http://www.physorg.com/ en-us Physorg.com internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. Intervals of regional warmth and cold in the past are linked to the El Niņo phenomenon and the so-called "North Atlantic Oscillation" in the Northern hemisphere's jet stream, according to a team of climate scientists. These linkages may be important in assessing the regional effects of future climate change. http://www.physorg.com/news178459644.html Space & Earth Thu, 26 Nov 2009 14:10:05 EST news178459644 The oceans play a key role in regulating climate, absorbing more than a quarter of the carbon dioxide that humans put into the air. Now, the first year-by-year accounting of this mechanism during the industrial era suggests the oceans are struggling to keep up with rising emissions -- a finding with potentially wide implications for future climate. The study appears in this week's issue of the journal Nature. http://www.physorg.com/news177772960.html Space & Earth Wed, 18 Nov 2009 13:23:43 EST news177772960 California experienced centuries-long droughts in the past 20,000 years that coincided with the thawing of ice caps in the Arctic, according to a new study by UC Davis doctoral student Jessica Oster and geology professor Isabel Montaņez. http://www.physorg.com/news177088772.html Space & Earth Tue, 10 Nov 2009 15:20:55 EST news177088772 On beautiful, sunny days with quiet weather conditions a strong wind develops in the evening at a height of about 200 metres. http://www.physorg.com/news176661740.html Space & Earth Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:30:01 EST news176661740 PHILADELPHIA -- An international team of environmental scientists led by the University of Pennsylvania has shown that sea-level rise, at least in North Carolina, is accelerating. Researchers found 20th-century sea-level rise to be three times higher than the rate of sea-level rise during the last 500 years. In addition, this jump appears to occur between 1879 and 1915, a time of industrial change that may provide a direct link to human-induced climate change. http://www.physorg.com/news175969082.html Space & Earth Wed, 28 Oct 2009 17:18:47 EST news175969082 Not that long ago - the blink of a geologic eye - global temperatures were so warm that ice on Greenland could have been hard to come by. Today, the largest island in the world is covered with ice 1.6 miles thick. Even so, Greenland has become a hot spot for climate scientists. Why? Because tiny bubbles trapped in the ice layers may help resolve a fundamental question about global warming: how fast and how much will ice sheets melt? http://www.physorg.com/news175191286.html Space & Earth Mon, 19 Oct 2009 17:30:13 EST news175191286 For the first time, climate scientists from across the country have successfully incorporated the nitrogen cycle into global simulations for climate change, questioning previous assumptions regarding carbon feedback and potentially helping to refine model forecasts about global warming. http://www.physorg.com/news174319211.html Space & Earth Fri, 09 Oct 2009 15:01:04 EST news174319211 (PhysOrg.com) -- Climate models that predict heavy rainfall don`t give the whole picture, according to the results of a study by NWO (Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research) scientist Martin Ziegler. He examined climate changes that have taken place over the past 800,000 years, and discovered that the melting icebergs in the North Atlantic and changes in the El Niņo Southern Oscillation have a great influence on the intensity of monsoon rains. He received his doctorate from Utrecht University on 2 October. http://www.physorg.com/news174237655.html Space & Earth Thu, 08 Oct 2009 16:30:01 EST news174237655 For 1200 years, the Maya dominated Central America. At their peak around 900 A.D., Maya cities teemed with more than 2,000 people per square mile -- comparable to modern Los Angeles County. Even in rural areas the Maya numbered 200 to 400 people per square mile. But suddenly, all was quiet. And the profound silence testified to one of the greatest demographic disasters in human prehistory -- the demise of the once vibrant Maya society. http://www.physorg.com/news174152911.html Other Sciences Wed, 07 Oct 2009 16:49:23 EST news174152911 (PhysOrg.com) -- A new analysis of climate risk, published by researchers at MIT and elsewhere, shows that even moderate carbon-reduction policies now can substantially lower the risk of future climate change. It also shows that quick, global emissions reductions would be required in order to provide a good chance of avoiding a temperature increase of more than 2 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial level - a widely discussed target. But without prompt action, they found, extreme changes could soon become much more difficult, if not impossible, to control. http://www.physorg.com/news173697789.html Space & Earth Fri, 02 Oct 2009 11:30:01 EST news173697789 (PhysOrg.com) -- While long-term projections call for higher temperatures and heat waves even more intense than previously thought, considerable geographic variability is also in the forecast, according to a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. http://www.physorg.com/news173546838.html Space & Earth Wed, 30 Sep 2009 16:29:51 EST news173546838 (AP) -- A federal agency must decide within three weeks whether spotted seals, which depend on sea ice off Alaska's coast, should be listed as a threatened or endangered species. http://www.physorg.com/news173382362.html Biology Mon, 28 Sep 2009 19:00:02 EST news173382362 (PhysOrg.com) -- If the future scenarios being churned out by the world's most sophisticated computer climate models are on the mark, big changes are in store for Wisconsin's weather during the next century. http://www.physorg.com/news172175003.html Space & Earth Mon, 14 Sep 2009 19:50:02 EST news172175003 (PhysOrg.com) -- Encouraged by the success of grid computing in Europe, scientists there set out to help their Latin American colleagues develop grid capability. The result today is a thriving trans-Atlantic collaboration. http://www.physorg.com/news171790015.html Technology Thu, 10 Sep 2009 08:27:31 EST news171790015 A company from one of ESA's Business Incubation Centres has used space technology to develop a scanner to spot weaknesses in dike structures. It is being used to inspect dikes and dams on the Danube river and in the Netherlands. http://www.physorg.com/news171272283.html Space & Earth Fri, 04 Sep 2009 08:38:48 EST news171272283 As much as half of California could be occupied by new bird communities by 2070 according to a new study by PRBO Conservation Science (PRBO) and partners. The publication entitled "Reshuffling of species with climate disruption: A no-analog future for California birds?" is to be released in the open access peer reviewed journal PLoS ONE on September 2nd. http://www.physorg.com/news171093301.html Biology Wed, 02 Sep 2009 07:10:01 EST news171093301 A new 2,000-year-long reconstruction of sea surface temperatures (SST) from the Indo-Pacific warm pool (IPWP) suggests that temperatures in the region may have been as warm during the Medieval Warm Period as they are today. http://www.physorg.com/news170598165.html Space & Earth Thu, 27 Aug 2009 13:23:44 EST news170598165 Targeted investments in climate science could lead to major benefits in reducing the costs of adapting to a changing climate, according to new research published by scientists from the UK's National Centre for Atmospheric Science (NCAS). Published in the scientific journal, the Bulletin for the American Meteorological Society, the study shows that investments made now, can lead to as much as 10-20% improvement in climate predictions for the UK and Europe in the coming decades, and up to 20% across the rest of the globe. http://www.physorg.com/news169898504.html Space & Earth Wed, 19 Aug 2009 11:30:06 EST news169898504 (PhysOrg.com) -- When it comes to using climate models to assess the causes of the increased amount of moisture in the atmosphere, it doesn't much matter if one model is better than the other. http://www.physorg.com/news169145892.html Space & Earth Mon, 10 Aug 2009 18:30:01 EST news169145892 The role of clouds in climate change has been a major question for decades. As the earth warms under increasing greenhouse gases, it is not known whether clouds will dissipate, letting in more of the sun's heat energy and making the earth warm even faster, or whether cloud cover will increase, blocking the Sun's rays and actually slowing down global warming. http://www.physorg.com/news167579418.html Space & Earth Thu, 23 Jul 2009 14:50:56 EST news167579418 Scientists have recorded a decline in winter precipitation over the past 60 years in Spain, and they now forecast that precipitation will also decrease in spring and summer. A team from the Pyrenean Institute of Ecology (CSIC) has studied rainfall data from 1950 to 2006 and the climate projections for coming decades, showing that less rain will fall in future over the Iberian Peninsula. However, precipitation will continue to be more frequent in winter than in spring-summer. http://www.physorg.com/news167552453.html Space & Earth Thu, 23 Jul 2009 07:40:02 EST news167552453 No one knows exactly how much Earth's climate will warm due to carbon emissions, but a new study this week suggests scientists' best predictions about global warming might be incorrect. http://www.physorg.com/news166795736.html Space & Earth Tue, 14 Jul 2009 14:00:07 EST news166795736 Climate change is rapidly expanding the size of the world's tropical zone, threatening to bring disease and drought to heavily populated areas, an Australian study has found. http://www.physorg.com/news166081900.html Space & Earth Mon, 06 Jul 2009 06:52:09 EST news166081900 At times in the distant past, an abrupt change in climate has been associated with a shift of seasonal monsoons to the south, a new study concludes, causing more rain to fall over the oceans than in the Earth's tropical regions, and leading to a dramatic drop in global vegetation growth. http://www.physorg.com/news163949839.html Space & Earth Thu, 11 Jun 2009 15:00:01 EST news163949839 Fire's potent and pervasive effects on ecosystems and on many Earth processes, including climate change, have been underestimated, according to a new report. http://www.physorg.com/news159715079.html Space & Earth Thu, 23 Apr 2009 14:18:30 EST news159715079 (PhysOrg.com) -- The recent warming trend in the Atlantic Ocean is largely due to reductions in airborne dust and volcanic emissions during the past 30 years, according to a new study. http://www.physorg.com/news157296711.html Space & Earth Thu, 26 Mar 2009 14:32:17 EST news157296711 (PhysOrg.com) -- Global warming is expected to cause the sea level along the northeastern U.S. coast to rise almost twice as fast as global sea levels during this century, putting New York City at greater risk for damage from hurricanes and winter storm surge, according to a new study led by a Florida State University researcher. http://www.physorg.com/news156182801.html Space & Earth Fri, 13 Mar 2009 17:07:45 EST news156182801 (PhysOrg.com) -- Astronomers have made an unexpected find using a polarimeter (an instrument used to measure the wave properties of light) funded by the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), that has the potential to affect future climate models. http://www.physorg.com/news153507391.html Space & Earth Tue, 10 Feb 2009 16:56:59 EST news153507391 Scientists need a more detailed understanding of how human-produced atmospheric particles, called aerosols, affect climate in order to produce better predictions of Earth's future climate, according to a NASA-led report issued by the U.S. Climate Change Science Program on Friday. http://www.physorg.com/news151383514.html Space & Earth Sat, 17 Jan 2009 02:58:34 EST news151383514 Flooding like that which devastated the North of England last year is set to become a common event across the UK in the next 75 years, new research has shown. http://www.physorg.com/news150637156.html Space & Earth Thu, 08 Jan 2009 11:39:16 EST news150637156