Ipcc on EARTH Magazine

Down to Earth With: Ecologist Chris Field

Mon, 08 Dec 2014 11:59:07 -0500

Chris Field, founding director of the Carnegie Institution's Department of Global Ecology, has won the Max Planck Research Award and the Roger Revelle Medal. Credit: Linda A. Cicero/Stanford News.

Last summer, the American Geophysical Union honored Chris Field, founding director of the Carnegie Institution’s Department of Global Ecology, with its annual Roger Revelle Award, which recognizes “outstanding contributions in atmospheric sciences, atmosphere-ocean coupling, atmosphere-land coupling, biogeochemical cycles, climate or related aspects of the Earth system.”

Comment: IPCC faces challenges in communicating climate science

Fri, 03 Oct 2014 18:04:14 -0400

The latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), released piecemeal over the last year, reports “unequivocal” warming of the climate system due to increasing greenhouse gas concentrations, further emphasizing the need for global mitigation and adaptation schemes. But not everyone is ready to curtail carbon emissions, and the increasing clamor from skeptics and deniers — along with potential overstatements and even understatements by scientists — creates a polarized political environment that complicates efforts to communicate science effectively.

Comment: The search for clarity on climate change

Thu, 31 Jul 2014 12:34:41 -0400

Credit: ©Shutterstock.com/JohnWollwerth

Straightforward scientific conclusions about climate change often fail to reach policymakers and the broader society. Climate scientists need to revise their communication strategies to close the vast gap in understanding that persists between what is known about climate change and how the public perceives the issue.

Map provides clues to natural protection of U.S. coastal communities

Mon, 15 Jul 2013 19:38:57 -0400

Map of United States, indicating coastal areas of greatest exposure to future hazards as determined by the new study using a Hazard Index. Areas in blue are least exposed to hazards; areas in red are most exposed. The bar graph indicates the population highly exposed to hazard with protecting habitats present (black bars), and the increased population exposed to such hazards if coastal habitats were lost (white bars). Courtesy of Katie Arkema, in Nature Climate Change (2013)

Devastating storms like Hurricanes Sandy and Katrina have left many coastal residents wondering how to protect life and property from future catastrophes. In a study published this week in Nature Climate Change, researchers suggest the best protection from storms and rising sea levels in the U.S. may entail a combination of engineering and conservation.

AGU: Climate science report questions likelihood of abrupt climate change

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 06:41:58 -0500

SAN FRANCISCO — A new U.S. Climate Change Science Program report states that abrupt climate change is unlikely to happen over the next century, scientists announced Tuesday at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union. However, the longer-term impacts of climate change could still be severe.

Local coastal impacts underestimated from sea-level rise

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 06:41:58 -0500

Most studies indicate that sea levels will rise over the next century due to melting glaciers, more ice breaking off the Antarctic ice sheet and thermal expansion — and there is great variation in how much scientists estimate seas will rise. But that’s not even the most important question, according to a new study. Instead, researchers should be looking at relative sea-level rise — how much rising seas will affect individual regions. And when you break it down by region, the study suggests, the outlook isn’t promising.