Author Archives: Rolf Schuttenhelm

Eemian Greenland melting 55% warming, 45% solar and feedbacks – ice more stable now

Researchers of Utrecht University say the Greenland ice sheet may be more stable now than during the Eemian, the previous interglacial period, which lasted from 130,000-114,000 years BP. It turns out back then Arctic insolation was bigger – although still … Continue reading →

Genetic manipulation of circadian rhythm may open up all-season crop yields

Just like human beings plants too have a biological clock, which prepares them to make optimal use of both day and night – and which helps them to nicely tune their annual growth cycle within the appropriate seasons. It is … Continue reading →

Threefold increase of dust led to -40 ppm CO2 Antarctic iron fertilisation during Pleistocene

An international team of researchers today in Nature explain the importance of dust storms for climate variability, not just for the radiative balance, but also for the Earth’s carbon cycle. For geoengineering minds: iron fertilisation at least seems to have … Continue reading →

Nature: climate change leads to 67-84 percent intraspecific biodiversity loss by 2080 – Holocene Mass Extinction within this century

The better we define the richness of life on Earth, the larger the percentage we are going to lose becomes. Life won’t go extinct. The number of domains and kingdoms will very-very likely remain the same. But as we go … Continue reading →

Climate change may release around 3 percent of 2,000+ Gt instable soil carbon from Arctic tundra over this century – as CO2 and methane

Here´s why finding out the Gulfstream could be quite stable wouldn´t necessarily be such good news: under continued warming, the positive feedback of increased tundra peat soil CO2 and methane emissions far outweighs the negative feedback of ‘taiga creep’ and … Continue reading →

Newly discovered North Icelandic Jet more important than East Greenland Current for AMOC – good news?

Icelandic scientists say they have discovered a new overturning site, where cold, dense, deep water is formed and transported through a separate route towards the Denmark Strait and further south into the Atlantic Ocean.