Tiempo Climate Newswatch
Week ending August 21st 2005
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Featured sites
The Blue Carbon Portal brings together the latest knowledge and resources on the role of oceans as carbon sinks.
WalkIt provides walking routes between user-defined points in selected British cities, with an estimate of the carbon savings.
Joto Afrika is a series of printed briefings and online resources about adapting to climate change in sub-Saharan Africa.
And finally,
The CoolClimate Art Contest presents iconic images that address the impact of climate change.
About the Cyberlibrary
The Tiempo Climate Cyberlibrary was developed by Mick Kelly and Sarah Granich on behalf of the Stockholm Environment Institute and the International Institute for Environment and Development, with sponsorship from the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency.
While every effort is made to ensure that information on this site, and on other sites that are referenced here, is accurate, no liability for loss or damage resulting from use of this information can be accepted.
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Malaysia announced a state of emergency in two towns last week as air pollution reached its worst levels since 1997/98. Air quality throughout the Klang Valley deteriorated to levels considered hazardous. Schools have been closed and people are being advised to stay indoors or to wear masks if they go out. |
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The pollution, a mix of dust, ash, sulphur dioxide and carbon dioxide, results from forest fires on Sumatra. Malaysian and Indonesian officials have been meeting to discuss the recurrent problem. A three-point plan has been agreed to put out the fires. Malaysia will provide assistance. Meteorologists have warned that there may be no respite till October when the seasonal rains would wash out the haze. |
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A new study of temperature data from satellites and weather balloons confirms that the tropical atmosphere has warmed since 1979. The warming has been greater at height in the moist tropical atmosphere than at the Earth's surface as heat is released as air rises and water condenses. The study addresses the apparent contradiction between tropical temperature trends derived from previous analyses of satellite data, surface observations and model predictions of the effects of global warming. |
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The outcome "strongly suggests that there is no longer any fundamental discrepancy between modeled and observed temperature trends in the tropical atmosphere," said Benjamin Santer, a scientist at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in the United States. "The new observational data helps to remove a major stumbling block in our understanding of the nature and causes of climate change." |
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An area of permafrost covering a million square kilometres has begun to melt for the first time since its formation 11,000 years ago. Sergei Kirpotin of Tomsk State University in western Siberia and Judith Marquand of Oxford University in the United Kingdom report that the whole western Siberian sub-Arctic region has started to thaw. According to Kirpotin, the situation is an "ecological landslide that is probably irreversible and is undoubtedly connected to global warming." |
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As permafrost melts, methane is released into the atmosphere. Larry Smith of the University of California, Los Angeles reckons that the west Siberian peat bog could hold around 70 billion tonnes of methane, about a quarter of that stored in the ground worldwide. Stephen Sitch at the United Kingdom's Met Office estimates that seepage of methane from the permafrost might add as much methane to the atmosphere as released from wetlands and agriculture. |
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Bright Ideas
General Electric plans to cut solar installation costs by half
Project 90 by 2030 supports South African school children and managers reduce their carbon footprint through its Club programme
Bath & North East Somerset Council in the United Kingdom has installed smart LED carriageway lighting that automatically adjusts to light and traffic levels
The United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the American Public Gardens Association are mounting an educational exhibit at Longwood Gardens showing the link between temperature and planting zones
The energy-efficient Crowne Plaza Copenhagen Towers hotel is powered by renewable and sustainable sources, including integrated solar photovoltaics and guest-powered bicycles
El Hierro, one of the Canary Islands, plans to generate 80 per cent of its energy from renewable sources
The green roof on the Remarkables Primary School in New Zealand reduces stormwater runoff, provides insulation and doubles as an outdoor classroom
The Weather Info for All project aims to roll out up to five thousand automatic weather observation stations throughout Africa
SolSource turns its own waste heat into electricity or stores it in thermal fabrics, harnessing the sun's energy for cooking and electricity for low-income families
The Wave House uses vegetation for its architectural and environmental qualities, and especially in terms of thermal insulation
The Mbale compost-processing plant in Uganda produces cheaper fertilizer and reduces greenhouse gas emissions
At Casa Grande, Frito-Lay has reduced energy consumption by nearly a fifth since 2006 by, amongst other things, installing a heat recovery system to preheat cooking oil
Tiempo Climate Newswatch
Updated: April 12th 2013