Bits of Climate

´Medieval Warm Period should simply be named Medieval Period´

There is climatology and there is paleoclimatology. And then there is something in between. You thought yesterday´s trip to the early Pleistocene was geologically speaking exactly that, a trip to yesterday? Well, in that case today we go only a … Continue reading →

Pliocene-Pleistocene boundary: did Eltanin asteroid kickstart the ice ages?

Sediment deposits along shores of Antarctica, New Zealand and Chile suggest over 2 million years ago something big must have plunged somewhere in the middle of that triangle, creating a mega tsunami with hundreds of meters high waves engulfing coastal … Continue reading →

Arctic sea ice literally halved – September 2012 smashes old record, 3.29 million km2 ice gone

As the days shorten and the summer sun is slowly setting under the horizon, the frost is returning to the Arctic and American scientists make up the balance of what has turned out to be an unprecedented melting season. The … Continue reading →

The Big Melting Record that did not shake the world

Do you recall the big Arctic melting records of 2005 and 2007? Probably you do. Scientists had noticed the Arctic ice was on a declining trend and predicted this would continue under expected climate change. But no one expected the … Continue reading →

´Fewer wildfires in North America during Little Ice Age – due to climate cooling, not population decline´

Because cooler climates also tend to have lower evaporation, they tend to be moister climates, with not only moist air, but also moister (dead) biomass – and we all know wet twigs don’t burn too well…

Photo of the day: the old climate versus the new, according to Nature Geoscience study

The picture below shows Pinyon pine forests in New Mexico – and the progressive consequence of the large drought that hit western North America between 2000-2004. The left image is from 2002 and already shows some browning of pine trees halfway … Continue reading →

Antarctic Carbon Capture and Storage Whirlpools discovered

“The Southern Ocean is a large window by which the atmosphere connects to the interior of the ocean below” – Jean-Baptiste Sallée from British Antarctic Survey, lead author of new publication in the August edition of Nature Geoscience.

Climate change may provoke new ozone holes over populated areas in two different ways – increasing risk of skin cancers

In a couple of weeks’ time humanity can celebrate the 25-year anniversary of the Montreal Protocol, our greatest environmental success story. In the margins of this good news there are however also a few new ozone concerns. Climate change may … Continue reading →