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Tuesday, 28 August 2012 14:29 |
Contact: Joshua Singer – EPA – August 27, 2012The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has announced a $748,902 grant for Ohio State University to study the connection between extreme weather and water quality. Ohio State researchers will study the relationship between water quality and extreme weather events that are projected to increase due to climate change. Increased flooding, excessive heat and prolonged droughts could harm water quality in Lake Erie. Researchers will examine how and whether harmful algal blooms, cyanotoxins and disinfectant byproducts in drinking water could threaten human health. This work will help to improve future water quality management. For full news release, click here.
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Tuesday, 21 August 2012 00:41 |
By Jennifer Weeks and Daily Climate – Scientific American – August 22, 2012
A sign at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service visitor center here states a simple motto: "Where Wildlife Comes First." But many visitors never see the sign, or much wildlife. Cars stream past the center on hot summer days, headed for a mile-long public beach at the refuge's southern end. The prime goals are sand, surf, and a parking spot close to the water. For full story, click here. |
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Monday, 06 August 2012 16:10 |
CSO Weekly – August 3, 2012
On August 3rd, North Carolina Governor Beverly Perdue (D) allowed controversial sea-level rise legislation to become law without her signature. The bill (House Bill 819 / S.L. 2012-202) includes a four-year moratorium on the state Coastal Resources Commission authorizing any sea-level forecast to be used as the basis for regulations while the issue is studied. It also gives local governments the authority to develop their own scientific studies during that time. Because the governor did not act within the designated time limit, the bill automatically become law without signature. For related blog post with additional media coverage on this bill, click here.
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Tuesday, 31 July 2012 00:00 |
By Tom Porter – Environment Maine Research & Policy Center – July 31, 2012If you think the weather in Maine in recent years has been getting worse, with more heavy downpours and snowstorms, you may well be right. A new report by the advocacy group Environment Maine analyzes meteorological data going back to 1948. Since that year, the study finds that extreme events like rain and snowstorms are becoming more common and more intense. For full story, click here. To view report, When it Rains, it Pours: Global Warming and the Increase in Extreme Precipitation from 1948-2011report, click here. For a national storms map by Environment America, click here. |
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Tuesday, 28 August 2012 14:23 |
By James Gerken – The Huffington Post – August 25, 2012With sea levels expected to rise by as much as three feet by the year 2100, in large part due to climate change, low-lying countries and coastal cities face an unprecedented challenge this century. Recent research indicated that in the next several centuries, average global sea levels could rise somewhere between 18 and 29 feet, explains Climate Central, a nonprofit climate news and research organization. For full story, click here.
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Monday, 13 August 2012 00:00 |
U.S. Department of Energy – July 2012 The Climate and Environmental Sciences Division, part of the Department of Energy’s Office of Biological and Environmental Research within the Office of Science, is the intellectual home for fundamental research to understand the energy-environment-climate connections and their implications for energy production, use, sustainability, and security. This strategic plan addresses the mission and goals of nine CESD programs/user facilities. Mission statement: To advance a robust predictive understanding of Earth’s climate and environmental systems and to inform the development of sustainable solutions to the Nation’s energy and environmental challenges. Goals: Synthesize new process knowledge and innovative computational methods advancing next-generation, integrated models of the human-Earth system; Advance fundamental understanding of coupled biogeochemical processes in complex subsurface environments to enable systems-level environmental prediction and decision support. For full report, click here. |
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Monday, 06 August 2012 15:50 |
U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works – August 1, 2012 The Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works held a full Committee hearing entitled, “Update on the Latest Climate Change Science and Local Adaptation Measures.” Witnesses included Dr. Christopher B. Field, Director, Department of Global Ecology, Carnegie Institution for Science, Professor of Biology and Environmental Earth Science, Stanford University; Dr. John R. Christy, Distinguished Professor, Director of Earth System Science Center, Department of Atmospheric Science, University of Alabama in Huntsville; Dr. James J. McCarthy, Alexander Agassiz Professor of Biological Oceanography, Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University; Secretary John R. Griffin, Maryland Department of Natural Resources; Dr. Margo Thorning, Senior Vice President and Chief Economist, American Council for Capital Formation; and Dr. Jonathan Fielding, Director, Los Angeles County Department of Health , National Association of County & City Health Officials. Witness testimony and the archived webcast are online, click here. |
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Friday, 27 July 2012 17:46 |
NOAA – July 2012
On July 10, 2012 NOAA released the 2011 State of the Climate Report - a peer reviewed paper compiled by 378 scientists from 48 countries around the world. This report looks at the extreme weather events that occurred in 2011 and also analyzes global climate indicators and monitoring stations and instruments used on land, sea, ice, and sky. The report states that 2011 was the coolest year on record since 2008, but it remained above the 30-year average (1981-2010). La Nina, the cool phase of the El Nino-Southern Oscillation, was the major cooling factor globally in 2011. At the same time, the influence of human-caused global warming on the climate system continues to grow. The report identified "human fingerprints" in more than two dozen climate indicators examined by this international research team, from air temperatures to ocean acidity. For more information and access to the full report, please click here. |
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