Climate

Earth

Arctic seafloor a big source of methane

Measurements show that Arctic undersea methane deposits, previously thought to be sealed by permafrost, are leaking into the atmosphere.

Climate

IPCC looks to vet, report climate-science better

Major U.S. science organizations aren’t the only ones to realize that the climate-science community has bungled – and badly – its portrayals of research on global change in recent months, if not years, and its responses to criticisms. Yesterday, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (a group established by the United Nations and World Meteorological Organization) said: “we recognize the criticism that has been leveled at us and the need to respond.” So will be convening an “independent review” panel to investigate what the organization’s procedures should be to vet not only the data it uses and how to synthesize conclusions based on those data, but also how it should convey those conclusions (and any necessary caveats) in reports to the public and policymakers.

Climate

Climate science: Credibility at risk, scientists say

Publication of hacked emails exchanged by climate scientists. News accounts of problems in vetting data used in climate-assessment reports. Charges by critics that scientists won’t release their raw data so that others might independently vet published analyses of climate trends. Taken together, these events have marred the reputations of climate scientists, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and perhaps science generally. Or so concluded a distinguished panel of science luminaries.

Earth

Sea levels erratic during latest ice age

Mineral crusts deposited 81,000 years ago in a Mediterranean island’s caves suggest an abrupt jump in sea level.

Climate

Water vapor slowed recent global warming trend

A decline in stratospheric water vapor has slowed Earth’s surface warming slightly in recent years.

Climate

Indian climatologist disputes charges over Himalayan projection

London’s Sunday Mail reported that it had reached the author of a chapter in a purportedly authoritative 2007 climate-change assessment and learned that this scientist – Murari Lal – deliberately used unsubstantiated sources for conclusions about the rate of glacier melting in the Himalayas. Lal doesn’t dispute that mistakes were made – ones that likely exaggerated projections of glacier melting. But he does challenge the newspaper’s charge that those mistakes were politically motivated.

Climate

IPCC’s Himalayan glacier ‘mistake’ not an accident

A London newspaper reports today that the unsubstantiated Himalayan-glacier melt figures contained in a supposedly authoritative 2007 report on climate warming were used intentionally, despite the report’s lead author knowing there were no data to back them up.

Climate

IPCC admits Himalayan glacier error

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change acknowledged today that it had erred in projecting the rate and impacts of retreating Himalayan glaciers in a 2007 report.

Climate

IPCC relied on unvetted Himalaya melt figure

British newspapers have uncovered what appears to be an embarrassing fact-checking omission by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, or IPCC. It regards the degree of glacial melting in the Himalayas — information that said parts of the area could be icefree a quarter century from now.

Earth

Copenhagen Meeting Highlights

Find all the Science News coverage of the 2009 United Nation's climate summit in one place.

Climate

Acidifying ocean may stifle phytoplankton

Chemical changes in seawater make a key nutrient less available to these organisms.

Climate

Warming has already boosted insect breeding

Museum records, publications suggest extra generations at same time as temperature increases