NASA: climate change leads to enormous ecosystem shifts – 40% of biomes flip this century

Posted on December 20, 2011 by Rolf Schuttenhelm

No White Christmas over the European plains – we are sorry we were right

Posted on December 16, 2011 by Rolf Schuttenhelm

In the last two or three years high pressure blockades dominated the West European December months and many countries including the UK, the Netherlands and Germany could enjoy White Christmases. Christmas Day 2010: some lovely sunshine over a frozen and … Continue reading →

Strong re-emergence of La Niña off northern Queensland coast – SST anomalies again up to 2-3 degrees – above average rains for weeks to come

Posted on December 15, 2011 by Rolf Schuttenhelm

With the current La Niña strongly in place at the onset of the Australian monsoon and reaching predicted optimum strength at the height of the rainy season the risk of experiencing a repeat of the Queensland floods of 2010-2011 is … Continue reading →

Bees manage to keep up with early springs

Posted on December 13, 2011 by Jorn van Dooren

If we are to believe the world’s number one pollinators, spring currently starts about 10 days earlier than it did 130 years ago. Since 1880 bees have been keeping pace with rising temperatures by coming out of hibernation and starting … Continue reading →

African trees dying due to climate change

Posted on December 12, 2011 by Jorn van Dooren

The Sahel, one of the hottest regions on Earth ranging from the Atlantic coast south of the Sahara Desert to the Red Sea to the east and the Horn of Africa to the southeast, is getting drier and drier and … Continue reading →

Droughts in Horn of Africa have been common for last 20,000 years

Posted on December 12, 2011 by Rolf Schuttenhelm

This year’s catastrophic drought in Kenya, Ethiopia, Djibouti and Somalia is thought to be an indirect consequence of the 2010-2011 La Niña. As part of ENSO cycles such droughts come and go – and have been typical for the region … Continue reading →

Tectonic response measured to 2010 Greenland melting record

Posted on December 11, 2011 by Rolf Schuttenhelm

To notice something is going on with the world’s ice sheets, you could measure melting water runoff, glacier retreat or use satellites and GPS to measure ice volume decline. Just like measuring sea level rise and temperature this all adds … Continue reading →

Would wood building count as CDR geoengineering? Preferable option to forest biofuels – financially

Posted on December 8, 2011 by Rolf Schuttenhelm

Even excluding export Chinese emissions are now higher than US – in absolute numbers non-western consumers emit most CO2

Posted on December 5, 2011 by Rolf Schuttenhelm

Today we learned the West has outsourced 16 percent of carbon emissions to emerging economies. But that’s just one third of the story.

Despite recession carbon emissions keep rising to new records