Studying Climate Variability By Reconstructing 2500 Years Of Volcanic Activity

Scientists from the Desert Research Institute (DRI) and other institutions reconstructed 2500 years of volcanic activity to prove that volcanic eruptions contribute to climate variability. Gathering data from eruptions dating as far back as the Roman Era, the scientist published a study associating these with extreme shifts in the climate.

The study notes that eruptions in the tropic and high latitudes were primary contributors of climate variability. These were caused by large amounts of volcanic sulfate particles injected into the upper atmosphere which blocked incoming solar radiation from reaching the Earth's surface. The scientists also studied tree rings from long living bristlecone-pines and saw indications for extreme cooling after a large volcanic eruption. The same results were also derived from looking at ice cores from Greenland (see image above).

The study also shows that between 500 BC and 1000 AD, 15 of the 16 coldest summers followed large volcanic eruptions; four of them happening just after the largest volcanic events found in record.

2013 Global Carbon Emission at Record 36 Billion Tons

The Global Carbon Project released figures on global carbon dioxide emissions for 2013 and it is estimated to hit 36 billion tons. That is up 61% from CO2 emissions from 1990.

Noticable changes in the Earth's climate such as unusual weather systems, rising ocean levels, and changing temperatures are being attributed to rising carbon dioxide levels.

On 11 December 1997, an international agreement, The Kyoto Protocol, was adopted in Kyoto Japan by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to set internationally binding emission reduction targets. It set binding obligations on industrialized countries to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. In December 2012, an amendment to the Kyoto Protocol, "Doha Amendment to the Kyoto Protocol", was adopted. The amendment included a second commitment period for parties to agree on new commitments, a revised list of greenhouse gases to be reported on, and updates on existing articles which would be affected by the new period.

Despite the agreement, global carbon emission have been steadily increasing year to year at an average 2.7 percent for the last 10 years. 2013 and 2012 are projected to be arond 2.2 percent which is slightly lower than the average. Scientists believe that governments should agree to reverse this trend if emissions must fall and limit warming and climate change.

In 2012, the biggest contributors to carbon emissions China (27%), the U.S. (14%), the EU (10%), and India (6%).

Coralline Algae Aids in Climate Reconstruction

Scientists are studying coralline algae at the Labrador Sea in the North Atlantic Ocean. These algae (Clathromorphum compactum) can be used to study the progression of the ice cover in the Arctic sea over the last 150 years. The purpose of the study is to reconstruct the past climates on Earth (Climate Reconstruction)

Climate reconstruction aims to reconstruct a consistent record of the Earth's climate dating back to thousands of years. By understanding the long term history of Earth's climate, scientists can explain and project the planet's current and future climate trends. Scientists usually drill for sediments which can reveal the past state of the Earth's climate.

The new method of using studying algal deposits on the ocean floor is similar to the practice of using tree rings to track the passing of the time. With algae, these "rings" can be as small as 30 microns. Scientists study the magnesium levels in these layers which is dependent on the amount of sunlight and water temperature.

Past climate data only goes back 150 years but with the new method of using coralline algae, this record can go back to the life span of the algae which is more than a thousand years.

Atmospheric Pattern Wavenumber-5 Key To Forecasting Heatwaves

This map of air flow a few miles above ground level in the Northern Hemisphere shows the type of wavenumber-5 pattern associated with US drought. This pattern includes alternating troughs (blue contours) and ridges (red contours), with an "H" symbol (for high pressure) shown at the center of each of the five ridges. High pressure tends to cause sinking air and suppress precipitation, which can allow a heat wave to develop and intensify over land areas.
Credit: Image courtesy Haiyan Teng

Based on historical weather data, scientists have identified an atmospheric pattern called Wavenumber-5 as a factor that could lead to forecasting a heatwave fifteen to twenty days before it happens.

An area experiencing unusual and excessive hot weather for a prolonged period of time is known to be going through a weather pattern called a heat wave. It is a phenomenon where the temperature for the period is much higher than what the climate for that area should be. Since a heat wave is relative to the area and its normal climate, the same temperature can be considered normal for people living in a hotter climate.

Wavenumber-5 is a pattern or sequence of five high-pressure systems and five low-pressure systems alternating with each other to form a circle around the northern midlatitudes, several miles above the surface of the Earth (see image on the left).

Heat waves pose environmental and health risks which could lead to drought, crop failures and hyperthermia. Hyperthermia is a condition where the person has an elevated body temperature which happens when the body produces or absorbs more heat than it dissipates

The 2003 heatwave in Europe, the hottest since 1540, was responsible for more than 70,000 deaths (mostly the elderly) and caused crop drought and forest fires throughout the southern regions. France was the hardest hit with around 14,000 deaths.

By being able to forecast a heatwave weeks in advance, measures can be undertaken to minimize the health and environmental hazards it can cause.

Climate During the Pliocene Period May Help Improve Climate Change Predictions

Researchers are looking back to climate conditions during the Pliocene Period, 4 to 5 million years ago, to develop a more improved model in predicting future climate change.

The climate during the Pliocene period was similar to the climate of modern times. It was cooler, drier and also experienced seasons just as today. The temperature then was around 2-3°C higher than today and sea level was 25 meters higher. Ocean temperature

The warm period during the mid-Pliocene epoch can be considered as a model of future climate today. The heat from the sun, geography and CO2 levels were similar to what it is now.

By studying the climate during the Pliocene period, researchers are hoping to find previously unknown mechanisms that may give insight on how climate reacts to certain conditions.

Weekend Info: Climate Change Infographic

An infographic on climate change shows the dangers it brings as well as the effect it has on the world today.

Climate change and global warming have been used interchangeably. Although they seem to refer to the same thing, they technically are different. Global warming refers to the rise in average temperature near the Earth's surface while climate change refers to any significant change in climate over a long period of time.

Climate change addresses significant and long term changes in climate factors which include but not limited to temperature, precipitation, or wind patterns.

Major scientific organizations such as the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) agree that climate change is happening and that man is a major contributor to it. In 2010, the National Research Council concluded that "Climate change is occurring, is very likely caused by human activities, and poses significant risks for a broad range of human and natural systems".

The infographic communicates the dangers that climate change can bring as well as changes that are already happening because of it.

Mathematics of Planet Earth 2013 Will Address Mathematician's Role In Climate Research

Scientific societies, research institutes, universities, and science organizations have dedicated 2013 as a special year for the Mathematics of Planet Earth. As part of the dedication, mathematicians will try to understand weather and climate through math.

Mathematics of Planet Earth 2013 (MPE 2013) is an initiative of the science community to encourage research in identifying and solving fundamental questions about planet Earth,encourage educators at all levels to communicate the issues related to Earth, and inform the public about the essential role of the mathematical sciences in facing the challenges to Earth.

MPE also will try and encourage young people interested in sustainability and global issues to consider mathematics as an exciting career choice.

Climate

Climate is the weather condition of an area averaged over a period of time (usually in years). The difference between weather and climate is that weather is the condition of the area in that specified time. Aside from measuring devices such as barometers, weather satellites provide images and data on a global scale on how the present condition of the Earth's climate.

When it comes to forecasting weather and predicting climate there are many factors to consider such as temperature, humidity, air pressure, wind speed, and elevations. Both weather and climate share these most, if not all, factors.

Mathematics is used to understand the weather and climate models. Short term weather forecasts have become more accurate now compared to 20 years ago. Computers have helped with this development but more so with the mathematics used by these computer models.

Hydrological Research Team Find That Parched and Dry Soil Trigger Afternoon Rain Storms

According to a team of scientists from countries such as UK, Holland, Austria and France, parched and dry soil are more likely to trigger afternoon storms. The team examined the movement, distribution, and quality of water processes across six continents. Their hydrological study is published in the scientific journal, Nature.

The work of the team may give more insight into the workings of the environment in terms of rain and droughts. These may then be used to construct better and more precise climate models to track the Earth's existing climate cycle.

Climate is the weather condition of an area averaged over a period of time (usually in years). The difference between weather and climate is that weather is the condition of the area in that specified time. Aside from measuring devices such as barometers, weather satellites provide images and data on a global scale on how the present condition of the Earth's climate.

Using satellite imagery, the research team noticed that rain clouds developed more in places where the ground is dry. They scientists examined the images which track the development of storm clouds across the globe and matched up where new storms appeared alongside images of how wet the ground was.

Destruction of Tropical Forest May Result In 21% Decrease of Annual Rainfall

An area of the Amazon Rainforest in Brazil. The tropical rainforests of South America contain the largest diversity of species on Earth.
Credit: Wikipedia/Catedral Verde - Floresta Amazonica

A tropical rainforest is a forest that is situated within the latitudes 28 degrees north or south of the equator. The location roughly falls in Asian countries, Australia, Africa, South and Central America, Mexico and on islands in the Pacific, Caribbean, and Indian Ocean.

Tropical rain forests have higher than average temperatures (18°C or 64°F) and as the name suggests, high amounts of rainfall. Average rainfall is around 175 cm (69 in) and 200 cm (79 in) but can exceed up to 1,000 cm (390 in).

50% of all living animals and plants reside in rainforests. More than 60% of flowering plants can be found within them. Rainforests contain so much life in it that a hectare of it may contain 2,000 different species of insect, up to 807 trees of 313 species and 1,500 species of higher plants.

Tropical rainforests also have a significant impact in the world of medicine since more than 25% of natural medicine comes from them. It is possible that undiscovered cures for diseases are still waiting to be found in rainforests.

Because of the continued increase of human population and activity, these ecosystems are threatened. Aside from factors such as climate change and natural disasters, human destruction of these forests for logging and agricultural purposes are taking its toll. Areas covered by rainforests are rapidly shrinking because of it.

Loss of tropical forests reduces rain

Deforestation can have a significant effect on tropical rainfall, new research confirms. The findings have potentially devastating impacts for people living in and near the Amazon and Congo forests.

A team from the University of Leeds and the NERC Centre for Ecology & Hydrology found that for the majority of the Earth's tropical land surface, air passing over extensive forests produces at least twice as much rain as air passing over little vegetation. In some cases these forests increased rainfall thousands of kilometres away.

By combining observational data with predictions of future deforestation, the researchers estimate that destruction of tropical forests would reduce rain across the Amazon basin by up to a fifth (21 per cent) in the dry season by 2050. The study is published today in Nature.

Lead author Dr Dominick Spracklen from the School of Earth and Environment at the University of Leeds said: "We were surprised to find that this effect occurs strongly across more than half of the tropics. We found that the Amazon and Congo forests maintain rainfall over the periphery of the forest basins - regions where large numbers of people live and rely on rainfall for their livelihoods.

"Our study implies that deforestation of the Amazon and Congo forests could have catastrophic consequences for the people living thousands of kilometres away in surrounding countries."

American Chemical Society Briefing: Eating cool: What to Eat To Beat The Heat

The refreshing chill of today's fudge-brownie cookie-crumble ice cream cone ― will it really last? Or can ice cream actually stoke the body's metabolic furnace and make you feel even hotter? How about a few ice-cold brews? Or should you add a dash of the counter-intuitive to your summer menu with the sweat-inducing, mouth-on-fire, tear-provoking taste of chili peppers?

With millions of people already weather-worn after a summer punctuated by record heat, and some of the hottest days still ahead, the American Chemical Society (ACS) today is hosting a special briefing, "Eating Cool: What to Eat to Beat the Heat." It is part of the 244th National Meeting & Exposition of the ACS, which is the world's largest scientific society. The meeting, featuring 8,600 presentations on new discoveries in science and other topics, continues here through Thursday and is expected to attract 14,000 scientists and others.

"Eating Cool: What to Eat to Beat the Heat" will begin at noon today in the ACS Press Center, Room 304, in the Pennsylvania Convention Center for journalists covering the meeting onsite. The press conference room is fully equipped for TV coverage and video. Those covering the event from their home space can join the briefing online. The video can be seen below on 21 Aug 2012, 12:00 ET (21-Aug-2012 16:00 GMT).

Greenland Ice Sheet Melting Faster Than Expected; Hits Record High

A supraglacial lake over the Greenland ice sheet in the Kangerlussuaq area at 1500 m elevation photographed on July 21, 2012. The lake feeds a stream that will deliver meltwater to the low elevations where it will either flow to the ocean on the surface or it will dive into the ice to contribute to the development of the englacial hydrological system.
Credit: Marco Tedesco

The Greenland Ice Sheet is the second largest body of ice in the world. It spans over 1,710,000 square kilometers (660,235 square miles) which is around 80% of the surface of Greenland. The ice sheet is generally more than 2 km (1.24 mi) thick and over 3 km (1.86 mi) at its thickest point.

The ice sheet is made up of layers of compressed snow from more than 100,000 years. It contains valuable climate data from years past. Scientists have drilled ice cores up to 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) deep. These ice cores provide information on past climate factors such as temperature, ocean volume, precipitation, chemistry and gas composition of the lower atmosphere, volcanic eruptions, solar variability, sea-surface productivity, desert extent and forest fires.

During the summer (June to September), about 50% of the ice sheet's surface naturally melts. At high elevations, most of that melt water quickly refreezes in place. The melt water coming from the ice sheet that is near the coastal areas are retained by the sheet and the rest falls into the ocean.

Greenland melting breaks record 4 weeks before season's end

Melting over the Greenland ice sheet shattered the seasonal record on August 8 – a full four weeks before the close of the melting season, reports Marco Tedesco, assistant professor of Earth and atmospheric sciences at The City College of New York.

The melting season in Greenland usually lasts from June – when the first puddles of meltwater appear – to early-September, when temperatures cool. This year, cumulative melting in the first week in August had already exceeded the record of 2010, taken over a full season, according to Professor Tedesco's ongoing analysis.

"With more yet to come in August, this year's overall melting will fall way above the old records. That's a goliath year – the greatest melt since satellite recording began in 1979," said Professor Tedesco.

This spells a change for the face of southern Greenland, he added, with the ice sheet thinning at its edges and lakes on top of glaciers proliferating.

Professor Tedesco noted that these changes jibe with what most of the models predict – the difference is how quickly this seems to be happening.

MIT News: Increased Temperatures May Be A Factor In Damaging Economic Growth

The economic cost of increased temperatures

Even temporary rises in local temperatures significantly damage long-term economic growth in the world’s developing nations, according to a new study co-authored by an MIT economist.

Looking at weather data over the last half-century, the study finds that every 1-degree-Celsius increase in a poor country, over the course of a given year, reduces its economic growth by about 1.3 percentage points. However, this only applies to the world’s developing nations; wealthier countries do not appear to be affected by the variations in temperature.

“Higher temperatures lead to substantially lower economic growth in poor countries,” says Ben Olken, a professor of economics at MIT, who helped conduct the research. And while it’s relatively straightforward to see how droughts and hot weather might hurt agriculture, the study indicates that hot spells have much wider economic effects.

“What we’re suggesting is that it’s much broader than [agriculture],” Olken adds. “It affects investment, political stability and industrial output.”

Varied effects on economies

The paper, “Temperature Shocks and Economic Growth: Evidence from the Last Half Century,” was published this summer in the American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics. Along with Olken, the authors are Melissa Dell PhD ’12, of Harvard University, who was a PhD candidate in MIT’s Department of Economics when the paper was produced, and Ben Jones PhD ’03, an economist at Northwestern University.

The study first gained public attention as a working paper in 2008. It collects temperature and economic-output data for each country in the world, in every year from 1950 through 2003, and analyzes the relationship between them. “We couldn’t believe no one had done it before, but we weren’t really sure we’d find anything at all,” Olken says.

By looking at economic data by type of activity, not just aggregate output, the researchers concluded there are a variety of “channels” through which weather shocks hurt economic production — by slowing down workers, commerce, and perhaps even capital investment.

Scientists Publish Study Predicting Earth's Susceptibility To An Environmental Epidemic Can Trigger Planetary Collapse

In 2010 the University of California Berkeley, 18 scientists held a trans-disciplinary brainstorming session. They went through and reviewed theoretical and conceptual bodies of work in various biological disciplines in search of new ways to cope with the historically unprecedented changes now occurring on Earth.

During the session, they discovered that Human-generated pressures, known as global-scale forcing mechanisms, are modifying Earth's atmosphere, oceans and climate so rapidly that they are likely forcing ecosystems and biodiversity to reach a critical threshold of existence in this lifetime.

Global-scale forcing mechanisms today "include unprecedented rates and magnitudes of human population growth with attendant resource consumption, habitat transformation and fragmentation, energy production and consumption, and climate change," says the study.

Study predicts imminent irreversible planetary collapse

Using scientific theories, toy ecosystem modeling and paleontological evidence as a crystal ball, 18 scientists, including one from Simon Fraser University, predict we're on a much worse collision course with Mother Nature than currently thought.

In approaching a state-shift in Earth's biosphere, a paper just published in Nature, the authors, whose expertise span a multitude of disciplines, suggest our planet's ecosystems are careening towards an imminent, irreversible collapse.

Earth's accelerating loss of biodiversity, its climates' increasingly extreme fluctuations, its ecosystems' growing connectedness and its radically changing total energy budget are precursors to reaching a planetary state threshold or tipping point.

Geoengineering Through Solar Reduction Management (SRM) May Significantly Reduce Rainfall

Volcanic eruptions, such as the one of the Karymsky volcano (Russia) in 2004, release sulphur dioxide to the atmosphere, which has a cooling effect. Geoengineering an ‘artificial volcano’ to mimic this release could be a solution to global warming, but one that may have undesirable effects for the Earth.
Credit: Photo by Alexander Belousov of the Earth Observatory of Singapore

Geoengineering is the manipulation of the Earth's environment. It is also the study and implementation of ways to improve, control, or adjust the atmosphere such as weather patterns, river paths, soils, climates and sea currents on Earth.

Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) is a geoengineering technique to directly reduce greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Its aim is to reduce and mitigate climate change. There are direct and indirect methods to CDR. An example of a direct method is carbon dioxide air capture. This refers to technology attempting to prevent the release of large quantities of CO2 into the atmosphere (such as from fossil fuel use in power generation and other industries) by capturing the emitted gas, transporting it and ultimately, pumping it into underground geologic formations to securely store it away from the atmosphere.

An indirect method of CDR would be ocean iron fertilization. This method is done by introducing iron to the upper ocean to stimulate a phytoplankton bloom which ultimately uses the marine food chain and remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Another geoengineering technique is Solar Radiation Management (SRM). SRM is basically reflecting and minimizing incoming sunlight to reduce the effect of climate change. SRM does not reduce greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere and its effect on the environment. The principal advantage of SRM is the speed with which it can be deployed and activated, as well as its low financial cost.

Geoengineering could disrupt rainfall patterns

A geoengineering solution to climate change could lead to significant rainfall reduction in Europe and North America, a team of European scientists concludes. The researchers studied how models of the Earth in a warm, CO2‑rich world respond to an artificial reduction in the amount of sunlight reaching the planet’s surface. The study is published today in Earth System Dynamics, an Open Access journal of the European Geosciences Union (EGU).

Tackling climate change by reducing the solar radiation reaching our planet using climate engineering, known also as geoengineering, could result in undesirable effects for the Earth and humankind. In particular, the work by the team of German, Norwegian, French, and UK scientists shows that disruption of global and regional rainfall patterns is likely in a geoengineered climate.

California Coastal Planners Preparing for Climate Change

Climate Change and Global Warming are two terms that have been often used interchangeably.

Global warming denotes that only rising temperatures of the planet matters. According to The National Academy of Sciences, the phrase "climate change" is preferred to do away with the confusion. They note that "the phrase 'climate change' is growing in preferred use to 'global warming' because it helps convey that there are [other] changes in addition to rising temperatures."

Climate change is a significant and lasting change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns over periods ranging from decades to millions of years. There are many factors that affect climate change. These are:

• Natural factors such as the solar rays from the Sun, and changes in the Earth's orbit.
• Natural processes such as ocean circulation
• Human Activities

Human activities are varied. It can cover the burning of fossil fuels that affect the Earth's atmosphere. It also applies to deforestation that affect the land surface of the planet. Human activities that impact climate change are the most controllable.

Is California preparing for climate change?

A majority of California's coastal planners and resource managers now view the threats from climate change as sufficiently likely that practical steps on the ground need to be taken to protect against growing threats, according to results from a new survey published by Stanford University's Center for Ocean Solutions (COS) and the California Sea Grant.

Survey respondents acknowledge the need to prepare for changes along the coast that might result from rising sea levels and other impacts, such as more floods, loss of beach access, coastal erosion and potential damage to transportation infrastructure, including highways, roads and ports.

The new survey – an update on a similar one conducted six years ago – shows a strong uptick in California coastal professionals' attention to preparing and planning for climate change. Results reveal that managers are ready and willing to develop adaptation strategies, despite tighter belts in most local and state agencies in recent years. But lack of money to prepare and implement plans, insufficient staff and lack of technical know-how are significant challenges.

Studying Solar Minimum and Its Effect on Climate

Sediments from Lake Meerfelder Maar, a maar lake in the Eifel/Germany, were analyzed to determine annual variations in climate proxies and solar activity.

The period of least solar activity in the cycle of the Sun is called a Solar Minimum.

During a solar minimum, there is diminished activity of sunspots and solar flares for days at a time. Identifying a solar minimum is done by taking to account the average duration of sunspots spread over more than 12 months of solar activity. This means, knowing the period of a solar minimum happens after it occurs.

Since solar activity is a spontaneous or non-linear phenomenon, predicting a solar minimum is not as accurate as scientists would want it to be. Solar minimum is characterized by a period when there are less sunspots, sometimes days or weeks go by without any sunspot activity. Solar flares subside. It's a safer time to travel through space, and a less interesting time to watch polar skies because of an associated decrease in solar radiation.

Climatic effects of a solar minimum

An abrupt cooling in Europe together with an increase in humidity and particularly in windiness coincided with a sustained reduction in solar activity 2800 years ago. Scientists from the German Research Centre for Geosciences GFZ in collaboration with Swedish and Dutch colleagues provide evidence for a direct solar-climate linkage on centennial timescales. Using the most modern methodological approach, they analysed sediments from Lake Meerfelder Maar, a maar lake in the Eifel/Germany, to determine annual variations in climate proxies and solar activity.

The study published online this week in Nature Geosience (06/05/2012) reports the climatic change that occurred at the beginning of the pre-Roman Iron Age and demonstrates that especially the so-called Grand Minima of solar activity can affect climate conditions in western Europe through changes in regional atmospheric circulation pattern. Around 2800 years ago, one of these Grand Solar Minima, the Homeric Minimum, caused a distinct climatic change in less than a decade in Western Europe.

MIT News: Air Pollution From Vehicles and Powerplants Can Cause Premature Death

New study links air pollution and early death in the U.K.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- In a study appearing this month in the journal Environmental Science and Technology, MIT researchers report that emissions from cars, trucks, planes and powerplants cause 13,000 premature deaths in the United Kingdom each year.

The researchers analyzed data from 2005, the most recent year for which information is available. They found that among the various sources of emissions in the country, car and truck exhaust was the single greatest contributor to premature death, affecting some 3,300 people per year. By comparison, the researchers note, fewer than 3,000 Britons died in road accidents in 2005.

The researchers found that emissions originating elsewhere in Europe cause an additional 6,000 early deaths in the U.K. annually; U.K. emissions that migrate outside the country, in turn, cause 3,100 premature deaths per year in other European Union nations. In some areas on the periphery of the U.K. — such as northern Scotland — almost all air pollution comes from the rest of Europe, the researchers say.

MIT’s Steven Barrett and his co-author Steve Yim began the study in light of recent events in the U.K.: London is currently in violation of air quality standards set by the E.U., and the British government may face significant E.U. fines if it fails to address its air pollution.

“We wanted to know if the responsibility to maintain air quality was matched by an ability to act or do something about it,” says Barrett, the Charles Stark Draper Assistant Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics at MIT. “The results of the study indicate there is an asymmetry there.”

Dust in the wind

Barrett worked with MIT postdoc Steve Yim to analyze emissions data provided by the British government. The team divided the country’s emissions into sectors, including road transport; power generation; commercial, residential and agricultural sources; and other transport, such as shipping and aviation.

Heat Stress May Condition Corals in Surviving Climate Change and Coral Bleaching

Corals are marine animals that lives in a cluster or colony of identical polyps. Polyps are cylindrical in shape and elongated. Coral polyps are connected to each other directly or indirectly. The oral end contains the mouth, and is surrounded by a circlet of tentacles. Corals are classified in the class Anthozoa of phylum Cnidaria. The group includes the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and secrete calcium carbonate to form a hard skeleton.

Corals come in different shapes, sizes and colors. The color of a coral is due to an algae called zooxanthellae which is also necessary for their survival. Without the zooxanthellae algae to provide the corals the bright and brilliant colors, the coral turns white in appearance. This condition is called coral bleaching.

A team of international scientists working in the central Pacific have discovered that coral which has survived heat stress in the past is more likely to survive it in the future.

The study, published in the journal PLoS ONE, paves the way towards an important road map on the impacts of ocean warming, and will help scientists identify the habitats and locations where coral reefs are more likely to adapt to climate change.

"We're starting to identify the types of reef environments where corals are more likely to persist in the future," says study co-author Simon Donner, an assistant professor in UBC's Department of Geography and organizer of the field expedition. "The new data is critical for predicting the future for coral reefs, and for planning how society will cope in that future."

Studying Coral Reefs, Global Warming and Coral Bleaching. Can Corals Adapt?

Coral reefs are found in the ocean and are an important ecosystems. These corals are inhabited by small algae called zooxanthellae. The algae provide the coral's brilliant color and use sunlight to perform photosynthesis, providing the coral with necessary oxygen.

Coral bleaching happens when coral polyps, the animals that build corals, shed the algae (zooxanthellae) that give them their color, and which are necessary for their survival. Without the zooxanthellae algae to provide the corals the bright and brilliant colors, the coral turns white in appearance.

Coral scientists are not sure what causes coral bleaching, but warming water is the most likely culprit. Corals in the Caribbean and Florida have bleached when sea surface temperatures rose and were higher than the mean sea surface temperature for as little as one month.

Coral reefs are among the ecosystems most severely threatened by global warming, but hopeful new evidence has emerged that some coral species may be able to adapt to warmer oceans.

In a study published in the journal PLoS One, an international team of researchers reports that coral populations which unexpectedly survived a massive bleaching event in 2010 in South-East Asian waters had previously experienced severe bleaching during an event in 1998.

The team analysed what happened at three sites during the 2010 event and found that in Indonesia, corals responded to higher sea temperatures in a typical way, with fast-growing branching species - such as staghorn corals – suffering severe die-offs. But at sites monitored in Singapore and Malaysia, the usual trend was reversed: normally susceptible colonies of fast-growing Acropora corals appeared healthy and fully pigmented, while most colonies of massive coral were severely bleached.

"Mass coral-bleaching events, caused by a breakdown in the relationship between the coral animals and their symbiotic algae, are strongly correlated with unusually high sea temperatures and have led to widespread reef degradation in recent decades," notes lead author Dr James Guest, currently a joint research fellow at the UNSW Centre for Marine Bio-innovation and the Advanced Environmental Biotechnology Centre at Singapore's Nanyang Technological University.

"The severity of these events varies considerably but until now we've seen one consistent trend: certain types of coral tend to be more resistant to bleaching than others. This has led to the prediction that hardier, slow-growing massive species will replace less hardy, fast-growing branching species on reefs in the future.

MIT News: More Powerful Devastating Storms To Come Due To Climate Change

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- Last August, Hurricane Irene spun through the Caribbean and parts of the eastern United States, leaving widespread wreckage in its wake. The Category 3 storm whipped up water levels, generating storm surges that swept over seawalls and flooded seaside and inland communities. Many hurricane analysts suggested, based on the wide extent of flooding, that Irene was a “100-year event”: a storm that only comes around once in a century.

However, researchers from MIT and Princeton University have found that with climate change, such storms could make landfall far more frequently, causing powerful, devastating storm surges every three to 20 years. The group simulated tens of thousands of storms under different climate conditions, finding that today’s “500-year floods” could, with climate change, occur once every 25 to 240 years. The researchers published their results in the current issue of Nature Climate Change.

MIT postdoc Ning Lin, lead author of the study, says knowing the frequency of storm surges may help urban and coastal planners design seawalls and other protective structures.

“When you design your buildings or dams or structures on the coast, you have to know how high your seawall has to be,” Lin says. “You have to decide whether to build a seawall to prevent being flooded every 20 years.”

Lin collaborated with Kerry Emanuel, the Cecil and Ida Green Professor of Atmospheric Science at MIT, as well as with Michael Oppenheimer and Erik Vanmarcke at Princeton. The group looked at the impact of climate change on storm surges, using New York City as a case study.