellite called Ibuki than planned because a few minutes after launching, the Taurus XL's second stage didn't fully complete, leaving a part of the rocket attached to the 3rd and 4th stages, weight that could not be accommodated. The rocket crashed into the Southern Ocean, currently a large sink for atmospheric carbon dioxide A few more details at NYTimes.com [LINK]

Environmental Research Letters - Best of 2007

An e-mail I received today:

Environmental Research Letters (ERL) has just released the Best of 2007, a mixture of Perspectives and Letters that best represent the high quality and breadth of the contributions that were published last year in ERL, as chosen by the Editorial Board, guest editors and publishing team.

This special collection includes contributions to invited focus issues on Environmental Health and Justice, Northern Hemisphere High Latitude Climate Change, Tropical Deforestation, and Global Impacts of Particulate Matter Air Pollution, as well as an editorial from ERL's Editor-in-Chief, Professor Daniel M Kammen.

To read the ERL Best of 2007, visit http://herald.iop.org/ERL_Bestof2007/m261/crk//link/1319 where you can access the online table of contents or download the full pdf version of this very special collection.