A summary of some of the latest scientific developments and findings regarding climate change.
It's getting hard to keep up with the latest on climate change science, considering that new global warming research keeps being reported almost every day. Here are some of the highlights from the past month:
The next report due from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), due in November, will report that, as of mid-2005, greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere had risen to the equivalent of 455 parts per million -- a level scientists didn't expect to see for another 10 years. Climate change scientist Tim Flannery, author of "The Weather Makers" revealed the IPCC's findings in an interview with Reuters.
Nearly three out of every four Americans say they would be ready to pay more in taxes and other costs if the government took action to curb global warming, according to a survey conducted by the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies. The survey found 74 percent of respondents said they would support local regulations requiring new homes to be more energy efficient, and 72 percent said they would favor local subsidies to encourage homeowners to install solar panels on their homes, even if the subsidy cost them an extra $5 per month in property taxes.
Carbon dioxide did not cause the end of the last ice age, according to new research from the University of Southern California. However, paleoclimatologist Lowell Stott said the finding should not bolster climate change detractors: "I don't want anyone to leave thinking that this is evidence that CO2 doesn't affect climate," he said. "It does, but the important point is that CO2 is not the beginning and the end of climate change."
Arctic sea ice shrank to the lowest extent ever measured this summer, according to news from the University of Colorado at Boulder's National Snow and Ice Data Center. The average area of sea ice in September was 1.65 million square miles, 23 percent lower than the previous record set in 2005. Researchers say their numbers show Arctic sea ice coverage might have dropped by as much as 50 percent since the 1950s. "We may well see an ice-free Arctic Ocean in summer within our lifetimes," said research professor Mark Serreze. "The implications for global climate, as well as Arctic animals and people, are disturbing." Serreze said scientists agree the Arctic could be free of sea ice as early as 2030.
5. Temperatures in the High Arctic were so warm this past summer that researchers are rethinking their forecasts for future climate change, scientists at Canada's Queen's University reported. A research team in July measured air temperatures higher than 20ºC in an area where the average July temperature is 5ºC. They also saw permafrost melting to such an extent that topsoil simply started sliding downhill. "The landscape was being torn to pieces, literally before our eyes," said geography professor Scott Lamoureux. "A major river was dammed by a slide along a 200-meter length of the channel. River flow will be changed for years, if not decades to come."
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