Floods & La Niña: direct, indirect and other causes to heavy rains around the world

Posted on January 16, 2011 by Rolf Schuttenhelm

Extreme rainfalls and floods across different continents dominate the global news. A connection to La Niña has been suggested. But to what extent can the floods in Colombia, Venezuela, Brazil, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Australia, the Philippines and north-western Europe be … Continue reading →

Engineering population growth: part 2, recommendations

Posted on January 13, 2011 by Rolf Schuttenhelm

NOAA: 2010 hottest year on record

Posted on January 12, 2011 by Rolf Schuttenhelm

Indeed. Last year’s land surface temperature record is shared down to the second decimal with the year 2005, today’s NOAA report states.

Engineering population growth: part 1, the problem

Posted on January 12, 2011 by Rolf Schuttenhelm

Ask engineers and they’ll say there is an engineering solution to any problem. With respect to climate change and geoengineering that’s hotly debated, with respect to overpopulation it’s a novelty. Today the UK-based Institution of Mechanical Engineers presented a report … Continue reading →

Methane burps important, but sometimes eaten

Posted on January 9, 2011 by Rolf Schuttenhelm

Fast forward through last week’s methane news: Wetland methane is probably bigger GHG source than previously thought That one big BP methane burp never made it to the surface

US population growth forecast 13% till 2025

Posted on January 9, 2011 by Rolf Schuttenhelm

With fertility rate close to replacement level and continuously high immigration the US population grew by 9.7 percent over the last decade – uniquely high for a western country.

Hydroxyl proves stable atmospheric cleaner

Posted on January 7, 2011 by Rolf Schuttenhelm

Good news in Science from an international team of atmospheric chemists, including researchers from NOAA and the Dutch universities of Wageningen and Utrecht. Hydroxyl, atmosphere’s enthusiastic cleaning agent, proves to be produced in quite stable quantities from year to year.

Tibetan dust could lower Himalayan glacier albedo

Posted on January 6, 2011 by Rolf Schuttenhelm

Changing wind patterns due to current climate changes sweep up more dust from the Tibetan Plateau, lake sediment measurements show. Jessica Conroy, a graduate student in paleoclimatology at the University of Arizona in Tucson, presented a dust record dating back … Continue reading →

Bumblebee CCD in US?

Posted on January 6, 2011 by Rolf Schuttenhelm

Recently we witnessed positive news with respect to the Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) of honeybees. In December British scientists announced in Parasites & Vectors they had discovered a method to combat a parasitic mite that kills honeybee colonies, varroa destructor, … Continue reading →

GCM study finds no Arctic albedo tipping point

Posted on December 20, 2010 by Rolf Schuttenhelm

The albedo effect still acts as a positive feedback to warming and melting. In fact the general circulation model study shows Arctic sea ice melting will speed up over recent years. From 2020 to 2030 more than 2.5 million square … Continue reading →

Bits of Science

Author Archives: Rolf Schuttenhelm