News Archive
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News for 22 November 2002
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The United States Climate Change Science Program will hold a comprehensive
Workshop on the U.S. Climate Change Science Program, from December 3 to 5,
2002 in Washington, DC to receive comments on a discussion draft version
of its Strategic Plan for climate change and global change studies. The
U.S. Climate Change Science Program incorporating the U.S. Global Change
Research Program (USGCRP) and the Climate Change Research Initiative
(CCRI) is jointly sponsored by 13 U.S. government agencies. The workshop
will review the USGCRP/CCRI plans with emphasis on the development of
short-term (2-5 years) products to support climate change policy and
resource management decision-making.
The Workshop responds to the President's direction that the U.S. global
change and climate change science programs must be objective, sensitive
to uncertainties, and well documented for public debate. The U.S. global
change and climate change research programs must consistently meet the
highest standards of credibility, transparency, and responsiveness to
the scientific community, as well as to all interested user groups, and
our international partners. To assure the continued scientific
credibility of the U.S. Climate Change Science Program, the Workshop
will provide a comprehensive review of the discussion draft of the
Strategic Plan. The Workshop discussions, supplemented by written
comments submitted during a 30-day post-Workshop period, will be
reflected in the final Strategic Plan.
U.S. Climate Change Science Program.
Registration and logistical information is available here.
global change news
USGCRP/CCRI Strategic Plan Available for Public Review
The Federal government recently completed a draft strategic plan for the
combined U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) and Climate Change
Research Initiative (CCRI). Since the plan provides the roadmap for
global change programs, it is important that scientists and stakeholders
review areas relevant to their research interests and provide targeted
comments. The draft is available on-line, and comments may be provided
via e-mail. Comments will be accepted until 13 January 2003. The
draft plan will be the focus of a public
workshop in Washington, DC, on 3-5 December 2002. A final version
of the plan will be published in April 2003.
U.S. Global Change Research Program/Climate Change
Research Initiative. Draft Strategic Plan available here.
global change data
New Value-Added Aerosol Observation Data Available
U.S. Dept. of Energy ARM Program releases enhanced data from Aerosol Observation System (AOS)
The Department of Energy's Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Program
has recently released a new version of its Aerosol Observation System
(AOS) data collected at the Southern Great Plains (SGP) Central Facility.
This version of AOS data includes "value added" from the extensive reviews
by researchers at NOAA's Climate Monitoring and Diagnostics Laboratory.
Available as either ASCII or netCDF files with extensive documentation,
the data are available from the ARM Archive through its IOP Data
Browser. The AOS is the primary ARM platform for in-situ aerosol
measurements at the surface level. AOS measures optical properties of
ambient aerosol particles in order to better understand how particles may
interact with solar radiation and influence the earth's radiation
balance and climate system.
U. S. Department of Energy. Value-added
Aerosol Observation System (AOS) data collected at the Southern
Great Plains (SGP) Central Facility is available here.
global change research
Large-Scale Climate Change Linked to Simultaneous Population Fluctuations in Arctic Mammals
Scientists have shown, for the first time, that changes in a large-scale
climate system can synchronize population fluctuations in multiple mammal
species across a continent-scale region. The study, published in the
14 November 2002 issue of the journal Nature, compares long-term
data on the climate system known as the North Atlantic Oscillation with
long-term data from Greenland on the population dynamics of caribou and
muskoxen, which are large mammals adapted to breeding in the Arctic.
"The Arctic can provide useful early-warning signals for the rest
of the world because the species that live in this sensitive region
are expected to be among the first to show the effects of the Earth's
changing climate," says Eric Post, assistant professor of biology at
Penn State University, who is a coauthor of the study along with Mads
C. Forchhammer, associate professor of ecology at the University of
Copenhagen in Denmark. "Here we have a very simple system with a very
clear signal: two species on opposite sides of a continent that never
mix, never compete for food, and have no common predators, yet their
population dynamics are synchronized. The only thing they have in common
is the large-scale climate system that influences weather throughout
the northern hemisphere," Post comments.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
(NASA). More information available here.
global change data
CDIAC Updates Carbon Flux Estimates from Land Use Changes
The U.S. Department of Energy's Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis
Center (CDIAC) has updated Carbon Flux to the Atmosphere from Land-Use
Changes with estimates from 1850 through 2000. This dataset provides
annual estimates of net fluxes caused by deliberate changes in land use
(e.g., clearing of forests for agriculture, harvest of wood for fuel
or timber) in nine regions of the world. The estimated global total net
flux of carbon from changes in land use increased from 0.5 Pg C in 1850
to a maximum of 2.4 Pg C in 1991, then declined to 2.1 Pg C in 2000. The
global net flux during the period 1850-2000 was 156 Pg C, about 63% of
which was from the tropics. During this period, the greatest regional
flux was from Tropical Asia (48 Pg C), while the smallest regional flux
was from North Africa and Middle East (3 Pg C). The global total flux
averaged 2.0 Pg C/yr during the 1980s and 2.2 Pg C/yr during the 1990s
(but generally declining during that latter decade), dominated by fluxes
from tropical deforestation. For the U.S., the estimated flux is a net
source to the atmosphere of 7 Pg C for the period 1850-2000, but a net
sink of 1.2 Pg C for the 1980s and 1.1 Pg C for the 1990s.
U. S. Department of
Energy. Data set available here.
global change news
El Niņo on Track to Influence U.S. Winter
Prepare for El Niņo's drier and warmer winter, NOAA experts tell northwest officials
El Niņo, already responsible for the drier-than-normal conditions in
Indonesia, India, Mexico and Central America, is expected to continue
influencing U.S. weather patterns into early 2003, forecasters at the
NOAA National Weather Service said. The Pacific Northwest will feel
El Niņo's influence during the 2002-03 winter in the form of drier and
warmer-than-normal conditions, but climate and weather experts from NOAA
say the region still could face damaging storms. The agency's Climate
Prediction Center issued its monthly El Niņo update, highlighting
the expected weather impacts in the United States and throughout the
world.
Wayne Higgins of NOAA's Climate Prediction Center in Camp Springs, Md.,
met with Seattle's emergency managers and other local officials at a
climate workshop on Thursday and said El Niņo's impact in the region will
be weaker than the 1997-98 version. "The current El Niņo, while still
holding the potential to bring strong storms, will continue the trend
of below-average precipitation in the region," said Higgins, NOAA's
principal scientist and an expert in long-range forecasting. Higgins
added El Niņo is at moderate strength.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
(NOAA). More information available here.
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