South Korea to Feature Green Super City

Recently the government of South Korea announced about its intention to build a self-sufficient super-city. The project was designed by Foster + Partners, who worked in cooperation with PHA and Mobility in Chain. The city will serve as the territory where eco-friendly technologies will be developed. As soon as the Incheon eco-city is constructed, it will house 320,000 residents. It is expected that the city will become a place where sustainable industries will carry out their high-tech research and development programs, creating photovoltaic panels and wind turbines. Thus Incheon is expected to feature high-tech eco-friendly technologies, including biomass energy production, hydrogen fuel cells, as well as hydroponic roofs. The city will be finished in 10-15 years. More information on green technologies you can find here at www.InfoNIAC.com, please click the links at the bottom of the story.
At the moment the region is mostly agricultural and houses about 35,000 people. Green roofs will replace terrace farming, which would reduce the loss of agricultural space. All buildings in the city will not exceed 50 meters in height. According to Grant Brooker, a design director at Foster + Partners, the idea behind the whole project is to explore the sustainable possibilities of the island. More information is available here. link....

The Top 10 Worst Polluted Places on Earth

More than 10 million people in eight different countries are at serious risk for cancer, respiratory diseases, and premature death because they live in the 10 most polluted places on Earth, according to a report by the Blacksmith Institute, a nonprofit organization that works to identify and solve specific environmental problems worldwide.
Top 10 Worst Polluted Places Remote but ToxicChernobyl in Ukraine, site of the world’s worst nuclear accident to date, is the best known place on the list. The other places are unknown to most people, and located far from major cities and populations centers, yet 10 million people either suffer or risk serious health effects because of environmental problems ranging from lead contamination to radiation.
“Living in a town with serious pollution is like living under a death sentence,” the report says. “If the damage does not come from immediate poisoning, then cancers, lung infections, mental retardation, are likely outcomes.”
“There are some towns where life expectancy approaches medieval rates, where birth defects are the norm not the exception,” the report continues. “In other places children's asthma rates are measured above 90 percent, or mental retardation is endemic. In these places, life expectancy may be half that of the richest nations. The great suffering of these communities compounds the tragedy of so few years on earth."
Top 10 Worst Polluted Sites Serve as Examples of Widespread ProblemsRussia leads the list of eight nations, with three of the 10 worst polluted sites. Other sites were chosen because they are examples of problems found in many places around the world. For example, Haina, Dominican Republic has severe lead contamination—a problem that is common in many poor countries. Linfen, China is just one of several Chinese cities choking on industrial air pollution. And Ranipet, India is a nasty example of serious groundwater pollution by heavy metals.
The Top 10 Worst Polluted PlacesThe Top 10 worst polluted places in the world are:
1.Chernobyl, Ukraine
2.Dzerzhinsk, Russia
3.Haina, Dominican Republic
4.Kabwe, Zambia
5.La Oroya, Peru
6.Linfen, China
7.Maiuu Suu, Kyrgyzstan
8.Norilsk, Russia
9.Ranipet, India
10.Rudnaya Pristan/Dalnegorsk, Russia
Choosing the Top 10 Worst Polluted Places
The Top 10 worst polluted places were chosen by the Blacksmith Institute’s Technical Advisory Board from a list of 35 polluted places that had been narrowed from 300 polluted places identified by the Institute or nominated by people worldwide. The Technical Advisory Board includes experts from Johns Hopkins, Hunter College, Harvard University, IIT India, the University of Idaho, Mount Sinai Hospital, and leaders of major international environmental remediation companies.
Solving Global Pollution ProblemsAccording to the report, “there are potential remedies for these sites. Problems like this have been solved over the years in the developed world, and we have the capacity and the technology to spread our experience to our afflicted neighbors.”
“The most important thing is to achieve some practical progress in dealing with these polluted places,” says Dave Hanrahan, chief of global operations for the Blacksmith Institute. “There is a lot of good work being done in understanding the problems and in identifying possible approaches. Our goal is to instill a sense of urgency about tackling these priority sites.” link....

Water Pollution

News and information about the causes of water pollution and how to combat it.
Tap Water in 42 States Contaminated by ChemicalsPublic water supplies in 42 U.S. states--the tap water millions of Americans drink every day--are are contaminated with 141 unregulated chemicals for which the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has never established safety standards, according to an investigation by the Environmental Working Group.
Coca-Cola Charged with Groundwater Depletion and Pollution in IndiaGroundwater depletion has become a serious problem in India, and villagers blame Coca-Cola for aggravating the groundwater problem. Learn what India's government and citizens are doing, and how Coca-Cola is responding to the groundwater and pollution charges.
Water Pollution - Canada Takes Crap for Flushing Raw Sewage into the OceanCanada flushes some 200 billion litres of raw sewage directly into natural waterways every year, from the St. Lawrence River to the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the Pacific Ocean. One of the worst offenders is the city of Victoria, the picturesque capital of British Columbia, the province that is preparing to host the 2010 Winter Olympics. link....

Environmental Issues: Ozone Depletion

What is ozone depletion? And how does ozone depletion affect the earth? Learn about the causes and effects of ozone depletion, and how it changes the environment for humans, animals, and plants.
Ozone Hole TourDetailed information about the hole in the ozone over Antarctica, provided by the Centre for Atmospheric Science at Cambridge University.
zSB(3,3)
Forecast Earth: Ozone Depletion VideosThese two short videos about the science and response to ozone depletion and the health effects of ultraviolet radiation were created through a partnership between the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and The Weather Channel. The videos can be viewed over broadband or 56K modem connections. Text transcripts are also available.
Check the UV Level Where You LiveThe U.S. Environmental Protection Agency provides an online UV index that is searchable by zip code. Check the UV level in your neighborhood to determine how much you and your neighbors are contributing to depletion of the ozone layer.
EPA: Ozone DepletionDetailed information about ozone depletion from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Global Efforts to Control Ozone DepletionInformation about worldwide collaboration to mitigate the effects of ozone depletion, from the United Nations Environment Programme Ozone Secretariat.
Ozone: The Good and Bad of OzoneFrom a human perspective, ozone is both helpful and harmful, both good and bad. In the upper atmosphere, ozone protects all life on Earth. At ground level, ozone is toxic and corrosive, a threat to human health, ecosystems, plants and marine life. link....

Part I: The History behind the Ozone Hole

The Beginning ...
Dramatic loss of ozone in the lower stratosphere over Antarctica was first noticed in the 1970s by a research group from the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) who were monitoring the atmosphere above Antarctica from a research station much like the picture to the right.
The Halley Research Station - Information
BAS research stations in the Antarctic
Folklore has it that when the first measurements were taken in 1985, the drop in ozone levels in the stratosphere was so dramatic that at first the scientists thought their instruments were faulty. Replacement instruments were built and flown out, and it wasn't until they confirmed the earlier measurements, several months later, that the ozone depletion observed was accepted as genuine.
Another story goes that the TOMS satellite data didn't show the dramatic loss of ozone because the software processing the raw ozone data from the satellite was programmed to treat very low values of ozone as bad readings! Later analysis of the raw data when the results from the British Antarctic Survey team were published, confirmed their results and showed that the loss was rapid and large-scale; over most of the Antarctica continent.
What Is Ozone And How Is It Formed?
Ozone (O3 : 3 oxygen atoms) occurs naturally in the atmosphere.
The earth's atmosphere is composed of several layers. We live in the "Troposphere" where most of the weather occurs; such as rain, snow and clouds. Above the troposphere is the "Stratosphere"; an important region in which effects such as the Ozone Hole and Global Warming originate. Supersonic jet airliners such as Concorde fly in the lower stratosphere whereas subsonic commercial airliners are usually in the troposphere. The narrow region between these two parts of the atmosphere is called the "Tropopause".
Ozone forms a layer in the stratosphere, thinnest in the tropics (around the equator) and denser towards the poles. The amount of ozone above a point on the earth's surface is measured in Dobson units (DU) - typically ~260 DU near the tropics and higher elsewhere, though there are large seasonal fluctuations. It is created when ultraviolet radiation (sunlight) strikes the stratosphere, dissociating (or "splitting") oxygen molecules (O2) to atomic oxygen (O). The atomic oxygen quickly combines with further oxygen molecules to form ozone:
O2 + hv->O + O(1)
O + O2->O3(2)

(1/v = wavelength < ~ 240 nm) It's ironic that at ground level, ozone is a health hazard - it is a major constituent of photochemical smog. However, in the stratosphere we could not survive without it. Up in the stratosphere it absorbs some of the potentially harmful ultra-violet (UV) radiation from the sun (at wavelengths between 240 and 320 nm) which can cause skin cancer and damage vegetation, among other things. Although the UV radiation splits the ozone molecule, ozone can reform through the following reactions resulting in no net loss of ozone: O3 + hv->O2 + O(3)
O + O2->O3(2)

as above
Ozone is also destroyed by the following reaction:
O + O3->O2 + O2(4)
The Chapman Reactions
The reactions above, labelled (1)-(4) are known as the "Chapman reactions". Reaction (2) becomes slower with increasing altitude while reaction (3) becomes faster. The concentration of ozone is a balance between these competing reactions. In the upper atmosphere, atomic oxygen dominates where UV levels are high. Moving down through the stratosphere, the air gets denser, UV absorption increases and ozone levels peak at roughly 20km. As we move closer to the ground, UV levels decrease and ozone levels decrease. The layer of ozone formed in the stratosphere by these reactions is sometimes called the 'Chapman layer'.
The Missing Reactions..
But there was a problem with the Chapman theory. In the 1960s it was realised that the loss of ozone given by reaction (4) was too slow. It could not remove enough ozone to give the values seen in the real atmosphere. There had to be other reactions, faster reactions that were controlling the ozone concentations in the stratosphere. We'll learn about these in Part III of this tour of the ozone hole.
What Is The Ozone Hole?
The Ozone Hole often gets confused in the popular press and by the general public with the problem of global warming. Whilst there is a connection because ozone contributes to the greenhouse effect, the Ozone Hole is a separate issue. However it is another stark reminder of the effect of man's activities on the environment. Over Antarctica (and recently over the Arctic), stratospheric ozone has been depleted over the last 15 years at certain times of the year. This is mainly due to the release of manmade chemicals containing chlorine such as CFC's (ChloroFluoroCarbons), but also compounds containing bromine, other related halogen compounds and also nitrogen oxides (NOx). CFC's are a common industrial product, used in refrigeration systems, air conditioners, aerosols, solvents and in the production of some types of packaging. Nitrogen oxides are a by-product of combustion processes, eg aircraft emissions.
A more detailed description of the chemistry will follow in Part III.
The current levels of depletion have served to highlight a surprising degree of instability of the atmosphere, and the amount of ozone loss is still increasing. GreenPeace have documented many of the concerns that this raises.
What Is Being Done?
The first global agreement to restrict CFCs came with the signing of the Montreal Protocol in 1987 ultimately aiming to reduce them by half by the year 2000. Two revisions of this agreement have been made in the light of advances in scientific understanding, the latest being in 1992. Agreement has been reached on the control of industrial production of many halocarbons until the year 2030. The main CFCs will not be produced by any of the signatories after the end of 1995, except for a limited amount for essential uses, such as for medical sprays.
The countries of the European Community have adopted even stricter measures than are required under the Montreal Protocol agreements. Recognising their responsibility to the global environment they have agreed to halt production of the main CFCs from the beginning of 1995. Tighter deadlines for use of the other ozone-depleting compounds are also being adopted.
It was anticipated that these limitations would lead to a recovery of the ozone layer within 50 years of 2000; the World Meteorological Organisation estimated 2045 (WMO reports #25, #37), but recent investigations suggest the problem is perhaps on a much larger scale than anticipated. link....

Part II: Recent Ozone Loss over Antarctica

Why the Antarctic?
There are now many measurements and observations of the changes in ozone that occur over Antarctica. Such measurements come from ground based instruments at the Antarctica research stations, from aircraft during scientific missions and from satellites.
Ozone loss was first detected in the stratosphere over the Antarctic (see Part I). Although mid-latitude and Arctic depletion has also been observed, the loss is most dramatic in the lower stratosphere over the Antarctica continent, where nearly all the ozone is destroyed over an area the size of Antarctica within a layer in the lower stratosphere that's many km thick.
Halley Bay, Antarctica
The graph to the right shows the measured total ozone above the Halley Bay station in Antarctica. Each point represents the average total ozone for the month of October. Note the sudden change in the curve after about 1975. By 1994, the total ozone in October was less than half its value during the 1970s, 20 years previous. This dramatic fall in ozone was caused by the use of man-made chemicals known as 'halocarbons' which include the well-known CFCs commonly used in fridges and so on. These CFCs had made their way into the upper atmosphere where the much stronger UV radiation from the Sun had broken them down into their component molecules, releasing the potentially damaging chlorine (and bromine) atoms, which, given the right conditions, could destroy ozone. We'll learn more about the chemistry behind the loss of ozone in Part III of this tour.
Regular ozone measurement have been made from the Halley Bay Research Station for many years. Ozone depletion is most marked in the Antarctic Spring, around October.
TOMS Satellite Measurements The TOMS (Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer) is a satellite-borne instrument used to gain a global picture of ozone levels. The following movie shows how the ozone levels over the Antarctic have been changing over the last 15 years. Measurements are taken daily, and the frames in the movie are constructed from monthly averages of the data. The data is freely available from several sites, including the British Atmospheric Data Centre.
Inline movie of TOMS ozone measurements from Nov 1978 to Jan 1992(3.7 Mb)
MPEG movie of TOMS ozone measurements from Nov 1978 to Jan 1992(1 Mb)
The TOMS instrument measures ozone levels from the back-scattered sunlight, specifically in the ultra-violet range. It measures wavelength bands centred at 312.5, 317.5, 331.3, 339.9, 360.0 and 380.0 nanometres. The first four wavelengths are absorbed to greater or lesser extents by ozone; the final two are used to assess the reflectivity. The ozone levels computed are 'column ozone' (i.e. Dobson Units or DU for short).
During the Antarctic winter (May - July), data is unavailable near the pole, which is in total darkness.
For more information, do visit the TOMS Home Page.
Monthly Averages for October
It is important to appreciate that the atmosphere behaves differently from year to year. Even though the same processes that lead to ozone depletion occur every year, the effect they have on the ozone is altered by the meteorology of the atmosphere above Antarctica. This is known as the 'variability' of the atmosphere. This variability leads to changes in the amount of ozone depleted and the dates when the depletion starts and finishes. To illustrate this, the monthly averages for October, from 1980 to 1991, are shown below.
You can obtain a larger image of a particular year by clicking on the appropriate globe. link....

Part III. The Science of the Ozone Hole

Introduction
Evidence that human activities affect the ozone layer has been building up over the last 20 years, ever since scientists first suggested that the release of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) into the atmosphere could reduce the amount of ozone over our heads.
The breakdown products (chlorine compounds) of these gases were detected in the stratosphere. When the ozone hole was detected, it was soon linked to this increase in these chlorine compounds. The loss of ozone was not restricted to the Antarctic - at around the same time the first firm evidence was produced that there had been an ozone decrease over the heavily populated northern mid-latitudes (30-60N). However, unlike the sudden and near total loss of ozone over Antarctica at certain altitudes, the loss of ozone in mid-latitudes is much less and much slower - only a few percentage per year. However, it is a very worrying trend and one which is the subject of intense scientific research at present. More on this in Part IV of the tour.
Many of these findings have since been reinforced by a variety of internationally supported scientific investigations involving satellites, aircraft, balloons and ground stations, and the implications are still being quantified and assessed. More about these international investigations in Part IV.
The Recipe For Ozone Loss
In trying to understand how the ozone loss occurs and the things that need to happen to destroy so much ozone, it helps to think of it as a 'recipe'. We need several ingredients to make the ozone loss occur. We'll now look at these 'ingredients' one at a time.
The Special Features of Polar Meteorology
We start by looking at the way the atmosphere behaves over the poles - the features of the meteorology in the stratosphere. The figure to the right shows schematically what happens over Antarctica during winter. During the winter polar night, sunlight does not reach the south pole. A strong circumpolar wind develops in the middle to lower stratosphere. These strong winds are known as the 'polar vortex'. This has the effect of isolating the air over the polar region.
Since there is no sunlight, the air within the polar vortex can get very cold. So cold that special clouds can form once the air temperature gets to below about -80C. These clouds are called Polar Stratospheric Clouds (or PSCs for short) but they are not the clouds that you are used to seeing in the sky which are composed of water droplets. PSCs first form as nitric acid trihydrate. As the temperature gets colder however, larger droplets of water-ice with nitric acid dissolved in them can form. However, their exact composition is still the subject of intense scientific scrutiny. These PSCs are crucial for ozone loss to occur.So, we have the first few ingredients for our 'ozone loss recipe'. We must have:
1.Polar winter leading to the formation of the polar vortex which isolates the air within it.
2.Cold temperatures; cold enough for the formation of Polar Stratospheric Clouds. As the vortex air is isolated, the cold temperatures persist.
Chemical Processes Leading To Polar Ozone Depletion
It is now accepted that chlorine and bromine compounds in the atmosphere cause the ozone depletion observed in the `ozone hole' over Antarctica and over the North Pole. However, the relative importance of chlorine and bromine for ozone destruction in different regions of the atmosphere has not yet been clearly explained. Nearly all of the chlorine, and half of the bromine in the stratosphere, where most of the depletion has been observed, comes from human activities.
The figure above shows a schematic illustrating the life cycle of the CFCs; how they are transported up into the upper stratosphere/lower mesosphere, how sunlight breaks down the compounds and then how their breakdown products descend into the polar vortex.
The main long-lived inorganic carriers (reservoirs) of chlorine are hydrochloric acid (HCl) and chlorine nitrate (ClONO2). These form from the breakdown products of the CFCs. Dinitrogen pentoxide (N2O5) is a reservoir of oxides of nitrogen and also plays an important role in the chemistry. Nitric acid (HNO3) is significant in that it sustains high levels of active chlorine (as explained soon).
Production of Chlorine Radicals
One of the most important points to realise about the chemistry of the ozone hole is that the key chemical reactions are unusual. They cannot take place in the atmosphere unless certain conditions are present: our first two ingredients in our recipe for ozone loss.
The central feature of this unusual chemistry is that the chlorine reservoir species HCl and ClONO2 (and their bromine counterparts) are converted into more active forms of chlorine on the surface of the polar stratospheric clouds. The most important reactions in the destruction of ozone are:
HCl + ClONO2->HNO3 + Cl2(1)
ClONO2 + H2O->HNO3 + HOCl(2)
HCl + HOCl->H2O + Cl2(3)
N2O5 + HCl->HNO3 + ClONO(4)
N2O5 + H2O->2 HNO3(5)

It's important to appreciate that these reactions can only take place on the surface of polar stratospheric clouds, and they are very fast. This is why the ozone hole was such as surprise. Heterogeneous reactions (those that occur on surfaces) were neglected in atmospheric chemistry (at least in the stratosphere) before the ozone hole was discovered. Another ingredient then, is these heterogeneous reactions which allow reservoir species of chlorine and bromine to be rapidly converted to more active forms.
The nitric acid (HNO3) formed in these reactions remains in the PSC particles, so that the gas phase concentrations of oxides of nitrogen are reduced. This reduction, 'denoxification' is very important as it slows down the rate of removal of ClO that would otherwise occur by the reaction:
ClO + NO2 + M->ClONO2 + M(6) (where M is any air molecule)
... and so helps to maintain high levels of active chlorine. Here is some more information on Polar Stratospheric Clouds.
This movie shows a 3D model simulation of how chlorine nitrate (ClONO2) changes during a northern hemisphere winter in the lower stratosphere. Remember that ClONO2 is destroyed when the PSCs form, so for a large part of the movie, you see nothing. But as sunlight returns to the polar night region over the Arctic we see the ClONO2 start to recover. This first happens around the edge of the polar vortex, and we the the now classic doughnut shape of the so-called 'chlorine nitrate collar'.
Evolution of ClONO2 over the North Pole during winter 1994 (3.4 Mb)
Evolution of ClONO2 over the North Pole during winter 1994 (small) (554 Kb)
Evolution of ClONO2 over the North Pole during winter 1994 (large)(1.2Mb)
The Return Of Sunlight
Lastly note that we have still only formed molecular chlorine (Cl2) from reactions (1)-(5). To destroy ozone requires atomic chlorine.
Molecular chlorine is easily photodissociated (split by sunlight):
Cl2 + hv-> Cl + Cl

This is the key to the timing of the ozone hole. During the polar winter, the cold temperatures that form in the 'vortex' lead to the formation of polar stratospheric clouds. Heterogeneous reactions convert the reservoir forms of the ozone destroying species, chlorine and bromine, to their molecular forms. When the sunlight returns to the polar region in the southern hemisphere spring (northern hemisphere autumn) the Cl2 is rapidly split into chlorine atoms which lead to the sudden loss of ozone. This sequence of events has been confirmed by measurements before, during and after the ozone hole.
There is still one more ingredient for our recipe of ozone destruction. We have most of it but we have still not explained the chemical reactions that the atomic chlorine actually takes part in to destroy the ozone. We'll discuss this next.
Catalytic Destruction of Ozone
Measurements taken of the chemical species above the pole show the high levels of active forms of chlorine that we have explained above. However, we still have many more atoms of ozone than we do of the active chlorine so how it is possible to destroy nearly all of the ozone?
The answer to this question lies in what are known as 'catalytic cycles'. A catalytic cycle is one in which a molecule significantly changes or enables a reaction cycle without being altered by the cycle itself.
The production of active chlorine requires sunlight, and sunlight drives the following catalytic cycles thought to be the main cycles involving chlorine and bromine, responsible for destroying the ozone:
(I)ClO + ClO + M->Cl2O2 + M

Cl2O2 + hv->Cl + ClO2
ClO2 + M->Cl + O2 + M
then:2 x (Cl + O3)->2 x (ClO + O2)
net:2 O3->3 O2
and (II)
ClO + BrO->Br + Cl + O2
Cl + O3->ClO + O2
Br + O3->BrO + O2
net:2 O3->3 O2
The dimer (Cl2O2) of the chlorine monoxide radical involved in Cycle (I) is thermally unstable, and the cycle is most effective at low temperatures. Hence, again low temperatures in the polar vortex during winter are important. It is thought to be responsible for most (70%) of the ozone loss in Antarctica. In the warmer Arctic a large proportion of the loss may be driven by Cycle (II).
The Recipe For Ozone Loss
To summarise then, we have looked at the 'ingredients' or conditions necessary for the destruction of ozone that we see in Antarctica. The same applies more or less to the loss of ozone in the Arctic stratosphere during winter. Although in this case the loss is not nearly so severe.
To recap then, the requirements for ozone loss are:
The polar winter leads to the formation of the polar vortex which isolates the air within it.
Cold temperatures form inside the vortex; cold enough for the formation of Polar Stratospheric Clouds (PSCs). As the vortex air is isolated, the cold temperatures and the PSCs persist.
Once the PSCs form, heterogeneous reactions take place and convert the inactive chlorine and bromine reservoirs to more active forms of chlorine and bromine.
No ozone loss occurs until sunlight returns to the air inside the polar vortex and allows the production of active chlorine and initiates the catalytic ozone destruction cycles. Ozone loss is rapid. The ozone hole currently covers a geographic region a little bigger than Antarctica and extends nearly 10km in altitude in the lower stratosphere. link....

Part IV. The Ozone Hole - Current Research Work

Where Does All The Ozone Go?
A major European campaign, the European Arctic Stratospheric Ozone Experiment (EASOE) was organised to study the polar regions during the winter of 1991/92. Much new information was gained, but many questions still remained:
What caused the mid-latitude loss?
How were the losses over the poles linked to those at mid-latitudes?
While CFCs and the bromine-containing compounds known to destroy ozone over the poles are strongly implicated in the mid-latitude loss, many uncertainties remain.
In 1994 and 1995 European scientists conducted SESAME, the Second European Stratospheric Arctic and Mid-latitude Experiment. They investigated the processes occurring at both high and mid-latitudes and how they are linked. At the same time a US-led expedition considered similar processes in the southern hemisphere.
Day 20 (11 September '94)The latest European campaign is called THESEO (THird European Stratospheric Experiment on Ozone) which takes places from 1997-1999. Scientists from many European countries, including some of this site, are collaborating on a wide range of experiments to determine the processes responsible for depleting ozone in the lower stratosphere but at mid-latitudes over the northern hemisphere.
The European Ozone Reserach Coordinating Unit have full details of the THESEO programme. Visit their website to find out more about the missions planned, press releases and the latest report of the UK Stratospheric Ozone
Day 40 (1 October '94)Review Group.
Chemical Modelling
Most of the research work here at the Centre for Atmospheric Science involves various computer models of the atmosphere. These models 'blow' (or advect) chemical species around the globe using known or computed weather patterns - winds, temperatures and pressures. The rates of various chemical reactions are dependent on temperature, pressure, and, in the case of photolytic processes, the position of the sun. At each step of the model, the computer code attempts to predict what chemical changes will occur by solving the equations representing each reaction.
Day 56 (17 October '94)The schematic figure below gives some idea of the different parts of such computer models and the sequence of events are the model executes on the computer. Such models can be, and often are, very complex with many man-years work behind them.
Anatomy of Chemical Model
Different classes of model are used. These are:
Box Models consider just a single point in the atmosphere. Such models are comparatively cheap to develop and run on a PC or workstation. The advantage of such models is that very complex chemical reactions can be included since only the chemistry at a single point is simulated. This is very useful for comparing model simulations with measurements in idealised cases and also for developing less complex chemistry schemes which are used in multi-dimensional models.
Trajectory Models are the next step up from box models. Essentially a trajectory model is a 'box model that moves'. A trajectory of a point (or points) of air is calculated from known wind fields. The chemistry is then calculated for all points along the path that the parcel or air took. This type of model is very useful for determining the chemical properties of air reaching observation stations. By running very many chemical trajectory models, it is also possible to begin to develop a three-dimensional picture of the chemistry in the atmosphere.
Three-dimensional Models use the traditional technique of simulating the atmospheric system on a grid of latitude/longitude points and vertical levels (surfaces of constant Potential Temperature or Pressure). Such models have a realistic representation of the movement or meteorology of air as well as other processes such as clouds, solar radiation and so on. In a way, you can think of a 3D model as a grid of box models where the air it being moved through the boxes. As many points are being represented it becomes impossible to use the complex chemistry schemes found in box models as this would place too great a demand on computing power. As it is, these 3D chemical models of the atmosphere require the most powerful High Performance Computers around. In the UK we use the Cray supercomputer and Fujisu supercomputers at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Oxford. Models and Observations Comparison of model results with observations both helps confirm our understanding of the processes responsible for ozone depletion, and can highlight those processes that require further study. A model of chemistry and transport has been used extensively in recent observational campaigns in the Arctic and Antarctic.The following graphics compare the output of the TOMCAT (grid-point) model with TOMS satellite data for the beginning of the Antartic spring - the ASHOE Campaign. TOMCAT was run on a resolution of approximately 5 deg x 5 deg. Further studies have used far higher resolutions.The TOMS instrument relies on backscattered sunlight for its measurements; hence for the Antarctic winter, data tends to be sparse and incomplete. This data came from the Meteor 3 Satellite. More information on TOMS is available here. Comparison between Model Results and Actual Satellite Data
Inline movie of comparison between TOMS satellite data and TOMCAT model run(1.7 Mb)
MPEG movie of comparison between TOMS satellite data and TOMCAT model run(366 Kb)
The model column ozone is very similar to that observed by satellite. Over the Antarctic continent there are low amounts of ozone, where there has been chemical destruction. Around the edge of the vortex, between 30S and 60S, there are higher amounts of ozone. These high amounts result from the transport of ozone from the region of production in the tropics. link....

When it comes to using climate models to assess the causes of the increased amount of moisture in the atmosphere, it doesn't much matter if one model

Total amount of atmospheric water vapor over the oceans on July 4, 2009. The scale is 10° x 10° latitude/longitude. These results are from operational weather forecasts of the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasting (ECMWF).

They all come to the same conclusion: Humans are warming the planet, and this warming is increasing the amount of water vapor in the atmosphere.
In new research appearing in the Aug. 10 online issue of the Proceedings of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory scientists and a group of international researchers found that model quality does not affect the ability to identify human effects on atmospheric water vapor.
“Climate model quality didn't make much of a difference,” said Benjamin Santer, lead author from LLNL's Program for Climate Modeling and Intercomparison. “Even with the computer models that performed relatively poorly, we could still identify a human effect on climate. It was a bit surprising. The physics that drive changes in water vapor are very simple and are reasonably well portrayed in all climate models, bad or good.”
The atmosphere's water vapor content has increased by about 0.4 kilograms per cubic meter (kg/m_) per decade since 1988, and natural variability alone can't explain this moisture change, according to Santer. “The most plausible explanation is that it's due to human-caused increases in greenhouse gases,” he said.
More water vapor - which is itself a greenhouse gas - amplifies the warming effect of increased atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide.Previous LLNL research had shown that human-induced warming of the planet has a pronounced effect on the atmosphere's total moisture content. In that study, the researchers had used 22 different computer models to identify a human “fingerprint” pattern in satellite measurements of water vapor changes. Each model contributed equally in the fingerprint analysis. “It was a true model democracy,” Santer said. “One model, one vote.” But in the recent study, the scientists first took each model and tested it individually, calculating 70 different measures of model performance. These “metrics” provided insights into how well the models simulated today's average climate and its seasonal changes, as well as on the size and geographical patterns of climate variability.This information was used to divide the original 22 models into various sets of “top ten” and “bottom ten” models. “When we tried to come up with a David Letterman type 'top ten' list of models,” Santer said, “we found that it's extremely difficult to do this in practice, because each model has its own individual strengths and weaknesses.”
Then the group repeated their fingerprint analysis, but now using only “top ten” or “bottom ten” models rather than the full 22 models. They did this more than 100 times, grading and ranking the models in many different ways. In every case, a water vapor fingerprint arising from human influences could be clearly identified in the satellite data.
“One criticism of our first study was that we were only able to find a human fingerprint because we included inferior models in our analysis,” said Karl Taylor, another LLNL co-author. “We've now shown that whether we use the best or the worst models, they don't have much impact on our ability to identify a human effect on water vapor.”
This new study links LLNL's “fingerprint” research with its long-standing work in assessing climate model quality. It tackles the general question of how to make best use of the information from a large collection of models, which often perform very differently in reproducing key aspects of present-day climate. This question is not only relevant for “fingerprint” studies of the causes of recent climate change. It is also important because different climate models show different levels of future warming. Scientists and policymakers are now asking whether we should use model quality information to weight these different model projections of future climate change.
“The issue of how we are going to deal with models of very different quality will probably become much more important in the next few years, when we look at the wide range of models that are going to be used in the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change,” Santer said.
Other LLNL researchers include Karl Taylor, Peter Gleckler, Celine Bonfils, and Steve Klein. Other scientists contributing to the report include Tim Barnett and David Pierce from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography; Tom Wigley of the National Center for Atmospheric Research; Carl Mears and Frank Wentz of Remote Sensing Systems; Wolfgang Brüggemann of the Universität Hamburg; Nathan Gillett of the Canadian Centre for Climate Modelling and Analysis; Susan Solomon of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; Peter Stott of the Hadley Centre; and Mike Wehner of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.Founded in 1952, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is a national security laboratory, with a mission to ensure national security and apply science and technology to the important issues of our time. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is managed by Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration. link....

Elephants Face Extinction By 2020

Researchers claim that elephants face the risk of extinction as soon as by 2020 that will become a result of high death rate due to poaching.
African elephants are widely killed for their ivory and this tendency seems to continue at a quick pace. University of Washington biologists say that the public is unaware of the dangerous situation with the mammals.In 1989 the elephants' death rate of 7.4 percent a year led to the international ban on the ivory trade. The recent studies showed that the death rate of African elephants is now 8 percent a year with the fact that the ban is absent today. Taking into account that the fatality rate among elephants 20 years ago was based on a population of more than one million and now elephant population is less than 470,000, the situation becomes marginal.
“If the trend continues, there won’t be any elephants except in fenced areas with a lot of enforcement to protect them,” said Samuel Wasser, a UW biology professor, lead author of the research paper.Scientists warn that today's tendency means that most of the large groups of elephants face extinction by 2020, unless serious measures will be taken.Wasser developed special DNA techniques to find out the origins of elephant population ivory. These tools could be helpful as often poachers evade the law enforcement, killing the elephants in one country, but shipping the ivory from the neighboring nation. The recent research shows that poachers target specific areas for elephant's ivory. Authorities should consider this information to prevent the major killing of the elephants.Wasser added that the situation is very serious and public pressure is needed for an international effort to stop the hunting. He explained that the extinction of elephants will lead to major habitat changes. Within a habitat, each depends on other species, contributing to the integrity of the habitat. The disappearance of the elephants will trigger the loss of other species that are adapted to live in these ecosystems.Researchers said that it is important to concentrate the enforcement in the areas, where elephants come from before their ivory will be brought to a global crime trade network. link....

Latest Rare Animal Sightings to Be Observed on Google Earth

Soon those who enjoy watching wildlife will have the possibility to observe latest rare sightings of animals by simply using their computers.
It is worth mentioning that some researchers use cameras with infrared triggers, which are also known as camera traps, in order to watch, count and spot large mammals in remote areas.
Recently it was reported that Google Earth will feature latest images taken by camera traps established in Ecuador by researchers from Earthwatch.
By adding their photos on Google Earth, researchers look forward to increase awareness of endangered species, promote donations and engage tourists in supporting preservation efforts.
"It's a form of fishing or hunting that doesn't kill anything," says on of the Earthwatch's scientists, Mika Peck of the University of Sussex in Brighton, UK, who is also the leading researcher of the project.
Some of the rare mammals caught on camera in the cloud forest feature the spectacled bear, also known as "Paddington Bear", which lives in South America; puma and deer.
Researchers hope to expand their idea by taking rare sighting in other reserves and thus motivate the local government to use this in order to control all their forests. They hope that the system will start running by July. link....

Charging Electric Cars in a Solar Forest

With the number of electric vehicles increasing, as a result of the fact that more people are becoming aware about the environmental issues, new ideas are generated by different talented designers who look forward to supply electric cars with clean energy.
One of such designers is Neville Mars who came up with the idea of designing a striking EV charging station which resembles an evergreen open space of solar trees. You can find more inventions that harness solar energy here at www.InfoNIAC.com - check the links at the bottom of the story.
The photovoltaic forest has two functions: first of all solar tree harness solar energy to charge electric vehicles and secondly the shades of solar trees cover vehicles from the hot sun while they charge, reports EcoFriend.
Every solar tree features a set of photovoltaic leaves installed on poles and the base of each tree carries a power outlet. Thus whenever a person parks a car under a solar tree they can instantly connect the vehicle to the socket to charge the car. This is a truly inspiring idea to use a forest-like parking lot that exploits renewable energy. link....

Ten Unnoticed Effects of Global Warming

The LiveScience Magazine has published a Top 10 global warming side-effects that not everyone knows about. Global warming is, actually, not only about ice melting in the Arctic and temperature rising. It could turn into very strange things. Here they are:
10. More aggravated and aggressive allergies (the "MAAAA")
People are experiencing more aggravated and aggressive allergy fits and, partly, experts blame the global warming. How are these things interrelated? Very simple: on one side there are changes in people's lifestyle, strengthened by pollution. The protection against allergens weakens and the results are allergies. On the other side - global warming. It made springs come earlier, thus plants bloom earlier too and produce more pollen. All of this results in a simple axiom: a longer spring equals a longer allergic season.
9. Change of the habitat
Small rodent forest animals are not to be seen on height we were used to see them for some time now. Probably, this happens because such animals as mice and squirrels move to higher elevations and, probably, this is also caused by global warming. A similar threat hangs over polar bears that live on sea ice, which gradually melts. What happens with this species, if their habitat disappears is not even a guess - it is a fact: they will disappear with the ice they live on.
8. The blooming ices
While everyone is concerned with the effects of the global warming across the places of human living, we forgot about those who live and bloom in the Arctic. Since the flora we used to see around us experienced difficulties, plants in the Arctic enjoy more and longer sun baths per year and since their usual habitat was 'under ice', they are eager to start s small forest on ice. Research has found higher levels of the form of the photosynthesis product chlorophyll in modern soils than in ancient soils. This fact demonstrates a small biological boom among the icy mountains.
7. Draining the lakes
Reports show at least 125 lakes disappeared in the Arctic, and only during the last few decades. Researches proved that the lakes have seeped through the soil. This happens due to the fact that the permafrost, a layer on the bottom of the lakes, which kept the waters in the basin, gradually melts. When the layer thawed out, the waters seeped into the soil. When these lakes disappear, the creatures, living in that lake, disappear too. A researcher compared this event with pulling the plug in the bathroom.
6. The Earth thawing underneath
Global warming is causing not only massive melting of the Arctic glaciers, but it makes the permanent frozen soils under the earth's surface thaw too. This process ends up in deformation of the grounds and no one can predict what form the upper layer of the earth would take. Among the after effects of these processes could be mentioned ruined building, railroads and highways.
5. "There will be only one"
Global warming tests everyone and if everything goes on as it does now, a natural selection will take place: "only the fittest will survive". With the early beginnings of springs and short winters plants bloom earlier (as mentioned in point 10), thus animals that wait until the plants' usual blooming time to start their migration might miss all the food. And only animals able to evolve and to reset their biologic clocks will make it to places of greenest grass and beautiful pastures. Ultimately, these species will be able to pass their genes to following generations, changing the genetic code according to current global situation.
Some traces of this kind of evolution can be already seen this year: in some regions, were the abnormal warm winter and an early spring have triggered a mass invasion of silkworm. These insects are eating everything green they see, thus destroying partly the crops and leaving forests leafless.
4. Lower density of the atmosphere
It is not a secret that emissions cause the most harm to our planet. The effects caused by carbon dioxide emissions do their dirty work even in the atmosphere's outmost layer. The air in the exosphere is very thin, yet still creating drag to slow down satellites, making engineering boost them up from time to time and bring them back on their orbit around the earth. However, the growing concentration of carbon dioxide in the exosphere makes this weak drag even weaker. When the carbon dioxide molecules collide in the lower layers of the atmosphere, they release heat, warming the air. Due to a smaller quantity of molecules in the upper layers, there is also less collision among molecules and the small amount of energy created radiates away. The conclusion is that with more carbon dioxide the more cooling occurs and the air settles in the exosphere. Thus the air concentration decreases, decreasing the drag with the satellites.
3. The growing mountains
After the beginning of the industrial era in the history of human race the mountains began a steadier growth. Although this fact might pass by unnoticed by hikers - it is a fact. The glaciers on top of the mountains have slowed down growth of the mountains with the immense weight of these masses of ice. Yet when they started to thaw, with the global warming as the main cause of this, the rocks are rebounding faster when there is nothing to push them down.
2. The memory doesn't remain
There are not so many 'live' monuments remaining, which prove the existence of ancient civilizations. These monuments are not as stable and strong as the engineering wonders of today. Thus the extreme weather and the rising waters might write the final lines in the book of history of these ancient monuments. The process has already started as floods have already damaged the amazing 600-year-old Sukhothai site - once the capital of the Thai kingdom.
1. Forests burning
Global warming means not only melting Arctic ices, but wild forests fires too. It was observed that over the past several decades more fires have deserted the countryside in the Western states of the USA. The forest fires are now more intense and they last for longer period of times. Experts say that the fact that now the spring come in the middle of the winter, the snow melts earlier, leaving longer periods for draught in the forests, which increases the risk of their ignition during this dry period.
Perhaps, people should not be so ignorant about this obvious problem of global warming, as even the leaders of the G8, on their last meeting in Germany, have intensively discussed the problem of global warming and harmful emission into the atmosphere. link....

World's First Ship that Uses Solar Energy to Power Its Main Electrical Grid

This huge solar-powered ship is called M/V Auriga Leader. It features 328 solar panels mounted on its top deck. Auriga Leader is part of a demonstration project developed by the Port of Long Beach, Toyota and NYK Line, a shipping company with headquarters in Tokyo.
The ship is the world's first to use solar energy for its power needs. With the help of solar panels the ship is able to burn less diesel fuel while in port. The solar array of Auriga Leader can produce about 40 kilowatts, which is enough to power 10 average homes.
Although previously there were other ships that used solar energy to power some small electronics, such as auxiliary lights, this ship is the first in the world to use solar energy to power its main electrical grid (at infoniac.com you can find additional information about green technology, so check out the links below this story).
According to Fumihiko Shimizu, manager of the U.S. car carrier group for NYK Logistics and Megacarrier, an NYK subsidiary, at the moment the company is in the process of estimating the effectiveness of the solar panels. Engineers still have to see whether the panels are able to withstand corrosive effects of salt sea air.
The 60,000-ton Auriga Leader is 665 feet long. At the same time it is a rather simple vessel in terms of requirements when it arrives in port. It is worth mentioning that the shipping business is very hazardous for the environment, generating huge amounts of greenhouse gases and though Auriga Leader's 328 solar panels will not significantly cut the ship's emissions it is still a very important step towards a greener shipping business. link....

Latest Invention: Synthetic Tree to Collect Huge Amounts of CO2

The latest invention of researchers from Columbia University is an artificial tree that is able to capture carbon dioxide a thousand times faster that a real tree. The lead researcher and a professor of geophysics at Columbia University, Klaus Lackner, has been developing the project for over 10 years and holds hope that the artificial tree will be a very important tool for tackling climate change.
Scientists will use their latest invention to trap greenhouse gas emitted by vehicles or airplanes. The synthetic tree, which resembles a cylinder, will not require direct sunlight, water of branches to work properly. According to Lackner, the tree is flexible in size and can be placed almost anywhere.
Here's how it works: the synthetic tree gathers the greenhouse gas on a sorbent, cleans and pressures the carbon dioxide and then releases it. The technique of gas absorption resembles that of a sponge that collects water.
During a whole day one artificial tree will be able to collect one ton of CO2, which equals to the amount of carbon dioxide emitted by 20 cars. The technology is currently in the development stage at Global Research Technologies, a company based in Tucson, Arizona, co-founded by Lackner, who at the moment is its chairman. Such invention might serve well for the environment by it is quite costly - each synthetic tree requires $30,000 to make, reports CNN.
Data presented by the U.S. Department of Transportation shows that currently in the United States there are about 135,932,930 vehicles, which means that in order to absorb the amount of carbon emitted by these cars, the country would need to "plant" 6.8 million synthetic trees (that's $204 billion). With the current global economic crisis the project will probably remain in the development stage for some time. Still, Lackner and his team look forward to push their latest invention full-force. The researcher managed to arrange a meeting with U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu to talk about the concept. link....

Monster Jellyfish to Take Over World's Oceans

With overfishing, people gave way for a new species of giant jellyfish (like the one seen in the picture) to invade the world's seas. Such giant ocean creatures might soon take over the planet's oceans, researchers say.

In the picture you see here, a diver attempts to attach a sensor in order to track the giant Echizen jellyfish. The monster jellyfish has a body of 5 feet across and was spotted off the coast of northern Japan. Usually jellyfish are controlled by fish that consume them, but with an increased overfishing it is hard to keep jellyfish in check, which is why their number is continuously increasing.
Such monster jellyfish as the one in the picture are able to burst through fishing nets. They also represent threat for local fisheries, having big taste for fish eggs and larvae. The discovery was described by Anthony Richardson of CSIRO Marine & Atmospheric Research and his team in the journal Trends in Ecology and Evolution.
Researchers say that the population of jellyfish is expected to grow as a result of another factor - climate change. They believe that soon water conditions could lead to a "jellyfish stable state", which, according to the scientists, is a state when jellyfish rule the oceans. Overfishing together with high levels of nutrients in the water, including nitrogen and phosphorous, can cause a dramatic increase in the number of jellyfish and red phytoplankton, which generates low-oxygen dead zones that are perfect for jellyfish, but deadly for fish, reports Discovery News.
"(There is) a jellyfish called Nomura, which is the biggest jellyfish in the world. It can weigh 200 kilograms (440 pounds), as big as a sumo wrestler and is 2 meters in diameter," said Richardson, who added that jellyfish is currently blooming in Southeast Asia, the Black Sea, the Gulf of Mexico and the North Sea. link....

Airbia - Eco-friendly Suburban Airships

Airbia is an amazing airship designed by Alexandros Tsolakis and Irene Shamma. It is possible that such eco-friendly airships will replace in the near future today's air-polluting means of transport.
Airbia infrastructure system will make it possible for people to travel from suburban areas to urban city centers fast and easy. The airships use helium and with overhead loading platforms the system will require a rather small amount of infrastructure. It is worth mentioning that each airship will have the possibility to carry up to 400 people and the average speed of travel will reach 93 miles an hour (150km/h). Airbia airships will fly at heights that will range between 11 and 1,640 feet (30 to 50 meters) above the ground.
According to Tsolakis and Shamma, their system could replace vehicles and trains as a mean of transportation that helps people get from suburbs to city centers. Airbia represents one of 20 amazing finalists in ReBurbia contest to redesign the suburbs. link....

Airbia proposes a new eco-friendly and efficient transportation system linking the suburbs and city centre. Corresponding to the lack of coherent public transportation in the majority of the sprawling cities, a set of airships is designed to form an additional network over the urban tissue.
The proposed network bases its flexibility on the limited required infrastructure (just overground platforms) and facilities, easy hovering, landing and passenger access. The target is to develop a set of routes covering nodal points of the suburbia, travelling all the way to the borders of the city centre creating a ring around it. This network would potentially replace the use of cars and trains as transportation between the suburbs and the city centers.
Being inspired by the zeppelin technologies, the proposed airship engages the idea using helium to hover, which is proven to be a sustainable and economical approach.The proposed airship has a capacity to carry 400 people and travel with an avarage of 150 km/h speed on a hight between 30 – 500 meters. Instead of having a major airship station, Airbia proposes a more dispersed network of station-platforms, that constist of staircases, lifts and ticket spaces. This way the system becomes much more flexible, since these drop off – pick up platforms can be placed almost anywhere in the city. link....

Spectacular Melting Of The Largest French Glacier

Spot-5 satellite image: in this 3D view of the Lapparent nunatak (area of rock surrounded by ice), the position of the ice in 1963 and in 2001 has been localized. This has made it possible to estimate glacier thinning (blue arrows).

Located over 12 000 kilometers from the Alps, the Kerguelen Islands are home to the largest French glacier, the Cook ice cap (which had an area of around 500 km2 in 1963). By combining historical information with recent satellite data, the glaciologists at the Laboratory for Space Studies in Geophysics and Oceanography (Université Paul Sabatier / CNRS / CNES / IRD) have observed increasingly rapid shrinkage of the ice.

Over the last 40 years, the Cook ice cap has thinned by around 1.5 meters per year, its area has decreased by 20%, and retreat has been twice as rapid since 1991. Their work has been just published in the Journal of Geophysical Research.
The Kerguelen Islands are located in the southern Indian Ocean, and numerous glaciers cover the highest areas of the islands. The first studies carried out in this exceptional natural laboratory for French research showed an initially slow retreat of the Ampère glacier (one of the outlet glaciers of the Cook ice cap) between 1800 and 1965, subsequently becoming much faster. Since 1974, in situ monitoring of the Cook ice cap has no longer been carried out. However, observations made from space between 1991 and 2006 have enabled scientists to collect data from this relatively inaccessible area.
Glaciologists from the Laboratory for Space Studies in Geophysics and Oceanography (LEGOS - Université Toulouse 3/CNRS/IRD/CNES) began their work by compiling a complete inventory of the glaciers on the Kerguelen Islands from an Institut Géographique National (IGN) map published in 1967. At that time, these glaciers covered over 700 km2, including 500 km2 for the Cook ice cap alone.
The scientists then used Spot and Landsat satellite images to update this inventory for the years 1991, 2001 and 2003, and to quantify glacial retreat. By 1991, the Cook ice cap covered a mere 448 km2, and by 2003 this had fallen to 403 km2. It has thus lost 20% of its area in 40 years, and it has been retreating twice as fast since 1991. In addition, the researchers estimated the volume loss (or mass balance) of the Cook ice cap over the last 40 years.
This mass balance accurately characterizes the response of the glacier to climatic variation (temperature, precipitation), and can be used to compare glacier response in various areas of the world. For instance, the Cook ice cap has thinned by as much as 300 to 400 meters in glacier tongues at low altitude, whereas variations in thickness appear to be smaller in high regions. On average, for the whole ice cap since 1963, thinning reached 1.5 metres per year, which is a very high value when compared to other glaciers in the world. In the last 40 years, the ice cap has lost about 22% of its volume. This thinning also appears to have been accelerating over the recent period.
The glaciers in the Kerguelen islands were already retreating in the 1960s, and their decline over the past 40 years cannot be attributed only to recent warming partly due to human activities. Part of this retreat can in fact be explained by a delayed response of these glaciers to the natural warming that followed the Little Ice Age (a cold period that ended between 1850 and 1900). However, the recent acceleration of ice wastage is doubtless connected to high temperatures and low precipitation since the beginning of the 1980s. link....

Psychological Factors Help Explain Slow Reaction To Global Warming

While most Americans think climate change is an important issue, they don't see it as an immediate threat, so getting people to "go green" requires policymakers, scientists and marketers to look at psychological barriers to change and what leads people to action, according to a task force of the American Psychological Association.

Scientific evidence shows the main influences of climate change are behavioral – population growth and energy consumption. "What is unique about current global climate change is the role of human behavior," said task force chair Janet Swim, PhD, of Pennsylvania State University. "We must look at the reasons people are not acting in order to understand how to get people to act."
APA's Task Force on the Interface Between Psychology and Global Climate Change examined decades of psychological research and practice that have been specifically applied and tested in the arena of climate change, such as environmental and conservation psychology and research on natural and technological disasters. The task force presented its findings at APA's 117th Annual Convention in Toronto in a report that was accepted by the association's governing Council of Representatives.
The task force's report offers a detailed look at the connection between psychology and global climate change and makes policy recommendations for psychological science.
It cites a national Pew Research Center poll in which 75 percent to 80 percent of respondents said that climate change is an important issue. But respondents ranked it last in a list of 20 compelling issues, such as the economy or terrorism. Despite warnings from scientists and environmental experts that limiting the effects of climate change means humans need to make some severe changes now, people don't feel a sense of urgency. The task force said numerous psychological barriers are to blame, including:
Uncertainty – Research has shown that uncertainty over climate change reduces the frequency of "green" behavior.
Mistrust – Evidence shows that most people don't believe the risk messages of scientists or government officials.
Denial – A substantial minority of people believe climate change is not occurring or that human activity has little or nothing to do with it, according to various polls.
Undervaluing Risks – A study of more than 3,000 people in 18 countries showed that many people believe environmental conditions will worsen in 25 years. While this may be true, this thinking could lead people to believe that changes can be made later.
Lack of Control – People believe their actions would be too small to make a difference and choose to do nothing.
Habit – Ingrained behaviors are extremely resistant to permanent change while others change slowly. Habit is the most important obstacle to pro-environment behavior, according to the report.
The task force highlighted some ways that psychology is already working to limit these barriers. For example, people are more likely to use energy-efficient appliances if they are provided with immediate energy-use feedback. Devices that show people how much energy and money they're conserving can yield energy savings of 5 percent to 12 percent, according to research. "Behavioral feedback links the cost of energy use more closely to behavior by showing the costs immediately or daily rather than in an electric bill that comes a month later," said Swim.
Also, some studies have looked at whether financial incentives can spur people to weatherize their houses. The research has shown that combined strong financial incentives, attention to customer convenience and quality assurance and strong social marketing led to weatherization of 20 percent or more of eligible homes in a community in the first year of a program. The results were far more powerful than achieved by another program that offered just financial incentives.
The task force identified other areas where psychology can help limit the effects of climate change, such as developing environmental regulations, economic incentives, better energy-efficient technology and communication methods.
"Many of the shortcomings of policies based on only a single intervention type, such as technology, economic incentives or regulation, may be overcome if policy implementers make better use of psychological knowledge," the task force wrote in the report.
The task force also urged psychologists to continue to expand that knowledge. Environmental psychology emerged as a sub-discipline in the early 20th century but didn't really gain momentum until the 1980s, according to the report. But the task force said studying and influencing climate change should not be left to a sub-discipline; many different types of psychologists can provide an understanding of how people of different ages respond to climate change. "The expertise found in a variety of fields of psychology can help find solutions to many climate change problems right now," Swim said. "For example, experts in community and business psychology can address the behavioral changes necessary as businesses and nonprofits adapt to a changing environment." link....

Climate-caused Biodiversity Booms And Busts In Ancient Plants And Mammals

A period of global warming from 53 million to 47 million years ago strongly influenced plants and animals, spurring a biodiversity boom in western North America, researchers from three research museums report in a paper recently published online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

"Today, the middle of Wyoming is a vast desert, and a few antelope and deer are all you see," said lead author Michael Woodburne, honorary curator of geology at the Museum of Northern Arizona. "But 50 million years ago, when temperatures were at their highest, that area was a tropical rainforest teeming with lemur-like primates, small dawn horses and a number of small forest rodents and other mammals. In fact, there were more species of mammals living in the western part of North America at that time than at any other time."
Woodburne and co-authors Gregg Gunnell of the University of Michigan Museum of Paleontology and Richard Stucky of the Denver Museum of Nature & Science examined the records of ancient temperatures and information on the fossil plants and mammals that inhabited North America during the Eocene epoch and found that diversity increased and declined with rising and falling temperatures.
The Eocene began about 56 million years ago with a short period of increased warming, when many modern groups of mammals first appeared in North America, probably by emigrating from other areas. The period the researchers studied, called the Early Eocene Climatic Optimum (EECO), began about three million years later and included a long-term temperature increase coupled with a long-term rise in diversity.
During that time, as mean annual temperature warmed from about 60 degrees Fahrenheit to 73 degrees Fahrenheit (15 degrees Celsius to 23 degrees Celsius), vegetation changed, with many new plant forms appearing, and mammal diversity increased from 90 genera to an all-time high of 104 genera, the researchers found.
"This is also the part of the Eocene when we see the most new appearances of mammals due to evolutionary innovation, rather than immigration," said Stucky, who is curator of paleoecology and evolution at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science. Some 30 new rodents, carnivores, primates and artiodactyls (the group that includes sheep, goats, camels, pigs, cows, deer, giraffes and antelopes, among others) appeared on the scene.
But then, as temperatures declined again, the number of mammal genera dropped to a low of 84, with the complete loss of many mammalian groups that previously were well represented. Lower temperatures and a dryer climate continued to influence mammal and plant evolution as savanna habitats began to emerge.
Until this research, the consensus among paleontologists who study North American vertebrates was that climate played only a background role in supporting the evolution of mammals during the Paleocene and Eocene (65 million to 35 million years ago) and that only at the end of the Eocene, when Antarctic glaciations began, did Earth's climate deteriorate enough to cause observable changes in land mammal diversity.
"Our paper documents the fact that global change affected plants and animals on a wide scale," said Gunnell, an associate research scientist and vertebrate collection coordinator at the U-M Museum of Paleontology. "Some plants and animals flourished while others suffered."
When considering today's global warming, Woodburne said, "The question is, on which side of this picture will mankind be found?" link....

NASA Announces the Green Flight Challenge - the Winner Gets 1.5M Dollars

It is expected that in future the next-generation eco-friendly transportation will be flight travel. This is the reason why NASA decided to launch a competition called Green Flight Challenge.
The prize of $1.5 million will be given away to the first eco-friendly plane that will achieve a speed of 100 miles per hour on a 200 miles flight. At the same time engineers should take into consideration the fact that the plane must be able to reach an efficiency of at least 200 passenger miles per gallon.
Together with Comparative Aircraft Efficiency Foundation, NASA will sponsor the Green Flight Challenge. The competition will run until July 2011 and the final results will be announced at the Charles M. Schulz Sonoma County Airport, located in Santa Rosa. More information is available here. link....

Top 5 Most Inspiring Green Buildings

With a high level of carbon emissions that lead to climate change, governments worldwide take actions to reduce the footprint by forcing plants to lower greenhouse gas emissions while making use of green energy. A lot of architects follow the same path by developing sustainable energy-efficient buildings that use the sun and wind to generate power. Below you will find 5 buildings that we selected as the most inspiring eco-friendly projects.
Harvest - Vertical Farm by Romses Architects
In one of our previous articles we wrote about this incredible building. The idea of this farm lies in vertical farming of vegetables, herbs, fruits, fish and egg laying chickens. It will also include a boutique goat and sheep dairy facility.
A number of design elements included in the Harvest will be able to generate renewable energy by making use of geothermal, wind and solar power. Every structure of the building will have photovoltaic glazing as well as small and large-scale wind turbines. Non-edible parts of plants and animals will be fertilized to produce methane that will basically add energy back to the grid. Irrigation for crops and roof gardens will be provided by a large rainwater cistern mounted on top of the farm.

Gish Family Apartment Complex

This complex is located in downtown San Jose. It features 35 apartments that offer quality at an affordable price. In fact, the complex represents a transit-oriented family apartment building that includes two-bedroom and three-bedroom apartments, from which 13 are set aside for people with developmental disabilities. Besides being an incredible structure from the architectural point of view, the building also takes advantage of renewable energy technologies and a number of other green building features, including reuse of an urban brownfield site, a roof-top photovoltaic array, as well as heating and hot water systems.

The Edible House - Green House of the Future

We might soon cultivate our own food, according to architects that were asked to design the green house of the future. Specialists from the Rios Clementi Hale Studios from Los Angeles developed an incredible concept of a green 3-story building that doubles as a vertical garden. They named their design The Edible House. It is made of 3 prefab containers that are stacked on top of one another. Due to the fact that the containers are stacked on top of each other, the footprint of the Edible House is rather small. According to the designers this is a "nod to the importance of building dense, urban-style houses in order to reduce energy use." The building's three floors include the eating and living space, found on the bottom, sleeping rooms in the middle, and room for office and/or studio on the top together with a magnificent deck.
The green aspects of the design include vertical axis wind turbines, installed on the roof, facing an evaporative cooling reservoir. Such systems are going to considerably reduce the energy use. Besides, the designers included a photovoltaic awning, installed over the top deck. It will have two functions: energy production and shading. The Edible House will also include adjustable doors on its sides that will provide natural cross ventilation. Probably the most interesting feature of the house is that it will allow people to walk out on the deck and collect vegetables from personal edible garden.

The Terry Thomas

Initially the idea of The Terry Thomas building was to offer a healthy work environment that would show the possibilities of eco-friendly design. The building is located in Seattle. Its four floors provide 37,000 square feet of office space, including shower facilities to support bicycle use. The main goal was to reducing the dependence on energy. The ground level of the building houses restaurant space and a central courtyard, where office workers can gather and communicate. There are also 2 levels of an underground garage were workers can park their vehicles and bicycles. Some other sustainable practices include simple interior finishes, daylighting and natural ventilation. The Terry Thomas was erected without air conditioning in order to save energy. However, it has a cooling central courtyard, heat-resistant blinds, as well as automatic exterior vents that control temperature.

Envision Green Hotel

We wrote about this egg-like skyscraper previously, noting that it is part urban eco-resort, part wind tower. The building makes use of wind and atmospheric conversion systems to produce natural air without any mechanical involvement. Photovoltaic exterior sheathing produces energy. Recycled pools of water are used as water reservoirs and fire barriers. The wind turbine generates power that heats the boiler, thus producing steam that is needed for the chiller water plant found beneath the building. The water plant then cools and heats the entire construction. There are a lot more features that designers wish to include in this building, such as LED curtains that would change color during the day to highlight the process when the day turns into night. link....