Eyjafjallajökull volcano eruption.

Eyjafjallajökull volcano eruption in south Iceland. Video by Icelandic National TV station RÚV. 24.03.2010. Music by Sion, Ambients, Freefalling. GPS coordinates of the eruption: 63.635° N, 19.440° W. YouTube Read about Eyjafjallajökull volcano: - Katla and Eyjafjallajökull Volcanoes: sciencedirect.com - Eyjafjallajökull eruption: 20 March to present: earthice.hi.is

Ice Sheet Melt Identified as Trigger of 'Big Freeze'.

A new paper, which is published in Nature on April 1, 2010, has identified a mega-flood path across North America which channelled melt-water from a giant ice sheet into the oceans and triggering the Younger Dryas cold snap.

The study will help shed light on the implications of fresh water input into the North Atlantic today. There are current concerns that changes in the salinity of the ocean today, could cause another shut down of the Gulf Stream. Current climate changes, including global warming, may be altering the planetary system which regulates evaporation and precipitation, and moves fresh water around the globe. Cited from sciencedaily.com.

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65 million years of climate change

The planet earth is 4.5 billion years old and has undergone many geologial and climatic changes. Geologists know: Earth history demonstrates continuous dynamic evolution. The above figure shows climate change over the last 65 million years. The data has been gained from oxygen isotope measurements (δ18O) on benthic foraminifera by Zachos et al. (2001) and reflect a combination of local temperature changes in their environment and changes in the isotopic composition of sea water associated with the growth and retreat of continental ice sheets. Figure and citation from wikipedia.com.Ancient climate records provide clear evidence of abrupt episodes of greenhouse warming in the past. Understanding cause and effect for these events continues to remain a major challenge. For the best-documented example, a burst of warming some 55 million year ago termed the Palaeocene–Eocene thermal maximum (PETM), known increases in greenhouse gases fail to explain even half of the observed warming. Read more..nature.com

Haiti earthquake occurred in complex, active seismic region

Haiti earthquake occurred in complex, active seismic region. The magnitude 7.0 earthquake that triggered disastrous destruction and mounting death tolls in Haiti this week occurred in a highly complex tangle of tectonic faults near the intersection of the Caribbean and North American crustal plates, according to a quake expert at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) who has studied faults in the region and throughout the world.....read more...sciencedaily.com

Microorganisms cited as missing factor in climate change equation

Microorganisms cited as missing factor in climate change equation
Those seeking to understand and predict climate change can now use an additional tool to calculate carbon dioxide exchanges on land, according to a scientific journal article publishing this week.
The research, publishing in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, incorporates into global computer models the significant impact an enzyme, carbonic anhydrase, has on the chemical form of carbon dioxide released from the soil and reduces uncertainties in estimates of CO2 taken up and released in terrestrial ecosystems.

The same enzyme is present in foliage and soils, but leaves a different imprint on CO2 involved in photosynthesis and respired by soils.
"Our paper presents measurements from all the major regions of the world where we have experimentally determined the effect of this enzyme, produced by many microorganisms, on carbon dioxide released from the soil," said Dr. Behzad Mortazavi, an assistant professor of biological sciences at The University of Alabama, and a co-author of the article.
from sciencedaily.com

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Could Human CO2 Emissions Cause Another PETM? | The Resilient Earth

Could Human CO2 Emissions Cause Another PETM? | The Resilient Earth

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