Advancing the science of climate change
Abstract
Climate change is occurring, is caused largely by human activities, and poses significant risks for--and in many cases is already affecting--a broad range of human and natural systems. The compelling case for these conclusions is provided in Advancing the Science of Climate Change, part of a congressionally requested suite of studies known as America's Climate Choices. While noting that there is always more to learn and that the scientific process is never closed, the book shows that hypotheses about climate change are supported by multiple lines of evidence and have stood firm in the face of serious debate and careful evaluation of alternative explanations. As decision makers respond to these risks, the nation's scientific enterprise can contribute through research that improves understanding of the causes and consequences of climate change and also is useful to decision makers at the local, regional, national, and international levels. The book identifies decisions being made in 12 sectors, ranging from agriculture to transportation, to identify decisions being made in response to climate change. Advancing the Science of Climate Change calls for a single federal entity or program to coordinate a national, multidisciplinary research effort aimed at improving both understanding and responses to climate change. Seven cross-cutting research themes are identified to support this scientific enterprise. In addition, leaders of federal climate research should redouble efforts to deploy a comprehensive climate observing system, improve climate models and other analytical tools, invest in human capital, and improve linkages between research and decisions by forming partnerships with action-oriented programs. © 2011 by the National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
... The rising of sea levels is probably one of the best measured indications of the impact of climate change. Sea level has been systematically assessed by tide gauges for more than 100 years and it has risen more than 120 m since the Ice Age (26,000 years ago), with a relatively steady rise over the past 6,000 years [21,22]. The average rate of sea level rise was 1.3 mm/y between 1901 and 1971, then it increased to 1.9 mm/y between 1971 and 2006, with a further increase of 3.7 mm/y between 2006 and 2018 [23]. ...
... Climate change and air quality are major environmental concerns because they directly affect life on Earth. CO 2 is the side-product, waste stream or residue of several human activities such as burning of fossil fuels, cement manufacture, fermentation, industrial processes, among others, causing a greenhouse effect by trapping some of the sun's heat, leading to an increase of Earth's temperature, contributing to climate change and issues such as melting glaciers, increase in droughts, storms, heat waves, floods, and cyclones [21]. This situation has prompted the international community to dictate a series of regulations that affect and decrease the activities of the petroleum industry, introducing legal statutes that have to be accomplished by conventional fuels in the short-term, in order to preserve the environment [25]. ...
The ability of certain gases i.e., greenhouse gases (GHGs) to absorb energy (radiative efficiency), during their effective time in the atmosphere (lifetime) causing a warming effect known as Global Warming Potential (GWP) is described in this chapter. GHGs include carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), water vapor (H2O), nitrogen oxides (NOx), chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs), sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) and ozone (O3) Among them, CO2 is the most abundant with its concentration growing at a rate of more than 2 ppm/y. Another concept considered regarding climate change is Radiative Forcing (RF), which was introduced to explain the net change in the energy balance of the Earth system due to some imposed perturbation, such as the increase of GHGs atmospheric concentration. The effort of countries represented in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), to achieve a temperature increase that does not exceed 1.5 °C by 2050 defined within an initiative known as the “Net-Zero” is introduced, as well as the rising of sea level and its possible effect on climate change. Emphasis is placed on the need for CO2 emission reductions. CO2 is a rather inert compound that can be either stored or utilized in the production of (longer lifecycle) products and/or in applications for its continuous recycle/reuse. This chapter includes the description of its properties, supporting uses or applications that will be discussed in Chap. 2.
... The comparison of conventional farming and organic farming, which correspond to industrial and agrarian philosophies, is one of the most exemplary representations of the industrial-agrarian dichotomy [20]. The industrial philosophy emphasizes high and efficient production at the lowest possible cost, and it is heavily reliant on external inputs (such as chemical fertilizers) and simplified monocultures, which are typically involved in large-scale farming [21]. On the other hand, the agrarian philosophy recognizes biological diversity and land stewardship as having both environmental and social value, underscoring small-scale farming that emphasizes the sustainable use of ecosystem services and pest and disease management [16,21]. ...
... The industrial philosophy emphasizes high and efficient production at the lowest possible cost, and it is heavily reliant on external inputs (such as chemical fertilizers) and simplified monocultures, which are typically involved in large-scale farming [21]. On the other hand, the agrarian philosophy recognizes biological diversity and land stewardship as having both environmental and social value, underscoring small-scale farming that emphasizes the sustainable use of ecosystem services and pest and disease management [16,21]. Within the agrarian paradigm, there are numerous alternative agriculture movements, including agroecology, which can be viewed as a social movement [20]. ...
By the mid-century, urban areas are expected to house two-thirds of the world’s population of approximately 10 billion people. The key challenge will be to provide food for all with fewer farmers in rural areas and limited options for expanding cultivated fields in urban areas, with sustainable soil management being a fundamental criterion for achieving sustainability goals. Understanding how nature works in a fast changing world and fostering nature-based agriculture (such as low-input farming) are crucial for sustaining food systems in the face of worsening urban heat island (UHI) effects and other climatic variables. The best fit for the context is transformative agroecology, which connects ecological networks, sustainable farming approaches, and social movements through change-oriented research and action. Even though agroecology has been practiced for over a century, its potential to address the socioeconomic impact of the food system remained largely unexplored until recently. Agroecological approaches, which involve effective interactions between researchers, policy makers, farmers, and consumers, can improve social cohesion and socioeconomic synergies while reducing the use of various agricultural inputs. This review presents a timeline of agroecology transformation from the past to the present and discusses the possibilities, prospects, and challenges of agroecological urbanism toward a resilient urban future.
... Nevertheless, advancing the science of climate change is a standing challenge for preparing the responses and developing the required technologies for mitigating its causes. The US National Research Council has identified seven research areas in connection to this challenge, which includes a comprehensive climate observing system, improved climate models and other analytical tools, investments in human capital, and linking research and decision making through partnerships with action-oriented programs [7]. ...
In this chapter, the discussion of the importance of a change in social behavior that needs to be guided, by the principles developed through the scientific investigation and findings to analyze the environmental threat is presented. The difference in magnitude between emissions (Gton) and utilization (Mton) is a measure of the required efforts for developing solutions. In previous chapters, the basis to claim that there is no universal/single solution to the emissions problem was set. Multiple technologies are required and need to be developed, within a holistic set of criteria. The needs, challenges and existing gaps identified in the CU advances discussed in Chap. 2 are collected in this chapter. Implementation of technologies should take place, by circular integration, within CBMs. A vision of the aspirational (better) future is also offered in this chapter.
... The link between climate change and extreme events and some other features of the weather is still subject of debate. One of the major tools to support, or to reject, such links is trend analysis [10]. ...
This paper summarises an updated climate change trends analysis—developed for the period from 1 October 1864 to 30 September 2021 within the scope of a Horizon 2020-funded project to increase climate resilience in European coastal cities—for a representative site of the Lisbon Metropolitan Area (Portugal). By using long ground-based daily records of rainfall and surface temperature at the Lisboa-Geofísico climatological station, the analysis aimed to identify (i) long-term and recent climate trends in rainfall and temperature, (ii) changes in extreme rainfalls, heatwaves, and droughts, and (iii) possible effects of the coupled changes of minimum and maximum daily temperatures (Tmin and Tmax, respectively) on drought development based on the diurnal temperature range (DTR) indicator. To detect these trends and quantify their magnitude, the Mann−Kendall and Sen’s slope estimator tests were implemented. The analysis of the mean annual temperatures indicated that the study area has warmed ∼1.91 °C through the 157 analysed years. Results evidenced statistically significant upward trends in both Tmin and Tmax, and in the number of Tmax heatwave days. In what concerns the extreme hydrological events, the analysis of annual maximum rainfall series and peaks-over-threshold (POT) techniques showed more frequent and intense events in recent years, reaching up to ∼120.0 mm in a single day. With regard to drought, the study proved that the characterisation based on the commonly used standardised precipitation index (SPI) might differ from that based on the standardised precipitation evapotranspiration index (SPEI), as the latter can take into account not only rainfall but also temperature, an important trigger for the development of drought. According to the SPEI index, severe and extreme drought conditions have been more frequent in the last 60 years than in any other recorded period. Finally, a decreasing DTR trend towards the present was found to influence evapotranspiration rates and thus drought characteristics.
... The key advantage of this social media based system is that the social response to any new topic of discussion can be recorded in real-time 39 and the processes/designs can be adjusted on the fly as per requirement. Furthermore, it can help in assessing public sentiments with respect to various topics of discussion in real-time, which in turn can be used as an input in the recommendation systems 23,40 for decision makers, who are responsible for devising policies and public campaigns. ...
A united front from all the stakeholders including public, administration and academia alike is required to counter the growing threat of climate change. The recent rise of social media as the new public address system, makes it an ideal source of information to assess public discussions and responses in real time. We mine c.1.7 m posts from 55 climate related subreddits on social media platform Reddit since its inception. Using USE, a state-of-the-art sentence encoder, and K-means clustering algorithm, we develop a machine learning based approach to identify, store, process and classify the posts automatically, and at a scale. In the broad and multifaceted theme of climate change, our approach narrows down the focus to 10 critical underlying themes comprising the public discussions on social media over time. Furthermore, we employ a full order partial correlation analysis to assess the relationship between the different identified themes. We show that in line with Paris Agreement, while the climate science community has been successful in influencing the discussions on both the causes and effects of climate change, the public administration has failed to appropriately communicate the causes of climate change and has been able to influence only the discussions on the effects of it. Hence, our study shows a clear gap in the public communication by the administration, wherein counter-intuitively less emphasis has been given on the drivers of climate change. This information can be particularly beneficial to policymakers and climate activists in decision making as they try to close the gap between public and academia.
... For instance, the ice record data of the past 420,000 years shows that the concentrations of carbon dioxide have risen from 280 to 400 ppm [67]. These gases usually hamper the outward infrared radiations more than they block inward solar radiations [68,69]. So, the growing GHGs concentrations are increasing the natural greenhouse effect, causing Earth's surface temperature to increase [70]. ...
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) comprising 17 goals and 169 targets is a global strategy for guiding all nations in the course of changing and managing the social, economic, and ecological dimensions of the world. Quantifying a set of measurable indicators for all the goals is essential for monitoring the progress in accomplishing the SDGs. In this regards, geospatial technology is of great importance. Yet, there is less awareness and understanding specifically at the strategic or decision-making level, of the vital and integrative role of geospatial information in implementing the SDGs. Thus, this article focuses on the role of geospatial information tools in monitoring the ecological component of SDGs. The study is guided by parts of the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. A thorough search was conducted in reputable electronic databases using specific search keywords. A total of 2,192 papers were gathered, which were subjected to exclusion and inclusion criteria resulting into the selection of 104 papers for review. Furthermore, the topical and methodological trends of geospatial technology studies relating to SDGs were discussed. In the conclusion, limitations were identified and future scope was provided.
... Carbon dioxide is classified as one of the significant contributors to GHG [5]. It is accountable for trapping heat inside the atmospheric region, and hence, the Earth's surface temperature increases [6]. Consequently, the melting rate of snow and ice has been growing, and thus, the global sea level has been rising as well. ...
Mitigation of carbon dioxide emitted from burning fossil fuels is essential to overcome climate change issues. Adsorption technology could significantly help in capturing CO2 and, thereby minimizing global warming with low-cost penalties. Mg-MOF-74 was reported as a distinguished adsorbent that has high adsorption capacity at flue gas conditions. In the present study, an improvement of crystallinity, porosity, and capacity of Mg-MOF-74 was investigated through controlling the heat surface area of the sample solution during the synthesis process. The results showed that the increase in the heat surface area during the synthesis process increased BET surface area and pore volume of the adsorbent by 38% and 44%, respectively, over those obtained by the reported method in the literature. For additional improvement in the cyclic CO2 uptake, multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) were incorporated with Mg-MOF-74. The adsorption cycling stability was performed using three techniques: temperature swing adsorption (TSA), vapor swing adsorption (VSA), and temperature vacuum swing adsorption (TVSA). It was observed that the incorporation of MWCNT with Mg-MOF-74 resulted in higher CO2 recycling capacity (14.4%) using thermal-based regeneration processes (i.e., TSA and TVSA) due to the enhancement in the thermal transport properties of the new composite (MWCNT/Mg-MOF-74).
... The movement of goods, usually expressed in ton-miles, is dominated by light trucks that account for 30% of GHG emission [cf. Council et al. (2011)]. Very recently, a World Health Organisation (WHO) report on air pollution demands that "As high as 98% children under five years of age in low-and middle-income countries like India are exposed to toxic air. ...
This paper develops a modified formulation of the traveling purchaser problem (TPP), in capacitated markets with the availability of both original and substitute products where purchaser focuses on minimizing an imprecise procurement cost using multiple vehicle types. We also develop an environment-friendly green procurement planning through suitable penalty/credit structure. The motivation for this study emerges from a hub and spoke procurement planning model, with a focus on environmental concerns following regulations and customer sentiments. To obtain the solution with faster execution time, a quantum-inspired genetic algorithm with in vitro fertilization (IVF) crossover and mutation operator is developed. Our results illustrate the non-linear change in the number of markets selection, routing and procurement planning with changes in product availability and substitutes. We show that the designing of suitable carbon credit/penalty structure is essential to obtain a green network with minor compromises in travel and transportation costs. The flexibility of multiple vehicle types reduces both cost and emission significantly. As a part of the methodological contribution, the superiority of our heuristic is established by testing on benchmark TPP instances using a rigorous statistical test.
... Thank you for being patient, understanding, encouraging, supportive. Thank you for marrying me!! 4 The effects of the carbon already in the atmosphere will linger on for many centuries to come. The ...
The thermodynamic and electrochemical properties of rare earth chlorides in molten salt solutions are of interest from the standpoint of both pyrochemical processing of spent nuclear fuel and for the development of Generation IV nuclear reactors. Knowledge of key properties like activity coefficients, phase diagrams and reliable waste disposal methods will accelerate the development of safe reliable carbon free energy. In this work, three conduits of research have been pursued and reported within the larger theme of minimization of waste in spent fuel reprocessing and associated technology development.
First a novel process for the disposal of chloride salts using H-Y zeolite has been studied. In this process, a protonated Y zeolite is used to occlude the LiCl-KCl eutectic salt. In the process, the proton and the chloride ions react to evolve HCl gas that can be easily captured and neutralized. Hence the final waste form will be lighter compared to the baseline process. Results indicate that the proton and chloride react to form HCl gas which was captured and neutralized. Up to 50 % of theoretical ion exchange was achieved based on the total HCl evolution.
The activity of four rare earth chlorides was determined electrochemically in LiCl-KCl eutectic salt. These rare earth chlorides are: LaCl3, NdCl3, GdCl3, and CeCl3. The activity was determined using two distinct experimental set-ups: using a Ag/AgCl reference electrode and an analyte reference electrode. Broadly it is noted that the activity coefficient of the rare earth chlorides changes with concentration of the analyte in solution. From the data of all of the four rare earth chlorides it was concluded that as the ionic size of the rare earth reduces, the species shows a larger negative deviation from ideal solution behavior. The presence of large concentrations of CsCl seems to influence the activity of some of the rare earths.
The solidus and liquidus temperatures for quaternary LiCl-KCl-CsCl-RECl3 systems were determined using a differential scanning calorimetry. It is observed that the presence of CsCl depresses the melting temperature for all of the rare earth chlorides tested. The LiCl-KCl-CsCl-LaCl3 system departs from eutectic behavior and manifests peritectic behavior. The LiCl-KCl-CsCl-GdCl3 system shows peritectic behavior at only low GdCl3 and high CsCl concentrations. The LiCl-KCl-CsCl-NdCl3 system continues to exhibit purely eutectic behavior for all of the concentration windows tested for this work.
... The accumulation in the atmosphere of anthropogenic greenhouse gases -primarily carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels-and its causal link to the planet global warming is perhaps the most daunting apprehension modern-day mankind will be confronted with over the next few decades [1][2][3]. Whether by reducing our reliance on fossil energy by developing renewable carbon-free energy sources or by expanding carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) technologies to prevent the release of large quantities of CO 2 into the atmosphere [4], permanent mitigation solutions must promptly be put in place. ...
Heat generation from passive CO2 sequestration in mafic/ultramafic mining wastes and tailings remains a poorly explored facet of ambient mineral carbonation. In this work, heat generation and carbon dioxide uptake during the carbonation of brucite were monitored in a specially-designed dual-cell carbonation reactor replicating environmental conditions. The reactor was instrumented with a passive infrared thermography imaging system combined with CO2 sensing and tactically positioned thermocouples to yield the instantaneous evolution of i) surface temperature changes induced by carbon dioxide sequestration, ii) heat fluxes exchanged between the reacting mineral layer and its surroundings, and iii) intrinsic carbonation rates. Comparison with the adiabatic temperature rise of the surface temperature variations measured through infrared thermography highlighted significant differences in normalizing the specific heat generation rate of carbonation with respect to the carbonating mineral or to the entire hosting solid matrix. The impact of ambient atmosphere reservoir was considerable with sizable heat fluxes pumped out of the reacting material to an extent to impede temperature rises from neighbouring their theoretical adiabatic temperature analogs. This prospective study on model brucite mineral portends future prospects for assessing heat generation for the sequestration of carbon dioxide using complex multi-mineral matrices such as magnesium-silicate mineral residues.
... Agro forestry would be one of the interesting areas of research in land-use related to carbon dioxide is currently accumulating in the atmosphere at the rate of about 3.4 Pg/yr (1Pg=1 billon tonnes) as a result of fossil fuel combustion and land-use change (IPCC, 1995). The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) estimated that it may be possible, over the course of the next 50-100 years, to remove between 40 and 80 Pg of the carbon by sequestrating it through agro forestry. ...
Representative soil profiles, one from prevailing lowland and three from different aged raised bed land were collected from the Dankuni basin of West Bengal with a view to assess the variations in physical, physicochemical and chemical properties of raised bed soils with respect to time as compared with the that of lowland soils. The results showed that in spite of severe disturbances while raised bed-pond structure construction, there was consistent improvement in the physical, physicochemical and chemical environment of raised bed soils with passage of time and the effect was more pronounced with advanced stages than the recent development in the existing lowland. The technology of raised bed-pond configuration, besides ensuring drainage in monsoon and providing assured irrigation in post monsoon, would likely to recover the soil health for stainable crop production.
... coastal stability, marine and coastal pollution and marine operations planning 4-6 . However, the Earth's climate is dynamic and varies naturally over a range of time-scales 7 . These variations and trends tend to instigate a number of physical processes culminating a 'herculean' impact on the marine environment. ...
p>The wave spectrum of the northern region of the Bay of Bengal is developed and analyzed. A meticulous analysis shows variations of the wave spectrum of this region in the four meteorological seasons namely spring (March, April, May), summer (June, July, August), autumn (September, October, November) and winter (December, January, February). Real time wave data have been collected from a moored buoy of Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Service (INCOIS) located at 89.675° E longitude and 18.191° N latitude. Varying
two-parameter (mean wave period and significant wave height) wave spectra for the four seasons are obtained and formulae for all the four spectra are derived. The adequacy of the different spectra is indicated by comparing with different wave spectra of known formulations.</p
... Different cultural identities in different parts of the world lead to more differences in the world and a decrease in international cooperation. Local customs and growth increase are emphasized, and there is less emphasis on economic issues (1/65 per cent per year) (IPCC, Climate Change, 2001;IPCC, Climate Change, 2007). In the present study, the Had-CM3 GCM has been used. ...
Purpose
This study aims to present the climate change effect on potential evapotranspiration (ETP) in future periods.
Design/methodology/approach
Daily minimum and maximum temperature, solar radiation and precipitation weather parameters have been downscaled by global circulation model (GCM) and Lars-WG outputs. Weather data have been estimated according to the Had-CM3 GCM and by A1B, A2 and B1 scenarios in three periods: 2011-2030, 2045-2046 and 2080-2099. To select the more suitable method for ETP estimation, the Hargreaves-Samani (H-S) method and the Priestly–Taylor (P-T) method have been compared with the Penman-Monteith (P-M) method. Regarding the fact that the H-S method has been in better accordance with the P-M method, ETP in future periods has been estimated by this method for different scenarios.
Findings
In all five stations, in all three scenarios and in all three periods, ETP will increase. The highest ETP increase will occur in the A1B scenario and then in the A1 scenario. The lowest increase will occur in the B1 scenario. In the 2020 decade, the highest ETP increase in three scenarios will occur in Khorramabad and then Hamedan. Kermanshah, Sanandaj and Ilam stations come at third to fifth place, respectively, with a close increase in amount. In the 2050 decade, ETP increase percentages in all scenarios are close to each other in all the five stations. In the 2080 decade, ETP increase percentages in all scenarios will be close to each other in four stations, namely, Kermanshah, Sanandaj, Khorramabad and Hamedan, and Ilam station will have a higher increase compared with the other four stations.
Originality/value
Meanwhile, the highest ETP increase will occur in hot months of the year, which are significant with regard to irrigation and water resources.
... The carbon dioxide emissions and vast release of solid waste by industrial processes has led to global warming, which brings about adverse effect to human activity. Various industrial processes accounted for approximately 14% of the total carbon dioxide emissions and 20% of the total greenhouse gas emissions in 2010 [1]. According to [2], the assembling division, which lies at the centre of the modern economy, must be made to protect elevated living standards accomplished by industrialized social orders and, in turn, to empower social order to achieve and sustain a similar level of affluence. ...
Meltless recycling technique has been utilized to overcome the lack of primary resources, focusing on reducing the usage of energy and materials. Hot press was proposed as a novel direct recycling technique which results in astoundingly low energy usage in contrast with conventional recycling. The aim of this study is to prove the technical feasibility of this approach by characterizing the recycled samples. For this purpose, AA6061 aluminium chips were recycled by utilizing hot press process under various operating temperature (Ts = 430, 480, and 530 °C) and holding times (ts = 60, 90, and 120 min). The maximum mechanical properties of recycled chip are Ultimate tensile strength (UTS) = 266.78 MPa, Elongation to failure (ETF) = 16.129%, while, for surface integrity of the chips, the calculated microhardness is 81.744 HV, exhibited at Ts = 530 °C and ts = 120 min. It is comparable to theoretical AA6061 T4-temper where maximum UTS and microhardness is increased up to 9.27% and 20.48%, respectively. As the desired mechanical properties of forgings can only be obtained by means of a final heat treatment, T5-temper, aging after forging process was employed. Heat treated recycled billet AA6061 (T5-temper) are considered comparable with as-received AA6061 T6, where the value of microhardness (98.649 HV) at 175 °C and 120 min of aging condition was revealed to be greater than 3.18%. Although it is quite early to put a base mainly on the observations in experimental settings, the potential for significant improvement offered by the direct recycling methods for production aluminium scrap can be clearly demonstrated. This overtures perspectives for industrial development of solid state recycling processes as environmentally benign alternatives of current melting based practices.
... This finding is realized by the national science academies of all the major industrialized countries and is not disputed by any scientific body of national or international standing. Particularly, the majority of scientists specify that the warming in current decades has been caused first and foremost by human being activities that have enlarged the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere such as deforestation, fossil fuel combustion and destroyed biodiversity of ocean by over harvesting fishery (United States National Academy of Sciences., 2008, National Research Council of USA., 2010). The main international mitigation effort is the Kyoto Protocol, which seeks to stabilize greenhouse gas concentration to prevent a "dangerous anthropogenic interference" ( UNFCCC, 2005). ...
Environmental education has been accepted and applied for encouraging the global citizens to take a responsible
practice through their behavior changing in daily life activity. This might be an effective and rapid change to decrease the
greenhouse gases via the awareness raising, attitude and value adjusting, skill and participation increasing including real
practice in daily living. The populations will be undergraduate students of academic year 2011 of Mahasarakham University. The
Multi-stage random sampling was used to collect the sample for 450 undergraduate students from different faculties. The
questionnaire was employed as instrument for data collecting. LISREL was used for model verification. Results illustrated that
considering on structural model confirmatory factors of Environmental Education (EE) was able to explain the variation of
endogenous factors of Psychological Trait (Trait) caused endogenous factor of Environmental Behaviors for Global Warming
Alleviation (BEH) with 82.0 percents. BEH = 0.29 TRAIT + 0.75 EE ……………………..(1)
(R2 = 0.82)
Economies and livelihoods in the Caribbean strongly depend on the terrestrial and marine natural resource base. There are critical gaps in quantitative data and the contextual and compositional factors affecting perceptions of changes in ecosystems and natural resources. This paper used interview data from 441 households in Belize, Dominican Republic, and Suriname to explore the contextual and compositional determinants of perceptions of change in the quality of the terrestrial, coastal/marine environment, and natural resources as a composite variable. The outcome variable comprised changes in fishing effort, marine and coastal environment, forest cover, agricultural land area, and soil fertility, and relationships with predictor variables was explored using univariate, bivariate, and three multivariate models. At the univariate level, most respondents in Belize and Suriname reported perceiving a significant increase in fishing effort (i.e. days and fuel spent at sea) and a decrease in forest cover, quality of the coastal/marine environment, area of agricultural land, and fertility and productivity of soils. Sex, marital status, household size, and years of experience were not significantly associated with the terrestrial variables and fishing effort. Sex was only significantly associated with the quality of the marine environment. At the multivariate level, the elderly, high school education, and household incomes were associated with a lower perception of the outcome variable. It is concluded that policy and interventions should strongly consider ethnicity and community, and improve education and household incomes to enhance perceptions of changes in the quality of the terrestrial and coastal/marine environment in the studied countries.
Purpose
Industries worldwide have been striving to serve the increasing demand of consumers alongside providing importance to environmental issues. Yet, there are concern-raising changes on the planet, such as greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions resulting in a temperature rise. India remains a vital party of the United Nations Convention on Climate Change. Henceforth, the paper aims to study the increased emissions of GHG in Puducherry, an Indian Union Territory that faces tremendous pressure owing to its denser population.
Design/methodology/approach
The research is designed as a case study conducted in a tyre manufacturing unit in Puducherry. The industrial sector was chosen, as it is the largest contributor (78%) of the total GHG emissions. Case studies were chosen to analyse the GHG emissions and the effects of implementing the policies and imposing interventions over time. The identified areas of improvement, proposed changes and the implemented ones with the results over a three-year period have been discussed.
Findings
The present study’s GHG inventorisation for Puducherry paved the way for preparing mitigation and adaptation plans. A total of 21 and 48 changes were incorporated to conserve fuel and power, respectively. A significant 11% reduction in power consumption and 1,113,008/litres of furnace oil was achieved. This translates to 5,115 tCO 2 and 3,306 tCO 2 , respectively.
Practical implications
This research will help to improve the importance of climate change management in the manufacturing sector, and it will pave the way for achieving effective sustainable practices.
Originality/value
Such case studies could cumulatively impact the policy directives/ interventions on GHG emissions. Though this seems a small leap, putting them into practice at firm levels would contribute significantly towards achieving Sustainable Development Goals.
Last draft (November 30, 2023): please do not cite or distribute.
Abstract: A prominent tool employed to encourage the green transition of the energy system are renewable energy source electricity subsidies. Despite their widespread usage, there is only little evidence of their effects on the performance of electricity generators. To ll this void in the literature, this study examines the responses of firm-level productivity to country-level renewable subsidies, applying a dataset covering European electricity generators from 2012 to 2020. European electricity generation sectors are particularly interesting given the substantial liberalisations in the past decades, various historical backgrounds and the differing preferences for energy sources. Supporting the literature examining the nexus in other industries, the overall results highlight that subsidies significantly reduce firm performance.
JEL: L25, L51, L94, Q48
The aims of this chapter are to seek answer, through a document review, case studies, and thematic content analysis, to which direction Southern Africa should take in the face of climate change and to suggest a framework for adaptations by communities experiencing climatic events. Acknowledging that the fundamental set of ideas provided by indigenous knowledge (IK) works best at a small scale, the chapter argues for the need to seriously value IK-based response practices in the knowledge hybridization agenda. The worsening vulnerability potentiated by the increasing magnitude and severity of climate change impacts is a reminder that local-based indigenous response practices in Africa need to be complemented. Adaptation to climate change calls for real and surreal measures all being applied in combination. Across Africa, these measures have, at times, included the preservation of forest resources which increased carbon sinking and enhanced community resilience against climate change. Universalistic and orthodox sciences have punctuated and amplified these efforts by speaking of such initiatives as mitigation and adaptation through programs, e.g., Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) and ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA). The merits of the two approaches have resulted in increasing call among scholars for the merging of these programs with IK. However, it remains to be fully understood how such a hybrid approach could be operationalized without treating the latter as an inferior element in climate science discourses.
Our research develops a framework that explores how to fuel the climate movement by accelerating grassroots, community‐based climate action. Drawing on insights from consumer psychology, our framework identifies the psychological mechanisms that encourage and motivate people, both individually and collectively, to take climate action, thereby contributing to our understanding of how to advance social action and propel a social movement. Our climate action framework builds on: (1) individuals we describe as climate upstanders who rise up to take climate action with like‐minded others, and (2) communities of climate upstanders who engage in collective action aimed at addressing the climate crisis. Our framework expands the field of consumer psychology by redefining the role of consumers to include the practice of social action and broadening the study of consumers to include collective, community‐based action. We call on consumer psychologists to research individual and collective consumer practices related to social action and contribute to making social good central to the study of consumer psychology.
Chapter 1 outlines a brief description of various domains covered in this book and the carbon emitted by each one of them while performing their normal activities. The chapter highlights the usage of AI/ML to predict the climate change consequences arising due to investment in fossil fuel sectors, predicts CO2 emissions from the transport sector, forecasts average land temperature due to non-renewable sources of energy, and segments Indian states on the basis of household carbon emissions. The remaining chapters dive deep into the individual domains and present insights which can guide us to arrest the negative impacts of climate change. The financial institutions, energy, and transportation sectors, as well as individuals, can be encouraged to collect data from operations activities and every part of the value chain, and then use AI-powered data engineering to track emissions throughout their carbon footprint.
The hydrological cycle (HyC) is affected by several factors, but climate and land use/land cover (LU/LC) are the most influential ones. This chapter has tried to show some satellite-based land use/land cover feature extraction methods that are useful for climate studies. Several literature works have claimed that climate is more influential than land use. Land use has an impact on several components of the hydrological cycle. This chapter provides a perspective on climate change, urbanization, land degradation, and other disasters and also on the usage of land use/land cover features in the study of the hydrological cycle. The anomaly in solar radiation due to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and its impact on climatic factors and the hydrological cycle with its implication in food production is briefed. Some of the global measurement missions for precipitation and land surface temperature (LST) are also discussed. To investigate the influence of land use/land cover on the hydrological cycle, identification of a particular class or all land use classes of a particular region may be essential. This chapter uses the synoptic view of satellite data and attempts to exercise certain indices to identify certain classes and classification algorithms to classify land use classes. This work has also experimented with certain classification algorithms to delineate some land use/land cover features and has also pointed out some limitations in the application of indices. This chapter discusses the factors that influence the hydrological cycle and highlights the usage of satellite data in regional studies.KeywordsHydrological cycleLand use/land coverClimateUrbanization and greenhouse gases
Membrane technology in the field of biogas purification is preferred over other conventional processes as it offers easy installation, cheaper processing cost and reduced carbon footprint. Membrane technology has been majorly exploited in biogas separation in the recent past. As a promising CO2 separation approach from biogas based on facilitated transport (FT) mechanism, nanocellulose (NC) based membranes add great advantages like high specific surface area, hydrophilicity, surface modification possibility, environmental friendliness and excellent mechanical properties. This paper investigates a systematic review on the feasibility of employing NC based membranes for facilitated CO2 separation from biogas. It discusses about the importance of carriers in FTM and the conformity of different models with the experimental data. The impact of various internal and external (processing) variables that affect the permeance and selectivity of the membrane i.e., the overall separation performance of membrane is emphasized in this review. Lastly, the future scope, challenges that need to overcome the effective employment of such membranes are discussed.
An ever-evolving environment is a constant on our planet Earth. Our economic and social well-being is influenced by the environment. People have been attempting to manipulate the environment since the dawn of technology in a variety of ways. When we try to control the environment, it just sails away. Humans have come to realize that regulating the environment is impossible since nature always finds a way to get its own way. Humans, on the other hand, have evolved ways for predicting the environment’s behavior by monitoring abrupt changes in the paraments and making essential calculations. Computers have taken over the majority of the computations, and artificial Inelegance algorithms have taken over the prediction systems, over time. However, the quality of the information utilized to make an informed decision is critical to protecting our environment. In today's environmental protection, computers play an important role in duties including monitoring, data processing, and communication. AI approaches have had a profound effect on environmental decision support systems’ conception and development. Many articles were analyzed and categorized in order to uncover answers that already exist related to the impact of the environmental changes. Access to dynamic environmental information may be gained using GeoWeb APIs. In order to bring processing to the data, cloud computing and array-friendly databases would be helpful. Geotagging and location sensing will help convert citizen scientists into environmental data collectors. The usage of a combined cycle steam power plant for electricity generation has been observed. When looking at the environmental effect, a thorough investigation is necessary. Acidification potential (AP) was determined to have the greatest influence, with NOx being the most significant cause. On-site energy consumption data were gathered, which included the amount of power used by each piece of equipment and each structure. This study examines the link between the organizational context and the development of dynamic capacities in the setting of environmental unpredictability. Economic tools from poultry farms to the production of consumer goods all rely heavily on environmental monitoring. Additionally, IoT and blockchain have a significant impact on environmental monitoring and prediction. Open-data sources that contain a wide range of environmental information may be utilized for a number of environmental analytical objectives, which in turn can have a positive impact on human well-being in the long run. An example of this can be the system that replicates the water quality in Moscow’s rivers and canals. A neural network was trained to classify a condition as either good or bad based on the data it received from the indicators. Using AI framework, policymakers, researchers, and innovators may make educated decisions on the potential and problems posed by recent changes in the environment. Authors believe that AI-based prediction systems can help humans achieve steady economic and societal goals.KeywordsEconomic and social well-beingEnvironmental decision support systemsGeoWeb APIsGeotagging and location sensingAcidification potentialIoT and blockchain
The global impacts of the spaceflight industry have historically been viewed as limited in scope, without significant growth, and therefore not requiring regulatory attention. As a result, little scientific attention has been paid to the impacts of rocket launches and space debris reentries on climate and stratospheric ozone. However, the space industry has recently seen revolutionary change and growth with the development of new heavy lift rockets, deployments of large low earth orbit satellite constellations, and the introduction of new space-based data services. As the visibility of a rapidly growing spaceflight industry increases, so will the public's interest to understand how spaceflight affects climate, the role it plays in the broader scope of greenhouse gas emissions, and the global response to climate change. Though recent scientific research has answered a few outstanding questions about spaceflight's climate impacts, science and technology advancements and prospects for growth have raised many more so that, in a relative sense, knowledge of spaceflight's climate impacts has declined. Scientific uncertainties, coupled with increased rocket launches and space debris reentries, mean that a space policy based on the assumption of limited global impacts is no longer appropriate. Policymakers will require a comprehensive assessment of the global consequences of spaceflight in order to make effective and informed decisions to guide spaceflight development in coming decades. Stakeholders across the space industry should recognize the urgency of the need to organize and properly fund a vigorous program of scientific research in order to understand the global impacts of spaceflight. Such a science based policy would forestall unwarranted regulation and ensure regulatory impartiality where regulation is unavoidable.
The dynamics and likely associative link between global warming and the prevalence of preterm births in Ukraine over the years 2009-2018 was studied. to form modern ideas about the prognosis and prevention of this pathology. Data on medical care for pregnant women, mothers and parturients and adverse effects of pregnancy on preterm birth (form 21) for the period 2009-2018 were obtained from the municipal non-profit enterprise "Ternopil Regional Center of Public Health of Ternopil Regional Council". The correlation between the number of premature births per 100 births according to the average annual air temperature according to the Global Historical Climatology Network from the US Department of Ocean and Atmospheric Research in the climatically homogeneous regions of Ukraine was estimated. Predictive analysis of time series was performed by the method of integrated auto-regression of the moving average (ARIMA). The model error was estimated by calculating the absolute percentage error of the mean (MAPE). Statistical processing of materials was performed using programs Statistica 6.0 (StatSoft, USA) and open statistical package "R". The study meets modern requirements of moral and ethical standards regarding the provisions of legislative acts of Ukraine. Analysis of these reports of women's counseling shows an increase in the average number of preterm births from 2.88 per 100 births in the total number of births in Ukraine – 491445 in 2009 to 3.33, per 100 births in the total number of 309191 in 2018, which testifies to a significant increase in premature births in our country. Since 2009, there has been an annual, varying degree of increase in average annual air temperature in Ukraine. As a result of the correlation analysis, a significant strong direct correlation was established between the average level of premature birth and the average annual air temperature in Ukraine (r=0.84, p
The UN Climate Technology Centre and Network (CTCN) assisted Jamaica to identify a multidisciplinary research and technological development (R&TD) agenda that incorporates collaboration with academia, R&TD centres and the private sector. The Agenda outlines the research priorities of five key sectors: Agriculture & Fisheries, Water, Energy, Human Settlement & Infrastructure, and Waste. As a national document, the Agenda will support the achievement of climate change targets identified in relevant policy frameworks, including the Nationally Determined Contributions and the National Development Plan – Vision 2030.
Today’s energy needs are primarily provided by fossil fuels, which are harvested from the earth. Consuming fossil fuels to provide energy for civilization releases products into the atmosphere that contribute to climate change. Ongoing efforts to combat the existential crisis which climate change presents many of the emerging and commercialized technologies for solar, thermoelectric and battery applications involve transition metal chalcogenides. Some of the materials used for these applications are expensive and rare, such as gallium, vanadium and indium, or have no merits towards environmental stewardship, such as cadmium and lead. Thus, the purpose of this work is to further the ongoing effort to discover and develop new materials which are able to meet or exceed benchmarks for their application. This work focuses on the development of various metal chalcogenide material systems featuring d-block transition metals selected for their contribution to alter structure and properties. Various thermal, electronic and optical properties can be changed through substitution or doping with additional elements to affect to the base composition or as part of a gradient composition series. After an extensive description of experimental methods which describe the associated materials synthesis, processing and characterization techniques in chapter 2, chapter 3 explores the Cu4-xLixS2 phases for their contribution as further evidence in the formation of lithiated copper sulfide phases as part of the intercalation reaction before being converted to the binaries copper and lithium sulfide. Chapter 4 documents the development of Cu4TiSe4, a novel material with potential for thin-film photovoltaic technologies with its band gap in the range where the solar spectrum is the most bountiful (Eg,indirect = 1.16 eV, Eg,direct = 1.34 eV), an outstanding optical absorbance ( > 10-4 cm-1) outperforming commercially successful materials in the solar spectrum, and suitable for thin-film fabrication. Chapter 5 describes a brief study in utilizing elemental substitution in Cu4TiSe4 to alter the band gap by replacing sulfur into the selenium site. In this study, the amount of selenium which may be substituted without deviating from the parent Cu4TiSe4 structure is 16 % at and the direct band gap is alterable from 1.34 eV to 1.64 eV as determined from conducting tauc analysis on the diffuse reflectance spectra. The last experimental work in Chapter 6 covers the development of a chemical substitution series between the end compounds Cu3NbS4 and Cu3NbSe4. Through powdered x-ray diffraction of the series, it was found that for substituting less than 25% of the sulfur with selenium, the powdered patterns more closely resembled Cu3NbS4 and with shift which may see further development and application in optoelectronic devices such as LEDs. Finally, Chapter 7 provides further guidance in the research which this thesis may serve as a springboard for the development of ultra-high efficiency, low-cost, environmentally friendly and thin photovoltaics as well as mention other characterization methods which are necessary to diagnose and elucidate complications.
The complex nature of climate change-mediated multitrophic interaction is an underexplored area, but has the potential to dramatically shift transmission and distribution of many insects and their pathogens, placing some populations closer to the brink of extinction. However, for individual insect-pathogen interactions climate change will have complicated hard-to-anticipate impacts. Thus, both pathogen virulence and insect host immunity are intrinsically linked with generalized stress responses, and in both pathogen and host have extensive trade-offs with nutrition (e.g., host plant quality), growth and reproduction. Potentially alleviating or exasperating these impacts, some pathogens and hosts respond genetically and rapidly to environmental shifts. This review identifies many areas for future research including a particular need to identify how altered global warming interacts with other environmental changes and stressors, and how consistent these impacts are across pathogens and hosts. With that achieved we would be closer to producing an overarching framework to integrate knowledge on all environmental interplay and infectious disease events.
The International Panel on Climate Change and the World Meteorological Organization confirms risks of global warming. There is a growing interest in the prevalence of respiratory viral infections due to the current climate change. The aim of the research was to study and analyze the dynamics of prevalence of acute respiratory viral infections/influenza for 2006–2018 in Ukraine in relation to global warming. Materials and methods. In the course of the research, information and analytical reports provided by the Ternopil Regional Laboratory Center of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine on the incidence of respiratory viral infections in 24 regions of Ukraine and the Autonomous Republic of Crimea were used. Results. In Kyiv, Vinnytsia, Rivne, Sumy, Volyn, Zhytomyr, Kirovohrad, Zaporizhia, Zakarpattia, Khmelnytsky, Cherkasy, Odesa, Kherson, and Mykolayiv regions, there was an annual grow of morbidity, with varying degree, compared to 2006. In Poltava, Ternopil and Chernihiv regions level of viral infection was lower than in 2006 only in two or three years of the 12-year research period. In Ivano-Frankivsk, Chernivtsi and Dnipropetrovsk regions, about half of the studied years were characterized by the grow of morbidity from influenza compared to 2006, and in other years after the decrease there was a tendency to increase of morbidity from influenza. Only in Lviv and Kharkiv regions the level of morbidity from respiratory viral infection was higher only in 2007 and 2009 compared to 2006. In Luhansk, Donetsk regions and the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, in the period 2007–2013 the grow of influenza prevalence was observed compared to 2006. Conclusion. Thus, in the context of increasing global warming in Ukraine from 2006 to 2018, there was a higher level of influenza/acute respiratory viral infections, compared to the period up to 2006. Keywords: respiratory viral infections, global warming.
The frequent occurrence of a forest fire can be detrimental to the functioning of ecologically fragile
regions such as the Western Himalaya. This study assesses the spatio-temporal variability and
trends of fire occurrence in forests, shrubland, and grassland in relation to anthropogenic activities
and climate oscillations over Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh; the most fire-affected states in
the Western Himalaya. The Pre-monsoon (March to June) temporal distribution of fire occurrence is
bimodal with the first and second fire peaks occurring in the last week of April and late May/early
June, respectively. The length of fire season was found to have reduced by ~ 10 days in 2010s
compared to 2000s with the increasing burned area concentration over a shorter period
(~110 days). The Mann-Kendall Tau (τ) and Sen’s-slope suggested an increasing trend (τ = 0.3,
Sen’s slope = 46.78 km2 year−1, p = 0.02) of burn area over Uttarakhand where most fire activity
occurs. The Getis-Ords (Gi*) statistic was derived by using Fire Radiative Power (FRP) data to infer
the spatial distribution of hot and cold clusters which were found to be greatest (Gi* = 1–10) in
evergreen needleleaf forest which also accounted for a marginally higher mean per-pixel FRP than
other land cover types. Analyses of the role of climatic variables on fire activity revealed moderate
positive and negative correspondence between the burned area and average maximumtemperature
(R = 0.57, p = 0.01) and total precipitation (R = – 0.53, p = 0.02), respectively.
Assessment of the variation of fire activity with global climatic oscillation indices found the
Niño-3.4 index to have the strongest, albeit modest, relationship (R = 0.51) with burned area
anomalies. This study highlights the increase in fire intensity in the fragile forests of the Western
Himalayan region and the requirement for further research into the role of climate and anthropogenic
activities on fire occurrence in order to best preserve regional biodiversity and develop an
effective forest management strategy.
The aims of this chapter are to seek answer, through a document review, case studies, and thematic content analysis, to which direction Southern Africa should take in the face of climate change and to suggest a framework for adaptations by communities experiencing climatic events. Acknowledging that the fundamental set of ideas provided by indigenous knowledge (IK) works best at a small scale, the chapter argues for the need to seriously value IK-based response practices in the knowledge hybridization agenda. The worsening vulnerability potentiated by the increasing magnitude and severity of climate change impacts is a reminder that local-based indigenous response practices in Africa need to be complemented. Adaptation to climate change calls for real and surreal measures all being applied in combination. Across Africa, these measures have, at times, included the preservation of forest resources which increased carbon sinking and enhanced community resilience against climate change. Universalistic and orthodox sciences have punctuated and amplified these efforts by speaking of such initiatives as mitigation and adaptation through programs, e.g., Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) and ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA). The merits of the two approaches have resulted in increasing call among scholars for the merging of these programs with IK. However, it remains to be fully understood how such a hybrid approach could be operationalized without treating the latter as an inferior element in climate science discourses.
This research was carried out to determine whether the changes in precipitation and temperature trend in Iran are attributed to climate change or natural climate variability. The trend and its magnitude with the climatic extremes indices considered by Expert Team on Climate Change Detection and Indices were analysed based on the quality‐controlled daily data of 37 meteorological stations by nonparametric Mann–Kendall test and Sen's slope method from 1966 to 2015. Results indicated that TXx, TNn, the average maximum, and minimum temperature indices have increased with a significant trend in most parts of Iran. The minimum temperatures (TNn and annual Tmin) were increased more rapidly than maximum temperatures (TXx and annual Tmax) and rising temperatures have occurred in northern latitude and western regions more than elsewhere. As a result, the temperature increase leads to changes in seasons and season length; and reduces the growing season of a variety of plants. On the other hand, the MK test detected an insignificant trend of PRCPTOT, R10, R20, and R95p, in most of the stations. The observations showed that CDD had no trend and consecutive wet day had a significant decreasing trend; subsequently, SDII has increased. Besides, RX1day and RX5day indices have gradually decreased, so that Max5‐day has not shown any trend during 1966–2015. Wet day precipitation as well as number of heavy and very heavy precipitation days tend to decrease across the study area. The west and northwest of the country have a more significant trend of precipitation indices. Overall, temperature extreme indices are increasing and precipitation indices are decreasing, which may largely be due to the natural climate variability or urban heat island. Given that climate change is a trans‐regional phenomenon, it is important to examine the climate of neighbouring countries during the same period, as well. Generally, the findings could provide helpful information for agriculture and food security, water, and eco‐social‐environmental planners.
As climate change has become a global issue, it is important to assess its impacts on not only our modern day resources, but also our archaeological resources. An archaeological approach to climate change sheds light on themes of resilience, natural and cultural relationships, public outreach, social inequalities, and interdisciplinary perspectives (Hudson et al. 2012). In this paper, we organize fifteen archaeological and historical sites within the southeastern United States in a way that highlights their status regarding current climate change effects and their preservation needs. Tying these sites to these five themes, we show how consideration of southeastern archaeology can contribute to the global narrative on climate change.
This study derives methane emission rates from 92 airborne observations collected over 23 facilities including 5 refineries, 10 landfills, 4 wastewater treatment plants (POTWs), 2 composting operations and 2 dairies in the San Francisco Bay Area. Emission rates are measured using an airborne mass balance technique from a low-flying aircraft. Annual measurement-based sector-wide methane emissions are 19,000 ±2,300 Mg for refineries, 136,700 ±25,900 Mg for landfills, 11,900 ±1,500 Mg for POTWs, and 11,100 ±3,400 Mg for composting. The average of measured emissions for each refinery ranges from 4 to 23 times larger than corresponding emissions reported to regulatory agencies, while measurement-derived landfill and POTW estimates are approximately twice the current inventory estimates. Significant methane emissions at composting facilities indicate that a California mandate to divert organics from landfills to composting may not be an effective measure for mitigating methane emissions unless best management practices are instituted at composting facilities. Complementary evidence from airborne remote sensing imagery indicates atmospheric venting from refinery hydrogen plants, landfill working surfaces, composting stockpiles, etc., to be among the specific source types responsible for the observed discrepancies. This work highlights the value of multiple measurement approaches to accurately estimate facility-scale methane emissions and perform source attribution at sub-facility scales to guide and verify effective mitigation policy and action.
Although there is natural variability in climate when measured over millions or billions of years, the speed of climate change has accelerated as a result of human activity. Globally, the impacts of climate change include an increase in the annual mean surface air temperature and changes in rainfall patterns, with some regions getting more rainstorms and others becoming much drier. At a global scale, these rapid changes could result in regional food shortages triggering a massive amount of human migration, putting stress on food production as well as increasing political instability. In Florida, the impacts of climate change are likely to include flooding associated with sea-level rise, an increase in invasive species, damage to the coral reefs, and increased numbers of damaging hurricanes.
Global warming and climate change cause sea level to rise, which will result in the coastline being impacted by higher waves and higher tide levels. The increase in waves and tide level will influence the design, effectiveness and stability of the coastal structures. To ensure that the coastal structures are adequately designed and perform satisfactorily during their design lifespan, it is necessary to have an understanding of the extent of sea level rise (SLR) and the increased forces that the structures will be subjected to. A study was carried out to assess the design parameters for the existing and the year 2100 conditions by means of numerical models for the coast of Terengganu, Peninsular Malaysia. A design comparison is then carried out between previous sea level condition (assuming SLR=0) and that with the 2100 projected sea level rise condition (SLR = 0.35m) at Kuala Terengganu, to represent the coast Terengganu. The results indicate that the range of increase in the structure crest level is from 0.30 to 0.37 m, hence the structure crest level has to rise by a magnitude that is larger than the corresponding increase in mean sea level. The increase crest level is largely controlled by an increase in wave run up caused by the nearshore wave height increase due to SLR The design comparison shows that the armour rock size will also need to be increased by 2 to 5 percent, to withstand the increased in wave forces. Results from this study can be used by coastal engineers, planners, and elected representatives at various levels of the government and interested community stakeholders in coastal planning, design and sustainable risk management in adapting to future sea level rise impact.
This report has the goal to explore the innovation status and challenges for (a selection of) sectors which represent a large share of global greenhouse gas emissions (i.e. the power sector and basic materials industries, including part of their value chains) and how international (bi-lateral or multilateral) cooperation on innovation can help accelerate the development and diffusion of clean technologies in these sectors.
The scientific evidence for anthropogenic climate change is empirically settled, but communicating it to nonscientific audiences remains challenging. To be explicit about the state of knowledge on climate science, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has adopted a vocabulary that ranks climate findings through certainty-calibrated qualifiers of confidence and likelihood. In this article, we quantified the occurrence of knowns and unknowns about "The Physical Science Basis" of the IPCC's Fifth Assessment Report by counting the frequency of calibrated qualifiers. We found that the tone of the IPCC's probabilistic language is remarkably conservative (mean confidence is medium, and mean likelihood is 66%-100% or 0-33%), and emanates from the IPCC recommendations themselves, complexity of climate research, and exposure to politically motivated debates. Leveraging communication of uncertainty with overwhelming scientific consensus about anthropogenic climate change should be one element of a wider reform, whereby the creation of an IPCC outreach working group could enhance the transmission of climate science to the panel's audiences.
Patients, policy makers, and the public have access to many types of health and scientific data relevant to various individual and societal decisions. Yet, these audiences often struggle with the meaning and the potential usefulness of those data, so they may choose not to engage with the data at all. Scientific and health data are generally difficult to interpret, yet presentations often implicitly assume that the recipient has the necessary contextual knowledge to identify the data’s meaning. To address this problem, designers of data communications should go beyond considering audience characteristics (e.g., numeracy) and focus more on increasing information evaluability (a concept from the judgment and decision-making literatures). The challenge is understanding which data characteristics guide people’s ability to extract meaning from data in a given situation. Prioritizing use-relevant contextual information (e.g., by defining action thresholds, comparison standards, meaningful categories, and/or significant differences) is the single best thing experts can do to improve data communication effectiveness. Doing so increases the chances that the patient, public, or policy maker audience does not just know what their numbers are but also what they mean.
Die angestrebte Transformation zur nachhaltigen, klimaneutralen Gesellschaft ist ein konfliktgeladener und riskanter Prozess, der technologische Innovationen, den gravierenden Wandel im Umgang des Menschen mit den Ökosystemen und gesellschaftliche Modernisierungsprozesse umfasst. Einer der wesentlichen Gründe für die Entstehung dieser neuen, komplexen gesellschaftlichen Konstellation ist die Überlappung von drei global wirkenden Transformationswellen: der Globalisierung, der Digitalisierung und der „Sustainabilisierung“. Diese Transformationsprozesse bieten große Chancen, zugleich bergen sie viele, zum Teil versteckte Risiken, die konzertierte und integrierte Anstrengungen von Regierungen, Wirtschaftsunternehmen und zivilgesellschaftlichen Gruppen erfordern und dabei stets mit großen Unsicherheiten und Mehrdeutigkeiten verbunden sind. Transformationsprozesse dieser Größenordnung sollten daher aus der Perspektive der Risikoforschung, insbesondere jener, die sich mit systemischen Risiken beschäftigt, betrachtet werden. Systemische Risiken sind durch Komplexität und Interdependenz, systemische Grenzüberschreitung, Nichtlinearität, Bifurkationspunkte und mangelnde gesellschaftliche Aufmerksamkeit gekennzeichnet. Diese Charakteristika unterscheiden systemische Risiken von herkömmlichen Risiken und machen dieses Konzept besonders fruchtbar für die Anwendung auf Transformationsprozesse. Der vorliegende Beitrag umfasst eine Analyse empirischer Transformationsprozesse aus der Perspektive systemischer Risiken am Beispiel des Klimawandels. Dieser Analyse schließt sich ein Ausblick in die Governance der systemischen Risiken von Transformationsprozessen an. Aufgrund ihres dynamischen Ausbreitungsverhaltens können systemische Risiken bislang unzureichend erfasst werden und lassen sich nur schwerlich in herkömmliche Governance-Strukturen einordnen. Sie verlangen nach neuen Institutionen und Verfahren, die sich gezielt der sekundären und tertiären Schadenswirkungen in den Auslagerungsbereichen annehmen. Dabei gilt es vor allem zu beantworten, wie sich eine inklusive nachhaltige Gesellschaftsentwicklung vorantreiben lässt, die die Chancen der Modernisierung, Digitalisierung und Globalisierung ergreift, aber deren Fallstricke vermeidet.
Climate change is the greatest global health threat of the twenty-first century, yet it is not widely understood as a health hazard by primary care providers in the United States. Aside from increasing displacement of populations and acute trauma resulting from increasing frequency of natural disasters, the impact of climate change on temperature stress, vector-borne illnesses, cardiovascular and respiratory illnesses, and mental health is significant, with disproportionate impact on underserved and marginalized populations. Primary care providers must be aware of the impact of climate change on the health of their patients and advocate for adaptation and mitigation policies for the populations they serve.
Planktonic cnidarians are those species or their life stages in the phylum Cnidaria that spent their life in the water column and, therefore, are tightly linked to oceanographic dynamics and water mass structures, such as fronts, and environmental gradients. The objective of this thesis is to understand the variability of the planktonic cnidarian community inhabiting the Catalan coast (NW Mediterranean) at different spatio-temporal scales, and their relationships with the hydrography and environmental parameters that characterized the study area. At short time scales (10 days), in spring, important changes in the abundance and spatial distribution of the two most abundant species were closely related to the shifting positions of a density front. The front acted as a barrier limiting offshore displacement of the species. At an interannual scale, changes in the abundance, structure and latitudinal distribution of the community were observed when comparing extreme warm (July 2003) and standard summer conditions (July 2004). The exceptional warm conditions in July 2003 due to a heat wave, lead to a reduction of the total abundance of the community and the latitudinal community ordination was reinforced. At an interdecadal scale, changes in species abundance, community composition and spatial distribution patterns were found during the month of June. Total cnidaria abundance increased and the latitudinal community distribution patterns were reinforced when comparing three representative years (1983, 2004 and 2011) of the climatic and anthropogenic changes occurred during the last three decades in the NW Mediterranean. Temperature was the main environmental factor explaining these changes, representative of the climatic trend from the colder 1980s to the warmer 2010s. Nevertheless, it is likely that others anthropogenic factors, such as overfishing, may have contributed to the observed changes over time. All these results are based on the study of a large and heterogeneous mesoscale area, characterized by different environmental gradients in bathymetry, temperature, salinity and primary production, and by different hydrodynamic structures, as well as on the species level identification of the whole community. The planktonic cnidarian community along the Catalan coast presents a high variability both at temporal and spatial scales, and is tightly related to hydrographic and environmental factors of the area, and influenced by climatic and anthropogenic changes occurred in the last three decades. These results show that it is extremely important to study and monitor planktonic cnidarians (included within gelatinous zooplankton) in mesoscale spatial areas, to robustly assess changes at temporal scales, and at species level, since species spatial changes are sensitive indicators of climate change.
CO2 remains the greenhouse gas that contributes most to anthropogenic global warming, and the evaluation of its emissions is of major interest to both research and regulatory purposes. Emission inventories generally provide quite reliable estimates of CO2 emissions. However, because of intrinsic uncertainties associated with these estimates, it is of great importance to validate emission inventories against independent estimates. This paper describes an integrated approach combining aircraft measurements and a puff dispersion modelling framework by considering a CO2 industrial point source, located in Biganos, France. CO2 density measurements were obtained by applying the mass balance method, while CO2 emission estimates were derived by implementing the CALMET/CALPUFF model chain. For the latter, three meteorological initializations were used: (i) WRF-modelled outputs initialized by ECMWF reanalyses; (ii) WRF-modelled outputs initialized by CFSR reanalyses and (iii) local in situ observations. Governmental inventorial data were used as reference for all applications. The strengths and weaknesses of the different approaches and how they affect emission estimation uncertainty were investigated. The mass balance based on aircraft measurements was quite succesful in capturing the point source emission strength (at worst with a 16% bias), while the accuracy of the dispersion modelling, markedly when using ECMWF initialization through the WRF model, was only slightly lower (estimation with an 18% bias). The analysis will help in highlighting some methodological best practices that can be used as guidelines for future experiments.
The impacts from climate change are increasing the possibility of vulnerable coastal species and habitats crossing critical thresholds that could spur rapid and possibly irreversible changes. For species of high conservation concern, improved knowledge of quantitative thresholds could greatly improve management. To meet this need, we synthesized information pertaining to biological responses as tipping points to sea level rise (SLR) and coastal storms for 45 fish, wildlife, and plant species along the U.S. Atlantic and Gulf Coasts and Caribbean through a literature review and expert elicitation. Although these species were selected based on their ecological, economic, and cultural importance, just over half (56%, n = 25) have quantitative threshold data currently available that can be used to assess the effects of SLR and storms during some aspect of their life history. Birds, reptiles, and plants represent the best studied coastal species. Thirteen of the species (29%) are projected to lose at least 50% of their population or habitat (e.g., foraging, nesting, spawning, or resting habitat) in some areas with a 0.5 m or greater rise in sea levels by 2100. Two species (a bird and reptile) may gain habitat from projected SLR and be resilient to future impacts. Numeric thresholds were not available for the remaining 20 species we searched for. Coastal fishes, mammals, and amphibians were among the groups representing a major information gap in this field of research. In addition, quantitative threshold responses to coastal storms were scarce for all taxa. While vulnerability assessments and qualitative research related to the impacts of SLR and storms on coastal species and habitats are increasing, work that incorporates quantitative thresholds as response and impact metrics remains limited. Additional monitoring, modeling, and research that provides multiple quantitative thresholds across species' life stages and/or latitudinal gradients is ideal to support robust coastal management and decision-making across spatio-temporal scales in the face of climate change.
In the book the results of studies of photochemical smog and its influence on the health of people in Tbilisi, which were conducted in 2009-2012 within the framework of the project GNSF/ST/5-437 are represented. Monitoring of smog forming and its associated atmospheric parameters was conducted both in the regime of stationary measurements on two fixed bases of observation and in the episodic regime of mobile measurements on 20 points in different districts of city (content in air of ozone, sub-micron aerosols, radon, light ions; solar radiation intensity, visibility, cloudiness, temperature, humidity, wind, pressure; the gamma-radiation of soil; intensity of galactic cosmic rays). The detailed analysis of the connections between the investigated parameters is given; the conditions for the formation of photochemical smog are determined; the special features of the effects of radionuclide emission in the formation of secondary aerosols under the conditions of the cities are revealed, which are described as the Tbilisi type of smog; laboratory experiments on the development of the methods of action on smog ozone are carried out; the effects of the action of the components of photochemical smog (ozone, aerosols, etc..) and other atmospheric parameters on the health of people are determined; recommendations regarding the softening of the negative action of smog on the population of city are proposed, etc.
It is intended for the scientific workers and engineers, lecturers, students, government and nongovernmental organizations, connected in their activity with the problems of atmospheric physics, ecology, public health, etc.
There is a growing problem of global environmental change and which is a world issue affecting one and all. Because of greenhouse effect, it is possible that average air temperature of the earth is increased by 0.5~2.0ºC, change takes place in the pattern of rain and snow, rainfall and evaporation as well. According to data concerned, carbon dioxide, methane and nitrogen oxide are major gases resulting in greenhouse effect. 15%~20% climate warming is due to methane, which is the second major greenhouse gas next to carbon dioxide and whose influence is 21 times that of carbon dioxide , so the problem of emission of methane is concerned by all professionals. The output of methane emitted from ruminants accounts for 1/5 th of that in atmosphere. In particular, cattle produce the greatest amount of methane, being 2~3 times that of other ruminants. Other livestock are also major resources creating greenhouse effect in the globe, they also release large amount of gases, such as carbon dioxide and ammonia making air pollution heavier. Consequently, it is very important to control harmful gases of animal husbandry production.
The Earth is a dynamic planet whose changes and variations affect our communications, energy, health, food, housing, and transportation infrastructure. Understanding these changes requires a range of observations acquired from a variety of land-, sea-, air-, and space-based platforms. To assist NASA, NOAA, and the USGS develop these tools, the NRC was asked by these agencies to carry out a decadal strategy survey of Earth science and applications from space. In particular, the study is to develop the key scientific questions on which to focus Earth and environmental observations in the period 2005-2015, and a prioritized list of space programs, missions, and supporting activities to address these questions. This interim report outlines a key element of the study-the rationale for tying Earth observations to societal need-and identifies urgent near-term actions needed to achieve this goal. A final report, due in late 2006, will provide the list of recommended space missions, programs, and supporting. © 2005 by the National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
Changes in climate are driven by natural and human-induced perturbations of the Earth's energy balance. These climate drivers or "forcings" include variations in greenhouse gases, aerosols, land use, and the amount of energy Earth receives from the Sun. Although climate throughout Earth's history has varied from "snowball" conditions with global ice cover to "hothouse" conditions when glaciers all but disappeared, the climate over the past 10,000 years has been remarkably stable and favorable to human civilization. Increasing evidence points to a large human impact on global climate over the past century. The report reviews current knowledge of climate forcings and recommends critical research needed to improve understanding. Whereas emphasis to date has been on how these climate forcings affect global mean temperature, the report finds that regional variation and climate impacts other than temperature deserve increased attention. © 2005 by the National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
The leaders of the U.S. Navy, Coast Guard, and Marine Corps have recognized the potential impact of climate change on naval forces' missions and have positioned their organizations to make adaptive changes. This report is the first component of a study to assess the implications of climate change for the U.S. Naval Services. Specifically, this report highlights issues that could have potential near-term impacts, impose a need for near-term awareness, or require near-term planning to ensure that longer-term naval capabilities are protected. The final report of this study will address all of the elements in the study's terms of reference and explore many potential implications of climate change not covered in this letter report.
The ocean has absorbed a significant portion of all human-made carbon dioxide emissions. This benefits human society by moderating the rate of climate change, but also causes unprecedented changes to ocean chemistry. Carbon dioxide taken up by the ocean decreases the pH of the water and leads to a suite of chemical changes collectively known as ocean acidification. The long term consequences of ocean acidification are not known, but are expected to result in changes to many ecosystems and the services they provide to society. Ocean Acidification: A National Strategy to Meet the Challenges of a Changing Ocean reviews the current state of knowledge, explores gaps in understanding, and identifies several key findings. Like climate change, ocean acidification is a growing global problem that will intensify with continued CO2 emissions and has the potential to change marine ecosystems and affect benefits to society. The federal government has taken positive initial steps by developing a national ocean acidification program, but more information is needed to fully understand and address the threat that ocean acidification may pose to marine ecosystems and the services they provide. In addition, a global observation network of chemical and biological sensors is needed to monitor changes in ocean conditions attributable to acidification. © 2010 by the National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
