If governments don’t act decisively by 2035 to fight climate change, humanity could cross a point of no return after which limiting global warming below 2°C in 2100 will be unlikely, according to a new study by scientists in the UK and the Netherlands. The research also shows the deadline to limit warming to 1.5°C has already passed, unless radical climate action is taken. The study is published today in the European Geosciences Union journal Earth System Dynamics.
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Engineered sand zaps storm water pollutants
UC Berkeley engineers have created a new way to remove contaminants from storm water, potentially addressing the needs of water-stressed communities that are searching for ways to tap the abundant and yet underused source of fresh drinking water.
Groundwater Loss Prompts More California Land Sinking
Researchers found that in spite of heavy rains in early 2017, groundwater extraction for agriculture and human use leads to a continual sinking of land, as seen from satellites.
Searching for the seeds of Arctic clouds
The Arctic Ocean is a bustling metropolis of life that ranges in size from whales the size of small ships to microscopic marine bacteria that are 300,000 times smaller than a basketball.
China is Hot Spot of Ground-Level Ozone Pollution
New study: Ozone levels higher across China than in other countries tracking the air pollutant.
Drought increases CO2 concentration in the air
Land ecosystems absorb on average 30% of anthropogenic CO2 emissions, thereby tempering the increase of CO2 concentration in the atmosphere. But plants need water to grow. When a drought occurs, and soils dry out, plants reduce photosynthesis and breathe less in order to save water and preserve their tissues. As a consequence, they are no longer able to capture carbon dioxide from the surrounding air and more CO2 remains in the air. While this effect can be easily observed in the lab, measuring its impact on the whole planet has proved quite difficult. One of the greatest challenges has been to measure where and how often droughts occur globally. In a new study, Vincent Humphrey, climate researcher in the lab of Sonia Seneviratne, Professor for Land-Climate Dynamics at ETH Zurich, used innovative satellite technology to measure the global sensitivity of ecosystems to water stress. The study was carried out in collaboration with the Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement (France) and the University of Exeter (United Kingdom).