Washington Post: We're still waking up to the long-term consequences of burning fossil fuels
The Washington Post covers research from Ken Caldeira and Xiaochun Zhang, which compares warming from fossil fuel combustion with warming caused by the carbon dioxide released by the burning process...
Greenhouse gas-caused warming felt in just months
Washington, DC—The heat generated by burning a fossil fuel is surpassed within a few months by the warming caused by the release of its carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, according to new work...
The heat generated by burning a fossil fuel is surpassed within a few months by the warming caused by the release of its carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, according to new work from Carnegie'...
Greg Asner talks to American Scientist about biodiversity's invisible palette
Greg Asner is interviewed for American Scientist's Sightings column, discusses the logistics and benefits of research using remote sensing technology....
Solar could meet California energy demand three to five times over
In the face of global climate change, increasing the use of renewable energy resources is one of the most urgent challenges facing the world. Further development of one resource, solar energy, is...
Ocean pipes "not cool," would end up warming climate
To combat global climate change caused by greenhouse gases, alternative energy sources and other types of environmental recourse actions are needed. There are several proposals that involve using...
Location matters in the lowland Amazon
Washington, DC— You know the old saying: Location, location, location? It turns out that it applies to the Amazon rainforest, too. New work from Carnegie's Greg Asner ...
You know the old saying: Location, location, location? It turns out that it applies to the Amazon rainforest, too. New work illustrates a hidden tapestry of chemical variation across the lowland...
Until now, computer models have been the primary tool for estimating photosynthetic productivity on a global scale. They are based on estimating a measure for plant energy called gross primary production (GPP), which is the rate at which plants capture and store a unit of chemical energy as biomass...
CBS Evening News: Nearly 1 billion trees threatened by California drought
CBS Evening News covers Greg Asner and the Carnegie Airborne Observatory team's work on the impact the drought has had on California's forests. The team found that 888 million trees have seen...
End-of-century Manhattan climate index to resemble Oklahoma City today
Washington, DC— Climate change caused by greenhouse gas emissions will alter the way that Americans heat and cool their homes. By the end of this century, the number of days each year that heating...
Gold Mining Ravages Perú
Washington, DC—For the first time, researchers have been able to map the true extent of gold mining in the biologically diverse region of Madre De Dios in the Peruvian Amazon. The team combined field...
Warming reaches maximum 10 years after carbon dioxide emission
The climate warming caused by a single carbon emission takes only about 10 years to reach its maximum effect. This is important because it refutes the common misconception that today's...
Ocean Acidification Research
Monitoring tropical deforestation and forest degradation with satellites can be an everyday activity for non-experts who support environmental conservation, forest management, and resource policy development.
Through extensive observation of user needs, the Greg Asner team developed CLASlite ( the Carnegie Landsat Analysis System--Lite) to assist governments, nongovernmental organizations, and academic institutions with high-resolution mapping and monitoring of forests with satellite imagery.
CLASlite is a software package designed for highly automated identification of deforestation and forest degradation from remotely sensed satellite imagery. It incorporates state-of-the
Coral reefs are havens for marine biodiversity and underpin the economies of many coastal communities. But they are very sensitive to changes in ocean chemistry resulting from greenhouse gas emissions, as well as to pollution, warming waters, overdevelopment, and overfishing. Reefs use a mineral called aragonite, a naturally occurring form of calcium carbonate, CaCO3, to make their skeletons. When carbon dioxide, CO2, from the atmosphere is absorbed by the ocean, it forms carbonic acid—the same stuff that makes soda fizz--making the ocean more acidic and thus more difficult for many marine organisms to grow their shells and skeletons and threatening coral reefs globally.
Anna Michalak's team combined sampling and satellite-based observations of Lake Erie with computer simulations and determined that the 2011 record-breaking algal bloom in the lake was triggered by long-term agricultural practices coupled with extreme precipitation, followed by weak lake circulation and warm temperatures. The bloom began in the western region in mid-July and covered an area of 230 square miles (600 km2). At its peak in October, the bloom had expanded to over 1930 square miles (5000 km2). Its peak intensity was over 3 times greater than any other bloom on record. The scientists predicted that, unless agricultural policies change, the lake will continue to experience