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[ "Mars ocean hypothesis The Mars ocean hypothesis states that nearly a third of the surface of Mars was covered by an ocean of liquid water early in the planet 's geologic history . This primordial ocean , dubbed Paleo-Ocean and Oceanus Borealis , would have filled the basin Vastitas Borealis in the northern hemisphere , a region which lies 4 -- 5 km ( 2.5 -- 3 miles ) below the mean planetary elevation , at a time period of approximately 4.1 -- 3.8 billion years ago . Evidence for this ocean includes geographic features resembling ancient shorelines , and the chemical properties of the Martian soil and atmosphere . Early Mars would have required a denser atmosphere and warmer climate to allow liquid water to remain at the surface .", "Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System , after Mercury . Named after the Roman god of war , it is often referred to as the `` Red Planet '' because the iron oxide prevalent on its surface gives it a reddish appearance . Mars is a terrestrial planet with a thin atmosphere , having surface features reminiscent both of the impact craters of the Moon and the valleys , deserts , and polar ice caps of Earth . The rotational period and seasonal cycles of Mars are likewise similar to those of Earth , as is the tilt that produces the seasons . Mars is the site of Olympus Mons , the largest volcano and second-highest known mountain in the Solar System , and of Valles Marineris , one of the largest canyons in the Solar System . The smooth Borealis basin in the northern hemisphere covers 40 % of the planet and may be a giant impact feature . Mars has two moons , Phobos and Deimos , which are small and irregularly shaped . These may be captured asteroids , similar to 5261 Eureka , a Mars trojan . There are ongoing investigations assessing the past habitability potential of Mars , as well as the possibility of extant life . Future astrobiology missions are planned , including the Mars 2020 and ExoMars rovers . Liquid water can not exist on the surface of Mars due to low atmospheric pressure , which is about that of the Earth 's , except at the lowest elevations for short periods . The two polar ice caps appear to be made largely of water . The volume of water ice in the south polar ice cap , if melted , would be sufficient to cover the entire planetary surface to a depth of 11 m . In November 2016 , NASA reported finding a large amount of underground ice in the Utopia Planitia region of Mars . The volume of water detected has been estimated to be equivalent to the volume of water in Lake Superior . Mars can easily be seen from Earth with the naked eye , as can its reddish coloring . Its apparent magnitude reaches − 2.91 , which is surpassed only by Jupiter , Venus , the Moon , and the Sun . Optical ground-based telescopes are typically limited to resolving features about 300 km across when Earth and Mars are closest because of Earth 's atmosphere .", "Martian A Martian is a native inhabitant of the planet Mars . Although the search for evidence of life on Mars continues , many science fiction writers have imagined what extraterrestrial life on Mars might be like . Some writers also use the word Martian to describe a human colonist on Mars .", "Extraterrestrial atmosphere The study of extraterrestrial atmospheres is an active field of research , both as an aspect of astronomy and to gain insight into Earth 's atmosphere . In addition to Earth , many of the other astronomical objects in the Solar System have atmospheres . These include all the gas giants , as well as Mars , Venus , and Pluto . Several moons and other bodies also have atmospheres , as do comets and the Sun . There is evidence that extrasolar planets can have an atmosphere . Comparisons of these atmospheres to one another and to Earth 's atmosphere broaden our basic understanding of atmospheric processes such as the greenhouse effect , aerosol and cloud physics , and atmospheric chemistry and dynamics ." ]

[ "Colin Pillinger Colin Trevor Pillinger , CBE FRS FRAS FRGS ( -LSB- ˈpɪlɪndʒər -RSB- 9 May 1943 -- 7 May 2014 ) was an English planetary scientist . He was a founding member of the Planetary and Space Sciences Research Institute at Open University in Milton Keynes , he was also the principal investigator for the British Beagle 2 Mars lander project , and worked on a group of Martian meteorites .", "The Crystal Crypt The Crystal Crypt is a science fiction short story by Philip K. Dick , first published in the January 1954 edition of Planet Stories and later published in Beyond Lies the Wub in 1988 . The story is set in the distant future where Earth and Mars are on the verge of war . The last spaceship to leave Mars headed for Earth is stopped and searched by Martian soldiers , who are looking for three saboteurs who destroyed a Martian city . They are not found , and the ship continues towards Earth . On board the space ship , a business man by the name of Thacher meets a young woman and two men , who tell that they are the people sought by the Martians , and proceed to tell Thacher the story of how they did not destroy the Martian city , but used a device to reduce the entire city to fit in a tiny globe , which they smuggled on board the ship . The city is to be used as a bargaining chip against Mars in the upcoming war . Thacher reveals that he is a Martian secret agent , and several of the passengers on board are Martian police .", "Barnacle Bill (Martian rock) Barnacle Bill is a 40 cm rock on Mars in Ares Vallis . It was the first rock on Mars analyzed by the Sojourner rover using its Alpha Proton X-ray Spectrometer . The encounter occurred during Sol 3 of the Mars Pathfinder mission on the surface of Mars and took ten hours to complete . Early analysis of data sent from Sojourner led scientists to speculate that the rock was andesite . The name was inspired in mission scientists by barnacle-like structures on the rock that appeared in transmitted photos .", "The Great Global Warming Swindle The Great Global Warming Swindle is a polemical documentary film that suggests that the scientific opinion on climate change is influenced by funding and political factors , and questions whether scientific consensus on global warming exists . The program was formally criticised by Ofcom , the UK broadcasting regulatory agency , which upheld complaints of misrepresentation made by David King . The film , made by British television producer Martin Durkin , presents scientists , economists , politicians , writers , and others who dispute the scientific consensus regarding anthropogenic global warming . The programme 's publicity materials assert that man-made global warming is `` a lie '' and `` the biggest scam of modern times . '' Its original working title was `` Apocalypse my arse '' , but the title The Great Global Warming Swindle was later adopted as an allusion to the 1980 mockumentary The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle about British punk band the Sex Pistols . The UK 's Channel 4 premiered the documentary on 8 March 2007 . The channel described the film as `` a polemic that drew together the well-documented views of a number of respected scientists to reach the same conclusions . This is a controversial film but we feel that it is important that all sides of the debate are aired . '' According to Hamish Mykura , Channel 4 's head of documentaries , the film was commissioned `` to present the viewpoint of the small minority of scientists who do not believe global warming is caused by anthropogenic production of carbon dioxide . '' Although the documentary was welcomed by global warming sceptics , it was criticised by scientific organisations and individual scientists ( including one of the scientists interviewed in the film and one whose research was used to support the film 's claims ) . The film 's critics argued that it had misused and fabricated data , relied on out-of-date research , employed misleading arguments , and misrepresented the position of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change . Later broadcasts corrected three errors in the original film .", "Planetary Instrument for X-Ray Lithochemistry Planetary Instrument for X-Ray Lithochemistry ( PIXL ) is an x-ray fluorescence spectrometer to determine the fine scale elemental composition of Martian surface materials designed for the Mars 2020 rover mission .", "Wallace (Martian crater) Wallace Crater is an impact crater in the Hellas quadrangle on Mars at 52.9 ° S and 249.4 ° W and is 173.0 km in diameter . Its name was approved in 1973 by the International Astronomical Union ( IAU ) Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature ( WGPSN ) , and it was named after Alfred Russel Wallace .", "Maraldi (Martian crater) Maraldi Crater is an impact crater in the Argyre quadrangle on Mars at 62.2 ° S and 32.0 ° W and is 124.0 km in diameter . Its name was approved in 1973 by the International Astronomical Union ( IAU ) Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature ( WGPSN ) , and it was named after Giacomo F. Maraldi .", "Corona (planetary geology) In planetary geology , a corona ( plural : coronae ) is an oval-shaped feature . Coronae appear on both the planet Venus and Uranus 's moon Miranda and may be formed by upwellings of warm material below the surface .", "WARM (AM) WARM ( 590 AM ) is a radio station licensed to the city of Scranton , Pennsylvania . The station is currently owned by Cumulus Media . The station is a Class B AM broadcasting station according to the Federal Communications Commission . WARM broadcasts with a power of 5,000 watts with two types of directional antenna signal patterns during daytime and nighttime . The antenna patterns of the signal in both instances are generally aimed towards the southeast with some signal aimed towards the northwest from its transmitting facility located 15 miles northwest of Scranton in Falls , Pennsylvania . WARM uses five , 495 feet high broadcasting towers to transmit its signal from that location . The station used to derive a portion of its programming from Scott Shannon 's The True Oldies Channel from Cumulus Media Networks .", "Tikhov (Martian crater) Tikhov Crater is an impact crater in the Hellas quadrangle on Mars at 51.1 ° S and 254.3 ° W and is 111.0 km in diameter . Its name was approved in 1973 by the International Astronomical Union ( IAU ) Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature ( WGPSN ) , and it was named after Gavriil Adrianovich Tikhov .", "Warm Springs Historic District Warm Springs Historic District is a historic district in Warm Springs , Georgia . It includes Franklin Delano Roosevelt 's Little White House and the Roosevelt Warm Springs Institute for Rehabilitation , where Roosevelt indulged in its warm springs . Other buildings in the district tend to range from the 1920s and 1930s . Much of the district looks the same as it did when Roosevelt frequented the area . Evidence indicates that prehistoric man was the first to use the springs , and as when Roosevelt used the springs , the temperature was 89 ° F.", "Helmholtz (Martian crater) Helmholtz Crater is an impact crater in the Argyre quadrangle on Mars at 45.8 ° S and 21.3 ° W and is 111.5 km in diameter . Its name was approved in 1973 by the International Astronomical Union ( IAU ) Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature ( WGPSN ) , and it was named after Hermann von Helmholtz .", "Freddy and the Men from Mars Freddy and the Men from Mars ( 1954 ) is the 22nd book in the humorous children 's series Freddy the Pig , written by American author Walter R. Brooks and illustrated by Kurt Wiese . It tells the story of the confrontation between Freddy and his friends , phony Martians , real Martians , and a circus con artist .", "An Inconsistent Truth An Inconsistent Truth is a 2012 documentary film written , produced , and featuring , nationally syndicated conservative talk radio host Phil Valentine and directed by Shayne Edwards . Valentine , a skeptic of global warming theory , interviewed scientists about the validity of Al Gore 's film An Inconvenient Truth and the facts presented within . What he is told by the scientists he interviews is that there is no consensus on the issue of global warming or climate change . The film argues that global warming proponents keep changing its label , basing their argument on what Valentine says is shaky scientific ground .", "Auki (crater) Auki is an impact crater in the Mare Tyrrhenum quadrangle of Mars , located at 15.76 ° S latitude and 263.13 ° W longitude . It is 40.0 km in diameter and was named after a town in the Solomon Islands , and the name was approved in 2015 by the International Astronomical Union ( IAU ) Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature ( WGPSN ) . Strong evidence for hydrothermalism was reported by a team of researchers studying Auki . This crater contains ridges that may have been produced after fractures formed with an impact . Using instruments on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter they found the minerals smectite , silica , zeolite , serpentine , carbonate , and chorite that are common in impact-induced hydrothermal systems on Earth . Other evidence of post-impact hydrothermal systems on Mars from other scientists who studied other Martian craters .", "Warm and Tender Warm and Tender may refer to : Warm and Tender ( Olivia Newton-John album ) , a 1989 album by Olivia Newton-John Warm and Tender , US title of The Song of My Life , an album by Petula Clark Warm and Tender , an album by Charlie Watts", "Total equivalent warming impact Total equivalent warming impact or TEWI is besides global warming potential measure used to express contributions to global warming . It is defined as sum of the direct emissions ( chemical ) and indirect emissions ( energy use ) of greenhouse gases .", "Gordon A. McKay Award The Gordon A. McKay Award is an annual prize given by the Meteoritical Society to the student who gives the best oral presentation at its annual meeting . This award honors the memory of Gordon A. McKay ( 1945 -- 2008 ) , a NASA planetary scientist specializing in lunar and Martian geochemistry . It was established in 2008 and comes with a prize of $ 1,000 and a certificate .", "Warm Springs Natural Area The Warm Springs Natural Area , also known as the Warm Springs Ranch , is located near the Moapa Indian Reservation in Clark County , Nevada , at an elevation of 2123 ft. The 1179 acre area is owned by the Southern Nevada Water Authority ( SNWA ) . The area is a natural oasis in the Mojave Desert . The oasis is fed by close to 24 natural warm springs and contains many naturally occurring California fan palms ( Washingtonia filifera ) , creating an ecosystem normally limited to the `` low '' Colorado Desert and so unique to the `` high '' Mojave Desert . The springs are the headwaters for the Muddy River . The area is popular for residential and recreational uses . There are year round residents that own private property with homes . There are camping areas for recreational vehicles and a private , multi-use , recreation area owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints ( LDS Church ) .", "List of scientists opposing the mainstream scientific assessment of global warming This is a list of scientists who have made statements that conflict with the scientific consensus on global warming as summarized by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and endorsed by other scientific bodies . As approximately 97 % of publishing climate scientists support the consensus on anthropogenic climate change , this list represents a minority viewpoint . The scientific consensus is that the global average surface temperature has risen over the last century . Scientific opinion on climate change was summarized in the 2001 Third Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) . The main conclusions on global warming at that time were as follows : The global average surface temperature has risen 0.6 ± 0.2 ° C since the late 19th century , and 0.17 ° C per decade in the last 30 years . `` There is new and stronger evidence that most of the warming observed over the last 50 years is attributable to human activities '' , in particular emissions of the greenhouse gases carbon dioxide and methane . If greenhouse gas emissions continue the warming will also continue , with temperatures projected to increase by 1.4 ° C to 5.8 ° C between 1990 and 2100 . Accompanying this temperature increase will be increases in some types of extreme weather and a projected sea level rise . The balance of impacts of global warming become significantly negative at larger values of warming . These findings are recognized by the national science academies of all the major industrialized nations ; the consensus has strengthened over time and is now virtually unanimous . The level of consensus correlates with expertise in climate science . There have been several efforts to compile lists of dissenting scientists , including a 2008 US senate minority report , the Oregon Petition , and a 2007 list by the Heartland Institute , all three of which have been criticized on a number of grounds . For the purpose of this list , a `` scientist '' is defined as an individual who has published at least one peer-reviewed research article in the broad field of natural sciences , although not necessarily in a field relevant to climatology . Since the publication of the IPCC Third Assessment Report , each has made a clear statement in his or her own words ( as opposed to the name being found on a petition , etc. ) disagreeing with one or more of the report 's three main conclusions . Their views on climate change are usually described in more detail in their biographical articles . Few of the statements in the references for this list are part of the peer-reviewed scientific literature ; most are from other sources such as interviews , opinion pieces , online essays and presentations . NB : Only individuals who have their own Wikipedia article may be included in the list .", "Global Warming Policy Foundation The Global Warming Policy Foundation ( GWPF ) is a think tank in the United Kingdom , whose stated aims are to challenge `` extremely damaging and harmful policies '' envisaged by governments to mitigate anthropogenic global warming . It promotes climate change denial . In 2014 , when the Charity Commission ruled that the GWPF had breached rules on impartiality , a non-charitable organisation called the `` Global Warming Policy Forum '' or `` GWPF '' was created as a wholly owned subsidiary , to do lobbying that a charity could not . The GWPF website carries an array of articles `` sceptical '' of scientific findings of anthropogenic global warming and its impacts .", "Bianchini (Martian crater) Bianchini Crater is a crater in the Thaumasia quadrangle of Mars , located at 64.2 ° S latitude and 95.4 ° W longitude . It is 76.0 km in diameter and was named after Francesco Bianchini , and the name was approved in 1973 by the International Astronomical Union ( IAU ) Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature ( WGPSN ) .", "WARM-FM WARM-FM is an American adult contemporary radio station based in York , Pennsylvania broadcasting at 103.3 MHz FM . It is owned and operated by Cumulus Media . WARM 's studios and offices are located off US 30 between York and Lancaster , PA. . Listeners in the Philadelphia region may have interference with WPRB , Princeton , New Jersey , which shares the same frequency , and WAPY , State College , Pennsylvania , at 103.1 as one drives northwest on US 322 or PA State Route 333 heading into Lewistown , Pennsylvania .", "Beam and Warming scheme In numerical mathematics , Beam and Warming scheme or Beam -- Warming implicit scheme introduced in 1978 by Richard M. Beam and R. F. Warming , is a second order accurate implicit scheme , mainly used for solving non-linear hyperbolic equation . It is not used much nowadays .", "Xanthe Terra Xanthe Terra is a large area on Mars , centered just north of the Martian equator . Its coordinates are and it covers 2465 km at its broadest extent . Its name means `` golden-yellow land . '' It is in the Lunae Palus quadrangle , the Margaritifer Sinus quadrangle , and the Oxia Palus quadrangle . Images from Mars Express , Mars Global Surveyor , and the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter have revealed ancient river valleys and deltas . The deltas show many thin layers just as deltas on Earth . Scientists speculate that features in Xanthe Terra show evidence of precipitation on early Mars .", "Phoenix (spacecraft) Phoenix was a robotic spacecraft on a space exploration mission on Mars under the Mars Scout Program . The Phoenix lander descended on Mars on May 25 , 2008 . Mission scientists used instruments aboard the lander to search for environments suitable for microbial life on Mars , and to research the history of water there . The total mission cost was about US $ 386 million , which includes cost of the launch . The multi-agency program was headed by the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory at the University of Arizona , under the direction of NASA 's Jet Propulsion Laboratory . The program was a partnership of universities in the United States , Canada , Switzerland , Denmark , Germany , the United Kingdom , NASA , the Canadian Space Agency , the Finnish Meteorological Institute , Lockheed Martin Space Systems , MacDonald Dettwiler & Associates ( MDA ) and other aerospace companies . It was the first mission to Mars led by a public university in NASA history . It was led directly from the University of Arizona 's campus in Tucson , with project management at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena , Calif. , and project development at Lockheed Martin in Denver , Colorado . The operational funding for the mission extended through November 10 , 2008 . Phoenix was NASA 's sixth successful landing out of seven attempts and was the first successful landing in a Martian polar region . The lander completed its mission in August 2008 , and made a last brief communication with Earth on November 2 as available solar power dropped with the Martian winter . The mission was declared concluded on November 10 , 2008 , after engineers were unable to re-contact the craft . After unsuccessful attempts to contact the lander by the Mars Odyssey orbiter up to and past the Martian summer solstice on May 12 , 2010 , JPL declared the lander to be dead . The program was considered a success because it completed all planned science experiments and observations .", "Baldet (Martian crater) Baldet Crater is an impact crater in the Casius quadrangle of Mars , located at 23.0 ° N latitude and 294.6 ° W longitude . It is 180.0 km in diameter and was named after Fernand Baldet , and the name was approved in 1973 by the International Astronomical Union ( IAU ) Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature ( WGPSN ) .", "Haldane (Martian crater) Haldane Crater is a crater in the Eridania quadrangle of Mars , located at 53.1 ° S and 230.9 ° W . It is 78.7 km in diameter and was named after J. B. S. Haldane , and the name was approved in 1973 by the International Astronomical Union ( IAU ) Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature ( WGPSN ) .", "Martian Summer Martian Summer : Robot Arms , Cowboy Spacemen , and My 90 Days with the Phoenix Mars Mission is a book written by Andrew Kessler . The book documents Andrew Kessler 's three-month stint in mission control of the NASA Phoenix expedition , led by Peter Smith and based at the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory of the University of Arizona . The mission attempted ( successfully ) to locate evidence of water on Mars . Andrew Kessler is the Founder and CEO of Togather.com , an event marketing platform based in DUMBO . Formerly a Creative Director at HUGE , he co-produced Mars : The Quest for Life on the Discovery Channel and holds a degree in Mathematics from the University of California , Berkeley . Kessler is currently based in Brooklyn , NY .", "Oded Aharonson Oded Aharonson is Israely planetary scientist . Aharonson was a professor of planetary science at the California Institute of Technology , until he moved in 2012 to the Weizmann Institute in Rehovot , Israel . He has participated in many NASA flight missions , including Mars Global Surveyor , Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous , the Mars Exploration Rovers , and the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter . Aharonson 's research focuses on the geology of planetary surfaces , especially the role of water . He is deputy PI on the science team for Chronos , one of the proposals for the 2011 Mars Scout mission .", "Thermal Emission Imaging System The Thermal Emission Imaging System ( THEMIS ) is a camera on board the 2001 Mars Odyssey orbiter . It images Mars in the visible and infrared parts of the electromagnetic spectrum in order to determine the thermal properties of the surface and to refine the distribution of minerals on the surface of Mars as determined by the Thermal Emission Spectrometer ( TES ) . Additionally , it helps scientists to understand how the mineralogy of Mars relates to its landforms , and it can be used to search for thermal hotspots in the Martian subsurface . THEMIS is managed from the Mars Space Flight Facility at Arizona State University and was built by the Santa Barbara Remote Sensing division of Raytheon . The instrument was named after the Greek goddess of justice .", "Global warming controversy The global warming controversy concerns the public debate over whether global warming is occurring , how much has occurred in modern times , what has caused it , what its effects will be , whether any action should be taken to curb it , and if so what that action should be . In the scientific literature , there is a strong consensus that global surface temperatures have increased in recent decades and that the trend is caused by human-induced emissions of greenhouse gases . No scientific body of national or international standing disagrees with this view , though a few organizations with members in extractive industries hold non-committal positions . Disputes over the key scientific facts of global warming are more prevalent in the media than in the scientific literature , where such issues are treated as resolved , and such disputes are more prevalent in the United States than globally . Political and popular debate concerning the existence and cause of climate change includes the reasons for the increase seen in the instrumental temperature record , whether the warming trend exceeds normal climatic variations , and whether human activities have contributed significantly to it . Scientists have resolved these questions decisively in favour of the view that the current warming trend exists and is ongoing , that human activity is the cause , and that it is without precedent in at least 2000 years . Public disputes that also reflect scientific debate include estimates of how responsive the climate system might be to any given level of greenhouse gases ( climate sensitivity ) , how global climate change will play out at local and regional scales , and what the consequences of global warming will be . Global warming remains an issue of widespread political debate , often split along party political lines , especially in the United States . Many of the issues that are settled within the scientific community , such as human responsibility for global warming , remain the subject of politically or economically motivated attempts to downplay , dismiss or deny them -- an ideological phenomenon categorised by academics and scientists as climate change denial . The sources of funding for those involved with climate science -- both supporting and opposing mainstream scientific positions -- have been questioned by both sides . There are debates about the best policy responses to the science , their cost-effectiveness and their urgency . Climate scientists , especially in the United States , have reported official and oil-industry pressure to censor or suppress their work and hide scientific data , with directives not to discuss the subject in public communications . Legal cases regarding global warming , its effects , and measures to reduce it have reached American courts . The fossil fuels lobby has been identified as overtly or covertly supporting efforts to undermine or discredit the scientific consensus on global warming ." ]

[ "Scientific consensus on climate change There is currently a strong scientific consensus that the Earth is warming and that this warming is mainly caused by human activities. This consensus is supported by various studies of scientists' opinions and by position statements of scientific organizations, many of which explicitly agree with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) synthesis reports. Nearly all actively publishing climate scientists (97–98%) support the consensus on anthropogenic climate change, and the remaining 2% of contrarian studies either cannot be replicated or contain errors.", "Years of Living Dangerously Years of Living Dangerously is an American documentary television series focusing on global warming . The first season , of nine weekly episodes , premiered in the US on April 13 , 2014 , on Showtime . It won an Emmy Award as Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Series . The second season , consisting of eight episodes , aired on the National Geographic Channel , beginning on October 30 , 2016 , with broader international distribution than the first season . Executive producers included James Cameron , Arnold Schwarzenegger , Robert Palumbo , and series creators Joel Bach and David Gelber ( formerly of 60 Minutes ) . Joseph Romm and Heidi Cullen were the chief science advisors . The weekly episodes featured celebrity hosts with a history of environmental activism and well-known journalists with a background in environmental reportage . These `` correspondents '' traveled the world and throughout the U.S. to interview experts and ordinary people affected by , and seeking solutions to , the effects of global warming . They acted as reporters and proxies for the audience , asking questions to find out people 's opinions and to discover the scientific evidence . The final episode of season one featured an interview of President Barack Obama . Executive producers for season one were Cameron , Schwarzenegger , clean energy investor and environmental activist Daniel Abbasi , Jerry Weintraub , Bach and Gelber . Episodes explored the effects of rising sea levels , historic droughts and flooding , water scarcity , ocean acidification , deforestation and the rapidly increasing extinction rate of species , but also focused on `` solutions that individuals , communities , companies and even governments can use to address worldwide climate change '' , including cheaper solar and wind energy , advancing battery technology and electric cars . Hosts included Cameron , Schwarzenegger , Harrison Ford , Ian Somerhalder , America Ferrera , David Letterman , Gisele Bündchen , Jack Black , Matt Damon , Jessica Alba , Sigourney Weaver , and various other actors and journalists . Schwarzenegger reflected on how the series tries to make the issue of climate change resonate with the public : `` I think the environmental movement only can be successful if we are simple and clear and make it a human story . We will tell human stories in this project . The scientists would never get the kind of attention that someone in show business gets . '' Cameron elaborated : `` We did n't use our celebrities as talking head experts , because they 're not climate experts . They were concerned , intelligent , curious citizens who were out to find answers . They were functioning as journalists . '' Newsweek said that the celebrity hosts `` lend sparks to an issue that sends most viewers for the exits '' .", "Carbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphere Carbon dioxide is an important trace gas in Earth 's atmosphere . Currently it constitutes about 0.041 % ( equal to 410 parts per million ; ppm ) by volume of the atmosphere . Despite its relatively small concentration is a potent greenhouse gas and plays a vital role in regulating Earth 's surface temperature through radiative forcing and the greenhouse effect . Reconstructions show that concentrations of in the atmosphere have varied , ranging from as high as 7,000 ppm during the Cambrian period about 500 million years ago to as low as 180 ppm during the Quaternary glaciation of the last two million years . Carbon dioxide is an integral part of the carbon cycle , a biogeochemical cycle in which carbon is exchanged between the Earth 's oceans , soil , rocks and the biosphere . Plants and other photoautotrophs use solar energy to produce carbohydrate from atmospheric carbon dioxide and water by photosynthesis . Almost all other organisms depend on carbohydrate derived from photosynthesis as their primary source of energy and carbon compounds . The current episode of global warming is attributed to increasing emissions of and other greenhouse gases into Earth 's atmosphere . The global annual mean concentration of in the atmosphere has increased by more than 40 % since the start of the Industrial Revolution , from 280 ppm , the level it had for the last 10,000 years leading up to the mid-18th century , to 399 ppm as of 2015 . The present concentration is the highest in at least the past 800,000 years and likely the highest in the past 20 million years . The increase has been caused by anthropogenic sources , particularly the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation . The daily average concentration of atmospheric CO2 at Mauna Loa Observatory first exceeded 400 ppm on 10 May 2013 . It is currently rising at a rate of approximately 2 ppm/year and accelerating . An estimated 30 -- 40 % of the released by humans into the atmosphere dissolves into oceans , rivers and lakes , which contributes to ocean acidification .", "Global warming Global warming , also referred to as climate change , is the observed century-scale rise in the average temperature of the Earth 's climate system and its related effects . Multiple lines of scientific evidence show that the climate system is warming . Many of the observed changes since the 1950s are unprecedented in the instrumental temperature record which extends back to the mid 19th century , and in paleoclimate proxy records over thousands of years . In 2013 , the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) Fifth Assessment Report concluded that `` It is extremely likely that human influence has been the dominant cause of the observed warming since the mid-20th century . '' The largest human influence has been emission of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide , methane and nitrous oxide . Climate model projections summarized in the report indicated that during the 21st century the global surface temperature is likely to rise a further 0.3 to for their lowest emissions scenario and 2.6 to for the highest emissions scenario . These findings have been recognized by the national science academies of the major industrialized nations and are not disputed by any scientific body of national or international standing . Future climate change and associated impacts will differ from region to region around the globe . Anticipated effects include warming global temperature , rising sea levels , changing precipitation , and expansion of deserts in the subtropics . Warming is expected to be greater over land than over the oceans and greatest in the Arctic , with the continuing retreat of glaciers , permafrost and sea ice . Other likely changes include more frequent extreme weather events including heat waves , droughts , heavy rainfall with floods and heavy snowfall ; ocean acidification ; and species extinctions due to shifting temperature regimes . Effects significant to humans include the threat to food security from decreasing crop yields and the abandonment of populated areas due to rising sea levels . Because the climate system has a large `` inertia '' and greenhouse gases will stay in the atmosphere for a long time , many of these effects will not only exist for decades or centuries , but will persist for tens of thousands of years . Possible societal responses to global warming include mitigation by emissions reduction , adaptation to its effects , building systems resilient to its effects , and possible future climate engineering . Most countries are parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change ( UNFCCC ) , whose ultimate objective is to prevent dangerous anthropogenic climate change . Parties to the UNFCCC have agreed that deep cuts in emissions are required and that global warming should be limited to well below 2.0 C-change relative to pre-industrial levels , with efforts made to limit warming to 1.5 C-change . Public reactions to global warming and concern about its effects are also increasing . A global 2015 Pew Research Center report showed a median of 54 % consider it `` a very serious problem '' . There are significant regional differences , with Americans and Chinese ( whose economies are responsible for the greatest annual CO2 emissions ) among the least concerned ." ]

[ "Low Dog Low Dog , ( Lakota : Šúŋka Khúčiyela ) ( c.1846-1894 ) was an Oglala Lakota chief who fought with Sitting Bull at the Little Bighorn . He became a war chief at age 14 . After surrendering in 1881 , he lived at Standing Rock Agency . Low Dog 's account of the Battle of the Little Bighorn was published in the Leavenworth , Kansas Weekly Times of August 18 , 1881 : At that time we had no thought that we would ever fight the whites . Then I heard some people talking that the chief of the white men wanted the Indians to live where he ordered and do as he said , and he would feed and clothe them . I was called into council with the chief and wise men , and we had a talk about that . My judgment was why should I allow any man to support me against my will anywhere , so long as I have hands and as long as I am an able man , not a boy . Little I thought then that I would have to fight the white man , or do as he should tell me . When it began to be plain that we would have to yield or fight , we had a great many councils . I said , why should I be kept as an humble man , when I am a brave warrior and on my own lands ? The game is mine , and the hills , and the valleys , and the white man has no right to say where I shall go or what I shall do . If any white man tries to destroy my property , or take my lands , I will take my gun , get on my horse , and go punish him . I never thought that I would have to change that view . But at last I saw that if I wished to do good to my nation , I would have to do it by wise thinking and not so much fighting . Now , I want to learn the white man 's way , for I see that he is stronger than we are , and that his government is better than ours . ''", "At Our Worst At Our Worst is a b-sides/live album released by the melodic hardcore band Evergreen Terrace . The band wrote this in their CD : `` Well here it is . Another album of no new songs . Seems like as things progress for us touring wise , things get worse and worse on the time we have to do other things , like write a new album ! The idea for this album came along to us by another label named Indianola . They wanted to release our demos and whatnot , and we laughed . We wanted nothing to do with an album like this . In a way we still do n't , but hey ... money talks and we could really use some new equipment . These live tracks were taken from a show in Jacksonville , FL @ Jack Rabbits November 2003 . The unreleased track was originally written for Burned Alive By Time , but for whatever reason did n't make it to the cd . As for the demo songs on here , please be nice to us , they suck . We were in a band for two months when we wrote this . When we first put it out we were selling our demos in sandwich bags , a long way we have come . Anyways ... while you guys sit back and listen to this album , we 'll be sitting in our log cabin on the lake tahoe writing for our next album . We promise not to disappoint ! Regardless , thanks to everyone who supports us by buying these albums to hold them over 'till the next real full length . Cheers , Evergreen Terrace . ''", "Field emission probes Field emission probes are used in scanning electron miscroscopy for imaging . When a voltage is applied to these probes , electrons are emitted from the tips through a process known as field electron emission . When a body is subjected to ion milling in vacuum , we do not get to know about the geometry of the surface of the body . So to study it we will keep the field emission probes which will emit electrons as soon as a voltage is applied across it . This in turn will cause emission of secondary electrons from the surface of the body that is subjected to ion milling , by collecting these secondary emitted electrons we get a clear image of the surface of the ion milled body . This is the technique that is used in the or scanning electron microscope ( SEM ) . There exist various well defined techniques for preparing field emission probes . Ideally , a field emission probe should be extremely sharp , possibly terminating in a single atom , in order to resolve details at the atomic level ; it should have a small aspect ratio to reduce mechanical vibration while scanning , have a stable atomic configuration at its apex to yield reliable and reproducible images , and be clean to ensure a stable tunnel junction , since the presence of contaminants like oxides or etching by products could alter its metallic behavior . Our experimental setup helps us obtain tips with an apex radius of a few nanometres . There are various well-known methods to make field emission probes but still it is difficult to get an ideal probe . One of them is the Drop-off method .", "We Dreamed our Dreams We Dreamed our Dreams is a song written ( words and music ) by Irish songwriter Dick Farrelly . Dick is best known for his song , `` Isle of Innisfree '' theme of the film , The Quiet Man . `` We Dreamed our Dreams '' was first recorded by , The Fureys & Davey Arthur on their album , `` The Scattering '' released in 1988 on the Harmac Record Label . The song is published by Andic Songs / MCPS Below is an extract from the song 's words : We dreamed our dreams As we walked in the Wicklow byways Your promise came like a lark refrain Warm and true And I gave my promise too We dreamed our dreams As we kissed in the summer gladness Yet soon I 'd cry It would be goodbye Then you 'd be gone Like the swallows you 'd be gone", "Ethics of belief The ethics of belief refers to a cluster of related issues that focus on standards of rational belief , intellectual excellence , and conscientious belief-formation . Among the questions addressed in the field are : Are there standards of some sort ( `` epistemic norms '' ) that ought to guide how we form beliefs and pursue intellectual aims , such as the pursuit of truth or the quest for understanding ? If so , what kind of norms ? Moral ? Purely intellectual ? Prudential ? If there are such norms , how strong are they ? Are they categorical ( i.e. , binding regardless of our desires and commitments ) or merely hypothetical ( applicable only if we have certain desires and goals ? ) Do they bind absolutely or only conditionally ? Are beliefs within our voluntary control , or do we more or less automatically believe whatever we think is best supported by the evidence ? What aims should we have as believers ? Achieving significant truth ? Avoiding significant error ? Achieving knowledge ? Pleasure ? Peace of mind ? Understanding ? Wisdom ? Must one always have sufficient evidence for one 's beliefs ( a view philosophers call `` evidentialism '' ) , or is it sometimes permissible to believe without sufficient evidence -- or perhaps without any evidence at all ? What sorts of `` intellectual virtues '' ( admirable mental traits , skills , and habits ) are necessary for intellectual excellence and high-quality critical thinking ?", "The Ga Ga's The Ga Ga 's ( often spelled as The * Ga * Ga * s ) were a hard rock band formed by Tommy Gleeson in 2002 . Following the band 's demise in 2006 , three of the band 's members would go on to form Slaves to Gravity . Throughout the band 's career , they played through Europe , Japan , America and played with acts such as Velvet Revolver , Biffy Clyro , The Wildhearts , Skid Row , Whitesnake & Andrew WK . During an interview with the band in 2005 , Gleeson states that : `` We 're not the kind of band that if one left , we 'd just get another guy in . It 's about us as four guys , our styles and who we are as people . There 's no replacement member , that 's how we knew the band was strong . '' On 1 June 2006 the following appeared on the band 's MySpace : In May , when Rob left the band we had undoubtedly reached a crossroads in our lives . The constant set-backs and let-downs of the last 12 months had left us all feeling exhausted and disillusioned , and we knew that to survive , something had to change . We 've looked deep into ourselves and come to the conclusion that now is the time to begin again . We 've had 4 amazing years as THE * GA * GA * S , learning a lot about the way things really work in this business , and sharing our music and our lives with you all . None of us would change this experience for the world , and we thank every single one of you who has supported us throughout . We are forever indebted . In 2005 , the band were nominated for a Kerrang ! award for ` Best British Newcomer ' , an award Slaves to Gravity would go on to win in 2008 . In 2016 , Gleeson would later become the live-only guitarist on Feeder 's UK and Ireland tour , after Snow Patrol 's Nathan Conolly was unable to attend due to his commitments with said band .", "Jack Davis (veteran) John Edward ` Jack ' Davis ( 1 March 1895 -- 20 July 2003 ) was one of the last surviving British veterans of the First World War and the last of Kitchener 's Volunteers . He died aged 108 , by which point he was the oldest living British veteran of the First World War . He once made a famous speech about his life : `` I would not agree to participate in any form of warfare again . Wars have proved nothing , other than that everyone emerges from them as a loser in some way or another . I joined up in 1914 , aged 19 , in response to Lord Kitchener 's appeal for 100,000 volunteers . My friends and I thought it would offer a welcome change to our normal lives . We were excited by the prospect of going to war - but we did n't know what we were getting into . When my regiment first saw action , we found it was n't anything like we were expecting . Where I was - the Ypres Salient in Belgium - there was no drainage at the Front . For the most part you were up to your thighs in water or mud . You ca n't be an effective fighting force slopping about like that . Soon we suffered the great discomfort and humiliation of becoming lice-bound and having rats running over us . We were forced to take rest wherever we could , without even taking our clothes off . Normally we slept through sheer exhaustion . The Germans held all the advantages at the Salient -LSB- a bulge in the frontline -RSB- . They held the high ground around us , so we were under constant observation . Because we were inside the Salient , they could shell us not just from the front , but from both sides too . Whether we were in the frontlines , No Man 's Land or collecting rations from the dump at Hellfire Corner , we came under constant bombardment . I never panicked though . I kept myself under control , even if I was detailed to occupy a dangerous position . I had a very keen sense of self-preservation and never took undue risks . Keeping a clear head was n't easy and many men cracked . I was once sent out into No Man 's Land with another man to a shell crater by the German trench . They were just yards away - you could hear them talking and stamping their feet to keep warm . Armed only with a Mills bomb , we were there to decide whether the Germans were preparing to attack . Unfortunately , my comrade was shell-shocked . He was whimpering like a child . We could n't stay there with him like that - I saw three Germans who might have surrounded us . That would have meant surrender , or worse , the finish . I threw my hand grenade and we went back to our trench . When I explained what had happened my partner was sent back for medical treatment . In most cases , shell-shocked men were n't regarded as being ill and not responsible for their actions . I have thought a lot about the 306 men who were executed for cowardice or desertion . I think most were either shell-shocked or not calm in the mind . They almost selected me for an execution firing squad , and I 'm glad another man was found to carry out the sentence . If I was detailed by those in authority , I would have had to obey . I could have been shot at dawn myself . My brothers had been rejected by the Army , but they worked at a military club in London where everyone knew they wanted to join their brother at Ypres . I was sent to occupy a trench ahead of my comrades . I approached it and got the usual challenge : ` Halt , who goes there ? ' I recognised my brother 's voice . There they both were in a trench , up to their thighs in water . It was indescribable , the emotions . But I had a job to do , so it was just a few words , then ` see you ' . When they were at the Front , my brigade was in support , and vice versa . After one battle , I heard many men in their brigade had been killed - so I went off to try to find my brothers . Staying off the roads so I would n't get caught , I eventually found my older brother Percy - the younger one , William , was being treated for his wounds . When I returned to my brigade I was immediately arrested . I was given the choice between a court martial or my commanding officer 's punishment . I took his punishment and lost three days ' pay . Had I got lost on my way back to my unit and been caught by soldiers who did n't know me , who would have believed my story ? I 'd have been shot . There were times when I had occasion to respect the Germans - they were doing a job the same as we were . But we were over there to fight and we treated them as the enemy . It is only since the war that I have had time - a lot of time - to think whether it was justified to send all those men out to make the supreme sacrifice . I think that is still unanswered . It was not the war to end all wars . We 've had Korea , Vietnam , Israel , Northern Ireland , Bosnia - and what have they successfully achieved ? ''", "Soldiers of the King Soldiers of the King is a song written and composed by Leslie Stuart . The song is often sung and published as `` Soldiers of the Queen '' depending on the reigning monarch at the time . The tune was originally composed by Stuart as a march celebrating the opening of the Manchester Ship Canal . The lyrics were added at a later date and the title changed . The song was then interpolated in the musical comedy An Artist 's Model ( 1895 ) . The song served as the regimental ( quick ) march of the Queen 's Regiment , 1966 -- 1992 . In 1992 the Queens Regiment and Royal Hampshires became The Princess of Wales 's Royal Regiment who now use the song Soldiers of the Queen as their regimental song ( at the end of the song the Regiment then sing `` Farmer 's boy '' to show their links to R Hampshire ) It is also the regimental march of the combined 2nd and 14th Light Horse Regiment , Queensland Mounted Infantry -LCB- 2/14LHR ( QMI ) -RCB- ; and of the Lord Strathcona 's Horse ( Royal Canadians ) , the second most senior of Canada 's Cavalry Regiments . The song was sung by the public attending a farewell function in Brisbane , Australia the day before the departure of the 1st contingent QMI , to the Boer War on 1 November 1899 . It was used as the theme to the film , Breaker Morant . BBC Radio 4 comedy programme The Harpoon , a show lampooning boys ' magazines from Britain 's Empire days of the 20th century , also used the piece as its opening theme -- which is harshly interrupted mid-stanza by a page-turn . The song has no connection to `` The Soldiers of Our Queen '' , a quite different song which appears in the Gilbert and Sullivan opera Patience . Soldiers of the Queen by Leslie Stuart 1898 1 Britons once did loyally declaim About the way we rul 'd the waves Ev'ry Briton 's song was just the same , When singing of our soldier braves . All the world had heard it wonder 'd why we sang , And some have learn 'd the reason why But we 're forgetting it , And we 're letting it Fade away and gradually die , Fade away and gradually die . So when we say that England 's master , Remember who has made her so 1st Refrain It 's the Soldiers of the Queen , my lads Who 've been my lads , Who 're seen my lads , In the fight for England 's glory , lads , When we 've had to show them what we mean : And when we say we 've always won , And when they ask us how it 's done , We 'll proudly point to ev'ry one of England 's soldiers of the Queen ! It 's the Queen ! 2 War clouds gather over ev'ry land , Our flag is threaten 'd east and west . Nations that we 've shaken by the hand Our bold resources try to test They thought they found us sleeping thought us unprepar 'd , Because we have our party wars , But Englishmen unite when they 're call 'd to fight The battle for Old England 's common cause , The battle for Old England 's common cause . So when we say that England 's master , Remember who has made her so . 2nd/3rd Refrains It 's the Soldiers of the Queen , my lads , Who 've been my lads , Who 're seen my lads , In the fight for England 's glory , lads , When we have to show them what we mean : And when we sat we 've always won , And when they ask us how it 's done , We 'll proudly point to ev'ry one Of England 's soldiers of the Queen ! It 's the Queen ! 3 Now we 're rous 'd we 've buckled on our swords , We 've done with diplomatic lingo , We 'll do deeds to follow on our words , We 'll show we 're something more than `` jingo . '' And though Old England 's laws do not her sons compel To military duties do , We 'll play them at their game , and show them all the same , An Englishman can be a soldier too , An Englishman can be a soldier too . So when we say that England 's master , Remember who has made her so . refrain Notes Who 've been & Who 're seen - easy to miss When we 've had & When we have to show them what we mean :", "A Mind Beside Itself `` A Mind Beside Itself '' is a three-part suite composed of `` Erotomania '' , `` Voices '' and `` The Silent Man '' . Portnoy stated that the instrumental `` Erotomania '' was written `` off the cuff `` as `` a bit of a joke and parody '' . Petrucci penned the lyrics to `` Voices '' , dealing with the subject of mental illness . He researched schizophrenia and similar disorders and used religious terms `` to make things more vivid '' . `` When I was writing it , I saw these terms and medical things that were just brilliant , '' he said . `` Like there was a guy who felt that his skin was inside out . I read that and was like ` Oh my God ! That 's unbelievable ; I 've got to write about that . ' '' Petrucci wrote the music and lyrics to the acoustic `` The Silent Man '' . LaBrie described the lyrics as dealing with `` communication breakdown , for instance between a father and a son . We feel that we have to play certain roles when around one of our parents , and we never really get to know the real person . I 'm lucky that I behave with my own father like I would a friend . We can joke around and go for a beer . '' A full live performance of the suite can be found on the 2000 Live Scenes from New York album .", "Where Do We Go from Here? (2015 film) Where Do We Go from Here ? is a Scottish comedy feature film by John McPhail . The film centres on James ( Tyler Collins ) a young man who takes on the role of a janitor of a care home when his Grandad is forced into social care . It is the first feature to be directed by John McPhail .", "Waubojeeg Waub-o-jeeg , also written Wa-bo-jeeg or other variants of Ojibwe Waabojiig ( White Fisher ) ( c. 1747-1793 ) was a famous warrior and chief of the Ojibwa . He was born into the Adik ( caribou ) doodem some time in the mid-18th century near Zhaagawaamikong on the western end of Lake Superior . His father Ma-mong-a-ze-da was also a noted warrior , who fought for the French in the Battle of the Plains of Abraham . Although Wabojeeg 's family had intermarried with the Dakota people during times of peace , and he had several Dakota relatives , including the famous chief Wapasha , he fought in several battles against the Dakota and Meskwaki during his lifetime . His children , notably his son Weshkii ( the renewer ) and his youngest daughter Ozhaguscodaywayquay , became prominent in the Sault Ste. Marie area , a major fur trading post . Waub-ojeeg distrusted white men because of their encroachment on Native territory . When John Johnston , a young Scots-Irish fur trader , fell in love with his eldest daughter , Ozhaguscodaywayquay , and asked the chief to be allowed to marry her . Waub-o-jeeg at first refused , saying : `` White Man , I have noticed your behaviour , it has been correct ; but , White Man , your colour is deceitful . Of you , may I expect better things ? You say you are going to Montreal ; go , and if you return I shall be satisfied of your sincerity and will give you my daughter . '' While a respected warrior , Waub-ojeeg was also known for his poetry . He created `` Waub-ojeeg 's Battle Song '' , which his son-in-law John Johnston translated into English : `` On that day when our heroes lay low , lay low , On that day when our heroes lay low I fought by their side , and thought , ere I died , Just vengeance to take on the foe , Just vengeance to take on the foe . On that day , when our chieftains lay dead , lay dead , On that day , when our chieftains lay dead , I fought hand to hand at the head of my band , And here on my breast have I bled , have I bled , And here on my breast have I bled . Our chiefs shall return no more , no more , Our chiefs shall return no more - Nor their brethren of war , who can show scar for scar , Like women their fates shall deplore , deplore , Like women their fates shall deplore . Five winters in hunting we 'll spend , we 'll spend , Five winters in hunting we 'll spend , Till our youth , grown to men , we 'll to the war lead again , And our days like our fathers ' will end , will end , And our days like our fathers ' will end . ''", "We Apologise for Nothing `` We Apologise for Nothing '' is the second single to be taken from the second album One Day Son , This Will All Be Yours , by Fightstar . It was released on 17 September 2007 on CD and two 7 `` s , and was accompanied by a music video . Frontman Charlie Simpson has stated the meaning behind the song : `` This song is about standing up for what you believe in without compromise . Whether it be in public protest or behind closed doors the best way to achieve your goals is to stand up and relentlessly fight for them . '' He also stated the reason for the choice of covering The Cure 's `` In Between Days '' for the single release : `` The reason for choosing The Cure 's `` In Between Days '' is that they have been a huge influence on me from a very young age and I thought that this would be a great opportunity to pay tribute to them by covering one of my favourite songs of theirs . The Cure are one of the most influential bands of our time and the song I chose to cover -- ` In Between Days ' - is one of my favourites . ''", "Baby Strange thumb Baby Strange are an indie/rock band formed in 2012 in Glasgow , Scotland . The band consists of Johnny Madden ( vocalist/guitarist ) , Connaire McCann ( drummer ) and Aidan McCann ( bass ) who share their name with a T. Rex track from the 1972 album The Slider . However , there are conflicting reports as front man Johnny Madden states in an interview with Guestlist says , '' unlike people think we actually made the name up and it really stuck , and then we realised it was a T-Rex song . '' The three-piece from north Glasgow were friends for years . `` Creating Baby Strange was a great way to show off our creative side which we did n't have the opportunity to do beforehand '' says frontman Johnny Madden , as this band seems committed on bringing their contemporary punk to the nation . A unique feature of Baby Strange is that the recording , videoing and artwork of all work is done by the band members themselves . Some of the songs of the band include : The band was formed in the summer of 2012 , says frontman Johnny Madden . `` We had no jobs , we were living for nothing . We were going out all the time , seeing the same faces , doing the same things . When we sing , `` I 'm tired of my generation '' , we mean that we 're part of this generation , and we were bored by ourselves . '' With the help of Connaire 's 17-year-old brother at the time , Aidan on bass , the trio began writing `` fast , snappy , in-and-out punk-rock songs '' in their bedrooms . The band all met at a community music group in Glasgow . The band portrayed their different side in their clip on YouTube where they emerge blinking , done simply but memorably , to mark the release of ` Pure Evil ' on 27 May 2014 . `` California Sun '' sees Baby Strange at their most confident in a pleas for sunshine by Johnny Madden 's relentless , dark vocals .", "Ethical research in social science Doing research in an ethical manner becomes extremely important when dealing with human subjects . Research is the systematic process of collecting and analyzing information ( data ) in order to increase our understanding of the phenomenon about which we are concerned or interested and communicating what we discovered to the larger scientific community . The goal is to study ethics and what should occur in regard to human subject research treatment .", "Letter to the Falashas This is the letter written in 1905 by the Karaite Jews of St.Petersburg under Samuel ben Moses Shapshal to the Falashas . `` Peace to You dear brothers . Hallow you YHWH of Israel , children of Abaraham , Yitzhaq and Yakov ! From many books we learned , that you are our brothers and that You live in distant country of Abisinia , in country which is called by Israelites as Qush and that Your religion is Law of Moshe , which was given to Israel on the Mt. Sinai via prophet Moshe . As we learned we use to call Yourself as Falash or Kara , because you believe strictly in Tanakh , You dont accept Talmud or Mishna , which are accepted by Jews . We want to inform You , that our nation , which derives own origin from Israeli nation , and which call yourself as Qara , Qarai , Bene Miqra , or Qaraim . We live 20 centuries in country which is at this time part of Great Russian Empire . In our opinion we moved in Persia after destruction of Solomons Temple , than we moved in country of Khazars , which is near Black Sea . We are more than one century over rule of russian emperors . We are not numerus . 10 000 Qaraim is in Russia , 5 000 in Egypt and Algeria . Some Qaraim are in Jerusalem , Istanbul and in countries of Germany . Our religion is religion of Israeli nation , we believe only in Tanakh and we dont accept intermarriages with Jews or with other nations which dont believe in our religion . Our prayers are in hebrew - Leshon kodesh ( holy language ) . Our prayers were wroten in ancient time by our great sages and we use for our prayers a lot of psalms by King David . Torah of Moshe which we profess has 5 parts . Bereshiit , Shemot , Vayikra , Bamidbar and Devarim . Beside it we have 19 books of prophets . If You with YHWH help will receive this letter , please answer us our questions . 1 ) Why do you identify as Kara or Falasha ? 2 ) What of differences are between You and Jews ? 3 ) Are you descendants of ancient Israelites as same as we ? 4 ) If you are descendants of Israelites when did you move in Abissinia ? 5 ) If you are descendants of Israelites do You accept only Tanakh as we ? 6 ) Are in Your country other descendants of Israelites ( Jews , which call Yourself Rabbanites ) ? If yes do you practice intermarriages with them ? Do you use their meat ? 7 ) What are Your relations with other Jews ? 8 ) Do you practice circumcisions , do you keep Shabbat and Pessah as the reminder of exodus from Egypt ? 9 ) How do You celebrate Shavuot , when do you start to count 50 days ? From the 2nd day of Pessah or from the first day ( Sunday ) of week of Pessah as is wroten : Mimashurat ha-Shabbat ? We count 7 weeks from the 1st day of week ( after Shabbat ) . If Pessah is in the 1st day of week , than we count 7 weeks from this Sunday . For us is always Shavuot in day after Shabbat -- in Sunday . 10 ) Do you wear according to Torah tzitzit ? Do you wear it only during worship or do you wear its on your clothings ? We wear tzitzit only in the time of prayers . 11 ) What kind of calendar do you use and what are names of your months ? 12 ) Which date do you use ? Do you use date from creation of World or from other time ? We start our months according to New Moons . 13 ) Have you got the Torah of Moshe and prophets ? If you have Books of prophets , on which language its are wroten and what are its names ? 14 ) Have you got works of your Hakhams ? What about are these books ? Which language is used and when its were wroten ? 15 ) Where do you pray ? How do you call your prayerhouses ? Which language do you use for your prayers and when its were wroten ? 16 ) Have you got Kohanim and Levites ? If not who substitute their ? Who is head of your community and how do you call this person ? Who pray in your community in front of YHWH ( who is kantor ) and how do you call your worships ? 17 ) Have you got fast days ? What are their names and what its remember ? 18 ) Do you celebrate the Purim , which was established in the time of Mordokhai and Esther ? 19 ) What is you 're the oldest book and what is wroten in it and what language was used ? 20 ) Do you read and write in Hebrew ? Do you use tapping ? Do you use tapping over or under text ? We use tapping under written text . 21 ) On the base of our requests we want to wrote informations about your customs , traditions , about your social and economical status . What type of job do you do ? How do you live , what kind of dress do you wear ? Are among you wealthy people ? Teach you your children to read and write ? In which age use your sons to be married and what about your daughters ? How many people are you ? What kind of language do you use ? What are differences between you and local nations ? With this letter we send you next letter in Hebrew-leshon kodesh . If you know this langure please answer us in hebrew because we know this language very well . We hope that you will answer us all our questions and they you will inform us that in your distant country live our brothers -- Israelites , believers in ONE God , Qaraim . Could you inform us which address we have to use and how to write next letters . Could you inform us if are in your country people which travell in distant countries of Europe and Russia or in Egypt , Palestine and Holy town Yerushalayim . If someone of you will travell into Russia he will be able to find us in Peterburg , Moscow , Odessa , in Crimea ( Yevpatoriya , Sevastopol , Simferopol , Feodosiya ) there we have our communities . We will pray to YHWH to hallow you , we are sending you the best regards . Yours humble servants . Signed : Samuil ben Moshe Szapszal , gabay of community Nissan ben David Kokizov , David ben Berakha Mangoubi , Yakov ben Benyamin Duban , Sabatai ben Berakha Mangoubi , Moshe ben Berakha Mangoubi , Yosif ben Yitzhaq Eraqa . Community of Qaraim in St. Peterburg 14 of July 1896 . ''", "Radical unintelligibility Radical Unintelligibility , a term coined by Bernard Lonergan , is the philosophical idea that we can act against our better judgment . We can refuse to choose what we know is worth choosing . It is the refusal to make a decision that one deems one ought to make . Mortal sin is radically unintelligible : when we commit a mortal sin , we fully consent to do something despite knowing that it is wrong to do it .", "Fair Antigua, We Salute Thee `` Fair Antigua , We Salute Thee '' is the national anthem of Antigua and Barbuda . Written by Novelle Hamilton Richards and composed by Walter Garnet Picart Chambers , it was adopted upon independence in 1981 . `` God Save the Queen '' is still the Royal anthem . Fair Antigua and Barbuda ! We thy sons and daughters stand Strong and firm in peace or danger To safeguard our native land We commit ourselves to building A true nation brave and free ; Ever striving , ever seeking , Dwell in love and unity Raise the standard ! Raise it boldly ! Answer now to duty 's call To the service of thy country , Sparing nothing , giving all ; Gird your loins and join the battle ` Gainst fear , hate and poverty , Each endeavouring , all achieving , Live in peace where man is free . God of nations , let Thy blessings Fall upon this land of ours ; Rain and sunshine ever sending , Fill her fields with crops and flowers ; We her children do implore Thee , Give us strength , faith , loyalty , Never failing , all enduring To defend her liberty .", "What Shall We Do with Our Old? What Shall We Do with Our Old ? is a 1911 American drama film directed by D.W. Griffith .", "Gertrude Nafe Gertrude E. Nafe was an American teacher , essayist , and Communist short-story writer . A friend of Emma Goldman , she helped organize her Denver , Colorado lectures , and organized the city 's Caplan-Schmidt Defense League . Nafe 's writings included the essay , `` Colorado '' ( Mother Earth ; June 2014 ) . She was dismissed from her teaching position for striking the word `` obedience '' from a `` loyalty pledge . '' At an Intercollegiate Socialist Society conference , Nafe represented the United Communist Party , which had recently combined the Communist Labor Party and the various elements of the Communist Party outside of the Russian Federations . She attempted to refute the four counts against them : ( 1 ) that they were extremists ; ( 2 ) that , even granting their position was right , they talked too much and too noisily ; ( 3 ) that they advocated force ; ( 4 ) that they refused to accept the practical immediate things they could get . In rebuttal she said : '' ( 1 ) We answer that it was once extreme to object to chattel slavery . Any position is extreme when first taken . If we retreat , the next position becomes extreme and is subject to all the criticism given the extremists . You can not cut a string so short that it has not two ends . ( 2 ) We are told that half a loaf is better than no bread . But we are much more likely to get half a loaf by demanding our just share , the whole . Let the other side do the cutting down . Why should we ? ( 3 ) We do not threaten violence and never have . We prophesy that the change will not be made without the use of force and we resolve not to be deterred by that fact . Violence covers the earth at present and is the root of all governments . The only possible foundation of peace is justice . As to the little taunt flung at us often , that we are young , ` If it were so , it were a grievous fault . ' But seriously , to quote Gilbert Cannan , ` There are times when young men must attempt to say what old men can not think . ' ( 4 ) The last argument is that we do not seize the practical good that we can do . Sometimes those ` practical ' things really make a bad matter worse . Two radicals , centuries ago , exasperated by the right wing of their generation , cursed the compromisers , and cried out against those who call , ` Peace , peace ' when there is no peace . It is a doubtful favor that one does a slave by making his slavery a little more tolerable . We prefer to be of those who cry , ` Rise , quit ye like men . ' ''", "Do Not Say We Have Nothing Do Not Say We Have Nothing is a novel by Madeleine Thien published in 2016 . It follows a 10-year-old girl and her mother who invite a Chinese refugee into their home .", "Soul to Preach To `` Soul to Preach To '' is the first single released from Fuel 's album Puppet Strings . It is also the first single released featuring original lead singer Brett Scallions since Fuel 's 2003 studio album Natural Selection . About the song , lead singer Brett Scallions says , `` Lyrically , ` Soul to Preach To ' is about regret . I think we all look upon our past when we get to a certain age and think that there may have been things we could have done differently in our lives . When we recorded the song we tracked everything for the most part but something seemed to still be missing . Luckily my friend Slash let me borrow a dobro and the melody in the verses was then written . At that point the song felt complete . '' The song peaked at number 30 on Billboard 's Mainstream Rock Songs , staying on the chart for 11 weeks .", "Nuclear energy in Israel Israel has no nuclear power plants . However , in January 2007 , Israeli Infrastructure Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer said his country should consider producing nuclear power for civilian purposes . As a result of the nuclear emergencies at Japan 's Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant , Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on March 17 , 2011 , `` I do n't think we 're going to pursue civil nuclear energy in the coming years . '' , the Ministry of National Infrastructure , Energy and Water Resources is considering nuclear power in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 25 % by 2030 . Since the 1980s , a site near Shivta in the Negev desert has been designated as the future location of a nuclear power plant . Previously , a site near Nitzanim was considered but was rejected in the 1970s due to strong opposition from nearby residents .", "Standard written English Standard written English refers to the preferred form of English as it is written according to prescriptive authorities associated with publishing houses and schools . As there is no regulatory body for the English language , there is some disagreement about correct usage , though there is enough agreement that the written form of English is relatively transcendent of dialectal variation . In addition to being used in written media such as books and newspapers , it is also the basis of Signed English . John H. Fisher , author of The Emergence of Standard English , observes that in Spanish , Italian , French , and English , the written languages became standardised before the spoken languages , and that these provide frames of reference for what is considered standard speech . He said , in an interview for the Children of the Code project : I came to the conclusion that all of the discussion of standardisation of language was a discussion of the written forms of language . It had nothing to do with spoken language . We do n't have the spoken language standardised yet . When we say that we 're speaking Standard English , what we 're doing is transferring into our spoken vocabulary and syntax the elements of the written language . What is standard in what you and I are talking now is what we get from our writing .", "Print Is Dead Vol 1 Print Is Dead Vol 1 is the first side project album by Yourcodenameis : Milo . The album was released on 6 November 2006 via V2 Records . Each song on the album features Yourcodenameis : Milo collaborating with guests from current British bands . An explanation of the album and its motivation is printed in the sleeve : `` We all used to make each other mix tapes when we were at school , or at least fill up the other side of a C90 with songs we knew other people had n't heard . I guess that kind of stuck and we wanted to make our own . And we all remember how exciting it was to hear about people we admired collaborating with each other . We wanted in on that . In the summer of 2005 we started emailing people asking if they wanted to come and be involved . All the tracks would have to be written and recorded within the space of one day at our Like a Cat , Like a Fox studio somewhere under a bridge , somewhere in Newcastle . All spur of the moment , no time to be precious but with a spirit of taking chances and doing things that none of us could get away with in our respective day jobs . People were up for it . So we did it . In the summer of 2006 it was finished . We 'll be starting Print is Dead Vol . 2 . soon ... '' - Yourcodenameis : Milo ( September 2006 ) The band uploaded a new track every Tuesday to their MySpace page prior to the release . `` Wait a Minute '' ( featuring Gordon Moakes of Bloc Party ) was the first single released from the album . The album 's name is taken from an Egon Spengler quote from the film Ghostbusters", "Straw dog Straw dogs were used as ceremonial objects in ancient China . In one translation Chapter 5 of the Tao Te Ching begins with the lines `` Heaven and Earth are heartless / treating creatures like straw dogs '' . Su Zhe 's commentary on this verse explains : `` Heaven and Earth are not partial . They do not kill living things out of cruelty or give them birth out of kindness . We do the same when we make straw dogs to use in sacrifices . We dress them up and put them on the altar , but not because we love them . And when the ceremony is over , we throw them into the street , but not because we hate them . ''", "When Do We Eat? When Do We Eat ? may refer to : When Do We Eat ? ( 1918 film ) , a silent comedy directed by Fred Niblo When Do We Eat ? ( 2005 film ) , an American comedy starring Michael Lerner", "Biology and consumer behaviour Consumer behaviour is the study of the motivations surrounding a purchase of a product or service . It has been linked to the field of psychology , sociology and economics in attempts to analyse when , why , where and how people purchase in the way that they do . However , little literature has considered the link between our consumption behaviour and the basics of our being , our biology . Segmentation by biological driven demographics such as sex and age are already popular and pervasive in marketing . As more knowledge and research is known , targeting based on a consumers biology is of growing interest and use to marketers . As human machines being made up of cells controlled by our brain to influence aspects of our behaviour , there must be some influence of biology on our consumer behaviour and how we purchase as well . The nature versus nurture debate is at the core of how much biology influences these buying decisions , because it argues the extent to which biological factors influence what we do , and how much is reflected through environmental factors . Neuromarketing is of interest to marketers in measuring the reaction of stimulus to marketing . Even though we know there is a reaction , the question of why we consume the way we do still lingers , but it is a step in the right direction . Biology helps to understand consumer behaviour as it influences consumption and aids in the measurement of it . Lawson and Wooliscroft ( 2004 ) drew the link between human nature and the marketing concept , not explicitly biology , where they considered the contrasting views of Hobbes and Rousseau on mankind . Hobbes believed man had a self-serving nature whereas Rousseau was more forgiving towards the nature of man , suggesting them to be noble and dignified . Hobbes saw the need for a governing intermediary to control this selfish nature which provided a basis for the exchange theory , and also links to Mcgregor 's Theory of X and Y , relevant to management literature . He also considered cooperation and competition , relevant to game theory as an explanation of man 's motives and can be used for understanding the exercising of power in marketing channels . Pinker outlines why the nature debate has been suppressed by the nurture debate in his book The Blank Slate .", "The two kinds of righteousness The Two Kinds of Righteousness is a Lutheran paradigm ( like the Two Kingdoms of God ) . It attempts to define man 's identity in relation to God and to the rest of creation . The Two Kinds of Righteousness is explicitly mentioned in Luther 's 1518 sermon entitled Two Kinds of Righteousness , in Luther 's Galatians Commentary ( 1535 ) , in his Bondage of the Will , Melanchthon 's Apology of the Augsburg Confession , and in the third article of the Formula of Concord . It is also the implicit presupposition governing Luther 's Freedom of a Christian as well as other works . In theology `` to be righteous is to be human as God envisioned in creation , and again in redemption . '' Lutherans believe that there are `` two dimensions to being a human creature , '' or two relationships that define human nature . The first dimension defines man 's relationship with God and the second defines man 's relationship with his human neighbors and the rest of God 's creation . `` In the former we receive righteousness before God through faith on account of Christ . In the latter , we achieve righteousness in the eyes of the world by works when we carry out our God-given responsibilities . ''", "Sanitation manifesto The Sanitation Manifesto was written in 1984 by Mierle Laderman Ukeles , an artist based in New York City who was known for the activism in her art . It is two text pages mounted on museum board . It describes Sanitation as a symbol of interdependent reality . She starts the manifesto by defining Sanitation , as `` the working out of the human design to accept , confront , manage , control , even use DECAY in urban life . '' She remarks that we all , whether we desire it or not , exist in relation to Sanitation , and are inexplicably dependent on it , `` if we want the City , and ourselves , to last more than a few days . '' She then poses the questions : How does this inextricable bond encroach on the artist and his/her work , while living in a democracy ? How does the artist express his/her freedom in an inherently restrictive public work system ? ( I.e. curated and strict museum showings , heavily maintained galleries , etc ) What about the freedom of a `` public service '' sanitation worker in this `` free '' society , and how do these two extremes relate to each other ? Ukeles aimed to probe discussion about how the boundaries and conflicts of free-art and social necessity ( Sanitation being one of them ) define each other . In the next paragraph she ruminates on how invisible yet deeply essential our human Sanitation system is to our current lives . Most of the public does not see `` beyond the tip of its nose - or see where we put our waste , or see what we do ... with it , or see what choices we have about managing our waste . Waste is our immediate unwanted past . '' Indeed , most of us do not give a second thought to the trash we use for sometimes mere seconds , than throw away . Even the idea of reusing and recycling is still not widespread and ingrained in most of our lives . We are facing an impending global environmental disaster , because we are running out of space on Earth to conveniently `` put our trash away '' . She states that to understand and accept how we should deal with our waste , we need to understand how we connect to each other across our society - how we add up . The first step would be to step away from the stigma of the waste-worker , or `` garbage '' / sanitation worker . There is a notion that our waste that they handle is somehow `` their waste '' , because they handle it - `` They 're ` dirty ' , we 're ` clean ' '' . In reality , they are an integral part of the backbone of our society . With this Manifesto , Ukeles explores how avant-garde art often creates unnecessary amounts of waste , and challenges what is considered Art - since Sanitation is so integral in our lives , should that not be considered an Art at some level too ? She aimed to draw more attention to behind-the-scenes workings instead of focusing on the traditional art form - the end result .", "The Doughnut in Granny's Greenhouse The Doughnut in Granny 's Greenhouse is the second album by the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band . By this time the band had changed their name to `` The Bonzo Dog Band '' , dropping out the `` Doo-Dah '' . The group 's sound had also expanded beyond their music hall and jazz roots , drawing inspiration from the blues and psychedelic rock movements that had grown in popularity at the time . The American version of this album was retitled Urban Spaceman and added their U.K. hit single `` I 'm the Urban Spaceman '' . The phrase `` the doughnut in granny 's greenhouse '' is obscure British slang for the lavatory . The band first heard it when Michael Palin told them a joke featuring it . The chorus of `` We Are Normal '' features the lyric `` We are normal and we want our freedom '' , a reference to a line from the 1963 play `` The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade , '' or `` Marat/Sade '' a line also quoted in `` The Red Telephone '' , a song by the American band Love from their 1967 album `` Forever Changes '' . In 2007 the U.K. version was re-issued by EMI on CD with 5 bonus tracks .", "American Freedom Campaign The American Freedom Campaign is an organization that has as its goal to put restoration of the Constitution on the agenda for Democratic presidential candidates , roughly parallel to the goal of the American Freedom Agenda for Republican candidates , although Democratic and Republican candidates could sign on to both pledges . It was launched in July 2007 by the Center for Constitutional Rights , Human Rights Watch and MoveOn . The group urges presidential candidates to sign its `` American Freedom Pledge '' , which reads : We are Americans , and in our America we do not torture , we do not imprison people without charge or legal recourse , allow our phones and emails to be tapped without a court order , and above all we do not give any President unchecked power . I pledge to fight to protect and defend the Constitution from assault by any President . The Constitution protects American Freedom . With checks and balances , and basic legal rights , it has prevented tyranny and safeguarded our liberty . Yet today , under the pretense of the `` war on terror , '' the White House is dismantling the Constitution , concentrating power in the President and undermining the rule of law . THIS IS UN-AMERICAN . I hereby join the American Freedom Campaign to educate my neighbors about the threat and urge my representatives to confront and correct these abuses of our America . AFC was co-founded by Naomi Wolf , Wes Boyd and William Haseltine .", "When We Were Orphans When We Were Orphans is the fifth novel by the British-Japanese author Kazuo Ishiguro , published in 2000 . It is loosely categorised as a detective novel . When We Were Orphans was shortlisted for the 2000 Man Booker Prize , though it is considered one of Ishiguro 's weakest works , with Ishiguro himself saying `` It 's not my best book '' ." ]

[ "Earth Earth ( from Eorðe -LSB- Γαῖα , Gaia -RSB- Terra ) , otherwise known as the World or the Globe , is the third planet from the Sun and the only object in the Universe known to harbor life . It is the densest planet in the Solar System and the largest of the four terrestrial planets . According to radiometric dating and other sources of evidence , Earth formed about 4.54 billion years ago . Earth 's gravity interacts with other objects in space , especially the Sun and the Moon , Earth 's only natural satellite . During one orbit around the Sun , Earth rotates about its axis over 365 times ; thus , an Earth year is about 365.26 days long . Earth 's axis of rotation is tilted , producing seasonal variations on the planet 's surface . The gravitational interaction between the Earth and Moon causes ocean tides , stabilizes the Earth 's orientation on its axis , and gradually slows its rotation . Earth 's lithosphere is divided into several rigid tectonic plates that migrate across the surface over periods of many millions of years . About 71 % of Earth 's surface is covered with water , mostly by its oceans . The remaining 29 % is land consisting of continents and islands that together have many lakes , rivers and other sources of water that contribute to the hydrosphere . The majority of Earth 's polar regions are covered in ice , including the Antarctic ice sheet and the sea ice of the Arctic ice pack . Earth 's interior remains active with a solid iron inner core , a liquid outer core that generates the Earth 's magnetic field , and a convecting mantle that drives plate tectonics . Within the first billion years of Earth 's history , life appeared in the oceans and began to affect the Earth 's atmosphere and surface , leading to the proliferation of aerobic and anaerobic organisms . Some geological evidence indicates that life may have arisen as much as 4.1 billion years ago . Since then , the combination of Earth 's distance from the Sun , physical properties , and geological history have allowed life to evolve and thrive . In the history of the Earth , biodiversity has gone through long periods of expansion , occasionally punctuated by mass extinction events . Over 99 % of all species that ever lived on Earth are extinct . Estimates of the number of species on Earth today vary widely ; most species have not been described . Over 7.4 billion humans live on Earth and depend on its biosphere and minerals for their survival . Humans have developed diverse societies and cultures ; politically , the world has about 200 sovereign states .", "Sun The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System . It is a nearly perfect sphere of hot plasma , with internal convective motion that generates a magnetic field via a dynamo process . It is by far the most important source of energy for life on Earth . Its diameter is about 109 times that of Earth , and its mass is about 330,000 times that of Earth , accounting for about 99.86 % of the total mass of the Solar System . About three quarters of the Sun 's mass consists of hydrogen ( ~ 73 % ) ; the rest is mostly helium ( ~ 25 % ) , with much smaller quantities of heavier elements , including oxygen , carbon , neon , and iron . The Sun is a G-type main-sequence star ( G2V ) based on its spectral class . As such , it is informally referred to as a yellow dwarf . It formed approximately 4.6 billionAll numbers in this article are short scale . One billion is 109 , or 1,000,000,000 . years ago from the gravitational collapse of matter within a region of a large molecular cloud . Most of this matter gathered in the center , whereas the rest flattened into an orbiting disk that became the Solar System . The central mass became so hot and dense that it eventually initiated nuclear fusion in its core . It is thought that almost all stars form by this process . The Sun is roughly middle-aged ; it has not changed dramatically for more than four billion years , and will remain fairly stable for more than another five billion years . After hydrogen fusion in its core has diminished to the point at which it is no longer in hydrostatic equilibrium , the core of the Sun will experience a marked increase in density and temperature while its outer layers expand to eventually become a red giant . It is calculated that the Sun will become sufficiently large to engulf the current orbits of Mercury and Venus , and render Earth uninhabitable . The enormous effect of the Sun on Earth has been recognized since prehistoric times , and the Sun has been regarded by some cultures as a deity . The synodic rotation of Earth and its orbit around the Sun are the basis of the solar calendar , which is the predominant calendar in use today .", "Atmosphere of Earth The atmosphere of Earth is the layer of gases , commonly known as air , that surrounds the planet Earth and is retained by Earth 's gravity . The atmosphere of Earth protects life on Earth by absorbing ultraviolet solar radiation , warming the surface through heat retention ( greenhouse effect ) , and reducing temperature extremes between day and night ( the diurnal temperature variation ) . By volume , dry air contains 78.09 % nitrogen , 20.95 % oxygen , 0.93 % argon , 0.04 % carbon dioxide , and small amounts of other gases . Air also contains a variable amount of water vapor , on average around 1 % at sea level , and 0.4 % over the entire atmosphere . Air content and atmospheric pressure vary at different layers , and air suitable for use in photosynthesis by terrestrial plants and breathing of terrestrial animals is found only in Earth 's troposphere and in artificial atmospheres . The atmosphere has a mass of about 5.15 kg , three quarters of which is within about 11 km of the surface . The atmosphere becomes thinner and thinner with increasing altitude , with no definite boundary between the atmosphere and outer space . The Kármán line , at 100 km , or 1.57 % of Earth 's radius , is often used as the border between the atmosphere and outer space . Atmospheric effects become noticeable during atmospheric reentry of spacecraft at an altitude of around 120 km . Several layers can be distinguished in the atmosphere , based on characteristics such as temperature and composition . The study of Earth 's atmosphere and its processes is called atmospheric science ( aerology ) . Early pioneers in the field include Léon Teisserenc de Bort and Richard Assmann ." ]

[ "Idealized greenhouse model The surface of the Sun radiates light and heat at approximately 5,500 ° C . The Earth is much cooler and so radiates heat back away from itself at much longer wavelengths , mostly in the infrared range . The idealized greenhouse model is based on the fact that certain gases in the Earth 's atmosphere , including carbon dioxide and water vapour , are transparent to the high-frequency , high-energy solar radiation , but are much more opaque to the lower frequency infrared radiation leaving the surface of the earth . Thus heat is easily let in , but is partially trapped by these gases as it tries to leave . Rather than get hotter and hotter , Kirchhoff 's law of thermal radiation says that the gases of the atmosphere also have to re-emit the infrared energy that they absorb , and they do so , also at long infrared wavelengths , both upwards into space as well as downwards back towards the Earth 's surface . In the long-term , thermal equilibrium is reached when all the heat energy arriving on the planet is leaving again at the same rate . In this idealized model , the greenhouse gases cause the surface of the planet to be warmer than it would be without them , in order for the required amount of heat energy finally to be radiated out into space from the top of the atmosphere . The greenhouse effect can be illustrated with an idealized planet . This is a common `` textbook model '' : the planet will have a constant surface temperature Ts and an atmosphere with constant temperature Ta . For diagrammatic clarity , a gap can be depicted between the atmosphere and the surface . Alternatively , Ts could be interpreted as a temperature representative of the surface and the lower atmosphere , and Ta could be interpreted as the temperature of the upper atmosphere . In order to justify that Ta and Ts remain constant over the planet , strong ocean and atmospheric currents can be imagined to provide plentiful lateral mixing . Furthermore , any daily or seasonal cycles in temperature are assumed to be insignificant .", "Decoupling (meteorology) In weather forecasting , decoupling is boundary-layer decoupling of atmospheric layers over land at night . During the day when the sun shines and warms the land , air at the surface of the earth is heated and rises . This rising air mixes the atmosphere near the earth . At night this process stops and air near the surface cools as the land loses heat by radiating in the infrared . If winds are light , air near the surface of the earth can become much colder , compared to the air above it , than if more mixing of air layers occurred . Category : Weather forecasting", "Infrared window The infrared atmospheric window is the overall dynamic property of the earth 's atmosphere , taken as a whole at each place and occasion of interest , that lets some infrared radiation from the cloud tops and land-sea surface pass directly to space without intermediate absorption and re-emission , and thus without heating the atmosphere . It can not be defined simply as a part or set of parts of the electromagnetic spectrum , because the spectral composition of window radiation varies greatly with varying local environmental conditions , such as water vapour content and land-sea surface temperature , and because few or no parts of the spectrum are simply not absorbed at all , and because some of the diffuse radiation is passing nearly vertically upwards and some is passing nearly horizontally . A large gap in the absorption spectrum of water vapor , the main greenhouse gas , is most important in the dynamics of the window . Other gases , especially carbon dioxide and ozone , partly block transmission . An atmospheric window is a dynamic property of the atmosphere , while the spectral window is a static characteristic of the electromagnetic radiative absorption spectra of many greenhouse gases , including water vapour . The atmospheric window tells what actually happens in the atmosphere , while the spectral window tells of one of the several abstract factors that potentially contribute to the actual concrete happenings in the atmosphere . Window radiation is radiation that actually passes through the atmospheric window . Non-window radiation is radiation that actually does not pass through the atmospheric window . Window wavelength radiation is radiation that , judging only from its wavelength , potentially might or might not , but is likely to pass through the atmospheric window . Non-window wavelength radiation is radiation that , judging only from its wavelength , is unlikely to pass through the atmospheric window . The difference between window radiation and window wavelength radiation is that window radiation is an actual component of the radiation , determined by the full dynamics of the atmosphere , taking in all determining factors , while window wavelength radiation is merely theoretically potential , defined only by one factor , the wavelength . The importance of the infrared atmospheric window in the atmospheric energy balance was discovered by George Simpson in 1928 , based on G. Hettner 's 1918 laboratory studies of the gap in the absorption spectrum of water vapor . In those days , computers were not available , and Simpson notes that he used approximations ; he writes : `` There is no hope of getting an exact solution ; but by making suitable simplifying assumptions ... '' Nowadays , accurate line-by-line computations are possible , and careful studies of the infrared atmospheric window have been published .", "Non-ionizing radiation Non-ionizing ( or non-ionising ) radiation refers to any type of electromagnetic radiation that does not carry enough energy per quantum ( photon energy ) to ionize atoms or molecules -- that is , to completely remove an electron from an atom or molecule . Instead of producing charged ions when passing through matter , the electromagnetic radiation has sufficient energy only for excitation , the movement of an electron to a higher energy state . Ionizing radiation which has a higher frequency and shorter wavelength than nonionizing radiation , has many uses but can be a health hazard ; exposure to it can cause burns , radiation sickness , cancer and genetic damage . Using ionizing radiation requires elaborate radiological protection measures which in general are not required with nonionizing radiation . The region at which radiation becomes considered as `` ionizing '' is not well defined , since different molecules and atoms ionize at different energies . The usual definitions have suggested that radiation with particle or photon energies less than 10 electronvolts ( eV ) be considered non-ionizing . Another suggested threshold is 33 electronvolts , which is the energy needed to ionize water molecules . The light from the Sun that reaches the earth is largely composed of non-ionizing radiation , since the ionizing far-ultraviolet rays have been filtered out by the gases in the atmosphere , particularly oxygen . The remaining ultraviolet radiation from the Sun is in the non-ionizing band , and causes molecular damage ( for example , sunburn ) by photochemical and free-radical-producing means that do not ionize . Different biological effects are observed for different types of non-ionizing radiation . A difficulty is that there is no controversy that the upper frequencies of non-ionizing radiation near these energies ( much of the spectrum of UV light and some visible light ) is capable of non-thermal biological damage , similar to ionizing radiation . Health debate therefore centers on the non-thermal effects of radiation of much lower frequencies ( microwave , millimeter and radiowave radiation ) . The International Agency for Research on Cancer recently stated that there could be some risk from non-ionizing radiation to humans . But a subsequent study reported that the basis of the IARC evaluation was not consistent with observed incidence trends . This and other reports suggest that there is virtually no way that results on which the IARC based its conclusions are correct .", "Polar amplification Polar amplification is the phenomenon that any change in the net radiation balance ( for example greenhouse intensification ) tends to produce a larger change in temperature near the poles than the planetary average . On a planet with an atmosphere that can restrict longwave radiation to space ( a greenhouse effect ) , surface temperatures will be warmer than a simple planetary equilibrium temperature calculation would predict . Where the atmosphere or an extensive ocean is able to convect heat polewards , the poles will be warmer and equatorial regions cooler than their local net radiation balances would predict . In the extreme , the planet Venus is thought to have experienced a very large increase in greenhouse effect over its lifetime , so much so that its poles have warmed sufficiently to render its surface temperature effectively isothermal ( no difference between poles and equator ) . On Earth , water vapor and trace gasses provide a lesser greenhouse effect , and the atmosphere and extensive oceans provide efficient poleward heat transport . Both palaeoclimate changes and recent global warming changes have exhibited strong polar amplification , as described below .", "Radiation properties Conduction and convection are heat transfer processes that require the presence of a medium . Radiation heat transfer is characteristically different from the other two in that it does not require a medium and , in fact it reaches maximum efficiency in a vacuum . Electromagnetic radiation has some proper characteristics depending on the frequency and wavelengths of the radiation . The phenomenon of radiation is not yet fully understood . Two theories have been used to explain radiation ; however neither of them is perfectly satisfactory . First , the earlier theory which originated from the concept of a hypothetical medium referred as ether . Ether supposedly fills all evacuated or non evacuated spaces . The transmission of light or of radiant heat are allowed by the propagation of electromagnetic waves in the ether . Electromagnetic waves have similar characteristics to television and radio broadcasting waves they only differ in wavelength . All electromagnetic waves travel at the same speed ; therefore , shorter wavelengths are associated with high frequencies . Since every body or fluid is submerged in the ether , due to the vibration of the molecules , any body or fluid can potentially initiate an electromagnetic wave . All bodies generate and receive electromagnetic waves at the expense of its stored energy The second theory of radiation is best known as the quantum theory and was first offered by Max Planck in 1900 . According to this theory , energy emitted by a radiator is not continuous but is in the form of quanta . Planck claimed that quantities had different sizes and frequencies of vibration similarly to the wave theory . The energy E is found by the expression E = hν , where h is the Planck 's constant and ν is the frequency . Higher frequencies are originated by high temperatures and create an increase of energy in the quantum . While the propagation of electromagnetic waves of all wavelengths is often referred as `` radiation , '' thermal radiation is often constrained to the visible and infrared regions . For engineering purposes , it may be stated that thermal radiation is a form of electromagnetic radiation which varies on the nature of a surface and its temperature . Radiation waves may travel in unusual patterns compared to conduction heat flow . Radiation allows waves to travel from a heated body through a cold nonabsorbing or partially absorbing medium and reach a warmer body again . This is the case of the radiation waves that travel from the sun to the earth .", "Selective surface In solar thermal collectors , a selective surface or selective absorber is a means of increasing its operation temperature and/or efficiency . The selectivity is defined as the ratio of solar radiation-absorption ( alpha ) - to thermal infrared radiation-emission ( epsilon ) . Selective surfaces take advantage of the differing wavelengths of incident solar radiation and the emissive radiation from the absorbing surface : Solar radiation covers approximately the wavelengths 350 nm to 4000 nm ; UV-A , visible and near infrared ( NIR - or IR-A plus IR-B ) . Thermal infrared radiation , from materials with temperatures approximately in the interval -40 to 100 ° C , covers approximately the wavelengths 4000 nm to 40,000 nm = 4 um to 40 um ; The thermal infrared radiation interval being named or covered by : MIR , LWIR or IR-C .", "Thermal blooming Thermal blooming is an atmospheric effect , seen in high energy laser beams . It is the result of the nonlinear interaction of laser radiation with the propagation medium , usually air , which is heated by the absorption of a fraction of the radiation . The amount of energy absorbed is a function of the laser wavelength . The term `` thermal blooming '' is often used to describe any type of self-induced `` thermal distortion '' of laser radiation .", "Infrared Infrared radiation , or simply infrared or IR , is electromagnetic radiation ( EMR ) with longer wavelengths than those of visible light , and is therefore invisible , although it is sometimes loosely called infrared light . It extends from the nominal red edge of the visible spectrum at 700 nanometers ( frequency 430 THz ) , to 1000000 nm ( 300 GHz ) ( although people can see infrared up to at least 1050 nm in experiments ) . Most of the thermal radiation emitted by objects near room temperature is infrared . Like all EMR , IR carries radiant energy , and behaves both like a wave and like its quantum particle , the photon . Infrared was discovered in 1800 by astronomer Sir William Herschel , who discovered a type of invisible radiation in the spectrum lower in energy than red light , by means of its effect on a thermometer . Slightly more than half of the total energy from the Sun was eventually found to arrive on Earth in the form of infrared . The balance between absorbed and emitted infrared radiation has a critical effect on Earth 's climate . Infrared radiation is emitted or absorbed by molecules when they change their rotational-vibrational movements . It excites vibrational modes in a molecule through a change in the dipole moment , making it a useful frequency range for study of these energy states for molecules of the proper symmetry . Infrared spectroscopy examines absorption and transmission of photons in the infrared range . Infrared radiation is used in industrial , scientific , and medical applications . Night-vision devices using active near-infrared illumination allow people or animals to be observed without the observer being detected . Infrared astronomy uses sensor-equipped telescopes to penetrate dusty regions of space such as molecular clouds , detect objects such as planets , and to view highly red-shifted objects from the early days of the universe . Infrared thermal-imaging cameras are used to detect heat loss in insulated systems , to observe changing blood flow in the skin , and to detect overheating of electrical apparatus . Thermal-infrared imaging is used extensively for military and civilian purposes . Military applications include target acquisition , surveillance , night vision , homing , and tracking . Humans at normal body temperature radiate chiefly at wavelengths around 10 μm ( micrometers ) . Non-military uses include thermal efficiency analysis , environmental monitoring , industrial facility inspections , remote temperature sensing , short-ranged wireless communication , spectroscopy , and weather forecasting .", "Daylight (disambiguation) Daylight is the combination of all direct and indirect sunlight outdoors during the daytime , which includes : Sunlight , the total spectrum of the electromagnetic radiation given off by the Sun Diffuse sky radiation , solar radiation reaching the Earth 's surface after having been scattered by molecules or suspensoids in the atmosphere Daylight may also refer to :", "Van Allen radiation belt A radiation belt is a zone of energetic charged particles , most of which originate from the solar wind that is captured by and held around a planet by that planet 's magnetic field . The Earth has two such belts and sometimes others may be temporarily created . The discovery of the belts is credited to James Van Allen , and as a result the Earth 's belts are known as the Van Allen belts . Earth 's two main belts extend from an altitude of about 1,000 to 60,000 kilometers above the surface in which region radiation levels vary . Most of the particles that form the belts are thought to come from solar wind and other particles by cosmic rays . By trapping the solar wind , the magnetic field deflects those energetic particles and protects the Earth 's atmosphere from destruction . The belts are located in the inner region of the Earth 's magnetosphere . The belts trap energetic electrons and protons . Other nuclei , such as alpha particles , are less prevalent . The belts endanger satellites , which must have their sensitive components protected with adequate shielding if they spend significant time in that zone . In 2013 , NASA reported that the Van Allen Probes had discovered a transient , third radiation belt , which was observed for four weeks until it was destroyed by a powerful , interplanetary shock wave from the Sun .", "Zodi The zodi is a unit of zodiacal dust . One zodi is the amount of interplanetary dust in the inner solar system . This dust absorbs light from the Sun and re-radiates it as thermal radiation . The luminosity of the zodiacal dust in the Solar System is about relative to the luminosity of the Sun , and in practice , this is the observable characteristic defining one zodi .", "Earth Radiation Budget Satellite The Earth Radiation Budget Satellite ( ERBS ) was a NASA scientific research satellite launched on October 5 , 1984 , to study the Earth radiation budget and stratospheric aerosol and gases . It was carried into low Earth orbit and deployed by the during the STS-41-G mission . The spacecraft was expected to have a two-year operation life , but ultimately , the mission provided scientific data about the Earth 's ozone layer for more than two decades . Data on the ozone layer provided by ERBS was key in the international community 's decision-making process during the Montreal Protocol Agreement , which has resulted in a near elimination of CFCs in industrialized countries . ERBS was one of three satellites in the Earth Radiation Budget Experiment and carried two instruments as part of that endeavor : the ERBE scanner ( three detectors that study longwave radiation , shortwave radiation and total energy radiating from the Earth along a line of the satellite 's path ) and the ERBE non-scanner ( five detectors measuring the total energy from the Sun , and the shortwave and total energy from the entire Earth disk and the area beneath the satellite ) . The second ERBE Instrument was aboard the NOAA-9 satellite when it was launched in January 1985 , and the third was aboard the NOAA-10 satellite when it was launched in October 1986 . In addition , it carried the Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment ( SAGE II ) . It was retired for budgetary reasons on October 14 , 2005 , as one of the longest-running spacecraft missions to date .", "Solar cycle The solar cycle or solar magnetic activity cycle is the nearly periodic 11-year change in the Sun 's activity ( including changes in the levels of solar radiation and ejection of solar material ) and appearance ( changes in the number and size of sunspots , flares , and other manifestations ) . They have been observed ( by changes in the sun 's appearance and by changes seen on Earth , such as auroras ) for centuries . The changes on the sun cause effects in space , in the atmosphere , and on Earth 's surface . While it is the dominant variable in solar activity , aperiodic fluctuations also occur .", "Thermal infrared spectroscopy Thermal infrared spectroscopy ( TIR spectroscopy ) is the subset of infrared spectroscopy that deals with radiation emitted in the infrared part of the electromagnetic spectrum . The emitted infrared radiation , though similar to blackbody radiation , is different in that the radiation is banded at characteristic vibrations in the material . The method measures the thermal infrared radiation emitted ( as opposed to being transmitted or reflected ) from a volume or surface . This method is commonly used to identify the composition of surface by analyzing its spectrum and comparing it to previously measured materials . It is particularly suited to airborne and spaceborne applications .", "Robert D. Cess Robert D. Cess is professor emeritus of atmospheric sciences at Stony Brook University . He earned his bachelor of science degree in mechanical engineering from Oregon State University and his master 's degree from Purdue University in Indiana in 1956 . Cess received a Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh in 1959 . He is a recognized leader in the fields of climate change and atmospheric radiation transfer . His research interest involve modeling of climate feedbacks that can either amplify or diminish global climate change , and interpreting surface and satellite remote sensing data . He has been a part of studies which have found problems with the ability of model the transmission of shortwave radiation through a cloud-free atmosphere , and designed an experiment to test the accuracy of the models . They reported that they found agreement between the models and the observations of clear-sky shortwave radiation at the surface for the period studied , 1985 to 1988 . Cess was a lead author of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and worked with the National Science Foundation on understanding greenhouse warming and its associated policy implications .", "Gamma ray Gamma ray ( also called gamma radiation ) , denoted by the lower-case Greek letter gamma ( γ or ) , is penetrating electromagnetic radiation of a kind arising from the radioactive decay of atomic nuclei . It consists of photons in the highest observed range of photon energy . Paul Villard , a French chemist and physicist , discovered gamma radiation in 1900 while studying radiation emitted by radium . In 1903 , Ernest Rutherford named this radiation gamma rays . Rutherford had previously discovered two other types of radioactive decay , which he named alpha and beta rays . Gamma rays are able to ionize other atoms ( ionizing radiation ) , and are thus biologically hazardous . The decay of an atomic nucleus from a high energy state to a lower energy state , a process called gamma decay , produces gamma radiation . Natural sources of gamma rays on Earth are observed in the gamma decay of radionuclides and secondary radiation from atmospheric interactions with cosmic ray particles . There are rare terrestrial natural sources , such as lightning strikes and terrestrial gamma-ray flashes , that produce gamma rays not of a nuclear origin . Additionally , gamma rays are produced by a number of astronomical processes in which very high-energy electrons are produced , that in turn cause secondary gamma rays via bremsstrahlung , inverse Compton scattering , and synchrotron radiation . However , a large fraction of such astronomical gamma rays are screened by Earth 's atmosphere and can only be detected by spacecraft . Gamma rays are produced by nuclear fusion in stars including the Sun ( such as the CNO cycle ) , but are absorbed or inelastically scattered by the stellar material , reducing their energy , before escaping and are not observable from Earth as gamma rays . Gamma rays typically have frequencies above 10 exahertz ( or > 1019 Hz ) , and therefore have energies above 100 keV and wavelengths less than 10 picometers ( 10 − 11 m ) , which is less than the diameter of an atom . However , this is not a strict definition , but rather only a rule-of-thumb description for natural processes . Electromagnetic radiation from radioactive decay of atomic nuclei is referred to as `` gamma rays '' no matter its energy , so that there is no lower limit to gamma energy derived from radioactive decay . This radiation commonly has energy of a few hundred keV , and almost always less than 10 MeV . In astronomy , gamma rays are defined by their energy , and no production process needs to be specified . The energies of gamma rays from astronomical sources range to over 10 TeV , an energy far too large to result from radioactive decay . A notable example is the extremely powerful bursts of high-energy radiation referred to as long duration gamma-ray bursts , of energies higher than can be produced by radioactive decay . These bursts of gamma rays are thought to be due to the collapse of stars called hypernovae .", "Ultraviolet astronomy Ultraviolet astronomy is the observation of electromagnetic radiation at ultraviolet wavelengths between approximately 10 and 320 nanometres ; shorter wavelengths -- higher energy photons -- are studied by X-ray astronomy and gamma ray astronomy . An ultraviolet light is not visible to the human eye . Light at these wavelengths is absorbed by the Earth 's atmosphere , so observations at these wavelengths must be performed from the upper atmosphere or from space .", "Thermal emittance Thermal emittance or thermal emissivity is the ratio of the radiant emittance of heat of a specific object or surface to that of a standard black body . Emissivity and emittivity are both dimensionless quantities given in the range of 0 to 1 , but emissivity refers to a material property ( of a homogeneous material ) , while emittivity refers to specific samples or objects . For building products , thermal emittance measurements are taken for wavelengths in the infrared . Determining the thermal emittance and solar reflectance of building materials , especially roofing materials , can be very useful for reducing heating and cooling energy costs in buildings . Combined index Solar Reflectance Index ( SRI ) is often used to determine the overall ability to reflect solar heat and release thermal heat . A roofing surface with high solar reflectance and high thermal emittance will reflect solar heat and release absorbed heat readily . High thermal emittance material radiates thermal heat back into the atmosphere more-readily than one with a low thermal emittance . Category : Physical quantities", "Volcanic winter A volcanic winter is a reduction in global temperatures caused by volcanic ash and droplets of sulfuric acid and water obscuring the Sun and raising Earth 's albedo ( increasing the reflection of solar radiation ) after a large particularly explosive volcanic eruption . Long-term cooling effects are primarily dependent upon injection of sulfur gasses into the stratosphere where they undergo a series of reactions to create sulfuric acid which can nucleate and form aerosols . Volcanic stratospheric aerosols cool the surface by reflecting solar radiation and warm the stratosphere by absorbing terrestrial radiation . The volcanic aerosols , resulting from the 1991 Pinatubo eruption and others , have been shown to contribute to anthropogenic ozone depletion . The variations in atmospheric warming and cooling results in changes in tropospheric and stratospheric circulation .", "Theodor Wulf Theodor Wulf ( July 28 , 1868 -- June 19 , 1946 ) was a German physicist and Jesuit priest who was one of the first experimenters to detect excess atmospheric radiation . Theodor Wulf became a Jesuit priest at the age of 20 , before studying physics with Walther Nernst at the University of Göttingen . He taught physics at Valkenburg , a Jesuit University from 1904 to 1914 and 1918-1935 . He designed and built an electrometer which could detect the presence of energetic charged particles ( or electromagnetic waves ) . Since natural radiation sources on the ground were detected by his electrometer , he predicted that if he moved far enough away from those sources he would detect less radiation . To test his hypothesis , in 1910 he compared the radiation at the bottom and the top of the Eiffel Tower . He found that the ionisation fell from 6 ions cm − 3 to 3.5 ions cm − 3 as he ascended the Eiffel Tower ( 330m ) . If the ionisation had been due to γ-rays originating at the surface of the Earth , the intensity of ions should have halved in 80m . Energy was coming from outside the Earth 's atmosphere and being detected by his device ; this radiation was from cosmic rays . He published a paper in Physikalische Zeitschrift detailing the results of his four days of observation on the Eiffel Tower . His results were not initially accepted .", "Black body A black body is an idealized physical body that absorbs all incident electromagnetic radiation , regardless of frequency or angle of incidence . A white body is one with a `` rough surface -LSB- that -RSB- reflects all incident rays completely and uniformly in all directions . '' A black body in thermal equilibrium ( that is , at a constant temperature ) emits electromagnetic radiation called black-body radiation . The radiation is emitted according to Planck 's law , meaning that it has a spectrum that is determined by the temperature alone ( see figure at right ) , not by the body 's shape or composition . A black body in thermal equilibrium has two notable properties : It is an ideal emitter : at every frequency , it emits as much energy as -- or more energy than -- any other body at the same temperature . It is a diffuse emitter : the energy is radiated isotropically , independent of direction . An approximate realization of a black surface is a hole in the wall of a large enclosure . Any light entering the hole is reflected indefinitely or absorbed inside and is unlikely to re-emerge , making the hole a nearly perfect absorber . The radiation confined in such an enclosure may or may not be in thermal equilibrium , depending upon the nature of the walls and the other contents of the enclosure . Real materials emit energy at a fraction -- called the emissivity -- of black-body energy levels . By definition , a black body in thermal equilibrium has an emissivity of . A source with lower emissivity independent of frequency often is referred to as a gray body . Construction of black bodies with emissivity as close to one as possible remains a topic of current interest . In astronomy , the radiation from stars and planets is sometimes characterized in terms of an effective temperature , the temperature of a black body that would emit the same total flux of electromagnetic energy .", "Water vapor windows In the Earth 's atmosphere , water vapor absorbs many wavelengths of IR energy , while others are not absorbed . Those sections of the Electromagnetic spectrum that it does not absorb , are like windows in the atmosphere , allowing electromagnetic energy to flow freely in and out of the system . Like a window , that allows light to enter and leave . Originally discovered by John Tyndall , most of the infrared coming from the Universe is blocked , absorbed by water vapor ( and other greenhouse gases ) in the Earth 's atmosphere . Those wavelength ranges that can partially reach the surface , are coming through what is called ` water vapor windows ' . These windows are how Astronomers can view the Universe with IR telescopes , called Infrared astronomy . These windows also allow orbiting satellites to measure the IR energy leaving the planet , the SSTs and other important matters . See Electromagnetic_absorption_by_water #Atmospheric _ effects .", "Radiation zone A radiation zone , radiative zone or radiative region is a layer of a star 's interior where energy is primarily transported toward the exterior by means of radiative diffusion and thermal conduction , rather than by convection . Energy travels through the radiation zone in the form of electromagnetic radiation as photons . Matter in a radiation zone is so dense that photons can travel only a short distance before they are absorbed or scattered by another particle , gradually shifting to longer wavelength as they do so . For this reason , it takes an average of 171,000 years for gamma rays from the core of the Sun to leave the radiation zone . Over this range , the temperature of the plasma drops from 15 million K near the core down to 1.5 million K at the base of the convection zone . In a radiative zone , the temperature gradient -- the change in temperature ( T ) as a function of radius ( r ) -- is given by : where κ ( r ) is the opacity , ρ ( r ) is the matter density , L ( r ) is the luminosity , and σ is the Stefan -- Boltzmann constant . Hence the opacity and radiation flux ( L ) within a given layer of a star are important factors in determining how effective radiative diffusion is at transporting energy . A high opacity or high luminosity can cause a high temperature gradient , which results from a slow flow of energy . Those layers where convection is more effective than radiative diffusion at transporting energy , thereby creating a lower temperature gradient , will become convection zones .", "Atmosphere of the Moon The atmosphere of the Moon is a very scant presence of gases surrounding the Moon . For most practical purposes , the Moon is considered to be surrounded by vacuum . The elevated presence of atomic and molecular particles in its vicinity compared to interplanetary medium , referred to as `` lunar atmosphere '' for scientific objectives , is negligible in comparison with the gaseous envelopes surrounding Earth and most planets of the Solar System . The pressure of this small mass is around 3e-15 atm , varying throughout the day , and in total weighs less than 10 metric tonnes . Otherwise , the Moon is considered not to have an atmosphere because it can not absorb measurable quantities of radiation , does not appear layered or self-circulating , and requires constant replenishment due to the high rate at which its gases are lost to space .", "Effective temperature The effective temperature of a body such as a star or planet is the temperature of a black body that would emit the same total amount of electromagnetic radiation . Effective temperature is often used as an estimate of a body 's surface temperature when the body 's emissivity curve ( as a function of wavelength ) is not known . When the star 's or planet 's net emissivity in the relevant wavelength band is less than unity ( less than that of a black body ) , the actual temperature of the body will be higher than the effective temperature . The net emissivity may be low due to surface or atmospheric properties , including greenhouse effect .", "Theta Librae θ Librae ( latinised as Theta Librae ) is a giant star in the southern zodiac constellation of Libra . It is located about 163 ly from the Earth and has an estimated mass about 84 % greater than the Sun . This star is radiating about 35 times the luminosity of the Sun from its outer atmosphere at an effective temperature of about 4,700 K.", "Trombe wall A Trombe wall is a passive solar building design where a wall is built on the winter sun side of a building with a glass external layer and a high heat capacity internal layer separated by a layer of air . Light close to UV in the electromagnetic spectrum passes through the glass almost unhindered then is absorbed by the wall that then re-radiates in the far infrared spectrum which does not pass back through the glass easily , hence heating the inside of the building . Trombe walls are commonly used to absorb heat during sunlit hours of winter then slowly release the heat over night . The essential idea was first explored by Edward S. Morse and patented by him in 1881 . In the 1960s it was fully developed as an architectural element by French engineer Félix Trombe and architect Jacques Michel . Trombe walls work on the basic greenhouse principle that heat from the sun in the form of near-visible shorter-wavelength higher-energy ultraviolet radiation passes through glass largely unimpeded . When this radiation strikes objects the energy is absorbed and then re-emitted in the form of longer-wavelength infra-red radiation that does not pass through glass as readily . Hence heat becomes trapped and builds up in an enclosed structure with high internal heat capacity and glass surfaces that face the sun How effectively objects absorb and shed radiant heat depends on a number of factors ; how dark they are in colour , how directly the surface of the object is opposed to the angle of the radiation striking it , how matte or reflective its surface is , the heat capacity of the object , and the surface conductivity of the object . For Trombe walls to work effectively they are made from high heat capacity materials such as concrete or water , whose surface is dark and matte in colour and placed in direct opposition to the sun striking them . The clearer the glass in front of a Trombe wall appears in the UV spectrum the more short wave radiation will penetrate and the more reflective or non transparent the glass appears in the infra-red spectrum the less re-emitted heat will be escape .", "Gebhart factor The Gebhart factors are used in radiative heat transfer , it is a means to describe the ratio of radiation absorbed by any other surface versus the total emitted radiation from given surface . As such , it becomes the radiation exchange factor between a number of surfaces . The Gebhart factors calculation method is supported in several radiation heat transfer tools , such as TMG and TRNSYS . The method was introduced by Benjamin Gebhart in 1957 . Although a requirement is the calculation of the view factors beforehand , it requires less computational power , compared to using ray tracing with the Monte Carlo Method ( MCM ) . Alternative methods are to look at the radiosity , which Hottel and others build upon .", "Solar Radiation and Climate Experiment The Solar Radiation and Climate Experiment ( SORCE ) is a NASA-sponsored satellite mission that measures incoming X-ray , ultraviolet , visible , near-infrared , and total solar radiation . These measurements specifically address long-term climate change , natural variability and enhanced climate prediction , and atmospheric ozone and UV-B radiation . These measurements are critical to studies of the Sun , its effect on our Earth system and its influence on humankind . The SORCE spacecraft launched on January 25 , 2003 on a Pegasus XL launch vehicle to provide NASA 's Earth Science Enterprise ( ESE ) with precise measurements of solar radiation . SORCE measures the Sun 's output using radiometers , spectrometers , photodiodes , detectors , and bolometers mounted on a satellite observatory . The SORCE satellite orbits the Earth accumulating solar data . Spectral measurements identify the irradiance of the Sun by characterizing the Sun 's energy and emissions in the form of color that can then be translated into quantities and elements of matter . Data obtained by the SORCE experiment can be used to model the Sun 's output and to explain and predict the effect of the Sun 's radiation on the Earth 's atmosphere and climate . Flying in a 645 km , 40 degree orbit , SORCE is operated by the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics ( LASP ) at the University of Colorado at Boulder , Colorado . It will continue the precise measurements of total solar irradiance that began with the ERB instrument in 1979 and has continued to the present with the ACRIM series of measurements . SORCE will also provide the measurements of the solar spectral irradiance from 1 nm to 2000 nm , accounting for 95 % of the spectral contribution to the total solar irradiance . SORCE carries four instruments including the Total Irradiance Monitor ( TIM ) , Solar Stellar Irradiance Comparison Experiment ( SOLSTICE ) , Spectral Irradiance Monitor ( SIM ) , and the XUV Photometer System ( XPS ) .", "Pyrgeometer A pyrgeometer is a device that measures near-surface infra-red radiation spectrum in the wavelength spectrum approximately from 4.5 µm to 100 µm . It measures the resistance/voltage changes in a material that is sensitive to the net energy transfer by radiation that occurs between itself and its surroundings ( which can be either in or out ) . By also measuring its own temperature and making some assumptions about the nature of its surroundings it can infer a temperature of the local atmosphere with which it is exchanging radiation . These instruments generally have no spectral ( frequency/wavelength ) measurement capabilities -- they use a single ( non-frequency resolved ) resistance/voltage measurement . They are constructed to be sensitive to the infra-red radiation spectrum that extends approximately from 4.5 µm to 100 µm , thus excluding the main shortwave ( solar ) spectrum . Since the mean free path of IR radiation in the atmosphere is ~ 25 meters , this device typically measures IR flux in the nearest 25 meter layer .", "Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System Clouds and the Earth 's Radiant Energy System ( CERES ) is NASA climatological experiment from Earth orbit . The CERES are scientific satellite instruments , part of the NASA 's Earth Observing System ( EOS ) , designed to measure both solar-reflected and Earth-emitted radiation from the top of the atmosphere ( TOA ) to the Earth 's surface . Cloud properties are determined using simultaneous measurements by other EOS instruments such as the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer ( MODIS ) . Results from the CERES and other NASA missions , such as the Earth Radiation Budget Experiment ( ERBE ) , could lead to a better understanding of the role of clouds and the energy cycle in global climate change ." ]

[ "First 100 days of Donald Trump's presidency The first 100 days of Donald Trump 's presidency began with his inauguration as the 45th President of the United States , which occurred at noon on January 20 , 2017 . The 48th Vice President of the United States , Mike Pence , was inaugurated on the same day . The 100th day of Trump 's presidency was April 29 , 2017 . Trump first announced his plan for the first hundred days of his presidency in Gettysburg , Pennsylvania , on October 23 , 2016 , before the election . One of Trump 's major accomplishments , made as part of a `` 100-day pledge '' , was the confirmation of Neil Gorsuch as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States . Structurally , President Trump had the advantage of a Republican Party majority in the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate , but was unable to fulfill his major pledges in his first 100 days and had an approval rating of between 40 and 42 percent , `` the lowest for any first-term president at this point in his tenure '' . Although he tried to make progress on one of his key economic policies -- the dismantling of the Dodd -- Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act -- his failure to repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act ( ACA ) in the first 100 days was a major setback . He reversed his position on a number of issues including labeling China as a currency manipulator , NATO , launching the 2017 Shayrat missile strike without congressional approval , the North American Free Trade Agreement ( NAFTA ) , renomination of Janet Yellen as Chair of the Federal Reserve , and the nomination of Export-Import Bank directors . Supporters claimed that as the first to have been elected President in present times who has held neither military or political office , he therefore faced a steep learning curve . Trump 's approval among his base was high , with 96 % of those who voted for him saying in an April 2017 poll that they would vote for him again . Near the end of the 100 days , the Trump administration introduced a broad outline of a sweeping tax reform focusing on deep tax cuts . While it is intended to encourage economic growth , there were concerns from some members of the United States Congress about raising the national deficit . In spite of the sharp decline in gross domestic product ( GDP ) in the first quarter of 2017 -- representing the weakest quarterly economic growth in three years -- the S&P 500 was near an all-time high , representing a 12 % rise from the first quarter of 2016 , as investor confidence remained elevated . Although Trump had to concede to delay funding for the U.S. -- Mexico border wall he had promised , narrowly avoiding a government shutdown a few days before the end of the first 100 days , his rhetoric may have contributed to a sharp drop in the number of illegal crossings at the Mexico -- United States border . Trump signed 24 executive orders in his first 100 days , the most executive orders of any President since World War II . He also signed 22 presidential memoranda , 20 presidential proclamations , and 28 bills . About a dozen of those bills roll-back regulations finalized during the last months of his immediate predecessor Barack Obama 's presidency using the Congressional Review Act . Most of the other bills are `` small-scale measures that appoint personnel , name federal facilities or modify existing programs . '' None of Trump 's bills are considered to be `` major bills '' -- based on a `` longstanding political-science standard for ` major bills ' . '' Presidential historian Michael Beschloss said that `` based on a legislative standard '' -- which is what the first 100 days has been judged on since the tenure of President Franklin Roosevelt , who enacted 76 laws in 100 days including nine that were `` major '' -- `` Trump is really pretty low down on the list . ''", "Climate change policy of the United States Global climate change was first addressed in United States policy beginning in the early 1960s . The Environmental Protection Agency ( EPA ) defines climate change as `` any significant change in the measures of climate lasting for an extended period of time . '' Essentially , climate change includes major changes in temperature , precipitation , or wind patterns , as well as other effects , that occur over several decades or longer . Climate change policy in the US has transformed rapidly over the past twenty years and is being developed at both the state and federal level . The politics of global warming and climate change have polarized certain political parties and other organizations . This article focuses on climate change policy within the United States , as well as exploring the positions of various parties and the influences on policy making and environmental justice repercussions .", "Donald Trump Donald John Trump ( born June 14 , 1946 ) is the 45th and current President of the United States . Before entering politics , he was a businessman and television personality . Trump was born and raised in Queens , New York City , and earned an economics degree from the Wharton School . He then took charge of The Trump Organization , the real estate and construction firm founded by his paternal grandmother , which he ran for 45 years until 2016 . During his real estate career , Trump built , renovated , and managed numerous office towers , hotels , casinos , and golf courses . Besides real estate , he started several side ventures and has licensed the use of his name for the branding of various products and properties , including Trump Entertainment Resorts , Trump Steaks , and Trump Vodka . He was the founder of Trump University . He owned the Miss USA and Miss Universe pageants from 1996 to 2015 , and he produced and hosted The Apprentice , a reality television series on NBC , from 2004 to 2015 . His net worth was estimated to be $ 3.5 billion , making him the 544th richest person in the world . Trump first publicly expressed interest in running for political office in 1987 . He won two Reform Party presidential primaries in 2000 , but withdrew his candidacy early on . In June 2015 , he launched his campaign for the 2016 presidential election and quickly emerged as the front-runner among seventeen candidates in the Republican primaries . His remaining opponents all suspended their campaigns by the end of May 2016 , and in July he was formally nominated at the Republican National Convention along with Indiana governor Mike Pence as his running mate . Many of his campaign statements were controversial or false , generating much free media coverage . Trump won the general election on November 8 , 2016 , in a surprise victory against Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton and commenced his presidency on January 20 , 2017 . He became the oldest and wealthiest person ever to assume the presidency , the first without prior military or government service , and the fifth to have won the election while losing the popular vote . His political positions have been described by scholars and commentators as populist , protectionist , and nationalist ." ]

[ "Sherri W. Goodman Sherri W. Goodman ( born April 9 , 1959 ) is an executive , policymaker , and lawyer with focus on science , technology , national security , energy , and environment . Goodman currently serves as President & Chief Executive Officer ( CEO ) of the Consortium for Ocean Leadership , a Washington , D.C. based non-profit organization that represents the leading public and private ocean research education institutions , aquaria and industry with the mission to shape the future of ocean science and technology . As CEO , Goodman leads the Consortium efforts to address the challenges facing coastal and inland communities and to support the ocean 's role in protecting health , the economy , food supplies , and national security . This appointment by the Consortium for Ocean Leadership 's Board of Trustees became effective on February 17 , 2015 . Prior to joining the Consortium for Ocean Leadership , Goodman served as Senior Vice President , General Counsel , and Corporate Secretary of CNA , an American non-profit organization providing research , analyses , and policy recommendations for national security and public sector leaders . CNA conducts operations research and systems analysis for a wide variety of national security and other organizations . She was the Executive Director of CNA 's Military Advisory Board , which she founded in 2006 , and which is noteworthy for issuing some of the earliest reports establishing climate change as a national security concern . The CNA Military Advisory Board has characterized climate change as a `` threat multiplier '' for instability in fragile regions of the world .", "Operation Free Operation Free is a coalition of veterans and national security organizations founded in August 2009 by the Truman National Security Project , The National Security Initiative , VoteVets.org , and VetPAC . Operation Free , in collaboration with other organizations , works to raise awareness , among policymakers and the public , of the national security threat posed by climate change and the United States ' reliance on oil .", "Michael Anton Michael Anton ( born 1970 ) is a senior national security official in the Trump administration . He is best known for his pseudonymous essays written during the 2016 Presidential campaign in which he supported Donald Trump and collaborated on the pro-Trump Journal of American Greatness blog . Anton was named Deputy Assistant to the President for Strategic Communications on the United States National Security Council . He is a former speechwriter for Rudy Giuliani and George W. Bush 's National Security Council , and has worked as director of communications at investment bank Citigroup and as managing director of investing firm BlackRock .", "Timeline of the Trump presidency, 2017 Q1 The following is a timeline of the presidency of Donald Trump during the first quarter of 2017 . Other articles relating to Donald Trump 's post-election activities are : Presidential transition of Donald Trump First 100 days of Donald Trump 's presidency List of executive actions by Donald Trump List of presidential trips made by Donald Trump ( international trips )", "Keith Kellogg Joseph Keith Kellogg Jr. ( born May 12 , 1944 ) , known as Keith Kellogg , is a retired Lieutenant General in the United States Army who is currently serving as the Chief of Staff of the United States National Security Council in the Trump administration . Notably , he served as National Security Advisor on an acting basis following the resignation of Michael T. Flynn . President Donald Trump put Kellogg in charge of the presidential transition agency action team for defense . He was named a foreign policy advisor to then-presidential candidate Trump in March 2016 .", "Kalpesh Mehta Kalpesh J Mehta is the managing partner of Tribeca Developers which is responsible for supporting the Trump brand in India . Delloite lists him as a `` Country Leader for Investment Management '' for India . Donald Trump met Kalpesh Mehta with Atul Chordia and Sagar Chordia and at the Trump Tower , New York on November 15 , 2016 at noon ( US time ) and discussed the Indian economy and Narendra Modi , India 's Prime Minister . Ivanka Trump , Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr , were also present .", "Matthew Pottinger Matthew Pottinger is a former journalist and U.S. Marine Corps officer who is currently serving in the U.S. National Security Council of the administration of Donald Trump .", "Ricky L. Waddell Ricky L. Waddell is a Major General in the United States Army Reserve who is currently serving as the Deputy National Security Adviser to President Donald Trump .", "Repeal of the Implementation of the NICS Improvement Amendments Act of 2007 The Repeal of the `` Implementation of the NICS Improvement Amendments Act of 2007 '' was legislation introduced in the United States House of Representatives on January 30 , 2017 by Representative Sam Johnson of Texas . The bill repeals a rule issued by the Social Security Administration that would have required Federal agencies to identify individuals who receive disability insurance benefits under Title II of the Social Security Act or Supplemental Security Income in order to potentially prohibit such individuals from purchasing firearms . The repeal was signed into law by President Donald Trump on February 28 , 2017 .", "Jason Greenblatt Jason Dov Greenblatt ( born 1967 ) is an American lawyer . He was the executive vice president and chief legal officer to Donald Trump and The Trump Organization , and his advisor on Israel . In January 2017 , he was appointed as the United States Special Representative for International Negotiations by President Donald Trump .", "Keith Schiller Keith Schiller is the current Director of Oval Office Operations . Prior to appointment in the Trump administration , Schiller worked as the Director of Security for The Trump Organization and was the personal bodyguard to Donald Trump .", "Bill Stepien Bill Stepien ( born 1978 ) is the current White House political director . Stepien managed both of Chris Christie 's gubernatorial campaigns and served as his Deputy Chief of Staff before being fired in 2014 after Christie said he `` lost confidence '' in Stepien 's judgment . After Donald Trump secured the Republican nomination , he joined the presidential campaign in August 2016 and was later named the White House political director during the Trump presidential transition .", "Donald Trump (Last Week Tonight) `` Donald Trump '' is a segment of the HBO news satire series Last Week Tonight with John Oliver , devoted to Donald Trump , who later became the President of the United States . It was first aired on February 28 , 2016 , as part of the third episode of the third season , when Trump was the frontrunner for the Republican Party nomination for the presidency . During the 22-minute segment , comedian John Oliver discusses Trump 's 2016 presidential campaign and his career in business , outlining his campaign rhetoric , varying political positions and failed business ventures . He also says the Trump family name was changed at one point from the ancestral name `` Drumpf '' . The segment , which is the show 's most viewed to date , popularized the term `` Donald Drumpf '' -- which as Oliver stated , was coined with the intent to uncouple the grandeur of the last name so Trump 's supporters would be able to better acknowledge his political and entrepreneurial flaws , and started a campaign urging viewers to `` Make Donald Drumpf Again '' -- a play on Trump 's own campaign slogan , `` Make America Great Again '' . To date , this is the only episode in which Oliver has described Trump explicitly as `` Drumpf . ''", "Sally Yates Sally Caroline Yates ( née Quillian ; born August 20 , 1960 ) is an American lawyer . She served as a United States Attorney and later United States Deputy Attorney General , having been appointed to both positions by President Barack Obama . Following the inauguration of Donald Trump and the departure of Attorney General Loretta Lynch , Yates served as Acting Attorney General from January 20 , 2017 , until being dismissed by President Trump on January 30 , 2017 , following her instruction to the Justice Department not to defend Trump 's immigration-related executive order in court .", "Data rescue Data Rescue is a name for both a movement among scientists , researchers and others and the processes they use to preserve primarily government-hosted data sets , often scientific in nature , to ward off their removal from publicly available websites . While the concept of preserving federal data existed before , it gained new impetus with the election in 2016 of U.S. President Donald Trump . The concept of harvesting and preserving federal web pages began as early as 2008 , at the conclusion of President George W. Bush 's second term , under the name `` End of Term Presidential Harvest . '' Soon after Trump 's election , scientists , librarians and others in the U.S. and Canada -- fearing that the administration of Trump ( who had expressed doubts about the validity of the scientific consensus on the existence of climate change ) would act to remove scientific data from government websites -- began working to preserve that data . In quick order , the concept of Data Rescue became a grassroots movement , with organized `` hackathon '' events at cities across the U.S. and elsewhere , often hosted at universities and other institutions of higher education . Among the projects involved are the DataRefuge Project and the Environmental Data and Governance Initiative .", "Cabinet of Donald Trump This article lists the members of President Donald Trump 's Cabinet . Trump assumed office on January 20 , 2017 . The President of the United States has the authority to nominate members of his or her Cabinet to the United States Senate for confirmation under Appointments Clause of the United States Constitution . Before confirmation , a high level career member of an executive department heads this pre-confirmed cabinet on an acting basis . The Cabinet 's creation is part of the transition of power following the 2016 United States presidential election . This page documents the confirmation process for any successful or unsuccessful cabinet nominees of Donald Trump 's administration . They are listed in order of creation of the cabinet position ( also used as the basis for the United States presidential line of succession ) .", "Lion Guard The Lion Guard ( also known as the `` Lions of Trump '' or the `` Lion 's Guard Militia '' ) was a paramilitary far-right wing political group that was formed in 2016 in order to provide self-imposed security ( outside of private security and professional law enforcement ) at the rallies of Republican Party presidential nominee Donald Trump . At its height , the group had a reported membership of just over five hundred , although it boasted several hundred more followers on Facebook and Twitter .", "List of international presidential trips made by Donald Trump This is a list of international presidential trips made by Donald Trump , the 45th president of the United States . Donald Trump Trump has made one foreign trip since he assumed the office of presidency on January 20 , 2017 . The number of visits per country where he travelled are : One visit to Belgium , Israel , Saudi Arabia , Vatican City and the West Bank . Two visits to Italy In March 2017 , Trump vowed to limit his foreign travels in order to focus on domestic issues .", "Donald Trump presidential campaign There have been three presidential campaigns waged by Donald Trump for President of the United States . He has additionally mused about running on several other occasions . Donald Trump presidential campaign may refer to : Donald Trump presidential campaign , 2000 ( Trump 2000 ) -LSB- unsuccessful -RSB- Donald Trump presidential campaign , 2016 ( Trump 2016 ) -LSB- successful -RSB- Donald Trump becomes the 45th U.S. President Donald Trump presidential campaign , 2020 ( Trump 2020 ) -LSB- underway -RSB- Donald Trump bids to become re-elected as U.S. President", "Trump Mortgage Trump Mortgage LLC was an American financial services company founded by Donald Trump and E.J. Ridings , who served as president and chief executive officer ( CEO ) . Trump Mortgage operated out of the headquarters for Trump Organization at 40 Wall Street in New York City . Donald Trump appeared on CNBC in April 2006 representing Trump Mortgage and made the statement , `` I think it 's a great time to start a mortgage company -LSB- ... -RSB- the real estate market is going to be very strong for a long time to come . '' In his autobiography Trump 101 : The Way to Success Trump writes , `` I expect -LSB- Trump Mortgage -RSB- to be an effective company , and it makes sense . A lot of things I am doing now are things I thought of but had to postpone until the time was right . '' The chief executive officer of Trump Mortgage was E.J. Ridings , who was introduced to Donald Trump by his son , Donald Trump , Jr. . According to former Trump Mortgage manager Jan Scheck , who left the company after one year , Ridings lacked leadership . In December 2006 , it was reported that Ridings had exaggerated and invented items on his resume . In 2007 , Trump Mortgage folded operations and Donald Trump licensed his name to First Meridian Mortgage . David Brecher was tapped to run the firm , which became known as Trump Financial . After a few years Trump Financial shuttered . Ms. Jennifer McGovern , a former employee of Trump Mortgage , brokered a $ 26,500,000 financing , which earned more than $ 500,000 in commissions for Trump Mortgage . Trump Mortgage collected their commission , but stiffed McGovern . McGovern filed a lawsuit and , in 2009 , obtained a judgment of US$ 298,274 against Trump Mortgage . To date , the judgment remains unsatisfied . A U.S. Department of the Treasury tax lien was implemented on Trump Mortgage in 2009 for US$ 3,555 in unpaid taxes .", "High-level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change The United Nations ' High-level Panel on Threats , Challenges and Change was created in 2003 to analyse threats and challenges to international peace and security , and to recommend action based on this analysis . It was chaired by former Prime Minister of Thailand Anand Panyarachun , and its members included former United States National Security Advisor Brent Scowcroft , as well as several former heads of government and foreign ministers as members . In December 2004 , it produced a report on threats to peace and security .", "David Glawe David Glawe is an American government official . Currently serving as the Assistant Commissioner at U.S. Customs and Border Protection in the DHS Office of Intelligence and Analysis , he is President Donald Trump 's nominee to become Under Secretary of Homeland Security for Intelligence and Analysis in the United States Department of Homeland Security . Glawe started his career as a police officer with the Houston Police Department . He has served as Deputy National Intelligence Manager for Threat Finance and Transnational Organized Crime at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence , as a counter-terrorism special agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation , and as a federal agent with the United States Postal Inspection Service . He has also served as acting Under Secretary for Intelligence and Analysis at the Department of Homeland Security .", "Rogue Twitter accounts Following the election of Donald Trump as the 45th President of United States a ` Resist ' movement began for those in opposition to his presidency . Employees within government organisations and departments took to Twitter to anonymously voice their opposition using accounts that are typically prefixed with either Rogue or Alt . Alice Stollmeyer has dubbed this Twitter resistance movement '' #twistance '' . It 's thought that the Badlands Park Service were the first to create a ` rogue account ' in opposition to President Trump 's assertion that Climate Change was n't real .", "River of Blood (monument) The River of Blood monument is a monument located on a golf course on Lowes Island , Virginia , owned by US President Donald Trump . A plaque signed with Trump 's name states that the monument marks the site of numerous deaths in the American Civil War , but no battle or other event with mass casualties took place there .", "List of things named after Donald Trump The following things are named after Donald Trump , an American businessman , politician , real estate developer , and the 45th President of the United States , who licenses his name for use on a variety of products . Some of the items listed are owned by The Trump Organization , of which he is the owner .", "Interagency Security Classification Appeals Panel The Interagency Security Classification Appeals Panel , or `` ISCAP '' , provides the public and users of the classification system with a forum for further review of classification decisions . ISCAP states in order to foster a well-informed public while simultaneously protecting national security interests , checks and balances are needed over the classification system . This requires that some of the work of the U.S. Government be done outside the purview of its citizenry . The ISCAP was created under Executive Order 12958 , `` Classified National Security Information , '' when it was signed on April 17 , 1995 and held its first meeting in May 1996 . Today the ISCAP receives its guidelines from Executive Order 13526 of December 29 , 2009 , which superseded Executive Order 12958 and its amendments in full on June 25 , 2010 .", "Simon Dalby Simon Dalby is an Irish born academic and CIGI Chair in the Political Economy of Climate Change at the Balsillie School of International Affairs . Dalby works in the disciplines of environmental security and critical geopolitics .", "Never Enough: Donald Trump and the Pursuit of Success Never Enough : Donald Trump and the Pursuit of Success is a 2015 biography of Donald Trump by Michael D'Antonio , who interviewed Trump prior to writing the book .", "Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate Change See Also : climate change mitigation , emissions trading . The Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate ( MEF ) was launched on March 28 , 2009 . The MEF is intended to facilitate a candid dialogue among major developed and developing economies , help generate the political leadership necessary to achieve a successful outcome at the December UN climate change conference in Copenhagen , and advance the exploration of concrete initiatives and joint ventures that increase the supply of clean energy while cutting greenhouse gas emissions . The 17 major economies are : Australia , Brazil , Canada , China , the European Union , France , Germany , India , Indonesia , Italy , Japan , South Korea , Mexico , Russia , South Africa , the United Kingdom , and the United States . Denmark , in its capacity as the President of the December 2009 Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change , and the United Nations have also participated in this dialogue along with Observers .", "Darrell C. Scott Darrell C. Scott is an American pastor and a member of President Donald Trump 's executive transition team .", "Eric Trump Eric Frederick Trump ( born January 6 , 1984 ) is an American businessman , philanthropist , and former reality TV personality . He is the third child and second son of the President of the United States , Donald Trump , and Ivana Trump . Alongside his older brother Donald Trump Jr. , he serves as a trustee of The Trump Organization . A longtime executive vice president of the firm , Trump and his brother are running the company during their father 's administration . From 2007 to 2016 , he founded and led The Eric Trump Foundation , a charity that raised money for St. Jude Children 's Research Hospital .", "Climate change and poverty In an ever-progressing world with an increasing demand for energy and animal agriculture , it is difficult to avoid climate change and its impacts on societies both locally and globally . Climate change affects social development factors , such as , poverty , infrastructure , technology , security , and economics across the globe . Although climate change affects everything we see around us , the interrelation between climate change and social vulnerability and inequality is particularly evident in impoverished communities . In particular , impoverished communities experience reductions in safe drinking water as well as food security as a result of climate change ( OECD 2013 ) . These typically rural , isolated communities do not exhibit sufficient financial and technical capacities to manage the risks associated with climate change ( climate risk ) ( Skoufias 2012 ) . Energy development and policy alteration could adjust the severity of climate change impacts ; this is being tested now , as renewable energy sources develop ." ]

[ "Sea level rise A sea level rise is an increase in the volume of water in the world 's oceans , resulting in an increase in global mean sea level . Sea level rise is usually attributed to global climate change by thermal expansion of the water in the oceans and by melting of Ice sheets and glaciers on land . Melting of floating ice shelves or icebergs at sea raises sea levels only slightly . Sea level rise at specific locations may be more or less than the global average . Local factors might include tectonic effects , subsidence of the land , tides , currents , storms , etc. . Sea level rise is expected to continue for centuries . Because of the slow inertia , long response time for parts of the climate system , it has been estimated that we are already committed to a sea-level rise of approximately 2.3 m for each degree Celsius of temperature rise within the next 2,000 years . IPCC Summary for Policymakers , AR5 , 2014 , indicated that the global mean sea level rise will continue during the 21st century , very likely at a faster rate than observed from 1971 to 2010 . Projected rates and amounts vary . A January 2017 NOAA report suggests a range of GMSL rise of 0.3 -- 2.5 m possible during the 21st century . Sea level rises can considerably influence human populations in coastal and island regions and natural environments like marine ecosystems ." ]

[ "James O'Brien (oceanographer) James O'Brien ( born August 10 , 1935 , died September 20 , 2016 ) is the emeritus Robert O. Lawton Professor of Meteorology and Oceanography at Florida State University . He believes sea levels are rising but predicts a more modest 18 in rise instead of 6 ft by 2100 targeted by some other scientists . He stated that `` sea level in Florida is going to continue to rise period . Unless we go back into an Ice age , we will continue to rise at over 8 in in 10 year . That 's without any global warming . ''", "Sea level Mean sea level ( MSL ) ( abbreviated simply sea level ) is an average level of the surface of one or more of Earth 's oceans from which heights such as elevations may be measured . MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardised geodetic reference pointthat is used , for example , as a chart datum in cartography and marine navigation , or , in aviation , as the standard sea level at which atmospheric pressure is measured in order to calibrate altitude and , consequently , aircraft flight levels . A common and relatively straightforward mean sea-level standard is the midpoint between a mean low and mean high tide at a particular location . Sea levels can be affected by many factors and are known to have varied greatly over geological time scales . The careful measurement of variations in MSL can offer insights into ongoing climate change , and sea level rise has been widely quoted as evidence of ongoing global warming . The term above sea level generally refers to above mean sea level ( AMSL ) .", "Marine transgression A marine transgression is a geologic event during which sea level rises relative to the land and the shoreline moves toward higher ground , resulting in flooding . Transgressions can be caused either by the land sinking or the ocean basins filling with water ( or decreasing in capacity ) . Transgressions and regressions may be caused by tectonic events such as orogenies , severe climate change such as ice ages or isostatic adjustments following removal of ice or sediment load . During the Cretaceous , seafloor spreading created a relatively shallow Atlantic basin at the expense of deeper Pacific basin . This reduced the world 's ocean basin capacity and caused a rise in sea level worldwide . As a result of this sea level rise , the oceans transgressed completely across the central portion of North America and created the Western Interior Seaway from the Gulf of Mexico to the Arctic Ocean . The opposite of transgression is regression , in which the sea level falls relative to the land and exposes former sea bottom . During the Pleistocene Ice Ages , so much water was removed from the oceans and stored on land as year-round glaciers that the ocean regressed 120 m , exposing the Bering land bridge between Alaska and Asia .", "Raised shoreline A raised shoreline is an ancient shoreline exposed above current water level . These landforms are formed by a relative change in sea level due to global sea level rise , isostatic rebound , and/or tectonic uplift . These surfaces are usually exposed above modern sea level when a heavily glaciated area experiences a glacial retreat , causing water levels to rise . This area will then experience post-glacial rebound , effectively raising the shoreline surface . Examples of raised shorelines can be found along the coasts of formerly glaciated areas in Ireland and Scotland , as well as in North America . Raised shorelines are exposed at various locations around the Puget Sound of Washington State .", "Ice2sea Ice2sea is a program of scientific research funded by the European Union 's Framework 7 Programme to study the effects of climate change on glaciation and the melting of ice caps and glaciers on sea level . The ice2sea project , a collaborative of 24 research institutions , which is headed by Prof David Vaughan , aims to reduce the uncertainty in sea-level projections which are of great economic and social importance to the European Union , especially as large areas of coastal area in Europe are below or less than a metre above sea level . The 2007 fourth Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) report highlighted ice sheets * as the most significant remaining uncertainty in projections of sea-level rise . Understanding about the crucial ice-sheet effects was `` too limited to assess their likelihood or provide a best estimate of an upper bound for sea-level rise '' . Improved scientific results from ice2sea will feed directly into the fifth IPCC report ( due in 2013 ) to generate more accurate sea-level rise projections . The initiative recently funded research by scientists from the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in Germany , which was published in Nature in 2012 , which predicts the disappearance of the 450000 km2 vast Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf in east Antarctica by the end of the century which could add up to 4.4 mm of rise of sea level each year due to its melting alone .", "Climate inertia Climate inertia describes the widespread inherent characteristic of the climate , ecological , and socio-economic systems . Inertia from anthropogenic impacts may be slow to become apparent , or could be irreversible if climate change crosses associated thresholds . Melting ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica take time to respond to the emissions of fossil fuel carbon in the climate system . The global warming also causes thermal inertia , thermal expansion of the oceans , which contributes to sea level rise . It has been estimated that we are already committed to a sea-level rise of approximately 2.3 meters for each degree of temperature rise within the next 2,000 years .", "Past sea level Global or eustatic sea level has fluctuated significantly over the Earth 's history . The main factors affecting sea level are the amount and volume of available water and the shape and volume of the ocean basins . The primary influences on water volume are the temperature of the seawater , which affects density , and the amounts of water retained in other reservoirs like rivers , aquifers , lakes , glaciers , polar ice caps and sea ice . Over geological timescales , changes in the shape of the oceanic basins and in land/sea distribution affect sea level . In addition to eustatic changes , local changes in sea level are caused by tectonic uplift and subsidence . Over geologic time sea level has fluctuated by hundreds of meters . Today 's interglacial level is near historic highs and is 130 meters above the low level reached during the Last Glacial Maximum 19,000 -- 20,000 years ago . Observational and modeling studies of mass loss from glaciers and ice caps indicate a contribution to sea-level rise of 0.2 to 0.4 mm/yr averaged over the 20th century . Over this last million years , whereas it was higher most of the time before then , sea level was lower than today .", "Coastal management Coastal management is defense against flooding and erosion , and techniques that stop erosion to claim lands . Coastal zones occupy less than 15 % of the Earth 's land area , while they host more than 40 % of the world population . Nearly 1.2 billion people live within 100 km of a shoreline and 100 m of sea level , with an average density nearly 3 times higher than the global average for population . With three-quarters of the world population expected to reside in the coastal zone by 2025 , human activities originating from this small land area will impose heavy pressure on coasts . Coastal zones contain rich resources to produce goods and services and are home to most commercial and industrial activities . In the European Union , almost half of the population lives within 50 kilometres of the sea and coastal resources produce much of the Union 's economic wealth . The fishing , shipping and tourism industries all compete for space along Europe 's estimated 89,000 km of coastline and coastal zones contain some of Europe 's most fragile and valuable natural habitats . Protection against sea level rise in the 21st century will be especially important , as sea level rise accelerates . Changes in sea level damage beaches and coastal systems . Coastal sediments are disturbed and suspended by wave and tide energy .", "Josh Willis Joshua `` Josh '' K. Willis is an oceanographer at NASA 's Jet Propulsion Laboratory . His area of expertise is current sea level rise , as well as measuring ocean temperatures . When sea level fell from 2010 to 2011 , Willis stated that this was due to an unusually large La Niña transferring more rainfall over land rather than over the ocean as usually happens . In addition , Willis is the project scientist for Jason-3 .", "Economics of global warming The economics of global warming concerns the economic aspects of global warming ; this can inform policies that governments might consider in response . A number of factors make this a difficult problem from both economic and political perspectives : it is a long-term , intergenerational problem ; benefits and costs are distributed unequally both within and across countries ; and scientific and public opinions may diverge . One of the most important greenhouse gases is carbon dioxide . Around 20 % of carbon dioxide which is emitted due to human activities can remain in the atmosphere for many thousands of years . The long time scales and uncertainty associated with global warming have led analysts to develop `` scenarios '' of future environmental , social and economic changes . These scenarios can help governments understand the potential consequences of their decisions . The impacts of climate change include the loss of biodiversity , sea level rise , increased frequency and severity of some extreme weather events , and acidification of the oceans . Economists have attempted to quantify these impacts in monetary terms , but these assessments can be controversial . The two main policy responses to global warming are to reduce greenhouse gas emissions ( climate change mitigation ) and to adapt to the impacts of global warming ( e.g. , by building levees in response to sea level rise ) . Another policy response which has recently received greater attention is geoengineering of the climate system ( e.g. injecting aerosols into the atmosphere to reflect sunlight away from the Earth 's surface ) . One of the responses to the uncertainties of global warming is to adopt a strategy of sequential decision making . This strategy recognizes that decisions on global warming need to be made with incomplete information , and that decisions in the near term will have potentially long-term impacts . Governments might choose to use risk management as part of their policy response to global warming . For instance , a risk-based approach can be applied to climate impacts which are difficult to quantify in economic terms , e.g. , the impacts of global warming on indigenous peoples . Analysts have assessed global warming in relation to sustainable development . Sustainable development considers how future generations might be affected by the actions of the current generation . In some areas , policies designed to address global warming may contribute positively towards other development objectives . In other areas , the cost of global warming policies may divert resources away from other socially and environmentally beneficial investments ( the opportunity costs of climate change policy ) .", "Hundred-year wave A hundred-year wave is a statistically projected water wave , the height of which , on average , is met or exceeded once in a hundred years for a given location . The likelihood of this wave height being attained at least once in the hundred-year period is 63 % . As a projection of the most extreme wave which can be expected to occur in a given body of water , the hundred-year wave is a factor commonly taken into consideration by designers of oil platforms and other offshore structures . Periods of time other than a hundred years may also be taken into account , resulting in , for instance , a fifty-year wave . Various methods are employed to predict the possible steepness and period of these waves , in addition to their height .", "Meltwater pulse 1A Meltwater pulse 1A ( MWP1a ) is the name used by Quaternary geologists , paleoclimatologists , and oceanographers for a period of rapid post-glacial sea level rise during which global sea level rose between 16 m and 25 m in about 400 -- 500 years , giving mean rates of roughly 40 -- 60 mm/yr . Meltwater pulse 1A is also known as catastrophic rise event 1 ( CRE1 ) in the Caribbean Sea . The rates of sea level rise associated with meltwater pulse 1A are the highest known rates of post-glacial , eustatic sea level rise . Meltwater pulse 1A is also the most widely recognized and least disputed of the named , postglacial meltwater pulses . Other named , postglacial meltwater pulses are known most commonly as meltwater pulse 1A0 ( meltwater pulse 19ka ) , meltwater pulse 1B , meltwater pulse 1C , meltwater pulse 1D , and meltwater pulse 2 . It and these other periods of rapid sea level rise are known as meltwater pulses because the inferred cause of them was the rapid release of meltwater into the oceans from the collapse of continental ice sheets .", "Tide Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the Moon and the Sun and the rotation of the Earth . The times and amplitude of tides at any given locale are influenced by the alignment of the Sun and Moon , by the pattern of tides in the deep ocean , by the amphidromic systems of the oceans , and the shape of the coastline and near-shore bathymetry ( see Timing ) . Some shorelines experience a semi-diurnal tide -- two nearly equal high and low tides each day . Other locations experience a diurnal tide -- only one high and low tide each day . A `` mixed tide '' -- two uneven tides a day , or one high and one low -- is also possible . Tides vary on timescales ranging from hours to years due to a number of factors . To make accurate records , tide gauges at fixed stations measure water level over time . Gauges ignore variations caused by waves with periods shorter than minutes . These data are compared to the reference ( or datum ) level usually called mean sea level . While tides are usually the largest source of short-term sea-level fluctuations , sea levels are also subject to forces such as wind and barometric pressure changes , resulting in storm surges , especially in shallow seas and near coasts . Tidal phenomena are not limited to the oceans , but can occur in other systems whenever a gravitational field that varies in time and space is present . For example , the solid part of the Earth is affected by tides , though this is not as easily seen as the water tidal movements .", "Climate change Climate change is a change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns when that change lasts for an extended period of time ( i.e. , decades to millions of years ) . Climate change may refer to a change in average weather conditions , or in the time variation of weather around longer-term average conditions ( i.e. , more or fewer extreme weather events ) . Climate change is caused by factors such as biotic processes , variations in solar radiation received by Earth , plate tectonics , and volcanic eruptions . Certain human activities have been identified as primary causes of ongoing climate change , often referred to as global warming . Scientists actively work to understand past and future climate by using observations and theoretical models . A climate record -- extending deep into the Earth 's past -- has been assembled , and continues to be built up , based on geological evidence from borehole temperature profiles , cores removed from deep accumulations of ice , floral and faunal records , glacial and periglacial processes , stable-isotope and other analyses of sediment layers , and records of past sea levels . More recent data are provided by the instrumental record . General circulation models , based on the physical sciences , are often used in theoretical approaches to match past climate data , make future projections , and link causes and effects in climate change .", "Clade (novel) Clade is a science fiction novel written by Mark Budz , published in 2003 . In Clade , an environmental disaster called the Ecocaust has caused sea levels to rise and causing additional strains on human resources . The government , in response , becomes more restrictive on human freedoms , and this novel explores what happens after the Ecocaust .", "Campbell Plateau The Campbell Plateau is a large oceanic plateau south of New Zealand and the Chatham Rise . It originated in the Gondwanan breakup and is part of Zealandia , a largely submerged continent . The above sea level parts of the plateau -- the Bounty Islands , Antipodes Islands , Auckland Islands and Campbell Island -- form part of the New Zealand Subantarctic Islands which were declared a World Heritage Site in 1998 . Large parts of the Campbell Plateau lies less than 1000 m below sea level . It rises to 500 m at the Pukaki Rise and emerges above sea level at the Auckland and Campbell Islands . Covering an area of 800000 km2 , the Campbell Plateau has a gently undulating bathymetry with major rises trending east-west : Campbell Island Rise , Pukaki Rise , and Bounty Island Ridge . There are two near-parallel rises on the western margin : Stewart Island -- Snare Island Rise and Auckland Island platform . The continental slopes are steep on western and southern margins while the northern margin slowly falls into the Bounty Trough .", "Gjesværstappan Gjesværstappan is a group of high , steep-sided , grass-covered islands which are located north of the village of Gjesvær in Nordkapp Municipality in Finnmark county , Norway . The three main islands are Storstappen , Kjerkestappen , and Bukkstappen . Storstappan rises to a height of 283 m above sea level and has a peninsula called Stauren that rises to 165 m. Kjerkestappen rises to an elevation of 166 m above sea level and Bukkstappen rises to 92 m above sea level . Historically , there were people that lived on the islands and there was a church on Kjerkestappen .", "Annual cycle of sea level height The annual cycle of sea level height ( or seasonal cycle or annual harmonic ) describes the variation of sea level that occurs with a period of one year . Historically , analysis of the annual cycle has been limited by locations with tide gauge records , i.e. , coastlines and some islands in the deep ocean , and by sparse records in the Southern Hemisphere . Since 1992 , satellite-based altimeters have provided near global coverage of sea level variability , allowing for a more thorough understanding of the annual cycle both in the deep ocean and in coastal margins .", "Global warming in Tuvalu Global warming is a concern in Tuvalu since the average height of the islands is less than 2 m above sea level , with the highest point of Niulakita being about 4.6 m above sea level . Tuvalu could be one of the first nations to experience the effects of sea level rise . Not only could parts of the island be flooded but the rising saltwater table could also destroy deep rooted food crops such as coconut , pulaka , and taro .", "Argyrodes chionus Argyrodes chionus is a species of tangle-web spider that is endemic to Aldabra in the Seychelles . It is found in dry shrubland at sea level . It is threatened by habitat deterioration due to sea level rise .", "Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow The Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow ( CFACT ) is a Washington , D.C.-based 501 ( c ) ( 3 ) nonprofit organization founded in 1985 that advocates for free-market solutions to environmental issues , but has increasingly turned to climate denial . For example , CFACT co-founder Craig Rucker stated that mankind faces a threat `` not from man-made global warming , but from man-made hysteria . '' At the 29 April 2017 Climate March , leaflets distributed by CFACT claimed the scientific consensus that mankind is now driving global changes in the planet 's climate are `` bogus '' , that reports of record-setting temperatures are `` the hottest lie '' being told , and `` CO2 is not the ` control knob ' of the climate '' .", "Don't Make a Wave Committee The Do n't Make a Wave Committee was the name of the anti-nuclear organization which later evolved into Greenpeace , a global environmental organization . The Do n't Make a Wave Committee was founded in Vancouver , British Columbia , Canada to protest and attempt to halt further underground nuclear testing by the United States in the National Wildlife refuge at Amchitka in the Aleutian Islands of Alaska . The Do n't Make a Wave Committee was first formed in October 1969 and officially established in early 1970 .", "Climate change opinion by country Climate change opinion is the aggregate of public opinion held by the adult population . Cost constraints often restrict surveys to sample only one or two countries from each continent or focus on only one region . Because of differences among questions , wording , and methods -- it is difficult to reliably compare results or to generalize them to opinions held worldwide . In 2007 -- 2008 , the Gallup Poll surveyed individuals from 128 countries in the first comprehensive study of global opinions . The Gallup Organization aggregated opinion from the adult population fifteen years of age and older , either through the telephone or personal interviews , and in both rural and urban areas except in areas where the safety of interviewer was threatened and in scarcely populated islands . Personal interviews were stratified by population size or geography and cluster sampling was achieved through one or more stages . Although error bounds vary , they were all below ± 6 % with 95 % confidence . Weighting countries to a 2008 World Bank population estimate , sixty-one percent of individuals worldwide were aware of global warming , developed countries more aware than developing , with Africa the least aware . The median of people perceiving it as a threat was 47 % . Latin America and developed countries in Asia led the belief that climate change was a result of human activities , while Africa , parts of Asia and the Middle East , and countries from the Former Soviet Union led in the opposite . Awareness often translates to concern , although of those aware , individuals in Europe and developed countries in Asia perceived global warming as a greater threat than others .", "Sadika Sàdika is a tributary of the Vrbanja river in Bosnia and Herzegovina . It rises on the northeastern slopes of Zastinje Mountain , at 1000 m above sea level . The river 's confluence with the Vrbanja is below Gigovići , a village close to the Kotor Varoš -- Šiprage road , at 496 m above sea level .", "Holybourne Hill Holybourne Hill or Holybourne Down is one of the highest points in the county of Hampshire , England , and in the Hampshire Downs , rising to 225 m above sea level . Holybourne Hill rises not far from the village of Holybourne in Hampshire .", "Rising Tide North America Rising Tide North America is a grassroots network of groups and individuals in North America organizing action against the root causes of climate change and work towards a non-carbon society . Rising Tide North America is part of an international network dedicated to building a climate justice and anti-extraction movement . Rising Tide generally takes a strongly `` no compromise '' stance on the environment and a vehement opposition to solutions proposed by corporations who , they say , are responsible for creating environmental problems in the first place .", "Effects of global warming on Australia Predictions measuring the effects of global warming on Australia assert that global warming will negatively impact the continent 's environment , economy , and communities . Australia has been designated as one of the countries most vulnerable to climate change , according to the Stern Review and others , due partially to the importance of its agricultural sector and the prominence of its coast . Australia is vulnerable to the effects of global warming projected for the next 50 to 100 years because of its extensive arid and semi-arid areas , an already warm climate , high annual rainfall variability , and existing pressures on water supply . The continent 's high fire risk increases this susceptibility to change in temperature and climate . Additionally , Australia 's population is highly concentrated in coastal areas , and its important tourism industry depends on the health of the Great Barrier Reef and other fragile ecosystems . The impacts of climate change in Australia will be complex and to some degree uncertain , but increased foresight may enable the country to safeguard its future through planned mitigation and adaptation . Mitigation may reduce the ultimate extent of climate change and its impacts , but requires global solutions and cooperation , while adaptation can be performed at national and local levels .", "Verdi Range The Verdi Range is a mountain range in Sierra County , California , that rises to 8444 ft above sea level .", "Equilibrium level In meteorology , the equilibrium level ( EL ) , or level of neutral buoyancy ( LNB ) , or limit of convection ( LOC ) , is the height at which a rising parcel of air is at the same temperature as its environment . This means that unstable air is now stable when it reaches the equilibrium level and convection stops . This level is often near the tropopause and can be indicated as near where the anvil of a thunderstorm because it is where the thunderstorm updraft is finally cut off , except in the case of overshooting tops where it continues rising to the maximum parcel level ( MPL ) due to momentum . More precisely , the cumulonimbus will stop rising around a few kilometres prior to reaching the level of neutral buoyancy and on average anvil glaciation occurs at a higher altitude over land than over sea ( despite little difference in LNB from land to sea ) .", "Future sea level The rate of global mean sea-level rise ( ~ 3 mm/yr ; SLR ) has accelerated compared to the mean of the 20th century ( ~ 2 mm/yr ) , but the rate of rise is locally variable . Factors contributing to SLR include decreased global ice volume and warming of the ocean . On Greenland , the deficiency between annual ice gained and lost tripled between 1996 and 2007 . On Antarctica the deficiency increased by 75 % . Mountain glaciers are retreating and the cumulative mean thickness change has accelerated from about − 1.8 to − 4 m in 1965 to 1970 to about − 12 to − 14 m in the first decade of the 21st century . From 1961 to 2003 , ocean temperatures to a depth of 700 m increased and portions of the deeper ocean are warming . The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( 2007 ) projected sea level would reach 0.18 to 0.59 m above present by the end of the 21st century but lacked an estimate of ice flow dynamics calving . Calving was added by Pfeffer et al. ( 2008 ) indicating 0.8 to 2 m of SLR by 2100 ( favouring the low end of this range ) . Rahmstorf ( 2007 ) estimated SLR will reach 0.5 to 1.4 m by the end of the century . Pielke ( 2008 ) points out that observed SLR has exceeded the best case projections thus far . These approximations and others indicate that global mean SLR may reach 1 m by the end of this century . However , sea level is highly variable and planners considering local impacts must take this variability into account .", "Catherine Ritz Catherine Ritz is a French Antarctic researcher , best known for her work on ice sheets and their impact on sea level rise .", "Besh Barmag Mountain Besh Barmag ( Beş Barmaq ) literally translated as Five Finger Mountain , is in Siazan District of Azerbaijan , not far from the Caspian Sea . It rises to 382 m above the sea level overlooking the Baku-Quba Highway . The mountain is a solid rock and is one of the most famous mountains in the Caucasus , known for its mythical stories . It is a sacred place for regular visitation by pilgrims . Tide marks on the mount attest to meltwater inundation from the northern glacial ice caps and date back to the end of the last ice age . The tidelines confirm the theory of a Holocene outflow of meltwater from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean Sea , rather than a direct incursion of sea water into the Black Sea as a result of global sea level rise . Estimates of the increase in Caspian Sea level height are between + 20 and 30 meters ." ]

[ "Lake Superior Lake Superior ( Lac Supérieur ) is the largest of the Great Lakes of North America . The lake is shared by the Canadian province of Ontario to the north , the US state of Minnesota to the west , and Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to the south . It is generally considered the largest freshwater lake in the world by surface area . It is the world 's third-largest freshwater lake by volume and the largest by volume in North America .", "Great Lakes Storm of 1913 The Great Lakes Storm of 1913 , historically referred to as the `` Big Blow , '' the `` Freshwater Fury , '' or the `` White Hurricane , '' was a blizzard with hurricane-force winds that devastated the Great Lakes Basin in the Midwestern United States and the province of Ontario in Canada from November 7 through November 10 , 1913 . The storm was most powerful on November 9 , battering and overturning ships on four of the five Great Lakes , particularly Lake Huron . Deceptive lulls in the storm and the slow pace of weather reports contributed to the storm 's destructiveness . The deadliest and most destructive natural disaster to hit the lakes in recorded history , the Great Lakes Storm killed more than 250 people , destroyed 19 ships , and stranded 19 others . The financial loss in vessels alone was nearly US $ 5 million ( or about $ in today 's dollars ) . This included about $ 1 million at current value in lost cargo totalling about 68,300 tons , such as coal , iron ore , and grain . The storm , an extratropical cyclone , originated as the convergence of two major storm fronts , fueled by the lakes ' relatively warm waters -- a seasonal process called a `` November gale '' . It produced 90 mph ( 145 km/h ) wind gusts , waves over 35 feet ( 11 m ) high , and whiteout snowsqualls . Analysis of the storm and its impact on humans , engineering structures , and the landscape led to better forecasting and faster responses to storm warnings , stronger construction ( especially of marine vessels ) , and improved preparedness .", "Great Lakes The Great Lakes ( les Grands-Lacs ) , also called the Laurentian Great Lakes and the Great Lakes of North America , are a series of interconnected freshwater lakes located primarily in the upper mid-east region of North America , on the Canada -- United States border , which connect to the Atlantic Ocean through the Saint Lawrence River . Consisting of Lakes Superior , Michigan , Huron ( or Michigan -- Huron ) , Erie , and Ontario , they form the largest group of freshwater lakes on Earth by total area , and second largest by total volume containing 21 % of the world 's surface fresh water by volume . The total surface is 94250 sqmi , and the total volume ( measured at the low water datum ) is 5439 cumi . Due to their sea-like characteristics ( rolling waves , sustained winds , strong currents , great depths , and distant horizons ) the five Great Lakes have also long been referred to as inland seas . Lake Superior is the second largest lake in the world by area , and Lake Michigan is the largest lake that is entirely within one country . The southern half of the Great Lakes is bordered by the Great Lakes Megalopolis . The Great Lakes began to form at the end of the last glacial period around 14,000 years ago , as retreating ice sheets exposed the basins they had carved into the land which then filled with meltwater . The lakes have been a major highway for transportation , migration and trade , and they are home to a large number of aquatic species . Many invasive species have been introduced due to trade , and some threaten the region 's biodiversity .", "Lake Erie Lake Erie ( -LSB- ˈɪəri -RSB- Lac Érié ) is the fourth-largest lake ( by surface area ) of the five Great Lakes in North America , and the thirteenth-largest globally if measured in terms of surface area . It is the southernmost , shallowest , and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and therefore also has the shortest average water residence time . At its deepest point Lake Erie is 210 ft deep . Lake Erie 's northern shore is bounded by the Canadian province of Ontario , with the U.S. states of Ohio , Pennsylvania , and New York on its southern and easternmost shores and the Lower Peninsula of Michigan on the west . These jurisdictions divide the surface area of the lake by water boundaries . The lake was named by the Erie people , a Native Americans people who lived along its southern shore . That Iroquoian tribe called it `` Erige '' ( `` cat '' ) because of its unpredictable and sometimes violently dangerous nature . It is a matter of conjecture whether the lake was named after the tribe , or if the tribe was called `` Erie '' because of its proximity to the lake . Situated below Lake Huron , Erie 's primary inlet is the Detroit River . The main natural outflow from the lake is via the Niagara River , which provides hydroelectric power to Canada and the U.S. as it spins huge turbines near Niagara Falls at Lewiston , New York and Queenston , Ontario . Some outflow occurs via the Welland Canal which diverts water for ship passages from Port Colborne , Ontario on Lake Erie , to St. Catharines on Lake Ontario , an elevation difference of 326 ft. Lake Erie 's environmental health has been an ongoing concern for decades , with issues such as overfishing , pollution , algae blooms and eutrophication generating headlines ." ]

[ "Balloon satellite A balloon satellite ( also occasionally referred to as a `` satelloon '' , which is a trademarked name owned by Gilmore Schjeldahl 's G.T. Schjeldahl Company ) is a satellite that is inflated with gas after it has been put into orbit .", "Vanguard SLV-5 Vanguard SLV-5 , also called Vanguard Satellite Launch Vehicle Five hoped to be the third successful flight of the American Vanguard rocket following successful Vanguard 2 satellite on rocket Vanguard SLV-4 . Vanguard SLV-5 launched on April 14 , 1959 02:49 GMT , from Launch Complex 18A at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station . The rocket was unsuccessful in its attempt to place an unnamed satellite into earth orbit . There was damage to stage 2 at separation , thus the satellite failed to achieve orbit . The underlying cause of the error is unknown . This was a set back in the space race between the USA and Soviet Union . Vanguard SLV-5 hoped to put into orbit two satellites : Vanguard 3A satellite , a magnetometer and 30 in round inflatable sphere with an air density measurement device . Vanguard SLV-5 only reached an altitude of 100 km , the goal was 3840 km to orbit .", "Great Atlanta fire of 1917 The Great Atlanta Fire of 1917 began just after noon on 21 May 1917 in the Old Fourth Ward of Atlanta , Georgia . It is unclear just how the fire started , but it was fueled by hot temperatures and strong winds which propelled the fire . The fire , which burned for nearly 10 hours , destroyed 300 acre and 1,900 structures displacing over 10,000 people . Damages were estimated at $ 5 million , ( $ million when adjusted for inflation ) .", "Misty (satellite) Misty is reportedly the name of a classified project by the United States National Reconnaissance Office to operate stealthy reconnaissance satellites . The satellites are conjectured to be photo reconnaissance satellites and the program has been the subject of atypically public debates about its worthiness in the defense budget since December 2004 . The estimated project costs in 2004 dollars are US$ 9.5 billion ( inflation adjusted US$ billion in ) .", "Highest temperature recorded on Earth The standard measuring conditions for temperature are in the air , 1.5 meters above the ground , and shielded from direct sunlight . The highest confirmed temperature on Earth recorded according to these measures was 56.7 C in Furnace Creek Ranch , California , located in the Death Valley desert in the United States , on July 10 , 1913 . The former highest official temperature on Earth , held for 90 years by ` Aziziya , Libya , was de-certified by the WMO ( World Meteorological Organization ) in January 2012 as the record for the world 's highest surface temperature ( this temperature of 57.8 ° C ( 136 ° F ) , registered on 13 September 1922 , is currently considered to have been a recorder 's error ) . Christopher C. Burt , the weather historian writing for Weather Underground who shepherded the Libya reading 's 2012 disqualification , believes that the 1913 Death Valley reading is `` a myth '' , and is at least four or five degrees Fahrenheit too high , as do other weather historians Dr. Arnold Court and William Taylor Reid . Burt proposes that the highest reliably recorded temperature on Earth is still at Death Valley , but is instead 53.9 C recorded five times : 20 July 1960 , 18 July 1998 , 20 July 2005 , 7 July 2007 , and 30 June 2013 . Temperatures measured directly on the ground may exceed air temperatures by 30 to 50 ° C . A ground temperature of 84 ° C ( 183.2 ° F ) has been recorded in Port Sudan , Sudan . A ground temperature of 93.9 ° C ( 201 ° F ) was recorded also in Furnace Creek Ranch on 15 July 1972 ; this may be the highest natural ground surface temperature ever recorded . The theoretical maximum possible ground surface temperature has been estimated to be between 90 and 100 ° C for dry , darkish soils of low thermal conductivity . Temperature measurements via satellite also tend to capture occurrence of higher records but are considered less reliable than ground-positioned thermometers . There is a satellite record of 66.8 C measured in the Flaming Mountains of China in 2008 . Other satellite measurements of ground temperature taken between 2003 and 2009 , taken with the MODIS infrared spectroradiometer on the Aqua satellite , found a maximum temperature of 70.7 ° C ( 159.3 ° F ) , which was recorded in 2005 in the Lut Desert , Iran . The Lut Desert was also found to have the highest maximum temperature in 5 of the 7 years measured ( 2004 , 2005 , 2006 , 2007 and 2009 ) . These measurements reflect averages over a large region and so are lower than the maximum point surface temperature .", "Satellite geolocation Satellite geolocation is the process of locating the origin of a signal appearing on a satellite communication channel . Typically , this process is used to mitigate interference on communication satellites . Usually , these interference signals are caused by human error or equipment failure , but can also be caused by deliberate jamming . Identifying the geographical location of an interfering signal informs the mitigation activity .", "Inflatable Antenna Experiment The Inflatable Antenna Experiment ( IAE ) was a NASA experiment that began on May 19 , 1996 , consisting of an inflatable antenna made of mylar which was launched from the Space Shuttle Endeavour during the 1996 STS-77 mission , in cooperation with the satellite Spartan-207 . The antenna correctly inflated , separating from Spartan-207 , before re-entering Earth 's atmosphere a few days later , on 22 May . IAE was intended to pave the way for the development of lightweight inflatable structures for space applications . The IAE was constructed by LGarde , Inc. , an American aerospace company based in Orange County , CA .", "Adaptive expectations In economics , adaptive expectations is a hypothesized process by which people form their expectations about what will happen in the future based on what has happened in the past . For example , if inflation has been higher than expected in the past , people would revise expectations for the future . One simple version of adaptive expectations is stated in the following equation , where is the next year 's rate of inflation that is currently expected ; is this year 's rate of inflation that was expected last year ; and is this year 's actual rate of inflation : where is between 0 and 1 . This says that current expectations of future inflation reflect past expectations and an `` error-adjustment '' term , in which current expectations are raised ( or lowered ) according to the gap between actual inflation and previous expectations . This error-adjustment is also called `` partial adjustment . '' The theory of adaptive expectations can be applied to all previous periods so that current inflationary expectations equal : where equals actual inflation years in the past . Thus , current expected inflation reflects a weighted average of all past inflation , where the weights get smaller and smaller as we move further in the past . Once a forecasting error is made by agents , due to a stochastic shock , they will be unable to correctly forecast the price level again even if the price level experiences no further shocks since they only ever incorporate part of their errors . The backward nature of expectation formulation and the resultant systematic errors made by agents ( see Cobweb model ) was unsatisfactory to economists such as John Muth , who was pivotal in the development of an alternative model of how expectations are formed , called rational expectations . This has largely replaced adaptive expectations in macroeconomic theory since its assumption of optimality of expectations is consistent with economic theory . However , it must be stressed that confronting adaptivity and rationality is not necessarily justified , in other words , there are situations in which following the adaptive scheme is a rational response . Adaptive expectations were instrumental in the Phillips curve outlined by Milton Friedman . For Friedman , workers form adaptive expectations , so the government can easily surprise them through unexpected monetary policy changes . As agents are trapped by the money illusion , they are unable to correctly perceive price and wage dynamics , so , for Friedman , unemployment can always be reduced through monetary expansions . The result is an increasing level of inflation if the government chooses to fix unemployment at a low rate for an extended period of time . However , in this framework it is clear why and how adaptive expectations are problematic . Agents are arbitrarily supposed to ignore sources of information which , otherwise , would affect their expectations . For example , government announcements are such sources : agents are expected to modify their expectations and break with the former trends when changes in economic policy necessitate it . This is the reason why the theory of adaptive expectations is often regarded as a deviation from the rational tradition of economics .", "Cold inflation pressure Cold inflation pressure is the inflation pressure of tires before the car is driven and the tires warmed up . Recommended cold inflation pressure is displayed on the owner 's manual and on the placard ( or sticker ) attached to the vehicle door edge , pillar , glovebox door or fuel filler flap . Drivers are encouraged to make sure their tires are adequately inflated , as suboptimal tire pressure can greatly reduce fuel economy , increase emissions , increased wear on the edges of the tire surface , and can lead to premature failure of the tire . Excessive pressure , on the other hand , may lead to impact-breaks , decrease braking performance , and cause uneven wear ( i.e. greater wear on the center part of the tire surface ) . Tire pressure is commonly measured in psi in the imperial and US customary systems , bar , which is deprecated but accepted for use with SI or the kilopascal ( kPa ) , which is an SI unit . Ambient temperature affects the cold tire pressure . Absolute cold tire pressure ( gauge pressure plus atmospheric pressure ) varies directly with the absolute temperature , measured in kelvins . From physics , the ideal gas law states that PV = nRT where P is absolute pressure , T is absolute temperature ( Kelvin ) , V is the volume ( assumed to be relatively constant in the case of a tire ) , and nR is constant for a given number of molecules of gas . To understand this , assume the tire was filled when it was 300 kelvin ( 80 degrees Fahrenheit ) . If the temperature varies 10 % , i.e. by 30 kelvin ( also 30 Celsius degrees or 54 Fahrenheit degrees ) , the pressure varies 10 % . So if the tire was filled at 80F to 32 psi ( or 47 psi absolute when we add atmospheric pressure ) , the change would be 4.7 psi for this 30 Celsius degree change , or .16 psi per Celsius degree or .1 psi per Fahrenheit degree or 1 psi for every 10 Fahrenheit degrees . Using SI units , that would be 1.1 kPa per kelvin . Hence , for a tire filled to 32 psi , the approximation usually made is that within the range of normal atmospheric temperatures and pressures : Tire pressure increases 1 psi for each 10 Fahrenheit degree increase in temperature , or conversely decreases 1 psi for each 10 Fahrenheit degree decrease in temperature and in SI units , tire pressure increases 1.1 kPa for each 1 Celsius degree increase in temperature , or conversely decreases 1.1 kPa for each 1 Celsius degree decrease in temperature . For tires that need inflation greater than 32psi it might be easier to use a Rule of Thumb of 2 % pressure change for a change of 10 degrees Fahrenheit . From the table below , one can see that these are only approximations .", "Design effect In statistics , the design effect ( or estimates of unit variance ) is an adjustment used in some kinds of studies , such as cluster randomised trials , to allow for the design structure . The adjustment inflates the variance of parameter estimates , and therefore their standard errors , which is necessary to allow for correlations among clusters of observations . It is similar to the variance inflation factor and is used in sample size calculations . The term was introduced by Leslie Kish in 1965 .", "Prognostic chart A prognostic chart is a map displaying the likely weather forecast for a future time . Such charts generated by atmospheric models as output from numerical weather prediction and contain a variety of information such as temperature , wind , precipitation and weather fronts . They can also indicate derived atmospheric fields such as vorticity , stability indices , or frontogenesis . Forecast errors need to be taken into account and can be determined either via absolute error , or by considering persistence and absolute error combined .", "Pseudorange The pseudorange ( from pseudo - and range ) is the pseudo distance between a satellite and a navigation satellite receiver ( see GNSS positioning calculation ) -- for instance Global Positioning System ( GPS ) receivers . To determine its position , a satellite navigation receiver will determine the ranges to ( at least ) four satellites as well as their positions at time of transmitting . Knowing the satellites ' orbital parameters , these positions can be calculated for any point in time . The pseudoranges of each satellite are obtained by multiplying the speed of light by the time the signal has taken from the satellite to the receiver . As there are accuracy errors in the time measured , the term pseudo-ranges is used rather than ranges for such distances .", "Meteor (satellite) The Meteor spacecraft are weather observation satellites launched by the USSR and Russia . The Meteor satellite series was developed during the 1960s . The Meteor satellites were designed to monitor atmospheric and sea-surface temperatures , humidity , radiation , sea ice conditions , snow-cover , and clouds .", "MSU temperature measurements Microwave sounding unit temperature measurements have been obtained from the troposphere since 1979 , when they were included within NOAA weather satellites . By comparison , the usable balloon ( radiosonde ) record begins in 1958 but has less geographic coverage and is less uniform . Satellites do not measure temperature . They measure radiances in various wavelength bands , which must then be mathematically inverted to obtain indirect inferences of temperature . The resulting temperature profiles depend on details of the methods that are used to obtain temperatures from radiances . As a result , different groups that have analyzed the satellite data have obtained different temperature trends . Among these groups are Remote Sensing Systems ( RSS ) and the University of Alabama in Huntsville ( UAH ) . The satellite series is not fully homogeneous - the record is constructed from a series of satellites with similar but not identical instrumentation . The sensors deteriorate over time , and corrections are necessary for satellite drift in orbit . Particularly large differences between reconstructed temperature series occur at the few times when there is little temporal overlap between successive satellites , making intercalibration difficult . To compare to the trend from the surface temperature record ( approximately +0.07 ° C/decade over the past century and +0.15 -0.16 ° C/decade since 1979 ) it is most appropriate to derive trends for the part of the atmosphere nearest the surface , i.e. , the lower troposphere . Doing this , through January 2012 : RSS v3 .3 finds a trend of +0.137 ° C/decade . UAH v5 .4 finds a trend of +0.136 ° C/decade . An alternative adjustment introduced by Fu et al. ( 2004 ) finds trends ( 1979 -- 2011 ) of +0.14 ° C/decade when applied to the RSS data set and +0.11 ° C/decade when applied to the UAH data set . Using the T2 channel ( which include significant contributions from the stratosphere , which has cooled ) , Mears et al. of Remote Sensing Systems ( RSS ) find ( through January 2012 ) a trend of +0.082 ° C/decade . Spencer and Christy of the University of Alabama in Huntsville ( UAH ) , find a smaller trend of +0.046 ° C/decade . A no longer updated analysis of Vinnikov and Grody found +0.20 ° C/decade ( 1978 -- 2005 ) . Another satellite temperature analysis is provided by NOAA/NESDIS STAR Center for Satellite Application and Research and use simultaneous nadir overpasses ( SNO ) to remove satellite intercalibration biases yielding more accurate temperature trends . The SNO analysis finds a 1979-2011 trend of +0.128 ° C/decade for T2 channel . The satellite records have the advantage of greater spatial coverage , whereas the radiosonde record is longer . There have been complaints of data problems with both records , and difficulty reconciling climate model predictions with the observed data .", "Airag Lake Airag Lake ( Айраг нуур , Airag Nuur , lit . `` airag '' ) is a lake in western Mongolia in the Great Lakes Depression . It is in a system of the interconnected lakes : Khar-Us , Khar , Dörgön , and Khyargas . The lake was in the same basin as the Khyargas Lake in ancient times . The depth of the lake generally varies with the inflow river flow . The lake flows into Khyargas Lake along a 5 km long , 200 -- 300 m wide canal , which does not freeze in winter . In summer , the lake warms up almost to the very bottom . Even in winter , the temperature remains fairly constant , 1 - 2.5 ° C. Compared to other lakes , the water is not very clear .", "Androscoggin Lake Androscoggin Lake ( photo ) is a body of water located in the towns of Wayne and Leeds , Maine . The surface area of the lake is 3826 acre . Its greatest length is 4.5 mi and its greatest width is 2.8 mi . The lake is very shallow with a mean depth of 15 ft and maximum depth of 38 ft. The lake temperature is therefore quite warm during summer , and the temperature is the same on the bottom as it is on the top , making it a homothermous body of water . There are 4 islands on the lake : Androscoggin Island , Blodgett Island , Lothrop Island and Norris Island . The islands support a diverse assemblage of rare species and natural communities . The most extensive areas are along and around the Dead River , ( photo ) which connects the lake to the Androscoggin River . The islands also provide important nesting habitat for bald eagles , ospreys and great blue herons . Lothrop Island 's black sand beaches are of geological interest and are also home to several rare plants .", "Lake Mackay Lake Mackay ( Pitjantjatjara : Wilkinkarra ) is the largest of hundreds of ephemeral salt lakes scattered throughout Western Australia and the Northern Territory . The satellite image documents the appearance of the dry parts of Western Australia 's Great Sandy Desert , Gibson Desert , and Tanami Desert . The lake is the largest in Western Australia and has a surface area of 3494 km2 . Its elevation ranges between 355 m and 370 m above mean sea-level .", "S-56 (satellite) S-56 was an American satellite launched by NASA on 4 December 1960 as part of the Explorers program . The satellite was composed of a 3.66 meter ( 12 foot ) diameter inflatable sphere , and was intended to study the density of the upper atmosphere . S-56 was launched on a Scout X-1 rocket , but failed to reach orbit due to the second stage not igniting . It was replaced by the identical Explorer 9 ( S 56A ) spacecraft .", "Error analysis for the Global Positioning System The analysis of errors computed using the Global Positioning System is important for understanding how GPS works , and for knowing what magnitude of errors should be expected . The Global Positioning System makes corrections for receiver clock errors and other effects but there are still residual errors which are not corrected . The Global Positioning System ( GPS ) was created by the United States Department of Defense ( DOD ) in the 1970s . It has come to be widely used for navigation both by the U.S. military and the general public . GPS receiver position is computed based on data received from the satellites . Errors depend on geometric dilution of precision and the sources listed in the table below .", "Medicine Lake, Montana Medicine Lake is a town in Sheridan County , Montana , United States . The population was 225 at the 2010 census . On July 5 , 1937 , Medicine Lake recorded a temperature of 117 ° F ( 47 ° C ) , setting the record for the highest temperature ever recorded in Montana .", "Block error A block error is a common type of error in certain types of digital television transmission , particularly those that use image compression . Its presence in a television image is a telltale sign that 1 ) the signal is broadcast digitally , as this type of error can not occur in analog transmission , and 2 ) that there is a significant amount of noise , as digital television is designed to tolerate a certain amount of interference . Block errors are usually detected , but not corrected , by the receiving device and are commonly displayed as empty black boxes in the television image . Because of how television images are usually compressed , a block error in a single frame often results in black boxes in several subsequent frames . In the worst case , a few block errors per frame could render the video from a television broadcast unviewable . Block errors are most common in digital satellite television , where bad weather or motion of the satellite dish can cause interference outside the broadcaster 's control . Block errors can occur at levels of interference where an analog transmission would be fuzzy but still viewable . Thus , block errors are a fine example of the consequences of trade offs in engineering . Although in ideal conditions , digital transmission far exceeds analog transmission in performance , below a certain threshold of signal to noise ratio , digital transmission becomes untenable . Category : Television terminology", "Community Radiative Transfer Model Community Radiative Transfer Model ( CRTM ) is a fast radiative transfer model for calculations of radiances for satellite infrared or microwave radiometers . Given an atmospheric profile of temperature , variable gas concentrations , cloud and surface properties CRTM calculates radiances and brightness temperatures . The only mandatory inputs in terms of variable gases are water vapor and ozone . The range of temperatures and water vapour concentrations over which the optical depth computations are valid depends on the training datasets which were used . CRTM contains forward , tangent linear , adjoint and K ( full Jacobian matrices ) versions of the model ; the latter three modules are used in inversion methods , including variational assimilation and satellite retrievals . One of several applications of CRTM are retrievals of brightness temperature and sea surface temperature from Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer sensor .", "Medical-bill advocacy Medical-bill advocacy is the name generally attributed to the industry that has developed in response to a growing problem of erroneous charges on medical bills . According to the Medical Billing Advocates of America ( MBAA ) , as many as 9 out of 10 bills from hospitals and medical providers include errors that may erroneously inflate the cost of actual healthcare received .", "Rate Based Satellite Control Protocol In computer networking , Rate Based Satellite Control Protocol ( RBSCP ) is a tunneling method proposed by Cisco to improve the performance of satellite network links with high latency and error rates . The problem RBSCP addresses is that the long RTT on the link keeps TCP virtual circuits in slow start for a long time . This , in addition to the high loss give a very low amount of bandwidth on the channel . Since satellite links may be high-throughput , the overall link utilized may be below what is optimal from a technical and economic view .", "ZK ZK may refer to : ZK ( framework ) , an AJAX/XUL Web Application Framework Great Lakes Airlines ( IATA airline designator ZK ) Zentralkomitee , the executive body of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany Zero-knowledge , a cryptographic proof concept Zero-K , an open source RTS computer game Zettakelvin , an SI unit of temperature", "The Four Great Errors The Four Great Errors are four mistakes of human reason regarding causal relationships that the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche argues are the basis of all moral and religious propositions . Set forth in his book Twilight of the Idols , first published in 1889 , these errors are key in implementing his program of the `` revaluation of all values . '' Nietzsche wanted to liberate people from traditional moral and religious systems by denying the concept of `` human accountability , '' which , he argues , is nothing more than an invention of theologians who wanted to exert power over other people . Unlike most religions and moral systems which hold that virtuous behavior results in happiness , Nietzsche argued the opposite . For Nietzsche , Internal psychological states that we can not consciously control such as `` happiness '' are actually the true causes of virtuous behavior , not the human will . The Four Great Errors are as follows : The error of confusing cause and consequence The error of a false causality The error of imaginary causes The error of free will", "John Christy John Raymond Christy is a climate scientist at the University of Alabama in Huntsville ( UAH ) whose chief interests are satellite remote sensing of global climate and global climate change . He is best known , jointly with Roy Spencer , for the first successful development of a satellite temperature record .", "Monetary inflation Monetary inflation is a sustained increase in the money supply of a country ( or currency area ) . Depending on many factors , especially public expectations , the fundamental state and development of the economy , and the transmission mechanism , it is likely to result in price inflation , which is usually just called `` inflation '' , which is a rise in the general level of prices of goods and services . There is general agreement among economists that there is a causal relationship between monetary inflation and price inflation . But there is neither a common view about the exact theoretical mechanisms and relationships , nor about how to accurately measure it . This relationship is also constantly changing , within a larger complex economic system . So there is a great deal of debate on the issues involved , such as how to measure the monetary base and price inflation , how to measure the effect of public expectations , how to judge the effect of financial innovations on the transmission mechanisms , and how much factors like the velocity of money affect the relationship . Thus there are different views on what could be the best targets and tools in monetary policy . However , there is a general consensus on the importance and responsibility of central banks and monetary authorities in setting public expectations of price inflation and in trying to control it . Keynesian economists believe the central bank can sufficiently assess the detailed economic variables and circumstances in real time in order to control monetary policy in detail . These economists favor monetary policies that attempt to even out the ups and downs of business cycles and economic shocks in a precise fashion . Followers of the monetarist school think that Keynesian style monetary policies produce a lot of overshooting , time-lag errors and other unwanted effects , sometimes making things even worse . They doubt the central bank 's capacity to analyse economic problems in real time and its ability to influence the economy with correct timing and the right monetary policy measures . So monetarists advocate less intrusive and complex monetary policies , like inflation targeting or a constant growth rate of money supply . Some followers of Austrian School economics advocate either the return to free markets in money , called free banking , or a 100 % gold standard and the abolition of central banks . Currently , most central banks follow a monetarist or Keynesian approach , or more often a mix of both . There is a trend of central banks towards the monetarist approach , with inflation targeting .", "NATO Satellite Ground Terminal Folly Lake The NATO Satellite Ground Terminal Folly Lake , also known as SGT Folly Lake , is a now-decommissioned Canadian military satellite communications facility located in Wentworth , Cumberland County , Nova Scotia . At one time it was one of 24 satellite communication facilities for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization ( NATO ) that were located in NATO countries . SGT Folly Lake was one of two such facilities in Canada and was located on the west slope of an unnamed hill along the eastern side of the concave-shaped Wentworth Valley , opposite Higgins Mountain . The second facility was located in Carp , Ontario . SGT Folly Lake 's location was approximately 500 m north of the county line and is closest to the community of Folly Lake in Colchester County and approximately 3.2 km north from the northern edge of the lake of the same name . SGT Folly Lake was built in 1982 and decommissioned in December 2006 . It was owned by the Department of National Defence and operated by Canadian Forces personnel as a lodger unit of CFB Halifax .", "Dimictic lake Dimictic lakes mix from the surface to bottom twice each year . Dimictic lakes are holomictic , a category which includes all lakes which mix one or more times per year . During winter , they are covered by ice . During summer , they are thermally stratified , with temperature-derived density differences separating the warm surface waters ( the epilimnion ) , from the colder bottom waters ( the hypolimnion ) . Mixing ( overturning ) typically occurs during the spring and autumn , when the lake is `` isothermal '' ( i.e. at the same temperature from the top to the bottom ) . At this time , the water throughout the lake is about 4 ° C , and , in the absence of any temperature or density differences , the lake readily mixes from top to bottom . These lakes are common in regions with temperate climates .", "Liawenee Liawenee ( / laɪɑ : wi : ni : / ) is a small town in Tasmania , Australia built near Great Lake and the River Ouse , and was established on 11 June 1920 . The town is known for its fishing at nearby Great Lake and hosts several fishing events . Liawenee and surrounding Miena Dam experience annual mean maximum temperatures of 12.6 and 10.1 respectively and are thus amongst the coldest permanently inhabited places in Australia ; irrespective of Miena Dam Liawenee is colder on this metric than notable mainland sites of a similar altitude such as Nimmitabel ( 15.6 ) and Cooma ( 19.4 ) as well as Thredbo village ( 13.5 ) - a station of considerably greater altitude ( 1380m AMSL ) . Within Tasmania , only the uninhabited summits of Mount Wellington ( Kunanyi ) and Mount Read record lower annual mean maximum temperatures ( 7.8 and 8.7 respectively ) although other mountains of Tasmania that currently lack weather stations may experience similar or colder conditions also .", "Thorny skate The thorny skate ( Amblyraja radiata ) is a species of fish in Rajidae family . It mainly lives near the bottom of the coastline of North Atlantic Ocean in depths ranging from 20 to 1000 metres and temperatures from 1 to 10 degrees Celsius . It was also located in Lake Melville , near Goose Bay , Labrador . Rivers empty into the lake and the lake bottom is mostly made up of sand . Thorny skates have been caught in this lake in the 1980s by ice fishermen when outside temperatures were -30 degrees C." ]

[ "Ocean acidification Ocean acidification is the ongoing decrease in the pH of the Earth 's oceans , caused by the uptake of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere . Seawater is slightly basic ( meaning pH > 7 ) , and the process in question is a shift towards pH-neutral conditions rather than a transition to acidic conditions ( pH < 7 ) . Ocean alkalinity is not changed by the process , or may increase over long time periods due to carbonate dissolution . An estimated 30 -- 40 % of the carbon dioxide from human activity released into the atmosphere dissolves into oceans , rivers and lakes . To achieve chemical equilibrium , some of it reacts with the water to form carbonic acid . Some of these extra carbonic acid molecules react with a water molecule to give a bicarbonate ion and a hydronium ion , thus increasing ocean acidity ( H + ion concentration ) . Between 1751 and 1996 surface ocean pH is estimated to have decreased from approximately 8.25 to 8.14 , representing an increase of almost 35 % in H + ion concentration in the world 's oceans . Earth System Models project that within the last decade ocean acidity exceeded historical analogues and in combination with other ocean biogeochemical changes could undermine the functioning of marine ecosystems and disrupt the provision of many goods and services associated with the ocean . Increasing acidity is thought to have a range of potentially harmful consequences for marine organisms , such as depressing metabolic rates and immune responses in some organisms , and causing coral bleaching . By increasing the presence of free hydrogen ions , each molecule of carbonic acid that forms in the oceans ultimately results in the conversion of two carbonate ions into bicarbonate ions . This net decrease in the amount of carbonate ions available makes it more difficult for marine calcifying organisms , such as coral and some plankton , to form biogenic calcium carbonate , and such structures become vulnerable to dissolution . Ongoing acidification of the oceans threatens food chains connected with the oceans . As members of the InterAcademy Panel , 105 science academies have issued a statement on ocean acidification recommending that by 2050 , global emissions be reduced by at least 50 % compared to the 1990 level . While ongoing ocean acidification is anthropogenic in origin , it has occurred previously in Earth 's history . The most notable example is the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum ( PETM ) , which occurred approximately 56 million years ago . For reasons that are currently uncertain , massive amounts of carbon entered the ocean and atmosphere , and led to the dissolution of carbonate sediments in all ocean basins . Ocean acidification has been called the `` evil twin of global warming '' and `` the other problem '' ." ]

[ "Yeshe Walmo Yeshe Walmo is a deity of the Bon religion . Yeshe Walmo is considered the wisdom aspect of Sipe Gyalmo . Throughout the ages , whenever the Bon religion suffered persecution , lamas would hide Bon texts and sacred ritual objects in mountains . Yeshe Walmo is the deity in charge of keeping Bon texts and sacred items safe . She is the preserver and protector of all Bon wisdom and allows these objects to be found when times are ripen . These hidden objects are known as `` terma '' and the finder , usually a dakini , is known as a `` terton '' . Dakinis , feminine spirit beings , often manifest in human form . There are many stories of termas being discovered by tertöns in Tibet even in this modern day . Yeshe Walmo is in the same color as Sipe Gyalmo , but has only one face and two arms . She stands on one foot dressed in peacock feathers , which symbolize the transmutation of poison ( ignorance ) . In her right hand , she holds a flaming thunderbolt sword , which cuts away ignorance . Her left hand holds a vase filled with the waters of long life . She wears a tiger skin , which displays her prowess over the most ferocious energies of nature . She stands upon a lotus flower representing the purity of her wisdom and is surrounded by flames burning all ignorance . Yeshe Walmo works swiftly when called upon for any assistance ( health problems , business problems , life problems , etc. ) and is an especially good aide to students and scholars .", "Quaker music In the early days of Quakerism , music was rejected as a non-spontaneous part of worship . As the early Quakers tried to distance themselves from the practices of the English Church at the time , they also distanced themselves from the church traditions of singing music , even Psalms , together . Absolute honesty and integrity was important to them , and people singing words together were often expressing thoughts that even if they were spiritually profound were not actually expressing true experience and profound beliefs of the singers , who were often merely parroting them . Music was at times also viewed as frivolous , and not in line with the value of Simplicity , in other words a distraction from what was really important in life . However , they did approve of `` singing in the spirit , '' when the act of singing and making music was a natural and organic method of expressing belief .", "Ottho Gerhard Heldringstichting Ottho Gerhard Heldringstichting ( Dutch : Ottho Gerhard Heldring Foundation ) is a Dutch orthopaedic institution in Zetten , Netherlands . The facility is a private ( non governmental ) managed centre for youth with severe behaviour and often also psychiatric problems . The facility caters for youth from 12 -- 18 years old ( sometime max 24 at end of stay , normal intelligent and without very serious addiction problems . Youth living at the facility are sent via the ( juvenile ) court when the judge decides that juvenile needs treatment ( for his ( mis ) behaviour / behaviour problems ) in a closed setting .", "Malarial nephropathy Malarial nephropathy is renal failure attributed to malarial infection . Among various complications due to infection , renal-related disorders are often the most life-threatening . Including malaria-induced renal lesions , infection may lead to both tubulointerstitial damage and glomerulonephritis . In addition , malarial acute renal failure has emerged as a serious problem due to its high mortality rate in non-immune adult patients .", "Brown Fellowship Society The Brown Fellowship Society was founded in Charleston , South Carolina in 1790 with the motto `` Charity and Benevolence '' . It was founded by five free non-whites who attended St. Philip 's Episcopal Church . It was founded `` to provide benefits which the white church denied them like a proper burial ground , widow and orphan care , and assistance in times of sickness '' The group 's cemetery was an important part of its function . Those who joined the club considered themselves `` brown '' , mulattoes , an important distinction at the time when society in Charleston recognized three races : White , Mulatto , and Negro . Unlike some mutual self-help organization in the African-American community , the Brown Society was not linked to any church , even banning discussion of religion . Many of the members of the Brown Fellowship Society had their own businesses and some were prosperous . In 1843 , another group was formed by African American men in Charleston , the Humane Brotherhood , modeled after the Brown Fellowship Society , but less class conscious . `` After the Civil War , the Brown Fellowship Society expanded to include more African Americans , including women and those of darker skin '' . The Society was renamed the `` Century Fellowship Society '' about 100 years after its founding . It sold the original BFS cemetery in 1945 when the land was sold to a developing Catholic school , and the Society was officially dissolved .", "Life of Samuel Johnson The Life of Samuel Johnson , LL.D . ( 1791 ) is a biography of Dr. Samuel Johnson written by James Boswell . The work was a popular and critical success when first published . It is regarded as an important stage in the development of the modern genre of biography ; many have claimed it as the greatest biography written in English , but some modern critics object that the work can not be considered a proper biography . While Boswell 's personal acquaintance with his subject only began in 1763 , when Johnson was 54 years old , Boswell covered the entirety of Johnson 's life by means of additional research . The biography takes many critical liberties with Johnson 's life , as Boswell makes various changes to Johnson 's quotations and even censors many comments . Nonetheless , modern biographers have found Boswell 's biography an important source of information on Johnson and his times ." ]

[ "Greenhouse effect The greenhouse effect is the process by which radiation from a planet 's atmosphere warms the planet 's surface to a temperature above what it would be without its atmosphere . If a planet 's atmosphere contains radiatively active gases ( i.e. , greenhouse gases ) the atmosphere will radiate energy in all directions . Part of this radiation is directed towards the surface , warming it . The downward component of this radiation -- that is , the strength of the greenhouse effect -- will depend on the atmosphere 's temperature and on the amount of greenhouse gases that the atmosphere contains . On Earth , the atmosphere is warmed by absorption of infrared thermal radiation from the underlying surface ( heated by the sun ) , absorption of shorter wavelength radiant energy from the sun , and convective heat fluxes from the surface . Greenhouse gases in the atmosphere radiate energy , some of which is directed to the surface and lower atmosphere . The mechanism that produces this difference between the actual surface temperature and the effective temperature is due to the atmosphere and is known as the greenhouse effect . Earth 's natural greenhouse effect is critical to supporting life . Human activities , primarily the burning of fossil fuels and clearing of forests , have intensified the natural greenhouse effect , causing global warming . The mechanism is named after a faulty analogy with the effect of solar radiation passing through glass and warming a greenhouse . The way a greenhouse retains heat is fundamentally different , as a greenhouse works by reducing airflow and retaining warm air inside the structure .", "Greenhouse gas A greenhouse gas ( abbrev . GHG ) is a gas in an atmosphere that absorbs and emits radiation within the thermal infrared range . This process is the fundamental cause of the greenhouse effect . The primary greenhouse gases in Earth 's atmosphere are water vapor , carbon dioxide , methane , nitrous oxide , and ozone . Without greenhouse gases , the average temperature of Earth 's surface would be about -18 ° C , rather than the present average of 15 ° C . In the Solar System , the atmospheres of Venus , Mars and Titan also contain gases that cause a greenhouse effect . Human activities since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution ( taken as the year 1750 ) have produced a 40 % increase in the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide , from 280 ppm in 1750 to 406 ppm in early 2017 . This increase has occurred despite the uptake of a large portion of the emissions by various natural `` sinks '' involved in the carbon cycle . Anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions ( i.e. , emissions produced by human activities ) come from combustion of fossil fuels , principally coal , oil , and natural gas , along with deforestation , soil erosion and animal agriculture . It has been estimated that if greenhouse gas emissions continue at the present rate , Earth 's surface temperature could exceed historical values as early as 2047 , with potentially harmful effects on ecosystems , biodiversity and the livelihoods of people worldwide . Recent estimates suggest that on the current emissions trajectory the Earth could pass a threshold of 2 ° C global warming , which the United Nations ' IPCC designated as the upper limit to avoid `` dangerous '' global warming , by 2036 .", "Global warming Global warming , also referred to as climate change , is the observed century-scale rise in the average temperature of the Earth 's climate system and its related effects . Multiple lines of scientific evidence show that the climate system is warming . Many of the observed changes since the 1950s are unprecedented in the instrumental temperature record which extends back to the mid 19th century , and in paleoclimate proxy records over thousands of years . In 2013 , the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) Fifth Assessment Report concluded that `` It is extremely likely that human influence has been the dominant cause of the observed warming since the mid-20th century . '' The largest human influence has been emission of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide , methane and nitrous oxide . Climate model projections summarized in the report indicated that during the 21st century the global surface temperature is likely to rise a further 0.3 to for their lowest emissions scenario and 2.6 to for the highest emissions scenario . These findings have been recognized by the national science academies of the major industrialized nations and are not disputed by any scientific body of national or international standing . Future climate change and associated impacts will differ from region to region around the globe . Anticipated effects include warming global temperature , rising sea levels , changing precipitation , and expansion of deserts in the subtropics . Warming is expected to be greater over land than over the oceans and greatest in the Arctic , with the continuing retreat of glaciers , permafrost and sea ice . Other likely changes include more frequent extreme weather events including heat waves , droughts , heavy rainfall with floods and heavy snowfall ; ocean acidification ; and species extinctions due to shifting temperature regimes . Effects significant to humans include the threat to food security from decreasing crop yields and the abandonment of populated areas due to rising sea levels . Because the climate system has a large `` inertia '' and greenhouse gases will stay in the atmosphere for a long time , many of these effects will not only exist for decades or centuries , but will persist for tens of thousands of years . Possible societal responses to global warming include mitigation by emissions reduction , adaptation to its effects , building systems resilient to its effects , and possible future climate engineering . Most countries are parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change ( UNFCCC ) , whose ultimate objective is to prevent dangerous anthropogenic climate change . Parties to the UNFCCC have agreed that deep cuts in emissions are required and that global warming should be limited to well below 2.0 C-change relative to pre-industrial levels , with efforts made to limit warming to 1.5 C-change . Public reactions to global warming and concern about its effects are also increasing . A global 2015 Pew Research Center report showed a median of 54 % consider it `` a very serious problem '' . There are significant regional differences , with Americans and Chinese ( whose economies are responsible for the greatest annual CO2 emissions ) among the least concerned ." ]

[ "Satellite temperature measurements The temperature of the atmosphere at various altitudes as well as sea and land surface temperatures can be inferred from satellite measurements . These measurements can be used to locate weather fronts , monitor the El Niño-Southern Oscillation , determine the strength of tropical cyclones , study urban heat islands and monitor the global climate . Wildfires , volcanos , and industrial hot spots can also be found via thermal imaging from weather satellites . Weather satellites do not measure temperature directly . They measure radiances in various wavelength bands . Since 1978 microwave sounding units ( MSUs ) on National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration polar orbiting satellites have measured the intensity of upwelling microwave radiation from atmospheric oxygen , which is related to the temperature of broad vertical layers of the atmosphere . Measurements of infrared radiation pertaining to sea surface temperature have been collected since 1967 . Satellite datasets show that over the past four decades the troposphere has warmed and the stratosphere has cooled . Both of these trends are consistent with the influence of increasing atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases .", "Migration of marine species in the Northern Atlantic Ocean The world 's oceans are warming due to climate change . Climate change is caused by three major factors which are the greenhouse effect , variation in the sun 's energy that reaches Earth , and changes in reflectivity within Earth 's atmosphere and its surface . The greenhouse effect is caused by greenhouse gases that absorb sunlight . Energy from the sun that reaches Earth is either retained or sent into space . Greenhouse gases in Earth 's atmosphere such as carbon dioxide , methane , and water vapor absorb energy which cause a blanketing effect that warms the earth . Aerosols such as black carbon also catalyze the warming effect as they are unreflective and absorb energy from the sun supplementing greenhouse gases in the warming effect . These combined factors are warming the Earth 's land as well as the oceans . Many fish species possess a certain range of water temperature that they are able to tolerate which is causing species to migrate to different areas where the water temperature is livable . The warming of the Atlantic Ocean is causing many fish species to shift north towards once cooler waters so they can live within their temperature range . Tropical species are being found outside their normal range and into more northern waters causing an array of ecological , economic , and fishery management problems .", "Greenhouse gas removal Greenhouse gas removal projects are a type of climate engineering that seek to remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere , and thus they tackle the root cause of global warming . These techniques either directly remove greenhouse gases , or alternatively seek to influence natural processes to remove greenhouse gases indirectly . The discipline overlaps with carbon capture and storage and carbon sequestration , and some projects listed may not be considered to be geoengineering by all commentators , instead being described as mitigation .", "Climate sensitivity Climate sensitivity is the equilibrium temperature change in response to changes of the radiative forcing . Therefore , climate sensitivity depends on the initial climate state , but potentially can be accurately inferred from precise palaeoclimate data . Slow climate feedbacks , especially changes of ice sheet size and atmospheric CO2 , amplify the total Earth system sensitivity by an amount that depends on the time scale considered . Although climate sensitivity is usually used in the context of radiative forcing by carbon dioxide ( CO2 ) , it is thought of as a general property of the climate system : the change in surface air temperature ( ΔTs ) following a unit change in radiative forcing ( RF ) , and thus is expressed in units of ° C / ( W/m2 ) . For this to be useful , the measure must be independent of the nature of the forcing ( e.g. from greenhouse gases or solar variation ) ; to first order this is indeed found to be so . The climate sensitivity specifically due to is often expressed as the temperature change in ° C associated with a doubling of the concentration of carbon dioxide in Earth 's atmosphere . For coupled atmosphere-ocean global climate models ( e.g. CMIP5 ) the climate sensitivity is an emergent property : it is not a model parameter , but rather a result of a combination of model physics and parameters . By contrast , simpler energy-balance models may have climate sensitivity as an explicit parameter . The terms represented in the equation relate radiative forcing ( RF ) to linear changes in global surface temperature change ( ΔTs ) via the climate sensitivity λ . It is also possible to estimate climate sensitivity from observations ; however , this is difficult due to uncertainties in the forcing and temperature histories .", "IPCC list of greenhouse gases This is a list of LLGHG ( long-lived greenhouse gases ) greenhouse gases as used by the IPCC TAR .", "Kombayashi–Ingersoll limit In planetary science , the Kombayashi -- Ingersoll limit represents the maximum solar flux a planet can handle without a runaway greenhouse effect setting in . For planets with temperature-dependent sources of greenhouse gases such as liquid water and optically thin atmospheres the outgoing longwave radiation curve ( which indicates how fast energy can be radiated away by the planet ) flattens at high temperatures , reaching a horizontal asymptote -- the Kombayashi -- Ingersoll limit itself . Since the equilibrium temperature is the intersection of this curve and a horizontal line representing solar flux , for fluxes above this point the planet heats up indefinitely . Kasting estimated the limit for Earth to be 320 watts per square meter . The limit is relevant for estimating the inner edge of the circumstellar habitable zone . However , the limit also depends on the surface gravity of the planet , making heavy worlds somewhat more resistant to the runaway effect .", "Solar gain Solar gain ( also known as solar heat gain or passive solar gain ) refers to the increase in temperature ( heat gain ) in a space , object or structure that results from solar radiation . The amount of solar gain increases with the strength of the sunlight , and with the ability of any intervening material to transmit or resist the radiation . Objects struck by sunlight absorb the short-wave radiation from the light and reradiate the heat at longer infrared wavelengths . Certain materials and substances , such as glass , are more transparent to the shorter wavelengths than the longer ; when the sun shines through such materials , the net result is an increase in temperature -- solar gain . This effect , the greenhouse effect , so called due to the solar gain that is experienced behind the glass of a greenhouse , has since become well known in the context of global warming .", "Zotino Tall Tower Observation Facility The Zotino Tall Tower Observation Facility ( ZOTTO ) is a climatic research station in the Siberian taiga in the proximity of Zotino , Russia , established and operated by the Max Planck Society and the Sukachev Institute of Forest , it serves as a long-term observing platform to be operated for at least 30 years . Far from human influences , researchers aim to determine how the concentration of greenhouse gases , aerosols , and the rising temperatures of the terrestrial atmosphere affect each other mutually . The heart of the station is a 302 m tower on which precision instruments measure the concentration of carbon dioxide , methane and other greenhouse gases . The measurement data are processed directly in the station at the foot of the tower and then transferred to the Institute of Forest , in Krasnoyarsk , Russia , as well as to the Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry in Jena , Germany . The station has been operational since September 2006 . It extended the project Terrestrial Carbon Observing System and was funded by the 5th framework programme of the European Union , uniting 8 European and 4 Russian partners . A main conclusion of the project is that Siberian forests constitute a substantially smaller carbon-sink than so far assumed .", "(10302) 1989 ML ( 10302 ) 1989 ML is an as yet unnamed near-Earth asteroid . It is approximately 0.6 km in diameter . An Amor asteroid , it orbits between Earth and Mars . It is an X-type asteroid , so its surface composition is yet unknown . It was discovered by Eleanor F. Helin and Jeff T. Alu at Palomar Observatory on June 29 , 1989 .", "Methane Methane ( -LSB- ˈmɛθeɪn -RSB- or -LSB- ˈmiːθeɪn -RSB- ) is a chemical compound with the chemical formula ( one atom of carbon and four atoms of hydrogen ) . It is a group 14 hydride and the simplest alkane , and is the main constituent of natural gas . The relative abundance of methane on Earth makes it an attractive fuel , though capturing and storing it poses challenges due to its gaseous state under normal conditions for temperature and pressure . Natural methane is found both below ground and under the sea floor . When it reaches the surface and the atmosphere , it is known as atmospheric methane . The Earth 's atmospheric methane concentration has increased by about 150 % since 1750 , and it accounts for 20 % of the total radiative forcing from all of the long-lived and globally mixed greenhouse gases ( these gases do n't include water vapor which is by far the largest component of the greenhouse effect ) .", "Materials for use in vacuum Materials for use in vacuum are materials showing very low rate of outgassing in vacuum , and , where applicable , tolerant to the bake-out temperatures . The requirements grow increasingly stringent with the desired degree of vacuum achievable in the vacuum chamber . The materials can produce gas by several mechanisms . Molecules of gases and water can be adsorbed on the material surface ( therefore materials with low affinity to water have to be chosen , which eliminates many plastics ) . Materials may sublimate in vacuum ( this excludes some metals and their alloys , most notably cadmium and zinc ) . Or the gases can be released from porous materials or from cracks and crevices . Traces of lubricants , residues from machining , can be present on the surfaces . A specific risk is outgassing of solvents absorbed in plastics after cleaning . The gases liberated from the materials not only lower the vacuum quality , but also can be reabsorbed on other surfaces , creating deposits and contaminating the chamber . Yet another problem is diffusion of gases through the materials themselves . Atmospheric helium can diffuse even through Pyrex glass , even if slowly ; this however is usually not an issue . Some materials might also expand or increase in size causing problems in delicate equipment . In addition to the gas-related issues , the materials have to maintain adequate strength through the entire required temperature range ( sometimes reaching cryogenic temperatures ) , maintain their properties ( elasticity , plasticity , electrical and thermal conductivity or lack of it , etc. ) , be machinable , and if possible not be overly expensive . Yet another concern is the thermal expansion coefficient match of adjacent parts .", "Rate of heat flow The rate of flow of heat between two systems is measured in watts ( joules per second ) . The formula for rate of heat flow is ∆ Q / ∆ t = - K × A × ∆ T/x , where ∆ Q / ∆ t is the rate of heat flow ; - K is the thermal conductivity factor ; A is the surface area ; ∆ T is the change in temperature and x is the thickness of the material ( ∆ T/x is called the temperature gradient and is always negative because of the heat of flow always goes from more thermal energy to less ) .", "Atmosphere of Venus The atmosphere of Venus is the layer of gases surrounding Venus . It is composed primarily of carbon dioxide and is much denser and hotter than that of Earth . The temperature at the surface is 740 K ( 467 ° C , 872 ° F ) , and the pressure is 93 bar ( 9.3 MPa ) , roughly the pressure found 900 m underwater on Earth . The Venusian atmosphere supports opaque clouds made of sulfuric acid , making optical Earth-based and orbital observation of the surface impossible . Information about the topography has been obtained exclusively by radar imaging . Aside from carbon dioxide , the other main component is nitrogen . Other chemical compounds are present only in trace amounts . Mikhail Lomonosov was the first person to hypothesize the existence of an atmosphere on Venus based on his observation of the transit of Venus of 1761 in a small observatory near his house in Saint Petersburg , Russia . Aside from the very surface layers , the atmosphere is in a state of vigorous circulation . The upper layer of troposphere exhibits a phenomenon of super-rotation , in which the atmosphere circles the planet in just four Earth days , much faster than the planet 's sidereal day of 243 days . The winds supporting super-rotation blow at a speed of 100 m/s ( ~ 360 km/h or 220 mph ) or more . Winds move at up to 60 times the speed of the planet 's rotation , while Earth 's fastest winds are only 10 % to 20 % rotation speed . On the other hand , the wind speed becomes increasingly slower as the elevation from the surface decreases , with the breeze barely reaching the speed of 10 km/h ( 2.8 m/s ) on the surface . Near the poles are anticyclonic structures called polar vortices . Each vortex is double-eyed and shows a characteristic S-shaped pattern of clouds . Above there is an intermediate layer of mesosphere which separates the troposphere from the thermosphere . The thermosphere is also characterized by strong circulation , but very different in its nature - the gases heated and partially ionized by sunlight in the sunlit hemisphere migrate to the dark hemisphere where they recombine and downwell . Unlike Earth , Venus lacks a magnetic field . Its ionosphere separates the atmosphere from outer space and the solar wind . This ionised layer excludes the solar magnetic field , giving Venus a distinct magnetic environment . This is considered Venus 's induced magnetosphere . Lighter gases , including water vapour , are continuously blown away by the solar wind through the induced magnetotail . It is speculated that the atmosphere of Venus up to around 4 billion years ago was more like that of the Earth with liquid water on the surface . A runaway greenhouse effect may have been caused by the evaporation of the surface water and subsequent rise of the levels of other greenhouse gases . Despite the harsh conditions on the surface , the atmospheric pressure and temperature at about 50 km to 65 km above the surface of the planet is nearly the same as that of the Earth , making its upper atmosphere the most Earth-like area in the Solar System , even more so than the surface of Mars . Due to the similarity in pressure and temperature and the fact that breathable air ( 21 % oxygen , 78 % nitrogen ) is a lifting gas on Venus in the same way that helium is a lifting gas on Earth , the upper atmosphere has been proposed as a location for both exploration and colonization . On January 29 , 2013 , ESA scientists reported that the ionosphere of the planet Venus streams outwards in a manner similar to `` the ion tail seen streaming from a comet under similar conditions . ''", "Earth's energy budget Earth 's energy budget accounts for the energy Earth receives from the Sun . Much of this energy is lost when the earth re-radiates it back into outer space , and the rest of the energy is distributed throughout the five components of Earth 's climate system . This system is made up of earth 's water , ice , atmosphere , rocky crust , and all living things . Quantifying changes in these amounts is required to accurately model the Earth 's climate . Received radiation is unevenly distributed over the planet , because the Sun heats equatorial regions more than polar regions . Energy is absorbed by the atmosphere , hydrosphere , and lithosphere , and , in a process informally described as Earth 's heat engine , the solar heating is redistributed through evaporation of surface water , convection , rainfall , winds , and ocean circulation . When the incoming solar energy is balanced by an equal flow of heat to space , the Earth is said to be in radiative equilibrium and under that condition , global temperatures will be stable . Disturbances of Earth 's radiative equilibrium , such as an increase of greenhouse gases , will change global temperatures in response . However , Earth 's energy balance and heat fluxes depend on many factors , such as atmospheric composition ( mainly aerosols and greenhouse gases ) , the albedo ( reflectivity ) of surface properties , cloud cover and vegetation and land use patterns . Changes in surface temperature due to Earth 's energy budget do not occur instantaneously , due to the inertia of the oceans and the cryosphere . The net heat flux is buffered primarily by becoming part of the ocean 's heat content , until a new equilibrium state is established between radiative forcings and the climate response .", "Flashover A flashover is the near-simultaneous ignition of most of the directly exposed combustible material in an enclosed area . When certain organic materials are heated , they undergo thermal decomposition and release flammable gases . Flashover occurs when the majority of the exposed surfaces in a space are heated to their autoignition temperature and emit flammable gases ( see also flash point ) . Flashover normally occurs at 500 C or 1100 F for ordinary combustibles , and an incident heat flux at floor level of 20 kW/m2 . An example of flashover is ignition of a piece of furniture in a domestic room . The fire involving the initial piece of furniture can produce a layer of hot smoke which spreads across the ceiling in the room . The hot buoyant smoke layer grows in depth , as it is bounded by the walls of the room . The radiated heat from this layer heats the surfaces of the directly exposed combustible materials in the room , causing them to give off flammable gases via pyrolysis . When the temperatures of the evolved gases become high enough , these gases will ignite throughout their extent .", "Transient climate simulation A transient climate simulation is a mode of running a global climate model ( GCM ) in which a period of time ( typically 1850 -- 2100 ) is simulated with continuously-varying concentrations of greenhouse gases so that the climate of the model represents a realistic mode of possible change in the real world .", "Charles's law Charles ' law ( also known as the law of volumes ) is an experimental gas law that describes how gases tend to expand when heated . A modern statement of Charles 's law is : When the pressure on a sample of a dry gas is held constant , the Kelvin temperature and the volume will be directly related . This directly proportional relationship can be written as : or where : V is the volume of the gas , T is the temperature of the gas ( measured in kelvins ) , k is a constant . This law describes how a gas expands as the temperature increases ; conversely , a decrease in temperature will lead to a decrease in volume . For comparing the same substance under two different sets of conditions , the law can be written as : The equation shows that , as absolute temperature increases , the volume of the gas also increases in proportion .", "Fermi gas A Fermi gas is a phase of matter which is an ensemble of a large number of fermions ( named after Enrico Fermi ) . Fermions are particles that obey Fermi -- Dirac statistics . These statistics determine the energy distribution of fermions in a Fermi gas in thermal equilibrium , and is characterized by their number density , temperature , and the set of available energy states . By the Pauli exclusion principle , no quantum state can be occupied by more than one fermion with an identical set of quantum numbers . Thus a non-interacting Fermi gas , unlike a Bose gas , is prohibited from condensing into a Bose -- Einstein condensate , although interacting Fermi gases might . The total energy of the Fermi gas at absolute zero is larger than the sum of the single-particle ground states because the Pauli principle implies a sort of interaction or pressure that keeps fermions separated and moving . For this reason , the pressure of a Fermi gas is non-zero even at zero temperature , in contrast to that of a classical ideal gas . This so-called degeneracy pressure stabilizes a neutron star ( a Fermi gas of neutrons ) or a white dwarf star ( a Fermi gas of electrons ) against the inward pull of gravity , which would ostensibly collapse the star into a black hole . Only when a star is sufficiently massive to overcome the degeneracy pressure can it collapse into a singularity . It is possible to define a Fermi temperature below which the gas can be considered degenerate ( its pressure derives almost exclusively from the Pauli principle ) . This temperature depends on the mass of the fermions and the density of energy states . For metals , the electron gas 's Fermi temperature is generally many thousands of kelvins , so in human applications they can be considered degenerate . The maximum energy of the fermions at zero temperature is called the Fermi energy . The Fermi energy surface in momentum space is known as the Fermi surface .", "Effective temperature The effective temperature of a body such as a star or planet is the temperature of a black body that would emit the same total amount of electromagnetic radiation . Effective temperature is often used as an estimate of a body 's surface temperature when the body 's emissivity curve ( as a function of wavelength ) is not known . When the star 's or planet 's net emissivity in the relevant wavelength band is less than unity ( less than that of a black body ) , the actual temperature of the body will be higher than the effective temperature . The net emissivity may be low due to surface or atmospheric properties , including greenhouse effect .", "Vertical farming Vertical farming is the practice of producing food and medicine in vertically stacked layers , vertically inclined surfaces and/or integrated in other structures ( such as in a skyscraper , used warehouse , or shipping container ) . The modern ideas of vertical farming use indoor farming techniques and controlled-environment agriculture ( CEA ) technology , where all environmental factors can be controlled . These facilities utilize artificial control of light , environmental control ( humidity , temperature , gases ... ) and fertigation . Some vertical farms use techniques similar to greenhouses , where natural sunlight can be augmented with artificial lighting and metal reflectors .", "Mean radiant temperature __ NOTOC __ The mean radiant temperature ( MRT ) is defined as the uniform temperature of an imaginary enclosure in which the radiant heat transfer from the human body is equal to the radiant heat transfer in the actual non-uniform enclosure . MRT is a concept arising from the fact that the net exchange of radiant energy between two objects is approximately proportional to their temperature difference multiplied by their ability to emit and absorb heat ( emissivity ) . It is simply the area weighted mean temperature of all the objects surrounding the body . This is valid as long as the absolute temperatures of objects in question are large compared to the temperature differences , allowing linearization of the Stefan-Boltzmann Law in the relevant temperature range . MRT also has a strong influence on thermophysiological comfort indexes such as physiological equivalent temperature ( PET ) or predicted mean vote ( PMV ) . What we experience and feel relating to thermal comfort in a building is related to the influence of both the air temperature and the temperature of surfaces in that space . The mean radiant temperature is expressed as this surface temperature and is controlled by enclosure performances . Maintaining a balance between the operative temperature and the mean radiant temperature can create a more comfortable space . This is done with effective design of the building , interior and with the use of high temperature radiant cooling and low temperature radiant heating .", "Greenhouse Gases Observing Satellite The Greenhouse Gases Observing Satellite ( GOSat ) , also known as , is an Earth observation satellite and the world 's first satellite dedicated to greenhouse-gas-monitoring . It measures the densities of carbon dioxide and methane from 56,000 locations on the Earth 's atmosphere . The GOSAT was developed by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency ( JAXA ) and launched on 23 January 2009 , from the Tanegashima Space Center . Japan 's Ministry of the Environment , and the National Institute for Environmental Studies ( NIES ) use the data to track gases causing the greenhouse effect , and share the data with NASA and other international scientific organizations .", "Atmosphere of Pluto The atmosphere of Pluto is the tenuous layer of gases surrounding Pluto . It consists mainly of nitrogen ( N2 ) , with minor amounts of methane ( CH4 ) and carbon monoxide ( CO ) , all of which are vaporized from their ices on Pluto 's surface . It contains layered haze , probably consisting of heavier compounds which form from these gases due to high-energy radiation . The atmosphere of Pluto is notable for its strong and not completely clear seasonal changes caused by peculiarities of the orbital and axial rotation of Pluto . Surface pressure of the atmosphere of Pluto , measured by New Horizons in 2015 , is about , roughly 100,000 times less than Earth 's atmospheric pressure . Temperature on the surface is 40 to , but it quickly grows with altitude due to methane-generated greenhouse effect . Near the altitude it reaches 110 K , and then slowly decreases . Pluto is the only trans-Neptunian object with a known atmosphere . Its closest analog is the atmosphere of Triton , although in some aspects it resembles even the atmosphere of Mars . The atmosphere of Pluto has been studied since the 1980s by way of earth-based observation of occultations of stars by Pluto and spectroscopy . In 2015 , it was studied from a close distance by the spacecraft New Horizons .", "Rocket engine nozzle A rocket engine nozzle is a propelling nozzle ( usually of the de Laval type ) used in a rocket engine to expand and accelerate the combustion gases produced by burning propellants so that the exhaust gases exit the nozzle at hypersonic velocities . Simply : the rocket ( pumps and a combustion chamber ) generates high pressure , a few hundred atmospheres ( Bar ) . The nozzle turns the static high pressure high temperature gas into rapidly moving gas at near-ambient pressure .", "Carbon rift Carbon rift is a theory attributing the input and output of carbon into the environment to human capitalistic systems . This is a derivative of Karl Marx 's concept of metabolic rift . In practical terms , increased commodity production demands that greater levels of carbon dioxide ( or CO2 ) be emitted into the biosphere via fossil fuel consumption . Carbon rift theory states that this ultimately disrupts the natural carbon cycle and that this `` rift '' has adverse effects on nearly every aspect of life . Many of the specifics regarding how this metabolic carbon rift interacts with capitalism are proposed by Brett Clark and Richard York in a 2005 article titled `` Carbon Metabolism : Global capitalism , climate change , and the biospheric rift '' in the journal Theory and Society . Researchers such as Jean P. Sapinski of the University of Oregon claim that , despite increased interest in closing the carbon rift , it is projected that as long as capitalism continues , there is little hope of reducing the rift . Both deforestation and the emission of greenhouse gases have been linked to increased atmospheric CO2 levels . Carbon rift theory states that these are the result of human production through capitalistic systems . There are proposed solutions to climate change such as geoengineering proposed in the December 2015 Paris Agreement . However , some argue that the capitalist mode of production is at fault for the emission of greenhouse gas and that solutions must be found to this issue before climate change itself can be addressed . Carbon rift theory , while rarely criticized directly , often indirectly receives criticism regarding the underlying causes of climate change and attributing the stated effects to alternative explanations for climate change , instead of as a result of human activity . Such explanations include the Chaotic Solar System Theory and that increased water vapor is responsible for climate change .", "Standard conditions for temperature and pressure Standard conditions for temperature and pressure are standard sets of conditions for experimental measurements to be established to allow comparisons to be made between different sets of data . The most used standards are those of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry ( IUPAC ) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology ( NIST ) , although these are not universally accepted standards . Other organizations have established a variety of alternative definitions for their standard reference conditions . In chemistry , IUPAC has changed the definition of standard temperature and pressure ( STP ) in 1982 : Until 1982 , STP was defined as a temperature of 273.15 K ( 0 ° C , 32 ° F ) and an absolute pressure of exactly 1 atm ( 1.01325 × 105 Pa ) . Since 1982 , STP is defined as a temperature of 273.15 K ( 0 ° C , 32 ° F ) and an absolute pressure of exactly 105 Pa ( 101.3 kPa , 1 bar ) . STP should not be confused with the standard state commonly used in thermodynamic evaluations of the Gibbs energy of a reaction . NIST uses a temperature of 20 ° C ( 293.15 K , 68 ° F ) and an absolute pressure of 1 atm ( 14.696 psi , 101.325 kPa ) . This standard is also called normal temperature and pressure ( abbreviated as NTP ) . The International Standard Metric Conditions for natural gas and similar fluids are 288.15 K and 101.325 kPa . In industry and commerce , standard conditions for temperature and pressure are often necessary to define the standard reference conditions to express the volumes of gases and liquids and related quantities such as the rate of volumetric flow ( the volumes of gases vary significantly with temperature and pressure ) . However , many technical publications ( books , journals , advertisements for equipment and machinery ) simply state `` standard conditions '' without specifying them , often leading to confusion and errors . Good practice always incorporates the reference conditions of temperature and pressure .", "Hampson–Linde cycle The Hampson -- Linde cycle is used in the liquefaction of gases , especially for air separation . William Hampson and Carl von Linde independently filed for patent of the cycle in 1895 . Hampson-Linde systems introduced regenerative cooling , a positive-feedback cooling system . The heat exchanger arrangement permits an absolute temperature difference ( e.g. J-T cooling for air ) to go beyond a single stage of cooling , and reach the low temperatures required to liquefy `` fixed '' gasses . The Hampson-Linde cycle differs from the Siemens cycle only in the expansion step . Where the Siemens cycle has the gas do external work to reduce its temperature , the Hampson-Linde cycle relies solely on the Joule-Thomson effect . This has the advantage that the cold side needs no moving parts .", "Fluorinated gases Fluorinated gases ( F-gases ) are man-made gases that can stay in the atmosphere for centuries and contribute to a global greenhouse effect . There are four types : hydrofluorocarbons ( HFCs ) , perfluorocarbons ( PFCs ) , sulfur hexafluoride ( SF6 ) and nitrogen trifluoride ( NF3 ) .", "Absolute temperature scale Absolute temperature scale can refer to : Kelvin scale , an absolute-temperature scale related to the Celsius scale Rankine scale , an absolute-temperature scale related to the Fahrenheit scale For a type of measuring system that begins at an absolute minimum ( not necessarily a temperature scale ) see : Absolute scale", "Cloud albedo ", "John Herapath John Herapath ( 30 May 1790 -- 24 February 1868 ) was an English physicist who gave a partial account of the kinetic theory of gases in 1820 though it was neglected by the scientific community at the time . He was the cousin of William Herapath , the chemist and William Bird Herapath , the physician who discovered herapathite . Herapath 's scientific interests started with an attempt to provide a mechanistic explanation for gravity . Motivated by his search for a mechanical explanation of gravitation , he started to consider how a system of colliding particles could give rise to action at a distance . In considering the effect of the high temperatures near the Sun on his gravific particles he was led to a relationship between temperature and particle velocity . Herapath postulated that the momentum of a particle in a gas is a measure of the absolute temperature of the gas . He used momentum , rather than the kinetic energy on which the later established theory is based , as it seemed to him to avoid some difficulties around whether elastic collisions were possible between indivisible atoms . Apparently ignorant of Daniel Bernoulli 's work , he was led to the incorrect , but suggestive , relationship that expresses the product of pressure P and volume V as proportional to the square of his true temperature . The correct relationship is proportional to the absolute temperature , not its square , the error arising from his identification of momentum , rather than energy , with temperature .", "David Parker (climatologist) David Parker is head of climate monitoring at the Hadley Centre , Exeter , England . He has published extensively on the land and marine temperature record and its consistency . In 2002 , he was an organiser of a `` Workshop on Advances in the Use of Historical Marine Climate Data '' . In 2004 , he has published a paper in Nature , showing that the urban heat island effect has not affected the historical temperature record . In this article , Parker shares his observations of the minimum temperature over 24 hours worldwide since 1950 that were expressed as anomalies . Also it includes his reasoning to why urbanization has not systematically exaggerated the observed global warming trends in minimum temperature . He further goes on to mention how the criterion for `` calm '' was changed while the global trend for minimum temperature remained unchanged . From his analysis he finds that windy and calm nights warmed at the same rate . Both the windy and calm increased at a rate of ( 0.16 + 0.03 C ) . He compares his small sample of 26 stations in North America and Siberia with global trends from 1950 to 1953 , covering over 5,000 stations . Estimates of recent global warming , supported by Parker 's analysis shows that urban warming has not introduced significant biases . `` The reality and magnitude of global-scale warming is supported by the near-equality of temperature trends on windy nights with trends based on all data . '' ( Parker ) This paper has been commented on by Roger Pielke , Sr. , et al. ." ]

[ "Carbon dioxide Carbon dioxide ( chemical formula ) is a colorless gas with a density about 60 % higher than that of air ( 1.225 g/L ) that is odorless at normally encountered concentrations . Carbon dioxide consists of a carbon atom covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms . It occurs naturally in Earth 's atmosphere as a trace gas at a concentration of about 0.04 percent ( 400 ppm ) by volume . Natural sources include volcanoes , hot springs and geysers , and it is freed from carbonate rocks by dissolution in water and acids . Because carbon dioxide is soluble in water , it occurs naturally in groundwater , rivers and lakes , ice caps , glaciers and seawater . It is present in deposits of petroleum and natural gas . As the source of available carbon in the carbon cycle , atmospheric carbon dioxide is the primary carbon source for life on Earth and its concentration in Earth 's pre-industrial atmosphere since late in the Precambrian has been regulated by photosynthetic organisms and geological phenomena . Plants , algae and cyanobacteria use light energy to photosynthesize carbohydrate from carbon dioxide and water , with oxygen produced as a waste product . Carbon dioxide is produced by all aerobic organisms when they metabolize carbohydrates and lipids to produce energy by respiration . It is returned to water via the gills of fish and to the air via the lungs of air-breathing land animals , including humans . Carbon dioxide is produced during the processes of decay of organic materials and the fermentation of sugars in bread , beer and winemaking . It is produced by combustion of wood and other organic materials and fossil fuels such as coal , peat , petroleum and natural gas . It is a versatile industrial material , used , for example , as an inert gas in welding and fire extinguishers , as a pressurizing gas in air guns and oil recovery , as a chemical feedstock and in liquid form as a solvent in decaffeination of coffee and supercritical drying . It is added to drinking water and carbonated beverages including beer and sparkling wine to add effervescence . The frozen solid form of , known as `` dry ice '' is used as a refrigerant and as an abrasive in dry-ice blasting . Carbon dioxide is the most significant long-lived greenhouse gas in Earth 's atmosphere . Since the Industrial Revolution anthropogenic emissions - primarily from use of fossil fuels and deforestation - have rapidly increased its concentration in the atmosphere , leading to global warming . Carbon dioxide also causes ocean acidification because it dissolves in water to form carbonic acid .", "Nature Nature , in the broadest sense , is the natural , physical , or material world or universe . `` Nature '' can refer to the phenomena of the physical world , and also to life in general . The study of nature is a large part of science . Although humans are part of nature , human activity is often understood as a separate category from other natural phenomena . The word nature is derived from the Latin word natura , or `` essential qualities , innate disposition '' , and in ancient times , literally meant `` birth '' . Natura is a Latin translation of the Greek word physis , which originally related to the intrinsic characteristics that plants , animals , and other features of the world develop of their own accord . The concept of nature as a whole , the physical universe , is one of several expansions of the original notion ; it began with certain core applications of the word φύσις by pre-Socratic philosophers , and has steadily gained currency ever since . This usage continued during the advent of modern scientific method in the last several centuries . Within the various uses of the word today , `` nature '' often refers to geology and wildlife . Nature can refer to the general realm of living plants and animals , and in some cases to the processes associated with inanimate objects -- the way that particular types of things exist and change of their own accord , such as the weather and geology of the Earth . It is often taken to mean the `` natural environment '' or wilderness -- wild animals , rocks , forest , and in general those things that have not been substantially altered by human intervention , or which persist despite human intervention . For example , manufactured objects and human interaction generally are not considered part of nature , unless qualified as , for example , `` human nature '' or `` the whole of nature '' . This more traditional concept of natural things which can still be found today implies a distinction between the natural and the artificial , with the artificial being understood as that which has been brought into being by a human consciousness or a human mind . Depending on the particular context , the term `` natural '' might also be distinguished from the unnatural or the supernatural .", "Coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams . The harder forms , such as anthracite coal , can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure . Coal is composed primarily of carbon , along with variable quantities of other elements , chiefly hydrogen , sulfur , oxygen , and nitrogen . A fossil fuel , coal forms when dead plant matter is converted into peat , which in turn is converted into lignite , then sub-bituminous coal , after that bituminous coal , and lastly anthracite . This involves biological and geological processes that take place over time . Throughout human history , coal has been used as an energy resource , primarily burned for the production of electricity and heat , and is also used for industrial purposes , such as refining metals . Coal is the largest source of energy for the generation of electricity worldwide , as well as one of the largest worldwide anthropogenic sources of carbon dioxide releases . The extraction of coal , its use in energy production and its byproducts are all associated with environmental and health effects including climate change . Coal is extracted from the ground by coal mining . Since 1983 , the world 's top coal producer has been China . In 2015 China produced 3,747 million tonnes of coal -- 47.7 % of 7,861 million tonnes world coal production . In 2015 other large producers were United States ( 813 million tonnes ) , India ( 678 ) , European Union ( 539 ) and Australia ( 503 ) . In 2010 the largest exporters were Australia with 328 million tonnes ( 27.1 % of world coal export ) and Indonesia with 316 million tonnes ( 26.1 % ) , while the largest importers were Japan with 207 million tonnes ( 17.5 % of world coal import ) , China with 195 million tonnes ( 16.6 % ) and South Korea with 126 million tonnes ( 10.7 % ) .", "Air pollution Air pollution occurs when harmful substances including particulates and biological molecules are introduced into Earth 's atmosphere . It may cause diseases , allergies or death in humans ; it may also cause harm to other living organisms such as animals and food crops , and may damage the natural or built environment . Human activity and natural processes can both generate air pollution . Indoor air pollution and poor urban air quality are listed as two of the world 's worst toxic pollution problems in the 2008 Blacksmith Institute World 's Worst Polluted Places report . According to the 2014 WHO report , air pollution in 2012 caused the deaths of around 7 million people worldwide , an estimate roughly matched by the International Energy Agency .", "Global warming Global warming , also referred to as climate change , is the observed century-scale rise in the average temperature of the Earth 's climate system and its related effects . Multiple lines of scientific evidence show that the climate system is warming . Many of the observed changes since the 1950s are unprecedented in the instrumental temperature record which extends back to the mid 19th century , and in paleoclimate proxy records over thousands of years . In 2013 , the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) Fifth Assessment Report concluded that `` It is extremely likely that human influence has been the dominant cause of the observed warming since the mid-20th century . '' The largest human influence has been emission of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide , methane and nitrous oxide . Climate model projections summarized in the report indicated that during the 21st century the global surface temperature is likely to rise a further 0.3 to for their lowest emissions scenario and 2.6 to for the highest emissions scenario . These findings have been recognized by the national science academies of the major industrialized nations and are not disputed by any scientific body of national or international standing . Future climate change and associated impacts will differ from region to region around the globe . Anticipated effects include warming global temperature , rising sea levels , changing precipitation , and expansion of deserts in the subtropics . Warming is expected to be greater over land than over the oceans and greatest in the Arctic , with the continuing retreat of glaciers , permafrost and sea ice . Other likely changes include more frequent extreme weather events including heat waves , droughts , heavy rainfall with floods and heavy snowfall ; ocean acidification ; and species extinctions due to shifting temperature regimes . Effects significant to humans include the threat to food security from decreasing crop yields and the abandonment of populated areas due to rising sea levels . Because the climate system has a large `` inertia '' and greenhouse gases will stay in the atmosphere for a long time , many of these effects will not only exist for decades or centuries , but will persist for tens of thousands of years . Possible societal responses to global warming include mitigation by emissions reduction , adaptation to its effects , building systems resilient to its effects , and possible future climate engineering . Most countries are parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change ( UNFCCC ) , whose ultimate objective is to prevent dangerous anthropogenic climate change . Parties to the UNFCCC have agreed that deep cuts in emissions are required and that global warming should be limited to well below 2.0 C-change relative to pre-industrial levels , with efforts made to limit warming to 1.5 C-change . Public reactions to global warming and concern about its effects are also increasing . A global 2015 Pew Research Center report showed a median of 54 % consider it `` a very serious problem '' . There are significant regional differences , with Americans and Chinese ( whose economies are responsible for the greatest annual CO2 emissions ) among the least concerned ." ]

[ "Outline of Venus The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Venus : Venus -- second planet from the Sun , orbiting it every 224.7 Earth days . It has the longest rotation period ( 243 days ) of any planet in the Solar System and rotates in the opposite direction to most other planets . It has no natural satellite . It is named after the Roman goddess of love and beauty . It is the second-brightest natural object in the night sky after the Moon , reaching an apparent magnitude of − 4.6 , bright enough to cast shadows . Because Venus orbits within Earth 's orbit it is an inferior planet . Venus is a terrestrial planet and is sometimes called Earth 's `` sister planet '' because of their similar size , mass , proximity to the Sun , and bulk composition . It is radically different from Earth in other respects . It has the densest atmosphere of the four terrestrial planets , consisting of more than 96 % carbon dioxide . The atmospheric pressure at the planet 's surface is 92 times that of Earth , or roughly the pressure found 900 m underwater on Earth .", "Carbonate–silicate cycle The carbonate -- silicate geochemical cycle describes the transformation of silicate rocks to carbonate rocks by weathering and sedimentation at Earth 's surface and the transformation of carbonate rocks back into silicates by metamorphism and magmatism . It plays a large part in the carbon cycle , since the equilibrium point of the carbonate-silicate cycle dictates the pace of carbon release from the lithosphere . The carbonate-silicate cycle involves several chemical reactions that occur in different environments . In the atmosphere , gaseous carbon dioxide ( CO2 ) dissolves in rainwater , forming natural carbonic acid ( H2CO3 ) . This weak acid weathers silicate rocks on continents , slowly dissolving the rock and releasing aqueous minerals through the chemical reaction CaSiO3 ( s ) ( wollastonite ) + 2CO2 ( g ) + H2O ( l ) → Ca + 2HCO ( aq ) ( bicarbonate ) + SiO2 ( aq ) ( dissolved silica ) . These dissolved minerals are eventually carried by water to the ocean , where they are used by living organisms such as foraminifera , radiolarians , coccolithopores , and diatoms to create shells of CaCO3 ( calcite ) or SiO2 ( opal ) through the reactions Ca2 + ( aq ) + 2HCO3 → CaCO3 ( s ) + CO2 ( g ) + H2O ( l ) ( for calcite precipitation ) and SiO2 ( aq ) → SiO2 ( s ) ( for opal precipitation ) . When these organisms die , many shells are remineralized but some shells fall all the way to the sea floor and are buried . The cycle is completed when the sea floor is subducted and carbonate minerals recombine with silicate minerals under temperatures above 300 ° C to reform calcium silicates and release gaseous CO2 through volcanism ( CaCO3 ( s ) + SiO2 ( s ) → CaSiO3 ( s ) + CO2 ( g ) ) . The carbonate-silicate cycle impacts the global carbon cycle , as carbon dioxide is removed from the Earth 's surface through the burial of weathered minerals in deep ocean sediments and returned to the atmosphere through metamorphism and volcanism . However , this process is far from being a closed loop . In Earth history generally the formation of carbonates significantly outpaces the formation of silicates , effectively removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere . Because carbon dioxide is a potent greenhouse gas , the carbonate-silicate cycle is suspected to initiate ice ages by creating a negative feedback on the global temperature with a typical time scale of a few million years that is capable of countering water vapor and carbon dioxide short-term positive feedback on global temperature . The carbonate-silicate cycle equilibrium point is shifted on Venus due to surface temperatures above 300 ° C , which favor the formation of calcium silicates over weathering . Thus , Venus has a high-density carbon-dioxide atmosphere .", "Polar forests of the Cretaceous Cretaceous polar forests were temperate forests that grew at polar latitudes during the final period of the Mesozoic Era , known as the Cretaceous Period 145 -- 66 Ma . During this period , global average temperature was about 10 C-change higher and carbon dioxide ( CO2 ) levels were approximately 1000 parts per million ( ppm ) , 2.5 times the current concentration in Earth 's atmosphere . The abundance of atmospheric carbon dioxide had a very significant impact on global climate and Earth 's natural systems as its concentration is considered one of the main factors in the development of a pronounced greenhouse Earth during the Cretaceous with a very low average global temperature gradient . As a consequence , high paleolatitudes in both hemispheres were much warmer than at present . This temperature gradient was partly responsible for the lack of continental ice sheets in polar regions . As a response to elevated global temperatures , the Earth 's hydrologic cycle was significantly enhanced due to greater volume of moisture evaporation from the surface of the ocean . In turn , the absolute sea level during this time period stood at elevations much higher than the present level . Continental encroachment of seawater formed widespread shallow seas , including expanses of epeiric seas . An increase in surface area between shallow , warm epeiric seawater and the atmosphere permits higher evaporation rates and more precipitation at various latitudes , producing a more temperate global climate . A widespread temperate climate also had significant effects on high latitude ecosystems .", "The Nitrogen Fix The Nitrogen Fix is a 1980 science fiction novel by Hal Clement . The plot revolves around a nomadic family in a future where all oxygen in the Earth 's atmosphere has combined with nitrogen , so the atmosphere is mostly nitrogen with traces of water , nitrogen oxides and carbon dioxide , and the seas are very dilute nitric acid .", "Lead carbonate Lead ( II ) carbonate is the chemical compound PbCO3 . It is prepared industrially from lead ( II ) acetate and carbon dioxide . It occurs naturally as the mineral cerussite .", "Mars regional atmospheric modeling system The Mars Regional Atmospheric Modeling System ( MRAMS ) is a computer program that simulates the circulations of the Martian atmosphere at regional and local scales . MRAMS , developed by Scot Rafkin and Timothy Michaels , is derived from the Regional Atmospheric Modeling System ( RAMS ) developed by William R. Cotton and Roger A. Pielke to study atmospheric circulations on the Earth . Key features of MRAMS include a non-hydrostatic , fully compressible dynamics , explicit bin dust , water , and carbon dioxide ice atmospheric physics model , and a fully prognostic regolith model that includes carbon dioxide deposition and sublimation . Several Mars exploration projects , including the Mars Exploration Rovers , the Phoenix Scout Mission , and the Mars Science Laboratory have used MRAMS to study a variety of atmospheric circulations .", "Enhanced weathering Enhanced weathering refers to geoengineering approaches that use the dissolution of natural or artificially created minerals to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere . Since the carbon dioxide is usually first removed from ocean water , these approaches would attack the problem by first reducing ocean acidification .", "SpectraSensors SpectraSensors , Inc. is a manufacturer of optical-based gas sensors for the industrial process , environmental monitoring and clean technology markets . The company 's sensors measure the absorption of laser light at specific wavelengths to detect carbon dioxide and water vapor in industrial process control and environmental monitoring applications . Such applications include non-contact measurement of moisture , carbon dioxide , and other corrosives in the energy industry , petrochemical industry , arsenic and other impurities in drinking water ( Water Quality ) , and airborne water vapor and other atmospheric measurements from commercial aircraft for the U.S. and International Weather Services ( Atmospheric ) . Clean tech applications include identifying and harvesting methane ( CH4 ) as a clean energy source , as well as mounting sensors on commercial airliners to enable real-time monitoring of weather conditions to avoid commercial flight delays totaling $ 1 billion per year in wasted time and fuel .", "Mazuku In geology , a mazuku ( Swahili : evil wind ) is a pocket of carbon dioxide-rich air that can be lethal to any human or animal life inside . Mazuku are created when carbon dioxide accumulates in pockets low to the ground . CO2 is heavier than air , which causes it to stay close to the ground , and is also undetectable by human olfactory or visual senses in most conditions . Mazuku can be related to volcanic activity or to a natural disaster known as a limnic eruption . In the first case , noxious gases are released from the Earth 's crust into the atmosphere , whereas in the second case the gases originate deep in a lake and boil rapidly to the surface . Because of their nature as sporadic and subtle events , few mazuku have been recorded , but there is a growing understanding of them based on historical and fossil evidence .", "Space-based measurements of carbon dioxide Space-based measurements of carbon dioxide are used to help answer questions about Earth 's carbon cycle . There are a variety of active and planned instruments for measuring carbon dioxide in Earth 's atmosphere from space . The first satellite mission designed to measure was the Interferometric Monitor for Greenhouse Gases ( IMG ) on board the ADEOS I satellite in 1996 . This mission lasted less than a year . Since then , additional space-based measurements have begun , including those from two high-precision ( better than 0.3 % or 1 ppm ) satellites ( GOSAT and OCO-2 ) . Different instrument designs may reflect different primary missions .", "Capnophile Capnophiles are microorganisms that thrive in the presence of high concentrations of carbon dioxide . Some capnophiles may have a metabolic requirement for carbon dioxide , while others merely compete more successfully for resources under these conditions . The term is a generally descriptive one and has less relevance as a means of establishing a taxonomic or evolutionary relationship among organisms with this characteristic . For example , the ability of capnophiles to tolerate ( or utilize ) the amount of oxygen that is also in their environment may vary widely and may be far more critical to their survival . Species of Campylobacter are bacterial capnophiles that are more easily identified because they are also microaerophiles , organisms that can grow in high carbon dioxide as long as a small amount of free oxygen is present , but at a dramatically reduced concentration . ( In the earth 's atmosphere carbon dioxide levels are approximately five hundred times lower than that of oxygen , 0.04 % and 21 % of the total , respectively . ) Obligate anaerobes are microbes that will die in the presence of oxygen without respect to the concentration of carbon dioxide in their environment , and typically acquire energy through anaerobic respiration , or fermentation ( biochemistry ) . In 2004 , a capnophilic bacterium was characterized that appears to require carbon dioxide . This organism , Mannheimia succiniciproducens , has a unique metabolism involving carbon fixation . While carbon fixation is common to most plant life on earth since it is the key initial step in the biosynthesis of complex carbon compounds during photosynthesis ( the Calvin cycle ) , it is found in relatively few microorganisms and not found in animals . Mannheimia succiniciproducens can attach carbon dioxide to the three-carbon backbone of phosphoenolpyruvate , an endproduct in glycolysis , to generate the four-carbon compound , oxaloacetic acid , an intermediate in the Krebs cycle . Although Mannheimia succiniciproducens has most of the intermediates in the Krebs cycle , it is not capable of oxidative phosphorylation , the final step in the electron transport chain that would allow it to carry out the highly efficient process of harvesting energy by aerobic respiration .", "Huygens (crater) Huygens is an impact crater on Mars named in honour of the Dutch astronomer , mathematician and physicist Christiaan Huygens . The crater is approximately 456 km in diameter and can be found at 304.4 ° W 14.0 ° S , in the Iapygia quadrangle . Scientists were delighted to see branched channels in pictures taken with spacecraft that were sent in orbit around Mars . The existence of these channels is strong evidence that much water once flowed on the surface of the planet . Simple organisms may have once lived where water once was . An excellent group of these channels is shown in the picture below from the rim of Huygens taken with THEMIS . Carbonates ( calcium or iron carbonates ) were discovered in a crater on the rim of Huygens . The impact on the rim exposed material that had been dug up from the impact that created Huygens . These minerals represent evidence that Mars once had a thicker carbon dioxide atmosphere with abundant moisture . Carbonates of these kinds only form when there is a lot of water . They were found with the Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars ( CRISM ) instrument on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter . Earlier , the instrument had detected clay minerals . The carbonates were found near the clay minerals . Both of these minerals form in wet environments . It is supposed that billions of years ago Mars was much warmer and wetter . At that time , carbonates would have formed from water and the carbon dioxide-rich atmosphere . Later the deposits of carbonate would have been buried . The double impact has now exposed the minerals . Earth has vast carbonate deposits in the form of limestone .", "Huronian glaciation The Huronian glaciation ( or Makganyene glaciation ) was a glaciation that extended from 2.4 billion years ago ( Ga ) to 2.1 Ga , during the Siderian and Rhyacian periods of the Paleoproterozoic era . The Huronian glaciation followed after the Great Oxygenation Event ( GOE ) , a time when increased atmospheric oxygen decreased atmospheric methane . The oxygen combined with the methane to form carbon dioxide and water , which does not retain heat as well as methane does . It is the oldest and longest ice age , occurring at a time when , in a biological sense , only simple , unicellular life existed on Earth . This ice age led to a mass-extinction on Earth .", "Water vapor Water vapor , water vapour or aqueous vapor is the gaseous phase of water . It is one state of water within the hydrosphere . Water vapor can be produced from the evaporation or boiling of liquid water or from the sublimation of ice . Unlike other forms of water , water vapor is invisible . Under typical atmospheric conditions , water vapor is continuously generated by evaporation and removed by condensation . It is lighter than air and triggers convection currents that can lead to clouds . Being a component of Earth 's hydrosphere and hydrologic cycle , it is particularly abundant in Earth 's atmosphere where it is also a potent greenhouse gas along with other gases such as carbon dioxide and methane . Use of water vapor , as steam , has been important to humans for cooking and as a major component in energy production and transport systems since the industrial revolution . Water vapor is a relatively common atmospheric constituent , present even in the solar atmosphere as well as every planet in the Solar System and many astronomical objects including natural satellites , comets and even large asteroids . Likewise the detection of extrasolar water vapor would indicate a similar distribution in other planetary systems . Water vapor is significant in that it can be indirect evidence supporting the presence of extraterrestrial liquid water in the case of some planetary mass objects .", "Atmosphere of Venus The atmosphere of Venus is the layer of gases surrounding Venus . It is composed primarily of carbon dioxide and is much denser and hotter than that of Earth . The temperature at the surface is 740 K ( 467 ° C , 872 ° F ) , and the pressure is 93 bar ( 9.3 MPa ) , roughly the pressure found 900 m underwater on Earth . The Venusian atmosphere supports opaque clouds made of sulfuric acid , making optical Earth-based and orbital observation of the surface impossible . Information about the topography has been obtained exclusively by radar imaging . Aside from carbon dioxide , the other main component is nitrogen . Other chemical compounds are present only in trace amounts . Mikhail Lomonosov was the first person to hypothesize the existence of an atmosphere on Venus based on his observation of the transit of Venus of 1761 in a small observatory near his house in Saint Petersburg , Russia . Aside from the very surface layers , the atmosphere is in a state of vigorous circulation . The upper layer of troposphere exhibits a phenomenon of super-rotation , in which the atmosphere circles the planet in just four Earth days , much faster than the planet 's sidereal day of 243 days . The winds supporting super-rotation blow at a speed of 100 m/s ( ~ 360 km/h or 220 mph ) or more . Winds move at up to 60 times the speed of the planet 's rotation , while Earth 's fastest winds are only 10 % to 20 % rotation speed . On the other hand , the wind speed becomes increasingly slower as the elevation from the surface decreases , with the breeze barely reaching the speed of 10 km/h ( 2.8 m/s ) on the surface . Near the poles are anticyclonic structures called polar vortices . Each vortex is double-eyed and shows a characteristic S-shaped pattern of clouds . Above there is an intermediate layer of mesosphere which separates the troposphere from the thermosphere . The thermosphere is also characterized by strong circulation , but very different in its nature - the gases heated and partially ionized by sunlight in the sunlit hemisphere migrate to the dark hemisphere where they recombine and downwell . Unlike Earth , Venus lacks a magnetic field . Its ionosphere separates the atmosphere from outer space and the solar wind . This ionised layer excludes the solar magnetic field , giving Venus a distinct magnetic environment . This is considered Venus 's induced magnetosphere . Lighter gases , including water vapour , are continuously blown away by the solar wind through the induced magnetotail . It is speculated that the atmosphere of Venus up to around 4 billion years ago was more like that of the Earth with liquid water on the surface . A runaway greenhouse effect may have been caused by the evaporation of the surface water and subsequent rise of the levels of other greenhouse gases . Despite the harsh conditions on the surface , the atmospheric pressure and temperature at about 50 km to 65 km above the surface of the planet is nearly the same as that of the Earth , making its upper atmosphere the most Earth-like area in the Solar System , even more so than the surface of Mars . Due to the similarity in pressure and temperature and the fact that breathable air ( 21 % oxygen , 78 % nitrogen ) is a lifting gas on Venus in the same way that helium is a lifting gas on Earth , the upper atmosphere has been proposed as a location for both exploration and colonization . On January 29 , 2013 , ESA scientists reported that the ionosphere of the planet Venus streams outwards in a manner similar to `` the ion tail seen streaming from a comet under similar conditions . ''", "Kenneth Hare Fredrick Kenneth Hare , ( February 5 , 1919 -- September 3 , 2002 ) was a Canadian climatologist and academic , who researched atmospheric carbon dioxide , climate change , drought , and arid zone climates and was a strong advocate for preserving the natural environment .", "V.E. Zuev Institute of Atmospheric Optics The V.E. Zuev Institute of Atmospheric Optics is a Russian research organisation based in Tomsk . Its purpose is to study the atmosphere . The Laboratory of Optical Signals Propagation gathers satellite data on aerosols , ozone , and Earth reflectivity over Siberia . The Laboratory of Aerosol Optics collects information on temperature , humidity , soot , and atmospheric scattering at Tomsk . The TOR Station measures gas constituents in the atmosphere , in cluding carbon dioxide , carbon monoxide , sulfur dioxide , ozone , nitrogen oxides , methane and hydrogen sulfide at two locations . The Siberian lidar station can measure the temperature in the stratosphere and troposphere . Aerosol particle size is measured by using six different wavelengths for the laser . The institute was founded in 1969 by Vladimir Yevseyevich Zuev who became its director . The parent organisation was the Laboratory of Infrared Radiations of the Siberian Physical-Technical Institute of the Tomsk State University . A journal is published called Atmospheric and Oceanic Optics .", "Stephen E. Schwartz Stephen E. Schwartz ( born 1941 ) is an atmospheric scientist at Brookhaven National Laboratory . He served from 2004 to 2009 as the Chief Scientist of the Atmospheric Science Program of the United States Department of Energy . The program is charged with developing a comprehensive understanding of how the atmosphere processes energy related trace chemicals , such as nitrogen oxides , sulfur , aerosols and carbon dioxide . The current focus is on aerosols and carbon dioxide .", "Klaus Lackner Klaus S. Lackner is the director of the Center for Negative Carbon Emissions ( CNCE ) and a professor in School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment at Arizona State University . He is a pioneer in carbon management and is the first to suggest capturing carbon dioxide from air in the context of addressing climate change . His current work includes the demonstrating and improving passive methods to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere , integrating air capture technology with applications for using carbon dioxide , exploring safe and permanent disposal options for carbon dioxide , and identifying opportunities for automation and scaling . His publications have been cited 5842 times as of November 12 , 2015 . His h-index is 31 . Previously , he was the director of the Lenfest Center for Sustainable Energy at the Earth Institute and Faculty in the Earth and Environmental Engineering department at Columbia University from 2001 - 2014 . He , along with CNCE executive director , Allen Wright , co - founded of the first privately held air capture company Global Research Technologies ( GRT ) in Tucson , AZ where they demonstrated the moisture swing . Prior to his academic work he held appointments at the theoretical division of Los Alamos National Laboratory for nearly 17 years . His idea of the self - replicating machines along with his colleague , Christopher Wendt , was featured by Discover Magazine in 1995 as `` One of the 7 Ideas that can Change the World . ''", "Photoelectrochemical reduction of CO2 Photoelectrochemical reduction of CO2 is a chemical process whereby carbon dioxide is reduced to carbon monoxide or hydrocarbons by the energy of incident light . This process needs to be catalyzed either homogeneously or heterogeneously in order to proceed , and current research is aimed at developing these catalysts , most of which are semiconducting materials . Semiconducting catalysts provide favourable electron transfer kinetics . Motivation for research in this area is strong due to the current attention to atmospheric carbon dioxide as the reduction of carbon dioxide would be one route for removal and sequestration . Furthermore , the reduced species may prove to be a valuable feedstock for other processes . If the incident light utilized is solar in nature then this process also potentially represents energy routes which combine renewable energy with CO2 reduction .", "TanSat TanSat , also known as CarbonSat , is a Chinese Earth observation satellite dedicated to monitoring carbon dioxide in Earth 's atmosphere . It is generally classified as a minisatellite , and is the first dedicated carbon mission of the Chinese space program . The mission was formally proposed in 2010 , and work began in January 2011 . It is funded by the Ministry of Science and Technology ( MOST ) and was built by the Shanghai Institute of Microsystem And Information Technology ( SIMIT ) . TanSat carries two instruments : the Carbon Dioxide Spectrometer and the Cloud and Aerosol Polarimetry Imager . The Carbon Dioxide Spectrometer ( CDS ) , also called CarbonSpec , is a high-resolution grating spectrometer which measures absorption at 1.61 µm and 2.06 µm , and absorption in reflected sunlight at 0.76 µm . The Cloud and Aerosol Polarimetry Imager ( CAPI ) is a wide-field , moderate-resolution , imaging spectrometer which works in concert with CDS by compensating for measurement errors caused by clouds and aerosols . It makes observations in ultraviolet ( 0.38 µm ) , visible ( 0.67 µm ) , and near infrared ( 0.87 µm , 1.375 µm , and 1.64 µm ) .", "Henry's law In chemistry , Henry 's law is one of the gas laws formulated by the English chemist William Henry , who studied the topic in the early 19th century . In his publication about the quantity of gases absorbed by water , he described the results of his experiments : ... `` water takes up , of gas condensed by one , two , or more additional atmospheres , a quantity which , ordinarily compressed , would be equal to twice , thrice , & c. the volume absorbed under the common pressure of the atmosphere . '' In other words , the amount of dissolved gas is proportional to its partial pressure in the gas phase . The proportionality factor is called the Henry 's law constant . An example where Henry 's law is at play is in the depth-dependent dissolution of oxygen and nitrogen in the blood of underwater divers that changes during decompression , leading to decompression sickness . An everyday example is given by one 's experience with carbonated soft drinks , which contain dissolved carbon dioxide . Before opening , the gas above the drink in its container is almost pure carbon dioxide , at a pressure higher than atmospheric pressure . After the bottle is opened , this gas escapes , moving the partial pressure of carbon dioxide above the liquid to be much lower , resulting in degassing as the dissolved carbon dioxide comes out of solution .", "Atmosphere of Mars The atmosphere of Mars is the layer of gases surrounding Mars . It is composed mostly of carbon dioxide . The atmospheric pressure on the Martian surface averages 600 Pa , about 0.6 % of Earth 's mean sea level pressure of 101.3 kPa . It ranges from a low of 30 Pa on Olympus Mons 's peak to over 1155 Pa in the depths of Hellas Planitia . This pressure is well below the Armstrong limit for the unprotected human body . Mars 's atmospheric mass of 25 teratonnes compares to Earth 's 5148 teratonnes with a scale height of about 11 km versus Earth 's 7 km . The Martian atmosphere consists of approximately 96 % carbon dioxide , 1.9 % argon , 1.9 % nitrogen , and traces of free oxygen , carbon monoxide , water and methane , among other gases , for a mean molar mass of 43.34 g/mol . There has been renewed interest in its composition since the detection of traces of methane in 2003 that may indicate life but may also be produced by a geochemical process , volcanic or hydrothermal activity . The atmosphere is quite dusty , giving the Martian sky a light brown or orange-red color when seen from the surface ; data from the Mars Exploration Rovers indicate suspended particles of roughly 1.5 micrometres in diameter . On 16 December 2014 , NASA reported detecting an unusual increase , then decrease , in the amounts of methane in the atmosphere of the planet Mars . Organic chemicals have been detected in powder drilled from a rock by the Curiosity rover . Based on deuterium to hydrogen ratio studies , much of the water at Gale Crater on Mars was found to have been lost during ancient times , before the lakebed in the crater was formed ; afterwards , large amounts of water continued to be lost . On 18 March 2015 , NASA reported the detection of an aurora that is not fully understood and an unexplained dust cloud in the atmosphere of Mars . On 4 April 2015 , NASA reported studies , based on measurements by the Sample Analysis at Mars ( SAM ) instrument on the Curiosity rover , of the Martian atmosphere using xenon and argon isotopes . Results provided support for a `` vigorous '' loss of atmosphere early in the history of Mars and were consistent with an atmospheric signature found in bits of atmosphere captured in some Martian meteorites found on Earth . This was further supported by results from the MAVEN orbiter circling Mars , that the solar wind is responsible for stripping away the atmosphere of Mars over the years .", "Dry ice Dry ice , sometimes referred to as `` cardice '' ( chiefly by British chemists ) , is the solid form of carbon dioxide . It is used primarily as a cooling agent . Its advantages include lower temperature than that of water ice and not leaving any residue ( other than incidental frost from moisture in the atmosphere ) . It is useful for preserving frozen foods where mechanical cooling is unavailable . Dry ice sublimates at − 78.5 ° C ( − 109.3 ° F ) at Earth atmospheric pressures . This extreme cold makes the solid dangerous to handle without protection due to burns caused by freezing ( frostbite ) . While generally not very toxic , the outgassing from it can cause hypercapnia ( abnormally elevated carbon dioxide levels in the blood ) due to buildup in confined locations .", "Carbon-13 Carbon-13 ( 13C ) is a natural , stable isotope of carbon with a nucleus containing six protons and seven neutrons . One of the environmental isotopes , it makes up about 1.1 % of all natural carbon on Earth .", "Calcium bicarbonate Calcium bicarbonate , also called calcium hydrogen carbonate , has a chemical formula Ca ( HCO3 ) 2 . The term does not refer to a known solid compound ; it exists only in aqueous solution containing the calcium ( Ca2 + ) , bicarbonate ( HCO3 − ) , and carbonate ( CO32 − ) ions , together with dissolved carbon dioxide ( CO2 ) . The relative concentrations of these carbon-containing species depend on the pH ; bicarbonate predominates within the range 6.36-10 .25 in fresh water . All waters in contact with the atmosphere absorb carbon dioxide , and as these waters come into contact with rocks and sediments they acquire metal ions , most commonly calcium and magnesium , so most natural waters that come from streams , lakes , and especially wells , can be regarded as dilute solutions of these bicarbonates . These hard waters tend to form carbonate scale in pipes and boilers and they react with soaps to form an undesirable scum . Attempts to prepare compounds such as calcium bicarbonate by evaporating its solution to dryness invariably yield the solid calcium carbonate , instead : Ca ( HCO3 ) 2 ( aq ) → CO2 ( g ) + H2O ( l ) + CaCO3 ( s ) . Very few solid bicarbonates other than those of the alkali metals and ammonium ion are known to exist . The above reaction is very important to the formation of stalactites , stalagmites , columns , and other speleothems within caves , and for that matter , in the formation of the caves themselves . As water containing carbon dioxide ( including extra CO2 acquired from soil organisms ) passes through limestone or other calcium carbonate-containing minerals , it dissolves part of the calcium carbonate , hence becomes richer in bicarbonate . As the groundwater enters the cave , the excess carbon dioxide is released from the solution of the bicarbonate , causing the much less soluble calcium carbonate to be deposited . In the reverse process , dissolved carbon dioxide ( CO2 ) in rainwater ( H2O ) reacts with limestone calcium carbonate ( CaCO3 ) to form soluble calcium bicarbonate ( Ca ( HCO3 ) 2 ) . This soluble compound is then washed away with the rainwater . This form of weathering is called carbonation . In medicine , calcium bicarbonate is sometimes administered intravenously to immediately correct the cardiac depressor effects of hypokalemia by increasing calcium concentration in serum , and at the same time , correcting the acid usually present .", "Carbon dioxide sensor A carbon dioxide sensor or CO2 sensor is an instrument for the measurement of carbon dioxide gas . The most common principles for CO2 sensors are infrared gas sensors ( NDIR ) and chemical gas sensors . Measuring carbon dioxide is important in monitoring indoor air quality , the function of the lungs in the form of a capnograph device , and many industrial processes .", "Katsuko Saruhashi was a geochemist who made some of the first measurements of carbon dioxide ( CO2 ) levels in seawater and subsequently showed the evidence in seawater and the atmosphere of the dangers of radioactive fallout .", "Joseph Kaplan Joseph Kaplan ( September 8 , 1902 -- October 3 , 1991 ) was a Hungarian-born American physicist . Kaplan was notable for his studies of atmospheric phenomena , for his international activities in geophysics . Kaplan also participated in efforts to launch the first Earth satellite . Kaplan was a member of the National Academy of Sciences , a fellow of the Institute of Aeronautical Sciences , chairman of the U.S. National Committee for the International Geophysical Year , the founder and first director of the Institute of Geophysics at the University of California ( later known as the Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics ) , an aerospace adviser to Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower and Richard M. Nixon , a recipient of the Smithsonian Institution 's Hodgkins Medal in 1967 , the head of the Air Force 's Air Weather Service during World War II , a professor and professor emeritus of physics at the University of California , Los Angeles , a fellow of American Geophysical Union , an honorary member of American Meteorological Society , a fellow of American Physical Society , an honorary member of National Association of Science Writers , and a founding member of the International Academy of Astronautics . The Los Angeles Times said that Kaplan was `` a pioneer in the chemistry and physics of the stratosphere '' . The Baltimore Sun called him `` an expert on auroras and similar lights in the sky '' . In 1956 , Kaplan warned of anthropogenic climate change . He was quoted in the New York Times saying that `` during the next fifty years industrial burning of coal , oil and gas will produce 1,700 billion tons of new carbon dioxide . If all this carbon dioxide stays in the atmosphere , the slight general warming that has occurred in northern latitudes may be intensified . ''", "Boudouard reaction The Boudouard reaction , named after Octave Leopold Boudouard , is the redox reaction of a chemical equilibrium mixture of carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide at a given temperature . It is the disproportionation of carbon monoxide into carbon dioxide and graphite or its reverse : 2CO + C The Boudouard Reaction to form carbon dioxide and carbon is exothermic at all temperatures . However , the standard enthalpy of the Boudouard reaction becomes less negative with increasing temperature , as shown to the side . While the formation enthalpy of is higher than that of , the formation entropy is much lower . Consequently , the standard free energy of formation of from its component elements is almost constant and independent of the temperature , while the free energy of formation of decreases with temperature . At high temperatures , the forward reaction is therefore endergonic , favoring the ( exergonic ) reverse reaction toward CO , even though the forward reaction is still exothermic . The effect of temperature on the extent of the Boudouard reaction is indicated better by the value of the equilibrium constant than by the standard free energy of reaction . The value of log10 ( Keq ) for the reaction ( valid between 500 -- ) is : has a value of zero at . The implication of the change in Keq with temperature is that a gas containing may form elemental carbon if the mixture cools below a certain temperature . The thermodynamic activity of carbon may be calculated for a / mixture by knowing the partial pressure of each species and the value of Keq . For instance , in a high temperature reducing environment , such as that created for the reduction of iron oxide in a blast furnace or the preparation of carburizing atmospheres , carbon monoxide is the stable oxide of carbon . When a gas rich in is cooled to the point where the activity of carbon exceeds one , the Boudouard Reaction can take place . Carbon monoxide then tends to disproportionate into carbon dioxide and graphite , which forms soot . In industrial catalysis , this is not just an eyesore ; sooting ( also called coking ) can cause serious and even irreversible damage to catalysts and catalyst beds . This is a problem in the catalytic reforming of petroleum and the steam reforming of natural gas . The reaction is named after the French chemist , Octave Leopold Boudouard ( 1872 -- 1923 ) , who investigated this equilibrium in 1905 .", "Carboxysome Carboxysomes are bacterial organelles consisting of polyhedral protein shells filled with the enzyme Ribulose-1 ,5 - biphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase ( RuBisCO ) - the predominant enzyme in carbon fixation and the rate limiting enzyme in the Calvin Cycle-and a carbonic anhydrase . Carboxysomes are thought to have evolved as a consequence of the increase in oxygen concentration in the ancient atmosphere ; this is because oxygen is a competing substrate to carbon dioxide in the RuBisCO reaction . To overcome the inefficiency of RuBisCO , carboxysomes concentrate carbon dioxide inside the shell by means of co-localized carbonic anhydrase activity , which produces carbon dioxide from the bicarbonate that diffuses into the carboxysome . The resulting production of carbon dioxide near RuBisCO decreases the proportion of ribulose-1 ,5 - bisphosphate oxygenation and thereby avoids costly photorespiratory reactions . The surrounding shell provides a barrier to carbon dioxide loss , helping to increase its concentration around RuBisCO . The carboxysome is an essential part of the carbon-concentrating mechanism ( CCM ) . Carboxysomes are the best studied example of a bacterial microcompartment ( BMC ) , the term for functionally diverse organelles that are alike in having a protein shell .", "Climate sensitivity Climate sensitivity is the equilibrium temperature change in response to changes of the radiative forcing . Therefore , climate sensitivity depends on the initial climate state , but potentially can be accurately inferred from precise palaeoclimate data . Slow climate feedbacks , especially changes of ice sheet size and atmospheric CO2 , amplify the total Earth system sensitivity by an amount that depends on the time scale considered . Although climate sensitivity is usually used in the context of radiative forcing by carbon dioxide ( CO2 ) , it is thought of as a general property of the climate system : the change in surface air temperature ( ΔTs ) following a unit change in radiative forcing ( RF ) , and thus is expressed in units of ° C / ( W/m2 ) . For this to be useful , the measure must be independent of the nature of the forcing ( e.g. from greenhouse gases or solar variation ) ; to first order this is indeed found to be so . The climate sensitivity specifically due to is often expressed as the temperature change in ° C associated with a doubling of the concentration of carbon dioxide in Earth 's atmosphere . For coupled atmosphere-ocean global climate models ( e.g. CMIP5 ) the climate sensitivity is an emergent property : it is not a model parameter , but rather a result of a combination of model physics and parameters . By contrast , simpler energy-balance models may have climate sensitivity as an explicit parameter . The terms represented in the equation relate radiative forcing ( RF ) to linear changes in global surface temperature change ( ΔTs ) via the climate sensitivity λ . It is also possible to estimate climate sensitivity from observations ; however , this is difficult due to uncertainties in the forcing and temperature histories ." ]

[ "Greenhouse gas A greenhouse gas ( abbrev . GHG ) is a gas in an atmosphere that absorbs and emits radiation within the thermal infrared range . This process is the fundamental cause of the greenhouse effect . The primary greenhouse gases in Earth 's atmosphere are water vapor , carbon dioxide , methane , nitrous oxide , and ozone . Without greenhouse gases , the average temperature of Earth 's surface would be about -18 ° C , rather than the present average of 15 ° C . In the Solar System , the atmospheres of Venus , Mars and Titan also contain gases that cause a greenhouse effect . Human activities since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution ( taken as the year 1750 ) have produced a 40 % increase in the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide , from 280 ppm in 1750 to 406 ppm in early 2017 . This increase has occurred despite the uptake of a large portion of the emissions by various natural `` sinks '' involved in the carbon cycle . Anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions ( i.e. , emissions produced by human activities ) come from combustion of fossil fuels , principally coal , oil , and natural gas , along with deforestation , soil erosion and animal agriculture . It has been estimated that if greenhouse gas emissions continue at the present rate , Earth 's surface temperature could exceed historical values as early as 2047 , with potentially harmful effects on ecosystems , biodiversity and the livelihoods of people worldwide . Recent estimates suggest that on the current emissions trajectory the Earth could pass a threshold of 2 ° C global warming , which the United Nations ' IPCC designated as the upper limit to avoid `` dangerous '' global warming , by 2036 .", "Eocene The Eocene ( -LSB- pronˈiːəˌsiːn , _ ˈiːoʊ - -RSB- ) Epoch , lasting from , is a major division of the geologic timescale and the second epoch of the Paleogene Period in the Cenozoic Era . The Eocene spans the time from the end of the Paleocene Epoch to the beginning of the Oligocene Epoch . The start of the Eocene is marked by a brief period in which the concentration of the carbon isotope 13C in the atmosphere was exceptionally low in comparison with the more common isotope 12C . The end is set at a major extinction event called the Grande Coupure ( the `` Great Break '' in continuity ) or the Eocene -- Oligocene extinction event , which may be related to the impact of one or more large bolides in Siberia and in what is now Chesapeake Bay . As with other geologic periods , the strata that define the start and end of the epoch are well identified , though their exact dates are slightly uncertain . The name Eocene comes from the Ancient Greek ἠώς ( ēṓs , `` dawn '' ) and καινός ( kainós , `` new '' ) and refers to the `` dawn '' of modern ( ` new ' ) fauna that appeared during the epoch .", "Carbon dioxide Carbon dioxide ( chemical formula ) is a colorless gas with a density about 60 % higher than that of air ( 1.225 g/L ) that is odorless at normally encountered concentrations . Carbon dioxide consists of a carbon atom covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms . It occurs naturally in Earth 's atmosphere as a trace gas at a concentration of about 0.04 percent ( 400 ppm ) by volume . Natural sources include volcanoes , hot springs and geysers , and it is freed from carbonate rocks by dissolution in water and acids . Because carbon dioxide is soluble in water , it occurs naturally in groundwater , rivers and lakes , ice caps , glaciers and seawater . It is present in deposits of petroleum and natural gas . As the source of available carbon in the carbon cycle , atmospheric carbon dioxide is the primary carbon source for life on Earth and its concentration in Earth 's pre-industrial atmosphere since late in the Precambrian has been regulated by photosynthetic organisms and geological phenomena . Plants , algae and cyanobacteria use light energy to photosynthesize carbohydrate from carbon dioxide and water , with oxygen produced as a waste product . Carbon dioxide is produced by all aerobic organisms when they metabolize carbohydrates and lipids to produce energy by respiration . It is returned to water via the gills of fish and to the air via the lungs of air-breathing land animals , including humans . Carbon dioxide is produced during the processes of decay of organic materials and the fermentation of sugars in bread , beer and winemaking . It is produced by combustion of wood and other organic materials and fossil fuels such as coal , peat , petroleum and natural gas . It is a versatile industrial material , used , for example , as an inert gas in welding and fire extinguishers , as a pressurizing gas in air guns and oil recovery , as a chemical feedstock and in liquid form as a solvent in decaffeination of coffee and supercritical drying . It is added to drinking water and carbonated beverages including beer and sparkling wine to add effervescence . The frozen solid form of , known as `` dry ice '' is used as a refrigerant and as an abrasive in dry-ice blasting . Carbon dioxide is the most significant long-lived greenhouse gas in Earth 's atmosphere . Since the Industrial Revolution anthropogenic emissions - primarily from use of fossil fuels and deforestation - have rapidly increased its concentration in the atmosphere , leading to global warming . Carbon dioxide also causes ocean acidification because it dissolves in water to form carbonic acid ." ]

[ "Carbonate–silicate cycle The carbonate -- silicate geochemical cycle describes the transformation of silicate rocks to carbonate rocks by weathering and sedimentation at Earth 's surface and the transformation of carbonate rocks back into silicates by metamorphism and magmatism . It plays a large part in the carbon cycle , since the equilibrium point of the carbonate-silicate cycle dictates the pace of carbon release from the lithosphere . The carbonate-silicate cycle involves several chemical reactions that occur in different environments . In the atmosphere , gaseous carbon dioxide ( CO2 ) dissolves in rainwater , forming natural carbonic acid ( H2CO3 ) . This weak acid weathers silicate rocks on continents , slowly dissolving the rock and releasing aqueous minerals through the chemical reaction CaSiO3 ( s ) ( wollastonite ) + 2CO2 ( g ) + H2O ( l ) → Ca + 2HCO ( aq ) ( bicarbonate ) + SiO2 ( aq ) ( dissolved silica ) . These dissolved minerals are eventually carried by water to the ocean , where they are used by living organisms such as foraminifera , radiolarians , coccolithopores , and diatoms to create shells of CaCO3 ( calcite ) or SiO2 ( opal ) through the reactions Ca2 + ( aq ) + 2HCO3 → CaCO3 ( s ) + CO2 ( g ) + H2O ( l ) ( for calcite precipitation ) and SiO2 ( aq ) → SiO2 ( s ) ( for opal precipitation ) . When these organisms die , many shells are remineralized but some shells fall all the way to the sea floor and are buried . The cycle is completed when the sea floor is subducted and carbonate minerals recombine with silicate minerals under temperatures above 300 ° C to reform calcium silicates and release gaseous CO2 through volcanism ( CaCO3 ( s ) + SiO2 ( s ) → CaSiO3 ( s ) + CO2 ( g ) ) . The carbonate-silicate cycle impacts the global carbon cycle , as carbon dioxide is removed from the Earth 's surface through the burial of weathered minerals in deep ocean sediments and returned to the atmosphere through metamorphism and volcanism . However , this process is far from being a closed loop . In Earth history generally the formation of carbonates significantly outpaces the formation of silicates , effectively removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere . Because carbon dioxide is a potent greenhouse gas , the carbonate-silicate cycle is suspected to initiate ice ages by creating a negative feedback on the global temperature with a typical time scale of a few million years that is capable of countering water vapor and carbon dioxide short-term positive feedback on global temperature . The carbonate-silicate cycle equilibrium point is shifted on Venus due to surface temperatures above 300 ° C , which favor the formation of calcium silicates over weathering . Thus , Venus has a high-density carbon-dioxide atmosphere .", "Stephen E. Schwartz Stephen E. Schwartz ( born 1941 ) is an atmospheric scientist at Brookhaven National Laboratory . He served from 2004 to 2009 as the Chief Scientist of the Atmospheric Science Program of the United States Department of Energy . The program is charged with developing a comprehensive understanding of how the atmosphere processes energy related trace chemicals , such as nitrogen oxides , sulfur , aerosols and carbon dioxide . The current focus is on aerosols and carbon dioxide .", "Mars regional atmospheric modeling system The Mars Regional Atmospheric Modeling System ( MRAMS ) is a computer program that simulates the circulations of the Martian atmosphere at regional and local scales . MRAMS , developed by Scot Rafkin and Timothy Michaels , is derived from the Regional Atmospheric Modeling System ( RAMS ) developed by William R. Cotton and Roger A. Pielke to study atmospheric circulations on the Earth . Key features of MRAMS include a non-hydrostatic , fully compressible dynamics , explicit bin dust , water , and carbon dioxide ice atmospheric physics model , and a fully prognostic regolith model that includes carbon dioxide deposition and sublimation . Several Mars exploration projects , including the Mars Exploration Rovers , the Phoenix Scout Mission , and the Mars Science Laboratory have used MRAMS to study a variety of atmospheric circulations .", "Enhanced weathering Enhanced weathering refers to geoengineering approaches that use the dissolution of natural or artificially created minerals to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere . Since the carbon dioxide is usually first removed from ocean water , these approaches would attack the problem by first reducing ocean acidification .", "Capnophile Capnophiles are microorganisms that thrive in the presence of high concentrations of carbon dioxide . Some capnophiles may have a metabolic requirement for carbon dioxide , while others merely compete more successfully for resources under these conditions . The term is a generally descriptive one and has less relevance as a means of establishing a taxonomic or evolutionary relationship among organisms with this characteristic . For example , the ability of capnophiles to tolerate ( or utilize ) the amount of oxygen that is also in their environment may vary widely and may be far more critical to their survival . Species of Campylobacter are bacterial capnophiles that are more easily identified because they are also microaerophiles , organisms that can grow in high carbon dioxide as long as a small amount of free oxygen is present , but at a dramatically reduced concentration . ( In the earth 's atmosphere carbon dioxide levels are approximately five hundred times lower than that of oxygen , 0.04 % and 21 % of the total , respectively . ) Obligate anaerobes are microbes that will die in the presence of oxygen without respect to the concentration of carbon dioxide in their environment , and typically acquire energy through anaerobic respiration , or fermentation ( biochemistry ) . In 2004 , a capnophilic bacterium was characterized that appears to require carbon dioxide . This organism , Mannheimia succiniciproducens , has a unique metabolism involving carbon fixation . While carbon fixation is common to most plant life on earth since it is the key initial step in the biosynthesis of complex carbon compounds during photosynthesis ( the Calvin cycle ) , it is found in relatively few microorganisms and not found in animals . Mannheimia succiniciproducens can attach carbon dioxide to the three-carbon backbone of phosphoenolpyruvate , an endproduct in glycolysis , to generate the four-carbon compound , oxaloacetic acid , an intermediate in the Krebs cycle . Although Mannheimia succiniciproducens has most of the intermediates in the Krebs cycle , it is not capable of oxidative phosphorylation , the final step in the electron transport chain that would allow it to carry out the highly efficient process of harvesting energy by aerobic respiration .", "Total Carbon Column Observing Network The Total Carbon Column Observing Network ( TCCON ) is a global network of instruments that measure the amount of carbon dioxide , methane , carbon monoxide , nitrous oxide and other trace gases in the Earth 's atmosphere . The TCCON ( -LSB- ˈtiːkɒn -RSB- ) began in 2004 with the installation of the first instrument in Park Falls , Wisconsin , USA , and has since grown to 23 operational instruments worldwide , with 7 former sites . The TCCON is designed to investigate several things , including the flow ( or flux ) of carbon between the atmosphere , land , and ocean ( the so-called carbon budget or carbon cycle ) . This is achieved by measuring the atmospheric mass of carbon ( the airborne fraction ) . The TCCON measurements have improved the scientific community 's understanding of the carbon cycle , and urban greenhouse gas emissions . The TCCON supports several satellite instruments by providing an independent measurement to compare ( or validate ) the satellite measurements of the atmosphere over the TCCON site locations . The TCCON provides the primary measurement validation dataset for the Orbiting Carbon Observatory ( OCO-2 ) mission , and has been used to validate other space-based measurements of carbon dioxide .", "Charles David Keeling Charles David Keeling ( April 20 , 1928 -- June 20 , 2005 ) was an American scientist whose recording of carbon dioxide at the Mauna Loa Observatory first alerted the world to the possibility of anthropogenic contribution to the `` greenhouse effect '' and global warming . The Keeling Curve measures the progressive buildup of carbon dioxide , a greenhouse gas , in the atmosphere .", "Controlled atmosphere A controlled atmosphere is an agricultural storage method in which the concentrations of oxygen , carbon dioxide and nitrogen , as well as the temperature and humidity of a storage room are regulated . Both dry commodities and fresh fruit and vegetables can be stored in controlled atmospheres .", "Deforestation and climate change Deforestation is one of the main contributors to climate change . It is the second largest anthropogenic source of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere , after fossil fuel combustion . Deforestation and forest degradation contribute to atmospheric greenhouse gas emissions through combustion of forest biomass and decomposition of remaining plant material and soil carbon . It used to account for more than 20 % of carbon dioxide emissions , but it 's currently somewhere around the 10 % mark . By 2008 , deforestation was 12 % of total , or 15 % if peatlands are included . These proportions are likely to have fallen since given the continued rise of fossil fuel use . Averaged over all land and ocean surfaces , temperatures warmed roughly 1.53 ° F ( 0.85 ° C ) between 1880 and 2012 , according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change . In the Northern Hemisphere , 1983 to 2012 were the warmest 30-year period of the last 1400 years .", "Katsuko Saruhashi was a geochemist who made some of the first measurements of carbon dioxide ( CO2 ) levels in seawater and subsequently showed the evidence in seawater and the atmosphere of the dangers of radioactive fallout .", "Paul Wennberg Paul O. Wennberg is the R. Stanton Avery Professor of Atmospheric Chemistry and Environmental Science and Engineering at the California Institute of Technology ( Caltech ) . He is the director of the Ronald and Maxine Linde Center for Global Environmental Science . He is chair of the Total Carbon Column Observing Network and a founding member of the Orbiting Carbon Observatory project , which created NASA 's first spacecraft for analysis of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere . He is also the principal investigator for the Mars Atmospheric Trace Molecule Occultation Spectrometer ( MATMOS ) to investigate trace gases in Mars 's atmosphere . Wennberg 's research focuses on the atmospheric chemistry of planets , including air quality , photochemistry , and the carbon cycle . He designs and builds remote-sensing and in-situ scientific instruments which are used in field investigations supported by the National Science Foundation and NASA . His scientific instruments have made it possible to measure radicals in the atmosphere at concentrations that could not previously be detected . He measures atmospheric trace gases , making it possible to accurately describe the exchange of carbon dioxide and other gases between the atmosphere and the land and ocean . His research has substantially advanced understanding of the atmospheric chemistry of the troposphere and the stratosphere .", "SpectraSensors SpectraSensors , Inc. is a manufacturer of optical-based gas sensors for the industrial process , environmental monitoring and clean technology markets . The company 's sensors measure the absorption of laser light at specific wavelengths to detect carbon dioxide and water vapor in industrial process control and environmental monitoring applications . Such applications include non-contact measurement of moisture , carbon dioxide , and other corrosives in the energy industry , petrochemical industry , arsenic and other impurities in drinking water ( Water Quality ) , and airborne water vapor and other atmospheric measurements from commercial aircraft for the U.S. and International Weather Services ( Atmospheric ) . Clean tech applications include identifying and harvesting methane ( CH4 ) as a clean energy source , as well as mounting sensors on commercial airliners to enable real-time monitoring of weather conditions to avoid commercial flight delays totaling $ 1 billion per year in wasted time and fuel .", "Estuarine acidification Estuarine acidification is a decrease in the pH of coastal marine ecosystems , specifically those of estuaries . pH change in estuaries is more complicated than in the open ocean due to direct impacts from land run-off and coastal current dynamics . Ocean acidification is the ongoing decrease in the pH of the Earth 's oceans , caused by the absorption of carbon dioxide ( CO2 ) from the atmosphere ( 0.1 units over the last century ) . The ocean absorbs 30-40 % of all CO2 emitted to the atmosphere ; this increase in aqueous carbon dioxide causes a decline in the pH of the ocean surface . As carbon dioxide combines with water , it releases protons ( hydrogen ions ) , based on the following equation : CO2 + H2O ↔ H2CO3 ↔ HCO3 + H + ↔ CO3 + 2 H +", "D. James Baker D. James Baker ( born March 23 , 1937 ) is an American scientist who was trained as a physicist , practiced as an oceanographer , and has held science and management positions in academia , non-profit institutions , and government agencies . He a former Under Secretary of Commerce for Atmosphere and Oceans and Administrator of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration ( NOAA ) , and currently Director , Global Carbon Measurement Program , William J. Clinton Foundation working with forestry programs in developing countries with the aim of reducing carbon dioxide emissions and at the same time helping alleviate poverty .", "Terraforming of Venus The terraforming of Venus is the hypothetical process of engineering the global environment of the planet Venus in such a way as to make it suitable for human habitation . Terraforming Venus was first seriously proposed by the astronomer Carl Sagan in 1961 , although fictional treatments , such as The Big Rain by Poul Anderson , preceded it . Adjustments to the existing environment of Venus to support human life would require at least three major changes to the planet . These three changes are closely interrelated , because Venus 's extreme temperature is due to the greenhouse effect caused by its dense carbon-dioxide atmosphere : Reducing Venus 's surface temperature of 462 C. Eliminating most of the planet 's dense 9.2 MPa carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide atmosphere , via removal or conversion to some other form . Addition of breathable oxygen to the atmosphere .", "Henry's law In chemistry , Henry 's law is one of the gas laws formulated by the English chemist William Henry , who studied the topic in the early 19th century . In his publication about the quantity of gases absorbed by water , he described the results of his experiments : ... `` water takes up , of gas condensed by one , two , or more additional atmospheres , a quantity which , ordinarily compressed , would be equal to twice , thrice , & c. the volume absorbed under the common pressure of the atmosphere . '' In other words , the amount of dissolved gas is proportional to its partial pressure in the gas phase . The proportionality factor is called the Henry 's law constant . An example where Henry 's law is at play is in the depth-dependent dissolution of oxygen and nitrogen in the blood of underwater divers that changes during decompression , leading to decompression sickness . An everyday example is given by one 's experience with carbonated soft drinks , which contain dissolved carbon dioxide . Before opening , the gas above the drink in its container is almost pure carbon dioxide , at a pressure higher than atmospheric pressure . After the bottle is opened , this gas escapes , moving the partial pressure of carbon dioxide above the liquid to be much lower , resulting in degassing as the dissolved carbon dioxide comes out of solution .", "Phototrophic prokaryotes Phototropic prokaryotes are bacteria or archaea that obtain energy from light . phototropic prokaryotes may utilize a variety of carbon sources , depending on the metabolic pathways available to the bacterium . Most phototropic organisms are also autotrophs , obtaining carbon from atmospheric carbon dioxide in a process called photosynthesis .", "Huronian glaciation The Huronian glaciation ( or Makganyene glaciation ) was a glaciation that extended from 2.4 billion years ago ( Ga ) to 2.1 Ga , during the Siderian and Rhyacian periods of the Paleoproterozoic era . The Huronian glaciation followed after the Great Oxygenation Event ( GOE ) , a time when increased atmospheric oxygen decreased atmospheric methane . The oxygen combined with the methane to form carbon dioxide and water , which does not retain heat as well as methane does . It is the oldest and longest ice age , occurring at a time when , in a biological sense , only simple , unicellular life existed on Earth . This ice age led to a mass-extinction on Earth .", "Klaus Lackner Klaus S. Lackner is the director of the Center for Negative Carbon Emissions ( CNCE ) and a professor in School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment at Arizona State University . He is a pioneer in carbon management and is the first to suggest capturing carbon dioxide from air in the context of addressing climate change . His current work includes the demonstrating and improving passive methods to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere , integrating air capture technology with applications for using carbon dioxide , exploring safe and permanent disposal options for carbon dioxide , and identifying opportunities for automation and scaling . His publications have been cited 5842 times as of November 12 , 2015 . His h-index is 31 . Previously , he was the director of the Lenfest Center for Sustainable Energy at the Earth Institute and Faculty in the Earth and Environmental Engineering department at Columbia University from 2001 - 2014 . He , along with CNCE executive director , Allen Wright , co - founded of the first privately held air capture company Global Research Technologies ( GRT ) in Tucson , AZ where they demonstrated the moisture swing . Prior to his academic work he held appointments at the theoretical division of Los Alamos National Laboratory for nearly 17 years . His idea of the self - replicating machines along with his colleague , Christopher Wendt , was featured by Discover Magazine in 1995 as `` One of the 7 Ideas that can Change the World . ''", "Photoelectrochemical reduction of CO2 Photoelectrochemical reduction of CO2 is a chemical process whereby carbon dioxide is reduced to carbon monoxide or hydrocarbons by the energy of incident light . This process needs to be catalyzed either homogeneously or heterogeneously in order to proceed , and current research is aimed at developing these catalysts , most of which are semiconducting materials . Semiconducting catalysts provide favourable electron transfer kinetics . Motivation for research in this area is strong due to the current attention to atmospheric carbon dioxide as the reduction of carbon dioxide would be one route for removal and sequestration . Furthermore , the reduced species may prove to be a valuable feedstock for other processes . If the incident light utilized is solar in nature then this process also potentially represents energy routes which combine renewable energy with CO2 reduction .", "Asphyxiant gas An asphyxiant gas is a nontoxic or minimally toxic gas which reduces or displaces the normal oxygen concentration in breathing air . Breathing of oxygen-depleted air can lead to death by asphyxiation ( suffocation ) . Because asphyxiant gases are relatively inert and odorless , their presence in high concentration may not be noticed , except in the case of carbon dioxide ( hypercapnia ) . Toxic gases , by contrast , cause death by other mechanisms , such as competing with oxygen on the cellular level ( e.g. carbon monoxide ) or directly damaging the respiratory system ( e.g. phosgene ) . Far smaller quantities of these are deadly . Notable examples of asphyxiant gases are nitrogen , argon , helium , butane and propane . Along with trace gases such as carbon dioxide and ozone , these compose 79 % of Earth 's atmosphere . The atmosphere is mostly harmless because the remaining 21 % is O2 .", "Carbon engineering Carbon engineering may refer to : Greenhouse gas remediation Carbon dioxide removal Carbon dioxide scrubber Carbon Engineering , a company researching Carbon dioxide scrubbers .", "Five Ways to Save the World Five Ways to Save the World is a British documentary film on environmental issues related to climate change , released in 2006 . The film was made by Karen O'Connor , for the big screen and was shot in the English language to reach an international audience . It includes interviews with five environmental scientists and experts including Paul Crutzen , James Roger Angel , John Latham , Ian Jones , and Klaus Lackner . The `` five ways '' proposed are geoengineering techniques : space lenses in orbit , to diffract sunlight away from the earth cloud seeding with seawater to increase albedo sulfur launched into the stratosphere to increase albedo ocean fertilization with iron or urea ( nitrogen fertilizer ) artificial trees ( see carbon capture and sequestration ) Since the first three methods do not remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere , they would only reduce global warming but not ocean acidification . Since the last two methods would remove carbon dioxide , they could in theory reduce both global warming and ocean acidification .", "V.E. Zuev Institute of Atmospheric Optics The V.E. Zuev Institute of Atmospheric Optics is a Russian research organisation based in Tomsk . Its purpose is to study the atmosphere . The Laboratory of Optical Signals Propagation gathers satellite data on aerosols , ozone , and Earth reflectivity over Siberia . The Laboratory of Aerosol Optics collects information on temperature , humidity , soot , and atmospheric scattering at Tomsk . The TOR Station measures gas constituents in the atmosphere , in cluding carbon dioxide , carbon monoxide , sulfur dioxide , ozone , nitrogen oxides , methane and hydrogen sulfide at two locations . The Siberian lidar station can measure the temperature in the stratosphere and troposphere . Aerosol particle size is measured by using six different wavelengths for the laser . The institute was founded in 1969 by Vladimir Yevseyevich Zuev who became its director . The parent organisation was the Laboratory of Infrared Radiations of the Siberian Physical-Technical Institute of the Tomsk State University . A journal is published called Atmospheric and Oceanic Optics .", "The Nitrogen Fix The Nitrogen Fix is a 1980 science fiction novel by Hal Clement . The plot revolves around a nomadic family in a future where all oxygen in the Earth 's atmosphere has combined with nitrogen , so the atmosphere is mostly nitrogen with traces of water , nitrogen oxides and carbon dioxide , and the seas are very dilute nitric acid .", "Carbon dioxide (data page) This page provides supplementary chemical data on carbon dioxide .", "Kenneth Hare Fredrick Kenneth Hare , ( February 5 , 1919 -- September 3 , 2002 ) was a Canadian climatologist and academic , who researched atmospheric carbon dioxide , climate change , drought , and arid zone climates and was a strong advocate for preserving the natural environment .", "Huygens (crater) Huygens is an impact crater on Mars named in honour of the Dutch astronomer , mathematician and physicist Christiaan Huygens . The crater is approximately 456 km in diameter and can be found at 304.4 ° W 14.0 ° S , in the Iapygia quadrangle . Scientists were delighted to see branched channels in pictures taken with spacecraft that were sent in orbit around Mars . The existence of these channels is strong evidence that much water once flowed on the surface of the planet . Simple organisms may have once lived where water once was . An excellent group of these channels is shown in the picture below from the rim of Huygens taken with THEMIS . Carbonates ( calcium or iron carbonates ) were discovered in a crater on the rim of Huygens . The impact on the rim exposed material that had been dug up from the impact that created Huygens . These minerals represent evidence that Mars once had a thicker carbon dioxide atmosphere with abundant moisture . Carbonates of these kinds only form when there is a lot of water . They were found with the Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars ( CRISM ) instrument on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter . Earlier , the instrument had detected clay minerals . The carbonates were found near the clay minerals . Both of these minerals form in wet environments . It is supposed that billions of years ago Mars was much warmer and wetter . At that time , carbonates would have formed from water and the carbon dioxide-rich atmosphere . Later the deposits of carbonate would have been buried . The double impact has now exposed the minerals . Earth has vast carbonate deposits in the form of limestone .", "Carbon capture and storage Carbon capture and storage ( CCS ) ( or carbon capture and sequestration ) is the process of capturing waste carbon dioxide from large point sources , such as fossil fuel power plants , transporting it to a storage site , and depositing it where it will not enter the atmosphere , normally an underground geological formation . The aim is to prevent the release of large quantities of into the atmosphere ( from fossil fuel use in power generation and other industries ) . It is a potential means of mitigating the contribution of fossil fuel emissions to global warming and ocean acidification . Although has been injected into geological formations for several decades for various purposes , including enhanced oil recovery , the long term storage of is a relatively new concept . The first commercial example was the Weyburn-Midale Carbon Dioxide Project in 2000 . Other examples include SaskPower 's Boundary Dam and Mississippi Power 's Kemper Project . ` CCS ' can also be used to describe the scrubbing of from ambient air as a climate engineering technique . An integrated pilot-scale CCS power plant was to begin operating in September 2008 in the eastern German power plant Schwarze Pumpe run by utility Vattenfall , to test the technological feasibility and economic efficiency . CCS applied to a modern conventional power plant could reduce emissions to the atmosphere by approximately 80 -- 90 % compared to a plant without CCS . The IPCC estimates that the economic potential of CCS could be between 10 % and 55 % of the total carbon mitigation effort until year 2100 . Carbon dioxide can be captured out of air or fossil fuel power plant flue gas using adsorption ( or carbon scrubbing ) , membrane gas separation , or adsorption technologies . Amines are the leading carbon scrubbing technology . Capturing and compressing may increase the energy needs of a coal-fired CCS plant by 25 -- 40 % . These and other system costs are estimated to increase the cost per watt energy produced by 21 -- 91 % for fossil fuel power plants . Applying the technology to existing plants would be more expensive , especially if they are far from a sequestration site . A 2005 industry report suggests that with successful research , development and deployment ( RD&D ) , sequestered coal-based electricity generation in 2025 may cost less than unsequestered coal-based electricity generation today . Storage of the is envisaged either in deep geological formations , or in the form of mineral carbonates . Deep ocean storage is not currently considered feasible due to the associated effect of ocean acidification . Geological formations are currently considered the most promising sequestration sites . The National Energy Technology Laboratory ( NETL ) reported that North America has enough storage capacity for more than 900 years worth of carbon dioxide at current production rates . A general problem is that long term predictions about submarine or underground storage security are very difficult and uncertain , and there is still the risk that might leak into the atmosphere .", "Andrew Watson (scientist) Andrew James Watson FRS ( born 1952 ) is a British marine and atmospheric scientist and an expert in processes affecting atmospheric carbon dioxide and oxygen concentrations . He was formerly a Professor of biogeochemistry in the School of Environmental Sciences at the University of East Anglia , in 2013 he moved to a position as Professor at the College of Life and Environmental Sciences at the University of Exeter .", "Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center The Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center ( CDIAC ) is an organization within the United States Department of Energy that has the primary responsibility for providing the US government and research community with global warming data and analysis as it pertains to energy issues . The CDIAC , and its subsidiary the World Data Center for Atmospheric Trace Gases , focus on obtaining , evaluating and distributing data related to climate change and greenhouse gas emissions . CDIAC was founded in 1982 . Its present offices are located within the Environmental Sciences Division of Oak Ridge National Laboratory . The current director is Thomas A. Boden .", "Orbiting Carbon Observatory The Orbiting Carbon Observatory ( OCO ) is a NASA satellite mission intended to provide global space-based observations of atmospheric carbon dioxide ( CO2 ) . The original spacecraft was lost in a launch failure on 24 February 2009 , when the payload fairing of the Taurus rocket which was carrying it failed to separate during ascent . The added mass of the fairing prevented the satellite from reaching orbit . It subsequently re-entered the atmosphere and crashed into the Indian Ocean near Antarctica . The replacement satellite , Orbiting Carbon Observatory 2 , was launched 2 July 2014 aboard a Delta II rocket . The Orbiting Carbon Observatory 3 , a stand-alone payload built from the spare OCO-2 flight instrument , will be installed on the International Space Station Kibō Exposed Facility in December 2016 ." ]

[ "Greenland Greenland ( -LSB- ˈɡriːnlənd -RSB- Kalaallit Nunaat -LSB- kaˈlaːɬit ˈnunaːt -RSB- Grønland -LSB- ˈɡ̊ʁɶnˌlanˀ -RSB- ) is an autonomous constituent country within the Kingdom of Denmark between the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans , east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago . Though physiographically a part of the continent of North America , Greenland has been politically and culturally associated with Europe ( specifically Norway and Denmark , the colonial powers , as well as the nearby island of Iceland ) for more than a millennium . The majority of its residents are Inuit , whose ancestors began migrating from the Canadian mainland in the 13th century , gradually settling across the island . Greenland is the world 's largest island ( Australia , although larger , is generally considered to be a continental landmass rather than an island ) . Three-quarters of Greenland is covered by the only permanent ice sheet outside Antarctica . With a population of about 56,480 ( 2013 ) , it is the least densely populated country in the world . The Arctic Umiaq Line ferry acts as a lifeline for western Greenland , connecting the various cities and settlements . Greenland has been inhabited off and on for at least the last 4,500 years by Arctic peoples whose forebears migrated there from what is now Canada . Norsemen settled the uninhabited southern part of Greenland beginning in the 10th century , and Inuit peoples arrived in the 13th century . The Norse colonies disappeared in the late 15th century . Soon after their demise , beginning in 1499 , the Portuguese briefly explored and claimed the island , naming it Terra do Lavrador ( later applied to Labrador in Canada ) . In the early 18th century , Scandinavian explorers reached Greenland again . To strengthen trading and power , Denmark-Norway affirmed sovereignty over the island . Denmark -- Norway claimed Greenland for centuries . Greenland was settled by Vikings ( of Norwegian origin ) more than a thousand years ago , who had previously settled Iceland to escape persecution from the King of Norway and his central government . Vikings set sail from Greenland and Iceland , encountering North America nearly 500 years before Columbus reached the Caribbean islands . They attempted to colonize land . Though under continuous influence of Norway and Norwegians , Greenland was not formally under the Norwegian crown until 1262 . The Kingdom of Norway was extensive and a military power until the mid-14th century . Norway was dramatically hit with a larger death toll than Denmark by the Black Death , forcing Norway to accept a union in which the central government , university and other fundamental institutions were located in Copenhagen . Thus , the two kingdoms ' resources were directed at creating Copenhagen . Norway became the weaker part and lost sovereignty over Greenland in 1814 when the union was dissolved . Greenland became a Danish colony in 1814 , and was made a part of the Danish Realm in 1953 under the Constitution of Denmark . In 1973 , Greenland joined the European Economic Community with Denmark . However , in a referendum in 1982 , a majority of the population voted for Greenland to withdraw from the EEC which was effected in 1985 . Greenland contains the world 's largest and most northernly national park , Northeast Greenland National Park ( Kalaallit Nunaanni nuna eqqissisimatitaq ) . Established in 1974 and expanded to its present size in 1988 , it protects 972001 km2 of the interior and northeastern coast of Greenland and is bigger than all but twenty-nine countries in the world . Greenland is divided into four municipalities - Sermersooq , Kujalleq , Qaasuitsup , and Qeqqata . In 1979 , Denmark had granted home rule to Greenland , and in 2008 , Greenlanders voted in favour of the Self-Government Act , which transferred more power from the Danish royal government to the local Greenlandic government . Under the new structure , in effect since 21 June 2009 , Greenland can gradually assume responsibility for policing , judicial system , company law , accounting , and auditing ; mineral resource activities ; aviation ; law of legal capacity , family law and succession law ; aliens and border controls ; the working environment ; and financial regulation and supervision , while the Danish government retains control of foreign affairs and defence . It also retains control of monetary policy , providing an initial annual subsidy of DKK 3.4 billion , which is planned to diminish gradually over time . Greenland expects to grow its economy based on increased income from the extraction of natural resources . The capital , Nuuk , held the 2016 Arctic Winter Games . At 70 % , Greenland has one of the highest shares of renewable energy in the world , mostly coming from hydropower .", "Greenland ice sheet The Greenland ice sheet ( Grønlands indlandsis , Sermersuaq ) is a vast body of ice covering 1710000 km ² , roughly 80 % of the surface of Greenland . It is the second largest ice body in the world , after the Antarctic ice sheet . The ice sheet is almost 2400 km long in a north-south direction , and its greatest width is 1100 km at a latitude of 77 ° N , near its northern margin . The mean altitude of the ice is 2135 m . The thickness is generally more than 2 km and over 3 km at its thickest point . It is not the only ice mass of Greenland -- isolated glaciers and small ice caps cover between 76000 and around the periphery . If the entire 2850000 km3 of ice were to melt , it would lead to a global sea level rise of 7.2 m . The Greenland Ice Sheet is sometimes referred to under the term inland ice , or its Danish equivalent , indlandsis . It is also sometimes referred to as an ice cap ." ]

[ "Ice-sheet model In climate modelling , Ice-sheet models use numerical methods to simulate the evolution , dynamics and thermodynamics of ice sheets , such as the Greenland ice sheet , the Antarctic ice sheet or the large ice sheets on the northern hemisphere during the last glacial period . They are used for a variety of purposes , from studies of the glaciation of Earth over glacial -- interglacial cycles in the past to projections of ice-sheet decay under future global warming conditions .", "Ice-sheet dynamics Ice sheet dynamics describe the motion within large bodies of ice , such those currently on Greenland and Antarctica . Ice motion is dominated by the movement of glaciers , whose gravity-driven activity is controlled by two main variable factors : the temperature and strength of their bases . A number of processes alter these two factors , resulting in cyclic surges of activity interspersed with longer periods of inactivity , on both hourly and centennial time scales . Ice-sheet dynamics are of interest in modelling future sea level rise . __ TOC __", "Nioghalvfjerdsbrae Nioghalvfjerdsbrae , sometimes referred to as `` 79 N Glacier '' , is a large glacier located in northeast Greenland . It drains an area of 103,314 km2 of the Greenland Ice Sheet with a flux ( quantity of ice moved from the land to the sea ) of 14.3 km3 per year , as measured for 1996 .", "East Greenland Ice-Core Project The East Greenland Ice-Core Project , known as EGRIP , is a scientific project that plans to retrieve an ice core from the Northeast Greenland ice stream . The first season in the field was 2015 ; the project is expected to be drilling through to the base of the ice sheet by 2020 . Much of the camp set up for the North Greenland Eemian Ice Drilling Project ( NEEM ) was moved to the EGRIP location in 2015 . The equipment was towed by several tractors . The team ran low on fuel and had to abandon some equipment , arriving at the EGRIP location on 26 May , after nine days of towing .", "Dye 3 Dye 3 is an ice core site and previously part of the Distant Early Warning ( DEW ) line , located at ( , 2480 masl ) in Greenland . As a DEW line base , it was disbanded in years 1990/1991 . An ice core is a core sample from the accumulation of snow and ice that has re-crystallized and trapped air bubbles over many years . The composition of these ice cores , especially the presence of hydrogen and oxygen isotopes , provides a picture of the climate at the time . Ice cores contain an abundance of climate information . Inclusions in the snow , such as wind-blown dust , ash , bubbles of atmospheric gas and radioactive substances , remain in the ice . The variety of climatic proxies is greater than in any other natural recorder of climate , such as tree rings or sediment layers . These include ( proxies for ) temperature , ocean volume , precipitation , chemistry and gas composition of the lower atmosphere , volcanic eruptions , solar variability , sea-surface productivity , desert extent and forest fires . Typical ice cores are removed from an ice sheet such as the ice cap internal to Greenland . Greenland is , by area , the world 's largest island . The Greenland ice sheet covers about 1.71 million km2 and contains about 2.6 million km3 of ice .", "Orsugissap Qaqqarsua Orsugissap Qaqqarsua ( old spelling : Orssugissap Qaqqarssua ) is a nunatak ( nunataq ) of the Greenland ice sheet in the Qaasuitsup municipality in northwestern Greenland .", "Greenland Ice Sheet Project The Greenland Ice Sheet Project ( GISP ) was a decade-long project to drill ice cores in Greenland that involved scientists and funding agencies from Denmark , Switzerland and the United States . Besides the U.S. National Science Foundation ( NSF ) , funding was provided by the Swiss National Science Foundation and the Danish Commission for Scientific Research in Greenland . The ice cores provide a proxy archive of temperature and atmospheric constituents that help to understand past climate variations . The preliminary GISP field work started in 1971 at Dye 3 , where a 372 meter deep , 10.2 cm diameter core was recovered . After this , annual field expeditions were carried out to drill intermediate depth cores at various locations on the ice sheet . The first was a 398 m core at Milcent and another was a 405 m core at the Crete station in 1974 . After working out various logistical and engineering problems related to the development of a more sophisticated drilling rig , drilling to bedrock at Dye 3 began in the summer of 1979 using a new Danish electro-mechanical ice drill . In the first year , an 18 cm diameter hole was drilled and cased to a depth of 80 m. Coring continued for two more seasons , and on August 10 , 1981 , bedrock was reached at a depth of 2037 m . The Dye 3 site was a compromise : glaciologically , a higher site on the ice divide with smooth bedrock would have been better ; logistically , such a site would have been too remote .", "Climate change in the Arctic The effects of global warming in the Arctic , or climate change in the Arctic include rising temperatures , loss of sea ice , and melting of the Greenland ice sheet with a related cold temperature anomaly , observed in recent years . Potential methane release from the region , especially through the thawing of permafrost and methane clathrates , is also a concern . The Arctic warms twice as fast compared to the rest of the world . The pronounced warming signal , the amplified response of the Arctic to global warming , it is often seen as a leading indicator of global warming . The melting of Greenland 's ice sheet is linked to polar amplification . According to a study published in 2016 , about 0.5 ◦ C of the warming in the Arctic has been attributed to reductions in sulfate aerosols in Europe since 1980 .", "King Oscar Glacier King Oscar Glacier ( Kong Oscar Gletscher ) is one of several glaciers that drain the north-western part of the Greenland Ice Sheet into Melville Bay . As part of a comprehensive survey of Greenland 's glaciers that was published in 2006 , scientists documented that the mass balance -- the sum of gains through snow accumulation and losses through iceberg calving and melting -- of Kong Oscar and Greenland 's other north-western glaciers was strongly negative between 1996 and 2005 : they lost more ice than they gained . The pattern was similar to the ice sheet as a whole , which has been losing ice mass at an accelerating pace in the past decade .", "Tipping points in the climate system A tipping point in the climate system is a threshold that, when exceeded, can lead to large changes in the state of the system. Potential tipping points have been identified in the physical climate system, in impacted ecosystems, and sometimes in both. For instance, feedback from the global carbon cycle is a driver for the transition between glacial and interglacial periods, with orbital forcing providing the initial trigger. Earth's geologic temperature record includes many more examples of geologically rapid transitions between different climate states.Climate tipping points are of particular interest in reference to concerns about global warming in the modern era. Possible tipping point behaviour has been identified for the global mean surface temperature by studying self-reinforcing feedbacks and the past behavior of Earth's climate system. Self-reinforcing feedbacks in the carbon cycle and planetary reflectivity could trigger a cascading set of tipping points that lead the world into a hothouse climate state.Large-scale components of the Earth system that may pass a tipping point have been referred to as tipping elements. Tipping elements are found in the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, possibly causing tens of meters of sea level rise. These tipping points are not always abrupt. For example, at some level of temperature rise the melt of a large part of the Greenland ice sheet and/or West Antarctic Ice Sheet will become inevitable; but the ice sheet itself may persist for many centuries. Some tipping elements, like the collapse of ecosystems, are irreversible.", "Greenland's Grand Canyon Greenland 's Grand Canyon or Grand Canyon of Greenland is a tentative canyon of record length discovered underneath the Greenland ice sheet as reported in the journal Science on 30 August 2013 ( submitted 29 April 2013 ) , by scientists from the University of Bristol , University of Calgary , and University of Urbino , who described it as a mega-canyon . Ice-penetrating radar data collected during NASA 's Operation IceBridge showed a huge subglacial canyon running from the central region of the island northward into the Arctic Ocean , to the fjord of the Petermann Glacier . The bottom of the canyon is below sea level ; the canyon is likely to have influenced basal water flow from the ice sheet interior to the margin . Jonathan Bamber , a geographer at University of Bristol , stated , `` The distinctive V-shaped walls and flat bottom suggests water carved the buried valley , not ice . '' The canyon is more than 750 km long , up to 800 m deep and 10 km wide , making it the longest canyon discovered on the Earth to date . There are , however , many canyons -- including Arizona 's Grand Canyon and Tibet 's Yarlung Tsangpo Grand Canyon , previously the world 's longest -- that are deeper . The canyon predates ice sheet inception and has influenced basal hydrology in Greenland over past glacial cycles .", "Greenland ice core project The Greenland Ice Core Project ( GRIP ) was a multinational European research project , organized through the European Science Foundation . Funding came from 8 nations ( Belgium , Denmark , France , Germany , Iceland , Italy , Switzerland , and United Kingdom ) , and from the European Union . The project ran from 1989 to 1995 , with drilling seasons from 1990 to 1992 . GRIP successfully drilled a 3029-metre ice core to the bed of the Greenland ice sheet at Summit , Central Greenland from 1989 to 1992 at . Studies of isotopes and various atmospheric constituents in the core have revealed a detailed record of climatic variations reaching more than 100,000 years back in time . The results indicate that Holocene climate has been remarkably stable and have confirmed the occurrence of rapid climatic variation during the last ice age ( the Wisconsin ) . Delta-O-18 variations observed in the core part believed to date from the Eemian Stage have not been confirmed by other records including the NGRIP core and are now believed not to represent climate events : the interglacial climate of Eemian Stage appears to have been as stable as the Holocene .", "Ice age An ice age is a period of long-term reduction in the temperature of Earth 's surface and atmosphere , resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers . Within a long-term ice age , individual pulses of cold climate are termed `` glacial periods '' ( or alternatively `` glacials '' or `` glaciations '' or colloquially as `` ice age '' ) , and intermittent warm periods are called `` interglacials '' . In the terminology of glaciology , ice age implies the presence of extensive ice sheets in both northern and southern hemispheres . By this definition , we are in an interglacial period -- the Holocene -- of the ice age . The ice age began 2.6 million years ago at the start of the Pleistocene epoch , because the Greenland , Arctic , and Antarctic ice sheets still exist .", "Midgard Glacier Midgard Glacier ( Midgårdsgletscher ) is a glacier on the east coast of the Greenland ice sheet .", "Kangerlussuaq Glacier Kangerlussuaq Glacier ( Kangerlussuaq , meaning ` large fjord ' ; old spelling Kangerdlugssuaq ) is the largest glacier on the east coast of the Greenland ice sheet . It flows into the head of the Kangerlussuaq Fjord , the second largest fjord in East Greenland .", "Nunatakassaup Sermia Nunatakassaup Sermia ( old spelling : Nunatakavsaup Sermia ) is a tidewater glacier in the Qaasuitsup municipality on the northwestern shore of Greenland . It drains the Greenland ice sheet westwards into Melville Bay . The glacier front is located between the Nunatakassak nunatak in the north , and the Wandel Land nunatak in the south .", "Upernavik Glacier Upernavik Glacier ( Sermeq , Upernavik isstrøm ) is a large tidewater glacier in the Qaasuitsup municipality on the northwestern shore of Greenland . It drains a large portion of the Greenland ice sheet westwards into Upernavik Icefjord .", "Petermann Glacier Petermann Glacier is a large glacier located in North-West Greenland to the east of Nares Strait . It connects the Greenland ice sheet to the Arctic Ocean near 81 degrees north latitude . It is named after the German cartographer August Heinrich Petermann", "Jakobshavn Glacier Jakobshavn Glacier , also known as Sermeq Kujalleq ( in Greenlandic ) and the Jakobshavn Isbræ ( in Danish ) , is a large outlet glacier in West Greenland . It is located near the Greenlandic town of Ilulissat ( Jakobshavn ) and ends at the sea in the Ilulissat Icefjord . Jakobshavn Glacier drains 6.5 % of the Greenland ice sheet and produces around 10 % of all Greenland icebergs . Some 35 billion tonnes of icebergs calve off and pass out of the fjord every year . Icebergs breaking from the glacier are often so large ( up to a kilometer in height ) that they are too tall to float down the fjord and lie stuck on the bottom of its shallower areas , sometimes for years , until they are broken up by the force of the glacier and icebergs further up the fjord . Studied for over 250 years , Jakobshavn Glacier has helped develop our understanding of climate change and icecap glaciology . Ilulissat Icefjord ( Ilulissat Kangerlua ) was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2004 .", "Antarctic ice sheet The Antarctic ice sheet is one of the two polar ice caps of the Earth . It covers about 98 % of the Antarctic continent and is the largest single mass of ice on Earth . It covers an area of almost 14 e6km2 and contains 26.5 e6km3 of ice . Approximately 61 percent of all fresh water on the Earth is held in the Antarctic ice sheet , an amount equivalent to about 58 m of sea-level rise . In East Antarctica , the ice sheet rests on a major land mass , but in West Antarctica the bed can extend to more than 2,500 m below sea level . Much of the land in this area would be seabed if the ice sheet were not there . In contrast to the melting of the Arctic sea ice , sea ice around Antarctica was expanding . The reasons for this are not fully understood , but suggestions include the climatic effects on ocean and atmospheric circulation of the ozone hole , and/or cooler ocean surface temperatures as the warming deep waters melt the ice shelves .", "Hayes Glacier (Greenland) Hayes Glacier is a tidewater glacier in the Qaasuitsup municipality , located on the northwestern shore of Greenland . It drains the Greenland ice sheet ( Sermersuaq ) southwards into Melville Bay . The glacier front is located to the east of the Tuttulikassak nunatak .", "Majorqaq Majorqaq is a meltwater river and valley of the same name in the Qeqqata municipality in central-western Greenland . It is one of the widest rivers in western Greenland , draining the Greenland ice sheet .", "Ice cap climate An ice cap climate is a polar climate where the temperature never exceeds 0 C . The climate covers areas in or near the polar regions , such as Antarctica and Greenland , as well as the highest mountaintops . Such areas are covered by a permanent layer of ice and have no vegetation , but they may have animal life , that usually feeds from the oceans . Ice cap climates are inhospitable to human life . Antarctica , the coldest continent on Earth , sustains no permanent human residents , but has some civil inhabitants in proximity to research stations in coastal settlements that are maritime polar and there are some communities that are situated in a transitional zone between the two climates , but barely qualify as a tundra . Some places like Antarctica had a different climate before having an ice cap climate", "North Greenland Ice Core Project The drilling site of the North Greenland Ice Core Project ( NGRIP or NorthGRIP ) is near the center of Greenland ( 75.1 N , 42.32 W , 2917 m , ice thickness 3085 ) . Drilling began in 1999 and was completed at bedrock in 2003 . The cores are cylinders of ice 11 centimeters in diameter that were brought to the surface in 3.5-meter lengths . The NGRIP site was chosen to extract a long and undisturbed record stretching into the last glacial , and it succeeded . The site was chosen for a flat basal topography to avoid the flow distortions that render the bottom of the GRIP and GISP cores unreliable . Unusually , there is melting at the bottom of the NGRIP core - believed to be due to a high geothermal heat flux locally . This has the advantage that the bottom layers are less compressed by thinning than they would otherwise be : NGRIP annual layers at 105 kyr age are 1.1 cm thick , twice the GRIP thicknesses at equal age . The NGRIP record helps to resolve a problem with the GRIP and GISP2 records - the unreliability of the Eemian Stage portion of the record . NGRIP covers 5 kyr of the Eemian , and shows that temperatures then were roughly as stable as the pre-industrial Holocene temperatures were . This is confirmed by sediment cores , in particular MD95-2042 . In 2003 , NGRIP recovered what seem to be plant remnants nearly two miles below the surface , and they may be several million years old . `` Several of the pieces look very much like blades of grass or pine needles , '' said University of Colorado at Boulder geological sciences Professor James White , an NGRIP principal investigator . `` If confirmed , this will be the first organic material ever recovered from a deep ice-core drilling project , '' he said .", "Greenland Plate The Greenland Plate is a supposed tectonic plate bounded to the west by Nares Strait , a probable transform fault , on the southwest by the Ungava transform underlying Davis Strait , on the southeast by the Mid-Atlantic Ridge , and the northeast by the Gakkel Ridge , with its northwest border is still being explored ( Danish scientists hope that the plate extends along the Lomonosov Ridge ) . The Greenland craton is made up of some of the oldest rocks on Earth . The Isua greenstone belt in southwestern Greenland contains the oldest known rocks on Earth dated at 3.7 -- 3.8 billion years old . The Precambrian basement of Greenland formed an integral part of the Laurentian Shield that is at the core of the North American continent . Greenland was formed in two rifting stages from the main body of North America . The first , during the Cretaceous period formed Baffin Bay . Baffin Bay is the northwestern extension and terminus of the North Atlantic-Labrador Sea rift system that started forming 140 million years ago in the Early Cretaceous period . The Labrador Sea started opening 69 million years ago during the Maastrichtian period but sea-floor spreading appears to have ceased by the Oligocene period 30 -- 35 million years ago . Correlations between tectonic units in Canada and Greenland have been proposed , however , the pre-drift fit of Greenland to Canada is still not accurately known . Since the closure of the North Atlantic -- Labrador Sea rift , Greenland has moved roughly in conjunction with North America ; thus , there are questions as to whether the Greenland Plate should be still considered a separate plate at all . That said , the area between Greenland and Baffin Island is extremely seismically active , being the epicenter of many earthquakes including a 7.3-magnitude earthquake in 1933 . To date , no one has been able to correlate the seismicity with particular geological structures or geophysical anomalies . It has been suggested that seismicity in the region is related to the stresses associated with post-glacial rebound .", "Chryseobacterium greenlandensis Chryseobacterium greenlandensis is an ultramicrobacteria species of bacteria that is able to live for long periods of time in low-temperature , high-pressure , reduced-oxygen and nutrient-poor habitats . It is known to have survived for more than 120,000 years in an ice block in Greenland , at a depth of 3000 m.", "Summit Camp Summit Camp , also Summit Station , is a year-round research station on the apex of the Greenland Ice Sheet . Its coordinates are variable , since the ice is moving . The coordinates provided here are as of July 2009 . The station is located 3216 m above sea level . The population of the station is typically five in wintertime , and has peaked at 55 in the summer . The station is operated by the American-based CH2M HILL Polar Services ( formerly known as Veco Polar Resources ) , with support from the United States ' National Science Foundation . A permit from the Danish Polar Center ( Dansk Polarcenter ) under the auspices of the Home Rule Government of Greenland ( Kalaallit Nunaanni Inatsisartut ) is required to visit the station .", "West Greenland Current The West Greenland Current is a weak cold water current that flows to the north along the west coast of Greenland . The current results from the movement of water flowing around the southernmost point of Greenland caused by the East Greenland Current . According to Lloyd et al. , 2007 , the WGC is a WARM current connected to a broader scale North Atlantic climate via the combined influences of Atlantic water from the Irminger Current ( IC ) and polar water from the East Greenland Current . Paleoclimatology records derived from foraminifera abundance show that periodic influxes of warm subsurface temperatures and near-bottom temperatures occurred throughout the Late Holocene epoch , particularly during the Holocene climatic optimum . The increased flow from the nearby East Greenland Current was associated with increased glacial iceberg calving from the large Jakobshavn Isbrae glacial outlet within the western Greenland Ice Sheet , causing rapid melting and destabilization events . Following the Neoglaciation , the Jakobshavn outlet formed a floating ice tongue around 2000 years before present .", "Bredebrae Bredebrae ( Bredebræ `` Broad Glacier '' ) , sometimes also known as `` Brede Glacier '' , is a large glacier in northeastern Greenland . It has its terminus on the east coast of the Greenland ice sheet .", "East Greenland Orogen The East Greenland orogen , also known as East Greenland mountain range , is the linear mountain range along the eastern Greenland coast , from 70 to 82 degrees north latitude . Geologically , the mountain chain consists of late Cryogenian to late Devonian ( 650 to 350 millions years ago ) fold and thrust belts . Little is known about the exact timing and setting of the earlier phases as this area was later heavily deformed during the Caledonian Orogeny ( 450 to 350 million years ago ) . The rocks of the East Greenland orogen are mostly Silurian granites with Devonian sedimentary rocks overlying Ediacarian marine deposits , all on a basement of gneisses . The current mountain range formed as a result of uplift during the opening of the Atlantic Ocean in the Cretaceous and early Tertiary ( starting 100 million years ago ) . The related East Greenland Rift Basin oil deposits are estimated to be one of the largest in the world .", "Wordie Glacier Wordie Glacier ( Wordie Gletscher ) is a glacier in northeastern Greenland . It has its terminus on the east coast of the Greenland ice sheet . This glacier was named after Scottish polar explorer James Wordie ( 1890 -- 1962 ) by the 1926 -- 27 expedition led by Lauge Koch .", "NEEM Camp NEEM Camp was a small research facility on the northern Greenland Ice Sheet , used as a base for ice core drilling . It is located about 313 km east of the closest coast , Peabody Bay in northern Greenland , 275 km northwest of the historical ice sheet camp North Ice , and 484 km ENE of Siorapaluk , the closest settlement . There is only one heavy-duty tent for accommodation of the researchers during summer . Access is by skiway ( snow runway ) . The acronym NEEM stands for North Greenland Eemian Ice Drilling . The ice at the NEEM coring location ( 77 ° 27 'N 51 ° 3.6 ` W ) was predicted to be 2545 m thick . Drilling started at NEEM in June 2009 and drillers expected to hit bedrock in 2010 . The drilling progressed well and reached through the brittle zone ( ~ 800 m ) in mid-July 2009 . The plan was to process the ice below the brittle zone , per decision at the steering committee meeting in November 2008 in Copenhagen . By September 1 , 2009 , the coring had reached 1757.84 m for this season , setting a single-season deep ice core drilling record in 100 days . On July 26 , 2010 , drilling reached bedrock at 2537.36 m. The November/December 2007 issue of Technology Review magazine and its website carried a report on early efforts to establish this camp . The research goal is seek preserved ice from the Eemian , which included a warming period in Earth 's history . http://www.technologyreview.com/Energy/19504/ After the conclusion of the drilling activities , the machinery and dome of the NEEM camp was moved to a new location in the NEEM-EastGRIP traverse , forming the EastGRIP camp at location in 2015 ." ]

[ "Petroleum Petroleum ( from petra #Greek : `` rock '' + oleum #Latin : `` oil '' . ) is a naturally occurring , yellow-to-black liquid found in geological formations beneath the Earth 's surface , which is commonly refined into various types of fuels . Components of petroleum are separated using a technique called fractional distillation . It consists of hydrocarbons of various molecular weights and other organic compounds . The name petroleum covers both naturally occurring unprocessed crude oil and petroleum products that are made up of refined crude oil . A fossil fuel , petroleum is formed when large quantities of dead organisms , usually zooplankton and algae , are buried underneath sedimentary rock and subjected to both intense heat and pressure . Petroleum has mostly been recovered by oil drilling ( natural petroleum springs are rare ) . Drilling is carried out after studies of structural geology ( at the reservoir scale ) , sedimentary basin analysis , and reservoir characterization ( mainly in terms of the porosity and permeability of geologic reservoir structures ) have been completed . It is refined and separated , most easily by distillation , into a large number of consumer products , from gasoline ( petrol ) and kerosene to asphalt and chemical reagents used to make plastics and pharmaceuticals . Petroleum is used in manufacturing a wide variety of materials , and it is estimated that the world consumes about 95 million barrels each day . Concern over the depletion of the earth 's finite reserves of oil , and the effect this would have on a society dependent on it , is a concept known as peak oil . The use of fossil fuels , such as petroleum , will have a negative impact on Earth 's biosphere , damaging ecosystems through events such as oil spills and releasing a range of pollutants into the air including ground-level ozone and sulfur dioxide from sulfur impurities in fossil fuels . The burning of fossil fuels plays the major role in the current episode of global warming .", "Greenpeace Greenpeace is a non-governmental environmental organization with offices in over 40 countries and with an international coordinating body in Amsterdam , the Netherlands . Founded by Canadian and US ex-pat environmental activists in 1971 , Greenpeace states its goal is to `` ensure the ability of the Earth to nurture life in all its diversity '' and focuses its campaigning on worldwide issues such as climate change , deforestation , overfishing , commercial whaling , genetic engineering , and anti-nuclear issues . It uses direct action , lobbying , research , and ecotage to achieve its goals . The global organization does not accept funding from governments , corporations , or political parties , relying on 2.9 million individual supporters and foundation grants . Greenpeace has a general consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council and is a founding member of the INGO Accountability Charter ; an international non-governmental organization that intends to foster accountability and transparency of non-governmental organizations . Greenpeace is known for its direct actions and has been described as the most visible environmental organization in the world . Greenpeace has raised environmental issues to public knowledge , and influenced both the private and the public sector . Greenpeace has also been a source of controversy ; its motives and methods ( some of the latter being illegal ) have received criticism , including an open letter from more than 100 Nobel laureates urging Greenpeace to end its campaign against genetically modified organisms ( GMOs ) . The organization 's direct actions have sparked legal actions against Greenpeace activists , such as fines and suspended sentences for destroying a test plot of genetically modified wheat and damaging the Nazca Lines , a UN World Heritage site in Peru ." ]

[ "Coal oil Coal oil is a shale oil obtained from the destructive distillation of cannel coal , mineral wax , or bituminous shale , once used widely for illumination . Chemically similar to the more refined , petroleum-derived kerosene , it consists mainly of several hydrocarbons of the alkane series , with 10 to 16 carbon atoms in each molecule and a higher boiling point ( 175 -- 325 ° C ) than gasoline or the petroleum ethers and lower than the oils . The term was in use by the late 18th century , for oil produced as a byproduct of the production of coal gas and coal tar . In the early 19th century it was discovered that coal oil distilled from cannel coal could be used in lamps as an illuminant , although the early coal oil burned with a smokey flame , so that it was used only for outdoor lamps ; cleaner-burning whale oil was used in indoor lamps . Coal oil that burned cleanly enough to compete with whale oil as an indoor illuminant was first produced in 1850 by James Young on the Union Canal in Scotland , who patented the process . Production thrived in Scotland , creating much wealth for Young . In the United States , coal oil was widely manufactured in the 1850s under the trade name Kerosene , manufactured by a process invented by Canadian geologist Abraham Gesner . Young triumphed in his patent lawsuit against the Gesner process in the United States in 1860 . But by that time , US coal oil distillers were switching over to refining cheaper petroleum , after the discovery of abundant petroleum in western Pennsylvania in 1859 , and oil from coal operations ceased in the US . Because kerosene was first derived from cannel coal , classified as terrestrial type of oil shale , it continued to be popularly referred to as `` coal oil '' even after production shifted to petroleum as a feedstock . Technically , refined hydrocarbons of the alkane series with 10 to 16 carbon atoms are the same thing whether taken from coal or petroleum .", "Blue Whale Unit A blue whale unit ( BWU ) was a unit of measurement used in the regulation of whaling . It was originally used by a cartel of whaling companies in the Antarctic Ocean in the 1930s . It was later used by the International Whaling Commission through the 1960s to measure nations respective whale quotas . One blue whale unit can be expressed in terms of : one blue whale , two fin whales , two and a half humpback whale , or six sei whales . The ratios are roughly based on the relative amounts of oil that each species yields .", "Toward the Sea is a work by the Japanese composer Tōru Takemitsu , commissioned by Greenpeace for the Save the Whales campaign .", "Astral Oil Works Astral Oil Works was founded in the Greenpoint section of Brooklyn , New York , by Charles Pratt . Pratt was a pioneer of the petroleum industry who formed Charles Pratt and Company with Henry H. Rogers . The Pratt interests became part of John D. Rockefeller 's Standard Oil organization in 1874 . Specializing in illuminating oil , which had earlier been derived from whale oil , the products of the Astral Oil Works kerosene refinery became famous worldwide in the late 19th century . Company advertising used the slogan , `` The holy lamps of Tibet are primed with Astral Oil . '' Pratt founded and endowed the Pratt Institute with profits of the Astral Oil Works .", "Trywork A trywork , located aft of the fore-mast , is the most distinguishing feature of a whaling ship . In two cast-iron trypots set into this furnace of brick , iron and wood , whale oil was rendered from the blubber of whales , much as lard is rendered from frying fatty pork . The furnace is temporarily affixed to the deck by `` iron knees '' , and a reservoir of water under the bricks keeps the heat from burning the wood of the deck . In the 18th and 19th century New England whaling industry , the use of tryworks ( two large try pots in a brick furnace ) on whaling ships allowed them to stay at sea longer . Since they could boil out their oil , they did not have to carry unprocessed blubber home . The slices of blubber were kept as thin as possible for the process , and on New England whaling ships , these slices were known as `` bible leaves '' by the sailors . The ability to use tryworks at sea thus enabled the Yankee whaling industry to flourish .", "Will E. Jackson William E. ( Will ) Jackson ( born February 13 , 1945 ) served with Greenpeace in its early years ( 1975 -- 77 ) , as crew member on the first anti-whaling expedition , and as cofounder of Greenpeace San Francisco ( the first GP chapter after Vancouver , BC ) . A pioneer synthesizer player ( Serge , Buchla , Moog ) , Jackson was aboard the Greenpeace V as part of the media campaign to demonstrate whale intelligence , and to disrupt Russian whaling . Jackson played a large modular synthesizer that had been brought onboard , broadcast through underwater speakers , with the intention of communicating with whales through synthesized whale song . He was one of six persons out of a rotating pool of 35 to remain aboard throughout the expedition . Bob Hunter , cofounder and first president of Greenpeace , credits Jackson with saving him from drowning at Triangle Island . Following on the success of that voyage , Jackson opened the San Francisco office of Greenpeace . With the assistance of Fund for Animals ( Cleveland Amory , Virginia Handley ) , and eco-filmmaker Stan Minasian , and commercial pilot Al Johnson . Jackson launched a grassroots media campaign , struggling from a South-of-Market condemned hotel to gain volunteers and donations , in preparation for the first anti-sealing expedition , and the follow-up whale expedition of 1976 . ( Three years after he left , the chapter was embroiled in a lawsuit with Vancouver over a million dollars and rights ; the outcome being the formation of today 's Greenpeace International ) . These accounts and others are referenced in Robert Hunter 's book , Rex Weyler 's Greenpeace ( Rodale 2004 ) , the Hunter-Weyler collaboration To Save A Whale ( Chronicle Books 1978 ) , and The Greenpeace Story ( Dorling Kindersley 1989 ) . Prefacing his Greenpeace years , in 1970 as a multimedia artist he won a scholarship to California Institute of the Arts , but then lost it when he offended his mentor Allen Kaprow . He moved on to Serge Tcherepnin 's CalArts synthesizer workshop , and co-founded electronic music groups Cellar M with Naut Humon , and ` TO ' with Z'EV . Later he performed with Ethership ( Willard Van De Bogart , Lemon DeGeorge ) . Notably , he played synthesizer `` whale music '' with saxist Paul Winter aboard the GP-5 , and at the `` Save The Seas International Music Benefit '' , International Trade Center , Tokyo 1977 , with Z'EV . In the 1980s Jackson became interviewer/program producer for Miss Wire Waist of KPFK 's Sounds of Jamaica ( L.A. ) ; and published Jah Guide reggae culture magazine . He recorded , published and broadcast speeches on apartheid by Jesse Jackson , Michael Manley , and Bishop Desmond Tutu ; and interviews with Steel Pulse , Burning Spear , Big Youth , Mutabaruka , Ras Michael and Peter Tosh . Meanwhile , he managed a 25-year career as a maritime seaman , union captain , and then fatherhood . In 2003 he authored the reggae novel Flight From Babylon ( Infinity ) . His second novel and Greenpeace memoirs are forthcoming .", "Whaling in Seychelles Whaling in Seychelles was established in the early 19th century , coming largely to a close by 1915 due to declining prices for sperm whale oil , as well as the lack of materials and freight congestion due to the onset of World War I . The primary quarry , sperm whales , were generally caught near Bird and Denis Islands , and towed to a whaling station on Saint Anne .", "Spermaceti organ The spermaceti organ is an organ that commonly appears in the heads of toothed whales of the family Physeteroidea , in particular the sperm whale . This organ contains a waxy liquid called spermaceti and is involved in the generation of sound . The spermaceti organ in sperm whales is shaped like an elongated barrel and sits on top of the whale 's melon . Historically , the liquid from this organ was used to produce sperm oil , providing the economic basis for the sperm whaling industry .", "Porto Pim Whale Factory Museum The Porto Pim Whale Factory Museum ( Fábrica da Baleia e Centro do Mar ) is a whaling museum in the civil parish of Angústias , in the municipality of Horta , in the Portuguese archipelago of the Azores . Dedicated to the socio-economic influence of the whaling industry in the region , the museum was established in the abandoned whaling factory used for many years in the processing of whale blubber into oil .", "Paul Spong Dr. Paul Spong is a neuroscientist and cetologist from New Zealand . He has spent more than 30 years researching orcas ( or Killer whales ) in British Columbia , and is credited with increasing public awareness of whaling , through his involvement with Greenpeace .", "Nantucket sleighride A Nantucket sleighride was a term used by Nantucket whalemen to describe what occurs immediately following the harpooning of a whale . The whale , distressed by the harpoon , attempts to flee and thus drags the boat along with it . The speed of the `` sleigh ride '' would vary depending on the species of the whale , with certain species ( e.g. humpbacks ) giving faster rides . The sperm whale was the whale that caused the longest drag events , reaching speeds of 23 mph ( 37 km/h ) . The length of the drag for the sailors would last as long as the whale could swim before it became exhausted . Once the whale expended its energy , the sailors would kill it and harvest its oil .", "Common minke whale The common minke whale or northern minke whale ( Balaenoptera acutorostrata ) is a species of minke whale within the suborder of baleen whales . It is the smallest member of the rorquals and the second smallest species of baleen whale . Although first ignored by whalers due to its small size and low oil yield , it began to be exploited by various countries beginning in the early 20th century . As other species declined larger numbers of common minke whales were caught , largely for their meat . It is now one of the primary targets of the whaling industry . There is a dwarf form in the Southern Hemisphere . This species is known in the fossil record from the Pliocene period to the Quaternary period ( age range : 3.6 million years ago to present day ) .", "Antarctic minke whale The Antarctic minke whale or southern minke whale ( Balaenoptera bonaerensis ) is a species of minke whale within the suborder of baleen whales . It is the second smallest rorqual after the common minke whale and the third smallest baleen whale . Although first scientifically described in the mid-19th century , it was not recognized as a distinct species until the 1990s . Once ignored by the whaling industry due to its small size and low oil yield , the Antarctic minke was able to avoid the fate of other baleen whales and maintained a large population into the 21st century , numbering in the hundreds of thousands . Surviving to become the most abundant baleen whale in the world , it is now one of the mainstays of the industry alongside its cosmopolitan counterpart the common minke . It is primarily restricted to the Southern Hemisphere ( although vagrants have been reported in the North Atlantic ) and feeds mainly on euphausiids .", "John Parker (whaling master) John Parker ( 1803-1867 ) was a whaler and , according to the 1861 census form completed when he was master of the whale ship Lady Seale , was born at Grimsby , Lincolnshire . However it was as a whaling master of Hull that he is especially remembered . He was one of the most successful and intrepid arctic whalers to sail from that port in the nineteenth century . The products of the whaling trade such as oil and whalebone ( baleen ) were essential to the British economy during this period and the rigours of life on board a whale ship in the Greenland fisheries produced a particularly hardy and efficient breed of sailor .", "Dewey K. Hickok Dewey K. Hickok of Morrisville , Vermont was an inventor and a dealer of patent rights . On July 19 , 1887 , he received a patent for his new invention , a washing machine . Hickok was mechanically creative and managed to come up with a number of inventions no one else had yet patented , including a clothes dryer in addition to his washing machine . Hickok was related to Wild Bill Hickok ( distant cousins ? ) , and went on two long whaling voyages in the Pacific Ocean . The following is extracted from the detailed sailors log he kept on his voyages . This log documents the taking of the whales with dates and locations of kills , as well as a rich narrative of areas visited . His journeys spanned the entire Pacific from Kamchatka to New Zealand and the islands in between . The original log was donated to the Morrisville Historical Society . His first voyage was aboard the whaler Superior of New London , CT. which set sail on Tuesday , Sept. 27 1842 . This voyage lasted over 2 years . The second voyage was aboard the whaler Isaak Walton of New London , CT , which set sail on Tuesday , October 8 , 1844 , bound for the east coast of Asia . Master : Daniel Fitch . The ship returned to New London on May 24 , 1847 with 3.030 barrels of whale oil , another 2 year voyage . Whale oil taken aboard the Isaak Walton : First season , 1845 = 12 whales made and 1,300 barrells . Second season , 1846 = 29 whales made and 1,825 barrells . 125 barrells lost to leakage . 2 Sperm whales made 30 barrells . Total cargo = 3,030 barrells . `` Cut in 38 whale during the voyage . Sank 8 . Struck 80 . Struck 32 the first season , saved 10 , sunk 4 , picked up 2 . Struck 48 whale second season , saved 25 , sunk 4 , picked up 1 . ''", "Rorqual Rorquals -LSB- ˈrɔrkwəl -RSB- ( Balaenopteridae ) are the largest group of baleen whales , a family with nine extant species in two genera . They include what is believed to be the largest animal that has ever lived , the blue whale , which can reach 180 t , and the fin whale , which reaches 120 t ; even the smallest of the group , the northern minke whale , reaches 9 t. Rorquals take their name from French rorqual , which derives from the Norwegian word , meaning `` rorqual-whale '' ( the first element røyr was a name for this type of whales , probably related to the Norse word for `` red '' ) . The family name , Balaenopteridae , is from the type genus , Balaenoptera .", "Oriental Bluebird The 8,725 ton Hiyo Maru was the largest member of the Japanese whaling fleet ; providing fuel , resources , and stock storage space for that fleet and its crew . In 1992 , it was renamed and re-flagged to Panama as the Oriental Bluebird . According to Greenpeace , after a dispute with the Panamanian Government in 2008 , it was de-flagged and re-registered to Japan . The Hiyo Maru served as the fuel tanker for Japan 's whaling fleet , and was alleged by Greenpeace to also transport whale meat . In August 2010 , the ship was sold to China to be scrapped .", "Tom Nevers, Nantucket Tom Never was a Native American born on the island of Nantucket circa 1725 . His birth name was originally very long and was shortened to Tom Never by the British settlers who hired him to be in charge of a whale lookout station around 1745 . This lookout station was located in the southeast corner of the island which was subsequently known as Tom Never 's Head . In later years the apostrophe was dropped and that part of Nantucket is now known as Tom Nevers Head or simply Tom Nevers . When whale oil began to be sold in great quantity around 1870 , the law at the time gave great tax advantages to companies owned by Native Americans . A group of local businessmen added Tom Nevers to their company and named their whale oil after him . Tom Nevers Whale Oil then became the first product given a trademark by the newly formed U.S. Trademark and Patent Office in 1871 . Category :1725 births", "Harriet Hoxie Harriet Hoxie was an 1851 clipper in the California trade . She was known for carrying cargoes of whale oil from Honolulu , and for importing the first Brown Leghorn chickens to the United States .", "Mister Splashy Pants Mister Splashy Pants , or Mr. Splashypants , is a humpback whale in the South Pacific Ocean . It is being tracked with a satellite tag by Greenpeace as a part of its Great Whale Trail Expedition , which was working to raise awareness about whales threatened by the Japanese Fisheries Agency 's plan to hunt 50 humpback whales . The whale 's name was chosen in an online poll that garnered attention from several websites , including Boing Boing and Reddit , quickly becoming an internet meme . Mister Splashy Pants became the subject of a TED Talk by Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian , titled `` How to make a splash in social media . ''", "Oil industry in Singapore The petroleum industry in Singapore is accountable for part of the country 's economy , exporting about 68,100,000 t of oil ( as of 2007 ) . Singapore is dubbed `` the undisputed oil hub in Asia '' , with the country 's oil industry responsible for five percent of the country 's gross domestic product ( GDP ) .", "Nine oils In the 19th century , the nine oils was a preparation , or liniment , which was rubbed into the skin to relieve aches , such as over bruises . The `` nine oils '' were apparently developed in veterinary medicine , for treating horses , but later was adopted for human medical use . According to one 19th-century druggists ' book , oils used in the preparation included : train oil ; that is , whale oil or the oil of the blubber of another marine mammal oil of turpentine oil of bricks , the oil obtained by the distillation of pieces of brick saturated with rapeseed oil or olive oil oil of amber spirit of camphor Barbados tar , a kind of greenish petroleum found in Barbados oil of vitriol ; that is , sulfuric acid However , it is certain that many `` nine oils '' preparations did not contain these ingredients , and in fact it is possible that the name `` nine oils '' never referred to any specific combination of compounds . The writer James Greenwood , in 1883 , put these words in the mouth of the street-doctor `` Dr. Quackinbosh '' , in his series of articles Toilers in London , by One of the Crowd , originally serialized in the Daily Telegraph : When I first started I worked Woolwich with my `` miraculous Nine Oils . '' Men who work at heavy lifting and hauling , and are likely to get strains and ricks of the back , have a superstitious belief in the `` Nine Oils . '' It is the same wherever you go . What are they ? what , the original Nine ? Blessed if I know , nor they do n't know either . But that do n't make any difference . I used to give 'em one -- sperm oil -- and call it the Nine .", "High North Alliance The High North Alliance ( Høge Nord Alliansen ) is an umbrella organisation of several fishing , whaling and Nordic municipal councils . The organisation objectives are , it says , `` to protect the rights of whalers , sealers and fishermen to harvest renewable resources in accordance with the principle of sustainable management . '' The alliance was founded in 1991 in response to calls from environmentalists to prohibit completely commercial whaling , and , from more radical groups , calls to prohibit the killing of marine mammals for any purpose . The alliance is organised by a governing committee of six members , three from Norway , and one each from the Faroe Islands , Greenland and Iceland . The alliance is funded by membership fees , and from grants from organisations such as the North Atlantic Marine Mammal Commission ( founded by Norway , Iceland , Greenland , and the Faroe Islands in 1992 ) and the Regional Development Committee for Northern Norway . Activities of the Alliance include lobbying the largely sympathetic Norwegian government for increases in Norway 's whaling quota , promoting studies into methods of more humane whaling , lobbying the International Whaling Commission into relaxing the whaling moratorium , and responding to campaigns from anti-whaling groups such as the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society and Greenpeace .", "Charles W. Morgan (ship) Charles W. Morgan is an American whaling ship built in 1841 whose active service period was during the 19th and early 20th centuries . Ships of this type were usually used to harvest the blubber of whales for whale oil , which was commonly used in lamps . The ship has served as a museum ship since the 1940s , and is now an exhibit at the Mystic Seaport museum in Mystic , Connecticut . She is the world 's oldest surviving merchant vessel , and the only surviving wooden whaling ship from the 19th century American merchant fleet . She was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1966 .", "Astra Agro Lestari Astra Agro Lestari ( AAL ) is an Indonesian palm oil company . It is a subsidiary of PT Astra International Tbk . At least in 2004 , it controlled extensive land banks . It has two concessions on peatlands in Riau , with an estimated total area of 20,000 hectares . According to Greenpeace , 2007 , it has seven concessions on peat in Central Kalimantan . Greenpeace also reported hotspots on five Astra Agro concessions in Riau , two of which were on peatlands . Joko Supriyono was or is a director at Astra Agro and secretary of a palm oil industry lobby group . He said companies had no choice , but to continue establishing plantations on restricted areas .", "Save Each Other, the Whales Are Doing Fine Save Each Other , the Whales Are Doing Fine is the debut studio album by American rock band Patent Pending . The original name of the CD was Save The Children , The Whales Are Doing Fine , but it was changed due to a threat to sue by the Save the Children Foundation . The title reflects the environmental concept of save the whales . Because the band did n't have the budget to fight their case in court , they were forced to change the name . Because of the changing of the name , and a few other minor legal and technical issues , the CD/DVD was pushed back one month . It came out on June 6 , instead of May 9 . The CD was released with a bonus DVD which was filmed on January 13 , 2006 at Alley Katz in Richmond , Virginia with some portions filmed on February 24 , 2006 at Calvary Lutheran Church in East Meadow , New York .", "Palm kernel The palm kernel is the edible seed of the oil palm fruit . The fruit yields two distinct oils : palm oil derived from the outer parts of the fruit , and palm kernel oil derived from the kernel . The pulp left after oil is rendered from the kernel is formed into `` palm kernel cake '' , used either as high-protein feed for dairy cattle or burned in boilers to generate electricity for palm oil mills and surrounding villages .", "Whale Cove, Nunavut Whale Cove ( ᑎᑭᕋᕐᔪᐊᖅ in Inuktitut syllabics ) ( Tikiraqjuaq , meaning `` long point '' ) , is a hamlet located 45 mi south of Rankin Inlet , 100 mi north of Arviat , in Kivalliq Region , Nunavut , Canada , on the western shore of Hudson Bay . The community is named for the many beluga whales which congregate off the coast . Many of the inhabitants hunt these whales every fall and use their by-products for their oil and food . Whale Cove , initially settled by three distinct Inuit groups ( one inland and two coastal ) , is a relatively traditional community : 99 % Inuit , who still wear fur , hunt , fish , eat raw meat and fish . Whale Cove is on the polar bear migration route . Local Inuit , regularly travel by snowmobile in the winter or by boat in summer months between the hamlet of Rankin Inlet and Whale Cove a distance of 100 km . The terrain is arctic tundra , this consists mostly of rocks , mosses and lichens . As of the 2016 census , the population was 435 , an increase of 6.9 % from the 2011 census .", "List of plants known as oil palm Oil palm refers to several palms that yield oil from fruit pulp and seeds , primarily Elaeis guineensis , the African oil palm , the major palm oil crop species but also : Attalea maripa , the maripa palm Cocus nucifera , the coconut palm , which yields coconut oil from its seeds Elaeis oleifera , the American oil palm The genus Elaeis , with just two species , E. guineensis and E. oleifera , referred to as the oil-palm genus", "Bioasphalt Bioasphalt is an asphalt alternative made from non-petroleum based renewable resources . These sources include sugar , molasses and rice , corn and potato starches , natural tree and gum resins , natural latex rubber and vegetable oils , lignin , cellulose , palm oil waste , coconut waste , peanut oil waste , canola oil waste , dried sewerage effluent and so on . Bitumen can also be made from waste vacuum tower bottoms produced in the process of cleaning used motor oils , which are normally burned or dumped into land fills . Non-petroleum based bitumen binders can be colored , which can reduce the temperatures of road surfaces and reduce the Urban heat islands .", "Whale Oil Row Whale Oil Row refers to four nearly identical high quality Greek Revival houses , standing side-by-side at 105-119 Huntington Street in New London , Connecticut . All four were built between 1835 and 1845 by Charles Henry Beebe , and three were owned by men directly involved in whaling ; the fourth was owned by a dry goods merchant . All four are distinguished by their two-story gabled porticos supported by fluted columns , with a semicircular window in the gable pediment . The first one ( 105 Huntington ) is slightly wider than the others , extending on either side of the front portico . This assembly of Greek temple front houses may be unique in the United States . The group of houses was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1970 .", "Mineral oil A mineral oil or paraffin oil is any of various colorless , odorless , light mixtures of higher alkanes from a mineral source , particularly a distillate of petroleum . The name mineral oil by itself is imprecise , having been used for many specific oils over the past few centuries . Other names , similarly imprecise , include white oil , liquid paraffin , paraffinum liquidum ( Latin ) , and liquid petroleum . Baby oil is a perfumed mineral oil . Most often , mineral oil is a liquid by-product of refining crude oil to make gasoline and other petroleum products . This type of mineral oil is a transparent , colorless oil composed mainly of alkanes and cycloalkanes , related to petroleum jelly . It has a density of around 0.8 g/cm3 . Mineral oil is a substance of relatively low value , and it is produced in very large quantities . Mineral oil is available in light and heavy grades , and can often be found in drug stores ." ]

[ "Attribution of recent climate change Attribution of recent climate change is the effort to scientifically ascertain mechanisms responsible for recent climate changes on Earth , commonly known as ` global warming ' . The effort has focused on changes observed during the period of instrumental temperature record , when records are most reliable ; particularly in the last 50 years , when human activity has grown fastest and observations of the troposphere have become available . The dominant mechanisms are anthropogenic , i.e. , the result of human activity . They are : increasing atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases global changes to land surface , such as deforestation increasing atmospheric concentrations of aerosols . There are also natural mechanisms for variation including climate oscillations , changes in solar activity , and volcanic activity . According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) , it is `` extremely likely '' that human influence was the dominant cause of global warming between 1951 and 2010 . The IPCC defines `` extremely likely '' as indicating a probability of 95 to 100 % , based on an expert assessment of all the available evidence . Multiple lines of evidence support attribution of recent climate change to human activities : A basic physical understanding of the climate system : greenhouse gas concentrations have increased and their warming properties are well-established . Historical estimates of past climate changes suggest that the recent changes in global surface temperature are unusual . Computer-based climate models are unable to replicate the observed warming unless human greenhouse gas emissions are included . Natural forces alone ( such as solar and volcanic activity ) can not explain the observed warming . The IPCC 's attribution of recent global warming to human activities is a view shared by the scientific community , and is also supported by 196 other scientific organizations worldwide ( see also : scientific opinion on climate change ) .", "Cosmic ray Cosmic rays are high-energy radiation , mainly originating outside the Solar System . Upon impact with the Earth 's atmosphere , cosmic rays can produce showers of secondary particles that sometimes reach the surface . Composed primarily of high-energy protons and atomic nuclei , they are of mysterious origin . Data from the Fermi Space Telescope ( 2013 ) have been interpreted as evidence that a significant fraction of primary cosmic rays originate from the supernovae explosions of stars . Active galactic nuclei probably also produce cosmic rays .", "Global warming Global warming , also referred to as climate change , is the observed century-scale rise in the average temperature of the Earth 's climate system and its related effects . Multiple lines of scientific evidence show that the climate system is warming . Many of the observed changes since the 1950s are unprecedented in the instrumental temperature record which extends back to the mid 19th century , and in paleoclimate proxy records over thousands of years . In 2013 , the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) Fifth Assessment Report concluded that `` It is extremely likely that human influence has been the dominant cause of the observed warming since the mid-20th century . '' The largest human influence has been emission of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide , methane and nitrous oxide . Climate model projections summarized in the report indicated that during the 21st century the global surface temperature is likely to rise a further 0.3 to for their lowest emissions scenario and 2.6 to for the highest emissions scenario . These findings have been recognized by the national science academies of the major industrialized nations and are not disputed by any scientific body of national or international standing . Future climate change and associated impacts will differ from region to region around the globe . Anticipated effects include warming global temperature , rising sea levels , changing precipitation , and expansion of deserts in the subtropics . Warming is expected to be greater over land than over the oceans and greatest in the Arctic , with the continuing retreat of glaciers , permafrost and sea ice . Other likely changes include more frequent extreme weather events including heat waves , droughts , heavy rainfall with floods and heavy snowfall ; ocean acidification ; and species extinctions due to shifting temperature regimes . Effects significant to humans include the threat to food security from decreasing crop yields and the abandonment of populated areas due to rising sea levels . Because the climate system has a large `` inertia '' and greenhouse gases will stay in the atmosphere for a long time , many of these effects will not only exist for decades or centuries , but will persist for tens of thousands of years . Possible societal responses to global warming include mitigation by emissions reduction , adaptation to its effects , building systems resilient to its effects , and possible future climate engineering . Most countries are parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change ( UNFCCC ) , whose ultimate objective is to prevent dangerous anthropogenic climate change . Parties to the UNFCCC have agreed that deep cuts in emissions are required and that global warming should be limited to well below 2.0 C-change relative to pre-industrial levels , with efforts made to limit warming to 1.5 C-change . Public reactions to global warming and concern about its effects are also increasing . A global 2015 Pew Research Center report showed a median of 54 % consider it `` a very serious problem '' . There are significant regional differences , with Americans and Chinese ( whose economies are responsible for the greatest annual CO2 emissions ) among the least concerned ." ]

[ "Scott Forbush Scott Ellsworth Forbush ( April 10 , 1904 -- April 4 , 1984 ) was an American astronomer , physicist and geophysicist who is recognized as having laid the observational foundations for many of the central features of solar-interplanetary-terrestrial physics , which at the time was an underdeveloped field of study . In 1937 Forbush discovered the Forbush Effect : an occasional decrease in the intensity of cosmic rays as observed on Earth that is caused by the solar wind and its interaction with the magnetosphere . Scott conducted most of his research during his career at the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism ( DTM ) of the Carnegie Institution of Washington where he was appointed chairman of a section on theoretical geophysics in 1957 . Forbush used statistical methods in analyses of magnetic storms , solar activity , rotation of the Earth , and the rotation of the sun , and the correlation of this geophysical and solar phenomena with temporal variations of cosmic-ray intensity . Scott was widowed once and married twice , the first time to Clara Lundell , a concert pianist who passed in 1967 , and for the second time in June 1970 , 14 years before his death , to Julie Daves , a science writer and watercolor artist . Scott passed in 1984 in Charlottesville , Virginia having suffered from pneumonia . He was survived by his wife Julie and his sister Louise Boyd of Hudson , Ohio .", "Jasper Kirkby Jasper Kirkby is a British experimental particle physicist currently with CERN . He originated the idea for the Tau-Charm Factory , an accelerator now under construction as BEPC II in Beijing . He has led several large particle accelerator experiments at SPEAR ; the Paul Scherrer Institute ; and most recently , the CLOUD experiment at CERN . The CLOUD experiment is investigating possible physical mechanisms for solar/cosmic ray forcing - a theory whereby cloud nucleation is affected by cosmic rays and the cosmic rays are affected by solar activity . The main purpose of the CLOUD experiment is to simulate the conditions under which clouds form in earth 's atmosphere -- specifically , the process by which cloud condensation nuclei form from aerosols in the atmosphere . Kirkby et al. published the results of CLOUD 's first experiment in the journal Nature in 2011 , reporting that cosmic rays `` seemed to enhance the production of nanometre-sized particles from the gaseous atmosphere by more than a factor of ten . '' He added , however , that the particles in question are far too small to serve as cloud condensation nuclei , adding , `` At the moment , it actually says nothing about a possible cosmic-ray effect on clouds and climate , but it 's a very important first step . ''", "Low field nuclear magnetic resonance Low field NMR spans a range of different nuclear magnetic resonance ( NMR ) modalities , going from NMR conducted in permanent magnets , supporting magnetic fields of a few T , all the way down to zero field NMR , where the Earth 's field is carefully shielded such that magnetic fields of nT are achieved where nuclear spin precession is close to zero . In a broad sense , `` Low-field NMR '' is the branch of nuclear magnetic resonance that is NOT conducted in superconducting high-field magnets . Low field NMR also includes Earth 's field NMR where simply the Earth 's field is exploited to cause nuclear spin-precession which is detected . With magnetic fields on the order of μT and below magnetometers such as SQUIDs or atomic magnetometers ( among others ) are used as detectors . `` Normal '' high field NMR relies on the detection of spin-precession with inductive detection with a simple coil . However , this detection modality becomes less sensitive as the magnetic field and the associated frequencies decrease . Hence the push toward alternative detection methods at very low fields .", "Cosmogenic nuclide Cosmogenic nuclides ( or cosmogenic isotopes ) are rare isotopes created when a high-energy cosmic ray interacts with the nucleus of an in situ Solar System atom , causing nucleons ( protons and neutrons ) to be expelled from the atom ( see cosmic ray spallation ) . These isotopes are produced within Earth materials such as rocks or soil , in Earth 's atmosphere , and in extraterrestrial items such as meteorites . By measuring cosmogenic isotopes , scientists are able to gain insight into a range of geological and astronomical processes . There are both radioactive and stable cosmogenic isotopes . Some of these radioisotopes are tritium , carbon-14 and phosphorus-32 . Certain light ( low atomic number ) primordial nuclides ( some isotopes of lithium , beryllium and boron ) are thought to have arisen not only during the Big Bang , and also ( and perhaps primarily ) to have been made after the Big Bang , but before the condensation of the Solar System , by the process of cosmic ray spallation on interstellar gas and dust . This explains their higher abundance in cosmic rays as compared with their ratios and abundances of certain other nuclides on Earth . This also explains the overabundance of the early transition metals just before iron in the periodic table ; the cosmic-ray spallation of iron thus produces Sc -- Cr on one hand and He -- B on the other . However , the arbitrary defining qualification for cosmogenic nuclides of being formed `` in situ in the Solar System '' ( meaning inside an already-aggregated piece of the Solar System ) prevents primordial nuclides formed by cosmic ray spallation before the formation of the Solar System , from being termed `` cosmogenic nuclides '' -- even though the mechanism for their formation is exactly the same . These same nuclides still arrive on Earth in small amounts in cosmic rays , and are formed in meteoroids , in the atmosphere , on Earth , `` cosmogenically . '' However , beryllium ( all of it stable beryllium-9 ) is present primordially in the Solar System in much larger amounts , having existed prior to the condensation of the Solar System , and thus present in the materials from which the Solar System formed . To make the distinction in another fashion , the timing of their formation determines which subset of cosmic ray spallation-produced nuclides are termed primordial or cosmogenic ( a nuclide can not belong to both classes ) . By convention , certain stable nuclides of lithium , beryllium , and boron are thought to have been produced by cosmic ray spallation in the period of time between the Big Bang and the Solar System 's formation ( thus making these primordial nuclides , by definition ) are not termed `` cosmogenic , '' even though they were formed by the same process as the cosmogenic nuclides ( although at an earlier time ) . The primordial nuclide beryllium-9 , the only stable beryllium isotope , is an example of this type of nuclide . In contrast , even though the radioactive isotopes beryllium-7 and beryllium-10 fall into this series of three light elements ( lithium , beryllium , boron ) formed mostly by cosmic ray spallation nucleosynthesis , both of these nuclides have half lives too short for them to have been formed before the formation of the Solar System , and thus they can not be primordial nuclides . Since the cosmic ray spallation route is the only possible source of beryllium-7 and beryllium-10 occurrence naturally in the environment , they are therefore cosmogenic .", "Low-pressure area A low-pressure area , low , or depression is a region where the topographic map is atmospheric pressure is lower than that of surrounding locations . Low-pressure systems form under areas of wind divergence that occur in the upper levels of the troposphere . The formation process of a low-pressure area is known as cyclogenesis . Within the field of meteorology , atmospheric divergence aloft occurs in two areas . The first area is on the east side of upper troughs , which form half of a Rossby wave within the Westerlies ( a trough with large wavelength that extends through the troposphere ) . A second area of wind divergence aloft occurs ahead of embedded shortwave troughs , which are of smaller wavelength . Diverging winds aloft ahead of these troughs cause atmospheric lift within the troposphere below , which lowers surface pressures as upward motion partially counteracts the force of gravity . Thermal lows form due to localized heating caused by greater sunshine over deserts and other land masses . Since localized areas of warm air are less dense than their surroundings , this warmer air rises , which lowers atmospheric pressure near that portion of the Earth 's surface . Large-scale thermal lows over continents help drive monsoon circulations . Low-pressure areas can also form due to organized thunderstorm activity over warm water . When this occurs over the tropics in concert with the Intertropical Convergence Zone , it is known as a monsoon trough . Monsoon troughs reach their northerly extent in August and their southerly extent in February . When a convective low acquires a well-hot circulation in the tropics it is termed a tropical cyclone . Tropical cyclones can form during any month of the year globally , but can occur in either the northern or southern hemisphere during November . Atmospheric lift will also generally produce cloud cover through adiabatic cooling once the air becomes saturated as it rises , although the low-pressure area typically brings cloudy skies , which act to minimize diurnal temperature extremes . Since clouds reflect sunlight , incoming shortwave solar radiation decreases , which causes lower temperatures during the day . At night the absorptive effect of clouds on outgoing longwave radiation , such as heat energy from the surface , allows for warmer diurnal low temperatures in all seasons . The stronger the area of low pressure , the stronger the winds experienced in its vicinity . Globally , low-pressure systems are most frequently located over the Tibetan Plateau and in the lee of the Rocky mountains . In Europe ( particularly in the United Kingdom ) , recurring low-pressure weather systems are typically known as `` depressions '' .", "Ultra-high-energy cosmic ray In astroparticle physics , an ultra-high-energy cosmic ray ( UHECR ) is a cosmic ray particle with a kinetic energy greater than eV , far beyond both the rest mass and energies typical of other cosmic ray particles . An extreme-energy cosmic ray ( EECR ) is an UHECR with energy exceeding ( about 8 joule ) , the so-called Greisen -- Zatsepin -- Kuzmin limit ( GZK limit ) . This limit should be the maximum energy of cosmic ray particles that have traveled long distances ( about 160 million light years ) , since higher-energy ray particles would have lost energy over that distance due to scattering from photons in the cosmic microwave background . It follows that EECR could not be survivors from the early universe but are cosmologically `` young '' , emitted somewhere in the Local Supercluster by some unknown physical process . These particles are extremely rare ; between 2004 and 2007 , the initial runs of the Pierre Auger Observatory ( PAO ) detected 27 events with estimated arrival energies above , i.e. , about one such event every four weeks in the 3000 km2 area surveyed by the observatory . There is evidence that these highest-energy cosmic rays might be iron nuclei , rather than the protons that make up most cosmic rays . The postulated ( hypothetical ) sources of EECR are known as Zevatrons , named in analogy to Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory 's Bevatron and Fermilab 's Tevatron , and therefore capable of accelerating particles to 1 ZeV ( 1021 eV , zetta-electronvolt ) . In 2004 there was a consideration of the possibility of galactic jets acting as Zevatrons , due to diffusive acceleration of particles caused by shock waves inside the jets . In particular , models suggested that shock waves from the nearby M87 galactic jet could accelerate an iron nucleus to ZeV ranges . In 2007 , PAO tentatively associated EECR with extragalactic supermassive black holes at the center of nearby galaxies called active galactic nuclei ( AGN ) . Extremely high energies might be explained also by the Centrifugal mechanism of acceleration in the magnetospheres of AGN . Although newer results indicate that fewer than 40 % of these cosmic rays seemed to be coming from the AGN , a much weaker correlation than previously reported . A more speculative suggestion by Grib and Pavlov ( 2007 , 2008 ) envisages the decay of superheavy dark matter by means of the Penrose process .", "Tyche (hypothetical planet) Tyche ( -LSB- ˈtaɪki -RSB- ) is a hypothetical gas giant located in the Solar System 's Oort cloud , first proposed in 1999 by astrophysicists John Matese , Patrick Whitman and Daniel Whitmire of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette . They argued that evidence of Tyche 's existence could be seen in a supposed bias in the points of origin for long-period comets . More recently , Matese and Whitmire re-evaluated the comet data and noted that Tyche , if it existed , would be detectable in the archive of data that was collected by NASA 's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer ( WISE ) telescope . In 2014 , NASA announced that the WISE survey had ruled out any object with Tyche 's characteristics , indicating that Tyche as hypothesized by Matese , Whitman , and Whitmire does not exist .", "Adiposogenital dystrophy Adiposogenital dystrophy is a condition which may be caused by tertiary hypogonadism originating from decreased levels in GnRH . Low levels of GnRH has been associated with defects of the feeding centers of the hypothalamus , leading to an increased consumption of food and thus caloric intake .", "Waalian interglacial The Waalian interglacial ( Waal-Warmzeit or Waal-Interglazial ) ( Zagwijn , 1960 ) was an interglacial in northern Europe that lasted from about 1.45 million to 1.20 million years ago . It thus lies entirely within the Old Pleistocene and is thus part of the Cenozoic . Its name is derived from a major branch of the Rhine delta , the Waal . The Waal warm period could correspond temporally to the Danube-Gunz interglacial of the northern Alpine Foreland . The warm period lies wholly within the Matuyama epoch , in which the earth 's magnetic field , with a few exceptions , had a different polarity from that today : the magnetic north pole ( actually corresponding to the magnetic south ) lay near the geographic south pole .", "Magnetic pole Magnetic pole may refer to : One of the two ends of a magnet Magnetic monopole , a hypothetical elementary particle The magnetic poles of astronomical bodies , a special case of magnets , especially : The North Magnetic Pole of planet Earth , a point where the north end of a compass points downward The South Magnetic Pole of planet Earth , a point where the south end of a compass points downward", "List of neutrino experiments This is a non-exhaustive list of neutrino experiments , neutrino detectors , and neutrino telescopes . Accelerator neutrino ( AC ) , Active galactic nuclei neutrino ( AGN ) , Atmospheric neutrino ( ATM ) , Cosmic ray neutrino ( CR ) , Low-energy solar neutrino ( LS ) , Low-energy supernova neutrino ( LSN ) , Pulsar neutrino ( PUL ) , Reactor neutrino ( R ) , Solar neutrino ( S ) , Supernova neutrino ( SN ) , Terrestrial neutrino ( T ) Double beta decay ( BB ) , Charged current ( CC ) , Elastic scattering ( ES ) , Neutral current ( NC )", "Teltron tube A teltron tube ( named for Teltron Inc. , which is now owned by 3B Scientific Ltd. ) is a type of cathode ray tube used to demonstrate the properties of electrons . There were several different types made by Teltron including a diode , a triode , a Maltese Cross tube , a simple deflection tube with a fluorescent screen , and one which could be used to measure the charge to mass ratio of an electron . The latter two contained an electron gun with deflecting plates . The beams can be bent by applying voltages to various electrodes in the tube or by holding a magnet close by . The electron beams are visible as fine bluish lines . This is accomplished by filling the tube with low pressure helium ( He ) or Hydrogen ( H2 ) gas . A few of the electrons in the beam collide with the helium atoms , causing them to fluoresce and emit light . They are usually used to teach electromagnetic effects because they show how an electron beam is affected by electric fields and by magnetic fields like the Lorentz force .", "Earth's field NMR Nuclear magnetic resonance ( NMR ) in the geomagnetic field is conventionally referred to as Earth 's field NMR ( EFNMR ) . EFNMR is a special case of low field NMR . When a sample is placed in a constant magnetic field and stimulated ( perturbed ) by a time-varying ( e.g. , pulsed or alternating ) magnetic field , NMR active nuclei resonate at characteristic frequencies . Examples of such NMR active nuclei are the isotopes carbon-13 and hydrogen-1 ( which in NMR is conventionally known as proton NMR ) . The resonant frequency of each isotope is directly proportional to the strength of the applied magnetic field , and the magnetogyric or gyromagnetic ratio of that isotope . The signal strength is proportional both to the stimulating magnetic field and the number of nuclei of that isotope in the sample . Thus in the 21 tesla magnetic field that may be found in high resolution laboratory NMR spectrometers , protons resonate at 900 MHz . However , in the Earth 's magnetic field the same nuclei resonate at audio frequencies of around 2 kHz and generate very weak signals . The location of a nucleus within a complex molecule affects the ` chemical environment ' ( i.e. the rotating magnetic fields generated by the other nuclei ) experienced by the nucleus . Thus different hydrocarbon molecules containing NMR active nuclei in different positions within the molecules produce slightly different patterns of resonant frequencies . EFNMR signals can be affected by both magnetically noisy laboratory environments and natural variations in the Earth 's field , which originally compromised its usefulness . However this disadvantage has been overcome by the introduction of electronic equipment which compensates changes in ambient magnetic fields . Whereas chemical shifts are important in NMR , they are insignificant in the Earth 's field . The absence of chemical shifts causes features such as spin-spin multiplets ( that are separated by high fields ) to be superimposed in EFNMR . Instead , EFNMR spectra are dominated by spin-spin coupling ( J-coupling ) effects . Software optimised for analysing these spectra can provide useful information about the structure of the molecules in the sample .", "Future of Earth The biological and geological future of Earth can be extrapolated based upon the estimated effects of several long-term influences . These include the chemistry at Earth 's surface , the rate of cooling of the planet 's interior , the gravitational interactions with other objects in the Solar System , and a steady increase in the Sun 's luminosity . An uncertain factor in this extrapolation is the ongoing influence of technology introduced by humans , such as climate engineering , which could cause significant changes to the planet . The current Holocene extinction is being caused by technology and the effects may last for up to five million years . In turn , technology may result in the extinction of humanity , leaving the planet to gradually return to a slower evolutionary pace resulting solely from long-term natural processes . Over time intervals of hundreds of millions of years , random celestial events pose a global risk to the biosphere , which can result in mass extinctions . These include impacts by comets or asteroids with diameters of 5 -- or more , and the possibility of a massive stellar explosion , called a supernova , within a 100-light-year radius of the Sun , called a Near-Earth supernova . Other large-scale geological events are more predictable . If the long-term effects of global warming are disregarded , Milankovitch theory predicts that the planet will continue to undergo glacial periods at least until the Quaternary glaciation comes to an end . These periods are caused by variations in eccentricity , axial tilt , and precession of the Earth 's orbit . As part of the ongoing supercontinent cycle , plate tectonics will probably result in a supercontinent in 250 -- 350 million years . Some time in the next 1.5 -- 4.5 billion years , the axial tilt of the Earth may begin to undergo chaotic variations , with changes in the axial tilt of up to 90 ° . During the next four billion years , the luminosity of the Sun will steadily increase , resulting in a rise in the solar radiation reaching the Earth . This will result in a higher rate of weathering of silicate minerals , which will cause a decrease in the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere . In about 600 million years from now , the level of CO2 will fall below the level needed to sustain C3 carbon fixation photosynthesis used by trees . Some plants use the C4 carbon fixation method , allowing them to persist at concentrations as low as 10 parts per million . However , the long-term trend is for plant life to die off altogether . The extinction of plants will be the demise of almost all animal life , since plants are the base of the food chain on Earth . In about one billion years , the solar luminosity will be 10 % higher than at present . This will cause the atmosphere to become a `` moist greenhouse '' , resulting in a runaway evaporation of the oceans . As a likely consequence , plate tectonics will come to an end , and with them the entire carbon cycle . Following this event , in about 2 − 3 billion years , the planet 's magnetic dynamo may cease , causing the magnetosphere to decay and leading to an accelerated loss of volatiles from the outer atmosphere . Four billion years from now , the increase in the Earth 's surface temperature will cause a runaway greenhouse effect , heating the surface enough to melt it . By that point , all life on the Earth will be extinct . The most probable fate of the planet is absorption by the Sun in about 7.5 billion years , after the star has entered the red giant phase and expanded to cross the planet 's current orbit .", "Contribution to global warming by Australia Australia has one of the highest per capita emissions of carbon dioxide in the world , with 0.3 % of the world 's population it produces 1.8 % of the world 's greenhouse gasses . It was 18.3 tonnes per year per person and the 11th highest in the world per capita in 2009 . Australia uses principally coal power ( 70 % ) for electricity , with the remainder mainly gas , with no nuclear , low levels of hydro power , and low , but increasing , levels of solar , wind and wave power .", "Supply shock A supply shock is an event that suddenly increases or decreases the supply of a commodity or service , or of commodities and services in general . This sudden change affects the equilibrium price of the good or service or the economy 's general price level . In the short run , an economy-wide negative supply shock will shift the aggregate supply curve leftward , decreasing the output and increasing the price level . For example , the imposition of an embargo on trade in oil would cause an adverse supply shock , since oil is a key factor of production for a wide variety of goods . A supply shock can cause stagflation due to a combination of rising prices and falling output . In the short run , an economy-wide positive supply shock will shift the aggregate supply curve rightward , increasing output and decreasing the price level . A positive supply shock could be an advance in technology ( a technology shock ) which makes production more efficient , thus increasing output .", "Phaeton (hypothetical planet) Phaeton ( or Phaëton , less often Phaethon ) is the hypothetical planet posited to have existed between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter whose destruction supposedly led to the formation of the asteroid belt . The hypothetical planet was named for Phaethon , the son of the sun god Helios in Greek mythology , who attempted to drive his father 's solar chariot for a day with disastrous results and was ultimately destroyed by Zeus . The asteroid 3200 Phaethon , sometimes incorrectly spelled Phaeton , is a Mercury - , Venus - , Earth - , and Mars-orbit crossing Apollo asteroid with unusual properties .", "Hypothetical mood Hypothetical mood ( abbreviated ) is an epistemic grammatical mood found in some languages ( for example Lakota ) which indicates that while a statement is not actually true , it could easily have been . For instance , in English , `` You know you should n't play with knives ! You could have hurt someone ! '' conveys a meaning that would be expressed with the hypothetical mood in Lakota .", "Vorton A vorton is a hypothetical circular cosmic string loop stabilized by the angular momentum of the charge and current trapped on the string . For a recent review article of cosmic strings see .", "Magnetic propulsion Magnetic propulsion may refer to : Magnetic sail , a proposed method of spacecraft propulsion which would use a magnetic field to deflect solar wind Linear synchronous motor , a linear motor that uses synchronized electromagnetic pulses to propel a magnetic `` rotor '' Linear induction motor , a linear motor that uses a linearly moving magnetic field acting on conductors within the field to produce force Railgun , an electrically powered electromagnetic projectile launcher Maglev , a transport method that uses magnetic levitation to move vehicles without touching the ground", "Hypothetical protein In biochemistry , a hypothetical protein is a protein whose existence has been predicted , but for which there is a lack of experimental evidence that it is expressed in vivo . Sequencing of several genomes has resulted in numerous predicted open reading frames to which functions can not be readily assigned . These proteins , either orphan or conserved hypothetical proteins , make up ~ 20 % to 40 % of proteins encoded in each newly sequenced genome . Even when there is enough evidence that the product of the gene is expressed , by techniques such as microarray and mass-spectrometry , it is difficult to assign a function to it given its lack of identity to protein sequences with annotated biochemical function . Nowadays , most protein sequences are inferred from computational analysis of genomic DNA sequence . Hypothetical proteins are created by gene prediction software during genome analysis . When the bioinformatic tool used for the gene identification finds a large open reading frame without a characterised homologue in the protein database , it returns `` hypothetical protein '' as an annotation remark . The function of a hypothetical protein can be predicted by domain homology searches with various confidence levels . Conserved domains are available in the hypothetical proteins which need to be compared with the known family domains by which hypothetical protein could be classified into particular protein families even though they have not been in vivo investigated . The function of hypothetical protein could also be predicted by homology modelling , in which hypothetical protein has to align with known protein sequence whose three dimensional structure is known and by modelling method if structure predicted then the capability of hypothetical protein to function could be ascertained computationally . Further , approaches to annotate function to hypothetical proteins include determination of 3-dimensional structure of these proteins by structural genomics initiatives , understanding the nature and mode of prosthetic group/metal ion binding , fold similarity with other proteins of known functions and annotating possible catalytic site and regulatory site . Structure prediction with biochemical function assessment by screening for various substrate is another promising approach to annotate function", "Magnetogram The term magnetogram has two meanings , used separately in the contexts of magnetic fields of the Sun and the Earth . In the context of the magnetic field of the Sun , the term magnetogram refers to a pictorial representation of the spatial variations in strength of the solar magnetic field . Magnetograms are often produced by exploiting the Zeeman effect ( or , in some cases , the Hanle effect ) , which George Ellery Hale employed in the first demonstration that sunspots were magnetic in origin , in 1908 . Solar magnetograms are produced by suitably instrumented telescopes referred to as magnetographs . Some magnetographs can only measure the component of the magnetic field along the line of sight from the observer to the source ( the field 's `` longitudinal '' component ) . One example of such a `` line-of-sight '' or `` longitudinal '' magnetograph is the Michelson Doppler Imager ( MDI ) , a scientific instrument that takes magnetograms of the Sun in order to measure velocity and magnetic fields in the Sun 's photosphere to learn about the convection zone and about the magnetic fields which control the structure of the solar corona . A vector magnetograph also measures the component of the magnetic field perpendicular to the line of sight ( the field 's `` transverse '' component ) , from which all three components of the magnetic field vector can be deduced . Two examples include the National Solar Observatory 's SOLIS instrument and the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager aboard NASA 's Solar Dynamics Observatory satellite . In the context of geophysics , a magnetogram is a measurement of temporal variation the local strength and direction of the geomagnetic field . Such magnetograms have existed since Victorian times , and the British Geological Survey has preserved records from the 1850s , showing the effects of the 1859 Carrington Event , the worst magnetic storm known to have hit Earth .", "Photino A photino is a hypothetical subatomic particle , the fermion WIMP superpartner of the photon predicted by supersymmetry . It is an example of a gaugino . Even though no photino has ever been observed so far , it is expected to be the lightest stable particle in the universe . It is proposed that photinos are produced by sources of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays .", "Fifth planet Fifth planet may refer to : Jupiter , the fifth planet from the Sun in the Solar system Fifth planet ( hypothetical ) , any of various hypothetical planets thought to have existed Fifth Planet ( novel ) , a science fiction novel by Fred and Geoffrey Hoyle Planet V , a scientific proposal in 2002 for a destroyed fifth planet Mars , the fifth planet from Earth in the Ptolemaic geocentric model Ceres ( dwarf planet ) , the dwarf planet orbiting between Mars and Jupiter in the asteroid belt", "Extraordinary assumptions and hypothetical conditions In the field of real estate appraisal , extraordinary assumptions and hypothetical conditions are two closely related types of assumptions which are made as predicating conditions of an appraisal problem . Under the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice ( USPAP ) , they are two of the assignment conditions on which an appraisal assignment is predicated , the others being general assumptions , laws & regulations , supplemental standards , jurisdictional exceptions , and other conditions affecting scope of work . Making the distinction between the two is important when compiling or reporting appraisals in the United States or other jurisdictions where USPAP is considered the professional standard because USPAP has different specific disclosure requirements for each in an appraisal report and specifies different conditions under which each can be made . An assumption is a statement or condition that is presumed or assumed to be true and from which a conclusion can be drawn . USPAP defines an assumption as `` that which is taken to be true '' . An extraordinary assumption is an assumption which if found to be false could alter the resulting opinion or conclusion . A hypothetical condition is an assumption made contrary to fact , but which is assumed for the purpose of discussion , analysis , or formulation of opinions . The distinction between the two lies in the potential veracity of the assumption . A hypothetical condition assumes a condition which is known to be contrary to fact whereas an extraordinary assumption assumes a condition or a fact which is merely unknown or uncertain . The results of an analysis involving any hypothetical conditions are known to not be reflective of what exists because the assumptions on which they are predicated are contrary to fact . The results of an analysis involving extraordinary assumptions are only potentially not reflective of what exists to the extent of the uncertainty underlying the assumptions on which the analysis or opinions are predicated .", "X-ray background The observed X-ray background is thought to result from , at the `` soft '' end ( below 0.3 keV ) , galactic X-ray emission , the `` galactic '' X-ray background , and , at the `` hard '' end ( above 0.3 keV ) , from a combination of many unresolved X-ray sources outside of the Milky Way , the `` cosmic '' X-ray background ( CXB ) . The galactic X-ray background is produced largely by emission from hot gas in the Local Bubble within 100 parsecs of the Sun . Deep surveys with X-ray telescopes , such as the Chandra X-ray Observatory , have demonstrated that around 80 % of the cosmic X-ray background is due to resolved extra-galactic X-ray sources , the bulk of which are unobscured ( `` type-1 '' ) and obscured ( `` type-2 '' ) active galactic nuclei ( AGN ) .", "CO-0.40-0.22 CO-0 .40 -0.22 is a high velocity compact gas cloud near the centre of the Milky Way . It is 200 light years away from the centre in the central molecular zone . The cloud is in the shape of ellipse . The differences in the velocity , termed velocity dispersion , of the gas is unusually high at 100 km/s . The velocity dispersion may be due to an intermediate-mass black hole with a mass of about 100,000 solar masses . If it exists , this black hole would be the second largest known in the Milky Way . The molecular cloud has a mass of 4,000 solar masses . It is located at -0.40 ° , -0.22 ° galactic longitude and latitude . The cloud is 0.2 ° away from Sgr C to the galactic southeast . The gas is moving away from Earth at speeds ranging from 20 to 120 km/s . The spectral lines of carbon monoxide reveal that the gas is dense , and warm and fairly opaque . The gas cloud includes carbon monoxide and hydrogen cyanide molecules . Other molecules detected via microwave spectroscopy include cyanoacetylene , cyclopropenylidene , methanol , silicon monoxide , sulfur monoxide , carbon monosulfide , Thioformaldehyde , Hydrogen isocyanide , Formamide , and ions H2N + and HCO + . The name followed the precedent set by CO-0 .02 -0.02 , which is another high velocity compact cloud in the central molecular zone . Another example of this naming convention is CO -- 0.30 -- 0.07 .", "Explorer 7 Explorer 7 was launched October 13 , 1959 at 10:36 a.m. Eastern Time by a Juno II rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station to an orbit of 573 km by 1073 km and inclination of 50.27 ° . It was designed to measure solar x-ray and Lyman-alpha flux , trapped energetic particles , and heavy primary cosmic rays . Also Secondary objectives included collecting data on micrometeoroid penetration and molecular sputtering and studying the Earth-atmosphere heat balance . Launch was originally scheduled for late September 1959 , but the mission was delayed for a week after a Jupiter IRBM test on an adjacent pad failed shortly after liftoff , causing flying debris to hit Explorer 7 's launch vehicle . However , the damage to the booster was minor and could be easily repaired . Significantly , it also carried Verner Suomi 's flat-plate radiometer , improved with the help of Robert Parent , that took the first Earth radiation budget measurements from space and initiated the era of satellite studies of the climate . Using both satellite observations of the Earth 's heat balance and atmospheric cooling rates measured by net flux radiosondes , Suomi established the important role played by clouds in absorbing radiated solar energy . These observations established that Earth 's energy budget varies markedly due to the effect of clouds , the surface albedo , and other absorbing constituents . Using these instruments , Suomi and his team discovered that the Earth absorbed more of the Sun 's energy than originally thought and demonstrated that it was possible to measure and quantify seasonal changes in the global heat budget . The satellite weighed 41.5 kg , was 75 cm high and 75 cm wide . Powered by solar cells it also carried 15 nickel-cadmium batteries around its equator . It transmitted data continuously through to February 1961 and went dead on August 24 , 1961 . It is still in orbit .", "First planet First planet may refer to : Mercury ( planet ) , the first planet from the Sun Moon , the first planet from Earth in the Ptolemaic geocentric model Vulcan ( hypothetical planet ) , a hypothetical planet formerly believed to exist within Mercury 's orbit", "Juan Gualterio Roederer Juan G. Roederer is a professor of physics emeritus at the University of Alaska Fairbanks ( UAF ) . His research fields are space physics , psychoacoustics , science policy and information theory . He conducted pioneering research on solar cosmic rays , on the theory of earth 's radiation belts , neural networks for pitch processing , and currently on the foundations of information theory . He is also an accomplished organist .", "Cosmic dust Cosmic dust , or Extraterrestrial dust , is dust which exists in outer space , as well as all over planet Earth . Most cosmic dust particles are between a few molecules to 0.1 µm in size . A smaller fraction of all dust in space consists of larger refractory minerals that condensed as matter left the stars . It is called `` stardust '' and is included in a separate section below . The dust density falling to Earth is approximately 10 − 6/m3 with each grain having a mass between 10 − 16kg ( 0.1 pg ) and 10 − 4 kg ( 100 mg ) . Cosmic dust can be further distinguished by its astronomical location : intergalactic dust , interstellar dust , interplanetary dust ( such as in the zodiacal cloud ) and circumplanetary dust ( such as in a planetary ring ) . In the Solar System , interplanetary dust causes the zodiacal light . Sources of Solar System dust include comet dust , asteroidal dust , dust from the Kuiper belt , and interstellar dust passing through the Solar System . The terminology has no specific application for describing materials found on the planet Earth except for dust that has demonstrably fallen to Earth . By one estimate , as much as 40,000 tons of cosmic dust reaches the Earth 's surface every year . In October 2011 , scientists reported that cosmic dust contains complex organic matter ( amorphous organic solids with a mixed aromatic -- aliphatic structure ) that could be created naturally , and rapidly , by stars . In August 2014 , scientists announced the collection of possible interstellar dust particles from the Stardust spacecraft since returning to Earth in 2006 . In March 2017 , scientists reported that extraterrestrial dust particles have been identified all over planet Earth . According to one of the researchers , `` Once I knew what to look for , I found them everywhere . ''", "Satellite flare Satellite flare , also known as satellite glint , is the visible phenomenon caused by the reflective surfaces of passing satellites ( such as antennas , SAR or solar panels ) , reflecting sunlight toward the Earth below and appearing as a brief , bright `` flare '' . The Iridium constellation with 66 active telecommunication satellites in low Earth orbit are known to cause the brightest flares of all orbiting satellites ." ]

[ "Renewable energy in the United States Renewable energy in the United States accounted for 13.44 percent of the domestically produced electricity in 2015 , and 11.1 percent of total energy generation . As of 2016 , more than 260,000 people work in the solar industry and 43 states deploy net metering , where energy utilities buy back excess power generated by solar arrays . Renewable energy reached a major milestone in the first quarter of 2011 , when it contributed 11.7 percent of total U.S. energy production ( 2.245 quadrillion BTU of energy ) , surpassing energy production from nuclear power ( 2.125 quadrillion BTU ) . 2011 was the first year since 1997 that renewables exceeded nuclear in US total energy production . Hydroelectric power is currently the largest producer of renewable power in the U.S. . It produced around 6.14 % of the nation 's total electricity in 2015 which was 45.71 % of the total renewable power in the U.S. . The United States is the fourth largest producer of hydroelectricity in the world after China , Canada and Brazil . The Grand Coulee Dam is the 5th largest hydroelectric power station in the world . U.S. wind power installed capacity now exceeds 72,000 MW and supplies 4.1 % of the nation 's electricity . Texas is firmly established as the leader in wind power development , followed by Iowa and California . Since the U.S. pioneered the technology in 1981 with Solar One , several solar thermal power stations have also been built . The largest of these solar thermal power stations are the Ivanpah Solar Power Facility ( 392 MW ) , southwest of Las Vegas , and the SEGS group of plants in the Mojave Desert , with a total generating capacity of 354 MW . Large photovoltaic power plants in the USA include Solar Star ( 579 MW ) , near Rosamond , California , the Desert Sunlight Solar Farm , a 550 MW solar power plant in Riverside County , California and the Topaz Solar Farm , a 550 MW photovoltaic power plant , in San Luis Obispo County , California . The Geysers in Northern California is the largest complex of geothermal energy production in the world . The development of renewable energy and energy efficiency marks `` a new era of energy exploration '' in the United States , according to President Barack Obama . In a joint address to the Congress on February 24 , 2009 , President Obama called for doubling renewable energy within the next three years . In his 2012 State of the Union address , President Barack Obama restated his commitment to renewable energy and mentioned the long-standing Interior Department commitment to permit 10,000 MW of renewable energy projects on public land in 2012 .", "Georgia (U.S. state) Georgia ( -LSB- ˈdʒɔrdʒə -RSB- ) is a state in the southeastern United States . It began as a British colony in 1733 , the last of the original Thirteen Colonies . Named after King George II of Great Britain , the Province of Georgia covered the area from South Carolina down to Spanish Florida and New France along La Louisiane , also bordering to the west towards the Mississippi River . Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution , on January 2 , 1788 . In 1802-1804 , western Georgia was split to the Mississippi Territory , which later split to form Alabama with part of former West Florida in 1819 . Georgia declared its secession from the Union on January 19 , 1861 , and was one of the original seven Confederate states . It was the last state to be restored to the Union , on July 15 , 1870 . Georgia is the 24th largest and the 8th most populous of the 50 United States . From 2007 to 2008 , 14 of Georgia 's counties ranked among the nation 's 100 fastest-growing , second only to Texas . Georgia is known as the Peach State and the Empire State of the South . Atlanta is the state 's capital , its most populous city , and has been named a global city . Georgia is bordered to the south by Florida , to the east by the Atlantic Ocean and South Carolina , to the west by Alabama , and to the north by Tennessee and North Carolina . The state 's northern part is in the Blue Ridge Mountains , part of the Appalachian Mountains system . The Piedmont extends through the central part of the state from the foothills of the Blue Ridge to the Fall Line , where the rivers cascade down in elevation to the coastal plain of the state 's southern part . Georgia 's highest point is Brasstown Bald at 4784 ft above sea level ; the lowest is the Atlantic Ocean . Georgia is the largest state entirely east of the Mississippi River in land area .", "Solar power in the United States Solar power in the United States includes utility-scale solar power plants as well as local distributed generation , mostly from rooftop photovoltaics . As of the end of 2016 , the U.S. had 40 gigawatts ( GW ) of installed photovoltaic capacity , having almost doubled in capacity from the previous year . In the twelve months through March 2017 , utility scale solar power generated 38.3 terawatt-hours ( TWh ) , 0.94 % of total U.S. electricity . During the same time period total solar generation , including estimated distributed solar photovoltaic generation , was 59.8 TWh , 1.47 % of total U.S. electricity . In terms of total installed capacity , by year end 2015 the USA ranked 4th in the world behind China , Germany , and Japan . In 2016 , 39 % of all new electricity generation capacity in the country came from solar , more than any other source and ahead of natural gas ( 29 % ) . By 2015 , solar employment had overtaken oil and gas as well as coal employment in the U.S. The United States conducted much early research in photovoltaics and concentrated solar power . The U.S. is among the top countries in the world in electricity generated by the Sun and several of the world 's largest utility-scale installations are located in the desert Southwest . The oldest solar power plant in the world is the 354-megawatt ( MW ) SEGS thermal power plant , in California . The Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System is a solar thermal power project in the California Mojave Desert , 40 miles ( 64 km ) southwest of Las Vegas , with a gross capacity of 392 MW . The 280 MW Solana Generating Station is a solar power plant near Gila Bend , Arizona , about 70 mi southwest of Phoenix , completed in 2013 . When commissioned it was the largest parabolic trough plant in the world and the first U.S. solar plant with molten salt thermal energy storage . There are plans to build many other large solar plants in the United States . Many states have set individual renewable energy goals with solar power being included in various proportions . Governor Jerry Brown has signed legislation requiring California 's utilities to obtain 50 percent of their electricity from renewable energy sources by the end of 2030 ." ]

[ "Solar power in Georgia (U.S. state) Solar power in Georgia on rooftops can provide 31 % of all electricity used in Georgia . Net metering is limited to 100 kW for non-residential consumers and 10 kW for residential consumers , up to 0.2 % of previous years peak demand . Georgia was given an F for net metering . Georgia is not a Net Metering State . The state 's first solar community is located at Weatherford Place in Roswell . All homes are LEED Certified Platinum and monitored . The solar generation is compared to GP totals each month . The past 6 years of data monitoring show that GP meter consistently records less produced power . GP does not pay `` time of day rates '' as do many other states and also requires the homeowner to sign over all `` environmental attributes '' -LSB- solar renewable energy credits or SRECs -RSB- if the homeowner chooses to sell back all solar energy . Similar results are being seen at a Zero Net Energy home -LSB- the architectural design and training was a pro-bono project of Cadmus Design-Build and is being monitored by UGA -RSB- located in Tifton , GA. . In other states such as California , New Jersey , New York , North Carolina , Pennsylvania , etc -RSB- the accumulated SRECs can be sold by the owner of the system . Georgia does not allow the sale of SRECs . Georgia Power is also charging the homeowner tax on the solar energy that is sold back to GP . According to the Database of State Incentives for Renewable Energy , Renewable energy is not taxable . Georgia Power has a solar purchase program , SP-1 , for up to 100 kW systems which pays 17 cents / kWh . A second meter is installed for the solar generation , all of which is purchased by Georgia Power . The consumer then purchases back any electricity consumed as if they did not have solar power . The program has an aggregate limit of 4.4 MW and is fully subscribed , but will be expanded as consumers purchase `` Premium Green Energy '' , for an additional $ 5.00 / 100kWh . Once a consumer enters the program there is no reason to also purchase green energy , as doing so would reduce the 17 cent payment to 12 cents . By comparison , Ontario paid 80 cents Canadian/kWh , and Germany $ 34.05 cents / kWh , both with 20 year contracts , vs. the 5 year contract from Georgia Power . Long term power agreements are essential to renewable energy projects , as you pay upfront for 25 years of electricity - the `` fuel '' , the sun or wind , is free , and most of the cost of wind power or solar power is the installation cost . Approved by the state 's Public Service Commission in 2012 and significantly expanded in the following year , Georgia Power 's ` Advanced Solar Initiative ' is expected to bring online 865 MW of solar capacity by the end of 2016 . In 1982 the country 's largest industrial solar installation was completed , the 400 kW Solar Total Energy Project , which operated until 1991 . The $ 5 million 1 MW Spectro PowerCap on the Hickory Ridge Landfill near Atlanta was one of Georgia 's largest solar arrays , when it was completed in October 2011 . Another 1MW solar farm in Blairsville was completed in January 2011 . A 30 MW solar farm is being developed in Social Circle , and is expected to be completed in 2015 . In 2011 , Georgia was one of three states being considered for a 400 MW solar park , to consist of 20 20 MW sections . Other states being considered were Florida and North Carolina . Gadsden County , Florida , was chosen . The company , National Solar , is planning 3,000 MW of solar farms in the Southeast .", "Garry Baverstock Garry Frederick Baverstock ( born 1949 ) is an Australian Perth-based architect , property developer , author and scientist , specialising in energy efficient building design . He was one of the pioneers of sustainable architecture in Australia , championing passive solar design of buildings and the use of solar energy . The founder of Ecotect Architects in 1969 , he is a professor and Built Environment Program Manager of the Research Institute of Sustainable Energy at Murdoch University in Perth . He became president of the International Solar Energy Society in Western Australia after holding the position of Honorary Secretary from 1979-1986 . His work is primarily involved with solar energy design and promoting green urbanism . He has designed over 700 solar houses in all climates throughout Australia . Along with his wife Julia Hayes , he designed the eco-friendly Swanbourne Business Centre in Swanbourne . Baverstock has received numerous awards , including The Order of Australia in public recognition of his environmental and philanthropic achievements . In 2008 it was reported that Baverstock presented a $ A500 ,000 rescue package to community television station Access 31 . He was made a Life Fellow of the Australian Institute of Architects . He is co-founder and director of the solar energy website solar-e . com .", "Florida Amendment 1 (2016) Florida Amendment 1 , whose full title is Rights of Electricity Consumers Regarding Solar Energy Choice , Amendment 1 , is a 2016 constitutional amendment on solar energy in the U.S. state of Florida . It is supported by Consumers for Smart Solar and opposed by Floridians for Solar Choice . The amendment has been called misleading by opponents .", "Solar hot water in Australia Solar hot water is water heated using natural energy from the sun . Solar energy heats up large panels called thermal collectors . The energy is transferred through a fluid ( often water ) to a reservoir tank for storage and subsequent use . It is then used to heat water for commercial or domestic use and also as an energy input for heating and cooling devices and for industrial ` process heat ' applications . Solar hot water systems are motivated by the desire to reduce energy consumption more specifically , to reduce a significant source of greenhouse gas emissions . In the case of Victoria , for example , converting from electric to solar hot water could save 20 % of the state 's total greenhouse gas emissions . Despite an excellent solar resource , the penetration of solar water heaters in the Australian domestic market is only about 4 % or 5 % , with new dwellings accounting for most sales . During the 1950s , Australia 's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation ( CSIRO ) carried out world leading research into flat plate solar water heaters . A solar water heater manufacturing industry was subsequently established in Australia and a large proportion of the manufactured product was exported . Four of the original companies are still in business and the manufacturing base has now expanded to 24 companies . Water heating is the largest single source of greenhouse gas emissions from the average Australian home , accounting for around 28 per cent of home energy use ( excluding the family car ) . The Australian government estimates that installing a climate friendly hot water system can save a family $ 300 to $ 700 off electricity bills each year .", "Energy consumption measurement Energy consumption measurement is done in varying units . In List of countries by energy consumption per capita , the data is given in kilogrammes of oil equivalent per year -LSB- kgoe/a -RSB- , and gigajoules per year , and in watts , as average equivalent power . 1000 kgoe = 42 GJ W per capita ( 1 GJ/a = 31.7 W ) ( multiply by 8.766 to get kWh/year ) Megawatt hours per year can be written as Watt : 1 MW · h/yr = 1 000 kWh/yr = 1 000 000 Wh / ( 365.25 · 24 ) h = 114.077116 Watt Category : Energy measurement Category : Energy consumption", "Energy Consumers Relief Act of 2013 The Energy Consumers Relief Act of 2013 is a bill that would require the Environmental Protection Agency ( EPA ) to submit reports to both the United States Congress and the United States Department of Energy whenever it tried to implement a new regulation that would have significant compliance costs ( an impact of over $ 1 billion ) . The Department of Energy and Congress would then have the option of stopping or altering what the EPA proposed to do . According to a report about the bill from the United States House Committee on Energy and Commerce , the bill `` provides for greater checks and balances over EPA 's rulemaking activity by requiring , before the agency finalizes new energy-related rules estimated to cost more than $ 1 billion , that the agency submit a report to Congress providing information detailing certain cost , benefit , energy price , and job impacts , and also that the Secretary of Energy , in consultation with other relevant agencies , conduct a review of the energy price , reliability , and other energy-related impacts , and make a determination about whether the rule will cause significant adverse effects to the economy . '' The bill was introduced into the United States House of Representatives during the 113th United States Congress .", "Vanir Energy Vanir Energy is a renewable energy company located in Fletcher , North Carolina . Vanir Energy completed the largest solar heating and cooling project in the world in February 2009 . http://www.solarthermalworld.org/node/406 Installed on Fletcher Business Park , Vanir used 640 solar thermal collectors and 2 - 150 ton adsorption chillers from Japan for the project . Category : Solar energy companies of the United States Category : Renewable energy in the United States", "List of books about renewable energy This is a bibliography of renewable energy . Renewable energy is energy which comes from natural resources such as sunlight , wind , rain , tides , and geothermal heat , which are renewable ( naturally replenished ) . About 16 % of global final energy consumption comes from renewables , with 10 % coming from traditional biomass , which is mainly used for heating , and 3.4 % from hydroelectricity . New renewables ( small hydro , modern biomass , wind , solar , geothermal , and biofuels ) account for another 3 % and are growing very rapidly . Total investment in renewable energy reached $ 244 billion in 2012 . The top countries for investment in recent years were China , Germany , Spain , the United States , Italy , and Brazil . Leading renewable energy companies include BrightSource Energy , Enercon , First Solar , Gamesa , GE Energy , Goldwind , Nordex , Sinovel , Suntech , Trina Solar , Vestas and Yingli .", "Solar power in Cyprus Solar power in Cyprus is more available than in almost all of the rest of the Europe . The Cypriot target of solar power including both photovoltaics and concentrated solar power is a combined 7 % of electricity by 2020 , which will be one of the top ones in the European Union markets . Respective targets are Spain 8 % , Germany 7 % , Greece 5 % , Portugal 4 % and Malta 1 % . Solar heating is the usage of solar energy to provide space or water heating . Solar heating per capita in 2010 was the highest in Cyprus of all European countries : 611 W per capita . Corresponding value was in other top EU countries : Austria 385 , Greece 253 and Germany 120 . In 2010 this capacity was the lowest in the EU , with high unused domestic energy opportunities , in Finland 4 , Latvia 3 , Estonia 1 and Lithuania 1 . Correspondingly the value was in a Scandinavian country Denmark 68 .", "American Solar Energy Society The American Solar Energy Society ( ASES ) is an association of solar professionals and advocates in the United States . Founded in 1954 , ASES is dedicated to inspiring an era of energy innovation and speeding the transition toward a sustainable energy economy . The nonprofit advances education , research and policy . Based in Boulder , Colorado , ASES is the American affiliate of the International Solar Energy Society . ASES publishes Solar Today magazine , organizes the National Solar Tour , produces the National Solar Energy Conference National Solar Conference and World Renewable Energy Forum 2012 , and advocates for policies to promote the research , commercialization and deployment of renewable energy .", "North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners The North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners ( NABCEP ® ) is a nonprofit professional certification and accreditation organization that offers both individual and company accreditation programs for photovoltaic system installers , solar heat installers , technical sales , and other renewable energy professionals throughout North America . NABCEP was officially incorporated in 2002 and its mission is to raise standards while promoting consumer and other stakeholders ' confidence within the renewable energy industry . NABCEP is a nationally recognized credentialing body formed to set competency standards for professional practitioners in the fields of renewable energy and energy efficiency . NABCEP PV Installation Professional Certification ( formerly NABCEP Solar PV Installer Certification ) has been accredited to the international ANSI/ISO/IEC 17024 standard for personnel certification bodies since 2007 , and the NABCEP Solar Heating Installer Certification became accredited in 2013 . NABCEP has become the primary organization for solar energy professional certification in the United States and Canada . NABCEP designed an Associate Program for individuals who are interested in learning about and finding jobs within the solar field ; the NABCEP PV Associate Exam allows candidates to demonstrate a basic knowledge of the fundamental principles related to PV systems and designs . NABCEP also offers certifications in : PV Installation Professional ( PVIP ) Certification PV Technical Sales ( PVTS ) Certification Solar Heating Installer ( SHI ) Certification PV System Inspector ( PVSI ) Certification Solar Heating System Inspector ( SHSI ) Certification , and Company Accreditation NABCEP Certification is either preferred or mandatory for solar system installations to be eligible for incentive programs in several states . In order to be eligible for state rebate funds in Minnesota , Maine , and Wisconsin , PV solar systems must be installed by a NABCEP-certified professional . California , Massachusetts , and Delaware 's solar rebate programs prefer or recommend NABCEP-certified professionals . NABCEP-certification is a prerequisite for qualifying for a state solar contractor license in Utah . Specific policies and incentives can be found on DSIRE 's website . NABCEP partners with Castle Worldwide to offer its associate and certification exams at multiple sites in the United States and Canada .", "2013 Kerala solar panel scam In 2013 , a fraudulent solar energy company , Team Solar , in Kerala , India , used two women to create political contacts with links even to the Chief Minister 's office , duped several influential people to the tune of 70 million Rupees , by offering to make them business partners , or by offering to install solar power units for them , and receiving advance payments for the same . Team Solar was unsuccessful in lobbying Kerala Govt to get include in ANERT programmes .", "Imperial Valley Solar Farm The Imperial Valley Solar is a 200-megawatt ( MW ) solar photovoltaic power station located in Imperial County , California , near Calexico . Originally the project was called SES Solar Two , and was to be of Stirling engine design , and the project was approved by California Energy Commission on September 29 , 2010 . Since then AES Solar has changed the technology from solar thermal to photovoltaic . It has the plant code 56917 with the Department of Energy . There are many similarly named solar plants in the area including Imperial Valley Solar Company 1 and the proposed Imperial Solar Valley 2 , both near Niland ; Tensaka 's Imperial Solar Energy Center South ( # 58468 ) and the proposed Imperial Solar Energy Center West , and Imperial Solar Energy Center South ( # 57490 ) . Also Mount Signal Solar was formerly called Imperial Valley Solar 1 .", "Solar mass The solar mass is a standard unit of mass in astronomy , equal to approximately 1.99 × 1030 kilograms . It is used to indicate the masses of other stars , as well as clusters , nebulae and galaxies . It is equal to the mass of the Sun , about two nonillion ( two quintillion in the long scale ) kilograms : The above mass is about times the mass of Earth , or times the mass of Jupiter . Because Earth follows an elliptical orbit around the Sun , its solar mass can be computed from the equation for the orbital period of a small body orbiting a central mass . Based upon the length of the year , the distance from Earth to the Sun ( an astronomical unit or AU ) , and the gravitational constant , the mass of the Sun is given by : The value of the gravitational constant was first derived from measurements that were made by Henry Cavendish in 1798 with a torsion balance . The value he obtained differs by only 1 % from the modern value . The diurnal parallax of the Sun was accurately measured during the transits of Venus in 1761 and 1769 , yielding a value of ( 9 arcseconds , compared to the present 1976 value of ) . From the value of the diurnal parallax , one can determine the distance to the Sun from the geometry of Earth . The first person to estimate the mass of the Sun was Isaac Newton . In his work Principia ( 1687 ) , he estimated that the ratio of the mass of Earth to the Sun was about 1/28 700 . Later he determined that his value was based upon a faulty value for the solar parallax , which he had used to estimate the distance to the Sun ( 1 AU ) . He corrected his estimated ratio to 1/169 282 in the third edition of the Principia . The current value for the solar parallax is smaller still , yielding an estimated mass ratio of 1/332 946 . As a unit of measurement , the solar mass came into use before the AU and the gravitational constant were precisely measured . This is because the relative mass of another planet in the Solar System or the combined mass of two binary stars can be calculated in units of Solar mass directly from the orbital radius and orbital period of the planet or stars using Kepler 's third law , provided that orbital radius is measured in astronomical units and orbital period is measured in years . The mass of the Sun has been decreasing since the time it formed . This occurs through two processes in nearly equal amounts . First , in the Sun 's core , hydrogen is converted into helium through nuclear fusion , in particular the p -- p chain , and this reaction converts some mass into energy in the form of gamma ray photons . Most of this energy eventually radiates away from the Sun . Second , high-energy protons and electrons in the atmosphere of the Sun are ejected directly into outer space as a solar wind . The original mass of the Sun at the time it reached the main sequence remains uncertain . The early Sun had much higher mass-loss rates than at present , and it may have lost anywhere from 1 -- 7 % of its natal mass over the course of its main-sequence lifetime . The Sun gains a very small amount of mass through the impact of asteroids and comets . However , as the Sun already contains 99.86 % of the Solar System 's total mass , these impacts can not offset the mass lost by radiation and ejection .", "Ivanpah Solar Power Facility The Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System is a concentrated solar thermal plant in the Mojave Desert . Located at the base of Clark Mountain in California , just over the state line between Primm , Nevada and Nipton , California , the plant has a gross capacity of 392 megawatts ( MW ) . It deploys 173,500 heliostats , each with two mirrors , focusing solar energy on boilers located on three centralized solar power towers . Unit 1 of the project was connected to the grid in September 2013 in an initial sync testing . The facility formally opened on February 13 , 2014 , and it is currently the world 's largest solar thermal power station . The project was developed by BrightSource Energy and Bechtel . It costs $ 2.2 billion ; the largest investor in the project is NRG Energy , a power generating company based in Princeton , New Jersey , that has contributed $ 300 million . Google has contributed $ 168 million. ; the U.S. government provided a $ 1.6 billion loan guarantee , and the plant is built on public land . In 2010 , the project was scaled back from the original 440 MW design , to avoid building on the habitat of the desert tortoise . In November 2014 , Associated Press reported that the plant was producing only `` about half of its expected annual output '' . The California Energy Commission issued a statement blaming this on `` clouds , jet contrails and weather '' . Performance improved considerably in 2015 -- to about 650 GW · h , but ownership partner NRG Energy said in its November quarterly report that Ivanpah would likely not meet its contractual obligations to provide power to PG&E during the year , raising the risk of default on its Power Purchase Agreement . PG&E contracted to receive 640 GW · h/year from Units 1 and 3 , while SCE is supposed to receive 336 GW · h from Unit 2 , for which they pay about $ 200/MW · h ( 20 cents / kW · h ) . In March 2016 , PG&E agreed not to declare the plant in default for at least four months , in return for `` an undisclosed sum '' from the owners .", "Mesquite Solar project The Mesquite Solar project is a photovoltaic power plant being built in Arlington , Maricopa County , Arizona , owned by Sempra Generation . Phase 1 has a nameplate capacity of 150 megawatts ( MW ) . The project has a planned capacity of up to 700 MW when completed , making it among the world 's largest PV power stations . Mesquite Solar 1 uses 800,000 solar panels from Suntech Power . The EPC contractor is Zachry Holdings . Construction began in 2011 and was completed in 2013 . Mesquite 1 is projected to generate more than 350 gigawatt-hours of electricity annually ( an average of about 40 MW ) , and will offset roughly 200,000 tons of carbon emissions each year . Phase 1 cost about $ 600 million . Sempra Generation has signed a 20-year Power Purchase Agreement ( PPA ) with Pacific Gas and Electric Company ( PG&E ) for the 150 MW from Mesquite 1 . In late December , 2011 , 42 MW was completed and connected to the grid . Sempra Energy completed the 150 MW phase of the Project in January 2013 . Phase 2 ( 100MW ) and Phase 3 ( 150MW ) were both completed in December 2016 .", "Solar car A solar car is a solar vehicle used for land transport . Solar cars only run on solar power from the sun . To keep the car running smoothly , the driver must monitor multiple gauges to spot possible problems . Cars without gauges almost always feature wireless telemetry , which allows the driver 's team to monitor the car 's energy consumption , solar energy capture and other parameters and thereby freeing the driver to concentrate on driving . Solar cars combine technology typically used in the aerospace , bicycle , alternative energy and automotive industries . The design of a solar vehicle is severely limited by the amount of energy input into the car . Most solar cars have been built for the purpose of solar car races . Some solar cars are designed also for public use List of prototype solar-powered cars Solar cars depend on a solar array that uses photovoltaic cells ( PV cells ) to convert sunlight into electricity . Unlike solar thermal energy which converts solar energy to heat for either household purposes , industrial purposes or to be converted to electricity , PV cells directly convert sunlight into electricity . When sunlight ( photons ) strike PV cells , they excite electrons and allow them to flow , creating an electric current . PV cells are made of semiconductor materials such as silicon and alloys of indium , gallium and nitrogen . Crystalline silicon is the most common material used and has an efficiency rate of 15-20 % . The first solar family car was built in 2013 . Researchers at Case Western Reserve University , have also developed a better solar car which can recharge more quickly , due to better materials used in the solar panels . Chinese solar panel manufacturer Hanergy plans to build and sell solar cars equipped with lithium-ion batteries to consumers in China . Hanergy says that five to six hours of sunlight should allow the cars ' thin-film solar cells to generate between 8-10 kWh of power a day , allowing the car to travel about 80 km ( 50 mi ) on solar power alone . Maximum range is about 350 km ( 217 mi ) .", "Pathashaala KFI Pathashaala ( Palar Centre For Learning , Krishnamurti Foundation India ) is a residential school situated in Elimichampet village , Thirukalukundram taluk , Kanchipuram district , Tamil Nadu . Pathashaala started in the year 2010 . The campus uses energy sparingly and is designed with solar energy and windmills . The school has been designed as a zero-blackwater campus using dry composting toilets . The school has about 120 students . About Pathashaala - Bhoomi Magazine Jan 2015 E Mag Oct 2015 Compost Harvesting on Gandhi Jayanti 2015", "Solar power in Hawaii Hawaii has rapidly adopted solar power due to the high costs of electricity and has one of the highest per capita rates of solar power in the United States . Hawaii 's imported energy costs are three times higher , and will soon be close to four times higher than the mainland , so Hawaii has motivation to become one of the highest users of solar energy . Hawaii was the first state in the United States to reach grid parity for photovoltaics . Its tropical location provides abundant sun energy . Much of Hawaii 's solar capacity is distributed solar panels on individual homes and businesses . Hawaii 's grid has had to deal with this unique situation by developing new technology for balancing the energy flows in areas with large amounts of solar power . In December 2016 , Hawaii had 674MW of installed distributed solar capacity . The largest utility-scale solar farm in Hawaii is the 27.6 MW EE Waianae Solar Project which opened in January 2017 .", "Solar power in Poland Solar energy in Poland is a new sector of renewable energy and consists of solar thermal and solar electricity . Solar thermal , used for heating water was widely used in about 1700000 m2 of solar thermal collector at the end of 2014 . This corresponds to about 1,200 MWth capacity . Solar collectors are the second , after the biomass heating plants , source of `` green heat '' in Poland . In 2014 , Poland was ranked fourth in sales of solar collector installations among European countries . The total solar photovoltaics ( PV ) power plants connected to the grid in Poland at the end of 2012 were about 1.29 MWp of capacity . According to Energy Regulatory Office photovoltaic power in Poland had 91.82 MWp installed capacity at the end of June 2016 .", "Solar savings fraction In discussing solar energy , the solar savings fraction or solar fraction ( f ) is the amount of energy provided by the solar technology divided by the total energy required . The solar savings fraction thus is zero for no solar energy utilization , to 1.0 for all energy provided by solar . The solar savings fraction of a particular system is dependent on many factors such as the load , the collection and storage sizes , the operation , and the climate . As an example , the same solar-thermal water heating system installed in a single-family house in Arizona might have f = 0.75 ( 75 % ) , while in a much colder and cloudier climate , like Pittsburgh , PA , might only have a solar fraction of f = 0.3 ( 30 % ) or so . Great care is thus needed in designing such systems , and in evaluating their economics . To increase the solar savings fraction , energy conservation measures should be employed first before expanding the size of the solar energy collection system . Doing so reduces the need for hot water or space heating , for example , and typically provides the best economic return on the total investment , including the solar energy system .", "Energy in Uzbekistan Uzbekistan had a total primary energy supply ( TPES ) of 48.28 Mtoe in 2012 . Electricity consumption was 47.80 TWh . The majority of primary energy came from fossil fuels , with natural gas , coal and oil the main sources . Hydroelectricity , the only significant renewable source in the country , accounted for about 2 % of the primary energy supply . Natural gas is the source for 73.8 % of electricity production , followed by hydroelectricity with 21.4 % . Uzbekistan will be the first country in Central Asia to develop and produce solar energy by Uzbekenergo a state owned energy company . The Samarkand region was picked along with six other regions being inspected . The solar power plant is to have a capacity of 100 megawatts .", "Lightsource Renewable Energy Lightsource Renewable Energy is the UK 's largest solar energy generator , operating the largest portfolio of commercial scale solar photovoltaic ( PV ) assets on ground and roof in Britain . Founded in 2010 , it now consists of 250 professionals , and has gained an exceptional track record in the distribution of solar farms and commercial rooftop installations in the UK . The company provides fully funded solar PV solutions to property owners wishing to gain an attractive rental income from their land or gain significant reductions in electricity bills by employing unused roof space . In 2011 , they established the first solar farm in Truro , the biggest in the UK with more than 5,000 panels that generate enough electricity for 430 homes in the area , saving over 700 tons of CO2 . Lightsource Renewable Energy has been the recipient of renewable energy awards , including an award for most innovative system design and a leadership award in renewable energy .", "Illinois Clean Jobs Bill The Illinois Clean Jobs Bill is a renewable-energy bill introduced in the Illinois House of Representatives ( H.B. 2607 ) and Illinois Senate ( S.B. 1485 ) . The bill was sponsored by Democratic state senator Don Harmon of Oak Park and Democratic state representative Elaine Nekritz of Northbrook . Proponents of the bill have nicknamed it the `` Clean Jobs Bill '' ; they promise to create tens of thousands of new jobs in Illinois if the bill is passed and signed into law . Some supporters claim that it would create 32,000 new jobs . Bill supporters claim that passage of the bill will cause energy demand to decrease by twenty percent by the year 2025 . Some proponents claim that the bill would `` enable solar and wind energy projects to flourish . '' However , under the state of Illinois ' current energy efficiency law , utility companies pass on new costs to customers . If the Illinois Clean Jobs Bill passed , households and businesses that use electricity would pay more money to subsidize the cost of wind turbines and other renewable energy sources . As of June 2015 , the bill is stalled in the legislature .", "De Aar Solar Power De Aar Solar Power is located 6 km outside the town of De Aar in the Northern Cape Province of South Africa . The facility is based on over 100 hectares of Emathanjeni Municipal land , and comprises 167 580 solar ( PV ) panels . De Aar Solar Power supplies Eskom with 85 458 MWh of renewable electrical energy per year ; enough to power more than 19 000 average South African households . De Aar Solar Power signed a 20-year Power Purchase Agreement with Eskom as part of the South African Government 's Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme ( REIPPP ) and was one of the first solar power projects in South Africa . The project also has an Implementation Agreement with the South African Department of Energy . The project received full Environmental Authorisation from the Department of Environmental Affairs in 2011 .", "Martin Next Generation Solar Energy Center Martin Next Generation Solar Energy Center is the solar parabolic-trough component of an integrated solar combined cycle 1150 MW plant , in western Martin County , Florida , just north of Indiantown , built by Florida Power & Light Company ( FPL ) . The ISCC plant is part of the Martin Plant site which consists of 5 units . Unit 1 & Unit 2 are 800 MW steam electric generating units that use natural gas and low-sulfur residual oil . Unit 3 & Unit 4 are 500 MW natural gas-fired combined cycle units . Unit 8 is a natural gas fired 4-on-1 combined cycle unit with a nominal capacity of 1150 MW . Light oil is used as backup . Unit 8 , placed into commercial operation in 2005 , is integrated with the solar plant . Unit 8 features four 170 MW gas turbines , one 470 MW steam turbine , and a single condenser and cooling tower . The single solar field circuit heats 4 steam generators , after each gas turbine . The Martin solar thermal facility is designed to provide steam for FPL 's existing Martin Unit 8 combined cycle unit , thus reducing FPL 's use of natural gas . No additional capacity ( MW ) will result from the operation of the solar thermal facility . The Solar Energy Center has an array of approximately 190,000-mirror parabolic troughs on about 500 acre of the Martin County plant . The solar collectors feed heat to the existing steam plant , displacing gas generated electricity at an estimated rate of 155,000 MWh per year . The 2012 solar-derived production was about 89,000 MWh of power , according to records filed with the state 's Public Service Commission , which was 42 % less than projected when the plant got approval . It is to consider that the solar component can generate electrical energy only if the four gas turbines are in operation , otherwise the 470 MW steam turbine will not move . When gas turbines are stopped , the solar heat is used to keep the steam turbine in temperature , in order to facilitate a more rapid start-up . Lauren Engineers & Constructors ( Abilene , TX ) was the EPC contractor for the project . Construction began in 2008 and was completed by the end of 2010 . FPL expects the $ 476 million solar plant to reduce the combined-cycle power plant 's natural gas consumption by 1.3 billion cubic feet ( 37 million m ³ ) per year . Over the 30-year life of the project , this is expected to save $ 178 million in fuel cost and reduce carbon emissions by 2.75 million tons . Excess pressure and a release of operating fluid led to the plant being shut down for four months in 2011 for cleanup and testing . As of , no additional concentrated solar plants are planned for Florida , although in 2007 FPL had planned on building a 300 MW fresnel solar thermal plant .", "Blue Oak Energy Blue Oak Energy is an American full-service photovoltaic system design , engineering and construction firm . The company engineers and constructs commercial and utility solar photovoltaic ( PV ) energy systems in the United States and abroad . The company engineered and constructed the Google campus in Mountain View , California , the San Francisco International Airport , and the 37MW Long Island Solar Farm , and has designed solar installations for Whole Foods , Staples , Walmart , the US Navy , and the State of California .", "Solar power in Armenia Solar energy is widely available in Armenia due to its geographical position and is considered a developing industry . According to the Ministry of Energy Infrastructures and Natural Resources of the Republic of Armenia , Armenia has an average of about 1720 kilowatt hour ( kWh ) solar energy flow per square meter of horizontal surface annually and has a potential of 1000 MW power production . In the capital Yerevan , the average solar energy flux is equal to 1642 kWh/m2 . Armenia 's area can not be considered as homogeneous from the perspective of available solar energy : the difference between the amount of solar energy reaching the ground in different places in the country can be up to 20 % in the summer time , and 50 % in the winter time . The use of solar energy in Armenia is increasing . One example is the American University of Armenia ( AUA ) . According to International Network for Sustainable Energy , solar panels were installed on the rooftop of American University of Armenia in 1999-2002 . Also , AUA has solar heaters , which are used to heat up auditoriums , and supply hot water during cold periods . Another example is the United Nations House in Armenia . Its building also uses solar power energy .", "Lists of renewable energy topics Renewable energy is generally defined as energy that comes from resources which are naturally replenished on a human timescale , such as sunlight , wind , rain , tides , waves , and geothermal heat . Renewable energy replaces conventional fuels in four distinct areas : electricity generation , air and water heating/cooling , motor fuels , and rural ( off-grid ) energy services . Based on REN21 's 2014 report , renewables contributed 19 percent to our global energy consumption and 22 percent to our electricity generation in 2012 and 2013 , respectively . These are lists about renewable energy : Index of solar energy articles List of books about renewable energy List of concentrating solar thermal power companies List of countries by electricity production from renewable sources List of energy storage projects Lists of environmental topics List of geothermal power stations List of hydroelectric power stations List of largest hydroelectric power stations List of offshore wind farms Lists of offshore wind farms by country Lists of offshore wind farms by water area List of onshore wind farms List of onshore wind farms in the United Kingdom List of people associated with renewable energy List of photovoltaics companies List of photovoltaic power stations List of pioneering solar buildings List of renewable energy companies by stock exchange List of renewable energy organizations List of renewable energy topics by country List of rooftop photovoltaic installations List of solar car teams List of solar powered products List of solar thermal power stations List of U.S. states by electricity production from renewable sources Lists of wind farms by country List of wind farms in Australia List of wind farms in Canada List of wind farms in Iran List of wind farms in Romania List of wind farms in Sweden List of wind farms in the United States List of wind turbine manufacturers", "Georgia State Route 120 State Route 120 ( SR 120 ) is a 90.7 mi state highway that runs west-to-east through portions of Haralson , Paulding , Cobb , Fulton , and Gwinnett counties in northwestern part of the U.S. state of Georgia .", "Offshore Energy and Jobs Act The Offshore Energy and Jobs Act is a bill that was introduced into the United States House of Representatives during the 113th United States Congress . The Offshore Energy and Jobs Act would revise existing law governing the leasing , operation , and development of oil and natural gas resources available in the Outer Continental Shelf ( OCS ) . The bill is primarily supported by Republicans and is opposed by President Barack Obama .", "Solar 1 Solar 1 is New York City 's only self-sustaining solar powered building . It houses educational facilities for Solar One , a non-profit organisation concerned with green energy , arts , and education . The Solar 1 building is located at the north end of Stuyvesant Cove Park , the city 's only all-native plant park , which Solar 1 actively maintains . Situated on a brownfield site , Stuyvesant Cove Park offers opportunities for the local community to become involved in the park and learn about its special features . The Park has been designated a Wildlife Habitat by the National Wildlife Federation for providing a quality habitat by virtue of its standards of conscientious planning , landscaping and sustainable gardening . More than 250 volunteers and 80 student interns have spent more than 5,000 hours working in the park , planting , watering and weeding the thousands of new plants that have been added over the years . Solar 1 is a prototype for Solar 2 , planned as the first building in NYC to generate power in excess of what it uses , thereby putting more power into the grid than it takes out . It will be a landmark and a model for future NYC buildings ." ]

[ "Florida Florida -LSB- ˈflɒrᵻdə -RSB- ( Spanish for `` land of flowers '' ) is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States . It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico , to the north by Alabama and Georgia , to the east by the Atlantic Ocean , and to the south by the Straits of Florida and Cuba . Florida is the 22nd-most extensive , the 3rd-most populous , and the 8th-most densely populated of the U.S. states . Jacksonville is the most populous municipality in the state and is the largest city by area in the contiguous United States . The Miami metropolitan area is Florida 's most populous urban area . The city of Tallahassee is the state capital . A peninsula between the Gulf of Mexico , the Atlantic Ocean , and the Straits of Florida , it has the longest coastline in the contiguous United States , approximately 1350 mi , and is the only state that borders both the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean . Much of the state is at or near sea level and is characterized by sedimentary soil . The climate varies from subtropical in the north to tropical in the south . The American alligator , American crocodile , Florida panther , and manatee can be found in the Everglades National Park . Since the first European contact was made in 1513 by Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León -- who named it La Florida ( -LSB- la floˈɾiða -RSB- `` land of flowers '' ) upon landing there in the Easter season , Pascua Florida -- Florida was a challenge for the European colonial powers before it gained statehood in the United States in 1845 . It was a principal location of the Seminole Wars against the Native Americans , and racial segregation after the American Civil War . Today , Florida is distinctive for its large Cuban expatriate community and high population growth , as well as for its increasing environmental issues . The state 's economy relies mainly on tourism , agriculture , and transportation , which developed in the late 19th century . Florida is also renowned for amusement parks , orange crops , the Kennedy Space Center , and as a popular destination for retirees . Florida culture is a reflection of influences and multiple inheritance ; Native American , European American , Hispanic and Latino , and African American heritages can be found in the architecture and cuisine . Florida has attracted many writers such as Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings , Ernest Hemingway and Tennessee Williams , and continues to attract celebrities and athletes . It is internationally known for golf , tennis , auto racing and water sports ." ]

[ "The Rubens The Rubens are a five-piece alternative rock band originally from Menangle , New South Wales . The band comprises the three Margin brothers , Zaac , Sam and Elliott , and friends Scott Baldwin and William Zeglis . Their debut self-titled album The Rubens gained them domestic success with it reaching No. 3 on the ARIA Charts and being nominated for a J Award for Album of the Year . In 2011 , their debut single , `` Lay It Down '' , was voted number 57 in the Triple J Hottest 100 . Their next single , `` My Gun '' , was nominated for Best Music Video at the 2012 ARIA Awards and was voted number 10 in the Triple J Hottest 100 . In May 2015 , the band released the lead single from their second album , called `` Hallelujah '' . The album , Hoops , was released in August 2015 . The follow-up single from the album , the title track `` Hoops '' , reached number 25 on the ARIA Singles Chart in 2015 and was voted number one in the Triple J Hottest 100 of 2015 held on Australia Day 2016 ( 26 January ) . After its success on the Hottest 100 , the single re-entered the charts , reaching a new peak of number 9 on the ARIA Singles Chart in February 2016 .", "Hannah Moscovitch Hannah Moscovitch ( born June 5 , 1978 ) is a Canadian playwright who rose to national prominence in the 2000s . She has been dubbed `` an indie sensation '' by Toronto Life Magazine ; `` the wunderkind of Canadian theatre '' by CBC Radio ; `` irritatingly talented '' by the now defunct Eye Weekly ; and the `` dark angel of Toronto theatre '' by Toronto Star . The National Post , The Globe and Mail , and Now Magazine have all hailed Hannah as `` Canada 's Hottest Young Playwright '' . She is best known for her plays East of Berlin , The Russian Play , and This Is War .", "Teenage Rampage Teenage Rampage is the debut studio album by punk band Dangerous ! , released world wide on September 20 , 2011 on Epitaph Records . The album received critical acclaim including KKKK 's in Kerrang ! Magazine and 4 Stars in Rolling Stone . Positive reviews resulted in the band being titled ` Hottest New Band of 2011 ' in UK 's Big Cheese Magazine and a string of high profile festival appearances and tours in UK/Europe/USA & Australia .", "2010 Conference USA football season The 2010 Conference USA football season was an NCAA football season played from September 2 , 2010 , through December 31 , 2010 . Conference USA consists of 12 football members separated into 2 divisions : East Carolina , Marshall , Memphis , Southern Miss , UAB , and UCF make up the eastern division , while Houston , Rice , SMU , Tulane , Tulsa , and UTEP comprise the western division . This was the 15th football season and 16th overall for Conference USA . Although C-USA was founded in 1995 , it did not start football competition until 1996 .", "Conjunctivochalasis Conjunctivochalasis '' ' is a common eye surface condition characterized by the presence of excess folds of the conjunctiva located between the globe of the eye and the eyelid margin .", "Bathville Bathville is a village in West Lothian , Scotland . Bathville now forms a section of Armadale in West Lothian , it is located ( 1 km ) south of the town centre and 2 miles north of Whitburn . In the middle of the 19th century Bathville comprised only a farm-steading , a coal pit and a row of houses . Today , in addition to housing , there is a business park here .", "Eurycheilichthys limulus Eurycheilichthys limulus is a species of armored catfish endemic to Brazil , where it is found in the upper Jacuí River basin . The habitat at the type locality of E. limulus is a small river about 3 -- 5 metres wide with moderate water current , bottom comprising some rocks but mostly sand and a large amount of marginal vegetation . These fishes live among leaves and stalks . This species grows to a length of 4.8 cm SL .", "Brasilicereus Brasilicereus is a genus of cacti known only from Brazil and comprising 2 species .", "Okemos High School Okemos High School is a public high school in Okemos , Michigan , USA . It is the only high school in the Okemos Public Schools district . It is located southeast of the main campus of Michigan State University , between Bennett and Jolly Roads on the North and South , and Hulett and Hagadorn Roads on the East and West . The current building was completed in 1994 , replacing the now Chippewa Middle School building as the district 's high school . Former students of Chippewa 7-8 School comprise the school 's student body .", "Mohd Shafie Zahari Shafie Zahari ( born 3 January 1993 in Pahang ) is a Malaysian footballer currently playing for Shahzan Muda FC in FAM League . Shafie is widely regarded as one of the hottest prospects in Pahang football .", "Canon EF-M 18–55mm lens The Canon EF-M 18-55mm f/3 .5 -5.6 IS STM is an interchangeable wide angle lens for the Canon EOS M system of mirrorless cameras . It was announced by Canon Inc. on June 22nd 2012 . It is the kit lens of the Canon EOS M camera . The current EOS M3 camera is only available with this kit lens . This lens was for long time not available from Canon USA , but it is since 2015 .", "Livistona decora Livistona decora is a species of palm endemic to the sclerophyll woodlands of Queensland , Australia . It is known only from Magnetic Island near the City of Townsville , and south along the coast as far as Rainbow Beach The species is now widely cultivated in arid regions worldwide as a decorative plant . Livistona decora is up to 18 m tall . Leaves are costapalmate with petioles up to 300 long , with black spines along the margins . Infloresences are up to 350 cm long , producing shiny black fruits up to 20 mm in diameter .", "Miss New Jersey Teen USA The Miss New Jersey Teen USA competition is the pageant that selects the representative for the state of New Jersey in the Miss Teen USA pageant . New Jersey has had only marginal success at Miss Teen USA , with ten placements . In the first twenty years of the competition , New Jersey only recorded three placements ; from 2003 they placed in four of five years . New Jersey 's first top five placement came in 2003 when Jacklyn Pezzotta placed fourth runner-up , and this was bettered in 2007 when Alyssa Campanella placed 1st runner up . Three New Jersey teens ( 2001 , 2006 , and 2008 ) have held the Miss New Jersey USA title and competed at Miss USA . Alyssa Campanella , Miss New Jersey Teen USA 2007 , competed twice for Miss New Jersey USA , but relocated to California and won Miss California USA and won the title of Miss USA 2011 , the first former Miss New Jersey Teen USA titleholder to win Miss USA , regardless of the representing state .", "Franklinoceras Franklinoceras is an extinct gensu of cephalopods from the nautiloid order , Discosorida . Nautiloids comprise a subclass of shelled cephalopods that were once diverse and numerous but are now represented by only a handful of species . Franklinoceras is an early discosorid from the family Reudemannoceratidae , similar to the ancestral Reudemannoceras . Both are from the early Middle Ordovician ; both have endogastric cyrtocones , except in Franklinoceras they are compressed so as to be higher than wide , rather than the other way around as in Reudemannoceras ( Teichert , 1964 ) .", "Kyrgyzstani referendum, 2003 A double referendum was held in Kyrgyzstan on 2 February 2003 . Voters were asked whether they approved of amendments to the constitution , and whether President Askar Akayev should be allowed to remain in office until 2005 . Both were approved by wide margins .", "Skewjack Skewjack is the name of a plot of land in west Cornwall , England , United Kingdom . It is situated about 1.5 miles ( 2 km ) east of Land 's End on the B3315 road . It was the site of RAF Sennen , and is now the site of a Fiber-Optic Link Around the Globe building .", "Winn Farm Winn Farm is a historic farmhouse at 57 Summer Street in Arlington , Massachusetts , USA . The 2-1/2 story wood frame house is estimated to have been built c. 1820 , and is the only surviving farmhouse in northwestern Arlington from that period . It is a typical Federal style house , five bays wide , with a center entrance , standing in a part of the town that was not developed more fully until the 20th century . Albert Winn , its likely builder , was active in local civic affairs , serving in town offices and as a state representative . The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985 .", "Villains (electronic music group) Villains are an American electronic duo consisting of Mad V and Koncept . The group officially formed in late 2007 . Within a few months , they were performing all over the United States and getting commissioned to produce official remixes . And now , within just two years , they are touring the globe and producing original music as well as remixes for a wide variety of artists .", "Abdul Malik Mat Ariff Abdul Malik Bin Mat Ariff commonly known as Malik Ariff is a Malaysia Premier League footballer who plays as a Winger or Forward for Kuantan FA . Malik is widely regarded as one of the hottest prospects in Pahang football .", "Golden Globe Award for Best Animated Feature Film The Golden Globe Award for Best Animated Feature Film was awarded for the first time at the 64th Golden Globe Awards in 2007 . It was the first time that the Golden Globe Awards had created a separate category for animated films since its establishment . The nominations are announced in January and an awards ceremony is held later in the month . Initially , only three films are nominated for best animated film , in contrast to five nominations for the majority of other awards . The Pixar film Cars was the first recipient of the award . The award for best animated film has subsequently been presented to six other Pixar films : Ratatouille received the award in 2008 , WALL-E was the recipient in 2009 , Up received the award in 2010 , Toy Story 3 won in 2011 , Brave won in 2013 , and Inside Out won in 2016 . In 2012 , Cars 2 lost to The Adventures of Tintin , in 2014 , Monsters University was the first not to be nominated and also in 2016 , The Good Dinosaur lost to Inside Out . In 2017 , Finding Dory was also not nominated . The Hollywood Foreign Press Association has been awarding Golden Globe Awards since 1944 . English-language films may be nominated in only one feature category . Therefore , films nominated in this category are ineligible to be nominated for Best Motion Picture -- Musical or Comedy , Best Motion Picture -- Drama if their principal dialogue is in English . However , films nominated for Best Foreign Language Film are eligible for Best Animated Feature ; the only Golden Globe film awards for which they are ineligible are the two Best Motion Picture awards . This has led to much confusion leading many to believe animated films are snubbed in the Best Motion Picture categories , specifically Best Motion Picture -- Musical or Comedy where animated films have won before , but in reality they simply are not eligible to be nominated .", "Vilna Edition Shas The Vilna Edition of the Talmud , printed in Vilna ( now Vilnius ) , Lithuania , is by far the most common printed edition of the Talmud still in use today as the basic text for Torah study in yeshivas and by all scholars of Judaism . It was typeset by the Widow Romm and Brothers of Vilna . This edition comprises 37 volumes and contains the entire Babylonian Talmud . In its entirety there are 2,711 double sided folios . It follows the typical pagination due to Bomberg of printing with the Gemara and/or Mishnah centered with Rashi 's commentary on the inner margin and Tosafot on the outer margin . It is also flanked by other various marginal notations from various prominent Talmudists . This edition was first printed in the 1870s and 1880s , but it continues to be reproduced photomechanically all around the world .", "Miss Mississippi Teen USA The Miss Mississippi Teen USA competition is the pageant that selects the representative for the state of Mississippi in the Miss Teen USA pageant . Mississippi has had 2 Miss Teen USA placements as of 2010 . They have had 1 Miss USA , and in 2014 , Vaeda Mann was 1st-runner . Six titleholders have competed at Miss USA . The state pageant , now held at the Gold Strike Casino in Robinsonville , Mississippi , has been directed by Miss Tennessee USA 1989 : Kim Greenwood since 2010 .", "2000 Golden Globes (Portugal) The 2000 Golden Globes ( Portugal ) were held at the Coliseu dos Recreios , Lisbon on 2 April 2000 .", "RTÉ News Now RTÉ News Now is a 24-hour news television network in the Republic of Ireland operated by Irish public service broadcaster RTÉ . The channel launched as RTÉ News Now available exclusively online on 12 June 2008 . The channel began broadcasting as a free-to-air channel on 29 October 2010 on Saorview . It began broadcasting on channel 200 of UPC Ireland 's basic Value pack on 2 October 2012 . As of January 2016 the channel is also available on the Sky Ireland platform channel number 578 ( Republic of Ireland only ) The channel broadcasts free-to-air and commercial free . The channel is available in Ireland and globally online , on mobile phones and an iPhone/iPad application is also widely available free . The channel is operated by RTÉ 's department RTÉ News and Current Affairs . The channel broadcasts in the Irish , English and ISL languages .", "2012–13 Bundesliga The 2012 -- 13 Bundesliga was the 50th season of the Bundesliga , Germany 's premier football league . The season began on 24 August 2012 with the season opening match at Westfalenstadion involving defending champions Borussia Dortmund and SV Werder Bremen and ended with the last games on 18 May 2013 , with a winter break between the weekends around 15 December 2012 and 19 January 2013 . Bayern Munich managed to secure the championship of the 2012 -- 13 season after only 28 match days , beating their previous record by two matches . The league comprises eighteen teams : The best fifteen teams of the 2011 -- 12 season , the best two teams from the 2011 -- 12 2 . Bundesliga and the winners of the relegation play-off between the 16th-placed Bundesliga team and the third-placed 2 . Bundesliga team . Notably , in the 2012 -- 13 season , there are no teams located in the former East Germany , including the capital city , Berlin .", "List of United States magazines with online archives This is a list of magazines in the USA that have online archives . This is not to be confused with webzines which do not print a hardcopy edition and instead provide it online only , typically via the World Wide Web .", "Beijing International Triathlon The Beijing International Triathlon is a world-class , Olympic distance triathlon in the Fengtai District of Beijing . The race features a 1.5 km swim in the picturesque Qing Long Lake , a challenging 40 km bike race from the Park to Qian Ling Mountain and back , and finally a fast 10 km run through the beautiful trails and pathways of Qing Long Lake Park . The Beijing International Triathlon is the newest international event to be added to the Escape TO Alcatraz Triathlon Series . The top 50 finishers across all divisions will qualify for an entry into the next year 's Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon in San Francisco , CA . ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 2013 Date : September 21 , 2013 Location : Qinglong Lake Park , Fengtai District , Beijing , China ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 2012 Date : September 16 , 2012 Results : Pro Male : Bevan Docherty , NZL , 1:54:24 Matt Reed , USA ,1:55:04 Chris `` Macca '' McCormack , AUS , 1:56:37 Brian Fleishmann , USA , 1:58 : 37 Bai Faquan , CHN , 2:03:03 Pro Female : Sarah Groff , USA , 2:04:09 Nicky Samuels , NZL , 2:05:52 Becky Lavelle , USA , 2:06:40 Jenna Parker , USA , 2:06:47 Ricarda Lisk , GER , 2:14:32 Zhang Yi , CHN , 2:18:07", "Exmouth Plateau The Exmouth Plateau is an elongate northeast striking extensional passive margin located in the Indian Ocean roughly 3,000 meters offshore from western and northwestern Western Australia . The plateau makes up the westernmost structural unit of the Northern Carnarvon Basin , which comprises the Exmouth , Barrow , Dampier , and Beagle Sub-basins , and the Rankin Platform . The Exmouth Plateau was once a part of the northern shore of eastern of Gondwanaland until it broke away during Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous , leaving behind the oceanic crust of the Argo , Cuvier , and Gascoyne abyssal plains that now surround the distal margins of Exmouth Plateau .", "27th Golden Globe Awards The 27th Golden Globe Awards , honoring the best in film and television for 1969 films , were held on February 2 , 1970 .", "International Circle of Korean Linguistics The International Circle of Korean Linguistics is a scholarly organization dedicated to the promotion of awareness of , the dissemination of information about , and the facilitation of communication among those in the field of , Korean language and linguistics . It was founded on October 20 , 1975 . It publishes the journal Korean Linguistics . The ICKL holds meetings in various locales across the globe every two years . Recent meetings : 2017 Helsinki , Finland 2015 Chicago , Illinois , USA 2012 Xuzhou , Jiangsu Province , China 2010 Ulaanbataar , Mongolia 2008 Ithaca , New York , USA 2006 Guadalajara , Mexico 2004 Çolakli , Turkey 2002 Oslo , Norway 2000 Prague , Czech Republic 1998 Honolulu , Hawai'i , USA 1996 Brisbane , Australia 1994 London , United Kingdom 1992 Washington , DC , USA 1990 Osaka , Japan 1988 Toronto , Canada", "Hyalospectra grisea Hyalospectra grisea is a moth in the family Drepanidae . It was described by Warren in 1906 . It is found in New Guinea . The wingspan is about 30 mm . The forewings are hyaline , the basal area , the costal area above the subcostal vein and the hindmarginal border clothed with sparse grey scales . At about one-third from the base is a dark paler-edged lunulate-dentate line , toothed outwards on the veins . There is a lunulate-dentate dark line in the grey marginal area , running out from the costa at three-fourths and below the middle forming the limit of the hyaline space . This space is roughly four-lobed , comprising the outer half of the cell and the inner half of all the intervals between veins 2 and 8 . There is a round hyaline marginal spot between veins 3 and 4 , and the marginal area below the apex is semihyaline . There is a dark grey marginal line , spotted on the veins . The hinwings are grey , with the base , an angled band beyond the middle , and the marginal spot between veins 3 and 4 hyaline .", "Warren Z. Cole House Warren Z. Cole House , now known as Indenhofen Farm and also known as the Kidder-De Haven House , is a historic home located in Evansburg State Park at Skippack , Montgomery County , Pennsylvania , USA . It was built about 1725 , and is a 2 1/2 - story , brownstone dwelling , four bays wide and two bays deep . It features gable end chimneys and a steep shingled gable roof . The property also includes a summer kitchen and bake oven and a Swiss / German bank barn . The property was restored and is open to the public by the Skippack Historical Society . It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973 ." ]

[ "Carbon dioxide Carbon dioxide ( chemical formula ) is a colorless gas with a density about 60 % higher than that of air ( 1.225 g/L ) that is odorless at normally encountered concentrations . Carbon dioxide consists of a carbon atom covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms . It occurs naturally in Earth 's atmosphere as a trace gas at a concentration of about 0.04 percent ( 400 ppm ) by volume . Natural sources include volcanoes , hot springs and geysers , and it is freed from carbonate rocks by dissolution in water and acids . Because carbon dioxide is soluble in water , it occurs naturally in groundwater , rivers and lakes , ice caps , glaciers and seawater . It is present in deposits of petroleum and natural gas . As the source of available carbon in the carbon cycle , atmospheric carbon dioxide is the primary carbon source for life on Earth and its concentration in Earth 's pre-industrial atmosphere since late in the Precambrian has been regulated by photosynthetic organisms and geological phenomena . Plants , algae and cyanobacteria use light energy to photosynthesize carbohydrate from carbon dioxide and water , with oxygen produced as a waste product . Carbon dioxide is produced by all aerobic organisms when they metabolize carbohydrates and lipids to produce energy by respiration . It is returned to water via the gills of fish and to the air via the lungs of air-breathing land animals , including humans . Carbon dioxide is produced during the processes of decay of organic materials and the fermentation of sugars in bread , beer and winemaking . It is produced by combustion of wood and other organic materials and fossil fuels such as coal , peat , petroleum and natural gas . It is a versatile industrial material , used , for example , as an inert gas in welding and fire extinguishers , as a pressurizing gas in air guns and oil recovery , as a chemical feedstock and in liquid form as a solvent in decaffeination of coffee and supercritical drying . It is added to drinking water and carbonated beverages including beer and sparkling wine to add effervescence . The frozen solid form of , known as `` dry ice '' is used as a refrigerant and as an abrasive in dry-ice blasting . Carbon dioxide is the most significant long-lived greenhouse gas in Earth 's atmosphere . Since the Industrial Revolution anthropogenic emissions - primarily from use of fossil fuels and deforestation - have rapidly increased its concentration in the atmosphere , leading to global warming . Carbon dioxide also causes ocean acidification because it dissolves in water to form carbonic acid .", "Fossil fuel power station A fossil fuel power station is a power station which burns fossil fuel such as coal , natural gas , or petroleum to produce electricity . Central station fossil fuel power plants are designed on a large scale for continuous operation . In many countries , such plants provide most of the electrical energy used . Fossil fuel power stations have machinery to convert the heat energy of combustion into mechanical energy , which then operates an electrical generator . The prime mover may be a steam turbine , a gas turbine or , in small plants , a reciprocating internal combustion engine . All plants use the energy extracted from expanding gas , either steam or combustion gases . Very few MHD generators have been built which directly convert the energy of hot , moving water into electricity . MHD means Magnetohydrodynamics , which is the study of the magnetic properties of electrically conducting fluids . Examples of such magnetofluids include plasmas , liquid metals , salt water and electrolytes . By-products of thermal power plant operation must be considered in their design and operation . Waste heat energy , which remains due to the finite efficiency of the Carnot , Rankine , or Diesel power cycle , is released directly to the atmosphere or river/lake water , or indirectly to the atmosphere using a cooling tower with river or lake water used as a cooling medium . The flue gas from combustion of the fossil fuels is discharged to the air . This gas contains carbon dioxide and water vapor , as well as other substances such as nitrogen oxides ( NOx ) , sulfur oxides ( SOx ) , mercury , traces of other metals , and , for coal-fired plants , fly ash . Solid waste ash from coal-fired boilers must also be removed . Some coal ash can be recycled for building materials . Fossil fueled power stations are major emitters of carbon dioxide ( CO2 ) , a greenhouse gas which according to a consensus opinion of scientific organisations is a contributor to global warming . The results of a recent study show that the net income available to shareholders of large companies could see a significant reduction from the greenhouse gas emissions liability related to only natural disasters in the U.S. from a single coal-fired power plant . However , as of 2015 , no such cases have awarded damages in the U.S. Per unit of electric energy , brown coal emits nearly two times as much CO2 as natural gas , and black coal emits somewhat less than brown . Carbon capture and storage of emissions is not currently available .", "Coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams . The harder forms , such as anthracite coal , can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure . Coal is composed primarily of carbon , along with variable quantities of other elements , chiefly hydrogen , sulfur , oxygen , and nitrogen . A fossil fuel , coal forms when dead plant matter is converted into peat , which in turn is converted into lignite , then sub-bituminous coal , after that bituminous coal , and lastly anthracite . This involves biological and geological processes that take place over time . Throughout human history , coal has been used as an energy resource , primarily burned for the production of electricity and heat , and is also used for industrial purposes , such as refining metals . Coal is the largest source of energy for the generation of electricity worldwide , as well as one of the largest worldwide anthropogenic sources of carbon dioxide releases . The extraction of coal , its use in energy production and its byproducts are all associated with environmental and health effects including climate change . Coal is extracted from the ground by coal mining . Since 1983 , the world 's top coal producer has been China . In 2015 China produced 3,747 million tonnes of coal -- 47.7 % of 7,861 million tonnes world coal production . In 2015 other large producers were United States ( 813 million tonnes ) , India ( 678 ) , European Union ( 539 ) and Australia ( 503 ) . In 2010 the largest exporters were Australia with 328 million tonnes ( 27.1 % of world coal export ) and Indonesia with 316 million tonnes ( 26.1 % ) , while the largest importers were Japan with 207 million tonnes ( 17.5 % of world coal import ) , China with 195 million tonnes ( 16.6 % ) and South Korea with 126 million tonnes ( 10.7 % ) .", "Engine An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one form of energy into mechanical energy . Heat engines burn a fuel to create heat , which is then used to create a force . Electric motors convert electrical energy into mechanical motion ; pneumatic motors use compressed air and clockwork motors in wind-up toys use elastic energy . In biological systems , molecular motors , like myosins in muscles , use chemical energy to create forces and eventually motion .", "Carbon footprint A carbon footprint is historically defined as the total set of greenhouse gas emissions caused by an individual , event , organisation , or product , expressed as carbon dioxide equivalent . In most cases , the total carbon footprint can not be exactly calculated because of inadequate knowledge of and data about the complex interactions between contributing processes , especially which including the influence on natural processes storing or releasing carbon dioxide . For this reason , Wright , Kemp , and Williams , have suggested to define the carbon footprint as : A measure of the total amount of carbon dioxide ( CO2 ) and methane ( CH4 ) emissions of a defined population , system or activity , considering all relevant sources , sinks and storage within the spatial and temporal boundary of the population , system or activity of interest . Calculated as carbon dioxide equivalent using the relevant 100-year global warming potential ( GWP100 ) . Greenhouse gases ( GHGs ) can be emitted through land clearance and the production and consumption of food , fuels , manufactured goods , materials , wood , roads , buildings , transportation and other services . For simplicity of reporting , it is often expressed in terms of the amount of carbon dioxide , or its equivalent of other GHGs , emitted . Most of the carbon footprint emissions for the average U.S. household come from `` indirect '' sources , i.e. fuel burned to produce goods far away from the final consumer . These are distinguished from emissions which come from burning fuel directly in one 's car or stove , commonly referred to as `` direct '' sources of the consumer 's carbon footprint . The concept name of the carbon footprint originates from ecological footprint , discussion , which was developed by Rees and Wackernagel in the 1990s which estimates the number of `` earths '' that would theoretically be required if everyone on the planet consumed resources at the same level as the person calculating their ecological footprint . However , given that ecological footprints are a measure of failure , Anindita Mitra ( CREA , Seattle ) chose the more easily calculated `` carbon footprint '' to easily measure use of carbon , as an indicator of unsustainable energy use . In 2007 , carbon footprint was used as a measure of carbon emissions to develop the energy plan for City of Lynnwood , Washington . Carbon footprints are much more specific than ecological footprints since they measure direct emissions of gases that cause climate change into the atmosphere . Carbon footprint is one of a family of footprint indicators , which also includes water footprint and land footprint ." ]

[ "Solar power in Portugal At the end of 2013 , Portugal had 277.9 MWp of photovoltaics and produced an estimated 437 GWh of electricity which supplied nearly 166 500 homes and saved approximately 107 074 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions . In 2013 , solar power was responsible for 0,58 % of the total electricity produced . Portugal also increased its solar capacity by 25 % when comparing to 2012 .", "List of countries by carbon dioxide emissions per capita This is a list of countries by carbon dioxide emissions per capita from 1990 through 2011 . All data was calculated by the US Department of Energy 's Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center ( CDIAC ) , mostly based on data collected from country agencies by the United Nations Statistics Division . Countries are ranked by their metric tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions per capita in 2009 . The data only considers carbon dioxide emissions from the burning of fossil fuels and cement manufacture , but not emissions from land use such as deforestation . Emissions from international shipping or bunker fuels are also not included in national figures , which can make a huge difference for small countries with important ports . The carbon dioxide emissions of a country are only an indicator of one greenhouse gas . For a more complete idea of how a country influences climate change , gases such as methane and nitrous oxide should be taken into account . This is particularly so in agricultural economies . Carbon dioxide emissions are also known for earlier periods . A study of a global sample of twelve countries provide estimates for emissions since 1800 and explores the long-run drivers of carbon dioxide emissions by decomposing changes in carbon emissions into population , income , technological and energy mix changes .", "Carbon profiling Carbon profiling is a mathematical process that calculates how much carbon dioxide is put into the atmosphere per m2 of space in a building over one year . The analysis is in two parts which are then added together to produce an overall figure which is termed the ` Carbon Profile ' : operational carbon emissions embodied carbon emissions . Embodied carbon emissions relate to the amount of carbon dioxide emitted into the atmosphere from creating and maintaining the materials that form the building e.g. the carbon dioxide released from the baking of bricks or smelting or iron . In the Carbon Profiling Model these emissions are measured as Embodied Carbon Efficiency ( ECE ) , measured as kg of CO2/m2/year . Occupational Carbon Emissions relate to the amount of Carbon Dioxide emitted into the atmosphere from the direct use of energy to run the building e.g. the heating or electricity used by the building over the year . In the Carbon Profiling Model these emissions are measured in BER 's ( Building Emission Rate ) in kg of / m2/year . The BER is a United Kingdom government accepted unit of measurement that comes from an approved calculation process called sBEM ( Simplified Building Emission Model ) The purpose of Carbon Profiling is to provide a method of analyzing and comparing both operational and embodied carbon emissions at the same time . With this information it is then possible to allocate a projects resources in such a way to minimize the total amount of Carbon Dioxide emitted into the atmosphere through the use of a given piece of space . A secondary benefit is that having quantified the Carbon Profiling of different buildings it is then possible to make comparisons and rank buildings in term of their performance . This allows investors and occupiers to identify which building are good and bad carbon investments . Simon Sturgis and Gareth Roberts of Sturgis Associates in the United Kingdom originally developed ` Carbon Profiling ' in December 2007 .", "Carbon-neutral fuel Carbon-neutral fuels can refer to a variety of energy fuels or energy systems which have no net greenhouse gas emissions or carbon footprint . One class is synthetic fuel ( including methane , gasoline , diesel fuel , jet fuel or ammonia ) produced from sustainable or nuclear energy used to hydrogenate waste carbon dioxide recycled from power plant flue exhaust gas or derived from carbonic acid in seawater . Other types can be produced from renewable energy sources such as wind turbines , solar panels , and hydroelectric power stations . Such fuels are potentially carbon-neutral because they do not result in a net increase in atmospheric greenhouse gases . Until captured carbon is used for plastics feedstock , carbon neutral fuel synthesis is the primary means of carbon capture and utilization or recycling . To the extent that carbon-neutral fuels displace fossil fuels , or if they are produced from waste carbon or seawater carbonic acid , and their combustion is subject to carbon capture at the flue or exhaust pipe , they result in negative carbon dioxide emission and net carbon dioxide removal from the atmosphere , and thus constitute a form of greenhouse gas remediation . Such power to gas carbon-neutral and carbon-negative fuels can be produced by the electrolysis of water to make hydrogen used in the Sabatier reaction to produce methane which may then be stored to be burned later in power plants as synthetic natural gas , transported by pipeline , truck , or tanker ship , or be used in gas to liquids processes such as the Fischer -- Tropsch process to make traditional fuels for transportation or heating . Carbon-neutral fuels are used in Germany and Iceland for distributed storage of renewable energy , minimizing problems of wind and solar intermittency , and enabling transmission of wind , water , and solar power through existing natural gas pipelines . Such renewable fuels could alleviate the costs and dependency issues of imported fossil fuels without requiring either electrification of the vehicle fleet or conversion to hydrogen or other fuels , enabling continued compatible and affordable vehicles . A 250 kilowatt synthetic methane plant has been built in Germany and it is being scaled up to 10 megawatts .", "List of countries by carbon dioxide emissions -RSB- This is a list of sovereign states and territories by carbon dioxide emissions due to certain forms of human activity , based on the EDGAR database created by European Commission and Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency released in 2015 . The following table lists the 2015 annual emissions estimates ( in thousands of tonnes ) along with a list of emissions per capita ( in tonnes of per year ) from same source . The data only considers carbon dioxide emissions from the burning of fossil fuels and cement manufacture , but not emissions from land use , land-use change and forestry . Emissions from international shipping or bunker fuels are also not included in national figures , which can make a huge difference for small countries with important ports . The top 10 largest emitter countries account for 67.6 % of the world total . Other powerful , more potent greenhouse gases , including methane , are not included in this data .", "Portoscuso Wind Farm The Portoscuso Wind Farm is a proposed wind power project in Portoscuso , Sardinia , Italy . It will have 39 individual wind turbines with a nominal output of around 2.3 MW each which will deliver up to 90 MW of power , enough to power over 70,000 homes , with a capital investment required of approximately $ 100 million . The wind farm will have an electricity production of 185 GWh per year that will save the emission of 130,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide .", "Road-effect zone The Road-effect zone is the area in which effects on the natural environment extend outward from a road . Such effects are substance emissions like carbon monoxide , carbon dioxide , particulate matter , nitrogen oxide , volatile organic compounds , biological matter , rubber , or salt , intangible emissions like noise or light , and changes of the micro climate like alterations of wind , water flows , temperature or moisture .", "Carbon emission label A carbon emission label or carbon label describes the carbon dioxide emissions created as a by-product of manufacturing , transporting , or disposing of a consumer product . This information is important to consumers wishing to minimize their ecological footprint and contribution to global warming made by their purchases .", "Carbon offset A carbon offset is a reduction in emissions of carbon dioxide or greenhouse gases made in order to compensate for or to offset an emission made elsewhere . Carbon offsets are measured in metric tons of carbon dioxide-equivalent ( CO2e ) and may represent six primary categories of greenhouse gases : carbon dioxide , methane ( CH4 ) , nitrous oxide ( N2O ) , perfluorocarbons ( PFCs ) , hydrofluorocarbons ( HFCs ) , and sulfur hexafluoride ( SF6 ) . One carbon offset represents the reduction of one metric ton of carbon dioxide or its equivalent in other greenhouse gases . There are two markets for carbon offsets . In the larger , compliance market , companies , governments , or other entities buy carbon offsets in order to comply with caps on the total amount of carbon dioxide they are allowed to emit . This market exists in order to achieve compliance with obligations of Annex 1 Parties under the Kyoto Protocol , and of liable entities under the EU Emission Trading Scheme . In 2006 , about $ 5.5 billion of carbon offsets were purchased in the compliance market , representing about 1.6 billion metric tons of CO2e reductions . In the much smaller , voluntary market , individuals , companies , or governments purchase carbon offsets to mitigate their own greenhouse gas emissions from transportation , electricity use , and other sources . For example , an individual might purchase carbon offsets to compensate for the greenhouse gas emissions caused by personal air travel . Many companies ( see list ) offer carbon offsets as an up-sell during the sales process so that customers can mitigate the emissions related with their product or service purchase ( such as offsetting emissions related to a vacation flight , car rental , hotel stay , consumer good , etc. ) . In 2008 , about $ 705 million of carbon offsets were purchased in the voluntary market , representing about 123.4 million metric tons of CO2e reductions . Some fuel suppliers in the UK offer fuel which has been carbon offset such as Fuel dyes . Offsets are typically achieved through financial support of projects that reduce the emission of greenhouse gases in the short - or long-term . The most common project type is renewable energy , such as wind farms , biomass energy , or hydroelectric dams . Others include energy efficiency projects , the destruction of industrial pollutants or agricultural byproducts , destruction of landfill methane , and forestry projects . Some of the most popular carbon offset projects from a corporate perspective are energy efficiency and wind turbine projects . Carbon offsetting has gained some appeal and momentum mainly among consumers in western countries who have become aware and concerned about the potentially negative environmental effects of energy-intensive lifestyles and economies . The Kyoto Protocol has sanctioned offsets as a way for governments and private companies to earn carbon credits that can be traded on a marketplace . The protocol established the Clean Development Mechanism ( CDM ) , which validates and measures projects to ensure they produce authentic benefits and are genuinely `` additional '' activities that would not otherwise have been undertaken . Organizations that are unable to meet their emissions quota can offset their emissions by buying CDM-approved Certified Emissions Reductions . Emissions from burning fuel , such as red diesel , has pushed one UK fuel supplier to create a carbon offset fuel named Carbon Offset Red Diesel . Offsets may be cheaper or more convenient alternatives to reducing one 's own fossil-fuel consumption . However , some critics object to carbon offsets , and question the benefits of certain types of offsets . Due diligence is recommended to help businesses in the assessment and identification of `` good quality '' offsets to ensure offsetting provides the desired additional environmental benefits , and to avoid reputational risk associated with poor quality offsets . Offsets are viewed as an important policy tool to maintain stable economies and to improve sustainability . One of the hidden dangers of climate change policy is unequal prices of carbon in the economy , which can cause economic collateral damage if production flows to regions or industries that have a lower price of carbon -- unless carbon can be purchased from that area , which offsets effectively permit , equalizing the price .", "Wind power in Portugal Wind power in Portugal describes wind power in Portugal as part of energy in Portugal and renewable energy in Portugal . As of December 2013 , wind power capacity in Portugal ( Madeira and Azores included ) was of 4,731 MW . Wind share of total electricity consumption was 23 % saving nearly 8,182,900 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions . The major wind turbine manufacturers in the Portuguese market are Enercon , Vestas , Gamesa and Nordex . The largest owners of wind farms , as of December 2013 , are ENEOP2 ( 23,9 % ) , Iberwind ( 14,5 % ) ( EDP Renováveis ) ( 13 % ) , Generg ( 9,2 % ) and EEVM ( 6,2 % ) . The record of wind power generation utilization was achieved on October 24 , 2013 at 02:00 with 3844 MW or 84 % of the total used electricity .", "Power tower (Linz) thumb | The Facade of the Power Tower thumb | Integrated louvers to manage solar gain . The Power Tower is the first high-rise office tower to attempt to meet the strict Passive House energy efficiency building standard . It was built to house the corporate headquarters of the Austrian utility company Energie AG in Linz , Austria . In accordance with the Passive House standard the building has no connection to the local district heating system , and requires no fossil fuel inputs to maintain a comfortable interior climate , resulting in much lower carbon dioxide emissions than comparable buildings .", "Low-carbon emission The main components of automobile exhaust are carbon dioxide ( CO2 ) and water vapor ( H2O ) . Carbon dioxide is the most important anthropogenic greenhouse gas ( GHG ) and the most significant Greenhouse Gas emitted in the U.S. ( with 82-84 % of all U.S. emissions ) . Increases in carbon dioxide concentration are due primarily to fossil fuel use and land-use change . The CO2 emission standards can be referred to the fuel or to the vehicle : The European Union is moving towards fuel mandatory CO2 standards and USA has reflected it in the Greenhouse Gas Score . There are information , but no mandatory , standards for CO2 limits in vehicle ( engine ) emissions , excepting some state regulations ( i.e. California ) . See hybrid vehicles . CO2 mass emission in vehicles is measured in g/km ( g/mi * 0.621371192 = g/km ) .", "Marine cloud brightening Marine cloud brightening is a proposed solar radiation management climate engineering technique that would make clouds brighter , reflecting a small fraction of incoming sunlight back into space in order to offset anthropogenic global warming . Along with stratospheric aerosol injection , it is one of the two solar radiation management methods that may most feasibly have a substantial climate impact . The intention is that increasing the Earth 's albedo , in combination with greenhouse gas emissions reduction , carbon dioxide removal , and adaptation , would reduce climate change and its risks to people and the environment . If implemented , the cooling effect is expected to be felt rapidly and to be reversible on fairly short time scales . However , technical barriers remain to large-scale marine cloud brightening . There are also risks with such modification of complex climate systems .", "Individual action on climate change Making various personal choices has been advocated as a means of fighting climate change . A carbon diet is an effective way to understand the amount of impact on the environment and how to make meaningful changes . A low carbon diet is a way of reducing impact by choosing food that causes much less pollution . Trees : Protecting forests and planting new trees contributes to the absorption of carbon dioxide from the air . There are many opportunities to plant trees in the yard , along roads , in parks , and in public gardens . In addition , some charities plant fast-growing trees -- for as little as $ US0 .10 per tree -- to help people in tropical developing countries restore the productivity of their lands . Conversely , clearing old-growth forests adds to the carbon in the atmosphere , so buying non-old-growth paper is good for the climate as well as the forest . Labels : The Energy Star label can be seen on many household appliances , home electronics , office equipment , heating and cooling equipment , windows , residential light fixtures , and other products . Energy Star products use less energy . Travel : In the United States , perception towards climate change influenced people to change their travel lifestyle . More than a third of Americans have changed their travel habits in 2008 , versus only 14 % in 2007 . Cars : Purchasing a vehicle which gets high gas mileage helps to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide . Flying : Avoiding air travel and particularly frequent flyer programs has a high benefit because the convenience makes frequent , long distance travel easy , and high-altitude emissions are more potent for the climate than the same emissions made at ground level . Walking and running are among the least environmentally harmful modes of transportation , followed by the bicycle . Many energy suppliers in various countries worldwide have options to purchase part or pure `` green energy . '' The wind energy produced in Denmark , for example , provides about 20 percent of the country 's total electricity needs . These methods of energy production emit no greenhouse gases once they are up and running . Carbon offsets : The principle of carbon offset is thus : one decides that they do n't want to be responsible for accelerating climate change , and they 've already made efforts to reduce their carbon dioxide emissions , so they decide to pay someone else to further reduce their net emissions by planting trees or by taking up low-carbon technologies . Every unit of carbon that is absorbed by trees -- or not emitted due to your funding of renewable energy deployment -- offsets the emissions from their fossil fuel use . In many cases , funding of renewable energy , energy efficiency , or tree planting -- particularly in developing nations -- can be a relatively cheap way of making an individual `` carbon neutral '' . Carbon offset providers -- some as inexpensive as US$ 0.11 per metric ton ( USD 0.10 per US ton ) of carbon dioxide -- are referenced below under Lifestyle Action .", "Energy Saving Trust Energy Saving Trust ( EST ) is a British organization devoted to promoting energy efficiency , energy conservation , and the sustainable use of energy , thereby reducing carbon dioxide emissions and helping to prevent man-made climate change . It was founded in the United Kingdom as a government-sponsored initiative in 1992 , following the global Earth Summit . Energy Saving Trust is an independent , not-for-profit organization funded by the government and the private sector . It is a social enterprise , and also has a charitable foundation . The EST has regional offices in England , and country offices in Wales , Northern Ireland , and Scotland . It maintains a comprehensive website , and a network of numerous local advice centres .", "List of U.S. states by carbon dioxide emissions This is a list of U.S. states by carbon dioxide emissions due to human activity . The data presented below from the US Environmental Protection Agency and the US Energy Information Administration corresponds to emissions in 2014 . Interactive bar charts ( showing state rankings for total and per-capita emissions ) and interactive maps ( for both total emissions and per capita emissions ) for the 2014 data are available on Tableau Public . __ TOC __", "Environmental issues in Austria The Ministry of Health and Environmental Protection of Austria , established in 1972 , is responsible for the coordination at the national level of all environmental protection efforts , addressing its efforts toward problems including waste disposal , pollution , noise , sulfur dioxide , and carbon monoxide levels , as well as emissions by the iron , steel , and ceramics industries . A toxic waste law enacted in 1984 established strict regulations for the collection , transport , and disposal of dangerous substances . The Austrian government has imposed strict regulations on gas emissions , which helped to reduce sulfur dioxide by two-thirds over an eight-year period beginning in 1980 . In 1992 Austria was among the 50 countries with the highest level of industrial carbon dioxide emissions , producing 56.6 million metric tons of emissions , or 7.29 m tons per capita . In 1996 , the level rose to 59.3 million metric tons . In 2000 , the total was 60.8 million metric tons .", "Green Infra Green Infra Limited is a renewable energy company that generates power and currently operating in India . The company is operating under diverse portfolio of Wind , Solar , Hydro Energy , Biomass , and Energy Efficiency , and currently supplies 406 MW of clean energy to India 's power grid . '' This company operates under portfolio of Wind , Solar , Hydro , Biomass and Energy Efficiency and currently operating in the states of Tamil Nadu , Rajasthan , Karnataka , Maharashtra and Gujarat in India . Company has wind operating asset of 406 MW , has recently commissioned its first Solar project in the Rajkot district of Gujarat in India of 10 MW . This 10 MW project is expected to generate 16 Million units annually and expects to save 12,000 tonnes of carbon emissions .", "List of countries by ratio of GDP to carbon dioxide emissions On 6 October 2010 , the International Energy Agency released for free download the 2008 numbers for over 140 countries/regions/economies . The list of countries below is arranged by their ratio of gross domestic product , nominal and by purchasing power parity , to carbon dioxide emissions . GDP data is for the year 2006 produced by the International Monetary Fund . Carbon dioxide emissions data is for 2006 , provided by the CDIAC for United Nations ( see List of countries by carbon dioxide emissions ) . The countries at the top of the list are the most efficient . They produce the most economic output with the least emissions . Countries at the bottom of the list produce the most emissions per unit of economic output . Including French Guiana , French Polynesia , Guadeloupe , Martinique , New Caledonia , Saint Pierre and Miquelon and Réunion Including Greenland and Faroe Islands Including Netherlands Antilles Including Taiwan and Macau , excluding Hong Kong", "Eurus Wind Farm The Eurus Wind Farm is a wind farm located in Juchitán de Zaragoza , Oaxaca , Mexico . The largest wind farm in Latin America , the partnership between Cemex and Acciona Energia cost US$ 550 million to build . Its 167 wind turbines combine to generate 250.5 megawatts ( MW ) , sufficient power to supply about half a million people . By contrast with traditional means of power , it may reduce annual carbon dioxide emissions by 600,000 metric tons .", "Carbon dioxide snow Carbon dioxide snow may refer to : Dry ice , a solid form of carbon dioxide Carbon dioxide cleaning , an industrial cleaning method", "Electricity sector in Italy The electricity sector in Italy describes the production , sale , and use of electrical power in Italy . The country 's total electricity consumption was 297.3 TWh in 2013 , of which 278.8 TWh ( 93.7 % ) was produced domestically ( the remaining 6.3 % was imported ) . According to its national energy plan , Italy plans to increase renewable power generation from all renewable sources to 26 % of all electricity produced by 2020 , covering 17 % of its total energy consumption . In 2014 , 38.2 % of the national electric energy consumption came from renewable sources ( in 2005 this value was 15.4 % ) , covering 16.2 % of the total energy consumption of the country ( 5.3 % in 2005 ) . Solar energy production alone accounted for almost 9 % of the total electric consumption in the country in 2014 , making Italy the country with the highest contribution from solar energy in the world . Italy has abandoned nuclear power following a referendum in the wake of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster , and nuclear power in Italy has never been greater than a few percent of total power generation . Italy has a high share of electricity in the total final energy consumption . The share of primary energy dedicated to electricity production is above 35 % , and grew steadily since the 1970s . Emissions of carbon dioxide per capita in 2007 were 7.4 tons , below the EU27 average of 7.9 tons CO2 . Emission change 1990/2007 was 10 % increase .", "Global Carbon Project The Global Carbon Project ( GCP ) was established in 2001 . The organisation seeks to quantify global carbon emissions and their causes . The main object of the group has been to fully understand the carbon cycle . The project has brought together emissions experts and economists to tackle the problem of rising concentrations of greenhouse gases . The Global Carbon Project works collaboratively with the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme , the World Climate Programme , the International Human Dimensions Programme on Global Environmental Change and Diversitas , under the Earth System Science Partnership . In late 2006 researchers from the project claimed that carbon dioxide emissions had dramatically increased to a rate of 3.2 % annually from 2000 . At the time , the chair of the group Dr Mike Raupach stated that `` This is a very worrying sign . It indicates that recent efforts to reduce emissions have had virtually no impact on emissions growth and that effective caps are urgently needed , '' . A 2010 study conducted by the Project and Nature Geoscience revealed that the world 's oceans absorb 2.3 billion metric tonnes of carbon dioxide . On December 5 , 2011 analysis released from the project claimed carbon dioxide from fossil-fuel burning jumped by the largest amount on record in 2010 to 5.9 percent from a growth rate in the 1990s closer to 1 percent annually . The combustion of coal represented more than half of the growth in emissions , the report found . They predict greenhouse gas emissions to occur according to the IPCC 's worst-case scenario , as CO2 concentration in the atmosphere reaches 500ppm in the 21st century .", "Make Cars Green Make Cars Green ( MCG ) is a campaign by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile ( FIA ) aimed at reducing the impact of cars on the environment . The campaign consists of advising motorists of methods of reducing carbon dioxide emissions , as well as purchasing environmentally friendlier vehicles .", "Greenhouse gas emissions in Kentucky The report `` Kentucky Greenhouse Gas Inventory '' provides a detailed inventory of greenhouse gas emissions and sinks for Kentucky in 1990 . Emissions were estimated using methods from EPA 's 1995 guidance document State Workbook : Methodologies for Estimating Greenhouse Gas Emissions . In 1990 , Kentucky emitted 35.4 million metric tons of carbon equivalent ( MMTCE ) . In addition , Kentucky estimated emissions of 0.4 MMTCE from biofuels . Emissions from biofuels are not included . The principal greenhouse gases were carbon dioxide , comprising 87.9 million metric tons ( 24.0 MMTCE ) , and methane , with 1.1 million metric tons ( 6.4 MMTCE ) . Other emissions included 0.0016 million metric tons of perfluorocarbons ( PFCs ) ( 4.8 MMTCE ) , and 0.003 million metric tons of nitrous oxide ( 0.2 MMTCE ) The major source of carbon dioxide emissions was fossil fuel combustion ( 96 % ) , the majority of which is utility coal . Minor emissions came from cement and lime production and forest/grassland conversion . Carbon dioxide sinks ( i.e. , an increase in forest carbon storage ) offset about 26 % of the total carbon dioxide emissions . Sources of methane emissions were coal mining ( 73 % ) , domesticated animals ( 12 % ) , landfills ( 10 % ) , manure management ( 3 % ) , and natural gas/oil extraction ( 2 % ) . Nitrous oxide emissions were from fertilizer use . Sources of perfluorocarbons were HCFC-22 production ( 91 % ) and aluminum production ( 9 % ) . Kentucky 's emissions in 1990 were 9.6 MTCE per capita , compared to 1990 U.S. emissions of 6.4 MTCE per capita . Kentucky 's per capita emissions are high due to the large volume of coal-related activities in the state .", "Carbon Recycling International Carbon Recycling International Inc. ( CRI ) is an Icelandic renewable methanol company . Its emissions-to-liquid process uses carbon dioxide and water and electricity to create methanol fuel .", "Green textile Green textiles are farmed , processed and manufactured with minimal impact on the environment with regard to energy , resource , raw material usage ; greenhouse gases / Carbon dioxide emissions ; toxic emissions and waste generation .", "Politics of global warming The complex politics of global warming results from numerous cofactors arising from the global economy 's interdependence on carbon dioxide emitting hydrocarbon energy sources and because carbon dioxide is directly implicated in global warming -- making global warming a non-traditional environmental challenge .", "List of countries by carbon intensity This article lists countries by their carbon intensity . Carbon intensity is defined as a country 's annual carbon dioxide emissions divided by the country 's gross domestic product . National incomes are calculated using market exchange rates ( MER ) and purchasing power parities ( PPP ) . Units are metric tons of carbon dioxide per thousand year 2005 US dollars .", "List of countries by greenhouse gas emissions This is a list of countries by total greenhouse gas ( GHG ) emissions in 2010 . It is based on data for carbon dioxide , methane , nitrous oxide , perfluorocarbon , hydrofluorocarbon , and sulfur hexafluoride emissions compiled by the World Resources Institute . The emissions data shown below do not include land-use change and forestry .", "Deforestation and climate change Deforestation is one of the main contributors to climate change . It is the second largest anthropogenic source of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere , after fossil fuel combustion . Deforestation and forest degradation contribute to atmospheric greenhouse gas emissions through combustion of forest biomass and decomposition of remaining plant material and soil carbon . It used to account for more than 20 % of carbon dioxide emissions , but it 's currently somewhere around the 10 % mark . By 2008 , deforestation was 12 % of total , or 15 % if peatlands are included . These proportions are likely to have fallen since given the continued rise of fossil fuel use . Averaged over all land and ocean surfaces , temperatures warmed roughly 1.53 ° F ( 0.85 ° C ) between 1880 and 2012 , according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change . In the Northern Hemisphere , 1983 to 2012 were the warmest 30-year period of the last 1400 years .", "Continuous emissions monitoring system Continuous emission monitoring systems ( CEMS ) were historically used as a tool to monitor flue gas for oxygen , carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide to provide information for combustion control in industrial settings . They are currently used as a means to comply with air emission standards such as the United States Environmental Protection Agency 's Acid Rain Program , other federal emission programs , or state permitted emission standards . Facilities employ the use of CEMS to continuously collect , record and report the required emissions data . The standard CEM system consists of a sample probe , filter , sample line ( umbilical ) , gas conditioning system , calibration gas system , and a series of gas analyzers which reflect the parameters being monitored . Typical monitored emissions include : sulfur dioxide , nitrogen oxides , carbon monoxide , carbon dioxide , hydrogen chloride , airborne particulate matter , mercury , volatile organic compounds , and oxygen . CEM systems can also measure air flow , flue gas opacity and moisture . In the U.S. , the EPA requires a data acquisition and handling system to collect and report the data . emissions must be measured in pounds per hour using both an pollutant concentration monitor and a volumetric flow monitor . For NOx , both a NOx pollutant concentration monitor and a diluent gas monitor are required to determine the emissions rate ( lbs/mmBtu ) . Opacity must also be monitored . NOx measuring is not a current requirement , however if monitored , a or oxygen monitor plus a flow monitor should be used . In monitoring these emissions , the system must be in continuous operation and must be able to sample , analyze , and record data at least every 15 minutes and then averaged hourly ." ]

[ "Effects of global warming The effects of global warming are the environmental and social changes caused ( directly or indirectly ) by human emissions of greenhouse gases . There is a scientific consensus that climate change is occurring , and that human activities are the primary driver . Many impacts of climate change have already been observed , including glacier retreat , changes in the timing of seasonal events ( e.g. , earlier flowering of plants ) , and changes in agricultural productivity . Future effects of climate change will vary depending on climate change policies and social development . The two main policies to address climate change are reducing human greenhouse gas emissions ( climate change mitigation ) and adapting to the impacts of climate change . Geoengineering is another policy option . Near-term climate change policies could significantly affect long-term climate change impacts . Stringent mitigation policies might be able to limit global warming ( in 2100 ) to around 2 ° C or below , relative to pre-industrial levels . Without mitigation , increased energy demand and extensive use of fossil fuels might lead to global warming of around 4 ° C. Higher magnitudes of global warming would be more difficult to adapt to , and would increase the risk of negative impacts .", "Scientific consensus on climate change There is currently a strong scientific consensus that the Earth is warming and that this warming is mainly caused by human activities. This consensus is supported by various studies of scientists' opinions and by position statements of scientific organizations, many of which explicitly agree with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) synthesis reports. Nearly all actively publishing climate scientists (97–98%) support the consensus on anthropogenic climate change, and the remaining 2% of contrarian studies either cannot be replicated or contain errors.", "Sea level rise A sea level rise is an increase in the volume of water in the world 's oceans , resulting in an increase in global mean sea level . Sea level rise is usually attributed to global climate change by thermal expansion of the water in the oceans and by melting of Ice sheets and glaciers on land . Melting of floating ice shelves or icebergs at sea raises sea levels only slightly . Sea level rise at specific locations may be more or less than the global average . Local factors might include tectonic effects , subsidence of the land , tides , currents , storms , etc. . Sea level rise is expected to continue for centuries . Because of the slow inertia , long response time for parts of the climate system , it has been estimated that we are already committed to a sea-level rise of approximately 2.3 m for each degree Celsius of temperature rise within the next 2,000 years . IPCC Summary for Policymakers , AR5 , 2014 , indicated that the global mean sea level rise will continue during the 21st century , very likely at a faster rate than observed from 1971 to 2010 . Projected rates and amounts vary . A January 2017 NOAA report suggests a range of GMSL rise of 0.3 -- 2.5 m possible during the 21st century . Sea level rises can considerably influence human populations in coastal and island regions and natural environments like marine ecosystems .", "Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) is a scientific and intergovernmental body under the auspices of the United Nations , set up at the request of member governments , dedicated to the task of providing the world with an objective , scientific view of climate change and its political and economic impacts . It was first established in 1988 by two United Nations organizations , the World Meteorological Organization ( WMO ) and the United Nations Environment Programme ( UNEP ) , and later endorsed by the United Nations General Assembly through Resolution 43/53 . Membership of the IPCC is open to all members of the WMO and UNEP . The IPCC produces reports that support the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change ( UNFCCC ) , which is the main international treaty on climate change . The ultimate objective of the UNFCCC is to `` stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic -LSB- i.e. , human-induced -RSB- interference with the climate system '' . IPCC reports cover `` the scientific , technical and socio-economic information relevant to understanding the scientific basis of risk of human-induced climate change , its potential impacts and options for adaptation and mitigation . '' The IPCC does not carry out its own original research , nor does it do the work of monitoring climate or related phenomena itself . The IPCC bases its assessment on the published literature , which includes peer-reviewed and non-peer-reviewed sources . Thousands of scientists and other experts contribute ( on a voluntary basis , without payment from the IPCC ) to writing and reviewing reports , which are then reviewed by governments . IPCC reports contain a `` Summary for Policymakers '' , which is subject to line-by-line approval by delegates from all participating governments . Typically this involves the governments of more than 120 countries . The IPCC provides an internationally accepted authority on climate change , producing reports which have the agreement of leading climate scientists and the consensus of participating governments . The 2007 Nobel Peace Prize was shared , in equal parts , between the IPCC and Al Gore ." ]

[ "IPCC First Assessment Report The First Assessment Report ( FAR ) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) was completed in 1990 . It served as the basis of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change ( UNFCCC ) . The report was issued in three main sections , corresponding to the three Working Groups of scientists that the IPCC had established . Working Group I : Scientific Assessment of Climate Change , edited by J.T. Houghton , G.J. Jenkins and J.J. Ephraums Working Group II : Impacts Assessment of Climate Change , edited by W.J. McG . Tegart , G.W. Sheldon and D.C. Griffiths Working Group III : The IPCC Response Strategies Each section included a summary for policymakers . This format was followed in subsequent Assessment Reports . The executive summary of the policymakers ' summary of the WG I report includes : We are certain of the following : there is a natural greenhouse effect ... ; emissions resulting from human activities are substantially increasing the atmospheric concentrations of the greenhouse gases : CO2 , methane , CFCs and nitrous oxide . These increases will enhance the greenhouse effect , resulting on average in an additional warming of the Earth 's surface . The main greenhouse gas , water vapour , will increase in response to global warming and further enhance it . We calculate with confidence that : ... CO2 has been responsible for over half the enhanced greenhouse effect ; long-lived gases would require immediate reductions in emissions from human activities of over 60 % to stabilise their concentrations at today 's levels ... Based on current models , we predict : under -LSB- BAU -RSB- increase of global mean temperature during the -LSB- 21st -RSB- century of about 0.3 oC per decade ( with an uncertainty range of 0.2 to 0.5 oC per decade ) ; this is greater than that seen over the past 10,000 years ; under other ... scenarios which assume progressively increasing levels of controls , rates of increase in global mean temperature of about 0.2 oC -LSB- to -RSB- about 0.1 oC per decade . There are many uncertainties in our predictions particularly with regard to the timing , magnitude and regional patterns of climate change , due to our incomplete understanding of : sources and sinks of GHGs ; clouds ; oceans ; polar ice sheets . Our judgement is that : global mean surface air temperature has increased by 0.3 to 0.6 oC over the last 100 years ... ; The size of this warming is broadly consistent with predictions of climate models , but it is also of the same magnitude as natural climate variability . Thus the observed increase could be largely due to this natural variability ; alternatively this variability and other human factors could have offset a still larger human-induced greenhouse warming . The unequivocal detection of the enhanced greenhouse effect is not likely for a decade or more . under the IPCC business as usual emissions scenario , an average rate of global mean sea level rise of about 6 cm per decade over the next century ( with an uncertainty range of 3 -- 10 cm per decade ) , mainly due to thermal expansion of the oceans and the melting of some land ice . The predicted rise is about 20 cm ... by 2030 , and 65 cm by the end of the next century .", "Carbon emissions reporting Human activities continue to impact Earth 's climate through the emission of greenhouse gases . One of the proposed ways to combat this climate change is through reporting by businesses on the impact of their activities . Large power stations and manufacturing plants are often required to report their emissions to appropriate government entities , for example to the European Union as part of the Emissions Trading System or to the US EPA as part of the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program . In the United Kingdom , Department for Environment , Food and Rural Affairs ( Defra ) has described climate change as the `` greatest environmental challenge facing the world today , '' and it is now a legal requirement for all quoted companies to report their annual greenhouse gas emissions .", "Criticism of the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report The IPCC Fourth Assessment Report ( AR4 ) is a report on climate change created with the help of a large number of contributors , both scientists and governmental representatives . There has been considerable political controversy over a small number of errors found in the report , and there have been calls for review of the process used to formulate the report . The overwhelming majority view of scientists with expertise in climate change is that errors , when found , are corrected , and the issues as identified do not undermine the conclusions of the report that the climate system is warming in response to increased levels of greenhouse gases , largely due to human activities .", "Global warming controversy The global warming controversy concerns the public debate over whether global warming is occurring , how much has occurred in modern times , what has caused it , what its effects will be , whether any action should be taken to curb it , and if so what that action should be . In the scientific literature , there is a strong consensus that global surface temperatures have increased in recent decades and that the trend is caused by human-induced emissions of greenhouse gases . No scientific body of national or international standing disagrees with this view , though a few organizations with members in extractive industries hold non-committal positions . Disputes over the key scientific facts of global warming are more prevalent in the media than in the scientific literature , where such issues are treated as resolved , and such disputes are more prevalent in the United States than globally . Political and popular debate concerning the existence and cause of climate change includes the reasons for the increase seen in the instrumental temperature record , whether the warming trend exceeds normal climatic variations , and whether human activities have contributed significantly to it . Scientists have resolved these questions decisively in favour of the view that the current warming trend exists and is ongoing , that human activity is the cause , and that it is without precedent in at least 2000 years . Public disputes that also reflect scientific debate include estimates of how responsive the climate system might be to any given level of greenhouse gases ( climate sensitivity ) , how global climate change will play out at local and regional scales , and what the consequences of global warming will be . Global warming remains an issue of widespread political debate , often split along party political lines , especially in the United States . Many of the issues that are settled within the scientific community , such as human responsibility for global warming , remain the subject of politically or economically motivated attempts to downplay , dismiss or deny them -- an ideological phenomenon categorised by academics and scientists as climate change denial . The sources of funding for those involved with climate science -- both supporting and opposing mainstream scientific positions -- have been questioned by both sides . There are debates about the best policy responses to the science , their cost-effectiveness and their urgency . Climate scientists , especially in the United States , have reported official and oil-industry pressure to censor or suppress their work and hide scientific data , with directives not to discuss the subject in public communications . Legal cases regarding global warming , its effects , and measures to reduce it have reached American courts . The fossil fuels lobby has been identified as overtly or covertly supporting efforts to undermine or discredit the scientific consensus on global warming .", "Greenhouse effect The greenhouse effect is the process by which radiation from a planet 's atmosphere warms the planet 's surface to a temperature above what it would be without its atmosphere . If a planet 's atmosphere contains radiatively active gases ( i.e. , greenhouse gases ) the atmosphere will radiate energy in all directions . Part of this radiation is directed towards the surface , warming it . The downward component of this radiation -- that is , the strength of the greenhouse effect -- will depend on the atmosphere 's temperature and on the amount of greenhouse gases that the atmosphere contains . On Earth , the atmosphere is warmed by absorption of infrared thermal radiation from the underlying surface ( heated by the sun ) , absorption of shorter wavelength radiant energy from the sun , and convective heat fluxes from the surface . Greenhouse gases in the atmosphere radiate energy , some of which is directed to the surface and lower atmosphere . The mechanism that produces this difference between the actual surface temperature and the effective temperature is due to the atmosphere and is known as the greenhouse effect . Earth 's natural greenhouse effect is critical to supporting life . Human activities , primarily the burning of fossil fuels and clearing of forests , have intensified the natural greenhouse effect , causing global warming . The mechanism is named after a faulty analogy with the effect of solar radiation passing through glass and warming a greenhouse . The way a greenhouse retains heat is fundamentally different , as a greenhouse works by reducing airflow and retaining warm air inside the structure .", "Carbon project A carbon project refers to a business initiative that receives funding because of the cut the emission of greenhouse gases ( GHGs ) that will result . To prove that the project will result in real , permanent , verifiable reductions in Greenhouse Gases , proof must be provided in the form of a project design document and activity reports validated by an approved third party in the case of Clean Development Mechanism ( CDM ) or Joint Implementation ( JI ) projects .", "Cap and Share Cap and Share was originally developed by Feasta ( the Foundation for the Economics of Sustainability ) and is a regulatory and economic framework for controlling the use of fossil fuels in relation to climate stabilisation . Accepting that climate change is a global problem and that there is a need to cap and reduce greenhouse gas emissions globally , the philosophy of Cap and Share maintains that the earth 's atmosphere is a fundamental common resource . Consequently , it is argued , each individual should get an equal share of the benefits from the limited amount of fossil fuels that will have to be burned and their emissions released into the atmosphere in the period until the atmospheric concentration of greenhouse gases has been stabilised at a safe level .", "IPCC list of greenhouse gases This is a list of LLGHG ( long-lived greenhouse gases ) greenhouse gases as used by the IPCC TAR .", "Land use, land-use change and forestry Land use , land-use change and forestry ( LULUCF ) is defined by the United Nations Climate Change Secretariat as a `` greenhouse gas inventory sector that covers emissions and removals of greenhouse gases resulting from direct human-induced land use , land-use change and forestry activities . '' LULUCF has impacts on the global carbon cycle and as such , these activities can add or remove carbon dioxide ( or , more generally , carbon ) from the atmosphere , influencing climate . LULUCF has been the subject of two major reports by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) . Additionally , land use is of critical importance for biodiversity .", "Greenhouse gas accounting Greenhouse gas accounting describes the way to inventory and audit greenhouse gas ( GHG ) emissions . A corporate or organisational greenhouse gas ( GHG ) emissions assessment quantifies the total greenhouse gases produced directly and indirectly from a business or organisation 's activities . Also known as a carbon footprint , it is a business tool that provides information with a basis for understanding and managing climate change impacts . The drivers for corporate GHG accounting include mandatory GHG reporting in directors ' reports , investment due diligence , shareholder and stakeholder communication , staff engagement , green messaging , and tender requirements for business and government contracts . Accounting for greenhouse gas emissions is increasingly seen as a standard requirement for business . For example , in June 2012 , the UK coalition government announced the introduction of mandatory carbon reporting , requiring around 1,100 of the UK 's largest listed companies to report their greenhouse gas emissions every year . Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg confirmed that emission reporting rules would come into effect from April 2013 in his piece for The Guardian . Guidance for accounting for GHG emissions from organizations and emission reduction projects is provided by the World Resources Institute ( WRI ) and World Business Council for Sustainable Development ( WBCSD ) GHG Protocol . For national GHG inventories , guidance is provided by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) methodology reports . The International Organization for Standardization ( ISO ) also provides some general standards for greenhouse gas emissions at organisation level ( ISO 14064 - 1 ) and greenhouse gas emissions at project level ( ISO 14064 - 2 ) . Specifications to validate and verify relevant accountings are documented in ( ISO 14064 - 3 ) .", "Greenhouse debt Greenhouse debt or carbon debt is the measure to which an individual person , incorporated association , business enterprise , government instrumentality or geographic community exceeds its permitted greenhouse footprint and contributes greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming and climate change . The concept makes no sense without a clear numerical value for the permitted greenhouse footprint . It is not clear what this value is . Friends of the Earth and similar organisations put forward the concept to define specifically the environmental harm caused by developed countries ' past and present policies . Some governments , at least the Australian Labor leadership , have a tendency to accept such a line of reasoning . The greenhouse debt assessment thus forms an ecological footprint analysis but can be used separately . Taken conjointly with a ` water debt ' analysis and an ecological impact assessment , greenhouse debt analysis is basic to giving individuals , organisations , governments and communities an understanding of the effects they are having on Gaia , life , and global warming . Ensuring that the greenhouse debt is zero is essential towards achieving ecologically sustainable development or a sustainable retreat . Any greenhouse debt incurred will contribute to making life harder for future generations of humans and non-human lifeforms . There are three possible consequences that occur as a result of a greenhouse debt . Mitigation : finding compensatory ways of reducing the greenhouse debt so its effects are neutralised Adaptation : finding ways of adjusting to the resulting global warming or climate change Suffering : having one 's quality of life reduced as a result of the consequences", "California coastal salt marsh California 's coastal salt marsh is a wetland plant community that occurs sporadically along the Pacific Coast from Humboldt Bay to San Diego . This salt marsh type is found in bays , harbors , inlets , and other protected areas subject to tidal flooding .", "The Green Initiative The Green Initiative has as its main objective the offsetting of Greenhouse gases emitted by human activities that can range from complex industrial production processes to simply driving a car , with reforestation projects in riparian areas that need to be recovered . The trees planted will absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and provide , as well as environmental benefits , such as water and air quality preservation , and biodiversity protection .", "The Cloud Mystery The Cloud Mystery is a documentary by Danish director Lars Oxfeldt Mortensen . It explores the published theory by Danish scientist Henrik Svensmark on how galactic cosmic rays and solar activity affects cloud cover , and how this influences the earth 's climate . Also known as Klimamysteriet in Danish . This documentary presents the work done to develop the theory that cloud cover change is caused by variations in cosmic rays as the major originator of global climate variation . It also mentions that these scientist to not subscribe to the view that human influence and the effect of greenhouse gases as significant drivers of climate . However , the focus is on the work they have done and not on other climate theories like anthropogenic global warming for instance .", "United States federal register of greenhouse gas emissions The United States federal register of greenhouse gas emissions is established by the United States Department of Energy under the Energy Policy Act 1992 . It is administered by the Energy Information Administration through the Voluntary Reporting of Greenhouse Gases Program . Separately , the Environmental Protection Agency in 2009 commenced implementing a mandatory Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program , which applies to facilities that emit 25,000 metric tons or more per year .", "Climate system Earth's climate arises from the interaction of five major climate system components: the atmosphere (air), the hydrosphere (water), the cryosphere (ice and permafrost), the lithosphere (earth's upper rocky layer) and the biosphere (living things). Climate is the average weather, typically over a period of 30 years, and is determined by a combination of processes in the climate system, such as ocean currents and wind patterns. Circulation in the atmosphere and oceans is primarily driven by solar radiation and transports heat from the tropical regions to regions that receive less energy from the Sun. The water cycle also moves energy throughout the climate system. In addition, different chemical elements, necessary for life, are constantly recycled between the different components. The climate system can change due to internal variability and external forcings. These external forcings can be natural, such as variations in solar intensity and volcanic eruptions, or caused by humans. Accumulation of heat-trapping greenhouse gases, mainly being emitted by people burning fossil fuels, is causing global warming. Human activity also releases cooling aerosols, but their net effect is far less than that of greenhouse gases. Changes can be amplified by feedback processes in the different climate system components.", "Anti-greenhouse effect The anti-greenhouse effect is a mechanism similar to the greenhouse effect , but with the opposite consequence of cooling the surface temperature of a planet . If gases in the atmosphere of a planet have a lesser transmittance for inbound radiation ( for instance , solar rays in the Solar System ) than for outbound radiation ( typically thermal radiation of the planet 's surface in the infrared domain ) , the surface temperature at which inbound and outbound heat fluxes are at equilibrium is lower .", "Greenhouse gas removal Greenhouse gas removal projects are a type of climate engineering that seek to remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere , and thus they tackle the root cause of global warming . These techniques either directly remove greenhouse gases , or alternatively seek to influence natural processes to remove greenhouse gases indirectly . The discipline overlaps with carbon capture and storage and carbon sequestration , and some projects listed may not be considered to be geoengineering by all commentators , instead being described as mitigation .", "Greenhouse gas inventory Greenhouse gas inventories are a type of emission inventory that are developed for a variety of reasons . Scientists use inventories of natural and anthropogenic ( human-caused ) emissions as tools when developing atmospheric models . Policy makers use inventories to develop strategies and policies for emissions reductions and to track the progress of those policies . And , regulatory agencies and corporations rely on inventories to establish compliance records with allowable emission rates . Businesses , the public , and other interest groups use inventories to better understand the sources and trends in emissions . Unlike some other air emission inventories , greenhouse gas inventories include not only emissions from source categories , but also removals by carbon sinks . These removals are typically referred to as carbon sequestration . Greenhouse gas inventories , typically use Global warming potential ( GWP ) values to combine emissions of various greenhouse gases into a single weighted value of emissions . Some of the key examples of greenhouse gas inventories include : All Annex I countries are required to report annual emissions and sinks of greenhouse gases under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change ( UNFCCC ) National governments that are Parties to the UNFCCC and/or the Kyoto Protocol are required to submit annual inventories of all anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions from sources and removals from sinks . The Kyoto Protocol includes additional requirements for national inventory systems , inventory reporting , and annual inventory review for determining compliance with Articles 5 and 8 of the Protocol . Project developers under the Clean Development Mechanism of the Kyoto Protocol prepare inventories as part of their project baselines . Corporation and other entities can prepare greenhouse gas inventories to track progress towards meeting an emission reduction goal . Scientific efforts aimed at understanding detail of total net carbon exchange . Example : Project Vulcan - a comprehensive US inventory of fossil-fuel greenhouse gas emissions .", "Coastal flood Coastal flooding occurs when normally dry , low-lying land is flooded by seawater . The extent of coastal flooding is a function of the elevation inland flood waters penetrate which is controlled by the topography of the coastal land exposed to flooding . The seawater can inundate the land via several different paths : Direct inundation -- where the sea height exceeds the elevation of the land , often where waves have not built up a natural barrier such as a dune system Overtopping of a barrier -- the barrier may be natural or human engineered and overtopping occurs due to swell conditions during storm or high tides often on open stretches of the coast . The height of the waves exceeds the height of the barrier and water flows over the top of the barrier to flood the land behind it . Overtopping can result in high velocity flows that can erode significant amounts of the land surface which can undermine defense structures . Breaching of a barrier -- again the barrier may be natural or human engineered , and breaching occurs on open coasts exposed to large waves . Breaching is where the barrier is broken down by waves allowing the seawater to extend inland . Coastal flooding is largely a natural event , however human influence on the coastal environment can exacerbate coastal flooding . Extraction of water from groundwater reservoirs in the coastal zone can enhance subsidence of the land increasing the risk of flooding . Engineered protection structures along the coast such as sea walls alter the natural processes of the beach , often leading to erosion on adjacent stretches of the coast which also increases the risk of flooding .", "Emission Reduction Unit The emission reduction unit ( ERU ) is an emissions unit issued under a Joint Implementation project in terms of the Kyoto Protocol . An ERU represents a reduction of greenhouse gases under the Joint Implementation mechanism , where it represents one tonne of equivalent reduced . To allow comparison between the different effects of gases on the environment , scientists have defined multipliers for gases that compare their greenhouse potency ( global warming potential ) relative to that of carbon dioxide . One example of a Joint Implementation project resulting in an emission reduction unit , is the production of biogases by landfill sites . These gases consist of mainly methane which escapes to the atmosphere if it is not collected . The main reason for dealing with methane is that it has a 100-year global warming potential multiplier of 25 compared to carbon dioxide ( i.e. has 25 times the greenhouse potency ) . Collection of methane is usually accompanied by its combustion . Burning one tonne of methane produces nearly 3 tonnes of , thus reducing its greenhouse effect by ( 25-3 = 22 ) ERU . In December 2012 , ERU prices crashed to a low of 15 euro cents before recovering to 23c after news that EU 's Climate Change Committee was to vote on a ban of ERUs from countries that have not signed up to a second commitment period under the Kyoto Protocol . In January 2013 , Bloomberg reported that emission reduction unit prices declined 89 percent in 2012", "Rip tide A riptide is a strong , offshore current that is caused by the tide pulling water through an inlet along a barrier beach . It is a strong tidal flow of water within estuaries and other enclosed tidal areas . They become the strongest where the flow is constricted . When there is a falling or ebbing tide , the water is strongly flowing through an inlet toward the ocean , especially once stabilized by jetties . During these falling and ebbing tides , a riptide can carry a person far offshore . For example , the ebbing tide at Shinnecock Inlet ( picture ) in Southampton New York , extends more than 300 m offshore . Because of this , riptides are typically more powerful than rip currents . During slack tide , the water is motionless for a short period of time until the flooding or rising tide starts pushing the sea water landward through the inlet . Riptides also occur in constricted areas in bays and lagoons where there are no waves . These strong , reversing currents can also be termed ebb jets , flood jet , or tidal jets by coastal engineers because they carry large quantities of sand that form sand bars far out in the ocean and in the bay opposite the inlet channel . The term `` ebb jet '' would be used for a tidal current leaving an enclosed tidal area , and `` flood jet '' for the equivalent tidal current entering it . The term `` rip tide '' or `` riptide '' is often incorrectly applied to rip currents , which are not tidal flows . A rip current is a strong , narrow jet of water that moves away from the beach and into the ocean . They can flow quickly and are not predictable and are a result of the shape of the coastline . A rip tide is caused by the moons gravitational pull and is a predictable rise and fall of the water level . The US National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration comments : `` Rip currents are not rip tides . A specific type of current associated with tides may include both the ebb and flood tidal currents that are caused by egress and ingress of the tide through inlets and the mouths of estuaries , embayments , and harbors . These currents may cause drowning deaths , but these tidal currents or tidal jets are separate and distinct phenomena from rip currents . Recommended terms for these phenomena include ebb jet , flood jet , or tidal jet . ''", "Greenhouse Gases Observing Satellite The Greenhouse Gases Observing Satellite ( GOSat ) , also known as , is an Earth observation satellite and the world 's first satellite dedicated to greenhouse-gas-monitoring . It measures the densities of carbon dioxide and methane from 56,000 locations on the Earth 's atmosphere . The GOSAT was developed by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency ( JAXA ) and launched on 23 January 2009 , from the Tanegashima Space Center . Japan 's Ministry of the Environment , and the National Institute for Environmental Studies ( NIES ) use the data to track gases causing the greenhouse effect , and share the data with NASA and other international scientific organizations .", "Tidal river A tidal river is a river whose flow and level are influenced by tides . A section of a larger river affected by the tides is a tidal reach , although it may sometimes be considered a tidal river if it has been given a separate name . The Brisbane River , which flows into the Pacific Ocean from the east coast of Australia , is also a tidal river . Generally , tidal rivers are short rivers with relatively low discharge rates but high overall discharge ; generally this implies a shallow river with a large coastal mouth . In some cases , high tides impound downstream flowing freshwater , reversing the flow and increasing the water level of the lower section of river , forming large estuaries . High tides can be noticed as far as 100 km upstream . The Coquille River is one such stream where this effect can be noticed .", "Cobra effect The cobra effect occurs when an attempted solution to a problem makes the problem worse , as a type of unintended consequence . The term is used to illustrate the causes of incorrect stimulation in economy and politics .", "Amazon Tall Tower Observatory The Amazon Tall Tower Observatory or ATTO ( in Portuguese : Observatório de Torre Alta da Amazônia ) is a scientific research tower in the Amazon rainforest with a height of 325 m . The site is distant from any human presence , about 150 kilometres northeast of Manaus . The measurement tower is a joint project between Germany and Brazil coordinated by the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry , the Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry , the Brazilian National Institute of Amazonian Research , INPA ( Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia ) , and the University of the State of Amazonas , UEA ( Universidade do Estado do Amazonas ) . The tower , South America 's tallest structure , is used to study the climate in the largely untouched rainforest surrounding it . It measures greenhouse gases , aerosols and weather data and provides information about a roughly 100 square kilometer area around the tower . The joint project is dedicated to the exploration of the rainforest biosphere and how it responds to global warming . ATTO 's counterpart `` ZOTTO '' ( Zotino Tall Tower Observation Facility ) is located in the Siberian Taiga . The project was launched in 2009 . Building of the tower began in 2014 and was completed in 2015 . The cost of 8.4 million Euros was shared about equally by the German and Brazil partners . According to a press release from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research ( BMBF ) , ATTO will allow `` climate observations at different altitudes of the atmosphere , which will deliver completely new and so far not achievable results of the measurements on the greenhouse gases and the complex interactions between the land surface and the atmosphere . '' German and Brazilian scientists are now able to do research in a forest area `` far from disturbances caused by human influences '' . Furthermore , the measuring tower will contribute to gather and assess `` climate-relevant chemical and physical processes over the Amazon '' and thus create new principles for climate protection '' .", "Tidal wave Tidal wave may refer to : A tidal bore , which is a large movement of water formed by the funnelling of the incoming tide into a river or narrow bay A storm surge , or tidal surge , which can cause waves that breach flood defences A tsunami , a series of water waves in a body of water caused by the displacement of a large volume water , although this usage of `` tidal wave '' is not favored by the scientific community because tsunamis are not tidal in nature A megatsunami , which is an informal term to describe a tsunami that has initial wave heights that are much larger than normal tsunamis The crest ( physics ) of a tide as it moves around the Earth", "Bangladeshi Americans Bangladeshi Americans are Americans of Bangladeshi descent . The majority of Bangladeshi Americans are Bengalis . Bangladeshi immigrants have arrived in the United States in large numbers since the early 1970s to become among the fastest growing ethnic communities since that decade . New York City ; Paterson , New Jersey ; as well as Washington , D.C. , Los Angeles , Boston , Atlanta , San Francisco , Detroit , Chicago , Florida , Dallas , Houston , North Carolina , Austin , and Hamtramck , Michigan are home to notable Bangladeshi communities . Bangladeshi Americans are expected to grow rapidly in the coming years , as emigration from Bangladesh to the United States continues to increase .", "Anthropogenic Anthropogenic is an adjective which may refer to : pertaining to anthropogeny , the origin of humanity Human impact on the environment or anthropogenic impact on the environment Anthropogenic biome Anthropogenic climate change , or global warming Anthropogenic cloud Anthropogenic greenhouse gases Anthropogenic hazards Anthropogenic metabolism", "Michael J. Kennish Dr. Michael J. Kennish is an American marine scientist and a research professor in the Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences at Rutgers University , New Brunswick , New Jersey . He is best known for his work on the effects of human activities on estuarine and marine environments .", "Geography of Bangladesh Bangladesh is a low-lying , riverine country located in South Asia with a largely marshy jungle coastline of 580 km on the northern littoral of the Bay of Bengal . Formed by a delta plain at the confluence of the Ganges ( Padma ) , Brahmaputra ( Jamuna ) , and Meghna Rivers and their tributaries , Bangladesh 's alluvial soil is highly fertile , but vulnerable to flood and drought . Hills rise above the plain only in the Chittagong Hill Tracts in the far southeast and the Sylhet division in the northeast . Straddling the Tropic of Cancer , Bangladesh has a tropical monsoon climate characterised by heavy seasonal rainfall , high temperatures , and high humidity . Natural disasters , such as floods , tornadoes , and tidal bores affect the country yearly . Bangladesh also is affected by major cyclones , on average 16 times a decade . A cyclone struck the southeastern coast in May 1991 , killing 136,000 people . Cyclone Sidr struck the southwestern coast on 15 November 2007 , affecting not only the coastal districts of the administrative division Khulna but also about half of the tropical forest Sundarbans .", "Salt marsh A salt marsh or saltmarsh , also known as a coastal salt marsh or a tidal marsh , is a coastal ecosystem in the upper coastal intertidal zone between land and open salt water or brackish water that is regularly flooded by the tides . It is dominated by dense stands of salt-tolerant plants such as herbs , grasses , or low shrubs . These plants are terrestrial in origin and are essential to the stability of the salt marsh in trapping and binding sediments . Salt marshes play a large role in the aquatic food web and the delivery of nutrients to coastal waters . They also support terrestrial animals and provide coastal protection ." ]

[ "Climate change (general concept) Climate variability includes all the variations in the climate that last longer than individual weather events, whereas the term climate change only refers to those variations that persist for a longer period of time, typically decades or more. In the time since the industrial revolution the climate has increasingly been affected by human activities that are causing global warming and climate change.The climate system receives nearly all of its energy from the sun. The climate system also radiates energy to outer space. The balance of incoming and outgoing energy, and the passage of the energy through the climate system, determines Earth\\'s energy budget. When the incoming energy is greater than the outgoing energy, earth\\'s energy budget is positive and the climate system is warming. If more energy goes out, the energy budget is negative and earth experiences cooling.\\nThe energy moving through Earth\\'s climate system finds expression in weather, varying on geographic scales and time. Long-term averages and variability of weather in a region constitute the region\\'s climate. Such changes can be the result of \"internal variability\", when natural processes inherent to the various parts of the climate system alter the distribution of energy. Examples include variability in ocean basins such as the Pacific decadal oscillation and Atlantic multidecadal oscillation. Climate variability can also result from external forcing, when events outside of the climate system\\'s components nonetheless produce changes within the system. Examples include changes in solar output and volcanism.\\nClimate variability has consequences for sea level changes, plant life, and mass extinctions; it also affects human societies.", "Global dimming Global dimming is the gradual reduction in the amount of global direct irradiance at the Earth 's surface that was observed for several decades after the start of systematic measurements in the 1950s . The effect varies by location , but worldwide it has been estimated to be of the order of a 4 % reduction over the three decades from 1960 -- 1990 . However , after discounting an anomaly caused by the eruption of Mount Pinatubo in 1991 , a very slight reversal in the overall trend has been observed . Global dimming is thought to have been caused by an increase in particulates such as sulfate aerosols in the atmosphere due to human action . It has interfered with the hydrological cycle by reducing evaporation and may have reduced rainfall in some areas . Global dimming also creates a cooling effect that may have partially counteracted the effect of greenhouse gases on global warming .", "Global cooling Global cooling was a conjecture during the 1970s of imminent cooling of the Earth 's surface and atmosphere culminating in a period of extensive glaciation . This hypothesis had little support in the scientific community , but gained temporary popular attention due to a combination of a slight downward trend of temperatures from the 1940s to the early 1970s and press reports that did not accurately reflect the full scope of the scientific climate literature , which showed a larger and faster-growing body of literature projecting future warming due to greenhouse gas emissions . The current scientific opinion on climate change is that the Earth has not durably cooled , but underwent global warming throughout the 20th century .", "Climate change denial Climate change denial , or global warming denial , is part of the global warming controversy . It involves denial , dismissal , unwarranted doubt or contrarian views which strongly depart from the scientific opinion on climate change , including the extent to which it is caused by humans , its impacts on nature and human society , or the potential of adaptation to global warming by human actions . Some deniers do endorse the term , but others often prefer the term climate change skepticism , although this is a misnomer for those who deny anthropogenic global warming . In effect , the two terms form a continuous , overlapping range of views , and generally have the same characteristics : both reject , to a greater or lesser extent , mainstream scientific opinion on climate change . Climate change denial can also be implicit , when individuals or social groups accept the science but fail to come to terms with it or to translate their acceptance into action . Several social science studies have analyzed these positions as forms of denialism . Campaigning to undermine public trust in climate science has been described as a `` denial machine '' of industrial , political and ideological interests , supported by conservative media and skeptical bloggers in manufacturing uncertainty about global warming . In the public debate , phrases such as climate skepticism have frequently been used with the same meaning as climate denialism . The labels are contested : those actively challenging climate science commonly describe themselves as `` skeptics '' , but many do not comply with common standards of scientific skepticism and , regardless of evidence , persistently deny the validity of human caused global warming . Although scientific opinion on climate change is that human activity is extremely likely to be the primary driver of climate change , the politics of global warming have been affected by climate change denial , hindering efforts to prevent climate change and adapt to the warming climate . Those promoting denial commonly use rhetorical tactics to give the appearance of a scientific controversy where there is none . Of the world 's countries , the climate change denial industry is most powerful in the United States . Since January 2015 , the United States Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works has been chaired by oil lobbyist and climate change denier Jim Inhofe . Inhofe is notorious for having called climate change `` the greatest hoax ever perpetrated against the American people '' and for having claimed to have debunked the alleged hoax in February 2015 when he brought a snowball with him in the Senate chamber and tossed it across the floor . Organised campaigning to undermine public trust in climate science is associated with conservative economic policies and backed by industrial interests opposed to the regulation of emissions . Climate change denial has been associated with the fossil fuels lobby , the Koch brothers , industry advocates and libertarian think tanks , often in the United States . More than 90 % of papers sceptical on climate change originate from right-wing think tanks . The total annual income of these climate change counter-movement-organizations is roughly $ 900 million . Between 2002 and 2010 , nearly $ 120 million ( # 77 million ) was anonymously donated via the Donors Trust and Donors Capital Fund to more than 100 organisations seeking to undermine the public perception of the science on climate change . In 2013 the Center for Media and Democracy reported that the State Policy Network ( SPN ) , an umbrella group of 64 U.S. think tanks , had been lobbying on behalf of major corporations and conservative donors to oppose climate change regulation . Since the late 1970s , oil companies have published research broadly in line with the standard views on global warming . Despite this , oil companies organized a climate change denial campaign to disseminate public disinformation for several decades , a strategy that has been compared to the organized denial of the hazards of tobacco smoking by tobacco companies .", "Ice age An ice age is a period of long-term reduction in the temperature of Earth 's surface and atmosphere , resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers . Within a long-term ice age , individual pulses of cold climate are termed `` glacial periods '' ( or alternatively `` glacials '' or `` glaciations '' or colloquially as `` ice age '' ) , and intermittent warm periods are called `` interglacials '' . In the terminology of glaciology , ice age implies the presence of extensive ice sheets in both northern and southern hemispheres . By this definition , we are in an interglacial period -- the Holocene -- of the ice age . The ice age began 2.6 million years ago at the start of the Pleistocene epoch , because the Greenland , Arctic , and Antarctic ice sheets still exist ." ]

[ "Global warming hiatus A global warming hiatus , also sometimes referred to as a global warming pause or a global warming slowdown , is a period of relatively little change in globally averaged surface temperatures . In the current episode of global warming many such 15-year periods appear in the surface temperature record , along with robust evidence of the long-term warming trend ; climate is classically averaged over 30-year periods . Publicity has surrounded claims of a global warming hiatus during the period 1998 -- 2013 . The exceptionally warm El Niño year of 1998 was an outlier from the continuing temperature trend , and so subsequent annual temperatures gave the appearance of a hiatus : by January 2006 , it appeared to some that global warming had stopped or paused . A 2009 study showed that decades without warming were not exceptional , and in 2011 a study showed that if allowances were made for known variability , the rising temperature trend continued unabated . There was increased public interest in 2013 in the run-up to publication of the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report , and despite concerns that a 15-year period was too short to determine a meaningful trend , the IPCC included a section on a hiatus , which it defined as a much smaller increasing linear trend over the 15 years from 1998 to 2012 , than over the 60 years from 1951 to 2012 . Various studies examined possible causes of the short-term slowdown . Even though the overall climate system has continued to accumulate energy due to Earth 's positive energy budget , the available temperature readings at the Earth 's surface indicate slower rates of increase in surface warming than in the prior decade . Since measurements at the top of the atmosphere show that Earth is receiving more energy than it is radiating back into space , the retained energy should be producing warming in the Earth 's climate system . Research reported in July 2015 on an updated NOAA dataset casts doubt on the existence of a hiatus , and it finds no indication of a slowdown even in earlier years . Scientists working on other datasets welcomed this study , though they have expressed the view that the recent warming trend was less than in previous periods of the same length . Subsequently , a detailed study supports the conclusion that warming is continuing , but it also find there was less warming between 2001 and 2010 than climate models had predicted , and that this slowdown might be attributed to short-term variations in the Pacific decadal oscillation ( PDO ) , which was negative during that period . Another review finds `` no substantive evidence '' of a pause in global warming . A statistical study of global temperature data since 1970 concludes that the term ` hiatus ' or ` pause ' is not justified . Independent of these discussions about data and measurements for earlier years , 2015 turned out to be much warmer than any of the earlier years , already before El Niño conditions started . The warmth of 2015 largely ended any remaining scientific credibility of claims that the supposed `` hiatus '' since 1998 had any significance for the long-term warming trend . In January 2017 , a study published in the journal Science Advances cast further doubt on the existence of a recent pause , with more evidence that ocean temperatures have been underestimated . An April 2017 study found the data consistent with a steady warming trend globally since the 1970s , with fluctuations within the expected range of short term variability .", "Wibjörn Karlén Wibjörn Karlén ( born 26 August 1937 in Kristine , Kopparberg County , Sweden ) , Ph.D. , is a professor emeritus of physical geography and quaternary geology at Stockholm University , Sweden . In an article which describes Karlén as a paleoclimatologist , he is quoted as saying : `` One of the big problems with trying to determine long-term temperature changes , is that weather records only go back to about 1860 . By relying on statistical reconstruction of the last 1000 years , using only the temperature patterns of the last 140 years instead of actual temperature readings , the IPCC report and Summary missed both a major cooling period as well as a significant warming trend during that millennium . '' Karlén has also criticized the mainstream media for `` spreading the exaggerated views of a human impact on climate . '' He was also named in a 2007 minority report of the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee as one of 400 `` prominent scientists '' who were said to dispute global warming . In 2010 , he predicted that natural climate changes , caused to a large degree by the sun 's activity , would more likely make the climate colder than warmer in the next decades . He is a contributing author to the Fraser Institute 2007 Independent Summary for Policymakers . Karlén is a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences .", "Global warming controversy The global warming controversy concerns the public debate over whether global warming is occurring , how much has occurred in modern times , what has caused it , what its effects will be , whether any action should be taken to curb it , and if so what that action should be . In the scientific literature , there is a strong consensus that global surface temperatures have increased in recent decades and that the trend is caused by human-induced emissions of greenhouse gases . No scientific body of national or international standing disagrees with this view , though a few organizations with members in extractive industries hold non-committal positions . Disputes over the key scientific facts of global warming are more prevalent in the media than in the scientific literature , where such issues are treated as resolved , and such disputes are more prevalent in the United States than globally . Political and popular debate concerning the existence and cause of climate change includes the reasons for the increase seen in the instrumental temperature record , whether the warming trend exceeds normal climatic variations , and whether human activities have contributed significantly to it . Scientists have resolved these questions decisively in favour of the view that the current warming trend exists and is ongoing , that human activity is the cause , and that it is without precedent in at least 2000 years . Public disputes that also reflect scientific debate include estimates of how responsive the climate system might be to any given level of greenhouse gases ( climate sensitivity ) , how global climate change will play out at local and regional scales , and what the consequences of global warming will be . Global warming remains an issue of widespread political debate , often split along party political lines , especially in the United States . Many of the issues that are settled within the scientific community , such as human responsibility for global warming , remain the subject of politically or economically motivated attempts to downplay , dismiss or deny them -- an ideological phenomenon categorised by academics and scientists as climate change denial . The sources of funding for those involved with climate science -- both supporting and opposing mainstream scientific positions -- have been questioned by both sides . There are debates about the best policy responses to the science , their cost-effectiveness and their urgency . Climate scientists , especially in the United States , have reported official and oil-industry pressure to censor or suppress their work and hide scientific data , with directives not to discuss the subject in public communications . Legal cases regarding global warming , its effects , and measures to reduce it have reached American courts . The fossil fuels lobby has been identified as overtly or covertly supporting efforts to undermine or discredit the scientific consensus on global warming .", "An Inconsistent Truth An Inconsistent Truth is a 2012 documentary film written , produced , and featuring , nationally syndicated conservative talk radio host Phil Valentine and directed by Shayne Edwards . Valentine , a skeptic of global warming theory , interviewed scientists about the validity of Al Gore 's film An Inconvenient Truth and the facts presented within . What he is told by the scientists he interviews is that there is no consensus on the issue of global warming or climate change . The film argues that global warming proponents keep changing its label , basing their argument on what Valentine says is shaky scientific ground .", "Hurricane Katrina and global warming The tremendous destruction caused by recent Atlantic Ocean tropical cyclones , such as Hurricanes Katrina , Wilma , and Sandy caused a substantial upsurge in interest in the subject of global warming by news media and the wider public , and concerns that global climatic change may have played a significant role in those events . Time Magazine , for example , published an article titled , `` Is Global Warming Fueling Katrina ? '' -- however , the article itself addressed hurricanes in general , rather than Katrina specifically , and was inconclusive . Shortly after the hurricane , former Boston Globe reporter Ross Gelbspan wrote an op-ed piece for the Globe titled , `` Katrina 's Real Name '' , declaring that the hurricane 's `` real name is global warming . '' Gelbspan went on to assert : `` Although Katrina began as a relatively small hurricane that glanced off south Florida , it was supercharged with extraordinary intensity by the relatively blistering sea surface temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico . '' Gelbspan did not single out Katrina from other recent storms in that regard ; in the article he went on to attribute other major weather events over the preceding year to global warming , including a blizzard in Los Angeles , high winds in Scandinavia , wildfires in Spain , and a drought centered in Missouri . Britain 's then deputy prime minister , John Prescott , has linked Katrina with global warming , and statements made shortly after the hurricane by Germany 's environment minister , Jürgen Trittin , indicate he believes that global warming is responsible for an increase in the frequency of destructive natural events . Kerry Emanuel had recently published a paper in the journal Nature that found a good correlation between hurricane intensity and sea surface temperatures . Some journalists have claimed Emanuel 's paper concludes that the recent increase in intense Atlantic storms is due to global warming , but Emanuel stated that `` it would be absurd to attribute the Katrina disaster to global warming '' . The Internet blog RealClimate has written that `` there is no way to prove that Katrina either was , or was not , affected by global warming '' .", "Climate change in Argentina According to scientists , global warming is predicted to have significant effects on the climate of Argentina . Though temperatures have increased at a slower rate than the global average , nonetheless these impacts have occurred in many areas . If these trends continue , it is predicted that climate change will exacerbate existing natural disasters such as increasing the intensity and frequency of floods or create new ones .", "Politics of global warming The complex politics of global warming results from numerous cofactors arising from the global economy 's interdependence on carbon dioxide emitting hydrocarbon energy sources and because carbon dioxide is directly implicated in global warming -- making global warming a non-traditional environmental challenge .", "Warm Kitty `` Warm Kitty '' is a children 's song , popularized by the characters Sheldon and Penny in the American sitcom The Big Bang Theory where it is rendered as `` Soft Kitty '' . According to claims in a copyright lawsuit , the words to `` Warm Kitty '' were written by Edith Newlin . The original version is a very popular Polish traditional lullaby `` Wlazł kotek na płotek '' , a folk tune from the 18th century . In The Big Bang Theory the song is described by Sheldon as a song sung by his mother when he is ill . The lyrics on the Big Bang Theory are : `` soft kitty , warm kitty , little ball of fur ! Happy kitty , sleepy kitty , purr purr purr ! '' Versions of the song have been released by Australian children 's performer Patsy Biscoe , and by the long-running ABC children 's programme Play School which predates Big Bang Theory and has the lyrics reversed , instead going : `` Warm kitty , soft kitty , little ball of fur . Sleepy kitty , happy kitty , purr purr purr . '' The song remains part of Play School '' 's catalogue of children 's songs regularly performed on the program : the show 's presenters occasionally perform the song for their young viewers . By Christmas 2011 , `` Soft Kitty '' merchandise -- such as a plush stuffed singing cat , or T-shirt with the The Big Bang Theory '' version of the lyrics -- could be purchased .", "The Cloud Mystery The Cloud Mystery is a documentary by Danish director Lars Oxfeldt Mortensen . It explores the published theory by Danish scientist Henrik Svensmark on how galactic cosmic rays and solar activity affects cloud cover , and how this influences the earth 's climate . Also known as Klimamysteriet in Danish . This documentary presents the work done to develop the theory that cloud cover change is caused by variations in cosmic rays as the major originator of global climate variation . It also mentions that these scientist to not subscribe to the view that human influence and the effect of greenhouse gases as significant drivers of climate . However , the focus is on the work they have done and not on other climate theories like anthropogenic global warming for instance .", "Regional effects of global warming Regional effects of global warming are long-term significant changes in the expected patterns of average weather of a specific region due to global warming . The world average temperature is rising due to the greenhouse effect caused by increasing levels of greenhouse gases , especially carbon dioxide . When the global temperature changes , the changes in climate are not expected to be uniform across the Earth . In particular , land areas change more quickly than oceans , and northern high latitudes change more quickly than the tropics , and the margins of biome regions change faster than do their cores . Regional effects of global warming vary in nature . Some are the result of a generalised global change , such as rising temperature , resulting in local effects , such as melting ice . In other cases , a change may be related to a change in a particular ocean current or weather system . In such cases , the regional effect may be disproportionate and will not necessarily follow the global trend . The increasing temperatures from greenhouse gases have been causing sea levels to rise for many years . There are three major ways in which global warming will make changes to regional climate : melting or forming ice , changing the hydrological cycle ( of evaporation and precipitation ) and changing currents in the oceans and air flows in the atmosphere . The coast can also be considered a region , and will suffer severe impacts from sea level rise .", "Environmental skepticism Environmental skepticism is the belief that claims by environmentalists , and the environmental scientists who support them , are false or exaggerated . The term is also applied to those who are critical of environmentalism in general . Environmental skepticism is closely linked with anti-environmentalism and climate change denial . Environmental skeptics have argued that the extent of harm coming from human activities is less certain than some scientists and scientific bodies claim , or that it is too soon to be introducing curbs in these activities on the basis of existing evidence , or that further discussion is needed regarding who should pay for such environmental initiatives . One of the focus themes in the environmental skeptics movement is the idea that environmentalism is a growing threat to social and economic progress and the civil liberties . The popularity of the term was enhanced by Bjørn Lomborg 's book The Skeptical Environmentalist . Lomborg approached environmental claims from a statistical and economic standpoint , and concluded that often the claims made by environmentalists were overstated . Lomborg argued , on the basis of cost -- benefit analysis , that few environmentalist claims warranted serious concern . However , in 2010 , Lomborg stated that he believes in the need for `` tens of billions of dollars a year to be invested in tackling climate change '' and declared global warming to be `` undoubtedly one of the chief concerns facing the world today '' and `` a challenge humanity must confront '' . He summarized his position , saying `` Global warming is real - it is man-made and it is an important problem . But it is not the end of the world . ''", "California drought manipulation conspiracy theory The California drought manipulation conspiracy theory is promoted by a number of independent researchers , self-proclaimed scientists , and alternative news outlets . They claim the drought may be a deliberate , man-made phenomenon , created by weather modification . The theory has been dismissed by the scientific community and mainstream media as fringe science or pseudoscience .", "Lavoisier Group The Lavoisier Group is an Australian organisation formed by politicians and dominated by retired industrial businesspeople and engineers . It does not accept the science of global warming and works to influence attitudes of policy makers and politicians . The organisation downplays the risk of the effects of global warming , rejects the scientific conclusion that human activity causes it , and opposes policies designed to curtail it . Some members regard climate change as a `` scam . '' The group was named after French scientist Antoine Lavoisier ( 1743-1794 ) , the father of modern chemistry who disproved the Phlogiston theory of combustion .", "How Global Warming Works How Global Warming Works is a website developed by Michael Ranney , a professor of cognitive psychology at the University of California , Berkeley in Berkeley , California , United States . The stated goal of the website is to educate the public on the mechanisms of global warming , which was motivated by research Ranney and colleagues conducted on attitudes towards and understanding of global warming .", "Journal for Geoclimatic Studies The Journal for Geoclimatic Studies is the name given to a nonexistent journal which published a fabricated global warming study in November 2007 entitled , `` Carbon dioxide production by benthic bacteria : the death of manmade global warming theory ? '' The published study identified the Journal for Geoclimatic Studies as an official publication of Okinawa University 's Institute for Geoclimatic Studies ( The Institute for Geoclimatic Studies is also fraudulent and does not exist ) . The spurious study , ostensibly authored by Daniel Klein and Mandeep J. Gupta of the University of Arizona 's Department of Climatology , and Philip Cooper and Arne FR Jansson at the University of Gothenburg 's Department of Atmospheric Physics , claimed that global warming was not human caused , but the work of carbon-dioxide emitting bacteria based on the ocean floor . The report was circulated by a number of global warming skeptics before discovery that the study authors and university departments identified in the publication did not exist . The website where the study was published was taken down once the deception was revealed , and its ownership was traced to David Thorpe , a science journalist and web designer based in the United Kingdom . The true author of the article is purportedly a man identifying himself as Mark Cox , who has claimed the hoax was designed to expose the gullibility and scientific illiteracy of global warming skeptics .", "Rainbow gravity theory Rainbow gravity ( or `` gravity 's rainbow '' ) is a theory that different wavelengths of light experience different gravity levels and are separated in the same way that a prism splits white light into the rainbow . This phenomenon would be imperceptible in areas of relatively low gravity , such as Earth , but would be significant in areas of extremely high gravity , such as a black hole . As such the theory claims to disprove that the universe has a beginning or Big Bang , as the big bang theory calls for all wavelengths of light to be impacted by gravity to the same extent . The theory was first proposed in 2003 by physicists Lee Smolin and João Magueijo , and claims to bridge the gap between general relativity and quantum mechanics . Scientists are currently attempting to detect rainbow gravity using the Large Hadron Collider .", "Not Evil Just Wrong Not Evil Just Wrong is a 2009 documentary film by Ann McElhinney and Phelim McAleer that challenges Al Gore 's An Inconvenient Truth by suggesting that the evidence of global warming is inconclusive and that the impact global warming legislation will have on industry is much more harmful to humans than beneficial . The movie was filmed in 2008 and was screened at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam and at the RightOnline conference in 2009 . Despite earlier screenings at conservative political conferences , filmmakers promoted a `` premiere '' on October 18 , 2009 . The film attempted to break a World Record for largest simultaneous premiere , which is currently held by the documentary The Age of Stupid , another global warming documentary . The film 's website claims that there were 6,500 U.S. screenings and 1,500 foreign screenings and reached 400,000 people .", "Global K-pop Global K-Pop is Korean pop music specifically created and marketed for the English-speaking international market . This includes original Korean music that is distributed worldwide accompanied by English subtitles , English versions of K-pop songs , EDM remixed versions of K-pop songs as well as artists specifically produced to appeal more to the global audience rather than the Korean market but following the main characteristics and trends of K-pop . Areia Creations Global Entertainment claims to have created the term and it is the first K-pop agency to claim a pure Global K-pop image for the total of their activities .", "Global Warming: The Signs and The Science Global Warming : The Signs and The Science is a 2005 documentary film on global warming made by ETV , the PBS affiliate in South Carolina , and hosted by Alanis Morissette . The documentary examines the science behind global warming and pulls together segments filmed in the United States , Asia and South America and shows how people in these different locales are responding in different ways to the challenges of global warming to show some of the ways that the world can respond .", "Warming Up Yesterday's Lunch Warming Up Yesterday 's Lunch ( Подгряване на вчерашния обед , translit . Podgryavane na vcherashniya obed ) is a 2002 Bulgarian drama film directed by Kostadin Bonev . It was entered into the 25th Moscow International Film Festival .", "Global Energy and Water Cycle Experiment The Global Energy and Water Cycle Experiment ( GEWEX ) is a research program of the World Climate Research Programme intended to observe , comprehend and model the Earth 's water cycle . The experiment also observes how much energy the Earth receives , studies how much of that energy reaches surfaces of the Earth and how that energy is transformed . Sunlight 's energy evaporates water to produce clouds and rain , and dries out land masses after rain . Rain that falls on land becomes the water budget which can be used by people for agricultural and other processes . GEWEX is a collaboration of researchers worldwide to find better ways of studying the water cycle and how it transforms energy through the atmosphere . If the Earth 's climates were identical from year to year , then people could predict when , where and what crops to plant . However , instability created by solar variation , weather trends , and chaotic events create weather that is unpredictable on seasonal scales . Through weather patterns such as droughts and higher rainfall these cycles impact ecosystems and human activities . GEWEX is designed to collect a much greater amount of data , and see if better models of that data can forecast weather and climate change into the future . GEWEX is organized into several structures . As GEWEX was conceived projects were organized by participating factions , this task is now done by the International GEWEX Project Office ( IGPO ) . IGPO oversees major initiatives and coordinates between national projects in an effort to bring about communication of researchers . IGPO claims to support communication exchange between 2000 scientist and is the instrument for publication of major reports . The Scientific Steering Group organizes the projects and assigns them to panels , which oversee progress and provide critique . The Coordinated Energy and Water Cycle Observations Project ( CEOP ) the ` Hydrology Project ' is a major instrument in GEWEX . This panel includes geographic study areas such as the Climate Prediction Program for the Americas operated by NOAA , but also examines several types of climate zones ( e.g. high altitude and semi-arid ) . Another panel , the GEWEX Radiation Panel oversees the coordinated use of satellites and ground based observation to better estimate energy and water fluxes . One recent result GEWEX 's Radiation panel has assessed data on rainfall for the last 25 years and determined that global rainfall is 2.61 mm/day with a small statistical variation . While the study period is short , after 25 years of measurement regional trends are beginning to appear . The GEWEX Modeling and Prediction Panel takes current models and analyzes the models when climate forcing phenomena occur ( global warming as an example of a ` climate forcing ' event ) . GEWEX is now the core project of WCRP .", "Effects of global warming on oceans Global warming can affect sea levels , coastlines , ocean acidification , ocean currents , seawater , sea surface temperatures , tides , the sea floor , weather , and trigger several changes in ocean bio-geochemistry ; all of these affect the functioning of a society .", "Heavy Weather (Sterling novel) Heavy Weather is a science fiction novel by Bruce Sterling , first published in 1994 , about a group of storm chasers in a world where global warming has produced incredibly destructive weather .", "Global Challenge Award The Global Challenge Award is an online science and engineering design program for pre-college school students ( e.g. middle school through high school ) from all over the world . It is an initiative that started with a partnership with the University of Vermont in collaboration with the National Science Foundation , currently funded by the MacArthur Foundation Digital Media and Learning program as well as other foundations and corporations , wherein students have the opportunity to form teams with international counterparts and work towards a solution to mitigate global warming and help envision the future of renewable energy . The program is an online educational environment that uses game based learning , simulation and Web-based science resources in a global competition . It relies on the personal initiative and creativity of students working in diverse teams . The access to the project via the Web makes it possible for students , parents , homeschooling families , teachers and interested global community members to get involved to help young people with their creative ideas for innovation in new forms of energy , conservation and increased productivity .", "A Winter of Cyclists A Winter of Cyclists is a 2013 documentary film by Mike Prendergast . The film chronicles a group of Colorado participants as they attempt to complete a 52-day winter bicycle commuting challenge created by Scot Stucky . The challenge , known as `` The Icy Bike Winter Commuting Challenge '' , was created to encourage people to cycle to work from October to March , during the darker , colder and the snowier months of the year . The film captures the wide diversity in which riders adapt to new commuting logistics , adverse weather conditions and riding in the dark . And when the Colorado riders encounter an unexpected solidarity across the American continent and into Europe via Facebook , the film provides glimpses into a broader global winter cycling community that is just becoming aware of each other . Facebook Group members encourage each other , share weather reports , gear tips , and inspirational and touching personal stories . The film concludes with the results of the challenge and the riders reflection on their winter of cycling .", "Extreme weather Extreme weather includes unexpectable , unusual , unpredictable severe or unseasonal weather ; weather at the extremes of the historical distribution -- the range that has been seen in the past . Often , extreme events are based on a location 's recorded weather history and defined as lying in the most unusual ten percent . In recent years some extreme weather events have been attributed to human-induced global warming , with studies indicating an increasing threat from extreme weather in the future .", "Joe Bastardi Joe Bastardi ( born July 18 , 1955 ) is a professional meteorologist and weather forecaster known for his opinions on weather and global warming . He is a frequent guest on TV news shows .", "Economics of global warming The economics of global warming concerns the economic aspects of global warming ; this can inform policies that governments might consider in response . A number of factors make this a difficult problem from both economic and political perspectives : it is a long-term , intergenerational problem ; benefits and costs are distributed unequally both within and across countries ; and scientific and public opinions may diverge . One of the most important greenhouse gases is carbon dioxide . Around 20 % of carbon dioxide which is emitted due to human activities can remain in the atmosphere for many thousands of years . The long time scales and uncertainty associated with global warming have led analysts to develop `` scenarios '' of future environmental , social and economic changes . These scenarios can help governments understand the potential consequences of their decisions . The impacts of climate change include the loss of biodiversity , sea level rise , increased frequency and severity of some extreme weather events , and acidification of the oceans . Economists have attempted to quantify these impacts in monetary terms , but these assessments can be controversial . The two main policy responses to global warming are to reduce greenhouse gas emissions ( climate change mitigation ) and to adapt to the impacts of global warming ( e.g. , by building levees in response to sea level rise ) . Another policy response which has recently received greater attention is geoengineering of the climate system ( e.g. injecting aerosols into the atmosphere to reflect sunlight away from the Earth 's surface ) . One of the responses to the uncertainties of global warming is to adopt a strategy of sequential decision making . This strategy recognizes that decisions on global warming need to be made with incomplete information , and that decisions in the near term will have potentially long-term impacts . Governments might choose to use risk management as part of their policy response to global warming . For instance , a risk-based approach can be applied to climate impacts which are difficult to quantify in economic terms , e.g. , the impacts of global warming on indigenous peoples . Analysts have assessed global warming in relation to sustainable development . Sustainable development considers how future generations might be affected by the actions of the current generation . In some areas , policies designed to address global warming may contribute positively towards other development objectives . In other areas , the cost of global warming policies may divert resources away from other socially and environmentally beneficial investments ( the opportunity costs of climate change policy ) .", "Bjørn Lomborg Bjørn Lomborg ( -LSB- bjɶɐ̯n ˈlʌmbɒˀw -RSB- ; born 6 January 1965 ) is a Danish author and adjunct professor at the Copenhagen Business School as well as President of the Copenhagen Consensus Center . He is former director of the Danish government 's Environmental Assessment Institute ( EAI ) in Copenhagen . He became internationally known for his best-selling and controversial book , The Skeptical Environmentalist ( 2001 ) , in which he argues that many of the costly measures and actions adopted by scientists and policy makers to meet the challenges of global warming will ultimately have minimal impact on the world 's rising temperature . In 2002 , Lomborg and the Environmental Assessment Institute founded the Copenhagen Consensus , a project-based conference where prominent economists sought to establish priorities for advancing global welfare using methods based on the theory of welfare economics . In 2009 , Business Insider cited Lomborg as one of `` The 10 Most-Respected Global Warming Skeptics '' . While Lomborg campaigned against the Kyoto Protocol and other measures to cut carbon emissions in the short-term , he argued for adaptation to short-term temperature rises , and for spending money on research and development for longer-term environmental solutions . His issue is not with the reality of climate change , but rather with the economic and political approaches being taken ( or not taken ) to meet the challenges of that climate change . He is a strong advocate for focusing attention and resources on what he perceives as far more pressing world problems , such as AIDS , malaria and malnutrition . In his critique of the 2012 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development , Lomborg stated : `` Global warming is by no means our main environmental threat . '' In 2011 and 2012 , Lomborg was named a Top 100 Global Thinker by Foreign Policy `` for looking more right than ever on the politics of climate change '' .", "Everything's Cool (film) Everything 's Cool is a 2007 documentary film that examines the divide between scientists and the general populace on the topic of global warming . Director Dan Gold said of the motivation for the film that `` I 'm optimistic that finally the message that this is real , that human beings are the cause of the most recent warming trend , and that it 's an important issue , that message is actually reaching America . On the other hand ... if that message was fully understood , we would be moving a lot faster to slow this down and to reverse this course . '' The documentary was shown at the Sundance film festival in January 2007 and at the San Francisco International Film Festival in May 2007 . The directors also took Blue Vinyl , a film about plastic pollution , to Sundance in 2002 . It was shown on CBC in Canada as part of the Passionate Eye series . The New York Times called it `` a breezy polemic about the politics of global warming ... -LSB- that -RSB- adopts a cheerful comic tone to avoid scaring audiences . '' The LA Times said that `` With wit and passion , Gold and Helfand marshal a plethora of data and developments yet never lose their narrative thread . '' . The New York Sun was less favourable , calling it `` the best movie I 've ever seen about global warming for kids in junior high school , but it 's the most annoying movie about global warming I 've ever seen for adults . ''", "Metabolic theory of ecology The metabolic theory of ecology ( MTE ) is an extension of Kleiber 's law and posits that the metabolic rate of organisms is the fundamental biological rate that governs most observed patterns in ecology . MTE is part of a larger set of theory known as Metabolic Scaling Theory that attempts to provide a unified theory for the importance of metabolism in driving pattern and process in biology from the level of cells all the way to the biosphere . MTE is based on an interpretation of the relationships between body size , body temperature , and metabolic rate across all organisms . Small-bodied organisms tend to have higher mass-specific metabolic rates than larger-bodied organisms . Furthermore , organisms that operate at warm temperatures through endothermy or by living in warm environments tend towards higher metabolic rates than organisms that operate at colder temperatures . This pattern is consistent from the unicellular level up to the level of the largest animals and plants on the planet . In MTE , this relationship is considered to be the single constraint that defines biological processes at all levels of organization ( from individual up to ecosystem level ) , and is a macroecological theory that aims to be universal in scope and application .", "Chesapeake Climate Action Network The Chesapeake Climate Action Network ( CCAN ) is the first grassroots nonprofit organization dedicated exclusively to fighting global warming in Maryland , Virginia , and the District of Columbia . The organization 's mission is to foster a rapid societal switch to clean energy and energy-efficient products , joining similar efforts worldwide to address global warming ." ]

[ "Climate change denial Climate change denial , or global warming denial , is part of the global warming controversy . It involves denial , dismissal , unwarranted doubt or contrarian views which strongly depart from the scientific opinion on climate change , including the extent to which it is caused by humans , its impacts on nature and human society , or the potential of adaptation to global warming by human actions . Some deniers do endorse the term , but others often prefer the term climate change skepticism , although this is a misnomer for those who deny anthropogenic global warming . In effect , the two terms form a continuous , overlapping range of views , and generally have the same characteristics : both reject , to a greater or lesser extent , mainstream scientific opinion on climate change . Climate change denial can also be implicit , when individuals or social groups accept the science but fail to come to terms with it or to translate their acceptance into action . Several social science studies have analyzed these positions as forms of denialism . Campaigning to undermine public trust in climate science has been described as a `` denial machine '' of industrial , political and ideological interests , supported by conservative media and skeptical bloggers in manufacturing uncertainty about global warming . In the public debate , phrases such as climate skepticism have frequently been used with the same meaning as climate denialism . The labels are contested : those actively challenging climate science commonly describe themselves as `` skeptics '' , but many do not comply with common standards of scientific skepticism and , regardless of evidence , persistently deny the validity of human caused global warming . Although scientific opinion on climate change is that human activity is extremely likely to be the primary driver of climate change , the politics of global warming have been affected by climate change denial , hindering efforts to prevent climate change and adapt to the warming climate . Those promoting denial commonly use rhetorical tactics to give the appearance of a scientific controversy where there is none . Of the world 's countries , the climate change denial industry is most powerful in the United States . Since January 2015 , the United States Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works has been chaired by oil lobbyist and climate change denier Jim Inhofe . Inhofe is notorious for having called climate change `` the greatest hoax ever perpetrated against the American people '' and for having claimed to have debunked the alleged hoax in February 2015 when he brought a snowball with him in the Senate chamber and tossed it across the floor . Organised campaigning to undermine public trust in climate science is associated with conservative economic policies and backed by industrial interests opposed to the regulation of emissions . Climate change denial has been associated with the fossil fuels lobby , the Koch brothers , industry advocates and libertarian think tanks , often in the United States . More than 90 % of papers sceptical on climate change originate from right-wing think tanks . The total annual income of these climate change counter-movement-organizations is roughly $ 900 million . Between 2002 and 2010 , nearly $ 120 million ( # 77 million ) was anonymously donated via the Donors Trust and Donors Capital Fund to more than 100 organisations seeking to undermine the public perception of the science on climate change . In 2013 the Center for Media and Democracy reported that the State Policy Network ( SPN ) , an umbrella group of 64 U.S. think tanks , had been lobbying on behalf of major corporations and conservative donors to oppose climate change regulation . Since the late 1970s , oil companies have published research broadly in line with the standard views on global warming . Despite this , oil companies organized a climate change denial campaign to disseminate public disinformation for several decades , a strategy that has been compared to the organized denial of the hazards of tobacco smoking by tobacco companies .", "Scientific consensus on climate change There is currently a strong scientific consensus that the Earth is warming and that this warming is mainly caused by human activities. This consensus is supported by various studies of scientists' opinions and by position statements of scientific organizations, many of which explicitly agree with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) synthesis reports. Nearly all actively publishing climate scientists (97–98%) support the consensus on anthropogenic climate change, and the remaining 2% of contrarian studies either cannot be replicated or contain errors.", "Global warming Global warming , also referred to as climate change , is the observed century-scale rise in the average temperature of the Earth 's climate system and its related effects . Multiple lines of scientific evidence show that the climate system is warming . Many of the observed changes since the 1950s are unprecedented in the instrumental temperature record which extends back to the mid 19th century , and in paleoclimate proxy records over thousands of years . In 2013 , the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) Fifth Assessment Report concluded that `` It is extremely likely that human influence has been the dominant cause of the observed warming since the mid-20th century . '' The largest human influence has been emission of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide , methane and nitrous oxide . Climate model projections summarized in the report indicated that during the 21st century the global surface temperature is likely to rise a further 0.3 to for their lowest emissions scenario and 2.6 to for the highest emissions scenario . These findings have been recognized by the national science academies of the major industrialized nations and are not disputed by any scientific body of national or international standing . Future climate change and associated impacts will differ from region to region around the globe . Anticipated effects include warming global temperature , rising sea levels , changing precipitation , and expansion of deserts in the subtropics . Warming is expected to be greater over land than over the oceans and greatest in the Arctic , with the continuing retreat of glaciers , permafrost and sea ice . Other likely changes include more frequent extreme weather events including heat waves , droughts , heavy rainfall with floods and heavy snowfall ; ocean acidification ; and species extinctions due to shifting temperature regimes . Effects significant to humans include the threat to food security from decreasing crop yields and the abandonment of populated areas due to rising sea levels . Because the climate system has a large `` inertia '' and greenhouse gases will stay in the atmosphere for a long time , many of these effects will not only exist for decades or centuries , but will persist for tens of thousands of years . Possible societal responses to global warming include mitigation by emissions reduction , adaptation to its effects , building systems resilient to its effects , and possible future climate engineering . Most countries are parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change ( UNFCCC ) , whose ultimate objective is to prevent dangerous anthropogenic climate change . Parties to the UNFCCC have agreed that deep cuts in emissions are required and that global warming should be limited to well below 2.0 C-change relative to pre-industrial levels , with efforts made to limit warming to 1.5 C-change . Public reactions to global warming and concern about its effects are also increasing . A global 2015 Pew Research Center report showed a median of 54 % consider it `` a very serious problem '' . There are significant regional differences , with Americans and Chinese ( whose economies are responsible for the greatest annual CO2 emissions ) among the least concerned .", "21st century The 21st century is the current century of the Anno Domini era , in accordance with the Gregorian calendar . It began on January 1 , 2001 and will end on December 31 , 2100 . It is the first century of the 3rd millennium . It is distinct from the time span known as the 2000s , which began on January 1 , 2000 and will end on December 31 , 2099 ." ]

[ "Surveys of scientists' views on climate change Surveys of scientists ' views on climate change - with a focus on human-caused or anthropogenic global warming ( AGW ) - have been undertaken since the 1990s . A 2016 paper ( which was co-authored by Naomi Oreskes , Peter Doran , William Anderegg , Bart Verheggen , Ed Maibach , J. Stuart Carlton and John Cook , and which was based on a half a dozen independent studies by the authors ) concluded that `` the finding of 97 % consensus -LSB- that humans are causing recent global warming -RSB- in published climate research is robust and consistent with other surveys of climate scientists and peer-reviewed studies . ''", "Effects of global warming The effects of global warming are the environmental and social changes caused ( directly or indirectly ) by human emissions of greenhouse gases . There is a scientific consensus that climate change is occurring , and that human activities are the primary driver . Many impacts of climate change have already been observed , including glacier retreat , changes in the timing of seasonal events ( e.g. , earlier flowering of plants ) , and changes in agricultural productivity . Future effects of climate change will vary depending on climate change policies and social development . The two main policies to address climate change are reducing human greenhouse gas emissions ( climate change mitigation ) and adapting to the impacts of climate change . Geoengineering is another policy option . Near-term climate change policies could significantly affect long-term climate change impacts . Stringent mitigation policies might be able to limit global warming ( in 2100 ) to around 2 ° C or below , relative to pre-industrial levels . Without mitigation , increased energy demand and extensive use of fossil fuels might lead to global warming of around 4 ° C. Higher magnitudes of global warming would be more difficult to adapt to , and would increase the risk of negative impacts .", "Attribution of recent climate change Attribution of recent climate change is the effort to scientifically ascertain mechanisms responsible for recent climate changes on Earth , commonly known as ` global warming ' . The effort has focused on changes observed during the period of instrumental temperature record , when records are most reliable ; particularly in the last 50 years , when human activity has grown fastest and observations of the troposphere have become available . The dominant mechanisms are anthropogenic , i.e. , the result of human activity . They are : increasing atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases global changes to land surface , such as deforestation increasing atmospheric concentrations of aerosols . There are also natural mechanisms for variation including climate oscillations , changes in solar activity , and volcanic activity . According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) , it is `` extremely likely '' that human influence was the dominant cause of global warming between 1951 and 2010 . The IPCC defines `` extremely likely '' as indicating a probability of 95 to 100 % , based on an expert assessment of all the available evidence . Multiple lines of evidence support attribution of recent climate change to human activities : A basic physical understanding of the climate system : greenhouse gas concentrations have increased and their warming properties are well-established . Historical estimates of past climate changes suggest that the recent changes in global surface temperature are unusual . Computer-based climate models are unable to replicate the observed warming unless human greenhouse gas emissions are included . Natural forces alone ( such as solar and volcanic activity ) can not explain the observed warming . The IPCC 's attribution of recent global warming to human activities is a view shared by the scientific community , and is also supported by 196 other scientific organizations worldwide ( see also : scientific opinion on climate change ) .", "History of climate change science The history of the scientific discovery of climate change began in the early 19th century when ice ages and other natural changes in paleoclimate were first suspected and the natural greenhouse effect first identified . In the late 19th century , scientists first argued that human emissions of greenhouse gases could change the climate . Many other theories of climate change were advanced , involving forces from volcanism to solar variation . In the 1960s , the warming effect of carbon dioxide gas became increasingly convincing . Some scientists also pointed out that human activities that generated atmospheric aerosols ( e.g. , `` pollution '' ) could have cooling effects as well . During the 1970s , scientific opinion increasingly favored the warming viewpoint . By the 1990s , as a result of improving fidelity of computer models and observational work confirming the Milankovitch theory of the ice ages , a consensus position formed : greenhouse gases were deeply involved in most climate changes and human caused emissions were bringing discernible global warming . Since the 1990s , scientific research on climate change has included multiple disciplines and has expanded . Research has expanded our understanding of causal relations , links with historic data and ability to model climate change numerically . Research during this period has been summarized in the Assessment Reports by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change . Climate change is a significant and lasting change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns over periods ranging from decades to millions of years . It may be a change in average weather conditions , or in the distribution of weather around the average conditions ( such as more or fewer extreme weather events ) . Climate change is caused by factors that include oceanic processes ( such as oceanic circulation ) , biotic processes , variations in solar radiation received by Earth , plate tectonics and volcanic eruptions , and human-induced alterations of the natural world . The latter effect is currently causing global warming , and `` climate change '' is often used to describe human-specific impacts .", "Effects of global warming on humans Climate change has brought about possibly permanent alterations to Earth 's geological , biological and ecological systems . These changes have led to the emergence of large-scale environmental hazards to human health , such as extreme weather , ozone depletion , increased danger of wildland fires , loss of biodiversity , stresses to food-producing systems and the global spread of infectious diseases . The World Health Organization ( WHO ) estimates that 160,000 deaths , since 1950 , are directly attributable to climate change . Many believe this to be a conservative estimate . To date , a neglected aspect of the climate change debate , much less research has been conducted on the impacts of climate change on health , food supply , economic growth , migration , security , societal change , and public goods , such as drinking water , than on the geophysical changes related to global warming . Human impacts can be both negative and positive . Climatic changes in Siberia , for instance , are expected to improve food production and local economic activity , at least in the short to medium term . Numerous studies suggest , however , that the current and future impacts of climate change on human society are and will continue to be overwhelmingly negative . The majority of the adverse effects of climate change are experienced by poor and low-income communities around the world , who have much higher levels of vulnerability to environmental determinants of health , wealth and other factors , and much lower levels of capacity available for coping with environmental change . A report on the global human impact of climate change published by the Global Humanitarian Forum in 2009 , estimated more than 300,000 deaths and about $ 125 billion in economic losses each year , and indicating that most climate change induced mortality is due to worsening floods and droughts in developing countries .", "Global warming conspiracy theory A global warming conspiracy theory invokes claims that scientific consensus on global warming is based on conspiracies to produce false data or suppress dissent . It is one of a number of tactics used in climate change denial to legitimize political controversy disputing this consensus . Global warming conspiracy theorists typically allege that , through worldwide acts of professional and criminal misconduct , the science behind global warming has been invented or distorted for ideological or financial reasons , or both .", "Media coverage of global warming Media coverage of climate change has had effects on public opinion on climate change, as it mediates the scientific opinion on climate change that the global temperature has increased in recent decades and that the trend is mainly caused by human-induced emissions of greenhouse gases. Almost all scientific bodies of national or international standing agree with this view, although a few organisations hold non-committal positions. Climate change communication research frequently studies the effectiveness of that media. Some researchers and journalists believe that media coverage of political issues is adequate and fair, while a few feel that it is biased. However, most studies on media coverage of the topic are neither recent nor concerned with coverage of environmental issues. Moreover, they are only rarely concerned specifically with the question of bias.Despite recent trends in increased coverage on climate change, media coverage is not constant, and researchers wonder if the current increase in attention will be sustained.", "Economics of global warming The economics of global warming concerns the economic aspects of global warming ; this can inform policies that governments might consider in response . A number of factors make this a difficult problem from both economic and political perspectives : it is a long-term , intergenerational problem ; benefits and costs are distributed unequally both within and across countries ; and scientific and public opinions may diverge . One of the most important greenhouse gases is carbon dioxide . Around 20 % of carbon dioxide which is emitted due to human activities can remain in the atmosphere for many thousands of years . The long time scales and uncertainty associated with global warming have led analysts to develop `` scenarios '' of future environmental , social and economic changes . These scenarios can help governments understand the potential consequences of their decisions . The impacts of climate change include the loss of biodiversity , sea level rise , increased frequency and severity of some extreme weather events , and acidification of the oceans . Economists have attempted to quantify these impacts in monetary terms , but these assessments can be controversial . The two main policy responses to global warming are to reduce greenhouse gas emissions ( climate change mitigation ) and to adapt to the impacts of global warming ( e.g. , by building levees in response to sea level rise ) . Another policy response which has recently received greater attention is geoengineering of the climate system ( e.g. injecting aerosols into the atmosphere to reflect sunlight away from the Earth 's surface ) . One of the responses to the uncertainties of global warming is to adopt a strategy of sequential decision making . This strategy recognizes that decisions on global warming need to be made with incomplete information , and that decisions in the near term will have potentially long-term impacts . Governments might choose to use risk management as part of their policy response to global warming . For instance , a risk-based approach can be applied to climate impacts which are difficult to quantify in economic terms , e.g. , the impacts of global warming on indigenous peoples . Analysts have assessed global warming in relation to sustainable development . Sustainable development considers how future generations might be affected by the actions of the current generation . In some areas , policies designed to address global warming may contribute positively towards other development objectives . In other areas , the cost of global warming policies may divert resources away from other socially and environmentally beneficial investments ( the opportunity costs of climate change policy ) .", "Climate change Climate change is a change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns when that change lasts for an extended period of time ( i.e. , decades to millions of years ) . Climate change may refer to a change in average weather conditions , or in the time variation of weather around longer-term average conditions ( i.e. , more or fewer extreme weather events ) . Climate change is caused by factors such as biotic processes , variations in solar radiation received by Earth , plate tectonics , and volcanic eruptions . Certain human activities have been identified as primary causes of ongoing climate change , often referred to as global warming . Scientists actively work to understand past and future climate by using observations and theoretical models . A climate record -- extending deep into the Earth 's past -- has been assembled , and continues to be built up , based on geological evidence from borehole temperature profiles , cores removed from deep accumulations of ice , floral and faunal records , glacial and periglacial processes , stable-isotope and other analyses of sediment layers , and records of past sea levels . More recent data are provided by the instrumental record . General circulation models , based on the physical sciences , are often used in theoretical approaches to match past climate data , make future projections , and link causes and effects in climate change .", "The Real Global Warming Disaster The Real Global Warming Disaster ( Is the Obsession with ` Climate Change ' Turning Out to Be the Most Costly Scientific Blunder in History ? ) is a 2009 book by English journalist and author Christopher Booker in which he asserts that global warming can not be attributed to humans , and then alleges how the scientific opinion on climate change was formulated . From a standpoint of environmental scepticism , Booker seeks to combine an analysis of the science of global warming with the consequences of political decisions to reduce emissions and claims that , as governments prepare to make radical changes in energy policies , the scientific evidence for global warming is becoming increasingly challenged . He asserts that global warming is not supported by a significant number of climate scientists , and criticises how the UN 's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) presents evidence and data , in particular citing its reliance on potentially inaccurate global climate models to make temperature projections . Booker concludes , `` it begins to look very possible that the nightmare vision of our planet being doomed '' may be imaginary , and that , if so , `` it will turn out to be one of the most expensive , destructive , and foolish mistakes the human race has ever made '' . The book 's claims were strongly criticised by science writer Philip Ball , but the book was praised by several columnists . The book opens with an erroneous quotation , which Booker subsequently acknowledged and promised to correct in future editions . The book was Amazon UK 's fourth bestselling environment book of the decade 2000 -- 10 .", "Public opinion on climate change Public opinion on climate change is the aggregate of attitudes or beliefs held by the adult population concerning the science , economics , and politics of global warming . It is affected by media coverage of climate change .", "Climate system Earth's climate arises from the interaction of five major climate system components: the atmosphere (air), the hydrosphere (water), the cryosphere (ice and permafrost), the lithosphere (earth's upper rocky layer) and the biosphere (living things). Climate is the average weather, typically over a period of 30 years, and is determined by a combination of processes in the climate system, such as ocean currents and wind patterns. Circulation in the atmosphere and oceans is primarily driven by solar radiation and transports heat from the tropical regions to regions that receive less energy from the Sun. The water cycle also moves energy throughout the climate system. In addition, different chemical elements, necessary for life, are constantly recycled between the different components. The climate system can change due to internal variability and external forcings. These external forcings can be natural, such as variations in solar intensity and volcanic eruptions, or caused by humans. Accumulation of heat-trapping greenhouse gases, mainly being emitted by people burning fossil fuels, is causing global warming. Human activity also releases cooling aerosols, but their net effect is far less than that of greenhouse gases. Changes can be amplified by feedback processes in the different climate system components.", "Copenhagen Diagnosis The Copenhagen Diagnosis is a report written by twenty-six climate scientists from eight countries . It was published in 2009 and was a summary of the peer-reviewed literature to date . The Copenhagen Diagnosis is a follow-up of the previous Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 's Working Group 1 Report . The studies summarized , which date back to the cutoff point of the Working Group 1 Report , are those that authors viewed most relevant to the discussions at the 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference . The Copenhagen Diagnosis served as the midpoint between IPCC -- AR4 and IPCC-AR5 . In total , the Copenhagen Diagnosis contains eight main sections , which are : Surging Greenhouse gas emissions Since 1990 , the combined global emission of carbon dioxide from various origins , such as cement production , deforestation , and fossil fuel burning , has increased 27 % . Human-induced warming Studies conducted by Lee and Rind show that only 10 % of global warming over the past century was due to the Sun . Acceleration of melting ice caps Glaciers and melting ice caps can contribute to about 8/10ths of a meter to global sea level rise . Rapid Arctic sea-ice decline According to simulations run by NCAR Climate System Model version 3 , the Arctic summer is expected to be ice-free by 2040 . Underestimation of changing sea levels In contrast to previous IPCC , the rate of sea level rise ( 3.4 mm/yr over the past 15 years ) has increased around 80 % faster than previously predicted . Damage due to inaction A region of permafrost , called the Yedoma , stores about 500 Gt of CO2 and , once released due to rising global temperatures , will increase global temperatures even more . Turning point must come soon The largest climate science conference , held in 2009 , has stated , `` Temperature rises above 2 ° C will be difficult for contemporary societies to cope with , and are likely to cause major societal and environmental disruptions through the rest of the century and beyond . '' The Future By 2100 , global mean air-temperature is projected to warm by 2 ° C -- 7 ° C above pre-industrial levels .", "Global warming controversy The global warming controversy concerns the public debate over whether global warming is occurring , how much has occurred in modern times , what has caused it , what its effects will be , whether any action should be taken to curb it , and if so what that action should be . In the scientific literature , there is a strong consensus that global surface temperatures have increased in recent decades and that the trend is caused by human-induced emissions of greenhouse gases . No scientific body of national or international standing disagrees with this view , though a few organizations with members in extractive industries hold non-committal positions . Disputes over the key scientific facts of global warming are more prevalent in the media than in the scientific literature , where such issues are treated as resolved , and such disputes are more prevalent in the United States than globally . Political and popular debate concerning the existence and cause of climate change includes the reasons for the increase seen in the instrumental temperature record , whether the warming trend exceeds normal climatic variations , and whether human activities have contributed significantly to it . Scientists have resolved these questions decisively in favour of the view that the current warming trend exists and is ongoing , that human activity is the cause , and that it is without precedent in at least 2000 years . Public disputes that also reflect scientific debate include estimates of how responsive the climate system might be to any given level of greenhouse gases ( climate sensitivity ) , how global climate change will play out at local and regional scales , and what the consequences of global warming will be . Global warming remains an issue of widespread political debate , often split along party political lines , especially in the United States . Many of the issues that are settled within the scientific community , such as human responsibility for global warming , remain the subject of politically or economically motivated attempts to downplay , dismiss or deny them -- an ideological phenomenon categorised by academics and scientists as climate change denial . The sources of funding for those involved with climate science -- both supporting and opposing mainstream scientific positions -- have been questioned by both sides . There are debates about the best policy responses to the science , their cost-effectiveness and their urgency . Climate scientists , especially in the United States , have reported official and oil-industry pressure to censor or suppress their work and hide scientific data , with directives not to discuss the subject in public communications . Legal cases regarding global warming , its effects , and measures to reduce it have reached American courts . The fossil fuels lobby has been identified as overtly or covertly supporting efforts to undermine or discredit the scientific consensus on global warming .", "International Conference on Climate Change The International Conference on Climate Change is a conference series organized and sponsored by The Heartland Institute which aims to bring together global warming skeptics who `` dispute that the science is settled on the causes , consequences , and policy implications of climate change . '' The first conference took place in 2008 . As at 2017 there have been twelve conferences . Most of the events have been held in the United States , but there has been one in Australia and two in Germany .", "Low-carbon economy A low-carbon economy ( LCE ) , low-fossil-fuel economy ( LFFE ) , or decarbonised economy is an economy based on low carbon power sources that therefore has a minimal output of greenhouse gas ( GHG ) emissions into the biosphere , but specifically refers to the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide . GHG emissions due to anthropogenic ( human ) activity are the dominant cause of observed global warming ( climate change ) since the mid-20th century . Continued emission of greenhouse gases will cause further warming and long-lasting changes around the world , increasing the likelihood of severe , pervasive and irreversible impacts for people and ecosystems . Many countries around the world are designing and implementing low emission development strategies ( LEDS ) . These strategies seek to achieve social , economic and environmental development goals while reducing long-term greenhouse gas emissions and increasing resilience to climate change impacts . Globally implemented low-carbon economies are therefore proposed by those having drawn this conclusion , as a means to avoid catastrophic climate change , and as a precursor to the more advanced , zero-carbon economy .", "Climate change in popular culture The issue of climate change and global warming , their possible effects , and related human-environment interaction have entered popular culture since the late 20th century . Science historian Naomi Oreskes has noted , `` There 's a huge disconnect between what professional scientists have studied and learned in the last 30 years , and what is out there in the popular culture . '' An academic study contrasts the relatively rapid acceptance of ozone depletion as reflected in popular culture with the much slower acceptance of the scientific consensus on global warming .", "Climatic Research Unit documents Climatic Research Unit documents including thousands of e-mails and other computer files were stolen from a server at the Climatic Research Unit of the University of East Anglia in a hacking incident in November 2009 . The documents were redistributed first through several blogs of global warming skeptics , and allegations were made that they indicated misconduct by leading climate scientists . A series of investigations rejected these allegations , while concluding that CRU scientists should have been more open with distributing data and methods on request . Precisely six committees investigated the allegations and published reports , finding no evidence of fraud or scientific misconduct . The scientific consensus that global warming is occurring as a result of human activity remained unchanged by the end of the investigations . The incident occurred shortly before the opening December 2009 Copenhagen global climate summit . It has prompted general discussion about increasing the openness of scientific data ( though the majority of climate data have always been freely available ) . Scientists , scientific organisations , and government officials have stated that the incident does not affect the overall scientific case for climate change . Andrew Revkin reported in the New York Times that `` The evidence pointing to a growing human contribution to global warming is so widely accepted that the hacked material is unlikely to erode the overall argument . ''", "Runaway climate change Runaway climate change or runaway global warming is hypothesized to follow a tipping point in the climate system , after accumulated climate change initiates a reinforcing positive feedback . This is thought to cause the climate to rapidly change until it reaches a new stable condition . These phrases may be used with reference to concerns about rapid global warming . Some astronomers use the expression runaway greenhouse effect to describe a situation where the climate deviates catastrophically and permanently from the original state -- as happened on Venus . Although these terms are rarely used in the peer-reviewed climatological literature , that literature does use the similar phrase `` runaway greenhouse effect '' , which refers specifically to climate changes that cause a planetary body 's water to boil off .", "Effects of climate change The effects of climate change may refer to : Effects of global warming , the effects of current climate change Historical impacts of climate change , during the early evolution and history of humans , prior to current global warming", "Climate change opinion by country Climate change opinion is the aggregate of public opinion held by the adult population . Cost constraints often restrict surveys to sample only one or two countries from each continent or focus on only one region . Because of differences among questions , wording , and methods -- it is difficult to reliably compare results or to generalize them to opinions held worldwide . In 2007 -- 2008 , the Gallup Poll surveyed individuals from 128 countries in the first comprehensive study of global opinions . The Gallup Organization aggregated opinion from the adult population fifteen years of age and older , either through the telephone or personal interviews , and in both rural and urban areas except in areas where the safety of interviewer was threatened and in scarcely populated islands . Personal interviews were stratified by population size or geography and cluster sampling was achieved through one or more stages . Although error bounds vary , they were all below ± 6 % with 95 % confidence . Weighting countries to a 2008 World Bank population estimate , sixty-one percent of individuals worldwide were aware of global warming , developed countries more aware than developing , with Africa the least aware . The median of people perceiving it as a threat was 47 % . Latin America and developed countries in Asia led the belief that climate change was a result of human activities , while Africa , parts of Asia and the Middle East , and countries from the Former Soviet Union led in the opposite . Awareness often translates to concern , although of those aware , individuals in Europe and developed countries in Asia perceived global warming as a greater threat than others .", "Global warming (disambiguation) Global warming is one of the common names for the current change in Earth 's climate . Global warming may also refer to : Global Warming ( Pitbull album ) , a 2011 music album by Pitbull Global Warming ( Sonny Rollins album ) , a 1998 music album by Sonny Rollins Global warming game , several games based on the concept Not to be confused with the Global warming controversy , which refers to the public debate over scientific conclusions on climate change .", "Greenhouse gas A greenhouse gas ( abbrev . GHG ) is a gas in an atmosphere that absorbs and emits radiation within the thermal infrared range . This process is the fundamental cause of the greenhouse effect . The primary greenhouse gases in Earth 's atmosphere are water vapor , carbon dioxide , methane , nitrous oxide , and ozone . Without greenhouse gases , the average temperature of Earth 's surface would be about -18 ° C , rather than the present average of 15 ° C . In the Solar System , the atmospheres of Venus , Mars and Titan also contain gases that cause a greenhouse effect . Human activities since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution ( taken as the year 1750 ) have produced a 40 % increase in the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide , from 280 ppm in 1750 to 406 ppm in early 2017 . This increase has occurred despite the uptake of a large portion of the emissions by various natural `` sinks '' involved in the carbon cycle . Anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions ( i.e. , emissions produced by human activities ) come from combustion of fossil fuels , principally coal , oil , and natural gas , along with deforestation , soil erosion and animal agriculture . It has been estimated that if greenhouse gas emissions continue at the present rate , Earth 's surface temperature could exceed historical values as early as 2047 , with potentially harmful effects on ecosystems , biodiversity and the livelihoods of people worldwide . Recent estimates suggest that on the current emissions trajectory the Earth could pass a threshold of 2 ° C global warming , which the United Nations ' IPCC designated as the upper limit to avoid `` dangerous '' global warming , by 2036 .", "Effects of global warming on human health The effects of global warming include effects on human health . The observed and projected increased frequency and severity of climate related impacts will further exacerbate the effects on human health . This article describes some of those effects on individuals and populations .", "Climate change in Europe Climate change in Europe describes the climate change related issues in Europe . This includes the climate politics , contribution in the global warming and the influence of the global warming in Europe . According to international climate experts global temperature rise should not exceed 2 ° C to prevent the most dangerous consequences of the climate change . It is estimated to demand at least 80-85 % emission reductions in the EU during 2008-2050 with reductions as soon as technically possible . It is estimated that from the now living persons alive are 70 % in the year 2050 . Emission reduction means development and implementation of new energy technology solutions . Some people consider that the technology revolution has already started in Europe since the markets of the renewable technology have annually grown . European Union climate chief is Connie Hedegaard since 10 February 2010 .", "ExxonMobil climate change controversy The ExxonMobil climate change controversy is the controversy around ExxonMobil 's activities related to climate change , especially their promotion of climate change denial . Since the 1970s , ExxonMobil engaged in research , lobbying , advertising , and grant making , some of which were conducted with the purpose of delaying widespread acceptance and action on global warming . From the late 1970s and through the 1980s , Exxon funded internal and university collaborations , broadly in line with the developing public scientific approach . After the 1980s , the company was a leader in climate change denial , opposing regulations to curtail global warming . ExxonMobil funded organizations critical of the Kyoto Protocol and seeking to undermine public opinion about the scientific consensus that global warming is caused by the burning of fossil fuels . Exxon helped to found and lead the Global Climate Coalition of businesses opposed to the regulation of greenhouse gas emissions .", "Criticism of the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report The IPCC Fourth Assessment Report ( AR4 ) is a report on climate change created with the help of a large number of contributors , both scientists and governmental representatives . There has been considerable political controversy over a small number of errors found in the report , and there have been calls for review of the process used to formulate the report . The overwhelming majority view of scientists with expertise in climate change is that errors , when found , are corrected , and the issues as identified do not undermine the conclusions of the report that the climate system is warming in response to increased levels of greenhouse gases , largely due to human activities .", "Ozone depletion and climate change Ozone depletion and climate change , or Ozone hole and global warming in more popular terms , are environmental challenges whose connections have been explored and which have been compared and contrasted , for example in terms of global regulation , in various studies and books . There is widespread scientific interest in better regulation of climate change , ozone depletion and air pollution , as in general the human relationship with the biosphere is deemed of major historiographical and political significance . Already by 1994 the legal debates about respective regulation regimes on climate change , ozone depletion and air pollution were being dubbed `` monumental '' and a combined synopsis provided . There are some parallels between atmospheric chemistry and anthropogenic emissions in the discussions which have taken place and the regulatory attempts which have been made . Most important is that the gases causing both problems have long lifetimes after emission to the atmosphere , thus causing problems which are difficult to reverse . However , the Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer and the Montreal Protocol that amended it are seen as success stories , while the Kyoto Protocol on anthropogenic climate change has largely failed . Currently efforts are being undertaken to assess the reasons and to use synergies , for example with regard to data reporting and policy design and further exchanging of information . While the general public tends to see global warming as a subset of ozone depletion , in fact ozone and chemicals such as chlorofluorocarbons ( CFCs ) and other halocarbons , which are held responsible for ozone depletion , are important greenhouse gasses . Furthermore , natural levels of ozone in both the stratosphere and troposphere have a warming effect .", "Water resources Water resources are sources of water that are potentially useful . Uses of water include agricultural , industrial , household , recreational and environmental activities . The majority of human uses require fresh water . 97 % of the water on the Earth is salt water and only three percent is fresh water ; slightly over two thirds of this is frozen in glaciers and polar ice caps . The remaining unfrozen freshwater is found mainly as groundwater , with only a small fraction present above ground or in the air . Fresh water is a renewable resource , yet the world 's supply of groundwater is steadily decreasing , with depletion occurring most prominently in Asia , South America and North America , although it is still unclear how much natural renewal balances this usage , and whether ecosystems are threatened . The framework for allocating water resources to water users ( where such a framework exists ) is known as water rights .", "Climate ethics Climate ethics is an area of research that focuses on the ethical dimensions of climate change ( also known as global warming ) , and concepts such as climate justice . Human-induced climate change raises many profound ethical questions , yet many believe that these ethical issues have not been addressed adequately in climate change policy debates or in the scientific and economic literature on climate change ; and that , consequently , ethical questions are being overlooked or obscured in climate negotiations , policies and discussions . It has been pointed out that those most responsible for climate change are not the same people as those most vulnerable to its effects . Terms such as climate justice and ecological justice ( ` eco justice ' ) are used worldwide , and have been adopted by various groups .", "Media coverage of climate change Media coverage of climate change has had effects on public opinion on climate change , as it mediates the scientific opinion on climate change that the global instrumental temperature record shows increase in recent decades and that the trend is caused mainly by human-induced emissions of greenhouse gases . Almost all scientific bodies of national or international standing agree with this view , although a few organisations hold non-committal positions . The way the media report on climate change in the English-speaking media , especially in the United States , has been widely studied , while studies of reporting in other countries have been fewer . A number of studies have shown that particularly in the United States and in the UK tabloid press , the media significantly understated the strength of scientific consensus on climate change established in IPCC Assessment Reports in 1995 and in 2001 . A peak in media coverage occurred in early 2007 , driven by the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report and Al Gore 's documentary An Inconvenient Truth . A subsequent peak in late 2009 , which was 50 % higher , may have been driven by a combination of the November 2009 Climatic Research Unit email controversy and December 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference . Some researchers and journalists believe that media coverage of political issues is adequate and fair , while a few feel that it is biased ( see , for example , Bozel & Baker , 1990 ; Lichter & Rothman , 1984 , Nissani , 1999 ) . However , most studies on media coverage of the topic are neither recent nor concerned with coverage of environmental issues . Moreover , they are only rarely concerned specifically with the question of bias ( cf. , Bell , 1994 ; Trumbo , 1996 ; Wilkins , 1993 ) .", "Climate engineering Climate engineering , commonly referred to as geoengineering , also known as climate intervention , is the deliberate and large-scale intervention in the Earth 's climatic system with the aim of limiting adverse global warming . Climate engineering is an umbrella term for measures that mainly fall into two types : carbon dioxide removal and solar radiation management . Carbon dioxide removal addresses the cause of global warming by removing one of the greenhouse gases ( carbon dioxide ) from the atmosphere . Solar radiation management attempts to offset effects of greenhouse gases by causing the Earth to absorb less solar radiation . Climate engineering approaches are sometimes viewed as additional potential options for limiting global warming , alongside mitigation and adaptation . There is substantial agreement among scientists that climate engineering can not substitute for climate change mitigation . Some approaches might be used as accompanying measures to sharp cuts in greenhouse gas emissions . Given that all types of measures for addressing climate change have economic , political , or physical limitations , some climate engineering approaches might eventually be used as part of an ensemble of measures . Research on costs , benefits , and various types of risks of most climate engineering approaches is at an early stage and their understanding needs to improve to judge their adequacy and feasibility . Almost all research into solar radiation management has consisted of computer modelling or laboratory tests , and an attempt to move to outdoor experimentation was controversial . Some carbon dioxide removal practices , such as planting of trees and bio-energy with carbon capture and storage projects , are underway . Their scalability to effectively affect global climate is , however , debated . Ocean iron fertilization has been given small-scale research trials , sparking substantial controversy . Most experts and major reports advise against relying on climate engineering techniques as a simple solution to global warming , in part due to the large uncertainties over effectiveness and side effects . However , most experts also argue that the risks of such interventions must be seen in the context of risks of dangerous global warming . Interventions at large scale may run a greater risk of disrupting natural systems resulting in a dilemma that those approaches that could prove highly ( cost - ) effective in addressing extreme climate risk , might themselves cause substantial risk . Some have suggested that the concept of engineering the climate presents a so-called `` moral hazard '' because it could reduce political and public pressure for emissions reduction , which could exacerbate overall climate risks ; others assert that the threat of climate engineering could spur emissions cuts . Some are in favour of a moratorium on out-of-doors testing and deployment of solar radiation management ( SRM ) ." ]

[ "Lakes on Mars In summer 1965 , the first close-up pictures from Mars showed a cratered desert with no signs of water . However , over the decades , as more parts of the planet were imaged with better cameras on more sophisticated satellites , Mars showed evidence of past river valleys , lakes , and ice in glaciers and in the ground . It was discovered that the climate of Mars displays huge changes over geologic time because its axis is not stabilized by a large moon , as Earth 's is . Also , some researchers maintain that water could exist for periods of time due to geothermal effects or asteroid impacts . Besides seeing features that were signs of past water , researchers found other types of evidence for past water . Minerals detected in many locations needed water to form . An instrument in the Mars Odyssey , an orbiting spacecraft , mapped the distribution of water in the near surface . When the Phoenix spacecraft fired its rockets to land in the far north , ice was exposed . When water enters a large body of water , such as a lake , a delta may form . Many craters and other depressions on Mars show deltas that resemble those on Earth . In addition , if a lake lies in a depression , channels entering it will all stop at the same altitude . Such an arrangement is visible around places on Mars that are supposed to have contained large bodies of water -- including around a possible ocean in the North . Lake formation has been proposed by various researchers for quite some time . One study found 205 possible closed-basin lakes in craters on Mars . The basins have an inlet valley that cuts the crater rim and flows into the basin , but they have no visible outlet valley . The total volume of the basins is equivalent to a depth of 1.2 meters spread evenly over the Martian surface . However , this amount is a small fraction of the current water ice stores on Mars . Another study found 210 open-basin lakes . These were lakes with both an inlet and an outlet ; hence water must have entered the basin , and reached the height of the outlet . Some of these lakes had volumes similar to Earth 's Caspian Sea , Black Sea , and Lake Baikal . Moreover , some basins on Mars form part of long chains of lakes . The Naktong/Scamander/Mamers Valles lake-chain system is about 4500 km ( 2800 miles ) long , with a drainage area similar to that of the Missouri-Mississippi rivers . Another , the Samara/Himera Vallis system , is 1800 km long . Many of the long chains of lakes are found in the Margaritifer Sinus quadrangle . Some of the lakes appear to have had a high volume as compared to their drainage area ; hence , it is believed that some of the water was groundwater . Further evidence is the existence of knobby material on the basin floors . These knobs can be formed when large amounts of water left the ground . This article describes some of the places that could have held large lakes .", "Ice age An ice age is a period of long-term reduction in the temperature of Earth 's surface and atmosphere , resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers . Within a long-term ice age , individual pulses of cold climate are termed `` glacial periods '' ( or alternatively `` glacials '' or `` glaciations '' or colloquially as `` ice age '' ) , and intermittent warm periods are called `` interglacials '' . In the terminology of glaciology , ice age implies the presence of extensive ice sheets in both northern and southern hemispheres . By this definition , we are in an interglacial period -- the Holocene -- of the ice age . The ice age began 2.6 million years ago at the start of the Pleistocene epoch , because the Greenland , Arctic , and Antarctic ice sheets still exist .", "Aeolis quadrangle The Aeolis quadrangle is one of a series of 30 quadrangle maps of Mars used by the United States Geological Survey ( USGS ) Astrogeology Research Program . The Aeolis quadrangle is also referred to as MC-23 ( Mars Chart-23 ) . The Aeolis quadrangle covers 180 ° to 225 ° W and 0 ° to 30 ° south on Mars , and contains parts of the regions Elysium Planitia and Terra Cimmeria . A small part of the Medusae Fossae Formation lies in this quadrangle . The name refers to the name of a floating western island of Aiolos , the ruler of the winds . In Homer 's account , Odysseus received the west wind Zephyr here and kept it in bags , but the wind got out . It is famous as the site of two spacecraft landings : the Spirit rover landing site in Gusev crater ( January 4 , 2004 ) , and the Curiosity rover in Gale Crater ( August 6 , 2012 ) . A large , ancient river valley , called Ma'adim Vallis , enters at the south rim of Gusev Crater , so Gusev Crater was believed to be an ancient lake bed . However , it seems that a volcanic flow covered up the lakebed sediments . Apollinaris Patera , a large volcano , lies directly north of Gusev Crater . Gale Crater , in the northwestern part of the Aeolis quadrangle , is of special interest to geologists because it contains a 2 -- 4 km ( 1.2 -- 2.5 mile ) high mound of layered sedimentary rocks , named `` Mount Sharp '' by NASA in honor of Robert P. Sharp ( 1911 -- 2004 ) , a planetary scientist of early Mars missions . More recently , on 16 May 2012 , `` Mount Sharp '' was officially named Aeolis Mons by the USGS and IAU . Some regions in the Aeolis quadrangle show inverted relief . In these locations , a stream bed may be a raised feature , instead of a valley . The inverted former stream channels may be caused by the deposition of large rocks or due to cementation . In either case erosion would erode the surrounding land but leave the old channel as a raised ridge because the ridge will be more resistant to erosion Yardangs are another feature found in this quadrangle They are generally visible as a series of parallel linear ridges , caused by the direction of the prevailing wind .", "Gale (crater) Gale is a crater , and probable dry lake on Mars near the northwestern part of the Aeolis quadrangle at . It is 154 km in diameter and estimated to be about 3.5-3 .8 billion years old . The crater was named after Walter Frederick Gale , an amateur astronomer from Sydney , Australia , who observed Mars in the late 19th century . Aeolis Mons is a mountain in the center of Gale and rises 5.5 km high . Aeolis Palus is the plain between the northern wall of Gale and the northern foothills of Aeolis Mons . Peace Vallis , a nearby outflow channel , ` flows ' down from the Gale crater hills to the Aeolis Palus below and seems to have been carved by flowing water . The NASA Mars rover , Curiosity , of the Mars Science Laboratory ( MSL ) mission , landed in `` Yellowknife '' Quad 51 of Aeolis Palus in Gale at 05:32 UTC August 6 , 2012 . NASA named the landing location Bradbury Landing on August 22 , 2012 . Curiosity is exploring Aeolis Mons and surrounding areas ." ]

[ "Energy Efficient Homes Package The Energy Efficient Homes Package was an Australian government program implemented by the Rudd Government . It was designed by the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet and was administered by the Department of the Environment , Water , Heritage and the Arts . The program consisted of two streams : Home Insulation Program , which was beset by controversy when the deaths of four workers in separate incidents were linked to the program , and the government under-estimated the level of risk involved ; and Solar Hot Water Rebate Program . Other programs that were closely tied in with the Energy Efficient Homes Package were the Green Loans Scheme ( changed to the Green Loans Program and then the Green Start program , and later abolished ) , Living Greener , National Solar Schools , and the National Rainwater and Greywater Initiative ( administered by the Department of Sustainability , Environment , Water , Population and Communities ) .", "Prehistory of Sri Lanka This article deals with the prehistory of Sri Lanka since human habitation and covers the Palaeolithic , Mesolithic and early Iron ages until the ancient history of Sri Lanka . There is evidence of Paleolithic ( Homo erectus ) people in Sri Lanka from about 300,000 BP and possibly even as early as 500,000 BP . There is strong evidence of prehistoric settlements in Sri Lanka by about 125,000 BP . Evidence of a transition between the Mesolithic and the Iron Age is scant . Fluctuations in sea level led to Sri Lanka being linked to the Indian subcontinent from time to time over the past million years . The last such link occurred about 5000 BC .", "Food, Nutrition, Physical Activity and the Prevention of Cancer: a Global Perspective Food , Nutrition , Physical Activity and the Prevention of Cancer : a Global Perspective , also known as the Expert Report , was an expert report published by the World Cancer Research Fund global network in 2007 . It reviewed all the evidence about the links between cancer and diet , physical activity and body fat and contains 10 recommendations for reducing cancer risk .", "Schottky junction solar cell In a basic Schottky-junction ( Schottky-barrier ) solar cell , the interface is formed between a metal and a semiconductor . Traditional solar cells are composed of p-type and n-type semiconductor layers sandwiched together , forming the source of built-in voltage ( a p-n junction ) . Due to differing energy levels between the Fermi level of the metal and the conduction band of the semiconductor , an abrupt potential difference is created , instead of the smooth band transition observed across a p-n junction in a standard solar cell , and this is a Schottky height barrier . Although vulnerable to higher rates of thermionic emission , manufacturing of Schottky barrier solar cells proves to be cost-effective and industrially scalable . However , recent research has shown thin insulating layers between metal and semiconductors improve solar cell performance , generating interest in metal-insulator-semiconductor Schottky junction solar cells . A thin insulating layer , such as silicon dioxide , can reduce rates of electron-hole pair recombination and dark current by allowing the possibility of minority carriers to tunnel through this layer . The Schottky-junction is an attempt to increase the efficiency of solar cells by introducing an impurity energy level in the band gap . This impurity can absorb more lower energy photons , which improves the power conversion efficiency of the cell . This type of solar cell allows enhanced light trapping and faster carrier transport compared to more conventional photovoltaic cells .", "Flex links Flex links is a network switch feature in Cisco equipment which enables redundancy and load balancing at the layer 2 level . The feature serves as an alternative to Spanning Tree Protocol or link aggregation . A pair of layer 2 interfaces , such as switch ports or port channels has one interface configured as a backup to the other . If the primary link fails , the backup link takes over traffic forwarding . At any point of time only one interface will be in linkup state and actively forwarding traffic . If the primary link shuts down , the standby link takes up the duty and starts forwarding traffic and becomes the primary link . When the failing link comes back up active , it goes into standby mode and does not participate in traffic forwarding and becomes the backup link . This behaviour can be changed with pre-emption mode which makes the failed link the primary link when it becomes available again . Load balancing in Flex links work at VLAN level . Both the ports in the Flex link pair can be made to forward traffic simultaneously . One port in the flex links pair can be configured to forward traffic belonging to VLANs 1-50 and the other can forward traffic for VLANs 51-100 . Mutually exclusive VLANs are load sharing the traffic between the Flex link pairs . If one of the ports fails , the other active link forwards all the traffic .", "Levi Yissar Levi Yissar was an Israeli engineer and entrepreneur . He built the first prototype Israeli solar water heater . In the 1950s there was a fuel and electricity shortage in the new Israeli state , and the government forbade heating water between 10 p.m. and 6 p.m. . As the situation worsened , Yissar proposed that instead of building more electrical generators , homes should switch to solar water heaters . He built a prototype in his home , and in 1953 he started NerYah Company , Israel 's first commercial manufacturer of solar water heaters . By 1967 around one in twenty households heated their water with the sun and 50,000 solar heaters had been sold . However , cheap oil from Iran and from oil fields captured in the Six-Day War made Israeli electricity cheaper and the demand for solar heaters to drop . Following the energy crisis in the 1970s , the Israeli Knesset passed a law requiring the installation of solar water heaters in all new homes ( except high towers with insufficient roof area ) . As a result , Israel is now the world leader in the use of solar energy per capita ( 3 % of the primary national energy consumption ) .", "Link level Link level : In the hierarchical structure of a primary or secondary station , the conceptual level of control or data processing logic that controls the data link . Note : Link-level functions provide an interface between the station high-level logic and the data link . Link-level functions include ( a ) transmit bit injection and receive bit extraction , ( b ) address and control field interpretation , ( c ) command response generation , transmission and interpretation , and ( d ) frame check sequence computation and interpretation .", "Luxovius In Gallo-Roman religion , Luxovios , Latinized as Luxovius was the god of the waters of Luxeuil , worshipped in Gaul . He was a consort of Bricta . The thermal spring sanctuary at Lexeuil produced evidence of the worship of other deities , including the sky-horseman who bears a solar wheel , and Sirona , another deity associated with healing springs .", "Solar hot water in New Zealand Solar hot water in New Zealand is increasingly used on both new and existing buildings . Solar thermal technologies had a sizable initial uptake in the pioneering days of the 1970s . By 2001 more than 40GWhr was produced from solar hot water technologies , equating to 0.1 % of the total electricity consumption in New Zealand . In 2006 the government announced an investment of $ 15.5 million over the first three and a half years of a five-year Solar Water Heating program to increase the number of solar hot water heating installations . As of 2006 there were about 35,000 solar hot water installations on domestic and commercial buildings . There are now eleven manufacturers and importers in the industry with most of the collector system being locally made .", "Renewable energy in Albania Renewable energy in Albania ranges from biomass , geothermal , hydropower , solar , wind energy in Albania . Albania relies mostly on hydroelectric resources , therefore , it has difficulties when water levels are low . Albania has a great potential for solar , wind , and geothermal energy . The climate in Albania is Mediterranean so it possesses considerable potential for solar energy . Similarly , the mountain elevations provide good areas for wind projects . There is also potential for geothermal energy because Albania has natural wells .", "Mukul Kundu Mukul R. Kundu ( 10 February 1930 - 16 June 2010 ) , was an Indian solar physicist , known best as a pioneer of radio observations of the Sun . Early in his career , he showed that the Sun 's 10.7 centimetre radio flux is correlated with the level of ionisation in the Earth 's ionosphere . The 10.7 cm flux is now used as a standard proxy for the level of magnetic activity on the Sun . He served on the editorial board of the journal Solar Physics and was awarded the George Ellery Hale Prize in 2007 .", "Religion and personality Viewing religiosity through the lenses of differing personality characteristics provides a relatively empirical way to study a difficult concept . Over time , the act of being religious has been a consistent behavior across almost every culture , and thus provides evidence that our personality can help explain the seeming predisposition that religious people have . With the ability to use modern , empirically tested personality measures , researchers can link results with religiosity . In linking personality measures with religion , it is possible to quantitatively study results , which can provide insight into how , and why religion is such an important element of being human . However , more research is needed to definitively say that there is a correlation between personality characteristics and religion .", "New Cut Landfill Located in Ellicott City , Howard County , Maryland , United States , New Cut Landfill , is also referred to as Worthington Park , Worthington Dog Park , and Worthington Elementary . Rock Hill College operated a recreation facility named `` Forty Acres on New Cut '' between 1894 and 1922 . The 83 acre new cut landfill closed in 1980 . In 1985 the county sought bids from a Pennsylvania company to burn methane gas in generators . New Cut groundwater was found to be contaminated from deposits of paint solvents . In 1993 , the county approved installation of city water around New Cut after contaminates including trichloroethane exceeded federal drinking water levels . In September 2011 , 2,000 solar panels were installed on landfill property converted to parkland and later a solar farm . The panels were paid for by a Maryland Department of Energy Grant .", "TRNSYS TRNSYS is a simulation program primarily used in the fields of renewable energy engineering and building simulation for passive as well as active solar design . TRNSYS is a commercial software package developed at the University of Wisconsin . One of its original applications was to perform dynamic simulation of the behaviour of a solar hot water system for a typical meteorological year so that the long-term cost savings of such a system could be ascertained .", "HR 7578 HR 7578 ( V4200 Sgr ) is a BY Draconis variable binary star located in the night sky at RA 19h 54m 17s and Dec − 23 ° 56 ′ 28 ″ in the constellation of Sagittarius . The stars have a total Proper Motion of 0.426 '' / yr . At a distance of 46.4 light Years ( 13.61 ± 1.70 pc ) and an absolute magnitude of 5.46 these stars have a combined apparent magnitude of 6.23 when viewed from earth . The two stars , aged between 5x108 and 2x109 years old , appear to be remarkably similar . Both seem to be K3 V or K4V class stars . Both stars appear to have a mass of not less than 0.85 ± 0.03 Solar masses , and an abundance of heavier elements . They seem , on current evidence , to rotate in 16.35 ± 1 days . The star system is also known as HD 188088 , HIP 97944 , CD − 24 ° 15668 A , Gliese 770 A , YPC 4686.00 and V4200 Sgr .", "Solar Decathlon The U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon is an international collegiate competition made up of 10 contests that challenge student teams to design and build full-size , solar-powered houses . The winner of the competition is the team that best blends design excellence and smart energy production with innovation , market potential , and energy and water efficiency . The first Solar Decathlon was held in 2002 . The competition has since occurred biennially in 2005 , 2007 , 2009 , 2011 , 2013 and 2015 . The Solar Decathlon 2017 will be located in Denver , Colorado , adjacent to the 61st & Peña station on the University of Colorado A line commuter train connecting Denver International Airport to downtown Union Station . In addition to the competition , Solar Decathlon 2017 will also feature a sustainability expo , professional development and consumer workshops , middle-school education events , and a community festival . Open to the public and free of charge , the Solar Decathlon allows visitors to tour energy - and water-efficient houses , and gather ideas to save energy and conserve water in their own homes . The Solar Decathlon 2017 competition is presented by the U.S. Department of Energy and administered by Energetics , Incorporated , a subsidiary of VSE Corporation . Previous competitions were administered by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory ( NREL ) . Since the first competition in 2002 , the Solar Decathlon has expanded internationally to include four additional worldwide competitions in Europe , China , Latin America and Caribbean , and the Middle East . Solar Decathlon Europe was established under a 2007 memorandum of understanding between the United States and Spain , which hosted competitions in 2010 and 2012 . France hosted in 2014 . The Solar Decathlon China was established with the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the U.S. Department of Energy , China 's National Energy Administration , Peking University and Applied Materials on January 20 , 2011 . The first Solar Decathlon China took place in August 2013 in the city of Datong . The next Solar Decathlon China will take place in summer 2017 and was formed through a memorandum of understanding among the United States Department of Energy , the People 's Republic of China , and the China Overseas Development Corporation . Solar Decathlon Latin America and Caribbean was established under a memorandum of understanding between the United States Department of Energy and the government of Colombia in 2014 . The first competition was held in Cali in December 2015 . Solar Decathlon Middle East , to be held in Dubai , United Arab Emirates , in 2018 , was formed by a memorandum of understanding between the United States Department of Energy and the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority in 2015 .", "R v Strachan R v Strachan , -LSB- 1988 -RSB- 2 S.C.R. 980 is a leading Supreme Court of Canada decision on the exclusion of evidence under section 24 ( 2 ) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms subsequent to a violation of a Charter right . The Court held that there does not need to be a causal connection between the violation and the evidence , but rather there need only be a temporal link between the two .", "Exhibit (legal) An exhibit , in a criminal prosecution or a civil trial , is physical or documentary evidence brought before the jury . The artifact or document itself is presented for the jury 's inspection . Examples may include a weapon allegedly used in the crime , an invoice or written contract , a photograph , or a video recording . The main concept behind correct evidence handling is that the item recovered is the same as that produced in the court room . The usual term applied to such handling is `` chain of custody '' . The term denotes the links in the handling of the exhibit in question . For example , details of the item , the place , date , time it was recovered , and by whom it was recovered - the first link . The subsequent links in the chain refer to anyone required to handle the exhibit , mainly for identification purposes . The final link is the production of the item in court . This particular level of auditable handling is paramount when dealing with items of a forensic nature , as it reduces the opportunity for the defense to challenge the authenticity of the item . The chain of custody can be less stringent when dealing with property which has a unique identifying feature like a serial number . In such a case , the physical security becomes the main concern of the person recovering the item . Such security is normally achieved by booking the item into a central evidence room . The exhibits in any one law case are often labelled Exhibit A , Exhibit B , Exhibit C , etc. to distinguish between them .", "Link Valley, Houston Link Valley is a community in southwestern Houston , Texas that consists of many apartment complexes . In the late 1980s it was nicknamed `` Death Valley '' due to high levels of drug-related and violent crime . Since a 1989 raid Link Valley has not had significant criminal activity .", "Trekanten (Stockholm) Trekanten ( The Triangle ) is a small lake in southern-central Stockholm , Sweden . With a small drainage area with no major feeders and originally lacking natural beauty , Trekanten is today located in a park furnished with an artificial bathing beach and various planted-out fish species . As such it is considered as of great recreational value and is popular for bathing and fishing . In the early 1980s , potable water was begun to be poured into the lake while water from the bottom of the lake was pumped out , operations resulting in a significant reduction in levels of phosphorus but which failed to affect levels of nutrients and oxygen depletion in bottom layers . Levels of lead and copper are among the highest documented in any lake in Stockholm . Whilst the lake flora and fauna is roughly representative for Stockholm , the lake forms an important natural link between the bays Årstaviken and Vinterviken .", "Activ Solar Activ Solar GmbH , headquartered in Vienna , Austria was a developer of solar energy . It was engaged in the production of polycrystalline silicon ( polysilicon ) for the solar PV industry and the development of large-scale photovoltaic power stations in Ukraine . The company is a member of the European Photovoltaic Industry Association . In February 2016 , it filed for insolvency .", "History of Las Rozas According to some historians Las Rozas de Madrid could have been a Roman mansion or staging-post called Miacum , from which the name Madrid may have derived . This is somewhat speculative , although there is evidence of occupation locally in about the 3rd century of the Common Era when the Roman Empire was active in Spain . Las Rozas is located on the Roman Military Route between Segovia and Titulcia and eventually to Emerita Augusta , and is adjacent to the Rio Guadarrama , which provided plentiful fresh water all year round . The modern name means ` the clearings ' which may have related to military activity , as the agricultural value if the area is low , and the traditional economic activity seems to have been sheep rearing . The first document that refers to Las Rozas itself dates from 1376 , although it would appear that the town existed earlier than that . The town of `` Las Rozas '' appears in Volume V of the `` Relaciones Historico-Geografico-Estadisticas '' ( `` Historical , Geographical , and Statistical List '' ) of the towns of Spain that was written during the reign of Felipe II and that is now kept in the library at the El Escorial Monastery .", "Metsähovi Radio Observatory The Metsähovi Radio Observatory is an astronomical observatory in Finland , affiliated with the Aalto University . Its main premises are in Metsähovi , Kirkkonummi , 35 kilometers west of the university 's Otaniemi campus . The observatory currently operates one 13.7 m diameter radio telescope , staffed by some 20 researchers , engineers , research assistants , undergraduate and postgraduate students , and supporting personnel . Operational since 1974 , the observatory is active in the fields of : Fundamental research in radio astronomy Development of instruments needed in radio astronomy Development of methods for radio astronomical measurements Applied scientific computing Space research Education The equipment at the observatory is focused primarily on extrasolar radio signals between 2 and 150 GHz . The primary subjects of the research are variable quasars , active galaxies , molecular line radiation , geodetic and astronomic very long baseline interferometry as a member of the European VLBI Network . Secondary subjects are solar observations , solar system 22 GHz water maser and spacecraft related analysis . The observatory observed the near-total Solar eclipse of March 20 , 2015 at 11.2 and 37 GHz .", "Barbados–Nigeria relations Barbadian -- Nigerian relations are foreign relations between Barbados and Nigeria . Barbados and Nigeria formally established diplomatic relations on 24 April 1970 . Nigeria is accredited to Barbados from its Embassy in Port of Spain , ( Trinidad and Tobago ) . Currently the Barbadian Government does not have foreign accreditation for Nigeria , however the Nigerian Government has said that it was highly desirous of Barbados establishing an embassy directly to Nigeria . In 2006 the Governor Otunba Gbenga Daniel of the Nigerian state of Ogun announced that Barbadians would be given free land if they wished to move to Nigeria . Nigeria has pushed for more investment from Barbadian companies and investors and in 2008 for the establishment of direct flights between both nations . In 2006 Barbadian solar company Aqua Sol Components Ltd. formed a 50-50 joint venture partnership with the Nigerian state of Akwa Ibom . The partnership makes use of Barbados ' experience with solar energy given its high usage of solar hot water heaters across the island . Through the venture , Akwa Ibom hopes to raise the level of solar usage in Nigeria . The deal was facilitated through Commission for Pan-African Affairs within the Barbados Prime Minister 's office .", "Wolf 424 Wolf 424 is a binary star system comprising two red dwarf stars at a distance of approximately 14.2 light years from the Sun . It is located in the constellation Virgo , between the stars ε Virginis and ο Virginis . The close binary nature of this star was discovered by Dutch American astronomer Dirk Reuyl in 1941 , based upon an elongation of the star found in photographs . The two stars in the Wolf 424 system orbit about each other with a semi-major axis of 4.1 AU and an eccentricity of 0.3 . The stars have an orbital period of 15.5 years and have a combined apparent magnitude of about 12.5 . Wolf 424A is a cool main sequence red dwarf star of approximately 0.14 solar masses ( 147 Jupiters ) and a radius of 0.17 solar radii . Its companion , Wolf 424B , is a cool main sequence red dwarf star of approximately 0.13 solar masses ( 136 Jupiters ) and a radius of 0.14 solar radii . They are two of the dimmest known objects within 15 light years of the Sun . In 1967 , it was discovered that both are flare stars that undergo random increases in luminosity . The system has been designated FL Virginis , and may experience sunspot activity . The stars may undergo variation in the level of flare activity over periods lasting several years .", "River Witham The River Witham is a river almost entirely in the county of Lincolnshire in the east of England . It rises south of Grantham close to South Witham at , passes Lincoln at and at Boston , , flows into The Haven , a tidal arm of The Wash , near RSPB Frampton Marsh . The name `` Witham '' seems to be extremely old and of unknown origin . Archaeological and documentary evidence shows the importance of the Witham as a navigation from the Iron Age onwards . From Roman times it was navigable to Lincoln , from where the Fossdyke was constructed to link it to the River Trent . The mouth of the river moved in 1014 following severe flooding , and Boston became important as a port . From 1142 onwards , sluices were constructed to prevent flooding by the sea , and this culminated in the Great Sluice , which was constructed in 1766 . It maintained river levels above Boston , and helped to scour the channel below it . The land through which the lower river runs has been the subject of much land drainage , and many drains are connected to the Witham by flood doors , which block them off if river levels rise rapidly . The river is navigable from Brayford Pool in Lincoln to Boston . Its locks are at Lincoln , Bardney and the Grand/Great Sluice . Passage through the latter is restricted typically to 12-hour intervals during daylight when the tidal levels are suitable . The river provides access for boaters to the Witham Navigable Drains , to the north of Boston , and to the South Forty-Foot Drain to the south , which was reopened as part of the Fens Waterways Link , a project to link the river to the Nene flowing through the city of Peterborough . From Brayford Pool the Fossdyke Navigation links to the Trent .", "Water supply and sanitation in Vietnam Water supply and sanitation in Vietnam is characterized by challenges and achievements . Among the achievements is a substantial increase in access to water supply and sanitation between 1990 and 2010 , nearly universal metering , and increased investment in wastewater treatment since 2007 . Among the challenges are continued widespread water pollution , poor service quality , low access to improved sanitation in rural areas , poor sustainability of rural water systems , insufficient cost recovery for urban sanitation , and the declining availability of foreign grant and soft loan funding as the Vietnamese economy grows and donors shift to loan financing . The government also promotes increased cost recovery through tariff revenues and has created autonomous water utilities at the provincial level , but the policy has had mixed success as tariff levels remain low and some utilities have engaged in activities outside their mandate .", "Solar Millennium Solar Millennium is a German globally active company in the renewable energy sector founded in 1998 in Erlangen , Germany , which is specialized in the designing and implementation of solar thermal power plants . The main activities are site selection , project development , planning , design and construction of parabolic trough power plants .", "Abengoa Solar Abengoa Solar ( formerly Solúcar Energía ) is a subsidiary of Abengoa . Its primary activities include designing , promotion , financing attainment , construction and operation of solar power stations that use photovoltaics , concentrated photovoltaics , or concentrated solar thermal technologies .", "GE Energy Financial Services GE Energy Financial Services ( EFS ) , a division of General Electric ( GE ) , provides financial and technological investment in energy infrastructure projects around the world . EFS is active within industries such as power generation and distribution , oil and gas , pipelines and storage , water , venture capital , and renewable energy . EFS portfolios include deepwater oil and gas exploration in Brazil and water pipeline projects in Jordan . GE EFS has invested billions of dollars in solar industry . One of their most recent investment is 127-megawatt solar farm in Arlington , Arizona which is about 40 miles west of Phoenix .", "Global High-Level Panel on Water and Peace The Global High-Level Panel on Water and Peace was established on 16 November 2015 in Geneva at the initiative of 15 co-convening UN Member States , i.e. Cambodia , Colombia , Costa Rica , Estonia , France , Ghana , Hungary , Jordan , Kazakhstan , Morocco , Oman , Senegal , Slovenia , Spain and . Following the establishment of the Panel and in response to the high interest generated , a Group of Friends on Water and Peace was created in early 2016 . The Geneva Water Hub acts as the Secretariat of both the Panel and the Group of Friends . The focus of the Panel is the nexus between water and cooperation and maintenance of peace and security . This includes preventive activities and arrangements , such as trans-border water cooperation regimes and institutions , protection of water infrastructure during armed conflicts and water arrangements in the context of post-conflict peace-building . Following the establishment of the Panel and in response to the high level of interest generated , a Group of Friends on Water and Peace was created in early 2016 . It provides a group of countries with an opportunity to interact with the work of the Panel and offers them a platform for regular dialogue on these issues . The Water Hub acts as the Secretariat of both the Panel and the Group of Friends . The Global High-Level Panel on Water and Peace will present a set of recommendations at the United Nations General Assembly in September 2017 .", "Quay Valley, California Quay Valley is a proposed 75,000-resident solar power city in Kings County , California developed by GROW Land and Water LLC ( originally Kings County Ventures LLC ) , halfway between Los Angeles and San Francisco . In 2008 , the developers of Quay Valley Ranch put the project on hold pending signs of an economic recovery . Planned as the largest new town in California on private land , as of April 2010 , the Quay Valley project was tied up in litigation over water rights and it was unknown at that time if the project would move forward . In 2014 , a court suit about water rights was settled in favor of the project ; a new application for zoning was submitted in February 2015 . In 2015 , the project is still active , promising construction in 2016 ." ]

[ "North Carolina North Carolina ( -LSB- nɔrθ_kærəˈlaɪnə -RSB- ) is a state in the southeastern region of the United States . The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south , Tennessee to the west , Virginia to the north , and the Atlantic Ocean to the east . North Carolina is the 28th most extensive and the 9th most populous of the U.S. states . The state is divided into 100 counties . The capital is Raleigh . The most populous municipality is Charlotte , which is the second largest banking center in the United States after New York City . The state has a wide range of elevations , from sea level on the coast to 6684 ft at Mount Mitchell , the highest point in North America east of the Mississippi River . The climate of the coastal plains is strongly influenced by the Atlantic Ocean . Most of the state falls in the humid subtropical climate zone . More than 300 mi from the coast , the western , mountainous part of the state has a subtropical highland climate .", "Hurricane Agnes Hurricane Agnes was , at the time , the costliest hurricane to hit the United States in recorded history . The second tropical cyclone and first named storm of the 1972 Atlantic hurricane season , Agnes developed on June 14 from the interaction of a polar front and an upper trough over the Yucatán Peninsula . Initially forming as a tropical depression , the storm headed slowly eastward and emerged into the western Caribbean Sea on June 15 . Once in the Caribbean , the depression began to strengthen , and by the following day , it became Tropical Storm Agnes . Thereafter , Agnes slowly curved northward and passed just west of Cuba on June 17 . Early on June 18 , the storm intensified enough to be upgraded to Hurricane Agnes . Heading northward , the hurricane eventually made landfall near Panama City , Florida late on June 19 . After moving inland , Agnes rapidly weakened and was only a tropical depression when it entered Georgia . The weakening trend halted as the storm crossed over Georgia and into South Carolina . While over eastern North Carolina , Agnes re-strengthened into a tropical storm on June 21 , as a result of baroclinic activity . Early the following day , the storm emerged into the Atlantic Ocean before re-curving northwestward and making landfall near New York City as a strong tropical storm . Agnes quickly became an extratropical cyclone on June 23 , and tracked to the northwest of Great Britain before becoming absorbed by another cyclone on July 6 . Though it moved slowly across the Yucatán Peninsula , damage in Mexico is unknown . Although the storm bypassed the tip of Cuba , heavy rainfall occurred , killing seven people . In Florida , Agnes caused a significant tornado outbreak , with at least 26 confirmed twisters , two of which were spawned in Georgia . The tornadoes and two initially unconfirmed tornadoes in Florida alone resulted in over $ 4.5 million ( 1972 USD ) in damage and six fatalities . At least 2,082 structures in Florida suffered either major damage or were destroyed . About 1,355 other dwellings experienced minor losses . Though Agnes made landfall as a hurricane , no hurricane-force winds were reported . Along the coast abnormally high tides resulted in extensive damage , especially between Apalachicola and Cedar Key . Light to moderate rainfall was reported in Florida , though no significant flooding occurred . In Georgia , damage was limited to two tornadoes , which caused approximately $ 275,000 in losses . Minimal effects were also recorded in Alabama , Connecticut , Delaware , Rhode Island , South Carolina , and Tennessee ; though one fatality was reported in Delaware . The most significant effects , by far , occurred in Pennsylvania , mostly due to intense flooding . The hurricane severely flooded the Susquehanna River and the Lackawanna River causing major damage to the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre metropolitan area . In both Pennsylvania and New Jersey combined , about 43,594 structures were either destroyed or significantly damaged . In Canada , a mobile home was toppled , killing two people . Overall , Agnes caused 128 fatalities and nearly $ 3 billion in damage , though more recently , it is estimated that there were $ 2.1 billion in losses associated with the storm . Due to the significant effects , the name Agnes was retired in the spring of 1973 .", "2008 Atlantic hurricane season The 2008 Atlantic hurricane season was a very active hurricane season with sixteen named storms formed , including eight that became hurricanes and five that became major hurricanes . The season officially started on June 1 and ended on November 30 . These dates conventionally delimit the period of each year when most tropical cyclones form in the Atlantic basin . However , the formation of Tropical Storm Arthur caused the season to start two days early . This season is the fourth most costly on record , behind only the 2004 , 2005 and 2012 seasons , with over $ 47.5 billion in damage ( 2008 USD ) . It was the fourth busiest year since 1944 and the only year on record in which a major hurricane existed in every month from July through November in the North Atlantic . Bertha became the longest lived July tropical cyclone on record for the basin , the first of several long-lived systems during 2008 . The season was devastating for Haiti , where over 800 people were killed by four consecutive tropical cyclones ( Fay , Gustav , Hanna , and Ike ) , especially Hanna , in August and September . Hurricane Paloma 's outer rain bands also made landfall over Haiti . Ike was also the most destructive storm of the season , as well as the strongest , devastating Cuba as a major hurricane and later making landfall near Galveston , Texas at Category 2 ( nearly Category 3 ) intensity . One very unusual feat was a streak of tropical cyclones affecting land . All but one system impacted land in 2008 . The unprecedented number of storms with impact led to one of the deadliest and destructive seasons in the history of the Atlantic basin , especially with Hurricane Ike , as its overall damages made it the third costliest hurricane in the Atlantic .", "Atlantic hurricane An Atlantic hurricane or tropical storm is a tropical cyclone that forms in the Atlantic Ocean , usually in the summer or fall . A hurricane differs from a cyclone or typhoon only on the basis of location . A hurricane is a storm that occurs in the Atlantic Ocean and northeastern Pacific Ocean , a typhoon occurs in the northwestern Pacific Ocean , and a cyclone occurs in the south Pacific or Indian Ocean . Tropical cyclones can be categorized by intensity . Tropical storms have one-minute maximum sustained winds of at least 39 mph ( 34 knots , 17 m/s , 63 km/h ) , while hurricanes have one-minute maximum sustained winds exceeding 74 mph ( 64 knots , 33 m/s , 119 km/h ) . Most North Atlantic tropical storms and hurricanes form between June 1 and November 30 . The United States National Hurricane Center monitors the basin and issues reports , watches , and warnings about tropical weather systems for the North Atlantic Basin as one of the Regional Specialized Meteorological Centers for tropical cyclones , as defined by the World Meteorological Organization . In recent times , tropical disturbances that reach tropical storm intensity are named from a predetermined list . Hurricanes that result in significant damage or casualties may have their names retired from the list at the request of the affected nations in order to prevent confusion should a subsequent storm be given the same name . On average , in the North Atlantic basin ( from 1966 to 2009 ) 11.3 named storms occur each season , with an average of 6.2 becoming hurricanes and 2.3 becoming major hurricanes ( Category 3 or greater ) . The climatological peak of activity is around September 11 each season . In March 2004 , Catarina was the first hurricane-intensity tropical cyclone ever recorded in the Southern Atlantic Ocean . Since 2011 , the Brazilian Navy Hydrographic Center has started to use the same scale of the North Atlantic Ocean for tropical cyclones in the South Atlantic Ocean and assign names to those which reach 35 kn ." ]

[ "List of Toronto parks The following is a list of the parks in the city of Toronto , Ontario , Canada . The appearance of Toronto 's ravines was altered by floods caused by Hurricane Hazel in October 1954 and many of Toronto 's parks were established in the resulting floodplain .", "Rigsby sisters Kerri Rigsby and Cori Rigsby are the whistle-blowers who proved to a Mississippi jury that State Farm committed fraud against the United States Government . The sisters claim State Farm ignored or minimized wind damage to avoid payments relating to Hurricane Katrina ( 2005 ) . The jury verdict was upheld by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and then was affirmed 8-0 by the United States Supreme Court . The Rigsbys were managers who worked in Gulfport , Mississippi for a subcontractor hired by State Farm to adjust wind and flood claims after Hurricane Katrina . They were the first to uncover a fraudulent scheme by State Farm to improperly categorize wind damage as flood damage . This mischaracterization was very important because State Farm had to pay for wind damage out of its own pocket under State Farm homeowner policies , while flood damage was paid by the federal government under FEMA 's flood policies . Their story went public when ABC 's 20/20 show aired it in August 2006 . In 2013 , a federal jury in Gulfport found State Farm guilty of committing fraud against policyholders during Hurricane Katrina by forcing engineers to change their reports . The Rigsbys ' landmark win was historic because they were the first to prove that an insurance company defrauded the government in FEMA 's National Flood Insurance Program .", "Hurricane Joan–Miriam Hurricane Joan was a powerful hurricane that caused death and destruction in over a dozen countries in the Caribbean and Central America . Moving on a due west course for nearly two weeks in October 1988 , Hurricane Joan caused widespread flooding and over 200 deaths after moving into Central America . Widespread suffering and economic crises were exacerbated by Joan , primarily across Nicaragua , as heavy rains and high winds impacted those near the hurricane 's path . After crossing Central America into the Pacific , the cyclone was renamed Tropical Storm Miriam , with the system 's dissipation occurring southwest of Mexico . Joan -- Miriam was the final hurricane of the 1988 Atlantic hurricane season and the final named storm of the Pacific hurricane season .", "Meteorological disasters Meteorological disasters are caused by extreme weather , e.g. rain , drought , snow , extreme heat or cold , ice , or wind . Violent , sudden and destructive change to the environment related to , produced by , or affecting the earth 's atmosphere , especially the weather-forming processes . Examples of weather disasters include blizzard , cyclones , droughts , hailstorms , heat waves , hurricanes , floods ( caused by rain ) , and tornadoes .", "Hurricane Julia Hurricane Julia was the easternmost Category 4 hurricane recorded in the Atlantic basin since reliable satellite observations became available . The twelfth tropical cyclone , fifth hurricane and fourth major hurricane of the 2010 Atlantic hurricane season , Julia rapidly developed on September 12 from a tropical wave near Cape Verde . Passing near the islands , the system quickly organized into Tropical Storm Julia the next day . On September 14 , Julia attained hurricane status and subsequently entered a trend of rapid intensification ; the storm strengthened from a minimal hurricane to a low-end Category 4 in only 24 hours . After peaking in intensity , further development was impeded as interaction with nearby Hurricane Igor began to occur ; the storm was downgraded to a tropical storm by September 18 . It subsequently moved into a region of unfavorable conditions , heading toward lower sea surface temperatures . Correspondingly , Julia entered an extratropical transition on September 20 , and advisories on the storm were discontinued by that time . As Julia never posed any significant threat to land , damage related to the storm was minimal . Trace amounts of rain reportedly fell across the Cape Verde islands , causing locally light flooding and minor inconveniences . Gusts battering the territory peaked at 30 mph ( 48 km/h ) , resulting in some wind damage to crops . In addition , these winds produced rough sea conditions , and high waves posed few threats along coastlines .", "Morrisville, Newfoundland and Labrador Morrisville is a town in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador . The town had a population of 128 in the Canada 2006 Census . In October 2016 , the town , along with a few others in Atlantic Canada was devastated from flooding related to Hurricane Matthew .", "Hurricane Hilda (1955) Hurricane Hilda was a strong Category 3 hurricane that was the second in a succession of three hurricanes to strike near Tampico , Mexico . The eighth named storm of the 1955 Atlantic hurricane season , Hilda formed from a tropical wave on September 10 near the Lesser Antilles . It quickly intensified while moving westward into a small hurricane , and it crossed over southeastern Cuba on September 13 . There , it dropped heavy rainfall and produced gusty winds that destroyed 80 % of the coffee crop in Oriente Province . In the eastern Cuban city of Baracoa , Hilda severely damaged the oldest church in the country . Damage totaled $ 2 million in Cuba , and there were four deaths . Later , the hurricane moved across the Caribbean Sea , causing light damage in the sparsely populated region of the eastern Yucatán Peninsula . After reaching the Gulf of Mexico , Hilda strengthened to reach peak winds of 125 mph ( 205 km/h ) late on September 18 . Before the hurricane moved ashore , there was residual flooding in Tampico from earlier Hurricane Gladys . Hilda struck the city early on September 19 , with gusts estimated at 150 mph . It dropped heavy rainfall that flooded 90 % of Tampico , while its strong winds damaged half of the homes , leaving 15,000 homeless . The storm killed 300 people and caused over $ 120 million ( 1955 USD ) in Mexico . Ongoing flooding caused an outbreak of dysentery , and about 10 days after Hilda struck , Hurricane Janet struck the same region and caused further flooding and damage . Collectively , the damage from the storms represented about half of Mexico 's budget in 1955 .", "Stanley B. Goldenberg Stanley B. Goldenberg is a meteorologist with NOAA/AOML 's Hurricane Research Division in Miami ( Virginia Key ) , Florida . Goldenberg received his associate degree from Miami Dade College and a bachelor 's degree in 1978 and a master 's degree in 1980 both in meteorology from Florida State University . One of his main graduate advisors was James O'Brien , one of the world 's leading experts on El Niño . Goldenberg has specialized in climate studies and hurricanes . Stan 's hurricane-related research has included developing and implementing significant improvements to one of the earlier numerical hurricane-track prediction models used by the National Hurricane Center and more recently , examining the various climatic factors which influence the variability of hurricane activity in the Atlantic from intraseasonal to multidecadal time scales . He has done extensive research into the physical mechanisms responsible for the connection between El Niño and Atlantic hurricane activity . He was the first author of the research report published in Science establishing the fact that the Atlantic hurricane basin has entered a multidecadal-scale era of greatly increased hurricane activity . The paper concluded that the increase in hurricane activity was due to natural climate fluctuations rather than from any long-term temperature trends ( which some attribute to anthropogenic global warming ) . ( This paper was recognized with the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research Outstanding Scientific Paper Award . ) He is one of the lead authors of NOAA 's Seasonal Hurricane Outlooks for the Atlantic basin and was a co-recipient of NOAA 's Bronze Medal for that work . Mr. Goldenberg has participated in numerous research flights into and around hurricanes on NOAA 's WP-3D and Gulfstream IV aircraft , including flights into Hurricane Katrina ( 2005 ) as it made landfall on the Louisiana/Mississippi coast . Goldenberg 's interest and experience in hurricane disaster preparedness was greatly increased when his South Florida home was destroyed as he and his family experienced the full force of Category 5 Hurricane Andrew in 1992 . His family 's personal experience , as well as his scientific expertise , have been featured in numerous TV specials such as Cyclone ! ( National Geographic/PBS ) , Storm Stories ( The Weather Channel ) and Savage Skies ( PBS ) . Goldenberg has published a number of scientific papers , is frequently interviewed by local , national and international media and has been a regular speaker at scientific , insurance , and hurricane preparedness conferences . He has also been a research scientist at the University of Washington from 1986 -- 1989 and for a short time taught Mathematics and Science at a Messianic Jewish academy .", "1896 East Coast hurricane The 1896 East Coast hurricane was a slow-moving tropical cyclone that battered the East Coast of the United States from Florida to New England in mid-October 1896 . The fifth tropical cyclone of the 1896 Atlantic hurricane season , it formed on October 7 in the southern Gulf of Mexico , and caused minor damage in Florida while crossing the state two days later . From October 10 through 13 , the hurricane drifted northeastward along the coast , reaching its peak intensity as the equivalence of a Category 2 hurricane on the modern-day Saffir -- Simpson scale . The hurricane subjected many areas along the East Coast to days of high seas and damaging northeasterly winds , which halted shipping operations . The Mid-Atlantic coastline experienced flooding storm tides that submerged and heavily eroded Cobb 's Island , part of the Virginia Barrier Islands . Hotels and cottages there were extensively damaged , and the hurricane brought about the end of the island 's stint as a popular summer resort . Along the Jersey Shore , low-lying railroads were flooded , boardwalks were destroyed , and many beach houses sustained damage . The hurricane did $ 200,000 in damage to coastal installations on New York 's Coney Island . To the north , wind gusts as high as 80 mph affected eastern New England . Four sailors died in two maritime incidents attributed to the hurricane , and overall damage amounted to $ 500,000 .", "Atoyac River (Guerrero) The Atoyac River is a river of Mexico located in the federal district of Guerrero . In 1992 's Hurricane Virgil , A flood on the Atoyac River washed away 500 homes in Guerrero , which prompted the evacuation of 2,500 people .", "Tropical Storm Dorothy Tropical Storm Dorothy was the deadliest tropical cyclone of the 1970 Atlantic hurricane season . The fourth named storm and fifth tropical storm or hurricane of the season , Dorothy developed on August 17 from a tropical wave to the east of the Lesser Antilles . It tracked west-northwestward throughout its entire duration , and despite forecasts of attaining hurricane status , Dorothy reached peak winds of 70 mph ( 110 km / ) -- slightly below hurricane status . The storm struck Martinique on August 20 , and subsequently began a gradual weakening trend in the Caribbean Sea . On August 23 , Dorothy dissipated south of Hispaniola . Most significantly affected by the storm was Martinique , which received 26.8 in ( 680 mm ) of rainfall in a 24‑hour period . The rainfall caused flooding and mudslides , resulting in about $ 34 million in damage ( 1970 USD ) ; 186 homes were destroyed , and 700 people were left homeless . The flooding killed up to 50 people on the island . Elsewhere in the Lesser Antilles , the storm killed one person on Dominica from heavy rainfall , and in Guadeloupe heavy damage to the banana crop was reported .", "Hurricane Beth Hurricane Beth was a short-lived tropical cyclone which traveled from Florida to Nova Scotia in the middle of August 1971 . The second named storm of the 1971 Atlantic hurricane season , Beth 's genesis was impeded by a cold environment surrounding the storm . However , as it continued on its northeastward course , it achieved fully tropical characteristics and peaked as a modest Category 1 hurricane on the Saffir -- Simpson Hurricane Scale . The cyclone struck Nova Scotia on August 16 before dissipating shortly after . Beth produced substantial precipitation , and the resultant flooding inflicted severe damage to infrastructure and crops .", "Holden Hurricane The Holden Hurricane was a two-seat concept car built by Holden in 1969 . The Hurricane was one of the most advanced vehicles for its time , with Holden describing it as a research vehicle , allowing them `` to study design trends , propulsion systems and other long range developments '' .", "Hurricane Lily (1971) Hurricane Lily was a short-lived Category 1 hurricane of August 1971 that devastated the city of Puerto Vallarta in Mexico . Forming from an area of cloudiness associated with former Atlantic Tropical Storm Chloe , the storm slowly intensified , building to peak intensity just before landfall northwest of Manzanillo , Colima on August 31 . The hurricane quickly weakened and became extratropical . After leaving land , the extratropical remnants of Lily dissipated on September 1 . The storm 's movement close to land affected shipping due to the limited warning , which was partially set back due to difficulties in clarifying the hurricane 's position on radar from reconnaissance aircraft . The hurricane was Puerto Vallarta 's worst in two decades and the second hurricane of the season to heavily impact Mexico after Hurricane Bridget . The storm caused the Cuale River to overflow its banks , inundating the downtown section of Puerto Vallarta with water that was up to 8 ft deep in some sections . The Mexican army flew in aid after trucks were blocked by flooded roads . The hurricane claimed three lives on the mainland and nine lives when a boat capsized .", "John J. Flood John Flood is a retired police officer , nationally-recognized police labor relations figure , and an authority on the La Cosa Nostra , organized crime and the Chicago Outfit . Mr. Flood resides in Las Vegas , Nevada and San Diego , California . His professional career , spanning the second half of the 20th century , was in law enforcement within the United States . Mr. Flood is an associate of late FBI agent and author William Roemer . William Wemette , famous for his testimony against Chicago mob leader Joey Lombardo and mob enforcer Frankie Schweihs in organized crime trials and a longtime Federal Bureau of Investigation ( FBI ) informant is a confidante . Mr. Wemette was a major testifying witness in The Family Secrets prosecution overseen by U. S. District Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald .", "Flood of 1955 (Connecticut) The Flood of 1955 in Connecticut is one of the worst floods in Connecticut 's history . Two back-to-back hurricanes saturated the land and several river valleys in the state , causing severe flooding in August 1955 . The hardest hit were the Mad and Still Rivers in Winsted , the Naugatuck River , the Farmington River and the Quinebaug River . Towns that suffered much loss include Farmington , Putnam , Waterbury , and Winsted . Almost 90 people died during the flooding , and property damage across the state was estimated at more than $ 200 million , in 1955 figures . The floods prompted changes in safety measures , river monitoring and zoning laws .", "Volume–price trend Volume -- price trend ( VPT ) ( sometimes price -- volume trend ) is a technical analysis indicator intended to relate price and volume in the stock market . VPT is based on a running cumulative volume that adds or subtracts a multiple of the percentage change in share price trend and current volume , depending upon the investment 's upward or downward movements .", "Effects of Hurricane Dennis in Jamaica In early July 2005 , Hurricane Dennis brushed Jamaica , bringing torrential rain and damaging floods to the island nation . Forming from a tropical depression on July 4 , Dennis began impacting Jamaica three days later . Approximately 6,000 people evacuated from coastal and flood-prone areas prior to the storm 's arrival while relief agencies allocated resources for recovery operations . Passing northeast of the island , impact from Dennis stemmed primarily from rainfall -- accumulations peaked at 24.54 in and reached 1-in-50 year event levels . Widespread flooding and landslides damaged homes and isolated communities . Saint Thomas and Portland Parishes were hardest-hit ; hundreds required evacuation as multiple rivers burst their banks . Overall , 209,000 people were affected with 6,000 households requesting assistance . A week after Dennis , Hurricane Emily brought further rain to the island , exacerbating damage . Their combined effects damaged or destroyed 440 homes with total losses reaching J$ 5.976 billion ( US$ 96.87 million ) , of which at least J$ 2.128 billion ( US$ 34.5 million ) can be attributed to Dennis alone . One person died due to flooding . Relief operations began before the hurricane subsided , and international communities provided further aid . The overall effects of Dennis were limited and the nation 's economy sustained no major ramifications .", "Hurricane Joaquin Hurricane Joaquin ( -LSB- xwaˈkin -RSB- ) was a powerful tropical cyclone that devastated several districts of the Bahamas and caused damage in the Turks and Caicos Islands , parts of the Greater Antilles , and Bermuda , as well as being the strongest hurricane of non-tropical origin in the satellite era . The tenth named storm , third hurricane , and second major hurricane of the 2015 Atlantic hurricane season , Joaquin evolved from a non-tropical low to become a tropical depression on September 28 , well southwest of Bermuda . Tempered by unfavorable wind shear , the depression drifted southwestward . After becoming a tropical storm the next day , Joaquin underwent rapid intensification , reaching hurricane status on September 30 and Category 4 major hurricane strength on October 1 . Meandering over the southern Bahamas , Joaquin 's eye passed near or over several islands . On October 3 , the hurricane weakened somewhat and accelerated to the northeast . Abrupt re-intensification ensued later that day , and Joaquin acquired sustained winds of 155 mph ( 250 km/h ) , just short of Category 5 strength ; this made it at the time the strongest Atlantic hurricane since 2010 's Igor , only to be surpassed by Hurricane Matthew a year later . Hurricane warnings were hoisted across most of the Bahamas as the hurricane threatened the country . Battering the nation 's southern islands for over two days , Joaquin caused extensive devastation , most notably on Acklins , Crooked Island , Long Island , Rum Cay , and San Salvador Island . Severe storm surge inundated many communities , trapping hundreds of people in their homes ; flooding persisted for days after the hurricane 's departure . Prolonged , intense winds brought down trees and powerlines , and unroofed homes throughout the affected region . As airstrips were submerged and heavily damaged , relief workers were limited in their ability to quickly help residents affected by Joaquin , one of the strongest storms on record to affect the nation . Offshore , the American cargo ship El Faro and her 33 members were lost to the hurricane . Coastal flooding also impacted the nearby Turks and Caicos , washing out roadways , compromising seawalls , and damaging homes . Strong winds and heavy rainfall caused some property damage in eastern Cuba . One fisherman died when heavy seas capsized a small boat along the coast of Haiti . Storm tides resulted in severe flooding in several of Haiti 's departments , forcing families from their homes and destroying crops . The weakening hurricane passed just west of Bermuda on October 4 , attended by strong winds that cut power to 15,000 electric subscribers but caused only minor damage otherwise . After passing near Bermuda , Joaquin ultimately curved northeastward and accelerated , weakening further and becoming extratropical as it entered colder waters . Collectively , Joaquin killed 34 people and caused $ 200 million USD in damages . With all 34 deaths attributed to the storm occurring at sea , Joaquin has the highest offshore death toll for any Atlantic hurricane since the Escuminac hurricane in 1959 , which killed 35 people in the Northumberland Strait . Although Joaquin never directly affected the United States , another large storm system over the southeastern states drew tremendous moisture from the hurricane , resulting in catastrophic flooding in South Carolina .", "2005 Pacific hurricane season The 2005 Pacific hurricane season continued the trend of generally below-average activity that began a decade prior . The season officially began on May 15 in the eastern Pacific , and on June 1 in the central Pacific ; it lasted until November 30 in both basins . These dates conventionally delimit the period during each year when most tropical cyclones form in the northeastern Pacific Ocean . Activity began with the formation of Hurricane Adrian , the fourth-earliest-forming tropical storm on record in the basin at the time . Adrian led to flash flooding and several landslides across Central America , resulting in five deaths and $ 12 million ( 2005 USD ) in damage . Tropical storms Calvin and Dora caused minor damage along the coastline , while Tropical Storm Eugene led to one death in Acapulco . In early October , Otis produced tropical storm-force winds and minor flooding across the Baja California peninsula . The remnants of Tropical Depression One-C in the central Pacific , meanwhile , caused minor impacts in Hawaii . The strongest storm of the period was Hurricane Kenneth , which attained peak winds of 130 mph ( 215 km/h ) over the open Pacific . Cooler than average ocean temperatures throughout the year aided in below-average activity through the course of the season , which ended with 15 named storms , 7 hurricanes , 2 major hurricanes , and an Accumulated cyclone energy index of 75 units .", "Hurricane Waldo (1985) Hurricane Waldo was a Pacific hurricane that caused significant flooding in Kansas during October 1985 . After developing into a tropical depression on October 7 , it steadily intensified , becoming a tropical storm within a day . Waldo reached hurricane intensity on October 8 . After peaking as a moderate Category 2 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale , it re-curved to the east , making landfall at peak intensity near Culiacan . Afterward , it rapidly dissipated . In all , Waldo caused moderate damage in Sonora . The remnants of the storm combined with a cold front over the Great Plains . Significant flooding and one death was recorded in Kansas . Many rivers and creeks overflowed its banks .", "2016 Atlantic hurricane season The 2016 Atlantic hurricane season was the first above average Atlantic hurricane season since 2012 , producing a total of 15 named storms , 7 hurricanes , and 4 major hurricanes . It was also the costliest season since 2012 , and was the deadliest since at least 2008 . The season officially started on June 1 and ended on November 30 , though the first storm , Hurricane Alex which formed in the Northeastern Atlantic , developed on January 12 , being the first hurricane to develop in January since 1938 . The final storm , Otto , crossed into the Eastern Pacific on November 25 , a few days before the official end . Following Alex , Tropical Storm Bonnie brought flooding to South Carolina and portions of North Carolina . Tropical Storm Colin in early June brought minor flooding and wind damage to parts of the Southeastern United States , especially Florida . Hurricane Earl left 94 fatalities in the Dominican Republic and Mexico , 81 of which occurred in the latter . In early September , Hurricane Hermine , the first hurricane to make landfall in Florida since Hurricane Wilma in 2005 , brought extensive coastal flooding damage especially to the Forgotten and Nature coasts of Florida . Hermine was responsible for five fatalities and about $ 550 million ( 2016 USD ) in damage . The strongest , costliest , and deadliest storm of the season was Hurricane Matthew , the southernmost Category 5 Atlantic hurricane on record and the first to reach that intensity since Felix in 2007 . With at least 603 deaths attributed to it , Matthew was the deadliest Atlantic hurricane since Stan of 2005 . Furthermore , damage from Matthew is estimated to be at least $ 15.1 billion , making it the ninth costliest Atlantic hurricane on record . Hurricane Nicole became the first major hurricane to directly impact Bermuda since Hurricane Fabian in 2003 , leaving widespread but relatively minor damage on the island . The final tropical cyclone of the season -- Hurricane Otto -- brought severe flooding to Central America in November , particularly in Costa Rica and Nicaragua . Otto left 23 deaths and about $ 190 million in damage . On November 25 , the storm emerged into the Eastern Pacific basin , the first such occurrence since Hurricane Cesar -- Douglas in 1996 . Most of the season 's tropical cyclones impacted land , and nine of those storms caused loss of life . Collectively , the storms left at least 743 fatalities and $ 16.1 billion in damage . Most forecasting groups predicted above average activity in anticipation of a dissipating El Niño event and the development of a La Niña , as well as warmer than normal sea surface temperatures . Overall , the forecasts were fairly accurate . __ TOC __", "1940 South Carolina hurricane The 1940 South Carolina hurricane was a Category 2 hurricane that struck the Georgia and South Carolina coast between August 11 and 12 , 1940 . After forming north of the Leeward Islands , the storm moved west-northwest , moving east of the Bahamas before resuming a west-northwest track towards the Southeastern United States . Hurricane warnings were in effect for the United States coastline near and north of where the center made landfall . A 13-foot storm tide was measured along the South Carolina coast , while over 15 in of rain fell across northern North Carolina . Significant flooding and landslides struck Georgia , North Carolina , Tennessee , and Virginia during the system 's slow trek as a weakening tropical storm , and then as an extratropical cyclone , through the Southeast . The landslides which struck North Carolina were considered a once in a century event . Damages relating to the storm totaled $ 13 million ( 1940 USD ) and 50 people perished .", "National Hurricane Research Project The National Hurricane Research Project ( NHRP ) was initiated in 1955 by the United States Weather Bureau in response to the devastating 1954 hurricane season , which saw Hurricane Carol , Hurricane Edna , and Hurricane Hazel bring destruction and flooding to New England and the Mid-Atlantic states . Robert Simpson , a Weather Bureau meteorologist who had participated in Air Force hurricane reconnaissance flights as an observer , was appointed as the first director of NHRP and organized the Research Operations Base at Morrison Air Force Base ( now Palm Beach International Airport ) in West Palm Beach , FL in 1956 . During the first three years of the Project , scientists used three specially instrumented Air Force Hurricane Hunters aircraft with crews on bailment from the 55th Weather Reconnaissance Squadron . They flew missions into Hurricane Greta ( 1956 ) , Hurricane Audrey ( 1957 ) , Hurricane Daisy ( 1958 ) , and Hurricane Helene ( 1958 ) in this initial period , collecting data which delineated the structure and energy budget of hurricanes for the first time . In 1959 , the Project was moved to Miami and collocated with the Miami hurricane forecast office . Simpson left the Project to complete his doctoral degree and Robert Cecil Gentry was appointed NHRP director . The Department of Commerce leased two DC-6 aircraft and received a B-57 jet from the Air Force so that NHRP could continue to carry out airborne experiments on hurricanes . The combination of research project , forecast center , and aircraft facility was dubbed the `` National Hurricane Center '' ( NHC ) . This has caused later confusion , since 1967 the NHC name has been used exclusively by the forecast center . However the Project and Research Flight Facility ( RFF ) remained separate entities , with their own personnel , budgets , and objectives . During the 1960s , while NHRP continued to carry out research flights into Hurricane Donna ( 1960 ) , Hurricane Cleo ( 1964 ) , and Hurricane Betsy ( 1965 ) , the Project also began to create computer models of hurricane circulation , formulated a statistical track program ( NHC-64 ) , wrote a manual on hurricane forecasting , and evaluate the accuracy of track forecasts . Starting with Hurricane Esther ( 1961 ) , NHRP was heavily involved with Project STORMFURY , the U. S. Government 's experiment in hurricane modification . They seeded Hurricane Beulah in 1963 , but had to wait six more years before a suitable candidate storm entered their operational area . Late in 1964 , the Project was renamed the National Hurricane Research Laboratory in recognition of it becoming a permanent institution within the Weather Bureau . This presaged the creation of the Environmental Research Laboratories the next year . Category : Tropical cyclones Category : National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration", "Hoosier Hurricane Hoosier Hurricane is a wooden roller coaster at Indiana Beach in Monticello , Indiana . The ride was designed by Dennis McNulty and Larry Bill of Custom Coasters International . It opened on May 27 , 1994 , as the park 's largest wooden roller coaster and the first wooden roller coaster built in Indiana in fifty years . The ride was Custom Coasters International 's third roller coaster designed and the first modern wooden coaster built with a steel support structure , which would eventually become a trend on many wooden coasters designed by them . Hoosier Hurricane , like other coasters in the park , was ` shoehorned ' into the park . The ride hugs the shores of Lake Shafer , parallels most of the boardwalk , and suddenly turns near the Giant Gondola Wheel . Hurricane 's structure is shared with nearby Cornball Express for a small portion of the ride ( the S-turn before the drop ) . Category : Roller coasters in Indiana Category : Roller coasters introduced in 1994", "Hurricane Sandra (2015) Hurricane Sandra was the latest-forming major hurricane in the northeastern Pacific basin , the strongest November Pacific hurricane on record , and the record eleventh major hurricane of the 2015 season . Originating from a tropical wave , Sandra was first classified as a tropical depression on November 23 well south of Mexico . Environmental conditions , including high sea surface temperatures and low wind shear , were highly conducive to intensification and the storm quickly organized . A small central dense overcast developed atop the storm and Sandra reached hurricane status early on November 25 after the consolidation of an eye . Sandra reached its peak intensity as a Category 4 hurricane on the Saffir -- Simpson hurricane wind scale with winds of 150 mph ( 240 km/h ) and a pressure of 934 mbar ( hPa ; 27.58 inHg ) early on November 26 . This made Sandra the strongest November hurricane on record in the Northeastern Pacific . Thereafter , increasing shear degraded the hurricane 's structure and weakening ensued . Rapid weakening took place on November 27 and Sandra 's circulation became devoid of convection as it diminished to a tropical storm that evening . The cyclone degenerated into a remnant low soon thereafter and ultimately dissipated just off the coast of Sinaloa , Mexico , on November 29 . As the precursor to Sandra traversed Central America , it produced unseasonably heavy rainfall that triggered flooding and landslides . Four people died in various incidents related to the system : three in El Salvador and one in Honduras . Initially expecting a landfalling storm , officials in Northwestern Mexico prepared equipment for power outages , closed schools , and evacuated 180 residents . Sandra 's effects largely consisted of light to moderate rainfall ; some traffic accidents and landslides resulted from this , though the overall impacts were limited .", "List of Miami Hurricanes in the NFL The University of Miami 's football program has set multiple records in producing players who go on to play in the National Football League ( NFL ) , leading some to deem the University `` NFL U '' .", "Hurricane Katrina Hurricane Katrina was the costliest natural disaster and one of the five deadliest hurricanes in the history of the United States . The storm is currently ranked as the third most intense United States landfalling tropical cyclone , behind only the 1935 Labor Day hurricane and Hurricane Camille in 1969 . Overall , at least 1,245 people died in the hurricane and subsequent floods , making it the deadliest United States hurricane since the 1928 Okeechobee hurricane . Total property damage was estimated at $ 108 billion ( 2005 USD ) , roughly four times the damage wrought by Hurricane Andrew in 1992 in the United States . The eleventh named storm and fifth hurricane of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season , Katrina originated over the Bahamas on August 23 from the interaction between a tropical wave and the remnants of Tropical Depression Ten . Early the following day , the new depression intensified into Tropical Storm Katrina . The cyclone headed generally westward toward Florida and strengthened into a hurricane only two hours before making landfall at Hallandale Beach and Aventura on August 25 . After very briefly weakening to a tropical storm , Katrina emerged into the Gulf of Mexico on August 26 and began to rapidly deepen . The storm strengthened to a Category 5 hurricane over the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico , but weakened before making its second landfall as a Category 3 hurricane on August 29 in southeast Louisiana . The storm caused severe destruction along the Gulf coast from central Florida to Texas , much of it due to the storm surge and levee failure . Severe property damage occurred in coastal areas , such as Mississippi beachfront towns ; over 90 percent of these were flooded . Boats and casino barges rammed buildings , pushing cars and houses inland ; water reached 6 - from the beach . Over fifty breaches in New Orleans 's hurricane surge protection were the cause of the majority of the death and destruction during Katrina on August 29 , 2005 . Eventually 80 % of the city and large tracts of neighboring parishes became flooded , and the floodwaters lingered for weeks . According to a modeling exercise conducted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers ( USACE ) , two-thirds of the deaths in Greater New Orleans were due to levee and floodwall failure . All of the major studies concluded that the USACE , the designers and builders of the levee system as mandated by the Flood Control Act of 1965 , is responsible . This is mainly due to a decision to use shorter steel sheet pilings in an effort to save money . In January 2008 , Judge Stanwood Duval , U.S. District Court , ruled that despite the Corps ' role in the flooding , the agency could not be held financially liable because of sovereign immunity in the Flood Control Act of 1928 . Exactly ten years after Katrina , J. David Rogers , lead author of a new report in the official journal of the World Water Council concluded that the flooding during Katrina `` could have been prevented had the corps retained an external review board to double-check its flood-wall designs . '' There was also an investigation of the responses from federal , state and local governments , resulting in the resignation of Federal Emergency Management Agency ( FEMA ) director Michael D. Brown , and of New Orleans Police Department ( NOPD ) Superintendent Eddie Compass . Many other government officials were criticized for their responses , especially New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin , Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco , and President George W. Bush . Several agencies including the United States Coast Guard ( USCG ) , National Hurricane Center ( NHC ) , and National Weather Service ( NWS ) were commended for their actions . They provided accurate hurricane weather tracking forecasts with sufficient lead time .", "Hurricane Ramon Hurricane Ramon was a very intense Pacific hurricane that generated heavy rains in Southern California . The 19th named storm and final hurricane of the above-average 1987 Pacific hurricane season , Ramon originated from a tropical disturbance that formed in early October . On October 5 , a tropical storm had developed several hundred miles southwest of Manzanillo , bypassing the tropical depression stage . Tropical Storm Ramon turned to the west-northwest after initially moving west . It intensified into a hurricane on October 7 . Two days later , Hurricane Ramon peaked in intensity with winds of 140 mph ( 220 km/h ) . After peaking , Ramon turned to the northwest and rapidly weakened over cooler waters . It weakened into a tropical storm on October 11 and a depression on October 12 . Ramon dissipated shortly thereafter . While at sea , Ramon brought light rainfall to the Baja California Peninsula . The remnants of Hurricane Ramon produced heavy rainfall that caused flooding in California , indirectly contributing to five traffic-related fatalities . Rainfall was reported as far inland as Utah .", "National Flood Forum The National Flood Forum is a British charity in Bewdley , Worcestershire dedicated to assisting individuals who have been affected by flooding and to guiding legislation related to flooding . The charity 's efforts include , among others , cohosting events to provide information and services to victims of flooding and conducting studies into the personal impact of flooding . It also gives out `` the Golden Sandbag Award '' to individuals who have provided exceptional service to victims of flooding .", "1916 Gulf Coast hurricane The 1916 Gulf Coast hurricane was a destructive tropical cyclone that struck the central Gulf Coast of the United States in early July 1916 . It generated the highest storm surge on record in Mobile , Alabama , wrought widespread havoc on shipping , and dropped torrential rainfall peaking at more than 2 ft. The second tropical cyclone , first hurricane , and first major hurricane -- Category 3 or stronger on the modern-day Saffir -- Simpson scale -- of the highly active 1916 Atlantic hurricane season , the system originated in the southwestern Caribbean Sea on June 28 and moved generally toward the north-northwest . Crossing the Yucatán Channel on July 3 as a strengthening hurricane and brushing Cuba with gusty winds , the cyclone reached its peak intensity with maximum sustained winds of 125 mph ( 195 km/h ) prior to making landfall near Pascagoula , Mississippi , at 20:00 UTC on July 5 . Over land , the hurricane rapidly weakened to a tropical storm , but then retained much of its remaining strength as it meandered across interior Mississippi and Alabama for several days , its northward progress suppressed by a sprawling high pressure area to the north . It weakened into a tropical depression on June 9 and dissipated late the next day over southern Tennessee . The United States Weather Bureau first took notice of the developing storm on July 2 , and tropical cyclone watches and warnings were posted for much of the central Gulf Coast on July 4 and 5 . Upon moving ashore , the cyclone produced sustained Category 3 winds over coastal Mississippi and Alabama , with the worst damage mainly confined to east of the storm 's center . An 11.6 ft storm surge in Mobile destroyed wharves and severely flooded the city 's business district , while many buildings were unroofed or otherwise damaged by the winds . Boats of all sizes in Mobile Bay were sunk or blown ashore , and despite efforts to prepare warehouses for the tidal flooding , $ 500,000 in merchandise was lost . Further east , Pensacola , Florida , endured several days of gale-force winds after the initial passage of the storm 's core ; though wind damage to homes , businesses , and trees was extensive , the worst damage resulted from storm tides along the immediate coast . Throughout the region , the hurricane severed telephone and telegraph communications . Numerous ships were lost in the Gulf of Mexico , some with their entire crews . As the storm slowly proceeded inland , days of downpours caused rivers to rise precipitously from Mississippi to Georgia , overflowing their banks for several miles in each direction ; the Chattahoochee River exceeded flood stage by 23.7 ft. In Alabama alone , 350,000 acres of farmland was submerged , leading to millions of dollars in crop damage . Railroads were flooded , washed out , or blocked by debris , and many sawmills and other industrial facilities were adversely affected . In addition , the hurricane 's outer bands spawned multiple tornadoes that each caused severe but localized damage to homes . More moderate rainfall in western North Carolina primed the French Broad River watershed for a catastrophic flooding event when another hurricane from the Atlantic coast moved over the same area just days later . The resulting disaster , the worst in Asheville , North Carolina 's history , killed 80 people . Including property damage , shipping losses , and crop failures , the Gulf Coast hurricane 's monetary toll was approximately $ 12.5 million , and at least 34 people died .", "1985 Election day floods The 1985 Election Day floods ( also known as the Killer Floods of 1985 in West Virginia ) produced the costliest floods in both West Virginia and Virginia in November 1985 . The event occurred after Hurricane Juan , a tropical cyclone in the 1985 Atlantic hurricane season , meandered near the coast of Louisiana before striking just west of Pensacola , Florida late on October 31 . Juan moved northward into Canada , but spawned another system that spread moderate rainfall across the Mid-Atlantic States , wetting soils . On November 3 , a low pressure area developed south of Florida and moved northeastward along a cold front , bringing a plume of moisture influenced by Juan 's previous track . The storm moved through the southeastern United States , stalling on November 5 west of Washington , D.C. before turning out to sea the next day . The event was known as the Election Day floods due to its concurrence with elections in Virginia . Damage was heaviest in Virginia and West Virginia . In the former state , the rainfall peaked at 19.77 in just northeast of Montebello . The rains increased levels along many rivers to record heights across Virginia , including the James River which crested at 42.15 ft at a station called Holcomb Rock , the highest level in the state . In Roanoke , the Roanoke River rose 18.57 ft in ten hours to a peak of 23.35 ft , considered a 1 in 200 year event . In the city , many residents had to be rescued after they were trapped , and three people drowned by driving into flooded waters . Considered the worst flood on record in the city , Roanoke sustained $ 225 million in damage , with 3,100 damaged homes and businesses . There was also flooding in Richmond after the James River crested at the second-highest level on record . Throughout Virginia , damage was estimated at $ 753 million , making it the state 's costliest flood at the time , and there were 22 deaths . In West Virginia , 27 river gauging stations were 1 in 100 year events , mostly along the Potomac and Monongahela basins . As most of West Virginia 's liveable land is along flood plains , the river flooding caused heavy damage in the state , mostly in the eastern portion . High waters washed away topsoil and thousands of trees , and over 13,000 homes and businesses were damaged or destroyed in the state . Damage was estimated at nearly $ 700 million , making it West Virginia 's costliest flood , and there were 38 deaths . Flooding also affected Maryland , although to a lesser degree than neighboring Virginia , with $ 21 million in damage and one death . There was also tidal flooding in the state along the Chesapeake Bay from the storm , which washed away beaches just weeks after Hurricane Gloria affected the coastline . In Pennsylvania , flooding was worst along the Monongahela River in the state 's southwest portion . During the storm , a power company opened the flood gates of the Lake Lynn dam along the river to preserve its integrity , triggering a class action lawsuit that ultimately failed . The floods damaged or destroyed 3,349 houses in Pennsylvania , causing $ 83 million in damage , as well as one death . Overall damage was estimated at $ 1.4 billion , which would have been the fourth costliest United States hurricanes if it were a tropical cyclone , and there were 62 overall deaths . The flooding spurred changes to warning practices by the National Weather Service and the Government of Virginia . In December 2011 , the United States Army Corps of Engineers completed a flood mitigation project in Roanoke , Virginia that began following the 1985 floods ." ]

[ "Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) is a scientific and intergovernmental body under the auspices of the United Nations , set up at the request of member governments , dedicated to the task of providing the world with an objective , scientific view of climate change and its political and economic impacts . It was first established in 1988 by two United Nations organizations , the World Meteorological Organization ( WMO ) and the United Nations Environment Programme ( UNEP ) , and later endorsed by the United Nations General Assembly through Resolution 43/53 . Membership of the IPCC is open to all members of the WMO and UNEP . The IPCC produces reports that support the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change ( UNFCCC ) , which is the main international treaty on climate change . The ultimate objective of the UNFCCC is to `` stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic -LSB- i.e. , human-induced -RSB- interference with the climate system '' . IPCC reports cover `` the scientific , technical and socio-economic information relevant to understanding the scientific basis of risk of human-induced climate change , its potential impacts and options for adaptation and mitigation . '' The IPCC does not carry out its own original research , nor does it do the work of monitoring climate or related phenomena itself . The IPCC bases its assessment on the published literature , which includes peer-reviewed and non-peer-reviewed sources . Thousands of scientists and other experts contribute ( on a voluntary basis , without payment from the IPCC ) to writing and reviewing reports , which are then reviewed by governments . IPCC reports contain a `` Summary for Policymakers '' , which is subject to line-by-line approval by delegates from all participating governments . Typically this involves the governments of more than 120 countries . The IPCC provides an internationally accepted authority on climate change , producing reports which have the agreement of leading climate scientists and the consensus of participating governments . The 2007 Nobel Peace Prize was shared , in equal parts , between the IPCC and Al Gore .", "Global warming controversy The global warming controversy concerns the public debate over whether global warming is occurring , how much has occurred in modern times , what has caused it , what its effects will be , whether any action should be taken to curb it , and if so what that action should be . In the scientific literature , there is a strong consensus that global surface temperatures have increased in recent decades and that the trend is caused by human-induced emissions of greenhouse gases . No scientific body of national or international standing disagrees with this view , though a few organizations with members in extractive industries hold non-committal positions . Disputes over the key scientific facts of global warming are more prevalent in the media than in the scientific literature , where such issues are treated as resolved , and such disputes are more prevalent in the United States than globally . Political and popular debate concerning the existence and cause of climate change includes the reasons for the increase seen in the instrumental temperature record , whether the warming trend exceeds normal climatic variations , and whether human activities have contributed significantly to it . Scientists have resolved these questions decisively in favour of the view that the current warming trend exists and is ongoing , that human activity is the cause , and that it is without precedent in at least 2000 years . Public disputes that also reflect scientific debate include estimates of how responsive the climate system might be to any given level of greenhouse gases ( climate sensitivity ) , how global climate change will play out at local and regional scales , and what the consequences of global warming will be . Global warming remains an issue of widespread political debate , often split along party political lines , especially in the United States . Many of the issues that are settled within the scientific community , such as human responsibility for global warming , remain the subject of politically or economically motivated attempts to downplay , dismiss or deny them -- an ideological phenomenon categorised by academics and scientists as climate change denial . The sources of funding for those involved with climate science -- both supporting and opposing mainstream scientific positions -- have been questioned by both sides . There are debates about the best policy responses to the science , their cost-effectiveness and their urgency . Climate scientists , especially in the United States , have reported official and oil-industry pressure to censor or suppress their work and hide scientific data , with directives not to discuss the subject in public communications . Legal cases regarding global warming , its effects , and measures to reduce it have reached American courts . The fossil fuels lobby has been identified as overtly or covertly supporting efforts to undermine or discredit the scientific consensus on global warming .", "Global warming Global warming , also referred to as climate change , is the observed century-scale rise in the average temperature of the Earth 's climate system and its related effects . Multiple lines of scientific evidence show that the climate system is warming . Many of the observed changes since the 1950s are unprecedented in the instrumental temperature record which extends back to the mid 19th century , and in paleoclimate proxy records over thousands of years . In 2013 , the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) Fifth Assessment Report concluded that `` It is extremely likely that human influence has been the dominant cause of the observed warming since the mid-20th century . '' The largest human influence has been emission of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide , methane and nitrous oxide . Climate model projections summarized in the report indicated that during the 21st century the global surface temperature is likely to rise a further 0.3 to for their lowest emissions scenario and 2.6 to for the highest emissions scenario . These findings have been recognized by the national science academies of the major industrialized nations and are not disputed by any scientific body of national or international standing . Future climate change and associated impacts will differ from region to region around the globe . Anticipated effects include warming global temperature , rising sea levels , changing precipitation , and expansion of deserts in the subtropics . Warming is expected to be greater over land than over the oceans and greatest in the Arctic , with the continuing retreat of glaciers , permafrost and sea ice . Other likely changes include more frequent extreme weather events including heat waves , droughts , heavy rainfall with floods and heavy snowfall ; ocean acidification ; and species extinctions due to shifting temperature regimes . Effects significant to humans include the threat to food security from decreasing crop yields and the abandonment of populated areas due to rising sea levels . Because the climate system has a large `` inertia '' and greenhouse gases will stay in the atmosphere for a long time , many of these effects will not only exist for decades or centuries , but will persist for tens of thousands of years . Possible societal responses to global warming include mitigation by emissions reduction , adaptation to its effects , building systems resilient to its effects , and possible future climate engineering . Most countries are parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change ( UNFCCC ) , whose ultimate objective is to prevent dangerous anthropogenic climate change . Parties to the UNFCCC have agreed that deep cuts in emissions are required and that global warming should be limited to well below 2.0 C-change relative to pre-industrial levels , with efforts made to limit warming to 1.5 C-change . Public reactions to global warming and concern about its effects are also increasing . A global 2015 Pew Research Center report showed a median of 54 % consider it `` a very serious problem '' . There are significant regional differences , with Americans and Chinese ( whose economies are responsible for the greatest annual CO2 emissions ) among the least concerned ." ]

[ "Reasons for concern The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) has organized many of the risks of climate change into five `` reasons for concern . '' The reasons for concern show that these risks increase with increases in the Earth 's global mean temperature ( i.e. , global warming ) . The IPCC 's five reasons for concern are : threats to endangered species and unique systems , damages from extreme climate events , effects that fall most heavily on developing countries and the poor within countries , global aggregate impacts ( i.e. , various measurements of total social , economic and ecological impacts ) , and large-scale high-impact events . The five reasons for concern are described in more detail below . The following descriptions are based on information from the IPCC 's Third ( TAR ) and Fourth Assessment Reports ( AR4 ) , published in 2001 and 2007 , respectively .", "IPCC First Assessment Report The First Assessment Report ( FAR ) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) was completed in 1990 . It served as the basis of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change ( UNFCCC ) . The report was issued in three main sections , corresponding to the three Working Groups of scientists that the IPCC had established . Working Group I : Scientific Assessment of Climate Change , edited by J.T. Houghton , G.J. Jenkins and J.J. Ephraums Working Group II : Impacts Assessment of Climate Change , edited by W.J. McG . Tegart , G.W. Sheldon and D.C. Griffiths Working Group III : The IPCC Response Strategies Each section included a summary for policymakers . This format was followed in subsequent Assessment Reports . The executive summary of the policymakers ' summary of the WG I report includes : We are certain of the following : there is a natural greenhouse effect ... ; emissions resulting from human activities are substantially increasing the atmospheric concentrations of the greenhouse gases : CO2 , methane , CFCs and nitrous oxide . These increases will enhance the greenhouse effect , resulting on average in an additional warming of the Earth 's surface . The main greenhouse gas , water vapour , will increase in response to global warming and further enhance it . We calculate with confidence that : ... CO2 has been responsible for over half the enhanced greenhouse effect ; long-lived gases would require immediate reductions in emissions from human activities of over 60 % to stabilise their concentrations at today 's levels ... Based on current models , we predict : under -LSB- BAU -RSB- increase of global mean temperature during the -LSB- 21st -RSB- century of about 0.3 oC per decade ( with an uncertainty range of 0.2 to 0.5 oC per decade ) ; this is greater than that seen over the past 10,000 years ; under other ... scenarios which assume progressively increasing levels of controls , rates of increase in global mean temperature of about 0.2 oC -LSB- to -RSB- about 0.1 oC per decade . There are many uncertainties in our predictions particularly with regard to the timing , magnitude and regional patterns of climate change , due to our incomplete understanding of : sources and sinks of GHGs ; clouds ; oceans ; polar ice sheets . Our judgement is that : global mean surface air temperature has increased by 0.3 to 0.6 oC over the last 100 years ... ; The size of this warming is broadly consistent with predictions of climate models , but it is also of the same magnitude as natural climate variability . Thus the observed increase could be largely due to this natural variability ; alternatively this variability and other human factors could have offset a still larger human-induced greenhouse warming . The unequivocal detection of the enhanced greenhouse effect is not likely for a decade or more . under the IPCC business as usual emissions scenario , an average rate of global mean sea level rise of about 6 cm per decade over the next century ( with an uncertainty range of 3 -- 10 cm per decade ) , mainly due to thermal expansion of the oceans and the melting of some land ice . The predicted rise is about 20 cm ... by 2030 , and 65 cm by the end of the next century .", "United States House Science Subcommittee on Energy The Science Subcommittee on Energy is one of six subcommittees of the United States House Committee on Science , Space and Technology . In 2007 , the subcommittee held the first Congressional hearing on global climate change for the 110th Congress . The Hearing on the State of Climate Change Science 2007 : The Findings of the Fourth Assessment Report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) , Working Group I Report , included four climate scientists who authored the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) assessment report and Speaker Nancy Pelosi .", "Climate change acronyms The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change ( UNFCCC ) use tens of acronyms and initialisms in documents relating to climate change policy .", "Jean Palutikof Jean Palutikof is founding Director of the National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility ( NCCARF ) at Griffith University , Australia . She has held this position since 2008 . Prior to this , Professor Palutikof was based at the UK Met Office during which time she managed the production of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) Fourth Assessment Report for Working Group II ( Impacts , Adaptation and Vulnerability ) . Professor Palutikof is among the foremost scholars of climate change adaptation and was lead author and review editor for several assessments of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) and was present in Oslo at the ceremony at which the IPCC received the Nobel Peace Prize .", "Bali Declaration by Climate Scientists The 2007 Bali Declaration by Climate Scientists was a statement signed by over 200 climate scientists advocating specific targets for greenhouse gas emissions for the 21st century . The statement was based on the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Article 2 that committed signatories to the '' ... stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system '' and on the science available in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Fourth Assessment report ( IPCC AR4 ) . The Bali Declaration was released to coincide with the 2007 United Nations Climate Change Conference which took place in Bali 3 -- 15 December 2007 . Category : Climate change policy", "Renewable Energy Sources and Climate Change Mitigation The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) published a special report on Renewable Energy Sources and Climate Change Mitigation ( SRREN ) on May 9 , 2011 . The report developed under the leadership of Ottmar Edenhofer evaluates the global potential for using renewable energy to mitigate climate change . This IPCC special report provides broader coverage of renewable energy than was included in the IPCC 's 2007 climate change assessment report , as well as stronger renewable energy policy coverage . Renewable energy can contribute to `` social and economic development , energy access , secure energy supply , climate change mitigation , and the reduction of negative environmental and health impacts '' . Under favourable circumstances , cost savings in comparison to non-renewable energy use exist .", "Indur M. Goklany Indur M. Goklany is a science and technology policy analyst for the United States Department of the Interior , where he holds the position of Assistant Director of Programs , Science and Technology Policy . He has represented the United States at the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) and during the negotiations that led to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change . He was a rapporteur for the Resource Use and Management Subgroup of Working Group III of the IPCC First Assessment Report in 1990 , and is the author of Clearing the Air ( 1999 ) , The Precautionary Principle ( 2001 ) , and The Improving State of the World ( 2007 ) .", "IPCC Summary for Policymakers The Summary for policymakers ( SPM ) is a summary of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) reports intended to aid policymakers . The form is approved line by line by governments : `` Negotiations occur over wording to ensure accuracy , balance , clarity of message , and relevance to understanding and policy . ''", "Piers Forster Piers Forster is Professor of Physical Climate Change and Director of the Priestley International Centre for Climate at the University of Leeds . A physicist by training , his research focuses on quantifying the different human causes of climate change and the way the Earth responds . He is best known for his work on radiative forcing , climate sensitivity , contrails and geoengineering . He has contributed heavily to the writing of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reports , including acting as a Lead Author for both the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report and IPCC Fifth Assessment Report .", "Anders Levermann Anders Levermann is a climate scientist at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and Columbia University . He is a Professor of the Dynamics of the Climate System at Institute for Physics and Astrophysics of the Potsdam University , Germany . He was a lead author of the chapter on sea-level changes of the fifth assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC AR5 ) , and contributed to the paleoclimate chapter in the previous report ( IPCC-AR4 ) . Levermann advises political and economic stakeholders on the issue of climate change .", "IPCC (disambiguation) IPCC may refer to : Independent Police Complaints Commission of England and Wales Independent Police Complaints Council of Hong Kong Integrated Professional Competency Course , a course of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change , a scientific body under the auspices of the United Nations . Interworld Police Coordinating Company , a fictional organization in Jack Vance 's novels Irish Peatland Conservation Council", "Thomas Stocker Thomas Stocker ( born 1959 ) is a Swiss climate scientist . Born in Zürich , Stocker obtained a degree in physics at the ETH Zurich . He was active in research at the University College London , at McGill University in Montreal and at Columbia University in New York . Since 1993 , he is professor and head of the department of Climate and Environmental Physics at the University of Bern . The focus of Stocker 's research is the development of models of climate change based on , among other , the analysis of ice cores from the polar regions . He significantly contributed to creating the `` hockey stick graph '' that shows a growing increase of global mean temperatures in recent times . Since 1998 , he contributes to the reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change , and is co-chairman of the IPCC Working Group I ( assessing scientific aspects of the climate system and climate change ) from 2008 to 2015 . In 1993 , Stocker was awarded the Swiss National Science Foundation 's National Latsis Prize , and 2009 the Hans Oeschger Medal of the European Geosciences Union . He is a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union and a member of the Academia Europaea and the American Meteorological Society . Stocker is featured in the film Taking Earth 's Temperature : Delving into Climate 's Past . On February 18 , 2015 , the Swiss government announced it would nominate Dr. Stocker as a candidate for the next chair of the IPCC to succeed Dr. Pachauri .", "List of environmental reports This is a list of notable environmental reports . In this context they relate to the impacts of human activity on the environment . City-level Decoupling : Urban Resource Flows and the Governance of Infrastructure Transitions - by the International Resource Panel Clean Energy Trends - a series of reports by Clean Edge - beginning in 2002 Copeland Report - for the U.S. government , completed in 1933 Copenhagen Diagnosis - written by twenty-six climate scientists from eight countries Dioxin Reassessment Report - by the United States Environmental Protection Agency Environmental Impact of the Big Cypress Swamp Jetport ( `` Leopold Report '' ) - United States Department of the Interior ( 1969 ) Environmental Risks and Challenges of Anthropogenic Metals Flows and Cycles - by the International Resource Panel Forest Principles - United Nations Conference on Environment and Development ( UNCED ) The Global 2000 Report to the President - Council on Environmental Quality ( 1981 ) Global Environment Outlook - United Nations Environment Programme ( UNEP ) Hirsch report ( Peaking of World Oil Production : Impacts , Mitigation , and Risk Management ) - United States Department of Energy Index of Leading Environmental Indicators - Pacific Research Institute IPCC First Assessment Report - Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) IPCC supplementary report , 1992 - IPCC IPCC Second Assessment Report - IPCC IPCC Third Assessment Report Climate Change 2001 - IPCC ( 2001 ) IPCC Fourth Assessment Report Climate Change 2007 - IPCC ( 2007 ) IPCC Fifth Assessment Report ( 2014 ) Leopold Report ( `` Wildlife Management in the National Parks '' ) - Special Advisory Board on Wildlife Management ( 1963 ) Livestock 's Long Shadow - Environmental Issues and Options - United Nations ( 2006 ) Living Planet Report - WWF , every two years Making Sweden an Oil-Free Society - Government of Sweden ( 2006 ) Meat Atlas - published by the Heinrich Böll Foundation and Friends of the Earth Europe Nuclear Power and the Environment - UK Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution - 1976 Our Common Future - World Commission on Environment and Development ( 1987 ) Outlook On Renewable Energy In America ( 2 volumes ) - American Council on Renewable Energy - 2007 Phase I Environmental Site Assessment - generic Planning Policy Statement 10 : Planning for Sustainable Waste Management ( PPS 10 ) - British Government Renewable Energy Sources and Climate Change Mitigation - United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) - planned for 2010 Report of the Royal Commission on Genetic Modification - Royal Commission on Genetic Modification ( 2001 ) State of the Climate - NOAA/NCDC ( published annually ) The State of the World - Worldwatch Institute ( published yearly since 1984 ) Wegman Report - to validate criticisms of reconstructions of the temperature record of the past 1000 years Windscale : Britain 's Biggest Nuclear Disaster ( 2007 ) World Climate Report - Greening Earth Society The World 's 25 Most Endangered Primates - selected and published by the IUCN Species Survival Commission Primate Specialist Group ( IUCN/SSC PSG ) , the International Primatological Society ( IPS ) , and Conservation International ( CI )", "Arturo Villavicencio Arturo Villavicencio is an Ecuadorian environmental researcher . He was nominated by Denmark in 1995 for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) and contributed to its fourth assessment report ( the work of the IPCC , including the contributions of many scientists , was recognised by the joint award of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize ) .", "Gary Yohe Gary Wynn Yohe is the Huffington Foundation Professor of Economics and Environmental Studies at Wesleyan University , Middletown , Connecticut . He holds a PhD from Yale University . Yohe specializes in Microeconomic theory , Natural Resources , and Environmental Economics . He is a researcher on the economics of climate change and integrated assessment modelling . Among other works , he is an editor of the book `` Avoiding Dangerous Climate Change '' and co-author ( with Edwin Mansfield ) of `` Microeconomics | Microeconomics : Theory and Applications '' . He is a senior member of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) that was awarded a share of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with Al Gore . He has been involved with the IPCC since the mid-1990s , has served , among other capacities , as a Lead Author for four different chapters in the IPCC Third Assessment Report , and as Convening Lead Author for the last chapter of the contribution of Working Group II to the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report . Yohe also worked with the Core Writing Team to prepare the overall Synthesis Report for the entire Assessment . Yohe is also a member of the New York City Panel on Climate Change and the standing Committee on the Human Dimensions of Global Change of the National Academy of Sciences . He is also a standing member of the National Academy of Sciences ' Committee on the Human Dimensions of Global Change . He was a vice-chair of the Third National Climate Assessment . He is one of the four co-signers of an open letter , dated March 12 , 2010 , regarding possible errors in the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report and regularly advises the US government .", "Bert Bolin Bert Rickard Johannes Bolin ( -LSB- bæʈː bʊliːn -RSB- ; 15 May 1925 -- 30 December 2007 ) was a Swedish meteorologist who served as the first chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) , from 1988 to 1997 . He was professor of meteorology at Stockholm University from 1961 until his retirement in 1990 .", "2007 Nobel Peace Prize The 2007 Nobel Peace Prize was shared , in two equal parts , between the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) and Al Gore `` for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change , and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change '' .", "Venkatachalam Ramaswamy Venkatachalam Ramaswamy ( V. `` Ram '' Ramaswamy ) is the Director of the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration ( NOAA ) Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research ( OAR ) , studying climate modeling and climate change . `` A leading climate scientist '' , his work is cited as supporting evidence for significant stratospheric climate change . He focuses in particular on radiative transfer models and the hydrologic cycle in the atmosphere . He has actively supported the development of supercomputing approaches that enable researchers to achieve higher resolution and greater complexity in climate models . As a lead author involved in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) , Ramaswamy 's contributions ( along with the contributions of many scientists ) was recognised by the joint award of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize to the IPCC .", "Climate change in New Zealand Climate change in New Zealand refers to change in the climate of New Zealand on the scale of years , decades , centuries and longer periods of time . New Zealand is being affected by climate change and the impacts are predicted to increase in future . Anthropogenic global warming during the 20th century is apparent in the instrumental temperature record , in New Zealand 's participation in international treaties , and in social and political debates . Climate change is being responded to in a variety of ways by civil society and the government of New Zealand . An emissions trading scheme has been established and from 1 July 2010 , the energy and liquid fossil fuel sectors have obligations to report emissions and to obtain and surrender emissions units ( carbon credits ) .", "Indian Network on Climate Change Assessment The Indian Network on Climate Change Assessment ( INCCA ) is a proposed network of scientists in India to be set up to publish peer-reviewed findings on climate change in India . It was announced on 7 October 2009 , saying : It was re-announced on 25 January 2012 by an official of the climate change division in the Environment Ministry after a strategy meeting chaired by Joint Secretary ( Climate ) J.M. Mausker , which also dealt with the framing of India 's National Action Plan on Climate Change ( NAPCC ) . On 4 February 2010 India 's environment minister Jairam Ramesh announced that it would bring together 250 scientists from 125 Indian research institutions and collaborate with international organisations.its first assessment of greenhouse gas emission was released on May 11 , 2010 and Its second climate assessment to be published in November 2010 would include reports on the Himalayas , the coastline of India , the Western Ghat highlands and the north-eastern region of India . He said it would operate as a `` sort of Indian IPCC '' , but will not rival the UN 's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) . Ramesh also announced the initiation of an Indian National Institute of Himalayan Glaciology . He said that although he respected the IPCC , it was unequal to the task and its weakness was that it did not conduct its own research . Ramesh also indicated its biases made it insensitive to regional realities , and instead relied on compiling assessments of other reports , which , led to `` goof-ups '' on the Amazon forests , Himalayan glaciers , and ice caps .", "NPCC NPCC may refer to : National Police Cadet Corps , a student uniformed organisation in Singapore National Police Chiefs ' Council , a co-ordinating body for policing in the UK ( replacing the previous Association of Chief Police Officers ) Northeast Power Coordinating Council , one of nine regional electric reliability councils under North American Electric Reliability Corporation ( NERC ) authority North Point Community Church , a megachurch in Atlanta NPCC Enterprises , a website development company in Wilkes-Barre , Pennsylvania New York City Panel on Climate Change , an advisory panel to the New York City Mayor on climate change modeled on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC )", "Advisory Group on Greenhouse Gases The Advisory Group on Greenhouse Gases , created in 1985 , was an advisory body for the review of studies into the greenhouse effect . The group was created by the International Council of Scientific Unions , the United Nations Environment Programme , and the World Meteorological Organization to follow up on the recommendations of the International conference of the Assessment of the role of carbon dioxide and of other greenhouse gases in climate variations and associated impacts , held at Villach , Austria , in October 1985 . The seven-member panel included Swedish meteorologist Bert Bolin and Canadian climatologist Kenneth Hare . The group held its last meeting in 1990 . It was gradually replaced by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change .", "Hoesung Lee Hoesung Lee ( born December 31 , 1945 ) is a South Korean economist and current chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change . He is professor in the economics of climate change , energy and sustainable development in the Graduate School of Energy , Environment , Policy & Technology at Korea University in the Republic of Korea . Lee received his B.A. in economics from Seoul National University and a Ph.D. in economics from Rutgers University . Lee was elected as the chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) on October 6 , 2015 . One of his elder brothers is Lee Hoi-chang , former Prime Minister of South Korea and three-time presidential candidate .", "List of scientists opposing the mainstream scientific assessment of global warming This is a list of scientists who have made statements that conflict with the scientific consensus on global warming as summarized by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and endorsed by other scientific bodies . As approximately 97 % of publishing climate scientists support the consensus on anthropogenic climate change , this list represents a minority viewpoint . The scientific consensus is that the global average surface temperature has risen over the last century . Scientific opinion on climate change was summarized in the 2001 Third Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) . The main conclusions on global warming at that time were as follows : The global average surface temperature has risen 0.6 ± 0.2 ° C since the late 19th century , and 0.17 ° C per decade in the last 30 years . `` There is new and stronger evidence that most of the warming observed over the last 50 years is attributable to human activities '' , in particular emissions of the greenhouse gases carbon dioxide and methane . If greenhouse gas emissions continue the warming will also continue , with temperatures projected to increase by 1.4 ° C to 5.8 ° C between 1990 and 2100 . Accompanying this temperature increase will be increases in some types of extreme weather and a projected sea level rise . The balance of impacts of global warming become significantly negative at larger values of warming . These findings are recognized by the national science academies of all the major industrialized nations ; the consensus has strengthened over time and is now virtually unanimous . The level of consensus correlates with expertise in climate science . There have been several efforts to compile lists of dissenting scientists , including a 2008 US senate minority report , the Oregon Petition , and a 2007 list by the Heartland Institute , all three of which have been criticized on a number of grounds . For the purpose of this list , a `` scientist '' is defined as an individual who has published at least one peer-reviewed research article in the broad field of natural sciences , although not necessarily in a field relevant to climatology . Since the publication of the IPCC Third Assessment Report , each has made a clear statement in his or her own words ( as opposed to the name being found on a petition , etc. ) disagreeing with one or more of the report 's three main conclusions . Their views on climate change are usually described in more detail in their biographical articles . Few of the statements in the references for this list are part of the peer-reviewed scientific literature ; most are from other sources such as interviews , opinion pieces , online essays and presentations . NB : Only individuals who have their own Wikipedia article may be included in the list .", "David Wratt David Stuart Wratt QSO is the Chief Scientist ( Climate ) at the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research ( NIWA ) and is responsible for NIWA 's National Climate Centre . He has a PhD in atmospheric physics from the University of Canterbury . He has worked in the USA and Australia as well as New Zealand . His expertise includes climate and meteorology , climate change science and impacts , mountain meteorology , and air quality . He is a Companion of the Royal Society of New Zealand . He chairs the Climate Committee of the Royal Society of New Zealand . He is a member of the Bureau of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) and he is a Vice-Chair of IPCC Working Group 1 , which assesses the physical science of climate change . He was a Coordinating Lead Author of the `` Australia and New Zealand '' chapter of the IPCC Third Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change . After gaining a PhD in atmospheric physics from the University of Canterbury and a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Illinois , he worked for the New Zealand Meteorological Service . In 1992 he and other climate researchers transferred to NIWA . Wratt has stated : `` There 's a strong scientific case for significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions . We need a combination of reducing our emissions in New Zealand and being part of international negotiations to reduce emissions globally in order to forestall the worst effects . '' Wratt was made a Companion of the Queen 's Service Order in the 2012 New Year Honours , for services to science .", "Gabriele C. Hegerl Gabriele C. Hegerl FRS ( born 1962 ) is Professor of Climate System Science at the University of Edinburgh School of GeoSciences . Prior to 2007 she held research positions at Texas A&M University and at Duke University 's Nicholas School of the Environment , during which time she was a coordinating lead author for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) Fourth and Fifth Assessment Report .", "Scientific consensus on climate change There is currently a strong scientific consensus that the Earth is warming and that this warming is mainly caused by human activities. This consensus is supported by various studies of scientists' opinions and by position statements of scientific organizations, many of which explicitly agree with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) synthesis reports. Nearly all actively publishing climate scientists (97–98%) support the consensus on anthropogenic climate change, and the remaining 2% of contrarian studies either cannot be replicated or contain errors.", "David Karoly David John Karoly ( born 1955 ) is an Australian atmospheric scientist . He is an expert in climate change , stratospheric ozone depletion , and climate variations due to the El Niño-Southern Oscillation ( ENSO ) . Karoly has served as a lead author for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) Working Group 2 ( on societal impacts ) and he is a member of the faculty of the School of Earth Sciences at the University of Melbourne . His work , along with that of the many other lead authors and review editors , contributed to the award of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize , which was won jointly by the IPCC and Al Gore . He is member of the board of the Climate Change Authority .", "C. Vernon Cole Dr. C. Vernon Cole ( 1922 -- August 30 , 2013 ) was a soil scientist known primarily for his work on nutrient cycling in agroecosystems . He was a member of Working Group II of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) Second Assessment report , and the lead author of Chapter 23 `` Agricultural Options for Mitigation of Greenhouse Gas Emissions '' . The IPCC was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 .", "Fatima Denton Fatima Denton is the Co-ordinator for the African Climate Policy Centre ( ACPC ) of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa ( UNECA ) , based in Addis Ababa , Ethiopia . She directs a special initiatives division focused on innovation , science , technology and natural resource management . She partners with countries such as Benin and Liberia to develop and implement country needs assessment missions . Fatima Denton writes about topics including renewable energy , sustainable development , climate change , gender and climate change , climate change adaptation , vulnerability , food security and water and energy poverty . She is a lead author for Working Group II 's Fifth Assessment of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) , and for the IPCC Special Report on Renewable Energy Sources and Climate Change Mitigation ( SRREN ) . She has served on a number of scientific committees including the Independent Science Panel ( ISP ) of the CGIAR Climate Change and Food Security Programme ( CCAFS ) . Denton was the 2015 Barbara Ward Lecturer , challenging policy-makers , researchers , and academics in London to reexamine Africa and its relationship to climate change . She is a speaker at the 2016 Borlaug Dialogue International Symposium , one of several `` Women Leaders Driving Agricultural Transformation in Africa '' .", "Joel B. Smith Joel B. Smith is an expert on climate change policy . He was a coordinating lead author of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 2001 assessment report and a lead author of the 2007 assessment report ( the work of the IPCC , including the contributions of many scientists , was recognised by the joint award of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize ) . He is currently a Principal at Stratus Consulting Inc. , in Boulder , CO. ." ]

[ "Global warming controversy The global warming controversy concerns the public debate over whether global warming is occurring , how much has occurred in modern times , what has caused it , what its effects will be , whether any action should be taken to curb it , and if so what that action should be . In the scientific literature , there is a strong consensus that global surface temperatures have increased in recent decades and that the trend is caused by human-induced emissions of greenhouse gases . No scientific body of national or international standing disagrees with this view , though a few organizations with members in extractive industries hold non-committal positions . Disputes over the key scientific facts of global warming are more prevalent in the media than in the scientific literature , where such issues are treated as resolved , and such disputes are more prevalent in the United States than globally . Political and popular debate concerning the existence and cause of climate change includes the reasons for the increase seen in the instrumental temperature record , whether the warming trend exceeds normal climatic variations , and whether human activities have contributed significantly to it . Scientists have resolved these questions decisively in favour of the view that the current warming trend exists and is ongoing , that human activity is the cause , and that it is without precedent in at least 2000 years . Public disputes that also reflect scientific debate include estimates of how responsive the climate system might be to any given level of greenhouse gases ( climate sensitivity ) , how global climate change will play out at local and regional scales , and what the consequences of global warming will be . Global warming remains an issue of widespread political debate , often split along party political lines , especially in the United States . Many of the issues that are settled within the scientific community , such as human responsibility for global warming , remain the subject of politically or economically motivated attempts to downplay , dismiss or deny them -- an ideological phenomenon categorised by academics and scientists as climate change denial . The sources of funding for those involved with climate science -- both supporting and opposing mainstream scientific positions -- have been questioned by both sides . There are debates about the best policy responses to the science , their cost-effectiveness and their urgency . Climate scientists , especially in the United States , have reported official and oil-industry pressure to censor or suppress their work and hide scientific data , with directives not to discuss the subject in public communications . Legal cases regarding global warming , its effects , and measures to reduce it have reached American courts . The fossil fuels lobby has been identified as overtly or covertly supporting efforts to undermine or discredit the scientific consensus on global warming .", "Global warming Global warming , also referred to as climate change , is the observed century-scale rise in the average temperature of the Earth 's climate system and its related effects . Multiple lines of scientific evidence show that the climate system is warming . Many of the observed changes since the 1950s are unprecedented in the instrumental temperature record which extends back to the mid 19th century , and in paleoclimate proxy records over thousands of years . In 2013 , the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) Fifth Assessment Report concluded that `` It is extremely likely that human influence has been the dominant cause of the observed warming since the mid-20th century . '' The largest human influence has been emission of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide , methane and nitrous oxide . Climate model projections summarized in the report indicated that during the 21st century the global surface temperature is likely to rise a further 0.3 to for their lowest emissions scenario and 2.6 to for the highest emissions scenario . These findings have been recognized by the national science academies of the major industrialized nations and are not disputed by any scientific body of national or international standing . Future climate change and associated impacts will differ from region to region around the globe . Anticipated effects include warming global temperature , rising sea levels , changing precipitation , and expansion of deserts in the subtropics . Warming is expected to be greater over land than over the oceans and greatest in the Arctic , with the continuing retreat of glaciers , permafrost and sea ice . Other likely changes include more frequent extreme weather events including heat waves , droughts , heavy rainfall with floods and heavy snowfall ; ocean acidification ; and species extinctions due to shifting temperature regimes . Effects significant to humans include the threat to food security from decreasing crop yields and the abandonment of populated areas due to rising sea levels . Because the climate system has a large `` inertia '' and greenhouse gases will stay in the atmosphere for a long time , many of these effects will not only exist for decades or centuries , but will persist for tens of thousands of years . Possible societal responses to global warming include mitigation by emissions reduction , adaptation to its effects , building systems resilient to its effects , and possible future climate engineering . Most countries are parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change ( UNFCCC ) , whose ultimate objective is to prevent dangerous anthropogenic climate change . Parties to the UNFCCC have agreed that deep cuts in emissions are required and that global warming should be limited to well below 2.0 C-change relative to pre-industrial levels , with efforts made to limit warming to 1.5 C-change . Public reactions to global warming and concern about its effects are also increasing . A global 2015 Pew Research Center report showed a median of 54 % consider it `` a very serious problem '' . There are significant regional differences , with Americans and Chinese ( whose economies are responsible for the greatest annual CO2 emissions ) among the least concerned ." ]

[ "Blackstone Legacy Blackstone Legacy is the debut album by trumpeter Woody Shaw recorded in 1970 and released on the Contemporary label . Moved by the highly charged political sensibilities among creative artists during the latter part of the 1960s and early 1970s , Shaw 's message for Blackstone Legacy spoke to the social and political ills of his time . In the liner notes to Blackstone Legacy , Shaw states : `` This album is dedicated to the youth who will benefit mankind . To the youth who are constantly aware of the turmoil in which the world is and who are trying to right all these wrongs -- whether in music or in speech or in any other way of positive work . This album is dedicated to the freedom of Black people all over the world . And it 's dedicated to the people in the ghettos here . The ` stone ' in the title is the image of strength . I grew up in a ghetto -- funky houses , rats and roaches , stinking hallways . I 've seen all of that , and I 've seen people overcome all of that . This music is meant to be a light of hope , a sound of strength and of coming through . It 's one for the ghetto . We 're trying to express what 's happening in the world today as we -- a new breed of young musicians -- feel it . I mean the different tensions in the world , the ridiculous war in Vietnam , the oppression of poor people in this , a country of such wealth . The cats on this date usually discuss these things , but we 're all also trying to reach a state of spiritual enlightenment in which we 're continually aware of what 's happening but react in a positive way . The music in this album , you see , expresses strength -- confidence that we 'll overcome these things . ''", "It's Not Big It's Large It 's Not Big It 's Large is an album by Lyle Lovett and his Large Band , released in 2007 ( see 2007 in music ) . The recording was made live in studio -LCB- recorded with all instruments as if a concert venue , but done in a studio -RCB- . The title is a play on the name Lovett has given to his touring band since 1988 . Lovett explains the title in an interview : `` We 've always done arrangements that border on blues music , that border on jazz arrangements , that border on what folks might think of as ` big band ' , but we do n't really play big band music . But we 've always had a lot of people in the band so that 's why I call the band the ` Large Band ' and not the ` Big Band ' . But invariably people refer to the band as the ` Big Band ' and ... it 's not big ... you get the idea . '' The album debuted at number 18 on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart , selling about 25,000 copies in its first week .", "Ball Boys Ball Boys was an American reality television see if u kick doon to irvine you 'll catch a glimpse of the worlds first mongofied two faced snake in history of snake discovery team . Never have we seen such weridness so we 've called it jack rogerson , aw aye back to base boys there mostly sound but there 's a few munters n they 'll heavy jump on yer shadow :) ABC . The series premiered on March 24 , 2012 .", "The Ga Ga's The Ga Ga 's ( often spelled as The * Ga * Ga * s ) were a hard rock band formed by Tommy Gleeson in 2002 . Following the band 's demise in 2006 , three of the band 's members would go on to form Slaves to Gravity . Throughout the band 's career , they played through Europe , Japan , America and played with acts such as Velvet Revolver , Biffy Clyro , The Wildhearts , Skid Row , Whitesnake & Andrew WK . During an interview with the band in 2005 , Gleeson states that : `` We 're not the kind of band that if one left , we 'd just get another guy in . It 's about us as four guys , our styles and who we are as people . There 's no replacement member , that 's how we knew the band was strong . '' On 1 June 2006 the following appeared on the band 's MySpace : In May , when Rob left the band we had undoubtedly reached a crossroads in our lives . The constant set-backs and let-downs of the last 12 months had left us all feeling exhausted and disillusioned , and we knew that to survive , something had to change . We 've looked deep into ourselves and come to the conclusion that now is the time to begin again . We 've had 4 amazing years as THE * GA * GA * S , learning a lot about the way things really work in this business , and sharing our music and our lives with you all . None of us would change this experience for the world , and we thank every single one of you who has supported us throughout . We are forever indebted . In 2005 , the band were nominated for a Kerrang ! award for ` Best British Newcomer ' , an award Slaves to Gravity would go on to win in 2008 . In 2016 , Gleeson would later become the live-only guitarist on Feeder 's UK and Ireland tour , after Snow Patrol 's Nathan Conolly was unable to attend due to his commitments with said band .", "Davis Guggenheim Philip Davis Guggenheim ( born November 3 , 1963 ) is an American film and television director and producer . His credits include NYPD Blue , ER , 24 , Alias , The Shield , Deadwood , and the documentaries An Inconvenient Truth , The Road We 've Traveled , Waiting for ` Superman ' and He Named Me Malala . Since 2006 , Guggenheim is the only filmmaker to release three different documentaries that were ranked within the top 100 highest-grossing documentaries of all time ( An Inconvenient Truth , It Might Get Loud , and Waiting for ′ Superman ′ ) .", "The Layaways (band) The Layaways are an American indie rock band , based in Chicago . The group was founded by David Harrell ( vocals/guitar ) who released `` More Than Happy '' as a solo album in 2003 . Mike Porter ( vocals/bass ) and Nathan Burleson ( drums/vocals ) joined the lineup in 2004 for `` We 've Been Lost , '' the band 's sophomore release . The group 's third album , `` The Space Between , '' was released in 2008 , followed by `` Maybe Next Year , '' a collection of holiday songs , in 2009 . `` Silence , '' the lead-off track from `` We 've Been Lost , '' was included on the digital version of the 2012 compilation Occupy This Album . The band 's music is often described by reviewers as shoegaze or indie pop and the group has also received attention for its exploration of alternative business models and for Harrell 's frequent writings about digital music economics .", "Where I Am (song) `` Where I Am '' is a song performed by Danish-Australian singer Anja Nissen . The song was released as a digital download on 28 February 2017 , through Australian Broadcasting Corporation . It represented Denmark in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 , and was written by Nissen along with Angel Tupai and Michael D'Arcy . Nissen said : `` The song is about letting go , particularly in relationships . Breaking down the emotional walls and letting you give love and receive love . Have n't we all been in that situation where we 've felt lost and we 've felt we do n't know who we are and that no one is going to accept us for who we are ? But at the end of the day we make a decision to not care and just to let go . That 's what the song is about . '' Anja Nissen wrote the song when she was 18 years old about her first relationship . She intended `` Where I Am '' to be her debut single after winning The Voice Australia in 2014 , but it never materialized .", "Brick by Brick (Arctic Monkeys song) `` Brick by Brick '' is a song by Arctic Monkeys from the band 's fourth album Suck It and See . The song was the first track to be revealed from the album , on 4 March 2011 , and was designed as a teaser for the album rather than a lead single . The lead single was instead `` Do n't Sit Down 'Cause I 've Moved Your Chair '' which was released digitally on 12 April . A limited-edition white-label seven-inch vinyl version of `` Do n't Sit Down 'Cause I 've Moved Your Chair '' released on 16 April featured `` Brick by Brick '' as its B-side . Alex Turner explained the story of the song to NME : `` We were in Miami on tour once and we just got off a long flight to there and we had an idea for a song called ` Brick By Brick ' and so we wrote it that night just sorta in a bar . But it was quite loose , we thought about it as the concept of a song and all these things that you want to do - brick by brick - and we just made a list of them that was probably three times as long as what it ended up over that night and the next few weeks . '' The song is intentionally brief and humorous , with Turner claiming that it was meant to include fewer than 30 words , `` since we always do songs with a thousand words '' , an approach borrowed from Iggy Pop . `` Even though it is dumbed down , we know it , and it 's got a sense of humor ... ( t ) here have always been jokes all over our songs ; I originally started writing lyrics to make my friends crack a smile , which is difficult . ''", "Elsa Bloodstone Elsa Bloodstone is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics . She first appears in Marvel 's Bloodstone mini-series of 2001 written by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning . She is the daughter of the previously established Marvel Universe character Ulysses Bloodstone and the sister of Cullen Bloodstone . As she is a young , female monster-hunter there are potential similarities with Buffy the Vampire Slayer , although when asked about this the authors claimed `` neither of us have seen an episode of Buffy all the way through ! I know we 're missing out on some great TV but we 've determined to steer clear of Buffy at least while we 're doing Bloodstone . ''", "Speccy Speccy , developed by Piriform , is a freeware utility software and runs under Microsoft Windows 10 , Windows 8 , Windows 7 , Vista and XP for both IA-32 and x64 versions of these operating systems , which shows the user information about hardware and software of the computer . The information displayed by Speccy includes processor brand and model , hard drive size and speed , amount of memory ( RAM ) , information about graphics card and operating system . Speccy is for seeing what kind of hardware is present in a system and how it is being used . Lifehacker stated in 2009 that among similar tools , Speccy was the `` cleanest and most detailed one we 've used yet . '' Download Squad described the software as '' -LSB- though -RSB- not as detailed as some other system information tools , Speccy still provides a good deal of essential information and gathers it quickly . '' In 2010 , PC World stated that the beta test version `` gives you a remarkable amount of technical detail '' that is `` more comprehensive than other tools like Systeminfo '' . In its 2012 review Softpedia rated version 1.24.632 four stars ( of five ) . As of Windows 10 version 1511 released in November 2015 , Speccy versions 1.28.709 and before are automatically uninstalled after downloading the update . Speccy 1.29.714 was released on December 3rd to restore Speccy to Windows 10 after the November update .", "Go, You Redbirds Go , You Redbirds is the fight song for the athletic teams of Illinois State University . It was written in 1932 by Kenyon S. Fletcher . The words have been changed from time to time . Prior to the fight song we know today , the Illinois State fight song was `` Normal Loyalty . '' At sporting events when an ISU athletic team enters the field or floor , the students and fans sing the first stanza of `` Go , You Redbirds . '' A new growing Redbird tradition amongst several redbird teams is to sing the fight song with the marching band to the home crowd after victories . The line `` Lets win this game '' is changed to `` We 've won this game . '' The current lyrics for the song are : Go you Redbirds on to battle fight for ISU , Raise the banner Red and White , To this emblem we 'll be true , So let us cheer the Redbirds on to victory , Every voice proclaim , We 've got the fight , We 've got the might , Lets win this game . ISU Go !", "Songs from the British Isles Songs from the British Isles is a collobrative extended play by Australian singer songwriter Katie Noonan and classical guitarist Karin Schaupp , available only from Katie Noonan webshop . It was released to support the tour ` Songs from the British Isles ' . Katie said ; '' -LSB- it 's -RSB- a chance to rediscover the Celtic music I grew up around , the classical music I fell in love with and the pop music that has informed my voice as a songwriter in more recent years . '' Karin Schaupp said ; `` For years we 've been saying ` We must do something together one day ... ' and finally we found the time to make it happen ! I am delighted to be collaborating with Katie - her voice is absolutely unique and she is a brilliant musician . The combination of voice and guitar is very intimate but also very versatile . We 've had a wonderful time putting together this British programme drawn from so many different styles of music , and we 've become great friends in the process ! ''", "This House Is Not for Sale (song) `` This House Is Not for Sale '' is a song by American rock band Bon Jovi from their thirteenth studio album , This House Is Not for Sale . It was released as the album 's lead single on August 12 , 2016 . The song was written by Jon Bon Jovi , John Shanks , and Billy Falcon , and it was produced by Jovi and Shanks . Jovi has said of `` This House Is Not for Sale '' : `` this song is about integrity and what we were going through these last three years . We 've become even closer and , as the song says , ` this heart , this soul , this house is not for sale . ' ''", "I've Never Seen Star Wars I 've Never Seen Star Wars may refer to : I 've Never Seen Star Wars ( radio series ) , a BBC Radio 4 comedy chat show presented by Marcus Brigstocke , in which celebrity guest try new experiences . I 've Never Seen Star Wars ( TV series ) , a television version of the original radio show , broadcast on BBC Four '' .", "The Time We Were Not in Love The Time We Were Not in Love ( ; lit . The Time I 've Loved You ) is a 2015 South Korean television series starring Ha Ji-won and Lee Jin-wook , adapted from the award winning 2011 Taiwanese drama In Time with You . It aired on SBS from June 27 to August 16 , 2015 on Saturdays and Sundays at 22:00 for 16 episodes .", "Seven Places Seven Places was a Christian rock band founded in 2000 . Seth Gilbert was the main songwriter and vocalist for Seven Places which was signed to BEC Recordings . The group amiably disbanded in 2005 to pursue other projects . The band members were all originally from Medford , Oregon . `` Our name is about the seven places Jesus Christ bled from to save us from our sins , '' vocalist Seth explains . `` His hands cover the sinful things we 've done with our hands . His feet cover the places of sin we 've walked . His back covers all the times we 've turned our back on Him , and His side , which is really from His heart , allows our hardened hearts to be softened . It is all about His blood and the fact that we 're being covered by it at all points . '' Seth Gilbert currently works in the Music Ministry of Applegate Christian Fellowship in southern Oregon . Tony Pallotta became a music pastor at Mountain Christian Fellowship . Tyler Jones is married and lives in Portland , Oregon . Dave Luetkenhoelter and Jeffrey Gilbert joined Kutless , filling in the positions of bassist and drummer , respectively . Seven Places disbanded shortly after the release of `` Hear Us Say Jesus '' in 2004 , but a new 11-track album entitled `` Glowing '' was released on June 26 , 2007 , by BEC Recordings .", "Houston, We've Got a Problem Houston , We 've Got a Problem is a 1974 television film about the Apollo 13 spaceflight , directed by Lawrence Doheny and starring Ed Nelson in the role of NASA Flight Director Gene Kranz .", "Warm Blood Warm Blood may refer to : warmblood Warm Blood , album by Carol Grimes `` Warm Blood '' , song by Icelandic band Seabear on album We Built a Fire Warm Blood ( Carly Rae Jepsen song )" ]

[ "Global warming hiatus A global warming hiatus , also sometimes referred to as a global warming pause or a global warming slowdown , is a period of relatively little change in globally averaged surface temperatures . In the current episode of global warming many such 15-year periods appear in the surface temperature record , along with robust evidence of the long-term warming trend ; climate is classically averaged over 30-year periods . Publicity has surrounded claims of a global warming hiatus during the period 1998 -- 2013 . The exceptionally warm El Niño year of 1998 was an outlier from the continuing temperature trend , and so subsequent annual temperatures gave the appearance of a hiatus : by January 2006 , it appeared to some that global warming had stopped or paused . A 2009 study showed that decades without warming were not exceptional , and in 2011 a study showed that if allowances were made for known variability , the rising temperature trend continued unabated . There was increased public interest in 2013 in the run-up to publication of the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report , and despite concerns that a 15-year period was too short to determine a meaningful trend , the IPCC included a section on a hiatus , which it defined as a much smaller increasing linear trend over the 15 years from 1998 to 2012 , than over the 60 years from 1951 to 2012 . Various studies examined possible causes of the short-term slowdown . Even though the overall climate system has continued to accumulate energy due to Earth 's positive energy budget , the available temperature readings at the Earth 's surface indicate slower rates of increase in surface warming than in the prior decade . Since measurements at the top of the atmosphere show that Earth is receiving more energy than it is radiating back into space , the retained energy should be producing warming in the Earth 's climate system . Research reported in July 2015 on an updated NOAA dataset casts doubt on the existence of a hiatus , and it finds no indication of a slowdown even in earlier years . Scientists working on other datasets welcomed this study , though they have expressed the view that the recent warming trend was less than in previous periods of the same length . Subsequently , a detailed study supports the conclusion that warming is continuing , but it also find there was less warming between 2001 and 2010 than climate models had predicted , and that this slowdown might be attributed to short-term variations in the Pacific decadal oscillation ( PDO ) , which was negative during that period . Another review finds `` no substantive evidence '' of a pause in global warming . A statistical study of global temperature data since 1970 concludes that the term ` hiatus ' or ` pause ' is not justified . Independent of these discussions about data and measurements for earlier years , 2015 turned out to be much warmer than any of the earlier years , already before El Niño conditions started . The warmth of 2015 largely ended any remaining scientific credibility of claims that the supposed `` hiatus '' since 1998 had any significance for the long-term warming trend . In January 2017 , a study published in the journal Science Advances cast further doubt on the existence of a recent pause , with more evidence that ocean temperatures have been underestimated . An April 2017 study found the data consistent with a steady warming trend globally since the 1970s , with fluctuations within the expected range of short term variability .", "Phanerozoic The Phanerozoic Eon ( British English Phanærozoic ) is the current geologic eon in the geologic time scale , and the one during which abundant animal and plant life has existed . It covers million years to the present , and began with the Cambrian Period when diverse hard-shelled animals first appeared . Its name was derived from the Ancient Greek words φανερός ( phanerós ) and ζωή ( zōḗ ) , meaning visible life , since it was once believed that life began in the Cambrian , the first period of this eon . The time before the Phanerozoic , called the Precambrian supereon , is now divided into the Hadean , Archaean and Proterozoic eons . The time span of the Phanerozoic starts with the rapid emergence of a number of animal phyla ; the evolution of those phyla into diverse forms ; the emergence and development of complex plants ; the evolution of fish ; the emergence of insects and tetrapods ; and the development of modern fauna . Land plant life appeared in the early Phanerozoic eon . During this time span , tectonic forces caused the continents to move and eventually collect into a single landmass known as Pangaea , which then separated into the current continental landmasses .", "John Christy John Raymond Christy is a climate scientist at the University of Alabama in Huntsville ( UAH ) whose chief interests are satellite remote sensing of global climate and global climate change . He is best known , jointly with Roy Spencer , for the first successful development of a satellite temperature record .", "Global cooling Global cooling was a conjecture during the 1970s of imminent cooling of the Earth 's surface and atmosphere culminating in a period of extensive glaciation . This hypothesis had little support in the scientific community , but gained temporary popular attention due to a combination of a slight downward trend of temperatures from the 1940s to the early 1970s and press reports that did not accurately reflect the full scope of the scientific climate literature , which showed a larger and faster-growing body of literature projecting future warming due to greenhouse gas emissions . The current scientific opinion on climate change is that the Earth has not durably cooled , but underwent global warming throughout the 20th century .", "Satellite temperature measurements The temperature of the atmosphere at various altitudes as well as sea and land surface temperatures can be inferred from satellite measurements . These measurements can be used to locate weather fronts , monitor the El Niño-Southern Oscillation , determine the strength of tropical cyclones , study urban heat islands and monitor the global climate . Wildfires , volcanos , and industrial hot spots can also be found via thermal imaging from weather satellites . Weather satellites do not measure temperature directly . They measure radiances in various wavelength bands . Since 1978 microwave sounding units ( MSUs ) on National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration polar orbiting satellites have measured the intensity of upwelling microwave radiation from atmospheric oxygen , which is related to the temperature of broad vertical layers of the atmosphere . Measurements of infrared radiation pertaining to sea surface temperature have been collected since 1967 . Satellite datasets show that over the past four decades the troposphere has warmed and the stratosphere has cooled . Both of these trends are consistent with the influence of increasing atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases ." ]

[ "Crooked House Crooked House is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie first published in the US by Dodd , Mead and Company in March 1949 and in the UK by the Collins Crime Club on 23 May of the same year . The action takes place in and near London in the autumn of 1947 . Christie said this and Ordeal by Innocence were her favourites . It is one of only five Christie novels not to have received a screen adaptation ( although one is planned ) - the others being Death Comes as the End , Destination Unknown , Passenger to Frankfurt , and Postern of Fate .", "Negative interest on excess reserves Negative interest on excess reserves is an instrument of unconventional monetary policy applied by central banks to encourage lending by making it costly for commercial banks to hold their excess reserves at central banks so they will lend more readily to the private sector . Such policy is usually associated with very slow economic growth , deflation , and deleverage . During economic downturns , central banks often lower interest rates to stimulate growth . Until recently , it was thought that rates could n't go below zero because people would hold on to cash instead of paying a fee to deposit it . It turns out this was not quite right . Central banks in Europe and in Japan have demonstrated rates can go negative , and several have pushed them in that direction for the same reason they lowered them to zero in the first place -- to provide stimulus and , where inflation is below target , to raise the inflation rate . The notion is that negative rates will provide even more incentive for commercial banks to make loans . What might have looked like a project not worth funding even in a low-interest-rate environment might now look attractive if the alternative is being charged to store money at the central bank or holding lots of cash .", "Mount Meager Mount Meager , originally known as Meager Mountain , is a volcanic massif in the of the Coast Mountains in southwestern British Columbia , Canada . Part of the Cascade Volcanic Arc of western North America , it is located north of Vancouver at the northern end of the Pemberton Valley and reaches a maximum elevation of . Meager is capped by several eroded volcanic edifices , including , volcanic plugs and overlapping piles of lava flows ; these form at least six major summits including Mount Meager proper which is the second highest of the massif . The Garibaldi Volcanic Belt ( GVB ) has a long history of eruptions and poses a threat to the surrounding region . Any volcanic hazard ranging from landslides to eruptions could pose a significant risk to humans and wildlife . Although Mount Meager has not erupted for more than 2,000 years , it could produce a major eruption ; if this were to happen , relief efforts would be quickly organized . Teams such as the Interagency Volcanic Event Notification Plan ( IVENP ) are prepared to notify people threatened by volcanic eruptions in Canada . Mount Meager produced the largest volcanic eruption in Canada in the last 10,000 years . About 2,400 years ago , an explosive eruption formed a volcanic crater on its northeastern flank and sent avalanches of hot ash , rock fragments and volcanic gases down the northern flank of the volcano . Evidence for more recent volcanic activity has been documented at the volcano , such as hot springs and earthquakes . Mount Meager has also been the source of several large landslides in the past , including a massive debris flow in 2010 that swept down Meager Creek and the Lillooet River .", "Lollipop sequence numbering Lollipop sequence numbering is a numbering scheme used in routing protocols . In this numbering scheme , sequence numbers start at a negative value , increase until they reach zero , then cycles through a finite set of positive numbers indefinitely . When a system is rebooted , the sequence is restarted from a negative number again . This allows recently rebooted systems to be distinguished from systems which have simply looped around their numbering space . This path can be visualized as a line with a circle at the end ; hence a lollipop . Lollipop sequence numbering was originally believed to resolve the ambiguity problem in cyclic sequence numbering schemes , and was used in OSPF version 1 for this reason . Later work showed that this was not the case , and OSPF version 2 replaced it with a linear numbering space , with special rules for what happens when the sequence numbers reach the end of the numbering space .", "Vatnafjöll Vatnafjöll is a 40 km long , 9 km wide basaltic fissure vent system that is located southeast of Hekla , Iceland . It is part of the same system as Hekla . More than two dozen eruptions have occurred at Vatnafjöll during the Holocene Epoch . Vatnafjöll last erupted about 1200 years ago .", "Ember Ridge Ember Ridge is a volcanic mountain ridge associated with the Mount Cayley volcanic field in British Columbia , Canada . Ember Ridge is made of a series of steep-sided domes of glassy , complexly jointed , hornblende-phyric basalt with the most recent eruptions during the Holocene . The domes have structural similarities which indicate that the domes are similar in age and could have formed by the same foundation .", "Multiple sex partners Multiple sex partners ( MSP ) is the measure and incidence of engaging in sexual activities with two or more people within a specific time period . Sexual activity with MSP can happen simultaneously or serially . MSP includes sexual activity between people with the same gender . MSP can also mean that one person may have a long-term relationship or relationships , and when the second relationship begins , the person can be said to have multiple sex partners . Another term , polyamoruous is a behavior and not a measure describing multiple romantically sexually or romantically committed relationships at the same time . Young people having MSP in the last year is an indicator used by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ( CDC ) to evaluate risky sexual behavior in adolescents and monitoring changes in the worldwide HIV/AIDS infection rates and deaths .", "Something Cool Something Cool is a studio album recorded by June Christy in 1953 , 1954 , and 1955 , and featuring Christy singing 11 ( in the original release , seven ) jazz songs backed by the orchestra of Pete Rugolo . First issued in 1954 as a 10 '' mono LP , an expanded 12 '' mono LP was released the following year , with four newly recorded selections added to the track listing . In 1960 , Christy and Rugolo re-recorded all 11 selections in stereo , so that a stereo version of Something Cool could be issued . For many years , this re-recorded version of the LP was the only one commercially available . Christy had been associated with `` cool '' jazz since her vocal work with the Stan Kenton Orchestra in the 1940s and early 1950s . As well as launching her career as a solo artist , Something Cool , according to jazz writer John Bush , was responsible for launching a whole cool movement in jazz singing . It was the first of 18 June Christy albums , most of them recorded with the backing of Pete Rugolo . This debut turned out extremely successful , the album reaching the Top 20 album charts in America .", "Period (periodic table) A period in the periodic table is one of the horizontal rows , all of whose elements have the same number of electron shells . Going across a period , each element has one more proton and is less metallic than its predecessor . Arranged this way , groups of elements in the same column have similar chemical and physical properties , reflecting the periodic law . For example , the alkali metals lie in the first column ( group 1 ) and share similar properties , such as high reactivity and the tendency to lose one electron to arrive at a noble-gas electronic configuration . At the present time , the periodic table of elements has a total of 118 elements which have been discovered to date . Modern quantum mechanics explains these periodic trends in properties in terms of electron shells . As atomic number increases , shells fill with electrons in approximately the order shown at right . The filling of each shell corresponds to a row in the table . In the s-block and p-block of the periodic table , elements within the same period generally do not exhibit trends and similarities in properties ( vertical trends down groups are more significant ) . However , in the d-block , trends across periods become significant , and in the f-block elements show a high degree of similarity across periods .", "Gram-negative folliculitis Gram-negative folliculitis occurs in patients who have had moderately inflammatory acne for long periods and have been treated with long-term antibiotics , mainly tetracyclines , a disease in which cultures of lesions usually reveals a species of Klebsiella , Escherichia coli , Enterobacter , or , from the deep cystic lesions , Proteus .", "Double negative A double negative is a grammatical construction occurring when two forms of negation are used in the same sentence . Multiple negation is the more general term referring to the occurrence of more than one negative in a clause . In some languages , double negatives cancel one another and produce an affirmative ; in other languages , doubled negatives intensify the negation . Languages where multiple negatives affirm each other are said to have negative concord or emphatic negation . Portuguese , Persian , Russian , Spanish , Neapolitan , Italian , Czech , and some non-standard dialects of English are examples of negative-concord languages , while Latin and German do not have negative concord . It is cross-linguistically observed that negative-concord languages are more common than those without . Languages without negative concord typically have negative polarity items that are used in place of additional negatives when another negating word already occurs . Examples are `` ever '' , `` anything '' and `` anyone '' in the sentence `` I have n't ever owed anything to anyone '' ( cf. `` I have n't never owed nothing to no one '' in negative-concord dialects of English , and `` Nunca devi nada a ninguém '' in Portuguese , lit . `` Never have I owed nothing to no one '' , or `` Non ho mai dovuto nulla a nessuno '' in Italian ) . Note that negative polarity can be triggered not only by direct negatives such as `` not '' or `` never '' , but also by words such as `` doubt '' or `` hardly '' ( `` I doubt he has ever owed anything to anyone '' or `` He has hardly ever owed anything to anyone '' ) . Stylistically , in English , double negatives can sometimes be used for understated affirmation ( e.g. `` I 'm not feeling bad '' vs. `` I 'm feeling good '' ) . The rhetorical term for this is litotes .", "Political offences in China This is a list of political offences in China . During the Maoist era , particularly during the Anti-Rightist Movement and the Cultural Revolution , the judicial system of China was often used for political persecution of rivals , and penalties such as jail terms or capital punishment were largely imposed on the authority 's political enemies , or anyone who dared to challenge it . During those times , vague accusations such as `` counter-revolutionary '' , Capitalist roader , `` running dog of the imperialist '' could have had the accused imprisoned , or shot by firing squad . These labels fell out of use following the end of the Cultural Revolution in 1976 . In more recent times , accusations such as `` possession of state secret '' , `` inciting the subversion of the state '' carry long jail terms .", "Bulk personal datasets `` Bulk personal datasets '' is the UK government 's euphemism for datasets containing personally identifiable information on a large number of individuals , as part of mass surveillance in the United Kingdom and on citizens around the world . The term was first used publicly in March 2015 by the Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament , and is subject to significant controversy . Other UK Government departments have programmes utilising bulk personal datasets , one of which is the care.data programme in the Department of Health and National Health Service . In health , bulk personal datasets are created as a by-product of providing direct care .", "Panum Crater Panum Crater is a volcanic cone that is part of the Mono-Inyo Craters , a chain of recent volcanic cones south of Mono Lake and east of the Sierra Nevada , in California , United States . Panum Crater is between 600 and 700 years old , and it exhibits all of the characteristics of the textbook rhyolitic lava dome . Rhyolitic volcanoes are characterized by having large amounts of silica ( quartz ) in their lava . The content of silica at Panum is about 76 percent . It makes the lava very viscous , or thick , and very glassy . Products of this rhyolitic eruption are pumice and obsidian , the volcanic glass that Native Americans used to make arrow points and scrapers . Panum Crater formed in a sequence of events . The first event was caused by magma rising from deep within the Earth 's crust . When this extremely hot , liquid rock made contact with water just below the surface , the water expanded into steam and a large , violent eruption occurred . The material that was thrown into the air by the steam , mainly old lake bottom sediments , was deposited around the new vent in little mounds . So much debris was blown out that a gaping crater was left behind . Once this debris was blown out , a fountain of cinders shot up a great distance into the sky . As this huge amount of ash and pumice began to fall back towards the earth , it formed a pumice ring , or cinder cone , about the original vent . This cinder cone is still visible today . Following the violent eruptions of the first two phases , the remainder of the thick magma slowly rose to the surface in a series of domes . Each dome began with an outpouring of the viscous , rhyolitic lava which hardened and formed a cap over the vent . As magma continued to push up , the cap ( or dome ) shattered and fell to the outside of the newly formed dome . This happened so many times that a new mountain was created out of these broken pieces , called crumble breccia . The mountain continued to build in this manner until the force within the volcano weakened and no more new domes formed . The final one still stands today . As the final dome hardened , a period of spire building began . Thick lava pushed up through cracks of the hardening dome and formed castle-like spires . If you can imagine toothpaste squeezing through the opening of a tube and forming a small tower before it topples over , you can imagine how these spires form . Most of the spires at Panum fell over and broke because of their rapid cooling and because of many small explosions at their bases . Most of the rocky debris you see at the top of the dome is the remains of spires that have crumbled . The central lava dome was erupted from degassed material and is made up of pumice and obsidian of the same composition . The difference between the two has to do with gas escaping as the magma cooled . The magma that created the dome had dissolved gas in it , like a bottle of seltzer water . As the magma rose towards the surface where there was less pressure on it than at depth , the gas expanded producing the holes ( bubbles ) you see in the pumice . The magma that remained pressurized while it cooled quickly or that had already lost its gas , formed the obsidian . Flow banding containing both obsidian and pumice is common at Panum Crater . Another common texture , called breadcrust , can also be seen in the dome . Breadcrust textures form when the inside of a cooling rock is still hot with gas escaping from it while the outside surface has already cooled . As the gas expands from the inside , the outside surface cracks to allow the gas to escape .", "Chaitén (volcano) Chaitén is a volcanic caldera 3 km in diameter , 17 km west of the elongated ice-capped Michinmahuida volcano and 10 km northeast of the town of Chaitén , near the Gulf of Corcovado in southern Chile . The most recent eruptive phase of the volcano erupted on 2008 . Originally , radiocarbon dating of older tephra from the volcano suggested that its last previous eruption was in 7420 BC ± 75 years . However , recent studies have found that the volcano is more active than thought . According to the Global Volcanism Program , its last eruption is 1640 ± 18 years . The caldera rim reaches 1122 m above sea level . Before the current eruption , it was mostly filled by a rhyolite obsidian lava dome that reached a height of 962 m , partly devoid of vegetation . Two small lakes occupied the caldera floor on the west and north sides of the lava dome . The translucent grey obsidian which had erupted from the volcano was used by pre-Columbian cultures as a raw material for artifacts and has been found as far away as 400 km to the south and north , for example in Chan-Chan .", "Generación de la Ruptura Generación de la Ruptura ( Breakaway Generation ) was a reaction of the post World War II generation of Mexican artists against the established Mexican School of Painting , more commonly called Mexican muralism . It began with the criticisms of José Luis Cuevas in the early 1950s , followed by others who thought the established art had become dogmatic , formulaic and nationalistic and the artists too deferential to the government . This new generation of artists was not bound by a particular artistic style but was more interested in personal rather than social issues and influenced by a number of international trends in art such as Abstract expressionism . Early reaction to them was strong and negative but by the end of the 1950s , they had succeeded in having their art shown in the major venues of Mexico . The Generación de la Ruptura had influence on other arts in Mexico , such as literature but it did not end the production of murals in Mexico with social and nationalist purposes .", "United States state legislatures' partisan trend This chart shows the trends in the partisan composition of the various state legislatures in the United States . In most cases the data point for each year is July 1 , a time when few elections are scheduled . Most states hold legislative elections in the even numbered years , so the data points below are near the end of the term for most states . Nebraska is not included in the national summaries below .", "Composition (combinatorics) In mathematics , a composition of an integer n is a way of writing n as the sum of a sequence of ( strictly ) positive integers . Two sequences that differ in the order of their terms define different compositions of their sum , while they are considered to define the same partition of that number . Every integer has finitely many distinct compositions . Negative numbers do not have any compositions , but 0 has one composition , the empty sequence . Each positive integer n has 2n − 1 distinct compositions . A weak composition of an integer n is similar to a composition of n , but allowing terms of the sequence to be zero : it is a way of writing n as the sum of a sequence of non-negative integers . As a consequence every positive integer admits infinitely many weak compositions ( if their length is not bounded ) . Adding a number of terms 0 to the end of a weak composition is usually not considered to define a different weak composition ; in other words , weak compositions are assumed to be implicitly extended indefinitely by terms 0 . To further generalize , an A-restricted composition of an integer n , for a subset A of the ( nonnegative or positive ) integers , is an ordered collection of one or more elements in A whose sum is n.", "Basic sequential access method In IBM mainframe operating systems , Basic sequential access method ( BSAM ) is an access method to read and write datasets sequentially . BSAM is available on OS/360 , OS/VS2 , MVS , z/OS , and related operating systems . BSAM is used for devices that are naturally sequential , such as punched card readers , punches , line printers , and magnetic tape . It is also used for data on devices that could also be addressed directly , such as magnetic disks . BSAM offers device independence : to the extent possible , the same API calls are used for different devices . BSAM allows programs to read and write physical blocks of data , as opposed to the more powerful but less flexible Queued Sequential Access Method ( QSAM ) which allows programs to access logical records within physical blocks of data . The BSAM user must be aware of the possibility of encountering short ( truncated ) blocks ( blocks within a dataset which are shorter than the BLKSIZE of the dataset ) , particularly at the end of a dataset , but also in many cases within a dataset . QSAM has none of these limitations .", "Tuya A tuya is a type of distinctive , flat-topped , steep-sided volcano formed when lava erupts through a thick glacier or ice sheet . They are somewhat rare worldwide , being confined to regions which were covered by glaciers and had active volcanism during the same period . Lava that erupts under a glacier cools very quickly and can not travel far , so it piles up into a steep-sided hill . If the eruption continues long enough , it either melts all the ice or emerges through the top of the ice and then creates normal-looking lava flows that make a flat cap on top of the hill . Discovering and dating the lava flows in a tuya has proven useful in reconstructing past glacial ice extents and thicknesses .", "Liquidmetal Liquidmetal and Vitreloy are commercial names of a series of amorphous metal alloys developed by a California Institute of Technology ( Caltech ) research team and marketed by Liquidmetal Technologies . Liquidmetal alloys combine a number of desirable material features , including high tensile strength , excellent corrosion resistance , very high coefficient of restitution and excellent anti-wearing characteristics , while also being able to be heat-formed in processes similar to thermoplastics . Despite the name , they are not liquid at room temperature . Liquidmetal was introduced for commercial applications in 2003 . It is used for , among other things , golf clubs , watches and covers of cell phones . The alloy was the end result of a research program into amorphous metals carried out at Caltech . It was the first of a series of experimental alloys that could achieve an amorphous structure at relatively slow cooling rates . Amorphous metals had been made before , but only in small batches because cooling rates needed to be in the millions of degrees per second . For example , amorphous wires could be fabricated by splat quenching a stream of molten metal on a spinning disk . Because Vitreloy allowed such slow cooling rates , production of larger batch sizes was possible . More recently , a number of additional alloys have been added to the Liquidmetal portfolio . These alloys also retain their amorphous structure after repeated re-heating , allowing them to be used in a wide variety of traditional machining processes .", "Poás Volcano National Park Poás Volcano National Park , in Spanish Parque Nacional Volcán Poás , is a National Park in Costa Rica that covers an area of approximately 16000 acre ; the summit is 8900 ft. Until recently visitors could usually walk all the way to the edge of the main crater , but on April 13 , 2017 the park was closed to visitors due to an explosive eruption on the evening of April 12 . Still further eruptions , including Easter , April 16 , have closed the park until further notice . The volcano is located in the Central Volcanic Conservation Area located in the Alajuela Province near the Pacific coast of Costa Rica , which encompasses the area around the Poás Volcano . The main crater is 950 ft deep and is quite active with frequent small geyser and lava eruptions , however the last major eruptions were during 1952-54 . Two more craters make up parts of the park , the extinct Von Frantzuis crater and the Botos crater . Botos is a beautiful cold , green water crater lake with a diameter of 1200 ft. The Botos crater has not erupted for about 7,500 years . Well-marked trails lead to the two inactive craters , conditions permitting . The park has been frequently closed to visitors because of sulphuric gas emissions . Over the last decade there were a number of indications that the volcano was slowly building up towards a new eruption .", "Trend line (technical analysis) In finance , a trend line is a bounding line for the price movement of a security . It is formed when a diagonal line can be drawn between a minimum of three or more price pivot points . A line can be drawn between any two points , but it does not qualify as a trend line until tested . Hence the need for the third point , the test . Trend lines are commonly used to decide entry and exit timing when trading securities . They can also be referred to as a Dutch line , as the concept was first used in Holland . A support trend line is formed when a securities price decreases and then rebounds at a pivot point that aligns with at least two previous support pivot points . Similarly a resistance trend line is formed when a securities price increases and then rebounds at a pivot point that aligns with at least two previous resistance pivot points . Stock often begin or end trending because of a stock catalyst such as a product launch or change in management . Trend lines are a simple and widely used technical analysis approach to judging entry and exit investment timing . To establish a trend line historical data , typically presented in the format of a chart such as the above price chart , is required . Historically , trend lines have been drawn by hand on paper charts , but it is now more common to use charting software that enables trend lines to be drawn on computer based charts . There are some charting software that will automatically generate trend lines , however most traders prefer to draw their own trend lines . When establishing trend lines it is important to choose a chart based on a price interval period that aligns with your trading strategy . Short term traders tend to use charts based on interval periods , such as 1 minute ( i.e. the price of the security is plotted on the chart every 1 minute ) , with longer term traders using price charts based on hourly , daily , weekly and monthly interval periods . However , time periods can also be viewed in terms of years . For example , below is a chart of the S&P 500 since the earliest data point until April 2008 . While the Oracle example above uses a linear scale of price changes , long term data is more often viewed as logarithmic : e.g. the changes are really an attempt to approximate percentage changes than pure numerical value . Trend lines are typically used with price charts , however they can also be used with a range of technical analysis charts such as MACD and RSI . Trend lines can be used to identify positive and negative trending charts , whereby a positive trending chart forms an upsloping line when the support and the resistance pivots points are aligned , and a negative trending chart forms a downsloping line when the support and resistance pivot points are aligned . Trend lines are used in many ways by traders . If a stock price is moving between support and resistance trend lines , then a basic investment strategy commonly used by traders , is to buy a stock at support and sell at resistance , then short at resistance and cover the short at support . The logic behind this , is that when the price returns to an existing principal trend line it may be an opportunity to open new positions in the direction of the trend , in the belief that the trend line will hold and the trend will continue further . A second way is that when price action breaks through the principal trend line of an existing trend , it is evidence that the trend may be going to fail , and a trader may consider trading in the opposite direction to the existing trend , or exiting positions in the direction of the trend .", "Victorian Railways power vans The Victorian Railways ( VR ) of Australia and successors have utilised a number of different types of railway carriages and wagons for the supply of head end power to passenger trains on the Victorian railway network . When train travellers around the world began to enjoy such comforts as lighting , and heating and cooling , the Victorian Railways initially employed axle mounted generators -RSB- , then progressed to more reliable head-end power ( HEP ) as a source for this equipment . In more recent times , vans have been specially built for the purpose of supplying HEP , or special generators are fitted to locomotives ( the N and P classes )", "Reflation Reflation is the act of stimulating the economy by increasing the money supply or by reducing taxes , seeking to bring the economy ( specifically price level ) back up to the long-term trend , following a dip in the business cycle . It is the opposite of disinflation , which seeks to return the economy back down to the long-term trend . Reflation , which can be considered a form of inflation ( increase in the price level ) , is contrasted with inflation ( narrowly speaking ) in that `` bad '' inflation is inflation above the long-term trend line , while reflation is a recovery of the price level when it has fallen below the trend line . For example , if inflation had been running at a 3 % rate , but for one year it falls to 0 % , the following year would need 6 % inflation ( actually 6.09 % due to compounding ) to catch back up to the long-term trend . This higher than normal inflation is considered reflation , since it is a return to trend , not exceeding the long-term trend . This distinction is predicated on a theory of economic growth where there is long-term growth in the economy and price level , which is widely accepted in economics . Just as disinflation is considered an acceptable antidote to high inflation , reflation is considered to be an antidote to deflation ( which , unlike inflation , is considered bad regardless of its magnitude ) .", "Negative transfer (memory) Negative transfer is a behavioral psychology term that refers to the interference of the previous knowledge with new learning . It relates to the experience with one set of events could hurt performance on related tasks . It also describes the pattern of error in animal learning and behavior . It occurs when a learned , previously adaptive response to one stimulus interferes with the acquisition of an adaptive response to a novel stimulus that is similar to the first . A common example is switching from a manual transmission vehicle to an automatic transmission vehicle . The adaptive response series in a standard vehicle when it reaches 10 miles per hour is to step on the clutch , shift gears , and step on the accelerator . This previously adaptive response is incompatible with the proper response in an automatic transmission , confirming how prior experience can limit the ability to function efficiently in new settings . Negative transfer can also correspond with positive transfer and the errors that come with negative transfer can sometimes be made at faster rates . Although positive transfer is more likely than negative transfer , error rates can be much higher when negative transfer does occur than if no previously learned behavior had existed . For example , if a mariner already knows how to operate navigation equipment and if negative transfer occurs , he or she may display more errors while learning to operate new equipment than a mariner who has never operated navigation equipment . This is because the old mariner is using previous knowledge that may have transferred negatively and now is having to forget the prior inaccurate knowledge and try to learn new equipment the correct way . This is because the learning that was transferred can not properly apply to the new experience . Another example of this might be the way an experience of the same kind has different protocol for different situations . If a mariner has already learned how to quickly react to an alarm , the same mariner may react to the same alarm on new equipment even more quickly ( positive transfer on reaction time ) than without already knowing how to react . Although the reaction may happen very quickly , it may be to push the wrong alarm switch located in the same position as the old alarm switch ( negative transfer on error rate ) . In essence , the old behavior contributes to making errors at a faster rate on the new behavior . A common test for negative transfer is the AB-AC list learning paradigm from the verbal learning research of the 1950s and 1960s . In this paradigm , two lists of paired associates are learned in succession , and if the second set of associations ( List 2 ) constitutes a modification of the first set of associations ( List 1 ) , negative transfer results and thus the learning rate of the second list is slower than the first list . An elementary example of transfer learning would be , for example , in dealing with subject -- verb agreement : When you have a singular subject you have to add and `` s '' on the end of the verb and when you have a plural subject you do not put an `` s '' on the end of the verb . However , when they are the subjects `` I '' and `` You '' , they do not follow this rule . Therefore , if students take the previously learned lesson of subject -- verb agreement and have not learned the exception properly they are going to be adding `` s '' on the end of the verbs in their sentences , which is incorrect . This is an example of negative transfer because they have taken what they have learned from one set of rules and have applied it to a similar experience but in the wrong way . Studies have shown that not only by reevaluating the situation and its errors but by comparing them to others who have attempted the same task allows for deeper insight into how to correct ones ability or knowledge of a situation . By having the ability to compare oneself to another individuals performance adjustments can be better internalized and negative effects can be calculated and seen before they are even made . This allows for the error rate to slow down with the positive transfer rate to increase . When applying what has been learned to another similar task , one can now take what has been learned along with the comparisons of what others have accomplished and apply it more accurately . It would almost be like getting five chances to learn from one exercise when in actuality you only attempted it once . According to research done by Magda Osman , without external normative standards , such as making a comparison with another 's learning experiences , self-perceptions of the knowledge and control ability of self-conditions lead to negative self-assessments . Moreover , along with poor self-efficacy judgments , individuals also undervalued the relevancy of previously gained knowledge in assisting them in the transfer task . The reason for this is because individuals overcompensate in their error detection and correction , which leads them to ignore rather than transfer relevant prior information . As a consequence this has negative effects on their performance because they have failed to utilize prior relevant knowledge . Remember to consider the negative learnings that can transfer over from prior experiences when introducing something new . Address the negatives to help extinguish the error rates that might occur . Luckily , while negative transfer is a real and often problematic phenomenon of learning , it is of much less concern to education than positive transfer . Negative transfer typically causes trouble only in the early stages of learning a new domain . With experience , learners correct for the effects of negative transfer .", "Positive-definite matrix In linear algebra , a symmetric real matrix is said to be positive definite if the scalar is positive for every non-zero column vector of real numbers . Here denotes the transpose of . More generally , an Hermitian matrix is said to be positive definite if the scalar is real and positive for all non-zero column vectors of complex numbers . Here denotes the conjugate transpose of . The negative definite , positive semi-definite , and negative semi-definite matrices are defined in the same way , except that in the last two cases 0 's are allowed , i.e. the expression or is required to be always negative , non-negative , and non-positive , respectively . Positive definite matrices are closely related to positive-definite symmetric bilinear forms ( or sesquilinear forms in the complex case ) , and to inner products of vector spaces . Some authors use more general definitions of `` positive definite '' that include some non-symmetric real matrices , or non-Hermitian complex ones .", "Rally (stock market) A rally is a period of sustained increases in the prices of stocks , bonds or indexes . This type of price movement can happen during either a bull or a bear market , when it is known as either a bull market rally or a bear market rally , respectively . However , a rally will generally follow a period of flat or declining prices . An increase in prices during a primary trend bear market is called a bear market rally . A bear market rally is sometimes defined as an increase of 10 % to 20 % . Bear market rallies typically begin suddenly and are often short-lived . Notable bear market rallies occurred in the Dow Jones index after the 1929 stock market crash leading down to the market bottom in 1932 , and throughout the late 1960s and early 1970s . The Japanese Nikkei 225 has been typified by a number of bear market rallies since the late 1980s while experiencing an overall long-term downward trend .", "Karlino oil eruption The Karlino oil eruption was an oil well blowout that took place on December 9 , 1980 , near Karlino , a town located in Pomerania in northern Poland , near the Baltic Sea coast . The eruption and the fire that followed it put an end to the hope of Poland becoming a `` second Kuwait '' . It took more than a month for Polish , Soviet and Hungarian firefighters to completely extinguish the fire . The eruption was the result of an extensive search for underground oil deposits that took place in the area in 1980 .", "Cool Christy Cool Christy is a 2002 double-CD compilation of recordings by jazz vocalist June Christy from 1945 to 1951 .", "Anti-Catalanism Anti-Catalanism ( anticatalanisme , -LSB- ˌantikətəɫəˈnizmə -RSB- ) is the collective name given to various historical trends in Spain that have been hostile to Catalan culture and traditions . In more recent times it is a term used to criticize political stances contrary to Catalan nationalism or Catalan independentism , both within and without Catalonia .", "Negative consequentialism Negative consequentialism is a version of the ethical theory consequentialism , which is `` one of the major theories of normative ethics . '' Like other versions of consequentialism , negative consequentialism holds that moral right and wrong depend only on the value of outcomes . That is , for negative and other versions of consequentialism , questions such as `` what should I do ? '' and `` what kind of person should I be ? '' are answered only based on consequences . Negative consequentialism differs from other versions of consequentialism by giving greater weight in moral deliberations to what is bad ( e.g. suffering or injustice ) than what is good ( e.g. happiness or justice ) . A specific type of consequentialism is utilitarianism , which says that the consequences that matter are those that affect well-being . Consequentialism is broader than utilitarianism in that consequentialism can say that the value of outcomes depend on other things than well-being ; for example , justice , fairness , and equality . Negative utilitarianism is thus a form of negative consequentialism . Much more has been written explicitly about negative utilitarianism than directly about negative consequentialism , although since negative utilitarianism is a form of negative consequentialism , everything that has been written about negative utilitarianism is by definition about a specific ( utilitarian ) version of negative consequentialism . Similarly to how there are many variations of consequentialism and negative utilitarianism , there are many versions of negative consequentialism , for example negative prioritarianism and negative consequentialist egalitarianism . G. E. Moore 's ethics can be said to be a negative consequentialism ( more precisely , a consequentialism with a negative utilitarian component ) , because he has been labeled a consequentialist , and he said that `` consciousness of intense pain is , by itself , a great evil '' whereas `` the mere consciousness of pleasure , however intense , does not , by itself , appear to be a great good , even if it has some slight intrinsic value . In short , pain ( if we understand by this expression , the consciousness of pain ) appears to be a far worse evil than pleasure is a good . '' Moore wrote in the first half of the 20th century before any of the terms ` consequentialism , ' ` negative utilitarianism ' or ` negative consequentialism ' were coined , and he did not use the term ` negative consequentialism ' himself . Similarly to Moore , Ingemar Hedenius defended a consequentialism that could be called negative ( or could be said to have a negative utilitarian component ) because he assigned more importance to suffering than to happiness . Hedenius saw the worst in life , such as infernalistic suffering , as so evil that calculations of happiness versus suffering becomes unnecessary ; he did not see that such evil could be counterbalanced by any good , such as happiness . Philosophy professor Clark Wolf defends `` negative consequentialism as a component of a larger theory of justice . '' Walter Sinnott-Armstrong interprets Bernard Gert 's moral system as a `` sophisticated form of negative objective universal public rule consequentialism . '' Jamie Mayerfeld argues for a strong duty to relieve suffering , which is consequentialist in form . He says that `` suffering is more bad than happiness is good , '' and that `` the lifelong bliss of many people , no matter how many , can not justify our allowing the lifelong torture of one . ''" ]

[ "Republican Party (United States) The Republican Party , commonly referred to as the GOP ( abbreviation for Grand Old Party ) , is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States , the other being its historic rival , the Democratic Party . The party is named after republicanism , the dominant value during the American Revolution . Founded by anti-slavery activists , modernists , ex-Whigs , and ex-Free Soilers in 1854 , the Republicans dominated politics nationally and in the majority of northern States for most of the period between 1860 and 1932 . There have been 19 Republican presidents , the most from any one party . The first was 16th president Abraham Lincoln , who served from 1861 to 1865 , when he was assassinated , and the most recent being 45th and current president Donald Trump , who took office on January 20 , 2017 . The Republican Party 's current ideology is American conservatism , which contrasts with the Democrats ' more progressive platform ( also called modern liberalism ) . Further , its platform involves support for free market capitalism , free enterprise , fiscal conservatism , a strong national defense , deregulation , and restrictions on labor unions . In addition to advocating for conservative economic policies , the Republican Party is socially conservative , and seeks to uphold traditional values based largely on Judeo-Christian ethics . The GOP was strongly committed to protectionism and tariffs from its founding until the 1930s , when it was based in the industrial Northeast and Midwest . Since 1952 there has been a reversal against protectionism and the party 's core support since the 1990s comes chiefly from the South , the Great Plains , the Mountain States and rural districts in the North . as well as from conservative Catholics , Mormons , and Evangelicals nationwide . As of 2017 , the Republican Party is documented as being at its strongest position politically since 1928 . In addition to holding the Presidency ( via Trump and Vice President Mike Pence ) , the Republicans control the 115th United States Congress , having majorities in both the House of Representatives and the Senate . The party also holds a majority of governorships ( 33/50 ) and state legislatures ( full control of 32/50 , split control of six others ) .", "Conservatism in the United States American Conservatism is a broad system of political beliefs in the United States that is characterized by respect for American traditions , support for Judeo-Christian values , economic liberalism , anti-communism , advocacy of American exceptionalism , and a defense of Western culture from threats posed by `` creeping socialism '' , moral relativism , multiculturalism and liberal internationalism . Liberty is a core value , with a particular emphasis on strengthening the free market , limiting the size and scope of government , and opposition to high taxes and government or labor union encroachment on the entrepreneur . American conservatives consider individual liberty , within the bounds of conformity to American values , as the fundamental trait of democracy , which contrasts with modern American liberals , who generally place a greater value on equality and social justice . American conservatism originated from classical liberalism of 18th and 19th centuries , which advocates civil liberties and political freedom with representative democracy under the rule of law and emphasizes economic freedom . Historians argue that the conservative tradition has played a major role in American politics and culture since the 1790s . However they have stressed that an organized conservative movement has played a key role in politics only since the 1950s . The recent movement is based in the Republican Party , though some Democrats were also important figures early in the movement 's history . The history of American conservatism has been marked by tensions and competing ideologies . Fiscal conservatives and libertarians favor small government involvement in the economy , a flat tax , limited regulation , and free enterprise . Social conservatives see traditional social values as threatened by secularism ; they tend to support voluntary school prayer and oppose abortion and same sex marriage . Some also want the teaching of intelligent design or creationism allowed , as the topics are currently judicially prohibited in public schools . The 21st century has seen an increasingly fervent conservative support for Second Amendment rights of private citizens to own firearms . Neoconservatives want to expand American ideals throughout the world . Paleoconservatives advocate restrictions on immigration , non-interventionist foreign policy , and stand in opposition to multiculturalism . Nationwide most factions , except some libertarians , support a unilateral foreign policy , and a strong military . The conservative movement of the 1950s attempted to bring together these divergent strands , stressing the need for unity to prevent the spread of `` godless communism . '' William F. Buckley Jr. , in the first issue of his magazine National Review in 1955 , explained the standards of his magazine and helped make explicit the beliefs of American conservatives :", "Conservative Party (UK) The Conservative Party , officially the Conservative and Unionist Party , is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom . It is currently the governing party , having won a majority of seats in the House of Commons at the 2015 general election . The party 's leader , Theresa May , is currently serving as Prime Minister . It is the largest party in local government with 9,237 councillors . The Conservative Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United Kingdom , the other being its modern rival , the Labour Party . The Conservative Party 's platform involves support for free market capitalism , free enterprise , fiscal conservatism , a strong national defence , deregulation , and restrictions on trade unions . The Conservative Party was founded in 1834 from the Tory Party -- giving rise to the Conservatives ' colloquial name of Tories -- and was one of two dominant political parties in the nineteenth century , along with the Liberal Party . During the 1890s , it formed a coalition government with the Liberal Unionist Party , a break-away faction of the Liberal Party . In 1912 , the two parties merged to form the current Conservative and Unionist Party . In the 1920s , the Liberal vote greatly diminished and the Labour Party became the Conservatives ' main rivals . Conservative Prime Ministers led governments for 57 years of the twentieth century , including Winston Churchill ( 1940 -- 45 , 1951 -- 55 ) and Margaret Thatcher ( 1979 -- 90 ) . Thatcher 's tenure led to wide-ranging economic liberalisation . The Conservative Party 's domination of British politics throughout the twentieth century has led to them being referred to as one of the most successful political parties in the Western world . The Conservatives are the joint-second largest British party in the European Parliament , with twenty MEPs , and sit with the European Conservatives and Reformists ( ECR ) parliamentary group . The party is a member of the Alliance of Conservatives and Reformists in Europe ( ACRE ) Europarty and the International Democrat Union ( IDU ) . The party is the second-largest in the Scottish Parliament and the second-largest in the Welsh Assembly . The Conservatives were formerly allied to the Ulster Unionist Party ( UUP ) in Northern Ireland but there is now a separate Northern Ireland Conservative party similar to the Welsh and Scottish Conservative parties . The party is also organised in the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar .", "Framing (social sciences) In the social sciences , framing comprises a set of concepts and theoretical perspectives on how individuals , groups , and societies , organize , perceive , and communicate about reality . Framing involves social construction of a social phenomenon -- by mass media sources , political or social movements , political leaders , or other actors and organizations . Participation in a language community necessarily influences an individual 's perception of the meanings attributed to words or phrases . Politically , the language communities of advertising , religion , and mass media are highly contested , whereas framing in less-sharply defended language communities might evolve imperceptibly and organically over cultural time frames , with fewer overt modes of disputation . Framing itself can be framed in one of two ways , depending on whether one chooses to emphasise processes of thought or processes of interpersonal communication . Frames in thought consist of the mental representations , interpretations , and simplifications of reality . Frames in communication consist of the communication of frames between different actors . One can view framing in communication as positive or negative -- depending on the audience and what kind of information is being presented . Framing might also be understood as being either equivalence frames , which represent logically equivalent alternatives portrayed in different ways ( see framing effect ) or as emphasis frames , which simplify reality by focusing on a subset of relevant aspects of a situation or issue . In the case of `` equivalence frames '' , the information being presented is based on the same facts , but the `` frame '' in which it is presented changes , thus creating a reference-dependent perception . The effects of framing can be seen in many journalism applications . With the same information being used as a base , the `` frame '' surrounding the issue can change the reader 's perception without having to alter the actual facts . In the context of politics or mass-media communication , a frame defines the packaging of an element of rhetoric in such a way as to encourage certain interpretations and to discourage others . For political purposes , framing often presents facts in such a way that implicates a problem that is in need of a solution . Members of political parties attempt to frame issues in a way that makes a solution favoring their own political leaning appear as the most appropriate course of action for the situation at hand . In social theory , framing is a schema of interpretation , a collection of anecdotes and stereotypes , that individuals rely on to understand and respond to events . In other words , people build a series of mental `` filters '' through biological and cultural influences . They then use these filters to make sense of the world . The choices they then make are influenced by their creation of a frame . Framing is also a key component of sociology , the study of social interaction among humans . Framing is an integral part of conveying and processing data on a daily basis . Successful framing techniques can be used to reduce the ambiguity of intangible topics by contextualizing the information in such a way that recipients can connect to what they already know ." ]

[ "Sexual orientation change efforts Sexual orientation change efforts ( SOCE ) are methods used in attempts to change the sexual orientation of homosexual and bisexual people to heterosexuality . They may include behavioral techniques , cognitive behavioral techniques , psychoanalytic techniques , medical approaches , religious and spiritual approaches , and , in some parts of the world , acts of sexual violence ( `` corrective rape '' ) . There are no studies of adequate scientific rigor to conclude whether or not such methods work to change sexual orientation . The longstanding consensus of the behavioral and social sciences , and the health and mental health professions is that homosexuality and bisexuality are per se normal and positive variations of human sexual orientation . Research consistently failed to provide any empirical or scientific basis for regarding them as disorders or abnormalities . There is a large body of research evidence that indicates that being gay , lesbian or bisexual is compatible with normal mental health and social adjustment . Because of this , the major mental health professional organizations do not encourage individuals to try to change their sexual orientation . Indeed , such interventions are ethically suspect because they can be harmful to the psychological well-being of those who attempt them ; clinical observations and self-reports indicate that many individuals who unsuccessfully attempt to change their sexual orientation experience considerable psychological distress . For these reasons , no major mental health professional organization has sanctioned efforts to change sexual orientation and virtually all of them have adopted policy statements cautioning the profession and the public about treatments that purport to change sexual orientation . The Royal College of Psychiatrists shares the concern of both the American Psychiatric Association and the American Psychological Association that positions espoused by bodies like the National Association for Research & Therapy of Homosexuality ( NARTH ) in the United States are not supported by science and that so-called treatments of homosexuality as recommended by NARTH create a setting in which prejudice and discrimination can flourish . SOCE have been controversial due to tensions between the values held by some right-wing faith-based organizations , on the one hand , and those held by LGBT rights organizations , human rights and civil rights organizations , and other faith-based organizations , as well as professional and scientific organizations , on the other . Some individuals and groups have , contrary to global scientific research and consensus , promoted the idea of homosexuality as symptomatic of developmental defects or spiritual and moral failings and have argued that SOCE , including psychotherapy and religious efforts , could alter homosexual feelings and behaviors . Such efforts are potentially harmful because they present the view that the sexual orientation of lesbian , gay , and bisexual youth is a mental illness or disorder , and they often frame the inability to change one 's sexual orientation as a personal and moral failure . Many of these individuals and groups appeared to be embedded within the larger context of conservative religious political movements that have supported the stigmatization of homosexuality on political or religious grounds .", "Global warming controversy The global warming controversy concerns the public debate over whether global warming is occurring , how much has occurred in modern times , what has caused it , what its effects will be , whether any action should be taken to curb it , and if so what that action should be . In the scientific literature , there is a strong consensus that global surface temperatures have increased in recent decades and that the trend is caused by human-induced emissions of greenhouse gases . No scientific body of national or international standing disagrees with this view , though a few organizations with members in extractive industries hold non-committal positions . Disputes over the key scientific facts of global warming are more prevalent in the media than in the scientific literature , where such issues are treated as resolved , and such disputes are more prevalent in the United States than globally . Political and popular debate concerning the existence and cause of climate change includes the reasons for the increase seen in the instrumental temperature record , whether the warming trend exceeds normal climatic variations , and whether human activities have contributed significantly to it . Scientists have resolved these questions decisively in favour of the view that the current warming trend exists and is ongoing , that human activity is the cause , and that it is without precedent in at least 2000 years . Public disputes that also reflect scientific debate include estimates of how responsive the climate system might be to any given level of greenhouse gases ( climate sensitivity ) , how global climate change will play out at local and regional scales , and what the consequences of global warming will be . Global warming remains an issue of widespread political debate , often split along party political lines , especially in the United States . Many of the issues that are settled within the scientific community , such as human responsibility for global warming , remain the subject of politically or economically motivated attempts to downplay , dismiss or deny them -- an ideological phenomenon categorised by academics and scientists as climate change denial . The sources of funding for those involved with climate science -- both supporting and opposing mainstream scientific positions -- have been questioned by both sides . There are debates about the best policy responses to the science , their cost-effectiveness and their urgency . Climate scientists , especially in the United States , have reported official and oil-industry pressure to censor or suppress their work and hide scientific data , with directives not to discuss the subject in public communications . Legal cases regarding global warming , its effects , and measures to reduce it have reached American courts . The fossil fuels lobby has been identified as overtly or covertly supporting efforts to undermine or discredit the scientific consensus on global warming .", "Climate change denial Climate change denial , or global warming denial , is part of the global warming controversy . It involves denial , dismissal , unwarranted doubt or contrarian views which strongly depart from the scientific opinion on climate change , including the extent to which it is caused by humans , its impacts on nature and human society , or the potential of adaptation to global warming by human actions . Some deniers do endorse the term , but others often prefer the term climate change skepticism , although this is a misnomer for those who deny anthropogenic global warming . In effect , the two terms form a continuous , overlapping range of views , and generally have the same characteristics : both reject , to a greater or lesser extent , mainstream scientific opinion on climate change . Climate change denial can also be implicit , when individuals or social groups accept the science but fail to come to terms with it or to translate their acceptance into action . Several social science studies have analyzed these positions as forms of denialism . Campaigning to undermine public trust in climate science has been described as a `` denial machine '' of industrial , political and ideological interests , supported by conservative media and skeptical bloggers in manufacturing uncertainty about global warming . In the public debate , phrases such as climate skepticism have frequently been used with the same meaning as climate denialism . The labels are contested : those actively challenging climate science commonly describe themselves as `` skeptics '' , but many do not comply with common standards of scientific skepticism and , regardless of evidence , persistently deny the validity of human caused global warming . Although scientific opinion on climate change is that human activity is extremely likely to be the primary driver of climate change , the politics of global warming have been affected by climate change denial , hindering efforts to prevent climate change and adapt to the warming climate . Those promoting denial commonly use rhetorical tactics to give the appearance of a scientific controversy where there is none . Of the world 's countries , the climate change denial industry is most powerful in the United States . Since January 2015 , the United States Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works has been chaired by oil lobbyist and climate change denier Jim Inhofe . Inhofe is notorious for having called climate change `` the greatest hoax ever perpetrated against the American people '' and for having claimed to have debunked the alleged hoax in February 2015 when he brought a snowball with him in the Senate chamber and tossed it across the floor . Organised campaigning to undermine public trust in climate science is associated with conservative economic policies and backed by industrial interests opposed to the regulation of emissions . Climate change denial has been associated with the fossil fuels lobby , the Koch brothers , industry advocates and libertarian think tanks , often in the United States . More than 90 % of papers sceptical on climate change originate from right-wing think tanks . The total annual income of these climate change counter-movement-organizations is roughly $ 900 million . Between 2002 and 2010 , nearly $ 120 million ( # 77 million ) was anonymously donated via the Donors Trust and Donors Capital Fund to more than 100 organisations seeking to undermine the public perception of the science on climate change . In 2013 the Center for Media and Democracy reported that the State Policy Network ( SPN ) , an umbrella group of 64 U.S. think tanks , had been lobbying on behalf of major corporations and conservative donors to oppose climate change regulation . Since the late 1970s , oil companies have published research broadly in line with the standard views on global warming . Despite this , oil companies organized a climate change denial campaign to disseminate public disinformation for several decades , a strategy that has been compared to the organized denial of the hazards of tobacco smoking by tobacco companies .", "View synthesis Currently a study branch of Computer Science Research , aims to create new views of a specific subject starting from a number of pictures taken from given point of views . Vision Research and Artificial Intelligence fields are involved in the definition of suitable approaches to the problem . See Computer Vision Example problem 1 : Given a number of images of a specific subject , taken from specific points with specific camera setting and orientations , try to build a synthetic image as taken from a virtual camera placed in a different point and with given settings . Example problem 2 : Two people interact through their computers , using a webcam . Try to render corrected images , as if taken from a virtual webcam positioned behind the application window . This would solve the long-standing Eye contact problem which is experienced in this environment . A double illusion is perceived by the users : each of them looks at each other 's face , but neither of them get the proper feeling of it . An example application of View Synthesis is Free view point television .", "Don't cross the bridge until you come to it Do n't cross the bridge until you come to it is an English language proverb that is rich in metaphor . When taken literally , it does not make sense , but has meaning as a proverb . `` Cross the bridge '' is a metaphor for solving a problem or overcoming an obstacle . `` Until you come '' to the bridge is a metaphor for waiting until a vague or low-probability problem arises so you can learn more about what the problem is , before trying to solve or overcome it . The following sentences paraphrase various aspects of the proverb : `` Wait for ill-defined problems to be clarified before dealing with them . '' `` Do n't be concerned about distant-future problems until they become near-present problems . '' `` Do n't try to solve that problem until you are prepared to deal with it . '' `` Do n't waste your time preparing for all potential problems , because most of them will no longer be problems when you get to them , or because conditions will have changed by then . '' `` Do n't work on that problem until the scheduled time . ''", "Bokapahari Bokapahari is a village in Dhanbad district , Jharkhand State , India . It is located over subsurface coal fires , and residents make a living gathering and selling coal . The Government of India is trying to relocate them elsewhere , but most of the residents have refused to move , saying they would be unable to make a living elsewhere .", "Concurrent jurisdiction Concurrent jurisdiction exists where two or more courts from different systems simultaneously have jurisdiction over a specific case . This situation leads to forum shopping , as parties will try to have their civil or criminal case heard in the court that they perceive will be most favorable to them .", "Air pollution in Germany Air pollution in Germany has significantly decreased over the past decade . Air pollution occurs when harmful substances are released into the Earth 's atmosphere . These pollutants are released through human activity and natural sources . Germany took interest in reducing its greenhouse gas ( GHG ) emissions by switching to renewable energy sources . Renewable energy use rose from 6.3 % in 2000 to 34 % in 2016 . Through the transition to renewable energy sources , Germany has become the climate change policy leader and renewable energy leader in the European Union ( EU ) and in the world with ambitious climate change programs . The current goal of the German government was approved on 14 November 2016 in the German Climate Action Plan 2050 , which outlines measures by which Germany can meet its greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 . By 2050 , Germany wants to reduce their GHGs by 80 to 95 % and by 2030 they want to reduce it by 55 % , compared to the EU target of 40 % . In order to achieve these goals , a variety of strategies and policies are used rather than legislation . The four strategies the German government bases air pollution control on are laying down environmental quality standards , emission reduction requirements according to the best available technology , production regulations , and laying down emission ceilings . Through these strategies , policy instruments have been put in place that have contributed to the success of the significant air pollution reduction in Germany . These instruments include the Federal Emission Control Act and Implementing Ordinances , Technical Instructions on Air Quality Control ( TA Luft ) , Amendment to Ordinance on Small Firing Installations , Implementation of the directive on industrial emissions , and Transboundary air pollution control policy . The German Feed-in-Tariff policy introduced in 2000 led to the significant increase in renewable energy use and decreasing air pollution . They have been introduced in Germany to increase the use of renewables , such as wind power , biomass , hydropower , geothermal power , and photovoltaics , thereby reducing GHG emissions causing air pollution and combating climate change . The German government has been an agenda setter in international climate policy negotiations since the late 1980s . However , national and global climate policies have become a top priority since the conservative-social democratic government came into power in 2005 , pushing both European and international climate negotiations . Positive path dependency in Germany 's climate and energy policies has occurred over the past 20 years . There are three main triggers that put Germany on this positive path dependency and what led them to becoming a climate change policy leader . The first being the widespread damages to health , due to smog , and to nature , due to acid rain , caused by air pollution . The second being the shock of the two oil price crises , in 1973 and 1979 , that highlighted the problem of the German economy 's strong dependence on unsure foreign sources . The third being the growing opposition to the country 's growing reliance on nuclear energy . Air pollution began to be seen as a problem in Germany due to these three triggers , causing Germany to put policies into place to control air pollution . This has now developed from controlling air pollution to being a leader in climate change politics . __ TOC __", "Green industrial policy Green industrial policy ( GIP ) is strategic government policy that attempts to accelerate the development and growth of green industries to transition towards a low-carbon economy . Natural scientists warn that immediate action must be taken to lower greenhouse gas emissions and mitigate the effects of climate change . Social scientists argue that the mitigation of climate change requires state intervention and governance reform . Thus , governments use GIP to address the economic , political , and environmental issues of climate change . GIP is conducive to sustainable economic , institutional , and technological transformation . It goes beyond the free market economic structure to address market failures and commitment problems that hinder sustainable investment . Effective GIP builds political support for carbon regulation which is necessary to transition towards a low-carbon economy . Several governments use different types of GIP that lead to various outcomes . GIP and industrial policy are similar , although GIP has unique challenges and goals . GIP faces the particular challenge of reconciling economic and environmental issues . It deals with a high uncertainty of green investment profitability . Furthermore , it addresses the reluctance of industry to invest in green development , and it helps current governments influence future climate policy . GIP offers opportunities for energy transition to renewables and a low-carbon economy . A large challenge for climate policy is a lack of industry and public support . GIP creates benefits that attract support for sustainability . It can create strategic niche management and generate a `` green spiral '' , or a process of feedback that combines industrial interests with climate policy . GIP can protect employees in emerging and declining industries , which leads to political support for other climate policy . Carbon pricing , sustainable energy transitions , and decreases in greenhouse gas emissions have higher chances of success as political support increases . GIP faces many risks . Some risks include poor government choices about which industries to support ; political capture of economic policy ; wasted resources ; ineffective action to combat climate change ; poor policy design that lacks policy objectives and exit strategies ; trade disputes ; and coordination failure . Strategic steps can be taken to manage the risks of GIP . Some include public and private sector communication , transparency , and accountability ; policy with clear objectives , evaluation techniques and exit strategies ; policy learning and policy experimentation ; green rent management ; strong institutions ; and a free press . Governments in various countries , states , provinces , territories , and cities use different types of green industrial policy . Distinct policy instruments lead to several outcomes . Examples include sunrise and sunset policies , subsidies , research and development , local content requirements , feed-in tariffs , tax credits , export restrictions , consumer mandates , green public procurement rules , and renewable portfolio standards .", "Institutionalism in political parties Party Institutionalism is an approach that sees political parties as having some capacities for adaptation , but also sees them as being `` prisoners of their own history as an institution '' . Aspects of the ideology that a party had when it was founded , persists even though the conditions and the party-base in society have changed . Scholars of this approach claim that the party 's history determines how the party adapts to modern day challenges . The left -- right is still central in order to understand a party 's policy , but the core of these theories is to compare the party 's beliefs and values today with the ones at their founding . In analyzing a party 's ideological orientation we must begin by analyzing the very origin of the party . One framework within this tradition is offered by Klaus von Beyme who identifies nine party-groups , or `` familles spirituelles '' , that can be found in European liberal democracies today : Liberal and Radical parties Conservative parties Socialist and Social Democratic parties Christian Democratic parties Communist parties Agrarian parties Regional and ethnic parties Right-wing extremist parties Ecology movement Von Beyme claims that at the time of their founding these parties reflected the needs to defend a particular kind of interests , but recognized that not every European party could be fitted into this schema . He has been criticized of being tempted to try to fit too many parties into this schema , when in reality there is not grounds for doing so . It needs to be said as well that quite many of the European parties classified into the categories above are regarded as having more or less lost contact with their original `` famille spirituelle '' . Consequently one can wonder what , eg , the British Conservatives today have in common with their founding fathers hundreds of years ago , taking into account New Right ideas and certain aspects of liberalism applied by the party . Likewise the Norwegian Social Democratic party is widely held to have moved away drastically from its inception as a socialist party in 1889 . Today this party has assumed more of a centralist role ( regarding for instance issues like state ownership as well as abandoning their corporatist ties with the Norwegian Trade Association ) . One might ask what the point is of classifying the parties into these categories when they do not fit . The answer would be that one should look at the broad picture , and use von Beyme 's tool to make sense of certain tendencies in European politics . However , it would also be important to recognize the fact that western European societies have changed tremendously in course of the last decades regarding a number of issues . Therefore , by identifying these factors one might also broaden the understanding of the generally changing patterns of party - ideology in Europe today , compared to the 1950s .", "Changing room (disambiguation) Changing room may refer to : changeroom , a room or enclosure in a clothing store where customers may try on clothes before purchasing them Changing Rooms , a BBC television series The Changing Room , a stage play by David Storey", "Country attractiveness Country attractiveness is a multidisciplinary concept at the crossroads of development economics , financial economics , comparative law and political science : it aims at tracking and contrasting the relative appeal of different territories and jurisdictions competing for `` scarce '' investment inflows , by scoring them quantitatively and qualitatively across ad hoc series of variables such as GDP growth , tax rates , capital repatriation ... etc. . There are multiple factors determining host country attractiveness in the eyes of large foreign direct institutional investors , notably pension funds and sovereign wealth funds . Research conducted by the World Pensions Council ( WPC ) suggests that perceived legal/political stability over time and medium-term economic growth dynamics constitute the two main determinants Some development economists believe that a sizeable part of Western Europe has now fallen behind the most dynamic amongst Asia 's emerging markets , notably because the latter adopted policies more propitious to long-term investments : `` Successful countries such as Singapore , Indonesia and South Korea still remember the harsh adjustment mechanisms imposed abruptly upon them by the IMF and World Bank during the 1997-1998 ` Asian Crisis ' -LSB- ... -RSB- What they have achieved in the past 10 years is all the more remarkable : they have quietly abandoned the `` Washington consensus '' -LSB- the dominant Neoclassical perspective -RSB- by investing massively in infrastructure projects -LSB- ... -RSB- this pragmatic approach proved to be very successful . ''", "Historical institutionalism Historical institutionalism ( HI ) is a new institutionalist social science method that uses institutions to find sequences of social , political , economic behavior and change across time . It is a comparative approach to the study of all aspects of human organizations and does so by relying heavily on case studies . Borrowing from Charles Tilly , historical institutionalism is a method apt for measuring `` big structures , large processes , and -LSB- making -RSB- huge comparisons '' . Historical Institutionalism has generated some of the most important books in the fields of sociology , political science and economics . In fact , some of these studies have inspired policy and its scholars have received numerous awards . Although historical institutionalism proper is fairly new ( circa 1979 ) , it identifies with the great traditions in history , philosophy , politics , sociology and economics .", "Civil society campaign A civil society campaign is one that is intended to mobilize public support and use democratic tools such as lobbying in order to instigate social change . Civil society campaigns can seek local , national or international objectives . They can be run by dedicated single-issue groups such as Baby Milk Action , or by professional non-governmental organisations ( NGOs ) , such as the World Development Movement , who may have several campaigns running at any one time . Larger coalition campaigns such as 2005 's Make Poverty History may involve a combination of NGOs . Effective campaigning can sometimes achieve much more than good works or giving to charity . For example , the Jubilee 2000 debt campaign persuaded G7 governments to cancel $ 100 billion of debt owned by poor countries , releasing more money for development than 1,000 years of Christian Aid in weeks . In the UK , ASH ( Action on Smoking and Health ) 's campaign for a ban on smoking in public places in 2006 saved over 2,000 lives and billions of pounds a year . The Empty Homes Agency is working with UK local authorities to bring thousands of properties into use as a result of a successful amendment to the UK Housing Act 2004 . Campaigning is increasingly recognised as an important way for NGOs to achieve their objectives . Many charities employ campaigners , produce campaigning materials and train their supporters to campaign . The Charity Commission for England and Wales says that `` charities may undertake campaigning and political activity as a positive way of furthering or supporting their purposes . '' Some organisations , such as the Centre for Policy Studies , want to keep charities and community groups out of politics . Many NGOs and community groups are wary of campaigning . They worry about being political or offending their funders . The problems voluntary organisations deal with often need political action , as well as good works . Over 200 years ago there were charities for the welfare of slaves , but abolishing the institution of slavery was also necessary . There is still a lot wrong with the world about which to campaign . Not all problems can be solved by campaigning . Sometimes it is better to provide a service , as a private business , a social enterprise or a charity . But many problems are best solved by influencing the policies and actions of an industry , firm , public service or government rather than trying to fix them yourself . Most campaigns are small , such as improving play space in a park , creating access for people with disabilities or changing work practices . Some tackle very big issues , like climate change , world poverty and injustice . Many campaigns do n't get anywhere or make very slow progress . Some even undermine their own cause , because they turn people off or make mistakes . Influencing others takes skill and knowledge as well as commitment .", "Bigfoot Bonkers Bigfoot Bonkers is a 2-player ( only ) arcade game released by Meadows Games in 1976 . It is a clone of Blockade . Players move their blocks across the screen to create walls to try to surround their opponents and force them to crash into the walls or any block or obstacle like a ` foot ' .", "Jangmadang Jangmadang , , is a term usually used to refer to North Korean farmers ' markets , local markets and black markets . Since the North Korean famine , they have formed a large informal economy . In recent years , the government has become more lenient on their existence , but however , merchants still face heavy regulations . Currently a majority of North Koreans are dependent on markets for their survival . The North Korean government has tried to regulate growth of the market economy in North Korea with a variety of methods . Some of them such as regulating age of traders has caused some societal changes such as making women more responsible for earning money for their families . This has resulted in changing gender roles in North Korean society . There have been speculations on the possible role of black market in causing reforms of North Korean government and economy , possibly in similar manner as in China ·", "Conservation and restoration of photographs The Conservation and restoration of photographs is the study of the physical care and treatment of photographic materials . It covers both efforts undertaken by photograph conservators , librarians , archivists , and museum curators who manage photograph collections at a variety of cultural heritage institutions , as well as steps taken to preserve collections of personal and family photographs . It is an umbrella term that includes both preventative preservation activities such as environmental control and conservation techniques that involve treating individual items . Both preservation and conservation require an in-depth understanding of how photographs are made , and the causes and prevention of deterioration . Conservator-restorers use this knowledge to treat photographic materials , stabilizing them from further deterioration , and sometimes restoring them for aesthetic purposes . While conservation can improve the appearance of a photograph , image quality is not the primary purpose of conservation . Conservators will try to improve the visual appearance of a photograph as much as possible , while also ensuring its long-term survival and adhering the profession 's ethical standards . Photograph conservators also play a role in the field of connoisseurship . Their understanding of the physical object and its structure makes them uniquely suited to a technical examination of the photograph , which can reveal clues about how , when , and where it was made . Photograph preservation is distinguished from digital or optical restoration , which is concerned with creating and editing a digital copy of the original image rather than treating the original photographic material . Photograph preservation does not normally include moving image materials , which by their nature require a very different approach . Film preservation concerns itself with these materials .", "Munching square The Munching Square is a display hack dating back to the PDP-1 ( ca. 1962 , reportedly discovered by Jackson Wright ) , which employs a trivial computation ( repeatedly plotting the graph Y = X XOR T for successive values of T ) to produce an impressive display of moving and growing squares that devour the screen . The initial value of T is treated as a parameter , which , when well-chosen , can produce amazing effects . Some of these , later ( re ) discovered on the LISP machine , have been christened munching triangles ( try AND for XOR and toggling points instead of plotting them ) , munching w 's , and munching mazes . More generally , suppose a graphics program produces an impressive and ever-changing display of some basic form , foo , on a display terminal , and does it using a relatively simple program ; then the program ( or the resulting display ) is likely to be referred to as munching foos .", "Battle of Chotusitz The Battle of Chotusitz , or Chotusice , sometimes called the Battle of Czaslau , was fought on May 17 , 1742 , in Bohemia between the Austrians under Prince Charles Alexander of Lorraine and the Prussians under Frederick the Great . The battle was a part of the War of the Austrian Succession sometimes referred to as the First Silesian War . The armies were about equal at 28,000 to 30,000 each , with the Prussians having about 2,000 more infantry and the Austrians some 2,000 more cavalry . The Austrians were attempting to retake occupied Prague and the Prussians were trying to block them from accomplishing that . The battle of Chotusitz was especially notable in that it was the only major battle started by the Austrians during this war .", "Policy entrepreneur Policy entrepreneur refers to an individual who takes advantage of opportunities to influence policy outcomes to increase their self-interests . The term was first coined by American political scientist John W. Kingdon in his influential work Agendas , Alternatives and Public Policies published in 1995 . Kingdon created the Multiple Streams Framework ( MSF ) which outlines that the policy process can be situated into problems , policy and politics . Political entrepreneurs are most active in the policy stream , creating solutions to potential problems and bringing them forth to the agenda setting process . The Multiple Streams Framework is a powerful tool to understand policy making and agenda setting . It was first created to analyze and understand agenda setting in the United States . Policy entrepreneurs are the most important actors in the Multiple Streams Framework , as they develop policy alternatives and couple them with problems to present solutions to policy makers at the right time . He himself describes them as `` advocates who are willing to invest their resources - time , energy , reputation , money - to promote a position in return for anticipated future gain in the form of material , purposive or solidary benefits '' Policy entrepreneurs use innovative ideas and non-traditional strategies to influence society , create opportunities , and promote desired policy outcomes . Policy entrepreneurship usually happens over three phases . It starts with a demand in the political landscape for some form of innovation involving a public good . Secondly , an innovative policy instrument is proposed to supply that demand . Lastly , strategies are used such as team building , problem definition , and leadership by example to make certain that the innovation is placed on the agenda . Unlike a public intellect who strives to assert themselves into many different topics and be publicly vocal , a policy entrepreneur will focus on specific topics and possibly work behind the scenes with state and political elite . Origin The term entrepreneur is derived from the French word entreprendre , i.e. to undertake . The French economist Jean-Baptiste Say first coined the term in 1803 and defined an entrepreneur as an individual who `` shifts economic resources out of an area of lower and into an area of higher productivity and greater yield '' . Many decades later , scholars gradually have expanded the use of the idea of entrepreneurship and adapted the concept from business to the public sector . John Kingdon ( 1984 ) was one of the earliest scholars to apply the term entrepreneurs to the public sector ; he first coined the term `` policy entrepreneur '' in his work Agendas , Alternatives and Public Policies . This new term has been addressed in other works but has n't been systematically used by other political scientists in theories of policy change . Multiple Streams Framework Kingdon 's multiple-streams framework ( MSF ) has been frequently used since the publication of his book Agendas , Alternatives and Public Policies in 1984 . His model is an interpretation of the garbage can model of organizational choice . In a garbage can model , organization is seen as groups of choices that seek out problems , issues and feelings that look for decisions and solutions and people willing to solve them . The multiple-streams adaption of this sees that policies can be created by joining together problems , policies and politics , all of which are seen as decision aspects in a policy process . Government agendas are created when problems are recognized that have viable solutions that will be politically correct to make at the time of decision making . Kingdon recognizes when these three aspects join together using the term `` policy window '' . When a policy window is recognized and open , there is a potential for policy making to happen . Policy entrepreneurs function at this time as the action takers who take advantage of these windows while they are open . In the problems stream , conditions are defined as problems based on how an individual values and believes in it and how much of an impact will happen through change . In the policy stream , ideas and solutions are formulated through policy ideas usually developed by specialists to an issue . Policy development has better chance of surviving implementation if it has support from various different communities effected by the policy . The politics stream focuses on different elements that will effect a policy such as national mood , efforts by the people to campaign for change and legislative turnover . The multiple-streams framework is considered to provide the best conceptual insight in terms of the presence and influence of policy entrepreneurs and their role in emergence of policy windows by using the three ` streams ' to explain the gap between a problem getting attention and the adoption of an impactful solution . Kingdon claims these are not linear processes , instead , these three streams are to be treated as separate streams , able to happen in any order . He states that these three streams must come together at the same time . These streams are that a window of opportunity must exist , as well as a viable solution , combined with the motivation and the opportunity of the policy makers to select the solution . Many opportunities for policy change open , but most of them close before anyone even has a chance to take advantage because the attention of the policy agenda shifts dramatically . Kingdon applied this reasoning to the political system of the United States . Since policy makers do not have the time to devote to detailed policies , they give the responsibility to civil servants who consult with think tanks and interest groups to produce policy solutions . The likelihood of significant policy change is challenging to predict due to it requiring sustained attention , an acceptable solution , and some compromise of the political system . Building on Kingdon 's work , Nikolaos Zahariadis defines it as a tool which explains how government policies are created with conditions of ambiguity . Since 2000 , Kingdon 's book has been cited over 10,000 through Google Scholar and applied in over 1,900 times in peer reviewed articles . Idea to Implementation In the multiple-streams frameworks , policy entrepreneurs do most of their work in the policy stream working on agenda setting ideas . The role of a policy entrepreneur is to first identify demand for innovation in the political landscape when a recognizable policy window is open . When this window is open , a policy entrepreneur has a limited amount of time to undergo the initial launch of proposing policy recommendations to supply the demand by utilizing their personal , network and institutional resources to take action on joining streams together on their idea through the policy stages . This is done by addressing issues and problems and coming up with solutions to them by creating policy alternatives into a product that they can present as a persuasive agenda that policy-makers should examine . They will implement persuasive strategies and techniques on the policy-makers to coerce their innovation onto the agenda . A successful policy entrepreneur will manage to get their issues onto a political agenda and potentially pass and influence a form of legislation that relates to their personal benefit . However , not every attempt will be successful . If unsuccessful , a policy entrepreneur may hold onto their agenda for a later time or even apply it to a different issue that they deem may work . Characteristics Of A Policy Entrepreneur Not anyone can decide that they want to become a policy entrepreneur . These individuals have a credential that allows their opinions to be heard over others . This could be having expert knowledge on a topic or holding an important position of power in a corporation or special interest group that allows them to make decisions . A policy entrepreneur usually will have a large network of people with political influence that they utilize when pushing their idea forward . Persistence is essential for a policy entrepreneur to be successful . Many hours must be dedicated to their idea by giving speeches and talks , writing papers and speaking in front of government committees if they are to have success . Policy entrepreneurs are crucial actors in policy making , Kingdon himself explained that policy entrepreneurs are `` advocates who are willing to invest their resources - time , energy , reputation , money - to promote a position in return for anticipated future gain in the form of material , purposive or solidary benefits '' . Other political scientists have taken Kingdon 's definition and expanded further . Michael Mintrom applied a public policy perspective to the term stating , `` they are individuals who through their creativity , strategy , networking , and persuasive argumentation are able to bring new policy ideas into the open and promote policy change '' . Years later , using a constructivist perspective , Michael Mazarr added to this saying , `` policy entrepreneurs can be seen as the human embodiment of the social construction of policy . Advocates determined , for one reason or another , to fight inertia , the bureaucracy , opposing interests , and anything else in their way to get the idea through the window -LSB- of opportunity -RSB- and into law or policy . '' . Review And Criticisms Reviews of Agendas , Alternatives , and Public Policy display mixed opinions on the approaches and concepts created by Kingdon . Roger Cobb , former professor of political science at Brown University writes in an article for the Journal of Health Politics , Policy and Law that Kingdon 's garbage can model approach is a completely random decision-making tool that lacks content . Cobb states that the greatest contribution of the garbage can model is the creation of new terms like policy entrepreneur that give the help give the sense of focus on policy problems but then argues that Kingdon himself may not fully believe in what he has created . He criticizes that Kingdon makes a legitimate arguments for structure by writing about `` predictable policy windows '' that are attributable to different political cycles but makes rations that would contradict his whole argument . Evelyn Brodkin , associate professor at The University of Chicago School of Social Service Administration , writes in Political Science Quarterly that Kingdon 's book provides a good analysis of how policy participants see their own role in influencing others , raising issue awareness and framing these issues for debate . She finds that his findings are beneficial for pursuing more empirical investigation and debate on different models of the agenda-setting process . In her criticism , Brodkin argues that the book fails to challenge criticisms of the pluralist theory that focus on discrepancies that illustrate how certain groups and issues systematically are excluded from the political process in which Kingdon 's work is modelled on . The frequent use of Kingdons agenda-setting framework in policy analysis is especially interesting because the book focuses solely on the United States . It can be argued that a framework developed exclusively on the basis of the examination of a single nation should not be able to generate useful insight in comparative research across the globe . Still , the MSF has been used in a large number of studies of subnational politics such as the European Union , the United Nations , and countries beyond the USA . Cairney and Zahariadis explain that this is because Kingdon 's MSF possesses a language that is flexible enough to be relevant on a wide range of policy making processes . Its insights are universal enough to apply in most political systems . Harald Sætren , professor at University of Bergen Department of Administration and Organization Theory , writes in Policy Sciences that one of the problems with the multiple-streams framework is that differing methods of finding issues and solutions potentially can effect how successful a policy entrepreneur can be in coupling policy streams . Policy Entrepreneurs As of 2017 , it 's not a recognized job position held . John Kingdon 's research consisted of case studies on 23 different people he deemed to be policy entrepreneurs . . Isambard Kingdom Brunel is a mechanical engineer that engaged in the debate about whether paddle wheels or screw propellors were more powerful for moving boats . He tested this by building one of each and using them in a channel to see which would tug the hardest . The point of his story is that he was engaged on the ground and not just researching in a lab . Policy entrepreneurs need to be practically involved in testing their theories if they want their recommendations to be considered In a study done by Mark Beeson and Diane Stone , Ross Garnaut was examined in a role of a policy entrepreneur . Garnaut was a highly decorated scholar , recognized economist who was also an ambassador to China and a prime ministerial advisor in Australia . In his role as advisor to Prime Minister Hawke , he wrote to him about problems with fixed exchange rates and instituting labour-market reform . The government went on to implement a radical program of economic liberalisation that included addressing some of the issues Garnaut consulted on . See Also Political Entrepreneur Politician Social Entrepreneur Agenda Setting Theory Lobbyist", "The Sons of Heaven The Sons of Heaven is a science fiction novel written by Kage Baker . It is the last in her series of novels about The Company . The Company , formally known as Dr. Zeus Inc. , exists in the 24th century but employs immortal cyborgs to recover and save valuable artifacts in the past . The cyborgs are created by taking suitable children who would otherwise die and augmenting them with artificial components , physiological enhancements , and nanotechnology to continually repair their bodies so that they never age or die . In exchange for the gift of health and immortality they work to preserve the past for sale in the future . Some cyborgs are corrupt , plotting against the Company and each other for the prize they expect to gain when they finally reach the 24th century , when they believe they will take over from the mortals who run the Company . Others despise mortals and plot to eliminate them . More benign factions try to counter them . Some individuals just want revenge .", "The Substitute (2007 film) The Substitute ( Vikaren ) is a 2007 Danish science fiction horror film directed by Ole Bornedal . The story takes place in a small village in Denmark where an alien comes to Earth to learn about human emotions , but instead is thwarted by a young boy and his friends , who find out that she is part of an intergalactic expedition to collect specimens across the universe . It 's up to Carl and his friends to save their town and the world . They try to tell their parents , but all of them scoff at the idea that their children would make up lies about their teacher .", "Culture Club (songbook) Culture Club is a songbook by the British new wave-oriented band Culture Club . It contains ten of their best songs for melody line with lyrics and guitar boxes , so that fans , either amateur or professional musicians , may try to play them if they wish .", "Dalaketnon Dalaketnon are the evil engkanto . Dalaketnons appeared as a gothic like tall , handsome males and beautiful females . They dress in fashionable manner , live in the `` haunted house-like '' mansions and try to fit in with mortal people . Some believe that the only way to Dalaket , their dwelling place , is by entering the Dalaket trees . These creatures abduct people and take them to their world . They hold a feast for their victims and force them to eat the Black Rice that put them under their spell making them their slaves . Dalaketnons were known to be rather beautiful elitists . They have a bit of a coño , a kind of telekinesis as well as corporeal duplication -- meaning they could generate tangible , living copies of themselves indefinitely , and their hairs and eyes turn white whenever their power manifests . The Dalaketnons have a normal contact with humans but the humans do not know that they are engkanto . Old folks believed that Dalaketnons can change an ordinary human into creatures like them . They use a magical black rice to change their victims into a Dalaketnon . It was also believed that they were the mortal enemies of the good engkanto . They are from the royal blood of evil engkantos that served as their ruler . They were associated to be the masters of Tiyanak , Aswang , Bal-Bal , Wak Wak , Manananggal , Amalanhig , and even Tiktik .", "Stardust@home Stardust@home is a citizen science project that encourages volunteers to search images for tiny interstellar dust impacts . The project began providing data for analysis on August 1 , 2006 . From February to May 2000 and from August to December 2002 , the Stardust spacecraft exposed its `` Stardust Interstellar Dust Collector '' ( SIDC ) , a set of aerogel blocks about 0.1 m ² ( 1 ft ² ) in total size , to interstellar dust . The collector media consist of 130 blocks of 1 and 3 cm thick silica-based aerogel mounted in aluminum cells . In order to spot impacts of interstellar dust , just over 700,000 individual fields of the aerogel will have to be visually inspected using large magnification . Each field , which is composed of 40 images , will thus be termed a `` focus movie '' . Stardust@home will try to achieve this by distributing the work among volunteers . Unlike distributed computing projects , it does not try to harness the processing power of many computers . It uses them only to distribute and present the tasks to humans . This approach is similar to the earlier Clickworkers project to find Martian craters . Participants must pass a test to qualify to register to participate . After registering and passing the test , participants have access to the web-based `` virtual microscope '' which allows them to search each field for interstellar dust impacts by focusing up and down with a focus control . As an incentive for volunteers , the first five phases of Stardust@home allowed the first individual to discover a particular interstellar dust particle to name it . Also , the discoverer could appear as a co-author on any scientific paper announcing the discovery of the particle . As of February 2013 , twelve papers summarizing the results of the Stardust Interstellar Preliminary Examination ( ISPE ) have been submitted to Meteoritics and Planetary Science and are undergoing the peer-review process .", "Traded Life Policies Traded Life Policies ( or TLPs ) are most commonly United States-issued , whole-of-life assurance policies , but mainly Universal Life policies sold before they become claims , to allow the original owner to enjoy some of the benefits during their lifetime . A market for traded endowment and other life policies ( or TEPs ) has also existed in the UK for many years . The transaction by which an in-force life insurance policy is sold to a third party is known as a life settlement . In the case of whole life policies , the life assured is usually over 65 or with medical impairments . An estimated life expectancy can be obtained using population mortality statistics and evidence of the insured 's health . For traded endowments a more important factor to estimate is usually the future bonus ( participation ) rate . Holders of life policies might wish to sell before the policy becomes a claim for a number of reasons . It may be that they no longer wish to pay the premiums , or they might need the cash for purposes such as paying for care . The new owners continue to pay the premiums on the policies until they become a claim , either on the death of the insured life or on the maturity date . This concept of a secondary market for life insurance policies is far from new . A secondary market exists because policyholders can often get a better price for their policies on the open market than by surrendering them to the insurance company that issued them . Even so , investors can still buy them at deep discounts from their expected maturity values . So much so , that they have become a niche asset class for both institutions and private investors , to the extent that there are even mutual funds that invest in them .", "International business International business comprises all commercial transactions ( private and governmental , sales , investments , logistics , and transportation ) that take place between two or more regions , countries and nations beyond their political boundaries . Usually , private companies undertake transactions for profit ; governments undertake them for profit and for political reasons . The term `` international business '' refers to all those business activities which involve cross-border transactions of goods , services , and resources between two or more nations . Transactions of economic resources include capital , skills , people etc. for the purpose of the international production of physical goods and services such as finance , banking , insurance , construction etc. . A multinational enterprise ( MNE ) is a company that has a worldwide approach to markets and production or with operations in several countries . Well-known MNEs include fast-food companies such as McDonald 's and Yum Brands , vehicle manufacturers such as General Motors , Ford Motor Company and Toyota , consumer-electronics producers like Samsung , LG and Sony , and energy companies such as ExxonMobil , Shell and BP . As shown , multinational enterprises can make business in different types of market . Areas of study within this topic include differences in legal systems , political systems , economic policy , language , accounting standards , labor standards , living standards , environmental standards , local culture , corporate culture , foreign-exchange market , tariffs , import and export regulations , trade agreements , climate , education and many more topics . Each of these factors may require changes in how individual business units operate from 1 country to the next .", "Sydney artists' camps Artists ' camps flourished around Sydney Harbour in the 1880s and 1890s , mainly in the Mosman area making it `` Australia 's most painted suburb '' , but died out after the first decade of the twentieth century . They developed as a result of the enthusiasm for painting en plein air fostered by the Barbizon and Impressionist movements in France in the second half of the 19th century , and were modelled on the artists ' colonies which grew up in France and parts of the British Isles . In them , free-spirited young men gathered to live cheaply together in the open air , trying to capture the beauty of their surroundings in paintings and drawings . Financial stringency during the depression of the 1890s made life in the camps even more attractive for Australian artists trying to establish themselves in a difficult market .", "Climate change mitigation Climate change mitigation consists of actions to limit the magnitude or rate of long-term climate change . Climate change mitigation generally involves reductions in human ( anthropogenic ) emissions of greenhouse gases ( GHGs ) . Mitigation may also be achieved by increasing the capacity of carbon sinks , e.g. , through reforestation . Mitigation policies can substantially reduce the risks associated with human-induced global warming . According to the IPCC 's 2014 assessment report , `` Mitigation is a public good ; climate change is a case of the ` tragedy of the commons . Effective climate change mitigation will not be achieved if each agent ( individual , institution or country ) acts independently in its own selfish interest ( see international cooperation and emissions trading ) , suggesting the need for collective action . Some adaptation actions , on the other hand , have characteristics of a private good as benefits of actions may accrue more directly to the individuals , regions , or countries that undertake them , at least in the short term . Nevertheless , financing such adaptive activities remains an issue , particularly for poor individuals and countries . '' Examples of mitigation include phasing out fossil fuels by switching to low-carbon energy sources , such as renewable and nuclear energy , and expanding forests and other `` sinks '' to remove greater amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere . Energy efficiency may also play a role , for example , through improving the insulation of buildings . Another approach to climate change mitigation is climate engineering . Most countries are parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change ( UNFCCC ) . The ultimate objective of the UNFCCC is to stabilize atmospheric concentrations of GHGs at a level that would prevent dangerous human interference of the climate system . Scientific analysis can provide information on the impacts of climate change , but deciding which impacts are dangerous requires value judgments . In 2010 , Parties to the UNFCCC agreed that future global warming should be limited to below 2.0 ° C ( 3.6 ° F ) relative to the pre-industrial level . With the Paris Agreement of 2015 this was confirmed , but was revised with a new target laying down `` parties will do the best '' to achieve warming below 1.5 ° C . The current trajectory of global greenhouse gas emissions does not appear to be consistent with limiting global warming to below 1.5 or 2 ° C . Other mitigation policies have been proposed , some of which are more stringent or modest than the 2 ° C limit .", "Testimonial party A testimonial party is a political party that focuses on its principles , instead of adapting them to local or temporal issues in the pursuit of coalition government participation . It is a specific phenomenon in the Netherlands , because of the Dutch system of proportional representation , in which any party which has over 0.66 % of the vote can enter parliament , resulting in a large number of relatively small political parties , none of which are able to obtain a majority in the house of representatives . As a result , Dutch political parties will negotiate and compromise to form a coalition government . Testimonial parties will not compromise , and combined with the fact that they are usually small parties , participation in a coalition government is extremely unlikely . Examples of parties that have referred to themselves as `` testimonial '' include the orthodox Protestant Reformed Political Party ( SGP ) and the animal rights advocating Party for the Animals . In contrast , the term program party is used for parties oriented at coalition participation .", "Noisy investigation Noisy investigations are used by the Church of Scientology to intimidate , harass , and attack their enemies . The Church used to openly label such people as Fair Game . The goal of a noisy investigation may not be to find out anything , but to harass the person being investigated . The procedure is to contact friends , neighbours , co-workers , etc. and inform them that they are investigating crimes by the target person . A 1966 Hubbard Communications Office Executive Letter entitled `` How to do a NOISY Investigation '' described the practice as follows : `` You find out where he or she works or worked , doctor , dentist , friends , neighbours , anyone , and ` phone 'em up and say , ' I am investigating Mr/Mrs ... . for criminal activities as he/she has been trying to prevent Man 's freedom and is restricting my religious freedom and that of my friends and children , etc ' '' . Cooper , Paulette The Scandal of Scientology Chapter 9 : Attacking the Attackers Copyright © 1971 ( convenience link by Xenu.net ) The investigation may also be done by hired detectives . A memo , reprinted in the British paper `` People '' , said : `` We want at least one bad mark on every psychiatrist in England , a murder , an assault , or a rape or more than one ... . This is Project Psychiatry . We will remove them . '' Some Scientologists claim that their policy of `` Fair Game '' is no longer in effect , but critics of the Church maintain that whether the rule is still written in Scientology policy or not , the policy is still adhered to today . Some ex-Scientologists have claimed that the cancellation of the policy only cancelled the use of the words `` fair game '' and did not change the actual policy .", "Bunninadden GAA Bunninadden is a Gaelic Athletic Association club based in the south of the county , comprising the parish of Bunninadden in County Sligo , Republic of Ireland . Players often go months without drinking in the hope of winning a championship . Friends in other counties often can not understand the commitment to a small club in Sligo and try to lure them on the pints at the weekends instead of letting them return to Bunninadden ." ]

[ "Gondwana In paleogeography , Gondwana ( -LSB- pronɡɒndˈwɑːnə -RSB- ) , also Gondwanaland , is the name given to an ancient supercontinent . It is believed to have sutured about , joining East Gondwana to West Gondwana . Gondwana formed prior to Pangaea , and later became part of it . Around , Gondwana and Laurasia joined together to form the supercontinent Pangaea , which existed until approximately . Gondwana then separated from Laurasia ( the mid-Mesozoic era ) in the breakup of Pangaea , drifting farther south after the split . Gondwana itself then also broke apart . Gondwana included most of the landmasses in today 's Southern Hemisphere , including Antarctica , South America , Africa , Madagascar , and the Australian continent , as well as the Arabian Peninsula and the Indian subcontinent , which have now moved entirely into the Northern Hemisphere . The continent of Gondwana was named by Austrian scientist Eduard Suess , after the Gondwana region of central northern India which is derived from Sanskrit for `` forest of the Gonds '' . The name had been previously used in a geological context , first by H.B. Medlicott in 1872 , from which the Gondwana sedimentary sequences ( Permian-Triassic ) are also described . The adjective `` Gondwanan '' is in common use in biogeography when referring to patterns of distribution of living organisms , typically when the organisms are restricted to two or more of the now-discontinuous regions that were once part of Gondwana , including the Antarctic flora . For example , the plant family Proteaceae , known only from southern South America , South Africa , Australia , and New Zealand , is considered to have a `` Gondwanan distribution '' . This pattern is often considered to indicate an archaic , or relict , lineage .", "Supercontinent In geology , a supercontinent is the assembly of most or all of Earth 's continental blocks or cratons to form a single large landmass . However , the definition of a supercontinent can be ambiguous . Many earth scientists use the term `` supercontinent '' to mean `` a clustering of nearly all continents '' . This definition leaves room for interpretation when labeling a continental body and is easier to apply to Precambrian times . Using the first definition provided here , Gondwana is not considered a supercontinent , because the landmasses of Baltica , Laurentia and Siberia also existed at the same time but physically separate from each other . The landmass of Pangaea is the collective name describing all of these continental masses when they were most recently in proximity to one another . This would classify Pangaea as a supercontinent . According to the modern definitions , a supercontinent does not exist today . Supercontinents have assembled and dispersed multiple times in the geologic past ( see table ) . The positions of continents have been accurately determined back to the early Jurassic . However , beyond , continental positions are much less certain .", "Carbon dioxide Carbon dioxide ( chemical formula ) is a colorless gas with a density about 60 % higher than that of air ( 1.225 g/L ) that is odorless at normally encountered concentrations . Carbon dioxide consists of a carbon atom covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms . It occurs naturally in Earth 's atmosphere as a trace gas at a concentration of about 0.04 percent ( 400 ppm ) by volume . Natural sources include volcanoes , hot springs and geysers , and it is freed from carbonate rocks by dissolution in water and acids . Because carbon dioxide is soluble in water , it occurs naturally in groundwater , rivers and lakes , ice caps , glaciers and seawater . It is present in deposits of petroleum and natural gas . As the source of available carbon in the carbon cycle , atmospheric carbon dioxide is the primary carbon source for life on Earth and its concentration in Earth 's pre-industrial atmosphere since late in the Precambrian has been regulated by photosynthetic organisms and geological phenomena . Plants , algae and cyanobacteria use light energy to photosynthesize carbohydrate from carbon dioxide and water , with oxygen produced as a waste product . Carbon dioxide is produced by all aerobic organisms when they metabolize carbohydrates and lipids to produce energy by respiration . It is returned to water via the gills of fish and to the air via the lungs of air-breathing land animals , including humans . Carbon dioxide is produced during the processes of decay of organic materials and the fermentation of sugars in bread , beer and winemaking . It is produced by combustion of wood and other organic materials and fossil fuels such as coal , peat , petroleum and natural gas . It is a versatile industrial material , used , for example , as an inert gas in welding and fire extinguishers , as a pressurizing gas in air guns and oil recovery , as a chemical feedstock and in liquid form as a solvent in decaffeination of coffee and supercritical drying . It is added to drinking water and carbonated beverages including beer and sparkling wine to add effervescence . The frozen solid form of , known as `` dry ice '' is used as a refrigerant and as an abrasive in dry-ice blasting . Carbon dioxide is the most significant long-lived greenhouse gas in Earth 's atmosphere . Since the Industrial Revolution anthropogenic emissions - primarily from use of fossil fuels and deforestation - have rapidly increased its concentration in the atmosphere , leading to global warming . Carbon dioxide also causes ocean acidification because it dissolves in water to form carbonic acid .", "Carbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphere Carbon dioxide is an important trace gas in Earth 's atmosphere . Currently it constitutes about 0.041 % ( equal to 410 parts per million ; ppm ) by volume of the atmosphere . Despite its relatively small concentration is a potent greenhouse gas and plays a vital role in regulating Earth 's surface temperature through radiative forcing and the greenhouse effect . Reconstructions show that concentrations of in the atmosphere have varied , ranging from as high as 7,000 ppm during the Cambrian period about 500 million years ago to as low as 180 ppm during the Quaternary glaciation of the last two million years . Carbon dioxide is an integral part of the carbon cycle , a biogeochemical cycle in which carbon is exchanged between the Earth 's oceans , soil , rocks and the biosphere . Plants and other photoautotrophs use solar energy to produce carbohydrate from atmospheric carbon dioxide and water by photosynthesis . Almost all other organisms depend on carbohydrate derived from photosynthesis as their primary source of energy and carbon compounds . The current episode of global warming is attributed to increasing emissions of and other greenhouse gases into Earth 's atmosphere . The global annual mean concentration of in the atmosphere has increased by more than 40 % since the start of the Industrial Revolution , from 280 ppm , the level it had for the last 10,000 years leading up to the mid-18th century , to 399 ppm as of 2015 . The present concentration is the highest in at least the past 800,000 years and likely the highest in the past 20 million years . The increase has been caused by anthropogenic sources , particularly the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation . The daily average concentration of atmospheric CO2 at Mauna Loa Observatory first exceeded 400 ppm on 10 May 2013 . It is currently rising at a rate of approximately 2 ppm/year and accelerating . An estimated 30 -- 40 % of the released by humans into the atmosphere dissolves into oceans , rivers and lakes , which contributes to ocean acidification ." ]

[ "Alpha Wind Casimcea Wind Farm The Wind Farm Casimcea is an under construction wind power project in Tulcea County , Romania . It will consist of an individual wind farm with 77 individual wind turbines with a nominal output of around 2,3-3 MW which will deliver up to 688 000 000 kWh of power , enough to power over 445,000 homes , with a capital investment required of approximately $ 300 million .", "Gondwana Research Gondwana Research is a peer-reviewed scientific journal with an `` all earth science '' scope and an emphasis on the origin and evolution of continents .", "Gondwana (disambiguation) Gondwana may refer to : Gondwana , a super continent also known as Gondwanaland Gondwana Game Reserve , a game reserve in the Western Cape of South Africa Gondwana ( India ) , region also known as Gondaranya Gondwana ( band ) , Chilean reggae group Gondwanaland ( Australian band ) , Australian world music band , also known as Gondwanaland Project , Gondwana , and Charlie McMahon and Gondwana Gondwanaland , a 1988 album by the above group Gondwanaland ( album ) , an album by Steroid Maximus Gondwana ( composition ) , musical composition by Tristan Murail Gondwana , a song on live album Pangaea by Miles Davis Gondwana-1 , a submarine communications cable between Australia and New Caledonia Gondwana Choirs , an Australian National Children 's Choir MV Gondwana , a ship that belonged to Greenpeace", "Gualicho Gualicho ( named in reference to the gualichu ) is a genus of theropod dinosaur . The type species is Gualicho shinyae . Gualicho lived in what is now northern Patagonia , on what was then a South American island continent split off from the supercontinent Gondwana . The fossils were found in the Huincul Formation , dating to the late Cenomanian-early Turonian age of the upper Cretaceous Period , around 93 million years ago .", "Georgians in France Ethnic Georgians in France were - less than 2 000 from 1922 to 1939 , - around 10 000 ( 500 students , 2 000 asylum refugees and 8 000 legal residents ) at the end of 2013 .", "Carbon cycle re-balancing The carbon cycle is the process by which carbon is exchanged between the four reservoirs of carbon : the biosphere , the earth , the air and water . Exchanges take place in several ways , including respiration , transpiration , combustion , and decomposition . The carbon balance , or carbon budget , is the balance of exchange between the four reservoirs . Debate about 're - balancing the carbon cycle ' arises from a concern that use of fossil fuels , which has accelerated since the start of the industrial revolution , has caused carbon to accumulate in the atmosphere . Levels of CO2 in the atmosphere are estimated to have risen from 280 ppm to almost 400 ppm since 1800 and this is linked to global warming . It is therefore argued that the carbon cycle should be re-balanced by reducing the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere . ` Carbon cycle re-balancing ' is a useful name for a group of environmental policies listed below . The name gives a specific reason for adopting these policies . Related names , including pleas for sustainable development and participation in the green movement are politics-based rather than science-based . Carbon offset - for example by photosynthesis ( e.g. in new forests ) Carbon capture and storage - extraction of CO2 and placing it underground or underwater Carbon capture and transformation - extraction of CO2 and reacting it with hydrogen via renewable energy electrolysis to create methane as an energy store/carrier . Low to neutral cycle Sustainable energy - a shift from fossil fuels energy to wind power and solar power Nuclear power - as an alternative to fossil fuels Sustainable design - to reduce inputs and outputs of energy Sustainable transport - to reduce reliance on fossil fuels Burning domestic refuse to generate power can be promoted as a recycling , and therefore sustainable , policy . But from a carbon cycle re-balancing standpoint it is better to compost as much domestic refuse as possible .", "N-Methylphenethylamine N-Methylphenethylamine ( NMPEA ) is a naturally occurring trace amine neuromodulator in humans that is derived from the trace amine , phenethylamine ( PEA ) . It has been detected in human urine ( < 1 μg over 24 hours ) and is produced by phenylethanolamine N-methyltransferase with phenethylamine as a substrate . PEA and NMPEA are both alkaloids that are found in a number of different plant species as well . Some Acacia species , such as A. rigidula , contain remarkably high levels of NMPEA ( ~ 2300 -- 5300 ppm ) . NMPEA is also present at low concentrations ( < 10 ppm ) in a wide range of foodstuffs . NMPEA is a positional isomer of amphetamine .", "Presbyterian Church in Rwanda There is a Presbyterian Church in Rwanda which has around 300 ' 000 followers .", "Cimmeria (continent) Cimmeria was an ancient continent , or , rather , a string of microcontinents or terranes , that rifted from Gondwana in the Southern Hemisphere and was accreted to Eurasia in the Northern Hemisphere . It consisted of parts of what is today Turkey , Iran , Afghanistan , Tibet , Shan -- Thai , and Malaya . Cimmeria rifted from the Gondwanan shores of the Paleo-Tethys Ocean during the Carboniferous-earliest Permian and as the Neo-Tethys Ocean opened behind it , during the Permian , the Paleo-Tethys closed in front of it . Cimmeria rifted off Gondwana from east to west , from Australia to the eastern Mediterranean . It stretched across several latitudes and spanned a wide range of climatic zones .", "Glossopteridales Glossopteridales is an extinct order of plants belonging to Pteridospermatophyta , or seed ferns , also known as Arberiales and Ottokariales . They arose at the beginning of the Permian on the southern continent of Gondwana , but became extinct before the end of the Permian period . The best known genus is Glossopteris . Other examples are Glossotheca and Vertebraria", "Bio-energy with carbon capture and storage Bio-energy with carbon capture and storage ( BECCS ) is a future greenhouse gas mitigation technology which produces negative carbon dioxide emissions by combining bioenergy ( energy from biomass ) use with geologic carbon capture and storage . The concept of BECCS is drawn from the integration of trees and crops , which extract carbon dioxide ( CO2 ) from the atmosphere as they grow , the use of this biomass in processing industries or power plants , and the application of carbon capture and storage via CO2 injection into geological formations . There are other non-BECCS forms of carbon dioxide removal and storage that include technologies such as biochar , carbon dioxide air capture and biomass burial . According to a recent Biorecro report , there is 550 000 tonnes CO2/year in total BECCS capacity currently operating , divided between three different facilities ( as of January 2012 ) . In the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) , BECCS was indicated as a key technology for reaching low carbon dioxide atmospheric concentration targets . The negative emissions that can be produced by BECCS has been estimated by the Royal Society to be equivalent to a 50 to 150 ppm decrease in global atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations and according to the International Energy Agency , the BLUE map climate change mitigation scenario calls for more than 2 gigatonnes of negative CO2 emissions per year with BECCS in 2050 . According to Stanford University , 10 gigatonnes is achievable by this date . The Imperial College London , the UK Met Office Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and Research , the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research , the Walker Institute for Climate System Research , and the Grantham Institute for Climate Change issued a joint report on carbon dioxide removal technologies as part of the AVOID : Avoiding dangerous climate change research program , stating that `` Overall , of the technologies studied in this report , BECCS has the greatest maturity and there are no major practical barriers to its introduction into today 's energy system . The presence of a primary product will support early deployment . '' According to the OECD , `` Achieving lower concentration targets ( 450 ppm ) depends significantly on the use of BECCS '' .", "Estonian national road 3 Põhimaantee 3 ( ofcl . abbr . T3 ) is a 220-kilometre-long north-south national main road in Estonia . The route follows the same path as the European route E264 . The highway starts in Jõhvi . From there the main cities passed are Ahtme ( administratively Kohtla-Järve ) and Tartu . The highway ends in Valga on the intersection with the T6 . The road forms a major transport north-south transport route within Estonia , as it provides a direct connection between north-eastern Estonia and southern Estonia ( Narva border crossing and Latvia ) In 2015 , the highest traffic volumes were around Jõhvi , with the AADT there being around 17 000 . The figures rise again around Tartu , hovering around 10 000 . The road is a 1 +1 road for its entire length .", "Carbonate hardness Carbonate hardness , or carbonate alkalinity is a measure of the alkalinity of water caused by the presence of carbonate and bicarbonate anions . Carbonate hardness is usually expressed either as parts per million ( ppm or mg/L ) , or in degree KH ( dKH ) ( from the German `` Karbonathärte '' ) . One degree KH is equal to 17.848 mg/l ( ppm ) , e.g. one degree KH corresponds to the carbonate and bicarbonate ions found in a solution of approximately 17.848 milligrams of calcium carbonate per litre of water ( 17.848 ppm ) . Both measurements ( mg/L or KH ) are usually expressed as mg/L -- meaning the concentration of carbonate expressed as if calcium carbonate were the sole source of carbonate ions . Carbonate and bicarbonate anions contribute to alkalinity due to their basic nature , hence their ability to neutralize acid . Mathematically , the carbonate anion concentration is counted twice due to its ability to neutralize two protons , while bicarbonate is counted once as it can neutralize one proton . Therefore , bicarbonates that are present in the water are converted to an equivalent concentration of carbonates when determining KH . For example : An aqueous solution containing 120 mg NaHCO3 ( baking soda ) per litre of water will contain 1.4285 mmol/L of bicarbonate , since the molar mass of baking soda is 84.007 g/mol . This is equivalent in carbonate hardness to a solution containing 0.71423 mmol/L of ( calcium ) carbonate , or 71.485 mg/L of calcium carbonate ( molar mass 100.09 g/mol ) . Since one degree KH = 17.848 mg/L CaCO3 , this solution has a KH of 4.0052 degrees . For water with a pH below 8.5 , the CO32 − will be less than 1 % of the HCO3 − . In a solution where only CO2 affects the pH , carbonate hardness can be used to calculate the concentration of dissolved CO2 in the solution with the formula CO2 = 3 × KH × 10 ( 7-pH ) , where KH is degrees of carbonate hardness and CO2 is given in ppm . The term carbonate hardness is also sometimes used as a synonym for temporary hardness , in which case it refers to that portion of hard water that can be removed by processes such as boiling or lime softening , and then separation of water from the resulting precipitate .", "Tin sources and trade in ancient times Tin is an essential metal in the creation of tin bronzes , and its acquisition was an important part of ancient cultures from the Bronze Age onward . Its use began in the Middle East and the Balkans around 3000 BC . Tin is a relatively rare element in the Earth 's crust , with about 2 parts per million ( ppm ) , compared to iron with 50,000 ppm , copper with 70 ppm , lead with 16 ppm , arsenic with 5 ppm , silver with 0.1 ppm , and gold with 0.005 ppm . Ancient sources of tin were therefore rare , and the metal usually had to be traded over very long distances to meet demand in areas which lacked tin deposits . Known sources of tin in ancient times include the southeastern tin belt that runs from Yunnan in China to the Malay Peninsula ; Devon and Cornwall in England ; Brittany in France ; the border between Germany and the Czech Republic ; Spain ; Portugal ; Italy ; and central and South Africa . Syria and Egypt have been suggested as minor sources of tin , but the archaeological evidence is inconclusive .", "Low Level Owl Low Level Owl can refer to either of two albums by The Appleseed Cast : Low Level Owl , Vol . 1 , released on August 21 , 2001 . Low Level Owl , Vol . 2 , released on October 23 , 2001 .", "Carbon dioxide generator A Carbon dioxide generator or CO2 generator is a machine used to enhance carbon dioxide levels in order to promote plant growth in greenhouses or other enclosed areas . Carbon dioxide generators have been used to help grow marijuana . They can be fueled with propane or natural gas . CO2 generators were used mostly by commercial growers until smaller and less expansive systems made the technology more widely available to hobbyists . The generators also give off heat . Using compressed CO2 is an alternative to generators .", "Saline water Saline water ( more commonly known as salt water ) is water that contains a significant concentration of dissolved salts ( mainly NaCl ) . The salt concentration is usually expressed in parts per thousand ( permille , ‰ ) or parts per million ( ppm ) . The United States Geological Survey classifies saline water in three salinity categories . Salt concentration in slightly saline water is around 1,000 to 3,000 ppm ( 0.1 -- 0.3 % ) , in moderately saline water 3,000 to 10,000 ppm ( 0.3 -- 1 % ) and in highly saline water 10,000 to 35,000 ppm ( 1 -- 3.5 % ) . Seawater has a salinity of roughly 35,000 ppm , equivalent to 35 grams of salt per one liter ( or kilogram ) of water . The saturation level is dependent on the temperature of the water . At 20 ° C one milliliter of water can dissolve about 0.357 grams of salt ; a concentration of 26.3 % . At boiling ( 100 ° C ) the amount that can be dissolved in one milliliter of water increases to about 0.391 grams or 28.1 % saline solution . Some industries make use of saline water , such as mining and thermo-electric power .", "Tetrahydrofurfuryl acetate Tetrahydrofurfuryl acetate is an organic chemical compound used for food flavouring and cosmetics . It has a fruity ethereal flavour , also described as honey , maple , or bread-like . It is generally accepted as safe in the USA . Typical levels of use are 2 ppm in drinks , 8 ppm in icecream , and 20 ppm in baked products and confectionery . Chemically , it is a heterocyclic ester . It is made by reacting tetrahydrofurfuryl alcohol with acetic anhydride . Related flavouring compounds are tetrahydrofurfuryl butyrate , tetrahydrofurfuryl cinnamate , tetrahydrofurfuryl alcohol , and tetrahydrofurfuryl propionate .", "Estonian national road 4 Põhimaantee 4 ( ofcl . abbr . T4 ) is a 192-kilometre long north-south national main road in Estonia . The route follows the same path as the European route E67 , also known as the Via Baltica . The highway starts in Tallinn . From there the main cities passed are Saue , Märjamaa and Pärnu . The highway ends in Ikla at the Latvian border . The road forms a major transport north-south transport route between Estonia and Central/Western Europe . In 2015 , the highest traffic volumes were around Tallinn , with the AADT there being around 31 000 . These are the highest figures in Estonia . The figures rise again around Pärnu , hovering around 10 000 . The road is a dual carriageway for 14,1 kilometres . The section is between Laagri and Ääsmäe . The section between Ääsmäe and Kernu will be expanded to 2 +1 in 2016-2017 . Another section to be expanded is between Jänesselja and Nurme , also to be expanded to 2 +1 .", "Men's Low-Kick at WAKO World Championships 2007 Belgrade -71 kg The men 's light middleweight ( 71 kg/156 .2 lbs ) Low-Kick category at the W.A.K.O. World Championships 2007 in Belgrade was the sixth heaviest of the male Low-Kick tournaments , involving seventeen fighters from three continents ( Europe , Asia and South America ) . Each of the matches was three rounds of two minutes each and were fought under Low-Kick rules . As there were not enough fighters for a tournament designed for thirty-two , fifteen of the fighters received a bye through to the second round . The tournament winner was Russia 's Konstantin Sbytov who claimed gold by defeating K-1 MAX fighter and 2004 W.A.K.O. European amateur champion Michal Glogowski from Poland . Paolo Iry from France and Milan Dragojlovic from Serbia won bronze medals .", "Restionaceae The Restionaceae , also called restiads and restios , are a family of annual or perennial rush-like flowering plants native to the Southern Hemisphere ; they vary from a few centimeters to 3 m in height . Following the APG IV ( 2016 ) : the family now includes the former families Anarthriaceae , Centrolepidaceae and Lyginiaceae , and as such includes 51 genera with 572 known species . Based on evidence from fossil pollens , the Restionaceae likely originated more than 65 million years ago during the Late Cretaceous period , when the southern continents were still part of Gondwana .", "African admixture in Europe African admixture in Europe refers to the Eurasian presence of human genetic polymorphisms that are considered to be evidence for movements of people from Africa to Eurasia in both the prehistoric and the historical past . Although low levels of both North African and Sub-Saharan admixture are present throughout the European continent , recent genetic studies conclude that significantly higher levels of admixture exist in areas of the Iberian Peninsula ( notably Portugal and southern and western Spain ) than in the rest of the continent .", "Men's Low-Kick at WAKO World Championships 2007 Belgrade -86 kg The men 's cruiserweight ( 86 kg/189 .2 lbs ) Low-Kick category at the W.A.K.O. World Championships 2007 in Belgrade was the third heaviest of the male Low-Kick tournaments , involving eighteen fighters from three continents ( Europe , Asia and Africa ) . Each of the matches was three rounds of two minutes each and were fought under Low-Kick rules . Due to there not being enough competitors for a thirty-two man tournament , fourteen men received a bye through to the second round . The gold medal was won by Russia 's Gamzat Isalmagomedov who defeated Croatia 's Stipe Stipetic in the final by knockout . The bronze medal positions were taken by Bosnian Bojan Glavas and Kazak Georgiy Yemeliyanov .", "Alberta Carbon Trunk Line The Alberta Carbon Trunk Line ( ACTL ) is a 240 km pipeline in its construction stages that will collect excess carbon dioxide ( CO2 ) from the province of Alberta and transport it to various oil reservoirs around the province for enhanced oil recovery applications . Pioneered by Enhance Energy , the ACTL will source its CO2 from a fertilizer manufacturing plant in Redwater , and the North West Redwater Partnership bitumen upgrading plant using gasification . It will initially funnel the collected CO2 to Clive , a field discovered in the 1950s and currently produces about 300 barrels per day .", "Clavaminate synthase Clavaminate synthase ( , clavaminate synthase 2 , clavaminic acid synthase ) is an enzyme with systematic name deoxyamidinoproclavaminate,2-oxoglutarate : oxygen oxidoreductase ( 3-hydroxylating ) . This enzyme catalyses the following chemical reaction ( 1 ) deoxyamidinoproclavaminate + 2-oxoglutarate + O2 amidinoproclavaminate + succinate + CO2 ( 2 ) proclavaminate + 2-oxoglutarate + O2 dihydroclavaminate + succinate + CO2 + H2O ( 3 ) dihydroclavaminate + 2-oxoglutarate + O2 clavaminate + succinate + CO2 + H2O Clavaminate synthase contains nonheme iron .", "Holland-on-Sea Cliff Holland-on-Sea Cliff is a 0.1 hectare geological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Holland-on-Sea , north-west of Clacton-on-Sea in Essex . It is a Geological Conservation Review site . This site is of great importance in understanding the evolution of the London Basin , and it is the type site for two different gravels . The `` Lower Holland Gravel '' was the final terrace laid down by the River Thames before the river was diverted south during the Anglian glaciation around 450,000 years ago . The `` Upper Thames Gravel '' was deposited when the Thames was blocked by ice and not reaching the area . As the terraces can be attributed to the Anglian glaciation , they provide a fixed point for correlation other Anglian sequences in southern Britain and on the Continent . The site is a short stretch of the slope between the Esplanade and the Promenade , opposite Haven Avenue . No geology is visible .", "Men's Low-Kick at WAKO World Championships 2007 Belgrade +91 kg The men 's super heavyweight ( over 91 kg/200 .2 lbs ) Low-Kick category at the W.A.K.O. World Championships 2007 in Belgrade was the second heaviest of the male Low-Kick tournaments , involving twelve fighters from three continents ( Europe , Asia and Africa ) . Each of the matches was three rounds of two minutes each and were fought under Low-Kick rules . As there were no enough contestants for a sixteen-man tournament , four of the fighters received byes through to the quarter finals . The tournament gold medallist was Dragan Jovanović from Serbia who defeated Mikhail Shvoev from Russia in the final by unanimous decision . Defeated semi finalists Hafiz Bahshaliyev from Azerbaijan and Ruslan Aushev from Kazakhstan won bronze medals .", "Rheic Rheic may refer to : Rheic Ocean , a Paleozoic ocean between the large continent Gondwana to the south and the microcontinents Avalonia and others Rheic acid , a synonym for the molecule rhein", "Leiknir F. Leiknir Fáskrúdsfjördur , commonly referred to as Leiknir F. , is an Icelandic football club that plays in 1 . deild karla , the second level of Icelandic football . The club was founded in 1970 . Although the clubs name refers to the village of Fáskrúdsfjördur , it is actually based 40km away in the town of Reyðarfjörður . In 2015 the club placed 2nd in the 2 . deild karla and won a promotion to the 1 . deild karla .", "Tarokoid languages The five Tarokoid languages are a branch of the Plateau family spoken in central Nigeria , just north of the middle reaches of the Benue River . Tarok itself has 300 000 speakers , Pe and Sur about 5 000 apiece . Yangkam is severely endangered , being spoken by around fifty elderly men .", "Muasdale Muasdale ( Muasdal ) is a hamlet on the western coast of the Kintyre Peninsula of Scotland . As of the year 2000 Muasdale had a population of 300 . By the year 1750 the Roy map showed a coastal track along the west coast of Kintyre , even though the population level of the entire southern peninsula was very low .", "Wisconsin glaciation The Wisconsin Glacial Episode , also called the Wisconsinan glaciation , was the most recent major advance of the North American ice sheet complex . This advance included the Cordilleran Ice Sheet , which nucleated in the northern North American Cordillera ; the Innuitian ice sheet , which extended across the Canadian Arctic Archipelago ; the Greenland ice sheet ; and the massive Laurentide ice sheet , which covered the high latitudes of central and eastern North America . This advance was synchronous with global glaciation during the last glacial period , including the North American alpine glacier advance , known as the Pinedale glaciation . The Wisconsin glaciation extended from approximately 85,000 to 11,000 years ago , between the Sangamon interglacial ( known globally as the Eemian stage ) and the current interglacial , the Holocene . The maximum ice extent occurred approximately 25,000 -- 21,000 years ago during the last glacial maximum , also known as the Late Wisconsin in North America . This glaciation radically altered the geography north of the Ohio River . At the height of the Wisconsin Episode glaciation , the ice sheet covered most of Canada , the Upper Midwest , and New England , as well as parts of Idaho , Montana , and Washington . On Kelleys Island in Lake Erie or in New York City 's Central Park , the grooves left by these glaciers can be easily observed . In southwestern Saskatchewan and southeastern Alberta , a suture zone between the Laurentide and Cordilleran ice sheets formed the Cypress Hills , the northernmost point in North America that remained south of the continental ice sheets . During much of the glaciation , sea level was low enough to permit land animals , including humans , to occupy Beringia ( the Bering Land Bridge ) and move between North America and Siberia . As the glaciers retreated , glacial lakes were breached in great floods of water such as the Kankakee Torrent , which reshaped the landscape south of modern Chicago as far as the Ohio and Mississippi rivers ." ]

[ "Kiribati Kiribati ( -LSB- ˌkɪrɪˈbæs -RSB- or -LSB- ˌkɪrɪˈbɑːti -RSB- ) , officially the Republic of Kiribati ( Gilbertese : Ribaberiki Kiribati ) , is an island nation in the central Pacific Ocean . The permanent population is just over 100,000 ( 2011 ) , more than half of whom live on Tarawa Atoll . The nation comprises 33 atolls and reef islands and one raised coral island , Banaba . They have a total land area of 800 km2 and are dispersed over 3.5 million square kilometres ( 1,351,000 square miles ) . Their spread straddles the equator and the 180th meridian , although the International Date Line is indented to bring the Line Islands in the same day as the Kiribati Islands . The International Date Line circumscribes Kiribati by swinging far to the east , almost reaching the 150 ° W meridian . Kiribati 's easternmost islands , the southern Line Islands , south of Hawaii , have the most advanced time on Earth , UTC +14 hours . Kiribati became independent from the United Kingdom in 1979 . The capital and now most populated area , South Tarawa , consists of a number of islets , connected by a series of causeways . These comprise about half the area of Tarawa Atoll . Kiribati is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations , the IMF and the World Bank , and became a full member of the United Nations in 1999 .", "Geography of Tuvalu The Western Pacific nation of Tuvalu , formerly known as the Ellice Islands , is situated 4,000 km northeast of Australia and is approximately halfway between Hawaii and Australia . It lies east-northeast of the Santa Cruz Islands ( belonging to the Solomons ) , southeast of Nauru , south of Kiribati , west of Tokelau , northwest of Samoa and Wallis and Futuna and north of Fiji . Tuvalu consists of three reef islands and six atolls . The three reef islands are actually atolls , although they have a completely closed rim of dry land , with a lagoon that has no connection to the open sea or that may be drying up . For example , Niutao has two lakes , which are brackish to saline ; and are the degraded lagoon as the result of coral debris filling the lagoon . The islands of Tuvalu have poor soil and a total land area of only about 26 km ² , less than 10 sqmi . The land is very low-lying , with narrow coral atolls . The highest elevation is 4.6 m above sea level on Niulakita . Tuvalu experiences two distinct seasons , a wet season from November to April and a dry season from May to October . Westerly gales and heavy rain are the predominate weather conditions from October to March , the period that is known as Tau-o-lalo , with tropical temperatures moderated by easterly winds from April to November . In terms of size , it is the second-smallest country in Oceania .", "Funamanu Funamanu is a small narrow island that is part of Funafuti atoll in Tuvalu . It is a motu ( islet ) or very small island and is located 2.6 miles southwestward of the southwest tip of Funafuti . The islet is known to be covered in coconut trees which grow 70 feet high . Te Ava Pua Pua is the passage through the reef , with a least depth of 12.7 metres , between the islets of Funamanu to the north and Fale Fatu to the south , in the southeast of Funafuti atoll . Funamanu is an example of an isle on an atoll that is mainly composed of coral debris eroded from encircling reefs and pushed up onto the island by winds and waves . Paul Kench at the University of Auckland in New Zealand and Arthur Webb at the South Pacific Applied Geoscience Commission in Fiji released a study in 2010 on the dynamic response of reef islands to sea level rise in the central Pacific . Funamanu was mentioned in the study as being one of seven islands on the atolls of Tuvalu that have spread by more than 3 per cent on average since the 1950s . Funamanu gained 0.44 hectares , or nearly 30 per cent of its previous area . The storm surge resulting from a tropical cyclone can dramatically shift coral debris . In 1972 Funafuti was in the path of Cyclone Bebe . Tropical Cyclone Bebe was a pre-season tropical cyclone that impacted the Gilbert , Ellice Islands , and Fiji island groups . First spotted on October 20 , the system intensified and grew in size through October 22 .", "Tuvalu Tuvalu ( -LSB- tᵿˈvɑːlu -RSB- or -LSB- ˈtuːvəˌluː -RSB- ) , formerly known as the Ellice Islands , is a Polynesian island nation located in the Pacific Ocean , about midway between Hawaii and Australia , lying east-northeast of the Santa Cruz Islands ( belonging to the Solomons ) , southeast of Nauru , south of Kiribati , west of Tokelau , northwest of Samoa and Wallis and Futuna and north of Fiji . It comprises three reef islands and six true atolls spread out between the latitude of 5 ° to 10 ° south and longitude of 176 ° to 180 ° , west of the International Date Line . Tuvalu has a population of 10,640 ( 2012 census ) . The total land area of the islands of Tuvalu is 26 km2 . The first inhabitants of Tuvalu were Polynesians . The pattern of settlement that is believed to have occurred is that the Polynesians spread out from Samoa and Tonga into the Tuvaluan atolls , with Tuvalu providing a stepping stone to migration into the Polynesian Outlier communities in Melanesia and Micronesia . In 1568 , Spanish navigator Álvaro de Mendaña was the first European to sail through the archipelago , sighting the island of Nui during his expedition in search of Terra Australis . In 1819 the island of Funafuti was named Ellice 's Island ; the name Ellice was applied to all nine islands after the work of English hydrographer Alexander George Findlay . The islands came under Britain 's sphere of influence in the late 19th century , when each of the Ellice Islands was declared a British Protectorate by Captain Gibson of between 9 and 16 October 1892 . The Ellice Islands were administered as British protectorate by a Resident Commissioner from 1892 to 1916 as part of the British Western Pacific Territories ( BWPT ) , and then as part of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands colony from 1916 to 1974 . A referendum was held in December 1974 to determine whether the Gilbert Islands and Ellice Islands should each have their own administration . As a consequence of the referendum , the Gilbert and Ellice Islands colony ceased to exist on 1 January 1976 and the separate British colonies of Kiribati and Tuvalu came into existence . Tuvalu became fully independent within the Commonwealth on 1 October 1978 . On 5 September 2000 Tuvalu became the 189th member of the United Nations ." ]

[ "2004 Pacific Islanders rugby union tour The 2004 Pacific Islander rugby union tour was a series of matches played by the Pacific Islanders in Australia and New Zealand during June and July 2004 . The composite team was selected from the best players from Fiji , Samoa and Tonga , as well as Niue and the Cook Islands . The Pacific Islanders won the first two tour matches against Queensland and New South Wales , but lost the three Test matches played against Australia , New Zealand , and South Africa .", "SOPAC SOPAC has the following meanings : The Southern Pacific Railroad ( SoPac ) The South Pacific Applied Geoscience Commission Social OnLine Public Access Catalog South Orange Performing Arts Center Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre", "Sopac Sopac may refer to : South Pacific Applied Geoscience Commission , an inter-governmental regional organisation South Pacific Area ( SOPAC ) , a multinational U.S.-led military command active during World War II Southern Pacific Railroad ( SoPac ) , a former American railroad ( 1865 -- 1996 )", "Vulnerability index (disambiguation) Vulnerability index may refer to : Vulnerability index , a generic concept developed in the Small Developing Islands program and extended to medical and environmental planning Economic Vulnerability Index , introduced by the United Nations Committee for Development Policy Environmental Vulnerability Index , a measurement devised by the South Pacific Applied Geoscience Commission of the United Nations Environment Program and others Homeless Vulnerability Index , a means for identifying and prioritizing the street homeless population for housing according to the fragility of their health", "Forum for India–Pacific Islands Cooperation Forum for India-Pacific Islands cooperation ( FIPIC ) is a multinational grouping developed in 2014 for cooperation between India and 14 Pacific Islands nations which include Cook Islands , Fiji , Kiribati , Marshall Islands , Micronesia , Nauru , Niue , Samoa , Solomon Islands , Palau , Papua New Guinea , Tonga , Tuvalu and Vanuatu . All Head of state/head of government of the above countries met in Suva , Fiji in November 2014 for the first time where the annual summit was conceptualised .", "Council of Regional Organisations in the Pacific The Council of Regional Organisations in the Pacific ( CROP ) is an inter-organisational consultative process which aims to prevent either overlaps , or gaps , appearing between the work-programmes of its various members . Membership includes the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat , the Secretariat of the Pacific Community ( SPC ) , the Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency , the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme ( SPREP ) , the South Pacific Tourism Organisation , the University of the South Pacific ( USP ) , the Pacific Islands Development Programme , and the Pacific Power Association ( PPA ) . Before their integration into SPC in 2010 and 2011 , the South Pacific Applied Geoscience Commission and the South Pacific Board for Educational Assessment had been individual members . The Fiji School of Medicine was a member before its merger into Fiji National University in 2010 . CROP heads of organisations meet once each year , but the main consultative work is done by a series of sectoral working groups , including Marine Resources , Health and Population , Land Resources , Education , Information and Communication Technologies , etc. . These working groups are responsible for collaboratively working on various regional projects and policy initiatives . For example , the CROP Marine Sector Working Group has shepherded the intergovernmental agreement and promotion of the Pacific Islands Regional Ocean Policy while the CROP ICT Working Group has shepherded the Pacific Islands ICT Policy and Strategic Plan ( PIIPP ) . The CROP interagency working groups also provide technical advice to Pacific Islands Forum intergovernmental working groups taking part in United Nations and other international negotiations and processes , on request . Since the implementation of the Pacific Plan and the Framework for Pacific Regionalism , the role of these CROP working groups has diminished . Their role was reviewed in 2015 .", "Naziah Ali Naziah Ali ( born March 4 , 1982 ) held the title of Miss India Fiji 2009 . She represented Fiji to the Miss India Worldwide Pageant in Durban , in February 2009 . She is the first Indo Fijian from Fiji to represent Fiji to the pageant . Ali is of both Indian and Fijian origin . Her father is a third generation Indian and her mother a native Fijian from the province of Ba . Ali works as the Communications and Publication Coordinator for the Advancing Gender Equality in Political Governance in the Pacific ( GEPG ) Programme for the United Nations Development Fund for Women ( UNIFEM ) . She worked for the South Pacific Applied Geoscience Commission ( SOPAC ) from 2007 to 2008 as the Media and Communications Consultant . Prior to that Ali worked at a television journalist for Fiji Television Limited . She worked as a journalism and theatre arts tutor at the University of the South Pacific after graduating in 2004 with her Bachelor of Arts Degree in Journalism and Literature and Language from the same university .", "Fiji Performing Rights Association The Fiji Performing Rights Association ( FPRA ) is a copyright collective representing South Pacific composers , lyricists and music publishers . The association 's head office is located in Suva , Fiji , it is the largest performing rights association in the south pacific and also a member of Australasian Performing Right Association .", "1963 South Pacific Games The 1963 South Pacific Games , held from 29 August to 9 September 1963 at Suva in Fiji , was the first edition of the South Pacific Games . The multisport games were established to engender bonds of friendship amongst peoples in the Pacific , after an idea originated by Dr A.H. Sahu Khan was adopted by the South Pacific Commission . At a meeting of nine Territories , held in Nouméa during March 1961 , Fiji was awarded the honour of hosting the very first Games .", "Fiji Barbarians The Fiji Barbarians is a former Fijian rugby union representative team that played in the Pacific Rugby Cup from 2006 to 2010 . The other Fijian team in the Cup was the Fiji Warriors . The players were drawn from the Fijian domestic competitions . The Fiji Barbarians team qualified for the 2010 Pacific Cup final but lost the match to countrymen the Fiji Warriors by 17 -- 26 at the National Stadium in Suva . The team had not featured in the finals for the previous four seasons .", "Michael Dishington Scott Michael Dishington Scott is Chief Justice of Tonga . Scott is a British national with a long career in the Pacific . He has previously served as a judge in Kiribati and the Solomon Islands , and served for 14 years as a judge on the High Court of Fiji . As a High Court judge in Fiji , in Yabaki v President of the Republic of the Fiji Islands , he ruled that the interim government established in the wake of the 2000 Fijian coup d'état was legal . This ruling was later overturned on appeal . From 2004 to 2007 he was a judge of the Fijian Court of Appeal . He was appointed Chief Justice of Tonga in August 2010 , replacing Anthony Ford . He assumed the role on September 27 , 2010 .", "United States Army Air Forces in the South Pacific Area During World War II , the United States Army Air Forces engaged in combat against the Empire of Japan in the South Pacific Area . As defined by the War Department , this consisted of the Pacific Ocean areas which lay south of the Equator between longitude 159 ° East and 110 ° West . It included New Zealand , New Caledonia , New Hebrides , Fiji , and most of the Solomon Islands . The major USAAF combat organizations in the region was Thirteenth Air Force , which was formed in November 1942 as a command and control organization to organize many widely separated Seventh Air Force and independent units scattered in the South Pacific Area during the Solomon Islands campaign . As the war progressed , Thirteenth Air Force units moved into the South West Pacific theatre and coordinated their activities with Fifth and Seventh Air Force units in New Guinea , the Netherlands East Indies and Philippines during 1944 and 1945 .", "South Pacific Championship The South Pacific Championship ( also known as `` SPC '' ) was a rugby union competition that was introduced in 1986 and contested through to 1990 . The competition featured six teams - three provinces from New Zealand ; Auckland , Canterbury and Wellington , two Australian teams ; Queensland and New South Wales , and one team representing Pacific Island rugby , Fiji . The South Pacific Championship was the predecessor of the Super 6 and Super 10 , as well as the professional-era Super 12 and Super 14 tournaments that subsequently expanded to become the Super Rugby competition .", "British Western Pacific Territories The British Western Pacific Territories was the name of a colonial entity , created in 1877 , for the administration , under a single representative of the British Crown , styled High Commissioner for the Western Pacific , of a series of Pacific islands in and around Oceania . Except for Fiji and the Solomon Islands , most of these colonial possessions were relatively minor .", "Pacific Islands Legal Information Institute The Pacific Islands Legal Information Institute ( PacLII ) collects and publishes legal materials from 20 Pacific Islands Countries on its website www.paclii.org . These countries are American Samoa , Cook Islands , Federated States of Micronesia , Fiji Islands , Kiribati , Marshall Islands , Nauru , Niue , Papua New Guinea , Pitcairn Island , Samoa , Solomon Islands , Tokelau , Tonga , Tuvalu , and Vanuatu.A mirror of the PacLII website is hosted by the Australasian Legal Information Institute ( AustLII ) , and is the version accessed by most users outside the Pacific Islands . The documents on the PacLII website consist mainly of primary materials such as court decisions and legislation but also include decisions of various tribunals and panels or secondary information such as court rules or bench books . There is additionally a Pacific Islands Treaty Database . PacLII is an initiative of the University of the South Pacific School of Law with assistance from AustLII . PacLII is a signatory to the Montreal Declaration on Public Access to Law and participates in the Free Access to Law Movement , a grouping of a number of world wide organizations committed to publishing and providing access to the law for free . PacLII is based at the Emalus Campus of the USP in Port Vila , Vanuatu . USP School of Law has its headquarters in Port Vila . Its students come from more than 12 Pacific Island countries . Most of them do not have easy access to the legal materials from across the region which they need to undertake their studies . PacLII was started by the School of Law as a means to overcoming the tyrannies of distance . It has grown to become a service to governments , legal professionals , NGOs , students , academics and members of the public and has been widely recognized as an example of excellence in promoting access to legal information .", "Pacific Island Air Pacific Island Air is an Air Charter company operating out of Nadi International Airport , Fiji .", "Postage stamps and postal history of Fiji This is a survey of the postage stamps and postal history of Fiji . Fiji is an island nation in Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean about 2,000 km northeast of New Zealand 's North Island . It is a former British colony .", "2010 Pacific Rugby Cup The 2010 Pacific Rugby Cup was the fifth edition of the Pacific Rugby Cup competition . First held in 2006 , the 2010 edition , like its predecessors , featured 6 representative rugby union football teams ; 2 from each of the three Pacific rugby unions - Fiji , Samoa and Tonga . Fiji Warriors won the championship , defeating Fiji Barbarians in the final .", "Asian Pacific American Asian-Pacific American ( APA ) or Asian-Pacific Islander ( API ) is a term sometimes used in the United States to include both Asian Americans and Pacific Islands Americans . Asian or Pacific Islander was an option to indicate race and ethnicity in the United States Censuses in the 1990 and 2000 Census as well as in several Census Bureau studies in between , including Current Population Surveys reports and updates between 1994 and 2002 . A 1997 Office of Management and Budget directive separated the `` Asian or Pacific Islander '' racial category into two categories : `` Asian '' and `` Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander . '' The U.S. Department of Labor Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs defined Asian-Pacific Islander as `` A person with origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East , Southeast Asia , South Asia , or the Pacific Islands . This area includes , for example , China , Japan , Korea , the Philippines and Samoa ; and in South Asia , includes India , Pakistan , Bangladesh , Sri Lanka , Nepal , and Bhutan . '' A definition from Henry Ford Health System states that an Asian-Pacific American is `` A U.S. citizen whose origins are from Japan , China , Taiwan , Korea , Vietnam , Laos , Cambodia , the Philippines , Samoa , Fiji , Guam , the U.S. Trust Territories of the Pacific or the Northern Marianas . The term is used in reference to Asian/Pacific American Heritage Week , the first ten days of May , established in 1978 by a joint resolution in United States Congress . The commemorative week was expanded to a month ( Asian Pacific American Heritage Month ) by Congress in 1992 . The term is also used by several state boards and commissions , including in Washington , Michigan , Maryland , and Connecticut . The term is also used in the names of several non-profit groups , such as the A | P | A History Collective , Center for Asian Pacific American Women , Asian & Pacific Islander American Scholarship Fund , and National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development . Asian Pacific Americans are listed as a group on the United States Army website .", "St. Paul Union Pacific Rail Bridge St. Paul Union Pacific Rail Bridge is a swing bridge that spans the Mississippi River between South Saint Paul , Minnesota and Saint Paul , Minnesota in the United States . It was built in 1910 by the St. Paul Bridge and Terminal Railway , and was rebuilt in 1925 , after a flood in 1951 , and again in 1982 . The Union Pacific Railroad mainline from Des Moines , informally known as the `` Spine Line '' , enters the Twin Cities area and terminates in a yard in South Saint Paul . This line was formerly part of the Chicago , Rock Island and Pacific Railroad . From this area , traffic to downtown St. Paul takes two routes : one across this bridge , with yards on the east side of the river south of Dayton 's Bluff ; and the other route using the St. Paul Union Pacific Vertical-lift Rail Bridge into downtown St. Paul .", "Fiji at the 2011 Pacific Games Fiji competed at the 2011 Pacific Games in Nouméa , New Caledonia between August 27 and September 10 , 2011 . As of June 28 , 2011 Fiji has listed 425 competitors .", "Pacific Destiny Pacific Destiny is a 1956 British drama film directed by Wolf Rilla and starring Denholm Elliott , Susan Stephen and Michael Hordern . The screenplay concerns a young British couple who win the respect of the inhabitants of a South Pacific island during the colonial era . It was based on A Pattern of Islands , a memoir by Sir Arthur Grimble recounting his time in the Gilbert and Ellice Islands as a cadet officer and Resident Commissioner in the 1920s . Film credits show Samoa as the filming location .", "Athletics at the Pacific Games Athletics competitions have been held at every Pacific Games since the inaugural edition 1963 in Suva , Fiji and at every Pacific Mini Games since the inaugural edition 1981 in Honiara , Solomon Islands . Both events are open for the 22 member federations of the Pacific Games Council . The Pacific Games started as South Pacific Games and were renamed in 2011 , whereas the Pacific Mini Games started as South Pacific Mini Games and were renamed in 2009 .", "Fijian literature Among the first published works of Fijian literature , in the late 1960s and early 1970s , were Raymond Pillai 's and Subramani 's short stories ( in English ) and Pio Manoa 's poetry ( in English and in Fijian ) . The emergence of Fiji 's written literature ( as distinct from oral literature ) coincides with the country 's transition to independence in 1970 . In 1968 , the founding of the University of the South Pacific , whose main campus was in Fiji 's capital Suva , provided a stimulus for Fijian ( and , more widely , Pacific Islander ) literature . Creative writing courses and workshops were set up . The South Pacific Arts Society was founded at the University in 1973 , and published Pacific Islander literature ( poetry and short stories ) in the magazine Pacific Islands Monthly . In 1974 , the Society founded the publishing house Mana Publications , followed in 1976 by the art and literature journal Mana . The journal published anthologies of Fijian poetry . Playwright Vilsoni Hereniko 's work also began to appear in this print at this time . Among Fiji 's most noted writers are Satendra Nandan , author of poetry , short stories and the semi-autobiographical novel The Wounded Sea , published in 1991 . Fiji poet Sudesh Mishra `` combines classical Indian poetic forms with an English peppered with Hindi and Fijian words '' ; his collections of poems include Tandava ( 1992 ) and Rahu ( 1997 ) . Larry Thomas is a contemporary playwright and director . His 1998 play The Anniversary Present has been described as `` captur -LSB- ing -RSB- the words and rhythms and creative power of the basilectal ` Fiji English ' many of his marginalised characters speak : the young , the unemployed , disempowered women and men '' . Joseph Veramo is a contemporary novellist , whose works include the novel Moving Through the Streets ( 1994 ) , the children 's book The Shark , and Black Messiah , a collection published in 1989 which includes short stories and a novella .", "Outline of Fiji The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Fiji : Republic of Fiji -- sovereign island nation located in the South Pacific Ocean east of Vanuatu , west of Tonga and south of Tuvalu . The country occupies an archipelago of about 322 islands , of which 106 are permanently inhabited , and 522 islets . The two major islands , Viti Levu and Vanua Levu , account for 87 % of the population .", "Kadavu Group The Kadavu Group is an archipelago south of Viti Levu , one of Fiji 's two main islands . Dominated by Kadavu Island , the fourth largest island in Fiji , the group also includes Ono , Dravuni , Galoa and a number of islets in the Great Astrolabe Reef . Kadavu Group - satellite view Category : Archipelagoes of Fiji Category : Archipelagoes of the Pacific Ocean", "Rugby union at the 1969 South Pacific Games Rugby union at the 1969 South Pacific Games , currently known as the Pacific Games , was hosted at Port Moresby , the capital of Papua New Guinea . Fiji were hot favourites of the tournament , and delivered on that promise , producing some three-figure scorelines -- beating New Caledonia by 113-13 , and the Solomon Islands by 113-3 .", "SPIN (cable system) SPIN ( or South Pacific Island Network ) was a submarine communications cable system that would connect the New Zealand to Tahiti and would connect several South Pacific islands along the way . The SPIN cable would be 6500 km long and will have a 64x10 Gbit/s capacity . It was planned to be in service late 2010 . It would have cable landing points at : New Zealand Norfolk Island New Caledonia Fiji Wallis and Futuna Samoa American Samoa Tahiti , French Polynesia", "Chief Judicial Commissioner for the Western Pacific The Chief Justice of the High Commissioner 's Court , more commonly known as the Chief Judicial Commissioner for the Western Pacific , was the chief judicial officer throughout the British Western Pacific Territories from 1877 through 1976 . This was a supra-colonial entity established by the Western Pacific Orders-in-Council 1877 ( amended in 1879 and 1880 ) , and by the Pacific Order-in-Council 1893 . `` B. ( 1 . ) The Chief Justice and every other judge for the time being of the Supreme Court , shall be , by virtue of his office , a Judicial Commissioner for the Western Pacific for the purposes of this Order , and is in this Order referred to as a Judicial Commissioner . ( 2 . ) Where , in the opinion of the High Commissioner , the attendance of a Judicial Commissioner holding office as aforesaid is impracticable , or would be inconvenient , the High Commissioner may from time to time in the name and on behalf of Her Majesty , by writing under his hand and seal , appoint a person of legal knowledge and experience to be a Judicial Commissioner for particular purposes or for a particular time . The London Gazette , 8 September 1893 ( 26439 ) , pp. 5119-5121 . Headed by a High Commissioner for the Western Pacific , who was also ex officio the Governor of Fiji , until the end of 1952 , it included numerous islands , mostly small , throughout Oceania . Composition varied over time , but Fiji ( 1877-1952 ) and the Solomon Islands ( 1893-1976 ) were its most durable members . From 1877 through 1961 , the Chief Justice of Fiji was ex officio Chief Judicial Commissioner , apart from a three-year suspension of the High Commission from 1942 through 1945 during the War in the Pacific , when many of Britain 's colonies in Oceania were under either military administration or Japanese occupation . Appeals lay to the Privy Council in London . From the beginning of 1953 , Fiji and Tonga were separated from the High Commission as a prelude to full independence , and the High Commission offices were transferred to Honiara on Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands , with the Governor of the Solomon Islands now being the High Commissioner ex officio . The High Commissioner 's Court , however , continued to meet in Suva , with the Chief Justice of Fiji continuing as Chief Judicial Commissioner for another decade , until 1962 , when the two offices were separated . Under the Western Pacific ( Courts ) Order in Council , gazetted on 15 August 1961 and effective from 9 April 1962 , the High Commissioner 's Court was renamed the High Court of the Western Pacific and relocated to the Solomon Islands . The court consisted of a Chief Justice ( as the office of Chief Judicial Commissioner was renamed -- no longer the Chief Justice of Fiji ) and two puisne judges , one based in Port Vila , New Hebrides ( now Vanuatu ) , and the other in Tarawa , Gilbert and Ellice Islands ( now Kiribati and Tuvalu ) . Most of the island groups had gained either independence or internal self-government by 1971 . On 2 January 1976 after nearly all had been given separate statehood , the office of High Commissioner and the entity of the Pacific Territories were abolished . The High Commission of the Western Pacific was abolished , the last archives being finally packed up in Honiara in August 1978 . A remnant of the High Commission was the right of appeal from the courts of many island nations to the Fijan Court of Appeal , which persisted into the late 1970s .", "Postage stamps and postal history of Wallis and Futuna This is a survey of the postage stamps and postal history of the Wallis and Futuna Islands . The Wallis and Futuna Islands are a Polynesian French island territory in the South Pacific between Tuvalu to the northwest , Rotuma of Fiji to the west and the main part of Fiji to the southwest .", "Henry Evans Maude Henry `` Harry '' Evans Maude , OBE ( 1 October 1906 -- 4 November 2006 ) was a British civil servant and anthropologist . He was the husband of Honor Maude . Harry Maude was born 1 October 1906 , in Bankipore , India . Educated at Highgate School from 1921-1925 and Jesus College , Cambridge , Maude represented India at rifle-shooting in 1926 . He spent the years 1929-1948 working as a civil servant and administrator in various Pacific Islands , in particular the British colony of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands , serving as Resident Commissioner from 1946 to 1949 . From 1948-1957 , he worked for the South Pacific Commission . From 1957-1951 , he was a Research Fellow at the Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies ( RSPAS ) , which is part of the Australian National University in Canberra . He has published widely on aspects of Pacific Islands history , was a co-founder of the Journal of Pacific History , and played an important role in establishing the Pacific Manuscripts Bureau . Maude died , aged 100 , on 4 November 2006 . The bulk of Maude 's personal papers are held at the Barr Smith Library at the University of Adelaide , where an extensive set of pages devoted to his life and work can also be found . He also published the work of Sir Arthur Grimble .", "2009 Pacific Cup The 2009 Pacific Cup , known as the 2009 SP Brewery Pacific Cup due to sponsorship , was a rugby league competition held in Port Moresby , Papua New Guinea . The competing teams were the Cook Islands , Fiji , Papua New Guinea , Samoa and Tonga . Tonga , Fiji and PNG had their places in the draw confirmed initially , with the Cook Islands defeating Samoa in a Pacific Cup qualifier in Cairns on 17 October 2009 to decide which team took the final place in the tournament . The four Pacific Cup matches were played at Lloyd Robson Oval on 24 -- 25 October and 31 October . The Pacific Cup final was played on 1 November 2009 between Papua New Guinea and the Cook Islands . By winning the 2009 Pacific Cup , Papua New Guinea won the right to compete in the 2010 Four Nations tournament . Brian Canavan was appointed as tournament director by the Rugby League International Federation ( RLIF ) ." ]

[ "Mark Begich Mark Peter Begich ( -LSB- ˈbɛɡɪtʃ -RSB- born March 30 , 1962 ) is an American politician who was a United States Senator from Alaska from 2009 to 2015 . A member of the Democratic Party , he was Mayor of Anchorage from 2003 to 2009 . Born in Anchorage , Begich is the son of former U.S. Representative Nick Begich Sr. . He was elected to the Anchorage Assembly at the age of 26 . He eventually served as chairman for three years , before leaving the Assembly in 1998 . Begich ran two unsuccessful campaigns for mayor in 1994 and 2000 before being elected in 2003 . In the 2008 Senate election , Begich narrowly defeated incumbent Ted Stevens , the longest-serving Republican member of the Senate of all time . In the 2014 Senate election , Begich was narrowly defeated in his bid for reelection by former Alaska Attorney General Dan Sullivan . Following completion of his term in the U.S. Senate , he became a policy advisor on Native American affairs in the Washington , D.C.-based law firm of Sonosky , Chambers , Sachse , Endreson & Perry LLP ." ]

[ "United States Senate election in Alaska, 2008 The 2008 United States Senate election in Alaska was held on November 4 , 2008 . Incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Ted Stevens ran for re-election to a seventh term in the United States Senate . It was one of the ten Senate races that U.S. Senator John Ensign of Nevada , the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee , predicted as being most competitive . The primaries were held on Tuesday , August 26 . Ted Stevens was challenged by Democratic candidate Mark Begich , the mayor of Anchorage . On October 27 , 2008 , Stevens was convicted on seven charges of ethics violations and corruption . If reelected , Stevens would have been the first convicted felon elected to the United States Senate . On November 18 , 2008 , the Associated Press projected that Begich had defeated Stevens , making Stevens the longest-serving U.S. Senator ever to lose a re-election bid . Stevens conceded the race to Begich on November 19 .", "Carbon tax A carbon tax is a tax levied on the carbon content of fuels . It is a form of carbon pricing . Carbon is present in every hydrocarbon fuel ( coal , petroleum , and natural gas ) and converted to carbon dioxide and other products when combusted . In contrast , non-combustion energy sources -- wind , sunlight , geothermal , hydropower , and nuclear -- do not convert hydrocarbons to . is a heat-trapping `` greenhouse '' gas which represents a negative externality on the climate system ( see scientific opinion on global warming ) . Since GHG emissions caused by the combustion of fossil fuels are closely related to the carbon content of the respective fuels , a tax on these emissions can be levied by taxing the carbon content of fossil fuels at any point in the product cycle of the fuel . Carbon tax offers social and economic benefits . It is a tax that increases revenue without significantly altering the economy while simultaneously promoting objectives of climate change policy . The objective of a carbon tax is to reduce the harmful and unfavorable levels of carbon dioxide emissions , thereby decelerating climate change and its negative effects on the environment and human health . Carbon taxes offer a potentially cost-effective means of reducing greenhouse gas emissions . From an economic perspective , carbon taxes are a type of Pigovian tax . They help to address the problem of emitters of greenhouse gases not facing the full social cost of their actions . Carbon taxes can be a regressive tax , in that they may directly or indirectly affect low-income groups disproportionately . The regressive impact of carbon taxes could be addressed by using tax revenues to favour low-income groups . A number of countries have implemented carbon taxes or energy taxes that are related to carbon content . Most environmentally related taxes with implications for greenhouse gas emissions in OECD countries are levied on energy products and motor vehicles , rather than on emissions directly . Opposition to increased environmental regulation such as carbon taxes often centers on concerns that firms might relocate and/or people might lose their jobs . It has been argued , however , that carbon taxes are more efficient than direct regulation and may even lead to higher employment ( see footnotes ) . Many large users of carbon resources in electricity generation , such as the United States , Russia , and China , are resisting carbon taxation .", "United States Senate election in Alaska, 2014 The 2014 United States Senate election in Alaska took place on November 4 , 2014 , to elect a member of the United States Senate to represent the State of Alaska , concurrently with the election of the Governor of Alaska , as well as other elections to the United States Senate in other states and elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections . Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Mark Begich ran for re-election to a second term in office . Primary elections were held on August 19 , 2014 . Begich was renominated and the Republicans picked former Commissioner of the Alaska Department of Natural Resources Dan Sullivan . On November 7 , Sullivan held an 8,000-vote lead , which on November 11 had shrunk slightly to 7,991 votes . Multiple media outlets called the race for Sullivan on November 12 and Begich conceded to Sullivan on November 17 . His loss -- coupled with Republican Sean Parnell 's defeat in the gubernatorial election -- marked just the fifth time in the last 50 years in which U.S. Senate and gubernatorial incumbents from different political parties have been defeated in the same state .", "Nick Begich Nicholas Joseph `` Nick '' Begich , Sr. ( April 6 , 1932 -- October 16 , 1972 ) was a Democratic Party member of the US House of Representatives from Alaska . He is presumed to have died in the crash of a light aircraft in Alaska in 1972 ; his body was never found .", "Political positions of Harry Reid Former United States Senator Harry Reid has declared his position on many political issues through his public comments and his senatorial voting record .", "Joseph Begich Joseph R. Begich ( born January 17 , 1930 ) is an American former politician in the state of Minnesota . He was born in Eveleth , Minnesota . He is an alumnus of the Northwest School of Agriculture , and is a grain and livestock farmer . He served in the House of Representatives for District 6A from 1975 to 1982 and for District 6B from 1983 to 1992 . He is married to Carolyn and has one daughter . He is the brother of former United States Congressman from Alaska , Nick Begich , and the uncle of former United States Senator from Alaska , Mark Begich .", "Larry Persily Larry Persily was Federal Coordinator ( director ) of the Alaska Natural Gas Transportation Projects 2010-2015 . The Federal Coordinator is nominated with advice and consent of the Senate by the President of the United States . He was nominated by Barack Obama on December 9 , 2009 , and was confirmed by the United States Senate on March 10 , 2010 . Persily criticized his former employer , then-Governor Sarah Palin , as John McCain 's choice for vice president . Until June 2008 , he had worked as the Washington , DC liaison for the state government of Alaska . `` She 's not qualified , she does n't have the judgment , to be next in line to the president of the United States , '' said Persily in August 2008 . In December 2009 , Democratic Senator Mark Begich recommended Persily for the Obama administration post . Persily was also a `` key aide '' to Alaska house member Mike Hawker .", "Matt Claman Matthew W. `` Matt '' Claman ( born 1959 ) is an American politician from Anchorage , Alaska . A Democrat , he serves in the Alaska House of Representatives , is a member of the Alaska House Majority Coalition , and is the Chair of the House Judiciary Committee . Claman served on the Anchorage Assembly beginning in 2007 and became its chair in 2008 . He became the Acting Mayor of Anchorage in 2009 when then-Mayor Mark Begich was elected Alaska 's United States Senator in the 2008 general election . As Acting Mayor at the height of the 2008-2009 financial crisis , he led efforts to reduce the municipal budget by $ 20 million , approximately 5 % , and negotiated concessions with bargaining units to achieve a balanced budget . Claman was elected to the Alaska House of Representatives in 2014 , and joined the Democratic minority . During his first term , he sat on the Judiciary Committee , the Transportation Committee , and the Energy Committee . He is a strong advocate for a responsible action plan to address Alaska 's financial challenges . In 2016 , Claman was re-elected to the State House . Following the election , he joined the Alaska House Majority Coalition of 22 Democrats , Republicans , and Independents who are committed to working together to put Alaska first . His peers selected him to chair the House Judiciary Committee , where he previously served as a committee member . He is also the Vice Chair of the Rules Committee and a member of the Legislative Council , Energy Committee , Transportation Committee , and Criminal Justice Commission . Recognizing the legislature 's repeated inability to complete its work in 90 days , Claman has introduced legislation for a statewide vote to amend the Alaska Constitution and limit the session to 90 days .", "Sally Smith (politician) Sarah J. `` Sally '' Smith ( born January 23 , 1945 ) is an American politician . She was a member of the Alaska Legislature in the 1970s and 1980s , and the mayor of Juneau , Alaska , from 2000 to 2003 . She later worked as a field representative for United States Senator Mark Begich .", "Begich Begich was commander of the Tatars in the Battle of the Vozha River in 1378 . Begich may also refer to : The Begich political family of Alaska , United States , including : Nick Begich ( 1932 -- 1972 ) , United States Representative from Alaska 1971-1972 Nick Begich , Jr. ( born 1958 ) , writer , conspiracy theorist and infrequent political participant Mark Begich ( born 1962 ) , former United States Senator from Alaska ( 2009 -- 2015 ) Several places in Alaska named after Nick Begich , including : Begich Middle School in Anchorage The Begich Towers in Whittier The Begich , Boggs Visitor Center at Portage Glacier , near Whittier", "Reid Glacier Reid Glacier is an 11-mile-long ( 18 km ) glacier in the U.S. state of Alaska . It trends north to Reid Inlet in Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve , two miles ( 3 km ) south of Glacier Bay and 72 miles ( 116 km ) northwest of Hoonah . It was named by members of the Harriman Alaska Expedition for Harry Fielding Reid .", "Climate Stewardship Acts The Climate Stewardship Acts are a series of three acts introduced to the United States Senate by Senator John McCain ( R-AZ ) and Senator Joseph Lieberman ( ID-CT ) , with a number of other co-sponsors . Their aim was to introduce a mandatory cap and trade system for greenhouse gases , as a response to the threat of anthropogenic climate change . All three acts failed to gain enough votes to pass through the senate .", "E. J. Flanagan E. J. Flanagan was a member of the Washington State Senate .", "Begich Towers The Begich Towers Condominium is a building in the very small town of Whittier , Alaska . The structure is notable for being the residence for nearly the entire population of the town , as well as containing many of its public facilities . This has earned Whittier the nickname of a `` town under one roof '' .", "Harry A. Binzer Harry A. Binzer was a member of the Washington State Senate .", "British Columbia carbon tax British Columbia 's carbon tax and accompanying tax shift has been in place since 2008 . It is a British Columbia policy which adds additional carbon taxes to fossil fuels burned for transportation , home heating , and electricity , and reduces personal income taxes and corporate taxes by a roughly equal amount . The carbon tax is collected at the point of retail consumption ( for example , at the pump for gasoline and diesel ) . British Columbia 's policy is unique in North America ; only Quebec has a similar retail tax but it is set at a much lower rate and does not include a matching tax shift .", "Camp Sullivan (Alaska) Camp Sullivan was a United States Army camp located in Whittier , Alaska from 1943 to 1960 . Constructed out of a need to supply the region with military support during World War II , the area became important again during the Cold War after the Army decided to build the 14-story Hodge Building ( now Begich Towers ) completed in 1957 contained 150 two and three bedroom apartments plus bachelor efficiency units . Dependent families and Civil Service employees were moved into this efficient high rise . The new Whittier School was connected by a tunnel at the base of the west tower so students could go to school in short sleeves on the very worst weather days . The building , originally was named in honor of Colonel Walter William Hodge Civil . Engineer . the CO of 93rd Engineer Regiment on the Alcan Highway . The other structure , the Buckner Building , had been completed in 1953 , and was called the `` city under one roof '' . Both buildings were at one time the largest buildings in Alaska . The Begich Building is now a condominium . Together with the 2-story Whittier Manor , Begich Building houses nearly all of Whittier 's residents . The port remained an active Army facility until 1960 .", "Vote Climate U.S. PAC Vote Climate U.S. PAC is an American super PAC founded in 2013 and directed by American political activist Karyn Strickler . Its mission is `` to elect candidates to get off fossil fuels , transition to clean , renewable energy and put a price on carbon , in order to slow global warming and related weather extremes . '' Strickler has named the implementation of a carbon tax as a principal goal . As a super PAC ( a type of political action committee ) , the organization can not contribute to candidates but can make independent expenditures on their behalf .", "American Clean Energy and Security Act The American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 ( ACES ) was an energy bill in the 111th United States Congress that would have established a variant of an emissions trading plan similar to the European Union Emission Trading Scheme . The bill was approved by the House of Representatives on June 26 , 2009 by a vote of 219-212 , but was never brought to the floor of the Senate for discussion or a vote . The House passage of the bill was the `` first time either house of Congress had approved a bill meant to curb the heat-trapping gases scientists have linked to climate change . '' The bill was also known as the Waxman-Markey Bill , after its authors , Representatives Henry A. Waxman of California and Edward J. Markey of Massachusetts , both Democrats . Waxman was at the time the chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee , and Markey was the chairman of that committee 's Energy and Power Subcommittee .", "Washington Initiative 732 Washington Initiative 732 ( I-732 ) was an initiative to create a carbon tax to the Washington State Legislature , which appeared on the November 2016 ballot . The backers of I-732 submitted roughly 350,000 signatures in December 2015 to certify the initiative . The initiative was spearheaded by environmental economist Yoram Bauman , a strong advocate of carbon pricing . It was modeled after the British Columbia carbon tax , which was considered `` popular across the political spectrum '' . The carbon tax in British Columbia caused the province 's fuel consumption to decrease by 16 % and its greenhouse gas emissions to decrease 3.5 times faster than the emissions of Canada as a whole , while maintaining steady economic growth . On November 8 , it was rejected .", "Ted Stevens , Theodore Fulton Stevens Sr. ( November 18 , 1923 -- August 9 , 2010 ) was a United States Senator from Alaska , whose tenure extended from December 24 , 1968 , until January 3 , 2009 . He was thus the longest serving Republican senator in history at the time he left office ; his record was surpassed in January 2017 by Orrin Hatch of Utah . He was President pro tempore in the 108th and 109th Congresses from January 3 , 2003 , to January 3 , 2007 , and the third senator to hold the title of President pro tempore emeritus . Stevens served for six decades in the American public sector , beginning with his service in World War II . In 1952 , his law career took him to Fairbanks , Alaska , where he was appointed U.S. Attorney the following year . In 1956 , he returned to Washington D.C. to work in the Eisenhower Interior Department , where he played an important role in bringing about statehood for Alaska . He was elected to the Alaska House of Representatives in 1964 and became House majority leader in his second term . In 1968 , Stevens ran unsuccessfully for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate , but was appointed to Alaska 's other Senate seat when it became vacant later that year . As a Senator , Stevens played key roles in legislation that shaped Alaska 's economic and social development , including the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act , the Trans-Alaska Pipeline Authorization Act , the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act , and the Magnuson -- Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act . He was also known for his sponsorship of the Amateur Sports Act of 1978 , which resulted in the establishment of the United States Olympic Committee . In 2008 , Stevens was embroiled in a federal corruption trial as he ran for re-election to the Senate . He was found guilty , and eight days later was narrowly defeated at the polls . Stevens is the most senior U.S. Senator to have ever lost a reelection bid . However , prior to sentencing , the indictment was dismissed -- effectively vacating the conviction -- when a Justice Department probe found evidence of gross prosecutorial misconduct . Many have argued the prosecution was unfair and politically motivated . Stevens died on August 9 , 2010 , when a de Havilland Canada DHC-3 Otter he and several others were flying in crashed en route to a private fishing lodge .", "Theodore Benfey Theodore Benfey was a member of the Wisconsin State Senate .", "Illinois Fair Tax The Illinois Fair Tax is a proposed amendment to the Illinois state constitution that would change the state income tax system from a flat tax to a graduated income tax . Proponents argue that the proposal would make the Illinois tax code fairer , provide tax relief to the most Illinoisans , boost small businesses , and accelerate job creation Opponents argue it would open the door to tax hikes that hurt small businesses and drive more job creation to neighboring states . If approved by three-fifths of the state legislature , the proposal will be voted on in a referendum . While it did not pass in 2014 , supporters have vowed to bring the proposal back in future years . A Better Illinois was the coalition supported by labor unions , faith and civic leaders and small business owners that pushed for the measure and a possible referendum campaign .", "United States Senate election in Alaska, 1980 The 1980 United States Senate election in Alaska was held on November 4 , 1980 . Incumbent Democratic United States Senator Mike Gravel ran for a third term in the United States Senate , but lost in the Democratic primary to Clark Gruening , a former state representative who was the grandson of Ernest Gruening , whom Gravel had defeated twelve years prior in an election for the same seat . Gruening later went on to lose the general election to Republican nominee Frank Murkowski , a banker . After the loss of Gravel 's seat , no Alaska Democrat would win a congressional race again until Mark Begich 's narrow , protracted triumph in Alaska 's 2008 Senate election .", "Dan Sullivan (U.S. Senator) Daniel Scott Sullivan ( born November 13 , 1964 ) is an American politician , lawyer and member of the Republican Party who has served as the junior United States Senator from Alaska since January 2015 . Born in Ohio , Sullivan earned degrees from Harvard University and Georgetown University , interning at the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit . After graduating in 1993 , he joined the United States Marine Corps , leaving active duty in 1997 . He has since served in the United States Marine Corps Reserve and was recalled to active duty from 2004 to 2006 and in 2009 and 2013 . Between 1997 and 1999 , he clerked for judges on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and the Alaska Supreme Court . He worked in private practice in Anchorage , Alaska from 2000 to 2002 , then moved to Maryland to work for the federal government , first with the National Economic Council and National Security Council , then as Assistant Secretary of State for Economic and Business Affairs . Sullivan then returned to Alaska , serving first as Alaska Attorney General from 2009 to 2010 , then as Commissioner of the Alaska Department of Natural Resources from 2010 to 2013 . He resigned from office in September of that year to run for the United States Senate seat held by Democrat Mark Begich in the 2014 election . In August 2014 , Sullivan won the Republican primary , defeating Alaska Lieutenant Governor Mead Treadwell and 2010 Senate nominee Joe Miller . After a close race , he defeated Begich in the general election by 47.96 % to 45.83 % , a margin of 6,014 votes out of 282,400 cast .", "Harry Reid (disambiguation) Harry Reid ( born 1939 ) is an American politician who served as the senior United States Senator from Nevada , from 1987 to 2017 . Harry Reid may also refer to : Harry Reid ( bishop ) ( died 1943 ) , Bishop of Edinburgh Harry Fielding Reid ( 1859 -- 1944 ) , geophysicist Harry Reid ( journalist ) ( born 1947 ) , Scottish journalist and author Harry Reid ( actor ) ( born 1992 ) , plays Ben Mitchell in EastEnders", "Lisa Murkowski Lisa Ann Murkowski -LSB- mɜrˈkaʊskiː -RSB- ( born May 22 , 1957 ) is the senior United States Senator from Alaska and a member of the Republican Party . She has served in the Senate since 2002 . Murkowski became the state 's senior senator on January 3 , 2009 , when Democrat Mark Begich , who had defeated Alaska 's senior senator Ted Stevens in November 2008 , took office . She is the daughter of former U.S. Senator and Governor of Alaska Frank Murkowski . Before her appointment to the Senate , she served in the Alaska House of Representatives and was eventually elected majority leader . Murkowski was appointed to the U.S. Senate by her father , Frank Murkowski , who resigned his seat in December 2002 to become the Governor of Alaska . She completed her father 's unexpired term , which ended in January 2005 . She ran for and won a full term in 2004 . She ran for a second term in 2010 . She lost the Republican Party nomination to Tea Party candidate Joe Miller . She then ran as a write-in candidate and defeated both Miller and Democrat Scott McAdams in the general election , making her only the second senator to be elected by write-in vote since Strom Thurmond in 1954 . Although Sen. Murkowski has won three full terms to the Senate , she has never won a majority of the vote winning pluralities each time : 48.5 % in 2004 , 39.5 % in 2010 and 44 % in 2016 .", "Climate Hawks Vote Climate Hawks Vote is a small-scale , grassroots-funded super-PAC founded in 2013 that supports candidates and elected officials whom it identifies as making climate change a top priority .", "Dana Fabe Dana Anderson Fabe ( born March 29 , 1951 ) was a member of the Alaska Supreme Court from March 1996 until her retirement in June 2016 . She served three terms as the court 's Chief Justice ( 2000 -- 2003 , 2006 -- 2009 , 2012 -- 2015 ) . She was the first woman appointed to the Alaska Supreme Court and the Alaska Supreme Court 's first female Chief Justice . A native of Cincinnati , Ohio , she grew up in the city 's Hyde Park neighborhood and attended The Seven Hills School . She attended Cornell University ( BA 1973 ) and Northeastern University School of Law ( JD 1976 ) , before moving to Alaska in the 1970s . Following the retirement of U.S. Supreme Court Justice David Souter , U.S. Senator Mark Begich recommended her as a possible successor in a letter to President Barack Obama .", "Global Warming Pollution Reduction Act of 2007 The Global Warming Pollution Reduction Act of 2007 - a bill to amend the Clean Air Act to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide , and for other purposes . It was proposed in the 110th United States Congress by Senators Bernie Sanders ( I-VT ) and Barbara Boxer ( D-CA ) on January 15 , 2007 . It was referred to the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works . The measure was intended to increase performance standards for electricity generation and motor vehicles with the option of an emissions `` cap and trade '' system . The emissions cap would begin in 2010 with the aim of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 15 percent by 2020 and 83 percent by 2050 . The legislation would also provide funding for R&D on geologic sequestration of carbon dioxide , among other projects ; set emissions standards for new vehicles and a renewable fuels requirement for gasoline beginning in 2016 ; establish energy efficiency and renewable portfolio standards beginning in 2008 and low-carbon electric generation standards beginning in 2016 for electric utilities ; and require periodic evaluations by the National Academy of Sciences to determine whether emissions targets are adequate .", "Ben Stevens Ben Aavan Stevens , Sr. ( March 18,1959 ) is an American politician and former President of the Alaska State Senate . He is a Republican and the son of former United States Senator Ted Stevens , the second-longest-serving Republican in United States Senate history .", "The NewDEAL The NewDEAL is an American Democratic Party-affiliated political organization founded in 2011 by honorary co-chairs Governor Martin O'Malley of Maryland and U.S. Senator Mark Begich of Alaska to promote `` pro-growth progressive state and local elected leaders and their innovative ideas from across the country . '' DEAL is an acronym for `` Developing Exceptional American Leaders . '' Steve Benen of Washington Monthly described the network as an attempt to create `` a farm team '' for Democrats to identify `` future stars . ''" ]

[ "Carlos Curbelo Carlos Curbelo may refer to : Carlos Curbelo ( politician ) ( born 1980 ) , American politician Carlos Curbelo ( footballer ) ( born 1954 ) , former naturalized French footballer" ]

[ "United States presidential election in Connecticut, 2012 The 2012 United States presidential election in Connecticut took place on November 6 , 2012 as part of the 2012 General Election in which all 50 states plus The District of Columbia participated . Connecticut voters chose seven electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote pitting incumbent Democratic President Barack Obama and his running mate , Vice President Joe Biden , against Republican challenger and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and his running mate , Congressman Paul Ryan . Obama and Biden carried Connecticut with 58.1 % of the popular vote to Romney 's and Ryan 's 40.7 % , thus winning the state 's seven electoral votes .", "United States presidential election in Nebraska, 2012 The 2012 United States presidential election in Nebraska took place on November 6 , 2012 as part of the 2012 General Election in which all 50 states plus The District of Columbia participated . Nebraska voters chose five electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote pitting incumbent Democratic President Barack Obama and his running mate , Vice President Joe Biden , against Republican challenger and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and his running mate , Congressman Paul Ryan . On election day , Mitt Romney carried the state of Nebraska , taking 59.80 % of the vote to Barack Obama 's 38.03 % , a margin of 21.77 % . Nebraska is one of two states ( along with Maine ) which splits its electoral votes based on the winner in each congressional district . In 2012 , Romney won all 3 congressional districts , thus winning all 5 of the state 's electoral votes . This was a change from 2008 , when the state as a whole had voted for Republican John McCain but Democrat Barack Obama still won an electoral vote from the state . Nebraska 's 2nd congressional district , home to Omaha , had split with the rest of the state and awarded one of Nebraska 's electoral votes to a Democratic presidential nominee for the first time since 1964 . Nebraska 's 2nd congressional district , Indiana , and North Carolina were the only sources of electoral votes to change hands from Obama to the Republicans between 2008 and 2012 .", "Carlos Curbelo (footballer) Carlos Curbelo ( born 28 April 1954 in San José de Mayo , Uruguay ) is a former naturalized French footballer who played defender . He is the father of AS Nancy 's Gaston Curbelo .", "United States presidential election in New Hampshire, 2012 The 2012 United States presidential election in New Hampshire took place on November 6 , 2012 as part of the 2012 General Election in which all 50 states plus The District of Columbia participated . New Hampshire voters chose four electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote pitting incumbent Democratic President Barack Obama and his running mate , Vice President Joe Biden , against Republican challenger and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and his running mate , Congressman Paul Ryan . On election day , New Hampshire voters chose to re-elect President Barack Obama , giving Obama 51.98 % of the vote to Mitt Romney 's 46.40 % , a Democratic victory margin of 5.58 % .", "United States presidential election in Kansas, 2012 The 2012 United States presidential election in Kansas took place on November 6 , 2012 as part of the 2012 General Election in which all 50 states plus The District of Columbia participated . Kansas voters chose six electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote pitting incumbent Democratic President Barack Obama and his running mate , Vice President Joe Biden , against Republican challenger and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and his running mate , Congressman Paul Ryan . Romney and Ryan carried Kansas with 59.66 % of the popular vote to Obama 's and Biden 's 38.05 % , thus winning the state 's six electoral votes . Obama carried only two counties : Douglas , home to liberal Lawrence and the University of Kansas ; and Wyandotte , home to Kansas City and the state 's largest concentration of minority voters . In 2008 , Obama also carried Crawford County in southeast Kansas , but failed to do so this time .", "United States presidential election in Maine, 2012 The 2012 United States presidential election in Maine took place on November 6 , 2012 as part of the 2012 General Election in which all 50 states plus The District of Columbia participated . Maine voters chose four electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote pitting incumbent Democratic President Barack Obama and his running mate , Vice President Joe Biden , against Republican challenger and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and his running mate , Congressman Paul Ryan . Obama and Biden carried Maine with 55.37 % of the popular vote to Romney 's and Ryan 's 40.33 % , thus winning the state 's four electoral votes .", "Curbelo Curbelo is a Spanish surname . Notable people with the surname include : Alejandro Curbelo ( born 1973 ) Uruguayan soccer player Carlos Curbelo Carlos Curbelo ( politician ) ( born 1980 ) , American politician Carlos Curbelo ( footballer ) ( born 1954 ) , former naturalized French soccer player Cecilia Curbelo ( born 1975 ) Uruguayan journalist Gaston Curbelo ( born 1976 ) is a French soccer player Gonzalo Curbelo ( born 1987 ) Uruguayan soccer player Jorge Curbelo ( born 1981 ) Uruguayan soccer player José Curbelo ( 1917-2012 ) Cuban-born American pianist and manager Juan Curbelo Juan Ramón Curbelo ( born 1979 ) soccer player Juan Curbelo ( 1680 - 1760 ) Spanish politician Nestor Curbelo ( born 1952 ) Uruguayan historian Silvia Álvarez Curbelo ( born 1940 ) Puerto Rican historian and writer Silvia Curbelo Cuban-born , American poet and writer", "Climate Change Science Program The Climate Change Science Program ( CCSP ) was the program responsible for coordinating and integrating research on global warming by U.S. government agencies from February 2002 to June 2009 . Toward the end of that period , CCSP issued 21 separate climate assessment reports that addressed climate observations , changes in the atmosphere , expected climate change , impacts and adaptation , and risk management issues . Shortly after President Obama took office , the program 's name was changed to U.S. Global Change Research Program ( USGCRP ) which was also the program 's name before 2002 . Nevertheless , the Obama Administration generally embraced the CCSP products as sound science providing a basis for climate policy . Because those reports were mostly issued after the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) , and in some cases focused specifically on the United States , they were generally viewed within the United States as having an importance and scientific credibility comparable to the IPCC assessments for the first few years of the Obama Administration .", "United States presidential election in Washington (state), 2012 The 2012 United States presidential election in Washington took place on November 6 , 2012 as part of the 2012 General Election in which all 50 states plus The District of Columbia participated . Washington voters chose 12 electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote pitting incumbent Democratic President Barack Obama and his running mate , Vice President Joe Biden , against Republican challenger and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and his running mate , Congressman Paul Ryan . President Obama won the state of Washington comfortably , taking 56.16 % to Mitt Romney 's 41.29 % , a 14.87 % margin of victory . The election continued the state 's blue trend ; Washington has not voted for a Republican since Ronald Reagan in 1984 .", "United States presidential election in Montana, 2012 The 2012 United States presidential election in Montana took place on November 6 , 2012 as part of the 2012 General Election in which all 50 states plus The District of Columbia participated . Montana voters chose three electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote pitting incumbent Democratic President Barack Obama and his running mate , Vice President Joe Biden , against Republican challenger and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and his running mate , Congressman Paul Ryan . Romney carried Montana with 55.35 % of the vote to Obama 's 41.70 % , with a 14.64 % margin of victory . Montana was the second-best state performance for Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson , carrying about 3 % of the vote . Romney performed much better than John McCain had in 2008 , when he narrowly won over Obama .", "United States presidential election in Idaho, 2012 The 2012 United States presidential election in Idaho took place on November 6 , 2012 as part of the 2012 General Election in which all 50 states plus The District of Columbia participated . Idaho voters chose four electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote pitting incumbent Democratic President Barack Obama and his running mate , Vice President Joe Biden , against Republican challenger and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and his running mate , Congressman Paul Ryan . Prior to the election , 17 news organizations considered this a state Romney would win , or otherwise considered as a safe red state . Romney and Ryan carried Idaho with 64.09 % of the popular vote to Obama 's and Biden 's 32.40 % , thus winning the state 's four electoral votes .", "United States presidential election in Mississippi, 2012 The 2012 United States presidential election in Mississippi took place on November 6 , 2012 as part of the 2012 General Election in which all 50 states plus The District of Columbia participated . Mississippi voters chose six electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote pitting incumbent Democratic President Barack Obama and his running mate , Vice President Joe Biden , against Republican challenger and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and his running mate , Congressman Paul Ryan . Romney and Ryan won Mississippi with 55.3 % of the popular vote to Obama 's and Biden 's 43.8 % , thus winning the state 's six electoral votes . Mississippi was one of just six states where Obama improved on his 2008 performance . According to exit polls , the black vote share in Mississippi increased from 33 % in 2008 to 36 % in 2012 , likely explaining Obama 's gains . This was the strongest showing for a Democratic presidential candidate in Mississippi since native Southerner Bill Clinton 's 44.08 % in 1996 . Obama carried Warren County , becoming the first Democrat to do so since John F. Kennedy in 1960 .", "United States presidential election in Arkansas, 2012 The 2012 United States presidential election in Arkansas took place on November 6 , 2012 as part of the 2012 General Election in which all 50 states plus The District of Columbia participated . Arkansas voters chose six electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote pitting incumbent Democratic President Barack Obama and his running mate , Vice President Joe Biden , against Republican challenger and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and his running mate , Congressman Paul Ryan . Romney and Ryan carried Arkansas with 60.57 % of the popular vote to Obama 's and Biden 's 36.88 % of the vote , winning the state 's six electoral votes . While Arkansas had been won by the Democrats as recently as 1996 by native son Bill Clinton , Barack Obama proved a poor fit for the state , and his 23.69 % loss was the worst defeat for a Democratic presidential candidate in Arkansas since 1972 . The presidential primaries were held May 22 , 2012 , on the same day as the primaries in Kentucky .", "United States presidential election in Ohio, 2012 The 2012 United States presidential election in Ohio took place on November 6 , 2012 as part of the 2012 General Election in which all 50 states plus The District of Columbia participated . Ohio voters chose 18 electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote pitting incumbent Democratic President Barack Obama and his running mate , Vice President Joe Biden , against Republican challenger and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and his running mate , Congressman Paul Ryan . This continued the streak of having the winner of the overall election winning Ohio as the state has not voted for a losing candidate since Richard Nixon in 1960 . President Obama won the popular vote in Ohio with 50.67 % of the vote over Mitt Romney in second place at 47.69 % , a Democratic victory margin of 2.98 % .", "Richard Fuller (environmentalist) Richard Fuller ( born 1960 ) is an Australian-born , U.S.-based engineer , entrepreneur and environmentalist best known for his work in global pollution remediation . He is founder and president of the nonprofit Blacksmith Institute , ( recently renamed Pure Earth ) dedicated to solving pollution problems in low and middle-income countries , where human health is at risk . He is also the founder and president of Great Forest , Inc. , a sustainability consultancy in the U.S. . In 2010 , he was profiled in Time magazine 's Power of One column about his efforts fighting global pollution . In 2014 , Bloomberg Businessweek chronicled the growth of Blacksmith Institute/Pure Earth and Fuller 's work on toxic pollution problems around the world , including a dangerous cleanup of a secret former Soviet arms site in the Ukraine . In 2014 , the UN Dispatch profiled Fuller 's work helping to shape the Sustainable Development Goals . Working with Pure Earth and the Global Alliance on Health and Pollution , Fuller was part of a global team that successfully worked to broaden the scope of toxic pollution addressed in the Sustainable Development Goals ( SDGs ) . In 2015 , Santa Monica Press published `` The Brown Agenda : My Mission To Clean Up The World 's Most Life-Threatening Pollution '' , written by Fuller and Damon DiMarco . The book documents his adventures at some of the world 's most toxic locations , and introduces readers to the plight of the poisoned poor , suggesting specific ways in which anyone can help combat brown sites all over the world . `` We 've already solved most of the pollution problems in the West . There are n't people dying in droves in the U.S. or in England - they 're all dying overseas , in low - and middle-income countries , '' the author of `` The Brown Agenda '' told the Thomson Reuters Foundation . In a 2015 interview with John Hockenberry on The Takeaway on NPR , Fuller noted the differences in approaches to climate change and pollution : '' ... over the last couple of decades , climate change has taken over as the key environmental issue . So now we find that the agenda of these countries is biodiversity and climate change , and pollution has simply dropped off the map . This is an extraordinary result and one we really need to turn around . ''", "United States presidential election in Michigan, 2012 The 2012 United States presidential election in Michigan took place on November 6 , 2012 as part of the 2012 General Election in which all 50 states plus The District of Columbia participated . Michigan voters chose 16 electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote pitting incumbent Democratic President Barack Obama and his running mate , Vice President Joe Biden , against Republican challenger and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and his running mate , Congressman Paul Ryan . Michigan was won by Democratic incumbent Barack Obama by a 9.5 % margin of victory . Obama received 54.21 % of the vote to Romney 's 44.71 % . It was the sixth presidential election in a row where Michigan voted in favor of the Democratic candidate , with Republicans last carrying the state in 1988 , when George H.W. Bush won in Michigan ; however , Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump did end up winning the state in 2016 .", "United States presidential election in Indiana, 2012 The 2012 United States presidential election in Indiana took place on November 6 , 2012 as part of the 2012 General Election in which all 50 states plus The District of Columbia participated . Indiana voters chose 11 electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote pitting incumbent Democratic President Barack Obama and his running mate , Vice President Joe Biden , against Republican challenger and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and his running mate , Congressman Paul Ryan . Romney and Ryan carried Indiana with 54.1 % of the popular vote to Obama 's and Biden 's 43.9 % , thus winning the state 's 11 electoral votes . Indiana was one of just two states ( along with North Carolina ) which had been won by Obama in 2008 but which flipped to the Republicans in 2012 . Although the state normally leans Republican , in 2008 Obama had been the first Democrat to win Indiana since 1964 , albeit by a narrow 1.03 % margin . However , unlike North Carolina , Indiana was not seriously contested again by the Obama campaign in 2012 , and consequently Romney was able to carry it by a relatively comfortable 10.20 % . Obama also won in Vigo County , home to Terre Haute and a noted bellwether ; it has voted for the winner of every presidential election all but twice since 1892 .", "United States presidential election in Illinois, 2012 The 2012 United States presidential election in Illinois took place on November 6 , 2012 as part of the 2012 General Election in which all 50 states plus The District of Columbia participated . Illinois voters chose 20 electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote pitting incumbent Democratic President Barack Obama and his running mate , Vice President Joe Biden , against Republican challenger and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and his running mate , Congressman Paul Ryan . The Obama/Biden ticket won Illinois with 57.60 % of the popular vote to Romney/Ryan 's 40.73 % , thus winning the state 's 20 electoral votes by a margin of 16.87 % . Obama 's victory in Illinois was due to an overwhelmingly strong vote total in Cook County , which includes Illinois ' largest city , Chicago . Obama won Cook County with 74 % , receiving 1,488,537 votes , compared to Romney who received only 24.6 % of the votes in Cook County , or 495,542 votes . The importance of the vote in Chicago and the rest of Cook County to Obama 's victory in Illinois can be illustrated by a hypothetical scenario in which its votes are not included in the overall state total . Many counties in Southern Illinois that had voted for then Senator Obama in 2008 , swung back to the GOP due to decreased enthusiasm for the Democratic incumbent . If one were to subtract all of the votes in Cook County from Illinois ' total votes cast , Romney would have actually won Illinois , having received 1,629,863 votes ( 50.62 % ) in the rest of the state , compared to Obama , who received 1,524,886 votes ( 47.36 % ) . This , despite Obama 's good performance in the suburban collar counties , which are considered swing counties . Obama 's victory continued a Democratic winning streak in the state - the Democratic candidate has carried Illinois through the previous six election cycles . The last Republican to win Illinois in a Presidential Election was George H.W. Bush in 1988 .", "United States presidential election in Hawaii, 2012 The 2012 United States presidential election in Hawaii took place on November 6 , 2012 as part of the 2012 General Election in which all 50 states plus The District of Columbia participated . Hawaii voters chose four electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote pitting incumbent Democratic President Barack Obama and his running mate , Vice President Joe Biden , against Republican challenger and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and his running mate , Congressman Paul Ryan . Prior to the election , 17 news organizations considered this a state Obama would win , or otherwise considered as a safe blue state . The Hawaiian-born President handily won the state 's 4 electoral votes by a wide 42.71 percent margin of victory .", "United States presidential election in Oregon, 2012 The 2012 United States presidential election in Oregon took place on November 6 , 2012 , as part of the 2012 General Election in which all 50 states plus The District of Columbia participated . Oregon voters chose seven electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote pitting incumbent Democratic President Barack Obama and his running mate , Vice President Joe Biden , against Republican challenger and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and his running mate , Congressman Paul Ryan . On election day , Obama carried Oregon with 54.24 % of the vote to Romney 's 42.15 % , a Democratic victory margin of 12.09 % . The Democrats have won the state in every presidential election since 1988 .", "United States presidential election in New Jersey, 2012 The 2012 United States presidential election in New Jersey took place on November 6 , 2012 as part of the 2012 General Election in which all 50 states plus The District of Columbia participated . New Jersey voters chose 14 electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote pitting incumbent Democratic President Barack Obama and his running mate , Vice President Joe Biden , against Republican challenger and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and his running mate , Congressman Paul Ryan . Due to the difficulty of getting to polling places because of the damage caused by Hurricane Sandy , voters who were displaced were allowed to vote electronically . Officials were not prepared for the 15 minutes that it took to validate each request , and were deluged by voters who were not displaced asking to vote electronically , so voting was extended until Friday , November 9 , at 8 PM . Requests had to be submitted by 5 PM . New Jersey was won by President Obama with 58.38 % of the vote to Romney 's 40.59 % , a 17.79 % margin of victory . New Jersey was one of just six states to swing in President Obama 's favor between 2008 and 2012 , giving him the largest vote share for a Democratic presidential nominee in the state since the 1964 Democratic landslide .", "United States presidential election in the District of Columbia, 2012 The 2012 United States presidential election in the District of Columbia took place on November 6 , 2012 as part of the 2012 General Election in which all 50 states plus The District of Columbia participated . D.C. voters chose three electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote pitting incumbent Democratic President Barack Obama and his running mate , Vice President Joe Biden , against Republican challenger and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and his running mate , Congressman Paul Ryan . Obama and Biden carried the District of Columbia with 90.9 % of the popular vote to Romney 's and Ryan 's 7.3 % , thus winning the district 's three electoral votes . As of 2017 , this is the only election since 1988 when the District failed to return a Democratic margin of victory higher than the district had then ever returned in any prior election .", "Republican and conservative support for Barack Obama in 2008 United States President Barack Obama , a member of the Democratic Party , was endorsed or supported by some members of the Republican Party and by some political figures holding conservative views in the 2008 election . Although the vast majority of Obama 's support came from liberal constituencies , some conservatives identified in him shared priorities or other positive attributes . As in any election , voters can and sometimes do cross party lines to vote for the other party 's nominee . Republican and conservative Obama supporters were often referred to as `` Obama Republicans '' , `` Obamacans '' or `` Obamacons '' . Republican and conservative supporters of Obama included elected officials , former elected officials , academics , commentators , and retired military officers . According to exit polls on Election Day , 9 % of those who identified themselves as Republicans voted for Barack Obama , up slightly from the 6 % of self-identified Republicans who voted for John Kerry in 2004 .", "Generation Zero (organisation) Generation Zero is a youth-led organisation in New Zealand focused on transitioning society away from its dependency on fossil fuels and combating climate change . Generation Zero `` was founded with the central purpose of providing solutions for New Zealand to cut carbon pollution through smarter transport , liveable cities & independence from fossil fuels . '' The group believes that young people must be at the forefront of tackling climate change , and that `` young people are the inheritors of humanity 's response '' .", "United States presidential election in Iowa, 2012 The 2012 United States presidential election in Iowa took place on November 6 , 2012 , as part of the 2012 general election in which all 50 states plus The District of Columbia participated . Iowa voters chose six electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote pitting incumbent Democratic President Barack Obama and his running mate , Vice President Joe Biden , against Republican challenger and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and his running mate , Congressman Paul Ryan . On election day , Barack Obama won Iowa with 51.99 % of the vote to Mitt Romney 's 46.18 % , a Democratic victory margin of 5.81 % . The result being closer than 2008 , Romney picked up wins in several counties that Obama had won in 2008 , although one county flipped in the opposite direction , with Obama narrowly winning Woodbury County in 2012 after narrowly losing it in 2008 .", "Maldivian Youth Climate Network The Maldivian Youth Climate Network ( MYCN ) , founded on 29 August 2010 , is a Non-Governmental Organisation from Maldives which is primarily involved in raising awareness on and empowering youth to combat Climate Change . It is currently one of the leading organizations advocating against climate change in Maldives .", "Effects of climate change on island nations Climate change is producing drastic changes to Earth processes and changing Earth 's environmental status quo . Especially pertinent to human development is the threat of climate change on island nations . As sea levels continue to rise , island peoples and cultures are being threatened . As the former President of the Republic of the Marshall Islands , Christopher Loeak , noted `` In the last year alone , my country has suffered through unprecedented droughts in the north , and the biggest ever king tides in the south ; and we have watched the most devastating typhoons in history leave a trail of death and destruction across the region . '' Efforts to combat theses environmental changes are ongoing and multinational . Particularly notable is the adoption of the Paris agreement at the UN Climate Summit in Paris in 2015 , which by no means an unqualified success , is certainly a step in the right direction in regards to fighting the effects of climate by aiming to slow the pace of global warming .", "United States presidential election in Florida, 2012 The 2012 United States presidential election in Florida took place on November 6 , 2012 as part of the 2012 General Election in which all 50 states plus The District of Columbia participated . Florida voters chose 29 electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote pitting incumbent Democratic President Barack Obama and his running mate , Vice President Joe Biden , against Republican challenger and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and his running mate , Congressman Paul Ryan . Several counties in the state suffered delays in finalizing their votes . This was caused in part by a high turnout , as well as a large number of absentee ballots to count , though some ( international ) media responded that ` foul play ' might be involved . As of November 8 , the voting had still not concluded . However , with much of the remaining vote still coming in from heavily Democratic areas , Mitt Romney 's Florida campaign acknowledged that Romney had lost the state to Barack Obama . In order to certify the election in Florida , the ballots continued to be counted . Both Miami-Dade and Broward County completed their ballot counts on November 8 , leaving Palm Beach and Duval counties as the only two that did not have a final count at the end of the day . Florida required all counties to finish counting by noon Saturday , but would not announce an official winner until the votes were certified on November 20 . A recount is not done unless the difference is less than 0.5 % . At 11 PM EST on November 9 , the margin for Obama was 0.86 % , with all but one county finished with their counting . On November 10 , most major news sources projected Obama to be the winner of Florida 's 29 electoral votes . It was the last state to be called in the 2012 presidential election , and was also the closest . Despite Tampa having been the site of the 2012 Republican National Convention , Barack Obama ultimately carried the state of Florida with 50.01 % of the vote , to Mitt Romney 's 49.13 % , a margin of 0.88 % . Having also won the state in 2008 , Obama 's 2012 victory made him the first Democratic president since Franklin D. Roosevelt to carry Florida for the Democrats in two consecutive presidential elections .", "United States presidential election in Tennessee, 2012 The 2012 United States presidential election in Tennessee took place on November 6 , 2012 as part of the 2012 General Election in which all 50 states plus The District of Columbia participated . Tennessee voters chose 11 electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote pitting incumbent Democratic President Barack Obama and his running mate , Vice President Joe Biden , against Republican challenger and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and his running mate , Congressman Paul Ryan . Mitt Romney received Tennessee 's 11 electoral votes after he garnered 59.48 % of the popular vote in Tennessee , to Barack Obama 's 39.08 % . Much like in previous elections , larger metropolitan areas such as Memphis and Nashville were won by the Democratic Party , but rural areas overwhelmingly favored the Republican Party . Barack Obama proved especially unpopular among the state 's conservative electorate ; consequently , Mitt Romney 's 20.4 % margin of victory was the strongest Republican win in Tennessee since 1972 . Tennessee has not voted for a Democratic candidate since 1996 .", "Air pollution in Germany Air pollution in Germany has significantly decreased over the past decade . Air pollution occurs when harmful substances are released into the Earth 's atmosphere . These pollutants are released through human activity and natural sources . Germany took interest in reducing its greenhouse gas ( GHG ) emissions by switching to renewable energy sources . Renewable energy use rose from 6.3 % in 2000 to 34 % in 2016 . Through the transition to renewable energy sources , Germany has become the climate change policy leader and renewable energy leader in the European Union ( EU ) and in the world with ambitious climate change programs . The current goal of the German government was approved on 14 November 2016 in the German Climate Action Plan 2050 , which outlines measures by which Germany can meet its greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 . By 2050 , Germany wants to reduce their GHGs by 80 to 95 % and by 2030 they want to reduce it by 55 % , compared to the EU target of 40 % . In order to achieve these goals , a variety of strategies and policies are used rather than legislation . The four strategies the German government bases air pollution control on are laying down environmental quality standards , emission reduction requirements according to the best available technology , production regulations , and laying down emission ceilings . Through these strategies , policy instruments have been put in place that have contributed to the success of the significant air pollution reduction in Germany . These instruments include the Federal Emission Control Act and Implementing Ordinances , Technical Instructions on Air Quality Control ( TA Luft ) , Amendment to Ordinance on Small Firing Installations , Implementation of the directive on industrial emissions , and Transboundary air pollution control policy . The German Feed-in-Tariff policy introduced in 2000 led to the significant increase in renewable energy use and decreasing air pollution . They have been introduced in Germany to increase the use of renewables , such as wind power , biomass , hydropower , geothermal power , and photovoltaics , thereby reducing GHG emissions causing air pollution and combating climate change . The German government has been an agenda setter in international climate policy negotiations since the late 1980s . However , national and global climate policies have become a top priority since the conservative-social democratic government came into power in 2005 , pushing both European and international climate negotiations . Positive path dependency in Germany 's climate and energy policies has occurred over the past 20 years . There are three main triggers that put Germany on this positive path dependency and what led them to becoming a climate change policy leader . The first being the widespread damages to health , due to smog , and to nature , due to acid rain , caused by air pollution . The second being the shock of the two oil price crises , in 1973 and 1979 , that highlighted the problem of the German economy 's strong dependence on unsure foreign sources . The third being the growing opposition to the country 's growing reliance on nuclear energy . Air pollution began to be seen as a problem in Germany due to these three triggers , causing Germany to put policies into place to control air pollution . This has now developed from controlling air pollution to being a leader in climate change politics . __ TOC __", "Virginia's 9th congressional district Virginia 's ninth congressional district is a United States congressional district in the commonwealth of Virginia , covering much of the southwestern part of the state . The 9th is Virginia 's second-largest district in area , covering 8800.24 square miles ( slightly larger than the whole state of New Jersey ) . The current representative is Morgan Griffith ( R ) . Despite the fact that the district had been in Democratic hands for nearly three decades , it has always had a strong social conservative bent , one that turned it towards the Republicans starting in the 1990s . It last supported a Democrat for president in 1996 , and has only supported a Democrat in two statewide contests since then . Republican presidential candidate John McCain received 59 % of the vote in the 9th district in 2008 , his best performance in any of Virginia 's eleven congressional districts . The 9th District is the only district in Virginia that cast more votes for Hillary Clinton than Barack Obama in the 2008 Democratic Presidential Primary . Clinton won more than 60 % of the vote here despite Congressman Rick Boucher 's endorsement of Obama .", "United States presidential election in Minnesota, 2012 The 2012 United States presidential election in Minnesota took place on November 6 , 2012 as part of the 2012 General Election in which all 50 states plus The District of Columbia participated . Minnesota voters chose 10 electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote pitting incumbent Democratic President Barack Obama and his running mate , Vice President Joe Biden , against Republican challenger and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and his running mate , Congressman Paul Ryan . Minnesota backed incumbent Democratic President Barack Obama for re-election , giving him 52.65 % of the vote , while Republican challenger Mitt Romney took 44.96 % , a victory margin of 7.69 % . With ten Democratic wins in a row , Minnesota has the longest current streak of voting for the Democratic candidate in presidential elections of any state , having not voted Republican since Richard Nixon in 1972 . This is also the longest streak for the Democrats in history amongst non-Southern States ." ]

[ "Global cooling Global cooling was a conjecture during the 1970s of imminent cooling of the Earth 's surface and atmosphere culminating in a period of extensive glaciation . This hypothesis had little support in the scientific community , but gained temporary popular attention due to a combination of a slight downward trend of temperatures from the 1940s to the early 1970s and press reports that did not accurately reflect the full scope of the scientific climate literature , which showed a larger and faster-growing body of literature projecting future warming due to greenhouse gas emissions . The current scientific opinion on climate change is that the Earth has not durably cooled , but underwent global warming throughout the 20th century .", "Global warming controversy The global warming controversy concerns the public debate over whether global warming is occurring , how much has occurred in modern times , what has caused it , what its effects will be , whether any action should be taken to curb it , and if so what that action should be . In the scientific literature , there is a strong consensus that global surface temperatures have increased in recent decades and that the trend is caused by human-induced emissions of greenhouse gases . No scientific body of national or international standing disagrees with this view , though a few organizations with members in extractive industries hold non-committal positions . Disputes over the key scientific facts of global warming are more prevalent in the media than in the scientific literature , where such issues are treated as resolved , and such disputes are more prevalent in the United States than globally . Political and popular debate concerning the existence and cause of climate change includes the reasons for the increase seen in the instrumental temperature record , whether the warming trend exceeds normal climatic variations , and whether human activities have contributed significantly to it . Scientists have resolved these questions decisively in favour of the view that the current warming trend exists and is ongoing , that human activity is the cause , and that it is without precedent in at least 2000 years . Public disputes that also reflect scientific debate include estimates of how responsive the climate system might be to any given level of greenhouse gases ( climate sensitivity ) , how global climate change will play out at local and regional scales , and what the consequences of global warming will be . Global warming remains an issue of widespread political debate , often split along party political lines , especially in the United States . Many of the issues that are settled within the scientific community , such as human responsibility for global warming , remain the subject of politically or economically motivated attempts to downplay , dismiss or deny them -- an ideological phenomenon categorised by academics and scientists as climate change denial . The sources of funding for those involved with climate science -- both supporting and opposing mainstream scientific positions -- have been questioned by both sides . There are debates about the best policy responses to the science , their cost-effectiveness and their urgency . Climate scientists , especially in the United States , have reported official and oil-industry pressure to censor or suppress their work and hide scientific data , with directives not to discuss the subject in public communications . Legal cases regarding global warming , its effects , and measures to reduce it have reached American courts . The fossil fuels lobby has been identified as overtly or covertly supporting efforts to undermine or discredit the scientific consensus on global warming .", "Global warming Global warming , also referred to as climate change , is the observed century-scale rise in the average temperature of the Earth 's climate system and its related effects . Multiple lines of scientific evidence show that the climate system is warming . Many of the observed changes since the 1950s are unprecedented in the instrumental temperature record which extends back to the mid 19th century , and in paleoclimate proxy records over thousands of years . In 2013 , the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) Fifth Assessment Report concluded that `` It is extremely likely that human influence has been the dominant cause of the observed warming since the mid-20th century . '' The largest human influence has been emission of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide , methane and nitrous oxide . Climate model projections summarized in the report indicated that during the 21st century the global surface temperature is likely to rise a further 0.3 to for their lowest emissions scenario and 2.6 to for the highest emissions scenario . These findings have been recognized by the national science academies of the major industrialized nations and are not disputed by any scientific body of national or international standing . Future climate change and associated impacts will differ from region to region around the globe . Anticipated effects include warming global temperature , rising sea levels , changing precipitation , and expansion of deserts in the subtropics . Warming is expected to be greater over land than over the oceans and greatest in the Arctic , with the continuing retreat of glaciers , permafrost and sea ice . Other likely changes include more frequent extreme weather events including heat waves , droughts , heavy rainfall with floods and heavy snowfall ; ocean acidification ; and species extinctions due to shifting temperature regimes . Effects significant to humans include the threat to food security from decreasing crop yields and the abandonment of populated areas due to rising sea levels . Because the climate system has a large `` inertia '' and greenhouse gases will stay in the atmosphere for a long time , many of these effects will not only exist for decades or centuries , but will persist for tens of thousands of years . Possible societal responses to global warming include mitigation by emissions reduction , adaptation to its effects , building systems resilient to its effects , and possible future climate engineering . Most countries are parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change ( UNFCCC ) , whose ultimate objective is to prevent dangerous anthropogenic climate change . Parties to the UNFCCC have agreed that deep cuts in emissions are required and that global warming should be limited to well below 2.0 C-change relative to pre-industrial levels , with efforts made to limit warming to 1.5 C-change . Public reactions to global warming and concern about its effects are also increasing . A global 2015 Pew Research Center report showed a median of 54 % consider it `` a very serious problem '' . There are significant regional differences , with Americans and Chinese ( whose economies are responsible for the greatest annual CO2 emissions ) among the least concerned ." ]

[ "Expanding Earth The expanding Earth or growing Earth hypothesis asserts that the position and relative movement of continents is at least partially due to the volume of Earth increasing . Conversely , geophysical global cooling was the hypothesis that various features could be explained by Earth contracting . Although it was suggested historically , since the recognition of plate tectonics in the 1970s , scientific consensus has rejected any significant expansion or contraction of Earth .", "Climatic Research Unit documents Climatic Research Unit documents including thousands of e-mails and other computer files were stolen from a server at the Climatic Research Unit of the University of East Anglia in a hacking incident in November 2009 . The documents were redistributed first through several blogs of global warming skeptics , and allegations were made that they indicated misconduct by leading climate scientists . A series of investigations rejected these allegations , while concluding that CRU scientists should have been more open with distributing data and methods on request . Precisely six committees investigated the allegations and published reports , finding no evidence of fraud or scientific misconduct . The scientific consensus that global warming is occurring as a result of human activity remained unchanged by the end of the investigations . The incident occurred shortly before the opening December 2009 Copenhagen global climate summit . It has prompted general discussion about increasing the openness of scientific data ( though the majority of climate data have always been freely available ) . Scientists , scientific organisations , and government officials have stated that the incident does not affect the overall scientific case for climate change . Andrew Revkin reported in the New York Times that `` The evidence pointing to a growing human contribution to global warming is so widely accepted that the hacked material is unlikely to erode the overall argument . ''", "An Appeal to Reason An Appeal to Reason : A Cool Look at Global Warming is a 2008 book by Nigel Lawson . In it , Lawson argues that global warming is happening , but that the science is far from settled . He opposes the scientific consensus as summarized by the IPCC . He also argues that warming will bring both benefits and negative consequences , and that the impact of these changes will be relatively moderate rather than apocalyptic . He criticizes politicians and scientists who predict catastrophe unless urgent action is taken , and he calls for gradual adaptation instead . The book has been criticized by some climatologists , including IPCC authors Jean Palutikof and Robert Watson .", "Surveys of scientists' views on climate change Surveys of scientists ' views on climate change - with a focus on human-caused or anthropogenic global warming ( AGW ) - have been undertaken since the 1990s . A 2016 paper ( which was co-authored by Naomi Oreskes , Peter Doran , William Anderegg , Bart Verheggen , Ed Maibach , J. Stuart Carlton and John Cook , and which was based on a half a dozen independent studies by the authors ) concluded that `` the finding of 97 % consensus -LSB- that humans are causing recent global warming -RSB- in published climate research is robust and consistent with other surveys of climate scientists and peer-reviewed studies . ''", "Attribution of recent climate change Attribution of recent climate change is the effort to scientifically ascertain mechanisms responsible for recent climate changes on Earth , commonly known as ` global warming ' . The effort has focused on changes observed during the period of instrumental temperature record , when records are most reliable ; particularly in the last 50 years , when human activity has grown fastest and observations of the troposphere have become available . The dominant mechanisms are anthropogenic , i.e. , the result of human activity . They are : increasing atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases global changes to land surface , such as deforestation increasing atmospheric concentrations of aerosols . There are also natural mechanisms for variation including climate oscillations , changes in solar activity , and volcanic activity . According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) , it is `` extremely likely '' that human influence was the dominant cause of global warming between 1951 and 2010 . The IPCC defines `` extremely likely '' as indicating a probability of 95 to 100 % , based on an expert assessment of all the available evidence . Multiple lines of evidence support attribution of recent climate change to human activities : A basic physical understanding of the climate system : greenhouse gas concentrations have increased and their warming properties are well-established . Historical estimates of past climate changes suggest that the recent changes in global surface temperature are unusual . Computer-based climate models are unable to replicate the observed warming unless human greenhouse gas emissions are included . Natural forces alone ( such as solar and volcanic activity ) can not explain the observed warming . The IPCC 's attribution of recent global warming to human activities is a view shared by the scientific community , and is also supported by 196 other scientific organizations worldwide ( see also : scientific opinion on climate change ) .", "Iris hypothesis The iris hypothesis is a hypothesis proposed by Richard Lindzen et al. in 2001 that suggested increased sea surface temperature in the tropics would result in reduced cirrus clouds and thus more infrared radiation leakage from Earth 's atmosphere . His study of observed changes in cloud coverage and modeled effects on infrared radiation released to space as a result supported the hypothesis . This suggested infrared radiation leakage was hypothesized to be a negative feedback in which an initial warming would result in an overall cooling of the surface . The consensus view is that increased sea surface temperature would result in increased cirrus clouds and reduced infrared radiation leakage and therefore a positive feedback . Other scientists subsequently tested the hypothesis . Some concluded that there was no evidence supporting the hypothesis . Others found evidence suggesting that increased sea surface temperature in the tropics did indeed reduce cirrus clouds but found that the effect was nonetheless a positive feedback rather than the negative feedback that Lindzen had hypothesized . A later 2007 study conducted by Roy Spencer et al. using updated satellite data potentially supported the iris hypothesis . In 2011 , Lindzen published a rebuttal to the main criticisms . In 2015 a paper was published which again suggested the possibility of an `` Iris Effect '' . It also proposed what it called a `` plausible physical mechanism for an iris effect . ''", "Leipzig Declaration The Leipzig Declaration on Global Climate Change is a statement made in 1995 , seeking to refute the claim there is a scientific consensus on the global warming issue . It was issued in an updated form in 1997 and revised again in 2005 , claiming to have been signed by 80 scientists and 25 television news meteorologists while the posting of 33 additional signatories was pending verification that those 33 additional scientists still agreed with the statement . All versions of the declaration , which opposes the global warming hypothesis and the Kyoto Protocol , were penned by Fred Singer 's Science and Environmental Policy Project ( SEPP ) . The first declaration was based on a November 9 -- 10 , 1995 conference , organized by Helmut Metzner in Leipzig , Germany . The second declaration was additionally based on a successor conference in Bonn , Germany on November 10 -- 11 , 1997 . The conferences were cosponsored by SEPP and the European Academy for Environmental Affairs and titled International Symposium on the Greenhouse Controversy .", "Climatic Research Unit email controversy The Climatic Research Unit email controversy ( also known as `` Climategate '' ) began in November 2009 with the hacking of a server at the Climatic Research Unit ( CRU ) at the University of East Anglia ( UEA ) by an external attacker , copying thousands of emails and computer files , the Climatic Research Unit documents , to various internet locations several weeks before the Copenhagen Summit on climate change . The story was first broken by climate change denialists with columnist James Delingpole popularising the term `` Climategate '' to describe the controversy . Several people considered climate change `` skeptics '' argued that the emails showed global warming was a scientific conspiracy , that scientists manipulated climate data and attempted to suppress critics . The CRU rejected this , saying the emails had been taken out of context and merely reflected an honest exchange of ideas . The mainstream media picked up the story as negotiations over climate change mitigation began in Copenhagen on 7 December 2009 . Because of the timing , scientists , policy makers and public relations experts said that the release of emails was a smear campaign intended to undermine the climate conference . In response to the controversy , the American Association for the Advancement of Science ( AAAS ) , the American Meteorological Society ( AMS ) and the Union of Concerned Scientists ( UCS ) released statements supporting the scientific consensus that the Earth 's mean surface temperature had been rising for decades , with the AAAS concluding , `` based on multiple lines of scientific evidence that global climate change caused by human activities is now underway ... it is a growing threat to society . '' Eight committees investigated the allegations and published reports , finding no evidence of fraud or scientific misconduct . However , the reports called on the scientists to avoid any such allegations in the future by taking steps to regain public confidence in their work , for example by opening up access to their supporting data , processing methods and software , and by promptly honouring freedom of information requests . The scientific consensus that global warming is occurring as a result of human activity remained unchanged throughout the investigations .", "Earthquake cloud Earthquake clouds are clouds claimed to be signs of imminent earthquakes . They have been described in antiquity : In chapter 32 of his work Brihat Samhita , Indian scholar Varahamihira ( 505 -- 587 ) discussed a number of signs warning of earthquakes , including extraordinary clouds occurring a week before the earthquake . In modern times , a few scientists claim to have observed clouds associated with a seismic event , sometimes more than 50 days in advance of the earthquake . Some have even claimed to accurately predict earthquake occurrences by observing clouds . However , these claims have very little support in the scientific community .", "Kato surface In mathematics , a Kato surface is a compact complex surface with positive first Betti number that has a global spherical shell . showed that Kato surfaces have small analytic deformations that are the blowups of primary Hopf surfaces at a finite number of points . In particular they have an infinite cyclic fundamental group , and are never Kähler manifolds . Examples of Kato surfaces include Inoue-Hirzebruch surfaces and Enoki surfaces . The global spherical shell conjecture claims that all class VII surfaces with positive second Betti number are Kato surfaces .", "Global dimming Global dimming is the gradual reduction in the amount of global direct irradiance at the Earth 's surface that was observed for several decades after the start of systematic measurements in the 1950s . The effect varies by location , but worldwide it has been estimated to be of the order of a 4 % reduction over the three decades from 1960 -- 1990 . However , after discounting an anomaly caused by the eruption of Mount Pinatubo in 1991 , a very slight reversal in the overall trend has been observed . Global dimming is thought to have been caused by an increase in particulates such as sulfate aerosols in the atmosphere due to human action . It has interfered with the hydrological cycle by reducing evaporation and may have reduced rainfall in some areas . Global dimming also creates a cooling effect that may have partially counteracted the effect of greenhouse gases on global warming .", "Antarctica cooling controversy An apparent contradiction in the observed cooling behavior of Antarctica between 1966 and 2000 became part of the public debate in the global warming controversy , particularly between advocacy groups of both sides in the public arena including politicians , as well as the popular media . In his novel State of Fear , Michael Crichton asserted that the Antarctic data contradict global warming . The few scientists who have commented on the supposed controversy state that there is no contradiction , while the author of the paper whose work inspired Crichton 's remarks has said that Crichton `` misused '' his results . There is no similar controversy within the scientific community , as the small observed changes in Antarctica are consistent with the small changes predicted by climate models , and because the overall trend since comprehensive observations began is now known to be one of warming . At the South Pole , where some of the strongest cooling trends were observed between the 1950s and 1990s , the mean trend is flat from 1957 through 2013 .", "List of scientists opposing the mainstream scientific assessment of global warming This is a list of scientists who have made statements that conflict with the scientific consensus on global warming as summarized by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and endorsed by other scientific bodies . As approximately 97 % of publishing climate scientists support the consensus on anthropogenic climate change , this list represents a minority viewpoint . The scientific consensus is that the global average surface temperature has risen over the last century . Scientific opinion on climate change was summarized in the 2001 Third Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) . The main conclusions on global warming at that time were as follows : The global average surface temperature has risen 0.6 ± 0.2 ° C since the late 19th century , and 0.17 ° C per decade in the last 30 years . `` There is new and stronger evidence that most of the warming observed over the last 50 years is attributable to human activities '' , in particular emissions of the greenhouse gases carbon dioxide and methane . If greenhouse gas emissions continue the warming will also continue , with temperatures projected to increase by 1.4 ° C to 5.8 ° C between 1990 and 2100 . Accompanying this temperature increase will be increases in some types of extreme weather and a projected sea level rise . The balance of impacts of global warming become significantly negative at larger values of warming . These findings are recognized by the national science academies of all the major industrialized nations ; the consensus has strengthened over time and is now virtually unanimous . The level of consensus correlates with expertise in climate science . There have been several efforts to compile lists of dissenting scientists , including a 2008 US senate minority report , the Oregon Petition , and a 2007 list by the Heartland Institute , all three of which have been criticized on a number of grounds . For the purpose of this list , a `` scientist '' is defined as an individual who has published at least one peer-reviewed research article in the broad field of natural sciences , although not necessarily in a field relevant to climatology . Since the publication of the IPCC Third Assessment Report , each has made a clear statement in his or her own words ( as opposed to the name being found on a petition , etc. ) disagreeing with one or more of the report 's three main conclusions . Their views on climate change are usually described in more detail in their biographical articles . Few of the statements in the references for this list are part of the peer-reviewed scientific literature ; most are from other sources such as interviews , opinion pieces , online essays and presentations . NB : Only individuals who have their own Wikipedia article may be included in the list .", "Global cooling (disambiguation) Global cooling was a 1970s conjecture about global climate change . Global cooling may also refer to : In general , one of the means by which Earth can undergo climate change Climate change denial , including contrarian views about global warming in the 20th and 21st centuries Cooling periods on the multimillion-year scale in the geologic temperature record Geophysical global cooling , a conjecture about the formation of natural features that was made obsolete by the theory of plate tectonics Little Ice Age , a period from the 16th to 19th centuries characterized by cooling and coincident with below average sunspots frequency", "Cloud feedback Cloud feedback is the coupling between cloudiness and surface air temperature where a surface air temperature change leads to a change in clouds , which could then amplify or diminish the initial temperature perturbation . Cloud feedbacks can affect the magnitude of internally generated climate variability or they can affect the magnitude of climate change resulting from external radiative forcings . Global warming is expected to change the distribution and type of clouds . Seen from below , clouds emit infrared radiation back to the surface , and so exert a warming effect ; seen from above , clouds reflect sunlight and emit infrared radiation to space , and so exert a cooling effect . Cloud representations vary among global climate models , and small changes in cloud cover have a large impact on the climate . Differences in planetary boundary layer cloud modeling schemes can lead to large differences in derived values of climate sensitivity . A model that decreases boundary layer clouds in response to global warming has a climate sensitivity twice that of a model that does not include this feedback . However , satellite data show that cloud optical thickness actually increases with increasing temperature . Whether the net effect is warming or cooling depends on details such as the type and altitude of the cloud ; details that are difficult to represent in climate models .", "Public opinion on climate change Public opinion on climate change is the aggregate of attitudes or beliefs held by the adult population concerning the science , economics , and politics of global warming . It is affected by media coverage of climate change .", "Enoki surface In mathematics , an Enoki surface is compact complex surface with positive second Betti number that has a global spherical shell and a non-trivial divisor D with H0 ( O ( D ) ) ≠ 0 and ( D , D ) = 0 . constructed some examples . They are surfaces of class VII , so are non-Kähler and have Kodaira dimension − ∞ .", "Skeptical Science Skeptical Science ( occasionally abbreviated SkS ) is a climate science blog and information resource created in 2007 by Australian cognitive scientist John Cook . In addition to publishing articles on current events relating to climate science and climate policy , the site maintains a large database of articles analyzing the merit of arguments commonly put forth by those who oppose the mainstream scientific opinion on climate change .", "Earthquake prediction Earthquake prediction is a branch of the science of seismology concerned with the specification of the time , location , and magnitude of future earthquakes within stated limits , and particularly `` the determination of parameters for the next strong earthquake to occur in a region . Earthquake prediction is sometimes distinguished from earthquake forecasting , which can be defined as the probabilistic assessment of general earthquake hazard , including the frequency and magnitude of damaging earthquakes in a given area over years or decades . Prediction can be further distinguished from earthquake warning systems , which upon detection of an earthquake , provide a real-time warning of seconds to neighboring regions that might be affected . In the 1970s , scientists were optimistic that a practical method for predicting earthquakes would soon be found , but by the 1990s continuing failure led many to question whether it was even possible . Demonstrably successful predictions of large earthquakes have not occurred and the few claims of success are controversial . For example , the most famous claim of a successful prediction is that alleged for the 1975 Haicheng earthquake . A later study said that there was no valid short-term prediction . Extensive searches have reported many possible earthquake precursors , but , so far , such precursors have not been reliably identified across significant spatial and temporal scales . While part of the scientific community hold that , taking into account non-seismic precursors and given enough resources to study them extensively , prediction might be possible , most scientists are pessimistic and some maintain that earthquake prediction is inherently impossible .", "History of climate change science The history of the scientific discovery of climate change began in the early 19th century when ice ages and other natural changes in paleoclimate were first suspected and the natural greenhouse effect first identified . In the late 19th century , scientists first argued that human emissions of greenhouse gases could change the climate . Many other theories of climate change were advanced , involving forces from volcanism to solar variation . In the 1960s , the warming effect of carbon dioxide gas became increasingly convincing . Some scientists also pointed out that human activities that generated atmospheric aerosols ( e.g. , `` pollution '' ) could have cooling effects as well . During the 1970s , scientific opinion increasingly favored the warming viewpoint . By the 1990s , as a result of improving fidelity of computer models and observational work confirming the Milankovitch theory of the ice ages , a consensus position formed : greenhouse gases were deeply involved in most climate changes and human caused emissions were bringing discernible global warming . Since the 1990s , scientific research on climate change has included multiple disciplines and has expanded . Research has expanded our understanding of causal relations , links with historic data and ability to model climate change numerically . Research during this period has been summarized in the Assessment Reports by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change . Climate change is a significant and lasting change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns over periods ranging from decades to millions of years . It may be a change in average weather conditions , or in the distribution of weather around the average conditions ( such as more or fewer extreme weather events ) . Climate change is caused by factors that include oceanic processes ( such as oceanic circulation ) , biotic processes , variations in solar radiation received by Earth , plate tectonics and volcanic eruptions , and human-induced alterations of the natural world . The latter effect is currently causing global warming , and `` climate change '' is often used to describe human-specific impacts .", "Ex-gay movement The ex-gay movement consists of people and organizations that encourage people to refrain from entering or pursuing same-sex relationships , to eliminate homosexual desires , to develop heterosexual desires , or to enter into a heterosexual relationship . The ex-gay movement relies on the involvement of individuals who formerly identified as gay , lesbian , or bisexual but no longer do ; these individuals may either claim that they have eliminated their attraction to the same sex altogether or simply that they abstain from acting on such attraction . There have been various scandals related to this movement , including some self-claimed ex-gays having been found in same-sex relationships despite having denied this , as well as controversies over gay minors being forced to go to ex-gay camps against their will , and overt admissions by organizations related to the movement that conversion therapy does not work . A large body of research and global scientific consensus indicates that being gay , lesbian , or bisexual is compatible with normal mental health and social adjustment . Because of this , major mental health professional organizations discourage and caution individuals against attempting to change their sexual orientation to heterosexual , and warn that attempting to do so can be harmful .", "Global warming hiatus A global warming hiatus , also sometimes referred to as a global warming pause or a global warming slowdown , is a period of relatively little change in globally averaged surface temperatures . In the current episode of global warming many such 15-year periods appear in the surface temperature record , along with robust evidence of the long-term warming trend ; climate is classically averaged over 30-year periods . Publicity has surrounded claims of a global warming hiatus during the period 1998 -- 2013 . The exceptionally warm El Niño year of 1998 was an outlier from the continuing temperature trend , and so subsequent annual temperatures gave the appearance of a hiatus : by January 2006 , it appeared to some that global warming had stopped or paused . A 2009 study showed that decades without warming were not exceptional , and in 2011 a study showed that if allowances were made for known variability , the rising temperature trend continued unabated . There was increased public interest in 2013 in the run-up to publication of the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report , and despite concerns that a 15-year period was too short to determine a meaningful trend , the IPCC included a section on a hiatus , which it defined as a much smaller increasing linear trend over the 15 years from 1998 to 2012 , than over the 60 years from 1951 to 2012 . Various studies examined possible causes of the short-term slowdown . Even though the overall climate system has continued to accumulate energy due to Earth 's positive energy budget , the available temperature readings at the Earth 's surface indicate slower rates of increase in surface warming than in the prior decade . Since measurements at the top of the atmosphere show that Earth is receiving more energy than it is radiating back into space , the retained energy should be producing warming in the Earth 's climate system . Research reported in July 2015 on an updated NOAA dataset casts doubt on the existence of a hiatus , and it finds no indication of a slowdown even in earlier years . Scientists working on other datasets welcomed this study , though they have expressed the view that the recent warming trend was less than in previous periods of the same length . Subsequently , a detailed study supports the conclusion that warming is continuing , but it also find there was less warming between 2001 and 2010 than climate models had predicted , and that this slowdown might be attributed to short-term variations in the Pacific decadal oscillation ( PDO ) , which was negative during that period . Another review finds `` no substantive evidence '' of a pause in global warming . A statistical study of global temperature data since 1970 concludes that the term ` hiatus ' or ` pause ' is not justified . Independent of these discussions about data and measurements for earlier years , 2015 turned out to be much warmer than any of the earlier years , already before El Niño conditions started . The warmth of 2015 largely ended any remaining scientific credibility of claims that the supposed `` hiatus '' since 1998 had any significance for the long-term warming trend . In January 2017 , a study published in the journal Science Advances cast further doubt on the existence of a recent pause , with more evidence that ocean temperatures have been underestimated . An April 2017 study found the data consistent with a steady warming trend globally since the 1970s , with fluctuations within the expected range of short term variability .", "Heat transfer through fins Fins are extensions on exterior surfaces of objects that increase the rate of heat transfer to or from the object by increasing convection . This is achieved by increasing the surface area of the body , which in turn increases the heat transfer rate by a sufficient degree . This is an efficient way of increasing the rate , since the alternative way of doing so is by increasing either the heat transfer coefficient ( which depends on the nature of materials being used and the conditions of use ) or the temperature gradient ( which depends on the conditions of use ) . Clearly , changing the shape of the bodies is more convenient . Fins are therefore a very popular solution to increase the heat transfer from surfaces and are widely used in a number of objects . The fin material should preferably have high thermal conductivity . In most applications the fin is surrounded by a fluid in motion , which heats or cools it quickly due to the large surface area , and subsequently the heat gets transferred to or from the body quickly due to the high thermal conductivity of the fin . For optimal Heat transfer performance with minimal cost , the dimensions and shape of the fin have to be calculated for specific applications , and this is called design of a fin . A common way of doing so is by creating a model of the fin and then simulating it under required service conditions .", "The Deniers The Deniers is a 2008 book by Lawrence Solomon , a Canadian environmentalist and writer . Subtitled `` The world-renowned scientists who stood up against global warming hysteria , political persecution , and fraud , '' the book draws attention to a number of scientists and others who , according to Solomon , have advanced arguments against what he calls the `` alarmist '' view of global warming , as presented by Al Gore , the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) , the mainstream media , and others . The book is based on a series of columns Solomon wrote for Canada 's National Post .", "Color terminology for race In some societies and among some anthropologists , color terminology was used to label races , sometimes in addition to a non-color term for the same race . Identifying races in terms of their human skin color has been common since at least the Physiognomica falsely attributed to Aristotle . Other scientists were more cautious about such categorization , and Charles Darwin argued that the number of categories , or in this case the number of different colors , is completely arbitrary and subjective . For example , some claimed three distinct colors , some four , and others have claimed even more . In contrast , Darwin argued that there are gradations , or degrees between the numbers of categories claimed , and not distinct categories , or colors .", "Watts Up With That? Watts Up With That ? ( or WUWT ) is a blog promoting climate change denial that was created by Anthony Watts in 2006 . The blog predominantly discusses climate issues with a focus on anthropogenic climate change , generally accommodating beliefs that are in opposition to the scientific consensus on climate change . Contributors include Christopher Monckton and Fred Singer as guest authors . In November 2009 , the blog was one of the first websites to publish emails and documents from the Climatic Research Unit controversy , and a driving force behind its coverage . In the early months of 2010 , it was reported the site might be `` the most read climate blog in the world , '' and in 2013 Michael E. Mann referred to it as the leading climate change denial blog .", "Environmental skepticism Environmental skepticism is the belief that claims by environmentalists , and the environmental scientists who support them , are false or exaggerated . The term is also applied to those who are critical of environmentalism in general . Environmental skepticism is closely linked with anti-environmentalism and climate change denial . Environmental skeptics have argued that the extent of harm coming from human activities is less certain than some scientists and scientific bodies claim , or that it is too soon to be introducing curbs in these activities on the basis of existing evidence , or that further discussion is needed regarding who should pay for such environmental initiatives . One of the focus themes in the environmental skeptics movement is the idea that environmentalism is a growing threat to social and economic progress and the civil liberties . The popularity of the term was enhanced by Bjørn Lomborg 's book The Skeptical Environmentalist . Lomborg approached environmental claims from a statistical and economic standpoint , and concluded that often the claims made by environmentalists were overstated . Lomborg argued , on the basis of cost -- benefit analysis , that few environmentalist claims warranted serious concern . However , in 2010 , Lomborg stated that he believes in the need for `` tens of billions of dollars a year to be invested in tackling climate change '' and declared global warming to be `` undoubtedly one of the chief concerns facing the world today '' and `` a challenge humanity must confront '' . He summarized his position , saying `` Global warming is real - it is man-made and it is an important problem . But it is not the end of the world . ''", "RealClimate RealClimate is a commentary site ( blog ) on climatology . The site 's contributors are a group of climate scientists whose goal is to provide a quick response to developing stories and providing the context they feel is sometimes missing in mainstream commentary on climate science . The forum is moderated , and is restricted to scientific topics to avoid discussion of political or economic implications of the science . RealClimate was launched on 10 December 2004 by nine climate scientists .", "World Scientists' Warning to Humanity In late 1992 , the late Henry W. Kendall , a former chair of the Union of Concerned Scientists ( UCS ) board of directors , wrote `` World Scientists ' Warning to Humanity '' , which begins : `` Human beings and the natural world are on a collision course . '' A majority of the Nobel Prize laureates in the sciences signed the document ; about 1,700 of the world 's leading scientists appended their signature . It is sometimes offered in opposition to the Heidelberg Appeal -- also signed by numerous scientists and Nobel laureates earlier in 1992 -- which begins by criticizing `` an irrational ideology which is opposed to scientific and industrial progress , and impedes economic and social development . '' This document is often cited by those who oppose theories relating to climate change . However , the Heidelberg Appeal offers no specific recommendations and is not an indictment of environmental science : `` We fully subscribe to the objectives of a scientific ecology for a universe whose resources must be taken stock of , monitored and preserved . But we herewith demand that this stock-taking , monitoring and preservation be founded on scientific criteria and not on irrational pre-conceptions . '' In contrast , the UCS-led petition contains specific recommendations : `` We must , for example , move away from fossil fuels to more benign , inexhaustible energy sources to cut greenhouse gas emissions and the pollution of our air and water . ... We must stabilize population . ''", "The Great Global Warming Swindle The Great Global Warming Swindle is a polemical documentary film that suggests that the scientific opinion on climate change is influenced by funding and political factors , and questions whether scientific consensus on global warming exists . The program was formally criticised by Ofcom , the UK broadcasting regulatory agency , which upheld complaints of misrepresentation made by David King . The film , made by British television producer Martin Durkin , presents scientists , economists , politicians , writers , and others who dispute the scientific consensus regarding anthropogenic global warming . The programme 's publicity materials assert that man-made global warming is `` a lie '' and `` the biggest scam of modern times . '' Its original working title was `` Apocalypse my arse '' , but the title The Great Global Warming Swindle was later adopted as an allusion to the 1980 mockumentary The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle about British punk band the Sex Pistols . The UK 's Channel 4 premiered the documentary on 8 March 2007 . The channel described the film as `` a polemic that drew together the well-documented views of a number of respected scientists to reach the same conclusions . This is a controversial film but we feel that it is important that all sides of the debate are aired . '' According to Hamish Mykura , Channel 4 's head of documentaries , the film was commissioned `` to present the viewpoint of the small minority of scientists who do not believe global warming is caused by anthropogenic production of carbon dioxide . '' Although the documentary was welcomed by global warming sceptics , it was criticised by scientific organisations and individual scientists ( including one of the scientists interviewed in the film and one whose research was used to support the film 's claims ) . The film 's critics argued that it had misused and fabricated data , relied on out-of-date research , employed misleading arguments , and misrepresented the position of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change . Later broadcasts corrected three errors in the original film .", "Effects of global warming on South Asia ", "Hurricane Katrina and global warming The tremendous destruction caused by recent Atlantic Ocean tropical cyclones , such as Hurricanes Katrina , Wilma , and Sandy caused a substantial upsurge in interest in the subject of global warming by news media and the wider public , and concerns that global climatic change may have played a significant role in those events . Time Magazine , for example , published an article titled , `` Is Global Warming Fueling Katrina ? '' -- however , the article itself addressed hurricanes in general , rather than Katrina specifically , and was inconclusive . Shortly after the hurricane , former Boston Globe reporter Ross Gelbspan wrote an op-ed piece for the Globe titled , `` Katrina 's Real Name '' , declaring that the hurricane 's `` real name is global warming . '' Gelbspan went on to assert : `` Although Katrina began as a relatively small hurricane that glanced off south Florida , it was supercharged with extraordinary intensity by the relatively blistering sea surface temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico . '' Gelbspan did not single out Katrina from other recent storms in that regard ; in the article he went on to attribute other major weather events over the preceding year to global warming , including a blizzard in Los Angeles , high winds in Scandinavia , wildfires in Spain , and a drought centered in Missouri . Britain 's then deputy prime minister , John Prescott , has linked Katrina with global warming , and statements made shortly after the hurricane by Germany 's environment minister , Jürgen Trittin , indicate he believes that global warming is responsible for an increase in the frequency of destructive natural events . Kerry Emanuel had recently published a paper in the journal Nature that found a good correlation between hurricane intensity and sea surface temperatures . Some journalists have claimed Emanuel 's paper concludes that the recent increase in intense Atlantic storms is due to global warming , but Emanuel stated that `` it would be absurd to attribute the Katrina disaster to global warming '' . The Internet blog RealClimate has written that `` there is no way to prove that Katrina either was , or was not , affected by global warming '' ." ]

[ "Climate Climate is the statistics of weather , usually over a 30-year interval . It is measured by assessing the patterns of variation in temperature , humidity , atmospheric pressure , wind , precipitation , atmospheric particle count and other meteorological variables in a given region over long periods of time . Climate differs from weather , in that weather only describes the short-term conditions of these variables in a given region . A region 's climate is generated by the climate system , which has five components : atmosphere , hydrosphere , cryosphere , lithosphere , and biosphere . The climate of a location is affected by its latitude , terrain , and altitude , as well as nearby water bodies and their currents . Climates can be classified according to the average and the typical ranges of different variables , most commonly temperature and precipitation . The most commonly used classification scheme was the Köppen climate classification . The Thornthwaite system , in use since 1948 , incorporates evapotranspiration along with temperature and precipitation information and is used in studying biological diversity and how climate change affects it . The Bergeron and Spatial Synoptic Classification systems focus on the origin of air masses that define the climate of a region . Paleoclimatology is the study of ancient climates . Since direct observations of climate are not available before the 19th century , paleoclimates are inferred from proxy variables that include non-biotic evidence such as sediments found in lake beds and ice cores , and biotic evidence such as tree rings and coral . Climate models are mathematical models of past , present and future climates . Climate change may occur over long and short timescales from a variety of factors ; recent warming is discussed in global warming . Global warming results in redistributions . For example , `` a 3 ° C change in mean annual temperature corresponds to a shift in isotherms of approximately 300 -- 400 km in latitude ( in the temperate zone ) or 500 m in elevation . Therefore , species are expected to move upwards in elevation or towards the poles in latitude in response to shifting climate zones '' .", "Ice age An ice age is a period of long-term reduction in the temperature of Earth 's surface and atmosphere , resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers . Within a long-term ice age , individual pulses of cold climate are termed `` glacial periods '' ( or alternatively `` glacials '' or `` glaciations '' or colloquially as `` ice age '' ) , and intermittent warm periods are called `` interglacials '' . In the terminology of glaciology , ice age implies the presence of extensive ice sheets in both northern and southern hemispheres . By this definition , we are in an interglacial period -- the Holocene -- of the ice age . The ice age began 2.6 million years ago at the start of the Pleistocene epoch , because the Greenland , Arctic , and Antarctic ice sheets still exist .", "Mesozoic The Mesozoic Era ( -LSB- pronˌmɛsəˈzoʊɪk , _ ˌmiː - , _ - soʊ - -RSB- or -LSB- ˌmɛzəˈzoʊɪk , _ ˌmiː - , _ - soʊ - -RSB- ) is an interval of geological time from about . It is also called the Age of Reptiles , a phrase introduced by the 19th century paleontologist Gideon Mantell who viewed it as dominated by diapsids such as Iguanodon , Megalosaurus , Plesiosaurus and Pterodactylus . This Era is also called from a paleobotanist view the Age of Conifers . Mesozoic means `` middle life '' , deriving from the Greek prefix meso - / μεσο - for `` between '' and zōon / ζῷον meaning `` animal '' or `` living being '' . It is one of three geologic eras of the Phanerozoic Eon , preceded by the Paleozoic ( `` ancient life '' ) and succeeded by the Cenozoic ( `` new life '' ) . The era is subdivided into three major periods : the Triassic , Jurassic , and Cretaceous , which are further subdivided into a number of epochs and stages . The era began in the wake of the Permian -- Triassic extinction event , the largest well-documented mass extinction in Earth 's history , and ended with the Cretaceous -- Paleogene extinction event , another mass extinction which is known for having killed off non-avian dinosaurs , as well as other plant and animal species . The Mesozoic was a time of significant tectonic , climate and evolutionary activity . The era witnessed the gradual rifting of the supercontinent Pangaea into separate landmasses that would eventually move into their current positions . The climate of the Mesozoic was varied , alternating between warming and cooling periods . Overall , however , the Earth was hotter than it is today . Dinosaurs appeared in the Late Triassic and became the dominant terrestrial vertebrates early in the Jurassic , occupying this position for about 135 million years until their demise at the end of the Cretaceous . Birds first appeared in the Jurassic , having evolved from a branch of theropod dinosaurs . The first mammals also appeared during the Mesozoic , but would remain small -- less than 15 kg ( 33 lb ) -- until the Cenozoic .", "Eocene The Eocene ( -LSB- pronˈiːəˌsiːn , _ ˈiːoʊ - -RSB- ) Epoch , lasting from , is a major division of the geologic timescale and the second epoch of the Paleogene Period in the Cenozoic Era . The Eocene spans the time from the end of the Paleocene Epoch to the beginning of the Oligocene Epoch . The start of the Eocene is marked by a brief period in which the concentration of the carbon isotope 13C in the atmosphere was exceptionally low in comparison with the more common isotope 12C . The end is set at a major extinction event called the Grande Coupure ( the `` Great Break '' in continuity ) or the Eocene -- Oligocene extinction event , which may be related to the impact of one or more large bolides in Siberia and in what is now Chesapeake Bay . As with other geologic periods , the strata that define the start and end of the epoch are well identified , though their exact dates are slightly uncertain . The name Eocene comes from the Ancient Greek ἠώς ( ēṓs , `` dawn '' ) and καινός ( kainós , `` new '' ) and refers to the `` dawn '' of modern ( ` new ' ) fauna that appeared during the epoch ." ]

[ "Roman Warm Period The Roman Warm Period or the Roman climatic optimum has been proposed as a period of unusually warm weather in Europe and the North Atlantic that ran from approximately 250 BC to AD 400 .", "HR 8799 c __ NOTOC __ HR 8799 c is an extrasolar planet located approximately 129 light-years away in the constellation of Pegasus , orbiting the 6th magnitude Lambda Boötis star HR 8799 . This planet has a mass between 5 and 10 Jupiter masses and a radius from 20 to 30 % larger than Jupiter 's . It orbits at 38 AU from HR 8799 with an unknown eccentricity and a period of 190 years ; it is the 2nd planet discovered in the HR 8799 system . Along with two other planets orbiting HR 8799 , this planet was discovered on November 13 , 2008 by Marois et al. , using the Keck and the Gemini observatories in Hawaii . These planets were discovered using the direct imaging technique . In January 2010 , HR 8799 c became the 3rd exoplanet to have a portion of its spectrum directly observed ( following 2M1207b and 1RXS J1609b ) , confirming the feasibility of direct spectrographic studies of exoplanets .", "Atlantic Equatorial mode The Atlantic Equatorial Mode or Atlantic Niño is a quasiperiodic interannual climate pattern of the equatorial Atlantic Ocean . It is the dominant mode of year-to-year variability that results in alternating warming and cooling episodes of sea surface temperatures accompanied by changes in atmospheric circulation . The term Atlantic Niño comes from its close similarity with the El Niño-Southern Oscillation ( ENSO ) that dominates the tropical Pacific basin . The Atlantic Niño is not the same as the Atlantic Meridional ( Interhemispheric ) Mode that consists of a north-south dipole and operates more on decadal timescales . The equatorial warming and cooling events associated with the Atlantic Niño are known to be strongly related to atmospheric climate anomalies , especially in African countries bordering the Gulf of Guinea . Therefore , understanding of the Atlantic Niño ( or lack thereof ) has important implications for climate prediction in those regions . Although the Atlantic Niño is an intrinsic mode to the equatorial Atlantic , there may be a tenuous causal relationship between ENSO and the Atlantic Niño in some circumstances .", "HD 37605 HD 37605 is an orange dwarf star located approximately 143 light years away in the constellation Orion . It formed about 7 billion years ago and is inactive . There are two giant planets known in orbit . Planet b was discovered in 2004 and planet c was discovered eight years later . The planets do not transit relative to Earth ; b 's maximum inclination is 88.1 % . In a simulation , HD 37605 b 's orbit `` sweeps clean '' most test particles within 0.5 AU ; leaving only asteroids `` in low-eccentricity orbits near the known planet 's apastron distance , near the 1:2 mean-motion resonance '' with oscillating eccentricity up to 0.06 , and also at 1:3 with oscillating eccentricity up to 0.4 . Also , observation has ruled out planets heavier than 0.7 Jupiter mass with a period of one year or less ; which still allows for planets at 0.8 AU or more .", "Climate of Dubai Dubai has a tropical desert climate , köppen classification Bwh , because of its location within the Northern desert belt . Summers are extremely hot and humid , with an average high around 41 ° C and overnight lows around 30 ° C . The highest recorded temperature in Dubai is 55 ° C in 2002 . Most days are sunny throughout the year . Winters are warm and short with an average high of 23 ° C and overnight lows of 14 ° C. Precipitation , however , has been increasing in the last few decades with accumulated rain reaching 150 mm per year . The weather in Dubai can bring short and irregular rainfall as is typical for the Middle East . Most of the rainfall occurs in the December to March period . The weather between December and March remains warm and is considered to be the most comfortable climatic conditions of the year .", "Climate of Australia Australia 's climate is governed largely by its size and by the hot , sinking air of the subtropical high pressure belt . This moves north and south with the seasons , so that the rainfall pattern over Australia is highly seasonal . Australia 's rainfall is the lowest of all continents except Antarctica . But it is variable , with frequent droughts lasting several seasons -- thought to be caused in part by the El Niño-Southern Oscillation . The climate varies widely due to its large geographical size , but by far the largest part of Australia is desert or semi-arid . Only the south-east and south-west corners have a temperate climate and moderately fertile soil . The northern part of the country has a tropical climate , varied between tropical rainforests , grasslands and part dessert . Because Australia is a small continent , separated from polar regions by the Southern Ocean , it is not subject to the movements of frigid polar air that sweep over Northern Hemisphere continents during winter . Consequently , its winter is relatively mild , so that there is n't the great contrast between summer and winter temperatures there is in the northern continents . Yet in many parts of the country , seasonal highs and lows can be considerable : temperatures have ranged from above 50 C to well below zero . Nonetheless , minimum temperatures are moderated . The El Niño-Southern Oscillation is associated with seasonal abnormality in many areas in the world . Australia is one of the continents most affected and experiences extensive droughts alongside considerable wet periods . Occasionally a dust storm will blanket a region and there are reports of the occasional tornado . Tropical cyclones , heat waves , bushfires and frosts in the country are also associated with the Southern Oscillation . Rising levels of salinity and desertification in some areas is ravaging the landscape . Climate change in Australia is a highly contentious issue . Temperatures in the country have risen following an increasing trend of global warming between the years of 1910 to 2004 by approximately 0.7 ° C. Overnight minimum temperatures have warmed more rapidly than daytime maximum temperatures in recent years . The late-20th century warming has been largely attributed to the increased greenhouse effect . According to the Bureau of Meteorology , 80 % of the land has less than 600 mm of rainfall per year and 50 % has even less than 300 mm . As a whole , Australia has a very low annual average rainfall of 419 mm .", "Global warming hiatus A global warming hiatus , also sometimes referred to as a global warming pause or a global warming slowdown , is a period of relatively little change in globally averaged surface temperatures . In the current episode of global warming many such 15-year periods appear in the surface temperature record , along with robust evidence of the long-term warming trend ; climate is classically averaged over 30-year periods . Publicity has surrounded claims of a global warming hiatus during the period 1998 -- 2013 . The exceptionally warm El Niño year of 1998 was an outlier from the continuing temperature trend , and so subsequent annual temperatures gave the appearance of a hiatus : by January 2006 , it appeared to some that global warming had stopped or paused . A 2009 study showed that decades without warming were not exceptional , and in 2011 a study showed that if allowances were made for known variability , the rising temperature trend continued unabated . There was increased public interest in 2013 in the run-up to publication of the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report , and despite concerns that a 15-year period was too short to determine a meaningful trend , the IPCC included a section on a hiatus , which it defined as a much smaller increasing linear trend over the 15 years from 1998 to 2012 , than over the 60 years from 1951 to 2012 . Various studies examined possible causes of the short-term slowdown . Even though the overall climate system has continued to accumulate energy due to Earth 's positive energy budget , the available temperature readings at the Earth 's surface indicate slower rates of increase in surface warming than in the prior decade . Since measurements at the top of the atmosphere show that Earth is receiving more energy than it is radiating back into space , the retained energy should be producing warming in the Earth 's climate system . Research reported in July 2015 on an updated NOAA dataset casts doubt on the existence of a hiatus , and it finds no indication of a slowdown even in earlier years . Scientists working on other datasets welcomed this study , though they have expressed the view that the recent warming trend was less than in previous periods of the same length . Subsequently , a detailed study supports the conclusion that warming is continuing , but it also find there was less warming between 2001 and 2010 than climate models had predicted , and that this slowdown might be attributed to short-term variations in the Pacific decadal oscillation ( PDO ) , which was negative during that period . Another review finds `` no substantive evidence '' of a pause in global warming . A statistical study of global temperature data since 1970 concludes that the term ` hiatus ' or ` pause ' is not justified . Independent of these discussions about data and measurements for earlier years , 2015 turned out to be much warmer than any of the earlier years , already before El Niño conditions started . The warmth of 2015 largely ended any remaining scientific credibility of claims that the supposed `` hiatus '' since 1998 had any significance for the long-term warming trend . In January 2017 , a study published in the journal Science Advances cast further doubt on the existence of a recent pause , with more evidence that ocean temperatures have been underestimated . An April 2017 study found the data consistent with a steady warming trend globally since the 1970s , with fluctuations within the expected range of short term variability .", "Cool tropics paradox The cool tropics paradox refers to an apparent difference between modeled estimates of tropical temperatures during warm , ice-free periods of the Cretaceous and Eocene , and the colder temperatures which proxies suggested were present . The long-standing paradox was resolved when novel proxy derived temperatures showed significantly warmer tropics during past greenhouse climates . The low-gradient problem , i.e. the very warm polar regions with respect to present day , is still an issue for state-of-the-art climate models .", "HD 45350 b HD 45350 b is an extrasolar planet located approximately 160 light-years away in the constellation of Auriga . It has a minimum mass about 1.79 times that of Jupiter . The mean distance of the planet from the star is more than the distance between Mars and the Sun , but the eccentricity of the orbit is nothing short of remarkable ; at periastron the planet is as close to the star as Mercury is from the Sun , but at apastron it is 8 times further . No doubt seasons on the planet would be extreme . Dynamical simulations covering a period of 107 years show that a second , low-mass , planet could only orbit stably if it were no more than 0.2 AU away from the star ; in the simulations , these planets show oscillations in eccentricity up to an eccentricity of 0.25 . Radial velocity observations rule out any such planet whose mass is greater than 4 Neptune masses .", "Climate of Moscow Moscow has a humid continental climate ( Köppen climate classification Dfb ) with warm , sometimes hot , somewhat humid summers and long , cold winters . Typical high temperatures in the warm months of June , July and August are around 23 ° C , but during heat waves , which can occur anytime from May to September , daytime temperature highs often top 30 ° C for sometimes one or two weeks . In the winter , temperatures normally drop to approximately -10 ° C , though there can be periods of warmth with temperatures rising above 0 ° C. Summer lasts from mid-May to the beginning of September . Winter lasts from the beginning of November to the end of March .", "Futalognkosaurus Futalognkosaurus ( -LSB- ˌfuːtəˌlɒŋkoʊ-ˈsɔːrəs -RSB- ; meaning `` giant chief lizard '' ) is a genus of titanosaurian dinosaur . The herbivorous Futalognkosaurus lived approximately 87 million years ago in the Portezuelo Formation , in what is now Argentina , of the Coniacian stage of the late Cretaceous Period . The fish and fossilized leaf debris on the site , together with other dinosaur remains , suggest a warm tropical climate in Patagonia during this period .", "Medieval Warm Period The Medieval Warm Period ( MWP ) , Medieval Climate Optimum , or Medieval Climatic Anomaly was a time of warm climate in the North Atlantic region that may also have been related to other climate events around the world during that time , including China and other areas , lasting from about 950 to 1250 . It was followed by a cooler period in the North Atlantic and elsewhere termed the Little Ice Age . Some refer to the event as the Medieval Climatic Anomaly as this term emphasizes that effects other than temperature were important . Despite uncertainties , especially for the period prior to 1600 for which data are scarce , the warmest period of the last 2,000 years prior to the 20th century in the Northern Hemisphere very likely occurred between 950 and 1100 . Proxy records show peak warmth occurred at different times for different regions , indicating that the Medieval Warm Period was not a time of globally uniform change . Temperatures in some regions matched or exceeded recent temperatures in these regions , but globally the Medieval Warm Period was cooler than recent global temperatures . Possible causes of the Medieval Warm Period include increased solar activity , decreased volcanic activity , and changes to ocean circulation .", "Holocene climatic optimum The Holocene Climate Optimum ( HCO ) was a warm period during roughly the interval 9,000 to 5,000 years BP . This event has also been known by many other names , including : Hypsithermal , Altithermal , Climatic Optimum , Holocene Optimum , Holocene Thermal Maximum , and Holocene Megathermal . This warm period was followed by a gradual decline until about two millennia ago . For other temperature fluctuations see : Temperature record For other past climate fluctuation see : Paleoclimatology For the pollen zone and Blytt-Sernander period associated with the climate optimum , see : Atlantic ( period )", "Suzanniwana Suzanniwana is an extinct genus of iguanian lizards that lived in western North America during the earliest Eocene , approximately 56 million years ago . Two species are known from the Bighorn Basin of Wyoming : the type species S. patriciana named in 2009 , and the species S. revenanta named in 2013 . Suzanniwana lived during the Paleocene -- Eocene Thermal Maximum , a brief period of global warming that resulted in warmer and drier conditions in the Bighorn Basin . It likely stemmed from a lineage that had migrated into the basin from regions farther to the south , following a latitudinal band of constant climatic conditions that moved northward as the planet warmed ( a phenomenon known as habitat tracking ) . Suzanniwana shares many skeletal features with modern casquehead lizards of the family Corytophanidae and may be a stem-corytophanid . It also closely resembles Geiseltaliellus , an iguanian from the middle Eocene Messel pit in Germany .", "HD 202206 b HD 202206 b is a substellar object orbiting the star HD 202206 approximately 151 light-years away in the constellation of Capricornus . The classification of this object as an extrasolar planet or a brown dwarf is currently unclear . With a mass at least 17.4 times that of Jupiter , it exceeds the limit ( approximately 13 Jupiter masses ) required for an object to sustain deuterium fusion in its core . The deuterium fusion criterion is used by the IAU 's Working Group on Extrasolar Planets to define the boundary between giant planets and brown dwarfs , so in this view HD 202206 b is a brown dwarf . On the other hand , simulations of planet formation by core accretion show that objects of up to 25-30 Jupiter masses can be produced in this way , and therefore the object can potentially be regarded as a planet .", "Hirnantian The Hirnantian is the seventh and final internationally recognized stage of the Ordovician Period of the Paleozoic Era . It was of short duration , lasting about 1.9 million years , from to Ma ( million years ago ) . The early part of the Hirnantian was characterized by cold temperatures , major glaciation , and a severe drop in sea level . In the latter part of the Hirnantian , temperatures rose , the glaciers melted , and sea level returned to the same or to a slightly higher level than it had been prior to the glaciation . Most scientists believe that this climatic oscillation caused the major extinction event that took place during this time . In fact , the Hirnantian ( also known as the End Ordovician and the Ordovician-Silurian ) mass extinction event represents the second largest such event in geologic history . Approximately 85 % of marine ( sea-dwelling ) species died . Only the End Permian mass extinction was larger . Unlike many smaller extinction events , however , the long-term consequences of the End Ordovician event were relatively small . Following the climatic oscillation , the climate returned to its previous state , and the species that survived soon ( within two or three million years ) evolved into species very similar to the ones that existed before .", "WASP-24b WASP-24b is a Hot Jupiter detected in the orbit of the F-type star WASP-24 . The planet is approximately the same size and mass of Jupiter , but it orbits at approximately 4 % of the mean distance between the Earth and the Sun every two days . WASP-24b was observed by SuperWASP starting in 2008 ; after two years of observations , follow-ups led to the collection of the information that led to the planet 's discovery .", "Climate of Karachi Karachi has an arid climate , albeit a moderate version of this climate . Karachi is located on the coast and as a result has a relatively mild climate . Karachi has two main seasons ; Summer & Winter , while spring and autumn are very short . Summer season persists for longest period during the year . The level of precipitation is low for most of the year . Less precipitation during summer is due to inversion layer . Karachi also receives the monsoon rains from July to September . The city enjoys a tropical climate encompassing mild winters and warm summers . The humidity levels usually remain high from March to November , while very low in Winter as the wind direction in winter is North Easterly . Tropical Cyclones forms in the Arabian Sea in the Pre-Monsoon Season , mostly in the month of June . Since summer temperatures ( From the end of April till the end of August ) are approximately 30 C to 36 C , the winter months ( From November till the end of March ) are the best time to visit Karachi . Most visitors , tourists come to Karachi during the month of December .", "Climate of Peru The climate of Peru is very diverse , with a large variety of climates and microclimates , including 30 of the 32 world climates . Such a diversity is chiefly conditioned by the presence of the Andes mountains and the cold Humboldt Current The climate on the coast is subtropical with very little rainfall . The Andes mountains observe a cool-to-cold climate with rainy summers and very dry winter . The eastern lowlands present an Equatorial climate with hot weather and rain distributed all year long .", "HD 190984 b HD 190984 b ( also known as HIP 99496 b ) is an extrasolar planet which orbits the F-type main sequence star HD 190984 , located approximately 330 light years away in the constellation Pavo . This planet is at least three times more massive than Jupiter and takes 13 years and four-and-a-half months to orbit the star at a semimajor axis of 5.5 AU with an eccentricity of 0.57 . This planet was detected by HARPS on October 19 , 2009 , together with 29 other planets . Since this is a very long-period planet detected by the radial velocity method that this planet did n't complete the orbit during the continuous observations , the error range for orbital period is very large , at 4885 ± 1600 days or 13.37 ± 4.4 years . This puts it in the range of semimajor axes between 4.2 and 6.6 AU or between 630 and 990 Gm . So this planet will need couple more years of observations to better constrain the period and semimajor axis .", "Younger Dryas The Younger Dryas is a geological period from c. 12,900 to c. 11,700 calendar years ago ( BP ) . It is named after an indicator genus , the alpine-tundra wildflower Dryas octopetala . Leaves of Dryas octopetala are occasionally abundant in the Late Glacial , often minerogenic-rich , like the lake sediments of Scandinavian lakes . The Younger Dryas saw a sharp decline in temperature over most of the northern hemisphere , at the end of the Pleistocene epoch , immediately before the current warmer Holocene . It was the most recent and longest of several interruptions to the gradual warming of the Earth 's climate since the severe Last Glacial Maximum , c. 27,000 to 24,000 calendar years BP . The change was relatively sudden , taking place in decades , and resulted in a decline of 2 to 6 degrees Celsius , advances of glaciers and drier conditions , over much of the temperate northern hemisphere . It is thought to have been caused by a decline in the strength of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation , which transports warm water from the equator towards the North Pole , and which in turn is thought to have been caused by an influx of fresh cold water from North America into the Atlantic . The Younger Dryas was a period of climatic change , but the effects were complex and variable . In the southern hemisphere , and some areas of the north such as southeastern North America , there was a slight warming . The presence of a distinct cold period at the end of the Late Glacial interval has been known for a long time . Paleobotanical and lithostratigraphic studies of Swedish and Danish bog and lake sites , e.g. the Allerød clay pit in Denmark , first recognized and described the Younger Dryas . The Younger Dryas is the youngest and longest of three stadials that resulted from typically abrupt climatic changes that took place over the last 16,000 calendar years . Within the Blytt-Sernander classification of north European climatic phases , the prefix ` Younger ' refers to the recognition that this original ` Dryas ' period was preceded by a warmer stage , the Allerød oscillation , which in turn was preceded by the Older Dryas around 14,000 calendar years BP . This is not securely dated , and estimates vary by 400 years , but it is generally accepted that it lasted around 200 years . In northern Scotland the glaciers were thicker and more extensive than during the Younger Dryas . The Older Dryas , in turn , is preceded by another warmer stage , the Bølling oscillation that separates it from a third and even older stadial . This stadial is often , but not always , known as the Oldest Dryas . The Oldest Dryas occurred approximately 1,770 calendar years before the Younger Dryas and lasted about 400 calendar years . According to the GISP2 ice core from Greenland , the Oldest Dryas occurred between about 15,070 and 14,670 calendar years BP . In Ireland , the Younger Dryas has also been known as the Nahanagan Stadial , while in Great Britain it has been called the Loch Lomond Stadial . In the Greenland Summit ice core chronology , the Younger Dryas corresponds to Greenland Stadial 1 ( GS-1 ) . The preceding Allerød warm period ( interstadial ) is subdivided into three events : Greenland Interstadial-1c to 1a ( GI-1c to GI-1a ) .", "CVSO 30 CVSO 30 ( PTFO 8-8695 ) is a star , located in constellation Orion at 1200 light years from Earth away with two candidate planets ( CVSO 30 b and CVSO 30 c ) . Both candidate planets are gas giants . It is the first star around which potential planets have been found both by the transit method and by direct imaging . CVSO 30 b is calculated to have a period of 10.76 hours ( 0.008 AU ) and CVSO 30 c a period of 27,000 years ( 660 AU ) . B is a Hot Jupiter candidate planet orbiting the T Tauri star , with 6.2 Jupiter masses . Direct imaging of CVSO 30 c , with 4.7 Jupiter masses , has been achieved through photometric and spectroscopic high contrast observations carried out with the Very Large Telescope located in Chile , the Keck Observatory in Hawaii and the Calar Alto Observatory in Spain .", "John Michael Wallace John Michael Wallace ( born October 28 , 1940 ) , is a professor of Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Washington , as well as the former director of the Joint Institute for the Study of the Atmosphere and Ocean ( JISAO ) -- a joint research venture between the University of Washington and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration ( NOAA ) . His research concerns understanding global climate and its variations using observations and covers the quasi biennial oscillation , Pacific decadal oscillation and the annular modes of the Arctic oscillation and the Antarctic oscillation , and the dominant spatial patterns in month-to-month and year-to-year climate variability , including the one through which El Niño phenomenon in the tropical Pacific influences climate over North America . He is also the coauthor with Peter V. Hobbs of what is generally considered the standard introductory textbook in the field : Atmospheric Science : An Introductory Survey . He was the third most cited geoscientist during the period 1973 -- 2007 .", "Climate change in popular culture The issue of climate change and global warming , their possible effects , and related human-environment interaction have entered popular culture since the late 20th century . Science historian Naomi Oreskes has noted , `` There 's a huge disconnect between what professional scientists have studied and learned in the last 30 years , and what is out there in the popular culture . '' An academic study contrasts the relatively rapid acceptance of ozone depletion as reflected in popular culture with the much slower acceptance of the scientific consensus on global warming .", "Deforestation and climate change Deforestation is one of the main contributors to climate change . It is the second largest anthropogenic source of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere , after fossil fuel combustion . Deforestation and forest degradation contribute to atmospheric greenhouse gas emissions through combustion of forest biomass and decomposition of remaining plant material and soil carbon . It used to account for more than 20 % of carbon dioxide emissions , but it 's currently somewhere around the 10 % mark . By 2008 , deforestation was 12 % of total , or 15 % if peatlands are included . These proportions are likely to have fallen since given the continued rise of fossil fuel use . Averaged over all land and ocean surfaces , temperatures warmed roughly 1.53 ° F ( 0.85 ° C ) between 1880 and 2012 , according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change . In the Northern Hemisphere , 1983 to 2012 were the warmest 30-year period of the last 1400 years .", "HD 5319 b HD 5319 b is a gas giant exoplanet approximately 370 light years away in the constellation of Cetus . This planet has a minimum mass nearly two times more than Jupiters . The planet has an almost circular orbit , ranging from 1.53 to 1.95 AU with a period of 1.8 years .", "Climate of Turkey The coastal areas of Turkey bordering the Aegean Sea and the Mediterranean Sea have a hot-summer Mediterranean climate , with hot , dry summers and mild to cool , wet winters . The coastal areas of Turkey bordering the Black Sea have a temperate Oceanic climate with warm , wet summers and cool to cold , wet winters . The Turkish Black Sea coast receives the greatest amount of precipitation and is the only region of Turkey that receives high precipitation throughout the year . The eastern part of that coast averages 2,500 millimeters annually which is the highest precipitation in the country . The coastal areas of Turkey bordering the Sea of Marmara ( including Istanbul ) , which connects the Aegean Sea and the Black Sea , have a transitional climate between a temperate Mediterranean climate and a temperate Oceanic climate with warm to hot , moderately dry summers and cool to cold , wet winters . Snow does occur on the coastal areas of the Sea of Marmara and the Black Sea almost every winter , but it usually lies no more than a few days . Snow on the other hand is rare in the coastal areas of the Aegean Sea and very rare in the coastal areas of the Mediterranean Sea . Conditions can be much harsher in the more arid interior . Mountains close to the coast prevent maritime influences from extending inland , giving the central Anatolian plateau of the interior of Turkey a continental climate with sharply contrasting seasons . Winters on the plateau are especially severe . Temperatures of − 30 ° C to − 40 ° C ( − 22 ° F to − 40 ° F ) do occur in eastern Anatolia , and snow may lie on the ground at least 120 days of the year and in the mountains almost the entire year . In the west , winter temperatures average below 1 ° C ( 34 ° F ) . Summers are hot and dry , with temperatures generally around or above 30 ° C ( 86 ° F ) in the day . Annual precipitation averages about 400 millimetres ( 15 in ) , with actual amounts determined by elevation . The driest regions are the Konya plain and the Malatya plain , where annual rainfall frequently is less than 300 millimetres ( 12 in ) . May is generally the wettest month , whereas July and August are the driest . Below are the climates from the seven census regions of Turkey , showing how varied they can be in different places around the country :", "30 Arietis Bb 30 Arietis Bb ( sometimes abbreviated 30 Ari Bb ) is an extrasolar planet which orbits the F-type main sequence star 30 Arietis B , located in a quadruple star system approximately 129 light years away in the constellation Aries . This planet has minimum mass nearly 10 times that of Jupiter . Because inclination is not known , its true mass is unknown . Meanwhile , this planet orbits only 0.005 AU ( or 700,000 km ) closer to the star than Earth to the Sun , but its orbital eccentricity is much higher compared to Earth . At periastron , the planet 's closest distance to the star is 0.708 AU , which is slightly closer to the star than Venus to the Sun . At apastron , the planet 's farthest distance to the star is 1.283 AU , which is more than halfway between the orbits of Earth and Mars . This gas giant planet was discovered on Friday , November 27 , 2009 by using precise radial velocity method from echelle spectrograph installed in Alfred-Jensch telescope in Karl Schwarzschild Observatory .", "Attribution of recent climate change Attribution of recent climate change is the effort to scientifically ascertain mechanisms responsible for recent climate changes on Earth , commonly known as ` global warming ' . The effort has focused on changes observed during the period of instrumental temperature record , when records are most reliable ; particularly in the last 50 years , when human activity has grown fastest and observations of the troposphere have become available . The dominant mechanisms are anthropogenic , i.e. , the result of human activity . They are : increasing atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases global changes to land surface , such as deforestation increasing atmospheric concentrations of aerosols . There are also natural mechanisms for variation including climate oscillations , changes in solar activity , and volcanic activity . According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) , it is `` extremely likely '' that human influence was the dominant cause of global warming between 1951 and 2010 . The IPCC defines `` extremely likely '' as indicating a probability of 95 to 100 % , based on an expert assessment of all the available evidence . Multiple lines of evidence support attribution of recent climate change to human activities : A basic physical understanding of the climate system : greenhouse gas concentrations have increased and their warming properties are well-established . Historical estimates of past climate changes suggest that the recent changes in global surface temperature are unusual . Computer-based climate models are unable to replicate the observed warming unless human greenhouse gas emissions are included . Natural forces alone ( such as solar and volcanic activity ) can not explain the observed warming . The IPCC 's attribution of recent global warming to human activities is a view shared by the scientific community , and is also supported by 196 other scientific organizations worldwide ( see also : scientific opinion on climate change ) .", "HD 24040 HD 24040 is a G-type star located approximately 152 light-years away in the constellation of Taurus . In 2006 a long-period planet was discovered .", "Rainforest in Victoria (Australia) Victoria , Australia contains approximately 32,000 hectares of temperate rainforest in various regions . The areas with rainforest include : East Gippsland , Strzelecki Ranges , Wilsons Promontory , Central Highlands , and Otway Ranges . The rainforests vary between cool temperate , warm temperate , and mixed cool temperate .", "47 Ursae Majoris d 47 Ursae Majoris d ( sometimes abbreviated 47 Uma d ) is an extrasolar planet approximately 46 light-years away in the constellation of Ursa Major . The planet was discovered located in a long-period orbit ( 38 years ) around the star 47 Ursae Majoris . As of 2011 , it is the outermost of three known planets in its planetary system . It has a mass of at least 1.64 times that of Jupiter . It is the longest-period planet detected by Doppler spectroscopy . The evidence of this planet was found by Bayesian Kepler periodogram in March 2010 ." ]

[ "Greenland Greenland ( -LSB- ˈɡriːnlənd -RSB- Kalaallit Nunaat -LSB- kaˈlaːɬit ˈnunaːt -RSB- Grønland -LSB- ˈɡ̊ʁɶnˌlanˀ -RSB- ) is an autonomous constituent country within the Kingdom of Denmark between the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans , east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago . Though physiographically a part of the continent of North America , Greenland has been politically and culturally associated with Europe ( specifically Norway and Denmark , the colonial powers , as well as the nearby island of Iceland ) for more than a millennium . The majority of its residents are Inuit , whose ancestors began migrating from the Canadian mainland in the 13th century , gradually settling across the island . Greenland is the world 's largest island ( Australia , although larger , is generally considered to be a continental landmass rather than an island ) . Three-quarters of Greenland is covered by the only permanent ice sheet outside Antarctica . With a population of about 56,480 ( 2013 ) , it is the least densely populated country in the world . The Arctic Umiaq Line ferry acts as a lifeline for western Greenland , connecting the various cities and settlements . Greenland has been inhabited off and on for at least the last 4,500 years by Arctic peoples whose forebears migrated there from what is now Canada . Norsemen settled the uninhabited southern part of Greenland beginning in the 10th century , and Inuit peoples arrived in the 13th century . The Norse colonies disappeared in the late 15th century . Soon after their demise , beginning in 1499 , the Portuguese briefly explored and claimed the island , naming it Terra do Lavrador ( later applied to Labrador in Canada ) . In the early 18th century , Scandinavian explorers reached Greenland again . To strengthen trading and power , Denmark-Norway affirmed sovereignty over the island . Denmark -- Norway claimed Greenland for centuries . Greenland was settled by Vikings ( of Norwegian origin ) more than a thousand years ago , who had previously settled Iceland to escape persecution from the King of Norway and his central government . Vikings set sail from Greenland and Iceland , encountering North America nearly 500 years before Columbus reached the Caribbean islands . They attempted to colonize land . Though under continuous influence of Norway and Norwegians , Greenland was not formally under the Norwegian crown until 1262 . The Kingdom of Norway was extensive and a military power until the mid-14th century . Norway was dramatically hit with a larger death toll than Denmark by the Black Death , forcing Norway to accept a union in which the central government , university and other fundamental institutions were located in Copenhagen . Thus , the two kingdoms ' resources were directed at creating Copenhagen . Norway became the weaker part and lost sovereignty over Greenland in 1814 when the union was dissolved . Greenland became a Danish colony in 1814 , and was made a part of the Danish Realm in 1953 under the Constitution of Denmark . In 1973 , Greenland joined the European Economic Community with Denmark . However , in a referendum in 1982 , a majority of the population voted for Greenland to withdraw from the EEC which was effected in 1985 . Greenland contains the world 's largest and most northernly national park , Northeast Greenland National Park ( Kalaallit Nunaanni nuna eqqissisimatitaq ) . Established in 1974 and expanded to its present size in 1988 , it protects 972001 km2 of the interior and northeastern coast of Greenland and is bigger than all but twenty-nine countries in the world . Greenland is divided into four municipalities - Sermersooq , Kujalleq , Qaasuitsup , and Qeqqata . In 1979 , Denmark had granted home rule to Greenland , and in 2008 , Greenlanders voted in favour of the Self-Government Act , which transferred more power from the Danish royal government to the local Greenlandic government . Under the new structure , in effect since 21 June 2009 , Greenland can gradually assume responsibility for policing , judicial system , company law , accounting , and auditing ; mineral resource activities ; aviation ; law of legal capacity , family law and succession law ; aliens and border controls ; the working environment ; and financial regulation and supervision , while the Danish government retains control of foreign affairs and defence . It also retains control of monetary policy , providing an initial annual subsidy of DKK 3.4 billion , which is planned to diminish gradually over time . Greenland expects to grow its economy based on increased income from the extraction of natural resources . The capital , Nuuk , held the 2016 Arctic Winter Games . At 70 % , Greenland has one of the highest shares of renewable energy in the world , mostly coming from hydropower .", "Greenland ice sheet The Greenland ice sheet ( Grønlands indlandsis , Sermersuaq ) is a vast body of ice covering 1710000 km ² , roughly 80 % of the surface of Greenland . It is the second largest ice body in the world , after the Antarctic ice sheet . The ice sheet is almost 2400 km long in a north-south direction , and its greatest width is 1100 km at a latitude of 77 ° N , near its northern margin . The mean altitude of the ice is 2135 m . The thickness is generally more than 2 km and over 3 km at its thickest point . It is not the only ice mass of Greenland -- isolated glaciers and small ice caps cover between 76000 and around the periphery . If the entire 2850000 km3 of ice were to melt , it would lead to a global sea level rise of 7.2 m . The Greenland Ice Sheet is sometimes referred to under the term inland ice , or its Danish equivalent , indlandsis . It is also sometimes referred to as an ice cap .", "Ice sheet An ice sheet is a mass of glacier ice that covers surrounding terrain and is greater than 50000 km2 , thus also known as continental glacier . The only current ice sheets are in Antarctica and Greenland ; during the last glacial period at Last Glacial Maximum ( LGM ) the Laurentide ice sheet covered much of North America , the Weichselian ice sheet covered northern Europe and the Patagonian Ice Sheet covered southern South America . Ice sheets are bigger than ice shelves or alpine glaciers . Masses of ice covering less than 50,000 km2 are termed an ice cap . An ice cap will typically feed a series of glaciers around its periphery . Although the surface is cold , the base of an ice sheet is generally warmer due to geothermal heat . In places , melting occurs and the melt-water lubricates the ice sheet so that it flows more rapidly . This process produces fast-flowing channels in the ice sheet -- these are ice streams . The present-day polar ice sheets are relatively young in geological terms . The Antarctic Ice Sheet first formed as a small ice cap ( maybe several ) in the early Oligocene , but retreating and advancing many times until the Pliocene , when it came to occupy almost all of Antarctica . The Greenland ice sheet did not develop at all until the late Pliocene , but apparently developed very rapidly with the first continental glaciation . This had the unusual effect of allowing fossils of plants that once grew on present-day Greenland to be much better preserved than with the slowly forming Antarctic ice sheet ." ]

[ "Regional effects of global warming Regional effects of global warming are long-term significant changes in the expected patterns of average weather of a specific region due to global warming . The world average temperature is rising due to the greenhouse effect caused by increasing levels of greenhouse gases , especially carbon dioxide . When the global temperature changes , the changes in climate are not expected to be uniform across the Earth . In particular , land areas change more quickly than oceans , and northern high latitudes change more quickly than the tropics , and the margins of biome regions change faster than do their cores . Regional effects of global warming vary in nature . Some are the result of a generalised global change , such as rising temperature , resulting in local effects , such as melting ice . In other cases , a change may be related to a change in a particular ocean current or weather system . In such cases , the regional effect may be disproportionate and will not necessarily follow the global trend . The increasing temperatures from greenhouse gases have been causing sea levels to rise for many years . There are three major ways in which global warming will make changes to regional climate : melting or forming ice , changing the hydrological cycle ( of evaporation and precipitation ) and changing currents in the oceans and air flows in the atmosphere . The coast can also be considered a region , and will suffer severe impacts from sea level rise .", "Deglaciation Deglaciation describes the transition from full glacial conditions during ice ages , to warm interglacials , characterized by global warming and sea level rise due to change in continental ice volume ( IPCC AR5 ) . Thus , it refers to the retreat of a glacier , an ice sheet or frozen surface layer , and the resulting exposure of the Earth 's surface . The decline of the cryosphere due to ablation can occur on any scale from global to localized to a particular glacier . After the Last Glacial Maximum ( ca. 21k years ago ) , the last deglaciation begun , which lasted until the early Holocene . The previous deglaciation took place between approximately 22ka until 11.5 ka . This occurred when there was an annual mean atmospheric temperature on the earth that increased by roughly 5 ° C , which was also accompanied by regional high-latitude warming that exceeded 10 ° C . This was also followed by noteworthy deep-sea and tropical-se warming , between about 1-2 ° C ( deep-sea ) and 2-4 ° C ( tropical sea ) . Not only did this warming occur , but the global hydrological budget also experienced noticeable changes and regional precipitation patters changed . As a result of all of this , the worlds main ice sheets , including the ones located in Eurasia , North America and parts of the Antarctic Ice Sheets melted . As a consequence , sea levels rose roughly 120 metres ) . These processes did not occur steadily , and they also did not occur at the same time .", "Retrogradation Retrogradation is the landward change in position of the front of a river delta with time . This occurs when the mass balance of sediment into the delta is such that the volume of incoming sediment is less than the volume of the delta that is lost through subsidence , sea-level rise , and/or erosion . As a result , retrogradation is most common : during periods of sea-level rise which results in marine transgression . This can occur during major periods of global warming and the melting of continental ice sheets . with extremely low sediment input .", "Greenland Sea The Greenland Sea is a body of water that borders Greenland to the west , the Svalbard archipelago to the east , Fram Strait and the Arctic Ocean to the north , and the Norwegian Sea and Iceland to the south . The Greenland Sea is often defined as part of the Arctic Ocean , sometimes as part of the Atlantic Ocean . However , definitions of the Arctic Ocean and its seas tend to be imprecise or arbitrary . In general usage the term `` Arctic Ocean '' would exclude the Greenland Sea . In oceanographic studies the Greenland Sea is considered part of the Nordic Seas , along with the Norwegian Sea . The Nordic Seas are the main connection between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans and , as such , could be of great significance in a possible shutdown of thermohaline circulation . In oceanography the Arctic Ocean and Nordic Seas are often referred to collectively as the `` Arctic Mediterranean Sea '' , a marginal sea of the Atlantic . The sea has Arctic climate with regular northern winds and temperatures rarely rising above 0 ° C . It previously contained the Odden ice tongue ( or Odden ) area , which extended eastward from the main East Greenland ice edge in the vicinity of 72 -- 74 ° N during the winter and acted as a key winter ice formation area in the Arctic . The West Ice forms in winter in the Greenland Sea , north of Iceland , between Greenland and Jan Mayen island . It is a major breeding ground of harp seal and hooded seal that has been used for seal hunting for more than 200 years .", "Meltwater pulse 1A Meltwater pulse 1A ( MWP1a ) is the name used by Quaternary geologists , paleoclimatologists , and oceanographers for a period of rapid post-glacial sea level rise during which global sea level rose between 16 m and 25 m in about 400 -- 500 years , giving mean rates of roughly 40 -- 60 mm/yr . Meltwater pulse 1A is also known as catastrophic rise event 1 ( CRE1 ) in the Caribbean Sea . The rates of sea level rise associated with meltwater pulse 1A are the highest known rates of post-glacial , eustatic sea level rise . Meltwater pulse 1A is also the most widely recognized and least disputed of the named , postglacial meltwater pulses . Other named , postglacial meltwater pulses are known most commonly as meltwater pulse 1A0 ( meltwater pulse 19ka ) , meltwater pulse 1B , meltwater pulse 1C , meltwater pulse 1D , and meltwater pulse 2 . It and these other periods of rapid sea level rise are known as meltwater pulses because the inferred cause of them was the rapid release of meltwater into the oceans from the collapse of continental ice sheets .", "Retreat of glaciers since 1850 The retreat of glaciers since 1850 affects the availability of fresh water for irrigation and domestic use , mountain recreation , animals and plants that depend on glacier-melt , and , in the longer term , the level of the oceans . Studied by glaciologists , the temporal coincidence of glacier retreat with the measured increase of atmospheric greenhouse gases is often cited as an evidentiary underpinning of global warming . Mid-latitude mountain ranges such as the Himalayas , Alps , Rocky Mountains , Cascade Range , and the southern Andes , as well as isolated tropical summits such as Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa , are showing some of the largest proportionate glacial losses . Glacier mass balance is the key determinant of the health of a glacier . If the amount of frozen precipitation in the accumulation zone exceeds the quantity of glacial ice lost due to melting or in the ablation zone a glacier will advance ; if the accumulation is less than the ablation , the glacier will retreat . Glaciers in retreat will have negative mass balances , and if they do not find an equilibrium between accumulation and ablation , will eventually disappear . The Little Ice Age was a period from about 1550 to 1850 when the world experienced relatively cooler temperatures compared to the present . Subsequently , until about 1940 , glaciers around the world retreated as the climate warmed substantially . Glacial retreat slowed and even reversed temporarily , in many cases , between 1950 and 1980 as global temperatures cooled slightly . Since 1980 , a significant global warming has led to glacier retreat becoming increasingly rapid and ubiquitous , so much so that some glaciers have disappeared altogether , and the existences of many of the remaining glaciers are threatened . In locations such as the Andes of South America and Himalayas in Asia , the demise of glaciers in these regions has the potential to affect water supplies in those areas . The retreat of mountain glaciers , notably in western North America , Asia , the Alps and tropical and subtropical regions of South America , Africa and Indonesia , provide evidence for the rise in global temperatures since the late 19th century . The acceleration of the rate of retreat since 1995 of key outlet glaciers of the Greenland and West Antarctic ice sheets may foreshadow a rise in sea level , which would affect coastal regions .", "Geography of Antarctica The geography of Antarctica is dominated by its south polar location and , thus , by ice . The Antarctic continent , located in the Earth 's southern hemisphere , is centered asymmetrically around the South Pole and largely south of the Antarctic Circle . It is washed by the Southern ( or Antarctic ) Ocean or , depending on definition , the southern Pacific , Atlantic , and Indian Oceans . It has an area of more than 14 million km ² . Some 98 % of Antarctica is covered by the Antarctic ice sheet , the world 's largest ice sheet and also its largest reservoir of fresh water . Averaging at least 1.6 km thick , the ice is so massive that it has depressed the continental bedrock in some areas more than 2.5 km below sea level ; subglacial lakes of liquid water also occur ( e.g. , Lake Vostok ) . Ice shelves and rises populate the ice sheet on the periphery .", "Konrad Steffen Konrad `` Koni '' Steffen ( born 1952 ) is a glaciologist and the former director of the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder , a position he held from 2005 until he took office as the director of the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest , Snow and Landscape Research on July 1 , 2012 . He is known for his research into Arctic sea ice and the glaciers of Greenland , and how they are affected by global warming . He has often traveled to Greenland to study these glaciers firsthand ; for example , when studying Petermann Glacier for three weeks in 2004 , Steffen did so from a camp set up 4,000 feet up the flanks of the glacier 's ice cap . He also operates a network of 20 weather stations on the Greenland ice sheet , the first of which , Swiss Camp , he established in 1990 . He has argued that due to this ice sheet melting faster than anticipated , sea levels could rise by about 3 feet by 2100 , considerably higher than the IPCC 's upper limit of 59 cm , and that Greenland might lose all its ice in 10,000 years , but Antarctica would take considerably longer , since it is so much bigger .", "Denmark Strait The Denmark Strait or Greenland Strait ( , the latter meaning ` Greenland Sound ' ) is an oceanic strait between Iceland ( to its southeast ) and Greenland ( to its northwest ) . The Norwegian island of Jan Mayen lies northeast of the strait . It connects the Greenland Sea , an extension of the Arctic Ocean , to the Irminger Sea , a part of the Atlantic Ocean . It stretches 300 mi long and 180 mi wide at its narrowest , between Straumnes , the northwestern headland of the Westfjords peninsula of Hornstrandir , and Cape Tupinier on Blosseville Coast in East Greenland ) . The official International Hydrographic Organization ( IHO ) delineation between the Arctic and the North Atlantic Oceans runs from Straumnes to Cape Nansen , 132 km southwest of Cape Tunipier . From Straumnes to Cape Nansen the distance is 336 km . The narrow depth , where the Greenland-Iceland Rise runs along the bottom of the sea , is 625 ft. The cold East Greenland Current passes through the strait and carries icebergs south into the North Atlantic . It hosts important fisheries . The world 's largest known underwater waterfall , known as the Denmark Strait cataract , flows down the western side of the Denmark Strait . During World War II , the Battle of the Denmark Strait took place on 24 May 1941 . The German battleship Bismarck sank the British battlecruiser , which exploded with the loss of all but three of its 1,418 crew ; HMS Prince of Wales was seriously damaged in the engagement . Bismarck entered the Atlantic through the Strait , but damage sustained in the battle -- combined with British aircraft search-and-destroy missions -- led to its sinking three days later .", "King Oscar Glacier King Oscar Glacier ( Kong Oscar Gletscher ) is one of several glaciers that drain the north-western part of the Greenland Ice Sheet into Melville Bay . As part of a comprehensive survey of Greenland 's glaciers that was published in 2006 , scientists documented that the mass balance -- the sum of gains through snow accumulation and losses through iceberg calving and melting -- of Kong Oscar and Greenland 's other north-western glaciers was strongly negative between 1996 and 2005 : they lost more ice than they gained . The pattern was similar to the ice sheet as a whole , which has been losing ice mass at an accelerating pace in the past decade .", "Cap carbonate Cap carbonates are layers of distinctively textured carbonate rocks which typically form the uppermost layer of sedimentary sequences reflecting major glaciations in the geological record . The rising temperatures , and increased oceanic surface area - due to reduced ice cover and rising sea levels - at the end of a glaciation increase the rate of precipitation . High concentrations of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide ( CO2 ) must build up in the atmosphere to overcome the effect of the high reflectivity ( albedo ) of ice and allow temperatures to rise sufficiently to begin melting . Increased precipitation dissolves carbon dioxide from the atmosphere , falling as a weak carbonic acid - acid rain . This would weather exposed silicate and carbonate rock , including readily-attacked glacial debris , which would release large amounts of calcium . When washed into the ocean , these precipitate to form distinctively textured layers of carbonate sedimentary rock . A heavily debated cap carbonate appears at the top of the Gaskiers glaciation , believed by many to be global in extent .", "Climate change in New York City Climate change in New York City could affect buildings/structures , wetlands , water supply , health , and energy demand , due to the high population and extensive infrastructure in the region . New York is especially at risk if the sea level rises , due to many of the bridges connecting to boroughs , and entrances to roads and rail tunnels . High-traffic locations such as the airports , the Holland Tunnel , the Lincoln Tunnel , and the New York Passenger Ship Terminal are located in areas vulnerable to flooding . Flooding would be expensive to reverse . Rising temperatures could bring a higher risk of heat related deaths from heat waves and increased concentrations of ground-level ozone ( potentially causing asthma and other health concerns ) .", "Post-glacial rebound Post-glacial rebound ( also called either isostatic rebound or crustal rebound ) is the rise of land masses that were depressed by the huge weight of ice sheets during the last glacial period , through a process known as isostatic depression . Post-glacial rebound and isostatic depression are different parts of a process known as either glacial isostasy , glacial isostatic adjustment , or glacioisostasy . Glacioisostasy is the solid Earth deformation associated with changes in ice mass distribution . The most obvious and direct effects of post-glacial rebound are readily apparent in parts of Northern Eurasia , Northern America , Patagonia , and Antarctica . However , through processes known as ocean siphoning and continental levering , the effects of post-glacial rebound on sea level are felt globally far from the locations of current and former ice sheets .", "Arctic Climate Impact Assessment The Arctic Climate Impact Assessment ( ACIA ) is a study describing the ongoing climate change in the Arctic and its consequences : rising temperatures , loss of sea ice , unprecedented melting of the Greenland ice sheet , and many impacts on ecosystems , animals , and people . The ACIA is the first comprehensively researched , fully referenced , and independently reviewed evaluation of Arctic climate change and its impacts for the region and for the world . The project was guided by the intergovernmental Arctic Council and the non-governmental International Arctic Science Committee . Three hundred scientists participated in the study over a span of three years . The 140-page synthesis report Impacts of a Warming Arctic was released in November 2004 , and the scientific report later in 2005 . The ACIA Secretariat is located at the International Arctic Research Center at the University of Alaska Fairbanks .", "James McCarthy (oceanographer) James J. McCarthy is a Professor of Biological Oceanography at Harvard and was President of the American Association for the Advancement of Science from Feb 2008-Feb 2009 . McCarthy is Alexander Agassiz Professor of Biological Oceanography and former Master of Pforzheimer House . He is also Acting Curator of the Malacology Department in the Museum of Comparative Zoology . His studies address factors that regulate the processes of primary production and nutrient supply in upper ocean , approached using controlled laboratory studies and field investigations . Study sites range from near shore to the open ocean . Recent and current field research sites include the North Atlantic , equatorial Pacific , and Arabian Sea . He is on the faculty of the Harvard Medical School Center for Health and the Global Environment . Quote from Science News February 2009 interview : The Maldives and Kiribati highlight a hidden challenge for coping with climate change \\ global Warming . It 's not just about slowing the emissions of greenhouse gases . It 's also about figuring out what to do for localities threatened with the possibility of extinction from -LSB- rising ocean waters . `` They are like the canary in the coal mine in terms of the dramatic impact of climate change on a whole civilization of people '' `` They did n't cause the problem , but they will be among the first to feel it . '' The 2007 IPCC report took an extremely conservative approach to potential sea level rise , focusing on thermal expansion . It estimated that sea level increases could range from 0.2 to 0.6 meters by 2100 . Experts cautioned , however , that these numbers were highly uncertain and probably underestimated the potential change . The IPCC analysis did not take into account the unexpectedly rapid rate of melting and decay of polar ice sheets , particularly in Greenland , that has been observed recently , or the prospect of accelerated breakdown of polar sheets in the future . `` That 's not something that was anticipated '' .", "Ice-sheet dynamics Ice sheet dynamics describe the motion within large bodies of ice , such those currently on Greenland and Antarctica . Ice motion is dominated by the movement of glaciers , whose gravity-driven activity is controlled by two main variable factors : the temperature and strength of their bases . A number of processes alter these two factors , resulting in cyclic surges of activity interspersed with longer periods of inactivity , on both hourly and centennial time scales . Ice-sheet dynamics are of interest in modelling future sea level rise . __ TOC __", "Ice rise An ice rise is a clearly defined elevation of the otherwise totally flat ice shelf , typically dome-shaped and rising 100 to 200 metres above the surrounding ice shelf . An ice rise forms where the ice shelf touches the rocky seabed because of an elevation in the seabed that remains below sea level . ( In contrast , an elevation in the seabed that extends above sea level is defined as an island ) . The ice shelf flows over the seabed elevation , completely covering it with ice , thereby forming an ice rise . The resulting tension forms crevasses around the ice rise . An island within and totally covered by the ice shelf , may appear the exactly the same as an ice rise . Elaborate measurements may be required to distinguish between these two geographic features . Although ice rises are typically located within the ice shelf area , they can partially face the open sea . Ice rises are found only on the ice shelves of Antarctica . The largest ice rises exceed dimensions of 50 by 200 km , or 10 000 km ² in area . Some ice rises are incorrectly called islands , but also a few totally ice-covered islands within an ice shelf are also called ice rises . Ice rises , grouped by ice shelf , clockwise starting in East Antarctica : Brunt Ice Shelf McDonald Ice Rumples Riiser-Larsen Ice Shelf Lyddan Island King Baudouin Ice Shelf Derwael Ice Rise Amery Ice Shelf Budd Ice Rumples IR1 to IR5 near the ice front Shackleton Ice Shelf Green Ice Rises ( the northernmost ice rise , at 66 ° 21 'S ) Harrisson Ice Rises Ross Ice Shelf Crary Ice Rise ( the southernmost ice rise , at 82 ° 56 'S ) Crosson Ice Shelf Davis Ice Rise Bach Ice Shelf Burgess Ice Rise Dvořák Ice Rise Ives Ice Rise Landy Ice Rises George VI Ice Shelf Martin Ice Rise Wilkins Ice Shelf Petrie Ice Rises Schaus Ice Rises Vere Ice Rise Wordie Ice Shelf Coker Ice Rise Linchpin Ice Rise Miller Ice Rise Napier Ice Rise Reynolds Ice Rise Wade Ice Rise Müller Ice Shelf Humphreys Ice Rise Larsen-C Ice Shelf Bawden Ice Rise Gipps Ice Rise Tharp Ice Rise Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf Berkner Island Korff Ice Rise Henry Ice Rise Fowler Ice Rise Skytrain Ice Rise Doake Ice Rumples Dott Ice Rise Fletcher Ice Rise Hemmen Ice Rise Kealey Ice Rise Kershaw Ice Rumples Henry and Korff Ice Rises are the largest ice rises , with areas of roughly 1 500 to 1 600 km ² .", "Arctic resources race The Arctic resources race refers to the competition between global entities for newly available natural resources in the Arctic . As the ice in the Arctic melts at a record rate and the sea ice extent continues to decrease due to global climate change , the Arctic waters become more navigable and Arctic resources -- such as oil and gas , minerals , fish , as well as tourism and new trade routes -- are becoming more accessible . Under the United Nations Convention of the Law of the Sea , five nations have the legal right to exploit the Arctic 's natural resources within their exclusive economic zones : Canada , Russia , Denmark , Norway , and the United States ( though the U.S. has yet to ratify the treaty , it considers the treaty to be customary international law and abides by it ) . The Arctic region and its resources have recently been at the center of controversy and pose potential conflicts between nations that have differing opinions of how to manage the area , including conflicting territorial claims . In addition , the Arctic region is home to an estimated 400,000 indigenous people . If the ice continues to melt at the current rate , then these indigenous people are at risk of being displaced . The acceleration of ice depletion will contribute to climate change as a whole : melting ice releases methane , ice reflects incoming solar radiation , and without it will cause the ocean to absorb more radiation ( albedo effect ) , heating up the water causing more ocean acidification , and melting ice will cause a rise in sea level .", "Greenland's Grand Canyon Greenland 's Grand Canyon or Grand Canyon of Greenland is a tentative canyon of record length discovered underneath the Greenland ice sheet as reported in the journal Science on 30 August 2013 ( submitted 29 April 2013 ) , by scientists from the University of Bristol , University of Calgary , and University of Urbino , who described it as a mega-canyon . Ice-penetrating radar data collected during NASA 's Operation IceBridge showed a huge subglacial canyon running from the central region of the island northward into the Arctic Ocean , to the fjord of the Petermann Glacier . The bottom of the canyon is below sea level ; the canyon is likely to have influenced basal water flow from the ice sheet interior to the margin . Jonathan Bamber , a geographer at University of Bristol , stated , `` The distinctive V-shaped walls and flat bottom suggests water carved the buried valley , not ice . '' The canyon is more than 750 km long , up to 800 m deep and 10 km wide , making it the longest canyon discovered on the Earth to date . There are , however , many canyons -- including Arizona 's Grand Canyon and Tibet 's Yarlung Tsangpo Grand Canyon , previously the world 's longest -- that are deeper . The canyon predates ice sheet inception and has influenced basal hydrology in Greenland over past glacial cycles .", "Frederikshaab Glacier Frederikshaab Glacier is a glacier on the southwest coast of Greenland in the Sermersooq municipality . It flows from Greenland 's ice sheet and at its mouth melts into various ponds and channels that empty into Davis Strait . The nearest major town is Paamiut , roughly 110 km to the south , although some smaller settlements are closer . Category : Glaciers of Greenland", "Catherine Ritz Catherine Ritz is a French Antarctic researcher , best known for her work on ice sheets and their impact on sea level rise .", "Geography of Greenland Greenland is located between the Arctic Ocean and the North Atlantic Ocean , northeast of Canada and northwest of Iceland . The territory comprises the island of Greenland -- the largest island in the world -- and more than a hundred other smaller islands ( see alphabetic list ) . As an island , Greenland has no land boundaries and 44,087 km of coastline . A sparse population is confined to small settlements along certain sectors of the coast . Greenland possesses the world 's second largest ice sheet . Greenland sits atop the Greenland plate , a subplate of the North American plate . The Greenland craton is made up of some of the oldest rocks on the face of the earth . The Isua greenstone belt in southwestern Greenland contains the oldest known rocks on Earth , dated at 3.7 -- 3.8 billion years old . The vegetation is generally sparse , with the only patch of forested land being found in Nanortalik Municipality in the extreme south near Cape Farewell . The climate is arctic to subarctic , with cool summers and cold winters . The terrain is mostly a flat but gradually sloping icecap that covers all land except for a narrow , mountainous , barren , rocky coast . The lowest elevation is sea level and the highest elevation is the summit of Gunnbjørn Fjeld , the highest point in the Arctic at 3694 m . The northernmost point of the Island of Greenland is Cape Morris Jesup , discovered by Admiral Robert Peary in 1909 . Natural resources include zinc , lead , iron ore , coal , molybdenum , gold , platinum , uranium , hydropower and fish .", "Bald Island Bald Island is an island that is located in the Great Southern region of Western Australia . The island is 1.5 km offshore from Cheynes Beach and is a protected area managed by the Department of Parks and Wildlife . The island is a World Conservation Union Category IA nature reserve . ( A Class A Nature Reserve , No 25869 , managed by Parks and Wildlife was created in 1964 . ) With an area of 8.09 km2 the island is one of the largest off the South Coast . Composed almost entirely of granite the island rises steeply from the ocean to a maximum height of 310 m. The island was isolated around 10,000 years ago by rising sea levels .", "Cold blob (North Atlantic) The cold blob in the North Atlantic describes a cold temperature anomaly of ocean surface waters , affecting the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation ( AMOC ) which is part of the thermohaline circulation , possibly related to global warming-induced melting of the Greenland ice sheet .", "Dye 3 Dye 3 is an ice core site and previously part of the Distant Early Warning ( DEW ) line , located at ( , 2480 masl ) in Greenland . As a DEW line base , it was disbanded in years 1990/1991 . An ice core is a core sample from the accumulation of snow and ice that has re-crystallized and trapped air bubbles over many years . The composition of these ice cores , especially the presence of hydrogen and oxygen isotopes , provides a picture of the climate at the time . Ice cores contain an abundance of climate information . Inclusions in the snow , such as wind-blown dust , ash , bubbles of atmospheric gas and radioactive substances , remain in the ice . The variety of climatic proxies is greater than in any other natural recorder of climate , such as tree rings or sediment layers . These include ( proxies for ) temperature , ocean volume , precipitation , chemistry and gas composition of the lower atmosphere , volcanic eruptions , solar variability , sea-surface productivity , desert extent and forest fires . Typical ice cores are removed from an ice sheet such as the ice cap internal to Greenland . Greenland is , by area , the world 's largest island . The Greenland ice sheet covers about 1.71 million km2 and contains about 2.6 million km3 of ice .", "Tyrrell Sea The Tyrrell Sea , named for Canadian geologist Joseph Tyrrell , is another name for prehistoric Hudson Bay , namely as it existed during the retreat of the Laurentide Ice Sheet . Roughly 8,000 years BP , the Laurentide Ice Sheet thinned and split into two lobes , one centred over Quebec-Labrador , the other over Keewatin . This drained Glacial Lake Ojibway , a massive proglacial lake south of the ice sheet , leading to the formation of the early Tyrrell Sea . The weight of the ice had isostatically depressed the surface as much as 270-280 m below its current level , making the Tyrrell Sea much larger than modern Hudson Bay . Indeed , in some places the shoreline was 100 to 250 km farther inland than at present . It was at its largest at roughly 7,000 years BP . Isostatic uplift proceeded rapidly after the retreat of the ice , as much as .09 m per year , causing the margins of the sea to regress quickly towards its present margins . The rate of uplift decreased with time however , and in any event was nearly matched by sea-level rise from the melting ice sheets . When the Tyrrell Sea `` became '' Hudson Bay is difficult to define , as Hudson Bay is still shrinking from isostatic rebound .", "Flood basalt A flood basalt is the result of a giant volcanic eruption or series of eruptions that coats large stretches of land or the ocean floor with basalt lava . Flood basalt provinces such as the Deccan Traps of India are often called traps , which derives from the characteristic stairstep geomorphology of many associated landscapes . Rampino and Stothers ( 1988 ) cite eleven distinct flood basalt episodes occurring in the past 250 million years , creating large volcanic provinces , plateaus , and mountain ranges . However , more have been recognized such as the large Ontong Java Plateau , and the Chilcotin Group , though the latter may be linked to the Columbia River Basalt Group . Large igneous provinces have been connected to five mass extinction events , and may be associated with bolide impacts .", "Global warming in Antarctica The effects of global warming in Antarctica may include rising temperatures and increasing snow melt .", "Arctic Ocean The Arctic Ocean is the smallest and shallowest of the world 's five major oceans . The International Hydrographic Organization ( IHO ) recognizes it as an ocean , although some oceanographers call it the Arctic Mediterranean Sea or simply the Arctic Sea , classifying it a mediterranean sea or an estuary of the Atlantic Ocean . Alternatively , the Arctic Ocean can be seen as the northernmost part of the all-encompassing World Ocean . Located mostly in the Arctic north polar region in the middle of the Northern Hemisphere , the Arctic Ocean is almost completely surrounded by Eurasia and North America . It is partly covered by sea ice throughout the year and almost completely in winter . The Arctic Ocean 's surface temperature and salinity vary seasonally as the ice cover melts and freezes ; its salinity is the lowest on average of the five major oceans , due to low evaporation , heavy fresh water inflow from rivers and streams , and limited connection and outflow to surrounding oceanic waters with higher salinities . The summer shrinking of the ice has been quoted at 50 % . The US National Snow and Ice Data Center ( NSIDC ) uses satellite data to provide a daily record of Arctic sea ice cover and the rate of melting compared to an average period and specific past years .", "East Greenland Current The East Greenland Current ( EGC ) is a cold , low salinity current that extends from Fram Strait ( ~ 80N ) to Cape Farewell ( ~ 60N ) . The current is located off the eastern coast of Greenland along the Greenland continental margin . The current cuts through the Nordic Seas ( the Greenland and Norwegian Seas ) and through the Denmark Strait . The current is of major importance because it directly connects the Arctic to the Northern Atlantic , it is a major contributor to sea ice export out of the Arctic , and it is a major freshwater sink for the Arctic .", "Campbell Plateau The Campbell Plateau is a large oceanic plateau south of New Zealand and the Chatham Rise . It originated in the Gondwanan breakup and is part of Zealandia , a largely submerged continent . The above sea level parts of the plateau -- the Bounty Islands , Antipodes Islands , Auckland Islands and Campbell Island -- form part of the New Zealand Subantarctic Islands which were declared a World Heritage Site in 1998 . Large parts of the Campbell Plateau lies less than 1000 m below sea level . It rises to 500 m at the Pukaki Rise and emerges above sea level at the Auckland and Campbell Islands . Covering an area of 800000 km2 , the Campbell Plateau has a gently undulating bathymetry with major rises trending east-west : Campbell Island Rise , Pukaki Rise , and Bounty Island Ridge . There are two near-parallel rises on the western margin : Stewart Island -- Snare Island Rise and Auckland Island platform . The continental slopes are steep on western and southern margins while the northern margin slowly falls into the Bounty Trough .", "Ice shelf An ice shelf is a thick floating platform of ice that forms where a glacier or ice sheet flows down to a coastline and onto the ocean surface . Ice shelves are only found in Antarctica , Greenland , Canada and the Russian Arctic . The boundary between the floating ice shelf and the grounded ( resting on bedrock ) ice that feeds it is called the grounding line . The thickness of ice shelves ranges from about 100 to 1000 meters . In contrast , sea ice is formed on water , is much thinner ( typically less than 3m ) , and forms throughout the Arctic Ocean . It also is found in the Southern Ocean around the continent of Antarctica . Ice shelves are principally driven by gravity-driven pressure from the grounded ice . That flow continually moves ice from the grounding line to the seaward front of the shelf . The primary mechanism of mass loss from ice shelves was thought to have been iceberg calving , in which a chunk of ice breaks off from the seaward front of the shelf . A study by NASA and university researchers - published in the June 14 , 2013 issue of Science - found however that ocean waters melting the undersides of Antarctic ice shelves are responsible for most of the continent 's ice shelf mass loss . Typically , a shelf front will extend forward for years or decades between major calving events . Snow accumulation on the upper surface and melting from the lower surface are also important to the mass balance of an ice shelf . Ice may also accrete onto the underside of the shelf . The density contrast between glacial ice , which is denser than normal ice , and liquid water means that only about 1/9 of the floating ice is above the ocean surface . The world 's largest ice shelves are the Ross Ice Shelf and the Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf in Antarctica . The term captured ice shelf has been used for the ice over a subglacial lake , such as Lake Vostok ." ]

[ "Carbon footprint A carbon footprint is historically defined as the total set of greenhouse gas emissions caused by an individual , event , organisation , or product , expressed as carbon dioxide equivalent . In most cases , the total carbon footprint can not be exactly calculated because of inadequate knowledge of and data about the complex interactions between contributing processes , especially which including the influence on natural processes storing or releasing carbon dioxide . For this reason , Wright , Kemp , and Williams , have suggested to define the carbon footprint as : A measure of the total amount of carbon dioxide ( CO2 ) and methane ( CH4 ) emissions of a defined population , system or activity , considering all relevant sources , sinks and storage within the spatial and temporal boundary of the population , system or activity of interest . Calculated as carbon dioxide equivalent using the relevant 100-year global warming potential ( GWP100 ) . Greenhouse gases ( GHGs ) can be emitted through land clearance and the production and consumption of food , fuels , manufactured goods , materials , wood , roads , buildings , transportation and other services . For simplicity of reporting , it is often expressed in terms of the amount of carbon dioxide , or its equivalent of other GHGs , emitted . Most of the carbon footprint emissions for the average U.S. household come from `` indirect '' sources , i.e. fuel burned to produce goods far away from the final consumer . These are distinguished from emissions which come from burning fuel directly in one 's car or stove , commonly referred to as `` direct '' sources of the consumer 's carbon footprint . The concept name of the carbon footprint originates from ecological footprint , discussion , which was developed by Rees and Wackernagel in the 1990s which estimates the number of `` earths '' that would theoretically be required if everyone on the planet consumed resources at the same level as the person calculating their ecological footprint . However , given that ecological footprints are a measure of failure , Anindita Mitra ( CREA , Seattle ) chose the more easily calculated `` carbon footprint '' to easily measure use of carbon , as an indicator of unsustainable energy use . In 2007 , carbon footprint was used as a measure of carbon emissions to develop the energy plan for City of Lynnwood , Washington . Carbon footprints are much more specific than ecological footprints since they measure direct emissions of gases that cause climate change into the atmosphere . Carbon footprint is one of a family of footprint indicators , which also includes water footprint and land footprint .", "Greenhouse gas A greenhouse gas ( abbrev . GHG ) is a gas in an atmosphere that absorbs and emits radiation within the thermal infrared range . This process is the fundamental cause of the greenhouse effect . The primary greenhouse gases in Earth 's atmosphere are water vapor , carbon dioxide , methane , nitrous oxide , and ozone . Without greenhouse gases , the average temperature of Earth 's surface would be about -18 ° C , rather than the present average of 15 ° C . In the Solar System , the atmospheres of Venus , Mars and Titan also contain gases that cause a greenhouse effect . Human activities since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution ( taken as the year 1750 ) have produced a 40 % increase in the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide , from 280 ppm in 1750 to 406 ppm in early 2017 . This increase has occurred despite the uptake of a large portion of the emissions by various natural `` sinks '' involved in the carbon cycle . Anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions ( i.e. , emissions produced by human activities ) come from combustion of fossil fuels , principally coal , oil , and natural gas , along with deforestation , soil erosion and animal agriculture . It has been estimated that if greenhouse gas emissions continue at the present rate , Earth 's surface temperature could exceed historical values as early as 2047 , with potentially harmful effects on ecosystems , biodiversity and the livelihoods of people worldwide . Recent estimates suggest that on the current emissions trajectory the Earth could pass a threshold of 2 ° C global warming , which the United Nations ' IPCC designated as the upper limit to avoid `` dangerous '' global warming , by 2036 .", "Environmental degradation Environmental degradation is the deterioration of the environment through depletion of resources such as air , water and soil ; the destruction of ecosystems ; habitat destruction ; the extinction of wildlife ; and pollution . It is defined as any change or disturbance to the environment perceived to be deleterious or undesirable . As indicated by the I = PAT equation , environmental impact ( I ) or degradation is caused by the combination of an already very large and increasing human population ( P ) , continually increasing economic growth or per capita affluence ( A ) , and the application of resource depleting and polluting technology ( T ) . Environmental degradation is one of the ten threats officially cautioned by the High-level Panel on Threats , Challenges and Change of the United Nations . The United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction defines environmental degradation as `` The reduction of the capacity of the environment to meet social and ecological objectives , and needs '' . Environmental degradation is of many types . When natural habitats are destroyed or natural resources are depleted , the environment is degraded . Efforts to counteract this problem include environmental protection and environmental resources management ." ]

[ "Epidemiology of malnutrition There were 795 million undernourished people in the world in 2014 , a decrease of 216 million since 1990 , despite the fact that the world already produces enough food to feed everyone -- 7 billion people -- and could feed more than that -- 12 billion people .", "Recycled fuel Fuel made of residues as CO2 produced by using a primary fuel . For example , CO2 pollution in the atmosphere , produced by petrol burning or other sources , can be extracted to produce fuel through an artificial photosynthesis based in nanotechnology , which helps to mitigate pollution , climate change and energy issues .", "Estuarine acidification Estuarine acidification is a decrease in the pH of coastal marine ecosystems , specifically those of estuaries . pH change in estuaries is more complicated than in the open ocean due to direct impacts from land run-off and coastal current dynamics . Ocean acidification is the ongoing decrease in the pH of the Earth 's oceans , caused by the absorption of carbon dioxide ( CO2 ) from the atmosphere ( 0.1 units over the last century ) . The ocean absorbs 30-40 % of all CO2 emitted to the atmosphere ; this increase in aqueous carbon dioxide causes a decline in the pH of the ocean surface . As carbon dioxide combines with water , it releases protons ( hydrogen ions ) , based on the following equation : CO2 + H2O ↔ H2CO3 ↔ HCO3 + H + ↔ CO3 + 2 H +", "Seven Spades Seven Spades is a card game , apparently created by Johan Wästlund in 2002 . It 's similar to Bullshit in that bluffing plays a key role ; however the game is more fast-paced and , arguably , more intense . While originally intended for two players ( which is still the best way to play it ) , any number of people can play . The gameplay is simple . A deck of 52 cards is used . The dealer shuffles the deck and places it on the table face down . The player to the left of the dealer is the first to go - he picks up a card from the deck , taking care not to show it to anyone . Now he can either discard it on the table , face up , or declare it a spade and put it in front of him , face down . If the latter happened , any other player can , but is not obliged to , challenge the first player by opening the card . If it 's not a spade ( i.e. the player attempted bluff ) , the first player is out of the game ; if it is a spade , the second player is out . When only one player is left , he is declared the winner ; with two people playing , the winner will always be determined on the first challenge . The only other way to win is to collect a pre-determined number of spades - seven spades in the two-player version . The last ( seventh ) spade has to be a real spade , and is put face up , not face down . The person to do this is declared the winner . Anyone can challenge a person who claims to have a spade , but only immediately after the card is put down . When the next player picks up a card , you are no longer allowed to challenge the previous player . Only the last card a player put down can be challenged , not the other ones . When more than two people are playing , the number of spades to collect is adjusted so that it 's always possible to win without bluffing . With a single 52-card deck , the number of spades to collect is : for 2 people : 7 for 3 people : 5 for 4 people : 4 for 5 people : 3 To increase the number of spades , or to allow more than five people to play , more than one deck can be used . The number of spades to collect is then multiplied by the number of decks used . Optionally the following rule can be added when more than two people are playing : if a person challenges another player and proves him a liar , he gets a free turn . This promotes challenging and makes bluffing a bit more expensive .", "Lime kiln A lime kiln is a kiln used for the calcination of limestone ( calcium carbonate ) to produce the form of lime called quicklime ( calcium oxide ) . The chemical equation for this reaction is CaCO3 + heat → CaO + CO2 This reaction takes place at 900 ° C ( 1650 ° F ; at which temperature the partial pressure of CO2 is 1 atmosphere ) , but a temperature around 1000 ° C ( 1800 ° F ; at which temperature the partial pressure of CO2 is 3.8 atmospheres ) is usually used to make the reaction proceed quickly . Excessive temperature is avoided because it produces unreactive , `` dead-burned '' lime . Slaked lime ( calcium hydroxide ) can be formed by mixing water with quicklime .", "Wetland methane emissions As one of the most significant natural sources of atmospheric methane , wetlands remain a major area of concern with respect to climate change . Wetlands are characterized by water-logged soils and distinctive communities of plant and animal species that have evolved and adapted to the constant presence of water . Due to this high level of water saturation as well as warm weather , wetlands are one of the most significant natural sources of atmospheric methane . Most methanogenesis , or methane production , occurs in oxygen-poor environments . Because the microbes that live in warm , moist environments consume oxygen more rapidly than it can diffuse in from the atmosphere , wetlands are the ideal anaerobic , or oxygen poor , environments for fermentation . Fermentation is a process used by certain kinds of microorganisms to break down essential nutrients . In a process called acetoclastic methanogenesis , microorganisms from the classification domain archaea produce methane by fermenting acetate and H2-CO2 into methane and carbon dioxide . H3C-COOH → CH4 + CO2 Depending on the wetland and type of archaea , hydrogenotrophic methanogenesis , another process that yields methane , can also occur . This process occurs as a result of archaea oxidizing hydrogen with carbon dioxide to yield methane and water . 4H2 + CO2 → CH4 + 2H2O", "Billion Tree Campaign The Billion Tree Campaign was launched in 2006 , by the United Nations Environment Programme ( UNEP ) as a response to the challenges of global warming , as well as to a wider array of sustainability challenges from water supply to biodiversity loss . Its initial target was the planting of one billion trees in 2007 ( achieved by November ) . One year later , in 2008 , the campaign 's objective was raised to 7 billion trees -- a target to be met by the climate change conference that was held in Copenhagen , Denmark in December 2009 . Three months before the conference , the 7 billion planted trees mark had been surpassed . In December 2011 , after more than 12 billion trees had been planted , UNEP formally handed management of the program over to the youth-led not-for-profit Plant-for-the-Planet Foundation , based in Tutzing , Germany . Over 14.2 billion trees have been planted as of 2016 . The Billion Tree Campaign calls upon all individuals , countries and companies to participate , and accepts all contributions . Planted trees and pledges can be registered here .", "Suess effect The Suess effect is a change in the ratio of the atmospheric concentrations of heavy isotopes of carbon ( 13C and 14C ) by the admixture of large amounts of fossil-fuel derived CO2 , which is depleted in 13CO2 and contains no 14CO2 . It is named for the Austrian chemist Hans Suess , who noted the influence of this effect on the accuracy of radiocarbon dating . More recently , the Suess effect has been used in studies of climate change . The term originally referred only to dilution of atmospheric 14CO2 . The concept was later extended to dilution of 13CO2 and to other reservoirs of carbon such as the oceans and soils .", "Smallholding A smallholding is a small farm . In third world countries , smallholdings are usually farms supporting a single family with a mixture of cash crops and subsistence farming . As a country becomes more affluent and farming practices become more efficient , smallholdings may persist as a legacy of historical land ownership practices . In more affluent societies , smallholdings may be valued primarily for the rural lifestyle that they provide for the owners , who often do not earn their livelihood from the farm . There are an estimated 500 million smallholder farms in the world , supporting almost 2 billion people . Today some companies try to include smallholdings into their value chain , providing seed , feed or fertilizer to improve production . Some say that this model shows benefits for both parties .", "FUTBOLIN FUTBOLIN ( FUll Transfer By Optimized LINe-by-line methods ) : Multi-level multiple scattering radiative transfer model for the calculation of line-by-line atmospheric emission/transmission spectra in planetary atmospheres . It has been developed by Javier Martin-Torres ( AS&M . Inc , NASA/Langley Research Center , Hampton , VA , USA ; Jet Propulsion Laboratory , Pasadena , CA ; Now at IACT ( CSIC-URG ) , Granada , SPAIN ) . It allows generating high-resolution synthetic spectra in the 0.3-1000 micrometre spectral range . The code can handle spherical or plane-parallel atmospheres . It reads spectral lines in HITRAN or GEISA format and can handle CO2 line mixing and continuum absorption from H2O , O2 , N2 and CO2 . It also takes into account the Non Local Thermodynamic Equilibrium ( NLTE ) effects on the rotational , electronic and vibrational populations of the atmospheric species and allows to specify any combinations of clouds , coverage and spectral albedo . It has been used to model the Earth 's atmosphere , and the atmospheres of Mars , Venus , and Titan . The code can calculate reflection , transmission , absorption , infrared cooling rate , and flux spectra .", "Incubator (culture) In biology , an incubator is a device used to grow and maintain microbiological cultures or cell cultures . The incubator maintains optimal temperature , humidity and other conditions such as the carbon dioxide ( CO2 ) and oxygen content of the atmosphere inside . Incubators are essential for a lot of experimental work in cell biology , microbiology and molecular biology and are used to culture both bacterial as well as eukaryotic cells . Louis Pasteur used the small opening underneath his staircase as an incubator . Incubators are also used in the poultry industry to act as a substitute for hens . This often results in higher hatch rates due to the ability to control both temperature and humidity . Various brands of incubators are commercially available to breeders . The simplest incubators are insulated boxes with an adjustable heater , typically going up to 60 to 65 ° C ( 140 to 150 ° F ) , though some can go slightly higher ( generally to no more than 100 ° C ) . The most commonly used temperature both for bacteria such as the frequently used E. coli as well as for mammalian cells is approximately 37 ° C , as these organisms grow well under such conditions . For other organisms used in biological experiments , such as the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae , a growth temperature of 30 ° C is optimal . More elaborate incubators can also include the ability to lower the temperature ( via refrigeration ) , or the ability to control humidity or CO2 levels . This is important in the cultivation of mammalian cells , where the relative humidity is typically > 80 % to prevent evaporation and a slightly acidic pH is achieved by maintaining a CO2 level of 5 % .", "Nicholson challenge The term `` Nicholson challenge '' refers to a set of mandates that the former ( 2006-2012 ) leader of the National Health Service in England , Sir David Nicholson , has put forth to the entirety of the NHS in a drive to find `` efficiency savings '' amidst a UK economy in upheaval . The parameters of the `` challenge '' by Nicholson to the NHS collectively add up to a demand by Nicholson for the NHS to find # 20 billion in `` efficiency savings '' by 2015 . The claim is that better ways of working rather than more spending must be found , amidst a warning that if the challenge were not met , either more money would be needed or fewer desirable results would be achieved . The Health and Social Care Bill 2011 's provisions , which greatly alter the fundamentals of NHS functioning ( not just financing ) , is technically not a part of this `` challenge '' at all , but is happening separately . The Nicholson challenge keeps NHS law and regulations as they have been prior to the Health And Social Care Bill 's passage , but asks staff and administrators to find these `` savings '' within those present parameters nevertheless .", "List of tornadoes in the 1999 Oklahoma tornado outbreak From May 2 to 8 , 1999 , a large tornado outbreak took place across much of the Central and parts of the Eastern United States , as well as southern Canada . During this week-long event , 152 tornadoes touched down in these areas . The most dramatic events unfolded during the afternoon of May 3 through the early morning hours of May 4 when more than half of these storms occurred . Oklahoma experienced its largest tornado outbreak on record , with 70 confirmed . The most notable of these was the F5 Bridge Creek -- Moore tornado which devastated Oklahoma City and suburban communities . The tornado killed 36 people and injured 583 others ; losses amounted to $ 1 billion , making it the first billion-dollar tornado in history . Overall , 50 people lost their lives during the outbreak and damage amounted to $ 1.4 billion . On May 2 , a strong area of low pressure moved out of the Rocky Mountains and into the High Plains , producing scattered severe weather and ten tornadoes in Nebraska . The following day , atmospheric conditions across Oklahoma became significantly more favorable for an outbreak of severe weather . Wind profiles across the region strongly favored tornadic activity , with the Storm Prediction Center stating , `` it became more obvious something major was looming '' by the afternoon hours . Numerous supercell thunderstorms developed across the state as well as bordering areas in Kansas and Texas . Over the following 48 hours , May 3 -- 4 , 116 tornadoes touched down across the Central United States . Following the extensive outbreak , activity became increasingly scattered from May 5 to 8 , with 26 tornadoes touching down across the Eastern United States and Quebec . __ TOC __", "Revelle factor The Revelle factor ( buffer factor ) is the ratio of instantaneous change in carbon dioxide to the change in total dissolved inorganic carbon ( DIC ) , and is a measure of the resistance to atmospheric CO2 being absorbed by the ocean surface layer . The buffer factor is used to examine the distribution of CO2 between the atmosphere and the ocean , and measures the amount of CO2 that can be dissolved in the mixed surface layer . It is named after the oceanographer Roger Revelle , who was one of the first scientists to study global warming . Revelle factor = / ( Δ -LSB- DIC -RSB- / -LSB- DIC -RSB- ) where DIC is dissolved inorganic carbon . Δ -LSB- -RSB- / -LSB- -RSB- is the instantaneous change in p and Δ -LSB- DIC -RSB- / -LSB- DIC -RSB- is the instantaneous change in DIC .", "Soil microbiology Soil microbiology is the study of organisms in soil , their functions , and how they affect soil properties . It is believed that between two and four billion years ago , the first ancient bacteria and microorganisms came about in Earth 's oceans . These bacteria could fix nitrogen , in time multiplied and as a result released oxygen into the atmosphere . This led to more advanced microorganisms . Microorganisms in soil are important because they affect soil structure and fertility . Soil microorganisms can be classified as bacteria , actinomycetes , fungi , algae and protozoa . Each of these groups has characteristics that define them and their functions in soil . Up to 10 billion bacterial cells inhabit each gram of soil in and around plant roots , a region known as the rhizosphere . In 2011 , a team detected more than 33,000 bacterial and archaeal species on sugar beet roots . The composition of the rhizobiome can change rapidly in response to changes in the surrounding environment .", "Carbon dioxide generator A Carbon dioxide generator or CO2 generator is a machine used to enhance carbon dioxide levels in order to promote plant growth in greenhouses or other enclosed areas . Carbon dioxide generators have been used to help grow marijuana . They can be fueled with propane or natural gas . CO2 generators were used mostly by commercial growers until smaller and less expansive systems made the technology more widely available to hobbyists . The generators also give off heat . Using compressed CO2 is an alternative to generators .", "Crossfire (card game) Crossfire is a card game for 2 or more people in which the aim is to win more rounds than your opponent . You can win rounds by getting the highest card above a neutral card .", "1995 Mayfest Storm The 1995 Fort Worth Mayfest storm was a supercell storm that occurred on the 5 -- 6 May in the Fort Worth and Tarrant County areas of Texas . It affected a highly populated area with hail up to 4 in in diameter , as well as striking the local outdoor festival known as the Fort Worth Mayfest . At the time the storm was the costliest hailstorm in the United States history , causing more than $ 2 billion in damage . The hail injured at least 100 people , and flash flooding and lightning from the same storm killed at least 13 people .", "Liquid Light Liquid Light is a New Jersey-based company that develops and licenses electrochemical process technology to make chemicals from carbon dioxide ( CO2 ) . The company has more than 100 patents and patent applications for the technology that can produce multiple chemicals such as ethylene glycol , propylene , isopropanol , methyl-methacrylate and acetic acid . Funding has been provided by VantagePoint Capital Partners , BP Ventures , Chrysalix Energy Venture Capital , Osage University Partners and Sustainable Conversion Ventures . Liquid Light 's technology can be used to produce more than 60 chemicals , but its first targeted process is for the production of monoethylene glycol ( MEG ) which has a $ 27 billion annual market . MEG is used to make a wide range of consumer products including plastic bottles , antifreeze and polyester fiber .", "4-carboxymuconolactone decarboxylase In enzymology , a 4-carboxymuconolactone decarboxylase is an enzyme that catalyzes the chemical reaction 2-carboxy-2 ,5 - dihydro-5-oxofuran-2-acetate 4,5-dihydro-5-oxofuran-2-acetate + CO2 Hence , this enzyme has one substrate , 2-carboxy-2 ,5 - dihydro-5-oxofuran-2-acetate , and two products , 4,5-dihydro-5-oxofuran-2-acetate and CO2 . This enzyme belongs to the family of lyases , specifically the carboxy-lyases , which cleave carbon-carbon bonds . The systematic name of this enzyme class is 2-carboxy-2 ,5 - dihydro-5-oxofuran-2-acetate carboxy-lyase ( 4,5-dihydro-5-oxofuran-2-acetate-forming ) . Other names in common use include gamma-4-carboxymuconolactone decarboxylase , and 4-carboxymuconolactone carboxy-lyase . This enzyme participates in benzoate degradation via hydroxylation .", "Wim Sweldens Wim Sweldens is a Belgian American business leader notable for innovations in communications and signal processing technology . He developed algorithms for compressing three dimensional images into billions of tiny triangular modules . At telecommunications firm Alcatel-Lucent in New Jersey , he led development of new cell tower technology called lightRadio which reduces the size of transmission equipment dramatically . The equipment uses only basic electrical power and can be placed indoors and linked to optical fiber cables ; it enables mobile networks to operate with much less electricity , halving CO2 emissions and reducing the carbon footprint , and permitting cell phone service to reach more people over expanded geographic areas . The technology may mean the end of cell towers within ten years , according to several reports .", "Overweight Overweight is having more body fat than is optimally healthy . Being overweight is common especially where food supplies are plentiful and lifestyles are sedentary . Excess weight has reached epidemic proportions globally , with more than 1 billion adults being either overweight or obese in 2003 . In 2013 this increased to more than 2 billion . Increases have been observed across all age groups . A healthy body requires a minimum amount of fat for proper functioning of the hormonal , reproductive , and immune systems , as thermal insulation , as shock absorption for sensitive areas , and as energy for future use . But the accumulation of too much storage fat can impair movement , flexibility , and alter appearance of the body .", "Stichodactyla gigantea Stichodactyla gigantea , commonly known as the giant carpet anemone is a species of sea anemone that lives in the Indo-Pacific area . It can be kept in an aquarium but is a very challenging species to keep alive and healthy for more than 3 -- 5 years .", "5-guanidino-2-oxopentanoate decarboxylase In enzymology , a 5-guanidino-2-oxopentanoate decarboxylase is an enzyme that catalyzes the chemical reaction 5-guanidino-2-oxo-pentanoate 4-guanidinobutanal + CO2 Hence , this enzyme has one substrate , 5-guanidino-2-oxo-pentanoate , and two products , 4-guanidinobutanal and CO2 . This enzyme belongs to the family of lyases , specifically the carboxy-lyases , which cleave carbon-carbon bonds . The systematic name of this enzyme class is 5-guanidino-2-oxo-pentanoate carboxy-lyase ( 4-guanidinobutanal-forming ) . Other names in common use include alpha-ketoarginine decarboxylase , and 2-oxo-5-guanidinopentanoate carboxy-lyase . It has 2 cofactors : thiamin diphosphate , and Divalent cation .", "Respiratory exchange ratio The respiratory exchange ratio ( RER ) is the ratio between the amount of carbon dioxide ( CO2 ) produced in metabolism and oxygen ( O2 ) used . Humans typically inhale more molecules of oxygen than they exhale of carbon dioxide because air contains much more oxygen by volume . The ratio is determined by comparing exhaled gases to room air . Measuring this ratio can be used for estimating the respiratory quotient ( RQ ) , an indicator of which fuel ( carbohydrate or fat ) is being metabolized to supply the body with energy . This estimation is only valid if metabolism is in a steady state . RER is about 0.8 at rest with a modern diet . This value however , can exceed 1 during intense exercise , as CO2 production by the working muscles becomes greater and more of the inhaled O2 gets used rather than being expelled . During moderate or higher intensity aerobic exercise and anaerobic exercise , using RER for estimating RQ loses accuracy because of factors including bicarbonate buffering of hydrogen ions , which affects the CO2 levels being expelled by the respiratory system . Calculation of RER is commonly done in conjunction with exercise tests such as the VO2 Max Test and can be used as an indicator that the participants are nearing exhaustion and the limits of their cardio-respiratory system . An RER greater than or equal to 1.15 is often used as a secondary endpoint criterion of a VO2 Max Test . An RER of 0.70 indicates that fat is the predominant fuel source , RER of 0.85 suggests a mix of fat and carbohydrates , and a value of 1.00 or above is indicative of carbohydrate being the predominant fuel source . Oxidation of a molecule of Carbohydrate 6 O2 + C6H12O6 = > 6 CO2 + 6 H2O + 38 ATP RER = VCO2/VO2 = 6 CO2/6 O2 = 1.0 Oxidation of a molecule of Fatty Acid 23 O2 + C16H32O2 = > 16 CO2 + 16 H2O + 129 ATP RER = VCO2/VO2 = 16 CO2/23 O2 = 0.7", "2011 Colombia floods A series of floods in Colombia began in late April 2011 , coinciding with the country 's rainy season . Torrential rains triggered extensive flooding and landslides that killed at least 111 people and left more than 69,000 homeless . Estimates have placed damage at US$ 5 billion . After September , a second wave of flooding and landslides ( coinciding with the year 's second rainy season ) killed another 81 people , wounded 65 more and affected approximately 289,000 ( including 61,000 families ) .", "3-hydroxy-2-methylpyridine-4,5-dicarboxylate 4-decarboxylase In enzymology , a 3-hydroxy-2-methylpyridine-4 ,5 - dicarboxylate 4-decarboxylase is an enzyme that catalyzes the chemical reaction 3-hydroxy-2-methylpyridine-4 ,5 - dicarboxylate 3-hydroxy-2-methylpyridine-5-carboxylate + CO2 Hence , this enzyme has one substrate , 3-hydroxy-2-methylpyridine-4 ,5 - dicarboxylate , and two products , 3-hydroxy-2-methylpyridine-5-carboxylate and CO2 . This enzyme belongs to the family of lyases , specifically the carboxy-lyases , which cleave carbon-carbon bonds . The systematic name of this enzyme class is 3-hydroxy-2-methylpyridine-4 ,5 - dicarboxylate 4-carboxy-lyase ( 3-hydroxy-2-methylpyridine-5-carboxylate-forming ) . This enzyme is also called 3-hydroxy-2-methylpyridine-4 ,5 - dicarboxylate 4-carboxy-lyase . This enzyme participates in vitamin B6 metabolism .", "Clear-air turbulence Clear-air turbulence ( CAT ) is the turbulent movement of air masses in the absence of any visual clues such as clouds , and is caused when bodies of air moving at widely different speeds meet . The atmospheric region most susceptible to CAT is the high troposphere at altitudes of around 7000 - as it meets the tropopause . Here CAT is most frequently encountered in the regions of jet streams . At lower altitudes it may also occur near mountain ranges . Thin cirrus clouds can also indicate high probability of CAT . CAT can be hazardous to the comfort , but rarely the safety , of air travelers . CAT in the jet stream is expected to become stronger and more frequent because of climate change , with transatlantic wintertime CAT increasing by 59 % ( light ) , 94 % ( moderate ) , and 149 % ( severe ) by the time of CO2 doubling .", "Respirometer A respirometer is a device used to measure the rate of respiration of a living organism by measuring its rate of exchange of oxygen and/or carbon dioxide . They allow investigation into how factors such as age , or chemicals affect the rate of respiration . Respirometers are designed to measure respiration either on the level of a whole animal ( plant ) or on the cellular level . These fields are covered by whole animal and cellular ( or mitochondrial ) respirometry , respectively . A simple whole plant respirometer designed to measure oxygen uptake or CO2 release consists of a sealed container with the living specimen together with a substance to absorb the carbon dioxide given off during respiration , such as soda lime pellets or cotton wads soaked with potassium hydroxide . The oxygen uptake is detected by manometry . Typically , a U-tube manometer is used , which directly shows the pressure difference between the container and the atmosphere . As an organism takes up O2 , it generates a proportionate quantity of CO2 ( see respiratory quotient ) , but all the CO2 is absorbed by the soda lime . Therefore , all of the drop of pressure in the chamber can be attributed to the drop of O2 partial pressure in the container . The rate of change gives a direct and reasonably accurate reading for the organism 's rate of respiration . As changes in temperature or pressure can also affect the displacement of the manometric fluid , a second respirometer identical to the first except with a dead specimen ( or something with the same mass as the specimen in place of the organism ) is sometimes set up . Subtracting the displacement of the second respirometer from the first allows for control of these factors . The set up of modern respirometers is described in more detail under respirometry . A Respirometer may also be called an oxygraph . Suppliers for whole animal respirometers are e.g. Sable Systems , Qubit Systems , or Challenge Technology ; for mitochondrial respirometers Oroboros Instruments , Hansatech Instruments , or YSI .", "Exhaust heat recovery system In transportation , an exhaust heat recovery system turns thermal losses in the exhaust pipe into energy . This technology seems to be more and more of interest by car and heavy-duty vehicle manufacturers as an efficient way to save fuel and reduce vehicles ' CO2 emissions . This technology can be used either on a hybrid vehicle or a conventional one : it produces either electric energy for batteries or mechanical energy reintroduced on the crankshaft .", "Wet-milling Wet-milling is a process in which feed material is steeped in water , with or without sulfur dioxide , to soften the seed kernel in order to help separate the kernel 's various components . For example , wet-milling plants can separate a 56-pound bushel of corn into more than 31 pounds of cornstarch ( which in turn can be converted into corn syrups or corn ethanol ) , 15 pounds of corn gluten meal for use in animal feed , and nearly 2 pounds of corn oil .", "Langspil The Langspil ( -LSB- ˈlauŋ̊spɪl -RSB- ) is a traditional Icelandic drone zither . Since old folk music has been gaining more popularity in recent years , more and more people are able to play this instrument . And since it only has 1 melody string with 1 to 5 drone strings ( usually 2 ) it is easy to learn to play it compared with more complicated instruments . The langspil can be played by plucking the strings by hand , with a bow or by hammering . Langspils exist in two basic versions , straight and curved and are generally around the length of 80 cm , but can be as long as 104 cm or as short as 73 cm . Many different types of wood have traditionally been used , including pine , fir , beechwood , birch , oak and walnut , since they were generally constructed from driftwood ." ]

[ "Attribution of recent climate change Attribution of recent climate change is the effort to scientifically ascertain mechanisms responsible for recent climate changes on Earth , commonly known as ` global warming ' . The effort has focused on changes observed during the period of instrumental temperature record , when records are most reliable ; particularly in the last 50 years , when human activity has grown fastest and observations of the troposphere have become available . The dominant mechanisms are anthropogenic , i.e. , the result of human activity . They are : increasing atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases global changes to land surface , such as deforestation increasing atmospheric concentrations of aerosols . There are also natural mechanisms for variation including climate oscillations , changes in solar activity , and volcanic activity . According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) , it is `` extremely likely '' that human influence was the dominant cause of global warming between 1951 and 2010 . The IPCC defines `` extremely likely '' as indicating a probability of 95 to 100 % , based on an expert assessment of all the available evidence . Multiple lines of evidence support attribution of recent climate change to human activities : A basic physical understanding of the climate system : greenhouse gas concentrations have increased and their warming properties are well-established . Historical estimates of past climate changes suggest that the recent changes in global surface temperature are unusual . Computer-based climate models are unable to replicate the observed warming unless human greenhouse gas emissions are included . Natural forces alone ( such as solar and volcanic activity ) can not explain the observed warming . The IPCC 's attribution of recent global warming to human activities is a view shared by the scientific community , and is also supported by 196 other scientific organizations worldwide ( see also : scientific opinion on climate change ) .", "Scientific consensus on climate change There is currently a strong scientific consensus that the Earth is warming and that this warming is mainly caused by human activities. This consensus is supported by various studies of scientists' opinions and by position statements of scientific organizations, many of which explicitly agree with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) synthesis reports. Nearly all actively publishing climate scientists (97–98%) support the consensus on anthropogenic climate change, and the remaining 2% of contrarian studies either cannot be replicated or contain errors." ]

[ "Climate of the Past Climate of the Past is an open-access peer-reviewed scientific journal publishing research within Earth science .", "Stratospheric Processes And their Role in Climate Stratosphere-troposphere Processes And their Role in Climate ( SPARC ) is a core project of the World Climate Research Programme . Founded in 1992 , SPARC has coordinated high-level research activities related to understanding Earth system processes for over two decades . More specifically , SPARC promotes and facilitates cutting-edge international research activities on how chemical and physical processes in the atmosphere interact with climate and climate change .", "World Climate Research Programme The World Climate Research Programme ( WCRP ) was established in 1980 , under the joint sponsorship of International Council for Science and the World Meteorological Organization , and has also been sponsored by the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO since 1993 . It is a component of the World Climate Programme . The objectives of the programme are to develop the fundamental scientific understanding of the physical climate system and climate processes needed to determine to what extent climate can be predicted and the extent of human influence on climate . The programme encompasses studies of the global atmosphere , oceans , sea ice , land ice ( such as glaciers , ice caps and ice sheets ) , and the land surface which together constitute the Earth 's physical climate system . WCRP activities address issues of scientific uncertainty in the Earth 's climate system including transport and storage of heat by the ocean , the global energy and hydrological cycle , the formation of clouds and their effects on radiative transfer , and the role of the cryosphere in climate . These activities match the scientific priorities identified by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change , and provide the basis for responding to issues raised in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change . WCRP also lays the scientific foundation for meeting the research challenges posed in Agenda 21 . Together with the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme and the International Human Dimensions of Global Environmental Change Programme , WCRP provides the international framework for scientific cooperation in the study of global climate change . Scientific guidance for the programme is provided by a Joint Scientific Committee consisting of 18 scientists selected by mutual agreement between the three sponsoring organizations .", "Michael Schlesinger Dr. Michael Earl Schlesinger ( born February 23 , 1943 ) is a Professor of Atmospheric Sciences and director of the Climate Research Group at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign . He received his Ph.D. ( meteorology ) in 1976 from the University of California , Los Angeles . Michael Schlesinger is an expert in the modeling , simulation and analysis of climate and climate change , with interests in simulating and understanding the climates of the geologic past and possible future climates resulting from increased concentrations of greenhouse gases and human-made aerosols . He has been instrumental in developing a range of simple and complex climate models , which have been used by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the Energy Modeling Forum . His research currently focuses on : ( 1 ) simulating and understanding the effects on climate of a human-induced melting of the Greenland ice sheet ; ( 2 ) simulating and understanding the coupled climate-chemistry system , including the influences of the Sun - both irradiance and energetic electron precipitation - and volcanoes ; ( 3 ) understanding and reducing the uncertainty in the estimation of climate sensitivity and climate feedbacks ; and ( 4 ) performing integrative assessment of climate change , including further development of the robust adaptive decision strategy for mitigating and adapting to human-induced climate change . He is known for his work on oscillations in the global climate system , on estimating the climate sensitivity , and on seasonal climate change . He has edited four books , most recently Human-induced climate change : An interdisciplinary assessment . He regularly appears in the media .", "Climate change (general concept) Climate variability includes all the variations in the climate that last longer than individual weather events, whereas the term climate change only refers to those variations that persist for a longer period of time, typically decades or more. In the time since the industrial revolution the climate has increasingly been affected by human activities that are causing global warming and climate change.The climate system receives nearly all of its energy from the sun. The climate system also radiates energy to outer space. The balance of incoming and outgoing energy, and the passage of the energy through the climate system, determines Earth\\'s energy budget. When the incoming energy is greater than the outgoing energy, earth\\'s energy budget is positive and the climate system is warming. If more energy goes out, the energy budget is negative and earth experiences cooling.\\nThe energy moving through Earth\\'s climate system finds expression in weather, varying on geographic scales and time. Long-term averages and variability of weather in a region constitute the region\\'s climate. Such changes can be the result of \"internal variability\", when natural processes inherent to the various parts of the climate system alter the distribution of energy. Examples include variability in ocean basins such as the Pacific decadal oscillation and Atlantic multidecadal oscillation. Climate variability can also result from external forcing, when events outside of the climate system\\'s components nonetheless produce changes within the system. Examples include changes in solar output and volcanism.\\nClimate variability has consequences for sea level changes, plant life, and mass extinctions; it also affects human societies.", "Subatlantic The Subatlantic is the current climatic age of the Holocene epoch . It started at about 2,500 years BP and is still ongoing . Its average temperatures were slightly lower than during the preceding Subboreal and Atlantic . During its course the temperature underwent several oscillations which had a strong influence on fauna and flora and thus indirectly on the evolution of human civilizations . With intensifying industrialisation , human society started to stress the natural climatic cycles with increased greenhouse gas emissions .", "Michael O'Connell (botanist) Michael O'Connell , Professor of Botany , National University of Ireland , Galway . O'Connell is a member of the Palaeoenvironmental Research Unit , and a member of the Environmental Protection Agency . His area of interests include past environments , past climate change , long-term human impact , as well as lat-glacial and Holocene environments .", "Valerie Masson-Delmotte Valerie Masson-Delmotte is a French climate scientist and Research Director at the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission , where she works in the Climate and Environment Sciences Laboratory ( LSCE ) . She uses data from past climates to test models of climate change , and has contributed to several IPCC reports .", "Climate Research (journal) Climate Research is a small peer-reviewed scientific journal published by the Inter-Research Science Center that was established in 1990 . Its founder and long time publisher was marine biologist Otto Kinne . Outside the climate research community , the journal is mostly known for its 2003 publication of a controversial and now discredited climate change article . Three volumes , each typically containing half a dozen articles , are published each year . Each of its 12 editors therefore handles an average of less than 2 articles a year . Climate Research covers all aspects of the interactions of climate with organisms , ecosystems , and human societies . In 2006 , a special issue of the journal , titled `` Advances in Applying Climate Prediction to Agriculture '' , was published under open access .", "Timeline of environmental history The timeline lists events in the external environment that have influenced events in human history . This timeline is for use with the article on environmental determinism . For the history of humanity 's influence on the environment , and humanity 's perspective on this influence , see timeline of the history of environmentalism . See List of periods and events in climate history for a timeline list focused on climate .", "Media coverage of global warming Media coverage of climate change has had effects on public opinion on climate change, as it mediates the scientific opinion on climate change that the global temperature has increased in recent decades and that the trend is mainly caused by human-induced emissions of greenhouse gases. Almost all scientific bodies of national or international standing agree with this view, although a few organisations hold non-committal positions. Climate change communication research frequently studies the effectiveness of that media. Some researchers and journalists believe that media coverage of political issues is adequate and fair, while a few feel that it is biased. However, most studies on media coverage of the topic are neither recent nor concerned with coverage of environmental issues. Moreover, they are only rarely concerned specifically with the question of bias.Despite recent trends in increased coverage on climate change, media coverage is not constant, and researchers wonder if the current increase in attention will be sustained.", "Effects of sex in the media In the past several decades , researchers have spent continuous efforts on exploring how sexual content in the media influence individuals ' perceptions of sex , marriage , and the rape . Among these sexual content in the media , pornography has been a big business , generating $ 13 billion just in the U.S. in 2006 . Researchers have reached agreement on some effects of sexual content in the media , such as arousal and some attitudinal effects . However , there is still an argument on whether the Catharsis effects resulting from the sexual media content .", "Climate ethics Climate ethics is an area of research that focuses on the ethical dimensions of climate change ( also known as global warming ) , and concepts such as climate justice . Human-induced climate change raises many profound ethical questions , yet many believe that these ethical issues have not been addressed adequately in climate change policy debates or in the scientific and economic literature on climate change ; and that , consequently , ethical questions are being overlooked or obscured in climate negotiations , policies and discussions . It has been pointed out that those most responsible for climate change are not the same people as those most vulnerable to its effects . Terms such as climate justice and ecological justice ( ` eco justice ' ) are used worldwide , and have been adopted by various groups .", "Ecological humanities The ecological humanities ( also environmental humanities ) is an interdisciplinary area of research , drawing on the many environmental sub-disciplines that have emerged in the humanities over the past several decades ( in particular environmental literature , environmental philosophy , environmental history and environmental anthropology ) . The ecological humanities aim to help bridge traditional divides between the sciences and the humanities , and between Western , Eastern and Indigenous ways of knowing the natural world and the place of humans in it ( Rose 2004 ) . The ecological humanities are characterised by a connectivity ontology and a commitment to two fundamental axioms relating to the need to submit to ecological laws and to see humanity as part of a larger living system .", "Climate oscillation A climate oscillation or climate cycle is any recurring cyclical oscillation within global or regional climate , and is a type of climate pattern . These fluctuations in atmospheric temperature , sea surface temperature , precipitation or other parameters can be quasi-periodic , often occurring on inter-annual , multi-annual , decadal , multidecadal , century-wide , millennial or longer timescales . They are not perfectly periodic and a Fourier analysis of the data does not give a sharp spectrum . A prominent example is the El Niño Southern Oscillation , involving sea surface temperatures along a stretch of the equatorial Central and East Pacific Ocean and the western coast of tropical South America , but which affects climate worldwide . Records of past climate conditions are recovered through geological examination of proxies , found in glacier ice , sea bed sediment , tree ring studies or otherwise .", "Physical impacts of climate change This article is about the physical impacts of climate change . For some of these physical impacts , their effect on social and economic systems are also described . This article refers to reports produced by the IPCC . In their usage , `` climate change '' refers to a change in the state of the climate that can be identified by changes in the mean and/or variability of its properties , and that persists for extended periods , typically decades or longer ( IPCC , 2007d :30 ) . The climate change referred to may be due to natural causes and/or the result of human activity .", "The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars : Dispatches from the Front Lines is a 2012 book about climate change by the American climatologist and geophysicist Michael E. Mann . In the book Mann describes how he became a researcher investigating the temperature record of the past 1000 years and was lead author , with Raymond S. Bradley and Malcolm K. Hughes , on the 1999 reconstruction that was the first to be dubbed the hockey stick graph . He concisely explains the basics of climate science including statistical methodology dealing with paleoclimate proxy data , and examines the tactics which opponents of action on climate change use to distort the science and attack the reputations of climate scientists . The book describes both the hockey stick controversy and the broader context of skepticism in science and contrarians rejecting evidence of human influence on climate . The book was picked by Physics Today books editor Jermey Matthews as one of the five top books of the 49 they had reviewed in 2012 .", "Climatic Research Unit documents Climatic Research Unit documents including thousands of e-mails and other computer files were stolen from a server at the Climatic Research Unit of the University of East Anglia in a hacking incident in November 2009 . The documents were redistributed first through several blogs of global warming skeptics , and allegations were made that they indicated misconduct by leading climate scientists . A series of investigations rejected these allegations , while concluding that CRU scientists should have been more open with distributing data and methods on request . Precisely six committees investigated the allegations and published reports , finding no evidence of fraud or scientific misconduct . The scientific consensus that global warming is occurring as a result of human activity remained unchanged by the end of the investigations . The incident occurred shortly before the opening December 2009 Copenhagen global climate summit . It has prompted general discussion about increasing the openness of scientific data ( though the majority of climate data have always been freely available ) . Scientists , scientific organisations , and government officials have stated that the incident does not affect the overall scientific case for climate change . Andrew Revkin reported in the New York Times that `` The evidence pointing to a growing human contribution to global warming is so widely accepted that the hacked material is unlikely to erode the overall argument . ''", "Climate of Adelaide Adelaide has a Mediterranean climate ( Köppen climate classification Csa ) , with mild to cool winters with moderate rainfall and warm to hot , dry summers . Adelaide is the driest of the Australian capital cities and the past two decades have been far warmer than usual , with the past 8 years seeing an excess of 40 + degrees every summer . Alarmingly , the city has also recorded almost 10 consecutive years of below-average Spring rainfall , with 2014 on track to continuing this trend . A spike in heat waves , droughts and record-breaking high temperatures over the past decade has led to some concerns over the effects of global warming and Man-made climate change ( AGW ) on the city . Nine of the ten warmest years recorded in Adelaide have occurred since 2002 , with 2013 being the hottest year and summer 2015 -- 2016 being the fourth-hottest summer recorded .", "Tom Wigley Tom Wigley is a climate scientist at the University of Adelaide . He is also affiliated with the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research ( UCAR ) . He was named a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science ( AAAS ) for his major contributions to climate and carbon cycle modeling and to climate data analysis , and because he is `` one of the world 's foremost experts on climate change and one of the most highly cited scientists in the discipline . '' His h-index ( August 2014 ) is 64 , one of the highest in the discipline . He contributed to many of the reports published by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( the work of the IPCC , including the contributions of many scientists , was recognised by the joint award of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize ) . Wigley was educated as a mathematical physicist and earned his doctorate at the University of Adelaide in Australia . He served as director of the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia in the United Kingdom from 1978 to 1993 . In 1993 he went on to the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder , Colorado , where he was appointed a senior scientist in 1994 . He subsequently moved to the University of Adelaide where he currently ( 2014 ) holds a Professorial Fellowship . His published papers include the first paper to demonstrate 20th century warming using both land and marine data , the first paper to include the effects of aerosol cooling on projections of future climate change , the first paper to provide realistic scenarios for the stabilization of atmospheric CO2 , and the first paper to use pattern-based methods to identify a significant human influence on the climate . Wigley has also published a number of highly cited papers in aqueous geochemistry , including a now-standard method for carbon dating of groundwater . Wigley has argued in the popular media that the IPCC has been too optimistic about the prospect of averting harmful climate change by reducing greenhouse emissions through the use of renewable technologies alone , and argued that any realistic portfolio must include significant contributions from nuclear energy . He has also pointed out that `` the human-induced changes that are expected over the next 100 years are much , much greater than any changes that societies experienced in the past . '' In 2013 , with other leading experts , he was co-author of an open letter to policy makers , which stated that `` continued opposition to nuclear power threatens humanity 's ability to avoid dangerous climate change . ''", "Sägistalsee Sägistalsee is a lake in Canton of Berne , Switzerland . Its surface area is 7 ha . The lake 's sediments were studied to determine past climate and human activities .", "Albert P. Li Albert P. Li is President and CEO of In Vitro ADMET Laboratories ( IVAL ) , Columbia , MD and Malden , MA . For the past three decades , Li has devoted his scientific career to the advancement of scientific concepts and technologies to accurately predict human drug properties . His research is focused on the development and application of human-based in vitro experimental systems in drug discovery and development . He is a pioneer in the isolation , cryopreservation , and culturing of human hepatocytes and their application in the evaluation of drug metabolism , drug-drug interactions , and drug toxicity .", "Climatic Research Unit email controversy The Climatic Research Unit email controversy ( also known as `` Climategate '' ) began in November 2009 with the hacking of a server at the Climatic Research Unit ( CRU ) at the University of East Anglia ( UEA ) by an external attacker , copying thousands of emails and computer files , the Climatic Research Unit documents , to various internet locations several weeks before the Copenhagen Summit on climate change . The story was first broken by climate change denialists with columnist James Delingpole popularising the term `` Climategate '' to describe the controversy . Several people considered climate change `` skeptics '' argued that the emails showed global warming was a scientific conspiracy , that scientists manipulated climate data and attempted to suppress critics . The CRU rejected this , saying the emails had been taken out of context and merely reflected an honest exchange of ideas . The mainstream media picked up the story as negotiations over climate change mitigation began in Copenhagen on 7 December 2009 . Because of the timing , scientists , policy makers and public relations experts said that the release of emails was a smear campaign intended to undermine the climate conference . In response to the controversy , the American Association for the Advancement of Science ( AAAS ) , the American Meteorological Society ( AMS ) and the Union of Concerned Scientists ( UCS ) released statements supporting the scientific consensus that the Earth 's mean surface temperature had been rising for decades , with the AAAS concluding , `` based on multiple lines of scientific evidence that global climate change caused by human activities is now underway ... it is a growing threat to society . '' Eight committees investigated the allegations and published reports , finding no evidence of fraud or scientific misconduct . However , the reports called on the scientists to avoid any such allegations in the future by taking steps to regain public confidence in their work , for example by opening up access to their supporting data , processing methods and software , and by promptly honouring freedom of information requests . The scientific consensus that global warming is occurring as a result of human activity remained unchanged throughout the investigations .", "Global Land Project The Global Land Project -LSB- changed to Global Land Programme in 2016 -RSB- is a research initiative of Future Earth ( originally the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme ( IGBP ) and the International Human Dimensions Programme ( IHDP ) ) . It aims to understand the changes of the land systems given the prospects of rapid and massive global environmental change . The goal of GLP is `` to measure , model and understand the coupled human-environment system '' . The Global Land Project Science Plan describes the scientific questions that the land systems research community considers to be crucial for the next decade . GLP has three objectives that determine the research framework : To identify the agents , structures and nature of change in coupled human-environment systems on land , and to quantify their effects on the coupled system ; To assess how the provision of ecosystem services is affected by the changes in ( i ) above ; and To identify the character and dynamics of vulnerable and sustainable coupled human-environment systems to interacting perturbations , including climate change .", "Verbal Behavior Verbal Behavior is a 1957 book by psychologist B. F. Skinner , in which he inspects human behavior , describing what is traditionally called linguistics . The book Verbal Behavior is almost entirely theoretical , involving little experimental research in the work itself . It was an outgrowth of a series of lectures first presented at the University of Minnesota in the early 1940s and developed further in his summer lectures at Columbia and William James lectures at Harvard in the decade before the book 's publication . A growing body of research and applications based on Verbal Behavior has occurred since its original publication , particularly in the past decade . In addition , a growing body of research has developed on structural topics in verbal behavior such as grammar .", "Sustainability and environmental management At the global scale sustainability and environmental management involves managing the oceans , freshwater systems , land and atmosphere , according to sustainability principles . Land use change is fundamental to the operations of the biosphere because alterations in the relative proportions of land dedicated to urbanisation , agriculture , forest , woodland , grassland and pasture have a marked effect on the global water , carbon and nitrogen biogeochemical cycles . Management of the Earth 's atmosphere involves assessment of all aspects of the carbon cycle to identify opportunities to address human-induced climate change and this has become a major focus of scientific research because of the potential catastrophic effects on biodiversity and human communities . Ocean circulation patterns have a strong influence on climate and weather and , in turn , the food supply of both humans and other organisms .", "Decade of the Mind The Decade of the Mind Project is an international initiative to advance scientific understanding of how the mind and complex behaviors are related to the activity of human brains . The problem of explaining the mind is so complex as to require `` big science '' to make real progress . The effort stemmed from concerns in the scientific community that mind research ( as opposed to simply brain research ) had received inadequate support relative to its importance in human lives . The Project began with a conference of leading US scientists at George Mason University in May 2007 which led to The Decade of the Mind Manifesto , published as a letter to the editor in Science . The Manifesto called for a new $ 4B US investment in research across the many disciplines of mind research over the decade from 2012 to 2022 . Since the May 2007 meeting , the Decade of the Mind Project has held several other conferences across the United States and is now being internationalized with a conference in Berlin , Germany , in September 2009 and a conference planned for Singapore in October 2010 .", "Environmental determinism Environmental determinism ( also known as climatic determinism or geographical determinism ) is the study of how the physical environment predisposes societies and states towards particular development trajectories . Nineteenth century approaches held that climate and terrain largely determined human activity and psychology , and it was associated with institutionalized racism and eugenics . Many scholars underscore that this approach supported colonialism and eurocentrism , and devalued human agency in non-Western societies . Jared Diamond , Jeffrey Herbst , and other social scientists sparked a revival of the theory during the late twentieth century . This `` neo-environmental determinism '' school of thought examines how geographic and ecological forces influence state-building , economic development , and institutions .", "Environment and intelligence Environment and intelligence research investigates the impact of environment on intelligence . This is one of the most important factors in understanding human group differences in IQ test scores and other measures of cognitive ability . It is estimated that genes contribute about 20 -- 40 % of the variance in intelligence in childhood and about 80 % in old age . Thus the environment and its interaction with genes account for a high proportion of the variation in intelligence seen in groups of young children , and for a small proportion of the variation observed in groups of mature adults . Historically , there has been great interest in the field of intelligence research to determine environmental influences on the development of cognitive functioning , in particular , fluid intelligence , as defined by its stabilization at 16 years of age . Despite the fact that intelligence stabilizes in early adulthood it is thought that genetic factors come to play more of a role in our intelligence during middle and old age and that the importance of the environment dissipates .", "Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center The Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center ( BPCRC ) is a polar , alpine , and climate research center at The Ohio State University founded in 1960 .", "Antarctic Research Centre The Antarctic Research Centre ( ARC ) is part of the School of Geography , Environment and Earth Sciences at Victoria University of Wellington . Its mission is to research `` Antarctic climate history and processes , and their influence on the global climate system . '' Its current director is Professor Tim Naish .", "Climate of Venezuela The Climate of Venezuela is characterized for being tropical and isothermal as a result of its geographical location near the Equator , but because of the topography and the dominant wind direction , several climatic types occur which can be the same as found in temperate latitudes , and even polar regions . Latitude exerts little influence on the Venezuelan climate , but the altitude changes it dramatically , particularly the temperature , reaching values very different according to the presence of different thermal floors ." ]

[ "United Nations The United Nations ( UN ) is an intergovernmental organization to promote international co-operation and to create and maintain international order . A replacement for the ineffective League of Nations , the organization was established on 24 October 1945 after World War II in order to prevent another such conflict . At its founding , the UN had 51 member states ; there are now 193 . The headquarters of the UN is in Manhattan , New York City , and experiences extraterritoriality . Further main offices are situated in Geneva , Nairobi , and Vienna . The organization is financed by assessed and voluntary contributions from its member states . Its objectives include maintaining international peace and security , promoting human rights , fostering social and economic development , protecting the environment , and providing humanitarian aid in cases of famine , natural disaster , and armed conflict . The UN is the largest , most familiar , most internationally represented and most powerful intergovernmental organisation in the world . The UN Charter was drafted at a conference between April -- June 1945 in San Francisco , and was signed on 26 June 1945 at the conclusion of the conference ; this charter took effect 24 October 1945 , and the UN began operation . The UN 's mission to preserve world peace was complicated in its early decades by the Cold War between the US and Soviet Union and their respective allies . The organization participated in major actions in Korea and the Congo , as well as approving the creation of the state of Israel in 1947 . The organization 's membership grew significantly following widespread decolonization in the 1960s , and by the 1970s its budget for economic and social development programmes far outstripped its spending on peacekeeping . After the end of the Cold War , the UN took on major military and peacekeeping missions across the world with varying degrees of success . The UN has six principal organs : the General Assembly ( the main deliberative assembly ) ; the Security Council ( for deciding certain resolutions for peace and security ) ; the Economic and Social Council ( ECOSOC ; for promoting international economic and social co-operation and development ) ; the Secretariat ( for providing studies , information , and facilities needed by the UN ) ; the International Court of Justice ( the primary judicial organ ) ; and the UN Trusteeship Council ( inactive since 1994 ) . UN System agencies include the World Bank Group , the World Health Organization , the World Food Programme , UNESCO , and UNICEF . The UN 's most prominent officer is the Secretary-General , an office held by Portuguese António Guterres since 2017 . Non-governmental organizations may be granted consultative status with ECOSOC and other agencies to participate in the UN 's work . The organization won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2001 , and a number of its officers and agencies have also been awarded the prize . Other evaluations of the UN 's effectiveness have been mixed . Some commentators believe the organization to be an important force for peace and human development , while others have called the organization ineffective , corrupt , or biased .", "Global warming controversy The global warming controversy concerns the public debate over whether global warming is occurring , how much has occurred in modern times , what has caused it , what its effects will be , whether any action should be taken to curb it , and if so what that action should be . In the scientific literature , there is a strong consensus that global surface temperatures have increased in recent decades and that the trend is caused by human-induced emissions of greenhouse gases . No scientific body of national or international standing disagrees with this view , though a few organizations with members in extractive industries hold non-committal positions . Disputes over the key scientific facts of global warming are more prevalent in the media than in the scientific literature , where such issues are treated as resolved , and such disputes are more prevalent in the United States than globally . Political and popular debate concerning the existence and cause of climate change includes the reasons for the increase seen in the instrumental temperature record , whether the warming trend exceeds normal climatic variations , and whether human activities have contributed significantly to it . Scientists have resolved these questions decisively in favour of the view that the current warming trend exists and is ongoing , that human activity is the cause , and that it is without precedent in at least 2000 years . Public disputes that also reflect scientific debate include estimates of how responsive the climate system might be to any given level of greenhouse gases ( climate sensitivity ) , how global climate change will play out at local and regional scales , and what the consequences of global warming will be . Global warming remains an issue of widespread political debate , often split along party political lines , especially in the United States . Many of the issues that are settled within the scientific community , such as human responsibility for global warming , remain the subject of politically or economically motivated attempts to downplay , dismiss or deny them -- an ideological phenomenon categorised by academics and scientists as climate change denial . The sources of funding for those involved with climate science -- both supporting and opposing mainstream scientific positions -- have been questioned by both sides . There are debates about the best policy responses to the science , their cost-effectiveness and their urgency . Climate scientists , especially in the United States , have reported official and oil-industry pressure to censor or suppress their work and hide scientific data , with directives not to discuss the subject in public communications . Legal cases regarding global warming , its effects , and measures to reduce it have reached American courts . The fossil fuels lobby has been identified as overtly or covertly supporting efforts to undermine or discredit the scientific consensus on global warming .", "Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) is a scientific and intergovernmental body under the auspices of the United Nations , set up at the request of member governments , dedicated to the task of providing the world with an objective , scientific view of climate change and its political and economic impacts . It was first established in 1988 by two United Nations organizations , the World Meteorological Organization ( WMO ) and the United Nations Environment Programme ( UNEP ) , and later endorsed by the United Nations General Assembly through Resolution 43/53 . Membership of the IPCC is open to all members of the WMO and UNEP . The IPCC produces reports that support the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change ( UNFCCC ) , which is the main international treaty on climate change . The ultimate objective of the UNFCCC is to `` stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic -LSB- i.e. , human-induced -RSB- interference with the climate system '' . IPCC reports cover `` the scientific , technical and socio-economic information relevant to understanding the scientific basis of risk of human-induced climate change , its potential impacts and options for adaptation and mitigation . '' The IPCC does not carry out its own original research , nor does it do the work of monitoring climate or related phenomena itself . The IPCC bases its assessment on the published literature , which includes peer-reviewed and non-peer-reviewed sources . Thousands of scientists and other experts contribute ( on a voluntary basis , without payment from the IPCC ) to writing and reviewing reports , which are then reviewed by governments . IPCC reports contain a `` Summary for Policymakers '' , which is subject to line-by-line approval by delegates from all participating governments . Typically this involves the governments of more than 120 countries . The IPCC provides an internationally accepted authority on climate change , producing reports which have the agreement of leading climate scientists and the consensus of participating governments . The 2007 Nobel Peace Prize was shared , in equal parts , between the IPCC and Al Gore ." ]

[ "Scientific consensus on climate change There is currently a strong scientific consensus that the Earth is warming and that this warming is mainly caused by human activities. This consensus is supported by various studies of scientists' opinions and by position statements of scientific organizations, many of which explicitly agree with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) synthesis reports. Nearly all actively publishing climate scientists (97–98%) support the consensus on anthropogenic climate change, and the remaining 2% of contrarian studies either cannot be replicated or contain errors.", "IPCC Third Assessment Report The IPCC Third Assessment Report , Climate Change 2001 , is an assessment of available scientific and socio-economic information on climate change by the IPCC . The IPCC was established in 1988 by the United Nations Environment Programme ( UNEP ) and the UN 's World Meteorological Organization ( WMO ) '' ... to assess scientific , technical and socio-economic information relevant for the understanding of climate change , its potential impacts and options for adaptation and mitigation . '' -LSB- IPCC website -RSB- The Third Assessment Report ( TAR ) is the third of a series of assessments ; it has been superseded by the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report ( AR4 ) , released in 2007 . Statements of the IPCC or information from the TAR are often used as a reference showing a scientific consensus on the subject of global warming , although a small minority of scientists take issue with the UN assessments ( see also Global warming controversy and Politics of global warming ) .", "Attribution of recent climate change Attribution of recent climate change is the effort to scientifically ascertain mechanisms responsible for recent climate changes on Earth , commonly known as ` global warming ' . The effort has focused on changes observed during the period of instrumental temperature record , when records are most reliable ; particularly in the last 50 years , when human activity has grown fastest and observations of the troposphere have become available . The dominant mechanisms are anthropogenic , i.e. , the result of human activity . They are : increasing atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases global changes to land surface , such as deforestation increasing atmospheric concentrations of aerosols . There are also natural mechanisms for variation including climate oscillations , changes in solar activity , and volcanic activity . According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) , it is `` extremely likely '' that human influence was the dominant cause of global warming between 1951 and 2010 . The IPCC defines `` extremely likely '' as indicating a probability of 95 to 100 % , based on an expert assessment of all the available evidence . Multiple lines of evidence support attribution of recent climate change to human activities : A basic physical understanding of the climate system : greenhouse gas concentrations have increased and their warming properties are well-established . Historical estimates of past climate changes suggest that the recent changes in global surface temperature are unusual . Computer-based climate models are unable to replicate the observed warming unless human greenhouse gas emissions are included . Natural forces alone ( such as solar and volcanic activity ) can not explain the observed warming . The IPCC 's attribution of recent global warming to human activities is a view shared by the scientific community , and is also supported by 196 other scientific organizations worldwide ( see also : scientific opinion on climate change ) .", "Vincent R. Gray __ NOTOC __ Vincent Richard Gray ( born 24 March 1922 ) is a New Zealand-based chemist , and a founder of the New Zealand Climate Science Coalition . Born in London on 24 March 1922 , Gray was awarded a PhD in physical chemistry by the University of Cambridge after studies on incendiary bomb fluids made from aluminium soaps . In New Zealand , he was the first Director of Building Research and later , Chief Chemist of the Coal Research Association . He has also published many articles and reports , seven in peer-reviewed journals . After retirement , he had four and a half years in China and when he returned became a critic of the claim that climate was harmed by human emissions of greenhouse gases . He has commented on every publication of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change , with 1,898 comments on the 2007 Report . He has published critical studies on all of the reports including a book `` The Greenhouse Delusion : A Critique of ` Climate Change 2001 ' '' . He has published `` Confessions of a Climate Sceptic '' He is sceptical of the anthropogenic global warming : `` The two main `` scientific '' claims of the IPCC are the claim that `` the globe is warming '' and `` Increases in carbon dioxide emissions are responsible '' . Evidence for both of these claims is fatally flawed . '' Gray has called for the IPCC to be abolished , claiming it is `` fundamentally corrupt '' due to his conclusion that for significant parts of the work of the IPCC , the data collection and scientific methods employed are unsound and that the IPCC resists all efforts to try to discuss or rectify these problems . Gray was featured on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation program Counterpoint in a debate entitled `` Nine Lies about Global Warming '' , and was interviewed in a featured story in the New Zealand Herald as a `` prominent '' global warming skeptic . In 2002 , Gray also published a book , The Greenhouse Delusion : A Critique of `` Climate Change 2001 '' . In it , Gray argues `` that the quality and reliability of the IPCC 's measurements are poor , the system of determining how much weight should be attributed to different influences on the earth 's temperature is faulty , and the validity of evidence derived from computer modeling is questionable . ''", "Vicky Pope Vicky Pope is head of the climate predictions programme at the Hadley Centre . She spent 6 years as manager of atmospheric climate model development and evaluation . Since October 2004 she has been Head of the Climate Prediction Programme which provides independent scientific advice on climate change . Her research interests include developing and validating climate models . In an interview for The Guardian newspaper , she said : `` very few '' scientists disputed the latest IPCC report . `` The consensus on warming since the 1850s is that a large part is due to man 's activities , '' she said . `` That 's the line of the IPCC report and that position is strengthening . It is a very widespread consensus . There are a few very vocal people who are sceptics , only some of whom are actually scientists . Sceptics obviously have a place in the community . '' link", "Indian Network on Climate Change Assessment The Indian Network on Climate Change Assessment ( INCCA ) is a proposed network of scientists in India to be set up to publish peer-reviewed findings on climate change in India . It was announced on 7 October 2009 , saying : It was re-announced on 25 January 2012 by an official of the climate change division in the Environment Ministry after a strategy meeting chaired by Joint Secretary ( Climate ) J.M. Mausker , which also dealt with the framing of India 's National Action Plan on Climate Change ( NAPCC ) . On 4 February 2010 India 's environment minister Jairam Ramesh announced that it would bring together 250 scientists from 125 Indian research institutions and collaborate with international organisations.its first assessment of greenhouse gas emission was released on May 11 , 2010 and Its second climate assessment to be published in November 2010 would include reports on the Himalayas , the coastline of India , the Western Ghat highlands and the north-eastern region of India . He said it would operate as a `` sort of Indian IPCC '' , but will not rival the UN 's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) . Ramesh also announced the initiation of an Indian National Institute of Himalayan Glaciology . He said that although he respected the IPCC , it was unequal to the task and its weakness was that it did not conduct its own research . Ramesh also indicated its biases made it insensitive to regional realities , and instead relied on compiling assessments of other reports , which , led to `` goof-ups '' on the Amazon forests , Himalayan glaciers , and ice caps .", "Climate risk Climate risk means a risk resulting from climate change and affecting natural and human systems and regions . In the course of increasing global temperature and extreme weather phenomena the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) has been founded by the United Nations Environment Programme ( UNEP ) and the World Meteorological Organization ( WMO ) for a better understanding of climate change and meeting concerns of these observations . Its main aim is evaluating climate risks and exploring strategies for the prevention of these risks .", "Climatic Research Unit email controversy The Climatic Research Unit email controversy ( also known as `` Climategate '' ) began in November 2009 with the hacking of a server at the Climatic Research Unit ( CRU ) at the University of East Anglia ( UEA ) by an external attacker , copying thousands of emails and computer files , the Climatic Research Unit documents , to various internet locations several weeks before the Copenhagen Summit on climate change . The story was first broken by climate change denialists with columnist James Delingpole popularising the term `` Climategate '' to describe the controversy . Several people considered climate change `` skeptics '' argued that the emails showed global warming was a scientific conspiracy , that scientists manipulated climate data and attempted to suppress critics . The CRU rejected this , saying the emails had been taken out of context and merely reflected an honest exchange of ideas . The mainstream media picked up the story as negotiations over climate change mitigation began in Copenhagen on 7 December 2009 . Because of the timing , scientists , policy makers and public relations experts said that the release of emails was a smear campaign intended to undermine the climate conference . In response to the controversy , the American Association for the Advancement of Science ( AAAS ) , the American Meteorological Society ( AMS ) and the Union of Concerned Scientists ( UCS ) released statements supporting the scientific consensus that the Earth 's mean surface temperature had been rising for decades , with the AAAS concluding , `` based on multiple lines of scientific evidence that global climate change caused by human activities is now underway ... it is a growing threat to society . '' Eight committees investigated the allegations and published reports , finding no evidence of fraud or scientific misconduct . However , the reports called on the scientists to avoid any such allegations in the future by taking steps to regain public confidence in their work , for example by opening up access to their supporting data , processing methods and software , and by promptly honouring freedom of information requests . The scientific consensus that global warming is occurring as a result of human activity remained unchanged throughout the investigations .", "IPCC supplementary report, 1992 The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change supplementary report of 1992 was published to contribute to the debate on the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change at the 1992 Earth Summit , held in Rio de Janeiro . The report updated and revised some of the data contained in the IPCC First Assessment Report , and included six new climate change scenarios , including an update of the 1990 reference scenario . The major conclusion was that research since 1990 did `` not affect our fundamental understanding of the science of the greenhouse effect and either confirm or do not justify alteration of the major conclusions of the first IPCC scientific assessment '' . It noted that transient ( time-dependent ) simulations , which had been very preliminary in the FAR , were now improved , but did not include aerosol or ozone changes .", "United States House Science Subcommittee on Energy The Science Subcommittee on Energy is one of six subcommittees of the United States House Committee on Science , Space and Technology . In 2007 , the subcommittee held the first Congressional hearing on global climate change for the 110th Congress . The Hearing on the State of Climate Change Science 2007 : The Findings of the Fourth Assessment Report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) , Working Group I Report , included four climate scientists who authored the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) assessment report and Speaker Nancy Pelosi .", "IPCC Fifth Assessment Report The Fifth Assessment Report ( AR5 ) of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) is the fifth in a series of such reports . The IPCC was established in 1988 by the World Meteorological Organization ( WMO ) and the United Nations Environment Programme ( UNEP ) to assess scientific , technical and socio-economic information concerning climate change , its potential effects and options for adaptation and mitigation . The Fifth Assessment Report was finalized in 2014 . As had been the case in the past , the outline of the AR5 was developed through a scoping process which involved climate change experts from all relevant disciplines and users of IPCC reports ; in particular representatives from governments . Governments and organizations involved in the Fourth Report were asked to submit comments and observations in writing with the submissions analysed by the panel . The report was delivered in stages , starting with Working Group I 's report on the physical science basis , based on 9,200 peer-reviewed studies . The summaries for policy makers were released on 27 September 2013 for the first report , on 31 March 2014 for the second report entitled `` Impacts , Adaptation , and Vulnerability '' , and on 14 April 2014 for the third report entitled `` Mitigation of Climate Change '' . The Synthesis Report was released on 2 November 2014 , in time to pave the way for negotiations on reducing carbon emissions at the UN Climate Change Conference in Paris during late 2015 .", "Piers Forster Piers Forster is Professor of Physical Climate Change and Director of the Priestley International Centre for Climate at the University of Leeds . A physicist by training , his research focuses on quantifying the different human causes of climate change and the way the Earth responds . He is best known for his work on radiative forcing , climate sensitivity , contrails and geoengineering . He has contributed heavily to the writing of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reports , including acting as a Lead Author for both the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report and IPCC Fifth Assessment Report .", "Mike Hulme Michael ` Mike ' Hulme ( born 23 July 1960 ) is Professor of Climate and Culture in the Department of Geography at King 's College London . He was formerly professor of Climate Change in the School of Environmental Sciences at the University of East Anglia ( UEA ) .", "2007 Nobel Peace Prize The 2007 Nobel Peace Prize was shared , in two equal parts , between the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) and Al Gore `` for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change , and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change '' .", "Long-term effects of global warming See also Effects of global warming . The focus of this article is on the effects beyond 2100 . There are expected to be various long-term effects of global warming . Most discussion and research , including that by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) reports , concentrates on the effects of global warming up to 2100 , with only an outline of the effects beyond this .", "Climatic Research Unit documents Climatic Research Unit documents including thousands of e-mails and other computer files were stolen from a server at the Climatic Research Unit of the University of East Anglia in a hacking incident in November 2009 . The documents were redistributed first through several blogs of global warming skeptics , and allegations were made that they indicated misconduct by leading climate scientists . A series of investigations rejected these allegations , while concluding that CRU scientists should have been more open with distributing data and methods on request . Precisely six committees investigated the allegations and published reports , finding no evidence of fraud or scientific misconduct . The scientific consensus that global warming is occurring as a result of human activity remained unchanged by the end of the investigations . The incident occurred shortly before the opening December 2009 Copenhagen global climate summit . It has prompted general discussion about increasing the openness of scientific data ( though the majority of climate data have always been freely available ) . Scientists , scientific organisations , and government officials have stated that the incident does not affect the overall scientific case for climate change . Andrew Revkin reported in the New York Times that `` The evidence pointing to a growing human contribution to global warming is so widely accepted that the hacked material is unlikely to erode the overall argument . ''", "Anders Levermann Anders Levermann is a climate scientist at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and Columbia University . He is a Professor of the Dynamics of the Climate System at Institute for Physics and Astrophysics of the Potsdam University , Germany . He was a lead author of the chapter on sea-level changes of the fifth assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC AR5 ) , and contributed to the paleoclimate chapter in the previous report ( IPCC-AR4 ) . Levermann advises political and economic stakeholders on the issue of climate change .", "Arturo Villavicencio Arturo Villavicencio is an Ecuadorian environmental researcher . He was nominated by Denmark in 1995 for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) and contributed to its fourth assessment report ( the work of the IPCC , including the contributions of many scientists , was recognised by the joint award of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize ) .", "Roger Pulwarty Roger S. Pulwarty is a scientist from Trinidad and Tobago and contributed to the work of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) . He is the director of the US National Integrated Drought Information System at the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration ( NOAA ) in Boulder , Colorado . Roger Pulwarty earned a B.S. degree ( Hons . ) in Atmospheric Sciences from York University in Toronto in 1986 and a Ph.D. in Climatology from the University of Boulder at Colorado in 1994 , where he worked under Professors Roger Barry and Herbert Riehl . His research and publications are on climate , climate impacts and adaptation policy in Western North America , Latin America and the Caribbean . From 1998-2002 he was the program director for the NOAA Regional Integrated Sciences and Assessments . He is Professor Adjunct at the University of Colorado at Boulder and the University of the West Indies . Dr. Pulwarty is a lead author on Chapter 17 of the 2007 IPCC Working Group II on Impacts , Adaptation and Vulnerability , on the IPCC 2008 Technical Report on Climate Change and Water and on Synthesis and Assessments Reports of the US Global Change Research Program . The IPCC is an intergovernmental body mandated by the UN to study the origins and effects of climate change on society and ecosystems . Dr. Pulwarty has served on Committees of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences , and has provided testimonies before the U.S. Congress on climate , water resources and adaptation . Dr. Pulwarty acts in advisory roles on climate , natural resources , and disaster management to several U.S. and international interests including the Western Governors Association , the Department of the Interior , the governments of CARICOM ( the Caribbean Economic Community ) , the Organization of American States , the UNDP , UNEP and the World Bank .", "Bali Declaration by Climate Scientists The 2007 Bali Declaration by Climate Scientists was a statement signed by over 200 climate scientists advocating specific targets for greenhouse gas emissions for the 21st century . The statement was based on the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Article 2 that committed signatories to the '' ... stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system '' and on the science available in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Fourth Assessment report ( IPCC AR4 ) . The Bali Declaration was released to coincide with the 2007 United Nations Climate Change Conference which took place in Bali 3 -- 15 December 2007 . Category : Climate change policy", "World Climate Change Conference, Moscow The World Climate Change Conference was held in Moscow from September 29 to October 3 , 2003 . The initiative of convening the Conference was taken by Vladimir Putin , the President of the Russian Federation . The Conference was convened by the Russian Federation , and supported by international bodies including the United Nations . It should not be confused with the World Climate Conferences . The conference summary report , which was endorsed at concluding session of the Conference , October 3 , 2003 , endorsed the consensus represented by the IPCC TAR : The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) has provided the basis for much of our present understanding of knowledge in this field in its Third Assessment Report ( TAR ) in 2001 . A large majority of the international scientific community has accepted its general conclusions that climate change is occurring , is primarily a result of human emissions of greenhouse gases and aerosols , and that this represents a threat to people and ecosystems . Some divergent scientific interpretations were brought forward and discussed in the Conference . Andreas Fischlin , conference participant and IPCC author was critical of the conference , saying : However , concerning the scientific content of the conference , we had also to struggle with considerable difficulties . Unfortunately , there were not only leading scientists present , but also some colleagues who used the conference to express personal , political opinions based on value judgement instead of scientific facts and rigorously derived , scientific insights and thorough understanding . Thereby , I believe , principles of proper scientific conduct were violated too often and sometimes , I am afraid having to say so , even systematically . This contrasts sharply with the principles upheld by the IPCC ( Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ) , which allow only to assess the current knowledge based on the best available , peer reviewed scientific literature and which do not allow for any non-scientific value judgements , let alone policy recommendations .", "Larry R. Johnson Larry R. Johnson was a noted meteorologist .", "Venkatachalam Ramaswamy Venkatachalam Ramaswamy ( V. `` Ram '' Ramaswamy ) is the Director of the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration ( NOAA ) Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research ( OAR ) , studying climate modeling and climate change . `` A leading climate scientist '' , his work is cited as supporting evidence for significant stratospheric climate change . He focuses in particular on radiative transfer models and the hydrologic cycle in the atmosphere . He has actively supported the development of supercomputing approaches that enable researchers to achieve higher resolution and greater complexity in climate models . As a lead author involved in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) , Ramaswamy 's contributions ( along with the contributions of many scientists ) was recognised by the joint award of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize to the IPCC .", "Copenhagen Diagnosis The Copenhagen Diagnosis is a report written by twenty-six climate scientists from eight countries . It was published in 2009 and was a summary of the peer-reviewed literature to date . The Copenhagen Diagnosis is a follow-up of the previous Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 's Working Group 1 Report . The studies summarized , which date back to the cutoff point of the Working Group 1 Report , are those that authors viewed most relevant to the discussions at the 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference . The Copenhagen Diagnosis served as the midpoint between IPCC -- AR4 and IPCC-AR5 . In total , the Copenhagen Diagnosis contains eight main sections , which are : Surging Greenhouse gas emissions Since 1990 , the combined global emission of carbon dioxide from various origins , such as cement production , deforestation , and fossil fuel burning , has increased 27 % . Human-induced warming Studies conducted by Lee and Rind show that only 10 % of global warming over the past century was due to the Sun . Acceleration of melting ice caps Glaciers and melting ice caps can contribute to about 8/10ths of a meter to global sea level rise . Rapid Arctic sea-ice decline According to simulations run by NCAR Climate System Model version 3 , the Arctic summer is expected to be ice-free by 2040 . Underestimation of changing sea levels In contrast to previous IPCC , the rate of sea level rise ( 3.4 mm/yr over the past 15 years ) has increased around 80 % faster than previously predicted . Damage due to inaction A region of permafrost , called the Yedoma , stores about 500 Gt of CO2 and , once released due to rising global temperatures , will increase global temperatures even more . Turning point must come soon The largest climate science conference , held in 2009 , has stated , `` Temperature rises above 2 ° C will be difficult for contemporary societies to cope with , and are likely to cause major societal and environmental disruptions through the rest of the century and beyond . '' The Future By 2100 , global mean air-temperature is projected to warm by 2 ° C -- 7 ° C above pre-industrial levels .", "List of scientists opposing the mainstream scientific assessment of global warming This is a list of scientists who have made statements that conflict with the scientific consensus on global warming as summarized by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and endorsed by other scientific bodies . As approximately 97 % of publishing climate scientists support the consensus on anthropogenic climate change , this list represents a minority viewpoint . The scientific consensus is that the global average surface temperature has risen over the last century . Scientific opinion on climate change was summarized in the 2001 Third Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) . The main conclusions on global warming at that time were as follows : The global average surface temperature has risen 0.6 ± 0.2 ° C since the late 19th century , and 0.17 ° C per decade in the last 30 years . `` There is new and stronger evidence that most of the warming observed over the last 50 years is attributable to human activities '' , in particular emissions of the greenhouse gases carbon dioxide and methane . If greenhouse gas emissions continue the warming will also continue , with temperatures projected to increase by 1.4 ° C to 5.8 ° C between 1990 and 2100 . Accompanying this temperature increase will be increases in some types of extreme weather and a projected sea level rise . The balance of impacts of global warming become significantly negative at larger values of warming . These findings are recognized by the national science academies of all the major industrialized nations ; the consensus has strengthened over time and is now virtually unanimous . The level of consensus correlates with expertise in climate science . There have been several efforts to compile lists of dissenting scientists , including a 2008 US senate minority report , the Oregon Petition , and a 2007 list by the Heartland Institute , all three of which have been criticized on a number of grounds . For the purpose of this list , a `` scientist '' is defined as an individual who has published at least one peer-reviewed research article in the broad field of natural sciences , although not necessarily in a field relevant to climatology . Since the publication of the IPCC Third Assessment Report , each has made a clear statement in his or her own words ( as opposed to the name being found on a petition , etc. ) disagreeing with one or more of the report 's three main conclusions . Their views on climate change are usually described in more detail in their biographical articles . Few of the statements in the references for this list are part of the peer-reviewed scientific literature ; most are from other sources such as interviews , opinion pieces , online essays and presentations . NB : Only individuals who have their own Wikipedia article may be included in the list .", "List of meteorologists __ TOC __", "New Zealand Climate Science Coalition The New Zealand Climate Science Coalition is an organisation based in New Zealand which has the aim of refuting what it claims are unfounded claims about anthropogenic global warming .", "Why We Disagree About Climate Change Why We Disagree About Climate Change : Understanding Controversy , Inaction and Opportunity was written by Mike Hulme and was published by the Cambridge University Press in 2009 . As of November 2012 it has sold over 15,000 copies . In 2009 it was selected by The Economist magazine as one of its science and technology ` Books of the Year ' and in 2010 was jointly awarded the Gerald L Young Prize for the best book in human ecology .", "Seita Emori Seita Emori ( born 1970 in Kanagawa , Japan ) is a Japanese environmental scientist whose most noted work focuses upon the worldwide effects of Global Warming . He completed his Doctorate at the University of Tokyo in 1997 and thereafter joined the National Institute of Environmental Studies , Japan where he is currently the Chief of the Climate Risk Assessment Research Section at the Center for Global Environmental Research . Emori is a contributing author to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) and a member of the IPCC Steering Committee for the `` Expert Meeting on New Scenarios '' , for which the IPCC received a Noble Prize in 2007 . Among Emori 's publications are the academic paper `` Sensitivity Map of LAI to Precipitation and Surface Air Temperature Variations in a Global Scale '' ( co-authored with his Japans colleague Hiroshi Kanzawa and Jiahua Zhang and Congbin Fu of the START , Institute of Atmospheric Physics in Beijing , China ) .", "Reasons for concern The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) has organized many of the risks of climate change into five `` reasons for concern . '' The reasons for concern show that these risks increase with increases in the Earth 's global mean temperature ( i.e. , global warming ) . The IPCC 's five reasons for concern are : threats to endangered species and unique systems , damages from extreme climate events , effects that fall most heavily on developing countries and the poor within countries , global aggregate impacts ( i.e. , various measurements of total social , economic and ecological impacts ) , and large-scale high-impact events . The five reasons for concern are described in more detail below . The following descriptions are based on information from the IPCC 's Third ( TAR ) and Fourth Assessment Reports ( AR4 ) , published in 2001 and 2007 , respectively .", "Copenhagen Climate Challenge During the United Nations Climate Change Conference 2009 ( COP15 ) , there was a rival conference in Copenhagen , Denmark , for sceptics , called the Copenhagen Climate Challenge . which was organised by the Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow . While COP15 attracted 33,200 delegates , the rival sceptic conference was attended by 60 people ( 15 journalists , 18 speakers , 27 audience ) . According to Lenore Taylor of The Australian , the attendees had an average age `` well over 60 '' . In closing his speech , Plimer stated that `` They 've got us outnumbered , but we 've got them outgunned , and that 's with the truth . '' Plimer also stated that `` It 's been freezing in Perth and bucketing down '' . Perth had below average rainfall in 2009 , and temperatures of 38 ° C were forecast for December 13 .", "Climate change acronyms The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change ( UNFCCC ) use tens of acronyms and initialisms in documents relating to climate change policy ." ]

[ "Carbon dioxide Carbon dioxide ( chemical formula ) is a colorless gas with a density about 60 % higher than that of air ( 1.225 g/L ) that is odorless at normally encountered concentrations . Carbon dioxide consists of a carbon atom covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms . It occurs naturally in Earth 's atmosphere as a trace gas at a concentration of about 0.04 percent ( 400 ppm ) by volume . Natural sources include volcanoes , hot springs and geysers , and it is freed from carbonate rocks by dissolution in water and acids . Because carbon dioxide is soluble in water , it occurs naturally in groundwater , rivers and lakes , ice caps , glaciers and seawater . It is present in deposits of petroleum and natural gas . As the source of available carbon in the carbon cycle , atmospheric carbon dioxide is the primary carbon source for life on Earth and its concentration in Earth 's pre-industrial atmosphere since late in the Precambrian has been regulated by photosynthetic organisms and geological phenomena . Plants , algae and cyanobacteria use light energy to photosynthesize carbohydrate from carbon dioxide and water , with oxygen produced as a waste product . Carbon dioxide is produced by all aerobic organisms when they metabolize carbohydrates and lipids to produce energy by respiration . It is returned to water via the gills of fish and to the air via the lungs of air-breathing land animals , including humans . Carbon dioxide is produced during the processes of decay of organic materials and the fermentation of sugars in bread , beer and winemaking . It is produced by combustion of wood and other organic materials and fossil fuels such as coal , peat , petroleum and natural gas . It is a versatile industrial material , used , for example , as an inert gas in welding and fire extinguishers , as a pressurizing gas in air guns and oil recovery , as a chemical feedstock and in liquid form as a solvent in decaffeination of coffee and supercritical drying . It is added to drinking water and carbonated beverages including beer and sparkling wine to add effervescence . The frozen solid form of , known as `` dry ice '' is used as a refrigerant and as an abrasive in dry-ice blasting . Carbon dioxide is the most significant long-lived greenhouse gas in Earth 's atmosphere . Since the Industrial Revolution anthropogenic emissions - primarily from use of fossil fuels and deforestation - have rapidly increased its concentration in the atmosphere , leading to global warming . Carbon dioxide also causes ocean acidification because it dissolves in water to form carbonic acid .", "Greenhouse gas A greenhouse gas ( abbrev . GHG ) is a gas in an atmosphere that absorbs and emits radiation within the thermal infrared range . This process is the fundamental cause of the greenhouse effect . The primary greenhouse gases in Earth 's atmosphere are water vapor , carbon dioxide , methane , nitrous oxide , and ozone . Without greenhouse gases , the average temperature of Earth 's surface would be about -18 ° C , rather than the present average of 15 ° C . In the Solar System , the atmospheres of Venus , Mars and Titan also contain gases that cause a greenhouse effect . Human activities since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution ( taken as the year 1750 ) have produced a 40 % increase in the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide , from 280 ppm in 1750 to 406 ppm in early 2017 . This increase has occurred despite the uptake of a large portion of the emissions by various natural `` sinks '' involved in the carbon cycle . Anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions ( i.e. , emissions produced by human activities ) come from combustion of fossil fuels , principally coal , oil , and natural gas , along with deforestation , soil erosion and animal agriculture . It has been estimated that if greenhouse gas emissions continue at the present rate , Earth 's surface temperature could exceed historical values as early as 2047 , with potentially harmful effects on ecosystems , biodiversity and the livelihoods of people worldwide . Recent estimates suggest that on the current emissions trajectory the Earth could pass a threshold of 2 ° C global warming , which the United Nations ' IPCC designated as the upper limit to avoid `` dangerous '' global warming , by 2036 .", "Global warming Global warming , also referred to as climate change , is the observed century-scale rise in the average temperature of the Earth 's climate system and its related effects . Multiple lines of scientific evidence show that the climate system is warming . Many of the observed changes since the 1950s are unprecedented in the instrumental temperature record which extends back to the mid 19th century , and in paleoclimate proxy records over thousands of years . In 2013 , the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) Fifth Assessment Report concluded that `` It is extremely likely that human influence has been the dominant cause of the observed warming since the mid-20th century . '' The largest human influence has been emission of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide , methane and nitrous oxide . Climate model projections summarized in the report indicated that during the 21st century the global surface temperature is likely to rise a further 0.3 to for their lowest emissions scenario and 2.6 to for the highest emissions scenario . These findings have been recognized by the national science academies of the major industrialized nations and are not disputed by any scientific body of national or international standing . Future climate change and associated impacts will differ from region to region around the globe . Anticipated effects include warming global temperature , rising sea levels , changing precipitation , and expansion of deserts in the subtropics . Warming is expected to be greater over land than over the oceans and greatest in the Arctic , with the continuing retreat of glaciers , permafrost and sea ice . Other likely changes include more frequent extreme weather events including heat waves , droughts , heavy rainfall with floods and heavy snowfall ; ocean acidification ; and species extinctions due to shifting temperature regimes . Effects significant to humans include the threat to food security from decreasing crop yields and the abandonment of populated areas due to rising sea levels . Because the climate system has a large `` inertia '' and greenhouse gases will stay in the atmosphere for a long time , many of these effects will not only exist for decades or centuries , but will persist for tens of thousands of years . Possible societal responses to global warming include mitigation by emissions reduction , adaptation to its effects , building systems resilient to its effects , and possible future climate engineering . Most countries are parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change ( UNFCCC ) , whose ultimate objective is to prevent dangerous anthropogenic climate change . Parties to the UNFCCC have agreed that deep cuts in emissions are required and that global warming should be limited to well below 2.0 C-change relative to pre-industrial levels , with efforts made to limit warming to 1.5 C-change . Public reactions to global warming and concern about its effects are also increasing . A global 2015 Pew Research Center report showed a median of 54 % consider it `` a very serious problem '' . There are significant regional differences , with Americans and Chinese ( whose economies are responsible for the greatest annual CO2 emissions ) among the least concerned ." ]

[ "Carbon dioxide removal Carbon dioxide removal ( CDR ) methods refers to a number of technologies which reduce the levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere . Among such technologies are bio-energy with carbon capture and storage , biochar , direct air capture , ocean fertilization and enhanced weathering . CDR is a different approach than removing CO2 from the stack emissions of large fossil fuel point sources , such as power stations . The latter reduces emission to the atmosphere but can not reduce the amount of carbon dioxide already in the atmosphere . As CDR removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere , it creates negative emissions , offsetting emissions from small and dispersed point sources such as domestic heating systems , airplanes and vehicle exhausts . It is regarded by some as a form of climate engineering , while other commentators describe it as a form of carbon capture and storage or extreme mitigation . Whether CDR would satisfy common definitions of `` climate engineering '' or `` geoengineering '' usually depends upon the scale on which it would be undertaken . The likely need for CDR has been publicly expressed by a range of individuals and organizations involved with climate change issues , including IPCC chief Rajendra Pachauri , the UNFCCC executive secretary Christiana Figueres , and the World Watch Institute . Institutions with major programs focusing on CDR include the Lenfest Center for Sustainable Energy at the Earth Institute , Columbia University , and the Climate Decision Making Center , an international collaboration operated out of Carnegie-Mellon University 's Department of Engineering and Public Policy . The mitigation effectiveness of air capture is limited by societal investment , land use , availability of geologic reservoirs , and leakage . The reservoirs are estimated to be sufficient to for storing at least 545 GtC . Storing 771 GtC would cause an 186 ppm atmospheric reduction . In order to return the atmospheric CO2 content to 350 ppm we need atmospheric reduction of 50 ppm plus an additional 2 ppm per year of current emissions .", "Space-based measurements of carbon dioxide Space-based measurements of carbon dioxide are used to help answer questions about Earth 's carbon cycle . There are a variety of active and planned instruments for measuring carbon dioxide in Earth 's atmosphere from space . The first satellite mission designed to measure was the Interferometric Monitor for Greenhouse Gases ( IMG ) on board the ADEOS I satellite in 1996 . This mission lasted less than a year . Since then , additional space-based measurements have begun , including those from two high-precision ( better than 0.3 % or 1 ppm ) satellites ( GOSAT and OCO-2 ) . Different instrument designs may reflect different primary missions .", "Carbon dioxide scrubber A carbon dioxide scrubber is a device which absorbs carbon dioxide ( CO2 ) . It is used to treat exhaust gases from industrial plants or from exhaled air in life support systems such as rebreathers or in spacecraft , submersible craft or airtight chambers . Carbon dioxide scrubbers are also used in controlled atmosphere ( CA ) storage . They have also been researched for carbon capture .", "Amorphous carbonia Amorphous carbonia , also called a-carbonia or a-CO2 , is an exotic amorphous solid form of carbon dioxide that is analogous to amorphous silica glass . It was first made in the laboratory in 2006 by subjecting dry ice to high pressures ( 40-48 gigapascal , or 400,000 to 480,000 atmospheres ) , in a diamond anvil cell . Amorphous carbonia is not stable at ordinary pressures -- it quickly reverts to normal CO2 . While normally carbon dioxide forms molecular crystals , where individual molecules are bound by Van der Waals forces , in amorphous carbonia a covalently bound three-dimensional network of atoms is formed , in a structure analogous to silicon dioxide or germanium dioxide glass . Mixtures of a-carbonia and a-silica may be a prospective very hard and stiff glass material stable at room temperature . Such glass may serve as protective coatings , e.g. in microelectronics . The discovery has implications for astrophysics , as interiors of massive planets may contain amorphous solid carbon dioxide .", "CO2 fertilization effect The fertilization effect or carbon fertilization effect suggests that the increase of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere increases the rate of photosynthesis in plants . The effect varies by species and availability of water . From a quarter to half of Earth 's vegetated lands has shown significant greening over the last 35 years largely due to rising levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide . One related trend may be what has been termed `` Arctic greening . '' Scientists have been finding , of late , that as northern portions of the planet warm up even as total atmospheric carbon dioxide increases , there 's been an increase in plant growth in these regions . Studies led by Trevor Keenan from the Department of Energy 's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory ( Berkeley Lab ) show that , from 2002 to 2014 , plants appear to have gone into overdrive , starting to pull more carbon dioxide out of the air than they have done before . The result was that the rate at which carbon dioxide accumulates in the atmosphere did not increase during this time period , although previously , it had grown considerably in concert with growing greenhouse gas emissions .", "Global warming potential Global warming potential ( GWP ) is a relative measure of how much heat a greenhouse gas traps in the atmosphere . It compares the amount of heat trapped by a certain mass of the gas in question to the amount of heat trapped by a similar mass of carbon dioxide . A GWP is calculated over a specific time interval , commonly 20 , 100 , or 500 years . GWP is expressed as a factor of carbon dioxide ( whose GWP is standardized to 1 ) . In the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change , methane has a lifetime of 12.4 years and with climate-carbon feedbacks a global warming potential of 86 over 20 years and 34 over 100 years in response to emissions . User related choices such as the time horizon can greatly affect the numerical values obtained for carbon dioxide equivalents . For a change in time horizon from 20 to 100 years , the GWP for methane decreases by a factor of approximately 2.5 . The substances subject to restrictions under the Kyoto protocol either are rapidly increasing their concentrations in Earth 's atmosphere or have a large GWP . The GWP depends on the following factors : the absorption of infrared radiation by a given species the spectral location of its absorbing wavelengths the atmospheric lifetime of the species Thus , a high GWP correlates with a large infrared absorption and a long atmospheric lifetime . The dependence of GWP on the wavelength of absorption is more complicated . Even if a gas absorbs radiation efficiently at a certain wavelength , this may not affect its GWP much if the atmosphere already absorbs most radiation at that wavelength . A gas has the most effect if it absorbs in a `` window '' of wavelengths where the atmosphere is fairly transparent . The dependence of GWP as a function of wavelength has been found empirically and published as a graph . Because the GWP of a greenhouse gas depends directly on its infrared spectrum , the use of infrared spectroscopy to study greenhouse gases is centrally important in the effort to understand the impact of human activities on global climate change .", "Gaseous signaling molecules Gaseous signaling molecules are gaseous molecules that are either synthesised internally ( endogenously ) in the organism , tissue or cell or are received by the organism , tissue or cell from outside ( say , from the atmosphere or hydrosphere , as in the case of oxygen ) and that are used to transmit chemical signals which induce certain physiological or biochemical changes in the organism , tissue or cell . The term is applied to , for example , oxygen , carbon dioxide , nitric oxide , carbon monoxide , hydrogen sulfide , sulfur dioxide , nitrous oxide , hydrogen cyanide , ammonia , methane , hydrogen , ethylene , etc. . Many , but not all , gaseous signaling molecules are called gasotransmitters . The biological roles of each of the gaseous signaling molecules are in short outlined below .", "Carboxysome Carboxysomes are bacterial organelles consisting of polyhedral protein shells filled with the enzyme Ribulose-1 ,5 - biphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase ( RuBisCO ) - the predominant enzyme in carbon fixation and the rate limiting enzyme in the Calvin Cycle-and a carbonic anhydrase . Carboxysomes are thought to have evolved as a consequence of the increase in oxygen concentration in the ancient atmosphere ; this is because oxygen is a competing substrate to carbon dioxide in the RuBisCO reaction . To overcome the inefficiency of RuBisCO , carboxysomes concentrate carbon dioxide inside the shell by means of co-localized carbonic anhydrase activity , which produces carbon dioxide from the bicarbonate that diffuses into the carboxysome . The resulting production of carbon dioxide near RuBisCO decreases the proportion of ribulose-1 ,5 - bisphosphate oxygenation and thereby avoids costly photorespiratory reactions . The surrounding shell provides a barrier to carbon dioxide loss , helping to increase its concentration around RuBisCO . The carboxysome is an essential part of the carbon-concentrating mechanism ( CCM ) . Carboxysomes are the best studied example of a bacterial microcompartment ( BMC ) , the term for functionally diverse organelles that are alike in having a protein shell .", "Carbon dioxide accumulation in Earth's atmosphere The following articles relate to Carbon dioxide accumulation in Earth 's atmosphere : Carbon dioxide in Earth 's atmosphere Global warming Greenhouse effect", "Carbon profiling Carbon profiling is a mathematical process that calculates how much carbon dioxide is put into the atmosphere per m2 of space in a building over one year . The analysis is in two parts which are then added together to produce an overall figure which is termed the ` Carbon Profile ' : operational carbon emissions embodied carbon emissions . Embodied carbon emissions relate to the amount of carbon dioxide emitted into the atmosphere from creating and maintaining the materials that form the building e.g. the carbon dioxide released from the baking of bricks or smelting or iron . In the Carbon Profiling Model these emissions are measured as Embodied Carbon Efficiency ( ECE ) , measured as kg of CO2/m2/year . Occupational Carbon Emissions relate to the amount of Carbon Dioxide emitted into the atmosphere from the direct use of energy to run the building e.g. the heating or electricity used by the building over the year . In the Carbon Profiling Model these emissions are measured in BER 's ( Building Emission Rate ) in kg of / m2/year . The BER is a United Kingdom government accepted unit of measurement that comes from an approved calculation process called sBEM ( Simplified Building Emission Model ) The purpose of Carbon Profiling is to provide a method of analyzing and comparing both operational and embodied carbon emissions at the same time . With this information it is then possible to allocate a projects resources in such a way to minimize the total amount of Carbon Dioxide emitted into the atmosphere through the use of a given piece of space . A secondary benefit is that having quantified the Carbon Profiling of different buildings it is then possible to make comparisons and rank buildings in term of their performance . This allows investors and occupiers to identify which building are good and bad carbon investments . Simon Sturgis and Gareth Roberts of Sturgis Associates in the United Kingdom originally developed ` Carbon Profiling ' in December 2007 .", "RuBisCO Ribulose-1 ,5 - bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase , commonly known by the abbreviations RuBisCO , RuBPCase , or RuBPco , is an enzyme involved in the first major step of carbon fixation , a process by which atmospheric carbon dioxide is converted by plants and other photosynthetic organisms to energy-rich molecules such as glucose . In chemical terms , it catalyzes the carboxylation of ribulose-1 ,5 - bisphosphate ( also known as RuBP ) . It is probably the most abundant enzyme on Earth .", "Carbon credit A carbon credit is a generic term for any tradable certificate or permit representing the right to emit one tonne of carbon dioxide or the mass of another greenhouse gas with a carbon dioxide equivalent ( tCO2e ) equivalent to one tonne of carbon dioxide . Carbon credits and carbon markets are a component of national and international attempts to mitigate the growth in concentrations of greenhouse gases ( GHGs ) . One carbon credit is equal to one tonne of carbon dioxide , or in some markets , carbon dioxide equivalent gases . Carbon trading is an application of an emissions trading approach . Greenhouse gas emissions are capped and then markets are used to allocate the emissions among the group of regulated sources . The goal is to allow market mechanisms to drive industrial and commercial processes in the direction of low emissions or less carbon intensive approaches than those used when there is no cost to emitting carbon dioxide and other GHGs into the atmosphere . Since GHG mitigation projects generate credits , this approach can be used to finance carbon reduction schemes between trading partners and around the world . There are also many companies that sell carbon credits to commercial and individual customers who are interested in lowering their carbon footprint on a voluntary basis . These carbon offsetters purchase the credits from an investment fund or a carbon development company that has aggregated the credits from individual projects . Buyers and sellers can also use an exchange platform to trade , which is like a stock exchange for carbon credits . The quality of the credits is based in part on the validation process and sophistication of the fund or development company that acted as the sponsor to the carbon project . This is reflected in their price ; voluntary units typically have less value than the units sold through the rigorously validated Clean Development Mechanism .", "Permafrost carbon cycle The Permafrost Carbon Cycle is a sub-cycle of the larger global carbon cycle . Permafrost is defined as subsurface material that remains below 0o C ( 32o F ) for at least two consecutive years . Because permafrost soils remain frozen for long periods of time , they store large amounts of carbon and other nutrients within their frozen framework during that time . Permafrost represents a large carbon reservoir that is seldom considered when determining global terrestrial carbon reservoirs . Recent and ongoing scientific research however , is changing this view . The permafrost carbon cycle ( Arctic Carbon Cycle ) deals with the transfer of carbon from permafrost soils to terrestrial vegetation and microbes , to the atmosphere , back to vegetation , and finally back to permafrost soils through burial and sedimentation due to cryogenic processes . Some of this carbon is transferred to the ocean and other portions of the globe through the global carbon cycle . The cycle includes the exchange of carbon dioxide and methane between terrestrial components and the atmosphere , as well as the transfer of carbon between land and water as methane , dissolved organic carbon , dissolved inorganic carbon , particulate inorganic carbon and particulate organic carbon .", "Carbon footprint A carbon footprint is historically defined as the total set of greenhouse gas emissions caused by an individual , event , organisation , or product , expressed as carbon dioxide equivalent . In most cases , the total carbon footprint can not be exactly calculated because of inadequate knowledge of and data about the complex interactions between contributing processes , especially which including the influence on natural processes storing or releasing carbon dioxide . For this reason , Wright , Kemp , and Williams , have suggested to define the carbon footprint as : A measure of the total amount of carbon dioxide ( CO2 ) and methane ( CH4 ) emissions of a defined population , system or activity , considering all relevant sources , sinks and storage within the spatial and temporal boundary of the population , system or activity of interest . Calculated as carbon dioxide equivalent using the relevant 100-year global warming potential ( GWP100 ) . Greenhouse gases ( GHGs ) can be emitted through land clearance and the production and consumption of food , fuels , manufactured goods , materials , wood , roads , buildings , transportation and other services . For simplicity of reporting , it is often expressed in terms of the amount of carbon dioxide , or its equivalent of other GHGs , emitted . Most of the carbon footprint emissions for the average U.S. household come from `` indirect '' sources , i.e. fuel burned to produce goods far away from the final consumer . These are distinguished from emissions which come from burning fuel directly in one 's car or stove , commonly referred to as `` direct '' sources of the consumer 's carbon footprint . The concept name of the carbon footprint originates from ecological footprint , discussion , which was developed by Rees and Wackernagel in the 1990s which estimates the number of `` earths '' that would theoretically be required if everyone on the planet consumed resources at the same level as the person calculating their ecological footprint . However , given that ecological footprints are a measure of failure , Anindita Mitra ( CREA , Seattle ) chose the more easily calculated `` carbon footprint '' to easily measure use of carbon , as an indicator of unsustainable energy use . In 2007 , carbon footprint was used as a measure of carbon emissions to develop the energy plan for City of Lynnwood , Washington . Carbon footprints are much more specific than ecological footprints since they measure direct emissions of gases that cause climate change into the atmosphere . Carbon footprint is one of a family of footprint indicators , which also includes water footprint and land footprint .", "Deforestation and climate change Deforestation is one of the main contributors to climate change . It is the second largest anthropogenic source of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere , after fossil fuel combustion . Deforestation and forest degradation contribute to atmospheric greenhouse gas emissions through combustion of forest biomass and decomposition of remaining plant material and soil carbon . It used to account for more than 20 % of carbon dioxide emissions , but it 's currently somewhere around the 10 % mark . By 2008 , deforestation was 12 % of total , or 15 % if peatlands are included . These proportions are likely to have fallen since given the continued rise of fossil fuel use . Averaged over all land and ocean surfaces , temperatures warmed roughly 1.53 ° F ( 0.85 ° C ) between 1880 and 2012 , according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change . In the Northern Hemisphere , 1983 to 2012 were the warmest 30-year period of the last 1400 years .", "Paul Wennberg Paul O. Wennberg is the R. Stanton Avery Professor of Atmospheric Chemistry and Environmental Science and Engineering at the California Institute of Technology ( Caltech ) . He is the director of the Ronald and Maxine Linde Center for Global Environmental Science . He is chair of the Total Carbon Column Observing Network and a founding member of the Orbiting Carbon Observatory project , which created NASA 's first spacecraft for analysis of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere . He is also the principal investigator for the Mars Atmospheric Trace Molecule Occultation Spectrometer ( MATMOS ) to investigate trace gases in Mars 's atmosphere . Wennberg 's research focuses on the atmospheric chemistry of planets , including air quality , photochemistry , and the carbon cycle . He designs and builds remote-sensing and in-situ scientific instruments which are used in field investigations supported by the National Science Foundation and NASA . His scientific instruments have made it possible to measure radicals in the atmosphere at concentrations that could not previously be detected . He measures atmospheric trace gases , making it possible to accurately describe the exchange of carbon dioxide and other gases between the atmosphere and the land and ocean . His research has substantially advanced understanding of the atmospheric chemistry of the troposphere and the stratosphere .", "Carbonate–silicate cycle The carbonate -- silicate geochemical cycle describes the transformation of silicate rocks to carbonate rocks by weathering and sedimentation at Earth 's surface and the transformation of carbonate rocks back into silicates by metamorphism and magmatism . It plays a large part in the carbon cycle , since the equilibrium point of the carbonate-silicate cycle dictates the pace of carbon release from the lithosphere . The carbonate-silicate cycle involves several chemical reactions that occur in different environments . In the atmosphere , gaseous carbon dioxide ( CO2 ) dissolves in rainwater , forming natural carbonic acid ( H2CO3 ) . This weak acid weathers silicate rocks on continents , slowly dissolving the rock and releasing aqueous minerals through the chemical reaction CaSiO3 ( s ) ( wollastonite ) + 2CO2 ( g ) + H2O ( l ) → Ca + 2HCO ( aq ) ( bicarbonate ) + SiO2 ( aq ) ( dissolved silica ) . These dissolved minerals are eventually carried by water to the ocean , where they are used by living organisms such as foraminifera , radiolarians , coccolithopores , and diatoms to create shells of CaCO3 ( calcite ) or SiO2 ( opal ) through the reactions Ca2 + ( aq ) + 2HCO3 → CaCO3 ( s ) + CO2 ( g ) + H2O ( l ) ( for calcite precipitation ) and SiO2 ( aq ) → SiO2 ( s ) ( for opal precipitation ) . When these organisms die , many shells are remineralized but some shells fall all the way to the sea floor and are buried . The cycle is completed when the sea floor is subducted and carbonate minerals recombine with silicate minerals under temperatures above 300 ° C to reform calcium silicates and release gaseous CO2 through volcanism ( CaCO3 ( s ) + SiO2 ( s ) → CaSiO3 ( s ) + CO2 ( g ) ) . The carbonate-silicate cycle impacts the global carbon cycle , as carbon dioxide is removed from the Earth 's surface through the burial of weathered minerals in deep ocean sediments and returned to the atmosphere through metamorphism and volcanism . However , this process is far from being a closed loop . In Earth history generally the formation of carbonates significantly outpaces the formation of silicates , effectively removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere . Because carbon dioxide is a potent greenhouse gas , the carbonate-silicate cycle is suspected to initiate ice ages by creating a negative feedback on the global temperature with a typical time scale of a few million years that is capable of countering water vapor and carbon dioxide short-term positive feedback on global temperature . The carbonate-silicate cycle equilibrium point is shifted on Venus due to surface temperatures above 300 ° C , which favor the formation of calcium silicates over weathering . Thus , Venus has a high-density carbon-dioxide atmosphere .", "Landfill gas Landfill gas is a complex mix of different gases created by the action of microorganisms within a landfill . Landfill gas is approximately forty to sixty percent methane , with the remainder being mostly carbon dioxide . Trace amounts of other volatile organic compounds comprise the remainder ( < 1 % ) . These trace gases include a large array of species , mainly simple hydrocarbons . Landfill gases have an influence on climate change . The major components are CO2 and methane , both of which are greenhouse gas . In terms of global warming potential , methane is over 25 times more detrimental to the atmosphere than carbon dioxide . Landfills are the third largest source of methane in the US .", "Metal carbon dioxide complex Metal carbon dioxide complexes are coordination complexes that contain carbon dioxide ligands . Aside from the fundamental interest in the coordination chemistry of simple molecules , studies in this field are motivated by the possibility that transition metals might catalyze useful transformations of CO2 . This research is relevant both to organic synthesis and to the production of `` solar fuels '' that would avoid the use of petroleum-based fuels .", "Airborne fraction The airborne fraction is a scaling factor defined as the ratio of the annual increase in atmospheric to the emissions from anthropogenic sources . It represents the proportion of human emitted that remains in the atmosphere . The fraction averages about 45 % , meaning that approximately half the human-emitted is absorbed by ocean and land surfaces . There is some evidence for a recent increase in airborne fraction , which would imply a faster increase in atmospheric for a given rate of human fossil-fuel burning . However , other sources suggest that the `` fraction of carbon dioxide has not increased either during the past 150 years or during the most recent five decades '' . Changes in carbon sinks can affect the airborne fraction .", "Carbon neutrality Carbon neutrality , or having a net zero carbon footprint , refers to achieving net zero carbon emissions by balancing a measured amount of carbon released with an equivalent amount sequestered or offset , or buying enough carbon credits to make up the difference . It is used in the context of carbon dioxide releasing processes associated with transportation , energy production , and industrial processes such as production of carbon neutral fuel . The carbon neutrality concept may be extended to include other greenhouse gases ( GHG ) measured in terms of their carbon dioxide equivalence ( e ) -- the impact a GHG has on the atmosphere expressed in the equivalent amount of CO2 . The term `` climate neutral '' reflects the broader inclusiveness of other greenhouse gases in climate change , even if CO2 is the most abundant , encompassing other greenhouse gases regulated by the Kyoto Protocol , namely : methane ( CH4 ) , nitrous oxide ( N2O ) , hydrofluorocarbons ( HFC ) , perfluorocarbons ( PFC ) , and sulphur hexafluoride ( SF6 ) . Both terms are used interchangeably throughout this article . The best practice for organizations and individuals seeking carbon neutral status entails reducing and/or avoiding carbon emissions first so that only unavoidable emissions are offset . Carbon neutral status is commonly achieved in two ways : Balancing carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere from burning fossil fuels , with renewable energy that creates a similar amount of useful energy , so that the carbon emissions are compensated , or alternatively using only renewable energies that do n't produce any carbon dioxide ( also called a post-carbon economy ) . Carbon offsetting by paying others to remove or sequester 100 % of the carbon dioxide emitted from the atmosphere -- for example by planting trees -- or by funding ` carbon projects ' that should lead to the prevention of future greenhouse gas emissions , or by buying carbon credits to remove ( or ` retire ' ) them through carbon trading . While carbon offsetting is often used alongside energy conservation measures to minimize energy use , the practice is criticized by some . The concept may be extended to include other greenhouse gases measured in terms of their carbon dioxide equivalence . The phrase was the New Oxford American Dictionary 's Word Of The Year for 2006 .", "Nitrosomonas Nitrosomonas is a genus of rod-shaped chemoautotrophic bacteria . This organism oxidizes ammonia into nitrite as a metabolic process . Nitrosomonas are useful in bioremediation . They are important in the nitrogen cycle by increasing the availability of nitrogen to plants while limiting carbon dioxide fixation . The genus is found in soil , freshwater , and on building surfaces , especially in areas that contains high levels of nitrogen compounds . Nitrosomonas prefers an optimum pH of 6.0-9 .0 and a temperature range of 20 to 30 ° C. Most species are motile with a flagellum located in the polar regions . The organism has power generating membranes , which form long , thin tubes inside the cell . These use electrons from the oxidation of ammonia to produce energy . It obtains the carbon it requires from the atmosphere via carbon fixation , which converts carbon in a gaseous form into carbon bound in organic molecules . Unlike plants , which fix carbon into sugar through energy gained through the process of photosynthesis , Nitrosomonas use energy gained through the oxidation of ammonia to fix gaseous carbon dioxide into organic molecules . Nitrosomonas must consume large amounts of ammonia before cell division can occur , and the process of cell division may take up to several days . This microbe is photophobic , and will generate a biofilm matrix or form clumps with other microbes to avoid light . The species Nitrosomonas europaea has been identified as also being able to degrade a variety of halogenated compounds including trichloroethylene , benzene , and vinyl chloride . Some Nitrosomonas species possess the enzyme urease , which catalyzes the conversion of the urea molecule to two ammonia molecules and one carbon dioxide molecule . Nitrosomonas europaea , as well as populations of soil-dwelling ammonia-oxidizing bacteria ( AOB ) , have been shown to assimilate the carbon dioxide released by the reaction to make biomass via the Calvin Cycle , and harvest energy by oxidizing ammonia ( the other product of urease ) to nitrite . This feature may explain enhanced growth of AOB in the presence of urea in acidic environments . Some sources regard Nitrobacteraceae to be the family of the genus Nicosomonas .", "Ocean acidification Ocean acidification is the ongoing decrease in the pH of the Earth 's oceans , caused by the uptake of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere . Seawater is slightly basic ( meaning pH > 7 ) , and the process in question is a shift towards pH-neutral conditions rather than a transition to acidic conditions ( pH < 7 ) . Ocean alkalinity is not changed by the process , or may increase over long time periods due to carbonate dissolution . An estimated 30 -- 40 % of the carbon dioxide from human activity released into the atmosphere dissolves into oceans , rivers and lakes . To achieve chemical equilibrium , some of it reacts with the water to form carbonic acid . Some of these extra carbonic acid molecules react with a water molecule to give a bicarbonate ion and a hydronium ion , thus increasing ocean acidity ( H + ion concentration ) . Between 1751 and 1996 surface ocean pH is estimated to have decreased from approximately 8.25 to 8.14 , representing an increase of almost 35 % in H + ion concentration in the world 's oceans . Earth System Models project that within the last decade ocean acidity exceeded historical analogues and in combination with other ocean biogeochemical changes could undermine the functioning of marine ecosystems and disrupt the provision of many goods and services associated with the ocean . Increasing acidity is thought to have a range of potentially harmful consequences for marine organisms , such as depressing metabolic rates and immune responses in some organisms , and causing coral bleaching . By increasing the presence of free hydrogen ions , each molecule of carbonic acid that forms in the oceans ultimately results in the conversion of two carbonate ions into bicarbonate ions . This net decrease in the amount of carbonate ions available makes it more difficult for marine calcifying organisms , such as coral and some plankton , to form biogenic calcium carbonate , and such structures become vulnerable to dissolution . Ongoing acidification of the oceans threatens food chains connected with the oceans . As members of the InterAcademy Panel , 105 science academies have issued a statement on ocean acidification recommending that by 2050 , global emissions be reduced by at least 50 % compared to the 1990 level . While ongoing ocean acidification is anthropogenic in origin , it has occurred previously in Earth 's history . The most notable example is the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum ( PETM ) , which occurred approximately 56 million years ago . For reasons that are currently uncertain , massive amounts of carbon entered the ocean and atmosphere , and led to the dissolution of carbonate sediments in all ocean basins . Ocean acidification has been called the `` evil twin of global warming '' and `` the other problem '' .", "Keeling Curve The Keeling Curve is a graph that plots the ongoing change in concentration of carbon dioxide in Earth 's atmosphere since the 1950s . It is based on continuous measurements taken at the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii that began under the supervision of Charles David Keeling . Keeling 's measurements showed the first significant evidence of rapidly increasing carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere . Many scientists credit Keeling 's graph with first bringing the world 's attention to the current increase of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere . Charles David Keeling , of Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego , was the first person to make frequent regular measurements of the atmospheric carbon dioxide ( CO2 ) concentration , taking readings at the South Pole and in Hawaii from 1958 onwards . Measurements of carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere had been taken prior to the Mauna Loa measurements , but on an ad-hoc basis across a variety of locations . Guy Stewart Callendar had shown a steady increase in concentrations since the 19th century . Keeling had perfected the measurement techniques and observed `` strong diurnal behavior with steady values of about 310 ppm in the afternoon '' at three locations : Big Sur near Monterey , the rain forests of Olympic Peninsula , and high mountain forests in Arizona . By measuring the ratio of two isotopes of carbon , Keeling attributed the diurnal change to respiration from local plants and soils , with afternoon values representative of the `` free atmosphere '' . By 1960 , Keeling and his group had determined that the measurement records from California , Antarctica , and Hawaii were long enough to see not just the diurnal and seasonal variations , but also a year-on-year increase that roughly matched the amount of fossil fuels burned per year . In the article that made him famous , Keeling observed : `` at the South Pole the observed rate of increase is nearly that to be expected from the combustion of fossil fuel '' .", "Mars regional atmospheric modeling system The Mars Regional Atmospheric Modeling System ( MRAMS ) is a computer program that simulates the circulations of the Martian atmosphere at regional and local scales . MRAMS , developed by Scot Rafkin and Timothy Michaels , is derived from the Regional Atmospheric Modeling System ( RAMS ) developed by William R. Cotton and Roger A. Pielke to study atmospheric circulations on the Earth . Key features of MRAMS include a non-hydrostatic , fully compressible dynamics , explicit bin dust , water , and carbon dioxide ice atmospheric physics model , and a fully prognostic regolith model that includes carbon dioxide deposition and sublimation . Several Mars exploration projects , including the Mars Exploration Rovers , the Phoenix Scout Mission , and the Mars Science Laboratory have used MRAMS to study a variety of atmospheric circulations .", "Huygens (crater) Huygens is an impact crater on Mars named in honour of the Dutch astronomer , mathematician and physicist Christiaan Huygens . The crater is approximately 456 km in diameter and can be found at 304.4 ° W 14.0 ° S , in the Iapygia quadrangle . Scientists were delighted to see branched channels in pictures taken with spacecraft that were sent in orbit around Mars . The existence of these channels is strong evidence that much water once flowed on the surface of the planet . Simple organisms may have once lived where water once was . An excellent group of these channels is shown in the picture below from the rim of Huygens taken with THEMIS . Carbonates ( calcium or iron carbonates ) were discovered in a crater on the rim of Huygens . The impact on the rim exposed material that had been dug up from the impact that created Huygens . These minerals represent evidence that Mars once had a thicker carbon dioxide atmosphere with abundant moisture . Carbonates of these kinds only form when there is a lot of water . They were found with the Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars ( CRISM ) instrument on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter . Earlier , the instrument had detected clay minerals . The carbonates were found near the clay minerals . Both of these minerals form in wet environments . It is supposed that billions of years ago Mars was much warmer and wetter . At that time , carbonates would have formed from water and the carbon dioxide-rich atmosphere . Later the deposits of carbonate would have been buried . The double impact has now exposed the minerals . Earth has vast carbonate deposits in the form of limestone .", "Air pollution Air pollution occurs when harmful substances including particulates and biological molecules are introduced into Earth 's atmosphere . It may cause diseases , allergies or death in humans ; it may also cause harm to other living organisms such as animals and food crops , and may damage the natural or built environment . Human activity and natural processes can both generate air pollution . Indoor air pollution and poor urban air quality are listed as two of the world 's worst toxic pollution problems in the 2008 Blacksmith Institute World 's Worst Polluted Places report . According to the 2014 WHO report , air pollution in 2012 caused the deaths of around 7 million people worldwide , an estimate roughly matched by the International Energy Agency .", "Acid rain Acid rain is a rain or any other form of precipitation that is unusually acidic , meaning that it possesses elevated levels of hydrogen ions ( low pH ) . It can have harmful effects on plants , aquatic animals and infrastructure . Acid rain is caused by emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide , which react with the water molecules in the atmosphere to produce acids . Some governments have made efforts since the 1970s to reduce the release of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide into the atmosphere with positive results . Nitrogen oxides can also be produced naturally by lightning strikes , and sulfur dioxide is produced by volcanic eruptions . Acid rain has been shown to have adverse impacts on forests , freshwaters and soils , killing insect and aquatic life-forms , causing paint to peel , corrosion of steel structures such as bridges , and weathering of stone buildings and statues as well as having impacts on human health .", "Asphyxiant gas An asphyxiant gas is a nontoxic or minimally toxic gas which reduces or displaces the normal oxygen concentration in breathing air . Breathing of oxygen-depleted air can lead to death by asphyxiation ( suffocation ) . Because asphyxiant gases are relatively inert and odorless , their presence in high concentration may not be noticed , except in the case of carbon dioxide ( hypercapnia ) . Toxic gases , by contrast , cause death by other mechanisms , such as competing with oxygen on the cellular level ( e.g. carbon monoxide ) or directly damaging the respiratory system ( e.g. phosgene ) . Far smaller quantities of these are deadly . Notable examples of asphyxiant gases are nitrogen , argon , helium , butane and propane . Along with trace gases such as carbon dioxide and ozone , these compose 79 % of Earth 's atmosphere . The atmosphere is mostly harmless because the remaining 21 % is O2 .", "Carbonated drink Carbonated drinks are beverages that contain dissolved carbon dioxide . The dissolution of CO2 in a liquid , gives rise to fizz or effervescence . The process usually involves carbon dioxide under high pressure . When the pressure is removed , the carbon dioxide is released from the solution as small bubbles , which causes the solution to become effervescent , or fizzy . A common example is the dissolving of carbon dioxide in water , resulting in carbonated water . Carbon dioxide is only weakly soluble in water , therefore it separates into a gas when the pressure is released . Carbonated beverages are prepared by mixing flavored syrup with carbonated water , both chilled . Carbonation levels range up to 5 volumes of CO2 per liquid volume . Ginger ale , colas , and related drinks are carbonated with 3.5 volumes . Other drinks , often fruity ones , are carbonated less .", "Terraforming of Venus The terraforming of Venus is the hypothetical process of engineering the global environment of the planet Venus in such a way as to make it suitable for human habitation . Terraforming Venus was first seriously proposed by the astronomer Carl Sagan in 1961 , although fictional treatments , such as The Big Rain by Poul Anderson , preceded it . Adjustments to the existing environment of Venus to support human life would require at least three major changes to the planet . These three changes are closely interrelated , because Venus 's extreme temperature is due to the greenhouse effect caused by its dense carbon-dioxide atmosphere : Reducing Venus 's surface temperature of 462 C. Eliminating most of the planet 's dense 9.2 MPa carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide atmosphere , via removal or conversion to some other form . Addition of breathable oxygen to the atmosphere .", "Atmospheric chemistry Atmospheric chemistry is a branch of atmospheric science in which the chemistry of the Earth 's atmosphere and that of other planets is studied . It is a multidisciplinary approach of research and draws on environmental chemistry , physics , meteorology , computer modeling , oceanography , geology and volcanology and other disciplines . Research is increasingly connected with other arenas of study such as climatology . The composition and chemistry of the Earth 's atmosphere is of importance for several reasons , but primarily because of the interactions between the atmosphere and living organisms . The composition of the Earth 's atmosphere changes as result of natural processes such as volcano emissions , lightning and bombardment by solar particles from corona . It has also been changed by human activity and some of these changes are harmful to human health , crops and ecosystems . Examples of problems which have been addressed by atmospheric chemistry include acid rain , ozone depletion , photochemical smog , greenhouse gases and global warming . Atmospheric chemists seek to understand the causes of these problems , and by obtaining a theoretical understanding of them , allow possible solutions to be tested and the effects of changes in government policy evaluated ." ]

[ "That Hideous Strength That Hideous Strength ( subtitled A Modern Fairy-Tale for Grown-Ups ) is a 1945 novel by C. S. Lewis , the final book in Lewis 's theological science fiction Space Trilogy . The events of this novel follow those of Out of the Silent Planet and Perelandra ( also titled Voyage to Venus ) and once again feature the philologist Elwin Ransom . Yet unlike the principal events of those two novels , the story takes place on Earth rather than in space or on other planets in the solar system . The story involves an ostensibly scientific institute , the N.I.C.E. , which is a front for sinister supernatural forces . The novel was heavily influenced by the writing of Lewis 's friend and fellow Inkling Charles Williams , and is markedly dystopian in style . In the book 's preface Lewis acknowledges science-fiction writer Olaf Stapledon and his work : `` Mr. Stapledon is so rich in invention that he can well afford to lend , and I admire his invention ( though not his philosophy ) so much that I should feel no shame to borrow . '' In the foreword , Lewis states that the novel 's point is the same as that in his non-fiction work The Abolition of Man , which argues that there are natural laws and objective values , which education should teach children to recognise . The novel 's title is taken from a poem written by David Lyndsay in 1555 , Ane Dialog betuix Experience and ane Courteour , also known as The Monarche . The couplet in question , `` The shadow of that hyddeous strength , sax myle and more it is of length '' , refers to the Tower of Babel .", "Arthur D. Levinson Arthur D. Levinson ( born March 31 , 1950 ) is an American businessman and is the current CEO of Calico ( an Alphabet Inc. venture ) and chairman of Apple Inc. ( 2011 to present ) . He is the former chief executive officer ( 1995 to 2009 ) and chairman ( 1999 to 2014 ) of Genentech . In addition to serving on the board of Apple Inc. ( 2000 -- present ) , Levinson serves on the board of directors of the Broad Institute ( affiliated with MIT and Harvard ) . Previously , Levinson had served on the board of directors at F. Hoffmann-La Roche ( 2010-2014 ) , NGM Biopharmaceuticals ( 2009-2014 ) , and Amyris Biotechnologies ( 2009-2014 ) . He currently serves on the Board of Scientific Consultants of the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center , the Industrial Advisory Board of the California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences ( QB3 ) , the Advisory Council for the Princeton University Department of Molecular Biology and the Advisory Council for the Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics .", "Developing country A developing country , also called a less developed country or an underdeveloped country , is a nation or a sovereign state with a less developed industrial base and a low Human Development Index ( HDI ) relative to other countries . There are no universally agreed-upon criteria for what makes a country developing versus developed and which countries fit these two categories , although there are general reference points such as a nation 's GDP per capita compared with other nations . Also , the general term less-developed country should not be confused with the specific least developed country . The term `` developing '' describes a currently observed situation and not a dynamic or expected direction of progress . Since the late 1990s developing countries tended to demonstrate higher growth rates than the developed ones . There is criticism for using the term developing country . The term implies inferiority of a developing country or undeveloped country compared with a developed country , which many countries dislike . It assumes a desire to develop along the traditional Western model of economic development which a few countries , such as Cuba and Bhutan , choose not to follow . An alternative measurement that has been suggested is that of gross national happiness . Countries on the boundary between developed and developing are often categorized under the term newly industrialized countries . According to authors such as Walt Whitman Rostow , developing countries are in transition from traditional lifestyles towards the modern lifestyle which began in the Industrial Revolution in the 18th and 19th centuries . In the 2016 edition of its World Development Indicators , the World Bank made a decision to no longer distinguish between `` developed '' and `` developing '' countries in the presentation of its data . Nobody has ever agreed on a definition for these terms in the first place .", "Sarah Palin Sarah Louise Palin ( -LSB- ˈpeɪlᵻn -RSB- née Heath ; born February 11 , 1964 ) is an American politician , commentator , and author who served as the ninth Governor of Alaska from 2006 until her resignation in 2009 . As the Republican Party nominee for Vice President of the United States in the 2008 election alongside presidential nominee , Arizona Senator John McCain , she was the first Alaskan on the national ticket of a major political party and the first Republican woman selected as a vice presidential candidate . Also , her book Going Rogue has sold more than two million copies . She was elected to the Wasilla city council in 1992 and became mayor of Wasilla in 1996 . In 2003 , after an unsuccessful run for lieutenant governor , she was appointed chair of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission , responsible for overseeing the state 's oil and gas fields for safety and efficiency . She was the youngest person and the first woman to be elected Governor of Alaska . Since her resignation as Governor , she has endorsed and campaigned for the Tea Party movement as well as several candidates in multiple election cycles , prominently including Donald Trump for President in 2016 . From 2010 to 2015 , she provided political commentary for Fox News . On April 3 , 2014 , Palin premiered her TV show , Amazing America with Sarah Palin , on the Sportsman Channel , which ran until February 12 , 2015 . On July 27 , 2014 , Palin launched the online news network called the Sarah Palin Channel , which was closed on July 4 , 2015 .", "Bangladesh Bangladesh ( -LSB- bæŋɡləˈdɛʃ -RSB- -LSB- ˌbɑːŋɡləˈdɛʃ -RSB- -LSB- : bn : বাংলাদেশ , বাংলাদেশ -RSB- , -LSB- ˈbaŋlad̪eʃ -RSB- , lit . `` The country of Bengal '' ) , officially the People 's Republic of Bangladesh , is a country in South Asia . It shares land borders with India and Myanmar ( Burma ) . Nepal , Bhutan and China are located near Bangladesh but do not share a border with it . The country 's maritime territory in the Bay of Bengal is roughly equal to the size of its land area . Bangladesh is the world 's eighth most populous country . Dhaka is its capital and largest city , followed by Chittagong , which has the country 's largest port . Bangladesh forms the largest and eastern part of the Bengal region . Bangladeshis include people of different ethnic groups and religions . Bengalis , who speak the official Bengali language , make up 98 % of the population . The politically dominant Bengali Muslims make the nation the world 's third largest Muslim-majority country . Most of Bangladesh is covered by the Bengal delta , the largest delta on Earth . The country has 700 rivers and 8,046 km ( 5,000 miles ) of inland waterways . Highlands with evergreen forests are found in the northeastern and southeastern regions of the country . Bangladesh has many islands and a coral reef . It is home to the Sundarbans , the largest mangrove forest in the world . The country 's biodiversity includes a vast array of plant and wildlife , including critically endangered Bengal tigers , the national animal . The Greeks and Romans identified the region as Gangaridai , a powerful kingdom of the historical subcontinent , in the 3rd century BCE . Archaeological research has unearthed several ancient cities in Bangladesh , which had international trade links for millennia . The Bengal Sultanate and Mughal Bengal transformed the region into a cosmopolitan Islamic imperial power between the 14th and 18th centuries . The region was home to many principalities that had inland naval prowess . It was also a notable center of the worldwide muslin and silk trade . As part of British India , the region was influenced by the Bengali renaissance and played an important role in anti-colonial movements . The Partition of British India made East Bengal a part of the Dominion of Pakistan ; and was renamed as East Pakistan . The region witnessed the Bengali Language Movement in 1952 and the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971 . After independence , a parliamentary republic was established . A presidential government was in place between 1975 and 1990 , followed by a return to parliamentary democracy . The country has also been affected by poverty , natural disasters , hunger , dominant party systems and military coups . Bangladesh is a middle power and a major developing nation . Within South Asia , the country ranks first in gender equality , second in foreign exchange earnings and third in life expectancy and peacefulness . Listed as one of the Next Eleven , its economy ranks 46th in terms of nominal gross domestic product ( GDP ) and 29th in terms of purchasing power parity ( PPP ) . It is one of the largest textile exporters in the world . Its major trading partners are the European Union , the United States , China , India , Japan , Malaysia and Singapore . With its strategically vital location between Southern , Eastern and Southeast Asia , Bangladesh is an important promoter of regional connectivity and cooperation . It is a founding member of SAARC , BIMSTEC , the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar Forum for Regional Cooperation and the Bangladesh Bhutan India Nepal Initiative . It is also a member of the Commonwealth of Nations , the Developing 8 Countries , the OIC , the Non Aligned Movement , the Group of 77 and the World Trade Organization . Bangladesh is one of the largest contributors to United Nations peacekeeping forces ." ]

[ "Climate change in Argentina According to scientists , global warming is predicted to have significant effects on the climate of Argentina . Though temperatures have increased at a slower rate than the global average , nonetheless these impacts have occurred in many areas . If these trends continue , it is predicted that climate change will exacerbate existing natural disasters such as increasing the intensity and frequency of floods or create new ones .", "Climate change in Nevada Climate change in Nevada has been measured over the last century , with the average temperature in Elko , Nevada increasing by 0.6 F-change , and precipitation increasing by up to 20 % in many parts of the state . These past trends may or may not continue into the future .", "Natural history of Australia The natural history of Australia has been shaped by the geological evolution of the Australian continent from Gondwana and the changes in global climate over geological time . The building of the Australian continent and its association with other land masses , as well as climate changes over geological time , have created the unique flora and fauna present in Australia today .", "Masahito Anzai is a Japanese social scientist and archaeologist , professor at the Tohoku University of Art and Design . A graduate of the University of Tokyo in archeology in 1970 , he was an assistant at the same university for many years , but in 2008 was appointed professor at the Tohoku University of Art and Design . He has written a number of books and papers particularly on social archaeology and the structure of Paleolithic society . He was an editor of A Study of Regional Chronology in the Palaeolithic in 2006 . His more recent work since 2010 has focused on the archaeology of climate change , and the climate change in Nawamon culture .", "Global Roundtable on Climate Change The Global Roundtable on Climate Change , convened by the Earth Institute at Columbia University brought together representatives from corporations , research institutions , and government organizations to discuss the scientific consensus , economics , technology , and public policy issues associated with climate change . Following preliminary research and discussions , the group first met in 2005 and held a series of public and private meetings over the next five year . The Roundtable had five objectives : Improve global consensus on the science , technology , economics , and policy issues of anthropogenic climate change . Review technology and policy proposals for mitigating climate change while meeting global energy demand . Support research and prototypes of technologies and policies that address climate change . Provide a forum for discussion , analysis , and exchange of ideas from the represented groups . Support proposals and initiatives generated by the Roundtable 's discussions . Participants in the Roundtable meetings : ABB , Air France , Alcan , Alcoa , Alliant Energy , Allianz , American Electric Power , BASF , Bayer , Calvert Group , China Renewable Energy Industry Association , Citigroup , Coalition of Rainforest Nations , Columbia University , Deutsche Telekom , DuPont , Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand , Endesa , Environmental Defense , Eskom , Eni , Exelon , Fairfield University , FPL Group , General Electric , Iberdrola , ING Group , Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change , International Gas Union , Munich Re , National Grid , NRG Energy , Rainforest Alliance , Republic of Iceland , Ricoh , Suntech Power , Swiss Re , Vattenfall , Volvo , World Council on Churches , World Petroleum Council , and many others . The Roundtable was funded by a grant from the Lenfest Foundation . Jeffrey Sachs , Director of the Earth Institute served as Chair . David L. Downie served as Director of the Global Roundtable on Climate Change before leaving the Earth Institute to join Fairfield University . On February 20 , 2007 , the Roundtable released `` The Path to Climate Sustainability : A Joint Statement by the Global Roundtable on Climate Change '' . The Joint Statement outlines a post-Kyoto framework and has been endorsed by over 100 of the Roundtable participating corporations and organizations . The Statement outlines ways to effect change at the levels of policy and industry , particularly in regards to creating sustainable energy systems necessary for achieving economic growth . In addition to its internal discussions , which were aimed at information exchange , education and consensus building , and development of the parthbreaking Joint Statement , Roundtable participants also participated in public forums . For example , David L. Downie organized two side-event panels during sessions of the global climate negotiations that featured presentations by Roundtable Participants , including himself , regarding how businesses and scientists were working together to lower greenhouse gas emissions . David L. Downie also discussed the Roundtable and related issues at other events during the climate negotiations and in other forums", "Climate Vulnerable Forum The Climate Vulnerable Forum ( CVF ) is a global partnership of countries that are disproportionately affected by the consequences of global warming . The forum addresses the negative effects of global warming as a result of heightened socioeconomic and environmental vulnerabilities . These countries actively seek a firm and urgent resolution to the current intensification of climate change , domestically and internationally . The CVF was formed to increase the accountability of industrialized nations for the consequences of global climate change . It also aims to exert additional pressure for action to tackle the challenge , which includes local action by countries considered susceptible . Political leaders involved in this partnership are `` using their status as those most vulnerable to climate change to punch far above their weight at the negotiating table '' . The governments which founded the CVF agree to national commitments to pursue low-carbon development and carbon neutrality . Ethiopia became the first African Chair of the Climate Vulnerable Forum during the CVF High-Level Climate Policy Forum held in the Senate of the Philippines on 15 August 2016 . The Philippines was the Chair of the Climate Vulnerable Forum during the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris ( COP21 ) and oversaw the adoption of the body 's Manila-Paris Declaration at the Third High-Level Meeting of the Forum on 30 November 2015 . The Manila-Paris Declaration articulated the common concerns and commitments of vulnerable countries and urged the strengthening of the UNFCCC goal of limiting warming to below 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels . During this meeting the membership of the Climate Vulnerable Forum expanded to include 23 new members . In 2015 , the twenty member countries in a forum chaired by the Philippines launched the official bloc of the forum , the ` V20 ' or ` Vulnerable Twenty ' , consisting of the top 20 nations from all over the world that are most affected by the catastrophes rooted from climate change . The members of the bloc are Afghanistan , Bangladesh , Barbados , Bhutan , Costa Rica , Ethiopia , Ghana , Kenya , Kiribati , Madagascar , Maldives , Nepal , Philippines , Rwanda , Saint Lucia , Tanzania , Timor-Leste , Tuvalu , Vanuatu and Vietnam . During the 2nd V20 Ministerial Dialogue in April 2016 in Washington DC , the V20 recognized the 23 new members that joined the CVF in 2015 as incoming members in the V20 initiative . These countries are currently and diversely affected by various climate change problems such as super storms , storm surges , tsunamis , droughts , famine due to climate factors , food shortage as by-product of climate change , power cutting , flash floods , mud slides , desertification , heatwaves , reduction of fresh water sources , and other effects of climate change . Climate change is globally believed and scientifically proven to have incurred from the economic activities of developed and developing nations and regions such as China , the United States , and Europe .", "Edward Hands & Lewis Edward Hands & Lewis is a firm of solicitors with offices nationwide across the UK . It was founded in 1897 and , since August 2009 , has been under the directorship of solicitor Jason Hathaway . Fellow solicitor Paul Stubbs became a director in May 2010 and Managing Director in 2013 . As of December 2015 Edward Hands and Lewis is in the top 2 % of largest solicitors in the UK and forms part of the EHL Group . The firm has undergone several changes in recent years , having grown from a company of 20 staff with 3 offices to over 190 staff and 12 offices nationwide ." ]

[ "Barrier island Barrier islands are coastal landforms and a type of dune system that are exceptionally flat or lumpy areas of sand that form by wave and tidal action parallel to the mainland coast . They usually occur in chains , consisting of anything from a few islands to more than a dozen . They are subject to change during storms and other action , but absorb energy and protect the coastlines and create areas of protected waters where wetlands may flourish . A barrier chain may extend uninterrupted for over a hundred kilometers , excepting the tidal inlets that separate the islands , the longest and widest being Padre Island of Texas . The length and width of barriers and overall morphology of barrier coasts are related to parameters including tidal range , wave energy , sediment supply , sea-level trends , and basement controls . The amount of vegetation on the barrier has a large impact on the height and evolution of the island . Chains of barrier islands can be found along approximately thirteen percent of the world 's coastlines . They display different settings , suggesting that they can form and be maintained in a variety of environmental settings . Numerous theories have been given to explain their formation .", "Coral reef Coral reefs are diverse underwater ecosystems held together by calcium carbonate structures secreted by corals . Coral reefs are built by colonies of tiny animals found in marine waters that contain few nutrients . Most coral reefs are built from stony corals , which in turn consist of polyps that cluster in groups . The polyps belong to a group of animals known as Cnidaria , which also includes sea anemones and jellyfish . Unlike sea anemones , corals secrete hard carbonate exoskeletons which support and protect the coral polyps . Most reefs grow best in warm , shallow , clear , sunny and agitated waters . Often called `` rainforests of the sea '' , shallow coral reefs form some of the most diverse ecosystems on Earth . They occupy less than 0.1 % of the world 's ocean surface , about half the area of France , yet they provide a home for at least 25 % of all marine species , including fish , mollusks , worms , crustaceans , echinoderms , sponges , tunicates and other cnidarians . Paradoxically , coral reefs flourish even though they are surrounded by ocean waters that provide few nutrients . They are most commonly found at shallow depths in tropical waters , but deep water and cold water corals also exist on smaller scales in other areas . Coral reefs deliver ecosystem services to tourism , fisheries and shoreline protection . The annual global economic value of coral reefs is estimated between US$ 29.8-375 billion . However , coral reefs are fragile ecosystems , partly because they are very sensitive to water temperature . They are under threat from climate change , oceanic acidification , blast fishing , cyanide fishing for aquarium fish , sunscreen use , overuse of reef resources , and harmful land-use practices , including urban and agricultural runoff and water pollution , which can harm reefs by encouraging excess algal growth .", "Coral Corals are marine invertebrates in the class Anthozoa of phylum Cnidaria . They typically live in compact colonies of many identical individual polyps . The group includes the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and secrete calcium carbonate to form a hard skeleton . A coral `` group '' is a colony of myriad genetically identical polyps . Each polyp is a sac-like animal typically only a few millimeters in diameter and a few centimeters in length . A set of tentacles surround a central mouth opening . An exoskeleton is excreted near the base . Over many generations , the colony thus creates a large skeleton that is characteristic of the species . Individual heads grow by asexual reproduction of polyps . Corals also breed sexually by spawning : polyps of the same species release gametes simultaneously over a period of one to several nights around a full moon . Although some corals can catch small fish and plankton using stinging cells on their tentacles , most corals obtain the majority of their energy and nutrients from photosynthetic unicellular dinoflagellates in the genus Symbiodinium that live within their tissues . These are commonly known as zooxanthellae and the corals that contain them are zooxanthellate corals . Such corals require sunlight and grow in clear , shallow water , typically at depths shallower than 60 m. Corals are major contributors to the physical structure of the coral reefs that develop in tropical and subtropical waters , such as the enormous Great Barrier Reef off the coast of Queensland , Australia . Other corals do not rely on zooxanthellae and can live in much deeper water , with the cold-water genus Lophelia surviving as deep as 3000 m . Some have been found on the Darwin Mounds , north-west of Cape Wrath , Scotland . Corals have also been found as far north as off the coast of Washington State and the Aleutian Islands ." ]

[ "Mud Islands The Mud Islands reserve is located within Port Phillip , about 90 km south-west of Melbourne , Australia , lying 10 km inside Port Phillip Heads , 7 km north of Portsea and 9 km east of Queenscliff . The land area of about 50 ha is made up of three low-lying islands surrounding a shallow tidal 35 ha lagoon connected to the sea by three narrow channels . The shapes and configuration of the islands change over the years due to movement of sand by tidal currents .", "Swash Swash , or forewash in geography , ( the white part of the water ) is known as a turbulent layer of water that washes up on the beach after an incoming wave has broken . The swash action can move beach materials up and down the beach , which results in the cross-shore sediment exchange . The time-scale of swash motion varies from seconds to minutes depending on the type of beach ( see Figure 1 for beach types ) . Greater swash generally occurs on flatter beaches . The swash motion plays the primary role in the formation of morphological features and their changes in the swash zone . The swash action also plays an important role as one of the instantaneous processes in wider coastal morphodynamics . There are two approaches that describe swash motions : ( 1 ) swash resulting from the collapse of high-frequency bores ( f > 0.05 Hz ) on the beachface ; and ( 2 ) swash characterised by standing , low-frequency ( f < 0.05 Hz ) motions . Which type of swash motion prevails is dependent on the wave conditions and the beach morphology and this can be predicted by calculating the surf similarity parameter εb ( Guza & Inman 1975 ) Where Hb is the breaker height , g is gravity , T is the incident-wave period and tan β is the beach gradient . Values εb > 20 indicate dissipative conditions where swash is characterised by standing long-wave motion . Values εb < 2.5 indicate reflective conditions where swash is dominated by wave bores .", "Wireless Hill Wireless Hill is a steep-sided hill with a summit plateau that takes up most of the North Head promontory at the northern end of Australia 's subantarctic Macquarie Island , lying in the Southern Ocean about halfway between Australia and Antarctica . Its highest point is about 100 m above sea level and it is joined to the main body of the island by a low and narrow isthmus that is occasionally wave-washed in heavy storms . Macquarie Island Station , operated by the Australian Antarctic Division and the only permanently populated place on the island , lies at the northern end of the isthmus at the foot of Wireless Hill . The hill is so named because it was the site of an early wireless telegraphy relay station , part of the first radio link to Antarctica .", "Coastal flood Coastal flooding occurs when normally dry , low-lying land is flooded by seawater . The extent of coastal flooding is a function of the elevation inland flood waters penetrate which is controlled by the topography of the coastal land exposed to flooding . The seawater can inundate the land via several different paths : Direct inundation -- where the sea height exceeds the elevation of the land , often where waves have not built up a natural barrier such as a dune system Overtopping of a barrier -- the barrier may be natural or human engineered and overtopping occurs due to swell conditions during storm or high tides often on open stretches of the coast . The height of the waves exceeds the height of the barrier and water flows over the top of the barrier to flood the land behind it . Overtopping can result in high velocity flows that can erode significant amounts of the land surface which can undermine defense structures . Breaching of a barrier -- again the barrier may be natural or human engineered , and breaching occurs on open coasts exposed to large waves . Breaching is where the barrier is broken down by waves allowing the seawater to extend inland . Coastal flooding is largely a natural event , however human influence on the coastal environment can exacerbate coastal flooding . Extraction of water from groundwater reservoirs in the coastal zone can enhance subsidence of the land increasing the risk of flooding . Engineered protection structures along the coast such as sea walls alter the natural processes of the beach , often leading to erosion on adjacent stretches of the coast which also increases the risk of flooding .", "Cottonwood Island (Nevada) Cottonwood Island , a large island in the Colorado River , within Cottonwood Valley , in Clark County , Nevada . Cottonwood Island was a low-lying island about 10 miles long and up to 3 miles wide . It was forested by cottonwoods and also after the spring flood , cluttered with driftwood from the riparian woodlands along the upper watershed of the Colorado River , washed down and caught in the first wide valley where the river slowed and spread out . Cottonwood Island was important as a source wood and of fuel for steamboats on that river and for the early mills and mines in El Dorado Canyon . John Ross Browne described it in his 1869 report on the Colorado River : `` Cottonwood island , about 10 miles long by an average of about three miles wide , is a fine , level island , fertile and covered with grass , and having considerable timber . Claims are said to have been located upon the land , but it is yet unoccupied . On the main land on both sides of the river opposite Cottonwood island are fine bottom lands , with good grass . '' `` A large quantity of driftwood of superior kind for fuel , composed mainly of pitch-pine and cedar , every year lodges at the head and along the sides of the island -- sufficient , perhaps , alone , if taken care of , to furnish the fuel for years to steamboats passing on the Callville route . An immense quantity of this wood was upon the island , estimated at several thousand cords . The entire head of the island seemed to be formed of trunks of trees and sand washed in between them . The driftwood consists of trees , much broken up , of various sizes , not usually exceeding 14 inches in diameter . '' Cottonwood Island appears in the 1875 Topographical Sketch showing the Outward and Inward Route of a Party , while examining as to the practicability of a Diversion of the Colorado River for Purposes of Irrigation , from an annual report by 1st Lt. G. M. Wheeler , Corps Of Engineers . Cottonwood Island later appears on a September 1911 reprint of a U. S. Geological Survey , Reconnaissance Map , Arizona , Nevada , California , Camp Mohave Sheet , Edition of March 1892 , reprinted .", "Caviana Caviana , the Ilha Caviana , is an island lying off the north coast of Ilha de Marajó in the delta lowlands at the mouth of the Amazon in the state of Pará , Brazil . The island forms part of the low-lying marajó várzea , the inundated land in and around the mouth of the Amazon River . The island is an excellent place to observe the tidal bore called the pororoca , where the Amazon river waters meet the incoming Atlantic tides and form a standing wave , and is a birdwatchers ' haven .", "Marie Louise Island Marie Louise Island is a low-lying coral island in the Amirantes group of the Outer Islands of the Republic of Seychelles , in the western Indian Ocean , with a distance of 308 km south-west of Victoria , Seychelles .", "Factory Point, Virginia Factory Point is a land peninsula separating the Back River and the Chesapeake Bay in the Commonwealth of Virginia . Factory Point has received much local attention due to erosion by a nor'easter . The peninsula is the buffer from wave action coming from the Chesapeake Bay into Back River . Consequently , it has protective value for thousands of homes that adjoin the river . In 1998 , a spit of sand connecting Factory Point to Grand View Nature Preserve was washed away in a storm , reducing Factory Point to an island . However , the peninsular was rebuilt and reconnected in the spring of 2010 .", "Sibhinis Sibhinis , Siobhanais or Shivinish . is one of the Monach Islands , lying between Ceann Iar and Ceann Ear . It is tidal , and connected at low tide to Ceann Iar by Fadhail Shibhinis , and to Ceann Ear by Faodhail Chinn Ear . It is 16 m at its highest point . It is said that it was at one time possible to walk all the way to Baleshare , and on to North Uist , 5 mi away at low tide . In the 16th century , a large tidal wave was said to have washed this away . The island is about 22 ha acres in extent .", "Reid Rocks Reid Rocks is a small island nature reserve in south-eastern Australia . It is part of Tasmania 's New Year Island Group , which includes the much larger King Island , lying north-west of Tasmania in Bass Strait . It is frequently wave-washed and lacks vegetation .", "Fatima Island (New South Wales) Fatima Island is a small island on Cooks River in Tempe , New South Wales , Australia . A low-lying sandbar , it is a refuge for Australian pelicans , egrets and silver gulls . It was named in 1951 for a Portuguese statue of Our Lady of Fátima . The island is slowly being washed away , something that is of concern to local environmentalists .", "UW Coronae Borealis UW Coronae Borealis , also known as MS 1603.6 +2600 , is a low mass X-ray binary star system located in the constellation Corona Borealis . Astronomer Simon Morris and colleagues discovered the X-ray source in 1990 and were able to match it up with a faint star with an average visual magnitude of 19.4 . The system is thought to be made up of a neutron star that has an accretion disk that draws material from its companion , a star less massive than the Sun . The disk is asymmetrical . The variability of the system is complex , with several periods identified : the two components orbit each other every 111 minutes , while there is another period of 112.6 minutes . The beat period of these is 5.5 days , which is thought to represent the precession of the asymmetrical accretion disk around the neutron star .", "Hawaiʻi Institute of Marine Biology The Hawai`i Institute of Marine Biology ( HIMB ) is a marine biology laboratory located on the state-owned Coconut Island in Kāne'ohe Bay . Coconut Island is approximately 29 acre , including 6 acre of enclosed lagoons used to keep organisms being studied in captivity . Surrounding it are 64 acre of coral reef , designated by the state of Hawai`i as the Hawai`i Marine Laboratory Refuge . It is part of the University of Hawaii at Manoa . It is the only research facility in the world built on a coral reef . The boundaries of the Hawaii Marine Laboratory Refuge surrounding the island start at the high-water mark on the island and go to twenty-five feet beyond the outer edges of the reefs , including sand and seawall shoreline , where coral and sand calcium carbonate reef flats are exposed at low tides . High coral and macro-algae flourish at shallow-depth zones while the deep habitats are characterized by sediment with low coral cover and colonized by slumping from upper reef zones . Within Kaneohe Bay are sheltered areas . Man-made impacts in the area include dredging , sewage release and freshwater flooding . The shores of the bay are characterized by coastal development .", "Murcielagos Island Murcielagos Island is a small island in the Sulu Sea off the coast of Zamboanga del Norte in the southern Philippine island of Mindanao . It measures over 500 m across at its widest point and is situated on an oval reef about 1.6 km in length . This low-lying island , also known locally as Baliudyong , is situated some 4.8 km north of Quipit Point on the west side of Patauag Bay in the Zamboanga municipality of Labason . It is known for its white coral-sand beaches and rich marine resources . To its west lies an islet called Bayangan Island . The two islands are collectively known as Murcielagos Islands and are administratively part of the Labason poblacion of Antonino .", "Smooth Island (Tasmania) The Smooth Island , part of the Sloping Island Group , is a privately owned island with an area of 59.31 ha lying close to the south-eastern coast of Tasmania , Australia . The island is situated in Norfolk Bay , surrounded by the Tasman and Forestier Peninsulas . The towns Dunalley and Murdunna are nearby . Smooth Island is particularly unique as it is one of the only islands in Tasmania where absolutely all of the land ( up to the waterline ) is privately owned with unrestricted freehold tenure .", "Chaetodon argentatus Chaetodon argentatus , the Asian butterflyfish , is a species of butterflyfish native to the western pacific ocean from the Philippines up to Japan . They live in coral reefs where there is dense coral growth , however , in Japan they live in rocky areas from depths from 15-70 ft. They grow up to eight inches ( 20 cm ) .", "Point of Sangomar The Point of Sangomar is a sand spit located on the Atlantic Ocean at the mouth of the Saloum Delta , which marks the end of the Petite Côte west of Senegal . This narrow sandbar extends south about twenty kilometers from Palmarin Diakhanor . Long threatened by coastal erosion , the fragile cord was again broken by a tidal wave in 1987 , giving birth to the island of Sangomar . The gap between this new island and the point where the village of Djiffer continues to widen .", "Cayo Levisa Cayo Levisa is a cay in Pinar del Río Province , Cuba . Accessible only through boats from Palma Rubia , the white sand beaches on its north coast attract tourism . It has several snorkeling and diving sites . It is part of the Colorados Archipelago coral reef and well known for its black coral . There is a hotel facility on the island made up of roughly 20 cottages .", "Diamond Island (Tasmania) Diamond Island is a low granite island , with an area of 6.76 ha , in south-eastern Australia . It is part of the Schouten Island Group , lying close to the eastern coast of Tasmania near the Freycinet Peninsula , just off the town of Bicheno . It is sometimes connected to the mainland by a sand spit . It is a nature reserve .", "Spar Island (Rhode Island) Spar Island is a small sandbar in Mount Hope Bay in eastern Rhode Island . The island is more or less a sand bar , and is made up entirely of an intertidal zone . A small portion is visible at high tide , expanding by about 4 times that size at low tide .", "Shark Island (Cronulla Beach) Shark Island is a dangerous reef break about 100 metres off Cronulla , New South Wales , Australia . It comprises a rock ledge that is fully exposed at low tide . The island is a well-known bodyboarding and surfing location . The wave can stand up fast and violently ( `` jack up '' in surfing jargon ) , making it difficult and dangerous . The island is regarded by bodyboarders as producing one of the `` heaviest '' waves in the world . The annual Shark Island Challenge bodyboarding contest is held there , as well as the annual Shark Island Swim Challenge held at Cronulla Beach .", "Geography of Tuvalu The Western Pacific nation of Tuvalu , formerly known as the Ellice Islands , is situated 4,000 km northeast of Australia and is approximately halfway between Hawaii and Australia . It lies east-northeast of the Santa Cruz Islands ( belonging to the Solomons ) , southeast of Nauru , south of Kiribati , west of Tokelau , northwest of Samoa and Wallis and Futuna and north of Fiji . Tuvalu consists of three reef islands and six atolls . The three reef islands are actually atolls , although they have a completely closed rim of dry land , with a lagoon that has no connection to the open sea or that may be drying up . For example , Niutao has two lakes , which are brackish to saline ; and are the degraded lagoon as the result of coral debris filling the lagoon . The islands of Tuvalu have poor soil and a total land area of only about 26 km ² , less than 10 sqmi . The land is very low-lying , with narrow coral atolls . The highest elevation is 4.6 m above sea level on Niulakita . Tuvalu experiences two distinct seasons , a wet season from November to April and a dry season from May to October . Westerly gales and heavy rain are the predominate weather conditions from October to March , the period that is known as Tau-o-lalo , with tropical temperatures moderated by easterly winds from April to November . In terms of size , it is the second-smallest country in Oceania .", "Dutch sand ladder A Dutch sand ladder is a cable or rope ladder with rungs usually made of wood , lying on a sandy slope to allow persons to ascend or descend with minimal erosion . The bottom end is anchored and the top end is designed for easy disconnection so that the ladder can be lifted up to shake loose any sand that has accumulated on the rungs . The ability to be easily maintained and reset makes sand ladders useful trail features for steep sand dunes or other easily eroded areas where permanent structures are infeasible or impractical .", "Dishwashing Dish washing ( British English : washing up ) is the process of cleaning cooking utensils , dishes , cutlery and other items to prevent foodborne illness . This is either achieved by hand in a sink or using dishwasher and may take place in a kitchen , utility room , scullery or elsewhere . In Britain to do the washing up also includes to dry and put away . There are cultural divisions over rinsing and drying after washing .", "Ammophila arenaria Ammophila arenaria is a species of grass known by the common names European marram grass and European beachgrass . It is one of two species of the genus Ammophila ( marram grass ) . It is native to the coastlines of Europe and North Africa where it grows in the sands of beach dunes . It is a perennial grass forming stiff , hardy clumps of erect stems up to 1.2 m in height . It grows from a network of thick rhizomes which give it a sturdy anchor in its sand substrate and allow it to spread outward . These rhizomes can grow laterally by 2 metres ( 7 feet ) in six months . One clump can produce 100 new shoots annually . The rhizomes tolerate submersion in sea water and can break off and float in the currents to establish the grass at new sites . The leaves are thick and coated in a white waxy cuticle . They are up to 1 m long and sharply pointed . The cylindrical inflorescence is up to 30 cm long . It is adapted to habitat made up of shifting , accreting sand layers , as well as that composed of stabilised dunes .", "Rock Edge Nature Reserve Rock Edge Nature Reserve is a small nature park in an area that was once a lime stone quarry in Oxford , England . The local geology is made up of an old tropical coral reef , with coral outcrops surrounded by old sand bottom beds , similar to what is found in the waters around Bahamas today . A small track leads meanders around the old quarry , where fossils of ancient marine creatures can still be found .", "Weeroona Island, South Australia __ NOTOC __ Weeroona Island ( formerly known as Port Flinders ) is a locality in the Australian state of South Australia about 209 km north of the state capital of Adelaide and about 9.5 km northeast of the city of Port Pirie . Weeroona Island began as a private subdivision of land in the Hundreds of Pirie and Telowie . The subdivision was originally named `` Port Flinders '' by its proponents , the Trustees of the Mount Remarkable Mining Company , in about 1853 . The name was subsequently replaced by other names including Price Nob , Benjamin Hill and Weeroona Island , and was officially reinstated by the Geographical Names Advisory Committee in 1993 . Boundaries were created for the locality in March 1997 and included the Weeroona Island Shack Site . The locality 's name was changed to Weeroona Island in November 2013 following a display of `` strong support from residents '' . The name `` Weeroona Island '' is derived from the name of a holiday camp operated by the Broken Hill Proprietary Company on the coastline of a bay ( now known as Weeroona Bay ) located near Point Lowly on the eastern coast of Eyre Peninsula . The locality consists of an outcrop of land which is surrounded by low lying land that can be subject to inundation at high tide and which is connected to the Augusta Highway in the east by a causeway . Land use within the locality consists of residential use and conservation . The former use consists of both permanent residence and ` recreational housing ' located on the high ground while latter use is concerned with the low-lying land where built development is required to be minimal and limited to `` low-intensity recreational uses '' and where provided , should complement the environment of the locality . Weeroona Island is located within the federal division of Grey , the state electoral district of Stuart and the local government area of the District Council of Mount Remarkable .", "Terra Firma Islands The Terra Firma Islands are a small group of islands lying 8 nmi north of Cape Berteaux , off the west coast of Graham Land in West Antarctica . Roughly surveyed by the British Graham Land Expedition ( BGLE ) in 1936 . The name `` Terra Firma Island '' was applied to the largest island ( Alamode Island , q.v. ) , because a BGLE depot-laying party camped there following the break-up of sea ice , but the name Terra Firma Islands was later applied to the whole group . They include Dumbbell Island . The Terra Firma islands are the southernmost point in the world where grass ( Deschampsia antarctica ) and flowers ( Colobanthus quitensis ) grow naturally .", "Northern Coral Group Northern Coral Group is a collective term for two islands of Inner Islands of the Seychelles , lying in the north of the island nation , between 92 and 102 kilometers north of the capital , Victoria , on Mahé Island .", "Southern Coral Group Southern Coral Group is a collective term for two islands of Outer Islands of the Seychelles , lying in the south of the island nation , between 135 and 300 kilometers south of the capital , Victoria , on Mahé Island .", "Pulau Sudong Pulau Sudong is a 209-hectare coral island off the southern coast of Singapore , it was enlarged through a land reclamation process during the late 1970s .", "Blenheim Reef Blenheim Reef is a partly submerged atoll structure in the Chagos Archipelago , Indian Ocean . It includes the coral reef of Baxio Predassa in its southeastern rim , plus another completely submerged part . It is located in the northeastern part of the Chagos Archipelago . It measures almost eleven kilometres ( north -- south ) by more than four kilometres ( east -- west ) , with a total area of 36.8 square kilometres , including the lagoon of 8.5 km ² , the difference being accounted for the mostly by the reef flat . Only on the eastern side , there are a few sand cays above the water . The largest of them is East Island , which is not quite 200 metres long and 70 metres wide . The other islands in the group are North , Middle and South . Only a few grasses grow on the island . The lagoon is up to 18 metres deep and encumbered with rock . The fringing coral reef has a wide passage in the southwest . The closest land is Takamaka Island in the Salomon Islands Atoll , about 20 kilometres to the southwest ." ]

[ "Kilowatt hour The kilowatt-hour ( symbol kWh , kW ⋅ h or kW h ) is a derived unit of energy equal to 3.6 megajoules . If the energy is being transmitted or used at a constant rate ( power ) over a period of time , the total energy in kilowatt-hours is the power in kilowatts multiplied by the time in hours . The kilowatt-hour is commonly used as a billing unit for energy delivered to consumers by electric utilities .", "Energy policy of India The energy policy of India is largely defined by the country 's expanding energy deficit and increased focus on developing alternative sources of energy , particularly nuclear , solar and wind energy . India ranks 81 position in overall energy self sufficiency at 66 % in 2014 . The primary energy consumption in India is the third biggest after China and USA with 5.3 % global share in 2015 . The total primary energy consumption from crude oil ( 195.5 Mtoe ; 27.91 % ) , natural gas ( 45.5 Mtoe ; 6.50 % ) , coal ( 407.2 Mtoe ; 58.13 % ) , nuclear energy ( 8.6 Mtoe ; 1.23 % ) , hydro electricity ( 28.1 Mtoe ; 4.01 % ) and renewable power ( 15.5 Mtoe ; 2.21 % ) is 700.5 Mtoe ( excluding traditional biomass use ) in 2015 . In 2013 , India 's net imports are nearly 144.3 million tons of crude oil , 16 Mtoe of LNG and 95 Mtoe coal totalling to 255.3 Mtoe of primary energy which is equal to 42.9 % of total primary energy consumption . About 70 % of India 's electricity generation capacity is from fossil fuels . India is largely dependent on fossil fuel imports to meet its energy demands -- by 2030 , India 's dependence on energy imports is expected to exceed 53 % of the country 's total energy consumption . In 2009-10 , the country imported 159.26 million tonnes of crude oil which amounts to 80 % of its domestic crude oil consumption and 31 % of the country 's total imports are oil imports . By the end of calendar year 2015 , India has become a power surplus country with huge power generation capacity idling for want of electricity demand . India ranks second after China in renewables production with 208.7 Mtoe in 2014 . In 2015-16 , the per-capita energy consumption is 22.042 Giga Joules ( 0.527 Mtoe ) excluding traditional biomass use and the energy intensity of the Indian economy is 0.271 Mega Joules per INR ( 65 kcal/INR ) . Due to rapid economic expansion , India has one of the world 's fastest growing energy markets and is expected to be the second-largest contributor to the increase in global energy demand by 2035 , accounting for 18 % of the rise in global energy consumption . Given India 's growing energy demands and limited domestic fossil fuel reserves , the country has ambitious plans to expand its renewable and most worked out nuclear power programme . India has the world 's fifth largest wind power market and also plans to add about 100,000 MW of solar power capacity by 2020 . India also envisages to increase the contribution of nuclear power to overall electricity generation capacity from 4.2 % to 9 % within 25 years . The country has five nuclear reactors under construction ( third highest in the world ) and plans to construct 18 additional nuclear reactors ( second highest in the world ) by 2025 .", "National Electricity Market The National Electricity Market ( NEM ) is the Australian wholesale electricity market that covers the electrically connected states and territories of eastern and southern Australia , and the associated synchronous electricity transmission grid . The Australian Energy Market Commission develops and maintains the Australian National Electricity Rules , which have the force of law for the NEM in the participating states and territories . The Rules are enforced by the Australian Energy Regulator . The NEM began operation on 13 December 1998 and operations currently cover the electrically connected states and territories of eastern and southern Australia of Queensland , New South Wales , Australian Capital Territory , Victoria , Tasmania and South Australia . Western Australia and the Northern Territory are not connected to the NEM . The NEM comprises five regions , with the ACT being in the NSW region . Tasmania joined the NEM in May 2005 and became fully operational on 29 April 2006 when the Basslink interconnector was fully activated . The Snowy region was abolished as a region on 1 July 2008 and the components split between New South Wales and Victoria . The Northern Territory has adopted parts of the National Electricity Law , with the Australian Energy Market Commission becoming the rule maker for the Territory for parts of the National Electricity Rules from 1 July 2016 . Western Australia is also considering adopting parts of the NER . The NEM operates the world 's longest interconnected power systems between Port Douglas , Queensland and Port Lincoln , South Australia with an end-to-end distance of more than 5000 kilometres , and 40,000 circuit kilometres . Over A$ 11 billion of electricity is traded annually in the NEM to meet the demand of almost 19 million end-use consumers .", "Solar power Solar power is the conversion of energy from sunlight into electricity , either directly using photovoltaics ( PV ) , or indirectly using concentrated solar power . Concentrated solar power systems use lenses or mirrors and tracking systems to focus a large area of sunlight into a small beam . Photovoltaic cells convert light into an electric current using the photovoltaic effect . Photovoltaics were initially solely used as a source of electricity for small and medium-sized applications , from the calculator powered by a single solar cell to remote homes powered by an off-grid rooftop PV system . Commercial concentrated solar power plants were first developed in the 1980s . The 392 MW Ivanpah installation is the largest concentrating solar power plant in the world , located in the Mojave Desert of California . As the cost of solar electricity has fallen , the number of grid-connected solar PV systems has grown into the millions and utility-scale solar power stations with hundreds of megawatts are being built . Solar PV is rapidly becoming an inexpensive , low-carbon technology to harness renewable energy from the Sun . The current largest photovoltaic power station in the world is the 850 MW Longyangxia Dam Solar Park , in Qinghai , China . The International Energy Agency projected in 2014 that under its `` high renewables '' scenario , by 2050 , solar photovoltaics and concentrated solar power would contribute about 16 and 11 percent , respectively , of the worldwide electricity consumption , and solar would be the world 's largest source of electricity . Most solar installations would be in China and India . Currently , as of 2016 , solar power provides just 1 % of total worldwide electricity production but growing 33 % per annum ." ]

[ "Linda Mackenzie Linda June Mackenzie , OAM ( born 14 December 1983 ) is an Australian freestyle swimmer . She preferred the longer 200 - , 400 - , and 800-metre events and won the Australian 400-metre national title five years in a row ( 2004 -- 2008 ) . She was part of the Australian team that won the gold medal in the 4 × 200-metre freestyle relay at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne and has picked up silver medals in the same event at the 2003 and 2005 world championships . Mackenzie qualified for the 200-metre and 400-metre freestyle events at the Olympic Games in Beijing and was a member of the winning Australian team in the women 's 4 × 200-metre freestyle relay . She was the last swimmer in the 4 × 200-metre freestyle relay at the 2008 Beijing Olympics . Together with Stephanie Rice , Bronte Barratt and Kylie Palmer the world record was broken by 5.78 seconds . She was an Australian Institute of Sport scholarship holder .", "Greenergy Greenergy International Ltd is a British distributor of petrol and diesel for motor vehicles and has over a quarter of the UK market . It blends fuels at terminals on the Thames estuary in the south and on Teesside in the north . It sells more than 20 million litres of petrol and diesel a day . As of 2015 it is currently ranked at 474 in the Fortune 500 list of largest companies by revenue . Greenergy sells fuel to petrol stations and supermarkets for retail sale , and to transport companies . The company produces and sells biofuel . It has a 250,000 tonne/300 million litre per year plant at Immingham on the east coast of England where biodiesel is made from rapeseed oil .", "Ukujima Mega Solar Plant The Ukujima Mega Solar Plant project in Japan would be one of the world 's largest photovoltaic solar generating facilities at 480 MW ( DC ) ( 400 MW ( AC ) ) . It would be located on the island of Ukujima , off the west coast of Kyushu , and is in a developing stage . The plan suffered a setback in September 2014 when Kyushu Electric announced it would not buy any electricity from any new solar plants . In November 2015 , it was announced that Kyushu Electric would allow 400 MW ( AC ) to be connected .", "Peugeot J9 The Peugeot J9 is a van manufactured by Peugeot from January 1981 until 1991 . It was also manufactured under license by Karsan , in Turkey , from 1981 until 2010 . It was facelifted in 1991 , and in 2006 , Karsan released the restyled J9 Premier . Production ended in 2010 when the J9 was replaced by the closely related Karsan J10 . When first introduced , the J9 had 1.6 or 2.0 litre petrol engines , or the familiar Indénor diesel engines of 2.1 or 2.3 litres . Late in the French production run , the 2.5 litre diesel engine also became available .", "Lanchester petrol-electric car The Lanchester petrol-electric car is a protype motor vehicle , designed in 1927 by Frederick W. Lanchester of the Lanchester Motor Company in his workshop in Birmingham , England . It is now on display in Thinktank , Birmingham Science Museum . The term `` petrol-electric '' denotes that the car was a hybrid vehicle , with both a petrol engine , at the rear , and an electric motor . The later was used for starting , reversing , and when extra power was needed , for example for climbing hills . When traveling at speed , under petrol power , the electric motor acted as a generator , charging the battery . The car has no clutch or gearbox . The body and suspension are both made of wood . The design never went into production . After it had been driven for only 757 mi , Lanchester abandoned the project .", "ESP Grynch ESP Grynch is a guitar model distributed by ESP . It originally came up when Hetfield would buy a regular ESP LTD VB-400 BARITONE and ask a friend to paint green flames on it . This model is now discontinued . Category : ESP electric guitars", "Lone Star Wind Farm The Lone Star Wind Farm in Shackelford and Callahan Counties in Texas was officially opened by Horizon Wind Energy in June 2008 , with an installed generating capacity of 400 MW . The site 's 200 Gamesa 2 MW wind turbines produce enough electricity for at least 120,000 homes , with environmental benefits claimed to be equivalent to taking about 90,000 cars off the road .", "Tata Manza Tata Manza is next generation sedan from the Indian car company Tata Motors Limited . The Tata Manza is also known as The Club Class Sedan . There are eight variants available currently , four each in petrol and diesel . The diesel variants are LS , LX , VX , & EX . The Manza comes with a 1.3 litre Q-Jet diesel engine and 1.4 litre SF petrol engine .", "Energy in Belarus Energy in Belarus describes energy and electricity production , consumption and import in Belarus . Belarus is a net energy importer . According to IEA , the energy import exceeded the energy use in 2008 . Primary energy use in Belarus was 327 TWh or 34 TWh per million persons in 2008 . Primary energy use per capita in Belarus in 2009 ( 34 MWh ) was slightly more than in Portugal ( 26 MWh ) and about half of the use in Belgium ( 64 MWh ) or Sweden ( 62 MWh ) .", "Blackle Blackle is a website powered by Google Custom Search and created by Heap Media , which aims to save energy by displaying a black background and using grayish-white font color for search results . Blackle claims having saved nearly 6 MWh of electrical energy up to December 2016 , a claim currently under dispute . For comparison , the average American household consumes 11 MWh of electrical energy per year .", "Rover 20 The Rover 20 was a new medium sized car announced by Rover in June 1907 . It was a production version of the car which won the Isle of Man Tourist Trophy Race in 1906 . However artillery wood wheels were fitted instead of the ( still recommended ) wire wheels used in the race and the longer wheelbase allowed the engine to be kept out of the passenger area . The prototype 's engine came back beneath the petrol tank . With a few breaks Rover kept a premium 20 tax horsepower car in their catalogue until the outbreak of war in 1939 . In the early 1950s an equivalent model returned to the market , the 2.6-litre Rover 90 and later Rover 's 3-litre .", "1965 Australian One and a Half Litre Championship The 1965 Australian One and a Half Litre Championship was a CAMS sanctioned national motor racing title for drivers of Racing Cars complying with the Australian 1 1/2 Litre Formula . The title was contested over a single 20 lap race at the Mount Panorama Circuit , Bathurst , New South Wales on 19 April 1965 . The race also included a class for under 1100cc Australian Formula 2 cars .", "Peugeot HR1 The Peugeot HR1 is a concept car designed by Peugeot for the 2010 Paris Motor Show . It is a Supermini SUV and features an innovative hybrid powertrain . Instead of using a diesel linked to an electric motor , like in the Peugeot 3008 and Peugeot 508 , it uses a 1.2 litre petrol engine . The concept is 3.67 m long , which is shorter than the Nissan Juke , but longer than the Citroën Lacoste . The Lacoste is its sister car and also uses a hybrid engine .", "2007 Iranian petrol rationing riots Iranian petrol rationing riots started on 27 June 2007 when the Iranian government introduced petrol rationing . Iranians set fire to at least 12 petrol stations in Tehran , chanting that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad must be killed . Private motorists were rationed to 100 litres of petrol a month . Petrol currently sells at the heavily subsidised price of 1,000 rials a litre ( approx . $ 0.08 or US$ 0.11 ) . The Iranian government 's justification for the rationing was to reduce Iran 's vulnerability to potential sanctions by the United Nations Security Council which would be in response to Iran 's nuclear programme . Iran had been planning to ration petrol for a year prior , but had postponed the policy out of fear of unrest . The Iranian Parliament voted on May 7 to increase the price of petrol to $ 0.64 , but Ahmadinejad decided to ration it instead . Iranian newspapers have been criticizing the decision , despite a warning prior to the start of the rationing to not report the riots . Iranian newspaper Etemad Melli criticized the decision , saying that it had overwhelmed public transportation , stranding people on the streets , and wondered if the Iranian government enjoys or benefits from causing such difficulties . Another Iranian newspaper , Seday-e-Edelat , reported that five gallons of petrol sold for US$ 15 in the southeast regions on Iran on the black market .", "Peugeot 407 The Peugeot 407 is a large family car produced by the French automaker Peugeot from 2004 to 2010 . It is available in saloon , coupé and estate variants , with both diesel and petrol engines . The petrol engines range from 1.8 to 2.9 litres displacement , whereas the diesels range from 1.6 to 3.0 litre engines . The 407 , along with the larger 607 , was succeeded by the 508 in January 2011 . According to the European Car of the Year website , the 407 was one of the runners up in the award in 2005 .", "Beer in Africa Beer in Africa , especially lager , is produced commercially in most African countries , and varieties of beer are also made by indigenous tribes . Beer is served in a range of locales , from neighbourhood shebeens to upscale bars . Many countries have standardized beer bottle sizes , which are cleaned and re-used , and so when buying beer at a store often people must pay a deposit on the bottle as well as the price of the beer . An alternative to glass-bottle beers is local beer sold in tetra-pak style paper cartons . South Africa consumes the most beer of any African country , with an average of 60 litres of beer consumed per person annually .", "1964 Australian One and a Half Litre Championship The 1964 Australian One and a Half Litre Championship was a CAMS sanctioned motor racing title for drivers of Australian 1 1/2 Litre Formula racing cars . The title was contested over a 34 lap , 76 1/2 miles ( 123 km ) race held at the Warwick Farm circuit in New South Wales , Australia on 6 September 1964 . This was the first national title for the Australian 1 1/2 Litre Formula which was in its first year of existence .", "Peugeot 108 The Peugeot 108 is a city car , launched by the French manufacturer Peugeot in March 2014 , at the Geneva Motor Show . It went on sale later in July 2014 , for the United Kingdom . It is related to the Citroën C1 and Toyota Aygo , again sharing the same chassis , engines , transmissions and electrics . Cars are built in the same factory , situated in the Czech Republic . The 108 is powered by a choice of two three cylinder petrol engines : a 1.0 litre VTi with 68 bhp , emitting up to 97g/km of , with an e-VTi producing 88g/km , and a larger 1.2 litre VTi has 82 bhp , and emits 99g/km of .", "In Your House 1 In Your House ( retroactively titled In Your House : Premiere , and sequentially known as In Your House 1 ) was a professional wrestling pay-per-view ( PPV ) event produced by the World Wrestling Federation ( WWF ) , which took place on May 14 , 1995 , at the Onondaga War Memorial in Syracuse , New York . It was the first pay-per-view of the In Your House series and consisted of ten professional wrestling matches . In the main event WWF World Heavyweight Champion Diesel defeated Sid to retain his title . In the undercard Bret Hart defeated Hakushi , but lost to Jerry Lawler , whereas Razor Ramon defeated Jeff Jarrett and The Roadie in a two-on-one handicap match . The pay-per-view received a 0.83 buyrate , equivalent to approximately 332,000 buys .", "Energy in the United Kingdom Energy use in the United Kingdom stood at 2,249 TWh ( 193.4 million tonnes of oil equivalent ) in 2014 . This equates to energy consumption per capita of 34.82 MWh ( 3.00 tonnes of oil equivalent ) compared to a 2010 world average of 21.54 MWh ( 1.85 tonnes of oil equivalent ) . Demand for electricity in 2014 was 34.42 GW on average ( 301.7 TWh over the year ) coming from a total electricity generation of 335.0 TWh . Successive UK governments have outlined numerous commitments to reduce carbon dioxide emissions . One such announcement was the Low Carbon Transition Plan launched by the Brown ministry in July 2009 , which aimed to generate 30 % electricity from renewable sources , and 40 % from low carbon content fuels by 2020 . Notably , the UK is one of the best sites in Europe for wind energy , and wind power production is its fastest growing supply , in 2014 it generated 9.3 % of the UK 's total electricity . Government commitments to reduce emissions are occurring against a backdrop of economic crisis across Europe . During the European financial crisis , Europe 's consumption of electricity shrank by 5 % , with primary production also facing a noticeable decline . Britain 's trade deficit was reduced by 8 % due to substantial cuts in energy imports . Between 2007 and 2015 , the UK 's peak electrical demand fell from 61.5 GW to 52.7 . GW . UK government energy policy aims to play a key role in limiting greenhouse gas emissions , whilst meeting energy demand . Shifting availabilities of resources and development of technologies also change the country 's energy mix through changes in costs . In 2016 , the United Kingdom was ranked 12th in the World on the Environmental Performance Index , which measures how well a country carries through environmental policy .", "South African Class 34-400 The South African Railways Class 34-400 of 1973 is a diesel-electric locomotive . Between April 1973 and November 1974 , the South African Railways placed one hundred Class 34-400 General Electric type U26C diesel-electric locomotives in service .", "Colin McQueen Colin McQueen ( born 12 February 1956 ) is an Australian retired sprinter that specialised in the 200 and 400 metres . He won the Australian 200 metre championships in 1977 , 1978 , and 1979 . He also won the 400 metre title in 1979 . In 1977 he represented Australia/Oceania in the IAAF World Cup 200 metres where he finished 8th , then 7th in the sprint relay .", "Victa Victa is an Australian manufacturer of outdoor garden equipment , this includes petrol & electric lawn mowers , edgers , trimmers , chainsaws . They manufacture these in petrol & lithium-ion powered variants . However , Victa remains most well known for the Victa Lawn Mower . The Victa brand is currently owned by the American engine manufacturer Briggs & Stratton , while being American owned , manufacturing is retained in Australia in Moorebank , New South Wales . In Australia & New Zealand , Victa Products are sold through Bunnings Warehouse , specialist dealers and Mitre 10 . Victa is also sold in limited quantities through specialist dealers internationally .", "Patrick Dwyer (athlete) Patrick ( `` Pat '' ) Dwyer ( born 3 November 1977 in Wagga Wagga , New South Wales ) is an Australian athlete specializing in the 400 metres . He competed in the 2004 Summer Olympics , and was a part of the Australian team that won the silver medal in 4 × 400 metres relay . In addition he finished seventh with the relay teams at the 2000 Summer Olympics and fifth at the 2002 Commonwealth Games . His personal bests of 20.60 s ( 200 m ) and 44.73 s ( 400 m ) were both achieved in 2000 .", "South Australian Railways 400 class The South Australian Railways 400 class was a class of 4-8-2 +2 -8 -4 steam locomotives built in the early 1950s . The 400 class locomotives mainly hauled mineral trains on the South Australian Railways ' narrow gauge Broken Hill line from 1953 to 1963 , when they were replaced by diesel locomotives . They operated as far as far south as Port Pirie and Terowie and as far north as Quorn . The 400 class was temporarily returned to service in 1969 while the diesel locomotives were converted to . Two have been preserved , 402 at the Zig Zag Railway , Lithgow and 409 at the National Railway Museum , Port Adelaide .", "Peter Donalek Peter Donalek from the MWH Global , Chicago , IL was named Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers ( IEEE ) in 2014 for contributions to grid-connected pumped storage hydro systems .", "1967 Australian One and a Half Litre Championship The 1967 Australian One and a Half Litre Championship was a CAMS sanctioned Australian motor racing title for racing cars complying with the Australian 1 1/2 Litre Formula . The title , which was the fourth Australian One and a Half Litre Championship , was won by Max Stewart , driving a Rennmax BN1 Ford .", "Jodie Clatworthy Judith Michell `` Jodie '' Clatworthy ( born 3 April 1972 ) , also known by her married name Jodie Housman , is an Australian former competitive swimmer and individual medley specialist . As a 16-year-old , Clatworthy represented Australia at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul , South Korea . She competed in the 200-metre and 400-metre individual medley events , advanced to the final of both , and finished fourth and sixth , respectively . Clatworthy is a three-time Commonwealth Games silver medallist . At the 1986 Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh , Scotland , she won her first silver in the women 's 400-metre individual medley , finishing behind fellow Australian Suzie Landells . Four years later when Auckland , New Zealand hosted the 1990 Commonwealth Games , she qualified for both individual medley events . In the 200-metre individual medley , she came second behind Canadian Nancy Sweetman , and in the 400-metre individual medley event she was runner-up to Australian Hayley Lewis . Clatworthy is married to fellow Australian Olympic swimmer Glen Housman .", "DS 6 The DS 6WR is a compact SUV ( J ) designed specifically for Asian market . It is manufactured in France . It was the second model of DS , then a sub brand , to not feature the Citroën logo , following the launch of the DS 5LS earlier in 2014 . First announced to the public in April 2014 as the DS 6WR , it was released for sale in the autumn of 2014 . It is powered by a four cylinder 1.6 litre ( 1598 cc ) petrol engine , producing 200 PS at 5800 rpm and 275 Nm torque at 1700 to 4500 rpm . It is claimed to accelerate from 0 -- 100 km in 8.4 seconds .", "South African Class 33-200 The South African Railways Class 33-200 of 1966 was a diesel-electric locomotive . Between October 1966 and May 1967 the South African Railways placed twenty Class 33-200 General Motors Electro-Motive Division type GL26MC diesel-electric locomotives in service .", "South African Class 33-400 The South African Railways Class 33-400 of 1968 was a South African and Namibian diesel-electric locomotive . Between 1968 and 1970 , the South African Railways placed 115 Class General Electric type U20C diesel-electric locomotives in service . A large number of them were transferred to TransNamib , the Namibian Railways , upon South West Africa 's independence on 21 March 1990 .", "1968 Australian One and a Half Litre Championship The 1968 Australian One and a Half Litre Championship was a CAMS sanctioned motor racing title for drivers of Australian 1 1/2 Litre Formula racing cars . It was the fifth and final Australian One and a Half Litre Championship to be awarded prior to the demise of the formula at the end of 1968 ." ]

[ "Variable renewable energy Variable renewable energy ( VRE ) is a renewable energy source that is non-dispatchable due to its fluctuating nature , like wind power and solar power , as opposed to a controllable renewable energy source such as hydroelectricity , or biomass , or a relatively constant source such as geothermal power or run-of-the-river hydroelectricity .", "Renewable energy in Kenya The renewable energy sector in Kenya is among the most active in Africa . In Kenya , investment grew from virtually zero in 2009 to US$ 1.3 billion in 2010 across technologies such as wind , geothermal , small-scale hydro and biofuels . This is not saying that Kenya was never active in the renewable energy sector . Kenya is Africa 's first geothermal power producer and the world leader in the number of solar power systems installed per capita . It is still the largest producer of geothermal power in Africa today at 200 MW with only one other African country producing geothermal power , Ethiopia . Connectivity to the national grid in Kenya currently stands at 28 % . In 2011 , Kenya was also the first country in Africa to open a carbon exchange .", "Renewable energy Renewable energy is energy that is collected from renewable resources , which are naturally replenished on a human timescale , such as sunlight , wind , rain , tides , waves , and geothermal heat . Renewable energy often provides energy in four important areas : electricity generation , air and water heating/cooling , transportation , and rural ( off-grid ) energy services . Based on REN21 's 2016 report , renewables contributed 19.2 % to humans ' global energy consumption and 23.7 % to their generation of electricity in 2014 and 2015 , respectively . This energy consumption is divided as 8.9 % coming from traditional biomass , 4.2 % as heat energy ( modern biomass , geothermal and solar heat ) , 3.9 % hydro electricity and 2.2 % is electricity from wind , solar , geothermal , and biomass . Worldwide investments in renewable technologies amounted to more than US$ 286 billion in 2015 , with countries like China and the United States heavily investing in wind , hydro , solar and biofuels . Globally , there are an estimated 7.7 million jobs associated with the renewable energy industries , with solar photovoltaics being the largest renewable employer . As of 2015 worldwide , more than half of all new electricity capacity installed was renewable . Renewable energy resources exist over wide geographical areas , in contrast to other energy sources , which are concentrated in a limited number of countries . Rapid deployment of renewable energy and energy efficiency is resulting in significant energy security , climate change mitigation , and economic benefits . The results of a recent review of the literature concluded that as greenhouse gas ( GHG ) emitters begin to be held liable for damages resulting from GHG emissions resulting in climate change , a high value for liability mitigation would provide powerful incentives for deployment of renewable energy technologies . In international public opinion surveys there is strong support for promoting renewable sources such as solar power and wind power . At the national level , at least 30 nations around the world already have renewable energy contributing more than 20 percent of energy supply . National renewable energy markets are projected to continue to grow strongly in the coming decade and beyond . Some places and at least two countries , Iceland and Norway generate all their electricity using renewable energy already , and many other countries have the set a goal to reach 100 % renewable energy in the future . For example , in Denmark the government decided to switch the total energy supply ( electricity , mobility and heating/cooling ) to 100 % renewable energy by 2050 . While many renewable energy projects are large-scale , renewable technologies are also suited to rural and remote areas and developing countries , where energy is often crucial in human development . United Nations ' Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has said that renewable energy has the ability to lift the poorest nations to new levels of prosperity . As most of renewables provide electricity , renewable energy deployment is often applied in conjunction with further electrification , which has several benefits : Electricity can be converted to heat ( where necessary generating higher temperatures than fossil fuels ) , can be converted into mechanical energy with high efficiency and is clean at the point of consumption . In addition to that electrification with renewable energy is much more efficient and therefore leads to a significant reduction in primary energy requirements , because most renewables do n't have a steam cycle with high losses ( fossil power plants usually have losses of 40 to 65 % ) . Renewable energy systems are rapidly becoming more efficient and cheaper . Their share of total energy consumption is increasing . Growth in consumption of coal and oil could end by 2020 due to increased uptake of renewables and natural gas ." ]

[ "100% renewable energy The endeavor to use 100 % renewable energy for electricity , heating and cooling , and transport is motivated by global warming , pollution and other environmental issues , as well as economic and energy security concerns . Shifting the total global primary energy supply to renewable sources requires a transition of the energy system . In 2013 the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said that there are few fundamental technological limits to integrating a portfolio of renewable energy technologies to meet most of total global energy demand . Renewable energy use has grown much faster than even advocates anticipated . In 2014 , renewable sources such as wind , geothermal , solar , biomass , and burnt waste provided 19 % of the total energy consumed worldwide , with roughly half of that coming from traditional use of biomass . The most important sector is electricity with a renewable share of 22.8 % , most of it coming from hydropower with a share of 16.6 % , followed by wind with 3.1 % . There are many places around the world with grids that are run almost exclusively on renewable energy . At the national level , at least 30 nations already have renewable energy contributing more than 20 % of the energy supply . Professors S. Pacala and Robert H. Socolow of Princeton University have developed a series of `` Climate stabilization wedges '' that can allow us to maintain our quality of life while avoiding catastrophic climate change , and `` renewable energy sources , '' in aggregate , constitute the largest number of their `` wedges . '' Mark Z. Jacobson , professor of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford University and director of its Atmosphere and Energy program , says that producing all new energy with wind power , solar power , and hydropower by 2030 is feasible , and that existing energy supply arrangements could be replaced by 2050 . Barriers to implementing the renewable energy plan are seen to be `` primarily social and political , not technological or economic '' . Jacobson says that energy costs today with a wind , solar , and water system should be similar to today 's energy costs from other optimally cost-effective strategies . The main obstacle against this scenario is the lack of political will . Similarly , in the United States , the independent National Research Council has noted that `` sufficient domestic renewable resources exist to allow renewable electricity to play a significant role in future electricity generation and thus help confront issues related to climate change , energy security , and the escalation of energy costs ... Renewable energy is an attractive option because renewable resources available in the United States , taken collectively , can supply significantly greater amounts of electricity than the total current or projected domestic demand . '' The main barriers to the widespread implementation of large-scale renewable energy and low-carbon energy strategies are political rather than technological . According to the 2013 Post Carbon Pathways report , which reviewed many international studies , the key roadblocks are : climate change denial , the fossil fuels lobby , political inaction , unsustainable energy consumption , outdated energy infrastructure , and financial constraints .", "Ministry of Power and Renewable Energy The Ministry of Power and Renewable Energy is the central government ministry of Sri Lanka responsible for power and renewable energy . The ministry is responsible for formulating and implementing national policy on power and renewable energy and other subjects which come under its purview . The current Minister of Power and Renewable Energy and Deputy Minister of Power and Renewable Energy are Ranjith Siyambalapitiya and Ajith Perera respectively . The ministry 's secretary is B. M. S. Batagoda .", "Energy Watch Group The Energy Watch Group ( EWG ) is an international network of scientists and parliamentarians . The EWG conducts research and publishes studies on global energy developments concerning both fossil fuels and renewables . The organization states that it seeks to provide energy policy with objective information . The EWG was founded in 2006 by the former German parliamentarian & The Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany awardee Hans-Josef Fell and further parliamentarians from other countries to provide both experts and political decision makers as well as the public with information on energy issues .", "R20 Regions of Climate Action The R20 - Regions of Climate Action is a non-profit environmental organization founded in November 2010 , by former Governor of California , Arnold Schwarzenegger , with the support of the United Nations . R20 is a coalition of sub-national governments , private companies , international organizations , NGOs , and academic & financial institutions . Its mission is to help sub-national governments to implement low-carbon and climate-resilient projects , as well as to share best practices in renewable energy and energy efficiency in order to build a `` green economy '' . This NGO operates at the sub-national level as R20 believes sub-national governments constitute a powerful force for change and are best positioned to take action & implement green projects . Through this bottom-up approach , successful sub-national projects will be scaled-up to national and international levels to achieve a broader , global impact .", "International Partnership for Energy Efficiency Cooperation The Partnership for Energy Efficiency Cooperation ( IPEEC ) is a high-level international forum which includes developed and developing countries . Its purpose is to enhance global cooperation in the field of energy efficiency and to facilitate policies that yield energy efficiency gains across all sectors globally . IPEEC provides information to decision-makers in major economies , facilitating candid discussions for exchanging ideas and experiences and helping countries undertake joint projects to develop and implement energy efficiency policies and measures at a global scale . It is also a forum for member and non-member economies to share information about various bilateral and multilateral initiatives . IPEEC supported initiatives are open to both member and non-member nations as well as the private sector . IPEEC is coordinating the implementation of the Group of 20 ( G20 ) Energy Efficiency Action Plan , which was agreed by G20 leaders in late 2014 as a practical approach to strengthening voluntary international energy efficiency collaboration . And since July 2016 , IPEEC is coordinating the Energy Efficiency Leading Programme ( EELP ) that provides the basis for a ` comprehensive , flexible , and adequately-resourced ' framework for strengthened voluntary collaboration on energy efficiency among G20 members and beyond . IPEEC has two core committees : the Executive Committee and the Policy Committee . Both these committees meet twice a year to determine the forward work program and discuss results of current and previous projects .", "REN21 REN21 , the Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21st Century , is a global renewable energy multi-stakeholder policy network that provides international leadership for the rapid transition to renewable energy . The network was launched in June 2004 as an outcome of the International Conference for Renewable Energies in Bonn , Germany . REN21 brings together governments , nongovernmental organisations , research and academic institutions , international organisations and industry to learn from one another and build on successes that advance renewable energy . To assist policy decision making , REN21 provides high quality information , catalyses discussion and debate and supports the development of thematic networks . REN21 has produced a number of internationally recognised reports on renewable energy policy , industry and market development . Since 2005 it has produced its annual flagship publication , theRenewables Global Status Report ( GSR ) . The GSR provides a comprehensive overview of renewable energy market , industry , investment and policy development worldwide . Data is collected from a network of more than 500 contributors and researchers . REN21 also produces regional analyses such as regional reports for MENA , ECOWAS , SADC , EAC . The range of credible possibilities on the future of renewable energy is detailed in the publication Renewables Global Futures Report . Up-to-date country data on renewable energy can be accessed through REN21 's Interactive Map . This map was created to facilitate the accessibility of renewable energy knowledge to a broad range of stakeholders in the energy sector and beyond . REN21 works in cooperation with other organisations . A sister report to REN21 's GSR is the Global Trends in Renewable Energy Investment Report ( GTR ) produced by theFrankfurt School -- UNEP Collaborating Centre for Climate & Sustainable Energy Finance . REN21 is also a partner of the Global Tracking Framework , which is convened by the UN Secretary General 's Sustainable Energy for All ( SE4All ) Initiative . REN21 also collaborates with other intergovernmental organisations such as the IEA , the World Bank and IRENA . Initiated at the renewables 2004 conference in Bonn , IRECs a high-level political conference series dedicated to renewable energy policy worldwide . Dedicated exclusively to the renewable energy sector , IRECs are hosted by alternate Governments every two years and convened by REN21 . REN21 's role in the IREC process is as follows : • Establishment of an International Advisory Committee ( IAC ) and hosting of its meetings on a frequency to be agreed to by the Parties • Development of the IREC conference programme in collaboration with the host country • Facilitation of the production of the IREC Conference Declaration and outcomes • Promoting IREC on a global level through the REN21 network and its associated events These multi-stakeholder events act as a common platform for government , private sector and civil society leaders to jointly address the goal of advancing renewable energy and have provided the impulse for several momentous initiatives over the past decade . IREC have served as motor in the respective host country ( 2004 : Germany ; 2005 : China ; 2008 : USA ; 2010 : India ; 2013 : United Arab Emirates ; 2015 : South Africa ) . The REN21 secretariat is based at UNEP ( United Nations Environment Programme ) in Paris , France and is a registered non-profit association under German law ( e.V. ) . When established in Paris in 2006 , Paul Hugo Suding , was the first Head of Secretariat . Since formalization Christine Lins is Executive Secretary .", "Solar Millennium Solar Millennium is a German globally active company in the renewable energy sector founded in 1998 in Erlangen , Germany , which is specialized in the designing and implementation of solar thermal power plants . The main activities are site selection , project development , planning , design and construction of parabolic trough power plants .", "Energy in Hawaii Energy production in Hawaii is a difficult issue due to the islands ' isolated location and lack of local resources . The state relies heavily on imports of petroleum and coal for power although recent initiatives have increased use of alternative resources . High levels of solar photovoltaic and wind power use have led to power balance issues which have made Hawaii a study case for renewable use . Commercial-scale batteries and upgraded grid resources and management are among the solutions being advanced . Hawaii has the most expensive electricity prices in the United States . In 2016 the average cost of electricity was $ 0.24 per kilowatt-hour , with the next highest state being Alaska at $ 0.19 . The U.S. average was $ 0.10 per kilowatt-hour across all sectors .", "Dispatchable generation Dispatchable generation refers to sources of electricity that can be dispatched at the request of power grid operators or of the plant owner ; that is , generating plants that can be turned on or off , or can adjust their power output accordingly to an order . Often base load power plants such as nuclear or coal can not be turned on and off in less than several hours . The time periods in which dispatchable generation plant may be turned on or off may vary , and be considered in time frames of minutes or hours . The 1,728 MW Dinorwig pumped power station can reach full output in 16 seconds . This may be contrasted with intermittent renewable energy sources such as wind power and solar power which can not be controlled by operators . The most common dispatchable power plant is natural gas . The only types of renewable energy which are dispatchable are biofuel , biomass , hydropower with a reservoir , ocean thermal energy conversion and concentrated solar power with thermal storage . The main reasons for which dispatchable power plants are needed are : - to balance electrical system ( load following , frequency control ) - to optimize generation dispatch ( merit order ) - to provide requested power spinning reserves - to contribute to clear grid congestions/constraints - Load matching - slow changes in power demand between , for example , night and day , require changes in supply too , as the system needs to be balanced at all times ( see also Electricity ) . Peak matching - short periods of time during which demand exceeds the output of load matching plants ; generation capable of satisfying these peaks in demand is implemented through quick deployment of output by flexible sources . Lead-in times - periods during which an alternative source is employed to supplement the lead time required by large coal or natural gas fueled plants to reach full output ; these alternative power sources can be deployed in a matter of seconds or minutes to adapt to rapid shocks in demand or supply that can not be satisfied by peak matching generators . Frequency regulation or intermittent power sources - changes in the electricity output sent into the system may change quality and stability of the transmission system itself because of a change in the frequency of electricity transmitted ; renewable sources such as wind and solar are intermittent and need flexible power sources to smooth out their changes in energy production . Backup for base-load generators - Nuclear power plants , for example , are equipped with nuclear reactor safety systems that can stop the generation of electricity in less than a second in case of emergency . The attractiveness of utility-scale energy storage is that it can compensate for the intermittency of wind power and solar power . However in practice , large-scale storage technologies other than pumped hydro remain in an early stage of development and are expensive .", "Space Solar Power Exploratory Research and Technology program The Space Solar Power Exploratory Research and Technology program ( SERT ) program , conducted by NASA , was initiated by John Mankins and led by Joe Howell in March 1999 for the following purpose : Perform design studies of selected flight demonstration concepts ; Evaluate studies of the general feasibility , design , and requirements . Create conceptual designs of subsystems that make use of advanced SSP technologies to benefit future space or terrestrial applications . Formulate a preliminary plan of action for the U.S. ( working with international partners ) to undertake an aggressive technology initiative . Construct technology development and demonstration roadmaps for critical Space Solar Power ( SSP ) elements . It was to develop a solar power satellite ( SPS ) concept for a future gigawatt space power systems to provide electrical power by converting the Sun 's energy and beaming it to the Earth 's surface . It was also to provide a developmental path to solutions for current space power architectures . Subject to studies it proposed an inflatable photovoltaic gossamer structure with concentrator lenses or solar dynamic engines to convert solar flux into electricity . The initial program looked at systems in sun-synchronous orbit , but by the end of the program , most of the analysis looked at geosynchronous orbit . Some of SERT 's conclusions include the following : The increasing global energy demand is likely to continue for many decades resulting in new power plants of all sizes being built . The environmental impact of those plants and their impact on world energy supplies and geopolitical relationships can be problematic . Renewable energy is a compelling approach , both philosophically and in engineering terms . Many renewable energy sources are limited in their ability to affordably provide the base load power required for global industrial development and prosperity , because of inherent land and water requirements . Based on their Concept Definition Study , space solar power concepts may be ready to reenter the discussion . Solar power satellites should no longer be envisioned as requiring unimaginably large initial investments in fixed infrastructure before the emplacement of productive power plants can begin . Space solar power systems appear to possess many significant environmental advantages when compared to alternative approaches . The economic viability of space solar power systems depends on many factors and the successful development of various new technologies ( not least of which is the availability of exceptionally low cost access to space ) however , the same can be said of many other advanced power technologies options . Space solar power may well emerge as a serious candidate among the options for meeting the energy demands of the 21st century .", "Solar Energy Corporation of India Solar Energy Corporation of India Ltd. ( SECI ) is a company of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy , Government of India , established to facilitate the implementation of Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission . It is the only public sector undertaking dedicated to the solar energy sector . The company 's mandate has been broadened to cover the entire renewable energy domain and the company will be renamed to Renewable Energy Corporation of India ( RECI ) . The company is responsible for implementation of a number of government schemes , major ones being the VGF schemes for large-scale grid-connected projects under JNNSM , solar park scheme and grid-connected solar rooftop scheme , along with a host of other specialised schemes such as defence scheme , canal-top scheme , and Indo-Pak border scheme . In addition , SECI has ventured into solar project development on turnkey basis for several PSUs . The company also has a power-trading licence and is active in this domain through trading of solar power from projects set up under the schemes being implemented by it .", "European Energy Certificate System The European Energy Certificate System ( EECS ) is a commercially funded , integrated European framework for issuing , holding , transferring and otherwise processing electronic records . It was developed by the Association of Issuing Bodies to provide a properly regulated platform for Renewable Energy Guarantees of Origin , as proposed by the Renewables Directive which supports Directive 2009/72/EC ( the Internal Electricity Market Directive ) . EECS builds upon the concept proposed by the Basic Commitment of the Renewable Energy Certificate System ( RECS ) and now supports all types of electricity , regardless of source or production technology . The scope and focus of EECS now encompasses all forms of electricity , and supports Directive 2004/8/EC ( the CHP Directive ) . Work is currently under way to adapt EECS to support forms of energy other than electricity . The EECS Rules set out the energy certificate issuing activities of members of the AIB at an international level ; while the implementation of EECS at a national or regional level is set out in a series of Domain Protocols .", "Renewable energy in Australia Renewable energy in Australia deals with efforts being made in Australia to quantify and expand renewable energy , which includes electricity , transport fuels and thermal energy . Total renewable energy consumption in Australia in 2015 was 346PJ , representing 5.9 % of Australia 's total energy consumption . This is an increase of 1.6 % from 2011 -- 12 levels ( 265PJ ) , representing 4.3 % of Australia 's total energy consumption . Of all renewable energy consumption in 2015 ( in order of contribution ) biomass ( wood , woodwaste and bagasse ) represents 53 % , hydroelectricity 19.2 % , wind 10.7 % , solar PV 5.1 % , biogas 4.7 % , solar hot water 3.8 % and biofuels 3.6 % . Bioenergy ( the sum of all energy derived from plant matter ) represented 61.3 % ( 211.9 PJ ) of Australia 's total renewable energy consumption in 2015 . Renewable electricity has undergone substantial growth in Australia in the 21st century . It is estimated that Australia produced 35,007 gigawatt hours ( GWh ) of renewable electricity ( or equivalent ) over the year ending December 2015 , representing 14.6 % of the total production in Australia . By way of comparison , in 2006 , approximately 9,500 GWh of electricity came from renewable sources , representing less than 4 % of nationally generated electricity . Of all renewable electrical sources in 2012 , hydroelectricity represented 57.8 % , wind 26 % , bioenergy 8.1 % , solar PV 8 % , large-scale solar 0.147 % , geothermal 0.002 % and marine 0.001 % ; additionally , solar hot water heating was estimated to replace a further 2,422 GWh of electrical generation . Similar to many other countries , development of renewable electricity in Australia has been encouraged by government energy policy implemented in response to concerns about climate change , energy independence and economic stimulus . A key policy that has been in place since 2001 to encourage large-scale renewable energy development is a mandatory renewable energy target , which in 2010 was increased to 41,000 gigawatt-hours of renewable generation from power stations . This was subsequently reduced to 33,000 gigawatt-hours by the Abbott Government with the agreement of the Labor opposition . Alongside this there is the Small-Scale Renewable Energy Scheme , an uncapped scheme to support rooftop solar power and solar hot water and several State schemes providing feed-in tariffs to encourage photovoltaics . In 2012 , these policies were supplemented by a carbon price and a 10 billion-dollar fund to finance renewable energy projects , although these initiatives were later withdrawn by the Federal Government . It has been suggested that with sufficient public and private sector investment and government policy certainty , Australia could switch entirely to renewable energy within a decade by building additional large-scale solar and wind power developments , upgrading to transmission infrastructure and introduction of appropriate energy efficiency measures .", "Renewable Energy Certificate (United States) Renewable Energy Certificates ( RECs ) , also known as Green tags , Renewable Energy Credits , Renewable Electricity Certificates , or Tradable Renewable Certificates ( TRCs ) , are tradable , non-tangible energy commodities in the United States that represent proof that 1 megawatt-hour ( MWh ) of electricity was generated from an eligible renewable energy resource ( renewable electricity ) and was fed into the shared system of power lines which transport energy . Solar renewable energy certificates ( SRECs ) are RECs that are specifically generated by solar energy . Renewable Energy Certificates provide a mechanism for the purchase of renewable energy that is added to and pulled from the electrical grid . These certificates can be sold and traded or bartered , and the owner of the REC can claim to have purchased renewable energy . According to the U.S. Department of Energy 's Green Power Network , RECs represent the environmental attributes of the power produced from renewable energy projects and are sold separately from commodity electricity . While traditional carbon emissions trading programs use penalties and incentives to achieve established emissions targets , RECs simply incentivize carbon-neutral renewable energy by providing a production subsidy to electricity generated from renewable sources . A green energy provider ( such as a wind farm ) is credited with one REC for every 1,000 kWh or 1 MWh of electricity it produces ( for reference , an average residential customer consumes about 800 kWh in a month ) . A certifying agency gives each REC a unique identification number to make sure it does n't get double-counted . The green energy is then fed into the electrical grid ( by mandate ) , and the accompanying REC can then be sold on the open market . `` Retirement occurs when a Renewable Energy Certificate ( REC ) is used by the owner of the REC . Use of the REC may include , but is not limited to , ( 1 ) use of the REC by an end-use customer , marketer , generator , or utility to comply with a statutory or regulatory requirement , ( 2 ) a public claim associated with a purchase of RECs by an end-use customer , or ( 3 ) the sale of any component attributes of a REC for any purpose . Once a REC is retired , it may not be sold , donated , or transferred to any other party . No party other than the owner may make claims associated with retired RECs . '' Energy from any grid-tied source is bought and sold with contracts specifying the generator and purchaser . In the trade of renewable energy , RECs specify that a unit of renewable energy was generated . Because once electricity is placed on the electrical grid it mixes with electricity from multiple sources and becomes indistinguishable , RECs are used to track the ownership of environmental and social benefits of the renewable energy . The majority of RECs are sold separately from the electricity itself . In these cases , the electricity is sold as `` null '' energy without its environmental and social benefits , as if it were generated by non-renewable resources such as coal , nuclear or natural gas . When RECs are purchased in combination with non-renewable electricity this constitutes the legal purchase of renewable energy . This is how electrical grid connected renewable energy is traded in the U.S. Grid-connected renewable energy is used by electric utility companies in meeting their regulatory requirements and by individuals and businesses wishing to lessen their environmental impact . RECs allow for purchasers to support renewable energy generation and allows the economic forces of supply and demand to spur the further development of renewable energy generation .", "Centre for Studies on Federalism The Centre for Studies on Federalism ( CSF ) was established in November 2000 with the primary purpose of studying and researching the theory and practice of Federalism both as a political doctrine and in its implementation in the institutional systems of the Modern state . CSF 's main focus is on the infra-national , macro-regional and global scale of federalism : it specifically considers regional integration at a time of globalisation , with special reference to Europe , its history and civilization , its progress towards unification and its future .", "Energy in Australia Energy in Australia includes energy and electricity production , consumption and export in Australia . Energy policy of Australia describes the politics of Australia as it relates to energy . Australia is a net energy exporter , and was the fourth-highest coal producer in the world in 2009 . Historically -- and until recent times -- energy in Australia was sourced largely from coal and natural gas , however due to the increasing effects of global warming and human-induced climate change on the global environment , there has been a greater shift towards renewable energy such as solar power and wind power both in Australia and abroad . This in turn has led to a decrease in the demand of coal worldwide .", "Renewable energy in Spain Electricity from renewable sources in Spain represented 42.8 % of electricity demand coverage during 2014 . The country has a very large wind power capability built up over many years and is one of the world leaders in wind power generation . Initially Spain also positioned itself as a European leader in Solar power , by 2007-2010 the country was second only to Germany in installed capacity , however other countries ( Italy in particular ) have since leapfrogged Spanish development . By 2015 solar power in Spain though significant produced less than a third of that of wind power in 2015 . Spain has set the target of generating 20 % of all its energy needs from renewable energy sources by 2020 and an additional 0.8 % may be available for other EU countries under the cooperation mechanism bringing the total to 20.8 % . By the end of 2014 Spain had reached a level of 16.2 % of all its energy needs from renewable energy sources . The story of renewable energy development in Spain is both a mixed and unfinished one . Under previous subsidies the country expanded its renewable base rapidly and helped establish a domestic industry in both wind turbine and solar energy . However , support was drastically cut back following the global financial crisis and new installations stagnated between 2012 and 2015 . The debts incurred during the boom period have led to tougher and retrospective revisions of contracts to providers of renewable energy reducing returns considerably . In being one of the first-to-market countries , Spain faces the challenge of powerful competitors from countries such as Denmark , Germany and China and ironically a cheaper and more mature renewable energy sector which Spain itself helped to pioneer . In 2015 solar power suddenly demonstrated a possible way through the impasse . The continued fall in prices for solar systems and Spain 's abundant sunshine led to prices for solar power reaching grid price parity . Suddenly there was the potential for sustained and spontaneous growth in solar installations in Spain as households and producers could produce power more economically . However the Spanish government introduced what has been dubbed the world 's first `` sun tax '' on solar installations making them economically less viable as well as draconian fines ( up to 60 million Euros ) for anyone not complying with the tax . The tax has proved highly controversial . On the one hand the government has argued that those generating their own power still rely on the national grid for power backup and so should be liable for contributing to the cost . On the other hand , the solar industry has argued that the government is simply trying to protect the centralised established power producers whose revenues would be threatened by this competitive solar threat . Environmentalists have criticised the tax for artificially blocking Spain from continuing its long standing movement to renewable energy production . Whatever the merits of both arguments , the controversy can only become more heightened as the price of solar energy continues to fall and if PV solar power installed capacity in Spain were to continue sliding down the EU league from 12th position in 2014 ( 102.9 kW per 1000 inhabitants ) . In the same year in terms of wind energy production Spain was much stronger in 3rd position ( 495 kW per 1000 inhabitants ) .", "Ecometrics Ecometrics is the quantitative analysis of economic , environmental , and societal systems based on the concurrent development of empirical theory , related by appropriate methods of inference in attempts to create more sustainable systems . Broadly defined , Ecometrics is a way to evaluate if an activity is contributing to more sustainable systems of production and consumption . Ecometrics is a system of statistical extrapolation and interpolation that uses principles of resource management in economic and environmental studies to analyze trends in consumption . With a comprehensive understanding of ecometrics , and thereby an understanding of the impacts of specific conscious or conventional opportunity costs , agents within economic systems can cause measurable change for the triple bottom line . The term was originally trademarked by Interface Global , a corporation founded by Ray Anderson . The parameters that cause change are often population , technology , transportation , consumption , public conscious , non-renewable or renewable resources , location , labor conditions , transportation and wealth . Ecometrics is used in labeling programs such as the US EPA Fuel Economy and Environment Label to determine the environmental and financial advantages of purchasing one car over another . There are many applications of Ecometrics for Environmental Impact Calculators , infographics , and for political analysis . Because the parameters of ecometrics vary drastically for any activity , the applications of its resulting measurements are sometimes unilateral . Applied ecometrics exposes the complexity of making sustainable decisions , especially given other humanitarian goals such as third world economic development . In this way ecometrics shows any choice within consumption and production systems as wicked problems . An instance of ecometrics is if a restaurant is determining whether to use an electric hand dryer over paper towels , they must determine : The cost of both How much energy the electric dryer would consume , and to what degree the energy is renewable . How long the dryer would last . If the towels were produced using renewable energy and resources , and to what extent they are able to be recycled without inferring greater cost to the environment ( not using further energy or chemicals ) . The cost of continuously purchasing paper towels throughout the business 's existence . Maintenance labor to replace the towel dispenser . If this restaurant is located in an area with great solar potential , it is likely that a hand dryer could encourage for more solar infrastructure by being an additional load . If it was incredibly far from a paper recycling center , and the potentially recycled material is likely to be downcycled , there would be further impetus to use a hand dryer . In addition to these considerations , the decider must choose how much they are willing to pay for the environment . In the case that has been built , if the hand dryer is to cost more , they must decide if he is willing to take responsibility by preventing the paper waste that would have been produced by buying the hand dryer and necessary energy . In this case as in many the purchaser enables development and life for other members of all trophic levels within his economic system through his purchasing power . The decisions of consumer agents cause change for the world , and in analyzing the comprehensive impact of individuals and societal practices ; ecometrics quantitatively defines sustainable development . As there are diverse environmental and economic parameters , there are numerous unique case studies for ecometric application . The cases that are discussed here are libraries , agricultural food systems , and labeling programs . They model material cycles , energy cycles , and environmental parameter systems respectively . Levels of Magnification play a role in each as scalars in the consumption cycles . Both cycles show the need for more efficient production and consumption cycles for material and energy resources , as well sources for friction in consumer cycles .", "Renewable energy in the Netherlands Despite the historic usage of wind power to drain water and grind grain , the Netherlands today lags behind most EU countries in the production of energy from renewable sources . The leading renewable sources in the country are biomass , wind , solar and both geothermal and aerothermal power ( mostly from ground source and air source heat pumps ) . In 2014 , the Netherlands produced only 5.5 % of its total energy from renewables , a small rise from 3.7 % in 2010 and just 1 % in 1990 . Among the EU countries , only Malta and Luxembourg had lower percentages . The low take up of renewable energy may be partially explained by the flat and often sub-sea level landscape and subsequent limits to hydropower resources , although hydro poor resource countries such as Denmark have still managed to make renewables the focus of their energy needs . In 2015 , Dutch wind turbines had a total nameplate capacity of 3,431 MW . Wind and solar power installations had a record breaking year during 2015 and this may move the Netherlands closer to its target of 37 % of electricity production coming from renewables by 2020 . A number of large offshore windfarms have either come online recently ( Gemini wind farm ) or have been granted authorisation ( Borsellee 1 and 2 , and Borsellee 3 and 4 wind farms ) . Most of the tiny contribution made to electricity generation by hydroelectricity came from three power plants . A large part of the renewable electricity sold in the Netherlands comes from Norway , a country which generates almost all its electricity from hydropower plants . In the Netherlands , household consumers can choose to buy renewable electricity . Since 2008 , the amount of renewable energy used by household users has been increasing , rising from 38 % in 2008 to 41 % by 2009 . and up to 44 % by mid 2010 . One area in which the Netherlands is a relative leader is in the adoption of electric plug in vehicles . In 2015 PEV vehicles in the Netherlands represented 9.74 % of car sales , making it the world 's second highest share after Norway . Electric vehicles are able to run on renewable electricity with zero emissions and have the potential to provide grid power storage facilities . An interesting source of heat recovery used in the Netherlands is sourced from freshly milked milk , or warm milk . However at 0.3 % of total renewable energy production ( 2010 figures ) this source is not likely to accelerate energy transition in the country . Warm milk is still not mentioned in the EU Renewable Energy Directive , nor in international energy statistics and so is not included is gross final consumption figures . It does however provide Dutch farmers with plenty of hot water .", "Power take-off A power take-off or power takeoff ( PTO ) is any of several methods for taking power from a power source , such as a running engine , and transmitting it to an application such as an attached implement or separate machines . Most commonly , it is a system comprising a splined output shaft on a tractor or truck , designed so that a PTO shaft , a kind of drive shaft , can be easily connected and disconnected , and a corresponding input shaft on the application end . The power take-off allows implements to draw energy from the engine . Semi-permanently mounted power take-offs can also be found on industrial and marine engines . These applications typically use a drive shaft and bolted joint to transmit power to a secondary implement or accessory . In the case of a marine application , such shafts may be used to power fire pumps . In aircraft applications , such an accessory drive may be used in conjunction with a constant speed drive . Jet aircraft have four types of PTO units : internal gearbox , external gearbox , radial driveshaft , and bleed air , which are used to power engine accessories . In some cases , aircraft power take-off systems also provide for putting power into the engine during engine start . See also Coffman starter", "Global governance Global governance or world governance is a movement towards political cooperation among transnational actors , aimed at negotiating responses to problems that affect more than one state or region . Institutions of global governance -- the United Nations , the International Criminal Court , the World Bank , etc. -- tend to have limited or demarcated power to enforce compliance . The modern question of world governance exists in the context of globalization and globalizing regimes of power : politically , economically and culturally . In response to the acceleration of interdependence on a worldwide scale , both between human societies and between humankind and the biosphere , the term `` global governance '' may also be used to name the process of designating laws , rules , or regulations intended for a global scale . Global governance is not a singular system . There is no `` world government '' but the many different regimes of global governance do have commonalities :", "Northwest National Marine Renewable Energy Center Northwest National Marine Renewable Energy Center ( NNMREC ) is a partnership between Oregon State University and the University of Washington . Oregon State University focuses on wave energy . University of Washington focuses on tidal energy . Both universities collaborate with each other and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory on research , education , outreach , and engagement . Partners in NNMREC include : National Renewable Energy Laboratory Pacific Northwest National Laboratory Public Utility District of Snohomish County No. 1 BioSonics , Inc. . Electric Power Research Institute Verdant Power Pacific Northwest Economic Region Sound & Sea Technology National Marine Fisheries Service Washington Department of Ecology", "Astonfield Astonfield Renewables Resources is a renewable energy company that builds , owns , and operates utility-scale solar power plants in emerging markets . Headquartered in Mumbai , its operational focus on India is supported by additional offices in New Delhi and Kolkata .", "Solar power in Nevada Solar power in Nevada has been growing , due to a Renewable Portfolio Standard which requires 20 % renewable energy by 2015 , and 5 % from solar power . Nevada , at the end of 2007 , became home to then-largest photovoltaic power plant in the world , the 14.2 megawatt ( peak ) Nellis Solar Power Plant , which , by selling the renewable energy credits ( RECs ) , was able to provide Nellis Air Force Base with electricity for only 2.2 cents/kWh , compared to the 9 cents they are paying Nevada Power . Since then many larger solar power stations have been built in Nevada , with more proposed . Nevada has vast deserts , and is capable of providing a great amount of solar power . The Nellis power plant only occupies 140 acre of land .", "Nuclear energy policy of the United States The nuclear energy policy of the United States developed within two main periods , from 1954 -- 1992 and 2005 -- 2010 . The first period saw the ongoing building of nuclear power plants , the enactment of numerous pieces of legislation such as the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974 , and the implementation of countless policies which have guided the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Department of Energy in the regulation and growth of nuclear energy companies . This includes , but is not limited to , regulations of nuclear facilities , waste storage , decommissioning of weapons-grade materials , uranium mining , and funding for nuclear companies , along with an increase in power plant building . Both legislation and bureaucratic regulations of nuclear energy in the United States have been shaped by scientific research , private industries ' wishes , and public opinion , which has shifted over time and as a result of different nuclear disasters . In the United States , there have been numerous legislative actions and policies implemented on a federal and state level to both regulate atomic energy and promote its expansion . Growth of nuclear power in the US ended in the 1980s , however the Energy Policy Act of 2005 was passed in 2005 which aimed to jump start the nuclear industry through financial loan-guarantees for expansion and re-outfitting of nuclear plants . The success of this legislation is still undetermined , since all 17 companies that applied for funding are still in the planning phases on their 26 proposed building applications . Some of the proposed sites have even scrapped their building plans , and many think the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster further dampen the success of expansion of nuclear energy in the United States . In 2008 , the Energy Information Administration projected almost 17 gigawatts of new nuclear power reactors by 2030 , but in its 2011 projections , it `` scaled back the 2030 projection to just five '' . Following the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster , public support for building nuclear power plants in the U.S. dropped to 43 % , slightly lower than it was immediately after the Three Mile Island accident in 1979 , according to a CBS News poll . A survey conducted in April 2011 found that 64 percent of Americans opposed the construction of new nuclear reactors . A survey sponsored by the Nuclear Energy Institute , conducted in September 2011 , found that `` 62 percent of respondents said they favor the use of nuclear energy as one of the ways to provide electricity in the United States , with 35 percent opposed '' .", "Kardashev scale The Kardashev scale is a method of measuring a civilization 's level of technological advancement , based on the amount of energy a civilization is able to use for communication . The scale has three designated categories : A -- also called planetary civilization -- can use and store all of the energy which reaches its planet from its parent star . A can harness the total energy of its planet 's parent star ( the most popular hypothetical concept being the Dyson sphere -- a device which would encompass the entire star and transfer its energy to the planet ( s ) ) . A can control energy on the scale of its entire host galaxy . The scale is hypothetical , and regards energy consumption on a cosmic scale . It was proposed in 1964 by the Soviet astronomer Nikolai Kardashev . Various extensions of the scale have since been proposed , including a wider range of power levels ( types 0 , IV and V ) and the use of metrics other than pure power .", "Deregulation of the Texas electricity market Electricity deregulation in Texas , approved by Texas Senate Bill 7 on January 1 , 2002 , calls for the creation of the Electric Utility Restructuring Legislative Oversight Committee to oversee implementation of the bill . According to the law , deregulation would be phased in over several years . As a result , 85 % of Texas power consumers ( those served by a company not owned by a municipality or a utility cooperative ) can choose their electricity service from a variety of retail electric providers ( REPs ) , including the incumbent utility . The incumbent utility in the area still owns and maintains the local power lines ( and is the company to call in the event of a power outage ) and is not subject to deregulation . Customers served by cooperatives or municipal utilities can choose an alternate REP only if the utility has `` opted in '' to deregulation ; to date , only the area served by the Nueces Electric Cooperative has chosen to opt in . Since 2002 , approximately 85 % of commercial and industrial consumers have switched power providers at least once . Approximately 40 % of residential consumers in deregulated areas have switched from the former incumbent provider to a competitive REP. REPs providing service in the state include : TriEagle Energy , Acacia Energy , Ambit Energy , Breeze Energy , Clearview Energy , Green Mountain Energy , Conservice Energy , Iluminar Energy , Now Power , Snap Energy , Entrust Energy , Bounce Energy , Champion Energy , Shnye Energy , Cirro Energy , Direct Energy , Dynowatt , First Texas Energy Corporation , Frontier Utilities , Gexa Energy , Glacial Energy , Just Energy , Kinetic Energy , Mega Energy , APG&E , Adjacent Energy , Spark Energy , StarTex Power , Stream Energy , Tech Electricity , Texas Power , TXU Energy , XOOM Energy and 4Change Energy .", "Solar power in Mississippi Solar power in Mississippi is an underutilized generation method ; however , large changes are expected by 2016 . The state reached only 1 MW of grid-connected solar electricity in 2013 . Rooftop photovoltaics can provide 31.2 % of all electricity used in Mississippi from 11,700 MW of solar panels . In 2011 , the Sierra Club sued the U.S. Department of Energy which was providing investment in a coal gasification plant being built by Mississippi Power . In 2012 Mississippi Power had only 0.05 % renewables in its power mix . In a settlement in 2014 , Mississippi Power agreed to allow net metering , and to offer 100 MW of wind or solar power purchase agreements . Mississippi is one of only two states , along with Florida , to have no potential for standard commercial wind power , having no locations that would provide at least 30 % capacity factor , although 30,000 MW of 100 meter high turbines would operate at 25 % capacity factor . Georgia Power which provides energy in southeast Mississippi has started a program to contract for 210 MW of solar power in 2014 , possibly increasing to 525 MW . 100 MW would be from small scale distributed installations . Offering net metering is required by federal law , but Mississippi is one of only four states to not have adopted a statewide policy on net metering , which means it needs to be negotiated with the utility .", "Cubic mile of oil The cubic mile of oil ( CMO ) is a unit of energy . It was created by Hew Crane of SRI International to aid in public understanding of global-scale energy consumption and resources . Significant sources of energy include oil , coal , natural gas , nuclear , hydroelectric , and biomass ( primarily the burning of wood ) . Other energy sources include geothermal , wind , photovoltaic , and solar thermal . The various energy units commonly used to measure these sources ( e.g. , joules , BTUs , kilowatt hours , therms ) are only somewhat familiar to the general public , and their relationships can be confusing . These common energy units are sized for everyday activities ( a joule is the energy required to lift a small apple one metre vertically ) . For regional , national , and global scales , larger energy units , such as the exajoule , the billion barrels of oil equivalent ( BBOE ) and the quad are used . Derived by multiplying the small common units by large powers of ten these larger units pose additional conceptual difficulties for many citizens . Crane intended the cubic mile of oil to provide a visualizable scale for comparing the contributions of these diverse energy components as a percentage of total worldwide , energy use . The global economy consumes approximately 30 billion barrels of oil ( 1.26 trillion U.S. gallons or 4.75 trillion litres ) each year . Numbers of this magnitude are difficult to conceive by most people . The volume occupied by one trillion U.S. gallons is about one cubic mile . Crane felt that a cubic mile would be an easier concept for the general public than a trillion gallons .", "Energy in Greece Energy production in Greece is dominated by the state owned Public Power Corporation ( known mostly by its acronym ΔΕΗ , or in English DEI ) . In 2009 DEI supplied for 85.6 % of all electric energy demand in Greece , while the number fell to 77.3 % in 2010 . Almost half ( 48 % ) of DEI 's power output is generated using lignite , a drop from the 51.6 % in 2009 . 12 % of Greece 's electricity comes from Hydroelectric power plants and another 20 % from natural gas . Between 2009 and 2010 , independent companies ' energy production increased by 56 % , from 2,709 Gigawatt hour in 2009 to 4,232 GWh in 2010 . In 2008 renewable energy accounted for 8 % of the country 's total energy consumption , a rise from the 7.2 % it accounted for in 2006 , but still below the EU average of 10 % in 2008 . 10 % of the country 's renewable energy comes from solar power , while most comes from biomass and waste recycling . In line with the European Commission 's Directive on Renewable Energy , Greece aims to get 18 % of its energy from renewable sources by 2020 . In 2015 , according to the independent power transmission operator in Greece more than 20 % of the electricity in Greece has been produced from renewable energy sources and hydroelectric powerplants . This percentage in April reached 50 % . The same trend was the case also for 2016 . Greece currently does not have any nuclear power plants in operation , however in 2009 the Academy of Athens suggested that research in the possibility of Greek nuclear power plants begin .", "Regional climate change initiatives in the United States Twenty-eight states have climate action plans and nine have statewide emission targets . The states of California and New Mexico have committed most recently to emission reductions targets , joining New Jersey , Maine , Massachusetts , Connecticut , New York , Washington and Oregon . Regional initiatives can be more efficient than programs at the state level , as they encompass a broader geographical area , eliminate duplication of work , and create more uniform regulatory environments . Over the past few years , a number of regional initiatives have begun developing systems to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from power plants , increase renewable energy generation , track renewable energy credits , and research and establish baselines for carbon sequestration .", "Skybuilt Power Skybuilt Power , a company based in Arlington , Virginia , has received some press attention for the use of its products by the US Department of Defense and CIA . The company designs portable power stations and devices that can be used in harsh environments to provide efficient renewable energy . Its products draw upon a combination of solar and wind power , fuel cells , batteries and diesel generators to portably generate energy . The company claims its products can save up to 95 % on fuel costs in the field . The company 's main products include : the SkyStation , a complete power station that can be set up in rugged climates the SkySkid , which can be transported easily via helicopter or forklift the SkyTrailer , which directly provides energy to military grade trailers the SkyCase and SkyPAKs , which are man-portable renewable energy generators In-Q-Tel , a CIA-funded venture capital fund , is an investor in the company . Because many war casualties are due to attacks on fuel convoys and a strategic shift toward greater operational energy-efficiency , the US Department of Defense has increasingly begun use these types of technologies ." ]

[ "Attribution of recent climate change Attribution of recent climate change is the effort to scientifically ascertain mechanisms responsible for recent climate changes on Earth , commonly known as ` global warming ' . The effort has focused on changes observed during the period of instrumental temperature record , when records are most reliable ; particularly in the last 50 years , when human activity has grown fastest and observations of the troposphere have become available . The dominant mechanisms are anthropogenic , i.e. , the result of human activity . They are : increasing atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases global changes to land surface , such as deforestation increasing atmospheric concentrations of aerosols . There are also natural mechanisms for variation including climate oscillations , changes in solar activity , and volcanic activity . According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) , it is `` extremely likely '' that human influence was the dominant cause of global warming between 1951 and 2010 . The IPCC defines `` extremely likely '' as indicating a probability of 95 to 100 % , based on an expert assessment of all the available evidence . Multiple lines of evidence support attribution of recent climate change to human activities : A basic physical understanding of the climate system : greenhouse gas concentrations have increased and their warming properties are well-established . Historical estimates of past climate changes suggest that the recent changes in global surface temperature are unusual . Computer-based climate models are unable to replicate the observed warming unless human greenhouse gas emissions are included . Natural forces alone ( such as solar and volcanic activity ) can not explain the observed warming . The IPCC 's attribution of recent global warming to human activities is a view shared by the scientific community , and is also supported by 196 other scientific organizations worldwide ( see also : scientific opinion on climate change ) .", "Scientific consensus on climate change There is currently a strong scientific consensus that the Earth is warming and that this warming is mainly caused by human activities. This consensus is supported by various studies of scientists' opinions and by position statements of scientific organizations, many of which explicitly agree with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) synthesis reports. Nearly all actively publishing climate scientists (97–98%) support the consensus on anthropogenic climate change, and the remaining 2% of contrarian studies either cannot be replicated or contain errors.", "IPCC Fifth Assessment Report The Fifth Assessment Report ( AR5 ) of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) is the fifth in a series of such reports . The IPCC was established in 1988 by the World Meteorological Organization ( WMO ) and the United Nations Environment Programme ( UNEP ) to assess scientific , technical and socio-economic information concerning climate change , its potential effects and options for adaptation and mitigation . The Fifth Assessment Report was finalized in 2014 . As had been the case in the past , the outline of the AR5 was developed through a scoping process which involved climate change experts from all relevant disciplines and users of IPCC reports ; in particular representatives from governments . Governments and organizations involved in the Fourth Report were asked to submit comments and observations in writing with the submissions analysed by the panel . The report was delivered in stages , starting with Working Group I 's report on the physical science basis , based on 9,200 peer-reviewed studies . The summaries for policy makers were released on 27 September 2013 for the first report , on 31 March 2014 for the second report entitled `` Impacts , Adaptation , and Vulnerability '' , and on 14 April 2014 for the third report entitled `` Mitigation of Climate Change '' . The Synthesis Report was released on 2 November 2014 , in time to pave the way for negotiations on reducing carbon emissions at the UN Climate Change Conference in Paris during late 2015 .", "Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) is a scientific and intergovernmental body under the auspices of the United Nations , set up at the request of member governments , dedicated to the task of providing the world with an objective , scientific view of climate change and its political and economic impacts . It was first established in 1988 by two United Nations organizations , the World Meteorological Organization ( WMO ) and the United Nations Environment Programme ( UNEP ) , and later endorsed by the United Nations General Assembly through Resolution 43/53 . Membership of the IPCC is open to all members of the WMO and UNEP . The IPCC produces reports that support the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change ( UNFCCC ) , which is the main international treaty on climate change . The ultimate objective of the UNFCCC is to `` stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic -LSB- i.e. , human-induced -RSB- interference with the climate system '' . IPCC reports cover `` the scientific , technical and socio-economic information relevant to understanding the scientific basis of risk of human-induced climate change , its potential impacts and options for adaptation and mitigation . '' The IPCC does not carry out its own original research , nor does it do the work of monitoring climate or related phenomena itself . The IPCC bases its assessment on the published literature , which includes peer-reviewed and non-peer-reviewed sources . Thousands of scientists and other experts contribute ( on a voluntary basis , without payment from the IPCC ) to writing and reviewing reports , which are then reviewed by governments . IPCC reports contain a `` Summary for Policymakers '' , which is subject to line-by-line approval by delegates from all participating governments . Typically this involves the governments of more than 120 countries . The IPCC provides an internationally accepted authority on climate change , producing reports which have the agreement of leading climate scientists and the consensus of participating governments . The 2007 Nobel Peace Prize was shared , in equal parts , between the IPCC and Al Gore ." ]

[ "The Real Global Warming Disaster The Real Global Warming Disaster ( Is the Obsession with ` Climate Change ' Turning Out to Be the Most Costly Scientific Blunder in History ? ) is a 2009 book by English journalist and author Christopher Booker in which he asserts that global warming can not be attributed to humans , and then alleges how the scientific opinion on climate change was formulated . From a standpoint of environmental scepticism , Booker seeks to combine an analysis of the science of global warming with the consequences of political decisions to reduce emissions and claims that , as governments prepare to make radical changes in energy policies , the scientific evidence for global warming is becoming increasingly challenged . He asserts that global warming is not supported by a significant number of climate scientists , and criticises how the UN 's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) presents evidence and data , in particular citing its reliance on potentially inaccurate global climate models to make temperature projections . Booker concludes , `` it begins to look very possible that the nightmare vision of our planet being doomed '' may be imaginary , and that , if so , `` it will turn out to be one of the most expensive , destructive , and foolish mistakes the human race has ever made '' . The book 's claims were strongly criticised by science writer Philip Ball , but the book was praised by several columnists . The book opens with an erroneous quotation , which Booker subsequently acknowledged and promised to correct in future editions . The book was Amazon UK 's fourth bestselling environment book of the decade 2000 -- 10 .", "IPCC Third Assessment Report The IPCC Third Assessment Report , Climate Change 2001 , is an assessment of available scientific and socio-economic information on climate change by the IPCC . The IPCC was established in 1988 by the United Nations Environment Programme ( UNEP ) and the UN 's World Meteorological Organization ( WMO ) '' ... to assess scientific , technical and socio-economic information relevant for the understanding of climate change , its potential impacts and options for adaptation and mitigation . '' -LSB- IPCC website -RSB- The Third Assessment Report ( TAR ) is the third of a series of assessments ; it has been superseded by the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report ( AR4 ) , released in 2007 . Statements of the IPCC or information from the TAR are often used as a reference showing a scientific consensus on the subject of global warming , although a small minority of scientists take issue with the UN assessments ( see also Global warming controversy and Politics of global warming ) .", "Greenhouse gas A greenhouse gas ( abbrev . GHG ) is a gas in an atmosphere that absorbs and emits radiation within the thermal infrared range . This process is the fundamental cause of the greenhouse effect . The primary greenhouse gases in Earth 's atmosphere are water vapor , carbon dioxide , methane , nitrous oxide , and ozone . Without greenhouse gases , the average temperature of Earth 's surface would be about -18 ° C , rather than the present average of 15 ° C . In the Solar System , the atmospheres of Venus , Mars and Titan also contain gases that cause a greenhouse effect . Human activities since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution ( taken as the year 1750 ) have produced a 40 % increase in the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide , from 280 ppm in 1750 to 406 ppm in early 2017 . This increase has occurred despite the uptake of a large portion of the emissions by various natural `` sinks '' involved in the carbon cycle . Anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions ( i.e. , emissions produced by human activities ) come from combustion of fossil fuels , principally coal , oil , and natural gas , along with deforestation , soil erosion and animal agriculture . It has been estimated that if greenhouse gas emissions continue at the present rate , Earth 's surface temperature could exceed historical values as early as 2047 , with potentially harmful effects on ecosystems , biodiversity and the livelihoods of people worldwide . Recent estimates suggest that on the current emissions trajectory the Earth could pass a threshold of 2 ° C global warming , which the United Nations ' IPCC designated as the upper limit to avoid `` dangerous '' global warming , by 2036 .", "New Zealand Climate Science Coalition The New Zealand Climate Science Coalition is an organisation based in New Zealand which has the aim of refuting what it claims are unfounded claims about anthropogenic global warming .", "An Appeal to Reason An Appeal to Reason : A Cool Look at Global Warming is a 2008 book by Nigel Lawson . In it , Lawson argues that global warming is happening , but that the science is far from settled . He opposes the scientific consensus as summarized by the IPCC . He also argues that warming will bring both benefits and negative consequences , and that the impact of these changes will be relatively moderate rather than apocalyptic . He criticizes politicians and scientists who predict catastrophe unless urgent action is taken , and he calls for gradual adaptation instead . The book has been criticized by some climatologists , including IPCC authors Jean Palutikof and Robert Watson .", "Effects of global warming The effects of global warming are the environmental and social changes caused ( directly or indirectly ) by human emissions of greenhouse gases . There is a scientific consensus that climate change is occurring , and that human activities are the primary driver . Many impacts of climate change have already been observed , including glacier retreat , changes in the timing of seasonal events ( e.g. , earlier flowering of plants ) , and changes in agricultural productivity . Future effects of climate change will vary depending on climate change policies and social development . The two main policies to address climate change are reducing human greenhouse gas emissions ( climate change mitigation ) and adapting to the impacts of climate change . Geoengineering is another policy option . Near-term climate change policies could significantly affect long-term climate change impacts . Stringent mitigation policies might be able to limit global warming ( in 2100 ) to around 2 ° C or below , relative to pre-industrial levels . Without mitigation , increased energy demand and extensive use of fossil fuels might lead to global warming of around 4 ° C. Higher magnitudes of global warming would be more difficult to adapt to , and would increase the risk of negative impacts .", "Copenhagen Diagnosis The Copenhagen Diagnosis is a report written by twenty-six climate scientists from eight countries . It was published in 2009 and was a summary of the peer-reviewed literature to date . The Copenhagen Diagnosis is a follow-up of the previous Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 's Working Group 1 Report . The studies summarized , which date back to the cutoff point of the Working Group 1 Report , are those that authors viewed most relevant to the discussions at the 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference . The Copenhagen Diagnosis served as the midpoint between IPCC -- AR4 and IPCC-AR5 . In total , the Copenhagen Diagnosis contains eight main sections , which are : Surging Greenhouse gas emissions Since 1990 , the combined global emission of carbon dioxide from various origins , such as cement production , deforestation , and fossil fuel burning , has increased 27 % . Human-induced warming Studies conducted by Lee and Rind show that only 10 % of global warming over the past century was due to the Sun . Acceleration of melting ice caps Glaciers and melting ice caps can contribute to about 8/10ths of a meter to global sea level rise . Rapid Arctic sea-ice decline According to simulations run by NCAR Climate System Model version 3 , the Arctic summer is expected to be ice-free by 2040 . Underestimation of changing sea levels In contrast to previous IPCC , the rate of sea level rise ( 3.4 mm/yr over the past 15 years ) has increased around 80 % faster than previously predicted . Damage due to inaction A region of permafrost , called the Yedoma , stores about 500 Gt of CO2 and , once released due to rising global temperatures , will increase global temperatures even more . Turning point must come soon The largest climate science conference , held in 2009 , has stated , `` Temperature rises above 2 ° C will be difficult for contemporary societies to cope with , and are likely to cause major societal and environmental disruptions through the rest of the century and beyond . '' The Future By 2100 , global mean air-temperature is projected to warm by 2 ° C -- 7 ° C above pre-industrial levels .", "Reasons for concern The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) has organized many of the risks of climate change into five `` reasons for concern . '' The reasons for concern show that these risks increase with increases in the Earth 's global mean temperature ( i.e. , global warming ) . The IPCC 's five reasons for concern are : threats to endangered species and unique systems , damages from extreme climate events , effects that fall most heavily on developing countries and the poor within countries , global aggregate impacts ( i.e. , various measurements of total social , economic and ecological impacts ) , and large-scale high-impact events . The five reasons for concern are described in more detail below . The following descriptions are based on information from the IPCC 's Third ( TAR ) and Fourth Assessment Reports ( AR4 ) , published in 2001 and 2007 , respectively .", "Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5 °C The Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5 °C (SR15) was published by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) on 8 October 2018. The report, approved in Incheon, South Korea, includes over 6,000 scientific references, and was prepared by 91 authors from 40 countries. In December 2015, the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference called for the report. The report was delivered at the United Nations' 48th session of the IPCC to \"deliver the authoritative, scientific guide for governments\" to deal with climate change.Its key finding is that meeting a 1.5 °C (2.7 °F) target is possible but would require \"deep emissions reductions\" and \"rapid, far-reaching and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society.\" Furthermore, the report finds that \"limiting global warming to 1.5 °C compared with 2 °C would reduce challenging impacts on ecosystems, human health and well-being\" and that a 2 °C temperature increase would exacerbate extreme weather, rising sea levels and diminishing Arctic sea ice, coral bleaching, and loss of ecosystems, among other impacts. SR15 also has modelling that shows that, for global warming to be limited to 1.5 °C, \"Global net human-caused emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) would need to fall by about 45 percent from 2010 levels by 2030, reaching 'net zero' around 2050.\" The reduction of emissions by 2030 and its associated changes and challenges, including rapid decarbonisation, was a key focus on much of the reporting which was repeated through the world.", "Surveys of scientists' views on climate change Surveys of scientists ' views on climate change - with a focus on human-caused or anthropogenic global warming ( AGW ) - have been undertaken since the 1990s . A 2016 paper ( which was co-authored by Naomi Oreskes , Peter Doran , William Anderegg , Bart Verheggen , Ed Maibach , J. Stuart Carlton and John Cook , and which was based on a half a dozen independent studies by the authors ) concluded that `` the finding of 97 % consensus -LSB- that humans are causing recent global warming -RSB- in published climate research is robust and consistent with other surveys of climate scientists and peer-reviewed studies . ''", "Vincent R. Gray __ NOTOC __ Vincent Richard Gray ( born 24 March 1922 ) is a New Zealand-based chemist , and a founder of the New Zealand Climate Science Coalition . Born in London on 24 March 1922 , Gray was awarded a PhD in physical chemistry by the University of Cambridge after studies on incendiary bomb fluids made from aluminium soaps . In New Zealand , he was the first Director of Building Research and later , Chief Chemist of the Coal Research Association . He has also published many articles and reports , seven in peer-reviewed journals . After retirement , he had four and a half years in China and when he returned became a critic of the claim that climate was harmed by human emissions of greenhouse gases . He has commented on every publication of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change , with 1,898 comments on the 2007 Report . He has published critical studies on all of the reports including a book `` The Greenhouse Delusion : A Critique of ` Climate Change 2001 ' '' . He has published `` Confessions of a Climate Sceptic '' He is sceptical of the anthropogenic global warming : `` The two main `` scientific '' claims of the IPCC are the claim that `` the globe is warming '' and `` Increases in carbon dioxide emissions are responsible '' . Evidence for both of these claims is fatally flawed . '' Gray has called for the IPCC to be abolished , claiming it is `` fundamentally corrupt '' due to his conclusion that for significant parts of the work of the IPCC , the data collection and scientific methods employed are unsound and that the IPCC resists all efforts to try to discuss or rectify these problems . Gray was featured on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation program Counterpoint in a debate entitled `` Nine Lies about Global Warming '' , and was interviewed in a featured story in the New Zealand Herald as a `` prominent '' global warming skeptic . In 2002 , Gray also published a book , The Greenhouse Delusion : A Critique of `` Climate Change 2001 '' . In it , Gray argues `` that the quality and reliability of the IPCC 's measurements are poor , the system of determining how much weight should be attributed to different influences on the earth 's temperature is faulty , and the validity of evidence derived from computer modeling is questionable . ''", "Seasonal Attribution Project The Seasonal Attribution Project is a Climateprediction.net sub-project , with support from the WWF . It runs a high resolution model in order to try to determine the extent to which extreme weather events are attributable to human-induced global warming . The project did cease giving out more work , however there has been a project extension to try a fourth sea surface temperature pattern . Current work will still be accepted and used for collaborations and possibly revisions of papers during the review process . A further extension will start soon .", "IPCC Fourth Assessment Report Climate Change 2007 , the Fourth Assessment Report ( AR4 ) of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) , is the fourth in a series of reports intended to assess scientific , technical and socio-economic information concerning climate change , its potential effects , and options for adaptation and mitigation . The report is the largest and most detailed summary of the climate change situation ever undertaken , produced by thousands of authors , editors , and reviewers from dozens of countries , citing over 6,000 peer-reviewed scientific studies . It supersedes the Third Assessment Report ( 2001 ) , and is superseded by the Fifth Assessment Report . The headline findings of the report were : `` warming of the climate system is unequivocal '' , and `` most of the observed increase in global average temperatures since the mid-20th century is very likely due to the observed increase in anthropogenic greenhouse gas concentrations . ''", "History of climate change science The history of the scientific discovery of climate change began in the early 19th century when ice ages and other natural changes in paleoclimate were first suspected and the natural greenhouse effect first identified . In the late 19th century , scientists first argued that human emissions of greenhouse gases could change the climate . Many other theories of climate change were advanced , involving forces from volcanism to solar variation . In the 1960s , the warming effect of carbon dioxide gas became increasingly convincing . Some scientists also pointed out that human activities that generated atmospheric aerosols ( e.g. , `` pollution '' ) could have cooling effects as well . During the 1970s , scientific opinion increasingly favored the warming viewpoint . By the 1990s , as a result of improving fidelity of computer models and observational work confirming the Milankovitch theory of the ice ages , a consensus position formed : greenhouse gases were deeply involved in most climate changes and human caused emissions were bringing discernible global warming . Since the 1990s , scientific research on climate change has included multiple disciplines and has expanded . Research has expanded our understanding of causal relations , links with historic data and ability to model climate change numerically . Research during this period has been summarized in the Assessment Reports by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change . Climate change is a significant and lasting change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns over periods ranging from decades to millions of years . It may be a change in average weather conditions , or in the distribution of weather around the average conditions ( such as more or fewer extreme weather events ) . Climate change is caused by factors that include oceanic processes ( such as oceanic circulation ) , biotic processes , variations in solar radiation received by Earth , plate tectonics and volcanic eruptions , and human-induced alterations of the natural world . The latter effect is currently causing global warming , and `` climate change '' is often used to describe human-specific impacts .", "Effects of global warming on humans Climate change has brought about possibly permanent alterations to Earth 's geological , biological and ecological systems . These changes have led to the emergence of large-scale environmental hazards to human health , such as extreme weather , ozone depletion , increased danger of wildland fires , loss of biodiversity , stresses to food-producing systems and the global spread of infectious diseases . The World Health Organization ( WHO ) estimates that 160,000 deaths , since 1950 , are directly attributable to climate change . Many believe this to be a conservative estimate . To date , a neglected aspect of the climate change debate , much less research has been conducted on the impacts of climate change on health , food supply , economic growth , migration , security , societal change , and public goods , such as drinking water , than on the geophysical changes related to global warming . Human impacts can be both negative and positive . Climatic changes in Siberia , for instance , are expected to improve food production and local economic activity , at least in the short to medium term . Numerous studies suggest , however , that the current and future impacts of climate change on human society are and will continue to be overwhelmingly negative . The majority of the adverse effects of climate change are experienced by poor and low-income communities around the world , who have much higher levels of vulnerability to environmental determinants of health , wealth and other factors , and much lower levels of capacity available for coping with environmental change . A report on the global human impact of climate change published by the Global Humanitarian Forum in 2009 , estimated more than 300,000 deaths and about $ 125 billion in economic losses each year , and indicating that most climate change induced mortality is due to worsening floods and droughts in developing countries .", "Global warming conspiracy theory A global warming conspiracy theory invokes claims that scientific consensus on global warming is based on conspiracies to produce false data or suppress dissent . It is one of a number of tactics used in climate change denial to legitimize political controversy disputing this consensus . Global warming conspiracy theorists typically allege that , through worldwide acts of professional and criminal misconduct , the science behind global warming has been invented or distorted for ideological or financial reasons , or both .", "Long-term effects of global warming See also Effects of global warming . The focus of this article is on the effects beyond 2100 . There are expected to be various long-term effects of global warming . Most discussion and research , including that by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) reports , concentrates on the effects of global warming up to 2100 , with only an outline of the effects beyond this .", "Center for the Study of Carbon Dioxide and Global Change The Center for the Study of Carbon Dioxide and Global Change is a 501 ( c ) ( 3 ) non-profit organization based in Tempe , Arizona . The Center produces a weekly online science newsletter called CO2Science . The Center was founded and is run by Craig D. Idso , along with Sherwood B. Idso , his father , and Keith E. Idso , his brother . They came from backgrounds in agriculture and climate . According to the Idsos , they became involved in the global warming controversy through their study of earth 's temperature sensitivity to radiative perturbations and plant responses to elevated CO2 levels and carbon sequestration . The Center sharply disputes the consensus scientific opinion on climate change shown in IPCC assessment reports , and believes that global warming will be beneficial to mankind .", "Journal for Geoclimatic Studies The Journal for Geoclimatic Studies is the name given to a nonexistent journal which published a fabricated global warming study in November 2007 entitled , `` Carbon dioxide production by benthic bacteria : the death of manmade global warming theory ? '' The published study identified the Journal for Geoclimatic Studies as an official publication of Okinawa University 's Institute for Geoclimatic Studies ( The Institute for Geoclimatic Studies is also fraudulent and does not exist ) . The spurious study , ostensibly authored by Daniel Klein and Mandeep J. Gupta of the University of Arizona 's Department of Climatology , and Philip Cooper and Arne FR Jansson at the University of Gothenburg 's Department of Atmospheric Physics , claimed that global warming was not human caused , but the work of carbon-dioxide emitting bacteria based on the ocean floor . The report was circulated by a number of global warming skeptics before discovery that the study authors and university departments identified in the publication did not exist . The website where the study was published was taken down once the deception was revealed , and its ownership was traced to David Thorpe , a science journalist and web designer based in the United Kingdom . The true author of the article is purportedly a man identifying himself as Mark Cox , who has claimed the hoax was designed to expose the gullibility and scientific illiteracy of global warming skeptics .", "Hurricane Katrina and global warming The tremendous destruction caused by recent Atlantic Ocean tropical cyclones , such as Hurricanes Katrina , Wilma , and Sandy caused a substantial upsurge in interest in the subject of global warming by news media and the wider public , and concerns that global climatic change may have played a significant role in those events . Time Magazine , for example , published an article titled , `` Is Global Warming Fueling Katrina ? '' -- however , the article itself addressed hurricanes in general , rather than Katrina specifically , and was inconclusive . Shortly after the hurricane , former Boston Globe reporter Ross Gelbspan wrote an op-ed piece for the Globe titled , `` Katrina 's Real Name '' , declaring that the hurricane 's `` real name is global warming . '' Gelbspan went on to assert : `` Although Katrina began as a relatively small hurricane that glanced off south Florida , it was supercharged with extraordinary intensity by the relatively blistering sea surface temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico . '' Gelbspan did not single out Katrina from other recent storms in that regard ; in the article he went on to attribute other major weather events over the preceding year to global warming , including a blizzard in Los Angeles , high winds in Scandinavia , wildfires in Spain , and a drought centered in Missouri . Britain 's then deputy prime minister , John Prescott , has linked Katrina with global warming , and statements made shortly after the hurricane by Germany 's environment minister , Jürgen Trittin , indicate he believes that global warming is responsible for an increase in the frequency of destructive natural events . Kerry Emanuel had recently published a paper in the journal Nature that found a good correlation between hurricane intensity and sea surface temperatures . Some journalists have claimed Emanuel 's paper concludes that the recent increase in intense Atlantic storms is due to global warming , but Emanuel stated that `` it would be absurd to attribute the Katrina disaster to global warming '' . The Internet blog RealClimate has written that `` there is no way to prove that Katrina either was , or was not , affected by global warming '' .", "The Deniers The Deniers is a 2008 book by Lawrence Solomon , a Canadian environmentalist and writer . Subtitled `` The world-renowned scientists who stood up against global warming hysteria , political persecution , and fraud , '' the book draws attention to a number of scientists and others who , according to Solomon , have advanced arguments against what he calls the `` alarmist '' view of global warming , as presented by Al Gore , the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) , the mainstream media , and others . The book is based on a series of columns Solomon wrote for Canada 's National Post .", "Global cooling Global cooling was a conjecture during the 1970s of imminent cooling of the Earth 's surface and atmosphere culminating in a period of extensive glaciation . This hypothesis had little support in the scientific community , but gained temporary popular attention due to a combination of a slight downward trend of temperatures from the 1940s to the early 1970s and press reports that did not accurately reflect the full scope of the scientific climate literature , which showed a larger and faster-growing body of literature projecting future warming due to greenhouse gas emissions . The current scientific opinion on climate change is that the Earth has not durably cooled , but underwent global warming throughout the 20th century .", "Global dimming Global dimming is the gradual reduction in the amount of global direct irradiance at the Earth 's surface that was observed for several decades after the start of systematic measurements in the 1950s . The effect varies by location , but worldwide it has been estimated to be of the order of a 4 % reduction over the three decades from 1960 -- 1990 . However , after discounting an anomaly caused by the eruption of Mount Pinatubo in 1991 , a very slight reversal in the overall trend has been observed . Global dimming is thought to have been caused by an increase in particulates such as sulfate aerosols in the atmosphere due to human action . It has interfered with the hydrological cycle by reducing evaporation and may have reduced rainfall in some areas . Global dimming also creates a cooling effect that may have partially counteracted the effect of greenhouse gases on global warming .", "IPCC First Assessment Report The First Assessment Report ( FAR ) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) was completed in 1990 . It served as the basis of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change ( UNFCCC ) . The report was issued in three main sections , corresponding to the three Working Groups of scientists that the IPCC had established . Working Group I : Scientific Assessment of Climate Change , edited by J.T. Houghton , G.J. Jenkins and J.J. Ephraums Working Group II : Impacts Assessment of Climate Change , edited by W.J. McG . Tegart , G.W. Sheldon and D.C. Griffiths Working Group III : The IPCC Response Strategies Each section included a summary for policymakers . This format was followed in subsequent Assessment Reports . The executive summary of the policymakers ' summary of the WG I report includes : We are certain of the following : there is a natural greenhouse effect ... ; emissions resulting from human activities are substantially increasing the atmospheric concentrations of the greenhouse gases : CO2 , methane , CFCs and nitrous oxide . These increases will enhance the greenhouse effect , resulting on average in an additional warming of the Earth 's surface . The main greenhouse gas , water vapour , will increase in response to global warming and further enhance it . We calculate with confidence that : ... CO2 has been responsible for over half the enhanced greenhouse effect ; long-lived gases would require immediate reductions in emissions from human activities of over 60 % to stabilise their concentrations at today 's levels ... Based on current models , we predict : under -LSB- BAU -RSB- increase of global mean temperature during the -LSB- 21st -RSB- century of about 0.3 oC per decade ( with an uncertainty range of 0.2 to 0.5 oC per decade ) ; this is greater than that seen over the past 10,000 years ; under other ... scenarios which assume progressively increasing levels of controls , rates of increase in global mean temperature of about 0.2 oC -LSB- to -RSB- about 0.1 oC per decade . There are many uncertainties in our predictions particularly with regard to the timing , magnitude and regional patterns of climate change , due to our incomplete understanding of : sources and sinks of GHGs ; clouds ; oceans ; polar ice sheets . Our judgement is that : global mean surface air temperature has increased by 0.3 to 0.6 oC over the last 100 years ... ; The size of this warming is broadly consistent with predictions of climate models , but it is also of the same magnitude as natural climate variability . Thus the observed increase could be largely due to this natural variability ; alternatively this variability and other human factors could have offset a still larger human-induced greenhouse warming . The unequivocal detection of the enhanced greenhouse effect is not likely for a decade or more . under the IPCC business as usual emissions scenario , an average rate of global mean sea level rise of about 6 cm per decade over the next century ( with an uncertainty range of 3 -- 10 cm per decade ) , mainly due to thermal expansion of the oceans and the melting of some land ice . The predicted rise is about 20 cm ... by 2030 , and 65 cm by the end of the next century .", "Climate change Climate change is a change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns when that change lasts for an extended period of time ( i.e. , decades to millions of years ) . Climate change may refer to a change in average weather conditions , or in the time variation of weather around longer-term average conditions ( i.e. , more or fewer extreme weather events ) . Climate change is caused by factors such as biotic processes , variations in solar radiation received by Earth , plate tectonics , and volcanic eruptions . Certain human activities have been identified as primary causes of ongoing climate change , often referred to as global warming . Scientists actively work to understand past and future climate by using observations and theoretical models . A climate record -- extending deep into the Earth 's past -- has been assembled , and continues to be built up , based on geological evidence from borehole temperature profiles , cores removed from deep accumulations of ice , floral and faunal records , glacial and periglacial processes , stable-isotope and other analyses of sediment layers , and records of past sea levels . More recent data are provided by the instrumental record . General circulation models , based on the physical sciences , are often used in theoretical approaches to match past climate data , make future projections , and link causes and effects in climate change .", "Global warming controversy The global warming controversy concerns the public debate over whether global warming is occurring , how much has occurred in modern times , what has caused it , what its effects will be , whether any action should be taken to curb it , and if so what that action should be . In the scientific literature , there is a strong consensus that global surface temperatures have increased in recent decades and that the trend is caused by human-induced emissions of greenhouse gases . No scientific body of national or international standing disagrees with this view , though a few organizations with members in extractive industries hold non-committal positions . Disputes over the key scientific facts of global warming are more prevalent in the media than in the scientific literature , where such issues are treated as resolved , and such disputes are more prevalent in the United States than globally . Political and popular debate concerning the existence and cause of climate change includes the reasons for the increase seen in the instrumental temperature record , whether the warming trend exceeds normal climatic variations , and whether human activities have contributed significantly to it . Scientists have resolved these questions decisively in favour of the view that the current warming trend exists and is ongoing , that human activity is the cause , and that it is without precedent in at least 2000 years . Public disputes that also reflect scientific debate include estimates of how responsive the climate system might be to any given level of greenhouse gases ( climate sensitivity ) , how global climate change will play out at local and regional scales , and what the consequences of global warming will be . Global warming remains an issue of widespread political debate , often split along party political lines , especially in the United States . Many of the issues that are settled within the scientific community , such as human responsibility for global warming , remain the subject of politically or economically motivated attempts to downplay , dismiss or deny them -- an ideological phenomenon categorised by academics and scientists as climate change denial . The sources of funding for those involved with climate science -- both supporting and opposing mainstream scientific positions -- have been questioned by both sides . There are debates about the best policy responses to the science , their cost-effectiveness and their urgency . Climate scientists , especially in the United States , have reported official and oil-industry pressure to censor or suppress their work and hide scientific data , with directives not to discuss the subject in public communications . Legal cases regarding global warming , its effects , and measures to reduce it have reached American courts . The fossil fuels lobby has been identified as overtly or covertly supporting efforts to undermine or discredit the scientific consensus on global warming .", "The Great Global Warming Swindle The Great Global Warming Swindle is a polemical documentary film that suggests that the scientific opinion on climate change is influenced by funding and political factors , and questions whether scientific consensus on global warming exists . The program was formally criticised by Ofcom , the UK broadcasting regulatory agency , which upheld complaints of misrepresentation made by David King . The film , made by British television producer Martin Durkin , presents scientists , economists , politicians , writers , and others who dispute the scientific consensus regarding anthropogenic global warming . The programme 's publicity materials assert that man-made global warming is `` a lie '' and `` the biggest scam of modern times . '' Its original working title was `` Apocalypse my arse '' , but the title The Great Global Warming Swindle was later adopted as an allusion to the 1980 mockumentary The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle about British punk band the Sex Pistols . The UK 's Channel 4 premiered the documentary on 8 March 2007 . The channel described the film as `` a polemic that drew together the well-documented views of a number of respected scientists to reach the same conclusions . This is a controversial film but we feel that it is important that all sides of the debate are aired . '' According to Hamish Mykura , Channel 4 's head of documentaries , the film was commissioned `` to present the viewpoint of the small minority of scientists who do not believe global warming is caused by anthropogenic production of carbon dioxide . '' Although the documentary was welcomed by global warming sceptics , it was criticised by scientific organisations and individual scientists ( including one of the scientists interviewed in the film and one whose research was used to support the film 's claims ) . The film 's critics argued that it had misused and fabricated data , relied on out-of-date research , employed misleading arguments , and misrepresented the position of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change . Later broadcasts corrected three errors in the original film .", "Description of the Medieval Warm Period and Little Ice Age in IPCC reports The description of the Medieval Warm Period and Little Ice Age in IPCC reports has changed since the first report in 1990 as scientific understanding of the temperature record of the past 1000 years has improved . The Medieval Warm Period ( MWP ) and Little Ice Age ( LIA ) are the best-known temperature fluctuations in the last millennium . Critics of the `` hockey stick graph '' of all subsequent reports have claimed that the record of the MWP and LIA were suppressed in the IPCC Third Assessment Report , although every report has discussed the phenomena .", "Global warming hiatus A global warming hiatus , also sometimes referred to as a global warming pause or a global warming slowdown , is a period of relatively little change in globally averaged surface temperatures . In the current episode of global warming many such 15-year periods appear in the surface temperature record , along with robust evidence of the long-term warming trend ; climate is classically averaged over 30-year periods . Publicity has surrounded claims of a global warming hiatus during the period 1998 -- 2013 . The exceptionally warm El Niño year of 1998 was an outlier from the continuing temperature trend , and so subsequent annual temperatures gave the appearance of a hiatus : by January 2006 , it appeared to some that global warming had stopped or paused . A 2009 study showed that decades without warming were not exceptional , and in 2011 a study showed that if allowances were made for known variability , the rising temperature trend continued unabated . There was increased public interest in 2013 in the run-up to publication of the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report , and despite concerns that a 15-year period was too short to determine a meaningful trend , the IPCC included a section on a hiatus , which it defined as a much smaller increasing linear trend over the 15 years from 1998 to 2012 , than over the 60 years from 1951 to 2012 . Various studies examined possible causes of the short-term slowdown . Even though the overall climate system has continued to accumulate energy due to Earth 's positive energy budget , the available temperature readings at the Earth 's surface indicate slower rates of increase in surface warming than in the prior decade . Since measurements at the top of the atmosphere show that Earth is receiving more energy than it is radiating back into space , the retained energy should be producing warming in the Earth 's climate system . Research reported in July 2015 on an updated NOAA dataset casts doubt on the existence of a hiatus , and it finds no indication of a slowdown even in earlier years . Scientists working on other datasets welcomed this study , though they have expressed the view that the recent warming trend was less than in previous periods of the same length . Subsequently , a detailed study supports the conclusion that warming is continuing , but it also find there was less warming between 2001 and 2010 than climate models had predicted , and that this slowdown might be attributed to short-term variations in the Pacific decadal oscillation ( PDO ) , which was negative during that period . Another review finds `` no substantive evidence '' of a pause in global warming . A statistical study of global temperature data since 1970 concludes that the term ` hiatus ' or ` pause ' is not justified . Independent of these discussions about data and measurements for earlier years , 2015 turned out to be much warmer than any of the earlier years , already before El Niño conditions started . The warmth of 2015 largely ended any remaining scientific credibility of claims that the supposed `` hiatus '' since 1998 had any significance for the long-term warming trend . In January 2017 , a study published in the journal Science Advances cast further doubt on the existence of a recent pause , with more evidence that ocean temperatures have been underestimated . An April 2017 study found the data consistent with a steady warming trend globally since the 1970s , with fluctuations within the expected range of short term variability .", "AGW AGW can refer to : Anthropogenic global warming ; see the following : Attribution of recent climate change Human impact on the environment Climate change Global warming Global warming controversy Actual gold weight , a measure used in gold bullion , coin or bar Agnew Airport , Queensland , Australia ( IATA code : AGW ) Access gateway , shorthand for multi-service access gateway ( MSAG ) , a device used in telecommunications . Kahua language ( ISO 639-3 code : agw )", "Climate change adaptation Climate change adaptation is a response to global warming and climate change , that seeks to reduce the vulnerability of social and biological systems to relatively sudden change and thus offset the effects of global warming . Even if emissions are stabilized relatively soon , global warming and its effects will last many years , and adaptation will be necessary to the resulting changes in climate . Adaptation is especially important in developing countries since those countries are predicted to bear the brunt of the effects of global warming . That is , the capacity and potential for humans to adapt ( called adaptive capacity ) is unevenly distributed across different regions and populations , and developing countries generally have less capacity to adapt ( Schneider et al. , 2007 ) . Furthermore , the degree of adaptation correlates to the situational focus on environmental issues . Therefore , adaptation requires the situational assessment of sensitivity and vulnerability to environmental impacts . Adaptive capacity is closely linked to social and economic development ( IPCC , 2007 ) . The economic costs of adaptation to climate change are likely to cost billions of dollars annually for the next several decades , though the amount of money needed is unknown . Donor countries promised an annual $ 100 billion by 2020 through the Green Climate Fund for developing countries to adapt to climate change . However , while the fund was set up during COP16 in Cancún , concrete pledges by developed countries have not been forthcoming . The adaptation challenge grows with the magnitude and the rate of climate change . Another response to climate change , known as climate change mitigation ( Verbruggen , 2007 ) is to reduce greenhouse gas ( GHG ) emissions and/or enhance the removal of these gases from the atmosphere ( through carbon sinks ) . Even the most effective reductions in emissions , however , would not prevent further climate change impacts , making the need for adaptation unavoidable ( Klein et al. , 2007 ) . In a literature assessment , Klein et al. ( 2007 ) assessed options for adaptation . They concluded , with very high confidence , that in the absence of mitigation efforts , the effects of climate change would reach such a magnitude as to make adaptation impossible for some natural ecosystems . Others are concerned that climate adaptation programs might interfere with the existing development programs and thus lead to unintended consequences for vulnerable groups . For human systems , the economic and social costs of unmitigated climate change would be very high .", "Human extinction In futures studies , human extinction is the hypothetical end of the human species . This may be caused by natural causes or it may be anthropogenic , i.e. the result of human action . The likelihood of human extinction in the near future by wholly natural scenarios , such as a meteorite impact or large-scale volcanism , is generally considered to be extremely low . For anthropogenic extinction , many possible scenarios have been proposed : Human global nuclear annihilation , biological warfare or the release of a pandemic-causing agent , dysgenics , overpopulation , ecological collapse , and global warming ; in addition , emerging technologies could bring about new extinction scenarios , such as advanced artificial intelligence , biotechnology or self-replicating nanobots . The probability of anthropogenic human extinction within the next hundred years is the topic of an active debate . Human extinction needs to be differentiated from the extinction of all life on Earth ( see also future of Earth ) and from the extinction of major components of human culture ( e.g. , through a global catastrophe leaving only small , scattered human populations , which might evolve in isolation ) ." ]

[ "Climatic Research Unit email controversy The Climatic Research Unit email controversy ( also known as `` Climategate '' ) began in November 2009 with the hacking of a server at the Climatic Research Unit ( CRU ) at the University of East Anglia ( UEA ) by an external attacker , copying thousands of emails and computer files , the Climatic Research Unit documents , to various internet locations several weeks before the Copenhagen Summit on climate change . The story was first broken by climate change denialists with columnist James Delingpole popularising the term `` Climategate '' to describe the controversy . Several people considered climate change `` skeptics '' argued that the emails showed global warming was a scientific conspiracy , that scientists manipulated climate data and attempted to suppress critics . The CRU rejected this , saying the emails had been taken out of context and merely reflected an honest exchange of ideas . The mainstream media picked up the story as negotiations over climate change mitigation began in Copenhagen on 7 December 2009 . Because of the timing , scientists , policy makers and public relations experts said that the release of emails was a smear campaign intended to undermine the climate conference . In response to the controversy , the American Association for the Advancement of Science ( AAAS ) , the American Meteorological Society ( AMS ) and the Union of Concerned Scientists ( UCS ) released statements supporting the scientific consensus that the Earth 's mean surface temperature had been rising for decades , with the AAAS concluding , `` based on multiple lines of scientific evidence that global climate change caused by human activities is now underway ... it is a growing threat to society . '' Eight committees investigated the allegations and published reports , finding no evidence of fraud or scientific misconduct . However , the reports called on the scientists to avoid any such allegations in the future by taking steps to regain public confidence in their work , for example by opening up access to their supporting data , processing methods and software , and by promptly honouring freedom of information requests . The scientific consensus that global warming is occurring as a result of human activity remained unchanged throughout the investigations ." ]

[ "Clinton scandal `` Clinton scandal '' might refer to either : Hillary Clinton email controversy ( 2015-2016 ) , in which U.S. presidential candidate Hillary Clinton was found to have used unsecured , unofficial computer channels to transmit classified email . or Lewinsky scandal ( 1998 ) , involving then-U.S. President Bill Clinton and his sex scandal with intern Monica Lewinsky .", "Scott Basinger Scott Basinger is an Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Houston . He teaches courses in statistics , mathematics , game theory , and political scandals . He holds a Ph.D. from the University of California , San Diego . He has authored numerous articles , including an award-winning article on how countries reform their personal and corporate income taxes response to globalization . Along with Howie Lavine , he coined the term `` partisan ambivalence '' to describe the situation in which voters hold conflicted attitudes towards political parties . Most recently , he authored papers on political scandals , examining how presidents deal with scandal once confronted by the media , and how voters respond to scandals involving members of Congress .", "CCNY point shaving scandal The CCNY point shaving scandal of 1950 -- 51 was a college basketball point shaving gambling scandal that involved seven schools in all , with four in Greater New York and three in the Midwest . However , most of the key players in the scandal were players of the 1949 -- 50 CCNY Beavers men 's basketball team .", "Sex scandal A sex scandal is a scandal involving allegations or information about possibly-immoral sexual activities being made public . Sex scandals are often associated with sexual affairs of film stars , politicians , famous athletes or others in the public eye , and become scandals largely because of the prominence of the person involved , perceptions of hypocrisy on their part , or the non-normative or non-consensual nature of their sexuality . A scandal may be based on reality , the product of false allegations , or a mixture of both . Sex scandals involving politicians often become political scandals , particularly when there is an attempt at a cover-up , or suspicions of illegality . While some commentators see sex scandals as irrelevant to politics , particularly where `` professional performance -LSB- does -RSB- not seem to be impaired '' , Gene Healy of the Cato Institute views them as not just `` great fun '' , but a reminder `` that we should think twice before we cede more power to these clowns . ''", "Christopher C. Horner Christopher C. Horner is an attorney in Washington , D.C. and a Senior Fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute who opposes the mainstream view of climate change and has been prominent in promoting climate change denial . He is the author of three books disputing the scientific evidence for man-made global warming . Horner had a financial relationship with coal companies who provided him with funds . Horner has been criticized for hounding climate scientists with frivolous requests for documentation and emails .", "Leonardo Fariña Leonardo Fariña ( born Jorge Fariña ; 5 October 1986 in La Plata ) is an Argentinian who was implicated in the political scandal known as The K money trail involving entrepreneur Lázaro Báez and the Kirchner government . Until Fariña became the target of a probe into money laundering in 2013 , he was known to the Argentinian public chiefly as the husband of famous model Karina Jelinek , who separated from him after the scandal broke . Because of his high-level involvement in the money manipulations and his marriage to Jelinek , Fariña attracted a great deal of media attention and was identified as the `` man most wanted by the -LSB- TV interview -RSB- programs . '' The controversy swirling around both his personal and professional life caused La Nación to state that he was at the center of one of the `` scandals of the year . '' As of mid 2014 , Fariña is in prison awaiting trial .", "Videoscandals The Videoscandals were political scandals in Mexico in 2004 when videos of prominent politicians taken with hidden cameras were made public . The majority of them involved politicians in corrupt dealings with former business man Carlos Ahumada , and another showed a politician spending money in Las Vegas .", "John Sirica John Joseph Sirica ( March 19 , 1904 -- August 14 , 1992 ) was the Chief Judge for the United States District Court for the District of Columbia , where he became famous for his role in the trials stemming from the Watergate scandal . He rose to national prominence during the Watergate scandal when he ordered President Richard Nixon to turn over his recordings of White House conversations . Sirica 's involvement in the case began when he presided over the trial of the Watergate burglars . He did not believe the claim that they had acted alone , and persuaded or coerced most of them to implicate the men who had arranged the break-in ( G. Gordon Liddy remained silent ) . For his role in Watergate the judge was named TIME magazine 's Man of the Year in 1973 .", "Tong Kee Tong Kee , also known as T. Aki , ( died October 7 , 1887 ) was a Chinese immigrant and businessman who settled in the Kingdom of Hawaii . In 1886 -- 87 , he was embroiled in the Aki opium scandal , an infamous bribery corruption scandal involving King Kalākaua and his henchman Junius Kaʻae reneging on a bribe Aki made to secure the sale of an opium license .", "Mysore Mallige Scandal The Mysore Mallige Scandal refers to a sex scandal in 2001 that involved the leaking of a home video made by a couple . This scandal broke out when the home video made by the couple themselves was leaked out by a friend of the boy involved . Both the boy and the girl were students of an engineering College . The words Mysore Mallige meaning the Jasmine ( in Kannada ) of Mysore is actually a double entendre because it originally refers to the flower variety by the same name .", "Fanne Foxe Fanne Foxe ( born Annabelle Battistella on February 14 , 1936 , in Nueve de Julio , Argentina ) is a former stripper , best known for being involved in a 1974 sex scandal surrounding Arkansas Congressman Wilbur Mills , in what is reputed to be one of the most reported political sex scandals of the 1970s . She is in the Time list of Top 10 Mistresses , and on the Bloomberg list of Top 10 U.S. sex scandals .", "Duna-gate Duna-gate , also known as Danubegate and Budapest Watergate , was a political scandal in Hungary that emerged in 1990 . The scandal involved the wiretapping of political enemies by the officials within the Communist government 's secret services , the state security organisation of the Ministry of the Interior , and the shredding of state security documents . Activists had sneaked into government buildings and filmed evidence that surreptitious activities including the secret surveillance of political party leaders and activists even following the October 1989 downfall of the Communist regime precipitated by Mátyás Szűrös 23 October 1989 declaration that Hungary was a republic . The Alliance of Free Democrats and the Alliance of Young Democrats held a press conference on 5 January 1990 to release evidence that officials of the state security organisation had collected private information on a number of people , an act made illegal by a 1989 Constitutional amendment . A key figure in the scandal was József Végvári , an intelligence officer within the secret services , who allowed the infiltration . Interior Minister István Horváth resigned due to the scandal . The scandal was the subject of protests and government investigations , and may have contributed to the poor showing of the Hungarian Socialist Party in the 1990 Hungarian parliamentary election .", "False balance False balance is a real or perceived media bias in which journalists present an issue as being more balanced between opposing viewpoints than the evidence supports . Journalists may present evidence and arguments out of proportion to the actual evidence for each side , or may omit information that would establish one side 's claims as baseless . Examples of false balance in reporting on science issues include the topics of man-made versus natural climate change , the alleged relation between thimerosal and autism and evolution versus intelligent design . An example of false balance is the `` debate '' on global warming ; although the scientific community almost unanimously attributes global warming to the effects of the industrial revolution , there is a very small number , a few dozen scientists out of tens of thousands of scientists , who dispute the conclusion . Giving equal voice to scientists on both sides makes it seem like there is a serious disagreement within the scientific community , when in fact there is an overwhelming scientific consensus that anthropogenic global warming exists . False balance can sometimes originate from similar motives as sensationalism , where producers and editors may feel that a story portrayed as a contentious debate will be more commercially successful than a more accurate account of the issue . However , unlike most other media biases , false balance may stem from an attempt to avoid bias ; producers and editors may confuse treating competing views fairly -- i.e. , in proportion to their actual merits and significance -- with treating them equally , giving them equal time to present their views even when those views may be known beforehand to be based on false information .", "Rampart scandal The LAPD Rampart scandal refers to widespread corruption in the Community Resources Against Street Hoodlums ( CRASH ) anti-gang unit of the Los Angeles Police Department 's Rampart Division in the late 1990s . More than 70 police officers either assigned to or associated with the Rampart CRASH unit were implicated in some form of misconduct , making it one of the most widespread cases of documented police corruption in United States history , responsible for a long list of offenses including unprovoked shootings , unprovoked beatings , planting of false evidence , stealing and dealing narcotics , bank robbery , perjury , and the covering up of evidence of these activities . The Rampart investigation , based mainly on statements of CRASH officer Rafael Pérez , also known as Ray Lopez , an admitted corrupt policeman , initially implicated over 70 officers of wrongdoing . Of those officers , enough evidence was found to bring 58 before an internal administrative board . However , only 24 were actually found to have committed any wrongdoing , with 12 given suspensions of various lengths , 7 forced into resignation or retirement , and 5 terminated . As a result of the probe into falsified evidence and police perjury , 106 prior criminal convictions were overturned . The Rampart scandal resulted in more than 140 civil lawsuits against the city of Los Angeles , costing the city an estimated $ 125 million in settlements . Partly as a result of the scandal , Mayor James K. Hahn did not rehire Police Chief Bernard Parks in 2001 . Both the scandal and the de facto firing of Parks are believed to have precipitated Hahn 's defeat by Antonio Villaraigosa in the 2005 mayoral election . , the full extent of Rampart corruption is not known , and several rape , murder and robbery investigations involving Rampart officers remain unsolved .", "New York State Police Troop C scandal The New York State Police Troop C scandal involved the fabrication of evidence used to convict suspects in New York by the New York State Police .", "PMU 18 scandal The PMU 18 scandal is a multi-million dollar political corruption scandal that involved accusations of embezzlement , bribery , nepotism , and gambling at the Vietnamese Ministry of Transport ( Bộ Giao thông Vận tải , GTVT ) at the beginning of 2006 . The scandal received extensive press coverage in Vietnam , a rarity in the one-party state . It generated a great public outcry in Vietnam and controversy in other countries and at organizations that provided Official Development Assistance ( ODA ) to the country . Due to the scandal , Transport Minister Đào Đình Bình was forced to resign and his deputy was arrested . The scandal became a major issue leading up to the Tenth National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam , when the government leadership was being reviewed . In the aftermath of the scandal , the Vietnamese government clamped down on journalists reporting on the case . Two prominent journalists were tried and convicted of `` abusing democratic freedoms '' and propagating `` false information '' . Two police officers involved in the case were also convicted of `` disclosing work secrets '' .", "Recruit scandal The was an insider trading and corruption scandal that forced many prominent Japanese politicians to resign in 1988 . Recruit is a human resources and classifieds company based in Tokyo . Its chairman , , offered a number of shares in a Recruit subsidiary , Cosmos , to business leaders and senior politicians shortly before Cosmos went public in 1986 . Following the public offering , Cosmos 's share price skyrocketed , and the individuals involved in the scheme saw average profits of ¥ 66 million each . Although only seventeen members of the Diet were involved in the insider trading , another thirty were later found to have received special favors from Recruit . Among the politicians involved in the scandal were Prime Minister Noboru Takeshita , former Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone , and Chief Cabinet Secretary Takao Fujinami . In addition to members of the LDP government , leaders of the Komeito , Democratic Party of Japan , and Japan Socialist Party were also found to be involved . As a result , Takeshita 's cabinet was forced to resign , although some of its members returned to political prominence later ( including future prime ministers Kiichi Miyazawa and Keizō Obuchi ) . The chairmen of NTT , the Yomiuri Shimbun , and the Nihon Keizai Shimbun were also involved in the scandal . Despite the breadth of the Recruit Scandal across party lines , the LDP was hurt most significantly by the scandal . It is often said to be one of the main causes of Morihiro Hosokawa 's opposition party victory in 1993 , which briefly interrupted the LDP 's otherwise continuous reign over Japan .", "Norbourg scandal The Norbourg scandal is a major financial scandal that took place in 2005 . The scandal involved the Montreal , Quebec based Norbourg Financial Group , a trust-fund company founded by Vincent Lacroix . He diverted money from a Norbourg trust fund for personal interests . Nearly 9,200 investors in Quebec lost millions of dollars . It is considered as one of the largest Canadian financial scandals in history and largest in Quebec .", "Operación Puerto doping case Operación Puerto ( Operation Mountain Pass ) is the code name of a Spanish Police operation against the doping network of Doctor Eufemiano Fuentes , started in May 2006 , which resulted in a scandal that involved several of the world 's most famous cyclists at the time . Media attention has focused on the small number of professional road cyclists named ; however , sportspeople from other disciplines including football and tennis have also been connected with the scandal . Fifteen had been acquitted by May 2007 , while three had admitted doping or evidence of blood doping was found .", "John Church (minister) John Church ( 1780 -- c. 1835 ) was an Independent minister who was most famous for his involvement in the homosexual scandal of the Vere Street Coterie . He is often claimed as the first openly gay ordained Christian minister in England . Contemporary rumours about this are unproveable one way or the other , though circumstantial evidence may suggest that his `` inordinate affections which led me into error '' can be equated with homosexual inclinations .", "Marcus Klingberg Avraham Marek Klingberg ( 7 October 1918 -- 30 November 2015 ) , known as Marcus A. Klingberg , was an Israeli scientist and the highest ranking Soviet spy ever caught in Israel . The case of Klingberg is regarded one of the most destructive spy scandals in the history of the State of Israel .", "Microsoft licensing corruption scandal The Microsoft licensing corruption scandal is an ongoing political scandal and criminal investigation in Romania , involving large bribes paid to Romanian government members in exchange for approving increases in license fees for Microsoft products . Nine government ministers have been charged by the National Anticorruption Directorate , belonging to the Năstase , Tăriceanu and Boc Cabinets . The bribes were estimated at more than $ 50 million . Apart from Microsoft , this scandal involved several major multinational corporations , including Fujitsu-Siemens , IBM , Compaq , Hewlett-Packard , S&T and local software companies like SIVECO and Softwin .", "Hugo Nutini Hugo G. Nutini ( 1929-2013 ) was an Italian-born Chilean and subsequently American professor of Anthropology . In 1965 he became involved in Project Camelot , an academic research project funded by the United States military through the Special Operations Research Office to train in counter-insurgency techniques . Nutini made a personal visit to Chile and while there discussed Project Camelot with a number of social scientists . However , as Gabriel Gayamarti claimed , he doctored documentation as regards Project Camelot in a crude way in the hope of hiding the military involvement . His amateurish fraud as soon discovered . Also the Norwegian sociologist was in Chile . He had been given the original documents , which he circulated amongst the social scientists that Nutini had tried to dupe . This caused a scandal which led to Nutine being banned from entry to Chile as a `` politically undesirable individual '' .", "X-file scandal The X-file scandal is a South Korean political scandal of 2005 . The scandal revolves around the release of wiretapped conversations to the media . Many of the conversations were of conservative politicians in the Grand National Party arranging bribes during the South Korean presidential election of 1997 . The tapes were made illegally . The scandal has recently broadened to look at the general role of the National Intelligence Service ( NIS ) in political and personal affairs . In July , 2005 , South Korean police raided the home of NIS intelligence operative Kong Un-young , retrieving 274 tapes . Kong attempted suicide , but was unsuccessful . Because of this evidence of NIS involvement , some Grand National Party leaders charge that the administration of Roh Moo-hyun must have been aware of the wiretaps . However , members of the pro-government Uri Party have charged that GNP leaders were also aware of them .", "Macropartisanship In the United States , macropartisanship is the shifts in political party affiliation with relation to presidential popularity and political events such as wars or scandals . There is strong evidence to prove that in the presidential popularity and party identification move together . For example , in the 1980s , there was strong support for Republican President Ronald Reagan . Although the number of Republicans did not actually increase , the voters simply responded to the political world . Another example of this occurred in the 1960s with the election of the popular Democratic President John F. Kennedy . Macropartisanship shows that people respond to the political world when making up their party identification . Older and more politically sophisticated people are less likely to take current events into account because they are more set in their ways . Normally , those affected by outside influences tend to be young , and/or weakly affiliated identifiers . Macropartisanship is one of several attempts made by political scientists in recent years to explain the disconnect between individuals who seem to be relatively uninformed on political matters and public opinion , which seems to respond rationally to political figures and events . The term macropartisanship was first used by American political scientists Michael MacKuen , Robert Erikson and James Stimson in 1989 to describe the overall balance between the Republican and Democratic Parties in the United States . In the work of MacKuen and his colleagues , as well as in the later work drawing on the concept , macropartisanship theory begins with the notion that short-term shifts in the party balance are systematic , rather than random ( as in the `` non-attitudes '' explanation put forward by Converse in `` The Nature of Belief Systems in Mass Publics , '' 1964 ) . These shifts can be the result of presidential popularity , subjective views of the economy , or political events such as wars or scandals , and are measured through the series of party identification questions used on a variety of surveys . While this work has been widely cited , it has not been non-controversial . The most serious criticisms of this findings come from a measurement theory perspective , and argue that much of the variation in party identification is due to measurement error , rather than any real change .", "Documentary evidence Documentary evidence is any evidence introduced at a trial in the form of documents . Although this term is most widely understood to mean writings on paper ( such as an invoice , a contract or a will ) , the term includes any media by which information can be preserved . Photographs , tape recordings , films , and printed emails are all forms of documentary evidence .", "Black Mist Scandal Black Mist Scandal ( 黒い霧事件 , kuroi kiri jiken ) may refer to : Black Mist Scandal , a political scandal involving Eisaku Satō The Black Mist Scandal ( Japanese baseball ) , a game-fixing scandal", "Richard M. Karp Richard Manning Karp ( born January 3 , 1935 ) is an American computer scientist and computational theorist at the University of California , Berkeley . He is most notable for his research in the theory of algorithms , for which he received a Turing Award in 1985 , The Benjamin Franklin Medal in Computer and Cognitive Science in 2004 , and the Kyoto Prize in 2008 .", "Wedtech scandal The Wedtech Scandal was the name of an American political scandal in the Reagan administration involving the award of government contracts . It was first brought to light in 1986 .", "2015 Italian football scandal The 2015 Italian football scandal , or known as its code name Dirty Soccer , was a scandal that involved rigged matches in 2014 -- 15 season .", "Sachsensumpf Sachsensumpf ( German , literally Saxon swamp ) is the name given by journalists to a child prostitution scandal which took place in the vicinity of Leipzig , Germany from 1992 to 2014 . A number of prominent local figures , including legal and political officials , were implicated in the scandal . The case remains controversial due to questions concerning the legality of evidence collection methods used by the Organized Crime Department ( OK ) of the Saxony State Office for the Protection of the Constitution ( Landesamt für Verfassungsschutz Sachsen - LfV ) , and charges of libel made against journalists covering the case .", "Sharpstown scandal The Sharpstown scandal was a stock fraud scandal in the state of Texas in 1971 and 1972 involving the highest levels of the state government . The name came from the involvement of the Sharpstown area of Houston ." ]

[ "20th century The 20th century was a century that began on January 1 , 1901 and ended on December 31 , 2000 . It was the tenth and final century of the 2nd millennium . It is distinct from the century known as the 1900s which began on January 1 , 1900 , and ended on December 31 , 1999 . The 20th century was dominated by a chain of events that heralded significant changes in world history as to redefine the era : World War I and World War II , nuclear power and space exploration , nationalism and decolonization , the Cold War and post-Cold War conflicts ; intergovernmental organizations and cultural homogenization through developments in emerging transportation and communications technology ; poverty reduction and world population growth , awareness of environmental degradation , ecological extinction ; and the birth of the Digital Revolution . It saw great advances in communication and medical technology that by the late 1980s allowed for near-instantaneous worldwide computer communication and genetic modification of life . The term `` short twentieth century '' was coined to represent the events from 1914 to 1991 . Global total fertility rates , sea level rise and ecological collapses increased ; the resulting competition for land and dwindling resources accelerated deforestation , water depletion . and the mass extinction of half the world 's estimated nine million unique species and wildlife population ; consequences which are now being dealt with . It took all of human history up to 1804 for the world 's population to reach 1 billion ; world population reached an estimated 2 billion in 1927 ; by late 1999 , the global population reached 6 billion . Global literacy averaged 80 % ; global lifespan-averages exceeded 40 + years for the first time in history , with over half achieving 70 + years ( three decades longer than it was a century ago ) .", "Scientific consensus on climate change There is currently a strong scientific consensus that the Earth is warming and that this warming is mainly caused by human activities. This consensus is supported by various studies of scientists' opinions and by position statements of scientific organizations, many of which explicitly agree with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) synthesis reports. Nearly all actively publishing climate scientists (97–98%) support the consensus on anthropogenic climate change, and the remaining 2% of contrarian studies either cannot be replicated or contain errors.", "Global warming Global warming , also referred to as climate change , is the observed century-scale rise in the average temperature of the Earth 's climate system and its related effects . Multiple lines of scientific evidence show that the climate system is warming . Many of the observed changes since the 1950s are unprecedented in the instrumental temperature record which extends back to the mid 19th century , and in paleoclimate proxy records over thousands of years . In 2013 , the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) Fifth Assessment Report concluded that `` It is extremely likely that human influence has been the dominant cause of the observed warming since the mid-20th century . '' The largest human influence has been emission of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide , methane and nitrous oxide . Climate model projections summarized in the report indicated that during the 21st century the global surface temperature is likely to rise a further 0.3 to for their lowest emissions scenario and 2.6 to for the highest emissions scenario . These findings have been recognized by the national science academies of the major industrialized nations and are not disputed by any scientific body of national or international standing . Future climate change and associated impacts will differ from region to region around the globe . Anticipated effects include warming global temperature , rising sea levels , changing precipitation , and expansion of deserts in the subtropics . Warming is expected to be greater over land than over the oceans and greatest in the Arctic , with the continuing retreat of glaciers , permafrost and sea ice . Other likely changes include more frequent extreme weather events including heat waves , droughts , heavy rainfall with floods and heavy snowfall ; ocean acidification ; and species extinctions due to shifting temperature regimes . Effects significant to humans include the threat to food security from decreasing crop yields and the abandonment of populated areas due to rising sea levels . Because the climate system has a large `` inertia '' and greenhouse gases will stay in the atmosphere for a long time , many of these effects will not only exist for decades or centuries , but will persist for tens of thousands of years . Possible societal responses to global warming include mitigation by emissions reduction , adaptation to its effects , building systems resilient to its effects , and possible future climate engineering . Most countries are parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change ( UNFCCC ) , whose ultimate objective is to prevent dangerous anthropogenic climate change . Parties to the UNFCCC have agreed that deep cuts in emissions are required and that global warming should be limited to well below 2.0 C-change relative to pre-industrial levels , with efforts made to limit warming to 1.5 C-change . Public reactions to global warming and concern about its effects are also increasing . A global 2015 Pew Research Center report showed a median of 54 % consider it `` a very serious problem '' . There are significant regional differences , with Americans and Chinese ( whose economies are responsible for the greatest annual CO2 emissions ) among the least concerned ." ]

[ "Global warming controversy The global warming controversy concerns the public debate over whether global warming is occurring , how much has occurred in modern times , what has caused it , what its effects will be , whether any action should be taken to curb it , and if so what that action should be . In the scientific literature , there is a strong consensus that global surface temperatures have increased in recent decades and that the trend is caused by human-induced emissions of greenhouse gases . No scientific body of national or international standing disagrees with this view , though a few organizations with members in extractive industries hold non-committal positions . Disputes over the key scientific facts of global warming are more prevalent in the media than in the scientific literature , where such issues are treated as resolved , and such disputes are more prevalent in the United States than globally . Political and popular debate concerning the existence and cause of climate change includes the reasons for the increase seen in the instrumental temperature record , whether the warming trend exceeds normal climatic variations , and whether human activities have contributed significantly to it . Scientists have resolved these questions decisively in favour of the view that the current warming trend exists and is ongoing , that human activity is the cause , and that it is without precedent in at least 2000 years . Public disputes that also reflect scientific debate include estimates of how responsive the climate system might be to any given level of greenhouse gases ( climate sensitivity ) , how global climate change will play out at local and regional scales , and what the consequences of global warming will be . Global warming remains an issue of widespread political debate , often split along party political lines , especially in the United States . Many of the issues that are settled within the scientific community , such as human responsibility for global warming , remain the subject of politically or economically motivated attempts to downplay , dismiss or deny them -- an ideological phenomenon categorised by academics and scientists as climate change denial . The sources of funding for those involved with climate science -- both supporting and opposing mainstream scientific positions -- have been questioned by both sides . There are debates about the best policy responses to the science , their cost-effectiveness and their urgency . Climate scientists , especially in the United States , have reported official and oil-industry pressure to censor or suppress their work and hide scientific data , with directives not to discuss the subject in public communications . Legal cases regarding global warming , its effects , and measures to reduce it have reached American courts . The fossil fuels lobby has been identified as overtly or covertly supporting efforts to undermine or discredit the scientific consensus on global warming .", "Duncan Wingham Duncan John Wingham ( born 12 October 1957 ) is a British physicist who is Professor of Climate Physics at University College London , and was the first Director of the Centre for Polar Observation & Modelling . He is chief executive of the Natural Environment Research Council and Principal Scientist for the CryoSat Satellite Mission . In the 1990s , Wingham was involved in a four-year satellite study of the Antarctic ice sheet . His conclusion then , and from later research , is that the Antarctic has contributed little to observed rising sea levels in the 20th century . However , he has also stated that `` it is possible that the consequences of global warming on sea level rise have been underestimated ... Other sources of rise must be underestimated . In particular it is possible that the effect of global warming on thermal expansion -LSB- on the oceans -RSB- is larger than we thought '' . In a 2005 interview Wingham stated '' -LSB- t -RSB- he Antarctic is to some extent insulated from global warming because to its north are zonal flows in the atmosphere and ocean , unimpeded by other landmasses ... I am not denying global warming . ''", "Not Evil Just Wrong Not Evil Just Wrong is a 2009 documentary film by Ann McElhinney and Phelim McAleer that challenges Al Gore 's An Inconvenient Truth by suggesting that the evidence of global warming is inconclusive and that the impact global warming legislation will have on industry is much more harmful to humans than beneficial . The movie was filmed in 2008 and was screened at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam and at the RightOnline conference in 2009 . Despite earlier screenings at conservative political conferences , filmmakers promoted a `` premiere '' on October 18 , 2009 . The film attempted to break a World Record for largest simultaneous premiere , which is currently held by the documentary The Age of Stupid , another global warming documentary . The film 's website claims that there were 6,500 U.S. screenings and 1,500 foreign screenings and reached 400,000 people .", "United States Senate Environment and Public Works Subcommittee on Private Sector and Consumer Solutions to Global Warming and Wildlife Protection The United States Senate Environment and Public Works Subcommittee on Private Sector and Consumer Solutions to Global Warming and Wildlife Protection was one of six subcommittees of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works during the 110th Congress . The subcommittee 's jurisdiction included : Global warming Fisheries and wildlife , including the Fish and Wildlife Service Endangered Species Act ( ESA ) National Wildlife Refuges The subcommittee was formerly known as the Subcommittee on Fisheries , Wildlife , and Water , but was renamed during committee organization of the 110th Congress when global warming was added to its oversight responsibilities . It served as a counterpart to the new Subcommittee on Public Sector Solutions to Global Warming , Oversight , and Children 's Health Protection . The subcommittee was chaired by Senator Joe Lieberman of Connecticut , and the ranking member was Senator John Warner of Virginia .", "Global warming in Russia Global warming in Russia describes the global warming related issues in Russia . This includes climate politics , contribution to global warming and the influence of global warming on Russia . In 2009 Russia was ready to reduce emissions 20 -- 25 % from its 1990 emission levels by the year 2020 .", "Global warming hiatus A global warming hiatus , also sometimes referred to as a global warming pause or a global warming slowdown , is a period of relatively little change in globally averaged surface temperatures . In the current episode of global warming many such 15-year periods appear in the surface temperature record , along with robust evidence of the long-term warming trend ; climate is classically averaged over 30-year periods . Publicity has surrounded claims of a global warming hiatus during the period 1998 -- 2013 . The exceptionally warm El Niño year of 1998 was an outlier from the continuing temperature trend , and so subsequent annual temperatures gave the appearance of a hiatus : by January 2006 , it appeared to some that global warming had stopped or paused . A 2009 study showed that decades without warming were not exceptional , and in 2011 a study showed that if allowances were made for known variability , the rising temperature trend continued unabated . There was increased public interest in 2013 in the run-up to publication of the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report , and despite concerns that a 15-year period was too short to determine a meaningful trend , the IPCC included a section on a hiatus , which it defined as a much smaller increasing linear trend over the 15 years from 1998 to 2012 , than over the 60 years from 1951 to 2012 . Various studies examined possible causes of the short-term slowdown . Even though the overall climate system has continued to accumulate energy due to Earth 's positive energy budget , the available temperature readings at the Earth 's surface indicate slower rates of increase in surface warming than in the prior decade . Since measurements at the top of the atmosphere show that Earth is receiving more energy than it is radiating back into space , the retained energy should be producing warming in the Earth 's climate system . Research reported in July 2015 on an updated NOAA dataset casts doubt on the existence of a hiatus , and it finds no indication of a slowdown even in earlier years . Scientists working on other datasets welcomed this study , though they have expressed the view that the recent warming trend was less than in previous periods of the same length . Subsequently , a detailed study supports the conclusion that warming is continuing , but it also find there was less warming between 2001 and 2010 than climate models had predicted , and that this slowdown might be attributed to short-term variations in the Pacific decadal oscillation ( PDO ) , which was negative during that period . Another review finds `` no substantive evidence '' of a pause in global warming . A statistical study of global temperature data since 1970 concludes that the term ` hiatus ' or ` pause ' is not justified . Independent of these discussions about data and measurements for earlier years , 2015 turned out to be much warmer than any of the earlier years , already before El Niño conditions started . The warmth of 2015 largely ended any remaining scientific credibility of claims that the supposed `` hiatus '' since 1998 had any significance for the long-term warming trend . In January 2017 , a study published in the journal Science Advances cast further doubt on the existence of a recent pause , with more evidence that ocean temperatures have been underestimated . An April 2017 study found the data consistent with a steady warming trend globally since the 1970s , with fluctuations within the expected range of short term variability .", "Interstitial revolution Interstitial revolution is a theoretical means of societal transformation through progressively and strategically enlarging spaces of social empowerment . Interstitial revolution ( or transformation ) builds on the concept of prefigurative politics which has a long history in anti-capitalist thinking , going back nearly two hundred years in the anarchist tradition . Prefigurativism is neatly summed up by the early twentieth century Constitution of the Industrial Workers of the World which declared : `` By organizing industrially we are forming the structure of the new society within the old . '' In recent years , prominent analytical Marxists ( including John Holloway and Erik Olin Wright ) have called attention to the lack of strategy for greater systemic change within prefigurativism and have attempted to construct models of societal transformation utilizing interstitial devices as an alternative to the traditional Marxist theory of revolution .", "Climate change denial Climate change denial , or global warming denial , is part of the global warming controversy . It involves denial , dismissal , unwarranted doubt or contrarian views which strongly depart from the scientific opinion on climate change , including the extent to which it is caused by humans , its impacts on nature and human society , or the potential of adaptation to global warming by human actions . Some deniers do endorse the term , but others often prefer the term climate change skepticism , although this is a misnomer for those who deny anthropogenic global warming . In effect , the two terms form a continuous , overlapping range of views , and generally have the same characteristics : both reject , to a greater or lesser extent , mainstream scientific opinion on climate change . Climate change denial can also be implicit , when individuals or social groups accept the science but fail to come to terms with it or to translate their acceptance into action . Several social science studies have analyzed these positions as forms of denialism . Campaigning to undermine public trust in climate science has been described as a `` denial machine '' of industrial , political and ideological interests , supported by conservative media and skeptical bloggers in manufacturing uncertainty about global warming . In the public debate , phrases such as climate skepticism have frequently been used with the same meaning as climate denialism . The labels are contested : those actively challenging climate science commonly describe themselves as `` skeptics '' , but many do not comply with common standards of scientific skepticism and , regardless of evidence , persistently deny the validity of human caused global warming . Although scientific opinion on climate change is that human activity is extremely likely to be the primary driver of climate change , the politics of global warming have been affected by climate change denial , hindering efforts to prevent climate change and adapt to the warming climate . Those promoting denial commonly use rhetorical tactics to give the appearance of a scientific controversy where there is none . Of the world 's countries , the climate change denial industry is most powerful in the United States . Since January 2015 , the United States Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works has been chaired by oil lobbyist and climate change denier Jim Inhofe . Inhofe is notorious for having called climate change `` the greatest hoax ever perpetrated against the American people '' and for having claimed to have debunked the alleged hoax in February 2015 when he brought a snowball with him in the Senate chamber and tossed it across the floor . Organised campaigning to undermine public trust in climate science is associated with conservative economic policies and backed by industrial interests opposed to the regulation of emissions . Climate change denial has been associated with the fossil fuels lobby , the Koch brothers , industry advocates and libertarian think tanks , often in the United States . More than 90 % of papers sceptical on climate change originate from right-wing think tanks . The total annual income of these climate change counter-movement-organizations is roughly $ 900 million . Between 2002 and 2010 , nearly $ 120 million ( # 77 million ) was anonymously donated via the Donors Trust and Donors Capital Fund to more than 100 organisations seeking to undermine the public perception of the science on climate change . In 2013 the Center for Media and Democracy reported that the State Policy Network ( SPN ) , an umbrella group of 64 U.S. think tanks , had been lobbying on behalf of major corporations and conservative donors to oppose climate change regulation . Since the late 1970s , oil companies have published research broadly in line with the standard views on global warming . Despite this , oil companies organized a climate change denial campaign to disseminate public disinformation for several decades , a strategy that has been compared to the organized denial of the hazards of tobacco smoking by tobacco companies .", "Fashion Revolution Fashion Revolution is a not-for-profit global movement with teams in over 90 countries around the world . Fashion Revolution campaigns for systemic reform of the fashion industry with a focus on the need for greater transparency in the fashion supply chain . Fashion Revolution has designated the anniversary of the Rana Plaza disaster in Bangladesh as Fashion Revolution Day . In 2014 , 2015 and 2016 millions of people around the world called on brands to answer the question Who Made My Clothes ? The hashtag #whomademyclothes was the no. 1 global trend on Twitter .", "Why We Fight (disambiguation) Why We Fight may refer to : Why We Fight , a series of World War II propaganda films Why We Fight ( 2005 film ) , a documentary on the U.S. military -- industrial complex Why We Fight ( Angel ) , a 2004 episode of the television series Angel `` Why We Fight '' ( Band of Brothers ) , an episode of the miniseries Band of Brothers `` Why We Fight '' ( Jericho episode ) , a 2007 episode of the television series Jericho `` Why We Fight '' ( Revolution episode ) , a 2014 episode of the television series Revolution Why We Fight ( album ) , a 2002 album by Gatsbys American Dream", "Eurammon eurammon is a European non-profit initiative for natural refrigerants . It was set up in 1996 and comprises European companies , institutions and industry experts . It is based in Frankfurt ( Main ) , Germany . The initiative ´ s name is composed of the words Europe and ammonia . The objective of eurammon is to jointly promote the greater use of natural refrigerants , as they have almost no effect on global warming and on the depletion of the ozone layer", "PostCapitalism: A Guide to our Future PostCapitalism : A Guide to our Future is a 2015 book by British journalist and writer Paul Mason . In the book , Mason discusses the existential threat posed to capitalism by the digital revolution . He argues that the digital revolution has the potential to reshape utterly our familiar notions of work , production and value ; and to destroy an economy based on markets and private ownership . In fact , he contends , this is already happening . He points to parallel currencies , co-operatives , self-managed online spaces , even Wikipedia as examples of what the postcapitalist future might look like . Mason argues that from the ashes of the global financial crisis , we have the chance to create a more socially just and sustainable global economy .", "Ecological forecasting Ecological forecasting uses knowledge of physics , ecology and physiology to predict how ecosystems will change in the future in response to environmental factors such as climate change . The ultimate goal of the approach is to provide people such as resource managers and designers of marine reserves with information that they can then use to respond , in advance , to future changes , a form of adaptation to global warming . One of the most important environmental factors for organisms today is global warming . Most physiological processes are affected by temperature , and so even small changes in weather and climate can lead to large changes in the growth , reproduction and survival of animals and plants . The scientific consensus is that the increase in atmospheric greenhouse gases due to human activity caused most of the warming observed since the start of the industrial era . These changes are in turn affecting human and natural ecosystems . One major challenge is to predict where , when and with what magnitude changes are likely to occur so that we can mitigate or at least prepare for them . Ecological forecasting applies existing knowledge of how animals and plants interact with their physical environment to ask how changes in environmental factors might result in changes to the ecosystems as a whole .", "List of cultural, intellectual, philosophical and technological revolutions The term revolution is used to denote trends which have resulted in great social changes outside the political sphere , such as changes in mores , culture , philosophy or technology . Many have been global , while others have been limited to single countries . Such revolutions include : The Agricultural Revolutions , which include : The Neolithic Revolution ( perhaps 13000 years ago ) , which formed the basis for human civilization to develop . It is commonly referred to as the ` First Agricultural Revolution ' . The Green Revolution ( 1945 -- ) : The use of industrial fertilizers and new crops greatly increased the world 's agricultural output . It is commonly referred to as the ` Second Agricultural Revolution ' . The British Agricultural Revolution ( 18th century ) , which spurred urbanisation and consequently helped launch the Industrial Revolution . The Scottish Agricultural Revolution ( 18th century ) , which led to the Lowland Clearances . The Commercial Revolution : A period of European economic expansion , colonialism , and mercantilism which lasted from approximately the 16th century until the early 18th century . The Counterculture of the 1960s ( approximately 1960 -- 1973 ) was a social revolution that originated in the United States and United Kingdom , and eventually spread to other western nations . The themes of this movement included the anti-war movement , civil rights for African-Americans , rebellion against conservative norms , drug use , and the sexual revolution ( see below ) . The Sexual revolution : A change in sexual morality and sexual behavior throughout the Western world , mainly during the 1960s and 1970s . The Cultural Revolution : A struggle for power within the Communist Party of China , which grew to include large sections of Chinese society and eventually brought the People 's Republic of China to the brink of civil war , and which lasted from 1966 to 1976 . The Digital Revolution : The sweeping changes brought about by computing and communication technology , starting from circa 1950 with the creation of the first general-purpose electronic computers . The Industrial Revolution : The major shift of technological , socioeconomic and cultural conditions in the late 18th century and early 19th century that began in Britain and spread throughout the world . The Second Industrial Revolution ( 1871 -- 1914 ) . The Price revolution : A series of economic events from the second half of the 15th century to the first half of the 17th , the price revolution refers most specifically to the high rate of inflation that characterized the period across Western Europe . The Quiet Revolution : A period of rapid change in Quebec , Canada , in the 1960s . This leads to the separatist movement for Quebec sovereignty and two referendums . The Scientific revolution : A fundamental transformation in scientific ideas around the 16th century . The Upper Paleolithic Revolution : The emergence of `` high culture '' , new technologies and regionally distinct cultures .", "President Wanted President Wanted is a 2013 Czech documentary film about the first direct presidential election in the Czech Republic . It was directed by Tomáš Kudrna . President wanted follows candidates from the summer 2012 to January 2013 . The film shows candidates behind scenes . The film also shows the most important moments in the campaign . It also follows candidates that didn ´ t qualify for the election It premiered on 21 March 2013 .", "Climate change in Germany Climate change in Europe describes the climate change related issues in Europe . This includes the climate politics , contribution in the global warming and the influence of the global warming in Europe .", "Warm River (story) `` Warm River '' is short love story by Erskine Caldwell , included in the collection We Are the Living ( 1933 ) .", "Climate Code Red Climate Code Red : The Case for Emergency Action is a 2008 book which presents scientific evidence that the global warming crisis is worse than official reports and national governments have so far indicated . The book argues that we are facing a `` sustainability emergency '' that requires a clear break from business-as-usual politics . The authors explain that emergency action to address climate change is not so much a radical idea as an indispensable course we must embark upon . Climate Code Red draws heavily on the work of a large number of climate scientists , including James E. Hansen . The key themes of Climate Code Red are : `` Our goal is a safe-climate future -- we have no right to bargain away species or human lives . '' `` We are facing rapid warming impacts : the danger is immediate , not just in the future . '' `` For a safe climate future , we must take action now to stop emissions and to cool the earth . '' `` Plan a large-scale transition to a post-carbon economy and society . '' `` Recognise a climate and sustainability emergency , because we need to move at a pace far beyond business and politics as usual '' . Co-author David Spratt is a Melbourne businessman , climate-policy analyst , and co-founder of the Carbon Equity network . Co-author Philip Sutton is convener of the Greenleap Strategic Institute and Assistant Convenor of the Climate Emergency Network . The book was launched by the Governor of Victoria , Professor David de Kretser in Parliament House in Melbourne , Victoria , on July 17 , 2008 .", "Economy of Erie, Pennsylvania Erie , Pennsylvania is the Commonwealth 's primary access point to Lake Erie , the Great Lakes , and the Saint Lawrence Seaway . The city developed first as a maritime center after the American Revolution , as a railroad hub during the great American westward expansion , and as an important manufacturing center during the Industrial Revolution . By the 21st century , electric locomotive building is all that remains of big industry , but smaller-scale steel and plastics manufacturers , as well as health care , insurance , tourism and recreation have emerged as Erie 's new diverse mix of key industries .", "Everything's Cool (film) Everything 's Cool is a 2007 documentary film that examines the divide between scientists and the general populace on the topic of global warming . Director Dan Gold said of the motivation for the film that `` I 'm optimistic that finally the message that this is real , that human beings are the cause of the most recent warming trend , and that it 's an important issue , that message is actually reaching America . On the other hand ... if that message was fully understood , we would be moving a lot faster to slow this down and to reverse this course . '' The documentary was shown at the Sundance film festival in January 2007 and at the San Francisco International Film Festival in May 2007 . The directors also took Blue Vinyl , a film about plastic pollution , to Sundance in 2002 . It was shown on CBC in Canada as part of the Passionate Eye series . The New York Times called it `` a breezy polemic about the politics of global warming ... -LSB- that -RSB- adopts a cheerful comic tone to avoid scaring audiences . '' The LA Times said that `` With wit and passion , Gold and Helfand marshal a plethora of data and developments yet never lose their narrative thread . '' . The New York Sun was less favourable , calling it `` the best movie I 've ever seen about global warming for kids in junior high school , but it 's the most annoying movie about global warming I 've ever seen for adults . ''", "Warm River Warm River can refer to : Warm River , Idaho Warm River ( story ) - short story by Erskine Caldwell , included in We Are the Living ( 1933 )", "Oxalyl fluoride Oxalyl fluoride is a fluorinated derivative of oxalic acid . It is being investigated for use in etching as a replacement for compounds which have the liability of high global warming potential .", "John T. Garner John T. Garner ( 1809 -- 1888 ) was a soldier in the Texas Army during the Texas Revolution , noted for a daring action during the Battle of San Jacinto that helped seal the decisive Texian victory .", "Taken by Storm Taken By Storm : The Troubled Science , Policy and Politics of Global Warming is a 2002 book about the global warming controversy by Christopher Essex and Ross McKitrick . The authors argue that politicians and others claim far more certainty than is justified by the science . The authors also argue that public policy discussions have abandoned science and resorted to ad hominem attacks . Taken by Storm was one of two runners up for the 2002 Donner Prize for the best book on Canadian public policy .", "List of scientists opposing the mainstream scientific assessment of global warming This is a list of scientists who have made statements that conflict with the scientific consensus on global warming as summarized by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and endorsed by other scientific bodies . As approximately 97 % of publishing climate scientists support the consensus on anthropogenic climate change , this list represents a minority viewpoint . The scientific consensus is that the global average surface temperature has risen over the last century . Scientific opinion on climate change was summarized in the 2001 Third Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) . The main conclusions on global warming at that time were as follows : The global average surface temperature has risen 0.6 ± 0.2 ° C since the late 19th century , and 0.17 ° C per decade in the last 30 years . `` There is new and stronger evidence that most of the warming observed over the last 50 years is attributable to human activities '' , in particular emissions of the greenhouse gases carbon dioxide and methane . If greenhouse gas emissions continue the warming will also continue , with temperatures projected to increase by 1.4 ° C to 5.8 ° C between 1990 and 2100 . Accompanying this temperature increase will be increases in some types of extreme weather and a projected sea level rise . The balance of impacts of global warming become significantly negative at larger values of warming . These findings are recognized by the national science academies of all the major industrialized nations ; the consensus has strengthened over time and is now virtually unanimous . The level of consensus correlates with expertise in climate science . There have been several efforts to compile lists of dissenting scientists , including a 2008 US senate minority report , the Oregon Petition , and a 2007 list by the Heartland Institute , all three of which have been criticized on a number of grounds . For the purpose of this list , a `` scientist '' is defined as an individual who has published at least one peer-reviewed research article in the broad field of natural sciences , although not necessarily in a field relevant to climatology . Since the publication of the IPCC Third Assessment Report , each has made a clear statement in his or her own words ( as opposed to the name being found on a petition , etc. ) disagreeing with one or more of the report 's three main conclusions . Their views on climate change are usually described in more detail in their biographical articles . Few of the statements in the references for this list are part of the peer-reviewed scientific literature ; most are from other sources such as interviews , opinion pieces , online essays and presentations . NB : Only individuals who have their own Wikipedia article may be included in the list .", "Warm Blood Warm Blood may refer to : warmblood Warm Blood , album by Carol Grimes `` Warm Blood '' , song by Icelandic band Seabear on album We Built a Fire Warm Blood ( Carly Rae Jepsen song )", "Effects of global warming on human health The effects of global warming include effects on human health . The observed and projected increased frequency and severity of climate related impacts will further exacerbate the effects on human health . This article describes some of those effects on individuals and populations .", "Our Choice Our Choice is a 2009 book written by former U.S. Vice President Al Gore . Originally titled The Path to Survival it follows An Inconvenient Truth : The Planetary Emergency of Global Warming and What We Can Do About It , a companion book to the film An Inconvenient Truth . All profits of the book ( printed on 100 % recycled paper ) go to the Alliance for Climate Protection , which Gore founded in 2006 .", "GWPP The initials GWPP could indicate : the Global Water Policy Project , a fresh-water conservation project headed by Sandra Postel . the Global Warming Petition Project ( AKA the Oregon Petition ) , a project devoted to discrediting global climate change ( or its previous label global warming ) , under the auspices of the non-profit organization called the Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine .", "The Deniers The Deniers is a 2008 book by Lawrence Solomon , a Canadian environmentalist and writer . Subtitled `` The world-renowned scientists who stood up against global warming hysteria , political persecution , and fraud , '' the book draws attention to a number of scientists and others who , according to Solomon , have advanced arguments against what he calls the `` alarmist '' view of global warming , as presented by Al Gore , the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) , the mainstream media , and others . The book is based on a series of columns Solomon wrote for Canada 's National Post .", "Energy in Norway Since the discovery of North Sea oil in Norwegian waters during the late 1960s , exports of oil and gas have become very important elements of the economy of Norway . With North Sea oil production having peaked , disagreements over exploration for oil in the Barents Sea , the prospect of exploration in the Arctic , as well as growing international concern over global warming , energy in Norway is currently receiving close attention .", "Thermal Credits Thermal credits is a new holistic concept which corresponds to the percentage of the climate impact saving obtained through mitigation and adaptation measures applied against global warming , taking as reference the global temperature rise projected in a given time scale . Thermal credits are measured in percentages of global warming reduction in a given time ." ]

[ "Julian Assange Julian Paul Assange ( -LSB- əˈsɒnʒ -RSB- born Julian Paul Hawkins , 3 July 1971 ) is an Australian computer programmer and the founder of WikiLeaks , an organisation which he founded in 2006 . He has won accolades including the Sam Adams Award and Martha Gellhorn Prize for Journalism . Assange founded WikiLeaks in 2006 , but came to global prominence in 2010 , when WikiLeaks published a series of leaks provided by Chelsea Manning . These leaks included the Collateral Murder video ( April 2010 ) , the Afghanistan war logs ( July 2010 ) , the Iraq war logs ( October 2010 ) , and CableGate ( November 2010 ) . Following the 2010 leaks , the United States government launched a criminal investigation into WikiLeaks and asked allied nations for assistance . In November 2010 , a request was made for Assange 's extradition to Sweden , where he had been questioned months earlier over allegations of sexual assault and rape . Assange continued to deny the allegations , and expressed concern that he would be extradited from Sweden to the United States because of his perceived role in publishing secret American documents . Assange surrendered himself to UK police on 7 December 2010 , and was held for ten days in solitary confinement before being released on bail . He sought and was granted asylum by Ecuador in August 2012 . He has since remained in the Embassy of Ecuador in London , and is unable to leave without being arrested for breaching his bail conditions . On 19 May 2017 , the Swedish prosecutors dropped the investigation into rape accusations against Assange and applied to revoke his arrest warrant , although the Metropolitan Police have indicated that an arrest warrant is still in force for Assange 's failure to surrender himself to the British court .", "Climatic Research Unit email controversy The Climatic Research Unit email controversy ( also known as `` Climategate '' ) began in November 2009 with the hacking of a server at the Climatic Research Unit ( CRU ) at the University of East Anglia ( UEA ) by an external attacker , copying thousands of emails and computer files , the Climatic Research Unit documents , to various internet locations several weeks before the Copenhagen Summit on climate change . The story was first broken by climate change denialists with columnist James Delingpole popularising the term `` Climategate '' to describe the controversy . Several people considered climate change `` skeptics '' argued that the emails showed global warming was a scientific conspiracy , that scientists manipulated climate data and attempted to suppress critics . The CRU rejected this , saying the emails had been taken out of context and merely reflected an honest exchange of ideas . The mainstream media picked up the story as negotiations over climate change mitigation began in Copenhagen on 7 December 2009 . Because of the timing , scientists , policy makers and public relations experts said that the release of emails was a smear campaign intended to undermine the climate conference . In response to the controversy , the American Association for the Advancement of Science ( AAAS ) , the American Meteorological Society ( AMS ) and the Union of Concerned Scientists ( UCS ) released statements supporting the scientific consensus that the Earth 's mean surface temperature had been rising for decades , with the AAAS concluding , `` based on multiple lines of scientific evidence that global climate change caused by human activities is now underway ... it is a growing threat to society . '' Eight committees investigated the allegations and published reports , finding no evidence of fraud or scientific misconduct . However , the reports called on the scientists to avoid any such allegations in the future by taking steps to regain public confidence in their work , for example by opening up access to their supporting data , processing methods and software , and by promptly honouring freedom of information requests . The scientific consensus that global warming is occurring as a result of human activity remained unchanged throughout the investigations .", "Association of Chief Police Officers The Association of Chief Police Officers ( ACPO ) , officially The Association of Chief Police Officers of England , Wales and Northern Ireland , was a not-for-profit private limited company that for many years led the development of policing practices in England , Wales , and Northern Ireland . Established in 1948 , ACPO provided a forum for chief police officers to share ideas and coordinate their strategic operational responses , and advised government in matters such as terrorist attacks and civil emergencies . ACPO coordinated national police operations , major investigations , cross-border policing , and joint law enforcement . ACPO designated Senior Investigative Officers for major investigations and appointed officers to head ACPO units specialising in various areas of policing and crime reduction . ACPO was led by Chief Constable Sir Hugh Orde , QPM , who was , until 2009 , the Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland . He was elected as president by fellow members of ACPO in April 2009 . ACPO was funded by Home Office grants , profits from commercial activities and contributions from the 44 police authorities in England , Wales , and Northern Ireland . Following the Parker Review into ACPO , it was replaced in 2015 by a new body , the National Police Chiefs ' Council , set up under a police collaboration agreement under Section 22A of the Police Act 1996 ." ]

[ "Freedom of Information requests to the Climatic Research Unit Freedom of Information requests to the Climatic Research Unit featured in press discussions of disputes over access to data from instrumental temperature records , particularly during the Climatic Research Unit email controversy which began in November 2009 . The UK Freedom of Information Act ( FOIA ) came into effect in 2005 , and FOI requests were made to the Climatic Research Unit ( CRU ) at the University of East Anglia ( UEA ) for the raw data from weather stations used in developing instrumental temperature record datasets , for copies of agreements under which the raw data was obtained from meteorology institutions , and also for email correspondence relating to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Fourth Assessment Report . In many cases the raw data which CRU had obtained from National Meteorological Organisations was subject to restrictions on redistribution : on 12 August 2009 CRU announced that they were seeking permission to waive these restrictions , and on 24 November 2009 the university stated that over 95 % of the CRU climate data set had already been available for several years , with the remainder to be released when permissions were obtained . In a decision announced on 27 July 2011 the Information Commissioner 's Office ( ICO ) required release of raw data even though permissions had not been obtained or in one instance had been refused , and on 27 July 2011 CRU announced release of the raw instrumental data not already in the public domain , with the exception of Poland which was outside the area covered by the FOIA request . A 2008 FOI request by David Holland for emails discussing work on the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report was refused by the university . In November 2009 he alleged that CRU emails posted online discussed deleting the emails he had requested : in January 2010 the Deputy Information Commissioner told a journalist that this indicated an offence under section 77 of the FOIA , but prosecution was time-barred by statute of limitations . Newspapers misrepresented this as a decision in relation to raw data , and the issue was discussed by the House of Commons Science and Technology Select Committee inquiry , which found there had been a lack of openness . The ICO decision published on 7 July 2010 stated that this potential offence had not been investigated as it was time-barred . As Holland was content not to proceed with his complaint against the university , no further action was needed , but the ICO would `` consider whether further action is appropriate to secure future compliance . '' In September 2011 the ICO issued new guidance to universities . This described exceptions and exemptions to protect research , including allowance for internal exchange of views between academics and researchers free from external scrutiny , as well as commending actively disclosing information when it is in the public interest .", "Gloria Foy Gloria Foy ( June 1899 -- February 27 , 1977 ) was a dancer , singer , vaudeville performer , and star of musical revues . She was a slim and energetic blonde from Lima , Ohio . Her family were theatrical people . Her father was Harry Foy , but she was no relation to the more famous Eddie Foy .", "Guyan reduction In computational mechanics , Guyan reduction , also known as static condensation , is a dimensionality reduction method which reduces the number of degrees of freedom by ignoring the inertial terms of the equilibrium equations and expressing the unloaded degrees of freedom in terms of the loaded degrees of freedom .", "National Federation of SubPostmasters The National Federation of SubPostmasters ( NFSP ) is an independent membership organisation , which represents subpostmasters in the United Kingdom . The NFSP holds an annual conference It is the only organisation recognised by the Post Office to negotiate on behalf of subpostmasters . However a freedom of information request answered by the Post Office Limited stated that `` ... the Post Office Ltd can not recognise the National Federation of Sub Postmasters for collective bargaining purposes . '' Questions of the unions independence from Post Office Limited has been asked and a freedom of information request have revealed significant sums of money been paid to the NFSP by Post Office Limited . In particular funds to support the Network Transformation program road shows . While the NFSP support the NT program a BIS committee report has highlighted a number of flaws in the program which are detrimental to both the subpostmasters and the general public as such the independence of there support should be questioned", "Civil Nuclear Police Authority The Civil Nuclear Police Authority is the police authority that oversees the Civil Nuclear Constabulary . A police authority is a body corporate in the United Kingdom that defines strategic plans for a police force and provides accountability so that the police function `` efficiently and effectively '' . The authority was created in 2004 by the Energy Act 2004 . The authority is subject to Freedom of information requests '' .", "Kevin Foy Kevin C. Foy ( born 1956 ) is an American politician who served as was Mayor of Chapel Hill , North Carolina from 2001-2009 . During his eight years in office , Foy focused on policies that have transformed Chapel Hill into a vibrant mid-sized city . Chief among these is a fare-free transit system . With free buses , ridership grew from fewer than 3 million annual passengers to more than 7.5 million -- saving citizens money and freeing the town from the air pollution of all those cars not being used . He also directed investment into the redevelopment of the downtown and preserved the character and natural setting of the community by ensuring that new parks and schools have kept pace with the town 's growth . In June 2009 , Foy 's efforts as mayor were rewarded by the U.S. Conference of Mayors which named Chapel Hill `` America 's Most Livable City . '' In addition , Foy served as Chair of the North Carolina Metropolitan Mayors Coalition -- the organization representing the state 's largest cities -- and led the effort to pass the state 's first anti-gang legislation . The group 's agenda also includes strengthening the judicial system and reducing crime , identifying and implementing transportation options , and managing urban growth . Foy left office in 2009 and was succeeded by Mark Kleinschmidt . He considered running for the Senate nomination in 2010 . Foy believes there has been a lack of leadership from North Carolina 's Republican senators . Unlike the `` Know Nothings '' his ancestors confronted , Foy sees Republican Senator Richard Burr and his former colleague Elizabeth Dole as `` Do Nothings , '' who sat silently by and ignored the problems facing North Carolina . For example , efforts to provide light rail service to North Carolinians faltered and failed because the state 's senators refused to support it . Meanwhile , a light rail service in northern Virginia moved ahead because their senators got behind it .", "Sainte-Foy–Sillery Sainte-Foy -- Sillery is a former borough of Quebec City ( Population ( 2006 ) : 72,262 ) . It comprised the former city of Sillery and most of Sainte-Foy , which were incorporated into the borough on January 1 , 2002 . On November 1 , 2009 , the new borough of Sainte-Foy -- Sillery -- Cap-Rouge was created , including the area of the former city of Cap-Rouge and the part of Sainte-Foy that had not been incorporated earlier into the former borough ; these had been incorporated into the borough of Laurentien in 2002 . In the 2009 reorganization , Laurentien was dismembered and ceased to exist .", "Freedom Party of Ontario candidates, 1995 Ontario provincial election The Freedom Party of Ontario fielded a number of candidates in the 1995 provincial election , none of whom were elected . Information about these candidates may be found here .", "Access to Information Act Access to Information Act ( R.S. , 1985 , c. A-1 ) or Information Act ( Loi sur l'accès à l'information ) is a Canadian Act providing the right of access to information under the control of a federal government institution . Paragraph 2 . ( 1 ) of the Act ( `` Purpose '' ) declares that government information should be available to the public , but with necessary exceptions to the right of access that should be limited and specific , and that decisions on the disclosure of government information should be reviewed independently of government . Later paragraphs assign responsibility for this review to an Information Commissioner , who reports directly to parliament rather than the government in power . However , the Act provides the commissioner the power only to recommend rather than compel the release of requested information that the commissioner judges to be not subject to any exception specified in the Act . By 1982 , Australia , Denmark , the Netherlands , New Zealand , Sweden , and the U.S. ( 1966 ) , had enacted modern Freedom of information legislation . Canada 's Access to Information Act came into force in 1983 , under the Pierre Trudeau government , permitting Canadians to retrieve information from government files , establishing what information could be accessed , mandating timelines for response . By the standards of that era , it came to be considered a model of good practice , having taken the implementation of the law more seriously than other countries . The Act created new offices staffed with trained professionals to manage the inflow of requests , and developed formal procedures to encourage prompt processing of requests . Furthermore , the Information Commissioner served as an easily accessible ombudsperson to arbitrate cases of possible maladministration . A complementary Privacy Act also came into force in 1983 . The purpose of this Act was to extend the present laws of Canada that protect the privacy of individuals with respect to personal information about themselves held by a federal government institution and that provide individuals with a right of access to that information . It is a Crown copyright . This Act stipulates that complaints for possible violations of the Act may be reported to the Privacy Commissioner . In 1998 , following Somalia Affair , a clause was appended to the Access Act , making it a federal offence to destroy , falsify , or conceal public documents . Canadian access to information laws distinguish between access to records generally and access to records that contain personal information about the person making the request . Subject to exceptions , individuals have a right of access to records that contain their own personal information under the Privacy Act but the general public does not have a right of access to records that contain personal information about others under the Access to Information Act . From 1989 to 2008 , requests made to the federal government were catalogued in the Coordination of Access to Information Requests System ( CAIRS ) . Although CAIRS was not originally designed for public use , the information contained in the database generated substantial and continued public interest . Two non-governmental websites offered information from CAIRS to the public with a search facility . In April , 2008 , the Conservative government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper terminated the maintenance of this database .", "Foy & Gibson Foy & Gibson ( also known as Foy 's ) was one of Australia 's earliest department store chains , modelled on Le Bon Marché in Paris and other European and American Stores of the period . A large range of goods were manufactured and sold by the company including clothing , manchester , leather goods , soft furnishings , furniture , hardware and food . The first store was established as a drapery in Smith Street , Collingwood , Victoria by Mark Foy . Ownership of this business was transferred to his son Francis Foy in partnership with Willam Gibson in March 1883 . Francis Foy later sold his half share of the business to Gibson and moved to Sydney , establishing Mark Foy 's there . Gibson established a branch of the business in Perth in 1895 , and subsequently opened a store in Brisbane in 1903 and another in Rundle Street , Adelaide in 1907 . In 1955 , the company was bought out by Cox Brothers and in 1964 , Foy & Gibson ( WA ) Ltd , including ten stores in Western Australia , was sold to David Jones . The Bourke Street Melbourne store was sold to Woolworths in 1967 . The Adelaide store continued to trade under the Cox-Foys banner - owned by Harris Scarfe until it closed in 1977 .", "Mark Foy's Mark Foy 's Limited or Mark Foy 's was a department store in Sydney , New South Wales , Australia , founded by Francis Foy ( 1856 ? -- 1918 ) and his brother Mark Foy ( 1865 -- 1950 ) . The department store was named after their father , Mark Foy ( senior ) and traded between 1885 and 1980 .", "Gay bomb The `` halitosis bomb '' and `` gay bomb '' are informal names for two theoretical non-lethal chemical weapons that a United States Air Force research laboratory speculated about producing ; the theories involve discharging female sex pheromones over enemy forces in order to make them sexually attracted to each other . In 1994 the Wright Laboratory in Ohio , a predecessor to today 's United States Air Force Research Laboratory , produced a three-page proposal on a variety of possible nonlethal chemical weapons , which was later obtained by the Sunshine Project through a Freedom of Information Act request .", "Chris Foy Chris Foy may refer to : Chris Foy ( actor ) ( born 1983 ) , Australian actor Chris Foy ( ice hockey player ) ( born 1970 ) , Canadian ice hockey player Chris Foy ( referee ) ( born 1962 ) , English football referee", "Fois Fois may refer to : Foix , France Giovanni Melis Fois ( 1916 -- 2009 ) , Italian Roman Catholic prelate Marcello Fois ( born 1960 ) , Italian writer Valentino Fois ( 1973 -- 2008 ) , Italian cyclist", "Point of information Point of information may refer to : Point of information ( competitive debate ) Point of information in parliamentary procedure -- now known as Request for information ( parliamentary procedure )", "Mark Foy Mark Foy is a former association football player who represented New Zealand at international level . Foy played three official full internationals for New Zealand , making his debut in a 0-5 loss to Indonesia on 21 September 1997 . His other two matches were a 0-0 draw with Chile on 4 February and a 0-1 loss to South Korea on 7 February 1998 .", "Sainte-Foi Sainte-Foi is a commune in the Ariège department in southwestern France .", "The Seven Little Foys The Seven Little Foys is a Technicolor in VistaVision 1955 film starring Bob Hope as Eddie Foy . One highlight of the film is an energetic tabletop dance showdown sequence with Bob Hope as Eddie Foy and James Cagney , who reprises his role as George M. Cohan . The story of Eddie Foy , Sr. and the Seven Little Foys inspired a TV version in 1964 and a stage musical version , which premiered in 2007 , in addition to this film in 1955 .", "Ignorance Ignorance is a lack of knowledge . The word ignorant is an adjective describing a person in the state of being unaware , and is often ( incorrectly ) used to describe individuals who deliberately ignore or disregard important information or facts . Ignoramus is commonly used in the United States as a term for someone who is willfully ignorant . Ignorance is distinguished from stupidity , although both can lead to `` unwise '' acts . The writer , Thomas Pynchon , articulated the following about the scope and structure of one 's ignorance : `` Ignorance is not just a blank space on a person 's mental map . It has contours and coherence , and for all I know rules of operation as well . So as a corollary to -LSB- the advice of -RSB- writing about what we know , maybe we should add getting familiar with our ignorance , and the possibilities therein for writing a good story . '' The legal principle that ignorantia juris non excusat , literally `` ignorance of the law is no excuse '' , stands for the proposition that the law applies also to those who are unaware of it .", "Foy, Belgium Foy ( -LSB- foj -RSB- ) is a village in Belgium , near Bastogne .", "Abbey Church of Saint Foy The Abbey Church of Saint Foy St. in Conques , France , was a popular stop for pilgrims traveling the Way of St. James to Santiago de Compostela , in what is now Spain . The main draw for medieval pilgrims at Conques were the remains of St. Foy , a young woman martyred during the fourth century . The relics of St. Foy arrived in Conques through theft in 866 . After unsuccessful attempts to acquire the relics of St. Vincent of Saragossa and then the relics of St. Vincent Pompejac in Agen , the abbey authorities set their sights on the relics of St. Foy at the ancient St. Faith 's Church , Sélestat . The Conques abbey opened a priory next to the shrine in Sélestat . A monk from Conques posed as a loyal monk in Agen for nearly a decade in order to get close enough to the relics to steal them .", "Chris Foy (actor) Chris Foy ( born 25 January 1983 ) is an Australian actor .", "Lyla Foy Lyla Foy ( aka WALL ) is a London songwriter and solo artist .", "Shirley Bunnie Foy Shirley Bunnie Foy , also known as Bunny Foy ( October 13 , 1936 -- November 24 , 2016 ) , was an American jazz singer , songwriter , and percussionist .", "Sainte-Foy–Sillery–Cap-Rouge Sainte-Foy -- Sillery -- Cap-Rouge is a borough of Quebec City , Quebec , Canada . The borough was created on November 1 , 2009 , from the former borough of Sainte-Foy -- Sillery and part of the former borough of Laurentien . Those boroughs in turn had been created on January 1 , 2002 ; on that date , the former city of Cap-Rouge , a small part of the former city of Sainte-Foy , and other territory went into Laurentien , while the former city of Sillery and the rest of Sainte-Foy formed Sainte-Foy -- Sillery .", "Load Shedding Load Shedding is a technique used in information systems , especially web services , to avoid overloading the system and making it unavailable of all users . The idea of Load Shedding is to rather flatly ignore some requests rather than crashing a system and making it fail to serve any request . Considerations shaping the design of load shedding algorithms include : when one of several load balanced servers becomes unavailable due to overload , all other servers will receive a higher load , potentially leading to more overload and a snow-ball effect which takes down the entire system . when one part in a system of microservices starts becoming slower due to high load , other services will have waiting requests queuing up , potentially more than fits in their memory , which could again take down the entire system . A popular open-source tool for defending against delays in downstream systems is Hystrix .", "POST (HTTP) In computing , POST is a request method supported by the HTTP protocol used by the World Wide Web . By design , the POST request method requests that a web server accept the data enclosed in the body of the request message , most likely for storing it . It is often used when uploading a file or when submitting a completed web form . In contrast , the HTTP GET request method retrieves information from the server . As part of a GET request , some data can be passed within the URL 's query string , specifying ( for example ) search terms , date ranges , or other information that defines the query . As part of a POST request , an arbitrary amount of data of any type can be sent to the server in the body of the request message . A header field in the POST request usually indicates the message body 's Internet media type .", "Foy Foy may refer to :", "Get Stupid! Get Stupid ! is a book ( ISBN 0973644206 ) released in February 2005 that was written by one of the members of the comedy team The Arrogant Worms , Trevor Strong . It teaches the `` Ignorance IS Bliss Method '' and contains three parts : `` The IQ ( Ignorance Quotient ) Test '' , which tests how ignorant one really is . `` The Seven Steps to Bliss '' , which teaches how to find happiness through ignorance . `` Simplifying the World '' , which teaches how to deal with the problems of the world after one has become ignorant . It contains information about everything , including art , gardening , health , and even recipes . Category : Comedy books Category : Self-help books", "Sainte-Foy Sainte Foy or Sainte Foi is a French expression meaning either Saint Faith , as a person , or `` holy faith '' ( referring to Christianity ) . It may refer to :", "Tracker scrape A scrape , or tracker scrape , is a request sent by a BitTorrent client to a tracker . A request is sent , connection to the tracker is established , information is exchanged , then the connection is closed . The request does something like a `` wipe '' or a `` pass '' over the tracker , and then the tracker sends information back to the client . The returned information can contain such information as , whether the tracker is on - or offline , the reason it is offline , the numbers of peers and seeds ( sending a list of all peers in the swarm is usually much more bandwidth consuming than just sending a scrape result ) , etc. ( Note that some trackers do n't support scrape requests , but it is still possible to use the tracker as usual . ) A client scrapes in order to determine whether or not to send an announce requesting more peers . Sending a scrape result usually requires less data transfer than sending a list of peers . Clients with scrape support will scrape the tracker many times during the course of a download to update its information about the swarm . The tracker is scraped many thousands of times for each torrent alone , even if the swarm is not very big . The tracker can usually handle this number of requests . However , if there are more requests than strictly necessary , this can destabilize the tracker and put it offline .", "Shirley Bunnie Foy (60th Anniversary) Shirley Bunnie Foy ( 60th Anniversary ) is an album of American singer Shirley Bunnie Foy issued by MAP Golden Jazz label , June 2013 ." ]

[ "Hockey stick controversy In the hockey stick controversy , the data and methods used in reconstructions of the temperature record of the past 1000 years have been disputed . Reconstructions have consistently shown that the rise in the instrumental temperature record of the past 150 years is not matched in earlier centuries , and the name `` hockey stick graph '' was coined for figures showing a long-term decline followed by an abrupt rise in temperatures . These graphs were publicised to explain the scientific findings of climatology , and in addition to scientific debate over the reconstructions , they have been the topic of political dispute . The issue is part of the global warming controversy and has been one focus of political responses to reports by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) . Arguments over the reconstructions have been taken up by fossil fuel industry funded lobbying groups attempting to cast doubt on climate science . The use of proxy indicators to get quantitative estimates of the temperature record of past centuries was developed from the 1990s onwards , and found indications that recent warming was exceptional . The reconstruction introduced the `` Composite Plus Scaling '' ( CPS ) method used by most later large-scale reconstructions , and its findings were disputed by Patrick Michaels at the United States House Committee on Science . In 1998 , Michael E. Mann , Raymond S. Bradley and Malcolm K. Hughes developed new statistical techniques to produce ( MBH98 ) , the first eigenvector-based climate field reconstruction ( CFR ) . This showed global patterns of annual surface temperature , and included a graph of average hemispheric temperatures back to 1400 . In ( MBH99 ) the methodology was extended back to 1000 . The term hockey stick was coined by the climatologist Jerry D. Mahlman , to describe the pattern this showed , envisaging a graph that is relatively flat to 1900 as forming an ice hockey stick 's `` shaft '' , followed by a sharp increase corresponding to the `` blade '' . A version of this graph was featured prominently in the 2001 IPCC Third Assessment Report ( TAR ) , along with four other reconstructions supporting the same conclusion . The graph was publicised , and became a focus of dispute for those opposed to the strengthening scientific consensus that late 20th-century warmth was exceptional . Those disputing the graph included Pat Michaels , the George C. Marshall Institute and Fred Singer . A paper by Willie Soon and Sallie Baliunas claiming greater medieval warmth was used by the Bush administration chief of staff Philip Cooney to justify altering the first Environmental Protection Agency Report on the Environment . The paper was quickly dismissed by scientists in the Soon and Baliunas controversy , but on July 28 , Republican Jim Inhofe spoke in the Senate citing it to claim `` that man-made global warming is the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people '' . Later in 2003 , a paper by Steve McIntyre and Ross McKitrick disputing the data used in MBH98 paper was publicised by the George C. Marshall Institute and the Competitive Enterprise Institute . In 2004 , Hans von Storch published criticism of the statistical techniques as tending to underplay variations in earlier parts of the graph , though this was disputed and he later accepted that the effect was very small . In 2005 , McIntyre and McKitrick published criticisms of the principal component analysis methodology as used in MBH98 and MBH99 . The analysis therein was subsequently disputed by published papers , including and , which pointed to errors in the McIntyre and McKitrick methodology . In June 2005 , Rep. Joe Barton launched what Sherwood Boehlert , chairman of the House Science Committee , called a `` misguided and illegitimate investigation '' into the data , methods and personal information of Mann , Bradley and Hughes . At Boehlert 's request , a panel of scientists convened by the National Research Council was set up , which reported in 2006 , supporting Mann 's findings with some qualifications , including agreeing that there were some statistical failings but these had little effect on the result . Barton and U.S. Rep. Ed Whitfield requested Edward Wegman to set up a team of statisticians to investigate , and they supported McIntyre and McKitrick 's view that there were statistical failings , although they did not quantify whether there was any significant effect . They also produced an extensive network analysis which has been discredited by expert opinion and found to have issues of plagiarism . Arguments against the MBH studies were reintroduced as part of the Climatic Research Unit email controversy , but dismissed by eight independent investigations . More than two dozen reconstructions , using various statistical methods and combinations of proxy records , have supported the broad consensus shown in the original 1998 hockey-stick graph , with variations in how flat the pre-20th century `` shaft '' appears . The 2007 IPCC Fourth Assessment Report cited 14 reconstructions , 10 of which covered 1,000 years or longer , to support its strengthened conclusion that it was likely that Northern Hemisphere temperatures during the 20th century were the highest in at least the past 1,300 years . Over a dozen subsequent reconstructions , including Mann et al. 2008 and , have supported these general conclusions .", "Hockey stick graph Hockey stick graphs present the global or hemispherical mean temperature record of the past 500 to 2000 years as shown by quantitative climate reconstructions based on climate proxy records . These reconstructions have consistently shown a slow long term cooling trend changing into relatively rapid warming in the 20th century , with the instrumental temperature record by 2000 exceeding earlier temperatures . The term `` hockey stick graph '' was coined by the climatologist Jerry Mahlman , to describe the pattern shown by the ( MBH99 ) reconstruction , envisaging a graph that is relatively flat with a downward trend to 1900 as forming an ice hockey stick 's `` shaft '' followed by a sharp , steady increase corresponding to the `` blade '' portion . The reconstructions have featured in Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) reports as evidence of global warming . Arguments over the reconstructions have been taken up by fossil fuel industry funded lobbying groups attempting to cast doubt on climate science . Paleoclimatology dates back to the 19th century , and the concept of examining varves in lake beds and tree rings to track local climatic changes was suggested in the 1930s . In the 1960s , Hubert Lamb generalised from historical documents and temperature records of central England to propose a Medieval Warm Period from around 900 to 1300 , followed by Little Ice Age . This was the basis of a `` schematic diagram '' featured in the IPCC First Assessment Report of 1990 beside cautions that the medieval warming might not have been global . The use of indicators to get quantitative estimates of the temperature record of past centuries was developed , and by the late 1990s a number of competing teams of climatologists found indications that recent warming was exceptional . introduced the `` Composite Plus Scaling '' ( CPS ) method used by most later large scale reconstructions . Their study was featured in the IPCC Second Assessment Report of 1995 . In 1998 Michael E. Mann , Raymond S. Bradley and Malcolm K. Hughes developed new statistical techniques to produce ( MBH98 ) , the first eigenvector-based climate field reconstruction ( CFR ) . This showed global patterns of annual surface temperature , and included a graph of average hemispheric temperatures back to 1400 with shading emphasising that uncertainties ( to two standard error limits ) were much greater in earlier centuries . independently produced a CPS reconstruction extending back for a thousand years , and ( MBH99 ) used the MBH98 methodology to extend their study back to 1000 . A version of the MBH99 graph was featured prominently in the 2001 IPCC Third Assessment Report ( TAR ) , which also drew on Jones et al. 1998 and three other reconstructions to support the conclusion that , in the Northern Hemisphere , the 1990s was likely to have been the warmest decade and 1998 the warmest year during the past 1,000 years . The graph became a focus of dispute for those opposed to the strengthening scientific consensus that late 20th century warmth was exceptional . In 2003 , as lobbying over the 1997 Kyoto Protocol intensified , a paper claiming greater medieval warmth was quickly dismissed by scientists in the Soon and Baliunas controversy . Later in 2003 , Stephen McIntyre and Ross McKitrick published disputing the data used in MBH98 paper . In 2004 Hans von Storch published criticism of the statistical techniques as tending to underplay variations in earlier parts of the graph , though this was disputed and he later accepted that the effect was very small . In 2005 McIntyre and McKitrick published criticisms of the principal components analysis methodology as used in MBH98 and MBH99 . Their analysis was subsequently disputed by published papers including and which pointed to errors in the McIntyre and McKitrick methodology . Political disputes led to the formation of a panel of scientists convened by the National Research Council , their North Report in 2006 supported Mann 's findings with some qualifications , including agreeing that there were some statistical failings but these had little effect on the result . More than two dozen reconstructions , using various statistical methods and combinations of proxy records , support the broad consensus shown in the original 1998 hockey-stick graph , with variations in how flat the pre-20th century `` shaft '' appears . The 2007 IPCC Fourth Assessment Report cited 14 reconstructions , 10 of which covered 1,000 years or longer , to support its strengthened conclusion that it was likely that Northern Hemisphere temperatures during the 20th century were the highest in at least the past 1,300 years . Further reconstructions , including Mann et al. 2008 and , have supported these general conclusions ." ]

[ "Caspar Olevian Caspar Olevian ( or Kaspar Olevianus ; 10 August 1536 -- 15 March 1587 ) was a significant German Reformed theologian during the Protestant Reformation and along with Zacharius Ursinus was said to be co-author of the Heidelberg Catechism . That theory of authorship has been questioned by some modern scholarship .", "Logos and uniforms of the Cincinnati Reds Over the years , red has been the key trim color in the Cincinnati Reds ' on-field ensembles . However , there have been some significant deviations from this standard , as reflected by the club 's recent ( but now past ) uniforms , which featured black as a major trim style .", "Claudia Rowe Claudia Rowe is a journalist who currently works for The Seattle Times . In the past , she has worked for The New York Times , Mother Jones , Woman 's Day , The Huffington Post and The Stranger and other newspapers and magazine . She has been a member of the Humanities Washington Speakers Bureau .", "Romani Mexicans There is a significant Roma population in Mexico , most being the descendants of past migrants . According to data collected by the National Institute of Statistics and Geography , they numbered 15,850 , however , the total number is likely larger . In Mexico , they are commonly known as gitanos or rom .", "Three Floyds Brewing Three Floyds Brewing is a brewery founded in 1996 by brothers Nick and Simon and their father Mike Floyd in Hammond , Indiana . Since 2000 , the brewery has been located in Munster , Indiana . In 2005 , Three Floyds opened a brewpub adjacent to the brewery in Munster . In 2011 , an article in the Washington Post said that Three Floyds `` has won over the beer geek elite , '' and `` has been making the best beers on the planet for four of the past five years -- at least according to the more than 1 million beer reviews logged each year on RateBeer.com . ( In 2008 , it slipped to second place . ) ''", "Chullo Chullo ( -LSB- ˈtʃuʎo -RSB- , from ch ` ullu ) is an Andean style of hat with earflaps , made from vicuña , alpaca , llama or sheep 's wool . Alpaca has wool-like qualities that help to insulate its wearer from the harsh elements in the Andean Mountain region . Chullos often have ear-flaps that can be tied under the chin , to further warm the wearer 's head . Chullos have been used in the Andean Mountain region by indigenous peoples for thousands of years . Wearing different types and colors has a significance among the Andean natives .", "Cast Iron Filter Cast Iron Filter is a band based in Davidson , North Carolina . Their genre is similar to that of Progressive Bluegrass , but Cast Iron Filter 's fans call it `` Irongrass . '' The band had been praised for its instrumental finesse and has been related to a Jamband that knows when to stop ; they could even be considered a hayseed Nickel Creek . The band members include , Brian Burton ( Drummer ) , Dustin Edge ( Lead Singer and Guitar Player ) , Mike Orlando ( Mandolin/Banjo Player ) and Phil Skipper ( Bass Player ) . Former members include Tim Helfrich ( drums ) , Mason Bissett ( bass ) , Jim Ashton ( steel guitar ) , Howie Cockrill ( fiddle/bass ) , and Randy Culbertson ( Guitar ) . Cast Iron Filter 's last official show was played at The Visulite Theatre in Charlotte , NC on December 31 , 2004 . Tim Helfrich and Dustin Edge have put on shows as recently as 2011 , featuring performances by the major lineups from past Cast Iron Filter incarnations . The band played one reunion show on Jan 16 , 2010 . Former members Mason Bissett and Tim Helfrich have joined Davidson singer/songwriter Billy Jones as `` Billy Jones and the Pocket '' who actively perform . Phil Skipper has been playing with a variety of musicians including Michael Orlando , Michelle Malone , and Tim Carter . Brian Burton currently plays drums for Charlotte-based `` Hipshack . '' Michael Orlando released 2 records `` Wreckless '' and `` Before the Storm . '' Dustin Edge has released 1 full-length LP ( A Forest Through the Trees , 2008 ) and 1 EP ( By The Numbers , 2010 ) . A new 5-song EP , Calm , was released in January 2011 .", "Lulu Rouge Lulu Rouge is a Danish duo consisting of DJ T.O.M. and DJ Buda , both well-known names in the club and electronica scene . T.O.M. has been Trentemøller 's permanent sidekick for several years and is also the man behind ArtRebels Rec. , which is a part of ArtRebels network with a focus on design , art and music . Buda is DJ and producer and has worked with names like Bliss , Laid Back , DJ These , Ganga , Télépopmusik , Phil Mison and Sergio Mendes . He is also part of the chill-out group Banzai Republic . Lulu Rouge has recently had a hand in the new albums from both Fagget Fairys , Camille Jones and Joker .", "Lyon Block The Lyon Block is a historic building located in Maquoketa , Iowa , United States . Built in 1900 , the significance in this building is found in its use of brick . It introduced the use of warm brown into the downtown color scheme . Brick is also the main design element of the building as found in the rhythmical arches above the second floor windows . The color and texture of the wall surface are now the important decorative features and not that which was applied to it . The man floor storefront has been altered , but the significant historical elements of the building have been left in place . The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1991 .", "Chupe Andino Chupe andino refers to various stews and soups that are prepared in the Andes mountains region in South America . Chupe Andino may be prepared by Andean people , those that live in the region . It is sometimes prepared in large portions to feed many people at marketplaces and events . Chupe Andino is sometimes served with wine as an accompaniment . Soups and stews play a significant part in Andean cuisine , because the cold weather in the region demands nutritious , fatty foods that are warming . The term chupe is a standard South American term that refers to various stews prepared with meats , fish and seafood , tripe and offal . Additional ingredients may include potato , onion , garlic and cheese . In the past , it has been prepared using yuca as an ingredient .", "Rally Cycling (men's team) Rally Cycling is a UCI Continental team , based in the United States . The team has been directed by Jonas Carney since its inception . Notable riders who have previously ridden for the team include Ben King , Chad Haga , Carter Jones , Phil Gaimon , Michael Woods , David Veilleux , Matthew Busche , Ryan Anderson , Mike Creed and Mike Friedman .", "Olaf Maninger Olaf Maninger ( born 16 October 1964 in Recklinghausen ) is a German cellist . Maninger studied initially with János Starker and then continued his training with Boris Piergamienszczikow . He joined the Berlin Philharmonic in 1994 , and was appointed principal cellist with the orchestra in 1996 . In the years 1997 to 2002 , Maninger was managing director of the Berliner Philharmoniker ( society ) . Since the Berliner Philharmoniker Foundation was set up in 2002 , he has been a member of the board . In this capacity , he played a significant role in the development of the Berliner Philharmoniker 's Digital Concert Hall . He has been general manager of Berlin Phil Media GmbH since 2008 . Maninger is also one of the 12 cellists of the Berlin Philharmonic .", "HD 29697 HD 29697 or V834 Tauri is a variable star of the BY Draconis type in the equatorial constellation of Taurus . It has an apparent magnitude of 8.0 , so it is not visible to the naked eye . The star has been examined for indications of a circumstellar disk using the Spitzer Space Telescope , but no statistically-significant infrared excess was detected .", "Christianity in Iran Christianity has a long history in Iran , dating back to the early years of the faith , and pre-dating Islam . It has always been a minority religion relative to the majority state religions ( Zoroastrianism before the Islamic conquest , Sunni Islam in the Middle Ages and Shia Islam in modern times ) , though it had a much larger representation in the past than it does today . Christians of Iran have played a significant part in the history of Christian mission . Today , there are at least 600 churches and 300,000 -- 370,000 Christians in Iran .", "Edward Sims Van Zile Edward Sims Van Zile ( May 2 , 1863 -- May 29 , 1931 ) was an American writer . He published fiction , non-fiction , biographies , a commentary on war , and a history of the early days of movies . In 1904 , in an essay about him , Book News Biographies said `` for the past ten years Mr. Van Zile has been known to the reading public through many short stories , novelettes and a few novels '' .", "Politics of Long Island As a major region of New York State , Long Island has a significant impact on state and national politics . On the local level , the region has been long dominated by the Republican Party , although the region 's alignment has shifted notably over the past decade , with many Democrats being elected to major local offices .", "Watch Over Me (song) `` Watch Over Me '' is the third single from Bernard Fanning 's solo debut album Tea and Sympathy , released in 2006 . Fanning has said in the past that the song had been inspired by the music played at the funeral of Pope John Paul II .", "Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum The Paleocene -- Eocene Thermal Maximum ( PETM ) , alternatively ( ETM1 ) , and formerly known as the `` Initial Eocene '' or '' '' was a time period with more than 8 ° C warmer global average temperature than today . This climate event began at the time boundary between the Paleocene and Eocene geological epochs . The exact age and duration of the event is uncertain but it is estimated to have occurred around 55.5 million years ago . The associated period of massive carbon injection into the atmosphere has been estimated to have lasted no longer than 20,000 years . The entire warm period lasted for about 200,000 years . Global temperatures increased by 5 -- 8 ° C . The carbon dioxide was likely released in two pulses , the first lasting less than 2,000 years . Such a repeated carbon release is in line with current global warming . A main difference is that during the Paleocene -- Eocene Thermal Maximum , the planet was essentially ice-free . The onset of the Paleocene -- Eocene Thermal Maximum has been linked to an initial 5 ° C temperature rise and to extreme changes in Earth 's carbon cycle . The period is marked by a prominent negative excursion in carbon stable isotope records from around the globe ; more specifically , there was a large decrease in 13C/12C ratio of marine and terrestrial carbonates and organic carbon . Stratigraphic sections of rock from this period reveal numerous other changes . Fossil records for many organisms show major turnovers . For example , in the marine realm , a mass extinction of benthic foraminifera , a global expansion of subtropical dinoflagellates , and an appearance of excursion , planktic foraminifera and calcareous nanofossils all occurred during the beginning stages of PETM . On land , modern mammal orders ( including primates ) suddenly appear in Europe and in North America . Sediment deposition changed significantly at many outcrops and in many drill cores spanning this time interval . At least since 1997 , the Paleocene -- Eocene Thermal Maximum has become a focal point of considerable geoscience research because it probably provides the best past analog by which to understand impacts of global climate warming and of massive carbon input to the ocean and atmosphere , including ocean acidification . Although it is now widely accepted that the PETM represents a `` case study '' for global warming and massive carbon input to Earth 's surface , the cause , details and overall significance of the event remain perplexing ." ]

[ "Attribution of recent climate change Attribution of recent climate change is the effort to scientifically ascertain mechanisms responsible for recent climate changes on Earth , commonly known as ` global warming ' . The effort has focused on changes observed during the period of instrumental temperature record , when records are most reliable ; particularly in the last 50 years , when human activity has grown fastest and observations of the troposphere have become available . The dominant mechanisms are anthropogenic , i.e. , the result of human activity . They are : increasing atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases global changes to land surface , such as deforestation increasing atmospheric concentrations of aerosols . There are also natural mechanisms for variation including climate oscillations , changes in solar activity , and volcanic activity . According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) , it is `` extremely likely '' that human influence was the dominant cause of global warming between 1951 and 2010 . The IPCC defines `` extremely likely '' as indicating a probability of 95 to 100 % , based on an expert assessment of all the available evidence . Multiple lines of evidence support attribution of recent climate change to human activities : A basic physical understanding of the climate system : greenhouse gas concentrations have increased and their warming properties are well-established . Historical estimates of past climate changes suggest that the recent changes in global surface temperature are unusual . Computer-based climate models are unable to replicate the observed warming unless human greenhouse gas emissions are included . Natural forces alone ( such as solar and volcanic activity ) can not explain the observed warming . The IPCC 's attribution of recent global warming to human activities is a view shared by the scientific community , and is also supported by 196 other scientific organizations worldwide ( see also : scientific opinion on climate change ) .", "Scientific consensus on climate change There is currently a strong scientific consensus that the Earth is warming and that this warming is mainly caused by human activities. This consensus is supported by various studies of scientists' opinions and by position statements of scientific organizations, many of which explicitly agree with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) synthesis reports. Nearly all actively publishing climate scientists (97–98%) support the consensus on anthropogenic climate change, and the remaining 2% of contrarian studies either cannot be replicated or contain errors." ]

[ "Regional effects of global warming Regional effects of global warming are long-term significant changes in the expected patterns of average weather of a specific region due to global warming . The world average temperature is rising due to the greenhouse effect caused by increasing levels of greenhouse gases , especially carbon dioxide . When the global temperature changes , the changes in climate are not expected to be uniform across the Earth . In particular , land areas change more quickly than oceans , and northern high latitudes change more quickly than the tropics , and the margins of biome regions change faster than do their cores . Regional effects of global warming vary in nature . Some are the result of a generalised global change , such as rising temperature , resulting in local effects , such as melting ice . In other cases , a change may be related to a change in a particular ocean current or weather system . In such cases , the regional effect may be disproportionate and will not necessarily follow the global trend . The increasing temperatures from greenhouse gases have been causing sea levels to rise for many years . There are three major ways in which global warming will make changes to regional climate : melting or forming ice , changing the hydrological cycle ( of evaporation and precipitation ) and changing currents in the oceans and air flows in the atmosphere . The coast can also be considered a region , and will suffer severe impacts from sea level rise .", "2013 heatwave in Ireland and the United Kingdom The 2013 heat wave in the United Kingdom and Ireland was a period of unusually hot weather primarily in July 2013 , with isolated warm days in June and August . A prolonged high pressure system over Britain and Ireland caused higher than average temperatures for 19 consecutive days in July , reaching 33.5 ° C at Heathrow and Northolt . Following a brief period of cooler weather at the end of July , temperatures temporarily rose again , peaking at 34.1 ° C on 1 August in the United Kingdom , the warmest the country had seen since July 2006 , and 31.0 ° C in Ireland . At 19 days , the July heatwave was the longest continuous period of hot weather in the UK since August 1997 . However , in the general sense , Britain did not have an overall exceptional summer ; the country experienced cool low pressure systems brought by an unseasonably low latitude by the jet stream for the 6 summers previous , which made the summer of 2013 more `` welcome '' and feel warmer than other summers . The historical records suggests `` Using the CET record ( for June , July & August ) , the average temperature by that measure was 16.3 degC ( Provisional ) : neither June nor August was exceptionally warm , so this value does not ` rate ' too highly when set against other very warm summer seasons . '' With June being a cool month and August being an Average month , in terms of temperatures the English Central summer temperature ended up being on the average side set up against previous summers since the CET series began in 1659 .", "Angry Summer The Australian summer of 2012 -- 2013 , known as the Angry Summer or Extreme Summer , resulted in 123 weather records being broken over a 90-day period , including the hottest day ever recorded for Australia as a whole , the hottest January on record , the hottest summer average on record , and a record seven days in a row when the whole continent averaged above 39 ° C. Single-day temperature records were broken in dozens of towns and cities , as well as single-day rainfall records , and several rivers flooded to new record highs . In January 2013 , the Bureau of Meteorology altered its weather forecasting chart 's temperature scale to include a range , coloured purple , between 52 ° and 54 ° C . The reporting of the heatwave in the Australian media attracted controversy in the scientific community , as very few articles cited a correlation between the event and climate change , which it was correlated with according to studies conducted by the University of Melbourne .", "2010 Northern Hemisphere heat waves The 2010 Northern Hemisphere summer heat waves included severe heat waves that impacted most of the United States, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, China, Hong Kong, North Africa and the European continent as a whole, along with parts of Canada, Russia, Indochina, South Korea and Japan during May, June, July, and August 2010. The first phase of the global heatwaves was caused by a moderate El Niño event, which lasted from June 2009 to May 2010. The first phase lasted only from April 2010 to June 2010, and caused only moderate above average temperatures in the areas affected. But it also set new record high temperatures for most of the area affected, in the Northern Hemisphere. The second phase (the main, and most devastating phase) was caused by a very strong La Niña event, which lasted from June 2010 to June 2011. According to meteorologists, the 2010–11 La Niña event was one of the strongest La Niña events ever observed. That same La Niña event also had devastating effects in the Eastern states of Australia. The second phase lasted from June 2010 to October 2010, caused severe heat waves, and multiple record-breaking temperatures. The heatwaves began on April 2010, when strong anticyclones began to develop, over most of the affected regions, in the Northern Hemisphere. The heatwaves ended in October 2010, when the powerful anticyclones over most of the affected areas dissipated. The heat wave during the summer of 2010 was at its worst in June, over the Eastern United States, Middle East, Eastern Europe and European Russia, and over Northeastern China and southeastern Russia. June 2010 marked the fourth consecutive warmest month on record globally, at 0.66 °C (1.22 °F) above average, while the period April–June was the warmest ever recorded for land areas in the Northern Hemisphere, at 1.25 °C (2.25 °F) above average. The previous record for the global average temperature in June was set in 2005 at 0.66 °C (1.19 °F), and the previous warm record for April–June over Northern Hemisphere land areas was 1.16 °C (2.09 °F), set in 2007. The strongest of the anticyclones, the one situated over Siberia, registered a maximum high pressure of 1040 millibars. The weather caused forest fires in China, where three in a team of 300 died fighting a fire that broke out in the Binchuan County of Dali, as Yunnan suffered the worst drought in 60 years by February 17. A major drought was reported across the Sahel as early as January. In August, a section of the Petermann Glacier tongue connecting northern Greenland, the Nares Strait and the Arctic Ocean broke off, the biggest ice shelf in the Arctic to detach in 48 years. By the time the heatwaves had ended in late October 2010, about $500 billion (2011 USD) of damage was done, in the Northern Hemisphere alone. The World Meteorological Organization stated that the heat waves, droughts and flooding events fit with predictions based on global warming for the 21st century, include those based on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's 2007 4th Assessment Report. Some climatologists argue that these weather events would not have happened if the atmospheric carbon dioxide was at pre-industrial levels.", "Hurricane Katrina and global warming The tremendous destruction caused by recent Atlantic Ocean tropical cyclones , such as Hurricanes Katrina , Wilma , and Sandy caused a substantial upsurge in interest in the subject of global warming by news media and the wider public , and concerns that global climatic change may have played a significant role in those events . Time Magazine , for example , published an article titled , `` Is Global Warming Fueling Katrina ? '' -- however , the article itself addressed hurricanes in general , rather than Katrina specifically , and was inconclusive . Shortly after the hurricane , former Boston Globe reporter Ross Gelbspan wrote an op-ed piece for the Globe titled , `` Katrina 's Real Name '' , declaring that the hurricane 's `` real name is global warming . '' Gelbspan went on to assert : `` Although Katrina began as a relatively small hurricane that glanced off south Florida , it was supercharged with extraordinary intensity by the relatively blistering sea surface temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico . '' Gelbspan did not single out Katrina from other recent storms in that regard ; in the article he went on to attribute other major weather events over the preceding year to global warming , including a blizzard in Los Angeles , high winds in Scandinavia , wildfires in Spain , and a drought centered in Missouri . Britain 's then deputy prime minister , John Prescott , has linked Katrina with global warming , and statements made shortly after the hurricane by Germany 's environment minister , Jürgen Trittin , indicate he believes that global warming is responsible for an increase in the frequency of destructive natural events . Kerry Emanuel had recently published a paper in the journal Nature that found a good correlation between hurricane intensity and sea surface temperatures . Some journalists have claimed Emanuel 's paper concludes that the recent increase in intense Atlantic storms is due to global warming , but Emanuel stated that `` it would be absurd to attribute the Katrina disaster to global warming '' . The Internet blog RealClimate has written that `` there is no way to prove that Katrina either was , or was not , affected by global warming '' .", "IPCC First Assessment Report The First Assessment Report ( FAR ) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) was completed in 1990 . It served as the basis of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change ( UNFCCC ) . The report was issued in three main sections , corresponding to the three Working Groups of scientists that the IPCC had established . Working Group I : Scientific Assessment of Climate Change , edited by J.T. Houghton , G.J. Jenkins and J.J. Ephraums Working Group II : Impacts Assessment of Climate Change , edited by W.J. McG . Tegart , G.W. Sheldon and D.C. Griffiths Working Group III : The IPCC Response Strategies Each section included a summary for policymakers . This format was followed in subsequent Assessment Reports . The executive summary of the policymakers ' summary of the WG I report includes : We are certain of the following : there is a natural greenhouse effect ... ; emissions resulting from human activities are substantially increasing the atmospheric concentrations of the greenhouse gases : CO2 , methane , CFCs and nitrous oxide . These increases will enhance the greenhouse effect , resulting on average in an additional warming of the Earth 's surface . The main greenhouse gas , water vapour , will increase in response to global warming and further enhance it . We calculate with confidence that : ... CO2 has been responsible for over half the enhanced greenhouse effect ; long-lived gases would require immediate reductions in emissions from human activities of over 60 % to stabilise their concentrations at today 's levels ... Based on current models , we predict : under -LSB- BAU -RSB- increase of global mean temperature during the -LSB- 21st -RSB- century of about 0.3 oC per decade ( with an uncertainty range of 0.2 to 0.5 oC per decade ) ; this is greater than that seen over the past 10,000 years ; under other ... scenarios which assume progressively increasing levels of controls , rates of increase in global mean temperature of about 0.2 oC -LSB- to -RSB- about 0.1 oC per decade . There are many uncertainties in our predictions particularly with regard to the timing , magnitude and regional patterns of climate change , due to our incomplete understanding of : sources and sinks of GHGs ; clouds ; oceans ; polar ice sheets . Our judgement is that : global mean surface air temperature has increased by 0.3 to 0.6 oC over the last 100 years ... ; The size of this warming is broadly consistent with predictions of climate models , but it is also of the same magnitude as natural climate variability . Thus the observed increase could be largely due to this natural variability ; alternatively this variability and other human factors could have offset a still larger human-induced greenhouse warming . The unequivocal detection of the enhanced greenhouse effect is not likely for a decade or more . under the IPCC business as usual emissions scenario , an average rate of global mean sea level rise of about 6 cm per decade over the next century ( with an uncertainty range of 3 -- 10 cm per decade ) , mainly due to thermal expansion of the oceans and the melting of some land ice . The predicted rise is about 20 cm ... by 2030 , and 65 cm by the end of the next century .", "Climate change Climate change is a change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns when that change lasts for an extended period of time ( i.e. , decades to millions of years ) . Climate change may refer to a change in average weather conditions , or in the time variation of weather around longer-term average conditions ( i.e. , more or fewer extreme weather events ) . Climate change is caused by factors such as biotic processes , variations in solar radiation received by Earth , plate tectonics , and volcanic eruptions . Certain human activities have been identified as primary causes of ongoing climate change , often referred to as global warming . Scientists actively work to understand past and future climate by using observations and theoretical models . A climate record -- extending deep into the Earth 's past -- has been assembled , and continues to be built up , based on geological evidence from borehole temperature profiles , cores removed from deep accumulations of ice , floral and faunal records , glacial and periglacial processes , stable-isotope and other analyses of sediment layers , and records of past sea levels . More recent data are provided by the instrumental record . General circulation models , based on the physical sciences , are often used in theoretical approaches to match past climate data , make future projections , and link causes and effects in climate change .", "Kerry Emanuel Kerry Andrew Emanuel ( born April 21 , 1955 ) is an American professor of meteorology currently working at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge . In particular he has specialized in atmospheric convection and the mechanisms acting to intensify hurricanes . He was named one of the Time 100 influential people of 2006 . In 2007 , he was elected as a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences . He hypothesized in 1994 about a superpowerful type of hurricane which could be formed if average sea surface temperature increased another 15C more than it 's ever been ( see `` hypercane '' ) . In a March 2008 paper published in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society , he put forward the conclusion that global warming is likely to increase the intensity but decrease the frequency of hurricane and cyclone activity . Gabriel Vecchi , of NOAA said of Emanuel 's announcement , `` While his results do n't rule out the possibility that global warming has contributed to the recent increase in activity in the Atlantic , they suggest that other factors -- possibly in addition to global warming -- are likely to have been substantial contributors to the observed increase in activity . '' In 2013 , with other leading experts , he was co-author of an open letter to policy makers , which stated that `` continued opposition to nuclear power threatens humanity 's ability to avoid dangerous climate change . ''", "Extreme weather Extreme weather includes unexpectable , unusual , unpredictable severe or unseasonal weather ; weather at the extremes of the historical distribution -- the range that has been seen in the past . Often , extreme events are based on a location 's recorded weather history and defined as lying in the most unusual ten percent . In recent years some extreme weather events have been attributed to human-induced global warming , with studies indicating an increasing threat from extreme weather in the future .", "Thermal runaway Thermal runaway occurs in situations where an increase in temperature changes the conditions in a way that causes a further increase in temperature , often leading to a destructive result . It is a kind of uncontrolled positive feedback . In other words , `` thermal runaway '' describes a process which is accelerated by increased temperature , in turn releasing energy that further increases temperature . In chemistry ( and chemical engineering ) , it is associated with strongly exothermic reactions that are accelerated by temperature rise . In electrical engineering , thermal runaway is typically associated with increased current flow and power dissipation , although exothermic chemical reactions can be of concern here too . Thermal runaway can occur in civil engineering , notably when the heat released by large amounts of curing concrete is not controlled -LCB- Citation needed -RCB- . In astrophysics , runaway nuclear fusion reactions in stars can lead to nova and several types of supernova explosions , and also occur as a less dramatic event in the normal evolution of solar mass stars , the `` helium flash '' . There are also concerns regarding global warming that a global average increase of 3 -- 4 degrees Celsius above the preindustrial baseline could lead to a further unchecked increase in surface temperatures . For example , releases of methane , a greenhouse gas more potent than CO2 , from wetlands , melting permafrost and continental margin seabed clathrate deposits could be subject to positive feedback .", "Global warming hiatus A global warming hiatus , also sometimes referred to as a global warming pause or a global warming slowdown , is a period of relatively little change in globally averaged surface temperatures . In the current episode of global warming many such 15-year periods appear in the surface temperature record , along with robust evidence of the long-term warming trend ; climate is classically averaged over 30-year periods . Publicity has surrounded claims of a global warming hiatus during the period 1998 -- 2013 . The exceptionally warm El Niño year of 1998 was an outlier from the continuing temperature trend , and so subsequent annual temperatures gave the appearance of a hiatus : by January 2006 , it appeared to some that global warming had stopped or paused . A 2009 study showed that decades without warming were not exceptional , and in 2011 a study showed that if allowances were made for known variability , the rising temperature trend continued unabated . There was increased public interest in 2013 in the run-up to publication of the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report , and despite concerns that a 15-year period was too short to determine a meaningful trend , the IPCC included a section on a hiatus , which it defined as a much smaller increasing linear trend over the 15 years from 1998 to 2012 , than over the 60 years from 1951 to 2012 . Various studies examined possible causes of the short-term slowdown . Even though the overall climate system has continued to accumulate energy due to Earth 's positive energy budget , the available temperature readings at the Earth 's surface indicate slower rates of increase in surface warming than in the prior decade . Since measurements at the top of the atmosphere show that Earth is receiving more energy than it is radiating back into space , the retained energy should be producing warming in the Earth 's climate system . Research reported in July 2015 on an updated NOAA dataset casts doubt on the existence of a hiatus , and it finds no indication of a slowdown even in earlier years . Scientists working on other datasets welcomed this study , though they have expressed the view that the recent warming trend was less than in previous periods of the same length . Subsequently , a detailed study supports the conclusion that warming is continuing , but it also find there was less warming between 2001 and 2010 than climate models had predicted , and that this slowdown might be attributed to short-term variations in the Pacific decadal oscillation ( PDO ) , which was negative during that period . Another review finds `` no substantive evidence '' of a pause in global warming . A statistical study of global temperature data since 1970 concludes that the term ` hiatus ' or ` pause ' is not justified . Independent of these discussions about data and measurements for earlier years , 2015 turned out to be much warmer than any of the earlier years , already before El Niño conditions started . The warmth of 2015 largely ended any remaining scientific credibility of claims that the supposed `` hiatus '' since 1998 had any significance for the long-term warming trend . In January 2017 , a study published in the journal Science Advances cast further doubt on the existence of a recent pause , with more evidence that ocean temperatures have been underestimated . An April 2017 study found the data consistent with a steady warming trend globally since the 1970s , with fluctuations within the expected range of short term variability .", "Climate change in southeast Alaska Climate change in southeast Alaska are changes which occur in southeast Alaska as average temperatures rise as a result of global warming . The temperate rainforest that covers this area is a result of humid summers and transient snow cover in winter . The conifers that thrive in this moist climate are free from fire risk as compared to the forests to both the north and south . Warmer weather will lengthen the growing period of the trees and the increase in evapotranspiration is likely to outweigh the increase of precipitation . Assuming a scenario involving a mid-range increase in emissions , the average temperature may rise by about 3 ° F by the year 2040 and by 6 ° F by 2080 . The trees will grow more vigorously but fungi that cause rot will also thrive , there is likely to be an increase in windthrow , and fire risk may rise . With winter temperatures increasing , the type of precipitation will change . Lack of snow cover on the ground will expose tree roots to colder soils , and yellow ceder is already showing the result of this with many trees dying . The melting of glaciers in the watershed is likely to accelerate and will cause hydrological changes that will impact the wetland habitats and the distribution of wildlife . Animals such as the black-tailed deer , moose and mountain goat may benefit from less snow cover , while such mammals as the northwestern deer mouse that tunnels under the snow are likely to be disadvantaged .", "List of scientists opposing the mainstream scientific assessment of global warming This is a list of scientists who have made statements that conflict with the scientific consensus on global warming as summarized by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and endorsed by other scientific bodies . As approximately 97 % of publishing climate scientists support the consensus on anthropogenic climate change , this list represents a minority viewpoint . The scientific consensus is that the global average surface temperature has risen over the last century . Scientific opinion on climate change was summarized in the 2001 Third Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) . The main conclusions on global warming at that time were as follows : The global average surface temperature has risen 0.6 ± 0.2 ° C since the late 19th century , and 0.17 ° C per decade in the last 30 years . `` There is new and stronger evidence that most of the warming observed over the last 50 years is attributable to human activities '' , in particular emissions of the greenhouse gases carbon dioxide and methane . If greenhouse gas emissions continue the warming will also continue , with temperatures projected to increase by 1.4 ° C to 5.8 ° C between 1990 and 2100 . Accompanying this temperature increase will be increases in some types of extreme weather and a projected sea level rise . The balance of impacts of global warming become significantly negative at larger values of warming . These findings are recognized by the national science academies of all the major industrialized nations ; the consensus has strengthened over time and is now virtually unanimous . The level of consensus correlates with expertise in climate science . There have been several efforts to compile lists of dissenting scientists , including a 2008 US senate minority report , the Oregon Petition , and a 2007 list by the Heartland Institute , all three of which have been criticized on a number of grounds . For the purpose of this list , a `` scientist '' is defined as an individual who has published at least one peer-reviewed research article in the broad field of natural sciences , although not necessarily in a field relevant to climatology . Since the publication of the IPCC Third Assessment Report , each has made a clear statement in his or her own words ( as opposed to the name being found on a petition , etc. ) disagreeing with one or more of the report 's three main conclusions . Their views on climate change are usually described in more detail in their biographical articles . Few of the statements in the references for this list are part of the peer-reviewed scientific literature ; most are from other sources such as interviews , opinion pieces , online essays and presentations . NB : Only individuals who have their own Wikipedia article may be included in the list .", "Effects of global warming on marine mammals The effect of global warming on marine mammals is a growing concern . Many of the effects of climate change are currently unknown due to its unpredictability , but many are becoming increasingly evident today . Some effects are very direct such as loss of habitat , temperature stress , and exposure to severe weather . Other effects are more indirect such as changes in host pathogen associations , changes in body condition because of predator -- prey interaction , changed in exposure to toxins , and increased human interactions . These are just a few examples of what marine mammals are dealing with as a result of rapid climate change . There are a number of marine mammals that have been affected by climate change including walruses , seals , penguins , and polar bears .", "Runaway climate change Runaway climate change or runaway global warming is hypothesized to follow a tipping point in the climate system , after accumulated climate change initiates a reinforcing positive feedback . This is thought to cause the climate to rapidly change until it reaches a new stable condition . These phrases may be used with reference to concerns about rapid global warming . Some astronomers use the expression runaway greenhouse effect to describe a situation where the climate deviates catastrophically and permanently from the original state -- as happened on Venus . Although these terms are rarely used in the peer-reviewed climatological literature , that literature does use the similar phrase `` runaway greenhouse effect '' , which refers specifically to climate changes that cause a planetary body 's water to boil off .", "Warm antibody autoimmune hemolytic anemia Warm antibody autoimmune hemolytic anemia ( WAIHA ) is the most common form of autoimmune hemolytic anemia . About half of the cases are of unknown cause , with the other half attributable to a predisposing condition or medications being taken . Contrary to cold autoimmune hemolytic anemia ( e.g. , cold agglutinin disease and paroxysmal cold hemoglobinuria ) which happens in cold temperature ( 28 -- 31 ° C ) , WAIHA happens in body temperature .", "IPCC Third Assessment Report The IPCC Third Assessment Report , Climate Change 2001 , is an assessment of available scientific and socio-economic information on climate change by the IPCC . The IPCC was established in 1988 by the United Nations Environment Programme ( UNEP ) and the UN 's World Meteorological Organization ( WMO ) '' ... to assess scientific , technical and socio-economic information relevant for the understanding of climate change , its potential impacts and options for adaptation and mitigation . '' -LSB- IPCC website -RSB- The Third Assessment Report ( TAR ) is the third of a series of assessments ; it has been superseded by the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report ( AR4 ) , released in 2007 . Statements of the IPCC or information from the TAR are often used as a reference showing a scientific consensus on the subject of global warming , although a small minority of scientists take issue with the UN assessments ( see also Global warming controversy and Politics of global warming ) .", "Cold wave A cold wave ( known in some regions as a cold snap ) is a weather phenomenon that is distinguished by a cooling of the air . Specifically , as used by the U.S. National Weather Service , a cold wave is a rapid fall in temperature within a 24-hour period requiring substantially increased protection to agriculture , industry , commerce , and social activities . The precise criterion for a cold wave is determined by the rate at which the temperature falls , and the minimum to which it falls . This minimum temperature is dependent on the geographical region and time of year . In the United States , a cold spell is defined as the national average high temperature dropping below 20 F.", "Solar gain Solar gain ( also known as solar heat gain or passive solar gain ) refers to the increase in temperature ( heat gain ) in a space , object or structure that results from solar radiation . The amount of solar gain increases with the strength of the sunlight , and with the ability of any intervening material to transmit or resist the radiation . Objects struck by sunlight absorb the short-wave radiation from the light and reradiate the heat at longer infrared wavelengths . Certain materials and substances , such as glass , are more transparent to the shorter wavelengths than the longer ; when the sun shines through such materials , the net result is an increase in temperature -- solar gain . This effect , the greenhouse effect , so called due to the solar gain that is experienced behind the glass of a greenhouse , has since become well known in the context of global warming .", "Spring 2011 United Kingdom heat wave The Spring of 2011 in the United Kingdom was exceptional for the warm weather which occurred during April and the dry weather which was persistent during March and April in certain parts of the UK . April was statistically the warmest and driest in the country since records began in 1910 . There was a contrast between north-western parts of the UK which received substantial amounts of rainfall and south-eastern parts which received very little . As lack of rainfall continued in many parts during May , concerns arose that the country could submit to drought . High pressure was the cause for the warm , dry weather experienced during April . A high temperature of 27.8 ° C was recorded on 23 April at Wisley , Surrey , the highest temperature recorded in April in the UK since 1949 . Thus , the Central England Temperature for the month was 3.7 ° C above the 1971-2000 average , and daily maximum temperatures were up to 6 ° C higher than average .", "Sea surface temperature Sea surface temperature ( SST ) is the water temperature close to the ocean 's surface . The exact meaning of surface varies according to the measurement method used , but it is between 1 mm and 20 m below the sea surface . Air masses in the Earth 's atmosphere are highly modified by sea surface temperatures within a short distance of the shore . Localized areas of heavy snow can form in bands downwind of warm water bodies within an otherwise cold air mass . Warm sea surface temperatures are known to be a cause of tropical cyclogenesis over the Earth 's oceans . Tropical cyclones can also cause a cool wake , due to turbulent mixing of the upper 30 m of the ocean . SST changes diurnally , like the air above it , but to a lesser degree . There is less SST variation on breezy days than on calm days . In addition , ocean currents such as the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation ( AMO ) , can effect SST 's on multi-decadal time scales , a major impact results from the global thermohaline circulation , which affects average SST significantly throughout most of the world 's oceans . Coastal SSTs can cause offshore winds to generate upwelling , which can significantly cool or warm nearby landmasses , but shallower waters over a continental shelf are often warmer . Onshore winds can cause a considerable warm-up even in areas where upwelling is fairly constant , such as the northwest coast of South America . Its values are important within numerical weather prediction as the SST influences the atmosphere above , such as in the formation of sea breezes and sea fog . It is also used to calibrate measurements from weather satellites .", "Climate risk Climate risk means a risk resulting from climate change and affecting natural and human systems and regions . In the course of increasing global temperature and extreme weather phenomena the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) has been founded by the United Nations Environment Programme ( UNEP ) and the World Meteorological Organization ( WMO ) for a better understanding of climate change and meeting concerns of these observations . Its main aim is evaluating climate risks and exploring strategies for the prevention of these risks .", "Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5 °C The Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5 °C (SR15) was published by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) on 8 October 2018. The report, approved in Incheon, South Korea, includes over 6,000 scientific references, and was prepared by 91 authors from 40 countries. In December 2015, the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference called for the report. The report was delivered at the United Nations' 48th session of the IPCC to \"deliver the authoritative, scientific guide for governments\" to deal with climate change.Its key finding is that meeting a 1.5 °C (2.7 °F) target is possible but would require \"deep emissions reductions\" and \"rapid, far-reaching and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society.\" Furthermore, the report finds that \"limiting global warming to 1.5 °C compared with 2 °C would reduce challenging impacts on ecosystems, human health and well-being\" and that a 2 °C temperature increase would exacerbate extreme weather, rising sea levels and diminishing Arctic sea ice, coral bleaching, and loss of ecosystems, among other impacts. SR15 also has modelling that shows that, for global warming to be limited to 1.5 °C, \"Global net human-caused emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) would need to fall by about 45 percent from 2010 levels by 2030, reaching 'net zero' around 2050.\" The reduction of emissions by 2030 and its associated changes and challenges, including rapid decarbonisation, was a key focus on much of the reporting which was repeated through the world.", "2002 India heat wave More than 1,030 people were killed in the 2002 heatwave in south India . Most of the dead were poor and elderly and a majority of deaths occurred in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh . In districts that were impacted most , the heat was so severe that ponds and rivers evaporated and in those same districts birds had fallen from the sky and animals were collapsing from the intense heat . It is said by officials to be the worst heat wave in four years . The relief commissioner of Andhra Pradesh , Rosaiah , said that the maximum number of 172 deaths related to heat took place in the East Godavari district . There were also 166 deaths in Prakasam and 144 deaths in West Godavari . Unusually high temperatures were detected across India during April of the year 2002 . In addition , this heat wave over northern zones of India lasted from the middle of April to the third week in May , thus , causing these fatalities . On May 10 the highest temperature recorded in the region of Gannavaram ( Vijayawada ) was 49 degrees Celsius ( 120.2 degrees Fahrenheit ) . According to the BBC News , `` Heatwaves are defined as periods of abnormally high temperatures and usually occur between March and June in India . May is the country 's hottest month , with an average maximum temperature of 41C ( 104F ) in Delhi . Longer , more severe heatwaves are becoming increasingly frequent globally . Intense heat can cause cramps , exhaustion and heat stroke . Thousands of people have died across India during heatwaves in 2002 and 2003 . '' The heatwaves also affected the northern states of Punjab , Haryana , Orissa and 100 people suffered from heat-related sickness . 2010 Indian heatwave", "David Parker (climatologist) David Parker is head of climate monitoring at the Hadley Centre , Exeter , England . He has published extensively on the land and marine temperature record and its consistency . In 2002 , he was an organiser of a `` Workshop on Advances in the Use of Historical Marine Climate Data '' . In 2004 , he has published a paper in Nature , showing that the urban heat island effect has not affected the historical temperature record . In this article , Parker shares his observations of the minimum temperature over 24 hours worldwide since 1950 that were expressed as anomalies . Also it includes his reasoning to why urbanization has not systematically exaggerated the observed global warming trends in minimum temperature . He further goes on to mention how the criterion for `` calm '' was changed while the global trend for minimum temperature remained unchanged . From his analysis he finds that windy and calm nights warmed at the same rate . Both the windy and calm increased at a rate of ( 0.16 + 0.03 C ) . He compares his small sample of 26 stations in North America and Siberia with global trends from 1950 to 1953 , covering over 5,000 stations . Estimates of recent global warming , supported by Parker 's analysis shows that urban warming has not introduced significant biases . `` The reality and magnitude of global-scale warming is supported by the near-equality of temperature trends on windy nights with trends based on all data . '' ( Parker ) This paper has been commented on by Roger Pielke , Sr. , et al. .", "Climate change in Argentina According to scientists , global warming is predicted to have significant effects on the climate of Argentina . Though temperatures have increased at a slower rate than the global average , nonetheless these impacts have occurred in many areas . If these trends continue , it is predicted that climate change will exacerbate existing natural disasters such as increasing the intensity and frequency of floods or create new ones .", "Global warming in Antarctica The effects of global warming in Antarctica may include rising temperatures and increasing snow melt .", "Global warming controversy The global warming controversy concerns the public debate over whether global warming is occurring , how much has occurred in modern times , what has caused it , what its effects will be , whether any action should be taken to curb it , and if so what that action should be . In the scientific literature , there is a strong consensus that global surface temperatures have increased in recent decades and that the trend is caused by human-induced emissions of greenhouse gases . No scientific body of national or international standing disagrees with this view , though a few organizations with members in extractive industries hold non-committal positions . Disputes over the key scientific facts of global warming are more prevalent in the media than in the scientific literature , where such issues are treated as resolved , and such disputes are more prevalent in the United States than globally . Political and popular debate concerning the existence and cause of climate change includes the reasons for the increase seen in the instrumental temperature record , whether the warming trend exceeds normal climatic variations , and whether human activities have contributed significantly to it . Scientists have resolved these questions decisively in favour of the view that the current warming trend exists and is ongoing , that human activity is the cause , and that it is without precedent in at least 2000 years . Public disputes that also reflect scientific debate include estimates of how responsive the climate system might be to any given level of greenhouse gases ( climate sensitivity ) , how global climate change will play out at local and regional scales , and what the consequences of global warming will be . Global warming remains an issue of widespread political debate , often split along party political lines , especially in the United States . Many of the issues that are settled within the scientific community , such as human responsibility for global warming , remain the subject of politically or economically motivated attempts to downplay , dismiss or deny them -- an ideological phenomenon categorised by academics and scientists as climate change denial . The sources of funding for those involved with climate science -- both supporting and opposing mainstream scientific positions -- have been questioned by both sides . There are debates about the best policy responses to the science , their cost-effectiveness and their urgency . Climate scientists , especially in the United States , have reported official and oil-industry pressure to censor or suppress their work and hide scientific data , with directives not to discuss the subject in public communications . Legal cases regarding global warming , its effects , and measures to reduce it have reached American courts . The fossil fuels lobby has been identified as overtly or covertly supporting efforts to undermine or discredit the scientific consensus on global warming .", "Scientific opinion on climate change The scientific opinion on climate change is the overall judgment among scientists regarding the extent to which global warming is occurring , its causes , and its probable consequences . The scientific consensus is that the Earth 's climate system is unequivocally warming , and that it is extremely likely ( meaning 95 % probability or higher ) that this warming is predominantly caused by humans . It is likely that this mainly arises from increased concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere , such as from deforestation and the burning of fossil fuels , partially offset by human caused increases in aerosols ; natural changes had little effect . This scientific opinion is expressed in synthesis reports , by scientific bodies of national or international standing , and by surveys of opinion among climate scientists . Individual scientists , universities , and laboratories contribute to the overall scientific opinion via their peer-reviewed publications , and the areas of collective agreement and relative certainty are summarised in these respected reports and surveys . National and international science academies and scientific societies have assessed current scientific opinion on global warming . These assessments are generally consistent with the conclusions of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change . The IPCC Fourth Assessment Report stated that : Warming of the climate system is unequivocal , as evidenced by increases in global average air and ocean temperatures , the widespread melting of snow and ice , and rising global average sea level . Most of the global warming since the mid-20th century is very likely due to human activities . Benefits and costs of climate change for -LSB- human -RSB- society will vary widely by location and scale . Some of the effects in temperate and polar regions will be positive and others elsewhere will be negative . Overall , net effects are more likely to be strongly negative with larger or more rapid warming . The range of published evidence indicates that the net damage costs of climate change are likely to be significant and to increase over time . The resilience of many ecosystems is likely to be exceeded this century by an unprecedented combination of climate change , associated disturbances ( e.g. flooding , drought , wildfire , insects , ocean acidification ) and other global change drivers ( e.g. land-use change , pollution , fragmentation of natural systems , over-exploitation of resources ) . Some scientific bodies have recommended specific policies to governments , and science can play a role in informing an effective response to climate change . Policy decisions , however , may require value judgements and so are not included in the scientific opinion . No scientific body of national or international standing maintains a formal opinion dissenting from any of these main points . The last national or international scientific body to drop dissent was the American Association of Petroleum Geologists , which in 2007 updated its statement to its current non-committal position . Some other organizations , primarily those focusing on geology , also hold non-committal positions .", "Global warming Global warming , also referred to as climate change , is the observed century-scale rise in the average temperature of the Earth 's climate system and its related effects . Multiple lines of scientific evidence show that the climate system is warming . Many of the observed changes since the 1950s are unprecedented in the instrumental temperature record which extends back to the mid 19th century , and in paleoclimate proxy records over thousands of years . In 2013 , the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) Fifth Assessment Report concluded that `` It is extremely likely that human influence has been the dominant cause of the observed warming since the mid-20th century . '' The largest human influence has been emission of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide , methane and nitrous oxide . Climate model projections summarized in the report indicated that during the 21st century the global surface temperature is likely to rise a further 0.3 to for their lowest emissions scenario and 2.6 to for the highest emissions scenario . These findings have been recognized by the national science academies of the major industrialized nations and are not disputed by any scientific body of national or international standing . Future climate change and associated impacts will differ from region to region around the globe . Anticipated effects include warming global temperature , rising sea levels , changing precipitation , and expansion of deserts in the subtropics . Warming is expected to be greater over land than over the oceans and greatest in the Arctic , with the continuing retreat of glaciers , permafrost and sea ice . Other likely changes include more frequent extreme weather events including heat waves , droughts , heavy rainfall with floods and heavy snowfall ; ocean acidification ; and species extinctions due to shifting temperature regimes . Effects significant to humans include the threat to food security from decreasing crop yields and the abandonment of populated areas due to rising sea levels . Because the climate system has a large `` inertia '' and greenhouse gases will stay in the atmosphere for a long time , many of these effects will not only exist for decades or centuries , but will persist for tens of thousands of years . Possible societal responses to global warming include mitigation by emissions reduction , adaptation to its effects , building systems resilient to its effects , and possible future climate engineering . Most countries are parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change ( UNFCCC ) , whose ultimate objective is to prevent dangerous anthropogenic climate change . Parties to the UNFCCC have agreed that deep cuts in emissions are required and that global warming should be limited to well below 2.0 C-change relative to pre-industrial levels , with efforts made to limit warming to 1.5 C-change . Public reactions to global warming and concern about its effects are also increasing . A global 2015 Pew Research Center report showed a median of 54 % consider it `` a very serious problem '' . There are significant regional differences , with Americans and Chinese ( whose economies are responsible for the greatest annual CO2 emissions ) among the least concerned .", "Human Rights and Climate Change Human Rights and Climate Change is a conceptual and legal framework under which international human rights and their relationship to global warming are studied , analyzed , and addressed . The framework has been employed by governments , United Nations organs , intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations , human rights and environmental advocates , and academics to guide national and international policy on climate change under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change ( UNFCCC ) and the core international human rights instruments . Human rights and climate change analysis focuses on the anticipated consequences to humans associated with global environmental phenomena including sea level rise , desertification , temperature increases , extreme weather events , and changes in precipitation , as well as adaptation and mitigation measures taken by governments in response to those phenomena that may involve human rights or related legal protections .", "Cloud feedback Cloud feedback is the coupling between cloudiness and surface air temperature where a surface air temperature change leads to a change in clouds , which could then amplify or diminish the initial temperature perturbation . Cloud feedbacks can affect the magnitude of internally generated climate variability or they can affect the magnitude of climate change resulting from external radiative forcings . Global warming is expected to change the distribution and type of clouds . Seen from below , clouds emit infrared radiation back to the surface , and so exert a warming effect ; seen from above , clouds reflect sunlight and emit infrared radiation to space , and so exert a cooling effect . Cloud representations vary among global climate models , and small changes in cloud cover have a large impact on the climate . Differences in planetary boundary layer cloud modeling schemes can lead to large differences in derived values of climate sensitivity . A model that decreases boundary layer clouds in response to global warming has a climate sensitivity twice that of a model that does not include this feedback . However , satellite data show that cloud optical thickness actually increases with increasing temperature . Whether the net effect is warming or cooling depends on details such as the type and altitude of the cloud ; details that are difficult to represent in climate models ." ]

[ "Carbon dioxide Carbon dioxide ( chemical formula ) is a colorless gas with a density about 60 % higher than that of air ( 1.225 g/L ) that is odorless at normally encountered concentrations . Carbon dioxide consists of a carbon atom covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms . It occurs naturally in Earth 's atmosphere as a trace gas at a concentration of about 0.04 percent ( 400 ppm ) by volume . Natural sources include volcanoes , hot springs and geysers , and it is freed from carbonate rocks by dissolution in water and acids . Because carbon dioxide is soluble in water , it occurs naturally in groundwater , rivers and lakes , ice caps , glaciers and seawater . It is present in deposits of petroleum and natural gas . As the source of available carbon in the carbon cycle , atmospheric carbon dioxide is the primary carbon source for life on Earth and its concentration in Earth 's pre-industrial atmosphere since late in the Precambrian has been regulated by photosynthetic organisms and geological phenomena . Plants , algae and cyanobacteria use light energy to photosynthesize carbohydrate from carbon dioxide and water , with oxygen produced as a waste product . Carbon dioxide is produced by all aerobic organisms when they metabolize carbohydrates and lipids to produce energy by respiration . It is returned to water via the gills of fish and to the air via the lungs of air-breathing land animals , including humans . Carbon dioxide is produced during the processes of decay of organic materials and the fermentation of sugars in bread , beer and winemaking . It is produced by combustion of wood and other organic materials and fossil fuels such as coal , peat , petroleum and natural gas . It is a versatile industrial material , used , for example , as an inert gas in welding and fire extinguishers , as a pressurizing gas in air guns and oil recovery , as a chemical feedstock and in liquid form as a solvent in decaffeination of coffee and supercritical drying . It is added to drinking water and carbonated beverages including beer and sparkling wine to add effervescence . The frozen solid form of , known as `` dry ice '' is used as a refrigerant and as an abrasive in dry-ice blasting . Carbon dioxide is the most significant long-lived greenhouse gas in Earth 's atmosphere . Since the Industrial Revolution anthropogenic emissions - primarily from use of fossil fuels and deforestation - have rapidly increased its concentration in the atmosphere , leading to global warming . Carbon dioxide also causes ocean acidification because it dissolves in water to form carbonic acid .", "Greenhouse gas A greenhouse gas ( abbrev . GHG ) is a gas in an atmosphere that absorbs and emits radiation within the thermal infrared range . This process is the fundamental cause of the greenhouse effect . The primary greenhouse gases in Earth 's atmosphere are water vapor , carbon dioxide , methane , nitrous oxide , and ozone . Without greenhouse gases , the average temperature of Earth 's surface would be about -18 ° C , rather than the present average of 15 ° C . In the Solar System , the atmospheres of Venus , Mars and Titan also contain gases that cause a greenhouse effect . Human activities since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution ( taken as the year 1750 ) have produced a 40 % increase in the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide , from 280 ppm in 1750 to 406 ppm in early 2017 . This increase has occurred despite the uptake of a large portion of the emissions by various natural `` sinks '' involved in the carbon cycle . Anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions ( i.e. , emissions produced by human activities ) come from combustion of fossil fuels , principally coal , oil , and natural gas , along with deforestation , soil erosion and animal agriculture . It has been estimated that if greenhouse gas emissions continue at the present rate , Earth 's surface temperature could exceed historical values as early as 2047 , with potentially harmful effects on ecosystems , biodiversity and the livelihoods of people worldwide . Recent estimates suggest that on the current emissions trajectory the Earth could pass a threshold of 2 ° C global warming , which the United Nations ' IPCC designated as the upper limit to avoid `` dangerous '' global warming , by 2036 .", "Carbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphere Carbon dioxide is an important trace gas in Earth 's atmosphere . Currently it constitutes about 0.041 % ( equal to 410 parts per million ; ppm ) by volume of the atmosphere . Despite its relatively small concentration is a potent greenhouse gas and plays a vital role in regulating Earth 's surface temperature through radiative forcing and the greenhouse effect . Reconstructions show that concentrations of in the atmosphere have varied , ranging from as high as 7,000 ppm during the Cambrian period about 500 million years ago to as low as 180 ppm during the Quaternary glaciation of the last two million years . Carbon dioxide is an integral part of the carbon cycle , a biogeochemical cycle in which carbon is exchanged between the Earth 's oceans , soil , rocks and the biosphere . Plants and other photoautotrophs use solar energy to produce carbohydrate from atmospheric carbon dioxide and water by photosynthesis . Almost all other organisms depend on carbohydrate derived from photosynthesis as their primary source of energy and carbon compounds . The current episode of global warming is attributed to increasing emissions of and other greenhouse gases into Earth 's atmosphere . The global annual mean concentration of in the atmosphere has increased by more than 40 % since the start of the Industrial Revolution , from 280 ppm , the level it had for the last 10,000 years leading up to the mid-18th century , to 399 ppm as of 2015 . The present concentration is the highest in at least the past 800,000 years and likely the highest in the past 20 million years . The increase has been caused by anthropogenic sources , particularly the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation . The daily average concentration of atmospheric CO2 at Mauna Loa Observatory first exceeded 400 ppm on 10 May 2013 . It is currently rising at a rate of approximately 2 ppm/year and accelerating . An estimated 30 -- 40 % of the released by humans into the atmosphere dissolves into oceans , rivers and lakes , which contributes to ocean acidification .", "Global warming Global warming , also referred to as climate change , is the observed century-scale rise in the average temperature of the Earth 's climate system and its related effects . Multiple lines of scientific evidence show that the climate system is warming . Many of the observed changes since the 1950s are unprecedented in the instrumental temperature record which extends back to the mid 19th century , and in paleoclimate proxy records over thousands of years . In 2013 , the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) Fifth Assessment Report concluded that `` It is extremely likely that human influence has been the dominant cause of the observed warming since the mid-20th century . '' The largest human influence has been emission of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide , methane and nitrous oxide . Climate model projections summarized in the report indicated that during the 21st century the global surface temperature is likely to rise a further 0.3 to for their lowest emissions scenario and 2.6 to for the highest emissions scenario . These findings have been recognized by the national science academies of the major industrialized nations and are not disputed by any scientific body of national or international standing . Future climate change and associated impacts will differ from region to region around the globe . Anticipated effects include warming global temperature , rising sea levels , changing precipitation , and expansion of deserts in the subtropics . Warming is expected to be greater over land than over the oceans and greatest in the Arctic , with the continuing retreat of glaciers , permafrost and sea ice . Other likely changes include more frequent extreme weather events including heat waves , droughts , heavy rainfall with floods and heavy snowfall ; ocean acidification ; and species extinctions due to shifting temperature regimes . Effects significant to humans include the threat to food security from decreasing crop yields and the abandonment of populated areas due to rising sea levels . Because the climate system has a large `` inertia '' and greenhouse gases will stay in the atmosphere for a long time , many of these effects will not only exist for decades or centuries , but will persist for tens of thousands of years . Possible societal responses to global warming include mitigation by emissions reduction , adaptation to its effects , building systems resilient to its effects , and possible future climate engineering . Most countries are parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change ( UNFCCC ) , whose ultimate objective is to prevent dangerous anthropogenic climate change . Parties to the UNFCCC have agreed that deep cuts in emissions are required and that global warming should be limited to well below 2.0 C-change relative to pre-industrial levels , with efforts made to limit warming to 1.5 C-change . Public reactions to global warming and concern about its effects are also increasing . A global 2015 Pew Research Center report showed a median of 54 % consider it `` a very serious problem '' . There are significant regional differences , with Americans and Chinese ( whose economies are responsible for the greatest annual CO2 emissions ) among the least concerned ." ]

[ "Climate change in the United Kingdom Climate change in the United Kingdom has been a subject of protests and controversies and various policies have been developed to mitigate its effects . It is estimated to demand at least 80-85 % emission reductions in the EU during 2008-2050 with reductions as soon as technically possible . The UK Government has a commitment to reduce CO2 equivalent emissions by 80 % on 1990 levels by 2025 and by 50 % on 1990 levels by 2050 .", "Low-carbon emission The main components of automobile exhaust are carbon dioxide ( CO2 ) and water vapor ( H2O ) . Carbon dioxide is the most important anthropogenic greenhouse gas ( GHG ) and the most significant Greenhouse Gas emitted in the U.S. ( with 82-84 % of all U.S. emissions ) . Increases in carbon dioxide concentration are due primarily to fossil fuel use and land-use change . The CO2 emission standards can be referred to the fuel or to the vehicle : The European Union is moving towards fuel mandatory CO2 standards and USA has reflected it in the Greenhouse Gas Score . There are information , but no mandatory , standards for CO2 limits in vehicle ( engine ) emissions , excepting some state regulations ( i.e. California ) . See hybrid vehicles . CO2 mass emission in vehicles is measured in g/km ( g/mi * 0.621371192 = g/km ) .", "The Greening of Planet Earth The Greening of Planet Earth is a half-hour-long video produced by the coal industry , which argues that rising CO2 levels will be beneficial to agriculture , and that policies intending to reduce CO2 levels are therefore misguided . The video argues that rising CO2 levels both directly stimulate plant growth and , as a result of their warming properties , cause winter temperatures to rise , thereby indirectly stimulating plant growth . It was produced in 1991 and released the following year . A sequel , entitled , The Greening of Planet Earth Continues , was released in 1998 . The video was narrated by Sherwood Idso . After the video was made , it was distributed to thousands of journalists by a coal industry group . The video became very popular viewing in the George H. W. Bush White House and elsewhere in Washington , where it was promoted before the 1992 Earth Summit , and , according to some reports , became especially popular with then-chief of staff John H. Sununu .", "Mitigation of aviation's environmental impact Aviation affects the environment due to aircraft engines emitting noise , particulates , and gases which contribute to climate change and global dimming . Despite emission reductions from automobiles and more fuel-efficient ( and therefore less polluting ) turbofan and turboprop engines , the rapid growth of air travel in recent years contributes to an increase in total pollution attributable to aviation . In the EU , greenhouse gas emissions from aviation increased by 87 % between 1990 and 2006 . At present aviation accounts for 2.5 % of global CO2 emissions . Due to projected growth in air travel , in the most technologically radical scenarios for having a better than 50 % chance of keeping global warming below 2 degrees Celsius , in 2050 aviation will make up 15 % of global CO2 emissions . In more conventional scenarios its emissions will exceed the entire global carbon budget before then . This presents governments and the operators of aircraft with a responsibility to reduce the aviation industry 's emissions .", "CERINA-Plan CERINA Plan is the abbreviation for `` CO2 Emissions and Renewable Investment Action Plan '' . It is a CO2 reduction concept developed by the German renewable energy institute IWR . The CERINA Plan proposes a technical investment approach linking a country 's CO2 emissions to its investment in renewable energy technology . Therefore , it is an alternative model to approaches like the Kyoto idea of mere cuts in greenhouse gas emissions . The model is meant to be flexible and to adapt to the special national circumstances of each country .", "IPCC First Assessment Report The First Assessment Report ( FAR ) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) was completed in 1990 . It served as the basis of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change ( UNFCCC ) . The report was issued in three main sections , corresponding to the three Working Groups of scientists that the IPCC had established . Working Group I : Scientific Assessment of Climate Change , edited by J.T. Houghton , G.J. Jenkins and J.J. Ephraums Working Group II : Impacts Assessment of Climate Change , edited by W.J. McG . Tegart , G.W. Sheldon and D.C. Griffiths Working Group III : The IPCC Response Strategies Each section included a summary for policymakers . This format was followed in subsequent Assessment Reports . The executive summary of the policymakers ' summary of the WG I report includes : We are certain of the following : there is a natural greenhouse effect ... ; emissions resulting from human activities are substantially increasing the atmospheric concentrations of the greenhouse gases : CO2 , methane , CFCs and nitrous oxide . These increases will enhance the greenhouse effect , resulting on average in an additional warming of the Earth 's surface . The main greenhouse gas , water vapour , will increase in response to global warming and further enhance it . We calculate with confidence that : ... CO2 has been responsible for over half the enhanced greenhouse effect ; long-lived gases would require immediate reductions in emissions from human activities of over 60 % to stabilise their concentrations at today 's levels ... Based on current models , we predict : under -LSB- BAU -RSB- increase of global mean temperature during the -LSB- 21st -RSB- century of about 0.3 oC per decade ( with an uncertainty range of 0.2 to 0.5 oC per decade ) ; this is greater than that seen over the past 10,000 years ; under other ... scenarios which assume progressively increasing levels of controls , rates of increase in global mean temperature of about 0.2 oC -LSB- to -RSB- about 0.1 oC per decade . There are many uncertainties in our predictions particularly with regard to the timing , magnitude and regional patterns of climate change , due to our incomplete understanding of : sources and sinks of GHGs ; clouds ; oceans ; polar ice sheets . Our judgement is that : global mean surface air temperature has increased by 0.3 to 0.6 oC over the last 100 years ... ; The size of this warming is broadly consistent with predictions of climate models , but it is also of the same magnitude as natural climate variability . Thus the observed increase could be largely due to this natural variability ; alternatively this variability and other human factors could have offset a still larger human-induced greenhouse warming . The unequivocal detection of the enhanced greenhouse effect is not likely for a decade or more . under the IPCC business as usual emissions scenario , an average rate of global mean sea level rise of about 6 cm per decade over the next century ( with an uncertainty range of 3 -- 10 cm per decade ) , mainly due to thermal expansion of the oceans and the melting of some land ice . The predicted rise is about 20 cm ... by 2030 , and 65 cm by the end of the next century .", "Eco-costs Eco-costs are a measure to express the amount of environmental burden of a product on the basis of prevention of that burden . They are the costs which should be made to reduce the environmental pollution and materials depletion in our world to a level which is in line with the carrying capacity of our earth . For example : for each 1000 kg CO2 emission , one should invest $ 135 , - in offshore windmill parks ( and the other CO2 reduction systems at that price or less ) . When this is done consequently , the total CO2 emissions in the world will be reduced by 65 % compared to the emissions in 2008 . As a result , global warming will stabilise . In short : `` the eco-costs of 1000kg CO2 are $ 135 , - '' . Similar calculations can be made on the environmental burden of acidification , eutrification , summer smog , fine dust , eco-toxicity , and the use of metals , rare earth , fossil fuels , water and land ( nature ) . As such , the eco-costs are virtual costs , since they are not yet integrated in the real life costs of current production chains ( Life Cycle Costs ) . The eco-costs should be regarded as hidden obligations . The eco-costs of a product are the sum of all eco-costs of emissions and use of resources during the life cycle `` from cradle to cradle '' . The widely accepted method to make such a calculation is called Life Cycle Assessment ( LCA ) , which is basically a mass and energy balance , defined in the 14040 and ISO 14044 . The practical use of eco-costs is to compare the sustainability of several product types with the same functionality . The advantage of eco-costs is that they are expressed in a standardized monetary value which appears to be easily understood ` by instinct ' . Also the calculation is transparent and relatively easy , compared to damage based models which have the disadvantage of extremely complex calculations with subjective weighting of the various aspects contributing to the overall environmental burden . The system of eco-costs is part of the bigger model of the Ecocosts/Value Ratio , EVR", "Sustainable Silicon Valley Sustainable Silicon Valley ( SSV ) is a collaboration of businesses , governments , and non-governmental organizations that are identifying and addressing environmental and resource pressures in Silicon Valley . As its first initiative , SSV engaged Valley organizations , who are the SSV Partners , to work towards a goal of reducing regional carbon dioxide ( CO2 ) emissions 20 % below 1990 levels by 2010 . The SSV approach to reaching this goal is to facilitate strategies to reduce CO2 emissions through increased energy and fuel efficiency and through the use of renewable sources of energy .", "Global Carbon Project The Global Carbon Project ( GCP ) was established in 2001 . The organisation seeks to quantify global carbon emissions and their causes . The main object of the group has been to fully understand the carbon cycle . The project has brought together emissions experts and economists to tackle the problem of rising concentrations of greenhouse gases . The Global Carbon Project works collaboratively with the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme , the World Climate Programme , the International Human Dimensions Programme on Global Environmental Change and Diversitas , under the Earth System Science Partnership . In late 2006 researchers from the project claimed that carbon dioxide emissions had dramatically increased to a rate of 3.2 % annually from 2000 . At the time , the chair of the group Dr Mike Raupach stated that `` This is a very worrying sign . It indicates that recent efforts to reduce emissions have had virtually no impact on emissions growth and that effective caps are urgently needed , '' . A 2010 study conducted by the Project and Nature Geoscience revealed that the world 's oceans absorb 2.3 billion metric tonnes of carbon dioxide . On December 5 , 2011 analysis released from the project claimed carbon dioxide from fossil-fuel burning jumped by the largest amount on record in 2010 to 5.9 percent from a growth rate in the 1990s closer to 1 percent annually . The combustion of coal represented more than half of the growth in emissions , the report found . They predict greenhouse gas emissions to occur according to the IPCC 's worst-case scenario , as CO2 concentration in the atmosphere reaches 500ppm in the 21st century .", "Sustainable automotive air conditioning Sustainable automotive air conditioning is the subject of a debate -- nicknamed the Cool War -- about the next-generation refrigerant in car air conditioning . The Alliance for CO2 Solutions supports the uptake of carbon dioxide ( CO2 ) as a refrigerant in passenger cars , and the chemical industry is developing new chemical blends . The Alliance and its supporters -- scientists , NGOs and business leaders -- urge the car industry to replace high global warming chemical substances with the natural refrigerant carbon dioxide ( CO2 , R744 / R-744 ) in car cooling and heating . This , they argue , would lead to 10 % less car emissions , and knock out 1 % of total greenhouse gas emissions worldwide . If CO2 Technology is applied in other sectors , such as commercial and industrial refrigeration , heat pumps for water heating etc. , it may even save up to 3 % of the world 's greenhouse gases . Opponents of the Alliance claim that CO2 Technology is not cost-efficient and safe , hence seeking to postpone the global industry decision to be taken to develop new chemical blends instead .", "Gorgon Carbon Dioxide Injection Project The Gorgon Carbon Dioxide Injection Project is part of the Gorgon Project , the world 's largest natural gas project . The Gorgon Project , located on Barrow Island in Western Australia , includes a liquefied natural gas ( LNG ) plant , a domestic gas plant , and a Carbon Dioxide Injection Project . The initial carbon dioxide injections are planned to take place by the end of 2017 . Once launched , the Gorgon Carbon Dioxide Injection Project will be the world 's largest CO2 injection plant , with an ability to store up to 4 million tons of CO2 per year -- approximately 120 million tons over the project 's lifetime , and 40 percent of total Gorgon Project emissions .", "Humanistic naturalism Humanistic naturalism is the branch of philosophical naturalism wherein human beings are best able to control and understand the world through use of the scientific method , combined with the social and ethical values of humanism . Concepts of spirituality , intuition , and metaphysics are considered subjectively valuable only , primarily because they are unfalsifiable , and therefore can never progress beyond the realm of personal opinion . A boundary is not drawn between nature and what lies `` beyond '' nature ; everything is regarded as a result of explainable processes within nature , with nothing lying outside of it . The belief is that all living things are intricate extensions of nature , and therefore deserve some degree of mutual respect from human beings . Naturalists accept the need for adaptation to current change , however it may be , and also that life must feed upon life for survival . However , they also recognize the necessity for a fair exchange of resources between all species . Humanistic naturalists are generally concerned with the ethical aspects of `` worldview naturalism . '' Industry and technology are sometimes regarded as enemies to naturalism , but this is not always the case . For those who do believe in such threats , the thought is that the majority of human history , societies were largely agricultural and hunter-gatherer and lived in relative harmony and balance with nature . With the dawn of the Industrial Revolution , some humanistic naturalists see this balance as being increasingly threatened . This view has some similarities with anarcho-primitivism and other anti-modernist perspectives .", "European Union Emission Trading Scheme The European Union Emissions Trading System ( EU ETS ) , also known as the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme , was the first large greenhouse gas emissions trading scheme in the world , and remains the biggest . It was launched in 2005 to fight Global warming and is a major pillar of EU climate policy . As of 2013 , the EU ETS covers more than 11,000 factories , power stations , and other installations with a net heat excess of 20 MW in 31 countries -- all 28 EU member states plus Iceland , Norway , and Liechtenstein . In 2008 , the installations regulated by the EU ETS were collectively responsible for close to half of the EU 's anthropogenic emissions of CO2 and 40 % of its total greenhouse gas emissions . Under the ` cap and trade ' principle , a maximum ( cap ) is set on the total amount of greenhouse gases that can be emitted by all participating installations . ` Allowances ' for emissions are then auctioned off or allocated for free , and can subsequently be traded . Installations must monitor and report their CO2 emissions , ensuring they hand in enough allowances to the authorities to cover their emissions . If emission exceeds what is permitted by its allowances , an installation must purchase allowances from others . Conversely , if an installation has performed well at reducing its emissions , it can sell its leftover credits . This allows the system to find the most cost-effective ways of reducing emissions without significant government intervention . The scheme has been divided into a number of `` trading periods '' . The first ETS trading period lasted three years , from January 2005 to December 2007 . The second trading period ran from January 2008 until December 2012 , coinciding with the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol . The third trading period began in January 2013 and will span until December 2020 . Compared to 2005 , when the EU ETS was first implemented , the proposed caps for 2020 represents a 21 % reduction of greenhouse gases . This target has been reached 6 years early as emissions in the ETS fell to 1812 mln tonnes in 2014 . The EU ETS has seen a number of significant changes , with the first trading period described as a ` learning by doing ' phase . Phase III sees a turn to auctioning a majority of permits rather than allocating freely ; harmonisation of rules for the remaining allocations ; and the inclusion of other greenhouse gases , such as nitrous oxide and perfluorocarbons . In 2012 , the EU ETS was also extended to the airline industry , though this has been paused for one year given the possibility of a global system for these emissions . The price of EU ETS carbon credits has been lower than intended , with a large surplus of allowances , in part because of the impact of the recent economic crisis on demand . In 2012 , the Commission said it would delay the auctioning of some allowances . Currently legislation is under way which would introduce a Market Stability Reserve to the EU ETS that adjusts the annual supply of CO2 permits based on the CO2 permits in circulation . Overall , since its conception , the EU ETS has been characterized by relatively high levels of policy uncertainty . This uncertainty has been both technical , in terms of its detailed rules and procedures , and political , in terms of its public , industry , and governmental support . As a result , the scheme has resulted in a rather informal and tepid response by regulated organizations .", "Coptodon spongotroktis Coptodon spongotroktis is a critically endangered species of fish in the cichlid family . It is endemic to Lake Bermin in Cameroon . It is threatened by pollution and sedimentation from human activities , and potentially also by large emissions of carbon dioxide ( CO2 ) from the lake 's bottom ( compare Lake Nyos ) , although Bermin is too shallow to contain very high amounts of this gas .", "Project Vulcan Project Vulcan is a NASA/DOE funded effort under the North American Carbon Program ( NACP ) to quantify North American fossil fuel carbon dioxide ( CO2 ) emissions at space/time scales much finer than has been achieved in the past . The initial purpose of the Vulcan Project was to aid in quantification of the North American carbon budget , to support inverse estimation of carbon sources and sinks , and to support the demands posed by higher resolution CO2 observations . The detail and scope of the Vulcan CO2 inventory has now made it a valuable tool for policymakers , demographers , social scientists and the public at large . Project Vulcan has achieved U.S. fossil fuel CO2 emissions at < 10 km spatial scales and an hourly time scale , based on datasets such as air quality emissions reporting , census data , highway statistics , energy statistics , and econometric data . Furthermore , Vulcan includes significant process-level detail , dividing the emissions into economic sectors and sub-sectors in addition to 23 fuel types . It has been produced for the year 2002 , and an annual product spanning 1980-2006 will be available by late-2009 . The first Vulcan inventory ( v1 .0 ) was released to the public in early April 2008 . Version 1.1 was released in February 2009 and Version 1.2 is due out in early August 2009 . In addition to the data release , establishment of the Vulcan website and a press release , a video of various aspects of atmospheric transport was released on Purdue University 's YouTube website and portions of the Vulcan inventory are available on Google Earth . As of 2015 , version 2.2 has been published on a site hosted by Arizona State University .", "North American Carbon Program The North American Carbon Program ( NACP ) is one of the major elements of the Strategic Plan for the U.S. Climate Change Science Program . The central objective of NACP is to measure and understand carbon stocks and sources and sinks of carbon dioxide ( CO2 ) , methane ( CH4 ) , and carbon monoxide ( CO ) in North America and adjacent ocean regions . The specific program goals are as followed : Develop quantitative scientific knowledge , robust observations , and models to determine the emissions and uptake of CO2 , CH4 , and CO , changes in carbon stocks , and the factors regulating these processes for North America and adjacent ocean basins . Develop the scientific basis to implement full carbon accounting on regional and continental scales . This is the knowledge base needed to design monitoring programs for natural and managed CO2 sinks and emissions of CH4 . Support long-term quantitative measurements of fluxes , sources , and sinks of atmospheric CO2 and CH4 , and develop forecasts for future trends . The North American Carbon Program was designed to help with the process of providing data needed to model the synthesis activities .", "Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5 °C The Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5 °C (SR15) was published by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) on 8 October 2018. The report, approved in Incheon, South Korea, includes over 6,000 scientific references, and was prepared by 91 authors from 40 countries. In December 2015, the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference called for the report. The report was delivered at the United Nations' 48th session of the IPCC to \"deliver the authoritative, scientific guide for governments\" to deal with climate change.Its key finding is that meeting a 1.5 °C (2.7 °F) target is possible but would require \"deep emissions reductions\" and \"rapid, far-reaching and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society.\" Furthermore, the report finds that \"limiting global warming to 1.5 °C compared with 2 °C would reduce challenging impacts on ecosystems, human health and well-being\" and that a 2 °C temperature increase would exacerbate extreme weather, rising sea levels and diminishing Arctic sea ice, coral bleaching, and loss of ecosystems, among other impacts. SR15 also has modelling that shows that, for global warming to be limited to 1.5 °C, \"Global net human-caused emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) would need to fall by about 45 percent from 2010 levels by 2030, reaching 'net zero' around 2050.\" The reduction of emissions by 2030 and its associated changes and challenges, including rapid decarbonisation, was a key focus on much of the reporting which was repeated through the world.", "Coptodon imbriferna Coptodon imbriferna is a critically endangered species of fish in the cichlid family . It is endemic to Lake Bermin in Cameroon . It is threatened by pollution and sedimentation from human activities , and potentially also by large emissions of carbon dioxide ( CO2 ) from the lake 's bottom ( compare Lake Nyos ) , although Bermin is too shallow to contain very high amounts of this gas .", "Unstoppable Global Warming: Every 1,500 Years Unstoppable Global Warming : Every 1,500 Years is a book about climate change , written by Siegfried Fred Singer and Dennis T. Avery , which asserts that natural changes , and not CO2 emissions , are the cause of Global Warming . Published by Rowman & Littlefield in 2006 , the book sold well and was reprinted in an updated edition in 2007 . The title refers to the hypothesis of 1,500-year climate cycles in the Holocene first postulated by Gerard C. Bond , mainly based on petrologic tracers of drift ice in the North Atlantic .", "Coptodon nigrans Coptodon nigrans is a species of fish in the cichlid family . It is endemic to Lake Ejagham in western Cameroon . It was only scientifically described in 2010 and has therefore not been rated by the IUCN , but it likely faces the same risks as the critically endangered C. deckerti , which is threatened by pollution and sedimentation from human activities , a catfish from the genus Parauchenoglanis that has been introduced to the lake , and potentially also by large emissions of carbon dioxide ( CO2 ) from the lake 's bottom ( compare Lake Nyos ) , although Ejagham is too shallow to contain very high amounts of this gas . It reaches up to 15.3 cm in standard length , and closely resembles the smaller C. deckerti .", "Greenhouse gas emissions by the United States According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ( EPA ) , the United States produced 6,587 million metric tonnes of carbon-dioxide equivalent greenhouse gas ( GHG ) emissions in 2015 . Compared to 2014 levels , U.S. greenhouse gas emissions decreased in 2015 . Compared to levels in 1990 , emissions have increased by about 4 percent . From year to year , emissions can rise and fall due to changes in the economy , the price of fuel , and other factors . The EPA has attributed recent decreases to a reduction in emissions from fossil fuel combustion , which was a result of multiple factors including substitution from coal to natural gas consumption in the electric power sector ; warmer winter conditions that reduced demand for heating fuel in the residential and commercial sectors ; and a slight decrease in electricity demand . While the Bush administration opted against Kyoto-type policies to reduce emissions , the Obama administration and various state , local , and regional governments have attempted to adopt some Kyoto Protocol goals on a local basis . For example , the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative ( RGGI ) founded in January 2007 is a state-level emissions capping and trading program by nine northeastern U.S. states . In December 2009 President Obama set a target for reducing U.S. greenhouse gas ( GHG ) emissions in the range of 17 % below 2005 levels by 2020 . The U.S. State Department offered a nation-level perspective in the Fourth US Climate Action Report ( USCAR ) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change , including measures to address climate change . The report showed that the country was on track to achieve President Bush 's goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions per unit of gross domestic product ) by 18 percent from 2002 to 2012 . Over that same period , actual GHG emissions were projected to increase by 11 percent . The report estimated that in 2006 , U.S. GHG emissions decreased 1.5 percent from 2005 to 7,075.6 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent . This was an increase of 15.1 percent from the 1990 levels of 6,146.7 million tonnes ( or 0.9 percent annual increase ) , and an increase of 1.4 percent from the 2000 levels of 6,978.4 million tonnes . By 2012 GHG emissions were projected to increase to more than 7,709 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent , which would be 26 percent above 1990 levels .", "Coptodon gutturosa Coptodon gutturosa is a critically endangered species of fish in the cichlid family . It is endemic to Lake Bermin in Cameroon . It is threatened by pollution and sedimentation from human activities , and potentially also by large emissions of carbon dioxide ( CO2 ) from the lake 's bottom ( compare Lake Nyos ) , although Bermin is too shallow to contain very high amounts of this gas .", "Soil respiration Soil respiration refers to the production of carbon dioxide when soil organisms respire . This includes respiration of plant roots , the rhizosphere , microbes and fauna . Soil respiration is a key ecosystem process that releases carbon from the soil in the form of CO2 . CO2 is acquired from the atmosphere and converted into organic compounds in the process of photosynthesis . Plants use these organic compounds to build structural components or respire them to release energy . When plant respiration occurs below-ground in the roots , it adds to soil respiration . Over time , plant structural components are consumed by heterotrophs . This heterotrophic consumption releases CO2 and when this CO2 is released by below-ground organisms , it is considered soil respiration . The amount of soil respiration that occurs in an ecosystem is controlled by several factors . The temperature , moisture , nutrient content and level of oxygen in the soil can produce extremely disparate rates of respiration . These rates of respiration can be measured in a variety of methods . Other methods can be used to separate the source components , in this case the type of photosynthetic pathway ( C3/C4 ) , of the respired plant structures . Soil respiration rates can be largely affected by human activity . This is because humans have the ability to and have been changing the various controlling factors of soil respiration for numerous years . Global climate change is composed of numerous changing factors including rising atmospheric CO2 , increasing temperature and shifting precipitation patterns . All of these factors can affect the rate of global soil respiration . Increased nitrogen fertilization by humans also has the potential to effect rates over the entire Earth . Soil respiration and its rate across ecosystems is extremely important to understand . This is because soil respiration plays a large role in global carbon cycling as well as other nutrient cycles . The respiration of plant structures releases not only CO2 but also other nutrients in those structures , such as nitrogen . Soil respiration is also associated with positive feedbacks with global climate change . Positive feedbacks are when a change in a system produces response in the same direction of the change . Therefore , soil respiration rates can be effected by climate change and then respond by enhancing climate change .", "Coptodon flava Coptodon flava is a critically endangered species of fish in the cichlid family . It is endemic to Lake Bermin in Cameroon . It is threatened by pollution and sedimentation from human activities , and potentially also by large emissions of carbon dioxide ( CO2 ) from the lake 's bottom ( compare Lake Nyos ) , although Bermin is too shallow to contain very high amounts of this gas .", "EU Allowances EU Allowances are Climate credits ( or Carbon credits ) used in the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme ( EU ETS ) . EU Allowances are issued by the EU Member States into Member State Registry accounts . By April 30 of each year , operators of installations covered by the EU ETS must surrender an EU Allowance for each ton of CO2 emitted in the previous year . Category : Carbon emissions in the European Union", "Coptodon bythobates Coptodon bythobates is a critically endangered species of fish in the cichlid family . It is endemic to Lake Bermin in Cameroon . It is threatened by pollution and sedimentation from human activities , and potentially also by large emissions of carbon dioxide ( CO2 ) from the lake 's bottom ( compare Lake Nyos ) , although Bermin is too shallow to contain very high amounts of this gas .", "Sustainable tourism Sustainable tourism is the concept of visiting a place as a tourist and trying to make only a positive impact on the environment , society and economy . Tourism can involve primary transportation to the general location , local transportation , accommodations , entertainment , recreation , nourishment and shopping . It can be related to travel for leisure , business and what is called VFR ( visiting friends and relatives ) . There is now broad consensus that tourism development should be sustainable ; however , the question of how to achieve this remains an object of debate . Without travel there is no tourism , so the concept of sustainable tourism is tightly linked to a concept of sustainable mobility . Two relevant considerations are tourism 's reliance on fossil fuels and tourism 's effect on climate change . 72 percent of tourism 's CO2 emissions come from transportation , 24 percent from accommodations , and 4 percent from local activities . Aviation accounts for 55 % of those transportation CO2 emissions ( or 40 % of tourism 's total ) . However , when considering the impact of all greenhouse gas emissions from tourism and that aviation emissions are made at high altitude where their effect on climate is amplified , aviation alone accounts for 75 % of tourism 's climate impact . The International Air Transport Association ( IATA ) considers an annual increase in aviation fuel efficiency of 2 percent per year through 2050 to be realistic . However , both Airbus and Boeing expect the passenger-kilometers of air transport to increase by about 5 percent yearly through at least 2020 , overwhelming any efficiency gains . By 2050 , with other economic sectors having greatly reduced their CO2 emissions , tourism is likely to be generating 40 percent of global carbon emissions . The main cause is an increase in the average distance travelled by tourists , which for many years has been increasing at a faster rate than the number of trips taken . `` Sustainable transportation is now established as the critical issue confronting a global tourism industry that is palpably unsustainable , and aviation lies at the heart of this issue ( Gossling et al. , 2010 ) . ''", "German response to Kyoto Protocol Germany is Europe 's largest and the world 's 6th greatest single emitter of CO2 . In July 2007 , Germany had the largest European population , with 82.4 million people . Germany imports most of its materials and energy sources , and in 2004 imported 2.135 million barrels of oil and 85.02 billion m ³ ( 2003 ) of natural gas a day . In 2004 , Germany emitted 886 million metric tonnes of CO2 . In 2004 , there were approximately 45 million registered cars in Germany . Between March 1998 and March 1999 , 84 countries including Germany signed the Kyoto Protocol . In March 2002 , the Bundestag unanimously ratified Kyoto . In May 2002 , the European Union submitted the articles of ratification for all 15 of its then member states . As an Annex II nation , Germany 's commitment to the UNFCCC with respect to Kyoto was to reduce emissions as well as to provide an economic crutch to developing nations via Clean Development Mechanisms . In November 2006 , Germany 's planned annual quota was 482 million metric tonnes of CO2 . German Greenhouse Gas Emissions reduced by 17.2 % from 1990 to 2004 , according to UNFCCC . Germany actively promotes government carbon funds and supports multilateral carbon funds that are intent on purchasing Carbon Credits from non-Annex I parties . Government organizations work closely with major utility , energy , oil and gas , and chemicals conglomerates to try to acquire as many Greenhouse Gas Certificates as cheaply as possible . Since signing and ratifying the protocol , Germany has committed to reducing its emissions to 21 % below 1990 levels between 2008 and 2012 . In November 2008 , a study found that Germany had already reduced its greenhouse gas emissions by 22.4 % , which means it already reached its Kyoto Emissions Commitments .", "Carbon price Carbon pricing -- the method favored by many economists for reducing global-warming emissions -- charges those who emit carbon dioxide ( CO2 ) for their emissions . That charge , called a carbon price , is the amount that must be paid for the right to emit one tonne of CO2 into the atmosphere . Carbon pricing usually takes the form either of a carbon tax or a requirement to purchase permits to emit , generally known as cap-and-trade , but also called `` allowances '' . Carbon pricing solves the economic problem that , a known greenhouse gas , is what economics calls a negative externality -- a detrimental product that is not priced ( charged for ) by any market . As a consequence of not being priced , there is no market mechanism responsive to the costs of CO2 emitted . The standard economic solution to problems of this type , first proposed by Arthur Pigou in 1920 , is for the product - in this case , CO2 emissions - to be charged at a price equal to the monetary value of the damage caused by the emissions . This should result in the economically optimal ( efficient ) amount of CO2 emissions . Many practical concerns mar the theoretical simplicity of this picture : for example , the exact monetary damage caused by a tonne of CO2 is uncertain . The economics of carbon pricing is much the same for taxes and cap-and-trade . Both prices are efficient ; they have the same social cost and the same effect on profits if permits are auctioned . However , some economists argue that caps prevent non-price policies , such as renewable energy subsidies , from reducing carbon emissions , while carbon taxes do not . Others argue that an enforced cap is the only way to guarantee that carbon emissions will actually be reduced ; a carbon tax will not prevent those who can afford to do so from continuing to generate emissions . The choice of pricing approach , a tax or cap-and-trade , has been controversial . A carbon tax is generally favored on economic grounds for its simplicity and stability , while cap-and-trade is often favored on political grounds . Recently ( 2013 − 14 ) economic opinion has been shifting more heavily toward taxes as national policy measures , and toward a neutral carbon-price-commitment position for the purpose of international climate negotiations .", "Laguna Caldera Laguna Caldera is located southeast of Manila . It has a summit elevation of 743m or 2,438 feet . The caldera , whose lake surface is only 1m above sea level , may have formed at least two major eruptions of about 1 million and 27,000-29 ,000 years ago .", "Coptodon snyderae Coptodon snyderae is a critically endangered species of fish in the cichlid family . It is endemic to Lake Bermin in Cameroon . It is threatened by pollution and sedimentation from human activities , and potentially also by large emissions of carbon dioxide ( CO2 ) from the lake 's bottom ( compare Lake Nyos ) , although Bermin is too shallow to contain very high amounts of this gas .", "Coptodon thysi Coptodon thysi is a critically endangered species of fish in the cichlid family . It is endemic to Lake Bermin in Cameroon . It is threatened by pollution and sedimentation from human activities , and potentially also by large emissions of carbon dioxide ( CO2 ) from the lake 's bottom ( compare Lake Nyos ) , although Bermin is too shallow to contain very high amounts of this gas ." ]

[ "Stephen Harper Stephen Joseph Harper ( born April 30 , 1959 ) is a Canadian entrepreneur and retired politician who served as the 22nd Prime Minister of Canada , from February 6 , 2006 to November 4 , 2015 . He was the first prime minister to come from the modern Conservative Party of Canada , which was formed by a merger of the Progressive Conservative Party and the Canadian Alliance . Harper was member of parliament for the riding of Calgary Heritage in Alberta from 2002 to 2016 ( previously known as Calgary Southwest from 2002 to 2015 ) . Earlier , from 1993 to 1997 , he was the MP for Calgary West , representing the Reform Party of Canada . He was one of the founding members of the Reform Party , but did not seek re-election in the 1997 federal election . Harper instead joined and later led the National Citizens Coalition , a conservative lobbyist group . In 2002 , he succeeded Stockwell Day as leader of the Canadian Alliance , the successor to the Reform Party and returned to parliament as Leader of the Opposition . In 2003 , he reached an agreement with Progressive Conservative leader Peter MacKay for the merger of their two parties to form the Conservative Party of Canada . He was elected as the party 's first leader , in March 2004 . Harper stepped down as MP on August 26 , 2016 . The 2006 federal election resulted in a minority government led by the Conservative Party with Harper becoming the 22nd Prime Minister of Canada . By proportion of seats , this was Canada 's smallest minority government since Confederation . Despite this , it was the longest-serving minority government overall . In the 2008 federal election , the Conservative Party won a stronger minority , showing a small increase in the percentage of the popular vote and increased representation in the Canadian House of Commons , with 143 of 308 seats . The 40th Canadian Parliament was dissolved in March , 2011 , after a no-confidence vote that deemed the Cabinet to be in contempt of parliament . In the federal election that followed , the Conservatives won a majority government , the first since the 2000 federal election ; the party won 166 seats , an increase of 23 seats from the October 2008 election . Though Harper won his seat of Calgary-Heritage in the October 19 , 2015 , federal election , the Conservative Party was defeated by the Liberal Party of Canada , led by Justin Trudeau , who was sworn-in as Harper 's successor on November 4 , 2015 . Harper resigned as party leader on October 19 , 2015 , and the Conservative Party caucus chose an interim leader , Rona Ambrose , on November 5 , 2015 , to serve until a leadership election . Harper moved back to Calgary , Alberta , and commuted to Ottawa as an opposition backbench member of parliament .", "Climate Change Act 2008 The Climate Change Act 2008 ( c 27 ) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom . The Act makes it the duty of the Secretary of State to ensure that the net UK carbon account for all six Kyoto greenhouse gases for the year 2050 is at least 80 % lower than the 1990 baseline , toward avoiding dangerous climate change . The Act aims to enable the United Kingdom to become a low-carbon economy and gives ministers powers to introduce the measures necessary to achieve a range of greenhouse gas reduction targets . An independent Committee on Climate Change has been created under the Act to provide advice to UK Government on these targets and related policies . In the act Secretary of State refers to the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change .", "Conservative Party (UK) The Conservative Party , officially the Conservative and Unionist Party , is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom . It is currently the governing party , having won a majority of seats in the House of Commons at the 2015 general election . The party 's leader , Theresa May , is currently serving as Prime Minister . It is the largest party in local government with 9,237 councillors . The Conservative Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United Kingdom , the other being its modern rival , the Labour Party . The Conservative Party 's platform involves support for free market capitalism , free enterprise , fiscal conservatism , a strong national defence , deregulation , and restrictions on trade unions . The Conservative Party was founded in 1834 from the Tory Party -- giving rise to the Conservatives ' colloquial name of Tories -- and was one of two dominant political parties in the nineteenth century , along with the Liberal Party . During the 1890s , it formed a coalition government with the Liberal Unionist Party , a break-away faction of the Liberal Party . In 1912 , the two parties merged to form the current Conservative and Unionist Party . In the 1920s , the Liberal vote greatly diminished and the Labour Party became the Conservatives ' main rivals . Conservative Prime Ministers led governments for 57 years of the twentieth century , including Winston Churchill ( 1940 -- 45 , 1951 -- 55 ) and Margaret Thatcher ( 1979 -- 90 ) . Thatcher 's tenure led to wide-ranging economic liberalisation . The Conservative Party 's domination of British politics throughout the twentieth century has led to them being referred to as one of the most successful political parties in the Western world . The Conservatives are the joint-second largest British party in the European Parliament , with twenty MEPs , and sit with the European Conservatives and Reformists ( ECR ) parliamentary group . The party is a member of the Alliance of Conservatives and Reformists in Europe ( ACRE ) Europarty and the International Democrat Union ( IDU ) . The party is the second-largest in the Scottish Parliament and the second-largest in the Welsh Assembly . The Conservatives were formerly allied to the Ulster Unionist Party ( UUP ) in Northern Ireland but there is now a separate Northern Ireland Conservative party similar to the Welsh and Scottish Conservative parties . The party is also organised in the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar ." ]

[ "Climate variability Climate variability includes all the variations in the climate that last longer than individual weather events, whereas the term climate change only refers to those variations that persist for a longer period of time, typically decades or more. In the time since the industrial revolution the climate has increasingly been affected by human activities that are causing global warming and climate change.The climate system receives nearly all of its energy from the sun. The climate system also radiates energy to outer space. The balance of incoming and outgoing energy, and the passage of the energy through the climate system, determines Earth's energy budget. When the incoming energy is greater than the outgoing energy, earth's energy budget is positive and the climate system is warming. If more energy goes out, the energy budget is negative and earth experiences cooling. The energy moving through Earth's climate system finds expression in weather, varying on geographic scales and time. Long-term averages and variability of weather in a region constitute the region's climate. Such changes can be the result of \"internal variability\", when natural processes inherent to the various parts of the climate system alter the distribution of energy. Examples include variability in ocean basins such as the Pacific decadal oscillation and Atlantic multidecadal oscillation. Climate variability can also result from external forcing, when events outside of the climate system's components nonetheless produce changes within the system. Examples include changes in solar output and volcanism. Climate variability has consequences for sea level changes, plant life, and mass extinctions; it also affects human societies.", "Effects of climate change on wine production Climate change in recent times has become a major issue and talking point globally because of its effects on the environment and the repercussions this could be having or possibly have . The effects of climate change on Viniculture ( wine production ) are described in this article .", "Attribution of recent climate change Attribution of recent climate change is the effort to scientifically ascertain mechanisms responsible for recent climate changes on Earth , commonly known as ` global warming ' . The effort has focused on changes observed during the period of instrumental temperature record , when records are most reliable ; particularly in the last 50 years , when human activity has grown fastest and observations of the troposphere have become available . The dominant mechanisms are anthropogenic , i.e. , the result of human activity . They are : increasing atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases global changes to land surface , such as deforestation increasing atmospheric concentrations of aerosols . There are also natural mechanisms for variation including climate oscillations , changes in solar activity , and volcanic activity . According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) , it is `` extremely likely '' that human influence was the dominant cause of global warming between 1951 and 2010 . The IPCC defines `` extremely likely '' as indicating a probability of 95 to 100 % , based on an expert assessment of all the available evidence . Multiple lines of evidence support attribution of recent climate change to human activities : A basic physical understanding of the climate system : greenhouse gas concentrations have increased and their warming properties are well-established . Historical estimates of past climate changes suggest that the recent changes in global surface temperature are unusual . Computer-based climate models are unable to replicate the observed warming unless human greenhouse gas emissions are included . Natural forces alone ( such as solar and volcanic activity ) can not explain the observed warming . The IPCC 's attribution of recent global warming to human activities is a view shared by the scientific community , and is also supported by 196 other scientific organizations worldwide ( see also : scientific opinion on climate change ) .", "Lee Hannah Lee Hannah is a conservation ecologist and a Senior Researcher in Climate Change Biology at Conservation International . Hannah is one of many authors who published an article predicting that between 15 % and 37 % of species are at risk of extinction due to climate change caused by human greenhouse gas emissions .", "Climate change (general concept) Climate variability includes all the variations in the climate that last longer than individual weather events, whereas the term climate change only refers to those variations that persist for a longer period of time, typically decades or more. In the time since the industrial revolution the climate has increasingly been affected by human activities that are causing global warming and climate change.The climate system receives nearly all of its energy from the sun. The climate system also radiates energy to outer space. The balance of incoming and outgoing energy, and the passage of the energy through the climate system, determines Earth\\'s energy budget. When the incoming energy is greater than the outgoing energy, earth\\'s energy budget is positive and the climate system is warming. If more energy goes out, the energy budget is negative and earth experiences cooling.\\nThe energy moving through Earth\\'s climate system finds expression in weather, varying on geographic scales and time. Long-term averages and variability of weather in a region constitute the region\\'s climate. Such changes can be the result of \"internal variability\", when natural processes inherent to the various parts of the climate system alter the distribution of energy. Examples include variability in ocean basins such as the Pacific decadal oscillation and Atlantic multidecadal oscillation. Climate variability can also result from external forcing, when events outside of the climate system\\'s components nonetheless produce changes within the system. Examples include changes in solar output and volcanism.\\nClimate variability has consequences for sea level changes, plant life, and mass extinctions; it also affects human societies.", "Climate Change Performance Index The Climate Change Performance Index ( CCPI ) is an annual publication by Germanwatch and Climate Action Network Europe . It evaluates the climate protection performance of 58 countries , responsible for over 90 % of global energy-related emissions . CCPI 2013 publication covers emissions from the fossil fuels , except emissions from the shipping industry . Following CCPI 2013 publication may include emissions from deforestation , agriculture and waste . 50 % of the evaluation is based on emissions trend , 30 % on emissions level and 20 % on national and international climate policy assessments made by more than 200 experts . The most recent results ( published December 2014 ) illustrate that efforts are still insufficient to prevent dangerous climate change . Thus , no country received rankings one to three in the results for 2015 although Denmark which topped the list was praised for its efforts .", "Nordic Development Fund The Nordic Development Fund is the joint multilateral development finance institution of Denmark , Finland , Iceland , Norway and Sweden . It was established in 1989 and adheres to the development assistance policies of the Nordic countries and has financed 190 development assistance credits valued at EUR 1 billion . The NDF provides grants to climate change related investments under its new mandate , established in 2009 . NDF offices are located in Helsinki , Finland . The objective of the Nordic Development Fund 's ( NDF ) operations is to facilitate climate change investments in low-income countries . NDF grants are made in cooperation with bilateral and multilateral development institutions . NDF 's operations mirror the Nordic countries ' priorities in the areas of climate change and poverty reduction . The operations are financed from the development cooperation budgets of the five Nordic countries .", "Michael Schlesinger Dr. Michael Earl Schlesinger ( born February 23 , 1943 ) is a Professor of Atmospheric Sciences and director of the Climate Research Group at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign . He received his Ph.D. ( meteorology ) in 1976 from the University of California , Los Angeles . Michael Schlesinger is an expert in the modeling , simulation and analysis of climate and climate change , with interests in simulating and understanding the climates of the geologic past and possible future climates resulting from increased concentrations of greenhouse gases and human-made aerosols . He has been instrumental in developing a range of simple and complex climate models , which have been used by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the Energy Modeling Forum . His research currently focuses on : ( 1 ) simulating and understanding the effects on climate of a human-induced melting of the Greenland ice sheet ; ( 2 ) simulating and understanding the coupled climate-chemistry system , including the influences of the Sun - both irradiance and energetic electron precipitation - and volcanoes ; ( 3 ) understanding and reducing the uncertainty in the estimation of climate sensitivity and climate feedbacks ; and ( 4 ) performing integrative assessment of climate change , including further development of the robust adaptive decision strategy for mitigating and adapting to human-induced climate change . He is known for his work on oscillations in the global climate system , on estimating the climate sensitivity , and on seasonal climate change . He has edited four books , most recently Human-induced climate change : An interdisciplinary assessment . He regularly appears in the media .", "Aaranyak Aaranyak is a leading wildlife NGO based in Guwahati . It is a Scientific , Industrial Research and frontline environmental organization of India . It works all over the eastern Himalayan region on nature conservation , natural resources management , climate change , disaster management and livelihood enhancement of marginalized communities through research , education and advocacy . The group says its mission is to foster conservation of biodiversity in Northeast India through research , environmental education , capacity building and advocacy for legal and policy reform to usher a new era of ecological security . Recently , UN framework convention on climate change announced Aaranyak in partnership with the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development ( ICIMOD ) as winner of its UN Lighthouse Activity Award 2014 for the successful implementation of the community-based flood early warning system in the Lakhimpur and Dhemaji Districts of Assam .", "Media coverage of global warming Media coverage of climate change has had effects on public opinion on climate change, as it mediates the scientific opinion on climate change that the global temperature has increased in recent decades and that the trend is mainly caused by human-induced emissions of greenhouse gases. Almost all scientific bodies of national or international standing agree with this view, although a few organisations hold non-committal positions. Climate change communication research frequently studies the effectiveness of that media. Some researchers and journalists believe that media coverage of political issues is adequate and fair, while a few feel that it is biased. However, most studies on media coverage of the topic are neither recent nor concerned with coverage of environmental issues. Moreover, they are only rarely concerned specifically with the question of bias.Despite recent trends in increased coverage on climate change, media coverage is not constant, and researchers wonder if the current increase in attention will be sustained.", "Surface Heat Budget of the Arctic Ocean The Surface Heat Budget of the Arctic Ocean ( SHEBA ) study was a National Science Foundation-funded research project designed to quantify the heat transfer processes that occur between the ocean and the atmosphere over the course of a year in the Arctic Ocean , where the sun is above the horizon from spring through summer and below the horizon the rest of the time . The study was designed to provide data for use in global climate models , which scientists use to study global climate change .", "Wendy Foden Wendy Foden is a conservation biologist , best known for her work on climate change impacts on biodiversity .", "Michael P. Nash Michael P. `` Mike '' Nash is an American film director , screenwriter and producer . He has directed the films Climate Refugees , Fuel and Nebraska . His films have won several domestic and international awards . During the Copenhagen COP15 conference Nash , considered an expert on environmental migration , helped the UN frame the issue of environmental migrants . At the 2010 Sundance Film Festival , where his film Climate Refugees was shown , Robert Redford stated that '' -LSB- Climate Refugees -RSB- can be an agent for social change . '' Climate Refugees was also shown at the L.A. Film Festival and was screened by the United Nations . Recently he was award Senator Barbara Boxer 's Conservation Champion Award and the Neiman Marcus Environmental Filmmakers Vision Award at the Dallas International Film Festival .", "Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change The Ministry of Environment , Forest and Climate Change ( MoEFCC ) is an Indian government ministry . The ministry portfolio is currently held by Dr. Harsh Vardhan , Union Minister of Environment , Forest and Climate Change . The ministry is responsible for planning , promoting , coordinating , and overseeing the implementation of environmental and forestry programmes in the country . The main activities undertaken by the ministry include conservation and survey of the flora of India and fauna of India , forests and other wilderness areas ; prevention and control of pollution ; afforestation , and land degradation mitigation . It is responsible for the administration of the national parks of India . One of the three All India Services , the Indian Forest Service ( IFoS ) is under the administration and supervision of the Ministry of Environment , Forest and Climate Change .", "Solar activity and climate Solar irradiance variation has been a main driver of climate change over geologic time , but its role in the recent warming has been found to be insignificant .", "World Mayors Council on Climate Change The World Mayors Council on Climate Change ( WMCCC ) is an alliance of mayors who have made a commitment to the protection of climate change . Since 2012 , the Chair is Park Won-soon , Mayor of Seoul , South Korea . The Vice-Chair is Juergen Nimptsch , Mayor of Bonn , Germany .", "2006 United Nations Climate Change Conference The 2006 United Nations Climate Change Conference took place between November 6 and 17 , 2006 in Nairobi , Kenya . The conference included the 12th Conference of the Parties ( COP12 ) and the 2nd Meeting of the Parties ( MOP2 ) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change ( UNFCCC ) . At the meeting , BBC reporter Richard Black coined the phrase `` climate tourists '' to describe some delegates who attended `` to see Africa , take snaps of the wildlife , the poor , dying African children and women '' . Black also noted that due to delegates concerns over economic costs and possible losses of competitiveness , the majority of the discussions avoided any mention of reducing emissions . Black concluded that was a disconnect between the political process and the scientific imperative . Despite such criticism , certain strides were made at COP12 , including in the areas of support for developing countries and clean development mechanism . The parties adopted a five-year plan of work to support climate change adaptation by developing countries , and agreed on the procedures and modalities for the Adaptation Fund . They also agreed to improve the projects for clean development mechanism .", "2016 Summer Olympics opening ceremony The opening ceremony of the 2016 Summer Olympics took place on the evening of Friday 5 August 2016 in the Maracanã Stadium , Rio de Janeiro , starting at 20:00 BRT ( 23:00 UTC ) . As mandated by the Olympic Charter , the proceedings combined the formal ceremonial opening of this international sporting event ( including welcoming speeches , hoisting of the flags and the parade of athletes , as well as a new feature -- the presentation of the International Olympic Committee 's Olympic Laurel distinction ) with an artistic spectacle to showcase the host nation 's culture and history . Directed by Fernando Meirelles , Daniela Thomas and Andrucha Waddington , the ceremony featured presentations of the history and culture of Brazil , including its landscape and forests , the history of the Portuguese people , music and samba , and the favelas among other aspects . Portions of the ceremony were also dedicated to the topics of environmental conservation and climate change . The Games were officially opened by Acting President of Brazil Michel Temer . Despite having a significantly lower budget than those of other recent Olympics , the opening ceremony of the 2016 Summer Olympics was praised by the international media for its vivid , diverse performances , emphasis on multiculturalism , and its appeal to the issue of climate change .", "Climate change in South Korea In recent decades most countries have been experiencing huge industrial progress . Urban and industrial areas in South Korea also had fast development from 1960s to 1980s . Industrialization and the increase in population have produced various pollutants and greenhouse gases , which are anthropogenic factors for climate change . South Korea is experiencing changes in climate parameters , including annual temperature , rainfall amounts , and precipitation . The most distinct climate change predicted for South Korea is an increase in the range of temperature fluctuation throughout the four seasons . The number of record minimum temperature days has decreased rapidly , and maximum precipitation during the summer has increased . Ongoing global climate change has produced local climate changes and extreme weather that affects : social , economy , industry , culture , and many other sectors . The increased possibility for new types of strong weather damage evokes the seriousness and the urgency of climate change . To quickly adapt to climate change , the South Korean government began an effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions , and is one step closer to having a low-carbon based socio-economic nation .", "Anna Rose Anna Rose ( born 14 April 1983 ) is an Australian author , activist and environmentalist . She co-founded the Australian Youth Climate Coalition ( AYCC ) in late 2006 and was , until recently , the Chair of the AYCC board . In 2012 she co-starred in an ABC documentary , I Can Change Your Mind on Climate Change and released her first full-length book , Madlands : A Journey to Change the Mind of a Climate Sceptic . Rose is the convenor of the Vice-Chancellor 's Leadership & Influence course at the Australian National University .", "Climate Change TV Climate-ChangeTV was the world 's first web channel specific to climate change videos . It contains interviews from heads of state , government officials and negotiators , NGO 's , Civil Society and business professionals with a range of views on the climate change negotiations . It is hosted by Responding to Climate Change , an NGO and Official Observer to the United Nations Framework on the Convention on Climate Change RTCC provides a daily news and analysis service - following latest developments in climate policy , research and other aspects of the climate debate . In February this year they submitted a series of proposals to the UNFCCC on raising the ambition of the Durban Platform - which had been agreed at COP17 . The Studio is run for the UNFCCC at the annual COP . The interviews are hosted on RTCC and the UNFCCC 's studio portal . It provides for one-on-one video interviews with a wide array of stakeholders from civil society , intergovernmental organizations and party delegates . The studio provides a platform for discussing the effects of climate change , causes of global warming and possible solutions . It continues at COP17/CMP 7 after successfully running at COP15/CMP 5 in Copenhagen , and COP16/CMP 6 in Cancun . At the most recent COP , held in December 2011 , the Climate Change TV Studio was visited by UNFCCC Chief Executive Christiana Figueres , lead Netherlands negotiator Maas Goote , and UK Minister for energy and climate change Greg Barker , along with members of Oxfam and 350 . org .", "2004 United Nations Climate Change Conference The 2004 United Nations Climate Change Conference took place between December 6 and December 17 , 2004 in Buenos Aires , Argentina . The conference included the 10th Conference of the Parties ( COP10 ) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change ( UNFCCC ) . The parties discussed the progress made since the first United Nations Climate Change Conference ten years ago and its future challenges , with special emphasis on climate change mitigation and adaptation . To promote developing countries better adapt to climate change , the Buenos Aires Plan of Action was adopted . The parties also began discussing the post-Kyoto mechanism , on how to allocate emission reduction obligation following 2012 , when the first commitment period ends .", "Climate change denial Climate change denial , or global warming denial , is part of the global warming controversy . It involves denial , dismissal , unwarranted doubt or contrarian views which strongly depart from the scientific opinion on climate change , including the extent to which it is caused by humans , its impacts on nature and human society , or the potential of adaptation to global warming by human actions . Some deniers do endorse the term , but others often prefer the term climate change skepticism , although this is a misnomer for those who deny anthropogenic global warming . In effect , the two terms form a continuous , overlapping range of views , and generally have the same characteristics : both reject , to a greater or lesser extent , mainstream scientific opinion on climate change . Climate change denial can also be implicit , when individuals or social groups accept the science but fail to come to terms with it or to translate their acceptance into action . Several social science studies have analyzed these positions as forms of denialism . Campaigning to undermine public trust in climate science has been described as a `` denial machine '' of industrial , political and ideological interests , supported by conservative media and skeptical bloggers in manufacturing uncertainty about global warming . In the public debate , phrases such as climate skepticism have frequently been used with the same meaning as climate denialism . The labels are contested : those actively challenging climate science commonly describe themselves as `` skeptics '' , but many do not comply with common standards of scientific skepticism and , regardless of evidence , persistently deny the validity of human caused global warming . Although scientific opinion on climate change is that human activity is extremely likely to be the primary driver of climate change , the politics of global warming have been affected by climate change denial , hindering efforts to prevent climate change and adapt to the warming climate . Those promoting denial commonly use rhetorical tactics to give the appearance of a scientific controversy where there is none . Of the world 's countries , the climate change denial industry is most powerful in the United States . Since January 2015 , the United States Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works has been chaired by oil lobbyist and climate change denier Jim Inhofe . Inhofe is notorious for having called climate change `` the greatest hoax ever perpetrated against the American people '' and for having claimed to have debunked the alleged hoax in February 2015 when he brought a snowball with him in the Senate chamber and tossed it across the floor . Organised campaigning to undermine public trust in climate science is associated with conservative economic policies and backed by industrial interests opposed to the regulation of emissions . Climate change denial has been associated with the fossil fuels lobby , the Koch brothers , industry advocates and libertarian think tanks , often in the United States . More than 90 % of papers sceptical on climate change originate from right-wing think tanks . The total annual income of these climate change counter-movement-organizations is roughly $ 900 million . Between 2002 and 2010 , nearly $ 120 million ( # 77 million ) was anonymously donated via the Donors Trust and Donors Capital Fund to more than 100 organisations seeking to undermine the public perception of the science on climate change . In 2013 the Center for Media and Democracy reported that the State Policy Network ( SPN ) , an umbrella group of 64 U.S. think tanks , had been lobbying on behalf of major corporations and conservative donors to oppose climate change regulation . Since the late 1970s , oil companies have published research broadly in line with the standard views on global warming . Despite this , oil companies organized a climate change denial campaign to disseminate public disinformation for several decades , a strategy that has been compared to the organized denial of the hazards of tobacco smoking by tobacco companies .", "Energy Technologies Institute The Energy Technologies Institute ( ETI ) is an energy research , development and demonstration body established in the United Kingdom in 2007 . The government set up the ETI following an announcement in the 2006 budget speech . The purpose of the ETI is to `` accelerate the development , demonstration and eventual commercial deployment of a focused portfolio of energy technologies , which will increase energy efficiency , reduce greenhouse gas emissions and help achieve energy and climate change goals '' . The institute works with a range of academic and commercial bodies . Deployment of the technologies involved , which are expected to contribute to the reduction of the UK 's carbon emissions , is expected to begin around 2018 . Commentators generally welcomed the new body as likely to make a positive contribution in the efforts to minimise climate change . At the same time , they pointed to the slow pace of government action in promoting energy conservation and implementing existing low-carbon technologies , compared to progress in a number of other European countries .", "Science policy of the United States The science policy of the United States is the responsibility of many organizations throughout the federal government . Much of the large-scale policy is made through the legislative budget process of enacting the yearly federal budget , although there are other legislative issues that directly involve science , such as energy policy , climate change , and stem cell research . Further decisions are made by the various federal agencies which spend the funds allocated by Congress , either on in-house research or by granting funds to outside organizations and researchers . The USA devoted 2.81 % of GDP to research and development ( R&D ) in 2012 . The private sector contributed two-thirds of the total . The Obama administration has fixed a target of a 3 % ratio by the end of his presidency in 2016 .", "Landscape-scale conservation Landscape-scale conservation is a concept that has arisen in response to both the challenges of climate change and a perceived excessive focus on site based conservation . It aims to take a holistic approach , looking not just at biodiversity issues , but also issues such as local economies and agriculture , eco-tourism , geodiversity and the health and social benefits of the environment .", "Muslim Seven Year Action Plan on Climate Change The Muslim Seven Year Action Plan on Climate Change is a climate action plan for the global Islamic community , meant to run from 2010 to 2017 . It was developed by the British Earth Mates Dialogue Center and the Kuwaiti Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs . It is one of several multi-year climate action plans developed by major religious communities , developed in coordination with the Alliance of Religions and Conservation and the United Nations Development Programme . According to the Alliance of Religions and Conservation , the plan proposes `` investigating every level of Muslim activity from daily life to annual pilgrimages , from holy cities to the future training of Imams , '' `` developing the major Muslim cities as green city models for other Islamic urban areas , '' and `` developing an Islamic label for environmentally friendly goods and services . '' Proposals were to be managed by a group called the Muslim Association for Climate Change Action ( MACCA , an acronym meant to sound like `` Mecca '' ) .", "Size of Wales Size of Wales is a charitable project with the aim to conserve an area of tropical rainforest the size of Wales . The project currently supports fourteen forest projects worldwide linking them to supporters in Wales . The charity focuses upon furthering the promotion of rainforest conservation as a national response to the problem of climate change .", "Christopher Monckton, 3rd Viscount Monckton of Brenchley Christopher Walter Monckton , 3rd Viscount Monckton of Brenchley ( born 14 February 1952 ) is a British public speaker and hereditary peer . He is known for his work as a journalist , Conservative political advisor , UKIP political candidate , and for his invention of the mathematical puzzle Eternity . Early on in his public speaking career topics centred on his mathematical puzzle and conservative politics . In recent years his public speaking has garnered attention due to his advocacy of climate change denial and his views on the European Union and social policy .", "2007 Nobel Peace Prize The 2007 Nobel Peace Prize was shared , in two equal parts , between the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) and Al Gore `` for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change , and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change '' .", "Nick Dulvy Nicholas Kevin Dulvy is the Co-Chair of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature ( IUCN ) Shark Specialist Group and Canada Research Chair tier II in Marine Biodiversity and Conservation at Simon Fraser University . He has published more than 100 peer-reviewed papers and book chapters on life histories , extinction risk , the ecosystem impacts of fishing and the ecological and socioeconomic impacts of climate change . Dulvy was educated at The Royal School , Armagh . He received his Bachelor of Science in Zoology from University of Birmingham in 1992 , and his Doctor of Philosophy from the University of East Anglia in 1998 . He spent several years working for the UK Government Fisheries Agency before taking a position at Simon Fraser University in 2008 . His contributions to marine ecology include providing evidence for fisheries-induced trophic cascades at the island scale on coral reefs and the discovery that fishes are moving to deeper habitats in response to climate change . Dulvy and co-authors were the first to document marine population and species extinctions . Dulvy 's work is notable for its influence on biodiversity conservation , food security , and poverty alleviation . For this work he was the 2008 recipient of the Zoological Society of London 's Marsh Award for Marine and Freshwater Conservation which is awarded for `` contributions of fundamental science and its application to the conservation in marine and/or freshwater ecosystems '' . The award citation was for `` research on the effects of climate change on fisheries and coastal communities , as well as threat and extinction risks in the context of improving fisheries management '' . In 2010 , he was made a Conservation Fellow of the Zoological Society of London , an award honouring individuals who have made exceptional contributions to conservation . In 2014 Dulvy was the primary author of the first global analysis of the vulnerability of chondrichthyans : `` Extinction risk and conservation of the world 's sharks and rays '' , a collaborative effort involving 302 experts from 64 countries . As the most endangered species of sharks and rays are sawfishes , Dulvy and co-authors then developed the first global sawfish conservation strategy .", "European Commissioner for Climate Action The Commissioner for Climate Action is a new post in the European Commission . It was created in 2010 , being split from the environmental portfolio to focus on fighting climate change . The current Commissioner is Miguel Arias Cañete . The European Union has made a number of moves in regard to climate change . Most notably it signed the Kyoto Protocol in 1998 , set up its Emission Trading Scheme in 2005 and is currently agreeing to unilaterally cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 20 % by 2020 ." ]

[ "United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change ( UNFCCC ) is an international environmental treaty adopted on May 9 , 1992 and opened for signature at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro from 3 to 14 June 1992 . It then entered into force on 21 March 1994 , after a sufficient number of countries had ratified it . The UNFCCC objective is to `` stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system '' . The framework sets no binding limits on greenhouse gas emissions for individual countries and contains no enforcement mechanisms . Instead , the framework outlines how specific international treaties ( called `` protocols '' or `` Agreements '' ) may be negotiated to specify further action towards the objective of the UNFCCC . Initially an Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee ( INC ) produced the text of the Framework Convention during its meeting in New York from 30 April to 9 May 1992 . The UNFCCC was adopted on 9 May 1992 , and opened for signature on 4 June 1992 . The UNFCCC has 197 parties as of December 2015 . The convention enjoys broad legitimacy , largely due to its nearly universal membership . The parties to the convention have met annually from 1995 in Conferences of the Parties ( COP ) to assess progress in dealing with climate change . In 1997 , the Kyoto Protocol was concluded and established legally binding obligations for developed countries to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions in the period 2008-2012 . The 2010 Cancún agreements state that future global warming should be limited to below 2.0 ° C ( 3.6 ° F ) relative to the pre-industrial level . The Protocol was amended in 2012 to encompass the period 2013-2020 in the Doha Amendment , which - as of December 2015 - had not entered into force . In 2015 the Paris Agreement was adopted , governing emission reductions from 2020 on through commitments of countries in ambitious Nationally Determined Contributions . The Paris Agreement entered into force on November 4th , 2016 . One of the first tasks set by the UNFCCC was for signatory nations to establish national greenhouse gas inventories of greenhouse gas ( GHG ) emissions and removals , which were used to create the 1990 benchmark levels for accession of Annex I countries to the Kyoto Protocol and for the commitment of those countries to GHG reductions . Updated inventories must be submitted annually by Annex I countries . The UNFCCC is also the name of the United Nations Secretariat charged with supporting the operation of the Convention , with offices in Haus Carstanjen , and the UN Campus ( known as Langer Eugen ) Bonn , Germany . From 2010 to 2016 the head of the secretariat was Christiana Figueres . In July 2016 , Patricia Espinosa from Mexico succeeded Figueres . The Secretariat , augmented through the parallel efforts of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) , aims to gain consensus through meetings and the discussion of various strategies .", "Paris Agreement The Paris Agreement ( Accord de Paris ) is an agreement within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change ( UNFCCC ) dealing with greenhouse gas emissions mitigation , adaptation and finance starting in the year 2020 . The language of the agreement was negotiated by representatives of 195 countries at the 21st Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC in Paris and adopted by consensus on 12 December 2015 . It was opened for signature on 22 April 2016 ( Earth Day ) at a ceremony in New York . As of May 2017 , 195 UNFCCC members have signed the treaty , 147 of which have ratified it . After several European Union states ratified the agreement in October 2016 , there were enough countries that had ratified the agreement that produce enough of the world 's greenhouse gases for the agreement to enter into force . The agreement went into effect on 4 November 2016 . The head of the Paris Conference , France 's foreign minister Laurent Fabius , said this `` ambitious and balanced '' plan is a `` historic turning point '' in the goal of reducing global warming . One year on , the ratification of the Paris Agreement was celebrated by the Mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo by illuminating the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe , Paris ' most iconic monuments , in green .", "Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5 °C The Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5 °C (SR15) was published by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) on 8 October 2018. The report, approved in Incheon, South Korea, includes over 6,000 scientific references, and was prepared by 91 authors from 40 countries. In December 2015, the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference called for the report. The report was delivered at the United Nations' 48th session of the IPCC to \"deliver the authoritative, scientific guide for governments\" to deal with climate change.Its key finding is that meeting a 1.5 °C (2.7 °F) target is possible but would require \"deep emissions reductions\" and \"rapid, far-reaching and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society.\" Furthermore, the report finds that \"limiting global warming to 1.5 °C compared with 2 °C would reduce challenging impacts on ecosystems, human health and well-being\" and that a 2 °C temperature increase would exacerbate extreme weather, rising sea levels and diminishing Arctic sea ice, coral bleaching, and loss of ecosystems, among other impacts. SR15 also has modelling that shows that, for global warming to be limited to 1.5 °C, \"Global net human-caused emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) would need to fall by about 45 percent from 2010 levels by 2030, reaching 'net zero' around 2050.\" The reduction of emissions by 2030 and its associated changes and challenges, including rapid decarbonisation, was a key focus on much of the reporting which was repeated through the world.", "Global warming Global warming , also referred to as climate change , is the observed century-scale rise in the average temperature of the Earth 's climate system and its related effects . Multiple lines of scientific evidence show that the climate system is warming . Many of the observed changes since the 1950s are unprecedented in the instrumental temperature record which extends back to the mid 19th century , and in paleoclimate proxy records over thousands of years . In 2013 , the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) Fifth Assessment Report concluded that `` It is extremely likely that human influence has been the dominant cause of the observed warming since the mid-20th century . '' The largest human influence has been emission of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide , methane and nitrous oxide . Climate model projections summarized in the report indicated that during the 21st century the global surface temperature is likely to rise a further 0.3 to for their lowest emissions scenario and 2.6 to for the highest emissions scenario . These findings have been recognized by the national science academies of the major industrialized nations and are not disputed by any scientific body of national or international standing . Future climate change and associated impacts will differ from region to region around the globe . Anticipated effects include warming global temperature , rising sea levels , changing precipitation , and expansion of deserts in the subtropics . Warming is expected to be greater over land than over the oceans and greatest in the Arctic , with the continuing retreat of glaciers , permafrost and sea ice . Other likely changes include more frequent extreme weather events including heat waves , droughts , heavy rainfall with floods and heavy snowfall ; ocean acidification ; and species extinctions due to shifting temperature regimes . Effects significant to humans include the threat to food security from decreasing crop yields and the abandonment of populated areas due to rising sea levels . Because the climate system has a large `` inertia '' and greenhouse gases will stay in the atmosphere for a long time , many of these effects will not only exist for decades or centuries , but will persist for tens of thousands of years . Possible societal responses to global warming include mitigation by emissions reduction , adaptation to its effects , building systems resilient to its effects , and possible future climate engineering . Most countries are parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change ( UNFCCC ) , whose ultimate objective is to prevent dangerous anthropogenic climate change . Parties to the UNFCCC have agreed that deep cuts in emissions are required and that global warming should be limited to well below 2.0 C-change relative to pre-industrial levels , with efforts made to limit warming to 1.5 C-change . Public reactions to global warming and concern about its effects are also increasing . A global 2015 Pew Research Center report showed a median of 54 % consider it `` a very serious problem '' . There are significant regional differences , with Americans and Chinese ( whose economies are responsible for the greatest annual CO2 emissions ) among the least concerned ." ]

[ "Description of the Medieval Warm Period and Little Ice Age in IPCC reports The description of the Medieval Warm Period and Little Ice Age in IPCC reports has changed since the first report in 1990 as scientific understanding of the temperature record of the past 1000 years has improved . The Medieval Warm Period ( MWP ) and Little Ice Age ( LIA ) are the best-known temperature fluctuations in the last millennium . Critics of the `` hockey stick graph '' of all subsequent reports have claimed that the record of the MWP and LIA were suppressed in the IPCC Third Assessment Report , although every report has discussed the phenomena .", "List of environmental reports This is a list of notable environmental reports . In this context they relate to the impacts of human activity on the environment . City-level Decoupling : Urban Resource Flows and the Governance of Infrastructure Transitions - by the International Resource Panel Clean Energy Trends - a series of reports by Clean Edge - beginning in 2002 Copeland Report - for the U.S. government , completed in 1933 Copenhagen Diagnosis - written by twenty-six climate scientists from eight countries Dioxin Reassessment Report - by the United States Environmental Protection Agency Environmental Impact of the Big Cypress Swamp Jetport ( `` Leopold Report '' ) - United States Department of the Interior ( 1969 ) Environmental Risks and Challenges of Anthropogenic Metals Flows and Cycles - by the International Resource Panel Forest Principles - United Nations Conference on Environment and Development ( UNCED ) The Global 2000 Report to the President - Council on Environmental Quality ( 1981 ) Global Environment Outlook - United Nations Environment Programme ( UNEP ) Hirsch report ( Peaking of World Oil Production : Impacts , Mitigation , and Risk Management ) - United States Department of Energy Index of Leading Environmental Indicators - Pacific Research Institute IPCC First Assessment Report - Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) IPCC supplementary report , 1992 - IPCC IPCC Second Assessment Report - IPCC IPCC Third Assessment Report Climate Change 2001 - IPCC ( 2001 ) IPCC Fourth Assessment Report Climate Change 2007 - IPCC ( 2007 ) IPCC Fifth Assessment Report ( 2014 ) Leopold Report ( `` Wildlife Management in the National Parks '' ) - Special Advisory Board on Wildlife Management ( 1963 ) Livestock 's Long Shadow - Environmental Issues and Options - United Nations ( 2006 ) Living Planet Report - WWF , every two years Making Sweden an Oil-Free Society - Government of Sweden ( 2006 ) Meat Atlas - published by the Heinrich Böll Foundation and Friends of the Earth Europe Nuclear Power and the Environment - UK Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution - 1976 Our Common Future - World Commission on Environment and Development ( 1987 ) Outlook On Renewable Energy In America ( 2 volumes ) - American Council on Renewable Energy - 2007 Phase I Environmental Site Assessment - generic Planning Policy Statement 10 : Planning for Sustainable Waste Management ( PPS 10 ) - British Government Renewable Energy Sources and Climate Change Mitigation - United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) - planned for 2010 Report of the Royal Commission on Genetic Modification - Royal Commission on Genetic Modification ( 2001 ) State of the Climate - NOAA/NCDC ( published annually ) The State of the World - Worldwatch Institute ( published yearly since 1984 ) Wegman Report - to validate criticisms of reconstructions of the temperature record of the past 1000 years Windscale : Britain 's Biggest Nuclear Disaster ( 2007 ) World Climate Report - Greening Earth Society The World 's 25 Most Endangered Primates - selected and published by the IUCN Species Survival Commission Primate Specialist Group ( IUCN/SSC PSG ) , the International Primatological Society ( IPS ) , and Conservation International ( CI )", "Arturo Villavicencio Arturo Villavicencio is an Ecuadorian environmental researcher . He was nominated by Denmark in 1995 for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) and contributed to its fourth assessment report ( the work of the IPCC , including the contributions of many scientists , was recognised by the joint award of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize ) .", "Eric Guilyardi Eric Guilyardi is a climate scientist , professor in the department of meteorology at the University of Reading and directeur de recherche CNRS at LOCEAN at Institute Pierre Simon Laplace ( IPSL ) in Paris , France . He is an expert of the El Niño phenomenon . He has been a Lead Author for the IPCC AR5 report .", "Control and Reporting Centre Control and Reporting Centre ( sort : CRC ) is according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff publication 1.02 defined as -- `` A subordinated air control element of the tactical air control centre for which radar control and warning operations are conducted within its area of responsibility '' . Control and reporting posts ( CRP ) / reporting posts ( RP ) , which provide radar control and surveillance within their defined areas of responsibility , normally may be subordinated . NATO operates ACC Systems in static or deployable CRC 's in order to provide Airspace Surveillance , to control Air Force Operations and to meet national and allied military commitments . In NATO Europe a CRC might be subordinated to a Combined Air Operations Centre ( CAOC ) and / or to an equivalent national Air Operation Centre .", "John A. Church John A. Church ( born 1951 ) is an expert on sea level and its changes . He was co-convening lead author ( with Jonathan M. Gregory ) for the chapter on Sea Level in the IPCC Third Assessment Report . He was also a co-convening lead author for the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report . He is a member of the Joint Scientific Committee of the WCRP . He is currently a project leader at CSIRO .", "The Armory Show (art fair) Established in 1994 and held annually in March on Piers 92 & 94 , The Armory Show is an international art fair . Offering curatorial programming and specially-commissioned projects , The Armory Show combines access to high quality modern and contemporary art with a commitment to spotlighting new and emerging voices in the visual arts . Now in its 22nd year , The Armory Show is a major event on the global arts calendar , connecting the world 's leading galleries with international collectors , curators and art professionals in the capital of the art world . The event , which lasts four days , has attracted crowds of up to 65,000 and reported sales of up to $ 85 million . Many smaller fairs and special events are held that same week in New York , effectively called `` Armory Show Week '' .", "Earth System Grid The Earth System Grid ( ESG ) is a data distribution portal whose development is funded mainly by the -LSB- United States Department of Energy -RSB- . It is the portal through which the Program for Climate Model Diagnosis and Intercomparison at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is distributing data for the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report and the 2014 IPCC Fifth Assessment Report .", "Gary Yohe Gary Wynn Yohe is the Huffington Foundation Professor of Economics and Environmental Studies at Wesleyan University , Middletown , Connecticut . He holds a PhD from Yale University . Yohe specializes in Microeconomic theory , Natural Resources , and Environmental Economics . He is a researcher on the economics of climate change and integrated assessment modelling . Among other works , he is an editor of the book `` Avoiding Dangerous Climate Change '' and co-author ( with Edwin Mansfield ) of `` Microeconomics | Microeconomics : Theory and Applications '' . He is a senior member of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) that was awarded a share of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with Al Gore . He has been involved with the IPCC since the mid-1990s , has served , among other capacities , as a Lead Author for four different chapters in the IPCC Third Assessment Report , and as Convening Lead Author for the last chapter of the contribution of Working Group II to the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report . Yohe also worked with the Core Writing Team to prepare the overall Synthesis Report for the entire Assessment . Yohe is also a member of the New York City Panel on Climate Change and the standing Committee on the Human Dimensions of Global Change of the National Academy of Sciences . He is also a standing member of the National Academy of Sciences ' Committee on the Human Dimensions of Global Change . He was a vice-chair of the Third National Climate Assessment . He is one of the four co-signers of an open letter , dated March 12 , 2010 , regarding possible errors in the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report and regularly advises the US government .", "Donna Laframboise Donna Laframboise is a Canadian investigative journalist , writer , and photographer . She has published recent critical reviews of the IPCC and its recent reports for the UN .", "Independent Police Complaints Council The Independent Police Complaints Council ( IPCC , ) is a civilian body of the Government of Hong Kong , part of the two-tier system in which the Hong Kong Police Force investigates complaints made by the public against its members and the IPCC monitors those investigations . The IPCC was created as an independent body to monitor the review by the Complaints Against Police Office ( CAPO ) of complaints against members of the Police Force . Unlike CAPO , which is a unit of the police force , the IPCC is a civilian body not linked with the police that reports directly to the office of the Chief Executive of Hong Kong . The IPCC was created in 1994 and succeeded an earlier independent review body , the Police Complaints Committee or PCC , to investigate police . The PCC was created in 1986 and reported to the then Governor of Hong Kong . The IPCC is headed by a Secretariat and is governed by The Independent Police Complaints Council ( IPCC ) Ordinance , which enacted in July 2008 . On 1 June 2009 , after the ordinance came into operation , the Chinese official name of IPCC was changed from '' 投訴警方獨立監察委員會 '' to '' 獨立監察警方處理投訴委員會 '' and the English name remain . There have been criticisms in LegCo that the IPCC has limited monitoring power .", "Deep in the Heart of Nowhere Deep in the Heart of Nowhere is the first solo studio album by Bob Geldof , the ex-Boomtown Rats lead singer . It was released in November 1986 . The collection reached No. 79 for one week in the UK Albums Chart in December 1986 . The main single was `` This Is the World Calling '' with `` Love Like a Rocket '' also being released as a single . It was remastered and re-released in 2005 with his ( at the time ) three other solo albums as part of The Great Songs of Indifference : The Anthology 1986-2001 collection , and included four bonus tracks .", "Penn Relays The Penn Relays ( also Penn Relay Carnival ) is the oldest and largest track and field competition in the United States , hosted annually since April 21 , 1895 by the University of Pennsylvania at Franklin Field in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania . In 2012 , there were 116 events run at the meet and more athletes run in the Penn Relays than do any other track and field meet in the world . It regularly attracts more than 15,000 participants from high schools , colleges , and track clubs throughout North America and abroad , notably Jamaica , competing in more than 300 events over five days . Historically , the event has been credited with popularizing the running of relay races . It is held during the last full week in April , ending on the last Saturday in April . Attendance typically tops 100,000 over the final three days , and has been known to surpass 50,000 on Saturday . The Penn Relays also holds a Catholic Youth Organization night for Catholic Middle Schools in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia . Preliminaries are run on the Tuesday during Carnival Week , and the Finals are run on Friday .", "Nowhere but Up Nowhere but Up is a memoir written by Pattie Mallette , with A.J. Gregory . It was based on Justin Bieber 's song Up from My World 2.0 . Published in September 2012 , the book entered the New York Times Best Seller list at # 17 during the first week of release .", "Aircraft Warning Service Observation Tower The Aircraft Warning Service Observation Tower in Agnew , Washington was built in 1941 as a spotting station for Aircraft Warning Service volunteers watching for intruding Japanese airplanes during World War II . The tower 's original site was near Dungeness , but in 1992 the tower was moved to its present location .", "Mass murder on Dzika street The mass murder on Dzika street was a war crime committed by German troops against Polish civilians during World War II , amidst the Warsaw Uprising on August 21 , 1944 . The execution took place in the yard of a housing block on Dzika 17 street . Around 200 civilians were killed . While nowhere near as large as the wholesale massacre in Wola , it was one of the largest mass murder carried out by the Nazis during the battle of Warsaw Old Town .", "Five Days in Paris Five Days In Paris is a 1995 fiction novel by Danielle Steel and published by Delacorte Press . It analyzes honour , integrity and commitment into relationships , as well as hope . The book was a best-seller of Publishers Weekly for eighteen weeks .", "Piers Forster Piers Forster is Professor of Physical Climate Change and Director of the Priestley International Centre for Climate at the University of Leeds . A physicist by training , his research focuses on quantifying the different human causes of climate change and the way the Earth responds . He is best known for his work on radiative forcing , climate sensitivity , contrails and geoengineering . He has contributed heavily to the writing of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reports , including acting as a Lead Author for both the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report and IPCC Fifth Assessment Report .", "Physical impacts of climate change This article is about the physical impacts of climate change . For some of these physical impacts , their effect on social and economic systems are also described . This article refers to reports produced by the IPCC . In their usage , `` climate change '' refers to a change in the state of the climate that can be identified by changes in the mean and/or variability of its properties , and that persists for extended periods , typically decades or longer ( IPCC , 2007d :30 ) . The climate change referred to may be due to natural causes and/or the result of human activity .", "Nowhere (event) Nowhere is a European arts-based event inspired by Burning Man . It is held annually in July near Zaragoza in north-eastern Spain . Nowhere embraces the Burning Man principles of radical self-expression , radical self-reliance , no commerce and leave no trace but its cultural and geographical distance produces quite a different event . The extreme conditions and harsh beauty of the Spanish landscape provide a blank and fertile canvas for participants to experiment and create . Participation is a key element of the event and everyone is expected to be involved in some way . Everything from construction and set-up , art projects and entertainment through to catering , sanitary engineering and clean-up are handled by those attending the event . A strong spirit of giving is encouraged and commerce is not permitted at the event . Participants are expected to organise all their food and water themselves , as well as appropriate shelter for the harsh desert environment . Many participants organise themselves into camps to share organisational resources . Camps are often themed and there is a large communal central shade structure called The Middle of Nowhere ( MoN ) , which hosts a range of workshops and activities throughout the week . Other infrastructure includes the Nowhere Post Office ( which sends letters , cards and parcels to participants on site and to others around the world ) , Costume Camp ( where participants can borrow costume items as part of radical self-expression ) , an Information booth called NoInfo , a medical team , and a daily newspaper , the Nowhere Tribune .", "D12 World D12 World is the second studio album by Detroit hip hop group D12 , released on April 27 , 2004 . The album sold 544,000 copies in its first week on the U.S. Billboard 200 . The album is the last D12 album to feature Proof before his death in 2006 , and the second D12 album to feature `` Bugz '' on a track .", "Colorful Daegu Championships Meeting The Colorful Daegu Championships Meeting was an annual track and field competition at the Daegu Stadium in Daegu , South Korea as part of the IAAF World Challenge Meetings . The first edition took place in 2005 under the name Colorful Daegu Pre-Championship Meeting . The event was last organized in 2012 .", "World Economic Forum The World Economic Forum ( WEF ) is a Swiss nonprofit foundation , based in Cologny , Geneva . Recognized by the Swiss authorities as an international body , its mission is cited as `` committed to improving the state of the world by engaging business , political , academic , and other leaders of society to shape global , regional , and industry agendas '' . The Forum is best known for its annual meeting at the end of January in Davos , a mountain resort in Graubünden , in the eastern Alps region of Switzerland . The meeting brings together some 2,500 top business leaders , international political leaders , economists , and journalists for up to four days to discuss the most pressing issues facing the world . Often this location alone is used to identify meetings , participation , and participants with such phrases as , `` a Davos panel '' and `` a Davos Man '' . The organization also convenes some six to eight regional meetings each year in locations across Africa , East Asia and Latin America , as well as undertaking two further annual meetings in China and the United Arab Emirates . Beside meetings , the foundation produces a series of research reports and engages its members in sector specific initiatives .", "Fast Track to Nowhere Fast Track to Nowhere is the soundtrack album to the series Rebel Highway . Released in 1994 , the album features contemporary artists covering classic songs from the 1950s .", "United States withdrawal from the Paris Agreement On June 1, 2017, United States President Donald Trump announced that the U.S. would cease all participation in the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change mitigation, and begin negotiations to re-enter the agreement \"on terms that are fair to the United States, its businesses, its workers, its people, its taxpayers,\" or form a new agreement. In withdrawing from the agreement, Trump stated that \"The Paris accord will undermine (the U.S.) economy,\" and \"puts (the U.S.) at a permanent disadvantage.\" Trump stated that the withdrawal would be in accordance with his America First policy. In accordance with Article 28 of the Paris Agreement, a country cannot give notice of withdrawal from the agreement before three years of its start date in the relevant country, which was on November 4, 2016 in the case of the United States. The White House later clarified that the U.S. will abide by the four-year exit process. On November 4, 2019, the administration gave a formal notice of intention to withdraw, which takes 12 months to take effect. Until the withdrawal took effect, the United States was obligated to maintain its commitments under the Agreement, such as the requirement to continue reporting its emissions to the United Nations. The withdrawal took effect on November 4, 2020, one day after the 2020 U.S. presidential election.While celebrated by some members of the Republican Party, international reactions to the withdrawal were overwhelmingly negative from across the political spectrum, and the decision received substantial criticism from religious organizations, businesses, political leaders of all parties, environmentalists, and scientists and citizens from the United States and internationally.Following Trump's announcement, the governors of several U.S. states formed the United States Climate Alliance to continue to advance the objectives of the Paris Agreement at the state level despite the federal withdrawal. As of July 1, 2019, 24 states, American Samoa, and Puerto Rico have joined the alliance, and similar commitments have also been expressed by other state governors, mayors, and businesses.Trump's withdrawal from the Paris agreement will impact other countries by reducing its financial aid to the Green Climate fund. The termination of the $3 billion U.S. funding will ultimately impact climate change research and decrease society's chance of reaching the Paris Agreement goals, as well as omit U.S. contributions to the future IPCC reports. Trump's decision will also affect the carbon emission space as well as the carbon price. The U.S.'s withdrawal will also mean that the spot to take over the global climate regime will be obtainable for China and the EU.President-elect Joe Biden vowed to rejoin the Paris Agreement on his first day in office.", "Seita Emori Seita Emori ( born 1970 in Kanagawa , Japan ) is a Japanese environmental scientist whose most noted work focuses upon the worldwide effects of Global Warming . He completed his Doctorate at the University of Tokyo in 1997 and thereafter joined the National Institute of Environmental Studies , Japan where he is currently the Chief of the Climate Risk Assessment Research Section at the Center for Global Environmental Research . Emori is a contributing author to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) and a member of the IPCC Steering Committee for the `` Expert Meeting on New Scenarios '' , for which the IPCC received a Noble Prize in 2007 . Among Emori 's publications are the academic paper `` Sensitivity Map of LAI to Precipitation and Surface Air Temperature Variations in a Global Scale '' ( co-authored with his Japans colleague Hiroshi Kanzawa and Jiahua Zhang and Congbin Fu of the START , Institute of Atmospheric Physics in Beijing , China ) .", "From Nowhere From Nowhere is a rock and roll album by the English band The Troggs , released in 1966 . It was released with an alternative track listing as Wild Thing in the United States . The original From Nowhere album sleeve photo was taken at Cheddar Caves , Somerset , UK , on 22 May 1966 . The album was re-released in 2003 with an altered track list and five bonus tracks by Repertoire Records .", "The Middle of Nowhere (Orbital album) The Middle of Nowhere is the fifth album released by Orbital . It was released in 1999 , where it peaked at # 4 and spent 7 weeks in the UK albums chart .", "Anders Levermann Anders Levermann is a climate scientist at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and Columbia University . He is a Professor of the Dynamics of the Climate System at Institute for Physics and Astrophysics of the Potsdam University , Germany . He was a lead author of the chapter on sea-level changes of the fifth assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC AR5 ) , and contributed to the paleoclimate chapter in the previous report ( IPCC-AR4 ) . Levermann advises political and economic stakeholders on the issue of climate change .", "Nowhere (song) `` Nowhere '' is a song by Therapy ? and a single released on 17 January 1994 on A&M Records . A remix CD was released a week later on 24 January 1994 . The song is featured on the Troublegum album . The single reached number 18 in the UK Singles Chart , and number 6 in the Irish Singles Chart . The song is covered by Heaven Shall Burn as bonus track on the limited edition of their album Invictus ( Iconoclast III ) . The single was released on CD , CD Digipack , CD Remix , 7 '' Vinyl and Cassette .", "EWW Emacs Web Wowser English world wide English writing wizard Every Witch Way extended work week Extreme wind warning Extreme World Wrestling", "Jonathan M. Gregory Jonathan M. Gregory FRS is a climate modeller working on mechanisms of global and large-scale change in climate and sea level on multidecadal and longer timescales . He is currently a senior scientist in the Climate Division of NERC 's National Centre for Atmospheric Science ( NCAS-Climate ) , located in the Department of Meteorology at the University of Reading ; and a Research Fellow in climate change at the Met Office Hadley Centre . A 2004 study , led by Gregory and published in the journal Nature , predicted that the Greenland ice sheet is likely to be eliminated as a consequence of global warming , resulting in a rise in global sea-levels by 7 meters over the next 1000 years or more . He was a co-ordinating Lead Author of the 2001 IPCC Third Assessment Report chapter 11 Changes in Sea Level , and a contributing author to the sea level chapter in the IPCC Second Assessment Report '' . Gregory was also a co-Lead Author of the 2007 IPCC Fourth Assessment Report chapter 5 Observations : Oceanic Climate Change and Sea Level , and chapter 10 Global Climate Projections . IPCC was a co-recipient ( with Al Gore ) of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for its work on climate change . In 2010 Jonathan Gregory was awarded an Advanced Grant by the European Research Council to carry out research on sea level change . In 2017 Jonathan Gregory was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society ." ]

[ "Microwave Sounding Unit temperature measurements Microwave Sounding Unit temperature measurements refers to temperature measurement using the Microwave Sounding Unit instrument and is one of several methods of measuring Earth atmospheric temperature from satellites. Microwave measurements have been obtained from the troposphere since 1979, when they were included within NOAA weather satellites, starting with TIROS-N. By comparison, the usable balloon (radiosonde) record begins in 1958 but has less geographic coverage and is less uniform. Microwave brightness measurements do not directly measure temperature. They measure radiances in various wavelength bands, which must then be mathematically inverted to obtain indirect inferences of temperature. The resulting temperature profiles depend on details of the methods that are used to obtain temperatures from radiances. As a result, different groups that have analyzed the satellite data have obtained different temperature trends. Among these groups are Remote Sensing Systems (RSS) and the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH). The satellite series is not fully homogeneous – the record is constructed from a series of satellites with similar but not identical instrumentation. The sensors deteriorate over time, and corrections are necessary for satellite drift in orbit. Particularly large differences between reconstructed temperature series occur at the few times when there is little temporal overlap between successive satellites, making intercalibration difficult.", "John Christy John Raymond Christy is a climate scientist at the University of Alabama in Huntsville ( UAH ) whose chief interests are satellite remote sensing of global climate and global climate change . He is best known , jointly with Roy Spencer , for the first successful development of a satellite temperature record .", "UAH satellite temperature dataset The UAH satellite temperature dataset , developed at the University of Alabama in Huntsville , infers the temperature of various atmospheric layers from satellite measurements of radiance . It was the first global temperature datasets developed from satellite information and has been used as a tool for research into surface and atmospheric temperature changes . The dataset is published by John Christy et al. and formerly jointly with Roy Spencer ." ]

[ "Remote Sensing Systems Remote Sensing Systems ( RSS ) is a private research company founded in 1974 by Frank Wentz . It processes microwave data from a variety of NASA satellites . Most of their research is supported by the Earth Science Enterprise program . The company is based in Santa Rosa , California . They are a widely cited source of data , on the satellite temperature record . Their data is one source of evidence for global warming . Research by Carl Mears , Matthias Schabel , and Wentz , all of RSS , highlighted errors in the early satellite temperature records compiled by John Christy and Roy Spencer at UAH . The UAH data had previously showed no significant temperature trend , bringing the derived satellite data into closer agreement with surface temperature trends , radiosonde data and computer models . The UAH data is now closer to the RSS data but differences remain , for example the Lower Troposphere global average trend since 1979 , RSS currently have +0.133 K/decade while UAH have 0.140 K/decade , while the mid troposphere difference is even more marked at 0.079 K/decade and 0.052 K/decade respectively . However , in a recent online YouTube video , Dr. Carl Mears , a senior scientist with the team behind the satellite data , explained how he believes his data set needed correction . I would have to say that the surface data seems that it 's more accurate , because a number of groups analyze the surface data , including some who set out to prove the other ones wrong , and they all get more or less the same answer .", "Atmospheric temperature Atmospheric temperature is a measure of temperature at different levels of the Earth 's atmosphere . It is governed by many factors , including incoming solar radiation , humidity and altitude . When discussing surface temperature , the annual atmospheric temperature range at any geographical location depends largely upon the type of biome , as measured by the Köppen climate classification .", "Upper-atmospheric models Upper-atmospheric models are simulations of the Earth 's atmosphere between 20 and 100 km ( 65,000 and 328,000 feet ) that comprises the stratosphere , mesosphere , and the lower thermosphere . Whereas most climate models simulate a region of the Earth 's atmosphere from the surface to the stratopause , there also exist numerical models which simulate the wind , temperature and composition of the Earth 's tenuous upper atmosphere , from the mesosphere to the exosphere , including the ionosphere . This region is affected strongly by the 11 year Solar cycle through variations in solar UV/EUV/Xray radiation and solar wind leading to high latitude particle precipitation and aurora . It has been proposed that these phenomena may have an effect on the lower atmosphere , and should therefore be included in simulations of climate change . For this reason there has been a drive in recent years to create whole atmosphere models to investigate whether or not this is the case .", "Instrumental temperature record The instrumental temperature record provides the temperature of Earth 's climate system from the historical network of in situ measurements of surface air temperatures and ocean surface temperatures . Data are collected at thousands of meteorological stations , buoys and ships around the globe . The longest-running temperature record is the Central England temperature data series , that starts in 1659 . The longest-running quasi-global record starts in 1850 . In recent decades more extensive sampling of ocean temperatures at various depths have begun allowing estimates of ocean heat content but these do not form part of the global surface temperature datasets .", "U.S. Standard Atmosphere The U.S. Standard Atmosphere is an atmospheric model of how the pressure , temperature , density , and viscosity of the Earth 's atmosphere change over a wide range of altitudes or elevations . The model , based on an existing international standard , was first published in 1958 by the U.S. Committee on Extension to the Standard Atmosphere , and was updated in 1962 , 1966 , and 1976 . It is largely consistent in methodology with the International Standard Atmosphere , differing mainly in the assumed temperature distribution at higher altitudes .", "Cloud feedback Cloud feedback is the coupling between cloudiness and surface air temperature where a surface air temperature change leads to a change in clouds , which could then amplify or diminish the initial temperature perturbation . Cloud feedbacks can affect the magnitude of internally generated climate variability or they can affect the magnitude of climate change resulting from external radiative forcings . Global warming is expected to change the distribution and type of clouds . Seen from below , clouds emit infrared radiation back to the surface , and so exert a warming effect ; seen from above , clouds reflect sunlight and emit infrared radiation to space , and so exert a cooling effect . Cloud representations vary among global climate models , and small changes in cloud cover have a large impact on the climate . Differences in planetary boundary layer cloud modeling schemes can lead to large differences in derived values of climate sensitivity . A model that decreases boundary layer clouds in response to global warming has a climate sensitivity twice that of a model that does not include this feedback . However , satellite data show that cloud optical thickness actually increases with increasing temperature . Whether the net effect is warming or cooling depends on details such as the type and altitude of the cloud ; details that are difficult to represent in climate models .", "Satellite temperature measurements The temperature of the atmosphere at various altitudes as well as sea and land surface temperatures can be inferred from satellite measurements . These measurements can be used to locate weather fronts , monitor the El Niño-Southern Oscillation , determine the strength of tropical cyclones , study urban heat islands and monitor the global climate . Wildfires , volcanos , and industrial hot spots can also be found via thermal imaging from weather satellites . Weather satellites do not measure temperature directly . They measure radiances in various wavelength bands . Since 1978 microwave sounding units ( MSUs ) on National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration polar orbiting satellites have measured the intensity of upwelling microwave radiation from atmospheric oxygen , which is related to the temperature of broad vertical layers of the atmosphere . Measurements of infrared radiation pertaining to sea surface temperature have been collected since 1967 . Satellite datasets show that over the past four decades the troposphere has warmed and the stratosphere has cooled . Both of these trends are consistent with the influence of increasing atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases .", "Monthly Climatic Data for the World Monthly Climatic Data for the World ( MCDW ) is a monthly publication of the National Climatic Data Center ( NCDC ) division of the National Environmental Satellite , Data , and Information Service ( NESDIS ) division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration ( NOAA ) of the United States . According to the website , each monthly issue `` contains monthly mean temperature , pressure , precipitation , vapor pressure , and sunshine for approximately 2,000 surface data collection stations worldwide and monthly mean upper air temperatures , dew point depressions , and wind velocities for approximately 500 observing sites . This is the final quality controlled copy and generally has a 4 - 6 month time lag . '' The issues are available for download in portable document format .", "Atmospheric models Static atmospheric models describe how the ideal gas properties ( namely : pressure , temperature , density , and molecular weight ) of an atmosphere change , primarily as a function of altitude . The World Meteorological Organization defines a standard atmosphere as `` a hypothetical vertical distribution of atmospheric temperature , pressure and density which , by international agreement , is roughly representative of year-round , midlatitude conditions . Typical usages are as a basis for pressure altimeter calibrations , aircraft performance calculations , aircraft and rocket design , ballistic tables , and meteorological diagrams . '' For example , the US Standard Atmosphere derives the values for air temperature , pressure , and mass density , as a function of altitude above sea level . Other static atmospheric models may have other outputs , or depend on inputs besides altitude .", "Climate Climate is the statistics of weather , usually over a 30-year interval . It is measured by assessing the patterns of variation in temperature , humidity , atmospheric pressure , wind , precipitation , atmospheric particle count and other meteorological variables in a given region over long periods of time . Climate differs from weather , in that weather only describes the short-term conditions of these variables in a given region . A region 's climate is generated by the climate system , which has five components : atmosphere , hydrosphere , cryosphere , lithosphere , and biosphere . The climate of a location is affected by its latitude , terrain , and altitude , as well as nearby water bodies and their currents . Climates can be classified according to the average and the typical ranges of different variables , most commonly temperature and precipitation . The most commonly used classification scheme was the Köppen climate classification . The Thornthwaite system , in use since 1948 , incorporates evapotranspiration along with temperature and precipitation information and is used in studying biological diversity and how climate change affects it . The Bergeron and Spatial Synoptic Classification systems focus on the origin of air masses that define the climate of a region . Paleoclimatology is the study of ancient climates . Since direct observations of climate are not available before the 19th century , paleoclimates are inferred from proxy variables that include non-biotic evidence such as sediments found in lake beds and ice cores , and biotic evidence such as tree rings and coral . Climate models are mathematical models of past , present and future climates . Climate change may occur over long and short timescales from a variety of factors ; recent warming is discussed in global warming . Global warming results in redistributions . For example , `` a 3 ° C change in mean annual temperature corresponds to a shift in isotherms of approximately 300 -- 400 km in latitude ( in the temperate zone ) or 500 m in elevation . Therefore , species are expected to move upwards in elevation or towards the poles in latitude in response to shifting climate zones '' .", "Climate model Climate models use quantitative methods to simulate the interactions of the important drivers of climate , including atmosphere , oceans , land surface and ice . They are used for a variety of purposes from study of the dynamics of the climate system to projections of future climate . All climate models take account of incoming energy from the sun as short wave electromagnetic radiation , chiefly visible and short-wave ( near ) infrared , as well as outgoing long wave ( far ) infrared electromagnetic . Any imbalance results in a change in temperature . Models vary in complexity : A simple radiant heat transfer model treats the earth as a single point and averages outgoing energy This can be expanded vertically ( radiative-convective models ) and/or horizontally Finally , ( coupled ) atmosphere -- ocean -- sea ice global climate models solve the full equations for mass and energy transfer and radiant exchange . Box models can treat flows across and within ocean basins . Other types of modelling can be interlinked , such as land use , allowing researchers to predict the interaction between climate and ecosystems .", "Climate sensitivity Climate sensitivity is the equilibrium temperature change in response to changes of the radiative forcing . Therefore , climate sensitivity depends on the initial climate state , but potentially can be accurately inferred from precise palaeoclimate data . Slow climate feedbacks , especially changes of ice sheet size and atmospheric CO2 , amplify the total Earth system sensitivity by an amount that depends on the time scale considered . Although climate sensitivity is usually used in the context of radiative forcing by carbon dioxide ( CO2 ) , it is thought of as a general property of the climate system : the change in surface air temperature ( ΔTs ) following a unit change in radiative forcing ( RF ) , and thus is expressed in units of ° C / ( W/m2 ) . For this to be useful , the measure must be independent of the nature of the forcing ( e.g. from greenhouse gases or solar variation ) ; to first order this is indeed found to be so . The climate sensitivity specifically due to is often expressed as the temperature change in ° C associated with a doubling of the concentration of carbon dioxide in Earth 's atmosphere . For coupled atmosphere-ocean global climate models ( e.g. CMIP5 ) the climate sensitivity is an emergent property : it is not a model parameter , but rather a result of a combination of model physics and parameters . By contrast , simpler energy-balance models may have climate sensitivity as an explicit parameter . The terms represented in the equation relate radiative forcing ( RF ) to linear changes in global surface temperature change ( ΔTs ) via the climate sensitivity λ . It is also possible to estimate climate sensitivity from observations ; however , this is difficult due to uncertainties in the forcing and temperature histories .", "Global Historical Climatology Network The Global Historical Climatology Network ( GHCN ) is a database of temperature , precipitation and pressure records managed by the National Climatic Data Center , Arizona State University and the Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center . The aggregate data are collected from many continuously reporting fixed stations at the Earth 's surface and represent the input of approximately 6000 temperature stations , 7500 precipitation stations and 2000 pressure stations . This work has often been used as a foundation for reconstructing past global temperatures , and was used in previous versions of two of the best-known reconstructions , that prepared by the National Climatic Data Center ( NCDC ) , and that prepared by NASA as its Goddard Institute for Space Studies ( GISS ) temperature set . The average temperature record is 60 years long with ~ 1650 records greater than 100 years and ~ 220 greater than 150 years ( based on GHCN v2 in 2006 ) . The earliest data included in the database were collected in 1697 .", "Simon Tett Simon Tett is a climatologist working at the University of Edinburgh . He used to work at the Hadley Centre . His most-cited paper , is , and of it he says : All attempts at detecting and attributing climate change signals need a reliable observed data set and simulations with mechanisms that drive climate change included . In a nutshell , this paper is important because it was the first study to investigate the effect of sulphate aerosols in a general circulation model of the climate system . The experiments simulate the climate back to 1860 ( which is when the global records of surface temperature became reliable ) ... After 1970 our model with greenhouse gases alone begins to depart significantly from the observations . However , when we included sulphate aerosols , which have a cooling effect , the model agreed with the data from the 1930s and onwards . The rapid warming that has taken place since 1970 is , according to the model , attributable to a heating effect from greenhouse gases and a cooling effect from sulphate aerosols .", "Representations of the atmospheric boundary layer in global climate models Representations of the atmospheric boundary layer in global climate models play a role in simulations of past , present , and future climates . Representing the atmospheric boundary layer ( ABL ) within global climate models ( GCMs ) are difficult due to differences in surface type , scale mismatch between physical processes affecting the ABL and scales at which GCMs are run , and difficulties in measuring different physical processes within the ABL . Various parameterization techniques described below attempt to address the difficulty in ABL representations within GCMs .", "Jacchia Reference Atmosphere The Jacchia Reference Atmosphere is an atmospheric model that define values for atmospheric temperature , density , pressure and other properties at altitudes from 90 to 2500 km . Unlike the more common US Standard Atmosphere and related models , the Jacchia model includes latitudinal , seasonal , geomagnetic , and solar effects , but must be supplemented with another model at lower altitudes . The model , first published in 1970 and updated in 1971 and 1977 , is based on spacecraft drag data , and is primarily used in spacecraft modeling and related fields . A common assumption while using the Jacchia Model is that the atmosphere rotates with the Earth as a rigid body . The statistical accuracy of the Jacchia Model is 15 % .", "Planetary equilibrium temperature The planetary equilibrium temperature is a theoretical temperature that a planet would be at when considered simply as if it were a black body being heated only by its parent star . In this model , the presence or absence of an atmosphere ( and therefore any greenhouse effect ) is not considered , and one treats the theoretical black body temperature as if it came from an idealized surface of the planet . Other authors use different names for this concept , such as equivalent blackbody temperature of a planet , or the effective radiation emission temperature of the planet . Similar concepts include the global mean temperature , global radiative equilibrium , and global-mean surface air temperature , which includes the effects of global warming .", "Polar meteorology Polar meteorology is the study of the atmosphere of Earth 's polar regions . Surface temperature inversion is typical of polar environments and leads to the katabatic wind phenomenon . The vertical temperature structure of polar environments tends to be more complex than in mid-latitude or tropical climates .", "International Comprehensive Ocean-Atmosphere Data Set The International Comprehensive Ocean-Atmosphere Data Set ( ICOADS ) is a digital database of 261 million weather observations made by ships , weather ships , and weather buoys spanning the years 1662 to 2007 . The database was initially constructed in 1985 and continues to be expanded upon and updated on a regular basis . From the original data , gridded datasets were created . ICOADS information has been useful in determining the reliability of ship and buoy wind measurements , helping to determine temperature trends in the sea surface temperature field , and updating the Atlantic hurricane database .", "Atmospheric Model Intercomparison Project Atmospheric Model Intercomparison Project ( AMIP ) is a standard experimental protocol for global atmospheric general circulation models ( AGCMs ) . It provides a community-based infrastructure in support of climate model diagnosis , validation , intercomparison , documentation and data access . Virtually the entire international climate modeling community has participated in this project since its inception in 1990 . AMIP is endorsed by the Working Group on Numerical Experimentation ( WGNE ) of the World Climate Research Programme , and is managed by the Program for Climate Model Diagnosis and Intercomparison with the guidance of the WGNE AMIP Panel . The AMIP experiment itself is simple by design ; an AGCM is constrained by realistic sea surface temperature and sea ice from 1979 to near present , with a comprehensive set of fields saved for diagnostic research . This model configuration removes the added complexity of ocean-atmosphere feedbacks in the climate system . It is not meant to be used for climate change prediction , an endeavor that requires a coupled atmosphere-ocean model ( e.g. , see AMIP 's sister project CMIP ) .", "Attribution of recent climate change Attribution of recent climate change is the effort to scientifically ascertain mechanisms responsible for recent climate changes on Earth , commonly known as ` global warming ' . The effort has focused on changes observed during the period of instrumental temperature record , when records are most reliable ; particularly in the last 50 years , when human activity has grown fastest and observations of the troposphere have become available . The dominant mechanisms are anthropogenic , i.e. , the result of human activity . They are : increasing atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases global changes to land surface , such as deforestation increasing atmospheric concentrations of aerosols . There are also natural mechanisms for variation including climate oscillations , changes in solar activity , and volcanic activity . According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) , it is `` extremely likely '' that human influence was the dominant cause of global warming between 1951 and 2010 . The IPCC defines `` extremely likely '' as indicating a probability of 95 to 100 % , based on an expert assessment of all the available evidence . Multiple lines of evidence support attribution of recent climate change to human activities : A basic physical understanding of the climate system : greenhouse gas concentrations have increased and their warming properties are well-established . Historical estimates of past climate changes suggest that the recent changes in global surface temperature are unusual . Computer-based climate models are unable to replicate the observed warming unless human greenhouse gas emissions are included . Natural forces alone ( such as solar and volcanic activity ) can not explain the observed warming . The IPCC 's attribution of recent global warming to human activities is a view shared by the scientific community , and is also supported by 196 other scientific organizations worldwide ( see also : scientific opinion on climate change ) .", "Standard atmosphere Standard atmosphere may refer to : A standard reference value for air pressure : Atmosphere ( unit ) , an approximation of the value at sea level Atmospheric pressure , other reference values One of various Atmospheric models of how atmospheric pressure , density , and temperature vary with altitude : The U.S. Standard Atmosphere , a series of models that give values for pressure , density , and temperature over a range of altitudes The International Standard Atmosphere ( ISA ) , an international standard model , defining typical atmospheric properties with altitude , at mid-latitude", "Atmospheric temperature range Atmospheric temperature range is the numerical difference between the minimum and maximum values of temperature observed in a given location during a period of time ( e.g. , in a given day , month , year , century ) or the average ( average of all temperature ranges in a period of time ) . The variation in temperature that occurs from the highs of the day to the cool of nights is called diurnal temperature variation .", "Atlantic multidecadal oscillation The Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation ( AMO ) is a climate cycle that affects the sea surface temperature of the North Atlantic Ocean based on different modes on multidecadal timescales . While there is some support for this mode in models and in historical observations , controversy exists with regard to its amplitude , and in particular , the attribution of sea surface temperature change to natural or anthropogenic causes , especially in tropical Atlantic areas important for hurricane development .", "Atmospheric model An atmospheric model is a mathematical model constructed around the full set of primitive dynamical equations which govern atmospheric motions . It can supplement these equations with parameterizations for turbulent diffusion , radiation , moist processes ( clouds and precipitation ) , heat exchange , soil , vegetation , surface water , the kinematic effects of terrain , and convection . Most atmospheric models are numerical , i.e. they discretize equations of motion . They can predict microscale phenomena such as tornadoes and boundary layer eddies , sub-microscale turbulent flow over buildings , as well as synoptic and global flows . The horizontal domain of a model is either global , covering the entire Earth , or regional ( limited-area ) , covering only part of the Earth . The different types of models run are thermotropic , barotropic , hydrostatic , and nonhydrostatic . Some of the model types make assumptions about the atmosphere which lengthens the time steps used and increases computational speed . Forecasts are computed using mathematical equations for the physics and dynamics of the atmosphere . These equations are nonlinear and are impossible to solve exactly . Therefore , numerical methods obtain approximate solutions . Different models use different solution methods . Global models often use spectral methods for the horizontal dimensions and finite-difference methods for the vertical dimension , while regional models usually use finite-difference methods in all three dimensions . For specific locations , model output statistics use climate information , output from numerical weather prediction , and current surface weather observations to develop statistical relationships which account for model bias and resolution issues .", "Climate oscillation A climate oscillation or climate cycle is any recurring cyclical oscillation within global or regional climate , and is a type of climate pattern . These fluctuations in atmospheric temperature , sea surface temperature , precipitation or other parameters can be quasi-periodic , often occurring on inter-annual , multi-annual , decadal , multidecadal , century-wide , millennial or longer timescales . They are not perfectly periodic and a Fourier analysis of the data does not give a sharp spectrum . A prominent example is the El Niño Southern Oscillation , involving sea surface temperatures along a stretch of the equatorial Central and East Pacific Ocean and the western coast of tropical South America , but which affects climate worldwide . Records of past climate conditions are recovered through geological examination of proxies , found in glacier ice , sea bed sediment , tree ring studies or otherwise .", "Carl Mears Carl Mears is a Senior Scientist , at Remote Sensing Systems , since 1998 . He has worked on validation of SSM/I derived winds , and rain-flagging algorithm for the QuikScat scatterometer . He is best known for his work with Frank Wentz in developing a satellite temperature record from MSU and AMSU . Intercomparison of this record with the earlier UAH satellite temperature record , developed by John Christy and Roy Spencer , revealed deficiencies in the earlier work ; specifically , the warming trend in the RSS version is larger than the UAH one . Mears was a major contributor to Temperature Trends in the Lower Atmosphere : Steps for Understanding and Reconciling Differences , the first released report from the US Climate Change Science Program . He also contributed to the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report Working Group one report , Climate Change 2007 - The Physical Science Basis .", "MSU temperature measurements Microwave sounding unit temperature measurements have been obtained from the troposphere since 1979 , when they were included within NOAA weather satellites . By comparison , the usable balloon ( radiosonde ) record begins in 1958 but has less geographic coverage and is less uniform . Satellites do not measure temperature . They measure radiances in various wavelength bands , which must then be mathematically inverted to obtain indirect inferences of temperature . The resulting temperature profiles depend on details of the methods that are used to obtain temperatures from radiances . As a result , different groups that have analyzed the satellite data have obtained different temperature trends . Among these groups are Remote Sensing Systems ( RSS ) and the University of Alabama in Huntsville ( UAH ) . The satellite series is not fully homogeneous - the record is constructed from a series of satellites with similar but not identical instrumentation . The sensors deteriorate over time , and corrections are necessary for satellite drift in orbit . Particularly large differences between reconstructed temperature series occur at the few times when there is little temporal overlap between successive satellites , making intercalibration difficult . To compare to the trend from the surface temperature record ( approximately +0.07 ° C/decade over the past century and +0.15 -0.16 ° C/decade since 1979 ) it is most appropriate to derive trends for the part of the atmosphere nearest the surface , i.e. , the lower troposphere . Doing this , through January 2012 : RSS v3 .3 finds a trend of +0.137 ° C/decade . UAH v5 .4 finds a trend of +0.136 ° C/decade . An alternative adjustment introduced by Fu et al. ( 2004 ) finds trends ( 1979 -- 2011 ) of +0.14 ° C/decade when applied to the RSS data set and +0.11 ° C/decade when applied to the UAH data set . Using the T2 channel ( which include significant contributions from the stratosphere , which has cooled ) , Mears et al. of Remote Sensing Systems ( RSS ) find ( through January 2012 ) a trend of +0.082 ° C/decade . Spencer and Christy of the University of Alabama in Huntsville ( UAH ) , find a smaller trend of +0.046 ° C/decade . A no longer updated analysis of Vinnikov and Grody found +0.20 ° C/decade ( 1978 -- 2005 ) . Another satellite temperature analysis is provided by NOAA/NESDIS STAR Center for Satellite Application and Research and use simultaneous nadir overpasses ( SNO ) to remove satellite intercalibration biases yielding more accurate temperature trends . The SNO analysis finds a 1979-2011 trend of +0.128 ° C/decade for T2 channel . The satellite records have the advantage of greater spatial coverage , whereas the radiosonde record is longer . There have been complaints of data problems with both records , and difficulty reconciling climate model predictions with the observed data .", "Temperature record For extreme records instead of records as a set of data , see List of weather records The temperature record shows the fluctuations of the temperature of the atmosphere and the oceans through various spans of time . The most detailed information exists since 1850 , when methodical thermometer-based records began . There are numerous estimates of temperatures since the end of the Pleistocene glaciation , particularly during the current Holocene epoch . Older time periods are studied by paleoclimatology .", "Climate system Earth's climate arises from the interaction of five major climate system components: the atmosphere (air), the hydrosphere (water), the cryosphere (ice and permafrost), the lithosphere (earth's upper rocky layer) and the biosphere (living things). Climate is the average weather, typically over a period of 30 years, and is determined by a combination of processes in the climate system, such as ocean currents and wind patterns. Circulation in the atmosphere and oceans is primarily driven by solar radiation and transports heat from the tropical regions to regions that receive less energy from the Sun. The water cycle also moves energy throughout the climate system. In addition, different chemical elements, necessary for life, are constantly recycled between the different components. The climate system can change due to internal variability and external forcings. These external forcings can be natural, such as variations in solar intensity and volcanic eruptions, or caused by humans. Accumulation of heat-trapping greenhouse gases, mainly being emitted by people burning fossil fuels, is causing global warming. Human activity also releases cooling aerosols, but their net effect is far less than that of greenhouse gases. Changes can be amplified by feedback processes in the different climate system components.", "Climate change Climate change is a change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns when that change lasts for an extended period of time ( i.e. , decades to millions of years ) . Climate change may refer to a change in average weather conditions , or in the time variation of weather around longer-term average conditions ( i.e. , more or fewer extreme weather events ) . Climate change is caused by factors such as biotic processes , variations in solar radiation received by Earth , plate tectonics , and volcanic eruptions . Certain human activities have been identified as primary causes of ongoing climate change , often referred to as global warming . Scientists actively work to understand past and future climate by using observations and theoretical models . A climate record -- extending deep into the Earth 's past -- has been assembled , and continues to be built up , based on geological evidence from borehole temperature profiles , cores removed from deep accumulations of ice , floral and faunal records , glacial and periglacial processes , stable-isotope and other analyses of sediment layers , and records of past sea levels . More recent data are provided by the instrumental record . General circulation models , based on the physical sciences , are often used in theoretical approaches to match past climate data , make future projections , and link causes and effects in climate change .", "Sea surface temperature Sea surface temperature ( SST ) is the water temperature close to the ocean 's surface . The exact meaning of surface varies according to the measurement method used , but it is between 1 mm and 20 m below the sea surface . Air masses in the Earth 's atmosphere are highly modified by sea surface temperatures within a short distance of the shore . Localized areas of heavy snow can form in bands downwind of warm water bodies within an otherwise cold air mass . Warm sea surface temperatures are known to be a cause of tropical cyclogenesis over the Earth 's oceans . Tropical cyclones can also cause a cool wake , due to turbulent mixing of the upper 30 m of the ocean . SST changes diurnally , like the air above it , but to a lesser degree . There is less SST variation on breezy days than on calm days . In addition , ocean currents such as the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation ( AMO ) , can effect SST 's on multi-decadal time scales , a major impact results from the global thermohaline circulation , which affects average SST significantly throughout most of the world 's oceans . Coastal SSTs can cause offshore winds to generate upwelling , which can significantly cool or warm nearby landmasses , but shallower waters over a continental shelf are often warmer . Onshore winds can cause a considerable warm-up even in areas where upwelling is fairly constant , such as the northwest coast of South America . Its values are important within numerical weather prediction as the SST influences the atmosphere above , such as in the formation of sea breezes and sea fog . It is also used to calibrate measurements from weather satellites ." ]

[ "Sea level rise A sea level rise is an increase in the volume of water in the world 's oceans , resulting in an increase in global mean sea level . Sea level rise is usually attributed to global climate change by thermal expansion of the water in the oceans and by melting of Ice sheets and glaciers on land . Melting of floating ice shelves or icebergs at sea raises sea levels only slightly . Sea level rise at specific locations may be more or less than the global average . Local factors might include tectonic effects , subsidence of the land , tides , currents , storms , etc. . Sea level rise is expected to continue for centuries . Because of the slow inertia , long response time for parts of the climate system , it has been estimated that we are already committed to a sea-level rise of approximately 2.3 m for each degree Celsius of temperature rise within the next 2,000 years . IPCC Summary for Policymakers , AR5 , 2014 , indicated that the global mean sea level rise will continue during the 21st century , very likely at a faster rate than observed from 1971 to 2010 . Projected rates and amounts vary . A January 2017 NOAA report suggests a range of GMSL rise of 0.3 -- 2.5 m possible during the 21st century . Sea level rises can considerably influence human populations in coastal and island regions and natural environments like marine ecosystems .", "Global warming Global warming , also referred to as climate change , is the observed century-scale rise in the average temperature of the Earth 's climate system and its related effects . Multiple lines of scientific evidence show that the climate system is warming . Many of the observed changes since the 1950s are unprecedented in the instrumental temperature record which extends back to the mid 19th century , and in paleoclimate proxy records over thousands of years . In 2013 , the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) Fifth Assessment Report concluded that `` It is extremely likely that human influence has been the dominant cause of the observed warming since the mid-20th century . '' The largest human influence has been emission of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide , methane and nitrous oxide . Climate model projections summarized in the report indicated that during the 21st century the global surface temperature is likely to rise a further 0.3 to for their lowest emissions scenario and 2.6 to for the highest emissions scenario . These findings have been recognized by the national science academies of the major industrialized nations and are not disputed by any scientific body of national or international standing . Future climate change and associated impacts will differ from region to region around the globe . Anticipated effects include warming global temperature , rising sea levels , changing precipitation , and expansion of deserts in the subtropics . Warming is expected to be greater over land than over the oceans and greatest in the Arctic , with the continuing retreat of glaciers , permafrost and sea ice . Other likely changes include more frequent extreme weather events including heat waves , droughts , heavy rainfall with floods and heavy snowfall ; ocean acidification ; and species extinctions due to shifting temperature regimes . Effects significant to humans include the threat to food security from decreasing crop yields and the abandonment of populated areas due to rising sea levels . Because the climate system has a large `` inertia '' and greenhouse gases will stay in the atmosphere for a long time , many of these effects will not only exist for decades or centuries , but will persist for tens of thousands of years . Possible societal responses to global warming include mitigation by emissions reduction , adaptation to its effects , building systems resilient to its effects , and possible future climate engineering . Most countries are parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change ( UNFCCC ) , whose ultimate objective is to prevent dangerous anthropogenic climate change . Parties to the UNFCCC have agreed that deep cuts in emissions are required and that global warming should be limited to well below 2.0 C-change relative to pre-industrial levels , with efforts made to limit warming to 1.5 C-change . Public reactions to global warming and concern about its effects are also increasing . A global 2015 Pew Research Center report showed a median of 54 % consider it `` a very serious problem '' . There are significant regional differences , with Americans and Chinese ( whose economies are responsible for the greatest annual CO2 emissions ) among the least concerned ." ]

[ "Ecopath Ecopath with Ecosim ( EwE ) is a free ecosystem modelling software suite , initially started at NOAA by Jeffrey Polovina , but has since primarily been developed at the UBC Fisheries Centre of the University of British Columbia . In 2007 , it was named as one of the ten biggest scientific breakthroughs in NOAA 's 200-year history . The NOAA citation states that Ecopath `` revolutionized scientists ' ability worldwide to understand complex marine ecosystems '' . Behind this lie more than two decades of development work in association with Villy Christensen , Carl Walters , Daniel Pauly , and other fisheries scientists , followed with the provision of user support , training and co-development collaborations . Per January 2012 there are 6000 + registered users in 150 + countries .", "Tidal flooding Tidal flooding , also known as sunny day flooding or nuisance flooding , is the temporary inundation of low-lying areas , especially streets , during exceptionally high tide events , such as at full and new moons . The highest tides of the year may be known as the king tide , with the month varying by location . In Florida , controversy was created when state-level government mandated that the term `` nuisance flooding '' and other terms be used in place of terms such as sea level rise , climate change and global warming , prompting allegations of climate change denial , specifically against Governor Rick Scott . This amid Florida , specifically South Florida and the Miami metropolitan area being one of the most at risk area in the world for the potential effects of sea level rise , and where the frequency and severity of tidal flooding events increased in the 21st century . The issue is more bipartisan in South Florida , particularly in places like Miami Beach , where a several hundred million dollar project is underway to install more than 50 pumps and physically raise roads to combat the flooding , mainly along the west side of South Beach , formerly a mangrove wetland where the average elevation is less than one meter ( 3.3 feet ) . In the Miami area , where the vast majority of the land is below 10 ft , even a one-foot increase over the average high tide can cause widespread flooding . The 2015 and 2016 king tide event levels reached about 4 ft MLLW , 3 ft above mean sea level , or about 2 ft NAVD88 , and nearly the same above MHHW . While the tide range is very small in Miami , averaging about 2 ft , with the greatest range being less than 2 m , the area is very acute to minute differences down to single inches due to the vast area low elevation . NOAA tide gauge data for most stations shows current water level graphs relative to a fixed datum , as well as mean sea level trends for some stations . During the king tides , the local Miami area tide gauge at Virginia Key shows levels running at times 1 ft or more over datum . Fort Lauderdale has installed over one hundred tidal valves since 2013 to combat flooding . Fort Lauderdale is nicknamed the `` Venice of America '' due to its roughly 165 mi of canals . Tidal flooding is capable of majorly inhibiting natural gravity-based drainage systems in low-lying areas when it reaches levels that are below visible inundation of the surface , but which are high enough to incapacitate the lower drainage or sewer system . Thus , even normal rainfall or storm surge events can cause greatly amplified flooding effects . One passive solution to intrusion through drainage systems are one way back-flow valves in drainage ways . However , while this may prevent a majority of the tidal intrusion , it also inhibits drainage during exceptionally high tides that shut the valves . In Miami Beach , where resilience work is underway , the pump systems replace insufficient gravity-based systems .", "Miami International Boat Show The Miami International Boat Show is an annual event in February , produced by the National Marine Manufacturers Association in Miami , Florida , United States . It had previously been held in three separate venues ; two in Downtown Miami , and the other in Miami Beach . In 2016 it was held at Miami Marine Stadium Park and Basin on Virginia Key , while Strictly Sail remained at Miamarina at Bayside Marketplace Marina . Over 1,700 companies that are NMMA members , produce more than 80 % of the marine products used by recreational boaters and anglers in the United States . The North American pleasure boat market represents fully half of the global demand for these products and services , roughly $ 39.5 billion annually in just the United States alone . The current venues for the show are : Miami Marine Stadium Park & Basin Strictly Sail at Miamarina at Bayside Marketplace Marina", "Obesity in Australia Obesity in Australia is an `` epidemic '' with `` increasing frequency . '' The Medical Journal of Australia found that obesity in Australia more than doubled in the two decades preceding 2003 , and the unprecedented rise in obesity has been compared to the same health crisis in America . The rise in obesity has been attributed to poor eating habits in the country closely related to the availability of fast food since the 1970s , sedentary lifestyles and a decrease in the labour workforce .", "Rising Tide Studios Rising Tide Studios ( RTS ) is an American company that has produced news and events related to online business-to-business ventures . Founded by Jason McCabe Calacanis in 1996 , their first publication , the Silicon Alley Reporter , debuted as a 16-page photocopied newsletter covering Silicon Alley in New York City . During the dot-com boom it evolved into a full-color , glossy magazine . They eventually developed Digital Coast Reporter to cover the West Coast and produced annual events including Silicon Alley , Internet Healthcare , The International Network , Rising Tide Summit , and Venture Capital . After the dot-com bubble burst , several papers folded , and the company has since been sold to Dow Jones , which operates the entity as Venture Reporter .", "The Setai Miami Beach The Setai Hotel and Residences , also known as The Setai Miami Beach and The Setai South Beach , is a high rise luxury hotel and condominium located in South Beach , Miami Beach , Florida . The building has 38 floors and is 117.5 meters tall , making it one of the tallest buildings in Miami Beach . The hotel includes a recording studio and a 10000 sqft penthouse that includes a rooftop pool and jacuzzi .", "Pizza layout A pizza layout is a model railway laid out as a circle of the smallest workable radius of curve , on the smallest possible square or circular baseboard . This baseboard can be so small as to look as if it would fit into a pizza box , hence the name . Pizza layouts are not serious scale models , but are to provide a little humour . Despite their simplicity , they are rarely built by beginners but are usually light relief for an experienced modeller . As they are quick to build and lower budget they are often used as a theme for exhibitions and contests . Many are also seasonally themed , such as Christmas layouts . They often provide an opportunity to experiment with a different gauge and scale from a modeller 's regular . Building this minimum-size layout requires a small gauge . Most pizzas use 9mm gauge , as for N gauge . Z gauge and the esoteric smaller gauges would be useful too , but their costs are more than 9mm and there are fewer options available . Other gauges up to the popular H0/OO 16.5 mm gauge are also used , but almost only as narrow gauge models . Most pizzas model narrow gauge railways . This combines the narrow physical gauge needed with a larger and more visible scale . Narrow gauge prototypes also have short wheelbases , slow running speeds and so are often more accepting of tight curve radii . Where standard gauge is modelled , this is only for N , Z or smaller gauges , H0 requiring a size greater than the usual ` pizza ' format , although this can just be achieved in 2 ' diameter . For an 00-9 or H0e pizza , using 9mm gauge and either 4mm or 3.5 mm scale , a workable minimum curve radius is 6 '' , for an overall baseboard diameter of 15 in , within the pizza box format . Some model companies , such as Tomix , even produce extra-small radius curves of 4 '' radius , for modelling trams . These have been used to model at N gauge within a 9 '' baseboard . Gn15 gauge models one of the smallest prototypical gauges , 15 inch minimum gauge railways . This gives the greatest combination of small curve radius and largest scale . Nn3 Z gauge Z gauge has even been used to make layouts inside a large glass bottle . The layout is a simple circular loop . Points are limited to just one , perhaps two , small sidings and these are more decorative than useful for shunting . A siding to the outside of the loop requires a larger baseboard . A siding inside the loop may do so too : the siding 's radius must be smaller than that of the running loop , which is already close to the minimum radius . Allowing the loop to be a little larger , so as to permit a tighter siding curve within it , means a larger loop and baseboard . This can be done most compactly by stretching the circular loop to an oval , but keeping the same radius with an added straight ; the point comes off the straight portion . In rare cases , a fiddle yard has been incorporated into a hidden part of the layout . Although rare , some pizza layouts have also used multi-level spiral layouts , with something of the rabbit warren to them .", "Short Beach (Oregon) Short Beach is a 1,000-meter stretch of beach on the northern Oregon Coast in the United States . It is not named for its length . Locals guess that both the beach and the creek that runs onto it -- Short Creek , several miles in length -- were named after an early resident of the area . Just south of Cape Meares State Park , and a bit north of Oceanside , the beach is hidden from the land except for a brief stretch of road which crosses the dam across Short Creek . The seasonal shingle beach is noted for the availability of agates , ( the beach is sometimes erroneously called `` Agate Beach '' ) and jasper , sometimes called `` coastal jade '' or `` beach jade '' . Agates and jasper become more available after heavy winter or spring storms , which often cause landslides or rockfalls , bringing fresh parent rock to the beach , where the upper slope is a rock berm . These rock collapses eventually become the smooth , rounded rock familiar on beaches by the pounding surf that brought them down . Other attractions are the mussels , which can be gathered from offshore rocks at low tides , surf fishing , and beach fires . An occasional surfer may be seen , as well as paragliders who , now that there is safe access , sometimes land on the beach . Offshore , and partly onshore , are a number of rocks belonging to the Oregon Islands National Wildlife Refuge . In recent years , both these and the higher land around Short Beach have been a rough testimony to the rising sea level , as the higher surf brings increased collapse of rock faces and shoreward erosion along the bluff of over five feet in the last decade . The sand level has been dropping steadily ever since the first dams went up on the Columbia River and other area rivers , and continues to drop , leading to a local joke that `` Short Beach '' means it is getting very short on beach .", "List of tallest buildings in Florida This list of tallest buildings in Florida ranks the tallest buildings ( 170 m or higher ) in the U.S. state of Florida by height . The tallest building in the state is the 82-story Panorama Tower , which rises 868 ft in the City of Miami 's Brickell neighborhood and was completed in 2017 . Florida has 19 buildings that are 170 m or higher . The majority are located in the City of Miami , and over 85 % are in the Greater Miami area while the rest are in the Tampa and Jacksonville areas . Of the 19 tallest buildings in Florida , 13 are in the City of Miami , 2 are in Tampa , 2 are in Miami Beach , 1 is in Sunny Isles Beach , and 1 is in Jacksonville . The majority of the skyscrapers in Miami are within the greater Downtown Miami area , specifically the neighborhoods of the Central Business District ( Historic Downtown Miami ) , Brickell , Omni , and Edgewater . Thomas Kramer is well known for the negotiations with local Miami-Dade County governments that allowed the building of the tallest towers in Miami . His influence is evident in the construction of high-rises in Miami Beach , particularly in the South Beach neighborhood of `` South of Fifth '' .", "Akoya Condominiums Akoya Condominiums is a 47 story , high-rise residential condominium located in Miami Beach , Florida . Built in 2004 and rising 150 meters ( 492 feet ) , Akoya Condominiums is the third tallest building in Miami Beach , after the 170 meter Blue and Green Diamonds . It was built as one of the last very tall buildings permitted in Miami Beach before a 1998 height ordinance , capping buildings at 200 feet , went into effect . The Akoya Condominiums were originally planned to be the White Diamond . Akoya has more floors than the Blue and Green Diamond buildings but does not have the diamond-shaped roof that they have . The original developer of the projects , Brazilian businessman Múcio Athayde , was forced to sell the White Diamond project in 2001 due to financial stresses that later put the other two buildings into bankruptcy . The project was completed by the MerCo Group , controlled by developer Homero Meruelo , which later also bought the nearby Deauville Hotel . The name `` Akoya '' , referring to a type of cultured pearl , was chosen to replace the diamond theme . Akoya Condominiums is located along the beach of the Atlantic Ocean on Collins Avenue . Akoya Condominiums has 528 units , with 11 units per floor which translates to 48 floors . A modern fitness center , a tennis court , a swimming pool and racquetball facilities are available exclusively for Akoya 's residents .", "Africa Rising Africa Rising is a term coined to describe the rapid economic growth in sub-Saharan Africa since 2000 and the belief in the inevitability of further , rapid development on the continent . According to The Financial Times , Africa Rising is a `` narrative that improved governance means the continent is almost predestined to enjoy a long period of mid-to-high single-digit economic growth , rising incomes and an emerging middle class . '' It has been particularly associated with the democratisation of African states since the end of the Cold War , comparative peace , greater availability of mobile phones and the Internet , and increase in African consumer spending as well as a growth in entrepreneurship . In the decade between 2005 and 2015 , the economy of Africa as a whole increased by 50 per cent in contrast with a world average of 23 per cent . The term is widely used ( including by the BBC ) and was the title of a 2014 conference held in Mozambique by the International Monetary Fund . Both The Economist and Time have devoted front-pages to the Africa Rising narrative . The term has been criticised by some as being a `` stereotype '' of Africa as a continent `` brimming with mobile phones and energetic businesses '' . Critics have also argued that the narrative has been undermined by experience of the West African Ebola virus epidemic ( 2013 -- 16 ) and the growth of conflict in some parts of the continent . Some have also claimed that the 18 million Africans considered `` middle class '' are too small a proportion ( 3.3 percent ) of the overall population to justify claims of rapid social change brought about by Africa Rising . The term has also spawned a number of spin-off ideas , such as `` Latin America Rising '' and `` Asia Rising '' .", "Tequesta Point Tequesta Point is a complex of residential high-rises in Downtown Miami , Florida , United States . It consists of three skyscraper buildings located on Brickell Key , an urban island to the east of the Central Business District . Three Tequesta Point , the tallest of the three , was completed in 2001 . It is 480 ft ( 146 m ) tall , and has 46 floors . Two Tequesta Point , the central building of the complex , was completed in 1999 . It is 410 ft ( 125 m ) tall , and has 40 floors . One Tequesta Point , the original building of the complex , was built in 1995 . It contains 30 floors and is at the northern end of Brickell Key . The buildings , when opened , were some of the tallest Miami had to offer ; however , since the start of the building boom in the early 2000s , many skyscrapers which are much taller than the Tequesta Point buildings have been built . Nevertheless , because the complex is located directly on Biscayne Bay , the buildings can still be seen from Miami Beach and from boats in the bay .", "List of tallest buildings in Virginia Beach, Virginia The skyline of Virginia Beach remained relatively low - to mid-rise until the 2000s which brought the construction of the 23-story Armada Hoffler Tower in 2002 . The Westin Virginia Beach Town Center took the top spot from Armada Hoffler Tower when it was completed in 2008 with 38 stories along the newly revitalized Virginia Beach Town Center . The Westin Virginia Beach Town Center has been the tallest building in the city and Virginia since completion in 2008 . The city has two skylines : One at Town Center and one at the Oceanfront . The following ranking is a compilation of both .", "Rising moving average The rising moving average is a technical indicator used in stock market trading . Most commonly found visually , the pattern is spotted with a moving average overlay on a stock chart or price series . When the moving average has been rising consecutively for a number of days , this is used as a buy signal , to indicate a rising trend forming . While the rising moving average indicator is commonly used by investors without realising , there has been significant backtesting on historic stock data to calculate the performance of the rising moving average . Simulations have found that shorter rising averages , within the 3 - to 10-day period , are more profitable overall than longer rising averages ( e.g. 20 days ) . These have only been tested on US equity stocks however .", "Health in Lithuania As of 2012 Lithuanian life expectancy at birth was 70.7 years for males and 80.7 for females , and the infant mortality rate was 6.2 per 1,000 births . This was the lowest average of any European country , according to the OECD . The difference between male life expectancy and female is unusually large . Since 1990 most other European countries have increased their life expectancy by more . The annual population growth rate increased by 0.3 % in 2007 . At 30.4 people per 100,000 , Lithuania has seen a dramatic rise in suicides in the post-Soviet years , and now records the third highest suicide rate in the world . Lithuania also has the highest homicide rate in the EU .", "History of lobbying in the United States The history of lobbying in the United States is a chronicle of the rise of paid advocacy generally by special interests seeking favor in lawmaking bodies such as the United States Congress . While lobbying has usually been understood as activity by paid professionals to try to influence key legislators and executives , it has been around since the early days of the Republic , and affects every level of government from local municipal authorities to the federal government in Washington . In the nineteenth century , lobbying was mostly conducted at the state level , but in the twentieth century , there has been a marked rise in activity , particularly at the federal level in the past thirty years . While lobbying has generally been marked by controversy , there have been numerous court rulings protecting lobbying as free speech .", "Edgewater (Miami) Edgewater is a neighborhood in Miami , Florida , United States , located north of Downtown and Omni , and south of the Upper East Side . It roughly bound by North 17th Street to the south , North 37th Street to the north , the Florida East Coast Railway and East First Avenue to the west and Biscayne Bay to the east . Edgewater is primarily a residential neighborhood , with many historic early 20th century homes . The neighborhood has many high-rise residential towers to the east along Biscayne Bay , and historic homes elsewhere in the neighborhood . Since 2000 , the area has grown in popularity , due to its proximity to Downtown and neighborhoods such as the Design District . Recent developments in the neighborhood , have brought rapid urbanization to the area , with the construction of high-rise and mid-rise residential buildings , and more retail .", "Music of South Florida Music of South Florida is music from the South Florida metropolitan area , which comprises cities such as Miami , West Palm Beach , Pompano Beach and Fort Lauderdale . The South Florida area has been a hub for diverse musical genres . For example , South Florida has been a hub for Southern Rap . Miami , in particular , is a `` hub '' for Latin Music in the United States . Miami bass ( also known as booty music ) , a prominent hip-hop genre in the late 1980s and early 1990s , got its start in Miami ; Luther ` Luke Skyywalker ' Campbell and his 2 Live Crew were among the more prominent Miami Bass acts , largely because of an obscenity scandal fomented by Broward County , Florida Sheriff Nick Navarro . Moreover , although not a South Florida native , Jimmy Buffett rose to prominence after moving to Key West , Florida and has long been associated with the `` South Florida lifestyle '' . Other notable South Florida-based musical performers include Gloria Estefan , Marilyn Manson , Mental Crutch , Vanilla Ice , DJ Laz , and Pitbull .", "Herman Beach Herman Beach is one of several beaches delimiting the shorelines of the prehistoric glacial Lake Agassiz . Of note is that the beaches of Lake Agassiz are presently not adjacent to bodies of water , and consequently , are no longer really beaches at all . Named for its proximity to Herman , Minnesota , Herman Beach was formed 11,700 years ago and runs for hundreds of miles through Minnesota and North Dakota . It has been described as a smoothly-rounded beach ridge made of gravel and sand . In contrast to the lakebed along the northward-flowing Red River , this beach rises from the south to the north and east at a gradient of approximately 1:5000 ; this rise resulted from the isostatic rebound of the land after recession of the last ice sheet .", "Kobi Karp Architecture & Interior Design Kobi Karp Architecture & Interior Design , Inc. ( KKAID ) is an architectural and interior design firm founded by Miami architect Kobi Karp . KKAID is linked to the design of large-scale , high-rise condominium and hospitality projects to intimate , small-scale , low-rise residential and commercial structures . Kobi Karp Architecture & Interior Design was founded in 1995 and in operation to date has been linked to $ 36 billion in projects globally . Miami Beach has become a global destination and Kobi Karp has shaped the hospitality landscape of the city .", "Climate change in Tuvalu Global warming (recent climate change) is particularly threatening in Tuvalu. This is because the average height of the islands is less than 2 metres (6.6 ft) above sea level, with the highest point of Niulakita being about 4.6 metres (15 ft) above sea level. Between 1971 and 2014, during a period of global warming, Tuvalu islands have increased in size, according to aerial photography and satellite imagery. Over four decades, there was a net increase in land area in Tuvalu of 73.5 ha (2.9%), although the changes were not uniform, with 74% of land increasing in size and 27% of land decreasing in size. The sea level at the Funafuti tide gauge has risen at 3.9 mm per year, which is approximately twice the global average.Tuvalu could be one of the first nations to be significantly impacted by rising sea levels. Not only could parts of the island be flooded but the rising saltwater table could also destroy deep rooted food crops such as coconut, pulaka, and taro. Research from the University of Auckland suggests that Tuvalu may remain habitable over the next century. However, as of March 2018, Prime Minister Enele Sopoaga stated that Tuvalu is not expanding and has gained no additional habitable land. Sopoaga has also said that evacuating the islands is the last resort.", "South Binness Island South Binness Island is an island in Langstone Harbour . It is 600 m long and up to 240 m wide but only rises to 2 m above Ordnance Datum . Archaeological finds include Bronze Age pottery and an unfinished Plano-convex knife . In 1978 the island along with the other islands in Langstone harbour was acquired by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds who turned it into a bird sanctuary . Since that time unauthorised landings have been forbidden . The Island is nesting site for black-headed gulls and the little tern . In 2008 the island had 4,886 nesting pairs of black-headed gulls and 11 nesting pairs of little terns . None of the little tern managed to raise any young that year something thought to be in part due to the number of black-headed gulls . In 2013 500 tonnes of aggregate was added to a beach on the island in order to raise its height . The hope was that the higher beach would offer little terns more nesting sites high enough to avoid the risk of them being washed away by the tide .", "Domestic violence in South Africa Domestic violence in South Africa has been viewed as a private matter until the last few decades . In the 2012 financial year , just over one third of the crimes against women that had been reported were prosecuted in court . Legislation has been passed to help improve the quality of life for those being abused and to prevent further abuse . Although the movement against domestic violence is a new movement , only around since the 1990s , it is making great strides in the country .", "Miami 48-Hour Film Project The Miami 48-Hour Film Project is an annual short film contest held in Miami , Florida and has been running since 2005 . It is the Miami Chapter of the parent 48 Hour Film Project , which holds annual contests in over 96 cities worldwide .", "American Society of Hematology The American Society of Hematology ( ASH ) is a professional organization representing hematologists . It was founded in 1958 . Its annual meeting is held in December of every year and has attracted nearly 20,000 attendees . The society publishes the medical journal Blood , one of the most cited peer-review publications in hematology . The first official ASH meeting was held in Atlantic City , New Jersey , in April 1958 . More than 300 hematologists met together to discuss the key research and clinical issues related to blood and blood diseases . Since the first gathering , ASH has been an important member in the development of hematology as a discipline . For more than five decades , ASH has sponsored its annual meeting . Today , ASH has more than 14,000 members , many of who have made major advancements in understanding and treating blood diseases .", "AFL Rising Star The NAB AFL Rising Star award is given annually to a standout young player in the Australian Football League ( AFL ) . The first award was made in 1993 . Since 2007 , the winner has been presented with the Ron Evans Medal . It was originally known as the Norwich Rising Star award due to sponsorship reasons from 1993 to 1999 , Ansett sponsored the award in 2000 and 2001 and the National Australia Bank ( NAB ) has been the major sponsor since 2002 .", "Sunny Isles Beach, Florida Sunny Isles Beach ( SIB , officially City of Sunny Isles Beach ) is a city located on a barrier island in northeast Miami-Dade County , Florida , United States . The city is bounded by the Atlantic Ocean on the east and the Intracoastal Waterway on the west . Sunny Isles Beach is an area of cultural diversity with stores lining Collins Avenue , the main thoroughfare through the city . It is a growing resort area and developers such as Michael Dezer have invested heavily in construction of high-rise hotels and condominiums while licensing the Donald Trump name for some of the buildings for promotional purposes . Sunny Isles Beach has a central location , minutes from Bal Harbour to the south , and Aventura to the north and west . Sunny Isles Beach was also the 2008 site of MTV 's annual `` Spring Break '' celebration , with headquarters at the local Newport Beachside Resort .", "Blackrock, County Louth Blackrock is a seaside village just to the south of Dundalk , County Louth , Ireland . The village is in the townland of Haggardstown . The current population of the village is about 3,000 . In the 1950s and 60s , Blackrock was a holiday destination for people in landlocked Monaghan and Cavan . The beach that is pictured in the colourised postcards of that era ( still on sale ) was created with sand imported from beaches further down the coast , as the sand was continually washed away to contribute to the buildup of silt in Dundalk Bay . Although it is no longer considered a tourist resort , there remains a tradition of visiting Blackrock on the 15th of August ( vide the Celtic feast of Lúnasa ) . Since the late 1960s , Blackrock has expanded significantly and has become a dormitory village of Dundalk . With the opening of the M1 motorway to Dublin , there has been another wave of expansion and it is also becoming a commuter town with access to north Dublin . Blackrock beach and its promenade ( incorporating Blackrock 's Millennium project - a sundial which is claimed to be the largest in a public area in Ireland ) is still the focal point of the village and the site of Christmas Day fundraising events organised by Conor Hughes , an annual Raft Race , as well as several other events throughout the year . The promenade area includes a number of restaurants and public houses . The view looking north over Dundalk Bay from the promenade toward the Cooley Mountains is impressive . In common with a number of east coast locations , the beach has a very gentle gradient and the sea retreats about 5 km at low tide . The exposed seabed is a mixture of sand and mud flats . It is a suitable and fertile habitat for a variety of wader birds , including brent geese and dunlins . The River Fane ( to the south of Blackrock ) enters the sea as a channel crossing from south to north in front of the promenade . Even at high tide , the water level is only about 1m out to the channel , and the front is becoming popular as a safe sailboarding venue . More recently kitesurfing is becoming more and more popular in the area . It is an ideal location for learning when the tide is out and when the tide is in because of the shallow depths and more often than not , flat water .", "Airways (magazine) Airways is distributed through news stands in North America and 35 nations worldwide , reaching subscribers in more than 60 countries . Located at America 's commercial aviation epicenter , Airways International , Inc. has moved its headquarters just south of Miami International Airport .", "Economy of Slovenia Slovenia today is a developed country that enjoys prosperity and stability as well as a GDP per capita by purchase power parity at 83 % of the EU28 average in 2015 , which is the same as in 2014 and 2 percentage points higher than in 2013 . Nominal GDP in 2015 was 38.570 mio EUR , nominal GDP per capita ( GDP/pc ) in 2015 was 18.693 EUR . The highest GDP/pc was in central Slovenia , where capital city Ljubljana is located , which is part of western Slovenia statistical region , which has higher GDP/pc than eastern Slovenia . It was the first new member of the European Union to adopt the euro as a currency in January 2007 and it has been a member of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development since 2010 . Slovenia has a highly educated workforce , well-developed infrastructure , and is situated at a major transport crossroad . On the other hand , the level of foreign direct investment is one of the lowest but has been steadily rising in the last few years . Slovenian economy has been severely hurt by the European economic crisis , which started in late 2000s . After 2013 GDP per capita is rising again . Almost two thirds of the working population are employed in services .", "Rise Against Hunger Rise Against Hunger , formerly Stop Hunger Now , is an international hunger relief non-profit organization that coordinates the packaging and distribution of food and other life-changing aid to people in developing nations . Founded in 1998 , Rise Against Hunger mobilizes more than 350,000 volunteers each year to package meals for people in need around the globe . Since 2005 , Rise Against Hunger has distributed more than 315,000,000 meals to recipients in 74 countries with a mission to end hunger in our lifetime .", "Rysa Little Rysa Little is an uninhabited island in the Orkney archipelago in Scotland . It is approximately 32 ha in area , and rises to 20 m above sea level . It is situated in the Scapa Flow just offshore from the much larger island of Hoy and nearby is the islet of Cava . Between Rysa Little and Fara lies Gutter Sound , the scene of the mass-scuttling of the interned German Imperial High Seas Fleet in 1919 . Many of the smaller South Isles of Orkney lost their resident populations during the course of the twentieth century , but Rysa Little has not been inhabited since earlier times ." ]

[ "Low-carbon economy A low-carbon economy ( LCE ) , low-fossil-fuel economy ( LFFE ) , or decarbonised economy is an economy based on low carbon power sources that therefore has a minimal output of greenhouse gas ( GHG ) emissions into the biosphere , but specifically refers to the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide . GHG emissions due to anthropogenic ( human ) activity are the dominant cause of observed global warming ( climate change ) since the mid-20th century . Continued emission of greenhouse gases will cause further warming and long-lasting changes around the world , increasing the likelihood of severe , pervasive and irreversible impacts for people and ecosystems . Many countries around the world are designing and implementing low emission development strategies ( LEDS ) . These strategies seek to achieve social , economic and environmental development goals while reducing long-term greenhouse gas emissions and increasing resilience to climate change impacts . Globally implemented low-carbon economies are therefore proposed by those having drawn this conclusion , as a means to avoid catastrophic climate change , and as a precursor to the more advanced , zero-carbon economy .", "Climate change mitigation Climate change mitigation consists of actions to limit the magnitude or rate of long-term climate change . Climate change mitigation generally involves reductions in human ( anthropogenic ) emissions of greenhouse gases ( GHGs ) . Mitigation may also be achieved by increasing the capacity of carbon sinks , e.g. , through reforestation . Mitigation policies can substantially reduce the risks associated with human-induced global warming . According to the IPCC 's 2014 assessment report , `` Mitigation is a public good ; climate change is a case of the ` tragedy of the commons . Effective climate change mitigation will not be achieved if each agent ( individual , institution or country ) acts independently in its own selfish interest ( see international cooperation and emissions trading ) , suggesting the need for collective action . Some adaptation actions , on the other hand , have characteristics of a private good as benefits of actions may accrue more directly to the individuals , regions , or countries that undertake them , at least in the short term . Nevertheless , financing such adaptive activities remains an issue , particularly for poor individuals and countries . '' Examples of mitigation include phasing out fossil fuels by switching to low-carbon energy sources , such as renewable and nuclear energy , and expanding forests and other `` sinks '' to remove greater amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere . Energy efficiency may also play a role , for example , through improving the insulation of buildings . Another approach to climate change mitigation is climate engineering . Most countries are parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change ( UNFCCC ) . The ultimate objective of the UNFCCC is to stabilize atmospheric concentrations of GHGs at a level that would prevent dangerous human interference of the climate system . Scientific analysis can provide information on the impacts of climate change , but deciding which impacts are dangerous requires value judgments . In 2010 , Parties to the UNFCCC agreed that future global warming should be limited to below 2.0 ° C ( 3.6 ° F ) relative to the pre-industrial level . With the Paris Agreement of 2015 this was confirmed , but was revised with a new target laying down `` parties will do the best '' to achieve warming below 1.5 ° C . The current trajectory of global greenhouse gas emissions does not appear to be consistent with limiting global warming to below 1.5 or 2 ° C . Other mitigation policies have been proposed , some of which are more stringent or modest than the 2 ° C limit .", "Global warming controversy The global warming controversy concerns the public debate over whether global warming is occurring , how much has occurred in modern times , what has caused it , what its effects will be , whether any action should be taken to curb it , and if so what that action should be . In the scientific literature , there is a strong consensus that global surface temperatures have increased in recent decades and that the trend is caused by human-induced emissions of greenhouse gases . No scientific body of national or international standing disagrees with this view , though a few organizations with members in extractive industries hold non-committal positions . Disputes over the key scientific facts of global warming are more prevalent in the media than in the scientific literature , where such issues are treated as resolved , and such disputes are more prevalent in the United States than globally . Political and popular debate concerning the existence and cause of climate change includes the reasons for the increase seen in the instrumental temperature record , whether the warming trend exceeds normal climatic variations , and whether human activities have contributed significantly to it . Scientists have resolved these questions decisively in favour of the view that the current warming trend exists and is ongoing , that human activity is the cause , and that it is without precedent in at least 2000 years . Public disputes that also reflect scientific debate include estimates of how responsive the climate system might be to any given level of greenhouse gases ( climate sensitivity ) , how global climate change will play out at local and regional scales , and what the consequences of global warming will be . Global warming remains an issue of widespread political debate , often split along party political lines , especially in the United States . Many of the issues that are settled within the scientific community , such as human responsibility for global warming , remain the subject of politically or economically motivated attempts to downplay , dismiss or deny them -- an ideological phenomenon categorised by academics and scientists as climate change denial . The sources of funding for those involved with climate science -- both supporting and opposing mainstream scientific positions -- have been questioned by both sides . There are debates about the best policy responses to the science , their cost-effectiveness and their urgency . Climate scientists , especially in the United States , have reported official and oil-industry pressure to censor or suppress their work and hide scientific data , with directives not to discuss the subject in public communications . Legal cases regarding global warming , its effects , and measures to reduce it have reached American courts . The fossil fuels lobby has been identified as overtly or covertly supporting efforts to undermine or discredit the scientific consensus on global warming ." ]

[ "100% renewable energy The endeavor to use 100 % renewable energy for electricity , heating and cooling , and transport is motivated by global warming , pollution and other environmental issues , as well as economic and energy security concerns . Shifting the total global primary energy supply to renewable sources requires a transition of the energy system . In 2013 the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said that there are few fundamental technological limits to integrating a portfolio of renewable energy technologies to meet most of total global energy demand . Renewable energy use has grown much faster than even advocates anticipated . In 2014 , renewable sources such as wind , geothermal , solar , biomass , and burnt waste provided 19 % of the total energy consumed worldwide , with roughly half of that coming from traditional use of biomass . The most important sector is electricity with a renewable share of 22.8 % , most of it coming from hydropower with a share of 16.6 % , followed by wind with 3.1 % . There are many places around the world with grids that are run almost exclusively on renewable energy . At the national level , at least 30 nations already have renewable energy contributing more than 20 % of the energy supply . Professors S. Pacala and Robert H. Socolow of Princeton University have developed a series of `` Climate stabilization wedges '' that can allow us to maintain our quality of life while avoiding catastrophic climate change , and `` renewable energy sources , '' in aggregate , constitute the largest number of their `` wedges . '' Mark Z. Jacobson , professor of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford University and director of its Atmosphere and Energy program , says that producing all new energy with wind power , solar power , and hydropower by 2030 is feasible , and that existing energy supply arrangements could be replaced by 2050 . Barriers to implementing the renewable energy plan are seen to be `` primarily social and political , not technological or economic '' . Jacobson says that energy costs today with a wind , solar , and water system should be similar to today 's energy costs from other optimally cost-effective strategies . The main obstacle against this scenario is the lack of political will . Similarly , in the United States , the independent National Research Council has noted that `` sufficient domestic renewable resources exist to allow renewable electricity to play a significant role in future electricity generation and thus help confront issues related to climate change , energy security , and the escalation of energy costs ... Renewable energy is an attractive option because renewable resources available in the United States , taken collectively , can supply significantly greater amounts of electricity than the total current or projected domestic demand . '' The main barriers to the widespread implementation of large-scale renewable energy and low-carbon energy strategies are political rather than technological . According to the 2013 Post Carbon Pathways report , which reviewed many international studies , the key roadblocks are : climate change denial , the fossil fuels lobby , political inaction , unsustainable energy consumption , outdated energy infrastructure , and financial constraints .", "Renewable fuels Renewable fuels are fuels produced from renewable resources . Examples include : biofuels ( e.g. Vegetable oil used as fuel , ethanol , methanol from clean energy and carbon dioxide or biomass , and biodiesel ) and Hydrogen fuel ( when produced with renewable processes ) . This is in contrast to non-renewable fuels such as natural gas , LPG ( propane ) , petroleum and other fossil fuels and nuclear energy . Renewable fuels can include fuels that are synthesized from renewable energy sources , such as wind and solar . Renewable fuels have gained in popularity due to their sustainability , low contributions to the carbon cycle , and in some cases lower amounts of greenhouse gases . The geo-political ramifications of these fuels are also of interest , particularly to industrialized economies which desire independence from Middle Eastern oil .", "Beyond Zero Emissions Beyond Zero Emissions ( BZE ) is an Australia-based , not-for-profit climate change solutions think-tank . BZE was founded in 2006 by Matthew Wright and Adrian Whitehead under the guidance of Philip Sutton . The group coordinates research and education into how the Australian economy can rapidly reduce human-caused greenhouse gas emissions to ` zero and below ' by implementing changes to stationary energy , transport , buildings , agricultural activities , industrial processes and fossil fuel export sectors . In 2010 BZE released its first publication , the Zero Carbon Australia Stationary Energy Plan ( Wright , Hearps 2010 ) a research collaboration between Beyond Zero Emissions and the University of Melbourne Energy Research Institute . The aim of the report was to provide a detailed , fully realisable , fully costed 10-year plan to replace all stationary energy needs with 100 % renewable energy sources , using only current proven technologies and engineering . This report addressed the common perception that renewables can not replace fossil fuels , either due to immaturity of the technology or due to cost concerns . The group invited pro-bono contributions from engineers , scientists , and industry specialists to work on this and all subsequent projects , similar to the way open source software is developed . Since 2006 Beyond Zero Emissions has released the following publications : Zero Carbon Australia Stationary Energy Plan ( 2010 ) , Repowering Port Augusta ( 2012 ) , Health and Social Harms of Mining in Local Communities : Spotlight on the Hunter Region report ( 2012 ) . Laggard to Leader : How Australia Can Lead the World to Zero Carbon Prosperity ( 2012 ) Zero Carbon Australia Buildings Plan ( 2013 ) , Zero Carbon Australia High Speed Rail ( 2014 ) Fossil Economy ( 2014 ) , Zero Carbon Australia Land Use - Agriculture and Forestry ( 2014 ) , Carbon Capture and Storage Report ( 2014 ) , Carbon Crisis : Systemic Risk of Carbon Emission Liabilities report ( 2015 ) Zero Carbon Australia Renewable Energy Superpower ( 2015 ) , Zero Carbon Australia Electric Vehicles ( 2016 ) , A full list of Beyond Zero Emissions publications is also available with links to free pdf downloads at the BZE website .", "Carbon capture and storage Carbon capture and storage ( CCS ) ( or carbon capture and sequestration ) is the process of capturing waste carbon dioxide from large point sources , such as fossil fuel power plants , transporting it to a storage site , and depositing it where it will not enter the atmosphere , normally an underground geological formation . The aim is to prevent the release of large quantities of into the atmosphere ( from fossil fuel use in power generation and other industries ) . It is a potential means of mitigating the contribution of fossil fuel emissions to global warming and ocean acidification . Although has been injected into geological formations for several decades for various purposes , including enhanced oil recovery , the long term storage of is a relatively new concept . The first commercial example was the Weyburn-Midale Carbon Dioxide Project in 2000 . Other examples include SaskPower 's Boundary Dam and Mississippi Power 's Kemper Project . ` CCS ' can also be used to describe the scrubbing of from ambient air as a climate engineering technique . An integrated pilot-scale CCS power plant was to begin operating in September 2008 in the eastern German power plant Schwarze Pumpe run by utility Vattenfall , to test the technological feasibility and economic efficiency . CCS applied to a modern conventional power plant could reduce emissions to the atmosphere by approximately 80 -- 90 % compared to a plant without CCS . The IPCC estimates that the economic potential of CCS could be between 10 % and 55 % of the total carbon mitigation effort until year 2100 . Carbon dioxide can be captured out of air or fossil fuel power plant flue gas using adsorption ( or carbon scrubbing ) , membrane gas separation , or adsorption technologies . Amines are the leading carbon scrubbing technology . Capturing and compressing may increase the energy needs of a coal-fired CCS plant by 25 -- 40 % . These and other system costs are estimated to increase the cost per watt energy produced by 21 -- 91 % for fossil fuel power plants . Applying the technology to existing plants would be more expensive , especially if they are far from a sequestration site . A 2005 industry report suggests that with successful research , development and deployment ( RD&D ) , sequestered coal-based electricity generation in 2025 may cost less than unsequestered coal-based electricity generation today . Storage of the is envisaged either in deep geological formations , or in the form of mineral carbonates . Deep ocean storage is not currently considered feasible due to the associated effect of ocean acidification . Geological formations are currently considered the most promising sequestration sites . The National Energy Technology Laboratory ( NETL ) reported that North America has enough storage capacity for more than 900 years worth of carbon dioxide at current production rates . A general problem is that long term predictions about submarine or underground storage security are very difficult and uncertain , and there is still the risk that might leak into the atmosphere .", "Lithium economy The lithium economy is a concept analogous to other element-based economies , such as the hydrogen economy , methanol economy , ethanol economy , electron economy , vegetable oil economy , or liquid nitrogen economy but where the energy storage medium is lithium . Analogous `` economies '' are the `` aluminium economy '' where the energy storage medium ( fuel ) is aluminium ( typically aluminium-gallium ) . The hydrogen economy as a low-carbon solution to land transport has problems in generation , distribution ( infrastructure ) , on-board storage and cost of power converter ( fuel cell ) . The lithium economy has analogous problems in all four areas , but considered separately , the routes to their solution have different absolute limits and different timescales for their solutions . The lithium economy concept is used primarily as a political argument to prevent over-domination of the post-carbon energy future by oil companies ; and as a post-carbon economy on which action can be taken now instead of deferred to some future date ( see FreedomCAR project ) . The lithium economy differs from the other proposed future fuel economies in that the transition roadmap begins with conventional rechargeable batteries using conventional Li-ion or Lithium polymer cell batteries and progressing to chemistries ( such as Li-S and Li-iron-phosphate ) and cell types with higher energy densities . Eventually , anode replacement Li-air or Li-water cells are envisaged where only anodes ( lithium metal ) are replaced . The energy is stored in unoxidised lithium atoms , which release energy when oxidised . A lithium atom is seven times as heavy as a hydrogen atom , and at room temperature , hydrogen is a gas , while lithium is solid . This means energy per mass is much worse , but since lithium is much more compact , it has more energy per volume . In fact , storing hydrogen requires so much ancillary equipment or material that lithium is also competitive in energy per mass when the whole system is considered .", "Carbon bubble The carbon bubble is a hypothesized bubble in the valuation of companies dependent on fossil-fuel-based energy production , because the true costs of carbon dioxide in intensifying global warming are not yet taken into account in a company 's stock market valuation . Currently the price of fossil fuels companies ' shares is calculated under the assumption that all fossil fuel reserves will be consumed . An estimate made by Kepler Chevreux puts the loss in value of the fossil fuel companies due to the impact of the growing renewables industry at US$ 28 trillion over the next two decades-long . A more recent analysis made by Citi puts that figure at $ 100 trillion . Analysts in both the petroleum and financial industries are concluding that the `` age of oil '' has already reached a new stage where the excess supply that appeared in late 2014 may continue to prevail in the future . A consensus appears to be emerging that an international agreement will be reached to introduce measures to constrain the combustion of hydrocarbons in an effort to limit global temperature rise to the nominal 2 ° C that is consensually predicted to limit environmental harm to tolerable levels . According to the UK 's Committee on Climate Change , overvaluing companies that produce fossil fuels and greenhouse gases poses a serious threat to the economy . The committee warned the British government and Bank of England of the risks of the carbon bubble in 2014 . The following year , Mark Carney , the Governor of the Bank of England , in his lecture to Lloyd 's of London , warned that limiting global warming to 2 ° C appears to require that the `` vast majority '' of fossil fuel reserves be `` stranded '' , or `` literally unburnable without expensive carbon-capture technology '' , resulting in `` potentially huge '' exposure to investors in that sector . He concluded that `` the window of opportunity is finite and shrinking '' for responding to the threat that climate change poses to financial resilience and longer-term prosperity , which he called the `` tragedy of the horizon '' . That same month , the Prudential Regulation Authority of the Bank of England issued a report discussing the risks and opportunities that climate change presents to the insurance industry . In his speech announcing his denial of the proposal to build the Keystone XL oil pipeline , U.S. President Barack Obama gave as one reason for the decision '' ... ultimately , if we 're going to prevent large parts of this Earth from becoming not only inhospitable but uninhabitable in our lifetimes , we 're going to have to keep some fossil fuels in the ground ... '' .", "Zero-carbon city A zero-carbon city runs entirely on renewable energy ; it has no carbon footprint and will in this respect not cause harm to the planet . Most cities throughout the world produce energy by burning coal , oil and gas , unintentionally emitting carbon . Almost every activity humans do involves burning one of these fossil fuels . To become a zero carbon city , an established modern city must collectively reduce emissions of greenhouse gases to zero and all practices that emit greenhouse gases must cease . Also , renewable energy must supersede other non-renewable energy sources and become the sole source of energy , so a zero-carbon city is a renewable-energy-economy city . This transition which includes decarbonising electricity ( increasing the importance of the sources of renewable electricity ) and zero-emission transport , is undertaken as a response to climate change . Zero-carbon cities maintain optimal living conditions while eliminating environmental impact . Instead of using established cities , many developers are starting from scratch in order to create a zero-carbon city . This way they can make sure every aspect of a city contributes to it being carbon free .", "Hydrogen vehicle A hydrogen vehicle is a vehicle that uses hydrogen as its onboard fuel for motive power . Hydrogen vehicles include hydrogen fueled space rockets , as well as automobiles and other transportation vehicles . The power plants of such vehicles convert the chemical energy of hydrogen to mechanical energy either by burning hydrogen in an internal combustion engine , or by reacting hydrogen with oxygen in a fuel cell to run electric motors . Widespread use of hydrogen for fueling transportation is a key element of a proposed hydrogen economy . , there are 3 hydrogen cars publicly available in select markets ; the Toyota Mirai , the Hyundai ix35 FCEV , and the Honda Clarity . Several other companies are working to develop hydrogen cars . As of 2014 , 95 % of hydrogen is made from natural gas . It can be produced using renewable sources , but that is an expensive process . Integrated wind-to-hydrogen ( power to gas ) plants , using electrolysis of water , are exploring technologies to deliver costs low enough , and quantities great enough , to compete with hydrogen production using natural gas . The drawbacks of hydrogen use are high carbon emissions intensity when produced from natural gas , capital cost burden , low energy content per unit volume , production and compression of hydrogen , and the large investment in infrastructure that would be required to fuel vehicles .", "Energy intensity Energy intensity is a measure of the energy efficiency of a nation 's economy . It is calculated as units of energy per unit of GDP . High energy intensities indicate a high price or cost of converting energy into GDP . Low energy intensity indicates a lower price or cost of converting energy into GDP . High energy intensity means high industrial output as portion of GDP . Countries with low energy intensity signifies labor intensive economy ,", "Carbon-based fuel Carbon-based fuel is any fuel principally from the oxidation or burning of carbon . Carbon-based fuels are of two main kinds , biofuels and fossil fuels . Whereas biofuels are derived from recent-growth organic matter and are typically harvested , as with logging of forests and cutting of corn , fossil fuels are of prehistoric origin and are extracted from the ground , the principal fossil fuels being oil , coal , and natural gas . From an economic policy perspective , an important distinction between biofuels and fossil fuels is that only the former is sustainable or renewable . Whereas we can continue to obtain energy from biofuels indefinitely in principle , the Earth 's reserves of fossil fuels was determined millions of years ago and is therefore fixed as far as our foreseeable future is concerned . The great variability in the ease of extraction of fossil fuels however makes its endgame scenario one of increasing prices over one or more centuries rather than of abrupt exhaustion . From the perspective of climate and ecology , biofuels and fossil fuels have in common that they contribute to the production of atmospheric carbon dioxide , which has emerged in recent decades as the fastest-changing greenhouse gas , whose principal impacts are global warming and ocean acidification . However biofuels actively participate in the carbon cycle today by photosynthesizing carbon dioxide , unlike fossil fuels whose participation was long ago , and can therefore in principle bring atmospheric CO2 into an equilibrium not possible with the continued use of fossil fuel . But in practice photosynthesis is a slow process , and the additional fuel produced by artificial methods of accelerating it such as application of fertilizer tends to be offset by the energy consumed by the accelerating processes , to a degree currently under active debate . In contrast the speed of photosynthesis is immaterial for fossil fuels because they had millions of years in which to accumulate . Burning of both fossil fuels and biofuels usually also produces carbon monoxide , which is toxic and can kill a person after mixing with the haemoglobin of the blood , increasing its concentration in the body . Biofuels and fossil fuels may also produce many other air pollutants depending on the contents of the fuel .", "Carbon-neutral fuel Carbon-neutral fuels can refer to a variety of energy fuels or energy systems which have no net greenhouse gas emissions or carbon footprint . One class is synthetic fuel ( including methane , gasoline , diesel fuel , jet fuel or ammonia ) produced from sustainable or nuclear energy used to hydrogenate waste carbon dioxide recycled from power plant flue exhaust gas or derived from carbonic acid in seawater . Other types can be produced from renewable energy sources such as wind turbines , solar panels , and hydroelectric power stations . Such fuels are potentially carbon-neutral because they do not result in a net increase in atmospheric greenhouse gases . Until captured carbon is used for plastics feedstock , carbon neutral fuel synthesis is the primary means of carbon capture and utilization or recycling . To the extent that carbon-neutral fuels displace fossil fuels , or if they are produced from waste carbon or seawater carbonic acid , and their combustion is subject to carbon capture at the flue or exhaust pipe , they result in negative carbon dioxide emission and net carbon dioxide removal from the atmosphere , and thus constitute a form of greenhouse gas remediation . Such power to gas carbon-neutral and carbon-negative fuels can be produced by the electrolysis of water to make hydrogen used in the Sabatier reaction to produce methane which may then be stored to be burned later in power plants as synthetic natural gas , transported by pipeline , truck , or tanker ship , or be used in gas to liquids processes such as the Fischer -- Tropsch process to make traditional fuels for transportation or heating . Carbon-neutral fuels are used in Germany and Iceland for distributed storage of renewable energy , minimizing problems of wind and solar intermittency , and enabling transmission of wind , water , and solar power through existing natural gas pipelines . Such renewable fuels could alleviate the costs and dependency issues of imported fossil fuels without requiring either electrification of the vehicle fleet or conversion to hydrogen or other fuels , enabling continued compatible and affordable vehicles . A 250 kilowatt synthetic methane plant has been built in Germany and it is being scaled up to 10 megawatts .", "Algae fuel Algae fuel , algal biofuel , or algal oil is an alternative to liquid fossil fuels that uses algae as its source of energy-rich oils . Also , algae fuels are an alternative to common known biofuel sources , such as corn and sugarcane . Several companies and government agencies are funding efforts to reduce capital and operating costs and make algae fuel production commercially viable . Like fossil fuel , algae fuel releases when burnt , but unlike fossil fuel , algae fuel and other biofuels only release recently removed from the atmosphere via photosynthesis as the algae or plant grew . The energy crisis and the world food crisis have ignited interest in algaculture ( farming algae ) for making biodiesel and other biofuels using land unsuitable for agriculture . Among algal fuels ' attractive characteristics are that they can be grown with minimal impact on fresh water resources , can be produced using saline and wastewater , have a high flash point , and are biodegradable and relatively harmless to the environment if spilled . Algae cost more per unit mass than other second-generation biofuel crops due to high capital and operating costs , but are claimed to yield between 10 and 100 times more fuel per unit area . The United States Department of Energy estimates that if algae fuel replaced all the petroleum fuel in the United States , it would require 15000 sqmi , which is only 0.42 % of the U.S. map , or about half of the land area of Maine . This is less than the area of corn harvested in the United States in 2000 . According to the head of the Algal Biomass Organization , algae fuel can reach price parity with oil in 2018 if granted production tax credits . However , in 2013 , Exxon Mobil Chairman and CEO Rex Tillerson said that after committing to spend up to $ 600 million over 10 years on development in a joint venture with J. Craig Venter 's Synthetic Genomics in 2009 , Exxon pulled back after four years ( and $ 100 million ) when it realized that algae fuel is `` probably further '' than 25 years away from commercial viability . On the other hand , Solazyme , Sapphire Energy , and Algenol , among others have begun commercial sale of algal biofuel in 2012 and 2013 , and 2015 , respectively .", "Hydrogen technologies Hydrogen technologies are technologies that relate to the production and use of hydrogen . Hydrogen technologies are applicable for many uses . Some hydrogen technologies are carbon neutral and could have a role in preventing climate change and a possible future hydrogen economy . Hydrogen is a widely used chemical used in various applications including ammonia production , oil refining and energy . Hydrogen is not a primary energy source , because it is not naturally occurring as a fuel . It is , however widely regarded as an ideal energy storage medium , due to the ease with which electric power can convert water into its hydrogen and oxygen components through electrolysis and can be converted back to electrical power using a fuel cell . There are a wide number of different types of fuel and electrolysis cells . The potential environmental impact depends primarily on the methods used to generate the hydrogen fuel .", "Sustainable transport Sustainable transport refers to the broad subject of transport that is sustainable in the senses of social , environmental and climate impacts and the ability to , in the global scope , supply the source energy indefinitely . Components for evaluating sustainability include the particular vehicles used for road , water or air transport ; the source of energy ; and the infrastructure used to accommodate the transport ( roads , railways , airways , waterways , canals and terminals ) . Another component for evaluation is pipelines for transporting liquid or gas materials . Transport operations and logistics as well as transit-oriented development are also involved in evaluation . Transportation sustainability is largely being measured by transportation system effectiveness and efficiency as well as the environmental and climate impacts of the system . Short-term activity often promotes incremental improvement in fuel efficiency and vehicle emissions controls while long-term goals include migrating transportation from fossil-based energy to other alternatives such as renewable energy and use of other renewable resources . The entire life cycle of transport systems is subject to sustainability measurement and optimization . Sustainable transport systems make a positive contribution to the environmental , social and economic sustainability of the communities they serve . Transport systems exist to provide social and economic connections , and people quickly take up the opportunities offered by increased mobility , with poor households benefiting greatly from low carbon transport options . The advantages of increased mobility need to be weighed against the environmental , social and economic costs that transport systems pose . Transport systems have significant impacts on the environment , accounting for between 20 % and 25 % of world energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions . The majority of the emissions , almost 97 % , came from direct burning of fossil fuels . Greenhouse gas emissions from transport are increasing at a faster rate than any other energy using sector . Road transport is also a major contributor to local air pollution and smog . The United Nations Environment Programme ( UNEP ) estimates that each year 2.4 million premature deaths from outdoor air pollution could be avoided . Particularly hazardous for health are emissions of black carbon , a component of particulate matter , which is a known cause of respiratory and carcinogenic diseases and a significant contributor to global climate change . The links between greenhouse gas emissions and particulate matter make low carbon transport an increasingly sustainable investment at local level -- both by reducing emission levels and thus mitigating climate change ; and by improving public health through better air quality . The social costs of transport include road crashes , air pollution , physical inactivity , time taken away from the family while commuting and vulnerability to fuel price increases . Many of these negative impacts fall disproportionately on those social groups who are also least likely to own and drive cars . Traffic congestion imposes economic costs by wasting people 's time and by slowing the delivery of goods and services . Traditional transport planning aims to improve mobility , especially for vehicles , and may fail to adequately consider wider impacts . But the real purpose of transport is access - to work , education , goods and services , friends and family - and there are proven techniques to improve access while simultaneously reducing environmental and social impacts , and managing traffic congestion . Communities which are successfully improving the sustainability of their transport networks are doing so as part of a wider programme of creating more vibrant , livable , sustainable cities .", "Economics of nuclear power plants The economics of new nuclear power plants is a controversial subject , since there are diverging views on this topic ( particularly around risk externalities involving disaster , cleanup , proliferation , disposal and resource conflict ) , and multibillion-dollar investments ride on the choice of an energy source . New nuclear power plants typically have high capital costs for building the first several plants , after which costs tend to fall for each additional plant built as the supply chains develop and the regulatory processes settle down . Fuel , operational , and maintenance costs are relatively small components of the total cost . The long service life and high productivity of nuclear power plants allow sufficient funds for ultimate plant decommissioning and waste storage and management to be accumulated , with little impact on the price per unit of electricity generated . Additionally , measures to mitigate climate change such as a carbon tax or carbon emissions trading , would favor the economics of nuclear power over fossil fuel power . Nuclear power construction costs have varied significantly across the world and in time . Massive and rapid increases in cost occurred in the 1970s , especially in the US , but these trends were much milder in other countries . There were no construction starts of nuclear power reactors between 1979 and 2012 in the US , and recent cost trends in countries such as Japan and Korea have been very different , including periods of stability and decline in cost . In more economically developed countries , a slowdown in electricity demand growth in recent years has made large-scale power infrastructure investments difficult . Very large upfront costs and long project cycles carry large risks , including political decision making and intervention such as regulatory ratcheting . In Eastern Europe , a number of long-established projects are struggling to find finance , notably Belene in Bulgaria and the additional reactors at Cernavoda in Romania , and some potential backers have pulled out . Where cheap gas is available and its future supply relatively secure , this also poses a major problem for clean energy projects . Former Exelon CEO John Rowe said in 2012 that new nuclear plants in the US `` do n't make any sense right now '' and wo n't be economic as long as gas prices remain low . Current bids for new NPP 's in China have fallen below $ 2000/kW in 2016 , as China continues its accelerating new build program after the pause following the Fukushima meltdowns . Therefore , comparison with other power generation methods is strongly dependent on assumptions about construction timescales and capital financing for nuclear plants . Analysis of the economics of nuclear power must take into account who bears the risks of future uncertainties . To date all operating nuclear power plants were developed by state-owned or regulated utility monopolies where many of the risks associated with political change and regulatory ratcheting were borne by consumers rather than suppliers . Many countries have now liberalized the electricity market where these risks , and the risk of cheap competition from subsidised energy sources emerging before capital costs are recovered , are borne by plant suppliers and operators rather than consumers , which leads to a significantly different evaluation of the risk of investing in new nuclear power plants . Two of the four EPRs under construction ( the Olkiluoto Nuclear Power Plant in Finland and Flamanville in France ) , which are the latest new builds in Europe , are significantly behind schedule and substantially over cost . Following the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster , costs are likely to go up for some types of currently operating and new nuclear power plants , due to new requirements for on-site spent fuel management and elevated design basis threats .", "Fossil fuel Fossil fuels are fuels formed by natural processes such as anaerobic decomposition of buried dead organisms , containing energy originating in ancient photosynthesis . The age of the organisms and their resulting fossil fuels is typically millions of years , and sometimes exceeds 650 million years . Fossil fuels contain high percentages of carbon and include petroleum , coal , and natural gas . Other commonly used derivatives include kerosene and propane . Fossil fuels range from volatile materials with low carbon to hydrogen ratios like methane , to liquids like petroleum , to nonvolatile materials composed of almost pure carbon , like anthracite coal . Methane can be found in hydrocarbon fields either alone , associated with oil , or in the form of methane clathrates . The theory that fossil fuels formed from the fossilized remains of dead plants by exposure to heat and pressure in the Earth 's crust over millions of years was first introduced by Georgius Agricola in 1556 and later by Mikhail Lomonosov in the 18th century . The Energy Information Administration estimates that in 2007 the primary sources of energy consisted of petroleum 36.0 % , coal 27.4 % , natural gas 23.0 % , amounting to an 86.4 % share for fossil fuels in primary energy consumption in the world . Non-fossil sources in 2006 included nuclear 8.5 % , hydroelectric 6.3 % , and others ( geothermal , solar , tidal , wind , wood , waste ) amounting to 0.9 % . World energy consumption was growing about 2.3 % per year . Although fossil fuels are continually being formed via natural processes , they are generally considered to be non-renewable resources because they take millions of years to form and the known viable reserves are being depleted much faster than new ones are being made . The use of fossil fuels raises serious environmental concerns . The burning of fossil fuels produces around 21.3 billion tonnes ( 21.3 gigatonnes ) of carbon dioxide ( CO2 ) per year . It is estimated that natural processes can only absorb about half of that amount , so there is a net increase of 10.65 billion tonnes of atmospheric carbon dioxide per year . Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas that increases radiative forcing and contributes to global warming . A global movement towards the generation of renewable energy is underway to help reduce global greenhouse gas emissions .", "The Hype about Hydrogen The Hype about Hydrogen : Fact and Fiction in the Race to Save the Climate is a book by Joseph J. Romm , published in 2004 by Island Press and updated in 2005 . The book has been translated into German as Der Wasserstoff-Boom . Romm is an expert on clean energy , advanced vehicles , energy security , and greenhouse gas mitigation . Over 200 publications , including Scientific American , Forbes magazine and The New York Times , have cited this book . The book was named one of the best science and technology books of 2004 by Library Journal . The thrust of the book is that hydrogen is not economically feasible to use for transportation , nor will its use reduce global warming , because of the cost and greenhouse gases generated during production , the low energy content per volume and weight of the container , the cost of the fuel cells , and the cost of the infrastructure . The author argues that a major effort to introduce hydrogen cars before 2030 would actually undermine efforts to reduce emissions of heat-trapping greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide .", "Low carbon leakage Low carbon leakage refers to the phenomenon of a country or a region losing its low carbon industries to another country or region . The underlying low carbon leakage trend can also be identified by looking into clean energy patent distribution around the World . The threat of low carbon leakage to the European Union has been repeatedly expressed by a number of European Politicians such as climate Commissioner Connie Hedegaard , UK Energy Secretary Edward Davey and others . The low carbon leakage increases its relevance for the industrial competitiveness as the low carbon economy grows and has reached in 2013 $ 4 trillion and continues to grow at 4 % per year . Not taking relevant part in this growth opportunity is also considered as low carbon leakage . In October 2014 E&Y published a report `` European Low Carbon Industries . A Health Check . '' specifically examining the state of the European low carbon sectors . The report lists a wide variety of cases in which `` low carbon leakage '' occurs or could occur . Low carbon leakage could lead to a significant loss of competitiveness for Europe . According to former German federal minister Trittin : `` In reality there is no carbon leakage . The danger of low carbon leakage is much more real . '' I typical example is the solar panel manufacturing that has developed rapidly in China and shrunk in Europe .", "Co-benefits of climate change mitigation Co-benefits of climate change mitigation as defined in the 4th Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change are the positive benefits related to the reduction of greenhouse gases . Examples of such climate mitigation policies include improved energy efficiency of plants , renewable energy uptake and fuel switching which might enable a range of co-benefits such as air-pollution impacts , technological innovation , energy-supply security through increased energy diversity , reduced fuel cost and employment possibilities .", "Danny Kennedy (environmentalist) Danny Kennedy ( born February 24 , 1971 ) is a clean-technology entrepreneur , an environmental activist , and the author of the book Rooftop Revolution : How Solar Power Can Save Our Economy -- and Our Planet -- from Dirty Energy ( 2012 ) . Kennedy serves as managing director of the California Clean Energy Fund , an non-profit dedicated to optimising the clean energy transition . He co-founded Sungevity , a rapidly growing residential solar power company , and Powerhouse , the primer solar incubator in Oakland . While at Sungevity , Kennedy won a Planet Forward Innovator of the Year award from the PBS program Planet Forward .", "Molten carbonate fuel cell Molten-carbonate fuel cells ( MCFCs ) are high-temperature fuel cells that operate at temperatures of 600 ° C and above . Molten carbonate fuel cells ( MCFCs ) are currently being developed for natural gas , biogas ( produced as a result of anaerobic digestion or biomass gasification ) , and coal-based power plants for electrical utility , industrial , and military applications . MCFCs are high-temperature fuel cells that use an electrolyte composed of a molten carbonate salt mixture suspended in a porous , chemically inert ceramic matrix of beta-alumina solid electrolyte ( BASE ) . Since they operate at extremely high temperatures of 650 ° C ( roughly 1,200 ° F ) and above , non-precious metals can be used as catalysts at the anode and cathode , reducing costs . Improved efficiency is another reason MCFCs offer significant cost reductions over phosphoric acid fuel cells ( PAFCs ) . Molten carbonate fuel cells can reach efficiencies approaching 60 % , considerably higher than the 37 -- 42 % efficiencies of a phosphoric acid fuel cell plant . When the waste heat is captured and used , overall fuel efficiencies can be as high as 85 % . Unlike alkaline , phosphoric acid , and polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells , MCFCs do n't require an external reformer to convert more energy-dense fuels to hydrogen . Due to the high temperatures at which MCFCs operate , these fuels are converted to hydrogen within the fuel cell itself by a process called internal reforming , which also reduces cost . Molten carbonate fuel cells are not prone to poisoning by carbon monoxide or carbon dioxide -- they can even use carbon oxides as fuel -- making them more attractive for fueling with gases made from coal . Because they are more resistant to impurities than other fuel cell types , scientists believe that they could even be capable of internal reforming of coal , assuming they can be made resistant to impurities such as sulfur and particulates that result from converting coal , a dirtier fossil fuel source than many others , into hydrogen . Alternatively , because MCFCs require CO2 be delivered to the cathode along with the oxidizer , they can be used to electrochemically separate carbon dioxide from the flue gas of other fossil fuel power plants for sequestration . The primary disadvantage of current MCFC technology is durability . The high temperatures at which these cells operate and the corrosive electrolyte used accelerate component breakdown and corrosion , decreasing cell life . Scientists are currently exploring corrosion-resistant materials for components as well as fuel cell designs that increase cell life without decreasing performance .", "Overnight Capital Cost Overnight capital cost is a term typically used in the power generation industry to describe the cost of building a power plant overnight . The term is useful to compare the economic feasibility of building various plants . The overnight capital cost does not take into account financing costs or escalation , and hence is not an actual estimate of construction cost . Investors in the energy industry typically look to the Levelized Cost of Energy ( LCOE ) for comparing generation technologies ( e.g. solar power , natural gas ) in the long term , as it includes ongoing fuel , maintenance , and operation costs . The U.S. Department of Energy tracks and makes publicly available levelized cost of energy figures for competing technologies . These figures will vary substantially in other countries due to different energy policies and domestic energy sources .", "Copper in renewable energy Renewable energy sources such as solar , wind , tidal , hydro , biomass , and geothermal have become significant sectors of the energy market . The rapid growth of these sources in the 21st century has been prompted by increasing costs of fossil fuels as well as their negative environmental impacts . While the average capacity of renewable energy sources was only 7 % globally in 2010 , most installation of new capacity has been with renewables . Few new installations were from fossil fuel-based power plants . The trend towards new power capacity by renewables is expected to continue through 2020 . Since renewable energy supplies offset the amount of fossil fuels that need to be combusted in power plants , the use of renewables indirectly helps to reduce CO2 emissions . Hence , renewable energy supplies enable societies to progress towards lower-carbon-based economies . Copper plays an important role in renewable energy systems . Since copper is an excellent thermal and electrical conductor among the engineering metals ( second only to silver ) , power systems that utilize copper generate and transmit energy with high efficiency and with minimum environmental impacts . By using copper instead of other lower electrical energy-efficient metal conductors , less electricity needs to be generated to satisfy a given power demand . This article discusses the role of copper in various renewable energy generation systems .", "Low-carbon fuel standard A low-carbon fuel standard ( LCFS ) is a rule enacted to reduce carbon intensity in transportation fuels as compared to conventional petroleum fuels , such as gasoline and diesel . The most common low-carbon fuels are alternative fuels and cleaner fossil fuels , such as natural gas ( CNG and LPG ) . The main purpose of a low-carbon fuel standard is to decrease carbon dioxide emissions associated with vehicles powered by various types of internal combustion engines while also considering the entire life cycle ( `` well to wheels '' ) , in order to reduce the carbon footprint of transportation . The first low-carbon fuel standard mandate in the world was enacted by California in 2007 , with specific eligibility criteria defined by the California Air Resources Board ( CARB ) in April 2009 but taking effect in January 2011 . Similar legislation was approved in British Columbia in April 2008 , and by European Union which proposed its legislation in January 2007 and which was adopted in December 2008 . The United Kingdom is implementing its Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation Program , which also applies the concept of low-carbon fuels . Several bills have been proposed in the United States for similar low-carbon fuel regulation at a national level but with less stringent standards than California . As of early 2010 none have been approved . The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ( EPA ) issued its final rule regarding the expanded Renewable Fuel Standard ( RFS2 ) for 2010 and beyond on February 3 , 2010 . This ruling , as mandated by the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 ( EISA ) , included direct emissions and significant indirect emissions from land use changes .", "Vote Climate U.S. PAC Vote Climate U.S. PAC is an American super PAC founded in 2013 and directed by American political activist Karyn Strickler . Its mission is `` to elect candidates to get off fossil fuels , transition to clean , renewable energy and put a price on carbon , in order to slow global warming and related weather extremes . '' Strickler has named the implementation of a carbon tax as a principal goal . As a super PAC ( a type of political action committee ) , the organization can not contribute to candidates but can make independent expenditures on their behalf .", "Methanol economy The methanol economy is a suggested future economy in which methanol and dimethyl ether replace fossil fuels as a means of energy storage , ground transportation fuel , and raw material for synthetic hydrocarbons and their products . It offers an alternative to the proposed hydrogen economy or ethanol economy . In the 1990s , Nobel prize winner George A. Olah advocated a methanol economy ; in 2006 , he and two co-authors , G. K. Surya Prakash and Alain Goeppert , published a summary of the state of fossil fuel and alternative energy sources , including their availability and limitations , before suggesting a methanol economy . Methanol can be produced from a wide variety of sources including still-abundant fossil fuels ( natural gas , coal , oil shale , tar sands , etc. ) as well as agricultural products and municipal waste , wood and varied biomass . It can also be made from chemical recycling of carbon dioxide .", "Privatization in the United States State , county , and city economies are constantly challenged in running government operations . A government-run sector may transfer the responsibility for carrying out the service and/or resource management activities and responsibilities to the private sector . Privatization can be a solution for dealing with particularly problematic aspects within a government 's administration . Often municipalities will turn to privatization to solve an issue . A city or county may , for example , have vehicle maintenance cost increases that exceed revenues consistently and look to privatization as a means of controlling increasing costs . It may not , however , address other factors that are contributing to the cost increases or revenue shortfalls , such as regulation . Over time , compensation , for instance , could be a problem that also applies to other aspects of the government .", "Individual action on climate change Making various personal choices has been advocated as a means of fighting climate change . A carbon diet is an effective way to understand the amount of impact on the environment and how to make meaningful changes . A low carbon diet is a way of reducing impact by choosing food that causes much less pollution . Trees : Protecting forests and planting new trees contributes to the absorption of carbon dioxide from the air . There are many opportunities to plant trees in the yard , along roads , in parks , and in public gardens . In addition , some charities plant fast-growing trees -- for as little as $ US0 .10 per tree -- to help people in tropical developing countries restore the productivity of their lands . Conversely , clearing old-growth forests adds to the carbon in the atmosphere , so buying non-old-growth paper is good for the climate as well as the forest . Labels : The Energy Star label can be seen on many household appliances , home electronics , office equipment , heating and cooling equipment , windows , residential light fixtures , and other products . Energy Star products use less energy . Travel : In the United States , perception towards climate change influenced people to change their travel lifestyle . More than a third of Americans have changed their travel habits in 2008 , versus only 14 % in 2007 . Cars : Purchasing a vehicle which gets high gas mileage helps to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide . Flying : Avoiding air travel and particularly frequent flyer programs has a high benefit because the convenience makes frequent , long distance travel easy , and high-altitude emissions are more potent for the climate than the same emissions made at ground level . Walking and running are among the least environmentally harmful modes of transportation , followed by the bicycle . Many energy suppliers in various countries worldwide have options to purchase part or pure `` green energy . '' The wind energy produced in Denmark , for example , provides about 20 percent of the country 's total electricity needs . These methods of energy production emit no greenhouse gases once they are up and running . Carbon offsets : The principle of carbon offset is thus : one decides that they do n't want to be responsible for accelerating climate change , and they 've already made efforts to reduce their carbon dioxide emissions , so they decide to pay someone else to further reduce their net emissions by planting trees or by taking up low-carbon technologies . Every unit of carbon that is absorbed by trees -- or not emitted due to your funding of renewable energy deployment -- offsets the emissions from their fossil fuel use . In many cases , funding of renewable energy , energy efficiency , or tree planting -- particularly in developing nations -- can be a relatively cheap way of making an individual `` carbon neutral '' . Carbon offset providers -- some as inexpensive as US$ 0.11 per metric ton ( USD 0.10 per US ton ) of carbon dioxide -- are referenced below under Lifestyle Action .", "Mark Z. Jacobson Mark Zachary Jacobson ( born 1965 ) is professor of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford University and director of its Atmosphere and Energy Program . Jacobson develops computer models about the effects of different energy technologies and their emissions on air pollution and climate . He has done influential research on the role of aerosols and black carbon on the climate and is regarded as a leading aerosol climate modeler . According to Jacobson , a speedy transition to clean , renewable energy is required to reduce the potential acceleration of global warming , including the disappearance of the Arctic Sea ice . This change will also eliminate 2.5 -- 3 million deaths worldwide each year , related to air pollution , and reduce disruption associated with fossil fuel shortages .", "SolarCity Linz The solarCity is an energy-saving living district in Linz-Pichling , Austria , which provides living space for about 4,000 people . The houses were built using a low-energy design . The idea and motivation for providing energy efficient living arrangements stems from the fact that fossil fuels contribute to global warming and that their use should therefore be avoided . Planning of the project began in 1992 . Since 1999 , 1,300 apartments were gradually built during a 6-year period . The total cost of the project amounted to 190 million euros . Nearly two-thirds of which was used for the residential building , and only a third of the total cost was due to infrastructure .", "Cost competitiveness of fuel sources The Cost competitiveness of fuel sources is a measure of whether or not particular fuel sources are cost competitive in the energy market , and is a primary factor in determining if a fuel source will be utilized . If a fuel source can be produced and sold lower than the price crude oil is being traded at , including taxes , then it is considered to be a cost competitive fuel source .", "Low-carbon power Low-carbon power comes from processes or technologies that , produce power with substantially lower amounts of carbon dioxide emissions than is emitted from conventional fossil fuel power generation . It includes low carbon power generation sources such as wind power , solar power , hydropower and , including fuel preparation and decommissioning , nuclear power . The term largely excludes conventional fossil fuel plant sources , and is only used to describe a particular subset of operating fossil fuel power systems , specifically , those that are successfully coupled with a flue gas carbon capture and storage ( CCS ) system ." ]

[ "Carbon sink A carbon sink is a natural or artificial reservoir that accumulates and stores some carbon-containing chemical compound for an indefinite period . The process by which carbon sinks remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere is known as carbon sequestration . Public awareness of the significance of CO2 sinks has grown since passage of the Kyoto Protocol , which promotes their use as a form of carbon offset . There are also different strategies used to enhance this process .", "Carbon dioxide Carbon dioxide ( chemical formula ) is a colorless gas with a density about 60 % higher than that of air ( 1.225 g/L ) that is odorless at normally encountered concentrations . Carbon dioxide consists of a carbon atom covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms . It occurs naturally in Earth 's atmosphere as a trace gas at a concentration of about 0.04 percent ( 400 ppm ) by volume . Natural sources include volcanoes , hot springs and geysers , and it is freed from carbonate rocks by dissolution in water and acids . Because carbon dioxide is soluble in water , it occurs naturally in groundwater , rivers and lakes , ice caps , glaciers and seawater . It is present in deposits of petroleum and natural gas . As the source of available carbon in the carbon cycle , atmospheric carbon dioxide is the primary carbon source for life on Earth and its concentration in Earth 's pre-industrial atmosphere since late in the Precambrian has been regulated by photosynthetic organisms and geological phenomena . Plants , algae and cyanobacteria use light energy to photosynthesize carbohydrate from carbon dioxide and water , with oxygen produced as a waste product . Carbon dioxide is produced by all aerobic organisms when they metabolize carbohydrates and lipids to produce energy by respiration . It is returned to water via the gills of fish and to the air via the lungs of air-breathing land animals , including humans . Carbon dioxide is produced during the processes of decay of organic materials and the fermentation of sugars in bread , beer and winemaking . It is produced by combustion of wood and other organic materials and fossil fuels such as coal , peat , petroleum and natural gas . It is a versatile industrial material , used , for example , as an inert gas in welding and fire extinguishers , as a pressurizing gas in air guns and oil recovery , as a chemical feedstock and in liquid form as a solvent in decaffeination of coffee and supercritical drying . It is added to drinking water and carbonated beverages including beer and sparkling wine to add effervescence . The frozen solid form of , known as `` dry ice '' is used as a refrigerant and as an abrasive in dry-ice blasting . Carbon dioxide is the most significant long-lived greenhouse gas in Earth 's atmosphere . Since the Industrial Revolution anthropogenic emissions - primarily from use of fossil fuels and deforestation - have rapidly increased its concentration in the atmosphere , leading to global warming . Carbon dioxide also causes ocean acidification because it dissolves in water to form carbonic acid .", "Greenhouse gas A greenhouse gas ( abbrev . GHG ) is a gas in an atmosphere that absorbs and emits radiation within the thermal infrared range . This process is the fundamental cause of the greenhouse effect . The primary greenhouse gases in Earth 's atmosphere are water vapor , carbon dioxide , methane , nitrous oxide , and ozone . Without greenhouse gases , the average temperature of Earth 's surface would be about -18 ° C , rather than the present average of 15 ° C . In the Solar System , the atmospheres of Venus , Mars and Titan also contain gases that cause a greenhouse effect . Human activities since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution ( taken as the year 1750 ) have produced a 40 % increase in the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide , from 280 ppm in 1750 to 406 ppm in early 2017 . This increase has occurred despite the uptake of a large portion of the emissions by various natural `` sinks '' involved in the carbon cycle . Anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions ( i.e. , emissions produced by human activities ) come from combustion of fossil fuels , principally coal , oil , and natural gas , along with deforestation , soil erosion and animal agriculture . It has been estimated that if greenhouse gas emissions continue at the present rate , Earth 's surface temperature could exceed historical values as early as 2047 , with potentially harmful effects on ecosystems , biodiversity and the livelihoods of people worldwide . Recent estimates suggest that on the current emissions trajectory the Earth could pass a threshold of 2 ° C global warming , which the United Nations ' IPCC designated as the upper limit to avoid `` dangerous '' global warming , by 2036 ." ]

[ "Carbon diet A carbon diet refers to reducing the impact on climate change by reducing greenhouse gas production specifically , CO2 production . In today 's society , we produce CO2 in every day activities such as driving , heating , deforestation and the burning of fossil fuels such as coal , oil and gas . It has been found that carbon dioxide from the burning of coal , natural gas , and oil for electricity and heat is the largest single source of global greenhouse gas emissions . For years , governments and corporations have been attempting to balance out their emissions by participating in carbon-offsetting -- the practice in which they invest in renewable energy to compensate for the global-warming pollution that they produce . Despite these efforts the results are still far off and we continue to see growth in CO2 concentration . Now , a growing number of individuals are trying to make a reduction in the amount of CO2 that is being produced by participating in low carbon dieting . This small adjustment in household CO2 production has the potential to reduce emissions much more quickly than other kinds of changes and it deserves explicit consideration as part of climate policy . It can potentially help avoid `` overshoot '' of greenhouse gas concentration targets ; provide a demonstration effect ; reduce emissions at low cost ; and buy time to develop new technologies , policies , and institutions to reach long-term greenhouse gas emission targets and to develop adaptation strategies .", "Fossil fuel Fossil fuels are fuels formed by natural processes such as anaerobic decomposition of buried dead organisms , containing energy originating in ancient photosynthesis . The age of the organisms and their resulting fossil fuels is typically millions of years , and sometimes exceeds 650 million years . Fossil fuels contain high percentages of carbon and include petroleum , coal , and natural gas . Other commonly used derivatives include kerosene and propane . Fossil fuels range from volatile materials with low carbon to hydrogen ratios like methane , to liquids like petroleum , to nonvolatile materials composed of almost pure carbon , like anthracite coal . Methane can be found in hydrocarbon fields either alone , associated with oil , or in the form of methane clathrates . The theory that fossil fuels formed from the fossilized remains of dead plants by exposure to heat and pressure in the Earth 's crust over millions of years was first introduced by Georgius Agricola in 1556 and later by Mikhail Lomonosov in the 18th century . The Energy Information Administration estimates that in 2007 the primary sources of energy consisted of petroleum 36.0 % , coal 27.4 % , natural gas 23.0 % , amounting to an 86.4 % share for fossil fuels in primary energy consumption in the world . Non-fossil sources in 2006 included nuclear 8.5 % , hydroelectric 6.3 % , and others ( geothermal , solar , tidal , wind , wood , waste ) amounting to 0.9 % . World energy consumption was growing about 2.3 % per year . Although fossil fuels are continually being formed via natural processes , they are generally considered to be non-renewable resources because they take millions of years to form and the known viable reserves are being depleted much faster than new ones are being made . The use of fossil fuels raises serious environmental concerns . The burning of fossil fuels produces around 21.3 billion tonnes ( 21.3 gigatonnes ) of carbon dioxide ( CO2 ) per year . It is estimated that natural processes can only absorb about half of that amount , so there is a net increase of 10.65 billion tonnes of atmospheric carbon dioxide per year . Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas that increases radiative forcing and contributes to global warming . A global movement towards the generation of renewable energy is underway to help reduce global greenhouse gas emissions .", "Low-carbon emission The main components of automobile exhaust are carbon dioxide ( CO2 ) and water vapor ( H2O ) . Carbon dioxide is the most important anthropogenic greenhouse gas ( GHG ) and the most significant Greenhouse Gas emitted in the U.S. ( with 82-84 % of all U.S. emissions ) . Increases in carbon dioxide concentration are due primarily to fossil fuel use and land-use change . The CO2 emission standards can be referred to the fuel or to the vehicle : The European Union is moving towards fuel mandatory CO2 standards and USA has reflected it in the Greenhouse Gas Score . There are information , but no mandatory , standards for CO2 limits in vehicle ( engine ) emissions , excepting some state regulations ( i.e. California ) . See hybrid vehicles . CO2 mass emission in vehicles is measured in g/km ( g/mi * 0.621371192 = g/km ) .", "Bio-energy with carbon capture and storage Bio-energy with carbon capture and storage ( BECCS ) is a future greenhouse gas mitigation technology which produces negative carbon dioxide emissions by combining bioenergy ( energy from biomass ) use with geologic carbon capture and storage . The concept of BECCS is drawn from the integration of trees and crops , which extract carbon dioxide ( CO2 ) from the atmosphere as they grow , the use of this biomass in processing industries or power plants , and the application of carbon capture and storage via CO2 injection into geological formations . There are other non-BECCS forms of carbon dioxide removal and storage that include technologies such as biochar , carbon dioxide air capture and biomass burial . According to a recent Biorecro report , there is 550 000 tonnes CO2/year in total BECCS capacity currently operating , divided between three different facilities ( as of January 2012 ) . In the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) , BECCS was indicated as a key technology for reaching low carbon dioxide atmospheric concentration targets . The negative emissions that can be produced by BECCS has been estimated by the Royal Society to be equivalent to a 50 to 150 ppm decrease in global atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations and according to the International Energy Agency , the BLUE map climate change mitigation scenario calls for more than 2 gigatonnes of negative CO2 emissions per year with BECCS in 2050 . According to Stanford University , 10 gigatonnes is achievable by this date . The Imperial College London , the UK Met Office Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and Research , the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research , the Walker Institute for Climate System Research , and the Grantham Institute for Climate Change issued a joint report on carbon dioxide removal technologies as part of the AVOID : Avoiding dangerous climate change research program , stating that `` Overall , of the technologies studied in this report , BECCS has the greatest maturity and there are no major practical barriers to its introduction into today 's energy system . The presence of a primary product will support early deployment . '' According to the OECD , `` Achieving lower concentration targets ( 450 ppm ) depends significantly on the use of BECCS '' .", "Gorgon Carbon Dioxide Injection Project The Gorgon Carbon Dioxide Injection Project is part of the Gorgon Project , the world 's largest natural gas project . The Gorgon Project , located on Barrow Island in Western Australia , includes a liquefied natural gas ( LNG ) plant , a domestic gas plant , and a Carbon Dioxide Injection Project . The initial carbon dioxide injections are planned to take place by the end of 2017 . Once launched , the Gorgon Carbon Dioxide Injection Project will be the world 's largest CO2 injection plant , with an ability to store up to 4 million tons of CO2 per year -- approximately 120 million tons over the project 's lifetime , and 40 percent of total Gorgon Project emissions .", "Carbon price Carbon pricing -- the method favored by many economists for reducing global-warming emissions -- charges those who emit carbon dioxide ( CO2 ) for their emissions . That charge , called a carbon price , is the amount that must be paid for the right to emit one tonne of CO2 into the atmosphere . Carbon pricing usually takes the form either of a carbon tax or a requirement to purchase permits to emit , generally known as cap-and-trade , but also called `` allowances '' . Carbon pricing solves the economic problem that , a known greenhouse gas , is what economics calls a negative externality -- a detrimental product that is not priced ( charged for ) by any market . As a consequence of not being priced , there is no market mechanism responsive to the costs of CO2 emitted . The standard economic solution to problems of this type , first proposed by Arthur Pigou in 1920 , is for the product - in this case , CO2 emissions - to be charged at a price equal to the monetary value of the damage caused by the emissions . This should result in the economically optimal ( efficient ) amount of CO2 emissions . Many practical concerns mar the theoretical simplicity of this picture : for example , the exact monetary damage caused by a tonne of CO2 is uncertain . The economics of carbon pricing is much the same for taxes and cap-and-trade . Both prices are efficient ; they have the same social cost and the same effect on profits if permits are auctioned . However , some economists argue that caps prevent non-price policies , such as renewable energy subsidies , from reducing carbon emissions , while carbon taxes do not . Others argue that an enforced cap is the only way to guarantee that carbon emissions will actually be reduced ; a carbon tax will not prevent those who can afford to do so from continuing to generate emissions . The choice of pricing approach , a tax or cap-and-trade , has been controversial . A carbon tax is generally favored on economic grounds for its simplicity and stability , while cap-and-trade is often favored on political grounds . Recently ( 2013 − 14 ) economic opinion has been shifting more heavily toward taxes as national policy measures , and toward a neutral carbon-price-commitment position for the purpose of international climate negotiations .", "Carbon rift Carbon rift is a theory attributing the input and output of carbon into the environment to human capitalistic systems . This is a derivative of Karl Marx 's concept of metabolic rift . In practical terms , increased commodity production demands that greater levels of carbon dioxide ( or CO2 ) be emitted into the biosphere via fossil fuel consumption . Carbon rift theory states that this ultimately disrupts the natural carbon cycle and that this `` rift '' has adverse effects on nearly every aspect of life . Many of the specifics regarding how this metabolic carbon rift interacts with capitalism are proposed by Brett Clark and Richard York in a 2005 article titled `` Carbon Metabolism : Global capitalism , climate change , and the biospheric rift '' in the journal Theory and Society . Researchers such as Jean P. Sapinski of the University of Oregon claim that , despite increased interest in closing the carbon rift , it is projected that as long as capitalism continues , there is little hope of reducing the rift . Both deforestation and the emission of greenhouse gases have been linked to increased atmospheric CO2 levels . Carbon rift theory states that these are the result of human production through capitalistic systems . There are proposed solutions to climate change such as geoengineering proposed in the December 2015 Paris Agreement . However , some argue that the capitalist mode of production is at fault for the emission of greenhouse gas and that solutions must be found to this issue before climate change itself can be addressed . Carbon rift theory , while rarely criticized directly , often indirectly receives criticism regarding the underlying causes of climate change and attributing the stated effects to alternative explanations for climate change , instead of as a result of human activity . Such explanations include the Chaotic Solar System Theory and that increased water vapor is responsible for climate change .", "Carbon sequestration Carbon sequestration is the process involved in carbon capture and the long-term storage of atmospheric carbon dioxide . Carbon sequestration involves long-term storage of carbon dioxide or other forms of carbon to mitigate or defer global warming . It has been proposed as a way to slow the atmospheric and marine accumulation of greenhouse gases , which are released by burning fossil fuels . Carbon dioxide is naturally captured from the atmosphere through biological , chemical , and physical processes . Artificial processes have been devised to produce similar effects , including large-scale , artificial capture and sequestration of industrially produced using subsurface saline aquifers , reservoirs , ocean water , aging oil fields , or other carbon sinks .", "Atmospheric carbon cycle The atmosphere is one of the Earth 's major carbon reservoirs and an important component of the global carbon cycle , holding approximately 720 gigatons of carbon . Atmospheric carbon plays an important role in the greenhouse effect . The most important carbon compound in this respect is the gas carbon dioxide . Although it is a small percentage of the atmosphere ( approximately 0.04 % on a molar basis ) , it plays a vital role in retaining heat in the atmosphere and thus in the greenhouse effect . Other gases with effects on the climate containing carbon in the atmosphere are methane and chlorofluorocarbons ( the latter is entirely anthropogenic ) . Emissions by humans in the past 200 years have almost doubled the amount carbon dioxide in the atmosphere .", "Carbon profiling Carbon profiling is a mathematical process that calculates how much carbon dioxide is put into the atmosphere per m2 of space in a building over one year . The analysis is in two parts which are then added together to produce an overall figure which is termed the ` Carbon Profile ' : operational carbon emissions embodied carbon emissions . Embodied carbon emissions relate to the amount of carbon dioxide emitted into the atmosphere from creating and maintaining the materials that form the building e.g. the carbon dioxide released from the baking of bricks or smelting or iron . In the Carbon Profiling Model these emissions are measured as Embodied Carbon Efficiency ( ECE ) , measured as kg of CO2/m2/year . Occupational Carbon Emissions relate to the amount of Carbon Dioxide emitted into the atmosphere from the direct use of energy to run the building e.g. the heating or electricity used by the building over the year . In the Carbon Profiling Model these emissions are measured in BER 's ( Building Emission Rate ) in kg of / m2/year . The BER is a United Kingdom government accepted unit of measurement that comes from an approved calculation process called sBEM ( Simplified Building Emission Model ) The purpose of Carbon Profiling is to provide a method of analyzing and comparing both operational and embodied carbon emissions at the same time . With this information it is then possible to allocate a projects resources in such a way to minimize the total amount of Carbon Dioxide emitted into the atmosphere through the use of a given piece of space . A secondary benefit is that having quantified the Carbon Profiling of different buildings it is then possible to make comparisons and rank buildings in term of their performance . This allows investors and occupiers to identify which building are good and bad carbon investments . Simon Sturgis and Gareth Roberts of Sturgis Associates in the United Kingdom originally developed ` Carbon Profiling ' in December 2007 .", "North American Carbon Program The North American Carbon Program ( NACP ) is one of the major elements of the Strategic Plan for the U.S. Climate Change Science Program . The central objective of NACP is to measure and understand carbon stocks and sources and sinks of carbon dioxide ( CO2 ) , methane ( CH4 ) , and carbon monoxide ( CO ) in North America and adjacent ocean regions . The specific program goals are as followed : Develop quantitative scientific knowledge , robust observations , and models to determine the emissions and uptake of CO2 , CH4 , and CO , changes in carbon stocks , and the factors regulating these processes for North America and adjacent ocean basins . Develop the scientific basis to implement full carbon accounting on regional and continental scales . This is the knowledge base needed to design monitoring programs for natural and managed CO2 sinks and emissions of CH4 . Support long-term quantitative measurements of fluxes , sources , and sinks of atmospheric CO2 and CH4 , and develop forecasts for future trends . The North American Carbon Program was designed to help with the process of providing data needed to model the synthesis activities .", "Carbon footprint A carbon footprint is historically defined as the total set of greenhouse gas emissions caused by an individual , event , organisation , or product , expressed as carbon dioxide equivalent . In most cases , the total carbon footprint can not be exactly calculated because of inadequate knowledge of and data about the complex interactions between contributing processes , especially which including the influence on natural processes storing or releasing carbon dioxide . For this reason , Wright , Kemp , and Williams , have suggested to define the carbon footprint as : A measure of the total amount of carbon dioxide ( CO2 ) and methane ( CH4 ) emissions of a defined population , system or activity , considering all relevant sources , sinks and storage within the spatial and temporal boundary of the population , system or activity of interest . Calculated as carbon dioxide equivalent using the relevant 100-year global warming potential ( GWP100 ) . Greenhouse gases ( GHGs ) can be emitted through land clearance and the production and consumption of food , fuels , manufactured goods , materials , wood , roads , buildings , transportation and other services . For simplicity of reporting , it is often expressed in terms of the amount of carbon dioxide , or its equivalent of other GHGs , emitted . Most of the carbon footprint emissions for the average U.S. household come from `` indirect '' sources , i.e. fuel burned to produce goods far away from the final consumer . These are distinguished from emissions which come from burning fuel directly in one 's car or stove , commonly referred to as `` direct '' sources of the consumer 's carbon footprint . The concept name of the carbon footprint originates from ecological footprint , discussion , which was developed by Rees and Wackernagel in the 1990s which estimates the number of `` earths '' that would theoretically be required if everyone on the planet consumed resources at the same level as the person calculating their ecological footprint . However , given that ecological footprints are a measure of failure , Anindita Mitra ( CREA , Seattle ) chose the more easily calculated `` carbon footprint '' to easily measure use of carbon , as an indicator of unsustainable energy use . In 2007 , carbon footprint was used as a measure of carbon emissions to develop the energy plan for City of Lynnwood , Washington . Carbon footprints are much more specific than ecological footprints since they measure direct emissions of gases that cause climate change into the atmosphere . Carbon footprint is one of a family of footprint indicators , which also includes water footprint and land footprint .", "Greenhouse effect The greenhouse effect is the process by which radiation from a planet 's atmosphere warms the planet 's surface to a temperature above what it would be without its atmosphere . If a planet 's atmosphere contains radiatively active gases ( i.e. , greenhouse gases ) the atmosphere will radiate energy in all directions . Part of this radiation is directed towards the surface , warming it . The downward component of this radiation -- that is , the strength of the greenhouse effect -- will depend on the atmosphere 's temperature and on the amount of greenhouse gases that the atmosphere contains . On Earth , the atmosphere is warmed by absorption of infrared thermal radiation from the underlying surface ( heated by the sun ) , absorption of shorter wavelength radiant energy from the sun , and convective heat fluxes from the surface . Greenhouse gases in the atmosphere radiate energy , some of which is directed to the surface and lower atmosphere . The mechanism that produces this difference between the actual surface temperature and the effective temperature is due to the atmosphere and is known as the greenhouse effect . Earth 's natural greenhouse effect is critical to supporting life . Human activities , primarily the burning of fossil fuels and clearing of forests , have intensified the natural greenhouse effect , causing global warming . The mechanism is named after a faulty analogy with the effect of solar radiation passing through glass and warming a greenhouse . The way a greenhouse retains heat is fundamentally different , as a greenhouse works by reducing airflow and retaining warm air inside the structure .", "Physical properties of greenhouse gases ", "Estuarine acidification Estuarine acidification is a decrease in the pH of coastal marine ecosystems , specifically those of estuaries . pH change in estuaries is more complicated than in the open ocean due to direct impacts from land run-off and coastal current dynamics . Ocean acidification is the ongoing decrease in the pH of the Earth 's oceans , caused by the absorption of carbon dioxide ( CO2 ) from the atmosphere ( 0.1 units over the last century ) . The ocean absorbs 30-40 % of all CO2 emitted to the atmosphere ; this increase in aqueous carbon dioxide causes a decline in the pH of the ocean surface . As carbon dioxide combines with water , it releases protons ( hydrogen ions ) , based on the following equation : CO2 + H2O ↔ H2CO3 ↔ HCO3 + H + ↔ CO3 + 2 H +", "Climate system Earth's climate arises from the interaction of five major climate system components: the atmosphere (air), the hydrosphere (water), the cryosphere (ice and permafrost), the lithosphere (earth's upper rocky layer) and the biosphere (living things). Climate is the average weather, typically over a period of 30 years, and is determined by a combination of processes in the climate system, such as ocean currents and wind patterns. Circulation in the atmosphere and oceans is primarily driven by solar radiation and transports heat from the tropical regions to regions that receive less energy from the Sun. The water cycle also moves energy throughout the climate system. In addition, different chemical elements, necessary for life, are constantly recycled between the different components. The climate system can change due to internal variability and external forcings. These external forcings can be natural, such as variations in solar intensity and volcanic eruptions, or caused by humans. Accumulation of heat-trapping greenhouse gases, mainly being emitted by people burning fossil fuels, is causing global warming. Human activity also releases cooling aerosols, but their net effect is far less than that of greenhouse gases. Changes can be amplified by feedback processes in the different climate system components.", "Energy policy of China The energy policy of China is a policy decided on by the Central Government with regard to energy and energy resources . Ensuring adequate energy supply to sustain economic growth has been a core concern of the Chinese government since 1949 . The country is currently the world 's largest emitter of greenhouse gases according to a Dutch research agency . However , China 's per capita emissions are still far behind the developed countries . In addition , China is the world 's leading renewable energy producer . From 2010 to 2015 China reduced energy consumption per unit of GDP by 18 % , and CO2 emissions per unit of GDP by 20 % . Primary energy use in China was 26,250 TWh and 20 TWh per million persons in 2009 . According to IEA the primary energy use grew 40 % and electricity use 70 % from 2004 to 2009 . The energy import was three times bigger in 2009 compared to 2004 . The share of energy import of the primary energy use was 12 % in 2009 . The CO2 emissions growth in five years ( 2004-2009 ) was 44 % .", "List of countries by carbon dioxide emissions -RSB- This is a list of sovereign states and territories by carbon dioxide emissions due to certain forms of human activity , based on the EDGAR database created by European Commission and Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency released in 2015 . The following table lists the 2015 annual emissions estimates ( in thousands of tonnes ) along with a list of emissions per capita ( in tonnes of per year ) from same source . The data only considers carbon dioxide emissions from the burning of fossil fuels and cement manufacture , but not emissions from land use , land-use change and forestry . Emissions from international shipping or bunker fuels are also not included in national figures , which can make a huge difference for small countries with important ports . The top 10 largest emitter countries account for 67.6 % of the world total . Other powerful , more potent greenhouse gases , including methane , are not included in this data .", "Global dimming Global dimming is the gradual reduction in the amount of global direct irradiance at the Earth 's surface that was observed for several decades after the start of systematic measurements in the 1950s . The effect varies by location , but worldwide it has been estimated to be of the order of a 4 % reduction over the three decades from 1960 -- 1990 . However , after discounting an anomaly caused by the eruption of Mount Pinatubo in 1991 , a very slight reversal in the overall trend has been observed . Global dimming is thought to have been caused by an increase in particulates such as sulfate aerosols in the atmosphere due to human action . It has interfered with the hydrological cycle by reducing evaporation and may have reduced rainfall in some areas . Global dimming also creates a cooling effect that may have partially counteracted the effect of greenhouse gases on global warming .", "350.org 350 . org is an international environmental organization encouraging citizens to action with the belief that publicizing the increasing levels of carbon dioxide will pressure world leaders to address climate change and to reduce levels from 400 parts per million to 350 parts per million . It was founded by author Bill McKibben with the goal of building a global grassroots movement to raise awareness about human-driven climate change , to confront climate change denial , and to cut emissions of carbon dioxide in order to slow the rate of global warming . 350 . org takes its name from the research of Goddard Institute for Space Studies scientist James E. Hansen , who posited in a 2007 paper that 350 parts-per-million ( ppm ) of CO2 in the atmosphere is a safe upper limit to avoid a climate tipping point .", "Carbon respiration Carbon respiration ( also called carbon emissions and carbon releases ) is used in combination with carbon fixation to gauge carbon flux ( as CO2 ) between atmospheric carbon and the global carbon cycle .", "Quest Carbon Capture and Storage Project The Quest Carbon Capture and Storage Project captures and stores underground one million tonnes of CO2 emissions per year . The capture unit is located at the Scotford Upgrader in Alberta , Canada , where hydrogen is produced to upgrade bitumen from oil sands into synthetic crude oil .", "Nitrogen cycle The nitrogen cycle is the biogeochemical cycle by which nitrogen is converted into various chemical forms as it circulates among the atmosphere and terrestrial and marine ecosystems . The conversion of nitrogen can be carried out through both biological and physical processes . Important processes in the nitrogen cycle include fixation , ammonification , nitrification , and denitrification . The majority of Earth 's atmosphere ( 78 % ) is nitrogen , making it the largest source of nitrogen . However , atmospheric nitrogen has limited availability for biological use , leading to a scarcity of usable nitrogen in many types of ecosystems . The nitrogen cycle is of particular interest to ecologists because nitrogen availability can affect the rate of key ecosystem processes , including primary production and decomposition . Human activities such as fossil fuel combustion , use of artificial nitrogen fertilizers , and release of nitrogen in wastewater have dramatically altered the global nitrogen cycle .", "Global warming taxes ", "Revelle factor The Revelle factor ( buffer factor ) is the ratio of instantaneous change in carbon dioxide to the change in total dissolved inorganic carbon ( DIC ) , and is a measure of the resistance to atmospheric CO2 being absorbed by the ocean surface layer . The buffer factor is used to examine the distribution of CO2 between the atmosphere and the ocean , and measures the amount of CO2 that can be dissolved in the mixed surface layer . It is named after the oceanographer Roger Revelle , who was one of the first scientists to study global warming . Revelle factor = / ( Δ -LSB- DIC -RSB- / -LSB- DIC -RSB- ) where DIC is dissolved inorganic carbon . Δ -LSB- -RSB- / -LSB- -RSB- is the instantaneous change in p and Δ -LSB- DIC -RSB- / -LSB- DIC -RSB- is the instantaneous change in DIC .", "Anthropogenic metabolism Anthropogenic metabolism , also referred to as ` metabolism of the anthroposphere ' , is a term used in industrial ecology , material flow analysis , and waste management to describe the material and energy turnover of human society . It emerges from the application of systems thinking to the industrial and other man-made activities and it is a central concept of sustainable development . In modern societies , the bulk of anthropogenic ( man-made ) material flows is related to one of the following activities : sanitation , transportation , habitation , and communication , which were `` of little metabolic significance in prehistoric times '' . Global man-made stocks of steel in buildings , infrastructure , and vehicles , for example , amount to about 25 Gigatonnes ( more than three tonnes per person ) , a figure that is surpassed only by construction materials such as concrete . Sustainable development is closely linked to the design of a sustainable anthropogenic metabolism , which will entail substantial changes in the energy and material turnover of the different human activities . Anthropogenic metabolism can be seen as synonymous to social or socioeconomic metabolism . It comprises both industrial metabolism and urban metabolism .", "Project Vulcan Project Vulcan is a NASA/DOE funded effort under the North American Carbon Program ( NACP ) to quantify North American fossil fuel carbon dioxide ( CO2 ) emissions at space/time scales much finer than has been achieved in the past . The initial purpose of the Vulcan Project was to aid in quantification of the North American carbon budget , to support inverse estimation of carbon sources and sinks , and to support the demands posed by higher resolution CO2 observations . The detail and scope of the Vulcan CO2 inventory has now made it a valuable tool for policymakers , demographers , social scientists and the public at large . Project Vulcan has achieved U.S. fossil fuel CO2 emissions at < 10 km spatial scales and an hourly time scale , based on datasets such as air quality emissions reporting , census data , highway statistics , energy statistics , and econometric data . Furthermore , Vulcan includes significant process-level detail , dividing the emissions into economic sectors and sub-sectors in addition to 23 fuel types . It has been produced for the year 2002 , and an annual product spanning 1980-2006 will be available by late-2009 . The first Vulcan inventory ( v1 .0 ) was released to the public in early April 2008 . Version 1.1 was released in February 2009 and Version 1.2 is due out in early August 2009 . In addition to the data release , establishment of the Vulcan website and a press release , a video of various aspects of atmospheric transport was released on Purdue University 's YouTube website and portions of the Vulcan inventory are available on Google Earth . As of 2015 , version 2.2 has been published on a site hosted by Arizona State University .", "Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative ` The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative ( RGGI , pronounced `` Reggie '' ) is the first mandatory market based program in the United States to reduce greenhouse gas emissions . RGGI is a cooperative effort among the states of Connecticut , Delaware , Maine , Maryland , Massachusetts , New Hampshire , New York , Rhode Island , and Vermont to cap and reduce CO2 emissions from the power sector . RGGI compliance obligations apply to fossil-fueled power plants 25MW and larger within the nine-state region . RGGI establishes a regional cap on the amount of CO2 pollution that power plants can emit by issuing a limited number of tradable CO2 allowances . Each allowance represents an authorization for a regulated power plant to emit one short ton of CO2 . Individual CO2 budget trading programs in each RGGI state together create a regional market for CO2 allowances . The RGGI states distribute over 90 percent of allowances through quarterly auctions . These allowance auctions generate proceeds , which participating states are able to invest in strategic energy and consumer benefit programs . Programs funded through RGGI have included energy efficiency , clean and renewable energy , greenhouse gas abatement , and direct bill assistance . An initial milestone program 's development occurred in 2005 , when seven states signed a Memorandum of Understanding ( MOU ) announcing an agreement to implement RGGI . The RGGI states then established individual CO2 budget trading programs , based on the RGGI Model Rule . The first pre-compliance RGGI auction took place in September 2008 , and the program became effective on January 1 , 2009 . The RGGI program is currently in its third three-year compliance period , which began January 1 , 2015 .", "GHG footprint The GHG footprint , or greenhouse gas footprint , refers to the amount of GHG that are emitted during the creation of products or services . It is more comprehensive than the commonly used carbon footprint , which measures only carbon dioxide , one of many greenhouse gases . The GHG footprint differs from the ecological footprint in that the former is expressed in units of GHG warming potential ( GGWP ) and is generated by products or services , whereas the latter is expressed in units of land area and is generated by whole societies .", "Mitigation of aviation's environmental impact Aviation affects the environment due to aircraft engines emitting noise , particulates , and gases which contribute to climate change and global dimming . Despite emission reductions from automobiles and more fuel-efficient ( and therefore less polluting ) turbofan and turboprop engines , the rapid growth of air travel in recent years contributes to an increase in total pollution attributable to aviation . In the EU , greenhouse gas emissions from aviation increased by 87 % between 1990 and 2006 . At present aviation accounts for 2.5 % of global CO2 emissions . Due to projected growth in air travel , in the most technologically radical scenarios for having a better than 50 % chance of keeping global warming below 2 degrees Celsius , in 2050 aviation will make up 15 % of global CO2 emissions . In more conventional scenarios its emissions will exceed the entire global carbon budget before then . This presents governments and the operators of aircraft with a responsibility to reduce the aviation industry 's emissions .", "Soil respiration Soil respiration refers to the production of carbon dioxide when soil organisms respire . This includes respiration of plant roots , the rhizosphere , microbes and fauna . Soil respiration is a key ecosystem process that releases carbon from the soil in the form of CO2 . CO2 is acquired from the atmosphere and converted into organic compounds in the process of photosynthesis . Plants use these organic compounds to build structural components or respire them to release energy . When plant respiration occurs below-ground in the roots , it adds to soil respiration . Over time , plant structural components are consumed by heterotrophs . This heterotrophic consumption releases CO2 and when this CO2 is released by below-ground organisms , it is considered soil respiration . The amount of soil respiration that occurs in an ecosystem is controlled by several factors . The temperature , moisture , nutrient content and level of oxygen in the soil can produce extremely disparate rates of respiration . These rates of respiration can be measured in a variety of methods . Other methods can be used to separate the source components , in this case the type of photosynthetic pathway ( C3/C4 ) , of the respired plant structures . Soil respiration rates can be largely affected by human activity . This is because humans have the ability to and have been changing the various controlling factors of soil respiration for numerous years . Global climate change is composed of numerous changing factors including rising atmospheric CO2 , increasing temperature and shifting precipitation patterns . All of these factors can affect the rate of global soil respiration . Increased nitrogen fertilization by humans also has the potential to effect rates over the entire Earth . Soil respiration and its rate across ecosystems is extremely important to understand . This is because soil respiration plays a large role in global carbon cycling as well as other nutrient cycles . The respiration of plant structures releases not only CO2 but also other nutrients in those structures , such as nitrogen . Soil respiration is also associated with positive feedbacks with global climate change . Positive feedbacks are when a change in a system produces response in the same direction of the change . Therefore , soil respiration rates can be effected by climate change and then respond by enhancing climate change .", "Exhaust gas Exhaust gas or flue gas is emitted as a result of the combustion of fuels such as natural gas , gasoline , petrol , biodiesel blends , diesel fuel , fuel oil , or coal . According to the type of engine , it is discharged into the atmosphere through an exhaust pipe , flue gas stack , or propelling nozzle . It often disperses downwind in a pattern called an exhaust plume . It is a major component of motor vehicle emissions ( and from stationary internal combustion engines ) , which can also include : Crankcase blow-by Evaporation of unused gasoline Motor vehicle emissions contribute to air pollution and are a major ingredient in the creation of smog in some large cities . A 2013 study by MIT indicates that 53,000 early deaths occur per year in the United States alone because of vehicle emissions . According to another study from the same university , traffic fumes alone cause the death of 5,000 people every year just in the United Kingdom ." ]

[ "Earth Earth ( from Eorðe -LSB- Γαῖα , Gaia -RSB- Terra ) , otherwise known as the World or the Globe , is the third planet from the Sun and the only object in the Universe known to harbor life . It is the densest planet in the Solar System and the largest of the four terrestrial planets . According to radiometric dating and other sources of evidence , Earth formed about 4.54 billion years ago . Earth 's gravity interacts with other objects in space , especially the Sun and the Moon , Earth 's only natural satellite . During one orbit around the Sun , Earth rotates about its axis over 365 times ; thus , an Earth year is about 365.26 days long . Earth 's axis of rotation is tilted , producing seasonal variations on the planet 's surface . The gravitational interaction between the Earth and Moon causes ocean tides , stabilizes the Earth 's orientation on its axis , and gradually slows its rotation . Earth 's lithosphere is divided into several rigid tectonic plates that migrate across the surface over periods of many millions of years . About 71 % of Earth 's surface is covered with water , mostly by its oceans . The remaining 29 % is land consisting of continents and islands that together have many lakes , rivers and other sources of water that contribute to the hydrosphere . The majority of Earth 's polar regions are covered in ice , including the Antarctic ice sheet and the sea ice of the Arctic ice pack . Earth 's interior remains active with a solid iron inner core , a liquid outer core that generates the Earth 's magnetic field , and a convecting mantle that drives plate tectonics . Within the first billion years of Earth 's history , life appeared in the oceans and began to affect the Earth 's atmosphere and surface , leading to the proliferation of aerobic and anaerobic organisms . Some geological evidence indicates that life may have arisen as much as 4.1 billion years ago . Since then , the combination of Earth 's distance from the Sun , physical properties , and geological history have allowed life to evolve and thrive . In the history of the Earth , biodiversity has gone through long periods of expansion , occasionally punctuated by mass extinction events . Over 99 % of all species that ever lived on Earth are extinct . Estimates of the number of species on Earth today vary widely ; most species have not been described . Over 7.4 billion humans live on Earth and depend on its biosphere and minerals for their survival . Humans have developed diverse societies and cultures ; politically , the world has about 200 sovereign states .", "Arctic The Arctic ( -LSB- ˈɑrktɪk -RSB- or -LSB- ˈɑrtɪk -RSB- ) is a polar region located at the northernmost part of Earth . The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean , adjacent seas , and parts of Alaska ( United States ) , Canada , Finland , Greenland ( Denmark ) , Iceland , Norway , Russia and Sweden . Land within the Arctic region has seasonally varying snow and ice cover , with predominantly treeless permafrost-containing tundra . Arctic seas contain seasonal sea ice in many places . The Arctic region is a unique area among Earth 's ecosystems . For example , the cultures in the region and the Arctic indigenous peoples have adapted to its cold and extreme conditions . In recent years , Arctic sea ice decline has been caused by global warming . Life in the Arctic includes organisms living in the ice , zooplankton and phytoplankton , fish and marine mammals , birds , land animals , plants and human societies . Arctic land is bordered by the subarctic .", "Permafrost In geology , permafrost is ground , including rock or ( cryotic ) soil , at or below the freezing point of water 0 C for two or more years . Most permafrost is located in high latitudes ( in and around the Arctic and Antarctic regions ) , but alpine permafrost may exist at high altitudes in much lower latitudes . Ground ice is not always present , as may be in the case of nonporous bedrock , but it frequently occurs and it may be in amounts exceeding the potential hydraulic saturation of the ground material . Permafrost accounts for 0.022 % of total water on earth and exists in 24 % of exposed land in the Northern Hemisphere . It also occurs subsea on the continental shelves of the continents surrounding the Arctic Ocean , portions of which were exposed during the last glacial period , with global weather implications . A global temperature rise of 1.5 C-change above current levels would be enough to start the thawing of permafrost in Siberia , according to one group of scientists .", "Eocene The Eocene ( -LSB- pronˈiːəˌsiːn , _ ˈiːoʊ - -RSB- ) Epoch , lasting from , is a major division of the geologic timescale and the second epoch of the Paleogene Period in the Cenozoic Era . The Eocene spans the time from the end of the Paleocene Epoch to the beginning of the Oligocene Epoch . The start of the Eocene is marked by a brief period in which the concentration of the carbon isotope 13C in the atmosphere was exceptionally low in comparison with the more common isotope 12C . The end is set at a major extinction event called the Grande Coupure ( the `` Great Break '' in continuity ) or the Eocene -- Oligocene extinction event , which may be related to the impact of one or more large bolides in Siberia and in what is now Chesapeake Bay . As with other geologic periods , the strata that define the start and end of the epoch are well identified , though their exact dates are slightly uncertain . The name Eocene comes from the Ancient Greek ἠώς ( ēṓs , `` dawn '' ) and καινός ( kainós , `` new '' ) and refers to the `` dawn '' of modern ( ` new ' ) fauna that appeared during the epoch .", "Tundra In physical geography , tundra is a type of biome where the tree growth is hindered by low temperatures and short growing seasons . The term tundra comes through Russian тундра ( tûndra ) from the Kildin Sami word tūndâr `` uplands '' , `` treeless mountain tract '' . There are three types of tundra : Arctic tundra , alpine tundra , and Antarctic tundra . In tundra , the vegetation is composed of dwarf shrubs , sedges and grasses , mosses , and lichens . Scattered trees grow in some tundra regions . The ecotone ( or ecological boundary region ) between the tundra and the forest is known as the tree line or timberline ." ]

[ "Future of Earth The biological and geological future of Earth can be extrapolated based upon the estimated effects of several long-term influences . These include the chemistry at Earth 's surface , the rate of cooling of the planet 's interior , the gravitational interactions with other objects in the Solar System , and a steady increase in the Sun 's luminosity . An uncertain factor in this extrapolation is the ongoing influence of technology introduced by humans , such as climate engineering , which could cause significant changes to the planet . The current Holocene extinction is being caused by technology and the effects may last for up to five million years . In turn , technology may result in the extinction of humanity , leaving the planet to gradually return to a slower evolutionary pace resulting solely from long-term natural processes . Over time intervals of hundreds of millions of years , random celestial events pose a global risk to the biosphere , which can result in mass extinctions . These include impacts by comets or asteroids with diameters of 5 -- or more , and the possibility of a massive stellar explosion , called a supernova , within a 100-light-year radius of the Sun , called a Near-Earth supernova . Other large-scale geological events are more predictable . If the long-term effects of global warming are disregarded , Milankovitch theory predicts that the planet will continue to undergo glacial periods at least until the Quaternary glaciation comes to an end . These periods are caused by variations in eccentricity , axial tilt , and precession of the Earth 's orbit . As part of the ongoing supercontinent cycle , plate tectonics will probably result in a supercontinent in 250 -- 350 million years . Some time in the next 1.5 -- 4.5 billion years , the axial tilt of the Earth may begin to undergo chaotic variations , with changes in the axial tilt of up to 90 ° . During the next four billion years , the luminosity of the Sun will steadily increase , resulting in a rise in the solar radiation reaching the Earth . This will result in a higher rate of weathering of silicate minerals , which will cause a decrease in the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere . In about 600 million years from now , the level of CO2 will fall below the level needed to sustain C3 carbon fixation photosynthesis used by trees . Some plants use the C4 carbon fixation method , allowing them to persist at concentrations as low as 10 parts per million . However , the long-term trend is for plant life to die off altogether . The extinction of plants will be the demise of almost all animal life , since plants are the base of the food chain on Earth . In about one billion years , the solar luminosity will be 10 % higher than at present . This will cause the atmosphere to become a `` moist greenhouse '' , resulting in a runaway evaporation of the oceans . As a likely consequence , plate tectonics will come to an end , and with them the entire carbon cycle . Following this event , in about 2 − 3 billion years , the planet 's magnetic dynamo may cease , causing the magnetosphere to decay and leading to an accelerated loss of volatiles from the outer atmosphere . Four billion years from now , the increase in the Earth 's surface temperature will cause a runaway greenhouse effect , heating the surface enough to melt it . By that point , all life on the Earth will be extinct . The most probable fate of the planet is absorption by the Sun in about 7.5 billion years , after the star has entered the red giant phase and expanded to cross the planet 's current orbit .", "Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum The Paleocene -- Eocene Thermal Maximum ( PETM ) , alternatively ( ETM1 ) , and formerly known as the `` Initial Eocene '' or '' '' was a time period with more than 8 ° C warmer global average temperature than today . This climate event began at the time boundary between the Paleocene and Eocene geological epochs . The exact age and duration of the event is uncertain but it is estimated to have occurred around 55.5 million years ago . The associated period of massive carbon injection into the atmosphere has been estimated to have lasted no longer than 20,000 years . The entire warm period lasted for about 200,000 years . Global temperatures increased by 5 -- 8 ° C . The carbon dioxide was likely released in two pulses , the first lasting less than 2,000 years . Such a repeated carbon release is in line with current global warming . A main difference is that during the Paleocene -- Eocene Thermal Maximum , the planet was essentially ice-free . The onset of the Paleocene -- Eocene Thermal Maximum has been linked to an initial 5 ° C temperature rise and to extreme changes in Earth 's carbon cycle . The period is marked by a prominent negative excursion in carbon stable isotope records from around the globe ; more specifically , there was a large decrease in 13C/12C ratio of marine and terrestrial carbonates and organic carbon . Stratigraphic sections of rock from this period reveal numerous other changes . Fossil records for many organisms show major turnovers . For example , in the marine realm , a mass extinction of benthic foraminifera , a global expansion of subtropical dinoflagellates , and an appearance of excursion , planktic foraminifera and calcareous nanofossils all occurred during the beginning stages of PETM . On land , modern mammal orders ( including primates ) suddenly appear in Europe and in North America . Sediment deposition changed significantly at many outcrops and in many drill cores spanning this time interval . At least since 1997 , the Paleocene -- Eocene Thermal Maximum has become a focal point of considerable geoscience research because it probably provides the best past analog by which to understand impacts of global climate warming and of massive carbon input to the ocean and atmosphere , including ocean acidification . Although it is now widely accepted that the PETM represents a `` case study '' for global warming and massive carbon input to Earth 's surface , the cause , details and overall significance of the event remain perplexing .", "History of Earth The history of Earth concerns the development of the planet Earth from its formation to the present day . Nearly all branches of natural science have contributed to the understanding of the main events of the Earth 's past . The age of Earth is approximately one-third of the age of the universe . An immense amount of geological change has occurred in that timespan , accompanied by the emergence of life and its subsequent evolution . Earth formed around 4.54 billion years ago by accretion from the solar nebula . Volcanic outgassing probably created the primordial atmosphere and then the ocean ; but the atmosphere contained almost no oxygen and so would have been toxic to most modern life including humans . Much of the Earth was molten because of frequent collisions with other bodies which led to extreme volcanism . A giant impact collision with a planet-sized body named Theia while Earth was in its earliest stage , also known as Early Earth , is thought to have been responsible for forming the Moon . Over time , the Earth cooled , causing the formation of a solid crust , and allowing liquid water to exist on the surface . The geological time scale ( GTS ) clock ( see graphic ) depicts the larger spans of time from the beginning of the Earth as well as a chronology of some definitive events of Earth history . The Hadean Eon represents time before the reliable ( fossil ) record of life beginning on Earth ; it began with the formation of the planet and ended at 4.0 billion years ago as defined by international convention . The Archean and Proterozoic eons follow ; they produced the abiogenesis of life on Earth and then the evolution of early life . The succeeding eon is the Phanerozoic , which is represented by its three component eras : the Palaeozoic ; the Mesozoic , which spanned the rise , reign , and climactic extinction of the huge dinosaurs ; and the Cenozoic , which presented the subsequent development of dominant mammals on Earth . Hominins , the earliest direct ancestors of the human clade , rose sometime during the latter part of the Miocene epoch ; the precise time marking the first hominins is broadly debated over a current range of 13 to 4 mya . The succeeding Quaternary period is the time of recognizable humans , i.e. , the genus Homo , but that period 's two million-year-plus term of the recent times is too small to be visible at the scale of the GTS graphic . ( Notes re the graphic : Ga means `` billion years '' ; Ma , `` million years '' . ) The earliest undisputed evidence of life on Earth dates at least from 3.5 billion years ago , during the Eoarchean Era after a geological crust started to solidify following the earlier molten Hadean Eon . There are microbial mat fossils such as stromatolites found in 3.48 billion-year-old sandstone discovered in Western Australia . Other early physical evidence of a biogenic substance is graphite in 3.7 billion-year-old metasedimentary rocks discovered in southwestern Greenland as well as `` remains of biotic life '' found in 4.1 billion-year-old rocks in Western Australia . According to one of the researchers , `` If life arose relatively quickly on Earth ... then it could be common in the universe . '' Living forms derived from photosynthesis appeared between 3.2 and 2.4 billion years ago and began enriching the atmosphere with oxygen . Life remained mostly small and microscopic until about 580 million years ago , when complex multicellular life arose , developed over time , and culminated in the Cambrian Explosion about 541 million years ago . This event drove a rapid diversification of life forms on Earth that produced most of the major phyla known today ; and it marked the end of the Proterozoic Eon and the beginning of the Cambrian Period of the Paleozoic Era . More than 99 percent of all species , amounting to over five billion species , that ever lived on Earth are estimated to be extinct . Estimates on the number of Earth 's current species range from 10 million to 14 million , of which about 1.2 million have been documented and over 86 percent have not yet been described . More recently , in May 2016 , scientists reported that 1 trillion species are estimated to be on Earth currently with only one-thousandth of one percent described . Geological change has been a constant of Earth 's crust since the time of its formation , and biological change since the first appearance of life . Species continue to evolve , taking on new forms , splitting into daughter species or going extinct in the process of adapting or dying in response to ever-changing physical environments . The process of plate tectonics continues to play a dominant role in the shaping of Earth 's oceans and continents and the living species they harbor . Changes in the biosphere -- now dominated by human activity -- continue , in turn , to produce significant effects on the atmosphere and other systems of the Earth 's surface , such as the integrity of the ozone layer , the proliferation of greenhouse gases , the conditions of productive soils and clean air and water , and others .", "Biodiversity Biodiversity a portmanteau of `` biological diversity , '' generally refers to the variety and variability of life on Earth . According to the United Nations Environment Programme , biodiversity typically measures variation at the genetic , the species , and the ecosystem level . Terrestrial biodiversity tends to be greater near the equator , which seems to be the result of the warm climate and high primary productivity . Biodiversity is not distributed evenly on Earth , and is richest in the tropics . These tropical forest ecosystems cover less than 10 per cent of earth 's surface , and contain about 90 percent of the world 's species . Marine biodiversity tends to be highest along coasts in the Western Pacific , where sea surface temperature is highest and in the mid-latitudinal band in all oceans . There are latitudinal gradients in species diversity . Biodiversity generally tends to cluster in hotspots , and has been increasing through time , but will be likely to slow in the future . Rapid environmental changes typically cause mass extinctions . More than 99.9 percent of all species , amounting to over five billion species , that ever lived on Earth are estimated to be extinct . Estimates on the number of Earth 's current species range from 10 million to 14 million , of which about 1.2 million have been documented and over 86 percent have not yet been described . More recently , in May 2016 , scientists reported that 1 trillion species are estimated to be on Earth currently with only one-thousandth of one percent described . The total amount of related DNA base pairs on Earth is estimated at 5.0 x 1037 and weighs 50 billion tonnes . In comparison , the total mass of the biosphere has been estimated to be as much as 4 TtC ( trillion tons of carbon ) . In July 2016 , scientists reported identifying a set of 355 genes from the Last Universal Common Ancestor ( LUCA ) of all organisms living on Earth . The age of the Earth is about 4.54 billion years old . The earliest undisputed evidence of life on Earth dates at least from 3.5 billion years ago , during the Eoarchean Era after a geological crust started to solidify following the earlier molten Hadean Eon . There are microbial mat fossils found in 3.48 billion-year-old sandstone discovered in Western Australia . Other early physical evidence of a biogenic substance is graphite in 3.7 billion-year-old meta-sedimentary rocks discovered in Western Greenland . More recently , in 2015 , `` remains of biotic life '' were found in 4.1 billion-year-old rocks in Western Australia . According to one of the researchers , `` If life arose relatively quickly on Earth . . then it could be common in the universe . '' Since life began on Earth , five major mass extinctions and several minor events have led to large and sudden drops in biodiversity . The Phanerozoic eon ( the last 540 million years ) marked a rapid growth in biodiversity via the Cambrian explosion -- a period during which the majority of multicellular phyla first appeared . The next 400 million years included repeated , massive biodiversity losses classified as mass extinction events . In the Carboniferous , rainforest collapse led to a great loss of plant and animal life . The Permian -- Triassic extinction event , 251 million years ago , was the worst ; vertebrate recovery took 30 million years . The most recent , the Cretaceous -- Paleogene extinction event , occurred 65 million years ago and has often attracted more attention than others because it resulted in the extinction of the dinosaurs . The period since the emergence of humans has displayed an ongoing biodiversity reduction and an accompanying loss of genetic diversity . Named the Holocene extinction , the reduction is caused primarily by human impacts , particularly habitat destruction . Conversely , biodiversity impacts human health in a number of ways , both positively and negatively . The United Nations designated 2011 -- 2020 as the United Nations Decade on Biodiversity .", "Life Entity The Life Entity is a fictional creature , a physical embodiment of all life within the DC Universe . Long ago starting all life from the planet Earth , it went on to create the seven entities of the Emotional Electromagnetic Spectrum , and was hidden in a dimensional tear within the Earth by the Guardians of the Universe when they discovered its existence in order to preserve it from exploitation and possible harm .", "Occluded front An occluded front is formed during the process of cyclogenesis when a cold front overtakes a warm front . When this occurs , the warm air is separated ( occluded ) from the cyclone center at the Earth 's surface . The point where the warm front and the occluded front meet ( and consequently the nearest location of warm air to the center of the cyclone ) is called the triple point . The trowal ( short for TROugh of Warm air ALoft ) is the projection on the Earth 's surface of the trough of warm air aloft formed during the occlusion process of the depression .", "Evolution of insects Based on genome sequencing data , it is estimated that the class of insects originated on Earth about 480 million years ago , in the Ordovician , at about the same time terrestrial plants appeared . Insects evolved from a group of crustaceans . The first insects were land bound , but about 400 million years ago in the Devonian period one lineage of insects evolved flight , the first animals to do so . The oldest definitive insect fossil , Rhyniognatha hirsti , is estimated to be . Global climate conditions changed several times during the history of Earth , and along with it the diversity of insects . The Pterygotes ( winged insects ) underwent a major radiation in the Carboniferous ( 356 to 299 million years ago ) while the Endopterygota ( insects that go through different life stages with metamorphosis ) underwent another major radiation in the Permian ( 299 to 252 million years ago ) . Most extant orders of insects developed during the Permian period . Many of the early groups became extinct during the mass extinction at the Permo-Triassic boundary , the largest extinction event in the history of the Earth , around . The survivors of this event evolved in the Triassic ( 252 to 201 million years ago ) to what are essentially the modern insect orders that persist to this day . Most modern insect families appeared in the Jurassic ( 201 to 145 million years ago ) . In an important example of co-evolution , a number of highly successful insect groups -- especially the Hymenoptera ( wasps , bees and ants ) and Lepidoptera ( butterflies ) as well as many types of Diptera ( flies ) and Coleoptera ( beetles ) -- evolved in conjunction with flowering plants during the Cretaceous ( 145 to 66 million years ago ) . Many modern insect genera developed during the Cenozoic that began about 66 million years ago ; insects from this period onwards frequently became preserved in amber , often in perfect condition . Such specimens are easily compared with modern species , and most of them are members of extant genera .", "Wetland methane emissions As one of the most significant natural sources of atmospheric methane , wetlands remain a major area of concern with respect to climate change . Wetlands are characterized by water-logged soils and distinctive communities of plant and animal species that have evolved and adapted to the constant presence of water . Due to this high level of water saturation as well as warm weather , wetlands are one of the most significant natural sources of atmospheric methane . Most methanogenesis , or methane production , occurs in oxygen-poor environments . Because the microbes that live in warm , moist environments consume oxygen more rapidly than it can diffuse in from the atmosphere , wetlands are the ideal anaerobic , or oxygen poor , environments for fermentation . Fermentation is a process used by certain kinds of microorganisms to break down essential nutrients . In a process called acetoclastic methanogenesis , microorganisms from the classification domain archaea produce methane by fermenting acetate and H2-CO2 into methane and carbon dioxide . H3C-COOH → CH4 + CO2 Depending on the wetland and type of archaea , hydrogenotrophic methanogenesis , another process that yields methane , can also occur . This process occurs as a result of archaea oxidizing hydrogen with carbon dioxide to yield methane and water . 4H2 + CO2 → CH4 + 2H2O", "Evolutionary history of life The evolutionary history of life on Earth traces the processes by which living and fossil organisms have evolved since life appeared on the planet , until the present day . Earth formed about 4.5 billion years ( Ga ) ago and there is evidence that life appeared as early as 4.1 Ga. . The similarities between all present-day organisms indicate the presence of a common ancestor from which all known species have diverged through the process of evolution . More than 99 percent of all species , amounting to over five billion species , that ever lived on Earth are estimated to be extinct . Estimates on the number of Earth 's current species range from 10 million to 14 million , of which about 1.9 million are estimated to have been named and 1.6 million documented in a central database to date . More recently , in May 2016 , scientists reported that 1 trillion species are estimated to be on Earth currently with only one-thousandth of one percent described . The earliest evidence for life on Earth is graphite found to be a biogenic substance in 3.7 billion-year-old metasedimentary rocks discovered in western Greenland and microbial mat fossils found in 3.48 billion-year-old sandstone discovered in Western Australia . More recently , in 2015 , `` remains of biotic life '' were found in 4.1 billion-year-old rocks in Western Australia . In March 2017 , researchers reported evidence of possibly the oldest forms of life on Earth . Putative fossilized microorganisms were discovered in hydrothermal vent precipitates in the Nuvvuagittuq Belt of Quebec , Canada , that may have lived as early as 4.280 billion years ago , not long after the oceans formed 4.4 billion years ago , and not long after the formation of the Earth 4.54 billion years ago . According to biologist Stephen Blair Hedges , `` If life arose relatively quickly on Earth ... then it could be common in the universe . '' Microbial mats of coexisting bacteria and archaea were the dominant form of life in the early Archean and many of the major steps in early evolution are thought to have taken place within them . The evolution of photosynthesis , around 3.5 Ga , eventually led to a buildup of its waste product , oxygen , in the atmosphere , leading to the great oxygenation event , beginning around 2.4 Ga. . The earliest evidence of eukaryotes ( complex cells with organelles ) dates from 1.85 Ga , and while they may have been present earlier , their diversification accelerated when they started using oxygen in their metabolism . Later , around 1.7 Ga , multicellular organisms began to appear , with differentiated cells performing specialised functions . Sexual reproduction , which involves the fusion of male and female reproductive cells ( gametes ) to create a zygote in a process called fertilization is , in contrast to asexual reproduction , the primary method of reproduction for the vast majority of macroscopic organisms , including almost all eukaryotes ( which includes animals and plants ) . However the origin and evolution of sexual reproduction remain a puzzle for biologists though it did evolve from a common ancestor that was a single celled eukaryotic species . Bilateria , animals with a front and a back , appeared by 555 Ma ( million years ago ) . The earliest land plants date back to around 450 Ma , although evidence suggests that microorganisms formed the earliest terrestrial ecosystems , at least 2.9 Ga. . Microorganisms are thought to have paved the way for the inception of land plants in the Phanerozoic . Land plants were so successful that they are thought to have contributed to the Late Devonian extinction event . Ediacara biota appear during the Ediacaran period , while vertebrates , along with most other modern phyla originated about during the Cambrian explosion . During the Permian period , synapsids , including the ancestors of mammals , dominated the land , but most of this group became extinct in the Permian -- Triassic extinction event . During the recovery from this catastrophe , archosaurs became the most abundant land vertebrates ; one archosaur group , the dinosaurs , dominated the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods . After the Cretaceous -- Paleogene extinction event killed off the non-avian dinosaurs , mammals increased rapidly in size and diversity . Such mass extinctions may have accelerated evolution by providing opportunities for new groups of organisms to diversify .", "Emission Reduction Unit The emission reduction unit ( ERU ) is an emissions unit issued under a Joint Implementation project in terms of the Kyoto Protocol . An ERU represents a reduction of greenhouse gases under the Joint Implementation mechanism , where it represents one tonne of equivalent reduced . To allow comparison between the different effects of gases on the environment , scientists have defined multipliers for gases that compare their greenhouse potency ( global warming potential ) relative to that of carbon dioxide . One example of a Joint Implementation project resulting in an emission reduction unit , is the production of biogases by landfill sites . These gases consist of mainly methane which escapes to the atmosphere if it is not collected . The main reason for dealing with methane is that it has a 100-year global warming potential multiplier of 25 compared to carbon dioxide ( i.e. has 25 times the greenhouse potency ) . Collection of methane is usually accompanied by its combustion . Burning one tonne of methane produces nearly 3 tonnes of , thus reducing its greenhouse effect by ( 25-3 = 22 ) ERU . In December 2012 , ERU prices crashed to a low of 15 euro cents before recovering to 23c after news that EU 's Climate Change Committee was to vote on a ban of ERUs from countries that have not signed up to a second commitment period under the Kyoto Protocol . In January 2013 , Bloomberg reported that emission reduction unit prices declined 89 percent in 2012", "Warmness on the Soul `` Warmness on the Soul '' is the first EP/single by Avenged Sevenfold . It was released on August 8 , 2001 by Good Life Recordings . The release features the video for the title track , `` Warmness on the Soul '' as an Enhanced CD bonus . The EP was the first release to feature guitarist , Synyster Gates . All of the songs are included on Avenged Sevenfold 's debut album , Sounding the Seventh Trumpet , except for the heavy metal version of `` To End the Rapture '' , which was later featured on the album 's re-release by Hopeless Records .", "Mobilehydricity Mobilehydricity is the process of using hydrogen gas as an energy carrier to power any type of electrical or mechanical device . An energy carrier is a substance or system that moves energy in a usable form from one place to another . Electricity is the most well-known energy carrier . We use electricity to move the energy in coal , uranium , and other energy sources from power plants to homes and businesses . We also use electricity to move the energy in gasoline to power our vehicles . The down side is that coal , uranium and gasoline are all resources which are in limited supply and when burned emit toxic pollution to our environment . Using hydrogen as a supplement energy carrier makes sense because it is plentiful and its only waste byproduct is water . Since hydrogen does n't exist on earth naturally as a gas , we must extract it from other elements . We can separate hydrogen atoms from water , biomass , or natural gas molecules . The two most common methods for producing hydrogen are steam reforming and water electrolysis ( water splitting ) . Steam reforming is currently the least expensive method of producing hydrogen and accounts for about 95 percent of the hydrogen produced in the United States . It is used in industries to separate hydrogen atoms from carbon atoms in methane ( CH4 ) . Because methane is a fossil fuel , the process of steam reforming results in greenhouse gas emissions that are linked with global warming . Water electrolysis is a process that splits hydrogen from water . It results in no emissions but it is currently a very expensive process . New technologies are being developed all the time . Just a few years ago it became economically feasible to generate hydrogen from self-contained modules called disseminators . These units are now small enough to be attached to portable generators , outdoor cooking grills , and even cars . Category : Hydroelectricity", "Crimes of the Hot `` Crimes of the Hot '' is the eighth episode in the fourth production season of the American animated television series Futurama . It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on November 10 , 2002 . The episode was written by Aaron Ehasz and directed by Peter Avanzino . Al Gore guest stars as his own preserved head in a jar , his second appearance in the series . The episode tackles the topic of global warming as the Planet Express crew is sent to retrieve Earth 's yearly ice supply in order to keep the planet cool . When they are unable to retrieve the ice , the Earth is forced to search for other ways to solve their global warming problem . In 2003 , the episode was nominated for an Environmental Media Award .", "Enhanced coal bed methane recovery Enhanced coal bed methane recovery is a method of producing additional coalbed methane from a source rock , similar to enhanced oil recovery applied to oil fields . Carbon dioxide ( CO2 ) injected into a bituminous coal bed would occupy pore space and also adsorb onto the carbon in the coal at approximately twice the rate of methane ( CH4 ) , allowing for potential enhanced gas recovery . This technique may be used in conjunction with carbon capture and storage in mitigation of global warming where the carbon dioxide that is sequestered is captured from the output of fossil fuel power plants . A research project at ETH Zurich is studying the process of pumping carbon dioxide into unminable coal seams and recovering the methane that is subsequently displaced . An extensive experimental investigation about the process of desorbing methane by adsorbing carbon dioxide in real coal samples was performed . The proof of principle and the technical feasibility of the method could be verified with these measurements . These research results indicate that CBM can become an alternative to conventional natural gas . ECBM provides additional to CBM the advantage of long-term CO2 storage in the underground coal seams . However , without other incentives , enhanced coal bed methane recovery is not economical as the commercial value of the released methane does not completely offset the cost of pumping . Penetration of CO2 into coal is simulated using a stress-enhanced diffusion model .", "Outline of life forms A life form or lifeform is an entity or being that is living . Estimates on the number of Earth 's current species range from 10 million to 14 million , of which about 1.2 million have been documented and over 86 percent have not yet been described . More recently , in May 2016 , scientists reported that 1 trillion species are estimated to be on Earth currently with only one-thousandth of one percent described . More than 99 % of all species , amounting to over five billion species , that ever lived on Earth are estimated to be extinct .", "Mark Z. Jacobson Mark Zachary Jacobson ( born 1965 ) is professor of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford University and director of its Atmosphere and Energy Program . Jacobson develops computer models about the effects of different energy technologies and their emissions on air pollution and climate . He has done influential research on the role of aerosols and black carbon on the climate and is regarded as a leading aerosol climate modeler . According to Jacobson , a speedy transition to clean , renewable energy is required to reduce the potential acceleration of global warming , including the disappearance of the Arctic Sea ice . This change will also eliminate 2.5 -- 3 million deaths worldwide each year , related to air pollution , and reduce disruption associated with fossil fuel shortages .", "HD 113766 HD 113766 is a binary star system located 424 light years from Earth in the direction of the constellation Centaurus . The star system is approximately 10 million years old and both stars are slightly more massive than our sun . The two are separated by an angle of 1.3 arcseconds , which , at the distance of this system , corresponds to a projected separation of at least 170 AU . What makes HD 113766 special is the presence of a large belt of warm ( ~ 440 K ) dust surrounding the star HD 113766 A . The dense dust belt , more than 100 times more massive than our own asteroid belt , is thought to be collapsing to form a rocky planet , which when it has formed will lie within the star 's terrestrial habitable zone where liquid water can exist on its surface . HD 113766 represents the most well understood system in a growing class of objects that should provide more clues to how rocky planets like the Earth formed .", "Carbon-based fuel Carbon-based fuel is any fuel principally from the oxidation or burning of carbon . Carbon-based fuels are of two main kinds , biofuels and fossil fuels . Whereas biofuels are derived from recent-growth organic matter and are typically harvested , as with logging of forests and cutting of corn , fossil fuels are of prehistoric origin and are extracted from the ground , the principal fossil fuels being oil , coal , and natural gas . From an economic policy perspective , an important distinction between biofuels and fossil fuels is that only the former is sustainable or renewable . Whereas we can continue to obtain energy from biofuels indefinitely in principle , the Earth 's reserves of fossil fuels was determined millions of years ago and is therefore fixed as far as our foreseeable future is concerned . The great variability in the ease of extraction of fossil fuels however makes its endgame scenario one of increasing prices over one or more centuries rather than of abrupt exhaustion . From the perspective of climate and ecology , biofuels and fossil fuels have in common that they contribute to the production of atmospheric carbon dioxide , which has emerged in recent decades as the fastest-changing greenhouse gas , whose principal impacts are global warming and ocean acidification . However biofuels actively participate in the carbon cycle today by photosynthesizing carbon dioxide , unlike fossil fuels whose participation was long ago , and can therefore in principle bring atmospheric CO2 into an equilibrium not possible with the continued use of fossil fuel . But in practice photosynthesis is a slow process , and the additional fuel produced by artificial methods of accelerating it such as application of fertilizer tends to be offset by the energy consumed by the accelerating processes , to a degree currently under active debate . In contrast the speed of photosynthesis is immaterial for fossil fuels because they had millions of years in which to accumulate . Burning of both fossil fuels and biofuels usually also produces carbon monoxide , which is toxic and can kill a person after mixing with the haemoglobin of the blood , increasing its concentration in the body . Biofuels and fossil fuels may also produce many other air pollutants depending on the contents of the fuel .", "Warm Your Heart Warm Your Heart is a 1991 album released by American R&B / soul singer Aaron Neville , ( his second album ) . The album features the singles `` Everybody Plays the Fool '' , `` Somewhere , Somebody '' and `` Close Your Eyes '' . The `` Close Your Eyes '' single also featured album producer Linda Ronstadt on guest vocals . The pair had previously collaborated on the songs `` Do n't Know Much '' , `` All My Life '' and `` When Something Is Wrong with My Baby '' .", "West Spitsbergen Current The West Spitsbergen Current ( WSC ) is a warm , salty current that runs poleward just west of Spitsbergen , ( formerly called West Spitsbergen ) , in the Arctic Ocean . The WSC branches off the Norwegian Atlantic Current in the Norwegian Sea . The WSC is of importance because it drives warm and salty Atlantic Water into the interior Arctic . The warm and salty WSC flows north through the eastern side of Fram Strait , while the East Greenland Current ( EGC ) flows south through the western side of Fram Strait . The EGC is characterized by being very cold and low in salinity , but above all else it is a major exporter of Arctic sea ice . Thus , the EGC combined with the warm WSC makes the Fram Strait the northernmost ocean area having ice-free conditions throughout the year in all of the global ocean .", "Effects of global warming on oceans Global warming can affect sea levels , coastlines , ocean acidification , ocean currents , seawater , sea surface temperatures , tides , the sea floor , weather , and trigger several changes in ocean bio-geochemistry ; all of these affect the functioning of a society .", "Uunartoq Qeqertaq Uunartoq Qeqertaq , Greenlandic for `` The Warming Island '' , is an island off the east central coast of Greenland , 550 km north of the Arctic Circle . It became recognised as an island only in September 2005 , by US explorer Dennis Schmitt . It was attached to the mainland of Liverpool Land by glacial ice even in 2002 , when the ice shelves began retreating rapidly in this area , so that by 2005 it was no longer attached to the mainland . Members of the scientific community believe this newly discovered island is a direct result of global warming . The island has three large peninsulas , and thus resembles the letter W , or the Chinese character 山 .", "Chaotian (geology) -RCB- -RCB- em '' | align = `` center '' colspan = 2 style = `` background-color : '' | Chaotian Eon/Era5000 -- 4600 million years ago 4600 -- 4404 million years ago | - | align = `` center '' colspan = 2 | | - | -RCB- In the geologic record the Chaotian eon or era is unofficially proposed to denote the time preceding the solidification of the Earth 's crust and the formation of Earth 's moon , it is the earliest era within the eon of Hadean . It lasted 196 million years , at to the beginning of the Zirconian era , . It is named after Chaos , the primeval void in Greek mythology . The Chaotian sets in with the emergence of Earth at 4.6 billion years ago . Its upper limit and thus the transition to the Zirconian era is defined by the occurrence of the first conservation capable mineral . These are zirconium , the oldest mineral in the Jack Hills of Narryer Gneiss Terrane in Western Australia ( Yilgarn craton ) found and were dated 4,404 ± 8 million years ago According to first proposal , it precedes the Hadean eon and is the earliest eon in Earth 's history as a planet . The end of the Chaotian was marked by the hypothetical collision of the proto-Earth and a planet-sized body named Theia , leading to the formation of the Moon . Alternatively it is defined as the first era of the Hadean eon , before the formation of the first crust on the Earth . As of 2012 , it is considered to be part of a proposed revision of the Precambrian time scale .", "Politics of global warming The complex politics of global warming results from numerous cofactors arising from the global economy 's interdependence on carbon dioxide emitting hydrocarbon energy sources and because carbon dioxide is directly implicated in global warming -- making global warming a non-traditional environmental challenge .", "Warm Springs Historic District Warm Springs Historic District is a historic district in Warm Springs , Georgia . It includes Franklin Delano Roosevelt 's Little White House and the Roosevelt Warm Springs Institute for Rehabilitation , where Roosevelt indulged in its warm springs . Other buildings in the district tend to range from the 1920s and 1930s . Much of the district looks the same as it did when Roosevelt frequented the area . Evidence indicates that prehistoric man was the first to use the springs , and as when Roosevelt used the springs , the temperature was 89 ° F.", "Eocene Thermal Maximum 2 Eocene Thermal Maximum 2 ( ETM-2 ) , also called H-1 or the Elmo ( Eocene Layer of Mysterious Origin ) event , was a transient period of global warming that occurred approximately 53.7 million years ago ( Ma ) . It appears to be the second major hyperthermal that punctuated the long-term warming trend from the Late Paleocene through the early Eocene ( 58 to 50 Ma ) . The hyperthermals were geologically brief time intervals ( < 200,000 years ) of global warming and massive carbon input . The most extreme and best-studied event , the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum ( PETM or ETM-1 ) , occurred about 1.8 million years before ETM-2 , at approximately 55.5 Ma . Other hyperthermals likely followed ETM-2 at nominally 53.6 Ma ( H-2 ) , 53.3 ( I-1 ) , 53.2 ( I-2 ) and 52.8 Ma ( informally called K , X or ETM-3 ) . The number , nomenclature , absolute ages and relative global impact of the Eocene hyperthermals are the source of much current research . In any case , the hyperthermals appear to have ushered in the Early Eocene Climatic Optimum , the warmest interval of the Cenozoic Era . They also definitely precede the Azolla event at about 49 Ma . ETM-2 is clearly recognized in sediment sequences by analyzing the stable carbon isotope composition of carbon-bearing material . The 13C/12C ratio of calcium carbonate or organic matter drops significantly across the event . This is similar to what happens when one examines sediment across the PETM , although the magnitude of the negative carbon isotope excursion is not as large . The timing of Earth system perturbations during ETM-2 and the PETM also appear different . Specifically , the onset of ETM-2 may have been longer ( perhaps 30,000 years ) while the recovery seems to have been shorter ( perhaps < 50,000 years ) . ( Note , however , that the timing of short-term carbon cycle perturbations during both events remains difficult to constrain ) . A thin clay-rich horizon marks ETM-2 in marine sediment from widely separated locations . In sections recovered from the deep-sea ( for example those recovered by Ocean Drilling Program Leg 208 on Walvis Ridge ) , this layer is caused by dissolution of calcium carbonate . However , in sections deposited along continental margins ( for example those now exposed along the Clarence River , New Zealand ) , the clay-rich horizon represents dilution by excess accumulation of terrestrial material entering into the ocean . Similar changes in sediment accumulation are found across the PETM . In sediment from Lomonosov Ridge in the Arctic Ocean , intervals across both ETM-2 and the PETM shows signs of higher temperature , lower salinity and lower dissolved oxygen . The PETM and ETM-2 are thought to have a similar generic origin , although this idea is at the edge of current research . During both events , a tremendous amount of 13C-depleted carbon rapidly entered the ocean and atmosphere . This decreased the 13C/12C ratio of carbon-bearing sedimentary components , and dissolved carbonate in the deep ocean . Somehow the carbon input was coupled to an increase in Earth surface temperature and a greater seasonality in precipitation , which explains the excess terrestrial sediment discharge along continental margins . Possible explanations for changes during ETM-2 are the same as those for the PETM , and are discussed under the latter entry . The H-2 event appears to be a `` minor '' hyperthermal that follows ETM-2 ( H-1 ) by about 100,000 years . This has led to speculation that the two events are somehow coupled and paced by changes in orbital eccentricity . As in the case of the PETM , reversible dwarfing of mammals has been noted during the ETM-2 .", "The Lost Worlds of Planet Earth `` The Lost Worlds of Planet Earth '' is the ninth episode of the American documentary television series Cosmos : A Spacetime Odyssey . It premiered on May 4 , 2014 on Fox , and aired on May 5 , 2014 on National Geographic Channel . The episode was directed by Brannon Braga , written by Ann Druyan and Steven Soter , and featured the voice of Amanda Seyfried as Geologist Marie Tharp . The episode explores the history of the Earth starting with the period of the Late Heavy Bombardment , approximately `` 3.8 to 4.1 Billion years ago during which the Moon , Mercury , Venus , Earth and were battered by space debris . '' Host Neil deGrasse Tyson then delves into the biography of the Earth , expressed `` in its continents , oceans and life living on and in them , saying ` the past is another planet , ' '' alluding to how plate tectonics have shaped the Earth over millions of years . The episode received a 1.6 / 5 in the 18-49 rating/share , with 4.08 million American viewers watching on Fox .", "Abiogenesis Abiogenesis ( British English : -LSB- ˌeɪˌbaɪoʊˈdʒɛnᵻsᵻs , _ - ˌbaɪə - -RSB- , -LSB- - en - ˌbiːoʊ - , _ - ˌbiːə - -RSB- ) , biopoiesis , \\ \\ or informally , the origin of life , is the natural process by which life arises from non-living matter , such as simple organic compounds . Abiogenesis is studied through a combination of paleontology , laboratory experiments and extrapolation from the characteristics of modern organisms , and aims to determine how pre-life chemical reactions gave rise to life on Earth . The study of abiogenesis can be geophysical , chemical , or biological , with more recent approaches attempting a synthesis of all three . Life itself is dependent upon the specialized chemistry of carbon and water and is largely based upon five different families of chemicals . Lipids are fatty molecules comprising large chemical chains of hydrocarbons and play an important role in the structure of living cell membranes , actively and passively determining the transport of other molecules into and out of cells . Carbohydrates are sugars , and as monomer units can be assembled into polymers called polysaccharides , such as cellulose , the rigid chemical of most plant cell walls . Nitrogenous bases are organic molecules in which the amine group of nitrogen , combined with two hydrogen atoms , plays an important part . Chlorophyll is based upon a porphyrin ring derived from amine monomer units , and is important in the capture of the energy needed for life . Nucleic acid monomers are made from a carbohydrate monosaccharide a nitrogenous base and one or more high energy phosphate groups . When joined together they form either the unit of inheritance , the gene , made from DNA or RNA , which translates the genetic information into protein structures . The monomer unit of a protein is usually one of 20 amino acids , comprising an amine group , a hydrocarbon , and a carboxylic acid . Through a condensation reaction , in which the carboxylic acid of one amino acid is linked to the amine of another with removal of a water molecule , a peptide bond is formed . Polymers of amino acids are termed proteins and these molecules provide many catalytic metabolic functions for living processes . Any successful theory of abiogenesis must explain the origins and interactions of these five classes of molecules . Many approaches to abiogenesis investigate how self-replicating molecules , or their components , came into existence . It is generally thought that current life on Earth is descended from an RNA world , although RNA-based life may not have been the first life to have existed . The classic Miller -- Urey experiment and similar research demonstrated that most amino acids , the basic chemical constituents of the proteins used in all living organisms , can be synthesized from inorganic compounds under conditions intended to replicate those of the early Earth . Various external sources of energy that may have triggered these reactions have been proposed , including lightning and radiation . Other approaches ( `` metabolism-first '' hypotheses ) focus on understanding how catalysis in chemical systems on the early Earth might have provided the precursor molecules necessary for self-replication . Complex organic molecules have been found in the Solar System and in interstellar space , and these molecules may have provided starting material for the development of life on Earth . The panspermia hypothesis alternatively suggests that microscopic life was distributed to the early Earth by meteoroids , asteroids and other small Solar System bodies and that life may exist throughout the Universe . It is speculated that the biochemistry of life may have begun shortly after the Big Bang , 13.8 billion years ago , during a habitable epoch when the age of the universe was only 10 to 17 million years . The panspermia hypothesis proposes that life originated outside the Earth , not how life came to be . Nonetheless , Earth remains the only place in the Universe known to harbour life , and fossil evidence from the Earth informs most studies of abiogenesis . More than 99 % of all species of life forms , amounting to over five billion species , that ever lived on Earth are estimated to be extinct . The age of the Earth is about 4.54 billion years ; the earliest undisputed evidence of life on Earth dates from at least 3.5 billion years ago , and possibly as early as the Eoarchean Era , after geological crust started to solidify following the molten Hadean Eon . In May 2017 , evidence of the earliest known life on land may have been found in 3.48-billion-year-old geyserite and other related mineral deposits ( often found around hot springs and geysers ) uncovered in the Pilbara Craton of Western Australia . However , there have been a number of discoveries that suggested the earliest appearance of life on Earth was even earlier in time . Currently , microfossils within hydrothermal vent precipitates dated from 3.77 to 4.28 billion years old found in Quebec , Canada may be the oldest record of life on Earth , suggesting `` an almost instantaneous emergence of life '' after ocean formation 4.4 billion years ago . According to biologist Stephen Blair Hedges , `` If life arose relatively quickly on Earth ... then it could be common in the universe . ''", "Madagascar Plate The Madagascar Plate or Madagascar block was once attached to the Gondwana supercontinent and later the Indo-Australian Plate . Rifting in the Somali Basin began at the end of the Carboniferous 300 million years ago , as a part of the Karoo rift system . The initiation of Gondwana breakup , and transform faulting along the Davie Fracture Zone , occurred in the Toarcian ( about 182 million years ago ) following the eruption of the Bouvet ( Karoo ) mantle plume . At this time East Gondwana , comprising the Antarctic , Madagascar , Indian , and Australian plates , began to separate from the African Plate . East Gondwana then began to break apart about 115 -- 120 million years ago when India began to move northward . Between 84 -- 95 million years ago rifting separated Seychelles and India from Madagascar . Since its formation the Madagascar block has moved roughly in conjunction with Africa , and thus there are questions as to whether the Madagascar Plate should be still considered a separate plate .", "Serotiny Serotiny is an ecological adaptation exhibited by some seed plants , in which seed release occurs in response to an environmental trigger , rather than spontaneously at seed maturation . The most common and best studied trigger is fire . However , the term serotiny refers more broadly to plants that release their seeds over a long period of time , irrespective of the trigger or whether release is spontaneous . In this sense , the term is synonymous with bradyspory . Possible triggers include Death of the parent plant or branch ( this death can be caused by fire ) . This form of serotiny has been termed necriscence . Wetting ( hygriscence ) Warming by the sun ( soliscence ) Drying atmospheric conditions ( xeriscence ) Fire ( heat , essentially : pyriscence ) Fire followed by wetting ( pyrohydriscence ) Fire is the most common and best studied case . Some plants may respond to more than one of these triggers . For example Pinus halepensis exhibits primarily fire-mediated serotiny , but responds weakly to drying atmospheric conditions . Similarly , some Banksia species are strongly serotinous with respect to fire , but also release some seed in response to plant or branch death . Serotiny can occur in various degrees . Plants that retain all of their seed indefinitely in the absence of a trigger event are strongly serotinous . Plants that eventually release some of their seed spontaneously in the absence of a trigger are weakly serotinous . Finally , some plants release all of their seed spontaneously after a period of seed storage , but the occurrence of a trigger event curtails the seed storage period , causing all seed to be released immediately ; such plants are essentially non-serotinous , or facultatively serotinous .", "Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Carbon Neutral Resolution The Presbyterian Church ( USA ) Carbon Neutral Resolution was a resolution passed at the June , 2006 , 217th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church ( USA ) strongly urging all Presbyterians to ` immediately aspire to live carbon neutral lives ' . It is believed that resolution was the first in the world by a major religious denomination for its followers to become carbon neutral . The resolution also directed the Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy to make available detail of how Presbyterians could take to reduce their energy consumption and recognised that ` the Christian mandate to care for creation and the biblical promise of the restoration of right relationships between God , human beings , and the rest of creation impels and inspires Presbyterians to act to reduce -LSB- their -RSB- energy usage ' . The resolution was based on a report by a task force prepared for the Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy . After the Advisory Committee voted to postpone consideration of the report until the 2008 General Assembly , two General Assembly Commissioners bypassed the committee and were successful in getting the resolution adopted . The Church first noted its ` serious concern ' over global warming at the 1990 General Assembly , when it warned that ` the global atmospheric warming trend ( the greenhouse effect ) represents one of the most serious global environmental challenges to the health , security , and stability of human life and natural ecosystems ' . Despite this , a survey carried out in 2004 revealed that over half of all Presbyterians had not taken even the ` simplest steps to decrease their energy usage ' , and that most congregations had not implemented energy conservation programs .", "Global warming hiatus A global warming hiatus , also sometimes referred to as a global warming pause or a global warming slowdown , is a period of relatively little change in globally averaged surface temperatures . In the current episode of global warming many such 15-year periods appear in the surface temperature record , along with robust evidence of the long-term warming trend ; climate is classically averaged over 30-year periods . Publicity has surrounded claims of a global warming hiatus during the period 1998 -- 2013 . The exceptionally warm El Niño year of 1998 was an outlier from the continuing temperature trend , and so subsequent annual temperatures gave the appearance of a hiatus : by January 2006 , it appeared to some that global warming had stopped or paused . A 2009 study showed that decades without warming were not exceptional , and in 2011 a study showed that if allowances were made for known variability , the rising temperature trend continued unabated . There was increased public interest in 2013 in the run-up to publication of the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report , and despite concerns that a 15-year period was too short to determine a meaningful trend , the IPCC included a section on a hiatus , which it defined as a much smaller increasing linear trend over the 15 years from 1998 to 2012 , than over the 60 years from 1951 to 2012 . Various studies examined possible causes of the short-term slowdown . Even though the overall climate system has continued to accumulate energy due to Earth 's positive energy budget , the available temperature readings at the Earth 's surface indicate slower rates of increase in surface warming than in the prior decade . Since measurements at the top of the atmosphere show that Earth is receiving more energy than it is radiating back into space , the retained energy should be producing warming in the Earth 's climate system . Research reported in July 2015 on an updated NOAA dataset casts doubt on the existence of a hiatus , and it finds no indication of a slowdown even in earlier years . Scientists working on other datasets welcomed this study , though they have expressed the view that the recent warming trend was less than in previous periods of the same length . Subsequently , a detailed study supports the conclusion that warming is continuing , but it also find there was less warming between 2001 and 2010 than climate models had predicted , and that this slowdown might be attributed to short-term variations in the Pacific decadal oscillation ( PDO ) , which was negative during that period . Another review finds `` no substantive evidence '' of a pause in global warming . A statistical study of global temperature data since 1970 concludes that the term ` hiatus ' or ` pause ' is not justified . Independent of these discussions about data and measurements for earlier years , 2015 turned out to be much warmer than any of the earlier years , already before El Niño conditions started . The warmth of 2015 largely ended any remaining scientific credibility of claims that the supposed `` hiatus '' since 1998 had any significance for the long-term warming trend . In January 2017 , a study published in the journal Science Advances cast further doubt on the existence of a recent pause , with more evidence that ocean temperatures have been underestimated . An April 2017 study found the data consistent with a steady warming trend globally since the 1970s , with fluctuations within the expected range of short term variability ." ]

[ "Sea level Mean sea level ( MSL ) ( abbreviated simply sea level ) is an average level of the surface of one or more of Earth 's oceans from which heights such as elevations may be measured . MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardised geodetic reference pointthat is used , for example , as a chart datum in cartography and marine navigation , or , in aviation , as the standard sea level at which atmospheric pressure is measured in order to calibrate altitude and , consequently , aircraft flight levels . A common and relatively straightforward mean sea-level standard is the midpoint between a mean low and mean high tide at a particular location . Sea levels can be affected by many factors and are known to have varied greatly over geological time scales . The careful measurement of variations in MSL can offer insights into ongoing climate change , and sea level rise has been widely quoted as evidence of ongoing global warming . The term above sea level generally refers to above mean sea level ( AMSL ) .", "Sea surface temperature Sea surface temperature ( SST ) is the water temperature close to the ocean 's surface . The exact meaning of surface varies according to the measurement method used , but it is between 1 mm and 20 m below the sea surface . Air masses in the Earth 's atmosphere are highly modified by sea surface temperatures within a short distance of the shore . Localized areas of heavy snow can form in bands downwind of warm water bodies within an otherwise cold air mass . Warm sea surface temperatures are known to be a cause of tropical cyclogenesis over the Earth 's oceans . Tropical cyclones can also cause a cool wake , due to turbulent mixing of the upper 30 m of the ocean . SST changes diurnally , like the air above it , but to a lesser degree . There is less SST variation on breezy days than on calm days . In addition , ocean currents such as the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation ( AMO ) , can effect SST 's on multi-decadal time scales , a major impact results from the global thermohaline circulation , which affects average SST significantly throughout most of the world 's oceans . Coastal SSTs can cause offshore winds to generate upwelling , which can significantly cool or warm nearby landmasses , but shallower waters over a continental shelf are often warmer . Onshore winds can cause a considerable warm-up even in areas where upwelling is fairly constant , such as the northwest coast of South America . Its values are important within numerical weather prediction as the SST influences the atmosphere above , such as in the formation of sea breezes and sea fog . It is also used to calibrate measurements from weather satellites .", "Weather buoy Weather buoys are instruments which collect weather and ocean data within the world 's oceans , as well as aid during emergency response to chemical spills , legal proceedings , and engineering design . Moored buoys have been in use since 1951 , while drifting buoys have been used since 1979 . Moored buoys are connected with the ocean bottom using either chains , nylon , or buoyant polypropylene . With the decline of the weather ship , they have taken a more primary role in measuring conditions over the open seas since the 1970s . During the 1980s and 1990s , a network of buoys in the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean helped study the El Niño-Southern Oscillation . Moored weather buoys range from 1.5 m to 12 m in diameter , while drifting buoys are smaller , with diameters of 30 cm to 40 cm . Drifting buoys are the dominant form of weather buoy in sheer number , with 1250 located worldwide . Wind data from buoys has smaller error than that from ships . There are differences in the values of sea surface temperature measurements between the two platforms as well , relating to the depth of the measurement and whether or not the water is heated by the ship which measures the quantity .", "Instrumental temperature record The instrumental temperature record provides the temperature of Earth 's climate system from the historical network of in situ measurements of surface air temperatures and ocean surface temperatures . Data are collected at thousands of meteorological stations , buoys and ships around the globe . The longest-running temperature record is the Central England temperature data series , that starts in 1659 . The longest-running quasi-global record starts in 1850 . In recent decades more extensive sampling of ocean temperatures at various depths have begun allowing estimates of ocean heat content but these do not form part of the global surface temperature datasets .", "Weather station A weather station is a facility , either on land or sea , with instruments and equipment for measuring atmospheric conditions to provide information for weather forecasts and to study the weather and climate . The measurements taken include temperature , atmospheric pressure , humidity , wind speed , wind direction , and precipitation amounts . Wind measurements are taken with as few other obstructions as possible , while temperature and humidity measurements are kept free from direct solar radiation , or insolation . Manual observations are taken at least once daily , while automated measurements are taken at least once an hour . Weather conditions out at sea are taken by ships and buoys , which measure slightly different meteorological quantities such as sea surface temperature ( SST ) , wave height , and wave period . Drifting weather buoys outnumber their moored versions by a significant amount ." ]

[ "UAH satellite temperature dataset The UAH satellite temperature dataset , developed at the University of Alabama in Huntsville , infers the temperature of various atmospheric layers from satellite measurements of radiance . It was the first global temperature datasets developed from satellite information and has been used as a tool for research into surface and atmospheric temperature changes . The dataset is published by John Christy et al. and formerly jointly with Roy Spencer .", "Argo (oceanography) Argo is an international program that uses profiling floats to observe temperature , salinity , currents , and , recently , bio-optical properties in the Earth 's oceans ; it has been operational since the early 2000s . The real-time data it provides is used in climate and oceanographic research . A special research interest is to quantify the ocean heat content ( OHC ) . The Argo fleet consists of almost 4000 drifting `` Argo floats '' ( as profiling floats used by the Argo program are often called ) deployed worldwide . Each float weighs 20 -- 30 kg . In most cases probes drift at a depth of 1000 metres ( the so-called parking depth ) and , every 10 days , by changing their buoyancy , dive to a depth of 2000 metres and then move to the sea-surface , measuring conductivity and temperature profiles as well as pressure . From these , salinity and density can be calculated . Seawater density is important in determining large-scale motions in the ocean . Average current velocities at 1000 metres are directly measured by the distance and direction a float drifts while parked at that depth , which is determined by GPS or Argos system positions at the surface . The data are transmitted to shore via satellite , and are freely available to everyone , without restrictions . The Argo program is named after the Greek mythical ship Argo to emphasize the complementary relationship of Argo with the Jason satellite altimeters .", "Seasat Seasat was the first Earth-orbiting satellite designed for remote sensing of the Earth 's oceans and had on board the first spaceborne synthetic aperture radar ( SAR ) . The mission was designed to demonstrate the feasibility of global satellite monitoring of oceanographic phenomena and to help determine the requirements for an operational ocean remote sensing satellite system . Specific objectives were to collect data on sea-surface winds , sea-surface temperatures , wave heights , internal waves , atmospheric water , sea ice features and ocean topography . Seasat was managed by NASA 's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and was launched on 27 June 1978 into a nearly circular 800 km orbit with an inclination of 108 ° . Seasat operated for 106 days until 10 October 1978 , when a massive short circuit in the satellite 's electrical system ended the mission . Seasat carried five major instruments designed to return the maximum information from ocean surfaces : Radar altimeter to measure spacecraft height above the ocean surface Microwave scatterometer to measure wind speed and direction Scanning multichannel microwave radiometer to measure sea surface temperature Visible and infrared radiometer to identify cloud , land and water features Synthetic Aperture Radar ( SAR ) L-band , HH polarization , fixed look angle to monitor the global surface wave field and polar sea ice conditions -LCB- the antenna is the light parallelogram in the picture -RCB- . The SAR support structure was designed and manufactured by Northrop Grumman Astro Aerospace in Carpinteria , CA . The structure deployed on orbit . Many later remote sensing missions owe their legacy to Seasat . These include imaging radars flown on NASA 's Space Shuttle , altimeters on Earth-orbiting satellites such as TOPEX/Poseidon , and scatterometers on NASA Scatterometer ( NSCAT ) , QuikSCAT , and Jason 1 .", "Thermosalinograph The Thermosalinograph or TSG is an instrument mounted near the water intake of ships to continuously measure sea surface temperature and conductivity while the ship is in motion . Various programs have been developed to assist in the collection and analysis of TSG data . The data can be used to calculate salinity , density , sound velocity , and other parameters . There are various types of thermosalinographs available on the market today .", "Ocean surface topography The ocean surface has highs and lows , similar to the hills and valleys of Earth 's land surface depicted on a topographic map . These variations , called ocean surface topography ( or sea surface topography ) , also dynamic topography , are mapped using direct ( usually satellite-based ) or indirect measurements of sea surface height relative to Earth 's geoid . Earth 's geoid is a calculated surface of equal gravitational potential energy and represents the shape the sea surface would be if the ocean were not in motion . The main purpose of measuring ocean surface topography is to understand the large-scale circulation of the ocean . On a daily basis , SSH is most obviously affected by the tidal forces of the Moon and the Sun acting on the Earth . Over longer timescales , SSH is influenced by ocean circulation . Typically , SSH anomalies resulting from these forces differ from the mean by less than ± 1 m at the global scale . Other influences include temperature , salinity , tides , waves , and the loading of atmospheric pressure . The slowest and largest variations are due to changes in the Earth 's gravitational field ( geoid ) due to the rearrangement of continents , formation of sea mounts and other redistribution of rock . Since the Earth 's gravitational field is relatively stable on decadal to centennial timescales , ocean circulation plays a more significant role in the observed variation of SSH . Across the seasonal cycle changes in patterns of warming , cooling and surface wind forcing affect circulation and influence SSH . Variations in SSH can be measured by satellite altimetry ( e.g. TOPEX/Poseidon ) and used to calculate determine sea level rise and properties such as ocean heat storage .", "Upwelling Upwelling is an oceanographic phenomenon that involves wind-driven motion of dense , cooler , and usually nutrient-rich water towards the ocean surface , replacing the warmer , usually nutrient-depleted surface water . The nutrient-rich upwelled water stimulates the growth and reproduction of primary producers such as phytoplankton . Due to the biomass of phytoplankton and presence of cool water in these regions , upwelling zones can be identified by cool sea surface temperatures ( SST ) and high concentrations of chlorophyll-a . The increased availability in upwelling regions results in high levels of primary productivity and thus fishery production . Approximately 25 % of the total global marine fish catches come from five upwellings that occupy only 5 % of the total ocean area . Upwellings that are driven by coastal currents or diverging open ocean have the greatest impact on nutrient-enriched waters and global fishery yields . __ TOC __", "Self-locating datum marker buoy A self-locating datum marker buoy ( SLDMB ) is a drifting surface buoy designed to measure surface ocean currents . The design is based on those of the Coastal Ocean Dynamics Experiment ( CODE ) and Davis-style oceanographic surface drifters -- National Science Foundation ( NSF ) funded experiments exploring ocean surface currents . The SLDMB was designed for deployment by United States Coast Guard ( USCG ) vessels in search and rescue ( SAR ) missions , and is equipped with a Global Positioning Satellite ( GPS ) sensor that , upon deployment in fresh - or saltwater , transmits its location periodically to the USCG to aid in SAR missions . Additionally , SLDMB are deployed in oceanographic research in order to study surface currents of the ocean . This design has also been utilized by Nomis Connectivity for secure ocean based communications .", "CORA dataset CORA ( standing for Coriolis Ocean database ReAnalysis ) is a global oceanographic temperature and salinity dataset produced and maintained by the French institute IFREMER . Most of those data are real-time data coming from different types of platforms ( research vessels , profilers , underwater gliders , drifting buoys , moored buoys , sea mammals , opportunity ships , ... ) .", "Microwave Sounding Unit temperature measurements Microwave Sounding Unit temperature measurements refers to temperature measurement using the Microwave Sounding Unit instrument and is one of several methods of measuring Earth atmospheric temperature from satellites. Microwave measurements have been obtained from the troposphere since 1979, when they were included within NOAA weather satellites, starting with TIROS-N. By comparison, the usable balloon (radiosonde) record begins in 1958 but has less geographic coverage and is less uniform. Microwave brightness measurements do not directly measure temperature. They measure radiances in various wavelength bands, which must then be mathematically inverted to obtain indirect inferences of temperature. The resulting temperature profiles depend on details of the methods that are used to obtain temperatures from radiances. As a result, different groups that have analyzed the satellite data have obtained different temperature trends. Among these groups are Remote Sensing Systems (RSS) and the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH). The satellite series is not fully homogeneous – the record is constructed from a series of satellites with similar but not identical instrumentation. The sensors deteriorate over time, and corrections are necessary for satellite drift in orbit. Particularly large differences between reconstructed temperature series occur at the few times when there is little temporal overlap between successive satellites, making intercalibration difficult.", "Sea ice thickness Sea ice thickness spatial extent , and open water within ice packs can vary rapidly in response to weather and climate . Sea ice concentration are measured by satellites , with the Special Sensor Microwave Imager / Sounder ( SSMIS ) , and the European Space Agency 's Cryosat-2 satellite to map the thickness and shape of the Earth 's polar ice cover . The sea ice volume is calculated with the Pan-Arctic Ice Ocean Modeling and Assimilation System ( PIOMAS ) , which blends satellite-observed data , such as sea ice concentrations into model calculations to estimate sea ice thickness and volume . Sea ice thickness determines a number of important fluxes such as heat flux between the air and ocean surface -- see below -- as well as salt and fresh water fluxes between the ocean since saline water ejects much of its salt content when frozen -- see sea ice growth processes . It is also important for navigators on icebreakers since there is an upper limit to the thickness of ice any ship can sail through .", "Remote Sensing Systems Remote Sensing Systems ( RSS ) is a private research company founded in 1974 by Frank Wentz . It processes microwave data from a variety of NASA satellites . Most of their research is supported by the Earth Science Enterprise program . The company is based in Santa Rosa , California . They are a widely cited source of data , on the satellite temperature record . Their data is one source of evidence for global warming . Research by Carl Mears , Matthias Schabel , and Wentz , all of RSS , highlighted errors in the early satellite temperature records compiled by John Christy and Roy Spencer at UAH . The UAH data had previously showed no significant temperature trend , bringing the derived satellite data into closer agreement with surface temperature trends , radiosonde data and computer models . The UAH data is now closer to the RSS data but differences remain , for example the Lower Troposphere global average trend since 1979 , RSS currently have +0.133 K/decade while UAH have 0.140 K/decade , while the mid troposphere difference is even more marked at 0.079 K/decade and 0.052 K/decade respectively . However , in a recent online YouTube video , Dr. Carl Mears , a senior scientist with the team behind the satellite data , explained how he believes his data set needed correction . I would have to say that the surface data seems that it 's more accurate , because a number of groups analyze the surface data , including some who set out to prove the other ones wrong , and they all get more or less the same answer .", "Community Radiative Transfer Model Community Radiative Transfer Model ( CRTM ) is a fast radiative transfer model for calculations of radiances for satellite infrared or microwave radiometers . Given an atmospheric profile of temperature , variable gas concentrations , cloud and surface properties CRTM calculates radiances and brightness temperatures . The only mandatory inputs in terms of variable gases are water vapor and ozone . The range of temperatures and water vapour concentrations over which the optical depth computations are valid depends on the training datasets which were used . CRTM contains forward , tangent linear , adjoint and K ( full Jacobian matrices ) versions of the model ; the latter three modules are used in inversion methods , including variational assimilation and satellite retrievals . One of several applications of CRTM are retrievals of brightness temperature and sea surface temperature from Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer sensor .", "Coastal-Marine Automated Network The Coastal-Marine Automated Network ( C-MAN ) is a meteorological observation network along the coastal United States . Consisting of about sixty stations installed on lighthouses , at capes and beaches , on near shore islands , and on offshore platforms , the stations record atmospheric pressure , wind direction , speed and gust , and air temperature ; however , some C-MAN stations are designed to also measure sea surface temperature , water level , waves , relative humidity , precipitation , and visibility . The network is maintained by the National Data Buoy Center ( NDBC ) of the National Weather Service ( NWS ) , which is part of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration ( NOAA ) , and data is ingested into numerical weather prediction computer models . It was created in the early 1980s to maintain observations that were about to be discontinued by other programs . Data is processed and transmitted similarly to the moored buoy system . In 2002 , C-MAN was added to the NOAA Observing System Architecture ( NOSA ) .", "Deep ocean water Deep ocean water ( DOW ) is the name for cold , salty water found deep below the surface of Earth 's oceans . Ocean water differs in temperature and salinity . Warm surface water is generally saltier than the cooler deep or polar waters ; in polar regions , the upper layers of ocean water are cold and fresh . Deep ocean water makes up about 90 % of the volume of the oceans . Deep ocean water has a very uniform temperature , around 0-3 ° C , and a salinity of about 3.5 % or as oceanographers state as 35 ppt ( parts per thousand ) . In specialized locations such as the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii NELHA ocean water is pumped to the surface from approximately 900 metres ( 3000 feet ) deep for applications in research , commercial and pre-commercial activities . DOW is typically used to describe ocean water at sub-thermal depths sufficient to provide a measurable difference in water temperature . When deep ocean water is brought to the surface , it can be used for a variety of things . Its most useful property is its temperature . At the surface of the Earth , most water and air is well above 3 ° C . The difference in temperature is indicative of a difference in energy . Where there is an energy gradient , skillful application of science and engineering can harness that energy for productive use by humans . Assuming the source of deep ocean water is environmentally friendly and replenished by natural mechanisms , it forms a more innovative basis for cleaner energy than current fossil-fuel-derived energy . The simplest use of cold water is for air conditioning : using the cold water itself to cool air saves the energy that would be used by the compressors for traditional refrigeration . Another use could be to replace expensive desalination plants . When cold water passes through a pipe surrounded by humid air , condensation results . The condensate is pure water , suitable for humans to drink or for crop irrigation . Via a technology called Ocean thermal energy conversion , the temperature difference can be turned into electricity .", "Polar amplification Polar amplification is the phenomenon that any change in the net radiation balance ( for example greenhouse intensification ) tends to produce a larger change in temperature near the poles than the planetary average . On a planet with an atmosphere that can restrict longwave radiation to space ( a greenhouse effect ) , surface temperatures will be warmer than a simple planetary equilibrium temperature calculation would predict . Where the atmosphere or an extensive ocean is able to convect heat polewards , the poles will be warmer and equatorial regions cooler than their local net radiation balances would predict . In the extreme , the planet Venus is thought to have experienced a very large increase in greenhouse effect over its lifetime , so much so that its poles have warmed sufficiently to render its surface temperature effectively isothermal ( no difference between poles and equator ) . On Earth , water vapor and trace gasses provide a lesser greenhouse effect , and the atmosphere and extensive oceans provide efficient poleward heat transport . Both palaeoclimate changes and recent global warming changes have exhibited strong polar amplification , as described below .", "Bathythermograph The bathythermograph , or BT , also known as the Mechanical Bathythermograph , or MBT ; is a small torpedo-shaped device that holds a temperature sensor and a transducer to detect changes in water temperature versus depth down to a depth of approximately 285 meters ( 935 feet ) . Lowered by a small winch on the ship into the water , the BT records pressure and temperature changes on a coated glass slide as it is dropped nearly freely through the water . While the instrument is being dropped , the wire is paid out until it reaches a predetermined depth , then a brake is applied and the BT is drawn back to the surface . Because the pressure is a function of depth ( see Pascal 's law ) , temperature measurements can be correlated with the depth at which they are recorded .", "Giovanni (meteorology) Giovanni ( meteorology ) - Web interface that allows users to analyze NASA 's gridded data from various satellite and surface observations . Giovanni provides researchers with the capability to examine data on atmospheric chemistry , atmospheric temperature , water vapor and clouds , atmospheric aerosols , precipitation , and ocean chlorophyll and surface temperature . The primary data consist of global gridded data sets with reduced spatial resolution . Basic analytical functions performed by Giovanni currently are carried out by the Grid Analysis and Display System ( GrADS ) . The GES-DISC Interactive Online Visualization ANd aNalysis Infrastructure ( Giovanni ) allows to explore satellite data using sophisticated analyses and visualizations . Giovanni allows access to data from multiple remote sites , supports multiple data formats including Hierarchical Data Format ( HDF ) , HDF-EOS , network Common Data Form ( netCDF ) , GRIdded Binary ( GRIB ) , and binary , and multiple plot types including area , time , Hovmoller , and image animation .", "Satellite temperature measurements The temperature of the atmosphere at various altitudes as well as sea and land surface temperatures can be inferred from satellite measurements . These measurements can be used to locate weather fronts , monitor the El Niño-Southern Oscillation , determine the strength of tropical cyclones , study urban heat islands and monitor the global climate . Wildfires , volcanos , and industrial hot spots can also be found via thermal imaging from weather satellites . Weather satellites do not measure temperature directly . They measure radiances in various wavelength bands . Since 1978 microwave sounding units ( MSUs ) on National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration polar orbiting satellites have measured the intensity of upwelling microwave radiation from atmospheric oxygen , which is related to the temperature of broad vertical layers of the atmosphere . Measurements of infrared radiation pertaining to sea surface temperature have been collected since 1967 . Satellite datasets show that over the past four decades the troposphere has warmed and the stratosphere has cooled . Both of these trends are consistent with the influence of increasing atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases .", "Atlantic multidecadal oscillation The Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation ( AMO ) is a climate cycle that affects the sea surface temperature of the North Atlantic Ocean based on different modes on multidecadal timescales . While there is some support for this mode in models and in historical observations , controversy exists with regard to its amplitude , and in particular , the attribution of sea surface temperature change to natural or anthropogenic causes , especially in tropical Atlantic areas important for hurricane development .", "Potential density The potential density of a fluid parcel at pressure is the density that the parcel would acquire if adiabatically brought to a reference pressure , often 1 bar ( 100 kPa ) . Whereas density changes with changing pressure , potential density of a fluid parcel is conserved as the pressure experienced by the parcel changes ( provided no mixing with other parcels or net heat flux occurs ) . The concept is used in oceanography and ( to a lesser extent ) atmospheric science . Potential density is a dynamically important property : for static stability potential density must decrease upward . If it does n't , a fluid parcel displaced upward finds itself lighter than its neighbors , and continues to move upward ; similarly , a fluid parcel displaced downward would be heavier than its neighbors . This is true even if the density of the fluid decreases upward . In stable conditions ( potential density decreasing upward ) motion along surfaces of constant potential density ( isopycnals ) is energetically favored over flow across these surfaces ( diapycnal flow ) , so most of the motion within a 3-D geophysical fluid takes place along these 2-D surfaces . In oceanography , the symbol is used to denote potential density , with the reference pressure taken to be the pressure at the ocean surface . The corresponding potential density anomaly is denoted by kg/m3 . Because the compressibility of seawater varies with salinity and temperature , the reference pressure must chosen to be near the actual pressure to keep the definition of potential density dynamically meaningful . Reference pressures are often chosen as a whole multiple of 100 bar ; for water near a pressure of 400 bar ( 40 MPa ) , say , the reference pressure 400 bar would be used , and the potential density anomaly symbol would be written . Surfaces of constant potential density ( relative to and in the vicinity of a given reference pressure ) are used in the analyses of ocean data and to construct models of ocean currents . Neutral density surfaces , defined using another variable called neutral density , can be considered the continuous analog of these potential density surfaces . Potential density adjusts for the effect of compression in two ways : The effect of a parcel 's change in volume due to a change in pressure ( as pressure increases , volume decreases ) . The effect of the parcel 's change in temperature due to adiabatic change in pressure ( as pressure increases , temperature increases ) . A parcel 's density may be calculated from an equation of state : where is temperature , is pressure and are other tracers that affect density ( e.g. salinity of seawater ) . The potential density would then be calculated as : where is the potential temperature of the fluid parcel for the same reference pressure .", "Thermal pollution Thermal pollution is the degradation of water quality by any process that changes ambient water temperature . A common cause of thermal pollution is the use of water as a coolant by power plants and industrial manufacturers . When water used as a coolant is returned to the natural environment at a higher temperature , the change in temperature decreases oxygen supply and affects ecosystem composition . Fish and other organisms adapted to particular temperature range can be killed by an abrupt change in water temperature ( either a rapid increase or decrease ) known as `` thermal shock . '' Urban runoff -- stormwater discharged to surface waters from roads and parking lots -- can also be a source of elevated water temperatures .", "History of numerical weather prediction The history of numerical weather prediction considers how current weather conditions as input into mathematical models of the atmosphere and oceans to predict the weather and future sea state ( the process of numerical weather prediction ) has changed over the years . Though first attempted manually in the 1920s , it was not until the advent of the computer and computer simulation that computation time was reduced to less than the forecast period itself . ENIAC was used to create the first forecasts via computer in 1950 , and over the years more powerful computers have been used to increase the size of initial datasets as well as include more complicated versions of the equations of motion . The development of global forecasting models led to the first climate models . The development of limited area ( regional ) models facilitated advances in forecasting the tracks of tropical cyclone as well as air quality in the 1970s and 1980s . Because the output of forecast models based on atmospheric dynamics requires corrections near ground level , model output statistics ( MOS ) were developed in the 1970s and 1980s for individual forecast points ( locations ) . The MOS apply statistical techniques to post-process the output of dynamical models with the most recent surface observations and the forecast point 's climatology . This technique can correct for model resolution as well as model biases . Even with the increasing power of supercomputers , the forecast skill of numerical weather models only extends to about two weeks into the future , since the density and quality of observations -- together with the chaotic nature of the partial differential equations used to calculate the forecast -- introduce errors which double every five days . The use of model ensemble forecasts since the 1990s helps to define the forecast uncertainty and extend weather forecasting farther into the future than otherwise possible .", "MSU temperature measurements Microwave sounding unit temperature measurements have been obtained from the troposphere since 1979 , when they were included within NOAA weather satellites . By comparison , the usable balloon ( radiosonde ) record begins in 1958 but has less geographic coverage and is less uniform . Satellites do not measure temperature . They measure radiances in various wavelength bands , which must then be mathematically inverted to obtain indirect inferences of temperature . The resulting temperature profiles depend on details of the methods that are used to obtain temperatures from radiances . As a result , different groups that have analyzed the satellite data have obtained different temperature trends . Among these groups are Remote Sensing Systems ( RSS ) and the University of Alabama in Huntsville ( UAH ) . The satellite series is not fully homogeneous - the record is constructed from a series of satellites with similar but not identical instrumentation . The sensors deteriorate over time , and corrections are necessary for satellite drift in orbit . Particularly large differences between reconstructed temperature series occur at the few times when there is little temporal overlap between successive satellites , making intercalibration difficult . To compare to the trend from the surface temperature record ( approximately +0.07 ° C/decade over the past century and +0.15 -0.16 ° C/decade since 1979 ) it is most appropriate to derive trends for the part of the atmosphere nearest the surface , i.e. , the lower troposphere . Doing this , through January 2012 : RSS v3 .3 finds a trend of +0.137 ° C/decade . UAH v5 .4 finds a trend of +0.136 ° C/decade . An alternative adjustment introduced by Fu et al. ( 2004 ) finds trends ( 1979 -- 2011 ) of +0.14 ° C/decade when applied to the RSS data set and +0.11 ° C/decade when applied to the UAH data set . Using the T2 channel ( which include significant contributions from the stratosphere , which has cooled ) , Mears et al. of Remote Sensing Systems ( RSS ) find ( through January 2012 ) a trend of +0.082 ° C/decade . Spencer and Christy of the University of Alabama in Huntsville ( UAH ) , find a smaller trend of +0.046 ° C/decade . A no longer updated analysis of Vinnikov and Grody found +0.20 ° C/decade ( 1978 -- 2005 ) . Another satellite temperature analysis is provided by NOAA/NESDIS STAR Center for Satellite Application and Research and use simultaneous nadir overpasses ( SNO ) to remove satellite intercalibration biases yielding more accurate temperature trends . The SNO analysis finds a 1979-2011 trend of +0.128 ° C/decade for T2 channel . The satellite records have the advantage of greater spatial coverage , whereas the radiosonde record is longer . There have been complaints of data problems with both records , and difficulty reconciling climate model predictions with the observed data .", "Wetting transition ", "Effects of global warming on South Asia ", "Tropical Warm Pool The Tropical Warm Pool ( TPW ) is a mass of ocean water located in the western Pacific Ocean and eastern Indian Ocean which exhibits the highest water temperatures over the largest expanse of the Earth 's surface .", "Film temperature In heat transfer and fluid dynamics , the film temperature is an approximation to the temperature of a fluid inside a convection boundary layer . It is calculated as the arithmetic mean of the temperature at the surface of the solid boundary wall and the free-stream temperature : The film temperature is often used as the temperature at which fluid properties are calculated when using Prandtl number , Nusselt number , Reynolds number or Grashof number to calculate a heat transfer coefficient , because it is a reasonable first approximation to the temperature within the convection boundary layer . Somewhat confusing terminology may be encountered in relation to boilers and heat exchangers , where the same term is used to refer to the limit ( hot ) temperature of a fluid in contact with a hot surface .", "METRIC METRIC ( Mapping EvapoTranspiration at high Resolution with Internalized Calibration ) is a computer model developed by the University of Idaho , that uses Landsat satellite data to compute and map evapotranspiration ( ET ) . METRIC calculates ET as a residual of the surface energy balance , where ET is estimated by keeping account of total net short wave and long wave radiation at the vegetation or soil surface , the amount of heat conducted into soil , and the amount of heat convected into the air above the surface . The difference in these three terms represents the amount of energy absorbed during the conversion of liquid water to vapor , which is ET . METRIC expresses near-surface temperature gradients used in heat convection as indexed functions of radiometric surface temperature , thereby eliminating the need for absolutely accurate surface temperature and the need for air-temperature measurements . The surface energy balance is internally calibrated using ground-based reference ET that is based on local weather or gridded weather data sets to reduce computational biases inherent to remote sensing-based energy balance . Slope and aspect functions and temperature lapsing are used for application to mountainous terrain . METRIC algorithms are designed for relatively routine application by trained engineers and other technical professionals who possess a familiarity with energy balance and basic radiation physics . The primary inputs for the model are short-wave and long-wave thermal images from a satellite e.g. , Landsat and MODIS , a digital elevation model , and ground-based weather data measured within or near the area of interest . ET `` maps '' i.e. , images via METRIC provide the means to quantify ET on a field-by-field basis in terms of both the rate and spatial distribution . The use of surface energy balance can detect reduced ET caused by water shortage . In the decade since Idaho introduced METRIC , it has been adopted for use in Montana , California , New Mexico , Utah , Wyoming , Texas , Nebraska , Colorado , Nevada , and Oregon . The mapping method has enabled these states to negotiate Native American water rights ; assess agriculture to urban water transfers ; manage aquifer depletion , monitor water right compliance ; and protect endangered species .", "Chesapeake Bay Interpretive Buoy System Chesapeake Bay Interpretive Buoy System ( CBIBS ) is a network of observational buoys that are deployed throughout the Chesapeake Bay to observe the estuary 's changing conditions and to serve as way points along the Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail . They are maintained by the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration ( NOAA ) . These `` smart buoys '' observe and record meteorological , oceanographic and water quality data which can be obtained in real-time by calling 1-877-BUOY-BAY or by logging on to http://buoybay.noaa.gov/ . CBIBS is an operational buoy system in the Chesapeake Bay dedicated to maintaining a broad range of measurements necessary to track Bay restoration progress .", "Leeway Leeway is the amount of drift motion to leeward of an object floating in the water caused by the component of the wind vector that is perpendicular to the object 's forward motion . The National Search and Rescue Supplement to the International Aeronautical and Maritime Search and Rescue Manual defines leeway as `` the movement of a search object through water caused by winds blowing against exposed surfaces '' . However , the resultant total motion of an object is made up of the leeway drift and the movement of the upper layer of the ocean caused by the surface currents , tidal currents and ocean currents . Objects with a greater exposure to each element will experience more leeway drift and overall movement through the water than ones with less exposure . A navigator or pilot on a vessel must adjust the ordered course to compensate for the leeway drift and more important set and drift , an all encompassing term for drift that includes the steering error of the vessel . Failure to make these adjustments during a voyage will yield poor navigational results . Bowditch 's American Practical Navigator ( 1995 ) offers a comprehensive free guide to navigation principles . An object can be classified as either an active object like a ship navigating through a waterway or a passive object like a liferaft , drifting debris , or a person in the water ( PIW ) ( Figure 3 ) . A passive object will experience the greatest leeway drift and it is this drift that is of utmost importance to those involved in search and rescue ( SAR ) upon inland waterways and open oceans .", "Meteorological reanalysis A meteorological reanalysis is a meteorological data assimilation project which aims to assimilate historical observational data spanning an extended period , using a single consistent assimilation ( or `` analysis '' ) scheme throughout .", "Autochanger " ]

[ "Communications satellite A communications satellite is an artificial satellite that relays and amplifies radio telecommunications signals via a transponder ; it creates a communication channel between a source transmitter and a receiver at different locations on Earth . Communications satellites are used for television , telephone , radio , internet , and military applications . There are over 2,000 communications satellites in Earth 's orbit , used by both private and government organizations . Wireless communication uses electromagnetic waves to carry signals . These waves require line-of-sight , and are thus obstructed by the curvature of the Earth . The purpose of communications satellites is to relay the signal around the curve of the Earth allowing communication between widely separated points . Communications satellites use a wide range of radio and microwave frequencies . To avoid signal interference , international organizations have regulations for which frequency ranges or `` bands '' certain organizations are allowed to use . This allocation of bands minimizes the risk of signal interference .", "Instrumental temperature record The instrumental temperature record provides the temperature of Earth 's climate system from the historical network of in situ measurements of surface air temperatures and ocean surface temperatures . Data are collected at thousands of meteorological stations , buoys and ships around the globe . The longest-running temperature record is the Central England temperature data series , that starts in 1659 . The longest-running quasi-global record starts in 1850 . In recent decades more extensive sampling of ocean temperatures at various depths have begun allowing estimates of ocean heat content but these do not form part of the global surface temperature datasets .", "Global warming controversy The global warming controversy concerns the public debate over whether global warming is occurring , how much has occurred in modern times , what has caused it , what its effects will be , whether any action should be taken to curb it , and if so what that action should be . In the scientific literature , there is a strong consensus that global surface temperatures have increased in recent decades and that the trend is caused by human-induced emissions of greenhouse gases . No scientific body of national or international standing disagrees with this view , though a few organizations with members in extractive industries hold non-committal positions . Disputes over the key scientific facts of global warming are more prevalent in the media than in the scientific literature , where such issues are treated as resolved , and such disputes are more prevalent in the United States than globally . Political and popular debate concerning the existence and cause of climate change includes the reasons for the increase seen in the instrumental temperature record , whether the warming trend exceeds normal climatic variations , and whether human activities have contributed significantly to it . Scientists have resolved these questions decisively in favour of the view that the current warming trend exists and is ongoing , that human activity is the cause , and that it is without precedent in at least 2000 years . Public disputes that also reflect scientific debate include estimates of how responsive the climate system might be to any given level of greenhouse gases ( climate sensitivity ) , how global climate change will play out at local and regional scales , and what the consequences of global warming will be . Global warming remains an issue of widespread political debate , often split along party political lines , especially in the United States . Many of the issues that are settled within the scientific community , such as human responsibility for global warming , remain the subject of politically or economically motivated attempts to downplay , dismiss or deny them -- an ideological phenomenon categorised by academics and scientists as climate change denial . The sources of funding for those involved with climate science -- both supporting and opposing mainstream scientific positions -- have been questioned by both sides . There are debates about the best policy responses to the science , their cost-effectiveness and their urgency . Climate scientists , especially in the United States , have reported official and oil-industry pressure to censor or suppress their work and hide scientific data , with directives not to discuss the subject in public communications . Legal cases regarding global warming , its effects , and measures to reduce it have reached American courts . The fossil fuels lobby has been identified as overtly or covertly supporting efforts to undermine or discredit the scientific consensus on global warming .", "Global warming Global warming , also referred to as climate change , is the observed century-scale rise in the average temperature of the Earth 's climate system and its related effects . Multiple lines of scientific evidence show that the climate system is warming . Many of the observed changes since the 1950s are unprecedented in the instrumental temperature record which extends back to the mid 19th century , and in paleoclimate proxy records over thousands of years . In 2013 , the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) Fifth Assessment Report concluded that `` It is extremely likely that human influence has been the dominant cause of the observed warming since the mid-20th century . '' The largest human influence has been emission of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide , methane and nitrous oxide . Climate model projections summarized in the report indicated that during the 21st century the global surface temperature is likely to rise a further 0.3 to for their lowest emissions scenario and 2.6 to for the highest emissions scenario . These findings have been recognized by the national science academies of the major industrialized nations and are not disputed by any scientific body of national or international standing . Future climate change and associated impacts will differ from region to region around the globe . Anticipated effects include warming global temperature , rising sea levels , changing precipitation , and expansion of deserts in the subtropics . Warming is expected to be greater over land than over the oceans and greatest in the Arctic , with the continuing retreat of glaciers , permafrost and sea ice . Other likely changes include more frequent extreme weather events including heat waves , droughts , heavy rainfall with floods and heavy snowfall ; ocean acidification ; and species extinctions due to shifting temperature regimes . Effects significant to humans include the threat to food security from decreasing crop yields and the abandonment of populated areas due to rising sea levels . Because the climate system has a large `` inertia '' and greenhouse gases will stay in the atmosphere for a long time , many of these effects will not only exist for decades or centuries , but will persist for tens of thousands of years . Possible societal responses to global warming include mitigation by emissions reduction , adaptation to its effects , building systems resilient to its effects , and possible future climate engineering . Most countries are parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change ( UNFCCC ) , whose ultimate objective is to prevent dangerous anthropogenic climate change . Parties to the UNFCCC have agreed that deep cuts in emissions are required and that global warming should be limited to well below 2.0 C-change relative to pre-industrial levels , with efforts made to limit warming to 1.5 C-change . Public reactions to global warming and concern about its effects are also increasing . A global 2015 Pew Research Center report showed a median of 54 % consider it `` a very serious problem '' . There are significant regional differences , with Americans and Chinese ( whose economies are responsible for the greatest annual CO2 emissions ) among the least concerned ." ]

[ "Arenal Eco Zoo The Arenal Eco Zoo is a nature center located in western Alajuela Province , Costa Rica . It is located across Lake Arenal , west of Arenal Volcano National Park , right at the border between Alajuela and Guanacaste Provinces .", "Jan-Hein Arens Jan-Hein Arens ( Vught , the Netherlands , born September 23 , 1974 ) is a Dutch painter , sculptor and illustrator . He attended the Grafische School Eindhoven from 1992 -- 1996 , where he was educated in Graphic Design and illustration . Arens is heavily influenced by COBRA ( a European art movement active around 1950 ) , Pop Art and the drawings of his seven-year-old daughter . The work of Arens concentrates on basic human needs and emotions , and by adding different , often strange elements , or placing them out of context the spectator is forced to make up his/her own reason or meaning for the work . Humor and alienation are also common elements in Arens ' work .", "Arene (disambiguation) An Aromatic hydrocarbon or Arene is a hydrocarbon with alternating double and single bonds between carbon atoms forming rings . Arene may also refer to : an aromatic hydrocarbon Arene ( gastropod ) , a genus of marine snails in the family Areneidae Arene ( mythology ) , the wife of Aphareus and mother of Idas and Lynceus in Greek mythology Arene , Elis , an ancient town in Elis , Greece , also known as Makistos , Samia or Samiko a French surname , Arène , derived from the Latin ( h ) arena , meaning sand", "Lake Arenal Lake Arenal ( Lago Arenal ) is a lake which is situated in the northern highlands of Costa Rica . It is currently the largest lake in Costa Rica at 85 sqkm . Its depth varies between 30 and 60 meters ( 100 -- 200 feet ) season . The town of Arenal was relocated to higher ground when the lake was expanded in 1979 . The old towns of Arenal and Tronadora now lie abandoned at the bottom of the lake , with the new town of Arenal existing to the northeast on the lake .", "Her Face Value Her Face Value is a 1921 American drama silent film directed by Thomas N. Heffron and written by Earl Derr Biggers and Percy Heath . The film stars Wanda Hawley , Lincoln Plumer , Richard Rosson , T. Roy Barnes , Winifred Bryson , Donald MacDonald and Harvey Clark . The film was released on October 13 , 1921 , by Paramount Pictures .", "Arenal Prehistory Project The Arenal Prehistory Project ( Proyecto Prehistorico Arenal ) was a multidisciplinary research effort taking place between 1984 and 1987 that uncovered evidence of human occupation from Paleoindian and Archaic times through four sedentary phases to the Spanish Conquest in the tropical rainforest of Northwest Costa Rica .", "Nuevo Arenal Nuevo Arenal is a town and district in Tilarán Canton in the Guanacaste Province , Costa Rica . It is located on the north-east shore of Lake Arenal . The former village of Arenal near the La Fortuna area was inundated in 1978 with the formation of the artificial Lake Arenal . Nuevo Arenal was a government project to relocate the displaced people . Nuevo Arenal is located about a one-hour drive northwest from the original village along a beautiful paved lakeside road that goes from La Fortuna to Tilaran . It is connected by road to Tejona and Tilarán along Route 142 . Several miles south-east are the Arenal Botanical Gardens . Arenal Botanical Gardens are rarely open anymore . Hotel Los Héroes is one of the main hotels about 10 km east of Nuevo Arenal . There are several Bed and Breakfasts within the outskirts of the town , the most notable being Chalet Nicholas and Villa de Cary . The town has notable German and Italian restaurants , a pizza place called Moya 's , also there is a new Organic Food Store called La Farmacia Organica on the main highway across the street from Restaurant Casa Paniagua between the German Bakery and the only fuel station in the area .", "Arens Arens is a surname . Notable people with the surname include : Henry M. Arens ( 1873-1963 ) , American politician Jan-Hein Arens ( born 1974 ) , Dutch painter Moshe Arens ( born 1925 ) , Israeli politician Richard Friedrich Arens ( 1919-2000 ) , American mathematician", "Tug of War (film) Tug of War is the first film by British film director Scott Mann . The film was a co-production between Bigger Picture Productions and Shakabuku Films with the assistance of Granada Film . Completion funding was provided by the UK Film Council", "Arenal Arenal may refer to :", "Tabacón Tabacón is a hot springs resort in the Alajuela Province of Costa Rica , located at the northern base of Arenal Volcano between Lake Arenal and the town of La Fortuna . The geothermal springs are heated naturally by the volcano . Category : Populated places in Costa Rica Category : Populated places in Alajuela Province", "Biggers Biggers is a surname . Notable people with the surname include : Cliff Biggers , comic-book writer and journalist Clyde Biggers , American college football coach Dan Biggers , American television actor Earl Derr Biggers ( 1884 -- 1933 ) , American novelist and playwright E. J. Biggers ( born 1987 ) , American football cornerback Jeff Biggers ( born 1963 ) , American writer and journalist John T. Biggers ( 1924 -- 2001 ) , American muralist during the Harlem Renaissance Sissy Biggers ( born 1957 ) , American television personality Trenesha Biggers ( born 1981 ) , American professional wrestler W. Watts Biggers ( 1927 -- 2013 ) , American novelist and television writer William Biggers ( 18741935 ) , English footballer Biggers can also refer to : Biggers , Arkansas , a town in Randolph County , Arkansas Biggers , Texas , a ghost town in Collin County , Texas", "The Climb (2002 film) The Climb is a 2002 film directed by John Schmidt , distributed by World Wide Pictures .", "Skill mix Skill mix is the combination or grouping of different categories of workers that is employed in any field of work . In the context of health care provision it can be applied to broad ( e.g. national ) macro level planning or micro level in the context of local service delivery . In the context of health care provision , it can refer to : a combination of skills available at a specific time ; a mix of posts in a given facility ; a mix of employees in a post ; a combination of activities that comprises each role ; differences across occupational groups such as nurses and physicians or between various sectors of the health system ; or a mix within an occupational group such as between different types of nursing providers with different level of training and different wage rates .", "Manfred Schmidt Manfred Schmid ( t ) may refer to : Manfred Schmid ( born 1944 ) , Austrian luger Manfred G. Schmidt ( born 1948 ) , German professor of political science Manfred Schmidt ( artist ) ( 1913 -- 1999 ) , German author and cartoonist ( eg Nick Knatterton ) Manfred Schmidt ( referee ) in 1994 -- 95 VfL Bochum season Manfred Schmidt ( SPD ) on List of Social Democratic Party of Germany members Manni Schmidt ( born 1964 ) , German heavy metal guitarist and songwriter", "Arenal River Arenal River is a river of Costa Rica that is a tributary of the San Carlos River . Its upper part is dammed by the Presa Sangregado Dam to form the Lake Arenal .", "Arenal District Arenal District may refer to : Arenal District , Paita , in Paita province , Piura region , Peru Arenal District , Tilarán , in Tilarán Canton , Guanacaste province , Costa Rica", "El Arenal El Arenal may refer to :", "El Silencio, Costa Rica El Silencio is a village and nature park in the Guanacaste Province , Costa Rica . It is located in the hills overlooking the west shore of Lake Arenal . El Silencio is a very good tropical forest area for viewing birds and monkeys ( while visiting the area to freely view the active Arenal Volcano ) . There are a few kilometres of trails for picture taking . The price to use the park ( March , 2010 ) is $ 14 USD ( for the whole day ) . It is connected by road to Tilarán , which in turn connects via the 142 road town to Tejona .", "Tawasa language Tawasa is an extinct Native American language . Ostensibly the language of the Tawasa people of what is now Alabama , it is known exclusively through a word list attributed to a Tawasa named Lamhatty , collected in 1707 . John Swanton studied the Lamhatty word list and identified the language as a Timucuan dialect , suggesting it was intermediary between Timucua and Muskogean . This opinion has been the subject of significant scholarly debate , with some such as Julian Granberry considering it a dialect of Timucua , others arguing it was a distinct language in the Timucua family , and yet others such as John Hann doubting that Lamhatty was a Tawasa at all . The language shows significant Alabama influence , including the Muskogean same-subject suffix - t.", "Arene microforis Arene microforis is a species of sea snail , a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Areneidae .", "Cerro Arenal Natural Reserve Cerro Arenal Natural Reserve ( Spanish : Reserva Natural Cerro Arenal ) is a natural reserve with an area of 14.28 square kilometres in the Cordillera Dariense , it is located in the Matagalpa department in central Nicaragua . The Cerro Arenal Natural Reserve was declared a protected area on November 4 , 1991 , it compromises one of 78 protected areas of Nicaragua and is managed by Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources ( MARENA ) . The highest point in the reserve is located inside a tropical cloud forest 1,570 meters above sea level , rain occurs 8 months annually , between May and December . Cerro Arenal Natural Reserve is one of the smallest protected areas of Nicaragua and is abundant with flora and fauna . Many animals are present throughout the reserve , animals such as monkeys , and armadillos . The reserve also contains the oldest oak trees in Central America .", "Arenal Volcano National Park Arenal Volcano National Park ( Parque Nacional Volcán Arenal ) is a Costa Rican national park in the central part of the country , forming the Arenal Tilaran Conservation Area . The park encompasses the Arenal Volcano , which `` was '' the most active in the country , which had previously been believed to be dormant until a major eruption in 1968 . It neighbors Lake Arenal , which is the site of the country 's largest hydroelectricity project , the Lake Arenal Dam . The park also contains a second volcano , Chato , whose crater contains a lagoon . It is also called Cerro Chato ( literally Mount Chato ) as it has been inactive for around 3500 years -- coinciding with the creation and growth of Arenal itself . In and around the park are various lodges and hotels , some with their own hot springs , and others focused on the wildlife of the area . Within the national park are the Museum of Volcanicity and a ranger station . The park lies within the 2040 km2 Arenal Tilaran Conservation Area , protecting eight of Costa Rica 's 12 life zones and 16 protected reserves in the region between the Guanacaste and Tilarán mountain ranges , and including Lake Arenal . The park is most directly accessed from La Fortuna , but is also easily accessed via Tilarán and the north shore of Lake Arenal . The Arenal Volcano National Park is popular with birders , as most of the 850 species identified in Costa Rica can be found within the park 's borders . This includes one of the country 's most elusive and beautiful birds , the endangered resplendent quetzal . Other animal species living within the park include white-faced capuchin monkeys , jaguar , deer , coati , and snakes like the fer-de-lance and parrot snake . The park also has a strong showing of plant life , including orchids , heliconias , ferns , laurel , cirri , guayabo de monte , palms , bromeliads , and strangler figs .", "Arene centrifuga Arene centrifuga is a species of sea snail , a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Areneidae .", "Arenal District, Paita Arenal District is one of seven districts of the province Paita in Peru .", "Arene lucasensis Arene lucasensis is a species of sea snail , a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Areneidae .", "Arene laguairana Arene laguairana is a species of sea snail , a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Areneidae .", "Arenal Volcano Emergency Forest Reserve Arenal Volcano Emergency Forest Reserve is a Forest Reserve , part of the Arenal Huetar Norte Conservation Area , in the northern part of Costa Rica in the emergency zone of the Arenal Volcano . It was created in 1972 covering an area of forest , and there are no public facilities at the reserve .", "Arenal Hanging Bridges The Arenal Hanging Bridges ( Mistico Park ) are a series of suspension bridges in the Volcan Arenal National Park area , offering views of Lake Arenal and Volcan Arenal . The bridges form part of a 2-mile ( 3 kilometre ) self-guided interpretive trail through a private rainforest reserve . Místico Arenal Hanging Bridges Park is located on the Arenal fault in a tropical transition wet forest . It is located at 600 m. above sea level , and it concentrates 250 ha of mature forest , with an annual rainfall of 3.500-6 .000 m.m. and a relative humidity of 88-92 % . The trail is 3 km and allows tourists to walk on 15 bridges ; 6 of which are hanging . This is a highly diverse forest since it lies between the boundary of highland and lowland forest , integrating species from both areas . Through years of evolution , flora of the lowland rainforest , typical from Sarapiquí and Tortuguero , had an altitudinal migration to 500-600 m high , and flora of the highlands did not descent to less than 300 m. At Místico Arenal Hanging Bridges Park , the junction between the two types of ecosystems forming a transitional vegetation strip with high biodiversity occurred . In this forest we can observe both highland bird species , like bellbirds and species of trees like yema huevo , cirri and pilón . We can also see lowland species like toucans and Crested guans , and trees like caobilla , fruta dorada and maquenque . The treetop is a diverse and almost unknown environment to science ; it is a space that offers a completely different perspective than the one seen from the ground , with various species of epiphytic plants , birds and butterflies . One of the advantages of walking on Místico Arenal Hanging Bridges Park compared to walking on the ground is that it allows to observe more species , more closely . It also allows appreciating the shape of trees , flowers and vegetable structures that emerge above the canopy . Along the tour you can see a variety of flora and fauna in the understory , the overstory and understory , making Místico Arenal Hanging Bridges Park a very rich place where you can see and enjoy the biodiversity of the region . This forest has been being affected by acid rain and ash fall from Arenal Volcano for thousands of years . The flora has certain modifications , there are lithophytes ( plants that grow in rocky soils ) and species associated to andisols acidic soils of volcanic origin . Over 700 species of flora can be found in the area . Fauna has a high biodiversity and it is part of a biological corridor that connects the Guanacaste Volcanic Range with Tilarán Volcanic Range . Místico Arenal Hanging Bridges Park is the only biological corridor that allows the flow of large mammals or megafauna like the puma , jaguar and tapir around both ranges . Místico Arenal Hanging Bridges Park is ideal for hiking and wildlife observation . You can find more than 700 species , including trees , lianas , epiphytes and herbs . Also , there are more than 300 species of birds , including highland and lowland species , as well as migratory species . The excellent visibility of the bridges allows enjoying the mass migration of raptors between November and February each year . You can also go on night walks for observation of herpetofauna like frogs , snakes and lizards , as well as mammals , martillas , raccoons , ocelots and caucels .", "Arene briareus Arene briareus is a species of sea snail , a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Areneidae .", "Arenal, Yoro Arenal is a municipality in the Honduran department of Yoro .", "Coleophora arens Coleophora arens is a moth of the family Coleophoridae that is endemic to Namibia ." ]

[ "Rossby wave Rossby waves , also known as planetary waves , are a natural phenomenon in the atmosphere and oceans of planets that largely owe their properties to rotation of the planet . Rossby waves are a subset of inertial waves . Atmospheric Rossby waves on Earth are giant meanders in high-altitude winds that have a major influence on weather . These waves are associated with pressure systems and the jet stream . Oceanic Rossby waves move along the thermocline : the boundary between the warm upper layer and the cold deeper part of the ocean .", "Polar amplification Polar amplification is the phenomenon that any change in the net radiation balance ( for example greenhouse intensification ) tends to produce a larger change in temperature near the poles than the planetary average . On a planet with an atmosphere that can restrict longwave radiation to space ( a greenhouse effect ) , surface temperatures will be warmer than a simple planetary equilibrium temperature calculation would predict . Where the atmosphere or an extensive ocean is able to convect heat polewards , the poles will be warmer and equatorial regions cooler than their local net radiation balances would predict . In the extreme , the planet Venus is thought to have experienced a very large increase in greenhouse effect over its lifetime , so much so that its poles have warmed sufficiently to render its surface temperature effectively isothermal ( no difference between poles and equator ) . On Earth , water vapor and trace gasses provide a lesser greenhouse effect , and the atmosphere and extensive oceans provide efficient poleward heat transport . Both palaeoclimate changes and recent global warming changes have exhibited strong polar amplification , as described below .", "Global warming Global warming , also referred to as climate change , is the observed century-scale rise in the average temperature of the Earth 's climate system and its related effects . Multiple lines of scientific evidence show that the climate system is warming . Many of the observed changes since the 1950s are unprecedented in the instrumental temperature record which extends back to the mid 19th century , and in paleoclimate proxy records over thousands of years . In 2013 , the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) Fifth Assessment Report concluded that `` It is extremely likely that human influence has been the dominant cause of the observed warming since the mid-20th century . '' The largest human influence has been emission of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide , methane and nitrous oxide . Climate model projections summarized in the report indicated that during the 21st century the global surface temperature is likely to rise a further 0.3 to for their lowest emissions scenario and 2.6 to for the highest emissions scenario . These findings have been recognized by the national science academies of the major industrialized nations and are not disputed by any scientific body of national or international standing . Future climate change and associated impacts will differ from region to region around the globe . Anticipated effects include warming global temperature , rising sea levels , changing precipitation , and expansion of deserts in the subtropics . Warming is expected to be greater over land than over the oceans and greatest in the Arctic , with the continuing retreat of glaciers , permafrost and sea ice . Other likely changes include more frequent extreme weather events including heat waves , droughts , heavy rainfall with floods and heavy snowfall ; ocean acidification ; and species extinctions due to shifting temperature regimes . Effects significant to humans include the threat to food security from decreasing crop yields and the abandonment of populated areas due to rising sea levels . Because the climate system has a large `` inertia '' and greenhouse gases will stay in the atmosphere for a long time , many of these effects will not only exist for decades or centuries , but will persist for tens of thousands of years . Possible societal responses to global warming include mitigation by emissions reduction , adaptation to its effects , building systems resilient to its effects , and possible future climate engineering . Most countries are parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change ( UNFCCC ) , whose ultimate objective is to prevent dangerous anthropogenic climate change . Parties to the UNFCCC have agreed that deep cuts in emissions are required and that global warming should be limited to well below 2.0 C-change relative to pre-industrial levels , with efforts made to limit warming to 1.5 C-change . Public reactions to global warming and concern about its effects are also increasing . A global 2015 Pew Research Center report showed a median of 54 % consider it `` a very serious problem '' . There are significant regional differences , with Americans and Chinese ( whose economies are responsible for the greatest annual CO2 emissions ) among the least concerned .", "Arctic sea ice decline Arctic sea ice decline is the sea ice loss observed in recent decades in the Arctic Ocean . The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) Fourth Assessment Report states that greenhouse gas forcing is largely , but not wholly , responsible for the decline in Arctic sea ice extent . A study from 2011 suggested that internal variability enhanced the greenhouse gas forced sea ice decline over the last decades . A study from 2007 found the decline to be `` faster than forecasted '' by model simulations . The IPCC Fifth Assessment Report concluded with high confidence that sea ice continues to decrease in extent , and that there is robust evidence for the downward trend in Arctic summer sea ice extent since 1979 . It has been established that the region is at its warmest for at least 40,000 years and the Arctic-wide melt season has lengthened at a rate of 5 days per decade ( from 1979 to 2013 ) , dominated by a later autumn freezeup . Sea ice changes have been identified as a mechanism for polar amplification ." ]

[ "Arctic geoengineering Temperatures in the Arctic region have tended to increase more rapidly than the global average . Projections of sea ice loss that are adjusted to take account of recent rapid Arctic shrinkage suggest that the Arctic will likely be free of summer sea ice sometime between 2059 and 2078 . Various climate engineering schemes have been suggested to reduce the chance of significant and irreversible effects such as Arctic methane release . Several climate engineering proposals have been made which are specific to the Arctic . They are usually hydrological in nature , and principally centre upon measures to prevent Arctic ice loss . In addition , other solar radiation management climate engineering techniques , such as stratospheric sulfate aerosols have been proposed . These would cool the Arctic by adjusting the albedo of the atmosphere .", "Arctic Ocean The Arctic Ocean is the smallest and shallowest of the world 's five major oceans . The International Hydrographic Organization ( IHO ) recognizes it as an ocean , although some oceanographers call it the Arctic Mediterranean Sea or simply the Arctic Sea , classifying it a mediterranean sea or an estuary of the Atlantic Ocean . Alternatively , the Arctic Ocean can be seen as the northernmost part of the all-encompassing World Ocean . Located mostly in the Arctic north polar region in the middle of the Northern Hemisphere , the Arctic Ocean is almost completely surrounded by Eurasia and North America . It is partly covered by sea ice throughout the year and almost completely in winter . The Arctic Ocean 's surface temperature and salinity vary seasonally as the ice cover melts and freezes ; its salinity is the lowest on average of the five major oceans , due to low evaporation , heavy fresh water inflow from rivers and streams , and limited connection and outflow to surrounding oceanic waters with higher salinities . The summer shrinking of the ice has been quoted at 50 % . The US National Snow and Ice Data Center ( NSIDC ) uses satellite data to provide a daily record of Arctic sea ice cover and the rate of melting compared to an average period and specific past years .", "Arctic The Arctic ( -LSB- ˈɑrktɪk -RSB- or -LSB- ˈɑrtɪk -RSB- ) is a polar region located at the northernmost part of Earth . The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean , adjacent seas , and parts of Alaska ( United States ) , Canada , Finland , Greenland ( Denmark ) , Iceland , Norway , Russia and Sweden . Land within the Arctic region has seasonally varying snow and ice cover , with predominantly treeless permafrost-containing tundra . Arctic seas contain seasonal sea ice in many places . The Arctic region is a unique area among Earth 's ecosystems . For example , the cultures in the region and the Arctic indigenous peoples have adapted to its cold and extreme conditions . In recent years , Arctic sea ice decline has been caused by global warming . Life in the Arctic includes organisms living in the ice , zooplankton and phytoplankton , fish and marine mammals , birds , land animals , plants and human societies . Arctic land is bordered by the subarctic .", "Arctic policy of Russia The Arctic policy of Russia is the domestic and foreign policy of the Russian Federation with respect to the Russian region of the Arctic . The Russian region of the Arctic is defined in the `` Russian Arctic Policy '' as all Russian possessions located north of the Arctic Circle . ( About one-fifth of Russia 's landmass is north of the Arctic Circle . ) Russia is one of five countries bordering the Arctic Ocean . In 2011 , out of 4 million inhabitants of the Arctic , roughly 2 million lived in arctic Russia , making it the largest arctic country by population . However , in recent years Russia 's Arctic population has been declining . The main goals of Russia in its Arctic policy are to utilize its natural resources , protect its ecosystems , use the seas as a transportation system in Russia 's interests , and ensure that it remains a zone of peace and cooperation . Russia currently maintains a military presence in the Arctic and has plans to improve it , as well as strengthen the Border Guard/Coast Guard presence there . Using the Arctic for economic gain has been done by Russia for centuries for shipping and fishing . Russia has plans to exploit the large offshore resource deposits in the Arctic . The Northern Sea Route is of particular importance to Russia for transportation , and the Russian Security Council is considering projects for its development . The Security Council also stated a need for increasing investment in Arctic infrastructure . Russia conducts extensive research in the Arctic region , notably the manned drifting ice stations and the Arktika 2007 expedition , which was the first to reach the seabed at the North Pole . The research is partly aimed to back up Russia 's territorial claims , in particular those related to Russia 's extended continental shelf in the Arctic Ocean .", "Extreme weather Extreme weather includes unexpectable , unusual , unpredictable severe or unseasonal weather ; weather at the extremes of the historical distribution -- the range that has been seen in the past . Often , extreme events are based on a location 's recorded weather history and defined as lying in the most unusual ten percent . In recent years some extreme weather events have been attributed to human-induced global warming , with studies indicating an increasing threat from extreme weather in the future .", "Penny Ice Cap The Penny Ice Cap is a 6000 km2 ice cap in Auyuittuq National Park of Baffin Island , Nunavut , Canada . It forms a 2000 m high barrier on the Cumberland Peninsula , an area of deep fiords and glaciated valleys . It is a remnant of the last ice age . During the mid-1990s , Canadian researchers studied the glacier 's patterns of freezing and thawing over centuries by drilling ice core samples . The ice cap has been thinning and its valley glaciers have been retreating in recent decades related to rising summer and winter air temperatures across the eastern Arctic . The ice cap is named after Captain William Penny , a Whaling captain from Aberdeen in Scotland who pioneered over-wintering with native Inuit at Cumberland Sound in order to be able to start whaling ( in the nineteenth century ) much earlier in the season . He was also engaged by Lady Franklin to search for her husband John , lost with all souls in the search for the North West Passage .", "Labyrintovye Islands The Labyrintovye Islands ( Russian : Лабиринтовые острова ; Labyrintovye Ostrova ) is a group of flat islands in the Pyasino Gulf of the Kara Sea . They are located at the mouth of the Pyasina River . Their latitude is 73 ° 50 ' N and its longitude 86 ° 45 ' E. These islands form a compact group that has been formed by river sediments . Rogozyna ( Ru . Rogozynskogo ) is the largest and southernmost island and it is 15 km in length . Other important islands are Chaek and Bolshoy Labyrintovy . All these islands are marshy and covered with tundra vegetation and lakes . The sea surrounding the Labyrintovye Islands is covered with pack ice with some polynias in the winter and there are many ice floes even in the summer . The climate in the area is Arctic , with long bitter winters and a short warmer period which barely allows the ice to melt . These islands belong to the Krasnoyarsk Krai administrative division of the Russian Federation . The Labyrintovye group is part of the Great Arctic State Nature Reserve of Russia and there is much aquatic life in the marshes , especially birds .", "Abstract structure An abstract structure in mathematics is a formal object that is defined by a set of laws , properties , and relationships in a way that is logically if not always historically independent of the structure of contingent experiences , for example , those involving physical objects . Abstract structures are studied not only in logic and mathematics but in the fields that apply them , as computer science , and in the studies that reflect on them , such as philosophy and especially the philosophy of mathematics . Indeed , modern mathematics has been defined in a very general sense as the study of abstract structures ( by the Bourbaki group : see discussion there , at algebraic structure and also structure ) . An abstract structure may be represented ( perhaps with some degree of approximation ) by one or more physical objects -- this is called an implementation or instantiation of the abstract structure . But the abstract structure itself is defined in a way that is not dependent on the properties of any particular implementation . An abstract structure has a richer structure than a concept or an idea . An abstract structure must include precise rules of behaviour which can be used to determine whether a candidate implementation actually matches the abstract structure in question . Thus we may debate how well a particular government fits the concept of democracy , but there is no room for debate over whether a given sequence of moves is or is not a valid game of chess .", "Northern Sea Route The Northern Sea Route ( Се́верный морско́й путь , Severnyy morskoy put , shortened to Севморпуть , Sevmorput ) is a shipping route officially defined by Russian legislation as lying east of Novaya Zemlya and specifically running along the Russian Arctic coast from the Kara Sea , along Siberia , to the Bering Strait . The entire route lies in Arctic waters and within Russia 's Exclusive Economic Zone ( EEZ ) . Parts are free of ice for only two months per year . The overall route on Russia 's side of the Arctic between North Cape and the Bering Strait has been called the Northeast Passage , analogous to the Northwest Passage on the Canada side . While the Northeast Passage includes all the East Arctic seas and connects the Atlantic and Pacific oceans , the Northern Sea Route does not include the Barents Sea , and it therefore does not reach the Atlantic . Melting Arctic ice caps are likely to increase traffic in and the commercial viability of the Northern Sea Route . One study , for instance , projects , `` remarkable shifts in trade flows between Asia and Europe , diversion of trade within Europe , heavy shipping traffic in the Arctic and a substantial drop in Suez traffic . Projected shifts in trade also imply substantial pressure on an already threatened Arctic ecosystem . ''", "Philosophy of space and time Philosophy of space and time is the branch of philosophy concerned with the issues surrounding the ontology , epistemology , and character of space and time . While such ideas have been central to philosophy from its inception , the philosophy of space and time was both an inspiration for and a central aspect of early analytic philosophy . The subject focuses on a number of basic issues , including whether time and space exist independently of the mind , whether they exist independently of one another , what accounts for time 's apparently unidirectional flow , whether times other than the present moment exist , and questions about the nature of identity ( particularly the nature of identity over time ) .", "Unit of selection A unit of selection is a biological entity within the hierarchy of biological organization ( for example , an entity such as : a self-reproducing molecule , a gene , a cell , an organism , a group , or a species ) that is subject to natural selection . There is debate among evolutionary biologists about the extent to which evolution has been shaped by selective pressures acting at these different levels . There is debate over the relative importance of the units themselves . For instance , is it group or individual selection that has driven the evolution of altruism ? Where altruism reduces the fitness of individuals , individual-centered explanations for the evolution of altruism become complex and rely on the use of game theory , for instance ; see kin selection and group selection . There also is debate over the definition of the units themselves , and the roles for selection and replication , and whether these roles may change in the course of evolution .", "Extreme Cold Weather Clothing Extreme Cold Weather clothing ECW for short , normally refers to clothing for Arctic or mountainous areas on land . The basic approach is to insulate one 's body from heat loss , and keep liquid water or ice out of the insulation .", "Pine Island Glacier Pine Island Glacier ( PIG ) is a large ice stream glacier , and the fastest melting glacier in Antarctica , responsible for about 25 % of Antarctica 's ice loss . The glacier ice streams flow west-northwest along the south side of the Hudson Mountains into Pine Island Bay , Amundsen Sea , Antarctica . It was mapped by the United States Geological Survey ( USGS ) from surveys and United States Navy ( USN ) air photos , 1960 -- 66 , and named by the Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names ( US-ACAN ) in association with Pine Island Bay . The area drained by Pine Island Glacier comprises about 10 % of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet . Satellite measurements have shown that the Pine Island Glacier Basin has a greater net contribution of ice to the sea than any other ice drainage basin in the world and this has increased due to recent acceleration of the ice stream . The ice stream is extremely remote , with the nearest continually occupied research station at Rothera , nearly 1300 km away . The area is not claimed by any nations and the Antarctic Treaty prohibits any new claims while it is in force .", "Greenland Sea The Greenland Sea is a body of water that borders Greenland to the west , the Svalbard archipelago to the east , Fram Strait and the Arctic Ocean to the north , and the Norwegian Sea and Iceland to the south . The Greenland Sea is often defined as part of the Arctic Ocean , sometimes as part of the Atlantic Ocean . However , definitions of the Arctic Ocean and its seas tend to be imprecise or arbitrary . In general usage the term `` Arctic Ocean '' would exclude the Greenland Sea . In oceanographic studies the Greenland Sea is considered part of the Nordic Seas , along with the Norwegian Sea . The Nordic Seas are the main connection between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans and , as such , could be of great significance in a possible shutdown of thermohaline circulation . In oceanography the Arctic Ocean and Nordic Seas are often referred to collectively as the `` Arctic Mediterranean Sea '' , a marginal sea of the Atlantic . The sea has Arctic climate with regular northern winds and temperatures rarely rising above 0 ° C . It previously contained the Odden ice tongue ( or Odden ) area , which extended eastward from the main East Greenland ice edge in the vicinity of 72 -- 74 ° N during the winter and acted as a key winter ice formation area in the Arctic . The West Ice forms in winter in the Greenland Sea , north of Iceland , between Greenland and Jan Mayen island . It is a major breeding ground of harp seal and hooded seal that has been used for seal hunting for more than 200 years .", "Arctic Refuge drilling controversy The question of whether to drill for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge ( ANWR ) has been an ongoing political and media controversy in the United States since 1977 . ANWR comprises 19000000 acre of the north Alaskan coast . The land is situated between the Beaufort Sea to the north , Brooks Range to the south , and Prudhoe Bay to the west . It is the largest protected wilderness in the United States and was created by Congress under the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act of 1980 . Section 1002 of that act deferred a decision on the management of oil and gas exploration and development of 1500000 acre in the coastal plain , known as the `` 1002 area '' . The controversy surrounds drilling for oil in this subsection of ANWR . Much of the debate over whether to drill in the 1002 area of ANWR rests on the amount of economically recoverable oil , as it relates to world oil markets , weighed against the potential harm oil exploration might have upon the natural wildlife , in particular the calving ground of the Porcupine caribou . In their documentary Being Caribou the Porcupine herd was followed in its yearly migration by author and wildlife biologist Karsten Heuer and filmmaker Leanne Allison to provide a broader understanding of what is at stake if the oil drilling should happen , and educating the public . President Barack Obama once proposed to declare an additional 5 million acres of the refuge as a wilderness area , which would put a total of 12.8 million acres of the refuge permanently off-limits to drilling or other development , including the coastal plain where oil exploration has been sought .", "Whalers Bay (Svalbard) Whaler 's Bay is a bay in Svalbard in the Arctic Ocean . The former whaling grounds to the north of Nordaustlandet ( roughly ) , the second largest island of the Svalbard archipelago are called Whaler 's Bay and the bowhead whale has been abundant in this region . The West Spitsbergen Current ( WSC ) transports salt and internal energy through Fram Strait into Whaler 's bay . Oceanographic field-studies suggest that the waters on the surface are mainly influenced by atmospheric cooling . Other studies claim that the warm temperature correlates with the sea ice extent in this area .", "Winter-over syndrome The winter-over syndrome is a condition found in individuals who `` winter-over '' throughout the Antarctic ( or Arctic ) winter . It has been observed in inhabitants of research stations in Antarctica , as well as in polar bases such as Thule , Alert and Eureka . It consists of a variety of behavioral and medical disturbances , including irritability , depression , insomnia , absentmindedness , aggressive behavior , and irritable bowel syndrome . Possible contributing causes of winter-over syndrome include stress , social isolation , subsyndromal seasonal affective disorder and polar T3 syndrome .", "Zveroboy Islands The Zveroboy Islands ( Остров Зверобой , or Ostrov Zveroboy ) is a group consisting of a large island ( Zveroboy Island ) and a few scattered small islets . The main island is 17 km in length . It is covered with tundra vegetation and has a lake . This island group is located in the Pyasino Gulf , in the Kara Sea , northeast of Dikson , off the coast of Siberia . The sea surrounding the Zveroboy Islands is covered with pack ice with some polynias in the winter and there are many ice floes even in the summer . The climate in the area is Arctic , with long bitter winters and a short warmer period which barely allows the ice to melt . These islands belong to the Krasnoyarsk Krai administrative division of the Russian Federation . The Zveroboy group is part of the Great Arctic State Nature Reserve of Russia .", "Climate of the Arctic The climate of the Arctic is characterized by long , cold winters and short , cool summers . There is a large amount of variability in climate across the Arctic , but all regions experience extremes of solar radiation in both summer and winter . Some parts of the Arctic are covered by ice ( sea ice , glacial ice , or snow ) year-round , and nearly all parts of the Arctic experience long periods with some form of ice on the surface . Average January temperatures range from about − 34 ° C to 0 ° C ( − 40 to +32 ° F ) , and winter temperatures can drop below − 50 ° C ( − 58 ° F ) over large parts of the Arctic . Average July temperatures range from about − 10 to +10 ° C ( 14 to 50 ° F ) , with some land areas occasionally exceeding 30 ° C ( 86 ° F ) in summer . The Arctic consists of ocean that is largely surrounded by land . As such , the climate of much of the Arctic is moderated by the ocean water , which can never have a temperature below − 2 ° C ( 28 ° F ) . In winter , this relatively warm water , even though covered by the polar ice pack , keeps the North Pole from being the coldest place in the Northern Hemisphere , and it is also part of the reason that Antarctica is so much colder than the Arctic . In summer , the presence of the nearby water keeps coastal areas from warming as much as they might otherwise .", "Lake Ojibway Lake Ojibway was a prehistoric lake in what is now northern Ontario and Quebec in Canada . Ojibway was the last of the great proglacial lakes of the last ice age . Comparable in size to Lake Agassiz ( to which it is likely to be linked ) , and north of the Great Lakes , it was at its greatest extent c. 8,500 years BP . The former lakebed forms the modern Clay Belt , an area of fertile land . Lake Ojibway was relatively short-lived . The lake drained in what must have been a catastrophic and dramatic manner around 8,200 years BP . One hypothesis is that a weakening ice dam separating it from Hudson Bay broke , as the lake was roughly 250 m above sea level . A comparable mechanism produced the Missoula floods that created the channeled scablands of the Columbia River basin . A recent analysis states it has not been conclusively determined whether the lake drained by a breach of the ice dam , by water spilling over the glacier , or by a flood under the glacier . It is also not conclusively known whether there were one or more pulses , and the route the water took to reach Hudson 's Bay has not been determined . The draining of Lake Ojibway is a possible cause of the 8.2 kiloyear event , a major global cooling that occurred 8,200 years BP .", "Ice shelf An ice shelf is a thick floating platform of ice that forms where a glacier or ice sheet flows down to a coastline and onto the ocean surface . Ice shelves are only found in Antarctica , Greenland , Canada and the Russian Arctic . The boundary between the floating ice shelf and the grounded ( resting on bedrock ) ice that feeds it is called the grounding line . The thickness of ice shelves ranges from about 100 to 1000 meters . In contrast , sea ice is formed on water , is much thinner ( typically less than 3m ) , and forms throughout the Arctic Ocean . It also is found in the Southern Ocean around the continent of Antarctica . Ice shelves are principally driven by gravity-driven pressure from the grounded ice . That flow continually moves ice from the grounding line to the seaward front of the shelf . The primary mechanism of mass loss from ice shelves was thought to have been iceberg calving , in which a chunk of ice breaks off from the seaward front of the shelf . A study by NASA and university researchers - published in the June 14 , 2013 issue of Science - found however that ocean waters melting the undersides of Antarctic ice shelves are responsible for most of the continent 's ice shelf mass loss . Typically , a shelf front will extend forward for years or decades between major calving events . Snow accumulation on the upper surface and melting from the lower surface are also important to the mass balance of an ice shelf . Ice may also accrete onto the underside of the shelf . The density contrast between glacial ice , which is denser than normal ice , and liquid water means that only about 1/9 of the floating ice is above the ocean surface . The world 's largest ice shelves are the Ross Ice Shelf and the Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf in Antarctica . The term captured ice shelf has been used for the ice over a subglacial lake , such as Lake Vostok .", "Climate of Scotland The climate of Scotland is temperate and oceanic ( Köppen climate classification Cfb ) , and tends to be very changeable , but not normally extreme . It is warmed by the Gulf Stream from the Atlantic , and given its northerly latitude it is warmer than areas on similar latitudes , for example Labrador in Canada -- where the sea freezes over in winter and icebergs are a common feature in spring and early summer , or Fort McMurray , Canada -- where -35 ° C is not uncommon during winter . Even though most of the country has a temperate climate , the Northern islands and Highlands experience a type of weather close to the climate of the Faroe Islands or Southern Norway .", "Weather Weather is the state of the atmosphere , to the degree that it is hot or cold , wet or dry , calm or stormy , clear or cloudy . Most weather phenomena occur in the lowest level of the atmosphere , the troposphere , just below the stratosphere . Weather refers to day-to-day temperature and precipitation activity , whereas climate is the term for the averaging of atmospheric conditions over longer periods of time . When used without qualification , `` weather '' is generally understood to mean the weather of Earth . Weather is driven by air pressure , temperature and moisture differences between one place and another . These differences can occur due to the sun 's angle at any particular spot , which varies with latitude . The strong temperature contrast between polar and tropical air gives rise to the largest scale atmospheric circulations : the Hadley Cell , the Ferrel Cell , the Polar Cell , and the jet stream . Weather systems in the mid-latitudes , such as extratropical cyclones , are caused by instabilities of the jet stream flow . Because the Earth 's axis is tilted relative to its orbital plane , sunlight is incident at different angles at different times of the year . On Earth 's surface , temperatures usually range ± 40 ° C ( − 40 ° F to 100 ° F ) annually . Over thousands of years , changes in Earth 's orbit can affect the amount and distribution of solar energy received by the Earth , thus influencing long-term climate and global climate change . Surface temperature differences in turn cause pressure differences . Higher altitudes are cooler than lower altitudes as most atmospheric heating is due to contact with the Earth 's surface while radiative losses to space are mostly constant . Weather forecasting is the application of science and technology to predict the state of the atmosphere for a future time and a given location . The Earth 's weather system is a chaotic system ; as a result , small changes to one part of the system can grow to have large effects on the system as a whole . Human attempts to control the weather have occurred throughout history , and there is evidence that human activities such as agriculture and industry have modified weather patterns . Studying how the weather works on other planets has been helpful in understanding how weather works on Earth . A famous landmark in the Solar System , Jupiter 's Great Red Spot , is an anticyclonic storm known to have existed for at least 300 years . However , weather is not limited to planetary bodies . A star 's corona is constantly being lost to space , creating what is essentially a very thin atmosphere throughout the Solar System . The movement of mass ejected from the Sun is known as the solar wind .", "Canadian sovereignty The sovereignty of Canada is a major cultural matter in Canada . Several issues currently define Canadian sovereignty : the Canadian monarchy , telecommunication , the autonomy of provinces , and Canada 's Arctic border . Canada is a Commonwealth realm , meaning that Queen Elizabeth II is the head of state . However , while several powers are the sovereign 's alone , most of the royal constitutional and ceremonial duties in Canada are carried out by the Queen 's representative , the Governor General , as such , the Governor General is sometimes referred to as the de facto head of state . In each of Canada 's provinces the monarch is represented by a lieutenant-governor . The greater autonomy of each province and territory - Canadian federalism - is also important to Canadian sovereignty . Quebec has twice voted about seceding from Canada . Under Canada 's Telecommunications Act , telecommunication carriers must be nationally owned . The most recent issue affecting Canadian sovereignty has been caused by the melting of Arctic ice . As Arctic ice in Northern Canada has melted , several countries have struggled to come to an agreement on who owns certain areas in the oil-rich Arctic .", "Salvadorian Magpie The Salvadorian Magpie is a bird found in Jamaica . It is not related to El Salvador , but the word that means thin winged in Latin . The bird is black and has yellow eyes . In the sun it appears that the bird is a dark blue . The Salvadorian Magpie was only discovered in the late 20th Century by little know American naturalist and geologist John Hackett . Although the discovery never appeared in official publications it has been a topic of debate by experts in renowned institutions like Kellogg - Chicago . The bird is thought to have fled its natural habitat due to the melting ice of the North Pole - an event also called the Brown Polar Bear Phenomenon . Similar migration of bird species have been witnessed in recent years - like the Pelicans returning to Capistran .", "Water sky Water sky is a phenomenon that is closely related to ice blink . It forms in regions with large areas of ice and low-lying clouds and so is limited mostly to the extreme northern and southern sections of earth , in Antarctica and in the Arctic . When light hits the blue oceans or seas , some of it bounces back and enables the observer to physically see the water . However , some of the light also is reflected back up on to the bottoms of low-lying clouds and causes a dark spot to appear underneath some clouds . These clouds may be visible when the seas are not and can show alert and knowledgeable travelers the general direction of water . The dark clouds over open water have long been used by polar explorers and scientists to navigate in sea ice . For example , Arctic explorer Fridtjof Nansen and his assistant Hjalmar Johansen used the phenomenon to find lanes of water in their failed expedition to the North Pole as did Bernacchi and Sir Douglas Mawson in the Antarctica .", "Volcano A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object , such as Earth , that allows hot lava , volcanic ash , and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface . Earth 's volcanoes occur because its crust is broken into 17 major , rigid tectonic plates that float on a hotter , softer layer in its mantle . Therefore , on Earth , volcanoes are generally found where tectonic plates are diverging or converging , and most are found underwater . For example , a mid-oceanic ridge , such as the Mid-Atlantic Ridge , has volcanoes caused by divergent tectonic plates pulling apart ; the Pacific Ring of Fire has volcanoes caused by convergent tectonic plates coming together . Volcanoes can also form where there is stretching and thinning of the crust 's , e.g. , in the East African Rift and the Wells Gray-Clearwater volcanic field and Rio Grande Rift in North America . This type of volcanism falls under the umbrella of `` plate hypothesis '' volcanism . Volcanism away from plate boundaries has also been explained as mantle plumes . These so-called `` hotspots '' , for example Hawaii , are postulated to arise from upwelling diapirs with magma from the core -- mantle boundary , 3,000 km deep in the Earth . Volcanoes are usually not created where two tectonic plates slide past one another . Erupting volcanoes can pose many hazards , not only in the immediate vicinity of the eruption . One such hazard is that volcanic ash can be a threat to aircraft , in particular those with jet engines where ash particles can be melted by the high operating temperature ; the melted particles then adhere to the turbine blades and alter their shape , disrupting the operation of the turbine . Large eruptions can affect temperature as ash and droplets of sulfuric acid obscure the sun and cool the Earth 's lower atmosphere ( or troposphere ) ; however , they also absorb heat radiated up from the Earth , thereby warming the upper atmosphere ( or stratosphere ) . Historically , so-called volcanic winters have caused catastrophic famines .", "Data discrimination Data Discrimination is the selective filtering of information by a service provider over a network . This has been an issue in the recent debate over net neutrality . Non-discrimination mandates that one class of customers may not be favored over another so the network that is built is the same and every network user has equal upload and download capabilities .", "Ecological Economics (journal) Ecological Economics is a peer-reviewed academic journal published by Elsevier on behalf of the International Society for Ecological Economics . It covers research on ecological economics . The journal was established in 1989 by founding editor-in-chief Robert Costanza . The current editor-in-chief is Richard B. Howarth ( Dartmouth College ) . The journal aims to `` extend and integrate the study and management of nature 's household ( ecology ) and humankind 's household ( economics ) '' . The contents and management of Ecological Economics as a journal has been controversial . Inge Røpke has cited the expulsion of social ecological economists from the Board by Cutler Cleveland when he became Editor . On taking over in 2008 , Rich Howarth stated his desire for a more inclusive approach , and reappointed some of those previously removed . However , this inclusiveness has also apparently resulted in further loss of focus as the journal seems to accept anything to do with the environment and economics from any field . In particular , questions have been raised by Clive Spash over the direction of the journal and its influence on the broader movement because of the inclusion of much which is mainstream orthodox environmental and resource economics and shows no awareness of debates within ecological economics nor makes any use of its heterodox theoretical foundations . A good example is the work appearing in the journal on climate change as discussed by Anderson and M'Gonigle .", "Cordilleran Ice Sheet The Cordilleran ice sheet was a major ice sheet that periodically covered large parts of North America during glacial periods over the last ~ 2.6 million years . This included the following areas : Western Montana The Idaho Panhandle Northern Washington state down to about Olympia and Spokane All of British Columbia The southwestern third or so of Yukon Territory All of the Alaska Panhandle South Central Alaska The Alaska Peninsula Almost all of the continental shelf north of the Strait of Juan de Fuca The ice sheet covered up to 2.5 million square kilometres at the Last Glacial Maximum and probably more than that in some previous periods , when it may have extended into the northeast extremity of Oregon and the Salmon River Mountains in Idaho . It is probable , though , that its northern margin also migrated south due to the influence of starvation caused by very low levels of precipitation . At its eastern end the Cordilleran ice sheet merged with the Laurentide ice sheet at the Continental Divide , forming an area of ice that contained one and a half times as much water as the Antarctic ice sheet does today . At its western end it is believed nowadays that several small glacial refugia existed during the last glacial maximum below present sea level in the now-submerged Hecate Strait and on the Brooks Peninsula in northern Vancouver Island . However , evidence of ice-free refugia above present sea level north of the Olympic Peninsula has been refuted by genetic and geological studies since the middle 1990s . The ice sheet faded north of the Alaska Range because the climate was too dry to form glaciers . Unlike the Laurentide ice sheet , which is believed to have taken as much as eleven thousand years to fully melt , it is believed the Cordilleran ice sheet , except for areas that remain glaciated today , melted very quickly , probably in four thousand years or less . This rapid melting caused such floods as the overflow of Lake Missoula and shaped the topography of the extremely fertile Inland Empire of Eastern Washington .", "Centre points of the United Kingdom There has long been debate over the exact location of the geographical centre of the United Kingdom , and its constituent countries , due to the complexity and method of the calculation , such as whether to include offshore islands , and the fact that erosion will cause the position to change over time . There are two main methods of calculating this `` centre '' : either as the centroid of the two-dimensional shape made by the country ( projected to the Airy ellipsoid then flattened using the Transverse Mercator projection ) , or as the point farthest from the boundary of the country ( either the sea , or , in the case of constituent countries , a land border ) . These two methods give quite different answers .", "Fluvio-thermal erosion In geomorphology fluvio-thermal erosion is the combined mechanical and thermal erosion of an unfrozen river or stream against ice-rich soils and sediments . The erosional process includes the thawing of ice sediments by a strong water flow and once the surface is unfrozen , mechanical erosion occurs only if hydraulic forces are powerful enough to incise the riverbank material . This kind of erosion sometimes causes the banks to collapse into the river , and when this occurs collapses are commonly controlled by ice wedges . Rivers where this process has been observed include the Lena , the Colville River delta , and the Yukon River . The Yakutia region in Central Siberia , where the Lena River is located , is an exceptional point of interest to study this type of erosion based on its record low temperatures and extreme thickness of permafrost . During the winter when water level is low , a thick sheet of ice forms on top of the Lena River , that is sometimes as much as 2m thick . Seasonal floods caused by rapid snowmelt and irregular storms then break the ice apart in the summer , exposing the banks of the river to the power of erosion . There are two stages to this process : the first is the breakup of the ice and the second is the flooding . Over the course of just a few days in May or June , water discharge can increase by 10x its velocity . The force of the water causes the ice sitting on top of the river to break apart , and these broken pieces are thrust up onto the riverbanks , sometimes forming an ice barrier that as high as 10m tall that will protect the banks from erosion for a short time . However , as the flood continues , the warmth and mechanical energy from the water melts the ice barrier , giving way for the fluvio-thermal erosion of the frozen riverbanks . For the Lena , the banks are observed to retreat approximately 40m per year . Based on lab models carried out in a cold room , high water temperature , ice temperature , and discharge are shown to be the main contributors of thermal erosion , whereas high ice content in the soil is shown to slow down the thermal erosion process . Melting of the ice within a porous material reduces the strength of the material , rendering it easily breakable and removable . During the melting period of a periglacial river in the summer , due to a relatively high water discharge , the unfrozen sediments are weathered away . In conclusion , water discharge in permanent contact with permafrost banks creates a combination of thermal and mechanical erosion ." ]

[ "Climate change in the Arctic The effects of global warming in the Arctic , or climate change in the Arctic include rising temperatures , loss of sea ice , and melting of the Greenland ice sheet with a related cold temperature anomaly , observed in recent years . Potential methane release from the region , especially through the thawing of permafrost and methane clathrates , is also a concern . The Arctic warms twice as fast compared to the rest of the world . The pronounced warming signal , the amplified response of the Arctic to global warming , it is often seen as a leading indicator of global warming . The melting of Greenland 's ice sheet is linked to polar amplification . According to a study published in 2016 , about 0.5 ◦ C of the warming in the Arctic has been attributed to reductions in sulfate aerosols in Europe since 1980 .", "Sea level rise A sea level rise is an increase in the volume of water in the world 's oceans , resulting in an increase in global mean sea level . Sea level rise is usually attributed to global climate change by thermal expansion of the water in the oceans and by melting of Ice sheets and glaciers on land . Melting of floating ice shelves or icebergs at sea raises sea levels only slightly . Sea level rise at specific locations may be more or less than the global average . Local factors might include tectonic effects , subsidence of the land , tides , currents , storms , etc. . Sea level rise is expected to continue for centuries . Because of the slow inertia , long response time for parts of the climate system , it has been estimated that we are already committed to a sea-level rise of approximately 2.3 m for each degree Celsius of temperature rise within the next 2,000 years . IPCC Summary for Policymakers , AR5 , 2014 , indicated that the global mean sea level rise will continue during the 21st century , very likely at a faster rate than observed from 1971 to 2010 . Projected rates and amounts vary . A January 2017 NOAA report suggests a range of GMSL rise of 0.3 -- 2.5 m possible during the 21st century . Sea level rises can considerably influence human populations in coastal and island regions and natural environments like marine ecosystems .", "Arctic The Arctic ( -LSB- ˈɑrktɪk -RSB- or -LSB- ˈɑrtɪk -RSB- ) is a polar region located at the northernmost part of Earth . The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean , adjacent seas , and parts of Alaska ( United States ) , Canada , Finland , Greenland ( Denmark ) , Iceland , Norway , Russia and Sweden . Land within the Arctic region has seasonally varying snow and ice cover , with predominantly treeless permafrost-containing tundra . Arctic seas contain seasonal sea ice in many places . The Arctic region is a unique area among Earth 's ecosystems . For example , the cultures in the region and the Arctic indigenous peoples have adapted to its cold and extreme conditions . In recent years , Arctic sea ice decline has been caused by global warming . Life in the Arctic includes organisms living in the ice , zooplankton and phytoplankton , fish and marine mammals , birds , land animals , plants and human societies . Arctic land is bordered by the subarctic .", "Arctic sea ice decline Arctic sea ice decline is the sea ice loss observed in recent decades in the Arctic Ocean . The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) Fourth Assessment Report states that greenhouse gas forcing is largely , but not wholly , responsible for the decline in Arctic sea ice extent . A study from 2011 suggested that internal variability enhanced the greenhouse gas forced sea ice decline over the last decades . A study from 2007 found the decline to be `` faster than forecasted '' by model simulations . The IPCC Fifth Assessment Report concluded with high confidence that sea ice continues to decrease in extent , and that there is robust evidence for the downward trend in Arctic summer sea ice extent since 1979 . It has been established that the region is at its warmest for at least 40,000 years and the Arctic-wide melt season has lengthened at a rate of 5 days per decade ( from 1979 to 2013 ) , dominated by a later autumn freezeup . Sea ice changes have been identified as a mechanism for polar amplification ." ]

[ "Arctic ice pack The Arctic ice pack is the ice cover of the Arctic Ocean and its vicinity . The Arctic ice pack undergoes a regular seasonal cycle in which ice melts in spring and summer , reaches a minimum around mid-September , then increases during fall and winter . Summer ice cover in the Arctic is about 50 % of winter cover . Some of the ice survives from one year to the next . Currently 28 % of Arctic basin sea ice is multi-year ice , thicker than seasonal ice : up to 3 - thick over large areas , with ridges up to 20 m thick . As well as the regular seasonal cycle there has been an underlying trend of declining sea ice in the Arctic in recent decades .", "Arctic resources race The Arctic resources race refers to the competition between global entities for newly available natural resources in the Arctic . As the ice in the Arctic melts at a record rate and the sea ice extent continues to decrease due to global climate change , the Arctic waters become more navigable and Arctic resources -- such as oil and gas , minerals , fish , as well as tourism and new trade routes -- are becoming more accessible . Under the United Nations Convention of the Law of the Sea , five nations have the legal right to exploit the Arctic 's natural resources within their exclusive economic zones : Canada , Russia , Denmark , Norway , and the United States ( though the U.S. has yet to ratify the treaty , it considers the treaty to be customary international law and abides by it ) . The Arctic region and its resources have recently been at the center of controversy and pose potential conflicts between nations that have differing opinions of how to manage the area , including conflicting territorial claims . In addition , the Arctic region is home to an estimated 400,000 indigenous people . If the ice continues to melt at the current rate , then these indigenous people are at risk of being displaced . The acceleration of ice depletion will contribute to climate change as a whole : melting ice releases methane , ice reflects incoming solar radiation , and without it will cause the ocean to absorb more radiation ( albedo effect ) , heating up the water causing more ocean acidification , and melting ice will cause a rise in sea level .", "Sea ice Sea ice arises as seawater freezes . Because ice is less dense than water , it floats on the ocean 's surface ( as does fresh water ice , which has an even lower density ) . Sea ice covers about 7 % of the Earth 's surface and about 12 % of the world 's oceans . Much of the world 's sea ice is enclosed within the polar ice packs in the Earth 's polar regions : the Arctic ice pack of the Arctic Ocean and the Antarctic ice pack of the Southern Ocean . Polar packs undergo a significant yearly cycling in surface extent , a natural process upon which depends the Arctic ecology , including the ocean 's ecosystems . Due to the action of winds , currents and temperature fluctuations , sea ice is very dynamic , leading to a wide variety of ice types and features . Sea ice may be contrasted with icebergs , which are chunks of ice shelves or glaciers that calve into the ocean . Depending on location , sea ice expanses may also incorporate icebergs .", "Antarctic sea ice Antarctic sea ice is the sea ice of the Southern Ocean . It extends far north in winter and retreats almost to the coastline each summer . Sea ice is frozen seawater that is usually less than a few meters thick . This is in contrast to ice shelves , which are formed by glaciers , float in the sea , and are up to a kilometer thick . There are two subdivisions of sea ice : fast ice , which is attached to land ; and ice floes , which are not . Sea ice in the Southern Ocean melts from the bottom instead of from the surface like Arctic ice because it is covered in snow . As a result , melt ponds are rarely observed . On average , Antarctic sea ice is younger , thinner , warmer , saltier , and more mobile than Arctic sea ice . Due to its inaccessibility , it is not as well-studied as Arctic ice .", "Arctic sea ice ecology and history The Arctic sea ice covers less area in the summer than in the winter . The multi-year ( i.e. perennial ) sea ice covers nearly all of the central deep basins . The Arctic sea ice and its related biota are unique , and the year-round persistence of the ice has allowed the development of ice endemic species , meaning species not found anywhere else . There are differing scientific opinions about how long perennial sea ice has existed in the Arctic . Estimates range from 120,000 , 700,000 or 4 million years ago .", "Arctic Ocean The Arctic Ocean is the smallest and shallowest of the world 's five major oceans . The International Hydrographic Organization ( IHO ) recognizes it as an ocean , although some oceanographers call it the Arctic Mediterranean Sea or simply the Arctic Sea , classifying it a mediterranean sea or an estuary of the Atlantic Ocean . Alternatively , the Arctic Ocean can be seen as the northernmost part of the all-encompassing World Ocean . Located mostly in the Arctic north polar region in the middle of the Northern Hemisphere , the Arctic Ocean is almost completely surrounded by Eurasia and North America . It is partly covered by sea ice throughout the year and almost completely in winter . The Arctic Ocean 's surface temperature and salinity vary seasonally as the ice cover melts and freezes ; its salinity is the lowest on average of the five major oceans , due to low evaporation , heavy fresh water inflow from rivers and streams , and limited connection and outflow to surrounding oceanic waters with higher salinities . The summer shrinking of the ice has been quoted at 50 % . The US National Snow and Ice Data Center ( NSIDC ) uses satellite data to provide a daily record of Arctic sea ice cover and the rate of melting compared to an average period and specific past years .", "Measurement of sea ice Measurement of sea ice is important for safety of navigation and for monitoring the environment , particularly the climate . Sea ice extent interacts with large climate patterns such as the North Atlantic oscillation and Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation , to name just two , and influences climate in the rest of the globe . The amount of sea ice coverage in the arctic has been of interest for centuries , as the Northwest Passage was of high interest for trade and seafaring . There is a longstanding history of records and measurements of some effects of the sea ice extent , but comprehensive measurements were sparse till the 1950s and started with the satellite era in the late 1970s . Modern direct records include data about ice extent , ice area , concentration , thickness , and the age of the ice . The current trends in the records show a significant decline in Northern hemisphere sea ice and a small but statistically significant increase in the winter Southern hemisphere sea ice . Furthermore , current research comprises and establishes extensive sets of multi-century historical records of arctic and subarctic sea ice and uses , among others high-resolution paleo-proxy sea-ice records . The arctic sea ice is a dynamic climate-system component and is linked to the Atlantic multidecadal variability and the historical climate over various decades . There are circular changes of sea ice patterns but so far no clear patterns based on modeling predictions .", "Arctic geoengineering Temperatures in the Arctic region have tended to increase more rapidly than the global average . Projections of sea ice loss that are adjusted to take account of recent rapid Arctic shrinkage suggest that the Arctic will likely be free of summer sea ice sometime between 2059 and 2078 . Various climate engineering schemes have been suggested to reduce the chance of significant and irreversible effects such as Arctic methane release . Several climate engineering proposals have been made which are specific to the Arctic . They are usually hydrological in nature , and principally centre upon measures to prevent Arctic ice loss . In addition , other solar radiation management climate engineering techniques , such as stratospheric sulfate aerosols have been proposed . These would cool the Arctic by adjusting the albedo of the atmosphere .", "Icing (nautical) Icing on ships is a serious hazard where cold temperatures ( below about -10 C ) combined with high wind speed ( typically force 8 or above on the Beaufort scale ) result in spray blown off the sea freezing immediately on contact with the ship . If not frequently knocked off , the ice can soon build up on the ship 's superstructure to a sufficient weight to cause the ship to capsize . It is typically a problem in Arctic and Antarctic seas , but can also occur in other seas such as the Gulf of Saint Lawrence , the Sea of Japan , the Baltic Sea , and very rarely , the North Sea .", "Climate of the Arctic The climate of the Arctic is characterized by long , cold winters and short , cool summers . There is a large amount of variability in climate across the Arctic , but all regions experience extremes of solar radiation in both summer and winter . Some parts of the Arctic are covered by ice ( sea ice , glacial ice , or snow ) year-round , and nearly all parts of the Arctic experience long periods with some form of ice on the surface . Average January temperatures range from about − 34 ° C to 0 ° C ( − 40 to +32 ° F ) , and winter temperatures can drop below − 50 ° C ( − 58 ° F ) over large parts of the Arctic . Average July temperatures range from about − 10 to +10 ° C ( 14 to 50 ° F ) , with some land areas occasionally exceeding 30 ° C ( 86 ° F ) in summer . The Arctic consists of ocean that is largely surrounded by land . As such , the climate of much of the Arctic is moderated by the ocean water , which can never have a temperature below − 2 ° C ( 28 ° F ) . In winter , this relatively warm water , even though covered by the polar ice pack , keeps the North Pole from being the coldest place in the Northern Hemisphere , and it is also part of the reason that Antarctica is so much colder than the Arctic . In summer , the presence of the nearby water keeps coastal areas from warming as much as they might otherwise .", "Arctic dipole anomaly The Arctic dipole anomaly is a pressure pattern characterized by high pressure on the arctic regions of North America , and a low pressure on the Eurasia region . This pattern sometimes replaces the Arctic oscillation and the North Atlantic Oscillation . It was observed for the first time in the first decade of 2000s and is perhaps linked to recent climate change . The Arctic dipole lets more southern winds into the Arctic ocean resulting in more ice melting . The summer 2007 event played an important role in the record low sea ice extent which was recorded in September . The Arctic dipole has also been linked to changes in arctic circulation patterns that cause drier winters in Northern Europe , but much wetter winters in Southern Europe and colder winters in East Asia , Europe and the eastern half of North America .", "Great Arctic Cyclone of 2012 The Great Arctic Cyclone , or `` Great Arctic Cyclone of 2012 , '' was an extratropical cyclone which centered on the Arctic Ocean in early August , 2012 . Such storms are rare in the Arctic summer , although common in the winter . The Great Arctic Cyclone was the strongest summer storm and the 13th strongest storm observed at any time since satellite observations began in 1979 . Although the Great Arctic Cyclone did not cause the record melting of sea ice which occurred in 2012 , turbulence resulting from the storm is believed to have contributed to melting of sea ice due to the rise of warmer saltier water from below .", "Transpolar Drift Stream The Transpolar Drift Stream is a major ocean current of the Arctic Ocean , transporting sea ice from the Laptev Sea and the East Siberian Sea towards Fram Strait . Drift experiments with ships like Fram or Tara showed that the drift takes between two and four years . In 1937 , Pyotr Shirshov at the Soviet drift ice station North Pole-1 described this drift . The stream conveys water in roughly two major routes to the northern Atlantic Ocean at a rate of about 1.5 mi per day . Primarily wind-driven , it flows roughly from the northern coast of Russia and Alaska , sometimes curving toward the Beaufort Sea before exiting to the Atlantic Ocean . It has been cited as a major factor in the North Atlantic Oscillation and Arctic oscillation atmospheric changes . The drift typically takes one of two paths before exiting into the northern Atlantic Ocean . On decadal and longer timescales , the North Atlantic Oscillation ( NAO ) and the Arctic Oscillation ( AO ) indices affect the flow pattern of the transpolar drift stream . During times of positive NAO ( NAO + ) and positive AO ( AO + ) , there is a weak Arctic high and the associated surface winds produce a cyclonic ( anti-clockwise ) ice drift motion in eastern Arctic Ocean . In this case , the drift flows from the Laptev Sea towards the Beaufort Sea before exiting the Arctic Ocean through the Fram Strait . Conversely , during periods of NAO - and AO - , there is a strong Arctic high and ice motion flows in an anticyclonic ( clockwise ) motion in the Eurasian Basin . In this phase , the drift flows directly from the Laptev Sea through the Fram Strait .", "Drift ice Drift ice is any sea ice other than fast ice , the latter being attached ( `` fastened '' ) to the shoreline or other fixed objects ( shoals , grounded icebergs , etc. ) . Drift ice is carried along by winds and sea currents , hence its name . When drift ice is driven together into a large single mass ( > 70 % coverage ) , it is called pack ice . Wind and currents can pile up that ice to form ridges up to several metres in height . These represent a challenge for icebreakers and offshore structures operating in cold oceans and seas . Drift ice consists of floes , individual pieces of sea ice 20 m or more across . There are names for various floe sizes : small -- 20 m to 100 m ; medium -- 100 m to 500 m ; big -- 500 m to 2000 m ; vast -- 2 km to 10 km ; and giant -- more than 10 km . Seasonal ice drift in the Sea of Okhotsk by the northern coast of Hokkaidō , Japan has become a tourist attraction of this area with harsh climate , and is one of the 100 Soundscapes of Japan . The Sea of Okhotsk is the southernmost area in the Northern hemisphere where drift ice may be observed . Drift ice affects : Security of navigation Climatic impact ( see Polar ice packs ) Geological impact Biosphere influence ( see Ecology of sea ice ) The two major ice packs are the Arctic ice pack and the Antarctic ice pack . The most important areas of pack ice are the polar ice packs formed from seawater in the Earth 's polar regions : the Arctic ice pack of the Arctic Ocean and the Antarctic ice pack of the Southern Ocean . Polar packs significantly change their size during seasonal changes of the year . Because of vast amounts of water added to or removed from the oceans and atmosphere , the behavior of polar ice packs has a significant impact on global changes in climate .", "Arctic methane emissions Arctic methane release is the release of methane from seas and soils in permafrost regions of the Arctic . While a long-term natural process , it is exacerbated by global warming . This results in a positive feedback effect , as methane is itself a powerful greenhouse gas . The Arctic region is one of the many natural sources of the greenhouse gas methane . Global warming accelerates its release , due to both release of methane from existing stores , and from methanogenesis in rotting biomass . Large quantities of methane are stored in the Arctic in natural gas deposits , permafrost , and as undersea clathrates . Permafrost and clathrates degrade on warming , thus large releases of methane from these sources may arise as a result of global warming . Other sources of methane include submarine taliks , river transport , ice complex retreat , submarine permafrost and decaying gas hydrate deposits . Concentrations in the Arctic atmosphere are higher by 8 -- 10 % than that in the Antarctic atmosphere . During cold glacier epochs , this gradient decreases to practically insignificant levels . Land ecosystems are considered the main sources of this asymmetry , although it has been suggested that `` the role of the Arctic Ocean is significantly underestimated . '' Soil temperature and moisture levels have been found to be significant variables in soil methane fluxes in tundra environments .", "Polar seas Polar seas is a collective term for the Arctic Ocean ( about 4-5 percent of Earth 's oceans ) and the southern part of the Southern Ocean ( south of Antarctic Convergence , about 10 percent of Earth 's oceans ) . In the coldest years , sea ice can cover around 13 percent of the Earth 's total surface at its maximum , but out of phase in the two hemispheres . The polar seas contain a huge biome with many organisms . Among the species that inhabit various polar seas and surrounding land areas are polar bear , penguin , reindeer ( caribou ) , muskox , wolverine , ermine , lemming , Arctic hare , Arctic ground squirrel , whale , harp seal , and walrus . These species have unique adaptations to the extreme conditions . Many might be endangered if they can not adapt to changing conditions . Contrary to popular opinion , the World Wildlife Fund studies for polar bears show that this species has prospered since 1950 , attaining five times the numbers found in 1950 . In general , Arctic ecosystems are relatively fragile and slow to recover from serious damage .", "Ice-albedo feedback Ice-albedo feedback ( or snow-albedo feedback ) is a positive feedback climate process where a change in the area of snow-covered land , ice caps , glaciers or sea ice alters the albedo . This change in albedo acts to reinforce the initial alteration in ice area . Cooling tends to increase ice cover and hence the albedo , reducing the amount of solar energy absorbed and leading to more cooling . Conversely , warming tends to decrease ice cover and hence the albedo , increasing the amount of solar energy absorbed , leading to more warming . The effect also applies on the small scale to snow-covered surfaces . A small amount of snow melt exposes darker ground which absorbs more radiation , leading to more snowmelt . The effect has mostly been discussed in terms of the recent trend of declining Arctic sea ice . Internal feedback processes may also potentially occur , as land ice melts and causes eustatic sea level rise , and also potentially induces earthquakes as a result of isostatic rebound , which further acts to disrupt glaciers , ice shelves , etc. .", "Arctic Climate Impact Assessment The Arctic Climate Impact Assessment ( ACIA ) is a study describing the ongoing climate change in the Arctic and its consequences : rising temperatures , loss of sea ice , unprecedented melting of the Greenland ice sheet , and many impacts on ecosystems , animals , and people . The ACIA is the first comprehensively researched , fully referenced , and independently reviewed evaluation of Arctic climate change and its impacts for the region and for the world . The project was guided by the intergovernmental Arctic Council and the non-governmental International Arctic Science Committee . Three hundred scientists participated in the study over a span of three years . The 140-page synthesis report Impacts of a Warming Arctic was released in November 2004 , and the scientific report later in 2005 . The ACIA Secretariat is located at the International Arctic Research Center at the University of Alaska Fairbanks .", "Fast ice Fast ice ( also called land-fast ice , landfast ice , and shore-fast ice ) is sea ice that is `` fastened '' to the coastline , to the sea floor along shoals or to grounded icebergs . Fast ice may either grow in place from the sea water or by freezing pieces of drifting ice to the shore or other anchor sites . Unlike drift ( or pack ) ice , fast ice does not move with currents and winds . The width ( and the presence ) of this ice zone is usually seasonal and depends on ice thickness , topography of the sea floor and islands . It ranges from a few meters to several hundred kilometers . Seaward expansion is a function of a number of factors , notably water depth , shoreline protection , time of year and pressure from the pack ice . The topography of the fast ice varies from smooth and level to rugged ( when submitted to large pressures ) . The ice foot refers to ice that has formed at the shoreline , through multiple freezing of water between ebb tides , and is separated by the remainder of the fast ice surface by tidal cracks . Further away from the coastline , the ice may become anchored to the sea bottom -- it is then referred to as bottomfast ice . Fast ice can survive one or more melting seasons ( i.e. summer ) , in which case it can be designated following the usual age-based categories : first-year , second-year , multiyear . The fast ice boundary is the limit between fast ice and drift ( or pack ) ice -- in places , this boundary may coincide with a shear ridge . Fast ice may be delimited or enclose pressure ridges which extend sufficiently downward so as to be grounded -- these features are known as stamukhi .", "Sea ice thickness Sea ice thickness spatial extent , and open water within ice packs can vary rapidly in response to weather and climate . Sea ice concentration are measured by satellites , with the Special Sensor Microwave Imager / Sounder ( SSMIS ) , and the European Space Agency 's Cryosat-2 satellite to map the thickness and shape of the Earth 's polar ice cover . The sea ice volume is calculated with the Pan-Arctic Ice Ocean Modeling and Assimilation System ( PIOMAS ) , which blends satellite-observed data , such as sea ice concentrations into model calculations to estimate sea ice thickness and volume . Sea ice thickness determines a number of important fluxes such as heat flux between the air and ocean surface -- see below -- as well as salt and fresh water fluxes between the ocean since saline water ejects much of its salt content when frozen -- see sea ice growth processes . It is also important for navigators on icebreakers since there is an upper limit to the thickness of ice any ship can sail through .", "Northern Sea Route The Northern Sea Route ( Се́верный морско́й путь , Severnyy morskoy put , shortened to Севморпуть , Sevmorput ) is a shipping route officially defined by Russian legislation as lying east of Novaya Zemlya and specifically running along the Russian Arctic coast from the Kara Sea , along Siberia , to the Bering Strait . The entire route lies in Arctic waters and within Russia 's Exclusive Economic Zone ( EEZ ) . Parts are free of ice for only two months per year . The overall route on Russia 's side of the Arctic between North Cape and the Bering Strait has been called the Northeast Passage , analogous to the Northwest Passage on the Canada side . While the Northeast Passage includes all the East Arctic seas and connects the Atlantic and Pacific oceans , the Northern Sea Route does not include the Barents Sea , and it therefore does not reach the Atlantic . Melting Arctic ice caps are likely to increase traffic in and the commercial viability of the Northern Sea Route . One study , for instance , projects , `` remarkable shifts in trade flows between Asia and Europe , diversion of trade within Europe , heavy shipping traffic in the Arctic and a substantial drop in Suez traffic . Projected shifts in trade also imply substantial pressure on an already threatened Arctic ecosystem . ''", "Polar ice packs (disambiguation) Polar ice packs may refer to : Sea ice Arctic ice pack Antarctic sea ice", "List of research stations in the Arctic A number of governments maintain permanent research stations in the Arctic and these bases are widely distributed . Historically many research stations , also known as Arctic bases or Polar stations , were temporary , while only a few are permanent . Some of these research facilities are constructed on land or on ice that rests on land , while others are drifting ice stations built on the sea ice of the high latitudes of the Arctic Ocean .", "Antarctic ice sheet The Antarctic ice sheet is one of the two polar ice caps of the Earth . It covers about 98 % of the Antarctic continent and is the largest single mass of ice on Earth . It covers an area of almost 14 e6km2 and contains 26.5 e6km3 of ice . Approximately 61 percent of all fresh water on the Earth is held in the Antarctic ice sheet , an amount equivalent to about 58 m of sea-level rise . In East Antarctica , the ice sheet rests on a major land mass , but in West Antarctica the bed can extend to more than 2,500 m below sea level . Much of the land in this area would be seabed if the ice sheet were not there . In contrast to the melting of the Arctic sea ice , sea ice around Antarctica was expanding . The reasons for this are not fully understood , but suggestions include the climatic effects on ocean and atmospheric circulation of the ozone hole , and/or cooler ocean surface temperatures as the warming deep waters melt the ice shelves .", "Ice Ice is water frozen into a solid state . Depending on the presence of impurities such as particles of soil or bubbles of air , it can appear transparent or a more or less opaque bluish-white color . In the Solar System , ice is abundant and occurs naturally from as close to the Sun as Mercury to as far away as the Oort cloud objects . Beyond the Solar System , it occurs as interstellar ice . It is abundant on Earth 's surfaceparticularly in the polar regions and above the snow lineand , as a common form of precipitation and deposition , plays a key role in Earth 's water cycle and climate . It falls as snowflakes and hail or occurs as frost , icicles or ice spikes . Ice molecules can exhibit seventeen or more different phases ( packing geometries ) that depend on temperature and pressure . When water is cooled rapidly ( quenching ) , up to three different types of amorphous ice can form depending on the history of its pressure and temperature . When cooled slowly correlated proton tunneling occurs below 20 K giving rise to macroscopic quantum phenomena . Virtually all the ice on Earth 's surface and in its atmosphere is of a hexagonal crystalline structure denoted as ice I ( spoken as `` ice one h '' ) with minute traces of cubic ice denoted as ice I . The most common phase transition to ice I occurs when liquid water is cooled below at standard atmospheric pressure . It may also be deposited directly by water vapor , as happens in the formation of frost . The transition from ice to water is melting and from ice directly to water vapor is sublimation . Ice is used in a variety of ways , including cooling , winter sports and ice sculpture .", "Greenland Sea The Greenland Sea is a body of water that borders Greenland to the west , the Svalbard archipelago to the east , Fram Strait and the Arctic Ocean to the north , and the Norwegian Sea and Iceland to the south . The Greenland Sea is often defined as part of the Arctic Ocean , sometimes as part of the Atlantic Ocean . However , definitions of the Arctic Ocean and its seas tend to be imprecise or arbitrary . In general usage the term `` Arctic Ocean '' would exclude the Greenland Sea . In oceanographic studies the Greenland Sea is considered part of the Nordic Seas , along with the Norwegian Sea . The Nordic Seas are the main connection between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans and , as such , could be of great significance in a possible shutdown of thermohaline circulation . In oceanography the Arctic Ocean and Nordic Seas are often referred to collectively as the `` Arctic Mediterranean Sea '' , a marginal sea of the Atlantic . The sea has Arctic climate with regular northern winds and temperatures rarely rising above 0 ° C . It previously contained the Odden ice tongue ( or Odden ) area , which extended eastward from the main East Greenland ice edge in the vicinity of 72 -- 74 ° N during the winter and acted as a key winter ice formation area in the Arctic . The West Ice forms in winter in the Greenland Sea , north of Iceland , between Greenland and Jan Mayen island . It is a major breeding ground of harp seal and hooded seal that has been used for seal hunting for more than 200 years .", "Grease ice Grease ice is a very thin , soupy layer of frazil crystals clumped together , which makes the ocean surface resemble an oil slick . Grease ice is the second stage in the formation of solid sea ice after ice floes and then frazil ice . New sea ice formation takes place throughout the winter in the Arctic . The first ice that forms in a polynya are loose ice crystals called frazil ice . If the level of turbulence is sufficient , the frazil ice will be mixed down into the upper layer and form a surface layer of grease ice . The term ` grease ice ' follows World Meteorological Organization nomenclature . Grease ice differs from ` slush ' , where slush is similarly created by snow falling into the top layer of an ocean basin , river , or lake . The two terms are related due to the process of ice crystals being blown into a polynya which can be the initiation of the grease ice layer , given a minimum level of mixing and cooling of the ocean surface .", "Deglaciation Deglaciation describes the transition from full glacial conditions during ice ages , to warm interglacials , characterized by global warming and sea level rise due to change in continental ice volume ( IPCC AR5 ) . Thus , it refers to the retreat of a glacier , an ice sheet or frozen surface layer , and the resulting exposure of the Earth 's surface . The decline of the cryosphere due to ablation can occur on any scale from global to localized to a particular glacier . After the Last Glacial Maximum ( ca. 21k years ago ) , the last deglaciation begun , which lasted until the early Holocene . The previous deglaciation took place between approximately 22ka until 11.5 ka . This occurred when there was an annual mean atmospheric temperature on the earth that increased by roughly 5 ° C , which was also accompanied by regional high-latitude warming that exceeded 10 ° C . This was also followed by noteworthy deep-sea and tropical-se warming , between about 1-2 ° C ( deep-sea ) and 2-4 ° C ( tropical sea ) . Not only did this warming occur , but the global hydrological budget also experienced noticeable changes and regional precipitation patters changed . As a result of all of this , the worlds main ice sheets , including the ones located in Eurasia , North America and parts of the Antarctic Ice Sheets melted . As a consequence , sea levels rose roughly 120 metres ) . These processes did not occur steadily , and they also did not occur at the same time .", "Marine transgression A marine transgression is a geologic event during which sea level rises relative to the land and the shoreline moves toward higher ground , resulting in flooding . Transgressions can be caused either by the land sinking or the ocean basins filling with water ( or decreasing in capacity ) . Transgressions and regressions may be caused by tectonic events such as orogenies , severe climate change such as ice ages or isostatic adjustments following removal of ice or sediment load . During the Cretaceous , seafloor spreading created a relatively shallow Atlantic basin at the expense of deeper Pacific basin . This reduced the world 's ocean basin capacity and caused a rise in sea level worldwide . As a result of this sea level rise , the oceans transgressed completely across the central portion of North America and created the Western Interior Seaway from the Gulf of Mexico to the Arctic Ocean . The opposite of transgression is regression , in which the sea level falls relative to the land and exposes former sea bottom . During the Pleistocene Ice Ages , so much water was removed from the oceans and stored on land as year-round glaciers that the ocean regressed 120 m , exposing the Bering land bridge between Alaska and Asia .", "Ice age An ice age is a period of long-term reduction in the temperature of Earth 's surface and atmosphere , resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers . Within a long-term ice age , individual pulses of cold climate are termed `` glacial periods '' ( or alternatively `` glacials '' or `` glaciations '' or colloquially as `` ice age '' ) , and intermittent warm periods are called `` interglacials '' . In the terminology of glaciology , ice age implies the presence of extensive ice sheets in both northern and southern hemispheres . By this definition , we are in an interglacial period -- the Holocene -- of the ice age . The ice age began 2.6 million years ago at the start of the Pleistocene epoch , because the Greenland , Arctic , and Antarctic ice sheets still exist .", "Lincoln Sea Lincoln Sea is a body of water in the Arctic Ocean , stretching from Cape Columbia , Canada , in the west to Cape Morris Jesup , Greenland , in the east . The northern limit is defined as the great circle line between those two headlands . It is covered with sea ice throughout the year , the thickest sea ice in the Arctic Ocean , which can be up to 15 m thick . Water depths range from 100 m to 300 m. Water and ice from Lincoln Sea empty into Robeson Channel , the northernmost part of Nares Strait , most of the time . The sea was named after Robert Todd Lincoln , then United States Secretary of War , on Adolphus W. Greely 's 1881 -- 1884 Arctic expedition into Lady Franklin Bay . Alert , the northernmost station of Canada , is the only populated place on the shore of Lincoln Sea . The body of water to the east of Lincoln Sea ( east of Cape Morris Jesup ) is Wandel Sea .", "Ice-ice Ice-ice is a disease condition of seaweed . Ice-ice is caused when changes in salinity , ocean temperature and light intensity cause stress to seaweeds , making them produce a `` moist organic substance '' that attracts bacteria in the water and induces the characteristic `` whitening '' and hardening of the seaweed 's tissues . Bacteria involved include those in the Vibrio-Aeromonas and Cytophaga-Flavobacteria complexes . The bacteria lyse epidermal cells and chloroplasts , turning the seaweed tissue white . The disease is known from seaweeds including Kappaphycus alvarezii and Eucheuma denticulatum , economically important sources of carrageenan . In countries where seaweed is harvested as a crop , ice-ice can wreak havoc on yields . Zamboanga , Philippines , had an outbreak of ice-ice in 2004 , and Bali , Indonesia , experienced an outbreak in 2009 . A rise in surface sea temperatures of 2-3 degrees Celsius can trigger ice-ice outbreaks ." ]

[ "Scientific consensus on climate change There is currently a strong scientific consensus that the Earth is warming and that this warming is mainly caused by human activities. This consensus is supported by various studies of scientists' opinions and by position statements of scientific organizations, many of which explicitly agree with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) synthesis reports. Nearly all actively publishing climate scientists (97–98%) support the consensus on anthropogenic climate change, and the remaining 2% of contrarian studies either cannot be replicated or contain errors.", "Global cooling Global cooling was a conjecture during the 1970s of imminent cooling of the Earth 's surface and atmosphere culminating in a period of extensive glaciation . This hypothesis had little support in the scientific community , but gained temporary popular attention due to a combination of a slight downward trend of temperatures from the 1940s to the early 1970s and press reports that did not accurately reflect the full scope of the scientific climate literature , which showed a larger and faster-growing body of literature projecting future warming due to greenhouse gas emissions . The current scientific opinion on climate change is that the Earth has not durably cooled , but underwent global warming throughout the 20th century .", "Global warming Global warming , also referred to as climate change , is the observed century-scale rise in the average temperature of the Earth 's climate system and its related effects . Multiple lines of scientific evidence show that the climate system is warming . Many of the observed changes since the 1950s are unprecedented in the instrumental temperature record which extends back to the mid 19th century , and in paleoclimate proxy records over thousands of years . In 2013 , the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) Fifth Assessment Report concluded that `` It is extremely likely that human influence has been the dominant cause of the observed warming since the mid-20th century . '' The largest human influence has been emission of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide , methane and nitrous oxide . Climate model projections summarized in the report indicated that during the 21st century the global surface temperature is likely to rise a further 0.3 to for their lowest emissions scenario and 2.6 to for the highest emissions scenario . These findings have been recognized by the national science academies of the major industrialized nations and are not disputed by any scientific body of national or international standing . Future climate change and associated impacts will differ from region to region around the globe . Anticipated effects include warming global temperature , rising sea levels , changing precipitation , and expansion of deserts in the subtropics . Warming is expected to be greater over land than over the oceans and greatest in the Arctic , with the continuing retreat of glaciers , permafrost and sea ice . Other likely changes include more frequent extreme weather events including heat waves , droughts , heavy rainfall with floods and heavy snowfall ; ocean acidification ; and species extinctions due to shifting temperature regimes . Effects significant to humans include the threat to food security from decreasing crop yields and the abandonment of populated areas due to rising sea levels . Because the climate system has a large `` inertia '' and greenhouse gases will stay in the atmosphere for a long time , many of these effects will not only exist for decades or centuries , but will persist for tens of thousands of years . Possible societal responses to global warming include mitigation by emissions reduction , adaptation to its effects , building systems resilient to its effects , and possible future climate engineering . Most countries are parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change ( UNFCCC ) , whose ultimate objective is to prevent dangerous anthropogenic climate change . Parties to the UNFCCC have agreed that deep cuts in emissions are required and that global warming should be limited to well below 2.0 C-change relative to pre-industrial levels , with efforts made to limit warming to 1.5 C-change . Public reactions to global warming and concern about its effects are also increasing . A global 2015 Pew Research Center report showed a median of 54 % consider it `` a very serious problem '' . There are significant regional differences , with Americans and Chinese ( whose economies are responsible for the greatest annual CO2 emissions ) among the least concerned ." ]

[ "Greenhouse gas A greenhouse gas ( abbrev . GHG ) is a gas in an atmosphere that absorbs and emits radiation within the thermal infrared range . This process is the fundamental cause of the greenhouse effect . The primary greenhouse gases in Earth 's atmosphere are water vapor , carbon dioxide , methane , nitrous oxide , and ozone . Without greenhouse gases , the average temperature of Earth 's surface would be about -18 ° C , rather than the present average of 15 ° C . In the Solar System , the atmospheres of Venus , Mars and Titan also contain gases that cause a greenhouse effect . Human activities since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution ( taken as the year 1750 ) have produced a 40 % increase in the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide , from 280 ppm in 1750 to 406 ppm in early 2017 . This increase has occurred despite the uptake of a large portion of the emissions by various natural `` sinks '' involved in the carbon cycle . Anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions ( i.e. , emissions produced by human activities ) come from combustion of fossil fuels , principally coal , oil , and natural gas , along with deforestation , soil erosion and animal agriculture . It has been estimated that if greenhouse gas emissions continue at the present rate , Earth 's surface temperature could exceed historical values as early as 2047 , with potentially harmful effects on ecosystems , biodiversity and the livelihoods of people worldwide . Recent estimates suggest that on the current emissions trajectory the Earth could pass a threshold of 2 ° C global warming , which the United Nations ' IPCC designated as the upper limit to avoid `` dangerous '' global warming , by 2036 .", "Cool Earth 50 Cool Earth 50 ( also known as Cool Earth ) is a plan developed by Japan to reduce global CO2 emissions 50 % by 2050 , which was discussed at the 34th G8 summit . Cool Earth 50 is planned to be a framework that would continue towards the goals set forth in the Kyoto Protocols . This plan includes three proposals : a long-term strategy , a mid-term strategy and launching a national campaign for achieving the Kyoto Protocol Target . The plan was first proposed on May 24 , 2007 at an international conference called Asian Future and was initiated by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe . The program 's goal is to reduce current global green house emissions by 50 % by the year 2050 the . The goal of reduction was aimed particular towards the largest green house emitting countries The United States , China , Japan , and India . Also , for the major green house emitters to create a frame work for reduction . Cool Earth aims at reducing green house emissions by improve technology in energy fields . A large goal of Cool Earth is to promote economic prosperity through green technology and to encourage political stability domestically and internationally .", "Mitigation of aviation's environmental impact Aviation affects the environment due to aircraft engines emitting noise , particulates , and gases which contribute to climate change and global dimming . Despite emission reductions from automobiles and more fuel-efficient ( and therefore less polluting ) turbofan and turboprop engines , the rapid growth of air travel in recent years contributes to an increase in total pollution attributable to aviation . In the EU , greenhouse gas emissions from aviation increased by 87 % between 1990 and 2006 . At present aviation accounts for 2.5 % of global CO2 emissions . Due to projected growth in air travel , in the most technologically radical scenarios for having a better than 50 % chance of keeping global warming below 2 degrees Celsius , in 2050 aviation will make up 15 % of global CO2 emissions . In more conventional scenarios its emissions will exceed the entire global carbon budget before then . This presents governments and the operators of aircraft with a responsibility to reduce the aviation industry 's emissions .", "Carbon diet A carbon diet refers to reducing the impact on climate change by reducing greenhouse gas production specifically , CO2 production . In today 's society , we produce CO2 in every day activities such as driving , heating , deforestation and the burning of fossil fuels such as coal , oil and gas . It has been found that carbon dioxide from the burning of coal , natural gas , and oil for electricity and heat is the largest single source of global greenhouse gas emissions . For years , governments and corporations have been attempting to balance out their emissions by participating in carbon-offsetting -- the practice in which they invest in renewable energy to compensate for the global-warming pollution that they produce . Despite these efforts the results are still far off and we continue to see growth in CO2 concentration . Now , a growing number of individuals are trying to make a reduction in the amount of CO2 that is being produced by participating in low carbon dieting . This small adjustment in household CO2 production has the potential to reduce emissions much more quickly than other kinds of changes and it deserves explicit consideration as part of climate policy . It can potentially help avoid `` overshoot '' of greenhouse gas concentration targets ; provide a demonstration effect ; reduce emissions at low cost ; and buy time to develop new technologies , policies , and institutions to reach long-term greenhouse gas emission targets and to develop adaptation strategies .", "Cool It: The Skeptical Environmentalist's Guide to Global Warming Cool It : The Skeptical Environmentalist 's Guide to Global Warming is a book by the Danish statistician and political scientist Bjørn Lomborg . The book is a sequel to The Skeptical Environmentalist ( first published in Danish in 1998 ) , which in English translation brought the author to world attention . Lomborg argues that many of the elaborate and expensive actions being considered to stop global warming will cost hundreds of billions of dollars without the same return on investment , often are based on emotional rather than strictly scientific assumptions , and may have very little impact on the world 's temperature for centuries . Lomborg concludes that a limited carbon tax is needed in the First World as well as subsidies from the First World to the Third World to help fight ongoing humanitarian crises .", "Global Climate and Energy Project The Global Climate and Energy Project ( GCEP ) at Stanford University , `` seeks new solutions to one of the grand challenges of this century : supplying energy to meet the changing needs of a growing world population in a way that protects the environment . '' Beginning in December 2002 , GCEP is a 10-year , $ 225m research project aimed at developing new energy technologies . These new energy technologies include areas of interest such as renewable energy , CO2 capture and storage , hydrogen storage and electrocatalysis . It has the support of four major companies - ExxonMobil , General Electric , Schlumberger , and Toyota . Under the heading `` Grand Challenge '' , it identifies a global warming-related need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through future energy development .", "Sustainable automotive air conditioning Sustainable automotive air conditioning is the subject of a debate -- nicknamed the Cool War -- about the next-generation refrigerant in car air conditioning . The Alliance for CO2 Solutions supports the uptake of carbon dioxide ( CO2 ) as a refrigerant in passenger cars , and the chemical industry is developing new chemical blends . The Alliance and its supporters -- scientists , NGOs and business leaders -- urge the car industry to replace high global warming chemical substances with the natural refrigerant carbon dioxide ( CO2 , R744 / R-744 ) in car cooling and heating . This , they argue , would lead to 10 % less car emissions , and knock out 1 % of total greenhouse gas emissions worldwide . If CO2 Technology is applied in other sectors , such as commercial and industrial refrigeration , heat pumps for water heating etc. , it may even save up to 3 % of the world 's greenhouse gases . Opponents of the Alliance claim that CO2 Technology is not cost-efficient and safe , hence seeking to postpone the global industry decision to be taken to develop new chemical blends instead .", "Climate engineering Climate engineering , commonly referred to as geoengineering , also known as climate intervention , is the deliberate and large-scale intervention in the Earth 's climatic system with the aim of limiting adverse global warming . Climate engineering is an umbrella term for measures that mainly fall into two types : carbon dioxide removal and solar radiation management . Carbon dioxide removal addresses the cause of global warming by removing one of the greenhouse gases ( carbon dioxide ) from the atmosphere . Solar radiation management attempts to offset effects of greenhouse gases by causing the Earth to absorb less solar radiation . Climate engineering approaches are sometimes viewed as additional potential options for limiting global warming , alongside mitigation and adaptation . There is substantial agreement among scientists that climate engineering can not substitute for climate change mitigation . Some approaches might be used as accompanying measures to sharp cuts in greenhouse gas emissions . Given that all types of measures for addressing climate change have economic , political , or physical limitations , some climate engineering approaches might eventually be used as part of an ensemble of measures . Research on costs , benefits , and various types of risks of most climate engineering approaches is at an early stage and their understanding needs to improve to judge their adequacy and feasibility . Almost all research into solar radiation management has consisted of computer modelling or laboratory tests , and an attempt to move to outdoor experimentation was controversial . Some carbon dioxide removal practices , such as planting of trees and bio-energy with carbon capture and storage projects , are underway . Their scalability to effectively affect global climate is , however , debated . Ocean iron fertilization has been given small-scale research trials , sparking substantial controversy . Most experts and major reports advise against relying on climate engineering techniques as a simple solution to global warming , in part due to the large uncertainties over effectiveness and side effects . However , most experts also argue that the risks of such interventions must be seen in the context of risks of dangerous global warming . Interventions at large scale may run a greater risk of disrupting natural systems resulting in a dilemma that those approaches that could prove highly ( cost - ) effective in addressing extreme climate risk , might themselves cause substantial risk . Some have suggested that the concept of engineering the climate presents a so-called `` moral hazard '' because it could reduce political and public pressure for emissions reduction , which could exacerbate overall climate risks ; others assert that the threat of climate engineering could spur emissions cuts . Some are in favour of a moratorium on out-of-doors testing and deployment of solar radiation management ( SRM ) .", "Mitigation of global warming in Australia Mitigation of global warming involves taking actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to enhance sinks aimed at reducing the extent of global warming . This is in distinction to adaptation to global warming , which involves taking action to minimise the effects of global warming . Scientific consensus on global warming , together with the precautionary principle and the fear of non-linear climate transitions , is leading to increased effort to develop new technologies and sciences and carefully manage others in an attempt to mitigate global warming . Carbon capture and storage ( CCS ) for coal-fired power stations has been put forward as a solution to rising greenhouse gas emissions . However , CCS can not deliver in time to avoid dangerous increases in temperatures , as widespread commercial use of CCS is not expected before 2030 . Following the introduction of government mandatory renewable energy targets , more opportunities have opened up for renewable energy technologies such as wind power , photovoltaics , and solar thermal technologies . The deployment of these technologies provides opportunities for mitigating greenhouse gases . A carbon price was introduced on 1 July 2012 by the government of Julia Gillard with the purpose of reducing Australia 's carbon emissions . It requires large businesses ( defined as those with annual carbon dioxide equivalent emissions over 25,000 tonnes annually ) to pay a price for emissions permits . The tax was scrapped by the Abbott government in July 2014 in what was a widely criticised and highly publicised move .", "Little Ice Age The Little Ice Age ( LIA ) was a period of cooling that occurred after the Medieval Warm Period . Although it was not a true ice age , the term was introduced into scientific literature by François E. Matthes in 1939 . It has been conventionally defined as a period extending from the 16th to the 19th centuries , but some experts prefer an alternative timespan from about 1300 to about 1850 . Climatologists and historians working with local records no longer expect to agree on either the start or end dates of the period , which varied according to local conditions . The NASA Earth Observatory notes three particularly cold intervals : one beginning about 1650 , another about 1770 , and the last in 1850 , all separated by intervals of slight warming . The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Third Assessment Report considered the timing and areas affected by the Little Ice Age suggested largely-independent regional climate changes rather than a globally-synchronous increased glaciation . At most , there was modest cooling of the Northern Hemisphere during the period . Several causes have been proposed : cyclical lows in solar radiation , heightened volcanic activity , changes in the ocean circulation , variations in Earth 's orbit and axial tilt ( orbital forcing ) , inherent variability in global climate , and decreases in the human population .", "Unstoppable Global Warming: Every 1,500 Years Unstoppable Global Warming : Every 1,500 Years is a book about climate change , written by Siegfried Fred Singer and Dennis T. Avery , which asserts that natural changes , and not CO2 emissions , are the cause of Global Warming . Published by Rowman & Littlefield in 2006 , the book sold well and was reprinted in an updated edition in 2007 . The title refers to the hypothesis of 1,500-year climate cycles in the Holocene first postulated by Gerard C. Bond , mainly based on petrologic tracers of drift ice in the North Atlantic .", "Climate change in Pakistan Pakistan makes a tiny contribution to total global greenhouse gas ( GHG ) emissions , less than 1 % ( among the lowest in the world ) but it is among the countries most vulnerable to climate change , and it has very low technical and financial capacity to adapt to its adverse impacts . The effects of climate change and global warming on Pakistan , the melting of glaciers in the Himalayas , threatening the volumetric flow rate of many of the most important rivers of Pakistan . In Pakistan , such effects are projected to impact millions of lives . As a result of ongoing climate change , the climate of Pakistan has become increasingly volatile over the past several decades ; this trend is expected to continue . Climate Change Mitigation Pakistan 's greenhouse gas ( GHG ) emissions are low compared to international standards . In 2008 Pakistan 's total GHG emissions were 310 million tons of CO2 equivalent . These comprised : CO2 54 % ; Methane ( CH4 ) 36 % ; Nitrous Oxide ( N2O ) 9 % ; Carbon Monoxide ( CO ) 0.7 % ; and Non-Methane Volatile Organic Compounds 0.3 % . ( Source : National GHG inventory 2008 ) . The energy sector is the single largest source of GHG emission in Pakistan ; it accounts for nearly 51 % of these emissions and is followed by the agriculture sector ( 39 % ) , industrial processes ( 6 % ) , land use , land use change and forestry ( LULUCF ) ( 3 % ) emissions and waste ( 1 % ) ( Source : National GHG inventory 2008 ) . As such , the most important targets for mitigation efforts focused on reduction of GHG emissions are the energy and agriculture sectors . In the energy sector , integration of climate change and energy policy objectives is particularly important as today 's investment will `` lock in '' the infrastructure , fuel and technologies to be used for decades to come . Similarly , the building and transport infrastructure put in place today should meet the design needs of the future . Therefore , greater attention must be paid to energy efficiency requirements in building codes and long-term transport planning .", "History of climate change science The history of the scientific discovery of climate change began in the early 19th century when ice ages and other natural changes in paleoclimate were first suspected and the natural greenhouse effect first identified . In the late 19th century , scientists first argued that human emissions of greenhouse gases could change the climate . Many other theories of climate change were advanced , involving forces from volcanism to solar variation . In the 1960s , the warming effect of carbon dioxide gas became increasingly convincing . Some scientists also pointed out that human activities that generated atmospheric aerosols ( e.g. , `` pollution '' ) could have cooling effects as well . During the 1970s , scientific opinion increasingly favored the warming viewpoint . By the 1990s , as a result of improving fidelity of computer models and observational work confirming the Milankovitch theory of the ice ages , a consensus position formed : greenhouse gases were deeply involved in most climate changes and human caused emissions were bringing discernible global warming . Since the 1990s , scientific research on climate change has included multiple disciplines and has expanded . Research has expanded our understanding of causal relations , links with historic data and ability to model climate change numerically . Research during this period has been summarized in the Assessment Reports by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change . Climate change is a significant and lasting change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns over periods ranging from decades to millions of years . It may be a change in average weather conditions , or in the distribution of weather around the average conditions ( such as more or fewer extreme weather events ) . Climate change is caused by factors that include oceanic processes ( such as oceanic circulation ) , biotic processes , variations in solar radiation received by Earth , plate tectonics and volcanic eruptions , and human-induced alterations of the natural world . The latter effect is currently causing global warming , and `` climate change '' is often used to describe human-specific impacts .", "Global warming in Russia Global warming in Russia describes the global warming related issues in Russia . This includes climate politics , contribution to global warming and the influence of global warming on Russia . In 2009 Russia was ready to reduce emissions 20 -- 25 % from its 1990 emission levels by the year 2020 .", "Environmental impact of aviation The environmental impact of aviation occurs because aircraft engines emit heat , noise , particulates and gases which contribute to climate change and global dimming . Among others airplanes emit particles and gases such as carbon dioxide , water vapor , hydrocarbons , carbon monoxide , nitrogen oxides , sulfur oxides , lead and black carbon which interact among themselves and with the atmosphere . Despite emission reductions from automobiles and more fuel-efficient and less polluting turbofan and turboprop engines , the rapid growth of air travel in recent years contributes to an increase in total pollution attributable to aviation . From 1992 to 2005 , passenger kilometers increased 5.2 % per year . And in the European Union , greenhouse gas emissions from aviation increased by 87 % between 1990 and 2006 . Comprehensive research shows that despite anticipated efficiency innovations to airframes , engines , aerodynamics and flight operations , there is no end in sight -- even many decades out -- to rapid growth in CO2 emissions from air travel and air freight , due to projected continual growth in air travel . This is because international aviation emissions have escaped international regulation up to the ICAO triennial conference in October 2016 agreed on the CORSIA offset scheme , and because of the lack of taxes on aviation fuel worldwide , lower fares become more frequent than otherwise which gives a competitive advantage over other transportation modes . Unless market constraints are put in place this growth in aviation 's emissions will result in the sector 's emissions amounting to all or nearly all of the annual global emissions budget by mid-century , if climate change is to be held to a temperature increase of 2 ° C or less . There is an ongoing debate about possible taxation of air travel and the inclusion of aviation in an emissions trading scheme , with a view to ensuring that the total external costs of aviation are taken into account .", "IPCC First Assessment Report The First Assessment Report ( FAR ) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) was completed in 1990 . It served as the basis of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change ( UNFCCC ) . The report was issued in three main sections , corresponding to the three Working Groups of scientists that the IPCC had established . Working Group I : Scientific Assessment of Climate Change , edited by J.T. Houghton , G.J. Jenkins and J.J. Ephraums Working Group II : Impacts Assessment of Climate Change , edited by W.J. McG . Tegart , G.W. Sheldon and D.C. Griffiths Working Group III : The IPCC Response Strategies Each section included a summary for policymakers . This format was followed in subsequent Assessment Reports . The executive summary of the policymakers ' summary of the WG I report includes : We are certain of the following : there is a natural greenhouse effect ... ; emissions resulting from human activities are substantially increasing the atmospheric concentrations of the greenhouse gases : CO2 , methane , CFCs and nitrous oxide . These increases will enhance the greenhouse effect , resulting on average in an additional warming of the Earth 's surface . The main greenhouse gas , water vapour , will increase in response to global warming and further enhance it . We calculate with confidence that : ... CO2 has been responsible for over half the enhanced greenhouse effect ; long-lived gases would require immediate reductions in emissions from human activities of over 60 % to stabilise their concentrations at today 's levels ... Based on current models , we predict : under -LSB- BAU -RSB- increase of global mean temperature during the -LSB- 21st -RSB- century of about 0.3 oC per decade ( with an uncertainty range of 0.2 to 0.5 oC per decade ) ; this is greater than that seen over the past 10,000 years ; under other ... scenarios which assume progressively increasing levels of controls , rates of increase in global mean temperature of about 0.2 oC -LSB- to -RSB- about 0.1 oC per decade . There are many uncertainties in our predictions particularly with regard to the timing , magnitude and regional patterns of climate change , due to our incomplete understanding of : sources and sinks of GHGs ; clouds ; oceans ; polar ice sheets . Our judgement is that : global mean surface air temperature has increased by 0.3 to 0.6 oC over the last 100 years ... ; The size of this warming is broadly consistent with predictions of climate models , but it is also of the same magnitude as natural climate variability . Thus the observed increase could be largely due to this natural variability ; alternatively this variability and other human factors could have offset a still larger human-induced greenhouse warming . The unequivocal detection of the enhanced greenhouse effect is not likely for a decade or more . under the IPCC business as usual emissions scenario , an average rate of global mean sea level rise of about 6 cm per decade over the next century ( with an uncertainty range of 3 -- 10 cm per decade ) , mainly due to thermal expansion of the oceans and the melting of some land ice . The predicted rise is about 20 cm ... by 2030 , and 65 cm by the end of the next century .", "Attribution of recent climate change Attribution of recent climate change is the effort to scientifically ascertain mechanisms responsible for recent climate changes on Earth , commonly known as ` global warming ' . The effort has focused on changes observed during the period of instrumental temperature record , when records are most reliable ; particularly in the last 50 years , when human activity has grown fastest and observations of the troposphere have become available . The dominant mechanisms are anthropogenic , i.e. , the result of human activity . They are : increasing atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases global changes to land surface , such as deforestation increasing atmospheric concentrations of aerosols . There are also natural mechanisms for variation including climate oscillations , changes in solar activity , and volcanic activity . According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) , it is `` extremely likely '' that human influence was the dominant cause of global warming between 1951 and 2010 . The IPCC defines `` extremely likely '' as indicating a probability of 95 to 100 % , based on an expert assessment of all the available evidence . Multiple lines of evidence support attribution of recent climate change to human activities : A basic physical understanding of the climate system : greenhouse gas concentrations have increased and their warming properties are well-established . Historical estimates of past climate changes suggest that the recent changes in global surface temperature are unusual . Computer-based climate models are unable to replicate the observed warming unless human greenhouse gas emissions are included . Natural forces alone ( such as solar and volcanic activity ) can not explain the observed warming . The IPCC 's attribution of recent global warming to human activities is a view shared by the scientific community , and is also supported by 196 other scientific organizations worldwide ( see also : scientific opinion on climate change ) .", "Emissivity The emissivity of the surface of a material is its effectiveness in emitting energy as thermal radiation . Thermal radiation is electromagnetic radiation and it may include both visible radiation ( light ) and infrared radiation , which is not visible to human eyes . The thermal radiation from very hot objects ( see photograph ) is easily visible to the eye . Quantitatively , emissivity is the ratio of the thermal radiation from a surface to the radiation from an ideal black surface at the same temperature as given by the Stefan -- Boltzmann law . The ratio varies from 0 to 1 . The surface of a black object emits thermal radiation at the rate of approximately 448 watts per square meter at room temperature ( 25 ° C , 298.15 K ) ; real objects with emissivities less than 1.0 emit radiation at correspondingly lower rates . Emissivities are important in several contexts : insulated windows . -- Warm surfaces are usually cooled directly by air , but they also cool themselves by emitting thermal radiation . This second cooling mechanism is important for simple glass windows , which have emissivities close to the maximum possible value of 1.0 . `` Low-E windows '' with transparent low emissivity coatings emit less thermal radiation than ordinary windows . In winter , these coatings can halve the rate at which a window loses heat compared to an uncoated glass window . solar heat collectors . -- Similarly , solar heat collectors lose heat by emitting thermal radiation . Advanced solar collectors incorporate selective surfaces that have very low emissivities . These collectors waste very little of the solar energy through emission of thermal radiation . planetary temperatures . -- The planets are solar thermal collectors on a large scale . The temperature of a planet 's surface is determined by the balance between the heat absorbed by the planet from sunlight , heat emitted from its core , and thermal radiation emitted back into space . Emissivity of a planet is determined by the nature of its surface and atmosphere . temperature measurements . -- Pyrometers and infrared cameras are instruments used to measure the temperature of an object by using its thermal radiation ; no actual contact with the object is needed . The calibration of these instruments involves the emissivity of the surface that 's being measured .", "Total equivalent warming impact Total equivalent warming impact or TEWI is besides global warming potential measure used to express contributions to global warming . It is defined as sum of the direct emissions ( chemical ) and indirect emissions ( energy use ) of greenhouse gases .", "Marine cloud brightening Marine cloud brightening is a proposed solar radiation management climate engineering technique that would make clouds brighter , reflecting a small fraction of incoming sunlight back into space in order to offset anthropogenic global warming . Along with stratospheric aerosol injection , it is one of the two solar radiation management methods that may most feasibly have a substantial climate impact . The intention is that increasing the Earth 's albedo , in combination with greenhouse gas emissions reduction , carbon dioxide removal , and adaptation , would reduce climate change and its risks to people and the environment . If implemented , the cooling effect is expected to be felt rapidly and to be reversible on fairly short time scales . However , technical barriers remain to large-scale marine cloud brightening . There are also risks with such modification of complex climate systems .", "Global warming hiatus A global warming hiatus , also sometimes referred to as a global warming pause or a global warming slowdown , is a period of relatively little change in globally averaged surface temperatures . In the current episode of global warming many such 15-year periods appear in the surface temperature record , along with robust evidence of the long-term warming trend ; climate is classically averaged over 30-year periods . Publicity has surrounded claims of a global warming hiatus during the period 1998 -- 2013 . The exceptionally warm El Niño year of 1998 was an outlier from the continuing temperature trend , and so subsequent annual temperatures gave the appearance of a hiatus : by January 2006 , it appeared to some that global warming had stopped or paused . A 2009 study showed that decades without warming were not exceptional , and in 2011 a study showed that if allowances were made for known variability , the rising temperature trend continued unabated . There was increased public interest in 2013 in the run-up to publication of the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report , and despite concerns that a 15-year period was too short to determine a meaningful trend , the IPCC included a section on a hiatus , which it defined as a much smaller increasing linear trend over the 15 years from 1998 to 2012 , than over the 60 years from 1951 to 2012 . Various studies examined possible causes of the short-term slowdown . Even though the overall climate system has continued to accumulate energy due to Earth 's positive energy budget , the available temperature readings at the Earth 's surface indicate slower rates of increase in surface warming than in the prior decade . Since measurements at the top of the atmosphere show that Earth is receiving more energy than it is radiating back into space , the retained energy should be producing warming in the Earth 's climate system . Research reported in July 2015 on an updated NOAA dataset casts doubt on the existence of a hiatus , and it finds no indication of a slowdown even in earlier years . Scientists working on other datasets welcomed this study , though they have expressed the view that the recent warming trend was less than in previous periods of the same length . Subsequently , a detailed study supports the conclusion that warming is continuing , but it also find there was less warming between 2001 and 2010 than climate models had predicted , and that this slowdown might be attributed to short-term variations in the Pacific decadal oscillation ( PDO ) , which was negative during that period . Another review finds `` no substantive evidence '' of a pause in global warming . A statistical study of global temperature data since 1970 concludes that the term ` hiatus ' or ` pause ' is not justified . Independent of these discussions about data and measurements for earlier years , 2015 turned out to be much warmer than any of the earlier years , already before El Niño conditions started . The warmth of 2015 largely ended any remaining scientific credibility of claims that the supposed `` hiatus '' since 1998 had any significance for the long-term warming trend . In January 2017 , a study published in the journal Science Advances cast further doubt on the existence of a recent pause , with more evidence that ocean temperatures have been underestimated . An April 2017 study found the data consistent with a steady warming trend globally since the 1970s , with fluctuations within the expected range of short term variability .", "Runaway greenhouse effect A runaway greenhouse effect is a process in which a net positive feedback between surface temperature and atmospheric opacity increases the strength of the greenhouse effect on a planet until its oceans boil away . An example of this is believed to have happened in the early history of Venus . On the Earth , the IPCC states that `` a ` runaway greenhouse effect ' -- analogous to -LSB- that of -RSB- Venus -- appears to have virtually no chance of being induced by anthropogenic activities . '' Other large-scale climate changes are sometimes loosely called a `` runaway greenhouse effect '' although it is not an appropriate description . For example , it has been hypothesized that large releases of greenhouse gases may have occurred concurrently with the Permian -- Triassic extinction event or Paleocene -- Eocene Thermal Maximum . Other terms , such as `` abrupt climate change '' , or tipping points could be used when describing such scenarios .", "Economics of global warming The economics of global warming concerns the economic aspects of global warming ; this can inform policies that governments might consider in response . A number of factors make this a difficult problem from both economic and political perspectives : it is a long-term , intergenerational problem ; benefits and costs are distributed unequally both within and across countries ; and scientific and public opinions may diverge . One of the most important greenhouse gases is carbon dioxide . Around 20 % of carbon dioxide which is emitted due to human activities can remain in the atmosphere for many thousands of years . The long time scales and uncertainty associated with global warming have led analysts to develop `` scenarios '' of future environmental , social and economic changes . These scenarios can help governments understand the potential consequences of their decisions . The impacts of climate change include the loss of biodiversity , sea level rise , increased frequency and severity of some extreme weather events , and acidification of the oceans . Economists have attempted to quantify these impacts in monetary terms , but these assessments can be controversial . The two main policy responses to global warming are to reduce greenhouse gas emissions ( climate change mitigation ) and to adapt to the impacts of global warming ( e.g. , by building levees in response to sea level rise ) . Another policy response which has recently received greater attention is geoengineering of the climate system ( e.g. injecting aerosols into the atmosphere to reflect sunlight away from the Earth 's surface ) . One of the responses to the uncertainties of global warming is to adopt a strategy of sequential decision making . This strategy recognizes that decisions on global warming need to be made with incomplete information , and that decisions in the near term will have potentially long-term impacts . Governments might choose to use risk management as part of their policy response to global warming . For instance , a risk-based approach can be applied to climate impacts which are difficult to quantify in economic terms , e.g. , the impacts of global warming on indigenous peoples . Analysts have assessed global warming in relation to sustainable development . Sustainable development considers how future generations might be affected by the actions of the current generation . In some areas , policies designed to address global warming may contribute positively towards other development objectives . In other areas , the cost of global warming policies may divert resources away from other socially and environmentally beneficial investments ( the opportunity costs of climate change policy ) .", "Global Carbon Project The Global Carbon Project ( GCP ) was established in 2001 . The organisation seeks to quantify global carbon emissions and their causes . The main object of the group has been to fully understand the carbon cycle . The project has brought together emissions experts and economists to tackle the problem of rising concentrations of greenhouse gases . The Global Carbon Project works collaboratively with the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme , the World Climate Programme , the International Human Dimensions Programme on Global Environmental Change and Diversitas , under the Earth System Science Partnership . In late 2006 researchers from the project claimed that carbon dioxide emissions had dramatically increased to a rate of 3.2 % annually from 2000 . At the time , the chair of the group Dr Mike Raupach stated that `` This is a very worrying sign . It indicates that recent efforts to reduce emissions have had virtually no impact on emissions growth and that effective caps are urgently needed , '' . A 2010 study conducted by the Project and Nature Geoscience revealed that the world 's oceans absorb 2.3 billion metric tonnes of carbon dioxide . On December 5 , 2011 analysis released from the project claimed carbon dioxide from fossil-fuel burning jumped by the largest amount on record in 2010 to 5.9 percent from a growth rate in the 1990s closer to 1 percent annually . The combustion of coal represented more than half of the growth in emissions , the report found . They predict greenhouse gas emissions to occur according to the IPCC 's worst-case scenario , as CO2 concentration in the atmosphere reaches 500ppm in the 21st century .", "Low-carbon economy A low-carbon economy ( LCE ) , low-fossil-fuel economy ( LFFE ) , or decarbonised economy is an economy based on low carbon power sources that therefore has a minimal output of greenhouse gas ( GHG ) emissions into the biosphere , but specifically refers to the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide . GHG emissions due to anthropogenic ( human ) activity are the dominant cause of observed global warming ( climate change ) since the mid-20th century . Continued emission of greenhouse gases will cause further warming and long-lasting changes around the world , increasing the likelihood of severe , pervasive and irreversible impacts for people and ecosystems . Many countries around the world are designing and implementing low emission development strategies ( LEDS ) . These strategies seek to achieve social , economic and environmental development goals while reducing long-term greenhouse gas emissions and increasing resilience to climate change impacts . Globally implemented low-carbon economies are therefore proposed by those having drawn this conclusion , as a means to avoid catastrophic climate change , and as a precursor to the more advanced , zero-carbon economy .", "2040 ", "Solar radiation management Solar radiation management ( SRM ) projects are a type of climate engineering which seek to reflect sunlight and thus reduce global warming . Proposed examples include the creation of stratospheric sulfate aerosols . Their principal advantages as an approach to climate engineering is the speed with which they can be deployed and become fully active , their potential low financial cost , and the reversibility of their direct climatic effects . Solar radiation management projects could , for example , be used as a temporary response while levels of greenhouse gases can be brought under control by mitigation and greenhouse gas removal techniques . They would not reduce greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere , and thus do not address problems such as ocean acidification caused by excess carbon dioxide ( CO2 ) .", "Mark Serreze Mark Clifford Serreze ( born 1960 ) is an American geographer and the director of the National Snow and Ice Data Center ( NSIDC ) , a project of the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder . He officially became the NSIDC 's director in August 2009 . Serreze is primarily known for his expertise in the Arctic sea ice decline that has occurred over the last few decades due to global warming , a topic about which he has expressed serious concern .", "Later Days ", "Abrupt climate change An abrupt climate change occurs when the climate system is forced to transition to a new climate state at a rate that is determined by the climate system energy-balance , and which is more rapid than the rate of change of the external forcing . Past events include the end of the Carboniferous Rainforest Collapse , Younger Dryas , Dansgaard-Oeschger events , Heinrich events and possibly also the Paleocene-Eocene thermal maximum . The term is also used within the context of global warming to describe sudden climate change that is detectable over the time-scale of a human lifetime . One proposed reason for the observed abrupt climate change is that feedback loops within the climate system both enhance small perturbations and cause a variety of stable states . Timescales of events described as ` abrupt ' may vary dramatically . Changes recorded in the climate of Greenland at the end of the Younger Dryas , as measured by ice-cores , imply a sudden warming of + 10 C-change within a timescale of a few years . Other abrupt changes are the + 4 C-change on Greenland 11,270 years ago or the abrupt + 6 C-change warming 22,000 years ago on Antarctica . By contrast , the Paleocene-Eocene thermal maximum may have initiated anywhere between a few decades and several thousand years . Finally , Earth Systems models project that under ongoing greenhouse gas emissions as early as 2047 , the Earth 's near surface temperature could depart from the range of variability in the last 150 years , affecting over 3 billion people and most places of great species diversity on Earth .", "An Appeal to Reason An Appeal to Reason : A Cool Look at Global Warming is a 2008 book by Nigel Lawson . In it , Lawson argues that global warming is happening , but that the science is far from settled . He opposes the scientific consensus as summarized by the IPCC . He also argues that warming will bring both benefits and negative consequences , and that the impact of these changes will be relatively moderate rather than apocalyptic . He criticizes politicians and scientists who predict catastrophe unless urgent action is taken , and he calls for gradual adaptation instead . The book has been criticized by some climatologists , including IPCC authors Jean Palutikof and Robert Watson .", "Methane emissions Global methane emissions are major part of the global greenhouse gas emissions . Methane in the atmosphere has a 100-year global warming potential of 34 ." ]

[ "Retreat of glaciers since 1850 The retreat of glaciers since 1850 affects the availability of fresh water for irrigation and domestic use , mountain recreation , animals and plants that depend on glacier-melt , and , in the longer term , the level of the oceans . Studied by glaciologists , the temporal coincidence of glacier retreat with the measured increase of atmospheric greenhouse gases is often cited as an evidentiary underpinning of global warming . Mid-latitude mountain ranges such as the Himalayas , Alps , Rocky Mountains , Cascade Range , and the southern Andes , as well as isolated tropical summits such as Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa , are showing some of the largest proportionate glacial losses . Glacier mass balance is the key determinant of the health of a glacier . If the amount of frozen precipitation in the accumulation zone exceeds the quantity of glacial ice lost due to melting or in the ablation zone a glacier will advance ; if the accumulation is less than the ablation , the glacier will retreat . Glaciers in retreat will have negative mass balances , and if they do not find an equilibrium between accumulation and ablation , will eventually disappear . The Little Ice Age was a period from about 1550 to 1850 when the world experienced relatively cooler temperatures compared to the present . Subsequently , until about 1940 , glaciers around the world retreated as the climate warmed substantially . Glacial retreat slowed and even reversed temporarily , in many cases , between 1950 and 1980 as global temperatures cooled slightly . Since 1980 , a significant global warming has led to glacier retreat becoming increasingly rapid and ubiquitous , so much so that some glaciers have disappeared altogether , and the existences of many of the remaining glaciers are threatened . In locations such as the Andes of South America and Himalayas in Asia , the demise of glaciers in these regions has the potential to affect water supplies in those areas . The retreat of mountain glaciers , notably in western North America , Asia , the Alps and tropical and subtropical regions of South America , Africa and Indonesia , provide evidence for the rise in global temperatures since the late 19th century . The acceleration of the rate of retreat since 1995 of key outlet glaciers of the Greenland and West Antarctic ice sheets may foreshadow a rise in sea level , which would affect coastal regions .", "Ice shelf An ice shelf is a thick floating platform of ice that forms where a glacier or ice sheet flows down to a coastline and onto the ocean surface . Ice shelves are only found in Antarctica , Greenland , Canada and the Russian Arctic . The boundary between the floating ice shelf and the grounded ( resting on bedrock ) ice that feeds it is called the grounding line . The thickness of ice shelves ranges from about 100 to 1000 meters . In contrast , sea ice is formed on water , is much thinner ( typically less than 3m ) , and forms throughout the Arctic Ocean . It also is found in the Southern Ocean around the continent of Antarctica . Ice shelves are principally driven by gravity-driven pressure from the grounded ice . That flow continually moves ice from the grounding line to the seaward front of the shelf . The primary mechanism of mass loss from ice shelves was thought to have been iceberg calving , in which a chunk of ice breaks off from the seaward front of the shelf . A study by NASA and university researchers - published in the June 14 , 2013 issue of Science - found however that ocean waters melting the undersides of Antarctic ice shelves are responsible for most of the continent 's ice shelf mass loss . Typically , a shelf front will extend forward for years or decades between major calving events . Snow accumulation on the upper surface and melting from the lower surface are also important to the mass balance of an ice shelf . Ice may also accrete onto the underside of the shelf . The density contrast between glacial ice , which is denser than normal ice , and liquid water means that only about 1/9 of the floating ice is above the ocean surface . The world 's largest ice shelves are the Ross Ice Shelf and the Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf in Antarctica . The term captured ice shelf has been used for the ice over a subglacial lake , such as Lake Vostok .", "Antarctica Antarctica ( UK English -LSB- ænˈtɑːktɪkə -RSB- or -LSB- ænˈtɑːtɪkə -RSB- , US English -LSB- æntˈɑːrktɪkə -RSB- ) is Earth 's southernmost continent . It contains the geographic South Pole and is situated in the Antarctic region of the Southern Hemisphere , almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle , and is surrounded by the Southern Ocean . At 14000000 km2 , it is the fifth-largest continent . For comparison , Antarctica is nearly twice the size of Australia . About 98 % of Antarctica is covered by ice that averages 1.9 km in thickness , which extends to all but the northernmost reaches of the Antarctic Peninsula . Antarctica , on average , is the coldest , driest , and windiest continent , and has the highest average elevation of all the continents . Antarctica is a desert , with annual precipitation of only 200 mm ( 8 in ) along the coast and far less inland . The temperature in Antarctica has reached − 89.2 ° C ( − 128.6 ° F ) , though the average for the third quarter ( the coldest part of the year ) is − 63 ° C ( − 81 ° F ) . Anywhere from 1,000 to 5,000 people reside throughout the year at the research stations scattered across the continent . Organisms native to Antarctica include many types of algae , bacteria , fungi , plants , protista , and certain animals , such as mites , nematodes , penguins , seals and tardigrades . Vegetation , where it occurs , is tundra . Although myths and speculation about a Terra Australis ( `` Southern Land '' ) date back to antiquity , Antarctica is noted as the last region on Earth in recorded history to be discovered and colonised by humans , being only first sighted in 1820 by the Russian expedition of Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen and Mikhail Lazarev on Vostok and Mirny , who sighted the Fimbul ice shelf . The continent , however , remained largely neglected for the rest of the 19th century because of its hostile environment , lack of easily accessible resources , and isolation . In 1895 , the first confirmed landing was conducted by a team of Norwegians . Antarctica is a de facto condominium , governed by parties to the Antarctic Treaty System that have consulting status . Twelve countries signed the Antarctic Treaty in 1959 , and thirty-eight have signed it since then . The treaty prohibits military activities and mineral mining , prohibits nuclear explosions and nuclear waste disposal , supports scientific research , and protects the continent 's ecozone . Ongoing experiments are conducted by more than 4,000 scientists from many nations ." ]

[ "List of Antarctic ice shelves This is a list of Antarctic ice shelves . Ice shelves are attached to 44 % of the Antarctic coastline . Their total area is 1,541,700 km ² . Names are also listed in the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research , Gazetteer . The ice shelf areas are listed below , clockwise , starting in the west of East Antarctica : † Indicates that the ice shelf has collapsed .", "King Oscar Glacier King Oscar Glacier ( Kong Oscar Gletscher ) is one of several glaciers that drain the north-western part of the Greenland Ice Sheet into Melville Bay . As part of a comprehensive survey of Greenland 's glaciers that was published in 2006 , scientists documented that the mass balance -- the sum of gains through snow accumulation and losses through iceberg calving and melting -- of Kong Oscar and Greenland 's other north-western glaciers was strongly negative between 1996 and 2005 : they lost more ice than they gained . The pattern was similar to the ice sheet as a whole , which has been losing ice mass at an accelerating pace in the past decade .", "Geography of Antarctica The geography of Antarctica is dominated by its south polar location and , thus , by ice . The Antarctic continent , located in the Earth 's southern hemisphere , is centered asymmetrically around the South Pole and largely south of the Antarctic Circle . It is washed by the Southern ( or Antarctic ) Ocean or , depending on definition , the southern Pacific , Atlantic , and Indian Oceans . It has an area of more than 14 million km ² . Some 98 % of Antarctica is covered by the Antarctic ice sheet , the world 's largest ice sheet and also its largest reservoir of fresh water . Averaging at least 1.6 km thick , the ice is so massive that it has depressed the continental bedrock in some areas more than 2.5 km below sea level ; subglacial lakes of liquid water also occur ( e.g. , Lake Vostok ) . Ice shelves and rises populate the ice sheet on the periphery .", "List of glaciers in the Antarctic: A–H This is a list of glaciers in the Antarctic with a name starting with the letters A -- H . This list does not include ice sheets , ice caps or ice fields , such as the Antarctic ice sheet , but includes glacial features that are defined by their flow , rather than general bodies of ice . This list includes outlet glaciers , valley glaciers , cirque glaciers , tidewater glaciers and ice streams . Ice streams are a type of glacier and many of them have `` glacier '' in their name , e.g. Pine Island Glacier . Ice shelves are listed separately in the List of Antarctic ice shelves . For the purposes of this list , the Antarctic is defined as any latitude further south than 60 ° ( the continental limit according to the Antarctic Treaty System ) .", "List of glaciers in the Antarctic There are many glaciers in the Antarctic . This set of lists does not include ice sheets , ice caps or ice fields , such as the Antarctic ice sheet , but includes glacial features that are defined by their flow , rather than general bodies of ice . The lists include outlet glaciers , valley glaciers , cirque glaciers , tidewater glaciers and ice streams . Ice streams are a type of glacier and many of them have `` glacier '' in their name , e.g. Pine Island Glacier . Ice shelves are listed separately in the List of Antarctic ice shelves . For the purposes of these lists , the Antarctic is defined as any latitude further south than 60 ° ( the continental limit according to the Antarctic Treaty System ) .", "Ice-sheet dynamics Ice sheet dynamics describe the motion within large bodies of ice , such those currently on Greenland and Antarctica . Ice motion is dominated by the movement of glaciers , whose gravity-driven activity is controlled by two main variable factors : the temperature and strength of their bases . A number of processes alter these two factors , resulting in cyclic surges of activity interspersed with longer periods of inactivity , on both hourly and centennial time scales . Ice-sheet dynamics are of interest in modelling future sea level rise . __ TOC __", "Subglacial lake A subglacial lake is a lake under a glacier , typically an ice cap or ice sheet . There are many such lakes , with Lake Vostok in Antarctica being by far the largest known at present .", "Ice and the Sky Ice and the Sky ( La Glace et le ciel , also known as Antarctica : Ice and Sky ) is a 2015 French documentary film directed by Luc Jacquet about the work of Claude Lorius , who began studying Antarctic ice in 1957 , and , in 1965 , was the first scientist to be concerned about global warming . The film was selected to close the 2015 Cannes Film Festival .", "Cedar Rapids Ice Arena The Cedar Rapids Ice Arena is a 3,850-seat multipurpose arena in Cedar Rapids , Iowa , located adjacent to Veterans Memorial Stadium . The arena opened on January 8 , 2000 , and is owned by the city of Cedar Rapids . It is home to the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders of the United States Hockey League as well as several local youth hockey teams . The University of Iowa Hawkeyes club hockey team plays some of their home games at the facility . The arena contains separate sheets of ice for ice hockey games and for public and figure ice skating . The arena serves as the home ice for the Eastern Iowa Figure Skating Club , a US Figure Skating club . For the 2012 and 2013 seasons , it was the temporary home to the Cedar Rapids Titans indoor football team as the U.S. Cellular Center , where they started playing in 2014 and beyond , was being renovated . The arena contains two sheets of ice . One sheet is Olympic regulation ( 200 by ) , and the other is NHL regulation ( 200 by ) . Public skating , youth hockey , and figure skating events take place on both sheets of ice , whereas larger events , such as RoughRider games , are held on the NHL sheet of ice .", "Glacier morphology Glacier morphology , or the form a glacier takes , is influenced by temperature , precipitation , topography , and other factors . Types of glaciers range from massive ice sheets , such as the Greenland ice sheet or those in Antarctica , to small cirque glaciers perched on a mountain . Glaciers types can be grouped into two main categories , based on whether ice flow is constrained by the underlying bedrock topography .", "Zubchatyy Ice Shelf Zubchatyy Ice Shelf is a small ice shelf which borders the south side of Sakellari Peninsula in Enderby Land . Plotted by Russian cartographers from air photos taken by the Soviet Antarctic Expedition , 1961-62 . The Russian name means `` toothed '' and refers to the serrated nature of the ice front when viewed in plan . Category : Ice shelves of Antarctica Category : Landforms of Enderby Land", "Nansen Ice Sheet Nansen Ice Sheet , or Nansen Ice Shelf , is a 30 mi by 10 mi ice shelf . It is nourished by the Priestley and Reeves Glaciers and abutting the north side of the Drygalski Ice Tongue , along the coast of Victoria Land , Antarctica . This feature was explored by the South Magnetic Polar Party of the British Antarctic Expedition , 1907-09 and by the Northern Party of the British Antarctic Expedition , 1910-13 . Frank Debenham , geologist with the latter expedition , applied the name Nansen Sheet as the feature is adjacent to Mount Nansen , the dominating summit in the area .", "80th parallel south The 80th parallel south is a circle of latitude that is 80 degrees south of the Earth 's equatorial plane . It passes through Antarctica and Antarctic ice shelves .", "Thwaites Glacier Thwaites Glacier is an unusually broad and fast Antarctic glacier flowing into Pine Island Bay , part of the Amundsen Sea , east of Mount Murphy , on the Walgreen Coast of Marie Byrd Land . Its surface speeds exceed 2 km/yr near its grounding line , and its fastest flowing grounded ice is centred between 50 and 100 km east of Mount Murphy . It was named by ACAN after Fredrik T. Thwaites , a glacial geologist , geomorphologist and professor emeritus at the University of Wisconsin -- Madison . Thwaites Glacier drains into West Antarctica 's Amundsen Sea and is closely watched for its potential to raise sea levels . Along with Pine Island Glacier , Thwaites Glacier has been described as part of the `` weak underbelly '' of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet , due to its apparent vulnerability to significant retreat . This hypothesis is based on both theoretical studies of the stability of marine ice sheets and recent observations of large changes on both of these glaciers . In recent years , the flow of both of these glaciers have accelerated , their surfaces lowered , and the grounding lines retreated .", "Venable Ice Shelf Venable Ice Shelf is an ice shelf , 40 miles ( 60 km ) long and 15 miles ( 24 km ) wide , between Fletcher and Allison Peninsulas , Ellsworth Land . Mapped by United States Geological Survey ( USGS ) from surveys and U.S. Navy air photos , 1961-66 . Named by Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names ( US-ACAN ) for Cdm . J. D. Venable , U.S. Navy , Ships Operations Officer , U.S. Naval Support Force , Antarctica , 1967 and 1968 . Category : Ice shelves of Antarctica Category : Landforms of Ellsworth Land", "Climate of Antarctica The climate of Antarctica is the coldest on Earth . Antarctica 's lowest air temperature record was set on 21 July 1983 , with − 89.2 C at Vostok Station . Satellite measurements have identified even lower ground temperatures , down to − 93.2 C at the cloud free East Antarctic Plateau on 10 August 2010 . It is also extremely dry ( technically a desert ) , averaging 166 mm of precipitation per year . On most parts of the continent the snow rarely melts and is eventually compressed to become the glacier ice that makes up the ice sheet . Weather fronts rarely penetrate far into the continent , because of the katabatic winds . Most of Antarctica has an ice cap climate ( Köppen EF ) with very cold , generally extremely dry weather .", "Marietta Ice Center The Marietta Ice Center is the oldest ice skating rink in metro Atlanta , Georgia . Located in the suburban city of Marietta , Georgia it contains two sheets of ice , a larger rink that is regulation hockey sized , and a smaller rink that is more suitable for open skate .", "Alison Ice Stream Alison Ice Stream is an ice stream about 8 nmi long flowing into Eltanin Bay south of Wirth Peninsula , Antarctica . It was named by the Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names after Alison Cook , a British Antarctic Survey computer specialist , part of the United States-UK cooperative project to compile glaciological and coastal change maps of the Antarctic Peninsula in the late 1990s and early 2000s .", "Joanne Johnson Joanne Johnson ( born 1977 , Birmingham , UK ) is a British geologist and prominent Antarctic scientist , currently working for British Antarctic Survey in the ` Palaeoenvironments , Ice Sheets and Climate Change ' team . Johnson joined British Antarctic Survey in 2002 . She is best known for her work on glacial retreat , and is the namesake of the Johnson Mesa in James Ross Island , Antarctica .", "Publications Ice Shelf Publications Ice Shelf is an ice shelf about 35 nautical miles ( 60 km ) long on the south shore of Prydz Bay , between Mount Caroline Mikkelsen and Stornes Peninsula . Several glaciers , listed from southwest to northeast , nourish the ice shelf : Polar Times Glacier , Il Polo Glacier , Polarforschung Glacier , Polar Record Glacier and Polararboken Glacier . The feature was first mapped from air photos by the Lars Christensen Expedition , 1936-37 . The name `` Publication Glacier Tongues '' was applied by John H. Roscoe in 1952 following his study of U.S. Navy Operation Highjump ( 1946 -- 47 ) air photos of the area , but the term ice shelf is more descriptive . So named by Roscoe because the several glaciers in the area commemorate polar publications . Category : Ice shelves of Antarctica Category : Landforms of Princess Elizabeth Land", "South Pole–Queen Maud Land Traverse The South Pole -- Queen Maud Land Traverse ( SPQMLT ) was a three-part scientific exploration of Antarctica undertaken by the United States in the 1960s . The three parts , referred to individually as South Pole -- Queen Maud Land Traverse I , II , and III ( SPQMLT-1 , -2 , and -3 ) , traveled a zigzag route across nearly 4200 km of the Antarctic Plateau in the austral summers of 1964-1965 , 1965-1966 , and 1967-1968 . The participants included scientists from Belgium , Norway , and the United States . Their objectives included determining the thickness of the Antarctic Ice Sheet , the elevation and slope of its surface , the rate of ice accumulation , and the subglacial topography . Other objectives included measuring the density and temperature of the ice at depth , measuring the geomagnetic field and gravity , and obtaining snow samples and ice cores .", "Sea Ice Physics and Ecosystem eXperiment The Sea Ice Physics and Ecosystem eXperiment ( SIPEX ) was an Australian contribution to the International Polar Year ( IPY ) . The expedition studied the sea ice in the Antarctica zone in September and October 2007 , investigating links between the sea ice and the Southern Ocean ecosystems . Taking part were 45 scientists from 8 different countries , each a specialist on some aspect of the Antarctic sea ice zone . Travelling aboard the research vessel Aurora Australis , the researchers covered East Antarctica between 110 ° E and 130 ° E. Experiments dealt with ice thickness and snow cover , the sympagic fauna and flora and examined the effects of ocean currents and wind . The extent and distribution of sea ice in the polar regions is a sensitive indicator of global climate change . Global warming has been implicated in significant reductions in the extent of sea ice and this trend is set to continue . An improved understanding of sea ice may lead to improved conservation policies in Antarctica .", "Geology of the Netherlands The geology of the Netherlands describes the geological sequence of the Netherlands . Large parts of the Netherlands today are below sea level and have in the past been covered by the sea or flooded at regular intervals . The modern Netherlands formed as a result of the interplay of the four main rivers ( Rhine , Meuse , Schelde and IJssel ) and the influence of the North Sea . The Netherlands is mostly composed of deltaic , coastal and eolian derived sediments during the Pleistocene glacial and interglacial periods . Fairly all of the west Netherlands is composed of the Rhine-Meuse river estuary , but human intervention greatly modified the natural processes at work . Most of the western Netherlands is below sea level due to the human process of turning standing bodies of water into usable land , a polder . In eastern Holland , remains are found of the last ice age , which ended approximately ten thousand years ago . As the continental ice sheet moved in from the north , it pushed moraine forward . The ice sheet halted as it covered the eastern half of the Netherlands . After the ice age ended , the moraine remained in the form a long hill-line . The cities of Arnhem and Nijmegen are built upon these hills .", "Robert Bindschadler Dr. Robert Bindschadler is a senior fellow at NASA 's Goddard Space Flight Center and has been an active field researcher in the Antarctic for over 25 years . He is a past president of the International Glaciological Society , chairs the West Antarctic Ice Sheet Initiative , is an editor for the Journal of Glaciology and has led 14 expeditions to Antarctica and has participated in numerous other expeditions around the world including Greenland . He has also testified before Congress and has briefed the U.S. vice president concerning ice-sheet stability and is often quoted or featured in the media . He was born in Pittsburgh and received a B.S. in astronomy and physics in 1971 from the University of Michigan and earned his Ph.D in Geophysics from the University of Washington in 1978 and did post doctoral work in Switzerland prior to working at NASA . His work revolves around the dynamics of glaciers and ice sheets using remote sensing technology . He has developed applications used to measure ice velocity and elevation using radar imagery which monitors the melting of ice sheets and detects changes in the volume of ice-sheets using radar altimetry . He has received numerous awards including Exceptional scientific achievement by NASA in 1994 as well as the Goddard Senior fellow in 2000 .", "The Ice Sheet at Ogden The Ice Sheet at Ogden , also known as the Weber County Ice Sheet , is located 35 mi north of Salt Lake City on the campus of Weber State University in Ogden . The Ice Sheet opened in 1994 as a recreational training center for curling , ice hockey , and figure skating . During the 2002 Winter Olympics the Ice Sheet hosted the curling events .", "John H. Mercer John H. Mercer ( Cheltenham , England , 19 October 1922 -- Columbus , Ohio 3 July 1987 ) was a glaciologist , chiefly known for his theoretical work on , and field studies of Antarctic ice streams , especially in the Transantarctic Mountains and in West Antarctica . Following John T. Hollin 's work ( 1962 ) suggesting that climatic warming and rising sea-level cause Antarctic ice shelves to retreat , Mercer postulated that the West Antarctic ice sheet , being grounded well below sea-level and terminating in floating ice shelves , was vulnerable to these changes and may have collapsed altogether during the last interglacial when Antarctica may have been warmer and sea-level may have been higher . In 1978 , in the science magazine Nature , Mercer pointed out that `` green-house '' warming from burning fossil fuel could have the same effect during the present interglacial . Two studies published 12 May 2014 confirm Mercer 's assumption . Climate scientist James Hansen has coined the term , `` John Mercer effect . '' After Mercer published his paper suggesting that the West Antarctic ice sheet could collapse in response to warming , he struggled to get funding . Others , including Hansen , had similar problems . Many climate scientists censor their own work to avoid losing funding , especially regarding prospects for limiting warming to 2 ° C above pre-industrial temperatures . John H. Mercer was the third child of Harriet and John W. Mercer . He was educated at private schools in Cheltenham and , later , at Gordonstoun in Scotland . During World War II he served in the British Merchant Marines ( 1940 -- 46 ) as a radio man . After the war he went to University of Cambridge and studied geography . At that time he came under the influence of William Vaughan Lewis . After finishing his B.A. in 1949 Mercer went to Canada , where he received his PhD in geography from McGill University in 1954 . He was a Research Scholar from 1954 to 1956 at the Australian National University in Canberra , where he studied land use and population in western Samoa . He returned to Canada and worked in the Canadian Hydro-graphic Office in Ottawa as a geographer in 1957 and 1958 . During 1959 -- 60 , 1961 -- 62 , 1964 , and 1966 , the American Geographical Society employed him at its World Data Center A for Glaciology in New York . The turning point in his career as a glaciologist was in 1960 , when he became a Research Associate at The Ohio State University , in the Institute of Polar Studies ( renamed the Byrd Polar Research Center ) . He remained at The Ohio State University until his death , becoming its first Senior Research Scientist .", "Scott Glacier Scott Glacier may refer to any of these glaciers : Scott Glacier ( Alaska ) , a glacier in the Chugach Mountains , near Cordova , Alaska Scott Glacier ( Transantarctic Mountains ) , a major glacier flowing from the East Antarctic Ice Sheet through the Queen Maud subrange of the Transantarctic Mountains into the Ross Ice Shelf Scott Glacier ( East Antarctica ) , a glacier on the outer coast of East Antarctica", "Prince Gustav Channel The Prince Gustav Channel was named in 1903 after Crown Prince Gustav of Sweden ( later King Gustav V ) by Otto Nordenskiöld of the Swedish Antarctic Expedition . The channel is bounded on the west by the Antarctic Peninsula and on the east by James Ross Island . It is about 130 km long and ranges from 6 to wide . On 27 February 1995 , the British Antarctic Survey ( BAS ) reported that an ice shelf formerly blocking the channel had disintegrated . This ice shelf had spanned approximately 700 km2 prior to its disintegration . In the area previously covered by the shelf , the channel 's water depth is between 600 to . Between February and March 2000 , scientists collected sediment cores 5 to 6 m in length from the ocean floor . Carbon dating of organic material found in the sediment layers suggested that for a period between 2,000 and 5,000 years ago , much of the channel was seasonally open water . While icebergs were able to navigate the channel , ice rafted debris was deposited within the sediment . It appears that before and after this period , the channel remained closed . The period when the channel was open coincides with a period of local warming supported by data gathered from land-based studies of lake sediments and ancient , abandoned penguin rookeries . With the return of colder conditions about 1900 years ago , the Prince Gustav Ice Shelf reformed until its recent retreat and collapse . Ice shelves are sensitive indicators of regional climatic change , therefore recent warming in the vicinity of the Prince Gustav Channel is exceptional for at least the past 1900 years .", "Charles R. Bentley Charles R. Bentley ( born 1931 , Rochester , New York ) is an American glaciologist and geophysicist . He is a professor emeritus at the University of Wisconsin -- Madison . Mount Bentley and the Bentley Subglacial Trench in Antarctica are named after him . In 1957 , he and a handful of other scientists including Mario Giovinetto set out on an expedition across West Antarctica in tracked vehicles to make the first measurements of the ice sheet . He was awarded the Seligman Crystal by the International Glaciological Society in 1990 .", "Women in Antarctica There have been women in Antarctica and exploring the regions around Antarctica for many centuries . Oral tradition of Māori explorers reaching Antarctic waters as early as 650 CE , put women on the Antarctic map . The most celebrated `` first '' for women was in 1935 when Caroline Mikkelsen became the first woman to set foot on one of Antarctica 's islands . Early male explorers , such as Richard Byrd , named areas of Antarctica after wives and female heads of state . As Antarctica moved from a place of exploration and conquest to a scientific frontier , women worked to be included in the sciences . The first countries to have female scientists working in Antarctica were the former Soviet Union , South Africa and Argentina . Besides exploring and working as scientists , women have also played supportive roles as wives , fund-raisers , publicists , historians , curators and administrators of organizations and services that support Antarctic operations . Many early women on Antarctica were the wives of explorers . Some women worked with Antarctica from afar , crafting policies for a place they had never seen . Women who wished to have larger roles in Antarctica and on the continent itself had to `` overcome gendered assumptions about the ice and surmount bureaucratic inertia . As women began to break into fields in Antarctica , they found that it could be difficult to compete against men who already had the `` expeditioner experience '' needed for permanent science positions . Women who were qualified for expeditions or jobs in Antarctica were less likely to be selected than men , even after a 1995 study by Jane Mocellin showed that women cope better than men in the Antarctic environment . Women working on Antarctica `` defy generalization '' and have diverse backgrounds and come from different generations . One researcher , Jenny Feast , in 2011 described women who come to Antarctica as `` independent , strong and resilient . ''", "Weddell Sea The Weddell Sea is part of the Southern Ocean and contains the Weddell Gyre . Its land boundaries are defined by the bay formed from the coasts of Coats Land and the Antarctic Peninsula . The easternmost point is Cape Norvegia at Princess Martha Coast , Queen Maud Land . To the east of Cape Norvegia is the King Haakon VII Sea . Much of the southern part of the sea is covered by a permanent , massive ice shelf field , the Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf ( not pack ice ) . The sea is contained within the two overlapping Antarctic territorial claims of Argentina , ( Argentine Antarctica ) and Britain ( British Antarctic Territory ) , and also resides partially within the territorial claim of Chile ( Antarctic Chilean Territory ) . At its widest the sea is around 2,000 km across , and its area is around 2.8 e6km2 . Various ice shelves , including the Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf , fringe the Weddell sea . Some of the ice shelves on the east side of the Antarctic Peninsula , which formerly covered roughly 3900 sqmi of the Weddell Sea , had completely disappeared by 2002 ; see . Whilst a dramatic event , the area that disappeared was far smaller than the total area of ice shelf that remains . The Weddell Sea has been deemed by scientists to have the clearest water of any sea . Dutch researchers from the German Alfred Wegener Institute , on finding a Secchi disc visible at a depth of 262 ft on 13 October 1986 , ascertained that the clarity corresponded to that of distilled water . In his 1950 book The White Continent , historian Thomas R. Henry writes : He continues for an entire chapter , relating myths of the green-haired merman sighted in the sea 's icy waters , the inability of crews to navigate a path to the coast until 1949 , and treacherous `` flash freezes '' that left ships , such as Ernest Shackleton 's Endurance , at the mercy of the ice floes .", "Vashon Glaciation The Vashon Glaciation or Vashon Stade was the most recent period of very cold climate in which glaciers existed at elevations at and near sea level in the western part of present-day Washington state . It occurred during a colder than present part of the current ice age . The Vashon Glaciation lasted from about 19,000 - 16,000 BP ( Before Present - present defined as January 1 , 1950 for this scale ) . The Cordilleran Ice Sheet was an ice sheet that covered present-day southern Alaska and parts of western Canada . During the Vashon Glaciation , the Cordilleran Ice Sheet advanced into the Puget Sound region ." ]

[ "Kyoto Protocol The Kyoto Protocol is an international treaty which extends the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change ( UNFCCC ) that commits State Parties to reduce greenhouse gas emissions , based on the fact that ( a ) global warming exists and ( b ) human-made CO2 emissions have caused it . The Kyoto Protocol was adopted in Kyoto , Japan , on 11 December 1997 and entered into force on 16 February 2005 . There are currently 192 parties ( Canada withdrew effective December 2012 ) to the Protocol . The Kyoto Protocol implemented the objective of the UNFCCC to fight global warming by reducing greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere to `` a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system '' ( Art. 2 ) . The Protocol is based on the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities : it puts the obligation to reduce current emissions on developed countries on the basis that they are historically responsible for the current levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere . The Protocol 's first commitment period started in 2008 and ended in 2012 . A second commitment period was agreed on in 2012 , known as the Doha Amendment to the protocol , in which 37 countries have binding targets : Australia , the European Union ( and its 28 member states ) , Belarus , Iceland , Kazakhstan , Liechtenstein , Norway , Switzerland , and Ukraine . Belarus , Kazakhstan and Ukraine have stated that they may withdraw from the Protocol or not put into legal force the Amendment with second round targets . Japan , New Zealand and Russia have participated in Kyoto 's first-round but have not taken on new targets in the second commitment period . Other developed countries without second-round targets are Canada ( which withdrew from the Kyoto Protocol in 2012 ) and the United States ( which has not ratified the Protocol ) . As of July 2016 , 66 states have accepted the Doha Amendment , while entry into force requires the acceptances of 144 states . Of the 37 countries with binding commitments , 7 have ratified . Negotiations were held in the framework of the yearly UNFCCC Climate Change Conferences on measures to be taken after the second commitment period ends in 2020 . This resulted in the 2015 adoption of the Paris Agreement , which is a separate instrument under the UNFCCC rather than an amendment of the Kyoto protocol .", "Greenhouse gas A greenhouse gas ( abbrev . GHG ) is a gas in an atmosphere that absorbs and emits radiation within the thermal infrared range . This process is the fundamental cause of the greenhouse effect . The primary greenhouse gases in Earth 's atmosphere are water vapor , carbon dioxide , methane , nitrous oxide , and ozone . Without greenhouse gases , the average temperature of Earth 's surface would be about -18 ° C , rather than the present average of 15 ° C . In the Solar System , the atmospheres of Venus , Mars and Titan also contain gases that cause a greenhouse effect . Human activities since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution ( taken as the year 1750 ) have produced a 40 % increase in the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide , from 280 ppm in 1750 to 406 ppm in early 2017 . This increase has occurred despite the uptake of a large portion of the emissions by various natural `` sinks '' involved in the carbon cycle . Anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions ( i.e. , emissions produced by human activities ) come from combustion of fossil fuels , principally coal , oil , and natural gas , along with deforestation , soil erosion and animal agriculture . It has been estimated that if greenhouse gas emissions continue at the present rate , Earth 's surface temperature could exceed historical values as early as 2047 , with potentially harmful effects on ecosystems , biodiversity and the livelihoods of people worldwide . Recent estimates suggest that on the current emissions trajectory the Earth could pass a threshold of 2 ° C global warming , which the United Nations ' IPCC designated as the upper limit to avoid `` dangerous '' global warming , by 2036 .", "Carbon offset A carbon offset is a reduction in emissions of carbon dioxide or greenhouse gases made in order to compensate for or to offset an emission made elsewhere . Carbon offsets are measured in metric tons of carbon dioxide-equivalent ( CO2e ) and may represent six primary categories of greenhouse gases : carbon dioxide , methane ( CH4 ) , nitrous oxide ( N2O ) , perfluorocarbons ( PFCs ) , hydrofluorocarbons ( HFCs ) , and sulfur hexafluoride ( SF6 ) . One carbon offset represents the reduction of one metric ton of carbon dioxide or its equivalent in other greenhouse gases . There are two markets for carbon offsets . In the larger , compliance market , companies , governments , or other entities buy carbon offsets in order to comply with caps on the total amount of carbon dioxide they are allowed to emit . This market exists in order to achieve compliance with obligations of Annex 1 Parties under the Kyoto Protocol , and of liable entities under the EU Emission Trading Scheme . In 2006 , about $ 5.5 billion of carbon offsets were purchased in the compliance market , representing about 1.6 billion metric tons of CO2e reductions . In the much smaller , voluntary market , individuals , companies , or governments purchase carbon offsets to mitigate their own greenhouse gas emissions from transportation , electricity use , and other sources . For example , an individual might purchase carbon offsets to compensate for the greenhouse gas emissions caused by personal air travel . Many companies ( see list ) offer carbon offsets as an up-sell during the sales process so that customers can mitigate the emissions related with their product or service purchase ( such as offsetting emissions related to a vacation flight , car rental , hotel stay , consumer good , etc. ) . In 2008 , about $ 705 million of carbon offsets were purchased in the voluntary market , representing about 123.4 million metric tons of CO2e reductions . Some fuel suppliers in the UK offer fuel which has been carbon offset such as Fuel dyes . Offsets are typically achieved through financial support of projects that reduce the emission of greenhouse gases in the short - or long-term . The most common project type is renewable energy , such as wind farms , biomass energy , or hydroelectric dams . Others include energy efficiency projects , the destruction of industrial pollutants or agricultural byproducts , destruction of landfill methane , and forestry projects . Some of the most popular carbon offset projects from a corporate perspective are energy efficiency and wind turbine projects . Carbon offsetting has gained some appeal and momentum mainly among consumers in western countries who have become aware and concerned about the potentially negative environmental effects of energy-intensive lifestyles and economies . The Kyoto Protocol has sanctioned offsets as a way for governments and private companies to earn carbon credits that can be traded on a marketplace . The protocol established the Clean Development Mechanism ( CDM ) , which validates and measures projects to ensure they produce authentic benefits and are genuinely `` additional '' activities that would not otherwise have been undertaken . Organizations that are unable to meet their emissions quota can offset their emissions by buying CDM-approved Certified Emissions Reductions . Emissions from burning fuel , such as red diesel , has pushed one UK fuel supplier to create a carbon offset fuel named Carbon Offset Red Diesel . Offsets may be cheaper or more convenient alternatives to reducing one 's own fossil-fuel consumption . However , some critics object to carbon offsets , and question the benefits of certain types of offsets . Due diligence is recommended to help businesses in the assessment and identification of `` good quality '' offsets to ensure offsetting provides the desired additional environmental benefits , and to avoid reputational risk associated with poor quality offsets . Offsets are viewed as an important policy tool to maintain stable economies and to improve sustainability . One of the hidden dangers of climate change policy is unequal prices of carbon in the economy , which can cause economic collateral damage if production flows to regions or industries that have a lower price of carbon -- unless carbon can be purchased from that area , which offsets effectively permit , equalizing the price .", "Montreal Protocol The Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer ( a protocol to the Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer ) is an international treaty designed to protect the ozone layer by phasing out the production of numerous substances that are responsible for ozone depletion . It was agreed on 16 September 1987 , and entered into force on 01 January 1989 , followed by a first meeting in Helsinki , May 1989 . Since then , it has undergone eight revisions , in 1990 ( London ) , 1991 ( Nairobi ) , 1992 ( Copenhagen ) , 1993 ( Bangkok ) , 1995 ( Vienna ) , 1997 ( Montreal ) , 1998 ( Australia ) , 1999 ( Beijing ) and 2016 ( Kigali , adopted , but not in force ) . As a result of the international agreement , the ozone hole in Antarctica is slowly recovering . Climate projections indicate that the ozone layer will return to 1980 levels between 2050 and 2070 . Due to its widespread adoption and implementation it has been hailed as an example of exceptional international co-operation , with Kofi Annan quoted as saying that `` perhaps the single most successful international agreement to date has been the Montreal Protocol '' . In comparison , effective burden sharing and solution proposals mitigating regional conflicts of interest have been among the success factors for the ozone depletion challenge , where global regulation based on the Kyoto Protocol has failed to do so . In this case of the ozone depletion challenge , there was global regulation already being installed before a scientific consensus was established . Also , overall public opinion was convinced of possible imminent risks . The two ozone treaties have been ratified by 197 parties , which includes 196 states and the European Union , making them the first universally ratified treaties in United Nations history . These truly universal treaties have also been remarkable in the expedience of the policy making process at the global scale , where only 14 years lapsed between a basic scientific research discovery ( 1973 ) and the international agreement signed ( 1985 & 1987 ) .", "Hydrofluorocarbon Hydrofluorocarbons ( HFCs ) , organic compounds that contain fluorine and hydrogen atoms , are the most common type of organofluorine compounds . They are commonly used in air conditioning and as refrigerants in place of the older chlorofluorocarbons such as R-12 and hydrochlorofluorocarbons such as R-21 . They do not harm the ozone layer as much as the compounds they replace ; however , they do contribute to global warming . Their atmospheric concentrations and contribution to anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions are rapidly increasing , causing international concern about their radiative forcing . Fluorocarbons with few C -- F bonds behave similarly to the parent hydrocarbons , but their reactivity can be altered significantly . For example , both uracil and 5-fluorouracil are colourless , high-melting crystalline solids , but the latter is a potent anti-cancer drug . The use of the C-F bond in pharmaceuticals is predicated on this altered reactivity . Several drugs and agrochemicals contain only one fluorine center or one trifluoromethyl group . Unlike other greenhouse gases in the Paris Agreement , hydrofluorocarbons have other international negotiations . In September 2016 , the so-called New York Declaration urged a global reduction in the use of HFCs . On 15 October 2016 , due to these chemicals ' contribution to climate change , negotiators from 197 nations meeting at the summit of the United Nations Environment Programme in Kigali , Rwanda reached a legally-binding accord to phase out hydrofluorocarbons ( HFCs ) in an amendment to the Montreal Protocol ." ]

[ "Climate footprint The term climate footprint has emerged from the field of carbon footprinting , and refers to a measure of the full set of greenhouse gases ( GHGs ) controlled under the Kyoto Protocol . A climate footprint is a more comprehensive measure of anthropogenic impact upon the climate than a carbon footprint , but is also more costly and labour-intensive to calculate . A climate footprint is a measure of the total amount of carbon dioxide ( CO2 ) , methane ( CH4 ) , nitrous oxide ( N2O ) , hydrofluorocarbons ( HFCs ) , perfluorocarbons ( PFCs ) and sulphur hexafluoride ( SF6 ) emissions of a defined population , system or activity , considering all relevant sources , sinks and storage within the spatial and temporal boundary of the population , system or activity of interest . Calculated as carbon dioxide equivalent ( CO2e ) using the relevant 100-year global warming potential ( GWP100 ) .", "Carbon neutrality Carbon neutrality , or having a net zero carbon footprint , refers to achieving net zero carbon emissions by balancing a measured amount of carbon released with an equivalent amount sequestered or offset , or buying enough carbon credits to make up the difference . It is used in the context of carbon dioxide releasing processes associated with transportation , energy production , and industrial processes such as production of carbon neutral fuel . The carbon neutrality concept may be extended to include other greenhouse gases ( GHG ) measured in terms of their carbon dioxide equivalence ( e ) -- the impact a GHG has on the atmosphere expressed in the equivalent amount of CO2 . The term `` climate neutral '' reflects the broader inclusiveness of other greenhouse gases in climate change , even if CO2 is the most abundant , encompassing other greenhouse gases regulated by the Kyoto Protocol , namely : methane ( CH4 ) , nitrous oxide ( N2O ) , hydrofluorocarbons ( HFC ) , perfluorocarbons ( PFC ) , and sulphur hexafluoride ( SF6 ) . Both terms are used interchangeably throughout this article . The best practice for organizations and individuals seeking carbon neutral status entails reducing and/or avoiding carbon emissions first so that only unavoidable emissions are offset . Carbon neutral status is commonly achieved in two ways : Balancing carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere from burning fossil fuels , with renewable energy that creates a similar amount of useful energy , so that the carbon emissions are compensated , or alternatively using only renewable energies that do n't produce any carbon dioxide ( also called a post-carbon economy ) . Carbon offsetting by paying others to remove or sequester 100 % of the carbon dioxide emitted from the atmosphere -- for example by planting trees -- or by funding ` carbon projects ' that should lead to the prevention of future greenhouse gas emissions , or by buying carbon credits to remove ( or ` retire ' ) them through carbon trading . While carbon offsetting is often used alongside energy conservation measures to minimize energy use , the practice is criticized by some . The concept may be extended to include other greenhouse gases measured in terms of their carbon dioxide equivalence . The phrase was the New Oxford American Dictionary 's Word Of The Year for 2006 .", "Natural refrigerant Natural refrigerants are substances that are viable , environmentally sustainable , natural substitute refrigerants , used in refrigeration systems ( including refrigerators , HVAC , and air conditioning ) . They are alternatives to hydrofluorocarbon ( HFC ) , hydrochlorofluorocarbon ( HCFC ) and chlorofluorocarbon ( CFC ) based refrigerants . Unlike other refrigerants , they are not synthetic chemicals that are not ever found in nature . HFC , HCFC , CFC classes of chemicals are all potent greenhouse gases . HCFC and CFC classes of chemicals are damaging to the ozone layer , with CFCs being a primary culprit . Natural refrigerants , though they may exist in nature , are not in themselves harmless or nontoxic .", "1,2-Difluoroethane 1,2-Difluoroethane is a saturated hydrofluorocarbon containing an atom of fluorine attached to each of two carbons atoms . The formula can be written CH2FCH2F . It is an isomer of 1,1-Difluoroethane . It has a HFC name of HFC-152 with no letter suffix . When cooled to cryogenic temperatures it can have different conformers , gauche and trans . In the liquid form these are about equally abundant and easily interconvert . As a gas it is mostly the gauche form . In the HFC-152 designation , 2 means two fluorine atoms , 5 means 5-1 or four hydrogen atoms , and 1 means 1 +1 or two carbon atoms .", "1,1,1-Trifluoroethane 1,1,1-Trifluoroethane , or R-143a or simply trifluoroethane , is a hydrofluorocarbon compound that is a clear , colorless gas . It should not be confused with the much more commonly used gas R-134a or the isomeric compound 1,1,2-trifluoroethane . It has a critical temperature of 73 ° C. It is used as a refrigerant either by itself or more commonly as a component of blended mixtures . Unlike CFCs used as refrigerants , trifluoroethane has no chlorine atoms and is therefore not an ozone-depleting chemical , though its high chemical stability and infra-red absorbency make it a potent greenhouse gas with a global warming potential of 4300 , higher than many other commonly used HFC refrigerants . Trifluoroethane is also used as a propellant in canned air products used to clean electronic equipment .", "List of countries by greenhouse gas emissions This is a list of countries by total greenhouse gas ( GHG ) emissions in 2010 . It is based on data for carbon dioxide , methane , nitrous oxide , perfluorocarbon , hydrofluorocarbon , and sulfur hexafluoride emissions compiled by the World Resources Institute . The emissions data shown below do not include land-use change and forestry .", "1,1-Difluoroethane 1,1-Difluoroethane , or DFE , is an organofluorine compound with the chemical formula C2H4F2 . This colorless gas is used as a refrigerant , where it is often listed as R-152a ( refrigerant-152a ) or HFC-152a ( hydrofluorocarbon-152a ) . As an alternative to chlorofluorocarbons , it has an ozone depletion potential of zero , a lower global warming potential ( 124 ) and a shorter atmospheric lifetime ( 1.4 years ) . It has recently been approved for use in automobile applications as an alternative to R-134a .", "Fluoromethane Fluoromethane , also known as methyl fluoride , Freon 41 , Halocarbon-41 and HFC-41 , is a non-toxic , liquefiable , and flammable gas at standard temperature and pressure . It is made of carbon , hydrogen , and fluorine . The name stems from the fact that it is methane ( CH4 ) with a fluorine atom substituted for one of the hydrogen atoms . The compound is the lowest mass member of the hydrofluorocarbon ( HFC ) family , compounds which contain only hydrogen , fluorine , and carbon . These are related to the Chlorofluorocarbon ( CFC ) s , but since they do not contain chlorine , are not destructive to the ozone layer . It is used in the manufacture of semiconductor and electronic products . In the presence of an RF field fluoromethane will dissociate into fluoride ions that selectively etch silicon compound films ( reactive-ion etching ) . Fluoromethane has an agreeable ether-like odor and is also narcotic in high concentrations . Fluoromethane is highly flammable and burns in air with evolution of highly toxic hydrogen fluoride . The flame is colorless , similar to alcohol . Bond energy of C-F is 552 kJ/mol and its length is 0.139 nm ( typically 0.14 nm ) . Its molecular geometry is tetrahedral . Its specific heat capacity is Cp = 38.171 J.mol − 1 . K − 1 at 25 ° C. Critical point of fluoromethane is at 44.9 ° C ( 318.1 K ) and 6.280 MPa .", "Electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide The electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide ( ERC ) is the conversion of carbon dioxide to more reduced chemical species using electrical energy . The first examples of electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide are from the 19th century , when carbon dioxide was reduced to carbon monoxide using a zinc cathode . Research in this field intensified in the 1980s following the oil embargoes of the 1970s . Electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide represents a possible means of producing chemicals or fuels , converting carbon dioxide to organic feedstocks such as formic acid ( HCOOH ) , methanol ( CH3OH ) , ethylene ( C2H4 ) , methane ( CH4 ) , and carbon monoxide ( CO ) .", "Landfill gas Landfill gas is a complex mix of different gases created by the action of microorganisms within a landfill . Landfill gas is approximately forty to sixty percent methane , with the remainder being mostly carbon dioxide . Trace amounts of other volatile organic compounds comprise the remainder ( < 1 % ) . These trace gases include a large array of species , mainly simple hydrocarbons . Landfill gases have an influence on climate change . The major components are CO2 and methane , both of which are greenhouse gas . In terms of global warming potential , methane is over 25 times more detrimental to the atmosphere than carbon dioxide . Landfills are the third largest source of methane in the US .", "Alkaline hydrolysis (death custom) Alkaline hydrolysis ( also called biocremation and/or resomation ) is a process for the disposal of human remains which produces less carbon dioxide and pollutants than cremation . The process is being marketed as an alternative to the traditional options of burial or cremation .", "Organofluorine chemistry Organofluorine chemistry describes the chemistry of the organofluorines , organic compounds that contain the carbon -- fluorine bond . Organofluorine compounds find diverse applications ranging from oil and water repellents to pharmaceuticals , refrigerants , and reagents in catalysis . In addition to these applications , some organofluorine compounds are pollutants because of their contributions to ozone depletion , global warming , bioaccumulation , and toxicity . The area of organofluorine chemistry often requires special techniques associated with the handling of fluorinating agents .", "Bicarbonate indicator A bicarbonate indicator ( hydrogencarbonate indicator ) is a type of pH indicator that is sensitive enough to show a color change as the concentration of carbon dioxide gas in an aqueous solution increases . The indicator is used in photosynthesis and respiration experiments to find out whether carbon dioxide is being liberated . It is also used to test the carbon dioxide content during gaseous exchange of organisms . When the carbon dioxide content is higher than 0.04 % , the initial red color changes to yellow as the pH becomes more acidic . If the carbon dioxide content is lower than 0.04 % , it changes from red to magenta and , in relatively very low carbon dioxide concentrations , to purple . Carbon dioxide , even in the concentrations found in exhaled air , will dissolve in the indicator to form carbonic acid , a weak acid , which will lower the pH and give the characteristic colour change . A colour change to purple during photosynthesis shows a reduction in the percentage of carbon dioxide and is sometimes inferred as production of oxygen , but there is not actually any direct evidence for it . Great care must be taken to avoid acidic or alkaline contamination of the apparatus in such experiments , since the test is not directly specific to carbon dioxide .", "Chlorodifluoromethane Chlorodifluoromethane or difluoromonochloromethane is a hydrochlorofluorocarbon ( HCFC ) . This colorless gas is better known as HCFC-22 , or R-22 . It is commonly used as a propellant and refrigerant . These applications are being phased out in developed countries due to the compound 's ozone depletion potential ( ODP ) and high global warming potential ( GWP ) , although global use of R-22 continues to increase because of high demand in developing countries . R-22 is a versatile intermediate in industrial organofluorine chemistry , e.g. as a precursor to tetrafluoroethylene . R-22 cylinders are colored light green .", "CO2 is Green CO2 is Green is a non-profit organization supporting public policy on environmental issues . A main focus of the organization are federal proposals that may `` interfere with natures dependence on carbon dioxide . '' CO2 is Green does not view carbon dioxide as a pollutant and advocates for federal law and regulations to support this thinking .", "Polyolester Polyolester oil ( POE oil ) is a type of synthetic oil used in refrigeration compressors that is compatible with the refrigerants R-134a , R-410A and R-12 . It is recommended by experts as a replacement for hydrofluorocarbons ( HFCs ) . Along with R-134a mineral oil it is recommended as a replacement for R12 mineral oil as R134a does not mix well with mineral oil . These wax-free oils are suggested for use with chlorine free HFC systems as they provide better lubrication and stability and are more miscible with HFC refrigerants . They can meet the lubricity requirements to those of mineral oils used with CFCs and HFCs . They are compatible with most lubricants in the market . It is noted that the viscosity of the oil increases with temperature . The dispersion behavior of this oil has also been the subject of a lot of study . It is also considered by some to be a good additive to engine oil .", "Exhaust gas Exhaust gas or flue gas is emitted as a result of the combustion of fuels such as natural gas , gasoline , petrol , biodiesel blends , diesel fuel , fuel oil , or coal . According to the type of engine , it is discharged into the atmosphere through an exhaust pipe , flue gas stack , or propelling nozzle . It often disperses downwind in a pattern called an exhaust plume . It is a major component of motor vehicle emissions ( and from stationary internal combustion engines ) , which can also include : Crankcase blow-by Evaporation of unused gasoline Motor vehicle emissions contribute to air pollution and are a major ingredient in the creation of smog in some large cities . A 2013 study by MIT indicates that 53,000 early deaths occur per year in the United States alone because of vehicle emissions . According to another study from the same university , traffic fumes alone cause the death of 5,000 people every year just in the United Kingdom .", "Respiratory failure Respiratory failure results from inadequate gas exchange by the respiratory system , meaning that the arterial oxygen , carbon dioxide or both can not be kept at normal levels . A drop in the oxygen carried in blood is known as hypoxemia ; a rise in arterial carbon dioxide levels is called hypercapnia . Respiratory failure is classified as either Type I or Type II , based on whether there is a high carbon dioxide level . The definition of respiratory failure in clinical trials usually includes increased respiratory rate , abnormal blood gases ( hypoxemia , hypercapnia , or both ) , and evidence of increased work of breathing . The normal partial pressure reference values are : oxygen PaO2 more than 80 mmHg , and carbon dioxide PaCO2 lesser than 45 mmHg .", "List of countries by carbon intensity This article lists countries by their carbon intensity . Carbon intensity is defined as a country 's annual carbon dioxide emissions divided by the country 's gross domestic product . National incomes are calculated using market exchange rates ( MER ) and purchasing power parities ( PPP ) . Units are metric tons of carbon dioxide per thousand year 2005 US dollars .", "History of the diesel car Diesel engines began to be used in automobiles in the 1930s . Mainly used for commercial applications early on , they did not gain popularity for passenger travel until their development in Europe in the 1960s . Diesel cars continue to develop into highly desired , high performance while retaining power and performance . In terms of pollution , diesel engines generally produce less carbon dioxide than gasoline-based engines but produce more nitrous oxides", "Ozone depletion and climate change Ozone depletion and climate change , or Ozone hole and global warming in more popular terms , are environmental challenges whose connections have been explored and which have been compared and contrasted , for example in terms of global regulation , in various studies and books . There is widespread scientific interest in better regulation of climate change , ozone depletion and air pollution , as in general the human relationship with the biosphere is deemed of major historiographical and political significance . Already by 1994 the legal debates about respective regulation regimes on climate change , ozone depletion and air pollution were being dubbed `` monumental '' and a combined synopsis provided . There are some parallels between atmospheric chemistry and anthropogenic emissions in the discussions which have taken place and the regulatory attempts which have been made . Most important is that the gases causing both problems have long lifetimes after emission to the atmosphere , thus causing problems which are difficult to reverse . However , the Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer and the Montreal Protocol that amended it are seen as success stories , while the Kyoto Protocol on anthropogenic climate change has largely failed . Currently efforts are being undertaken to assess the reasons and to use synergies , for example with regard to data reporting and policy design and further exchanging of information . While the general public tends to see global warming as a subset of ozone depletion , in fact ozone and chemicals such as chlorofluorocarbons ( CFCs ) and other halocarbons , which are held responsible for ozone depletion , are important greenhouse gasses . Furthermore , natural levels of ozone in both the stratosphere and troposphere have a warming effect .", "Carbon-based fuel Carbon-based fuel is any fuel principally from the oxidation or burning of carbon . Carbon-based fuels are of two main kinds , biofuels and fossil fuels . Whereas biofuels are derived from recent-growth organic matter and are typically harvested , as with logging of forests and cutting of corn , fossil fuels are of prehistoric origin and are extracted from the ground , the principal fossil fuels being oil , coal , and natural gas . From an economic policy perspective , an important distinction between biofuels and fossil fuels is that only the former is sustainable or renewable . Whereas we can continue to obtain energy from biofuels indefinitely in principle , the Earth 's reserves of fossil fuels was determined millions of years ago and is therefore fixed as far as our foreseeable future is concerned . The great variability in the ease of extraction of fossil fuels however makes its endgame scenario one of increasing prices over one or more centuries rather than of abrupt exhaustion . From the perspective of climate and ecology , biofuels and fossil fuels have in common that they contribute to the production of atmospheric carbon dioxide , which has emerged in recent decades as the fastest-changing greenhouse gas , whose principal impacts are global warming and ocean acidification . However biofuels actively participate in the carbon cycle today by photosynthesizing carbon dioxide , unlike fossil fuels whose participation was long ago , and can therefore in principle bring atmospheric CO2 into an equilibrium not possible with the continued use of fossil fuel . But in practice photosynthesis is a slow process , and the additional fuel produced by artificial methods of accelerating it such as application of fertilizer tends to be offset by the energy consumed by the accelerating processes , to a degree currently under active debate . In contrast the speed of photosynthesis is immaterial for fossil fuels because they had millions of years in which to accumulate . Burning of both fossil fuels and biofuels usually also produces carbon monoxide , which is toxic and can kill a person after mixing with the haemoglobin of the blood , increasing its concentration in the body . Biofuels and fossil fuels may also produce many other air pollutants depending on the contents of the fuel .", "Trifluoromethyl sulphur pentafluoride Trifluoromethyl sulphur pentafluoride , CF3SF5 , is a rare industrial greenhouse gas , first published in 2000 by a group of researchers from Germany , the United Kingdom and the United States . Trifluoromethyl sulphur pentafluoride is considered to be one of the several super greenhouse gases . On a per molecule basis , it is considered to be the most potent greenhouse gas present in Earth 's atmosphere . However , the current concentration of Trifluoromethyl sulphur pentafluoride remains at a level that is unlikely to measurably contribute to earth 's warming . The source of the gas is attributed to anthropogenic sources , possibly a by-product of the manufacture of fluorochemicals , originating from reactions of SF6 with fluoropolymers used in electronic devices and in microchips , or the formation can be associated with high voltage equipment created from SF6 ( a breakdown product of high voltage equipment ) reacting with CF3 to form the CF3SF5 molecule .", "Capnophile Capnophiles are microorganisms that thrive in the presence of high concentrations of carbon dioxide . Some capnophiles may have a metabolic requirement for carbon dioxide , while others merely compete more successfully for resources under these conditions . The term is a generally descriptive one and has less relevance as a means of establishing a taxonomic or evolutionary relationship among organisms with this characteristic . For example , the ability of capnophiles to tolerate ( or utilize ) the amount of oxygen that is also in their environment may vary widely and may be far more critical to their survival . Species of Campylobacter are bacterial capnophiles that are more easily identified because they are also microaerophiles , organisms that can grow in high carbon dioxide as long as a small amount of free oxygen is present , but at a dramatically reduced concentration . ( In the earth 's atmosphere carbon dioxide levels are approximately five hundred times lower than that of oxygen , 0.04 % and 21 % of the total , respectively . ) Obligate anaerobes are microbes that will die in the presence of oxygen without respect to the concentration of carbon dioxide in their environment , and typically acquire energy through anaerobic respiration , or fermentation ( biochemistry ) . In 2004 , a capnophilic bacterium was characterized that appears to require carbon dioxide . This organism , Mannheimia succiniciproducens , has a unique metabolism involving carbon fixation . While carbon fixation is common to most plant life on earth since it is the key initial step in the biosynthesis of complex carbon compounds during photosynthesis ( the Calvin cycle ) , it is found in relatively few microorganisms and not found in animals . Mannheimia succiniciproducens can attach carbon dioxide to the three-carbon backbone of phosphoenolpyruvate , an endproduct in glycolysis , to generate the four-carbon compound , oxaloacetic acid , an intermediate in the Krebs cycle . Although Mannheimia succiniciproducens has most of the intermediates in the Krebs cycle , it is not capable of oxidative phosphorylation , the final step in the electron transport chain that would allow it to carry out the highly efficient process of harvesting energy by aerobic respiration .", "Pentafluoroethane Pentafluoroethane is a refrigerant with the formula CF3CHF2 . Although it has zero ozone depletion potential , it has high global warming potential , reported by the United States Environmental Protection Agency ( EPA ) as 3450 times that of carbon dioxide . Pentafluoroethane in a near zeotropic mixture with difluoromethane is known as R-410A , a common replacement for various chlorofluorocarbons ( commonly known as Freon ) in new refrigerant systems . Pentafluoroethane is also used as a fire suppression agent in fire suppression systems .", "1,3,3,3-Tetrafluoropropene 1,3,3,3-Tetrafluoropropene ( HFO-1234ze ) is a hydrofluoroolefin . It was developed as a `` fourth generation '' refrigerant to replace R-134a and as a blowing agent for foam and aerosol applications . The use of R-134a is being phased out because of its high global-warming potential . HFO-1234ze has zero ozone-depletion potential ( ODP = 0 ) and a very low global-warming potential ( GWP < 1 ) , even lower than CO2 .", "2,3,3,3-Tetrafluoropropene 2,3,3,3-Tetrafluoropropene , or HFO-1234yf , is a hydrofluoroolefin ( HFO ) with the formula CH2 = CFCF3 . This colorless gas has been proposed as a replacement for R-134a as a refrigerant in automobile air conditioners . HFO-1234yf is the first in a new class of refrigerants acquiring a global warming potential ( GWP ) rating one 335th that of R-134a ( and only 4 times higher than carbon dioxide , which can also be used as a refrigerant but which has properties significantly different from those of R134a , especially requiring operation at around 5 times higher pressure ) and an atmospheric lifetime of about 400 times shorter .", "HFC HFC may stand for :", "HEGA HEGA is an acronym for `` High Efficiency Gas Absorption '' . Originally developed by the British military as a defense against chemical warfare , HEGA is a carbon cloth filter . This carbon cloth has been claimed to be many times more efficient than the granular activated carbon form at adsorption of gaseous pollutants . With its light weight and easy workability , HEGA filters are now used in some residential air purifiers .", "Cofiring Co-firing is the combustion of two different types of materials at the same time . One of the advantages of co-firing is that an existing plant can be used to burn a new fuel , which may be cheaper or more environmentally friendly . For example , biomass is sometimes co-fired in existing coal plants instead of new biomass plants . Co-firing can also be used to improve the combustion of fuels with low energy content . For example , landfill gas contains a large amount of carbon dioxide , which is non-combustible . If the landfill gas is burned without removing the carbon dioxide , the equipment may not perform properly or emissions of pollutants may increase . Co-firing it with natural gas increases the heat content of the fuel and improves combustion and equipment performance . As long as the electricity or heat produced with the biomass and landfill gas was otherwise going to be produced with non-renewable fuels , the benefits are essentially equivalent whether they are cofired or combusted alone . Also , co-firing can be used to lower the emission of some pollutants . For example , co-firing biomass with coal results in less sulfur emissions than burning coal by itself .", "Carbon shifting Carbon shifting is the tendency for an individual to increase carbon dioxide emissions in one area of their lifestyle as a result of reducing emissions elsewhere . ` Carbon shifting ' might more accurately be termed ` domestic carbon shifting ' to distinguish it from carbon leakage which has occasionally also been called carbon shifting . Many attempts to encourage people to change aspects of their lifestyle and so reduce their carbon dioxide emissions make a virtue of the financial savings . In the United Kingdom the Energy Saving Trust lists various ways of saving energy , e.g. `` Energy saving light bulbs last up to 12 times longer than ordinary lightbulbs and can save you # 9 per year in electricity ( and 38 kilograms of ) or # 100 over the bulbs lifetime . '' However , whether or not carbon dioxide emissions are ultimately reduced will depend on how that saved money is spent . If the amount of money saved through walking to work is eventually spent on an extra city break involving air travel the net emissions may well increase . The problem of carbon shifting may undermine many voluntary piecemeal attempts at reducing carbon dioxide emissions . However , carbon shifting is not inherently negative . If a person can be persuaded to avoid activities that produce a high level of emissions for a given financial outlay then they may shift to activities that produce lower emissions for that same amount of money . Positive carbon shifting might be encouraged through the use of a carbon tax or the implementation of a Personal carbon trading scheme . The phenomenon of carbon shifting also suggests that for some comparative purposes the most appropriate measure of emissions would be emissions per unit of currency rather than total emissions . An activity that produces slightly lower emissions at a significantly lower cost may not necessarily be the best activity to promote as it leaves the individual with more money to spend on other emitting activities . Similarly , if two passengers are traveling on the same aircraft they might be deemed to be emitting the same total amount of carbon dioxide . However , if one of them paid a lower fare then , by this measure , they would be deemed to be damaging the environment more .", "Carbon emission trading Carbon emissions trading is a form of emissions trading that specifically targets carbon dioxide ( calculated in tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent or tCO2e ) and it currently constitutes the bulk of emissions trading . This form of permit trading is a common method countries utilize in order to meet their obligations specified by the Kyoto Protocol ; namely the reduction of carbon emissions in an attempt to reduce ( mitigate ) future climate change . Under Carbon trading , a country having more emissions of carbon is able to purchase the right to emit more and the country having less emission trades the right to emit carbon to other countries . More carbon emitting countries , by this way try to keep the limit of carbon emission specified to them ." ]

[ "James Hansen James Edward Hansen ( born 29 March 1941 ) is an American adjunct professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Columbia University . He is best known for his research in climatology , his 1988 Congressional testimony on climate change that helped raise broad awareness of global warming , and his advocacy of action to avoid dangerous climate change . In recent years he has become a climate activist to mitigate the effects of climate change , on a few occasions leading to his arrest . In 2000 , Hansen advanced an alternative view of global warming over the last 100 years , arguing that during that time frame the negative forcing via aerosols and the positive forcing via largely balanced each other out , and that the 0.74 ± 0.18 ° C net rise in average global temperatures could mostly be explained by greenhouse gases other than carbon dioxide , such as methane and chlorofluorocarbons . However , even then he wrote `` the future balance of forcings is likely to shift toward dominance of CO2 over aerosols ''", "Greenhouse effect The greenhouse effect is the process by which radiation from a planet 's atmosphere warms the planet 's surface to a temperature above what it would be without its atmosphere . If a planet 's atmosphere contains radiatively active gases ( i.e. , greenhouse gases ) the atmosphere will radiate energy in all directions . Part of this radiation is directed towards the surface , warming it . The downward component of this radiation -- that is , the strength of the greenhouse effect -- will depend on the atmosphere 's temperature and on the amount of greenhouse gases that the atmosphere contains . On Earth , the atmosphere is warmed by absorption of infrared thermal radiation from the underlying surface ( heated by the sun ) , absorption of shorter wavelength radiant energy from the sun , and convective heat fluxes from the surface . Greenhouse gases in the atmosphere radiate energy , some of which is directed to the surface and lower atmosphere . The mechanism that produces this difference between the actual surface temperature and the effective temperature is due to the atmosphere and is known as the greenhouse effect . Earth 's natural greenhouse effect is critical to supporting life . Human activities , primarily the burning of fossil fuels and clearing of forests , have intensified the natural greenhouse effect , causing global warming . The mechanism is named after a faulty analogy with the effect of solar radiation passing through glass and warming a greenhouse . The way a greenhouse retains heat is fundamentally different , as a greenhouse works by reducing airflow and retaining warm air inside the structure ." ]

[ "Global warming (disambiguation) Global warming is one of the common names for the current change in Earth 's climate . Global warming may also refer to : Global Warming ( Pitbull album ) , a 2011 music album by Pitbull Global Warming ( Sonny Rollins album ) , a 1998 music album by Sonny Rollins Global warming game , several games based on the concept Not to be confused with the Global warming controversy , which refers to the public debate over scientific conclusions on climate change .", "350.org 350 . org is an international environmental organization encouraging citizens to action with the belief that publicizing the increasing levels of carbon dioxide will pressure world leaders to address climate change and to reduce levels from 400 parts per million to 350 parts per million . It was founded by author Bill McKibben with the goal of building a global grassroots movement to raise awareness about human-driven climate change , to confront climate change denial , and to cut emissions of carbon dioxide in order to slow the rate of global warming . 350 . org takes its name from the research of Goddard Institute for Space Studies scientist James E. Hansen , who posited in a 2007 paper that 350 parts-per-million ( ppm ) of CO2 in the atmosphere is a safe upper limit to avoid a climate tipping point .", "Avoiding Dangerous Climate Change Avoiding Dangerous Climate Change : A Scientific Symposium on Stabilisation of Greenhouse Gases was a 2005 international conference that examined the link between atmospheric greenhouse gas concentration , and the 2 ° C ( 3.6 ° F ) ceiling on global warming thought necessary to avoid the most serious effects of global warming . Previously this had generally been accepted as being 550 ppm . The conference took place under the United Kingdom 's presidency of the G8 , with the participation of around 200 ` internationally renowned ' scientists from 30 countries . It was chaired by Dennis Tirpak and hosted by the Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and Research in Exeter , from 1 February to 3 February .", "Unstoppable Global Warming: Every 1,500 Years Unstoppable Global Warming : Every 1,500 Years is a book about climate change , written by Siegfried Fred Singer and Dennis T. Avery , which asserts that natural changes , and not CO2 emissions , are the cause of Global Warming . Published by Rowman & Littlefield in 2006 , the book sold well and was reprinted in an updated edition in 2007 . The title refers to the hypothesis of 1,500-year climate cycles in the Holocene first postulated by Gerard C. Bond , mainly based on petrologic tracers of drift ice in the North Atlantic .", "Economics of global warming The economics of global warming concerns the economic aspects of global warming ; this can inform policies that governments might consider in response . A number of factors make this a difficult problem from both economic and political perspectives : it is a long-term , intergenerational problem ; benefits and costs are distributed unequally both within and across countries ; and scientific and public opinions may diverge . One of the most important greenhouse gases is carbon dioxide . Around 20 % of carbon dioxide which is emitted due to human activities can remain in the atmosphere for many thousands of years . The long time scales and uncertainty associated with global warming have led analysts to develop `` scenarios '' of future environmental , social and economic changes . These scenarios can help governments understand the potential consequences of their decisions . The impacts of climate change include the loss of biodiversity , sea level rise , increased frequency and severity of some extreme weather events , and acidification of the oceans . Economists have attempted to quantify these impacts in monetary terms , but these assessments can be controversial . The two main policy responses to global warming are to reduce greenhouse gas emissions ( climate change mitigation ) and to adapt to the impacts of global warming ( e.g. , by building levees in response to sea level rise ) . Another policy response which has recently received greater attention is geoengineering of the climate system ( e.g. injecting aerosols into the atmosphere to reflect sunlight away from the Earth 's surface ) . One of the responses to the uncertainties of global warming is to adopt a strategy of sequential decision making . This strategy recognizes that decisions on global warming need to be made with incomplete information , and that decisions in the near term will have potentially long-term impacts . Governments might choose to use risk management as part of their policy response to global warming . For instance , a risk-based approach can be applied to climate impacts which are difficult to quantify in economic terms , e.g. , the impacts of global warming on indigenous peoples . Analysts have assessed global warming in relation to sustainable development . Sustainable development considers how future generations might be affected by the actions of the current generation . In some areas , policies designed to address global warming may contribute positively towards other development objectives . In other areas , the cost of global warming policies may divert resources away from other socially and environmentally beneficial investments ( the opportunity costs of climate change policy ) .", "Veerabhadran Ramanathan Veerabhadran Ramanathan ( Tamil : வீரபத்ரன் இராமநாதன் ) is Victor Alderson Professor of Applied Ocean Sciences and director of the Center for Atmospheric Sciences at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography , University of California , San Diego . He has contributed to many areas of the atmospheric sciences including developments to general circulation models , atmospheric chemistry , and radiative transfer . He has been a part of major projects such as the Indian Ocean Experiment ( INDOEX ) and the Earth Radiation Budget Experiment ( ERBE ) , and is known for his contributions to the area of atmospheric aerosol research . He has received numerous awards , and is a member of the US National Academy of Sciences . He has spoken about the topic of global warming , and written that `` the effect of greenhouse gases on global warming is , in my opinion , the most important environmental issue facing the world today . ''", "Patrick Michaels Patrick J. ( `` Pat '' ) Michaels ( born February 15 , 1950 ) is an American climatologist . Michaels is a senior fellow in environmental studies at the Cato Institute . Until 2007 he was research professor of environmental sciences at the University of Virginia , where he had worked from 1980 . A self-described skeptic on the issue of global warming , he is a past president of the American Association of State Climatologists . He has written a number of books and papers on climate change , including Sound and Fury : The Science and Politics of Global Warming ( 1992 ) , The Satanic Gases ( 2000 ) , and Meltdown : The Predictable Distortion of Global Warming by Scientists , Politicians , and the Media ( 2004 ) . He 's also the co-author of Climate of Extremes : Global Warming Science They Do n't Want You to Know ( 2009 ) . Michaels ' viewpoint , as argued in a 2002 article in the journal Climate Research , is that the planet will see `` a warming range of 1.3 -- 3.0 ° C , with a central value of 1.9 ° C '' for the 1990 to 2100 period ( an analysis far smaller than the IPCC 's average predictions ) .", "Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5 °C The Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5 °C (SR15) was published by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) on 8 October 2018. The report, approved in Incheon, South Korea, includes over 6,000 scientific references, and was prepared by 91 authors from 40 countries. In December 2015, the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference called for the report. The report was delivered at the United Nations' 48th session of the IPCC to \"deliver the authoritative, scientific guide for governments\" to deal with climate change.Its key finding is that meeting a 1.5 °C (2.7 °F) target is possible but would require \"deep emissions reductions\" and \"rapid, far-reaching and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society.\" Furthermore, the report finds that \"limiting global warming to 1.5 °C compared with 2 °C would reduce challenging impacts on ecosystems, human health and well-being\" and that a 2 °C temperature increase would exacerbate extreme weather, rising sea levels and diminishing Arctic sea ice, coral bleaching, and loss of ecosystems, among other impacts. SR15 also has modelling that shows that, for global warming to be limited to 1.5 °C, \"Global net human-caused emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) would need to fall by about 45 percent from 2010 levels by 2030, reaching 'net zero' around 2050.\" The reduction of emissions by 2030 and its associated changes and challenges, including rapid decarbonisation, was a key focus on much of the reporting which was repeated through the world.", "Solar radiation management Solar radiation management ( SRM ) projects are a type of climate engineering which seek to reflect sunlight and thus reduce global warming . Proposed examples include the creation of stratospheric sulfate aerosols . Their principal advantages as an approach to climate engineering is the speed with which they can be deployed and become fully active , their potential low financial cost , and the reversibility of their direct climatic effects . Solar radiation management projects could , for example , be used as a temporary response while levels of greenhouse gases can be brought under control by mitigation and greenhouse gas removal techniques . They would not reduce greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere , and thus do not address problems such as ocean acidification caused by excess carbon dioxide ( CO2 ) .", "Global Warming: What You Need to Know Global Warming What You Need to Know is a 2006 global warming ( climate change ) documentary , directed by Nicolas Brown , starring Tom Brokaw , James Hansen , Michael Oppenheimer , and Mark Serreze . The film focuses on impacts from climate change , and Tom Brokaw interviews scientists . The documentary premiered on Discovery Channel , 16 July 2006 .", "Bølling-Allerød warming The Bølling-Allerød interstadial was an abrupt warm and moist interstadial period that occurred during the final stages of the last glacial period . This warm period ran from c. 14,700 to c. 12,700 years before the present ( BP ) . It began with the end of the cold period known as the Oldest Dryas , and ended abruptly with the onset of the Younger Dryas , a cold period that reduced temperatures back to near-glacial levels within a decade . In some regions , a cold period known as the Older Dryas can be detected in the middle of the Bølling-Allerød interstadial . In these regions the period is divided into the Bølling oscillation , which peaked around 14,500 BP , and the Allerød oscillation , which peaked closer to 13,000 BP . Estimates of CO2 rise are 20 -- 35 ppmv within 200 years , a rate less than 29 -- 50 % compared to the anthropogenic global warming signal from the past 50 years , and with a radiative forcing of 0.59 -- 0.75 W m − 2 .", "NYC: Tornado Terror NYC : Tornado Terror is a 2008 Canadian made for TV disaster film . It stars Nicole de Boer , Sebastian Spence , and Jerry Wasserman . It premiered on Syfy on October 4 , 2008 , and is directed by Tibor Takács . The film is about global warming which causes the upper and lower atmosphere to separate so that their different movements generate huge electrical charges which causes huge electrical tornadoes to drop on New York City causing destruction and loss of life . Dr. Cassie Lawrence tries to stop the twisters as chaos ensues . NASA ignores the mayor who recommends following Dr. Lawrence 's advice and use silver iodide on the atmosphere instead , which makes things worse , so it is down to our heroes to use a rebel scientist with his own makeshift rockets to use dry ice ( frozen CO2 ) . The problem is solved , but before the film ends , the same storm effects begin in Paris .", "1,3,3,3-Tetrafluoropropene 1,3,3,3-Tetrafluoropropene ( HFO-1234ze ) is a hydrofluoroolefin . It was developed as a `` fourth generation '' refrigerant to replace R-134a and as a blowing agent for foam and aerosol applications . The use of R-134a is being phased out because of its high global-warming potential . HFO-1234ze has zero ozone-depletion potential ( ODP = 0 ) and a very low global-warming potential ( GWP < 1 ) , even lower than CO2 .", "Landfill gas Landfill gas is a complex mix of different gases created by the action of microorganisms within a landfill . Landfill gas is approximately forty to sixty percent methane , with the remainder being mostly carbon dioxide . Trace amounts of other volatile organic compounds comprise the remainder ( < 1 % ) . These trace gases include a large array of species , mainly simple hydrocarbons . Landfill gases have an influence on climate change . The major components are CO2 and methane , both of which are greenhouse gas . In terms of global warming potential , methane is over 25 times more detrimental to the atmosphere than carbon dioxide . Landfills are the third largest source of methane in the US .", "Revelle factor The Revelle factor ( buffer factor ) is the ratio of instantaneous change in carbon dioxide to the change in total dissolved inorganic carbon ( DIC ) , and is a measure of the resistance to atmospheric CO2 being absorbed by the ocean surface layer . The buffer factor is used to examine the distribution of CO2 between the atmosphere and the ocean , and measures the amount of CO2 that can be dissolved in the mixed surface layer . It is named after the oceanographer Roger Revelle , who was one of the first scientists to study global warming . Revelle factor = / ( Δ -LSB- DIC -RSB- / -LSB- DIC -RSB- ) where DIC is dissolved inorganic carbon . Δ -LSB- -RSB- / -LSB- -RSB- is the instantaneous change in p and Δ -LSB- DIC -RSB- / -LSB- DIC -RSB- is the instantaneous change in DIC .", "Polar amplification Polar amplification is the phenomenon that any change in the net radiation balance ( for example greenhouse intensification ) tends to produce a larger change in temperature near the poles than the planetary average . On a planet with an atmosphere that can restrict longwave radiation to space ( a greenhouse effect ) , surface temperatures will be warmer than a simple planetary equilibrium temperature calculation would predict . Where the atmosphere or an extensive ocean is able to convect heat polewards , the poles will be warmer and equatorial regions cooler than their local net radiation balances would predict . In the extreme , the planet Venus is thought to have experienced a very large increase in greenhouse effect over its lifetime , so much so that its poles have warmed sufficiently to render its surface temperature effectively isothermal ( no difference between poles and equator ) . On Earth , water vapor and trace gasses provide a lesser greenhouse effect , and the atmosphere and extensive oceans provide efficient poleward heat transport . Both palaeoclimate changes and recent global warming changes have exhibited strong polar amplification , as described below .", "List of scientists opposing the mainstream scientific assessment of global warming This is a list of scientists who have made statements that conflict with the scientific consensus on global warming as summarized by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and endorsed by other scientific bodies . As approximately 97 % of publishing climate scientists support the consensus on anthropogenic climate change , this list represents a minority viewpoint . The scientific consensus is that the global average surface temperature has risen over the last century . Scientific opinion on climate change was summarized in the 2001 Third Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) . The main conclusions on global warming at that time were as follows : The global average surface temperature has risen 0.6 ± 0.2 ° C since the late 19th century , and 0.17 ° C per decade in the last 30 years . `` There is new and stronger evidence that most of the warming observed over the last 50 years is attributable to human activities '' , in particular emissions of the greenhouse gases carbon dioxide and methane . If greenhouse gas emissions continue the warming will also continue , with temperatures projected to increase by 1.4 ° C to 5.8 ° C between 1990 and 2100 . Accompanying this temperature increase will be increases in some types of extreme weather and a projected sea level rise . The balance of impacts of global warming become significantly negative at larger values of warming . These findings are recognized by the national science academies of all the major industrialized nations ; the consensus has strengthened over time and is now virtually unanimous . The level of consensus correlates with expertise in climate science . There have been several efforts to compile lists of dissenting scientists , including a 2008 US senate minority report , the Oregon Petition , and a 2007 list by the Heartland Institute , all three of which have been criticized on a number of grounds . For the purpose of this list , a `` scientist '' is defined as an individual who has published at least one peer-reviewed research article in the broad field of natural sciences , although not necessarily in a field relevant to climatology . Since the publication of the IPCC Third Assessment Report , each has made a clear statement in his or her own words ( as opposed to the name being found on a petition , etc. ) disagreeing with one or more of the report 's three main conclusions . Their views on climate change are usually described in more detail in their biographical articles . Few of the statements in the references for this list are part of the peer-reviewed scientific literature ; most are from other sources such as interviews , opinion pieces , online essays and presentations . NB : Only individuals who have their own Wikipedia article may be included in the list .", "Hurricane Katrina and global warming The tremendous destruction caused by recent Atlantic Ocean tropical cyclones , such as Hurricanes Katrina , Wilma , and Sandy caused a substantial upsurge in interest in the subject of global warming by news media and the wider public , and concerns that global climatic change may have played a significant role in those events . Time Magazine , for example , published an article titled , `` Is Global Warming Fueling Katrina ? '' -- however , the article itself addressed hurricanes in general , rather than Katrina specifically , and was inconclusive . Shortly after the hurricane , former Boston Globe reporter Ross Gelbspan wrote an op-ed piece for the Globe titled , `` Katrina 's Real Name '' , declaring that the hurricane 's `` real name is global warming . '' Gelbspan went on to assert : `` Although Katrina began as a relatively small hurricane that glanced off south Florida , it was supercharged with extraordinary intensity by the relatively blistering sea surface temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico . '' Gelbspan did not single out Katrina from other recent storms in that regard ; in the article he went on to attribute other major weather events over the preceding year to global warming , including a blizzard in Los Angeles , high winds in Scandinavia , wildfires in Spain , and a drought centered in Missouri . Britain 's then deputy prime minister , John Prescott , has linked Katrina with global warming , and statements made shortly after the hurricane by Germany 's environment minister , Jürgen Trittin , indicate he believes that global warming is responsible for an increase in the frequency of destructive natural events . Kerry Emanuel had recently published a paper in the journal Nature that found a good correlation between hurricane intensity and sea surface temperatures . Some journalists have claimed Emanuel 's paper concludes that the recent increase in intense Atlantic storms is due to global warming , but Emanuel stated that `` it would be absurd to attribute the Katrina disaster to global warming '' . The Internet blog RealClimate has written that `` there is no way to prove that Katrina either was , or was not , affected by global warming '' .", "Center for the Study of Carbon Dioxide and Global Change The Center for the Study of Carbon Dioxide and Global Change is a 501 ( c ) ( 3 ) non-profit organization based in Tempe , Arizona . The Center produces a weekly online science newsletter called CO2Science . The Center was founded and is run by Craig D. Idso , along with Sherwood B. Idso , his father , and Keith E. Idso , his brother . They came from backgrounds in agriculture and climate . According to the Idsos , they became involved in the global warming controversy through their study of earth 's temperature sensitivity to radiative perturbations and plant responses to elevated CO2 levels and carbon sequestration . The Center sharply disputes the consensus scientific opinion on climate change shown in IPCC assessment reports , and believes that global warming will be beneficial to mankind .", "Seasonal Attribution Project The Seasonal Attribution Project is a Climateprediction.net sub-project , with support from the WWF . It runs a high resolution model in order to try to determine the extent to which extreme weather events are attributable to human-induced global warming . The project did cease giving out more work , however there has been a project extension to try a fourth sea surface temperature pattern . Current work will still be accepted and used for collaborations and possibly revisions of papers during the review process . A further extension will start soon .", "Hubbert curve The Hubbert curve is an approximation of the production rate of a resource over time . It is a symmetric logistic distribution curve , often confused with the `` normal '' gaussian function . It first appeared in `` Nuclear Energy and the Fossil Fuels , '' geologist M. King Hubbert 's 1956 presentation to the American Petroleum Institute , as an idealized symmetric curve , during his tenure at the Shell Oil Company . It has gained a high degree of popularity in the scientific community for predicting the depletion of various natural resources . The curve is the main component of Hubbert peak theory , which has led to the rise of peak oil concerns . Basing his calculations on the peak of oil well discovery in 1948 , Hubbert used his model in 1956 to create a curve which accurately predicted that oil production in the contiguous United States would peak around 1970 .", "Global warming Global warming , also referred to as climate change , is the observed century-scale rise in the average temperature of the Earth 's climate system and its related effects . Multiple lines of scientific evidence show that the climate system is warming . Many of the observed changes since the 1950s are unprecedented in the instrumental temperature record which extends back to the mid 19th century , and in paleoclimate proxy records over thousands of years . In 2013 , the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) Fifth Assessment Report concluded that `` It is extremely likely that human influence has been the dominant cause of the observed warming since the mid-20th century . '' The largest human influence has been emission of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide , methane and nitrous oxide . Climate model projections summarized in the report indicated that during the 21st century the global surface temperature is likely to rise a further 0.3 to for their lowest emissions scenario and 2.6 to for the highest emissions scenario . These findings have been recognized by the national science academies of the major industrialized nations and are not disputed by any scientific body of national or international standing . Future climate change and associated impacts will differ from region to region around the globe . Anticipated effects include warming global temperature , rising sea levels , changing precipitation , and expansion of deserts in the subtropics . Warming is expected to be greater over land than over the oceans and greatest in the Arctic , with the continuing retreat of glaciers , permafrost and sea ice . Other likely changes include more frequent extreme weather events including heat waves , droughts , heavy rainfall with floods and heavy snowfall ; ocean acidification ; and species extinctions due to shifting temperature regimes . Effects significant to humans include the threat to food security from decreasing crop yields and the abandonment of populated areas due to rising sea levels . Because the climate system has a large `` inertia '' and greenhouse gases will stay in the atmosphere for a long time , many of these effects will not only exist for decades or centuries , but will persist for tens of thousands of years . Possible societal responses to global warming include mitigation by emissions reduction , adaptation to its effects , building systems resilient to its effects , and possible future climate engineering . Most countries are parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change ( UNFCCC ) , whose ultimate objective is to prevent dangerous anthropogenic climate change . Parties to the UNFCCC have agreed that deep cuts in emissions are required and that global warming should be limited to well below 2.0 C-change relative to pre-industrial levels , with efforts made to limit warming to 1.5 C-change . Public reactions to global warming and concern about its effects are also increasing . A global 2015 Pew Research Center report showed a median of 54 % consider it `` a very serious problem '' . There are significant regional differences , with Americans and Chinese ( whose economies are responsible for the greatest annual CO2 emissions ) among the least concerned .", "Orders of magnitude (temperature) ", "Charles M. Hansen Dr. Charles Medom Hansen ( Louisville , Kentucky , 1938 ) is an American-born scientist with Danish ancestry who is now a Danish citizen living in the Copenhagen area . After a degree ( 1961 , Louisville ) and Masters ( 1962 , Wisconsin ) in chemical engineering , Hansen worked for his PhD at the Technical University of Denmark , initially on the problems of solvent retention in polymers , starting his life-time interest in diffusion science . However , the problems of predicting the compatibility of solvents with polymers took over , leading him to overcome the problems of the then-popular Hildebrand solubility parameter by dividing Hildebrand 's single parameter into three components : dispersion , polar and hydrogen bonding . His 1967 doctoral thesis ( Dr. techn . ) provided the basis for what came to be called Hansen solubility parameters , or HSPs . In addition to providing a theoretical framework , the thesis provided the first working set of HSP values for common solvents and for a range of commercial polymers , making it of immediate practical use to academia and industry . His theories were put to immediate use during his 8 years ( 1968 -- 76 ) at the R/D Center , PPG Industries in Pittsburgh where the universality of HSP became apparent as they were shown to work equally well for problems such as optimising the compatibility of pigments within paint and ink formulations . Gradually they became adopted more widely as shown by the cumulative graph of Google Scholar citations for the phrase `` Hansen Solubility Parameter '' . He was Director of the Scandinavian Paint & Printing Ink Research Institute in Hørsholm , Denmark from 1976 to 1985 , a Senior Scientist at Hempel Group from 1985 to 1987 , then Senior Scientist at FORCE Technology , Copenhagen from 1988 to 2004 . Upon retirement he became , and remains , an independent consultant . In addition to over 130 published papers and 8 patents ( h-index 25 ) , he authored Hansen Solubility Parameters -- A User 's Handbook in 1999 followed by an expanded 2nd Edition in 2007 . With Abbott and Yamamoto he authored the package of software , eBook and datasets called Hansen Solubility Parameters in Practice , in 2008 which is currently in its 5th Edition .", "Deep Decarbonization Pathways Project The Deep Decarbonization Pathways Project ( DDPP ) is a global consortium formed in October 2013 which researches methods to limit the rise of global temperature due to global warming to 2 ° C or less . The focus of the DDPP is on sustainable energy systems , other sectors of the economy , such as agriculture and land-use , are not directly considered .", "World Wide Views on Global Warming World Wide Views on Global Warming : A global project initiated by The Danish Board of Technology on the occasion of the United Nations Climate Change Conference ( COP15 ) held in Copenhagen December 2009 . World Wide Views on Global Warming ( or just WWViews ) was an international citizens involvement project based on methods developed by The Danish Board of Technology for the purpose of involving citizens in the political decision-making processes .", "Runaway greenhouse effect A runaway greenhouse effect is a process in which a net positive feedback between surface temperature and atmospheric opacity increases the strength of the greenhouse effect on a planet until its oceans boil away . An example of this is believed to have happened in the early history of Venus . On the Earth , the IPCC states that `` a ` runaway greenhouse effect ' -- analogous to -LSB- that of -RSB- Venus -- appears to have virtually no chance of being induced by anthropogenic activities . '' Other large-scale climate changes are sometimes loosely called a `` runaway greenhouse effect '' although it is not an appropriate description . For example , it has been hypothesized that large releases of greenhouse gases may have occurred concurrently with the Permian -- Triassic extinction event or Paleocene -- Eocene Thermal Maximum . Other terms , such as `` abrupt climate change '' , or tipping points could be used when describing such scenarios .", "1,1,1,2-Tetrafluoroethane 1,1,1,2-tetrafluoroethane , R-134a , Freon 134a , Forane 134a , Genetron 134a , Florasol 134a , Suva 134a or HFC-134a , also known as norflurane ( INN ) , is a haloalkane refrigerant with thermodynamic properties similar to R-12 ( dichlorodifluoromethane ) but with insignificant ozone depletion potential and a somewhat lower global warming potential ( 1300 , compared to R-12 's GWP of 2400 ) . It has the formula CH2FCF3 and a boiling point of − 26.3 ° C ( − 15.34 ° F ) at atmospheric pressure . R-134a cylinders are colored light blue . Attempts at phasing out its use as a refrigerant with substances that have lower global warming potentials , such as HFO-1234yf are underway .", "Global warming hiatus A global warming hiatus , also sometimes referred to as a global warming pause or a global warming slowdown , is a period of relatively little change in globally averaged surface temperatures . In the current episode of global warming many such 15-year periods appear in the surface temperature record , along with robust evidence of the long-term warming trend ; climate is classically averaged over 30-year periods . Publicity has surrounded claims of a global warming hiatus during the period 1998 -- 2013 . The exceptionally warm El Niño year of 1998 was an outlier from the continuing temperature trend , and so subsequent annual temperatures gave the appearance of a hiatus : by January 2006 , it appeared to some that global warming had stopped or paused . A 2009 study showed that decades without warming were not exceptional , and in 2011 a study showed that if allowances were made for known variability , the rising temperature trend continued unabated . There was increased public interest in 2013 in the run-up to publication of the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report , and despite concerns that a 15-year period was too short to determine a meaningful trend , the IPCC included a section on a hiatus , which it defined as a much smaller increasing linear trend over the 15 years from 1998 to 2012 , than over the 60 years from 1951 to 2012 . Various studies examined possible causes of the short-term slowdown . Even though the overall climate system has continued to accumulate energy due to Earth 's positive energy budget , the available temperature readings at the Earth 's surface indicate slower rates of increase in surface warming than in the prior decade . Since measurements at the top of the atmosphere show that Earth is receiving more energy than it is radiating back into space , the retained energy should be producing warming in the Earth 's climate system . Research reported in July 2015 on an updated NOAA dataset casts doubt on the existence of a hiatus , and it finds no indication of a slowdown even in earlier years . Scientists working on other datasets welcomed this study , though they have expressed the view that the recent warming trend was less than in previous periods of the same length . Subsequently , a detailed study supports the conclusion that warming is continuing , but it also find there was less warming between 2001 and 2010 than climate models had predicted , and that this slowdown might be attributed to short-term variations in the Pacific decadal oscillation ( PDO ) , which was negative during that period . Another review finds `` no substantive evidence '' of a pause in global warming . A statistical study of global temperature data since 1970 concludes that the term ` hiatus ' or ` pause ' is not justified . Independent of these discussions about data and measurements for earlier years , 2015 turned out to be much warmer than any of the earlier years , already before El Niño conditions started . The warmth of 2015 largely ended any remaining scientific credibility of claims that the supposed `` hiatus '' since 1998 had any significance for the long-term warming trend . In January 2017 , a study published in the journal Science Advances cast further doubt on the existence of a recent pause , with more evidence that ocean temperatures have been underestimated . An April 2017 study found the data consistent with a steady warming trend globally since the 1970s , with fluctuations within the expected range of short term variability .", "Debate over China's economic responsibilities for climate change mitigation This article documents the debate over China 's economic responsibilities for climate change mitigation and mitigation of climate change in China . Both internationally and within the People 's Republic of China , there has been an ongoing debate over China 's responsibilities , particularly since 2006 , when China surpassed the US as the country with the highest emissions rate for the main atmospheric gas in global warming , carbon dioxide ( CO2 )", "Adaptation to global warming in Australia ", "Global temperature In its AR4 , WG1 report , Chapter3 , the IPCC explains global temperature in these words :" ]

[ "El Niño–Southern Oscillation El Niño -- Southern Oscillation ( ENSO ) is an irregularly periodical variation in winds and sea surface temperatures over the tropical eastern Pacific Ocean , affecting much of the tropics and subtropics . The warming phase is known as El Niño and the cooling phase as La Niña . Southern Oscillation is the accompanying atmospheric component , coupled with the sea temperature change : El Niño is accompanied with high , and La Niña with low air surface pressure in the tropical western Pacific . The two periods last several months each ( typically occur every few years ) and their effects vary in intensity . The two phases relate to the Walker circulation , discovered by Gilbert Walker during the early twentieth century . The Walker circulation is caused by the pressure gradient force that results from a high pressure system over the eastern Pacific Ocean , and a low pressure system over Indonesia . When the Walker circulation weakens or reverses , an El Niño results , causing the ocean surface to be warmer than average , as upwelling of cold water occurs less or not at all . An especially strong Walker circulation causes a La Niña , resulting in cooler ocean temperatures due to increased upwelling . Mechanisms that cause the oscillation remain under study . The extremes of this climate pattern 's oscillations cause extreme weather ( such as floods and droughts ) in many regions of the world . Developing countries dependent upon agriculture and fishing , particularly those bordering the Pacific Ocean , are the most affected .", "Kevin E. Trenberth Kevin Edward Trenberth ( born November 8 , 1944 ) is part of the Climate Analysis Section at the US NCAR National Center for Atmospheric Research . He was a lead author of the 2001 and 2007 IPCC Scientific Assessment of Climate Change ( see IPCC Fourth Assessment Report ) and serves on the Scientific Steering Group for the Climate Variability and Predictability ( CLIVAR ) program . He chaired the WCRP Observation and Assimilation Panel from 2004 to 2010 and chaired the Global Energy and Water Exchanges ( GEWEX ) scientific steering group from 2010-2013 ( member 2007-14 ) . In addition , he served on the Joint Scientific Committee of the World Climate Research Programme , and has made significant contributions to research into El Niño-Southern Oscillation . Kevin 's work is highly cited and he has an h-index of 100 ( 100 papers have over 100 citations ) .", "Global warming Global warming , also referred to as climate change , is the observed century-scale rise in the average temperature of the Earth 's climate system and its related effects . Multiple lines of scientific evidence show that the climate system is warming . Many of the observed changes since the 1950s are unprecedented in the instrumental temperature record which extends back to the mid 19th century , and in paleoclimate proxy records over thousands of years . In 2013 , the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) Fifth Assessment Report concluded that `` It is extremely likely that human influence has been the dominant cause of the observed warming since the mid-20th century . '' The largest human influence has been emission of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide , methane and nitrous oxide . Climate model projections summarized in the report indicated that during the 21st century the global surface temperature is likely to rise a further 0.3 to for their lowest emissions scenario and 2.6 to for the highest emissions scenario . These findings have been recognized by the national science academies of the major industrialized nations and are not disputed by any scientific body of national or international standing . Future climate change and associated impacts will differ from region to region around the globe . Anticipated effects include warming global temperature , rising sea levels , changing precipitation , and expansion of deserts in the subtropics . Warming is expected to be greater over land than over the oceans and greatest in the Arctic , with the continuing retreat of glaciers , permafrost and sea ice . Other likely changes include more frequent extreme weather events including heat waves , droughts , heavy rainfall with floods and heavy snowfall ; ocean acidification ; and species extinctions due to shifting temperature regimes . Effects significant to humans include the threat to food security from decreasing crop yields and the abandonment of populated areas due to rising sea levels . Because the climate system has a large `` inertia '' and greenhouse gases will stay in the atmosphere for a long time , many of these effects will not only exist for decades or centuries , but will persist for tens of thousands of years . Possible societal responses to global warming include mitigation by emissions reduction , adaptation to its effects , building systems resilient to its effects , and possible future climate engineering . Most countries are parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change ( UNFCCC ) , whose ultimate objective is to prevent dangerous anthropogenic climate change . Parties to the UNFCCC have agreed that deep cuts in emissions are required and that global warming should be limited to well below 2.0 C-change relative to pre-industrial levels , with efforts made to limit warming to 1.5 C-change . Public reactions to global warming and concern about its effects are also increasing . A global 2015 Pew Research Center report showed a median of 54 % consider it `` a very serious problem '' . There are significant regional differences , with Americans and Chinese ( whose economies are responsible for the greatest annual CO2 emissions ) among the least concerned ." ]

[ "Politics of global warming The complex politics of global warming results from numerous cofactors arising from the global economy 's interdependence on carbon dioxide emitting hydrocarbon energy sources and because carbon dioxide is directly implicated in global warming -- making global warming a non-traditional environmental challenge .", "Global warming controversy The global warming controversy concerns the public debate over whether global warming is occurring , how much has occurred in modern times , what has caused it , what its effects will be , whether any action should be taken to curb it , and if so what that action should be . In the scientific literature , there is a strong consensus that global surface temperatures have increased in recent decades and that the trend is caused by human-induced emissions of greenhouse gases . No scientific body of national or international standing disagrees with this view , though a few organizations with members in extractive industries hold non-committal positions . Disputes over the key scientific facts of global warming are more prevalent in the media than in the scientific literature , where such issues are treated as resolved , and such disputes are more prevalent in the United States than globally . Political and popular debate concerning the existence and cause of climate change includes the reasons for the increase seen in the instrumental temperature record , whether the warming trend exceeds normal climatic variations , and whether human activities have contributed significantly to it . Scientists have resolved these questions decisively in favour of the view that the current warming trend exists and is ongoing , that human activity is the cause , and that it is without precedent in at least 2000 years . Public disputes that also reflect scientific debate include estimates of how responsive the climate system might be to any given level of greenhouse gases ( climate sensitivity ) , how global climate change will play out at local and regional scales , and what the consequences of global warming will be . Global warming remains an issue of widespread political debate , often split along party political lines , especially in the United States . Many of the issues that are settled within the scientific community , such as human responsibility for global warming , remain the subject of politically or economically motivated attempts to downplay , dismiss or deny them -- an ideological phenomenon categorised by academics and scientists as climate change denial . The sources of funding for those involved with climate science -- both supporting and opposing mainstream scientific positions -- have been questioned by both sides . There are debates about the best policy responses to the science , their cost-effectiveness and their urgency . Climate scientists , especially in the United States , have reported official and oil-industry pressure to censor or suppress their work and hide scientific data , with directives not to discuss the subject in public communications . Legal cases regarding global warming , its effects , and measures to reduce it have reached American courts . The fossil fuels lobby has been identified as overtly or covertly supporting efforts to undermine or discredit the scientific consensus on global warming .", "Global warming hiatus A global warming hiatus , also sometimes referred to as a global warming pause or a global warming slowdown , is a period of relatively little change in globally averaged surface temperatures . In the current episode of global warming many such 15-year periods appear in the surface temperature record , along with robust evidence of the long-term warming trend ; climate is classically averaged over 30-year periods . Publicity has surrounded claims of a global warming hiatus during the period 1998 -- 2013 . The exceptionally warm El Niño year of 1998 was an outlier from the continuing temperature trend , and so subsequent annual temperatures gave the appearance of a hiatus : by January 2006 , it appeared to some that global warming had stopped or paused . A 2009 study showed that decades without warming were not exceptional , and in 2011 a study showed that if allowances were made for known variability , the rising temperature trend continued unabated . There was increased public interest in 2013 in the run-up to publication of the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report , and despite concerns that a 15-year period was too short to determine a meaningful trend , the IPCC included a section on a hiatus , which it defined as a much smaller increasing linear trend over the 15 years from 1998 to 2012 , than over the 60 years from 1951 to 2012 . Various studies examined possible causes of the short-term slowdown . Even though the overall climate system has continued to accumulate energy due to Earth 's positive energy budget , the available temperature readings at the Earth 's surface indicate slower rates of increase in surface warming than in the prior decade . Since measurements at the top of the atmosphere show that Earth is receiving more energy than it is radiating back into space , the retained energy should be producing warming in the Earth 's climate system . Research reported in July 2015 on an updated NOAA dataset casts doubt on the existence of a hiatus , and it finds no indication of a slowdown even in earlier years . Scientists working on other datasets welcomed this study , though they have expressed the view that the recent warming trend was less than in previous periods of the same length . Subsequently , a detailed study supports the conclusion that warming is continuing , but it also find there was less warming between 2001 and 2010 than climate models had predicted , and that this slowdown might be attributed to short-term variations in the Pacific decadal oscillation ( PDO ) , which was negative during that period . Another review finds `` no substantive evidence '' of a pause in global warming . A statistical study of global temperature data since 1970 concludes that the term ` hiatus ' or ` pause ' is not justified . Independent of these discussions about data and measurements for earlier years , 2015 turned out to be much warmer than any of the earlier years , already before El Niño conditions started . The warmth of 2015 largely ended any remaining scientific credibility of claims that the supposed `` hiatus '' since 1998 had any significance for the long-term warming trend . In January 2017 , a study published in the journal Science Advances cast further doubt on the existence of a recent pause , with more evidence that ocean temperatures have been underestimated . An April 2017 study found the data consistent with a steady warming trend globally since the 1970s , with fluctuations within the expected range of short term variability .", "Chesapeake Climate Action Network The Chesapeake Climate Action Network ( CCAN ) is the first grassroots nonprofit organization dedicated exclusively to fighting global warming in Maryland , Virginia , and the District of Columbia . The organization 's mission is to foster a rapid societal switch to clean energy and energy-efficient products , joining similar efforts worldwide to address global warming .", "Renewable energy in the European Union The countries of the European Union are the number two global leaders in the development and application of renewable energy . Promoting the use of renewable energy sources is important both to the reduction of the EU 's dependence on foreign energy imports , and in meeting targets to combat global warming .", "The Carbon War The Carbon War : Global Warming and the End of the Oil Era is a 1999 book by former oil geologist Jeremy Leggett about global warming .", "Cloud feedback Cloud feedback is the coupling between cloudiness and surface air temperature where a surface air temperature change leads to a change in clouds , which could then amplify or diminish the initial temperature perturbation . Cloud feedbacks can affect the magnitude of internally generated climate variability or they can affect the magnitude of climate change resulting from external radiative forcings . Global warming is expected to change the distribution and type of clouds . Seen from below , clouds emit infrared radiation back to the surface , and so exert a warming effect ; seen from above , clouds reflect sunlight and emit infrared radiation to space , and so exert a cooling effect . Cloud representations vary among global climate models , and small changes in cloud cover have a large impact on the climate . Differences in planetary boundary layer cloud modeling schemes can lead to large differences in derived values of climate sensitivity . A model that decreases boundary layer clouds in response to global warming has a climate sensitivity twice that of a model that does not include this feedback . However , satellite data show that cloud optical thickness actually increases with increasing temperature . Whether the net effect is warming or cooling depends on details such as the type and altitude of the cloud ; details that are difficult to represent in climate models .", "Peat energy in Finland Peat energy in Finland describes peat energy use in Finland . Peat has high global warming emissions and high environmental concerns . It may be compared to brown coal ( lignite ) or worse than this lowest rank of coal . Peat is the most harmful energy source for global warming in Finland . ( Hard coal , which is more harmful , is only used as an emergency back-up source for energy , and not in every year . ) According to IEA the Finnish subsidies for peat in 2007-2010 undermined the goal to reduce emissions and counteracted other environmental policies and The European Union emissions trading scheme .", "United States House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming The House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming was a select committee of the United States House of Representatives . It was established March 8 , 2007 through adoption of a resolution by a 269 -- 150 vote of the full House . The committee existed from 2007 to 2011 , and was not renewed when the Republicans gained control of the House for the 112th Congress .", "New Energy for America New Energy for America is a plan led by Barack Obama and Joe Biden to invest in renewable energy sources , reduce reliance on foreign oil , address global warming issues , and create jobs for Americans .", "Lawrence Solomon Lawrence Solomon is a Canadian writer on the environment and the executive director of Energy Probe , a Canadian non-governmental environmental policy organization . His writing has appeared in a number of newspapers , including The National Post where he has a column , and he is the author of several books on energy resources , urban sprawl , and global warming , among them The Conserver Solution ( 1978 ) , Energy Shock ( 1980 ) , Toronto Sprawls : A History ( 2007 ) , and The Deniers ( 2008 ) . Solomon opposes nuclear power based on its economic cost , is a global warming skeptic , and has been critical of government approaches and policies used to address environmental concerns .", "1Sky 1Sky is a United States-based campaign in support of federal action to stem global warming and promote renewable energy . 1Sky was founded in the spring of 2007 when thirty climate campaigners were on a retreat in the Hudson Valley of New York state . Partners include Step It Up 2007 ( and its global successor 350 . org ) , the Clinton Global Initiative , Greenpeace , Oxfam , and the Energy Action Coalition .", "Hydrocarbon economy Hydrocarbon economy is a term referencing the global hydrocarbon industry and its relationship to world markets . Energy used mostly comes from three hydrocarbons : petroleum , coal , and natural gas . Hydrocarbon economy is often used when talking about possible alternatives like the hydrogen economy .", "Mitigation of global warming in Australia Mitigation of global warming involves taking actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to enhance sinks aimed at reducing the extent of global warming . This is in distinction to adaptation to global warming , which involves taking action to minimise the effects of global warming . Scientific consensus on global warming , together with the precautionary principle and the fear of non-linear climate transitions , is leading to increased effort to develop new technologies and sciences and carefully manage others in an attempt to mitigate global warming . Carbon capture and storage ( CCS ) for coal-fired power stations has been put forward as a solution to rising greenhouse gas emissions . However , CCS can not deliver in time to avoid dangerous increases in temperatures , as widespread commercial use of CCS is not expected before 2030 . Following the introduction of government mandatory renewable energy targets , more opportunities have opened up for renewable energy technologies such as wind power , photovoltaics , and solar thermal technologies . The deployment of these technologies provides opportunities for mitigating greenhouse gases . A carbon price was introduced on 1 July 2012 by the government of Julia Gillard with the purpose of reducing Australia 's carbon emissions . It requires large businesses ( defined as those with annual carbon dioxide equivalent emissions over 25,000 tonnes annually ) to pay a price for emissions permits . The tax was scrapped by the Abbott government in July 2014 in what was a widely criticised and highly publicised move .", "The 2030 °Challenge The 2030 ° Challenge is an initiative by Edward Mazria and Architecture 2030 asking the global architecture and construction community to adopt a series of greenhouse gas reduction targets for new and renovated buildings . In many developed countries the construction and use of buildings is the leading consumer of energy and producer of greenhouse gas emissions . Stabilizing and reversing emissions in this sector is key to keeping future global warming under one degree celsius ( ° C ) above today 's level , in order to avoid increased global warming , potentially to reach a tipping point .", "Global warming in Norway Global warming in Norway discusses global warming issues in Norway .", "Hell and High Water (book) Hell and High Water : Global Warming -- the Solution and the Politics -- and What We Should Do is a book by author , scientist , and former U.S. Department of Energy official Joseph J. Romm , published December 26 , 2006 . The author is `` one of the world 's leading experts on clean energy , advanced vehicles , energy security , and greenhouse gas mitigation . '' The book warns of dire consequences to the U.S. and the world if wide-scale environmental changes are not enacted by the U.S. government within the next decade . It reviews the evidence that the current initial global warming changes will lead to accelerated warming . According to Romm , the oceans , soils , Arctic permafrost , and rainforests may become sources of greenhouse gas emissions . The book claims that , without serious government action within the next ten years , sea levels will rise high enough to submerge numerous coastal communities and inland areas on both U.S. coasts and around the world by the year 2100 . In April 2008 , TIME magazine wrote that `` On -LSB- Romm 's -RSB- blog and in his most recent book , Hell and High Water , you can find some of the most cogent , memorable , and deployable arguments for immediate and overwhelming action to confront global warming . '' Romm was interviewed on Fox News on January 31 , 2007 about the book and the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report climate report .", "Global Wind Day Global Wind Day is a worldwide event that occurs annually on 15 June . It is organised by EWEA ( European Wind Energy Association ) and GWEC ( Global Wind Energy Council ) . It is a day when wind energy is celebrated , information is exchanged and adults and children find out about wind energy , its power and the possibilities it holds to change the world . In association with EWEA and GWEC , national wind energy associations and companies involved in wind energy production organise events in many countries around the world . In 2011 , there were events organised in 30 countries , on 4 continents . Events included visits to onshore and offshore wind farms , information campaigns , demonstration turbines being set up in cities , wind workshops and a wind parade . Many events happened on Global Wind Day ( 15 June ) itself , but there were also events on the days and weeks before and afterwards . In 2012 there were 250 events around the globe and a very popular photo competition .", "Energy in Australia Energy in Australia includes energy and electricity production , consumption and export in Australia . Energy policy of Australia describes the politics of Australia as it relates to energy . Australia is a net energy exporter , and was the fourth-highest coal producer in the world in 2009 . Historically -- and until recent times -- energy in Australia was sourced largely from coal and natural gas , however due to the increasing effects of global warming and human-induced climate change on the global environment , there has been a greater shift towards renewable energy such as solar power and wind power both in Australia and abroad . This in turn has led to a decrease in the demand of coal worldwide .", "Flick Off FLICK OFF ( flick off ) is a Canadian advertising campaign launched by Key Gordon Communications . It is a movement to fight climate change by getting Canadians to use less energy . Its sponsors include MuchMusic , Roots Canada , Environmental Defence Canada and the Government of Ontario . Some view this program as a continuation of the scrapped program One-Tonne Challenge in global perspective . The motivation for the campaign is both to reduce energy consumption for its own sake and also with the aim of reducing carbon emissions to ultimately combat global warming . The website associated with the campaign is aimed specifically at young Canadians . The website contains educational material about causes and consequences of global warming and strategies for reducing carbon emissions , and includes a `` carbon calculator '' called One Less Tonne to measure individual carbon dioxide emissions . The website was launched by British entrepreneur Richard Branson and Ontario Environment Minister Laurel Broten in Toronto on April 25 , 2007 . According to the official website , the campaign is now in `` hibernation '' .", "Global warming in Luxembourg Global warming in Luxembourg discuss the global warming issues in Luxembourg .", "Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Carbon Neutral Resolution The Presbyterian Church ( USA ) Carbon Neutral Resolution was a resolution passed at the June , 2006 , 217th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church ( USA ) strongly urging all Presbyterians to ` immediately aspire to live carbon neutral lives ' . It is believed that resolution was the first in the world by a major religious denomination for its followers to become carbon neutral . The resolution also directed the Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy to make available detail of how Presbyterians could take to reduce their energy consumption and recognised that ` the Christian mandate to care for creation and the biblical promise of the restoration of right relationships between God , human beings , and the rest of creation impels and inspires Presbyterians to act to reduce -LSB- their -RSB- energy usage ' . The resolution was based on a report by a task force prepared for the Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy . After the Advisory Committee voted to postpone consideration of the report until the 2008 General Assembly , two General Assembly Commissioners bypassed the committee and were successful in getting the resolution adopted . The Church first noted its ` serious concern ' over global warming at the 1990 General Assembly , when it warned that ` the global atmospheric warming trend ( the greenhouse effect ) represents one of the most serious global environmental challenges to the health , security , and stability of human life and natural ecosystems ' . Despite this , a survey carried out in 2004 revealed that over half of all Presbyterians had not taken even the ` simplest steps to decrease their energy usage ' , and that most congregations had not implemented energy conservation programs .", "R-407A R-407A is a mixture of gasses used as a refrigerant . It is a zeotropic blend of difluoromethane ( HFC-32 ) , pentafluoroethane ( HFC-125 ) and 1,1,1,2-tetrafluoroethane ( HFC-134a ) . R-407A was developed as a close match to R-22 's capacities and flow rates , making it well suited as an energy efficient retrofit for R-22 in medium and low temperature refrigeration systems for supermarket and food storage applications , but not for air conditioning systems or those with flooded evaporators . It must be used with synthetic oils . Its global warming potential is 2107 .", "Global warming in Belgium Global warming in Belgium describes the global warming related issues in Belgium .", "Global warming in Russia Global warming in Russia describes the global warming related issues in Russia . This includes climate politics , contribution to global warming and the influence of global warming on Russia . In 2009 Russia was ready to reduce emissions 20 -- 25 % from its 1990 emission levels by the year 2020 .", "Ideacity Ideacity is an annual conference presented by Moses Znaimer . The three-day conference is hosted in Toronto and features talks from scientists , entrepreneurs , artists , scholars , activists and agitators . The conference has particularly hosted speakers with different views on global warming controversy .", "SolarCity Linz The solarCity is an energy-saving living district in Linz-Pichling , Austria , which provides living space for about 4,000 people . The houses were built using a low-energy design . The idea and motivation for providing energy efficient living arrangements stems from the fact that fossil fuels contribute to global warming and that their use should therefore be avoided . Planning of the project began in 1992 . Since 1999 , 1,300 apartments were gradually built during a 6-year period . The total cost of the project amounted to 190 million euros . Nearly two-thirds of which was used for the residential building , and only a third of the total cost was due to infrastructure .", "Barents Sea Opening The Barents Sea Opening ( BSO ) is an oceanographic term for the Western Barents Sea , the sea area between Bear Island in the south of Svalbard and the northern extremity of Norway through which a water mass of Atlantic origin flows into the Arctic Ocean . The inflow of relative warm water into the Arctic Ocean occurs not only through the Barents Sea Opening , but also through Fram Strait which is much deeper . The internal energy entering the colder waters has an influence on the atmosphere and the sea ice above and therefore possibly on the global climate .", "KYOTOplus KYOTOplus is a joint campaign of a number of public interest groups in Canada to encourage and support Canadians in a call for stronger policy on Climate Change . The campaign was devised as a means to educate the Canadian public on issues related to climate change and global warming and to encourage Canadians to take a strong stance at the climate talks in Copenhagen in December 2009 . Canadian politicians are invited to indicate a strong stance against global warming by means of the KYOTOplus Pledge . The KYOTOplus Petition , which calls for a minimum 25 % decrease in greenhouse gas emission in Canada by 2020 ( in comparison to 1990 ) , is available for signing by any Canadian .", "Extinction risk from global warming The extinction risk of global warming is the risk of species becoming extinct due to the effects of global warming .", "North Korea Cold Current The North Korea Cold Current ( NKCC ) is a cold water oceanic current in the Sea of Japan ( East Sea of Korea ) that flows southward from near Vladivostok along the coastline of the eastern Korean Peninsula . It is a branch of the Liman Current from the Sea of Okhotsk and has a flow rate of about a half knot . The NKCC meets the northward flowing East Korean Warm Current at latitude 37 -- 38 ° N , causing the flow to separate from the peninsula . At about latitude 40 ° N , the NKCC meets the Tsushima Warm Current .", "Warm antibody autoimmune hemolytic anemia Warm antibody autoimmune hemolytic anemia ( WAIHA ) is the most common form of autoimmune hemolytic anemia . About half of the cases are of unknown cause , with the other half attributable to a predisposing condition or medications being taken . Contrary to cold autoimmune hemolytic anemia ( e.g. , cold agglutinin disease and paroxysmal cold hemoglobinuria ) which happens in cold temperature ( 28 -- 31 ° C ) , WAIHA happens in body temperature ." ]

[ "Glacier A glacier ( -LSB- pronˈɡleɪʃər -RSB- or -LSB- ˈɡlæsiə -RSB- ) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight ; it forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation ( melting and sublimation ) over many years , often centuries . Glaciers slowly deform and flow due to stresses induced by their weight , creating crevasses , seracs , and other distinguishing features . They also abrade rock and debris from their substrate to create landforms such as cirques and moraines . Glaciers form only on land and are distinct from the much thinner sea ice and lake ice that form on the surface of bodies of water . On Earth , 99 % of glacial ice is contained within vast ice sheets in the polar regions , but glaciers may be found in mountain ranges on every continent except Australia , and on a few high-latitude oceanic islands . Between 35 ° N and 35 ° S , glaciers occur only in the Himalayas , Andes , Rocky Mountains , a few high mountains in East Africa , Mexico , New Guinea and on Zard Kuh in Iran . Glaciers cover about 10 percent of Earth 's land surface . Continental glaciers cover nearly 5 e6sqmi or about 98 percent of Antarctica 's 5.1 e6sqmi , with an average thickness of 7,000 ft. Greenland and Patagonia also have huge expanses of continental glaciers . Glacial ice is the largest reservoir of fresh water on Earth . Many glaciers from temperate , alpine and seasonal polar climates store water as ice during the colder seasons and release it later in the form of meltwater as warmer summer temperatures cause the glacier to melt , creating a water source that is especially important for plants , animals and human uses when other sources may be scant . Within high altitude and Antarctic environments , the seasonal temperature difference is often not sufficient to release meltwater . Because glacial mass is affected by long-term climatic changes , e.g. , precipitation , mean temperature , and cloud cover , glacial mass changes are considered among the most sensitive indicators of climate change and are a major source of variations in sea level . A large piece of compressed ice , or a glacier , appears blue as large quantities of water appear blue . This is because water molecules absorb other colors more efficiently than blue . The other reason for the blue color of glaciers is the lack of air bubbles . Air bubbles , which give a white color to ice , are squeezed out by pressure increasing the density of the created ice .", "Climate change in the Arctic The effects of global warming in the Arctic , or climate change in the Arctic include rising temperatures , loss of sea ice , and melting of the Greenland ice sheet with a related cold temperature anomaly , observed in recent years . Potential methane release from the region , especially through the thawing of permafrost and methane clathrates , is also a concern . The Arctic warms twice as fast compared to the rest of the world . The pronounced warming signal , the amplified response of the Arctic to global warming , it is often seen as a leading indicator of global warming . The melting of Greenland 's ice sheet is linked to polar amplification . According to a study published in 2016 , about 0.5 ◦ C of the warming in the Arctic has been attributed to reductions in sulfate aerosols in Europe since 1980 .", "Retreat of glaciers since 1850 The retreat of glaciers since 1850 affects the availability of fresh water for irrigation and domestic use , mountain recreation , animals and plants that depend on glacier-melt , and , in the longer term , the level of the oceans . Studied by glaciologists , the temporal coincidence of glacier retreat with the measured increase of atmospheric greenhouse gases is often cited as an evidentiary underpinning of global warming . Mid-latitude mountain ranges such as the Himalayas , Alps , Rocky Mountains , Cascade Range , and the southern Andes , as well as isolated tropical summits such as Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa , are showing some of the largest proportionate glacial losses . Glacier mass balance is the key determinant of the health of a glacier . If the amount of frozen precipitation in the accumulation zone exceeds the quantity of glacial ice lost due to melting or in the ablation zone a glacier will advance ; if the accumulation is less than the ablation , the glacier will retreat . Glaciers in retreat will have negative mass balances , and if they do not find an equilibrium between accumulation and ablation , will eventually disappear . The Little Ice Age was a period from about 1550 to 1850 when the world experienced relatively cooler temperatures compared to the present . Subsequently , until about 1940 , glaciers around the world retreated as the climate warmed substantially . Glacial retreat slowed and even reversed temporarily , in many cases , between 1950 and 1980 as global temperatures cooled slightly . Since 1980 , a significant global warming has led to glacier retreat becoming increasingly rapid and ubiquitous , so much so that some glaciers have disappeared altogether , and the existences of many of the remaining glaciers are threatened . In locations such as the Andes of South America and Himalayas in Asia , the demise of glaciers in these regions has the potential to affect water supplies in those areas . The retreat of mountain glaciers , notably in western North America , Asia , the Alps and tropical and subtropical regions of South America , Africa and Indonesia , provide evidence for the rise in global temperatures since the late 19th century . The acceleration of the rate of retreat since 1995 of key outlet glaciers of the Greenland and West Antarctic ice sheets may foreshadow a rise in sea level , which would affect coastal regions .", "Thaumasia quadrangle The Thaumasia quadrangle is one of a series of 30 quadrangle maps of Mars used by the United States Geological Survey ( USGS ) Astrogeology Research Program . The Thaumasia quadrangle is also referred to as MC-25 ( Mars Chart-25 ) . The name comes from Thaumas , the god of the clouds and celestial apparitions . The Thaumasia quadrangle covers the area from 60 ° to 120 ° west longitude and 30 ° to 65 ° south latitude on Mars . The Thaumasia quadrangle contains many different regions or parts of many regions : Solis Planum , Icaria Planum , , Aonia Planum , Bosporus Planum , and Thaumasia Planum . One of the first major networks of stream channels , called Warrego Valles , were discovered here by early orbiters . Another sign of water is the presence of gullies carved into steep slopes ." ]

[ "Volatiles In planetary science , volatiles are the group of chemical elements and chemical compounds with low boiling points that are associated with a planet 's or moon 's crust or atmosphere . Examples include nitrogen , water , carbon dioxide , ammonia , hydrogen , methane and sulfur dioxide . In astrogeology , these compounds , in their solid state , often comprise large proportions of the crusts of moons and dwarf planets . In contrast with volatiles , elements and compounds with high boiling points are known as refractory substances . Planetary scientists often classify volatiles with exceptionally low melting points , such as hydrogen and helium , as gases ( as in gas giant ) , whereas those volatiles with melting points above about 100 K are referred to as ices . The terms `` gas '' and `` ice '' in this context can apply to compounds that may be solids , liquids or gases . Thus , Jupiter and Saturn are gas giants , and Uranus and Neptune are ice giants , even though the vast majority of the `` gas '' and `` ice '' in their interiors is a hot , highly dense fluid that gets denser as the center of the planet is approached . The Moon is very low in volatiles : its crust contains oxygen chemically bound into the rocks ( in , for example , silicates ) , but negligible amounts of hydrogen , nitrogen , or carbon .", "Clathrate hydrate Clathrate hydrates , or gas clathrates , gas hydrates , clathrates , hydrates , etc. , are crystalline water-based solids physically resembling ice , in which small non-polar molecules ( typically gases ) or polar molecules with large hydrophobic moieties are trapped inside `` cages '' of hydrogen bonded , frozen water molecules . In other words , clathrate hydrates are clathrate compounds in which the host molecule is water and the guest molecule is typically a gas or liquid . Without the support of the trapped molecules , the lattice structure of hydrate clathrates would collapse into conventional ice crystal structure or liquid water . Most low molecular weight gases , including 2 , 2 , 2 , CO2 , CH4 , H2S , , , and , as well as some higher hydrocarbons and freons , will form hydrates at suitable temperatures and pressures . Clathrate hydrates are not officially chemical compounds , as the sequestered molecules are never bonded to the lattice . The formation and decomposition of clathrate hydrates are first order phase transitions , not chemical reactions . Their detailed formation and decomposition mechanisms on a molecular level are still not well understood . Clathrate hydrates were first documented in 1810 by Sir Humphry Davy who found that water was a primary component of what was earlier thought to be solidified chlorine . Clathrates have been found to occur naturally in large quantities . Around 6.4 trillion ( 6.4 × 1012 ) tonnes of methane is trapped in deposits of methane clathrate on the deep ocean floor . Such deposits can be found on the Norwegian continental shelf in the northern headwall flank of the Storegga Slide . Clathrates can also exist as permafrost , as at the Mallik gas hydrate site in the Mackenzie Delta of northwestern Canadian Arctic . These natural gas hydrates are seen as a potentially vast energy resource , but an economical extraction method has so far proven elusive . Hydrocarbon clathrates cause problems for the petroleum industry , because they can form inside gas pipelines , often resulting in obstructions . Deep sea deposition of carbon dioxide clathrate has been proposed as a method to remove this greenhouse gas from the atmosphere and control climate change . Clathrates are suspected to occur in large quantities on some outer planets , moons and trans-Neptunian objects , binding gas at fairly high temperatures .", "Oxidative coupling of methane The oxidative coupling of methane ( OCM ) is a type of chemical reaction discovered in the 1980s for the direct conversion of natural gas , primarily consisting of methane , into value-added chemicals . Direct conversion of methane into other useful products is one of the most challenging subjects to be studied in heterogeneous catalysis . Methane activation is difficult because of its thermodynamic stability with a noble gas like electronic configuration . The tetrahedral arrangement of strong C -- H bonds ( 435 kJ/mol ) offer no functional group , magnetic moments or polar distributions to undergo chemical attack . This makes methane less reactive than nearly all of its conversion products , limiting efficient utilization of natural gas , the world 's most abundant petrochemical resource .", "Fuel gas Fuel gas is any one of a number of fuels that under ordinary conditions are gaseous . Many fuel gases are composed of hydrocarbons ( such as methane or propane ) , hydrogen , carbon monoxide , or mixtures thereof . Such gases are sources of potential heat energy or light energy that can be readily transmitted and distributed through pipes from the point of origin directly to the place of consumption . Fuel gas is contrasted with liquid fuels and from solid fuels , though some fuel gases are liquefied for storage or transport . While their gaseous nature has advantages , avoiding the difficulty of transporting solid fuel and the dangers of spillage inherent in liquid fuels , it also has limitation . It is possible for a fuel gas to be undetected and collect in certain areas , leading to the risk of a gas explosion . For this reason , odorizers are added to most fuel gases so that they may be detected by a distinct smell . The most common type of fuel gas in current use is natural gas .", "Coalbed methane Coalbed methane ( CBM or coal-bed methane ) , coalbed gas , coal seam gas ( CSG ) , or coal-mine methane ( CMM ) is a form of natural gas extracted from coal beds . In recent decades it has become an important source of energy in United States , Canada , Australia , and other countries . The term refers to methane adsorbed into the solid matrix of the coal . It is called ` sweet gas ' because of its lack of hydrogen sulfide . The presence of this gas is well known from its occurrence in underground coal mining , where it presents a serious safety risk . Coalbed methane is distinct from a typical sandstone or other conventional gas reservoir , as the methane is stored within the coal by a process called adsorption . The methane is in a near-liquid state , lining the inside of pores within the coal ( called the matrix ) . The open fractures in the coal ( called the cleats ) can also contain free gas or can be saturated with water . Unlike much natural gas from conventional reservoirs , coalbed methane contains very little heavier hydrocarbons such as propane or butane , and no natural-gas condensate . It often contains up to a few percent carbon dioxide .", "Ice cap An ice cap is an ice mass that covers less than 50,000 km ² of land area ( usually covering a highland area ) . Larger ice masses covering more than 50,000 km ² are termed ice sheets . Ice caps are not constrained by topographical features ( i.e. , they will lie over the top of mountains ) . By contrast , ice masses of similar size that are constrained by topographical features are known as ice fields . The dome of an ice cap is usually centred on the highest point of a massif . Ice flows away from this high point ( the ice divide ) towards the ice cap 's periphery . Ice caps have significant effects on the geomorphology of the area they occupy . Plastic moulding , gouging and other glacial erosional features become present upon the glacier 's retreat . Many lakes , such as the Great Lakes in North America , as well as numerous valleys have been formed by glacial action over hundreds of thousands of years . On Earth , there are about 30 million km ³ of total ice mass . The average temperature of an ice mass ranges between − 20 ° C and − 30 ° C . The core of an ice cap exhibits a constant temperature that ranges between − 15 ° C and − 20 ° C. A high-latitude region covered in ice , though strictly not an ice cap ( since they exceed the maximum area specified in the definition above ) , are called polar ice caps ; the usage of this designation is widespread in the mass media and arguably recognized by experts . Vatnajökull is an example of an ice cap in Iceland .", "Arctic resources race The Arctic resources race refers to the competition between global entities for newly available natural resources in the Arctic . As the ice in the Arctic melts at a record rate and the sea ice extent continues to decrease due to global climate change , the Arctic waters become more navigable and Arctic resources -- such as oil and gas , minerals , fish , as well as tourism and new trade routes -- are becoming more accessible . Under the United Nations Convention of the Law of the Sea , five nations have the legal right to exploit the Arctic 's natural resources within their exclusive economic zones : Canada , Russia , Denmark , Norway , and the United States ( though the U.S. has yet to ratify the treaty , it considers the treaty to be customary international law and abides by it ) . The Arctic region and its resources have recently been at the center of controversy and pose potential conflicts between nations that have differing opinions of how to manage the area , including conflicting territorial claims . In addition , the Arctic region is home to an estimated 400,000 indigenous people . If the ice continues to melt at the current rate , then these indigenous people are at risk of being displaced . The acceleration of ice depletion will contribute to climate change as a whole : melting ice releases methane , ice reflects incoming solar radiation , and without it will cause the ocean to absorb more radiation ( albedo effect ) , heating up the water causing more ocean acidification , and melting ice will cause a rise in sea level .", "Chasma Boreale Chasma Boreale is a large canyon in Mars 's north polar ice cap in the Mare Boreum quadrangle of Mars at 83 ° north latitude and 47.1 ° west longitude . It is about 560 km long and was named after a classical albedo feature name . The canyon 's sides reveal layered features within the ice cap that result from seasonal melting and deposition of ice , together with dust deposits from Martian dust storms . Information about the past climate of Mars may eventually be revealed in these layers , just as tree ring patterns and ice core data do on Earth . Both polar caps also display grooved features , probably caused by wind flow patterns . The grooves are also influenced by the amount of dust . The more dust , the darker the surface . The darker the surface , the more melting as dark surfaces absorb more energy .", "Methane reformer A methane reformer is a device based on steam reforming , autothermal reforming or partial oxidation and is a type of chemical synthesis which can produce pure hydrogen gas from methane using a catalyst . There are multiple types of reformers in development but the most common in industry are autothermal reforming ( ATR ) and steam methane reforming ( SMR ) . Most methods work by exposing methane to a catalyst ( usually nickel ) at high temperature and pressure .", "Antarctic ice sheet The Antarctic ice sheet is one of the two polar ice caps of the Earth . It covers about 98 % of the Antarctic continent and is the largest single mass of ice on Earth . It covers an area of almost 14 e6km2 and contains 26.5 e6km3 of ice . Approximately 61 percent of all fresh water on the Earth is held in the Antarctic ice sheet , an amount equivalent to about 58 m of sea-level rise . In East Antarctica , the ice sheet rests on a major land mass , but in West Antarctica the bed can extend to more than 2,500 m below sea level . Much of the land in this area would be seabed if the ice sheet were not there . In contrast to the melting of the Arctic sea ice , sea ice around Antarctica was expanding . The reasons for this are not fully understood , but suggestions include the climatic effects on ocean and atmospheric circulation of the ozone hole , and/or cooler ocean surface temperatures as the warming deep waters melt the ice shelves .", "Martian polar ice caps The planet Mars has two permanent polar ice caps . During a pole 's winter , it lies in continuous darkness , chilling the surface and causing the deposition of 25 -- 30 % of the atmosphere into slabs of CO2 ice ( dry ice ) . When the poles are again exposed to sunlight , the frozen CO2 sublimes , creating enormous winds that sweep off the poles as fast as 400 km/h . These seasonal actions transport large amounts of dust and water vapor , giving rise to Earth-like frost and large cirrus clouds . Clouds of water-ice were photographed by the Opportunity rover in 2004 . The caps at both poles consist primarily of water ice . Frozen carbon dioxide accumulates as a comparatively thin layer about one metre thick on the north cap in the northern winter only , while the south cap has a permanent dry ice cover about 8 m thick . The northern polar cap has a diameter of about 1000 km during the northern Mars summer , and contains about 1.6 million cubic km of ice , which if spread evenly on the cap would be 2 km thick . ( This compares to a volume of 2.85 million cubic km ( km3 ) for the Greenland ice sheet . ) The southern polar cap has a diameter of 350 km and a thickness of 3 km . The total volume of ice in the south polar cap plus the adjacent layered deposits has also been estimated at 1.6 million cubic km . Both polar caps show spiral troughs , which recent analysis of SHARAD ice penetrating radar has shown are a result of roughly perpendicular katabatic winds that spiral due to the Coriolis Effect . The seasonal frosting of some areas near the southern ice cap results in the formation of transparent 1 m thick slabs of dry ice above the ground . With the arrival of spring , sunlight warms the subsurface and pressure from subliming CO2 builds up under a slab , elevating and ultimately rupturing it . This leads to geyser-like eruptions of CO2 gas mixed with dark basaltic sand or dust . This process is rapid , observed happening in the space of a few days , weeks or months , a rate of change rather unusual in geology -- especially for Mars . The gas rushing underneath a slab to the site of a geyser carves a spider-like pattern of radial channels under the ice .", "Mare Boreum quadrangle The Mare Boreum quadrangle is one of a series of 30 quadrangle maps of Mars used by the United States Geological Survey ( USGS ) Astrogeology Research Program . The Mare Boreum quadrangle is also referred to as MC-1 ( Mars Chart-1 ) . Its name derives from an older name for a feature that is now called Planum Boreum , a large plain surrounding the polar cap . The quadrangle covers all of the Martian surface north of latitude 65 ° . It includes the north polar ice cap , which has a swirl pattern and is roughly 1,100 km across . Mariner 9 in 1972 discovered a belt of sand dunes that ring the polar ice deposits , which is 500 km across in some places and may be the largest dune field in the solar system . The ice cap is surrounded by the vast plains of Planum Boreum and Vastitas Borealis . Close to the pole , there is a large valley , Chasma Boreale , that may have been formed from water melting from the ice cap . An alternative view is that it was made by winds coming off the cold pole . Another prominent feature is a smooth rise , called Olympia Planitia . In the summer , a dark collar around the residual cap becomes visible ; it is mostly caused by dunes . The quadrangle includes some very large craters that stand out in the north because the area is smooth with little change in topography . These large craters are Lomonosov and Korolev . Although smaller , the crater Stokes is also prominent . The Phoenix lander landed on Vastitas Borealis within the Mare Boreum quadrangle at 68.218830 ° N and 234.250778 ° E on May 25 , 2008 . The probe collected and analyzed soil samples in an effort to detect water and determine how hospitable the planet might once have been for life to grow . It remained active there until winter conditions became too harsh around five months later . After the mission ended the journal Science reported that chloride , bicarbonate , magnesium , sodium potassium , calcium , and possibly sulfate were detected in the samples analyzed by Phoenix . The pH was narrowed down to 7.7 ± 0.5 . Perchlorate ( ClO4 ) , a strong oxidizer at elevated temperatures , was detected . This was a significant discovery because the chemical has the potential of being used for rocket fuel and as a source of oxygen for future colonists . Also , under certain conditions perchlorate can inhibit life ; however some microorganisms obtain energy from the substance ( by anaerobic reduction ) . The chemical when mixed with water can greatly lower freezing points , in a manner similar to how salt is applied to roads to melt ice . So , perchlorate may be allowing small amounts of liquid water to form on Mars today . Gullies , which are common in certain areas of Mars , may have formed from perchlorate melting ice and causing water to erode soil on steep slopes . Much direct evidence was found for water at this location .", "Ventilation air methane thermal oxidizer Ventilation air methane thermal oxidizers ( or VAMTOX ) are a type of processing equipment used for greenhouse gas abatement related to underground mining operations that destroys gaseous methane at a high temperature .", "Stefan number The Stefan number ( St or Ste ) is defined as the ratio of sensible heat to latent heat . It is given by the formula where cp is the specific heat , cp is the specific heat of solid phase in the freezing process while cp is the specific heat of liquid phase in the melting process . ∆ T is the temperature difference between phases , L is the latent heat of melting . It is a dimensionless parameter that is useful in analyzing a Stefan problem . The parameter was developed from Josef Stefan 's calculations of the rate of phase change of water into ice on the polar ice caps .", "Polar desert Polar deserts are areas with annual precipitation less than 250 mm and a mean temperature of less than 10 C during the warmest months . Polar deserts on Earth cover nearly 5,000,000 km2 and consist primarily of hard bedrock or gravel plains . Polar deserts are one of two polar biomes : polar deserts and Arctic tundra . These biomes are located at the poles of the earth , specifically , the Arctic , northernmost North America , Europe , and Asia , and Antarctica . Polar deserts are located in the Arctic and Antarctic . Unlike the tundra that can support plant and animal life in the summer , polar deserts are barren with permanent layers of ice . However , there is evidence of life in this seemingly inhospitable environment.The thick ice contains sediments of organic and inorganic substances which create a habitable environment for microbial organisms . These organisms are closely related to cyanobacteria which have a variety of functions , particularly , fixing carbon dioxide from the melting water . Temperature changes in polar deserts frequently cross the freezing point of water . This `` freeze-thaw '' alternation forms patterned textures on the ground , as much as 5 m in diameter ( as seen in the picture on the right ) . Most of the interior of Antarctica is polar desert , despite the thick ice cover . Conversely , the McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica , although they have had no ice for thousands of years due to katabatic wind , are not necessarily polar desert . Polar deserts are relatively common during ice ages , as ice ages tend to be dry . Climate scientists have voiced concerns about the effects of global warming to the ice poles in these polar biomes .", "Mare Australe quadrangle The Mare Australe quadrangle is one of a series of 30 quadrangle maps of Mars used by the United States Geological Survey ( USGS ) Astrogeology Research Program . The Mare Australe quadrangle is also referred to as MC-30 ( Mars Chart-30 ) . The quadrangle covers all the area of Mars south of 65 ° , including the South polar ice cap , and its surrounding area . The quadrangle 's name derives from an older name for a feature that is now called Planum Australe , a large plain surrounding the polar cap . The Mars polar lander crash landed in this region .", "Landfill gas migration Landfill gas migration is a complex process of the gas moving from the site of original deposition to other places via diffusion . Usually , the gas moves from areas of high concentration to areas of low gas concentration around a landfill . The process is also affected by the permeability of the ground and other factors , such as pressure differences in the soil , cavities , pipes , and tunnels . Changes in atmospheric pressure and the water table can encourage this migration . These gases can include methane , carbon dioxide , hydrogen , and volatile organic compounds ( there are approximately 500 others that can be present in trace forms ) from the waste on site and its degradation over time . Steps must be taken to prevent this migration from the landfill site as it might enter buildings in the vicinity . This can be done on the site by means of combinations of geomembranes and clay based products , see gas protection .", "Decompression (altitude) Decompression ( altitude ) refers to the reduction in ambient pressure due to ascent above sea level . Decompression has physical effects on gas filled spaces and on liquids , particularly when they contain dissolved gases . Physiological effects of decompression are due to these physical effects and the consequential effects on the living tissues , mostly as a result of the formation and growth of bubbles , and the expansion of gas filled spaces . Formation and growth of bubbles due to reduced pressure can be due to reduction in solubility as described by Henry 's Law , nucleation and growth of bubbles in supersaturated liquids and boiling of liquids when the pressure is reduced below the vapour pressure for the temperature of the liquid . Altitude decompression may be a natural consequence of unprotected elevation to altitude , or due to intentional or unintentional release of pressurisation of a pressure suit or pressurised compartment , vehicle or habitat , and may be controlled or uncontrolled . There are three principal physiological effects arising from decompression at altitude : Decompression illness , which includes decompression sickness due to bubble formation in the tissues similar to those caused by decompression after exposure to pressures higher than sea level atmospheric pressure . There is little evidence of altitude decompression occurring among healthy individuals at altitudes below 18000 ft. Barotrauma caused by the over-expansion of gas-filled spaces Altitude sickness , also known as acute mountain sickness ( AMS ) , altitude illness , hypobaropathy , the altitude bends , or soroche , is a pathological effect of high altitude on humans , caused by acute exposure to low partial pressure of oxygen and blood alkalosis arising from the low partial pressure of carbon dioxide at high altitude .", "Ice core An ice core is a core sample that is typically removed from an ice sheet , most commonly from the polar ice caps of Antarctica , Greenland or from high mountain glaciers elsewhere . As the ice forms from the incremental buildup of annual layers of snow , lower layers are older than upper , and an ice core contains ice formed over a range of years . The properties of the ice and the recrystallized inclusions within the ice can then be used to reconstruct a climatic record over the age range of the core , normally through isotopic analysis . This enables the reconstruction of local temperature records and the history of atmospheric composition . Ice cores contain an abundance of information about climate . Inclusions in the snow of each year remain in the ice , such as wind-blown dust , ash , pollen , bubbles of atmospheric gas and radioactive substances . The variety of climatic proxies is greater than in any other natural recorder of climate , such as tree rings or sediment layers . These include ( proxies for ) temperature , ocean volume , precipitation , chemistry and gas composition of the lower atmosphere , volcanic eruptions , solar variability , sea-surface productivity , desert extent and forest fires . The length of the record depends on the depth of the ice core and varies from a few years up to 800 kyr ( 800,000 years ) for the EPICA core . The time resolution ( i.e. the shortest time period which can be accurately distinguished ) depends on the amount of annual snowfall , and reduces with depth as the ice compacts under the weight of layers accumulating on top of it . Upper layers of ice in a core correspond to a single year or sometimes a single season . Deeper into the ice the layers thin and annual layers become indistinguishable . An ice core from the right site can be used to reconstruct an uninterrupted and detailed climate record extending over hundreds of thousands of years , providing information on a wide variety of aspects of climate at each point in time . It is the simultaneity of these properties recorded in the ice that makes ice cores such a powerful tool in paleoclimate research .", "Paramo ground tyrant The paramo ground tyrant ( Muscisaxicola alpinus ) , also known as the paramo ground-tyrant , is a species of bird in the tyrant flycatcher family , Tyrannidae . plain-capped ground tyrant ( M. griseus ) was formerly considered to be a subspecies of M. alpinus but is now commonly treated as a separate species . The name `` plain-capped ground tyrant '' is sometimes used for M. alpinus . It is found in Colombia and Ecuador . Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical high-altitude shrubland and subtropical or tropical high-altitude grassland .", "Greenhouse effect The greenhouse effect is the process by which radiation from a planet 's atmosphere warms the planet 's surface to a temperature above what it would be without its atmosphere . If a planet 's atmosphere contains radiatively active gases ( i.e. , greenhouse gases ) the atmosphere will radiate energy in all directions . Part of this radiation is directed towards the surface , warming it . The downward component of this radiation -- that is , the strength of the greenhouse effect -- will depend on the atmosphere 's temperature and on the amount of greenhouse gases that the atmosphere contains . On Earth , the atmosphere is warmed by absorption of infrared thermal radiation from the underlying surface ( heated by the sun ) , absorption of shorter wavelength radiant energy from the sun , and convective heat fluxes from the surface . Greenhouse gases in the atmosphere radiate energy , some of which is directed to the surface and lower atmosphere . The mechanism that produces this difference between the actual surface temperature and the effective temperature is due to the atmosphere and is known as the greenhouse effect . Earth 's natural greenhouse effect is critical to supporting life . Human activities , primarily the burning of fossil fuels and clearing of forests , have intensified the natural greenhouse effect , causing global warming . The mechanism is named after a faulty analogy with the effect of solar radiation passing through glass and warming a greenhouse . The way a greenhouse retains heat is fundamentally different , as a greenhouse works by reducing airflow and retaining warm air inside the structure .", "Snowmelt In hydrology , snowmelt is surface runoff produced from melting snow . It can also be used to describe the period or season during which such runoff is produced . Water produced by snowmelt is an important part of the annual water cycle in many parts of the world , in some cases contributing high fractions of the annual runoff in a watershed . Predicting snowmelt runoff from a drainage basin may be a part of designing water control projects . Rapid snowmelt can cause flooding . If the snowmelt is then frozen , very dangerous conditions and accidents can occur , introducing the need for salt to melt the ice .", "High-altitude flatus expulsion High-altitude flatus expulsion ( HAFE ) is a gastrointestinal syndrome which involves the spontaneous passage of increased quantities of rectal gases at high altitudes . First described by Joseph Hamel in c. 1820 and occasionally described afterward , a landmark study of this phenomenon was published in 1981 by Paul Auerbach and York Miller . The phenomenon is based on the differential in atmospheric pressure , directly correlated with the observer 's frequency of and level of experience in high-altitude metabolism . As the external pressure decreases , the difference in pressure between the gas within the body and the atmosphere outside is higher , and the urge to expel gas to relieve the pressure is greater . Consistent with Boyle 's law , controlling for dietary variance , the amount of gas produced is constant in mass , but the volume increases as the external pressure decreases . The feeling of fullness or need to expel brought on by this differential in atmospheric pressure has been verified by studies involving military pilots subjected to pressure changes simulating flight .", "Greenland ice sheet The Greenland ice sheet ( Grønlands indlandsis , Sermersuaq ) is a vast body of ice covering 1710000 km ² , roughly 80 % of the surface of Greenland . It is the second largest ice body in the world , after the Antarctic ice sheet . The ice sheet is almost 2400 km long in a north-south direction , and its greatest width is 1100 km at a latitude of 77 ° N , near its northern margin . The mean altitude of the ice is 2135 m . The thickness is generally more than 2 km and over 3 km at its thickest point . It is not the only ice mass of Greenland -- isolated glaciers and small ice caps cover between 76000 and around the periphery . If the entire 2850000 km3 of ice were to melt , it would lead to a global sea level rise of 7.2 m . The Greenland Ice Sheet is sometimes referred to under the term inland ice , or its Danish equivalent , indlandsis . It is also sometimes referred to as an ice cap .", "Biogas upgrader A biogas upgrader is a facility that is used to concentrate the methane in biogas to natural gas standards . The system removes carbon dioxide , hydrogen sulphide , water and contaminants from the biogas . One technique for doing this uses amine gas treating . This purified biogas is also called biomethane . It can be used interchangeably with natural gas . Raw biogas produced from digestion is roughly 60 % methane and 29 % CO2 with trace elements of H2S ; it is not high quality enough to be used as fuel gas for machinery . The corrosive nature of H2S alone is enough to destroy the internals of a plant . The solution is the use of biogas upgrading or purification processes whereby contaminants in the raw biogas stream are absorbed or scrubbed , leaving more methane per unit volume of gas . There are four main methods of upgrading : water washing , pressure swing adsorption , selexol adsorbtion , and amine gas treating .", "Methanometer A methanometer is an instrument used to measure methane gas in the air of a mine . The Mine Safety Appliances Company Ltd. manufactured the first type - W8 Methanometer around 1950 and it was approved for use by the Ventilation Regulations of 1947 . The Methanometer could be powered by an Edison battery cap lamp and it could be carried on a miner 's belt with other tools . Methane is the main gas present in firedamp . It is highly explosive and had previously been detected by the blue halo effect it gave to the flame of a safety lamp . By 1983 , several instruments for measuring methane concentration in air had been developed . These relied on such methods as the differential heating of an incandescent platinum filament , or by measuring the higher absorption of infrared radiation by gas containing methane .", "Dorsa Argentea Formation The Dorsa Argentea Formation ( DAF ) is thought to be a large system of eskers that were under an ancient ice cap in the south polar region of Mars . The ancient ice cap was at least twice the size of the present ice cap and may have been 1500-2000 meters thick . This group of ridges extends from 270 -- 100 E and 70 -- 90 S , around the south pole of Mars . It sits under the Late Amazonian South Polar Layered Deposits ( SPLD ) , in the Mare Australe quadrangle . The amount of these ridges is huge , one study studied seven different ridge systems which contained almost 4,000 ridges that had a total length 51,000 km . Most eskers are thought to be formed inside ice-walled tunnels by streams which flowed within and under glaciers . After the retaining ice walls melted away , stream deposits remained as long winding ridges . Crater counts show that the ridges are of two different ages . One dates from Early Hesperian , while the other group dates to the Late Noachian . These dates correspond to the time when Mars had lakes and valley networks which formed from runoff , drainage and storage of liquid water on the surface of Mars . The Dorsa Argentea Formation represents a time when there was melting and drainage of meltwater from a giant ice sheet around the Martian South Pole . Various mechanisms may have caused the ice to melt . Possible mechanisms may have been a warmer atmosphere , volcanism , or increased thickness of the ice cap from accumulating snow . MARSIS radar data suggest that significant areas of layered , potentially ice-rich parts of the Dorsa Argentea Formation remain today . Twenty-one mountains are associated with this formation . Their shapes suggest they are volcanoes and that most were associated with glaciers . Some probably erupted under a sheet of ice . Some resemble volcanic land forms called tuyas and tindars . These features are common in Iceland and Antarctica .", "Inversion (meteorology) In meteorology , an inversion is a deviation from the normal change of an atmospheric property with altitude . It almost always refers to a `` temperature inversion '' , i.e. an increase in temperature with height , or to the layer ( `` inversion layer '' ) within which such an increase occurs . An inversion can lead to pollution such as smog being trapped close to the ground , with possible adverse effects on health . An inversion can also suppress convection by acting as a `` cap '' . If this cap is broken for any of several reasons , convection of any moisture present can then erupt into violent thunderstorms . Temperature inversion can notoriously result in freezing rain in cold climates .", "IceMole IceMole is an autonomous ice research probe , incorporating a new type of ice-melting tip for the exploration of polar regions , glaciers , ice sheets , and extraterrestrial regions , developed by a team from the FH Aachen , a Fachhochschule ( University of Applied Sciences ) in Aachen , Germany . The advantage over previous probes is that the IceMole can change its direction and can be recovered after being used . A driving ice screw allows the probe to drill through soil layers and other contaminations in the ice .", "Melt pond Melt ponds are pools of open water that form on sea ice in the warmer months of spring and summer . The ponds are also found on glacial ice and ice shelves . Ponds of melted water can also develop under the ice . Melt ponds are usually darker than the surrounding ice , and their distribution and size is highly variable . They absorb solar radiation rather than reflecting it as ice does and , thereby , have a significant influence on Earth 's radiation balance . This differential , which had not been scientifically investigated until recently , has a large effect on the rate of ice melting and the extent of ice cover . Melt ponds can melt through to the ocean 's surface . Seawater entering the pond increases the melt rate because the salty water of the ocean is warmer than the fresh water of the pond . The increase in salinity also depresses the water 's freezing point . Water from melt ponds over land surface can run into crevasses or moulins -- tubes leading under ice sheets or glaciers -- turning into meltwater . The water may reach the underlying rock . The effect is an increase in the rate of ice flow to the oceans , as the fluid behaves like a lubricant in the basal sliding of glaciers .", "Huronian glaciation The Huronian glaciation ( or Makganyene glaciation ) was a glaciation that extended from 2.4 billion years ago ( Ga ) to 2.1 Ga , during the Siderian and Rhyacian periods of the Paleoproterozoic era . The Huronian glaciation followed after the Great Oxygenation Event ( GOE ) , a time when increased atmospheric oxygen decreased atmospheric methane . The oxygen combined with the methane to form carbon dioxide and water , which does not retain heat as well as methane does . It is the oldest and longest ice age , occurring at a time when , in a biological sense , only simple , unicellular life existed on Earth . This ice age led to a mass-extinction on Earth .", "Yedoma Yedoma is an organic-rich ( about 2 % carbon by mass ) Pleistocene-age permafrost with ice content of 50 -- 90 % by volume . The amount of carbon trapped in this type of permafrost is much more prevalent than originally thought and may be about 210 to 450 Gt , that is a multiple of the amount of carbon released into the air each year by the burning of fossil fuels . Thawing yedoma is a significant source of atmospheric methane ( about 4 Tg of per year ) . The Yedoma region currently occupies an area of more than one million square kilometers from northeast Siberia to Alaska and Canada , and in many regions is tens of meters thick . During the Last Glacial Maximum , when the global sea level was 120 m lower than that of today , similar deposits covered substantial areas of the exposed northeast Eurasian continental shelves . At the end of last ice age , at the Pleistocene -- Holocene transition , thawing yedoma and the resulting thermokarst lakes may have produced 33 to 87 % of the high-latitude increase in atmospheric methane concentration ." ]

[ "Arctic Ocean The Arctic Ocean is the smallest and shallowest of the world 's five major oceans . The International Hydrographic Organization ( IHO ) recognizes it as an ocean , although some oceanographers call it the Arctic Mediterranean Sea or simply the Arctic Sea , classifying it a mediterranean sea or an estuary of the Atlantic Ocean . Alternatively , the Arctic Ocean can be seen as the northernmost part of the all-encompassing World Ocean . Located mostly in the Arctic north polar region in the middle of the Northern Hemisphere , the Arctic Ocean is almost completely surrounded by Eurasia and North America . It is partly covered by sea ice throughout the year and almost completely in winter . The Arctic Ocean 's surface temperature and salinity vary seasonally as the ice cover melts and freezes ; its salinity is the lowest on average of the five major oceans , due to low evaporation , heavy fresh water inflow from rivers and streams , and limited connection and outflow to surrounding oceanic waters with higher salinities . The summer shrinking of the ice has been quoted at 50 % . The US National Snow and Ice Data Center ( NSIDC ) uses satellite data to provide a daily record of Arctic sea ice cover and the rate of melting compared to an average period and specific past years .", "Climate change feedback Climate change feedback is important in the understanding of global warming because feedback processes may amplify or diminish the effect of each climate forcing , and so play an important part in determining the climate sensitivity and future climate state . Feedback in general is the process in which changing one quantity changes a second quantity , and the change in the second quantity in turn changes the first . Positive feedback amplifies the change in the first quantity while negative feedback reduces it . The term `` forcing '' means a change which may `` push '' the climate system in the direction of warming or cooling . An example of a climate forcing is increased atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases . By definition , forcings are external to the climate system while feedbacks are internal ; in essence , feedbacks represent the internal processes of the system . Some feedbacks may act in relative isolation to the rest of the climate system ; others may be tightly coupled ; hence it may be difficult to tell just how much a particular process contributes . Forcings , feedbacks and the dynamics of the climate system determine how much and how fast the climate changes . The main positive feedback in global warming is the tendency of warming to increase the amount of water vapor in the atmosphere , which in turn leads to further warming . The main negative feedback comes from the Stefan -- Boltzmann law , the amount of heat radiated from the Earth into space changes with the fourth power of the temperature of Earth 's surface and atmosphere . Some observed and potential effects of global warming are positive feedbacks , which contribute directly to further global warming . The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 's ( IPCC ) Fourth Assessment Report states that `` Anthropogenic warming could lead to some effects that are abrupt or irreversible , depending upon the rate and magnitude of the climate change . ''", "Arctic methane emissions Arctic methane release is the release of methane from seas and soils in permafrost regions of the Arctic . While a long-term natural process , it is exacerbated by global warming . This results in a positive feedback effect , as methane is itself a powerful greenhouse gas . The Arctic region is one of the many natural sources of the greenhouse gas methane . Global warming accelerates its release , due to both release of methane from existing stores , and from methanogenesis in rotting biomass . Large quantities of methane are stored in the Arctic in natural gas deposits , permafrost , and as undersea clathrates . Permafrost and clathrates degrade on warming , thus large releases of methane from these sources may arise as a result of global warming . Other sources of methane include submarine taliks , river transport , ice complex retreat , submarine permafrost and decaying gas hydrate deposits . Concentrations in the Arctic atmosphere are higher by 8 -- 10 % than that in the Antarctic atmosphere . During cold glacier epochs , this gradient decreases to practically insignificant levels . Land ecosystems are considered the main sources of this asymmetry , although it has been suggested that `` the role of the Arctic Ocean is significantly underestimated . '' Soil temperature and moisture levels have been found to be significant variables in soil methane fluxes in tundra environments .", "Arctic The Arctic ( -LSB- ˈɑrktɪk -RSB- or -LSB- ˈɑrtɪk -RSB- ) is a polar region located at the northernmost part of Earth . The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean , adjacent seas , and parts of Alaska ( United States ) , Canada , Finland , Greenland ( Denmark ) , Iceland , Norway , Russia and Sweden . Land within the Arctic region has seasonally varying snow and ice cover , with predominantly treeless permafrost-containing tundra . Arctic seas contain seasonal sea ice in many places . The Arctic region is a unique area among Earth 's ecosystems . For example , the cultures in the region and the Arctic indigenous peoples have adapted to its cold and extreme conditions . In recent years , Arctic sea ice decline has been caused by global warming . Life in the Arctic includes organisms living in the ice , zooplankton and phytoplankton , fish and marine mammals , birds , land animals , plants and human societies . Arctic land is bordered by the subarctic ." ]

[ "Landfill gas Landfill gas is a complex mix of different gases created by the action of microorganisms within a landfill . Landfill gas is approximately forty to sixty percent methane , with the remainder being mostly carbon dioxide . Trace amounts of other volatile organic compounds comprise the remainder ( < 1 % ) . These trace gases include a large array of species , mainly simple hydrocarbons . Landfill gases have an influence on climate change . The major components are CO2 and methane , both of which are greenhouse gas . In terms of global warming potential , methane is over 25 times more detrimental to the atmosphere than carbon dioxide . Landfills are the third largest source of methane in the US .", "Methane clathrate Methane clathrate ( CH4 · 5.75 H2O ) or ( 4CH4 · 23H2O ) , also called methane hydrate , hydromethane , methane ice , fire ice , natural gas hydrate , or gas hydrate , is a solid clathrate compound ( more specifically , a clathrate hydrate ) in which a large amount of methane is trapped within a crystal structure of water , forming a solid similar to ice . Originally thought to occur only in the outer regions of the Solar System , where temperatures are low and water ice is common , significant deposits of methane clathrate have been found under sediments on the ocean floors of the Earth . Methane clathrates are common constituents of the shallow marine geosphere and they occur in deep sedimentary structures and form outcrops on the ocean floor . Methane hydrates are believed to form by migration of gas from deep along geological faults , followed by precipitation or crystallization , on contact of the rising gas stream with cold sea water . In 2008 , research on Antarctic Vostok and EPICA Dome C ice cores revealed that methane clathrates were also present in deep Antarctic ice cores and record a history of atmospheric methane concentrations , dating to 800,000 years ago . The ice-core methane clathrate record is a primary source of data for global warming research , along with oxygen and carbon dioxide .", "Greenhouse gas A greenhouse gas ( abbrev . GHG ) is a gas in an atmosphere that absorbs and emits radiation within the thermal infrared range . This process is the fundamental cause of the greenhouse effect . The primary greenhouse gases in Earth 's atmosphere are water vapor , carbon dioxide , methane , nitrous oxide , and ozone . Without greenhouse gases , the average temperature of Earth 's surface would be about -18 ° C , rather than the present average of 15 ° C . In the Solar System , the atmospheres of Venus , Mars and Titan also contain gases that cause a greenhouse effect . Human activities since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution ( taken as the year 1750 ) have produced a 40 % increase in the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide , from 280 ppm in 1750 to 406 ppm in early 2017 . This increase has occurred despite the uptake of a large portion of the emissions by various natural `` sinks '' involved in the carbon cycle . Anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions ( i.e. , emissions produced by human activities ) come from combustion of fossil fuels , principally coal , oil , and natural gas , along with deforestation , soil erosion and animal agriculture . It has been estimated that if greenhouse gas emissions continue at the present rate , Earth 's surface temperature could exceed historical values as early as 2047 , with potentially harmful effects on ecosystems , biodiversity and the livelihoods of people worldwide . Recent estimates suggest that on the current emissions trajectory the Earth could pass a threshold of 2 ° C global warming , which the United Nations ' IPCC designated as the upper limit to avoid `` dangerous '' global warming , by 2036 .", "Carbon monitoring Carbon monitoring refers to tracking how much carbon dioxide or methane is produced by particular activity at a particular point in time . For example , it may refer to tracking methane emissions from agriculture , or carbon dioxide emissions from land use changes , such as deforestation , or from burning fossil fuels , whether in a power plant , automobile , or other device . Because carbon dioxide is the greenhouse gas emitted in the largest quantities , and methane is an even more potent greenhouse gas , monitoring carbon emissions is widely seen as crucial to any effort to reduce emissions and thereby slow climate change . Monitoring carbon emissions is key to the cap-and-trade program currently being used in Europe , as well as the one in California , and will be necessary for any such program in the future , like the Paris Agreement . The lack of reliable sources of consistent data on carbon emissions is a significant barrier to efforts to reduce emissions .", "Global warming potential Global warming potential ( GWP ) is a relative measure of how much heat a greenhouse gas traps in the atmosphere . It compares the amount of heat trapped by a certain mass of the gas in question to the amount of heat trapped by a similar mass of carbon dioxide . A GWP is calculated over a specific time interval , commonly 20 , 100 , or 500 years . GWP is expressed as a factor of carbon dioxide ( whose GWP is standardized to 1 ) . In the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change , methane has a lifetime of 12.4 years and with climate-carbon feedbacks a global warming potential of 86 over 20 years and 34 over 100 years in response to emissions . User related choices such as the time horizon can greatly affect the numerical values obtained for carbon dioxide equivalents . For a change in time horizon from 20 to 100 years , the GWP for methane decreases by a factor of approximately 2.5 . The substances subject to restrictions under the Kyoto protocol either are rapidly increasing their concentrations in Earth 's atmosphere or have a large GWP . The GWP depends on the following factors : the absorption of infrared radiation by a given species the spectral location of its absorbing wavelengths the atmospheric lifetime of the species Thus , a high GWP correlates with a large infrared absorption and a long atmospheric lifetime . The dependence of GWP on the wavelength of absorption is more complicated . Even if a gas absorbs radiation efficiently at a certain wavelength , this may not affect its GWP much if the atmosphere already absorbs most radiation at that wavelength . A gas has the most effect if it absorbs in a `` window '' of wavelengths where the atmosphere is fairly transparent . The dependence of GWP as a function of wavelength has been found empirically and published as a graph . Because the GWP of a greenhouse gas depends directly on its infrared spectrum , the use of infrared spectroscopy to study greenhouse gases is centrally important in the effort to understand the impact of human activities on global climate change .", "Enhanced coal bed methane recovery Enhanced coal bed methane recovery is a method of producing additional coalbed methane from a source rock , similar to enhanced oil recovery applied to oil fields . Carbon dioxide ( CO2 ) injected into a bituminous coal bed would occupy pore space and also adsorb onto the carbon in the coal at approximately twice the rate of methane ( CH4 ) , allowing for potential enhanced gas recovery . This technique may be used in conjunction with carbon capture and storage in mitigation of global warming where the carbon dioxide that is sequestered is captured from the output of fossil fuel power plants . A research project at ETH Zurich is studying the process of pumping carbon dioxide into unminable coal seams and recovering the methane that is subsequently displaced . An extensive experimental investigation about the process of desorbing methane by adsorbing carbon dioxide in real coal samples was performed . The proof of principle and the technical feasibility of the method could be verified with these measurements . These research results indicate that CBM can become an alternative to conventional natural gas . ECBM provides additional to CBM the advantage of long-term CO2 storage in the underground coal seams . However , without other incentives , enhanced coal bed methane recovery is not economical as the commercial value of the released methane does not completely offset the cost of pumping . Penetration of CO2 into coal is simulated using a stress-enhanced diffusion model .", "Thermal runaway Thermal runaway occurs in situations where an increase in temperature changes the conditions in a way that causes a further increase in temperature , often leading to a destructive result . It is a kind of uncontrolled positive feedback . In other words , `` thermal runaway '' describes a process which is accelerated by increased temperature , in turn releasing energy that further increases temperature . In chemistry ( and chemical engineering ) , it is associated with strongly exothermic reactions that are accelerated by temperature rise . In electrical engineering , thermal runaway is typically associated with increased current flow and power dissipation , although exothermic chemical reactions can be of concern here too . Thermal runaway can occur in civil engineering , notably when the heat released by large amounts of curing concrete is not controlled -LCB- Citation needed -RCB- . In astrophysics , runaway nuclear fusion reactions in stars can lead to nova and several types of supernova explosions , and also occur as a less dramatic event in the normal evolution of solar mass stars , the `` helium flash '' . There are also concerns regarding global warming that a global average increase of 3 -- 4 degrees Celsius above the preindustrial baseline could lead to a further unchecked increase in surface temperatures . For example , releases of methane , a greenhouse gas more potent than CO2 , from wetlands , melting permafrost and continental margin seabed clathrate deposits could be subject to positive feedback .", "Carbon diet A carbon diet refers to reducing the impact on climate change by reducing greenhouse gas production specifically , CO2 production . In today 's society , we produce CO2 in every day activities such as driving , heating , deforestation and the burning of fossil fuels such as coal , oil and gas . It has been found that carbon dioxide from the burning of coal , natural gas , and oil for electricity and heat is the largest single source of global greenhouse gas emissions . For years , governments and corporations have been attempting to balance out their emissions by participating in carbon-offsetting -- the practice in which they invest in renewable energy to compensate for the global-warming pollution that they produce . Despite these efforts the results are still far off and we continue to see growth in CO2 concentration . Now , a growing number of individuals are trying to make a reduction in the amount of CO2 that is being produced by participating in low carbon dieting . This small adjustment in household CO2 production has the potential to reduce emissions much more quickly than other kinds of changes and it deserves explicit consideration as part of climate policy . It can potentially help avoid `` overshoot '' of greenhouse gas concentration targets ; provide a demonstration effect ; reduce emissions at low cost ; and buy time to develop new technologies , policies , and institutions to reach long-term greenhouse gas emission targets and to develop adaptation strategies .", "Fossil fuel Fossil fuels are fuels formed by natural processes such as anaerobic decomposition of buried dead organisms , containing energy originating in ancient photosynthesis . The age of the organisms and their resulting fossil fuels is typically millions of years , and sometimes exceeds 650 million years . Fossil fuels contain high percentages of carbon and include petroleum , coal , and natural gas . Other commonly used derivatives include kerosene and propane . Fossil fuels range from volatile materials with low carbon to hydrogen ratios like methane , to liquids like petroleum , to nonvolatile materials composed of almost pure carbon , like anthracite coal . Methane can be found in hydrocarbon fields either alone , associated with oil , or in the form of methane clathrates . The theory that fossil fuels formed from the fossilized remains of dead plants by exposure to heat and pressure in the Earth 's crust over millions of years was first introduced by Georgius Agricola in 1556 and later by Mikhail Lomonosov in the 18th century . The Energy Information Administration estimates that in 2007 the primary sources of energy consisted of petroleum 36.0 % , coal 27.4 % , natural gas 23.0 % , amounting to an 86.4 % share for fossil fuels in primary energy consumption in the world . Non-fossil sources in 2006 included nuclear 8.5 % , hydroelectric 6.3 % , and others ( geothermal , solar , tidal , wind , wood , waste ) amounting to 0.9 % . World energy consumption was growing about 2.3 % per year . Although fossil fuels are continually being formed via natural processes , they are generally considered to be non-renewable resources because they take millions of years to form and the known viable reserves are being depleted much faster than new ones are being made . The use of fossil fuels raises serious environmental concerns . The burning of fossil fuels produces around 21.3 billion tonnes ( 21.3 gigatonnes ) of carbon dioxide ( CO2 ) per year . It is estimated that natural processes can only absorb about half of that amount , so there is a net increase of 10.65 billion tonnes of atmospheric carbon dioxide per year . Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas that increases radiative forcing and contributes to global warming . A global movement towards the generation of renewable energy is underway to help reduce global greenhouse gas emissions .", "Effects of global warming The effects of global warming are the environmental and social changes caused ( directly or indirectly ) by human emissions of greenhouse gases . There is a scientific consensus that climate change is occurring , and that human activities are the primary driver . Many impacts of climate change have already been observed , including glacier retreat , changes in the timing of seasonal events ( e.g. , earlier flowering of plants ) , and changes in agricultural productivity . Future effects of climate change will vary depending on climate change policies and social development . The two main policies to address climate change are reducing human greenhouse gas emissions ( climate change mitigation ) and adapting to the impacts of climate change . Geoengineering is another policy option . Near-term climate change policies could significantly affect long-term climate change impacts . Stringent mitigation policies might be able to limit global warming ( in 2100 ) to around 2 ° C or below , relative to pre-industrial levels . Without mitigation , increased energy demand and extensive use of fossil fuels might lead to global warming of around 4 ° C. Higher magnitudes of global warming would be more difficult to adapt to , and would increase the risk of negative impacts .", "Oxidative coupling of methane The oxidative coupling of methane ( OCM ) is a type of chemical reaction discovered in the 1980s for the direct conversion of natural gas , primarily consisting of methane , into value-added chemicals . Direct conversion of methane into other useful products is one of the most challenging subjects to be studied in heterogeneous catalysis . Methane activation is difficult because of its thermodynamic stability with a noble gas like electronic configuration . The tetrahedral arrangement of strong C -- H bonds ( 435 kJ/mol ) offer no functional group , magnetic moments or polar distributions to undergo chemical attack . This makes methane less reactive than nearly all of its conversion products , limiting efficient utilization of natural gas , the world 's most abundant petrochemical resource .", "Methanotroph Methanotrophs ( sometimes called methanophiles ) are prokaryotes that metabolize methane as their only source of carbon and energy . They can grow aerobically or anaerobically and require single-carbon compounds to survive . These Methanotrophs are currently being modified to absorb methane from the atmosphere , because methane released into the atmosphere contributes to greenhouse gasses , which heat up the earth and cause global warming .", "Maxwell's demon In the philosophy of thermal and statistical physics , Maxwell 's demon is a thought experiment created by the physicist James Clerk Maxwell in which he suggested how the Second Law of Thermodynamics might hypothetically be violated . In the thought experiment , a demon controls a small door between two chambers of gas . As individual gas molecules approach the door , the demon quickly opens and shuts the door so that fast molecules pass into the other chamber , while slow molecules remain in the first chamber . Because faster molecules are hotter , the demon 's behavior causes one chamber to warm up as the other cools , thus decreasing entropy and violating the Second Law of Thermodynamics .", "Atmospheric carbon cycle The atmosphere is one of the Earth 's major carbon reservoirs and an important component of the global carbon cycle , holding approximately 720 gigatons of carbon . Atmospheric carbon plays an important role in the greenhouse effect . The most important carbon compound in this respect is the gas carbon dioxide . Although it is a small percentage of the atmosphere ( approximately 0.04 % on a molar basis ) , it plays a vital role in retaining heat in the atmosphere and thus in the greenhouse effect . Other gases with effects on the climate containing carbon in the atmosphere are methane and chlorofluorocarbons ( the latter is entirely anthropogenic ) . Emissions by humans in the past 200 years have almost doubled the amount carbon dioxide in the atmosphere .", "Impending Doom / Just Briefly ", "Migration of marine species in the Northern Atlantic Ocean The world 's oceans are warming due to climate change . Climate change is caused by three major factors which are the greenhouse effect , variation in the sun 's energy that reaches Earth , and changes in reflectivity within Earth 's atmosphere and its surface . The greenhouse effect is caused by greenhouse gases that absorb sunlight . Energy from the sun that reaches Earth is either retained or sent into space . Greenhouse gases in Earth 's atmosphere such as carbon dioxide , methane , and water vapor absorb energy which cause a blanketing effect that warms the earth . Aerosols such as black carbon also catalyze the warming effect as they are unreflective and absorb energy from the sun supplementing greenhouse gases in the warming effect . These combined factors are warming the Earth 's land as well as the oceans . Many fish species possess a certain range of water temperature that they are able to tolerate which is causing species to migrate to different areas where the water temperature is livable . The warming of the Atlantic Ocean is causing many fish species to shift north towards once cooler waters so they can live within their temperature range . Tropical species are being found outside their normal range and into more northern waters causing an array of ecological , economic , and fishery management problems .", "Arctic resources race The Arctic resources race refers to the competition between global entities for newly available natural resources in the Arctic . As the ice in the Arctic melts at a record rate and the sea ice extent continues to decrease due to global climate change , the Arctic waters become more navigable and Arctic resources -- such as oil and gas , minerals , fish , as well as tourism and new trade routes -- are becoming more accessible . Under the United Nations Convention of the Law of the Sea , five nations have the legal right to exploit the Arctic 's natural resources within their exclusive economic zones : Canada , Russia , Denmark , Norway , and the United States ( though the U.S. has yet to ratify the treaty , it considers the treaty to be customary international law and abides by it ) . The Arctic region and its resources have recently been at the center of controversy and pose potential conflicts between nations that have differing opinions of how to manage the area , including conflicting territorial claims . In addition , the Arctic region is home to an estimated 400,000 indigenous people . If the ice continues to melt at the current rate , then these indigenous people are at risk of being displaced . The acceleration of ice depletion will contribute to climate change as a whole : melting ice releases methane , ice reflects incoming solar radiation , and without it will cause the ocean to absorb more radiation ( albedo effect ) , heating up the water causing more ocean acidification , and melting ice will cause a rise in sea level .", "Wetland methane emissions As one of the most significant natural sources of atmospheric methane , wetlands remain a major area of concern with respect to climate change . Wetlands are characterized by water-logged soils and distinctive communities of plant and animal species that have evolved and adapted to the constant presence of water . Due to this high level of water saturation as well as warm weather , wetlands are one of the most significant natural sources of atmospheric methane . Most methanogenesis , or methane production , occurs in oxygen-poor environments . Because the microbes that live in warm , moist environments consume oxygen more rapidly than it can diffuse in from the atmosphere , wetlands are the ideal anaerobic , or oxygen poor , environments for fermentation . Fermentation is a process used by certain kinds of microorganisms to break down essential nutrients . In a process called acetoclastic methanogenesis , microorganisms from the classification domain archaea produce methane by fermenting acetate and H2-CO2 into methane and carbon dioxide . H3C-COOH → CH4 + CO2 Depending on the wetland and type of archaea , hydrogenotrophic methanogenesis , another process that yields methane , can also occur . This process occurs as a result of archaea oxidizing hydrogen with carbon dioxide to yield methane and water . 4H2 + CO2 → CH4 + 2H2O", "Technological Innovation for Climate Change Mitigation ", "Methanizer Methanizer is an appliance used in gas chromatography , which allows to detect very low concentrations of carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide . It consists of a flame ionization detector , preceded by a hydrogenating reactor , which converts CO2 and CO into methane CH4 .", "Mootral Mootral is the name given to a programme to reduce methane emissions from ruminant animals , chiefly cows and sheep , but also goats . Methane is a major target greenhouse gas and in the 4th protocol report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) is recommended to increase from a x23 to x72 multiplier because of the magnitude of its effect relative to carbon dioxide and short longevity in Earth 's atmosphere .", "Baking powder Baking powder is a dry chemical leavening agent , a mixture of a carbonate or bicarbonate and a weak acid , and is used for increasing the volume and lightening the texture of baked goods . Baking powder works by releasing carbon dioxide gas into a batter or dough through an acid-base reaction , causing bubbles in the wet mixture to expand and thus leavening the mixture . It is used instead of yeast for end-products where fermentation flavors would be undesirable or where the batter lacks the elastic structure to hold gas bubbles for more than a few minutes , or to speed the production . Because carbon dioxide is released at a faster rate through the acid-base reaction than through fermentation , breads made by chemical leavening are called quick breads .", "Carbon tax A carbon tax is a tax levied on the carbon content of fuels . It is a form of carbon pricing . Carbon is present in every hydrocarbon fuel ( coal , petroleum , and natural gas ) and converted to carbon dioxide and other products when combusted . In contrast , non-combustion energy sources -- wind , sunlight , geothermal , hydropower , and nuclear -- do not convert hydrocarbons to . is a heat-trapping `` greenhouse '' gas which represents a negative externality on the climate system ( see scientific opinion on global warming ) . Since GHG emissions caused by the combustion of fossil fuels are closely related to the carbon content of the respective fuels , a tax on these emissions can be levied by taxing the carbon content of fossil fuels at any point in the product cycle of the fuel . Carbon tax offers social and economic benefits . It is a tax that increases revenue without significantly altering the economy while simultaneously promoting objectives of climate change policy . The objective of a carbon tax is to reduce the harmful and unfavorable levels of carbon dioxide emissions , thereby decelerating climate change and its negative effects on the environment and human health . Carbon taxes offer a potentially cost-effective means of reducing greenhouse gas emissions . From an economic perspective , carbon taxes are a type of Pigovian tax . They help to address the problem of emitters of greenhouse gases not facing the full social cost of their actions . Carbon taxes can be a regressive tax , in that they may directly or indirectly affect low-income groups disproportionately . The regressive impact of carbon taxes could be addressed by using tax revenues to favour low-income groups . A number of countries have implemented carbon taxes or energy taxes that are related to carbon content . Most environmentally related taxes with implications for greenhouse gas emissions in OECD countries are levied on energy products and motor vehicles , rather than on emissions directly . Opposition to increased environmental regulation such as carbon taxes often centers on concerns that firms might relocate and/or people might lose their jobs . It has been argued , however , that carbon taxes are more efficient than direct regulation and may even lead to higher employment ( see footnotes ) . Many large users of carbon resources in electricity generation , such as the United States , Russia , and China , are resisting carbon taxation .", "LNG spill A liquefied natural gas ( LNG ) spill can happen during an accident or an intentional act such as terrorism . LNG is normally stored and transported in liquid form at a temperature of approximately -161 ° C . If this cooled liquid is released from a storage facility , pipeline , or LNG transport ship , then it begins to warm . As LNG warms above its storage temperature , the liquid begins to vaporize . The resulting gas produced by this warming is typically methane , which is the major component ( with some ethane ) of natural gas . If a spill occurs and the vapor does not ignite , it would build to higher concentrations . At higher concentrations , the vaporized methane will cause an asphyxiation hazard to anyone exposed . If a spill or leak followed by a vaporization event were to occur in or near water , then water in contact with the spilled LNG can accelerate the vaporization process and increase the concentration of vapor in the immediate area . According to the 2004 Sandia report , this is of special concern to ship and pilot-boat crews , emergency response personnel or others who are exposed in a marine environment . An ignition source close to the origin of the spill is likely to cause ignition and result in rapid burn off of natural gas vapors , rather than an explosion . No cargo explosions have ever been reported .", "Carbon quantum dots ", "Polar amplification Polar amplification is the phenomenon that any change in the net radiation balance ( for example greenhouse intensification ) tends to produce a larger change in temperature near the poles than the planetary average . On a planet with an atmosphere that can restrict longwave radiation to space ( a greenhouse effect ) , surface temperatures will be warmer than a simple planetary equilibrium temperature calculation would predict . Where the atmosphere or an extensive ocean is able to convect heat polewards , the poles will be warmer and equatorial regions cooler than their local net radiation balances would predict . In the extreme , the planet Venus is thought to have experienced a very large increase in greenhouse effect over its lifetime , so much so that its poles have warmed sufficiently to render its surface temperature effectively isothermal ( no difference between poles and equator ) . On Earth , water vapor and trace gasses provide a lesser greenhouse effect , and the atmosphere and extensive oceans provide efficient poleward heat transport . Both palaeoclimate changes and recent global warming changes have exhibited strong polar amplification , as described below .", "Farzad B gas field ", "Copenhagen Diagnosis The Copenhagen Diagnosis is a report written by twenty-six climate scientists from eight countries . It was published in 2009 and was a summary of the peer-reviewed literature to date . The Copenhagen Diagnosis is a follow-up of the previous Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 's Working Group 1 Report . The studies summarized , which date back to the cutoff point of the Working Group 1 Report , are those that authors viewed most relevant to the discussions at the 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference . The Copenhagen Diagnosis served as the midpoint between IPCC -- AR4 and IPCC-AR5 . In total , the Copenhagen Diagnosis contains eight main sections , which are : Surging Greenhouse gas emissions Since 1990 , the combined global emission of carbon dioxide from various origins , such as cement production , deforestation , and fossil fuel burning , has increased 27 % . Human-induced warming Studies conducted by Lee and Rind show that only 10 % of global warming over the past century was due to the Sun . Acceleration of melting ice caps Glaciers and melting ice caps can contribute to about 8/10ths of a meter to global sea level rise . Rapid Arctic sea-ice decline According to simulations run by NCAR Climate System Model version 3 , the Arctic summer is expected to be ice-free by 2040 . Underestimation of changing sea levels In contrast to previous IPCC , the rate of sea level rise ( 3.4 mm/yr over the past 15 years ) has increased around 80 % faster than previously predicted . Damage due to inaction A region of permafrost , called the Yedoma , stores about 500 Gt of CO2 and , once released due to rising global temperatures , will increase global temperatures even more . Turning point must come soon The largest climate science conference , held in 2009 , has stated , `` Temperature rises above 2 ° C will be difficult for contemporary societies to cope with , and are likely to cause major societal and environmental disruptions through the rest of the century and beyond . '' The Future By 2100 , global mean air-temperature is projected to warm by 2 ° C -- 7 ° C above pre-industrial levels .", "Diamonds on Jupiter and Saturn A team of scientists recently claimed that the mix of methane , carbon and lightning in Saturn 's atmosphere is causing diamonds to be forged in the planet 's atmosphere . These diamonds would be around a centimetre in diameter , but could range in size based on the availability of carbon at the time of the diamond 's formation . The new study estimates that there are more than 1,000 tons of diamonds being created every year on Saturn . Mona Delitsky of California Speciality Engineering in Flintridge , and Kevin Baines of the University of Wisconsin-Madison , claimed that it is possible . Saturn 's atmosphere is mostly made up of hydrogen and helium , with trace amounts of methane . When storms form , the lightning causes the methane to decompose , producing hydrogen and elemental carbon . As the carbon falls towards the planet , it may bond together forming graphite , and as the pressure builds up closer to the planet 's core , that graphite may be compressed into diamond . The scientists think the same thing might be happening on Jupiter too . Both scientist laying out their argument at American Astronomical Society 's annual meetings in Division for Planetary Sciences in Denver , Colorado . The new predictions have not been reviewed by peers , but according to a few planetary scientists they are possible . Dr. Raymond Jeanloz said : The idea that there is a depth range within the atmospheres of Jupiter and Saturn within which carbon would be stable as diamond does seem sensible . says Professor Raymond Jeanloz , one of the member of the team who first predicted diamonds on Uranus and Neptune . And given the large sizes of these planets , the amount of carbon ( therefore diamond ) that may be present is hardly negligible . Dr Nadine Nettelmann , of the University of California , Santa Cruz , said further more work was needed to understand whether carbon can form diamonds in an atmosphere which is rich in hydrogen and helium such as Saturn 's", "Life on Titan Whether there is life on Titan , the largest moon of Saturn , is at present an open question and a topic of scientific assessment and research . Titan is far colder than Earth , and its surface lacks stable liquid water , factors which have led some scientists to consider life there unlikely . On the other hand , its thick atmosphere is chemically active and rich in carbon compounds . On the surface there are bodies of liquid methane and ethane ; some scientists speculate that these liquids might take the place of water in living cells different from those on Earth . In June 2010 , scientists analysing data from the Cassini -- Huygens mission reported anomalies in the atmosphere near the surface which could be consistent with the presence of methane-producing organisms , but may alternatively be due to non-living chemical or meteorological processes . The Cassini -- Huygens mission was not equipped to look directly for micro-organisms or to provide a thorough inventory of complex organic compounds .", "Cold weapon ", "JWH-019 JWH-019 is an analgesic chemical from the naphthoylindole family that acts as a cannabinoid agonist at both the CB1 and CB2 receptors . It is the N1-hexyl homologue of the more common synthetic cannabinoid compound JWH-018 . Unlike the butyl homologue JWH-073 , which is several times weaker than JWH-018 , the hexyl homologue is only slightly less potent , although extending the chain one carbon longer to the heptyl homologue JWH-020 results in dramatic loss of activity . These results show that the optimum side chain length for CB1 binding in the naphthoylindole series is the five-carbon pentyl chain , shorter than in the classical cannabinoids where a seven-carbon heptyl chain produces the most potent compounds . This difference is thought to reflect a slightly different binding conformation adopted by the naphthoylindole compounds as compared to the classical cannabinoids , and may be useful in characterising the active site of the CB1 and CB2 receptors ." ]

[ "Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum The Paleocene -- Eocene Thermal Maximum ( PETM ) , alternatively ( ETM1 ) , and formerly known as the `` Initial Eocene '' or '' '' was a time period with more than 8 ° C warmer global average temperature than today . This climate event began at the time boundary between the Paleocene and Eocene geological epochs . The exact age and duration of the event is uncertain but it is estimated to have occurred around 55.5 million years ago . The associated period of massive carbon injection into the atmosphere has been estimated to have lasted no longer than 20,000 years . The entire warm period lasted for about 200,000 years . Global temperatures increased by 5 -- 8 ° C . The carbon dioxide was likely released in two pulses , the first lasting less than 2,000 years . Such a repeated carbon release is in line with current global warming . A main difference is that during the Paleocene -- Eocene Thermal Maximum , the planet was essentially ice-free . The onset of the Paleocene -- Eocene Thermal Maximum has been linked to an initial 5 ° C temperature rise and to extreme changes in Earth 's carbon cycle . The period is marked by a prominent negative excursion in carbon stable isotope records from around the globe ; more specifically , there was a large decrease in 13C/12C ratio of marine and terrestrial carbonates and organic carbon . Stratigraphic sections of rock from this period reveal numerous other changes . Fossil records for many organisms show major turnovers . For example , in the marine realm , a mass extinction of benthic foraminifera , a global expansion of subtropical dinoflagellates , and an appearance of excursion , planktic foraminifera and calcareous nanofossils all occurred during the beginning stages of PETM . On land , modern mammal orders ( including primates ) suddenly appear in Europe and in North America . Sediment deposition changed significantly at many outcrops and in many drill cores spanning this time interval . At least since 1997 , the Paleocene -- Eocene Thermal Maximum has become a focal point of considerable geoscience research because it probably provides the best past analog by which to understand impacts of global climate warming and of massive carbon input to the ocean and atmosphere , including ocean acidification . Although it is now widely accepted that the PETM represents a `` case study '' for global warming and massive carbon input to Earth 's surface , the cause , details and overall significance of the event remain perplexing .", "Antarctica Antarctica ( UK English -LSB- ænˈtɑːktɪkə -RSB- or -LSB- ænˈtɑːtɪkə -RSB- , US English -LSB- æntˈɑːrktɪkə -RSB- ) is Earth 's southernmost continent . It contains the geographic South Pole and is situated in the Antarctic region of the Southern Hemisphere , almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle , and is surrounded by the Southern Ocean . At 14000000 km2 , it is the fifth-largest continent . For comparison , Antarctica is nearly twice the size of Australia . About 98 % of Antarctica is covered by ice that averages 1.9 km in thickness , which extends to all but the northernmost reaches of the Antarctic Peninsula . Antarctica , on average , is the coldest , driest , and windiest continent , and has the highest average elevation of all the continents . Antarctica is a desert , with annual precipitation of only 200 mm ( 8 in ) along the coast and far less inland . The temperature in Antarctica has reached − 89.2 ° C ( − 128.6 ° F ) , though the average for the third quarter ( the coldest part of the year ) is − 63 ° C ( − 81 ° F ) . Anywhere from 1,000 to 5,000 people reside throughout the year at the research stations scattered across the continent . Organisms native to Antarctica include many types of algae , bacteria , fungi , plants , protista , and certain animals , such as mites , nematodes , penguins , seals and tardigrades . Vegetation , where it occurs , is tundra . Although myths and speculation about a Terra Australis ( `` Southern Land '' ) date back to antiquity , Antarctica is noted as the last region on Earth in recorded history to be discovered and colonised by humans , being only first sighted in 1820 by the Russian expedition of Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen and Mikhail Lazarev on Vostok and Mirny , who sighted the Fimbul ice shelf . The continent , however , remained largely neglected for the rest of the 19th century because of its hostile environment , lack of easily accessible resources , and isolation . In 1895 , the first confirmed landing was conducted by a team of Norwegians . Antarctica is a de facto condominium , governed by parties to the Antarctic Treaty System that have consulting status . Twelve countries signed the Antarctic Treaty in 1959 , and thirty-eight have signed it since then . The treaty prohibits military activities and mineral mining , prohibits nuclear explosions and nuclear waste disposal , supports scientific research , and protects the continent 's ecozone . Ongoing experiments are conducted by more than 4,000 scientists from many nations .", "Coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams . The harder forms , such as anthracite coal , can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure . Coal is composed primarily of carbon , along with variable quantities of other elements , chiefly hydrogen , sulfur , oxygen , and nitrogen . A fossil fuel , coal forms when dead plant matter is converted into peat , which in turn is converted into lignite , then sub-bituminous coal , after that bituminous coal , and lastly anthracite . This involves biological and geological processes that take place over time . Throughout human history , coal has been used as an energy resource , primarily burned for the production of electricity and heat , and is also used for industrial purposes , such as refining metals . Coal is the largest source of energy for the generation of electricity worldwide , as well as one of the largest worldwide anthropogenic sources of carbon dioxide releases . The extraction of coal , its use in energy production and its byproducts are all associated with environmental and health effects including climate change . Coal is extracted from the ground by coal mining . Since 1983 , the world 's top coal producer has been China . In 2015 China produced 3,747 million tonnes of coal -- 47.7 % of 7,861 million tonnes world coal production . In 2015 other large producers were United States ( 813 million tonnes ) , India ( 678 ) , European Union ( 539 ) and Australia ( 503 ) . In 2010 the largest exporters were Australia with 328 million tonnes ( 27.1 % of world coal export ) and Indonesia with 316 million tonnes ( 26.1 % ) , while the largest importers were Japan with 207 million tonnes ( 17.5 % of world coal import ) , China with 195 million tonnes ( 16.6 % ) and South Korea with 126 million tonnes ( 10.7 % ) .", "Global warming Global warming , also referred to as climate change , is the observed century-scale rise in the average temperature of the Earth 's climate system and its related effects . Multiple lines of scientific evidence show that the climate system is warming . Many of the observed changes since the 1950s are unprecedented in the instrumental temperature record which extends back to the mid 19th century , and in paleoclimate proxy records over thousands of years . In 2013 , the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) Fifth Assessment Report concluded that `` It is extremely likely that human influence has been the dominant cause of the observed warming since the mid-20th century . '' The largest human influence has been emission of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide , methane and nitrous oxide . Climate model projections summarized in the report indicated that during the 21st century the global surface temperature is likely to rise a further 0.3 to for their lowest emissions scenario and 2.6 to for the highest emissions scenario . These findings have been recognized by the national science academies of the major industrialized nations and are not disputed by any scientific body of national or international standing . Future climate change and associated impacts will differ from region to region around the globe . Anticipated effects include warming global temperature , rising sea levels , changing precipitation , and expansion of deserts in the subtropics . Warming is expected to be greater over land than over the oceans and greatest in the Arctic , with the continuing retreat of glaciers , permafrost and sea ice . Other likely changes include more frequent extreme weather events including heat waves , droughts , heavy rainfall with floods and heavy snowfall ; ocean acidification ; and species extinctions due to shifting temperature regimes . Effects significant to humans include the threat to food security from decreasing crop yields and the abandonment of populated areas due to rising sea levels . Because the climate system has a large `` inertia '' and greenhouse gases will stay in the atmosphere for a long time , many of these effects will not only exist for decades or centuries , but will persist for tens of thousands of years . Possible societal responses to global warming include mitigation by emissions reduction , adaptation to its effects , building systems resilient to its effects , and possible future climate engineering . Most countries are parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change ( UNFCCC ) , whose ultimate objective is to prevent dangerous anthropogenic climate change . Parties to the UNFCCC have agreed that deep cuts in emissions are required and that global warming should be limited to well below 2.0 C-change relative to pre-industrial levels , with efforts made to limit warming to 1.5 C-change . Public reactions to global warming and concern about its effects are also increasing . A global 2015 Pew Research Center report showed a median of 54 % consider it `` a very serious problem '' . There are significant regional differences , with Americans and Chinese ( whose economies are responsible for the greatest annual CO2 emissions ) among the least concerned .", "Ice age An ice age is a period of long-term reduction in the temperature of Earth 's surface and atmosphere , resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers . Within a long-term ice age , individual pulses of cold climate are termed `` glacial periods '' ( or alternatively `` glacials '' or `` glaciations '' or colloquially as `` ice age '' ) , and intermittent warm periods are called `` interglacials '' . In the terminology of glaciology , ice age implies the presence of extensive ice sheets in both northern and southern hemispheres . By this definition , we are in an interglacial period -- the Holocene -- of the ice age . The ice age began 2.6 million years ago at the start of the Pleistocene epoch , because the Greenland , Arctic , and Antarctic ice sheets still exist ." ]

[ "Cap and Share Cap and Share was originally developed by Feasta ( the Foundation for the Economics of Sustainability ) and is a regulatory and economic framework for controlling the use of fossil fuels in relation to climate stabilisation . Accepting that climate change is a global problem and that there is a need to cap and reduce greenhouse gas emissions globally , the philosophy of Cap and Share maintains that the earth 's atmosphere is a fundamental common resource . Consequently , it is argued , each individual should get an equal share of the benefits from the limited amount of fossil fuels that will have to be burned and their emissions released into the atmosphere in the period until the atmospheric concentration of greenhouse gases has been stabilised at a safe level .", "ExxonMobil climate change controversy The ExxonMobil climate change controversy is the controversy around ExxonMobil 's activities related to climate change , especially their promotion of climate change denial . Since the 1970s , ExxonMobil engaged in research , lobbying , advertising , and grant making , some of which were conducted with the purpose of delaying widespread acceptance and action on global warming . From the late 1970s and through the 1980s , Exxon funded internal and university collaborations , broadly in line with the developing public scientific approach . After the 1980s , the company was a leader in climate change denial , opposing regulations to curtail global warming . ExxonMobil funded organizations critical of the Kyoto Protocol and seeking to undermine public opinion about the scientific consensus that global warming is caused by the burning of fossil fuels . Exxon helped to found and lead the Global Climate Coalition of businesses opposed to the regulation of greenhouse gas emissions .", "Hurricane Katrina and global warming The tremendous destruction caused by recent Atlantic Ocean tropical cyclones , such as Hurricanes Katrina , Wilma , and Sandy caused a substantial upsurge in interest in the subject of global warming by news media and the wider public , and concerns that global climatic change may have played a significant role in those events . Time Magazine , for example , published an article titled , `` Is Global Warming Fueling Katrina ? '' -- however , the article itself addressed hurricanes in general , rather than Katrina specifically , and was inconclusive . Shortly after the hurricane , former Boston Globe reporter Ross Gelbspan wrote an op-ed piece for the Globe titled , `` Katrina 's Real Name '' , declaring that the hurricane 's `` real name is global warming . '' Gelbspan went on to assert : `` Although Katrina began as a relatively small hurricane that glanced off south Florida , it was supercharged with extraordinary intensity by the relatively blistering sea surface temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico . '' Gelbspan did not single out Katrina from other recent storms in that regard ; in the article he went on to attribute other major weather events over the preceding year to global warming , including a blizzard in Los Angeles , high winds in Scandinavia , wildfires in Spain , and a drought centered in Missouri . Britain 's then deputy prime minister , John Prescott , has linked Katrina with global warming , and statements made shortly after the hurricane by Germany 's environment minister , Jürgen Trittin , indicate he believes that global warming is responsible for an increase in the frequency of destructive natural events . Kerry Emanuel had recently published a paper in the journal Nature that found a good correlation between hurricane intensity and sea surface temperatures . Some journalists have claimed Emanuel 's paper concludes that the recent increase in intense Atlantic storms is due to global warming , but Emanuel stated that `` it would be absurd to attribute the Katrina disaster to global warming '' . The Internet blog RealClimate has written that `` there is no way to prove that Katrina either was , or was not , affected by global warming '' .", "Scientific opinion on climate change The scientific opinion on climate change is the overall judgment among scientists regarding the extent to which global warming is occurring , its causes , and its probable consequences . The scientific consensus is that the Earth 's climate system is unequivocally warming , and that it is extremely likely ( meaning 95 % probability or higher ) that this warming is predominantly caused by humans . It is likely that this mainly arises from increased concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere , such as from deforestation and the burning of fossil fuels , partially offset by human caused increases in aerosols ; natural changes had little effect . This scientific opinion is expressed in synthesis reports , by scientific bodies of national or international standing , and by surveys of opinion among climate scientists . Individual scientists , universities , and laboratories contribute to the overall scientific opinion via their peer-reviewed publications , and the areas of collective agreement and relative certainty are summarised in these respected reports and surveys . National and international science academies and scientific societies have assessed current scientific opinion on global warming . These assessments are generally consistent with the conclusions of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change . The IPCC Fourth Assessment Report stated that : Warming of the climate system is unequivocal , as evidenced by increases in global average air and ocean temperatures , the widespread melting of snow and ice , and rising global average sea level . Most of the global warming since the mid-20th century is very likely due to human activities . Benefits and costs of climate change for -LSB- human -RSB- society will vary widely by location and scale . Some of the effects in temperate and polar regions will be positive and others elsewhere will be negative . Overall , net effects are more likely to be strongly negative with larger or more rapid warming . The range of published evidence indicates that the net damage costs of climate change are likely to be significant and to increase over time . The resilience of many ecosystems is likely to be exceeded this century by an unprecedented combination of climate change , associated disturbances ( e.g. flooding , drought , wildfire , insects , ocean acidification ) and other global change drivers ( e.g. land-use change , pollution , fragmentation of natural systems , over-exploitation of resources ) . Some scientific bodies have recommended specific policies to governments , and science can play a role in informing an effective response to climate change . Policy decisions , however , may require value judgements and so are not included in the scientific opinion . No scientific body of national or international standing maintains a formal opinion dissenting from any of these main points . The last national or international scientific body to drop dissent was the American Association of Petroleum Geologists , which in 2007 updated its statement to its current non-committal position . Some other organizations , primarily those focusing on geology , also hold non-committal positions .", "Green paradox The green paradox , identified by German economist Hans-Werner Sinn , is the observation that an environmental policy that becomes greener with the passage of time acts like an announced expropriation for the owners of fossil fuel resources , inducing them to accelerate resource extraction and hence to accelerate global warming .", "Global warming controversy The global warming controversy concerns the public debate over whether global warming is occurring , how much has occurred in modern times , what has caused it , what its effects will be , whether any action should be taken to curb it , and if so what that action should be . In the scientific literature , there is a strong consensus that global surface temperatures have increased in recent decades and that the trend is caused by human-induced emissions of greenhouse gases . No scientific body of national or international standing disagrees with this view , though a few organizations with members in extractive industries hold non-committal positions . Disputes over the key scientific facts of global warming are more prevalent in the media than in the scientific literature , where such issues are treated as resolved , and such disputes are more prevalent in the United States than globally . Political and popular debate concerning the existence and cause of climate change includes the reasons for the increase seen in the instrumental temperature record , whether the warming trend exceeds normal climatic variations , and whether human activities have contributed significantly to it . Scientists have resolved these questions decisively in favour of the view that the current warming trend exists and is ongoing , that human activity is the cause , and that it is without precedent in at least 2000 years . Public disputes that also reflect scientific debate include estimates of how responsive the climate system might be to any given level of greenhouse gases ( climate sensitivity ) , how global climate change will play out at local and regional scales , and what the consequences of global warming will be . Global warming remains an issue of widespread political debate , often split along party political lines , especially in the United States . Many of the issues that are settled within the scientific community , such as human responsibility for global warming , remain the subject of politically or economically motivated attempts to downplay , dismiss or deny them -- an ideological phenomenon categorised by academics and scientists as climate change denial . The sources of funding for those involved with climate science -- both supporting and opposing mainstream scientific positions -- have been questioned by both sides . There are debates about the best policy responses to the science , their cost-effectiveness and their urgency . Climate scientists , especially in the United States , have reported official and oil-industry pressure to censor or suppress their work and hide scientific data , with directives not to discuss the subject in public communications . Legal cases regarding global warming , its effects , and measures to reduce it have reached American courts . The fossil fuels lobby has been identified as overtly or covertly supporting efforts to undermine or discredit the scientific consensus on global warming .", "Alternative energy Alternative energy is any energy source that is an alternative to fossil fuel . These alternatives are intended to address concerns about such fossil fuels , such as its high carbon dioxide emissions , an important factor in global warming . Marine energy , hydroelectric , wind , geothermal and solar power are all alternative sources of energy . The nature of what constitutes an alternative energy source has changed considerably over time , as have controversies regarding energy use . Because of the variety of energy choices and differing goals of their advocates , defining some energy types as `` alternative '' is considered very controversial .", "Carbon diet A carbon diet refers to reducing the impact on climate change by reducing greenhouse gas production specifically , CO2 production . In today 's society , we produce CO2 in every day activities such as driving , heating , deforestation and the burning of fossil fuels such as coal , oil and gas . It has been found that carbon dioxide from the burning of coal , natural gas , and oil for electricity and heat is the largest single source of global greenhouse gas emissions . For years , governments and corporations have been attempting to balance out their emissions by participating in carbon-offsetting -- the practice in which they invest in renewable energy to compensate for the global-warming pollution that they produce . Despite these efforts the results are still far off and we continue to see growth in CO2 concentration . Now , a growing number of individuals are trying to make a reduction in the amount of CO2 that is being produced by participating in low carbon dieting . This small adjustment in household CO2 production has the potential to reduce emissions much more quickly than other kinds of changes and it deserves explicit consideration as part of climate policy . It can potentially help avoid `` overshoot '' of greenhouse gas concentration targets ; provide a demonstration effect ; reduce emissions at low cost ; and buy time to develop new technologies , policies , and institutions to reach long-term greenhouse gas emission targets and to develop adaptation strategies .", "The Sacred Balance The Sacred Balance is a book by environmentalist David Suzuki , which is in its second edition as of 2007 . The book explores human society 's impact on the natural world , both for the planet and the people living on it . Suzuki reveals how dependent humankind is upon the planet 's water , soil , sunlight , and the breath of its vegetation . Threats to the planet 's balance , ranging from toxic pollution to global warming are also discussed . A series of documentary films , also called The Sacred Balance , is based on the book produced by Kensington Communications , Inc. . Producer Robert Lang was the producer of the series .", "List of power stations in Denmark This is a list of fuel-burn power stations in Denmark ; fuel types are fossil or biomass .", "Spoiled (film) Spoiled ( stylized as spOILed ) is a 2011 documentary film about energy myths , environmental issues with energy , the problems with alternative energy , and the global warming controversy associated with energy . Spoiled also discusses wind energy , solar energy , fossil fuels , green energy , alternative energy , and sustainable energy as a part of its renewable energy documentary scope .", "Effects of global warming on oceans Global warming can affect sea levels , coastlines , ocean acidification , ocean currents , seawater , sea surface temperatures , tides , the sea floor , weather , and trigger several changes in ocean bio-geochemistry ; all of these affect the functioning of a society .", "Carbon bubble The carbon bubble is a hypothesized bubble in the valuation of companies dependent on fossil-fuel-based energy production , because the true costs of carbon dioxide in intensifying global warming are not yet taken into account in a company 's stock market valuation . Currently the price of fossil fuels companies ' shares is calculated under the assumption that all fossil fuel reserves will be consumed . An estimate made by Kepler Chevreux puts the loss in value of the fossil fuel companies due to the impact of the growing renewables industry at US$ 28 trillion over the next two decades-long . A more recent analysis made by Citi puts that figure at $ 100 trillion . Analysts in both the petroleum and financial industries are concluding that the `` age of oil '' has already reached a new stage where the excess supply that appeared in late 2014 may continue to prevail in the future . A consensus appears to be emerging that an international agreement will be reached to introduce measures to constrain the combustion of hydrocarbons in an effort to limit global temperature rise to the nominal 2 ° C that is consensually predicted to limit environmental harm to tolerable levels . According to the UK 's Committee on Climate Change , overvaluing companies that produce fossil fuels and greenhouse gases poses a serious threat to the economy . The committee warned the British government and Bank of England of the risks of the carbon bubble in 2014 . The following year , Mark Carney , the Governor of the Bank of England , in his lecture to Lloyd 's of London , warned that limiting global warming to 2 ° C appears to require that the `` vast majority '' of fossil fuel reserves be `` stranded '' , or `` literally unburnable without expensive carbon-capture technology '' , resulting in `` potentially huge '' exposure to investors in that sector . He concluded that `` the window of opportunity is finite and shrinking '' for responding to the threat that climate change poses to financial resilience and longer-term prosperity , which he called the `` tragedy of the horizon '' . That same month , the Prudential Regulation Authority of the Bank of England issued a report discussing the risks and opportunities that climate change presents to the insurance industry . In his speech announcing his denial of the proposal to build the Keystone XL oil pipeline , U.S. President Barack Obama gave as one reason for the decision '' ... ultimately , if we 're going to prevent large parts of this Earth from becoming not only inhospitable but uninhabitable in our lifetimes , we 're going to have to keep some fossil fuels in the ground ... '' .", "Power to Save the World Power to Save the World : The Truth About Nuclear Energy ( Knopf , 2007 ) , by Gwyneth Cravens , is an introduction to the benefits of nuclear power and the science behind it . It is written for members of the lay public who want to learn more about nuclear power , environmentalists concerned about global warming due to fossil fuel combustion ; and scientists and others who work in the nuclear world .", "Effects of global warming on human health The effects of global warming include effects on human health . The observed and projected increased frequency and severity of climate related impacts will further exacerbate the effects on human health . This article describes some of those effects on individuals and populations .", "Tectonics Tectonics , from the Late Latin tectonicus from the Ancient Greek τεκτονικός , `` pertaining to building '' , is the process that controls the structure and properties of the Earth 's crust and its evolution through time . In particular , it describes the processes of mountain building , the growth and behavior of the strong , old cores of continents known as cratons , and the ways in which the relatively rigid plates that constitute the Earth 's outer shell interact with each other . Tectonics also provides a framework for understanding the earthquake and volcanic belts that directly affect much of the global population . Tectonic studies are important as guides for economic geologists searching for fossil fuels and ore deposits of metallic and nonmetallic resources . An understanding of tectonic principles is essential to geomorphologists to explain erosion patterns and other Earth surface features .", "Carbon sequestration Carbon sequestration is the process involved in carbon capture and the long-term storage of atmospheric carbon dioxide . Carbon sequestration involves long-term storage of carbon dioxide or other forms of carbon to mitigate or defer global warming . It has been proposed as a way to slow the atmospheric and marine accumulation of greenhouse gases , which are released by burning fossil fuels . Carbon dioxide is naturally captured from the atmosphere through biological , chemical , and physical processes . Artificial processes have been devised to produce similar effects , including large-scale , artificial capture and sequestration of industrially produced using subsurface saline aquifers , reservoirs , ocean water , aging oil fields , or other carbon sinks .", "Petroleum Petroleum ( from petra #Greek : `` rock '' + oleum #Latin : `` oil '' . ) is a naturally occurring , yellow-to-black liquid found in geological formations beneath the Earth 's surface , which is commonly refined into various types of fuels . Components of petroleum are separated using a technique called fractional distillation . It consists of hydrocarbons of various molecular weights and other organic compounds . The name petroleum covers both naturally occurring unprocessed crude oil and petroleum products that are made up of refined crude oil . A fossil fuel , petroleum is formed when large quantities of dead organisms , usually zooplankton and algae , are buried underneath sedimentary rock and subjected to both intense heat and pressure . Petroleum has mostly been recovered by oil drilling ( natural petroleum springs are rare ) . Drilling is carried out after studies of structural geology ( at the reservoir scale ) , sedimentary basin analysis , and reservoir characterization ( mainly in terms of the porosity and permeability of geologic reservoir structures ) have been completed . It is refined and separated , most easily by distillation , into a large number of consumer products , from gasoline ( petrol ) and kerosene to asphalt and chemical reagents used to make plastics and pharmaceuticals . Petroleum is used in manufacturing a wide variety of materials , and it is estimated that the world consumes about 95 million barrels each day . Concern over the depletion of the earth 's finite reserves of oil , and the effect this would have on a society dependent on it , is a concept known as peak oil . The use of fossil fuels , such as petroleum , will have a negative impact on Earth 's biosphere , damaging ecosystems through events such as oil spills and releasing a range of pollutants into the air including ground-level ozone and sulfur dioxide from sulfur impurities in fossil fuels . The burning of fossil fuels plays the major role in the current episode of global warming .", "Climate change in popular culture The issue of climate change and global warming , their possible effects , and related human-environment interaction have entered popular culture since the late 20th century . Science historian Naomi Oreskes has noted , `` There 's a huge disconnect between what professional scientists have studied and learned in the last 30 years , and what is out there in the popular culture . '' An academic study contrasts the relatively rapid acceptance of ozone depletion as reflected in popular culture with the much slower acceptance of the scientific consensus on global warming .", "Ende Gelände 2016 Ende Gelände 2016 was a large civil disobedience protest movement in Germany to limit global warming through fossil fuel phase-out . 3,500 -- 4,000 environmental activists from twelve countries blocked the Welzow-Süd open-pit coal mine and the coal-fired Schwarze Pumpe power station , then owned by Vattenfall ( Spremberg ) , from 13 to 15 May 2016 .", "Warm air intake A warm air intake or WAI is a system to decrease the amount of the air going into a car for the purpose of increasing the fuel economy of the internal-combustion engine . This term may also be used to describe a short ram air intake , a totally different intake modification . All warm air intakes operate on the principle of decreasing the amount of oxygen available for combustion with fuel . Warm air from inside the engine bay is used opposed to air taken from the generally more restrictive stock intake . Warmer air is less dense , and thus contains less oxygen to burn fuel in . The car 's ECU compensates by opening the throttle wider to admit more air . This , in turn , decreases the resistance the engine must overcome to suck air in . The net effect is for the engine to intake the same amount of oxygen ( and thus burn the same amount of fuel , producing the same power ) but with less pumping losses , allowing for a gain in fuel economy , at the expense of top-end power . Opposite principle of a cold air intake ( CAI ) which significantly differs by collecting air from a colder source outside the engine . In the extreme , a warm air intake can eliminate the need for a conventional throttle and thus eliminate throttle losses .", "Mark Z. Jacobson Mark Zachary Jacobson ( born 1965 ) is professor of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford University and director of its Atmosphere and Energy Program . Jacobson develops computer models about the effects of different energy technologies and their emissions on air pollution and climate . He has done influential research on the role of aerosols and black carbon on the climate and is regarded as a leading aerosol climate modeler . According to Jacobson , a speedy transition to clean , renewable energy is required to reduce the potential acceleration of global warming , including the disappearance of the Arctic Sea ice . This change will also eliminate 2.5 -- 3 million deaths worldwide each year , related to air pollution , and reduce disruption associated with fossil fuel shortages .", "Friends of Science Friends of Science ( FoS ) is a Canadian non-profit advocacy organization based in Calgary , Alberta . The organization takes a position that humans are largely not responsible for the currently observed global warming , contrary to the established scientific position on the subject . Rather , they propose that `` the Sun is the main direct and indirect driver of climate change , '' not human activity . They argued against the Kyoto Protocol . The society was founded in 2002 and launched its website in October of that year . They are considered by many to promote climate change denial . They are largely funded by the fossil fuel industry . Madhav Khandekar , Chris de Freitas , Tim Patterson and Sallie Baliunas act as advisers to the Friends of Science with their work cited in Friends ' publications . Douglas Leahey has been president since December , 2009 .", "List of coal fired power stations in Australia These fossil fuel power stations burn coal to power steam turbines that generate some or all of the electricity they produce .", "Climate change in Massachusetts Formet Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick has signed into law three global warming and energy-related bills that will promote advanced biofuels , support the growth of the clean energy technology industry , and cut the emissions of greenhouse gases within the state . The Clean Energy Biofuels Act , signed in late July , exempts cellulosic ethanol from the state 's gasoline tax , but only if the ethanol achieves a 60 % reduction in greenhouse gas emissions relative to gasoline . The act also requires all diesel motor fuels and all No. 2 fuel oil sold for heating to include at least 2 % `` substitute fuel '' by July 2010 , where substitute fuel is defined as a fuel derived from renewable non-food biomass that achieves at least a 50 % reduction in greenhouse gas emissions . The requirement for both motor diesel fuel and heating oil increases by a percentage point per year until 2013 , after which it holds steady 5 % . The act also allows the state to expand the requirement to other forms of fuel oil , and it requires the state to work to establish a low-carbon fuel standard under the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative . In early August of 2008 , Governor Patrick signed two additional bills : the Green Jobs Act and the Global Warming Solutions Act . The Green Jobs Act will support the growth of a clean energy technology industry within the state , backed by $ 68 million in funding over 5 years . The Global Warming Solutions Act requires a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in the state to 10 % -25 % below 1990 levels by 2020 and to 80 % below 1990 levels by 2050 . Under the act , the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection will carry the burdens of determining the baseline level of emissions in 1990 and creating a plan to meet the future emissions limits , including the establishment of interim limits for 2030 and 2040", "Flue-gas emissions from fossil-fuel combustion Flue-gas emissions from fossil-fuel combustion refers to the combustion-product gas resulting from the burning of fossil fuels . Most fossil fuels are combusted with ambient air ( as differentiated from combustion with pure oxygen ) . Since ambient air contains about 79 volume percent gaseous nitrogen ( N2 ) , which is essentially non-combustible , the largest part of the flue gas from most fossil-fuel combustion is uncombusted nitrogen . Carbon dioxide , the next largest part of flue gas , can be as much as 10 − 25 volume percent or more of the flue gas . This is closely followed in volume by water vapor ( H2O ) created by the combustion of the hydrogen in the fuel with atmospheric oxygen . Much of the ` smoke ' seen pouring from flue gas stacks is this water vapor forming a cloud as it contacts cool air . A typical flue gas from the combustion of fossil fuels contains very small amounts of nitrogen oxides ( NOx ) , sulfur dioxide ( SO2 ) and particulate matter . The nitrogen oxides are derived from the nitrogen in the ambient air as well as from any nitrogen-containing compounds in the fossil fuel . The sulfur dioxide is derived from any sulfur-containing compounds in the fuels . The particulate matter is composed of very small particles of solid materials and very small liquid droplets which give flue gases their smoky appearance . The steam generators in large power plants and the process furnaces in large refineries , petrochemical and chemical plants , and incinerators burn considerable amounts of fossil fuels and therefore emit large amounts of flue gas to the ambient atmosphere . The table below presents the total amounts of flue gas typically generated by the burning of fossil fuels such as natural gas , fuel oil and coal . The data were obtained by stoichiometric calculations . It is of interest to note that the total amount of flue gas generated by coal combustion is only 10 percent higher than the flue gas generated by natural-gas combustion . Note : m ³ are standard cubic meters at 0 ° C and 101.325 kPa , and scf is standard cubic feet at 60 ° F and 14.696 psia .", "The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels is a 2014 book by American energy theorist Alex Epstein , in which Epstein argues that , although sometimes labeled as `` immoral , '' the use of fossil fuels dramatically improves the overall progress of humanity , and improves life expectancy and income . The book was a New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller .", "Combustion chamber A combustion chamber is that part of an internal combustion engine ( ICE ) in which the fuel/air mix is burned .", "False balance False balance is a real or perceived media bias in which journalists present an issue as being more balanced between opposing viewpoints than the evidence supports . Journalists may present evidence and arguments out of proportion to the actual evidence for each side , or may omit information that would establish one side 's claims as baseless . Examples of false balance in reporting on science issues include the topics of man-made versus natural climate change , the alleged relation between thimerosal and autism and evolution versus intelligent design . An example of false balance is the `` debate '' on global warming ; although the scientific community almost unanimously attributes global warming to the effects of the industrial revolution , there is a very small number , a few dozen scientists out of tens of thousands of scientists , who dispute the conclusion . Giving equal voice to scientists on both sides makes it seem like there is a serious disagreement within the scientific community , when in fact there is an overwhelming scientific consensus that anthropogenic global warming exists . False balance can sometimes originate from similar motives as sensationalism , where producers and editors may feel that a story portrayed as a contentious debate will be more commercially successful than a more accurate account of the issue . However , unlike most other media biases , false balance may stem from an attempt to avoid bias ; producers and editors may confuse treating competing views fairly -- i.e. , in proportion to their actual merits and significance -- with treating them equally , giving them equal time to present their views even when those views may be known beforehand to be based on false information .", "Cynodont The cynodonts ( `` dog teeth '' ) , in the clade Cynodontia , are therapsids that first appeared in the Late Permian ( approximately 260 Ma ) . The group includes modern mammals ( including humans ) as well as their extinct ancestors and close relatives . Nonmammalian cynodonts spread throughout southern Gondwana and are represented by fossils from South America , Africa , India , and Antarctica . In the northern continents , fossils have been found in eastern North America as well as in Belgium and northwestern France . Cynodontia is one of the most diverse groups of therapsids .", "Crude Impact Crude Impact is a 2006 film written and directed by James Jandak Wood . It is a documentary about the effect of fossil fuels on issues such as global warming , the environmental crisis , society and the questionable practices of oil companies . Crude Impact was an official selection at over thirty film festivals around the world . The film had a limited theatrical release in the United States and Canada . It has been broadcast on television in several countries . Crude Impact has been translated into French , Spanish , Czech , Turkish and Finnish .", "Journal for Geoclimatic Studies The Journal for Geoclimatic Studies is the name given to a nonexistent journal which published a fabricated global warming study in November 2007 entitled , `` Carbon dioxide production by benthic bacteria : the death of manmade global warming theory ? '' The published study identified the Journal for Geoclimatic Studies as an official publication of Okinawa University 's Institute for Geoclimatic Studies ( The Institute for Geoclimatic Studies is also fraudulent and does not exist ) . The spurious study , ostensibly authored by Daniel Klein and Mandeep J. Gupta of the University of Arizona 's Department of Climatology , and Philip Cooper and Arne FR Jansson at the University of Gothenburg 's Department of Atmospheric Physics , claimed that global warming was not human caused , but the work of carbon-dioxide emitting bacteria based on the ocean floor . The report was circulated by a number of global warming skeptics before discovery that the study authors and university departments identified in the publication did not exist . The website where the study was published was taken down once the deception was revealed , and its ownership was traced to David Thorpe , a science journalist and web designer based in the United Kingdom . The true author of the article is purportedly a man identifying himself as Mark Cox , who has claimed the hoax was designed to expose the gullibility and scientific illiteracy of global warming skeptics ." ]

[ "Sunlight Sunlight is a portion of the electromagnetic radiation given off by the Sun , in particular infrared , visible , and ultraviolet light . On Earth , sunlight is filtered through Earth 's atmosphere , and is obvious as daylight when the Sun is above the horizon . When the direct solar radiation is not blocked by clouds , it is experienced as sunshine , a combination of bright light and radiant heat . When it is blocked by clouds or reflects off other objects , it is experienced as diffused light . The World Meteorological Organization uses the term `` sunshine duration '' to mean the cumulative time during which an area receives direct irradiance from the Sun of at least 120 watts per square meter . Other sources indicate an `` Average over the entire earth '' of `` 164 Watts per square meter over a 24 hour day '' . The ultraviolet radiation in sunlight has both positive and negative health effects , as it is both a principal source of vitamin D3 and a mutagen . Sunlight takes about 8.3 minutes to reach Earth from the surface of the Sun . A photon starting at the center of the Sun and changing direction every time it encounters a charged particle would take between 10,000 and 170,000 years to get to the surface . Sunlight is a key factor in photosynthesis , the process used by plants and other autotrophic organisms to convert light energy , normally from the Sun , into chemical energy that can be used to fuel the organisms ' activities ." ]

[ "Flick (physics) In optical engineering and telecommunications engineering , the flick is a unit of spectral radiance . One flick corresponds to a spectral radiance of 1 watt per steradian per square centimeter of surface per micrometer of span in wavelength ( W · sr − 1 · cm − 2 · μm − 1 ) . This is equivalent to 1010 watts per steradian per cubic meter ( W · sr − 1 · m − 3 ) . In practice , spectral radiance is typically measured in microflicks ( 10 − 6 flicks ) . One microflick is equivalent to 10 kilowatts per steradian per cubic meter ( kW · sr − 1 · m − 3 ) .", "Foot-lambert A foot-lambert or footlambert ( fL , sometimes fl or ft-L ) is a unit of luminance in United States customary units and some other unit systems . A foot-lambert equals 1 / π candela per square foot , or 3.426 candela per square meter ( the corresponding SI unit ) . The foot-lambert is named after Johann Heinrich Lambert ( 1728 -- 1777 ) , a Swiss-German mathematician , physicist and astronomer . It is rarely used by electrical and lighting engineers , in favor of the candela per square foot or candela per square meter . The luminance of a perfect Lambertian diffuse reflecting surface in foot-lamberts is equal to the incident illuminance in foot-candles . For real diffuse reflectors , the ratio of luminance to illuminance in these units is roughly equal to the reflectance of the surface . Mathematically , , where is the luminance , in foot-lamberts , is the illuminance , in foot-candles , and is the reflectivity , expressed as a fractional number ( for example , a grey card with 18 % reflectivity would have ) . The foot-lambert is used in the motion picture industry for measuring the luminance of images on a projection screen . The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers ( SMPTE ) recommended , in SMPTE 196M , a screen luminance of 16 foot-lamberts for commercial movie theaters , when measured `` open-gate '' ( i.e. with no film in the projector ) . ( Typical base density of 0.05 yields peak white of about 14 fL . ) The current revision of SMPTE 196M specifies 55 candela per square meter ( nits ) . The foot-lambert is also used in the flight simulation industry to measure the highlight brightness of visual display systems . The minimum required highlight brightness varies based on the type and level of Flight Simulation Training Device ( FSTD ) , but is generally 3 -- 6 foot-lamberts for most devices qualified under Federal Aviation Administration ( FAA ) or Joint Aviation Authorities ( JAA ) regulations . Military specifications for illuminated switches , panels , and displays , such as MIL-PRF-22885 and SAE AS7788 , also require luminance measurements in foot-lamberts . Luminance levels can vary from hundreds of foot-lamberts for sunlight readable switch displays per MIL-PRF-22885 to only a few foot-lamberts in night conditions for panels in accordance with SAE AS7788 .", "Panel generation factor Panel generation factor ( PGF ) is used while calculating the size of solar photovoltaic cells . It is a varying factor depending upon the climate of the site location ( depending upon global geographic location ) . For example : in Thailand it is 3.43 , in EU countries it is 2.93 , etc. . This factor is used in calculation of `` Total Watt-Peak Rating '' while designing the size of solar photovoltaic cells . Therefore , `` Total Watt-Peak Rating '' = `` Total Watt-hours per day needed/generated from the PV modules '' divided by `` PGF '' . `` Total Watt-Hours per Day '' = `` Total Watt-hours per day needed by appliances '' Multiplied by `` 1.3 times '' ( the energy lost in the system ) . Now , to calculate `` size of PV cells '' OR `` number of PV cells '' just divide the above obtained `` Total Watt-Peak Rating '' by `` Watt-Peak of each cell OR Watt-Peak of each square meter size '' , whichever is convenient . Category : Photovoltaics", "Light intensity Several measures of light are commonly known as intensity : Radiant intensity , a radiometric quantity measured in watts per steradian ( W/sr ) Luminous intensity , a photometric quantity measured in lumens per steradian ( lm/sr ) , or candela ( cd ) Irradiance , a radiometric quantity , measured in watts per meter squared ( W/m2 ) Intensity ( physics ) , the name for irradiance used in other branches of physics ( W/m2 ) Radiance , commonly called `` intensity '' in astronomy and astrophysics ( W · sr − 1 · m − 2 )", "Stilb (unit) The stilb ( sb ) is the CGS unit of luminance for objects that are not self-luminous . It is equal to one candela per square centimeter or 104 nits ( candelas per square meter ) . The name was coined by the French physicist André Blondel around 1920 . It comes from the Greek word stilbein meaning `` to glitter '' . It was in common use in Europe up to World War I . In North America self-explanatory terms such as candle per square inch and candle per square meter were more common . The unit has since largely been replaced by the SI unit : candela per square meter . The current national standard for SI in the United States discourages the use of the stilb .", "Metre squared per second Metre squared per second or square meter per second is the SI derived unit of kinematic viscosity and of specific relative angular momentum . The unit is written in symbols as m2/s or m2 · s − 1 or m2s − 1 .", "Fading distribution In telecommunications , a fading distribution is the probability distribution of the value of signal fading , relative to a specified reference level . In the case of phase interference fading , the time distribution of the instantaneous field strength usually approximates a Rayleigh distribution when several signal components of equal amplitude are present . The field strength is usually measured in volts per meter . The fading distribution may also be measured in terms of power level , where the unit of measure is usually watts per square meter and the expression is in decibels .", "Alcalá del Río Alcalá del Río is a municipality in Seville , Spain . It had a population of 9,317 in 2005 . It has an area of about 83 square kilometers and has a population density of 112.3 people per square kilometer . It has an altitude of 30 meters ( about 100 feet ) and is situated 13 kilometers away from Seville . Category : Municipalities of the Province of Seville", "Middle gray In photography , painting , and other visual arts , middle gray or middle grey is a tone that is perceptually about halfway between black and white on a lightness scale ; in photography , and printing , it is typically defined as 18 % reflectance in visible light . This gray reflects exactly 1/5th the number of photons per square unit as compared to a reference white of 90 % reflectance . Middle gray is the universal measurement standard in photographic cameras . To calibrate light meters , whether in a camera or hand held , the 18 % gray card was conceived . It is assumed that the measurement taken by a meter gives the exposure for a shot so that some of the light reflected by the object measured is equivalent to middle gray . Because human perception adjusts to the overall brightness level ( and is logarithmic rather than linear ) , the perceived middle gray is subjective to the observer . This must be kept in mind when using a camera with a built in light meter ( which is not subjective nor logarithmic ) . Most scenes reflect just 12 % to 13 % of incident light falling upon them . Therefore , the camera light meter assumes a 18 % gray level . This can easily be observed when one relies solely on the exposure given by a camera with a built in light meter when taking a snow scene - the image will come out dark . Using a 18 % gray card as an expose guide will mitigate this error . In the sRGB color space , CIELAB middle gray is equivalent to 46.6 % brightness . In 24-bit color , this is rounded to RGB value ( 119,119,119 ) or # 777777 .", "Sales per unit area In retail , sales per unit area is a standard and usually the primary measurement of store success . The unit of area is usually square metres in the metric system or square feet in U.S. customary units . Square feet are also widely used in retailing in the United Kingdom , but there are signs of a trend towards use of square meters .", "Metamorfosi, Laconia Metamorfosi is a village in Laconia , five kilometers from the center of Molaoi and about seventy-eight kilometers southeast of Sparta . The village is built at the foot of the mountain of Koulochera on the outskirts of the Parnonas range . Its altitude is 120 meters . According to the 2011 census , Metamorfosi has 559 residents .", "Alcolea del Río Alcolea del Río is a municipality in Seville , Spain . In 2005 , it had a population of about 3,331 . It has an area of 50 square kilometers and population density of 66.6 people per square kilometer . It is situated at an altitude of 32 meters and is 53 kilometers from Seville . Category : Municipalities of the Province of Seville", "Chamaeleon complex The Chamaeleon complex is a large star forming region ( SFR ) that includes the Chamaeleon I , Chamaeleon II , and Chamaeleon III dark clouds . It occupies nearly all of the constellation Chamaeleon and overlaps into Apus , Musca , Carina and Octans . The mean density of X-ray sources is about one source per square degree .", "Kalverstraat The Kalverstraat is a busy shopping street of Amsterdam , the capital of the Netherlands . The street runs roughy North-South for about 750 meters , from Dam Square to Muntplein square . The Amsterdam Museum is located in a former orphanage between Kalverstraat and Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal . The Kalverstraat is the most expensive shopping street in the Netherlands , with rents of up to 3000 euros per square meter ( 2016 ) . In 2009 it was the 17th most expensive street in the world measured by rent prices . The Kalverstraat is also the most expensive street in the Dutch version of Monopoly .", "Ramat Aviv Mall Ramat Aviv Mall ( Hebrew : קניון רמת אביב ) is a shopping mall at 40 Einstein Street , in Ramat Aviv , Tel Aviv . At a rent of $ 1,804 per square meter , it is Israel 's most expensive mall and the 35th most expensive mall in the world . Its gross leasable area is 17,800 square meters and it has 140 stores in two retail floors . Above the shopping is an office building called Ramat Aviv Mall Tower . The entire project -- tower and mall -- has a gross area of about 80,900 square meters . The mall is valued at 1.699 billion shekels , or 470 million dollars .", "Samir Kassir Square Completed in 2004 , Samir Kassir Square is 815 square meters located in Beirut , Lebanon . Vladimir Djurovic Landscape Architecture was responsible for the design . The square acts as a gateway to Central Beirut . The small square frames two ancient ficus trees which anchor the project . The square 's design acts as a green urban oasis in a hectic city . A serene space that reflects memories through its reflection of the skyline . The trees act as shelters from the surrounding context . A raised water feature adjacent to the street physically demarcates the boundaries . Simple in design , the square creates an intimate space for contemplation and relaxation .", "Imtiaz supermarket Imtiaz supermarket is a Pakistani local market chain which in 2017 had five supermarkets in Karachi , one in Faisalabad and Gujranwala . The company had revenues of about Rs 300,000 per square foot in 2015 , expected to rise to Rs 400,000 per square foot in 2016 .", "The Seven (Munich) The Seven is a real estate project in the Munich Gärtnerplatz district , City area Ludwigsvorstadt-Isarvorstadt . In a former heating plant of the city of Munich , luxury properties were built . According to media reports , these were `` the most expensive apartments in the city '' . The former heating plant Müllerstraße in Müllerstraße 7 was sold by the Stadtwerke München . In the two top floors , a 700-square-meter penthouse with surrounding terrace and a 360-degree view has been created , at a cost of 14 million Euro . The five chimneys remained from the buildings previous use . Alpha invest Projekt and LBBW Immobilien Capital , a subsidiary of Landesbank Baden-Württemberg , were involved . The object was designed by the Berlin architects Léon Wohlhage Wernick . On the 14,000 square meter grounds , three complexes were built with 6,000 square meters of park area : an office and commercial complex along the Müllerstraße , a five-storey atrium building with about 80 apartments as well as the 54-meter-high former machine tower with 25 large luxury properties . It has a two story high entrance hall with a 24 hour Concierge and a gym . Since May 2014 , the city of Munich is running a house for children , currently a nursery and kindergarten , in the complex . The underground car park is accessed via Corneliusstraße . The housing prices , according to reports , range from 6,000 to 20,000 Euro per square meter , which was up to five times the average price of new properties in the state capital . As in other cities , there is also a debate on gentrification in Munich regarding such construction projects in the luxury segment . It is also the location of Munich 's most expensive day care .", "Litani River Dam The Litani River Dam was established in 1959 and created the largest artificial lake in Lebanon . The area of the lake is about 12 square kilometers , and the capacity the lake is able to hold is about 220 million cubic meters . The height of the dam is 60 meters , the length is 1,350 meters and the width is 162 meters , at most . As a whole , the size of the dam is about 2 million cubic meters The Litani basin holds about 700 millions of cubic meters of water flow per year , based on 25 years of measurements , from 1941-1971 . However , its flow fluctuates from year to year due to heavy or light precipitation . The minimum release from the basin was in 1970 at 184 million cubic meters and the maximum release was in 1954 at 1020 MCM . The estimated average annual flow of the Litani is 920 million cubic meters . The Litani River , estimated to be about 170 kilometers long , is smaller than the Jordan River in terms of its total water flow . The Litani has high quality water . In particular , its concentration of salt is 20 parts per million compared with 250-350 parts per million for the Sea of Galilee .", "Miaoli Miaoli City is a county-controlled city and the county seat of Miaoli County , Taiwan . Its name Miaoli was coined using two Hakka words , cat and city , which phonetically approximate Pali ( Bari ) from the Taokas language . Miaoli has a relatively high percentage of Hakka people . It had the second highest residential price and the highest commercial price for land in Miaoli County as of 2004 , at NT$ 28,601 per square meter and NT$ 63,317 per square meter , respectively .", "Einkaufs-Center Neuperlach – pep The Einkaufs-Center Neuperlach -- pep ( also Perlacher Einkaufspassagen ) is a shopping mall in Munich Neuperlach operated by ECE . With a floor space of 60,000 square meters and about 120 specialty shops , it was according to a survey for the year 2002 , the most profitable shopping center in Germany , the average revenue per square meter was twice as high as the national average . In designing the state capital , it is recognized as an integrated site with the function of a district center , and through its size has an important role for the entire southeast of the metropolitan Munich .", "Guiyang Longdongbao International Airport Guiyang Longdongbao International Airport is an airport serving Guiyang , the capital of Guizhou Province in southwestern China . Guiyang Longdongbao Airport was opened on May 28 , 1997 and adopted its current name on Jan 19 , 2006 . It is located 11 km southeast from Guiyang 's city center . It is about 4 square kilometers and has a 3200-meter long , 45-meter wide runway , which can accommodate Boeing 747 , Airbus A330 widebodied aircraft . The terminal is about 34000 square meters , available for over 2000 passengers departing and arriving per hour . Guiyang airport is an important hub in Southern China . in 2011 , Guiyang Longdongbao International Airport was the 25th busiest airport in the People 's Republic of China with 7,339,229 passengers .", "Kronebreen Kronebreen is a glacier located at the western side of Spitsbergen , Svalbard . It is one of the largest glacier streams on Svalbard , draining about 690 square kilometers . The glacier moves with an average speed of two meters per day . Kronebreen merges with two other glaciers , the Kongsvegen glacier and the Conway glacier . The merged glacier ends up in Kongsfjorden , and the common glacier front is called Kongsbreen .", "Antenna aperture In electromagnetics and antenna theory , antenna aperture , effective area , or receiving cross section is a measure of how effective an antenna is at receiving the power of radio waves . The aperture is defined as the area , oriented perpendicular to the direction of an incoming radio wave , which would intercept the same amount of power from that wave as is produced by the antenna receiving it . At any point , a beam of radio waves has an irradiance or power flux density ( PFD ) which is the amount of radio power passing through a unit area of one square meter . If an antenna delivers an output power of Po watts to the load connected to its output terminals when irradiated by a uniform field of power density PFD watts per square metre , the antenna 's aperture Aeff in square metres is given by : . So the power output of an antenna in watts is equal to the power density of the radio waves in watts per square metre , multiplied by its aperture in square metres . The larger an antenna 's aperture is , the more power it can collect from a given field of radio waves . To actually obtain the predicted power available Po , the polarization of the incoming waves must match the polarization of the antenna , and the load ( receiver ) must be impedance matched to the antenna 's feedpoint impedance . Although this concept is based on an antenna receiving a radio frequency wave , knowing Aeff directly supplies the ( power ) gain of that antenna . Due to reciprocity , an antenna 's gain in receiving and transmitting are identical . Therefore , Aeff can just as well be used to compute the performance of a transmitting antenna . Note that Aeff is a function of the direction of the radio wave relative to the orientation of the antenna , since the gain of an antenna varies according to its radiation pattern . When no direction is specified , Aeff is understood to refer to its maximum value , with the antenna oriented so its main lobe , the axis of maximum sensitivity , is directed toward the source .", "Heat flux sensor A heat flux sensor is a transducer that generates an electrical signal proportional to the total heat rate applied to the surface of the sensor . The measured heat rate is divided by the surface area of the sensor to determine the heat flux . The heat flux can have different origins ; in principle convective , radiative as well as conductive heat can be measured . Heat flux sensors are known under different names , such as heat flux transducers , heat flux gauges , heat flux plates . Some instruments that actually are single-purpose heat flux sensors like pyranometers for solar radiation measurement . Other heat flux sensors include Gardon gauges ( also known as a circular-foil gauge ) , thin-film thermopiles , and Schmidt-Boelter gauges . In SI units , the heat rate is measured in Watts , and the heat flux is computed in Watts per meter squared .", "Square mile The square mile ( abbreviated as sq mi and sometimes as mi ² ) is an imperial and US unit of measure for an area equal to the area of a square of one statute mile . It should not be confused with miles square , which refers to a square region with each side having the specified length . For instance , 20 miles square ( 20 × 20 miles ) has an area equal to 400 square miles ; a rectangle of 10 × 40 miles likewise has an area of 400 square miles , but it is not 20 miles square . One square mile is equal to : 4,014,489,600 square inches 27,878,400 square feet 3,097,600 square yards 640 acres 2560 roods A square mile is equivalent to the following metric measures : 25,899,881,103.36 square centimetres 2,589,988.110336 square metres 258.9988110336 hectares 2.589988110336 square kilometres When applied to a portion of the earth 's surface , which is curved rather than flat , `` square mile '' is an informal synonym for section . Romans derived measurements from marching . Five feet was equal to one pace ( which is appropriately a double step ) . 1,000 paces measured a Roman mile , which was somewhat smaller than the English statute mile . This Roman system was adopted , with local variations , throughout Europe as the Roman Empire spread . Total population in a square mile is derived by dividing the total number of residents by the number of square miles of land area in the specified geographic area . The population per square kilometer is derived by multiplying the population per square mile by 0.3861 . Land area measurements are originally recorded as whole square meters . Square meters are converted to square kilometers by dividing by 1,000,000 ; square kilometers are converted to square miles by dividing by 2.58999 ; square meters are converted to square miles by dividing by 2,589,988 .", "Sound intensity Sound intensity also known as acoustic intensity is defined as the power carried by sound waves per unit area . The SI unit of intensity , which includes sound intensity , is the watt per square meter ( W/m2 ) . One application is the noise measurement of sound intensity in the air at a listener 's location as a sound energy quantity . Sound intensity is not the same physical quantity as sound pressure . Hearing is directly sensitive to sound pressure which is related to sound intensity . In consumer audio electronics , the level differences are called `` intensity '' differences , but sound intensity is a specifically defined quantity and can not be sensed by a simple microphone . The rate at which sound energy passes through a unit area held perpendicular to the direction of propagation of sound waves is called intensity of sound .", "Alanís Alanís is a municipality in Seville . In 2005 it had a population of 1,937 . It has an area of 280 square kilometers and a population density of 6.9 people per square kilometer . It is located at an altitude of 660 meters and is 106 kilometers from Seville .", "Lighting power density Lighting Power Density ( LPD ) is a lighting power requirement defined in North America by the American National Standards Institute ( ANSI ) , American Society of Heating , Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers ( ASHRAE ) , and the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America ( IESNA ) Lighting subcommittee . Lighting Power Density technically represents the load of any lighting equipment in any defined area , or the watts per square foot of the lighting equipment . However , in the lighting industry it is often associated with the lighting power allowance ( LPA ) permitted by the building energy code in question . The Oregon Department of Energy defines lighting power density as `` The maximum allowable lighting density permitted by the code . It is expressed in watts per square foot for a given occupancy/space type . ''", "Yang Yong's Former Residence Yang Yong 's Former Residence was built in the late Qing Dynasty in 1873 , it is located in Wenjiashi Town of Liuyang , Hunan Province , in the People 's Republic of China . It has an area of about 1500 square meters and a building area of about 500 square meters .", "Troop density A troop density also known as the dispersion factor in military science is a statistical value assigned by commanders during the combat operations process in considering the ability of the Combat Arms to achieve military objectives during a military operation . It reflects combat readiness of the units to participate in engagements with consideration to the terrain and expected enemy strength . The unit of measurement is square metres per soldier , although this is modified for each combat arm to reflect their primary weapon performance in combat as weapon density ; for example guns for artillery . Troop density is also used to estimate forces required to occupy a given populated territory in order to deny this population to being exploited by the enemy covert forces or insurgent troops . The troop density has decreased through military history in proportion to the increase in lethality of weapons being use in combat . However , there is no accepted standard to calculate this value due to the large number of variables involved in the planning of combat operations . Military history can be divided into three periods according to average troop density employed in combat : ancient armies with about 10 square metres per foot soldier , the age of close order formation armed with firearms encompassing the period from the 1650s to the Franco-Prussian War of 1871 that increased the average to 250 square meters per infantryman , and the Second World War when the density decreased to 27,500 square metres per infantryman . The Soviet Army has based much of its post-war doctrine on the war experience , and had devoted considerable resources to the analysis of troop density , including these in almost all considerations of wartime operations . By the end of the Cold War the density ( in Europe ) was estimated to be 50,000 square metres per infantryman due to widespread mechanisation of forces . Troop density was included in the doctrine of the First World War belligerents , based on the battalion per forward zone front calculation . The density of troops also affects the planning of close air support operations because of the higher rate of missions required to deliver adequate munitions to their targets . The increased dispersal of troops was the consideration behind the decision to develop nuclear bombs before effects of radiation were realised . The physical density of troops in the area of combat is not reflective of the average value for any given command because dispersion of troops tends to follow terrain and tactical considerations of the combat planning , and actual location of troops tends to be in clusters of positions . Low troop density is a particular problem as a period of vulnerability during air assault , air landing , amphibious assault and to some extent airborne assault operations , as well as during pre-combat concentration of troops in the staging area prior to their movement to the battle area , denying them operational mobility .", "Luminance Luminance is a photometric measure of the luminous intensity per unit area of light travelling in a given direction . It describes the amount of light that passes through , is emitted or reflected from a particular area , and falls within a given solid angle . The SI unit for luminance is candela per square metre ( cd/m2 ) . A non-SI term for the same unit is the `` nit '' . The CGS unit of luminance is the stilb , which is equal to one candela per square centimetre or 10 kcd/m2 ." ]

[ "Northwest Passage The Northwest Passage is a sea route connecting the northern Atlantic and Pacific Oceans through the Arctic Ocean , along the northern coast of North America via waterways through the Canadian Arctic Archipelago . The various islands of the archipelago are separated from one another and from the Canadian mainland by a series of Arctic waterways collectively known as the Northwest Passages or Northwestern Passages . For centuries , European explorers sought a navigable passage as a possible trade route to Asia . An ice-bound northern route was discovered in 1850 by the Irish explorer Robert McClure ; however , it was through a more southerly opening in an area explored by the Scotsman John Rae in 1854 that Norwegian Roald Amundsen made the first complete passage in 1903 -- 1906 . Until 2009 , the Arctic pack ice prevented regular marine shipping throughout most of the year . Arctic sea ice decline has rendered the waterways more navigable . The contested sovereignty claims over the waters may complicate future shipping through the region : the Canadian government considers the Northwestern Passages part of Canadian Internal Waters , but the United States and various European countries maintain they are an international strait and transit passage , allowing free and unencumbered passage . If , as has been claimed , parts of the eastern end of the Passage are barely 15 m deep , the route 's viability as a Euro-Asian shipping route is reduced . However , a Chinese shipping line is planning regular voyages of cargo ships using the passage to the eastern United States and Europe , after a successful passage by Nordic Orion of 73,500 tonnes deadweight tonnage in September 2013 . Fully loaded , Nordic Orion was too large to sail through the Panama Canal .", "Climate change in the Arctic The effects of global warming in the Arctic , or climate change in the Arctic include rising temperatures , loss of sea ice , and melting of the Greenland ice sheet with a related cold temperature anomaly , observed in recent years . Potential methane release from the region , especially through the thawing of permafrost and methane clathrates , is also a concern . The Arctic warms twice as fast compared to the rest of the world . The pronounced warming signal , the amplified response of the Arctic to global warming , it is often seen as a leading indicator of global warming . The melting of Greenland 's ice sheet is linked to polar amplification . According to a study published in 2016 , about 0.5 ◦ C of the warming in the Arctic has been attributed to reductions in sulfate aerosols in Europe since 1980 ." ]

[ "2013 extreme weather events The 2013 extreme weather events included several all-time temperature records in Northern and Southern Hemisphere . The February extent of snow cover in Eurasia and North America was above average , while the extent of Arctic ice in the same month was 4,5 % below the 1981 -- 2010 average . The Northern Hemisphere weather extremes have been linked to the melting of Arctic sea ice , which alters atmospheric circulation in a way that leads to more snow and ice . By January 11 , 233 weather-related deaths were reported in India . Elsewhere , particularly in Russia , the Czech Republic and the United Kingdom , low temperatures affected wildlife , delaying bird breeding and disrupting the bird migration . On January 10 Bangladesh faced the lowest temperature since country 's independence , at 3.0 ° C in Saidpur . While Finland and most of Northern European countries got the record high , and even the highest temperatures at Europe during May and June , Western - and Middle Europe faced much cooler weather and even their wettest May and June ever . During summer prolonged heat waves in the Northern Hemisphere set new record high temperatures . On March 24 , 2014 , the secretary-general of the World Meteorological Organization Michel Jarraud announced that `` many of the extreme events of 2013 were consistent with what we would expect as a result of human-induced climate change '' .", "Ice blink Ice blink is a white light seen near the horizon , especially on the underside of low clouds , resulting from reflection of light off a field of ice immediately beyond . The ice blink was used by both the Inuit and explorers looking for the Northwest Passage to help them navigate safely .", "Buys Ballot's law In meteorology , Buys Ballot 's law ( -LSB- ˌbœy̯s bɑˈlɔt -RSB- ) may be expressed as follows : In the Northern Hemisphere , if a person stands with his back to the wind , the atmospheric pressure is low to the left , high to the right . This is because wind travels counterclockwise around low pressure zones in the Northern Hemisphere . It is approximately true in the higher latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere , and is reversed in the Southern Hemisphere , but the angle between the pressure gradient force and wind is not a right angle in low latitudes .", "Ice River Glacier Ice River Glacier is located 2.4 mi northeast of Mount Olympus in the Olympic Mountains of Olympic National Park in the U.S. state of Washington . Starting at an elevation of 6400 ft on the northern slope of a subpeak of Mount Olympus known as Mercury ( 6950 ft ) , the glacier flows northwest as it descends . The glacier reaches as low as 5200 ft before terminating . Though the glacier lies adjacent to the much larger Blue Glacier , an arête separates the two glaciers .", "Oescus Island Oescus Island ( остров Ескус , ` Ostrov Oescus ' \\ ` os-trov ` es-kus \\ ) is the low ice-free island in the Onogur group off the northwest coast of Robert Island in the South Shetland Islands , Antarctica extending 380 m in southeast-northwest direction and 40 m wide . The feature comprises two parts connected by a spit , and is separated from Redina Island , Kovach Island and Leeve Island by passages 120 m , 160 m and 130 m wide respectively . The island is named after the ancient Roman town of Oescus in Northern Bulgaria .", "Vilare Island Vilare Island ( остров Виларе , ` Ostrov Vilare ' \\ ` os-trov vi - ` la-re \\ ) is the low ice-free island in the Onogur group off the northwest coast of Robert Island in the South Shetland Islands , Antarctica extending 130 m in east-west direction and 60 m wide . It is separated from Churicheni Island by a 20 m wide passage . The feature is named after the settlement of Vilare in Northern Bulgaria .", "Hemispheres (magazine) Hemispheres is the inflight magazine for United Airlines . The magazine is circulated monthly and reaches 139 million passengers annually . The magazine was formerly headquartered in Greensboro , North Carolina . Its current headquarters is in New York City . Hemispheres was established in 1992 . Its editorial coverage includes its signature ` 3 Perfect Days ' travel piece , and the latest news in business , travel , fashion , and culture . The magazine reaches a highly influential business and leisure traveller audience , with a medium household income of $ 128,000 , spending and profession . In 2009 , Ink was appointed as the new publisher for United Hemispheres . Ink 's first issue of Hemispheres was placed on all United Airlines and United Airlines Express flights on March 1 , 2009 .", "Last Glacial Maximum The Last Glacial Maximum ( LGM ) was the last period in the Earth 's climate history during the last glacial period when ice sheets were at their greatest extension . Growth of the ice sheets reached their maximum positions in about 24,500 BCE . Deglaciation commenced in the Northern Hemisphere between approximately 18,000 to 17,000 BCE and in Antarctica approximately 12,500 BCE , which is consistent with evidence that it was the primary source for an abrupt rise in the sea level in about 12,500 BCE . Vast ice sheets covered much of North America , northern Europe , and Asia . The ice sheets profoundly affected Earth 's climate by causing drought , desertification , and a dramatic drop in sea levels . It was followed by the Late Glacial .", "Leeve Island Leeve Island ( остров Лееве , ` Ostrov Leeve ' \\ ` os-trov ` le-e-ve \\ ) is the low ice-free island in the Onogur group off the northwest coast of Robert Island in the South Shetland Islands , Antarctica extending 200 m in southeast-northwest direction and 80 m wide . It is separated from Redina Island by a 100 m wide passage . The island is named after Leeve River in Rila Mountain , Bulgaria .", "Siberian High The Siberian High ( also Siberian Anticyclone ) is a massive collection of cold dry air that accumulates in the northeastern part of Eurasia from September until April . It is usually centered on Lake Baikal . It reaches its greatest size and strength in the winter when the air temperature near the center of the high-pressure cell is often lower than -40 ° C . The atmospheric pressure is often above 1040 mbar . The Siberian High is the strongest semi-permanent high in the northern hemisphere and is responsible for both the lowest temperature in the Northern Hemisphere , of -67.8 ° C on 15 January 1885 at Verkhoyansk , and the highest pressure , 1083.8 mbar ( 108.38 kPa , 32.01 inHg ) at Agata , Krasnoyarsk Krai on 31 December 1968 , ever recorded . The Siberian High is responsible both for severe winter cold and attendant dry conditions with little snow and few or no glaciers across Siberia , Mongolia , and China . During the summer , the Siberian High is largely replaced by the Asiatic low .", "Ekman transport Ekman transport , part of Ekman motion theory first investigated in 1902 by Vagn Walfrid Ekman , is the term given for the 90 ° net transport of the surface layer of a fluid ( the layer affected by wind ) by wind forcing . This phenomenon was first noted by Fridtjof Nansen , who recorded that ice transport appeared to occur at an angle to the wind direction during his Arctic expedition during the 1890s . The direction of transport is dependent on the hemisphere : in the northern hemisphere , transport occurs at 90 ° clockwise from wind direction , while in the southern hemisphere it occurs at a 90 ° counterclockwise .", "Berlage (crater) Berlage is an old lunar crater that lies in the southern hemisphere on the far side of the Moon . The smaller crater Bellinsgauzen is attached to its northern rim , and Cabannes is less than one crater diameter to the northwest . To the east-northeast of Berlage is Lemaître . This formation is unusual for the high density of small impact craters that lie across the interior and along the rim , especially in the northern half . The crater is heavily eroded , and the original features have been worn down with the passage of time . A combination of three small craters lie across the northern rim , at the eastern edge of the rim where Berlage is joined to Bellinsgauzen .", "Grod Island Grod Island ( остров Грод , ` Ostrov Grod ' \\ ` os-trov ` grod \\ ) is the southernmost island in the Onogur group off the northwest coast of Robert Island in the South Shetland Islands , Antarctica . The feature is low and ice-free , extending 610 m in east-west direction and 200 m wide . It is separated from Robert Island by a 130 m wide passage . The island is named after the Bulgar ruler Grod ( 6th century ) .", "Northern Sea Route The Northern Sea Route ( Се́верный морско́й путь , Severnyy morskoy put , shortened to Севморпуть , Sevmorput ) is a shipping route officially defined by Russian legislation as lying east of Novaya Zemlya and specifically running along the Russian Arctic coast from the Kara Sea , along Siberia , to the Bering Strait . The entire route lies in Arctic waters and within Russia 's Exclusive Economic Zone ( EEZ ) . Parts are free of ice for only two months per year . The overall route on Russia 's side of the Arctic between North Cape and the Bering Strait has been called the Northeast Passage , analogous to the Northwest Passage on the Canada side . While the Northeast Passage includes all the East Arctic seas and connects the Atlantic and Pacific oceans , the Northern Sea Route does not include the Barents Sea , and it therefore does not reach the Atlantic . Melting Arctic ice caps are likely to increase traffic in and the commercial viability of the Northern Sea Route . One study , for instance , projects , `` remarkable shifts in trade flows between Asia and Europe , diversion of trade within Europe , heavy shipping traffic in the Arctic and a substantial drop in Suez traffic . Projected shifts in trade also imply substantial pressure on an already threatened Arctic ecosystem . ''", "Brachypodium pinnatum Brachypodium pinnatum , the heath false brome or tor-grass , is a plant in the grass family , with a widespread distribution in temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere . It typically grows in calcareous grassland , and reaches 70 -- tall . The flowerhead is open , with 10 to 15 erect spikelets .", "Northeast Passage The Northeast Passage ( abbreviated as NEP ) is an Arctic ocean shipping route connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans , traversing the Arctic following Russia 's and Norway 's coasts . The NEP traverses ( from West to East ) the Barents Sea , Kara Sea , Laptev Sea , East Siberian Sea , and Chukchi Sea , and it includes the Northern Sea Route ( NSR ) . The Northern Sea Route is a portion of the NEP ; it is defined in Russian law and does not include the Barents sea and therefore does not reach the Atlantic Ocean . However , since the NSR has a significant overlap over the majority of the NEP , sometimes the NSR term has been used to refer to the entirety of the Northeast Passage . The Northeast Passage is one of several Arctic maritime routes , the others being the Northwest Passage ( going along Canada 's and Alaska 's coasts ) and the Transpolar Route ( going through the North Pole ) . The Portuguese navigator David Melgueiro -- according to some sources -- would have made the first Northeast Passage complete crossing , from east to west , in 1660 . The first confirmed complete passage , from west to east , was made by the Finnish-Swedish explorer Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld , in 1878 .", "C/2007 F1 C/2007 F1 ( LONEOS ) is a hyperbolic comet discovered on March 19 , 2007 as part as the Lowell Observatory Near Earth Object Search ( LONEOS ) . The comet reached perihelion , or closest approach to the sun on October 28 , 2007 . The comet reached 6th magnitude in October , making it easily visible in binoculars , and just barely visible to the naked eye for observers in the Northern Hemisphere , just after sunset in the west . It reached a max brightness of magnitude 5 around perihelion , before starting to slowly dim on its way out of the solar system . It continued to move south in the sky and became visible to southern hemisphere comet chasers in mid November . The comet was also observed from both the STEREO spacecraft , first by STEREO-B on October 22 and then by STEREO-A for several days starting from October 28 as the comet had just passed perihelion and was receding from the Sun .", "Severnaya Zemlya Severnaya Zemlya ( Се́верная Земля́ ( Northern Land ) , -LSB- ˈsʲevʲɪrnəjə zʲɪˈmlʲa -RSB- ) is a 37,000 km2 archipelago in the Russian high Arctic . It lies off Siberia 's Taymyr Peninsula , separated from the mainland by the Vilkitsky Strait . This archipelago separates two marginal seas of the Arctic Ocean , the Kara Sea in the west and the Laptev Sea in the east . The largest glacier in the Russian Federation , the Academy of Sciences Glacier , is located in Severnaya Zemlya . Severnaya Zemlya was first noted in 1913 and first charted in 1930 -- 32 , making it the last sizeable archipelago on Earth to be explored . Administratively , the islands form part of Russia 's Krasnoyarsk Krai federal subject . In Soviet times there were a number of research stations in different locations , but currently there are no human inhabitants in Severnaya Zemlya except for the Prima Polar Station near Cape Baranov . Severnaya Zemlya is notable in connection with the ongoing multi-year Arctic sea ice decline . Until recently , ice joined the islands to Eurasia even at its smallest extent during the late summer melt season , blocking the Northeast Passage between the Atlantic and Pacific . By the late summer of 2012 , however , the permanent ice had reached a record low extent and open water appeared to the north of the archipelago .", "RX II RX II is a 36-foot yacht in which a three-man Norwegian crew circumnavigated the North Pole over two seasons in 2009-2010 . Expedition leader Trond Aasvoll and crew Hans Fredrik Haukland and Finn Andreassenleft Vardø , Norway , on July 28 , 2009 , intending to make the first circumnavigation of the North Pole in one season and thereby demonstrate the effects of global warming in making this possible . The northern sea route proved ice-free and RX II entered the Bering Strait on September 24 . The voyage had been projected to take 45 days . However , the Russian authorities stopped them in sight of Alaska and required them to sail south to satisfy legal formalities , leaving insufficient time to sail all the way around the Pole in one season . The expedition was interrupted in Nome , Alaska and returned to the home base of Arendal to overwinter . However , RX II was the smallest sailboat to sail through the Northeast Passage , and the first Norwegian boat to do so since Roald Amundsen in 1916-1919 . The crew returned to Nome the next summer and left on July 31 , 2010 . They successfully navigated the Northwest Passage west to east . Haukland had to leave RX II when she reached Greenland and fly back to his job as a firefighter in Alta . However , Aasvoll and Andreassen re-entered Norwegian waters on September 29 after sailing around the northern tip of Scotland , and returned to Arendal on October 9 . RX II became the first Norwegian boat to sail both the Northeast and Northwest Passages with the same crew . Later the same year , the Norwegian Northern Passage and the Russian Peter I both completed the circumnavigation in one season . The 36-foot fiberglass yacht with an open cockpit was designed by Jerry Cartwright and built in 1977 .", "Arctic Passage Arctic Passage is the U. S. title of a two-hour TV documentary on the Arctic explorers Sir John Franklin and Roald Amundsen , co-produced by ITN Factual in Britain and NOVA/WGBH in the U.S. ITN Factual handled the production and filming ; the film was directed by Louise Osmond , and Harald Gunnar Paalgard was the director of photography . The documentary aired in the UK in March 2005 under the title Search for the Northwest Passage , and in February 2006 in the U. S. under a two-part title , Arctic Passage : Prisoners of the Ice/Ice Survivor .", "2007 mid-year rugby union internationals The 2007 mid-year rugby union tests ( also known as the Summer Internationals in the Northern Hemisphere ) refers to the Rugby union Test matches played during June and May 2007 . These are played in the Southern Hemisphere , and include all Tests hosted by Argentina , Australia , New Zealand and South Africa outside of the 2007 Tri-Nations . The Tests are being used by many countries as their last opportunity to prepare for the 2007 Rugby World Cup in France . For Australia , New Zealand and South Africa it is used as preparation for the 2007 Tri-Nations . The only match listed here with a Northern Hemisphere victor was Italy 's victory over Uruguay .", "Prince of Wales Strait The Prince of Wales Strait is a strait in the Northwest Territories of Canada separating Banks Island to the northwest from Victoria Island to the southeast . It extends from Viscount Melville Sound in the northeast to Amundsen Gulf in the southwest . From late winter it is filled by ice that usually does not break up until August , if at all . Its namesake , Prince of Wales Island , lies over two-hundred miles to the east . The strait is a possible route for the Northwest Passage . The Parry Channel leads 600 miles west from Baffin Bay to the strait or McClure Strait to the northwest . Robert McClure reached it from the west in 1850 and was frozen in . A sledge party showed that it was probably connected to Parry Channel . Richard Collinson again entered it in 1851 . Henry Larsen ( explorer ) made the first passage in 1944 after failing to pass McClure Strait . In 1969 , the oil tanker was forced to use it after ice had blocked McClure Strait . As the strait narrows to less than 24 miles , vessels using it pass within undisputed Canadian waters ( see Canadian Arctic Archipelago ) . Category : Straits of the Northwest Territories Category : Victoria Island ( Canada )", "NEEM Camp NEEM Camp was a small research facility on the northern Greenland Ice Sheet , used as a base for ice core drilling . It is located about 313 km east of the closest coast , Peabody Bay in northern Greenland , 275 km northwest of the historical ice sheet camp North Ice , and 484 km ENE of Siorapaluk , the closest settlement . There is only one heavy-duty tent for accommodation of the researchers during summer . Access is by skiway ( snow runway ) . The acronym NEEM stands for North Greenland Eemian Ice Drilling . The ice at the NEEM coring location ( 77 ° 27 'N 51 ° 3.6 ` W ) was predicted to be 2545 m thick . Drilling started at NEEM in June 2009 and drillers expected to hit bedrock in 2010 . The drilling progressed well and reached through the brittle zone ( ~ 800 m ) in mid-July 2009 . The plan was to process the ice below the brittle zone , per decision at the steering committee meeting in November 2008 in Copenhagen . By September 1 , 2009 , the coring had reached 1757.84 m for this season , setting a single-season deep ice core drilling record in 100 days . On July 26 , 2010 , drilling reached bedrock at 2537.36 m. The November/December 2007 issue of Technology Review magazine and its website carried a report on early efforts to establish this camp . The research goal is seek preserved ice from the Eemian , which included a warming period in Earth 's history . http://www.technologyreview.com/Energy/19504/ After the conclusion of the drilling activities , the machinery and dome of the NEEM camp was moved to a new location in the NEEM-EastGRIP traverse , forming the EastGRIP camp at location in 2015 .", "North Water Polynya The North Water Polynya or Pikialasorsuaq in Greenlandic ( NOW ) is a polynya ( area of year-round open water surrounded by sea ice ) that lies between Greenland and Canada in northern Baffin Bay . The world 's largest Arctic polynya at about 85000 km2 , it creates a warm microclimate that provides a refuge for narwhal , beluga , walrus , and bowhead whales to feed and rest . While thin ice forms in some areas , the polynya is kept open by wind , tides and an ice bridge on its northern edge . Named the `` North Water '' by 19th century whalers who relied on it for spring passage , this polynya is one of the most biologically productive marine areas in the Arctic Ocean .", "Mitribah Mitribah is a weatherstation in northwest Kuwait . On July 21 , 2016 the temperature at this location hit the record highest temperature ever reliably recorded in the eastern hemisphere at 54.0 C.", "Temperature record of the past 1000 years For information on the description of the Medieval Warm Period and Little Ice Age in various IPCC reports see MWP and LIA in IPCC reportsThe temperature record of the past 1,000 years is reconstructed using data from climate proxy records in conjunction with the modern instrumental temperature record which only covers the last 150 years at a global scale . Large-scale reconstructions covering part or all of the 1st millennium and 2nd millennium have shown that recent temperatures are exceptional : the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Fourth Assessment Report of 2007 concluded that `` Average Northern Hemisphere temperatures during the second half of the 20th century were very likely higher than during any other 50-year period in the last 500 years and likely '' the highest in at least the past 1,300 years . '' The curve shown in graphs of these reconstructions is widely known as the hockey stick graph because of the sharp increase in temperatures during the last century . As of 2010 this broad pattern was supported by more than two dozen reconstructions , using various statistical methods and combinations of proxy records , with variations in how flat the pre-20th-century `` shaft '' appears . Sparseness of proxy records results in considerable uncertainty for earlier periods . Individual proxy records , such as tree ring widths and densities used in dendroclimatology , are calibrated against the instrumental record for the period of overlap . Networks of such records are used to reconstruct past temperatures for regions : tree ring proxies have been used to reconstruct Northern Hemisphere extratropical temperatures ( within the tropics trees do not form rings ) but are confined to land areas and are scarce in the Southern Hemisphere which is largely ocean . Wider coverage is provided by multiproxy reconstructions , incorporating proxies such as lake sediments , ice cores and corals which are found in different regions , and using statistical methods to relate these sparser proxies to the greater numbers of tree ring records . The `` Composite Plus Scaling '' ( CPS ) method is widely used for large-scale multiproxy reconstructions of hemispheric or global average temperatures ; this is complemented by Climate Field Reconstruction ( CFR ) methods which show how climate patterns have developed over large spatial areas , making the reconstruction useful for investigating natural variability and long-term oscillations as well as for comparisons with patterns produced by climate models . During the 1,900 years before the 20th century , it is likely that the next warmest period was from 950 to 1100 , with peaks at different times in different regions . This has been called the Medieval Warm Period , and some evidence suggests widespread cooler conditions during a period around the 17th century known as the Little Ice Age . In the hockey stick controversy , contrarians have asserted that the Medieval Warm Period was warmer than at present , and have disputed the data and methods of climate reconstructions .", "Kereka Island Kereka Island ( остров Керека , ` Ostrov Kereka ' \\ ` os-trov ke - 're - ka \\ ) is a mostly ice-covered island in the Pitt group of Biscoe Islands , Antarctica . It is 1.75 km long in southeast-northwest direction and 580 m wide , and is separated from neighbouring Slumkey Island to the west-southwest by an 80 m wide passage . The island is named after the settlement of Kereka in Northern Bulgaria .", "Cardinal sign (astrology) In astrology , cardinal signs ( also called by older astrologers a moveable sign ) are associated with being active , self-motivated , insightful and ambitious . Observable of ills and issues in their environment , they have keen qualities in great leadership and initiating change . They can , on the other hand , be bossy , inconsiderate and domineering , as they feel their way is the best for everyone to follow . The word `` cardinal '' originates from the Latin word for `` hinge , '' since they each mark the turning point of a temperate season . They were called moveable by traditional astrologers because , as Bonatti says , the `` air '' changes when the Sun enters each of these signs , bringing a change of season . Sometimes the word cardinal is confused with the word angular . Angular signs are those signs which are located on the astrological angles of any given natal chart . Angular houses may be cardinal , fixed or mutable , depending on the birth time of the chart , but only Aries , Cancer , Libra , and Capricorn are cardinal signs . Their starts are related to equinoxes and solstices . The four cardinal signs of the Zodiac are : Aries : the Sun 's passage through which begins the spring in the northern hemisphere , and autumn in the southern hemisphere . Cancer : which begins the summer in the northern hemisphere , and winter in the southern hemisphere . Libra : which begins the autumn in the northern hemisphere , and spring in the southern hemisphere . Capricorn : which begins the winter in the northern hemisphere , and summer in the southern hemisphere .", "Little Ice Age The Little Ice Age ( LIA ) was a period of cooling that occurred after the Medieval Warm Period . Although it was not a true ice age , the term was introduced into scientific literature by François E. Matthes in 1939 . It has been conventionally defined as a period extending from the 16th to the 19th centuries , but some experts prefer an alternative timespan from about 1300 to about 1850 . Climatologists and historians working with local records no longer expect to agree on either the start or end dates of the period , which varied according to local conditions . The NASA Earth Observatory notes three particularly cold intervals : one beginning about 1650 , another about 1770 , and the last in 1850 , all separated by intervals of slight warming . The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Third Assessment Report considered the timing and areas affected by the Little Ice Age suggested largely-independent regional climate changes rather than a globally-synchronous increased glaciation . At most , there was modest cooling of the Northern Hemisphere during the period . Several causes have been proposed : cyclical lows in solar radiation , heightened volcanic activity , changes in the ocean circulation , variations in Earth 's orbit and axial tilt ( orbital forcing ) , inherent variability in global climate , and decreases in the human population .", "Cantor (crater) Cantor is a lunar impact crater that is located on the northern hemisphere on the far side of the Moon . The outer rim of the crater has a distinctly hexagonal shape , and is slightly longer in the north -- south direction . The interior walls are multiply terraced , although less so along the western rim . There is a low central peak at the midpoint of the floor . The terrain surrounding Cantor is heavily impacted with many small craters . The old and heavily eroded crater H. G. Wells is located to the northwest . To the southeast is Kidinnu .", "La Condamine (crater) La Condamine is a small lunar crater that is located on the southern edge of the Mare Frigoris , in the northern part of the Moon . It lies to the northeast of the mountain-rimmed Sinus Iridum formation in the northwest part of the Mare Imbrium . The crater rim is low and rounded , with the edge worn and eroded along the northeast side . The outer wall is somewhat polygonal , particularly in the southwestern half . The interior is fairly flat with no central peak , but there is a low curved , double rille in the western half that reaches toward the northern rim .", "Izgrev Passage Izgrev Passage ( проток Изгрев , ` Protok Izgrev ' \\ ` pro-tok ` iz-grev \\ ) is the 2.3 km wide passage separating Rogozen Island , Heywood Island and Pordim Islands from Cornwall Island , Onogur Islands and the northwest coast of Robert Island in the South Shetland Islands . The area was visited by early 19th century sealers . The passage is named after the settlements of Izgrev in Northern , Northeastern , Southeastern and Southwestern Bulgaria ." ]

[ "Water Water is a transparent and nearly colorless chemical substance that is the main constituent of Earth 's streams , lakes , and oceans , and the fluids of most living organisms . Its chemical formula is H2O , meaning that its molecule contains one oxygen and two hydrogen atoms , that are connected by covalent bonds . Water strictly refers to the liquid state of that substance , that prevails at standard ambient temperature and pressure ; but it often refers also to its solid state ( ice ) or its gaseous state ( steam or water vapor ) . It also occurs in nature as snow , glaciers , ice packs and icebergs , clouds , fog , dew , aquifers , and atmospheric humidity . Water covers 71 % of the Earth 's surface . It is vital for all known forms of life . On Earth , 96.5 % of the planet 's crust water is found in seas and oceans , 1.7 % in groundwater , 1.7 % in glaciers and the ice caps of Antarctica and Greenland , a small fraction in other large water bodies , and 0.001 % in the air as vapor , clouds ( formed of ice and liquid water suspended in air ) , and precipitation . Only 2.5 % of this water is freshwater , and 98.8 % of that water is in ice ( excepting ice in clouds ) and groundwater . Less than 0.3 % of all freshwater is in rivers , lakes , and the atmosphere , and an even smaller amount of the Earth 's freshwater ( 0.003 % ) is contained within biological bodies and manufactured products . A greater quantity of water is found in the earth 's interior . Water on Earth moves continually through the water cycle of evaporation and transpiration ( evapotranspiration ) , condensation , precipitation , and runoff , usually reaching the sea . Evaporation and transpiration contribute to the precipitation over land . Large amounts of water are also chemically combined or adsorbed in hydrated minerals . Safe drinking water is essential to humans and other lifeforms even though it provides no calories or organic nutrients . Access to safe drinking water has improved over the last decades in almost every part of the world , but approximately one billion people still lack access to safe water and over 2.5 billion lack access to adequate sanitation . There is a clear correlation between access to safe water and gross domestic product per capita . However , some observers have estimated that by 2025 more than half of the world population will be facing water-based vulnerability . A report , issued in November 2009 , suggests that by 2030 , in some developing regions of the world , water demand will exceed supply by 50 % . Water plays an important role in the world economy . Approximately 70 % of the freshwater used by humans goes to agriculture . Fishing in salt and fresh water bodies is a major source of food for many parts of the world . Much of long-distance trade of commodities ( such as oil and natural gas ) and manufactured products is transported by boats through seas , rivers , lakes , and canals . Large quantities of water , ice , and steam are used for cooling and heating , in industry and homes . Water is an excellent solvent for a wide variety of chemical substances ; as such it is widely used in industrial processes , and in cooking and washing . Water is also central to many sports and other forms of entertainment , such as swimming , pleasure boating , boat racing , surfing , sport fishing , and diving .", "Greenhouse gas A greenhouse gas ( abbrev . GHG ) is a gas in an atmosphere that absorbs and emits radiation within the thermal infrared range . This process is the fundamental cause of the greenhouse effect . The primary greenhouse gases in Earth 's atmosphere are water vapor , carbon dioxide , methane , nitrous oxide , and ozone . Without greenhouse gases , the average temperature of Earth 's surface would be about -18 ° C , rather than the present average of 15 ° C . In the Solar System , the atmospheres of Venus , Mars and Titan also contain gases that cause a greenhouse effect . Human activities since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution ( taken as the year 1750 ) have produced a 40 % increase in the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide , from 280 ppm in 1750 to 406 ppm in early 2017 . This increase has occurred despite the uptake of a large portion of the emissions by various natural `` sinks '' involved in the carbon cycle . Anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions ( i.e. , emissions produced by human activities ) come from combustion of fossil fuels , principally coal , oil , and natural gas , along with deforestation , soil erosion and animal agriculture . It has been estimated that if greenhouse gas emissions continue at the present rate , Earth 's surface temperature could exceed historical values as early as 2047 , with potentially harmful effects on ecosystems , biodiversity and the livelihoods of people worldwide . Recent estimates suggest that on the current emissions trajectory the Earth could pass a threshold of 2 ° C global warming , which the United Nations ' IPCC designated as the upper limit to avoid `` dangerous '' global warming , by 2036 .", "Runaway greenhouse effect A runaway greenhouse effect is a process in which a net positive feedback between surface temperature and atmospheric opacity increases the strength of the greenhouse effect on a planet until its oceans boil away . An example of this is believed to have happened in the early history of Venus . On the Earth , the IPCC states that `` a ` runaway greenhouse effect ' -- analogous to -LSB- that of -RSB- Venus -- appears to have virtually no chance of being induced by anthropogenic activities . '' Other large-scale climate changes are sometimes loosely called a `` runaway greenhouse effect '' although it is not an appropriate description . For example , it has been hypothesized that large releases of greenhouse gases may have occurred concurrently with the Permian -- Triassic extinction event or Paleocene -- Eocene Thermal Maximum . Other terms , such as `` abrupt climate change '' , or tipping points could be used when describing such scenarios ." ]

[ "Global warming potential Global warming potential ( GWP ) is a relative measure of how much heat a greenhouse gas traps in the atmosphere . It compares the amount of heat trapped by a certain mass of the gas in question to the amount of heat trapped by a similar mass of carbon dioxide . A GWP is calculated over a specific time interval , commonly 20 , 100 , or 500 years . GWP is expressed as a factor of carbon dioxide ( whose GWP is standardized to 1 ) . In the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change , methane has a lifetime of 12.4 years and with climate-carbon feedbacks a global warming potential of 86 over 20 years and 34 over 100 years in response to emissions . User related choices such as the time horizon can greatly affect the numerical values obtained for carbon dioxide equivalents . For a change in time horizon from 20 to 100 years , the GWP for methane decreases by a factor of approximately 2.5 . The substances subject to restrictions under the Kyoto protocol either are rapidly increasing their concentrations in Earth 's atmosphere or have a large GWP . The GWP depends on the following factors : the absorption of infrared radiation by a given species the spectral location of its absorbing wavelengths the atmospheric lifetime of the species Thus , a high GWP correlates with a large infrared absorption and a long atmospheric lifetime . The dependence of GWP on the wavelength of absorption is more complicated . Even if a gas absorbs radiation efficiently at a certain wavelength , this may not affect its GWP much if the atmosphere already absorbs most radiation at that wavelength . A gas has the most effect if it absorbs in a `` window '' of wavelengths where the atmosphere is fairly transparent . The dependence of GWP as a function of wavelength has been found empirically and published as a graph . Because the GWP of a greenhouse gas depends directly on its infrared spectrum , the use of infrared spectroscopy to study greenhouse gases is centrally important in the effort to understand the impact of human activities on global climate change .", "Water vapor Water vapor , water vapour or aqueous vapor is the gaseous phase of water . It is one state of water within the hydrosphere . Water vapor can be produced from the evaporation or boiling of liquid water or from the sublimation of ice . Unlike other forms of water , water vapor is invisible . Under typical atmospheric conditions , water vapor is continuously generated by evaporation and removed by condensation . It is lighter than air and triggers convection currents that can lead to clouds . Being a component of Earth 's hydrosphere and hydrologic cycle , it is particularly abundant in Earth 's atmosphere where it is also a potent greenhouse gas along with other gases such as carbon dioxide and methane . Use of water vapor , as steam , has been important to humans for cooking and as a major component in energy production and transport systems since the industrial revolution . Water vapor is a relatively common atmospheric constituent , present even in the solar atmosphere as well as every planet in the Solar System and many astronomical objects including natural satellites , comets and even large asteroids . Likewise the detection of extrasolar water vapor would indicate a similar distribution in other planetary systems . Water vapor is significant in that it can be indirect evidence supporting the presence of extraterrestrial liquid water in the case of some planetary mass objects .", "Migration of marine species in the Northern Atlantic Ocean The world 's oceans are warming due to climate change . Climate change is caused by three major factors which are the greenhouse effect , variation in the sun 's energy that reaches Earth , and changes in reflectivity within Earth 's atmosphere and its surface . The greenhouse effect is caused by greenhouse gases that absorb sunlight . Energy from the sun that reaches Earth is either retained or sent into space . Greenhouse gases in Earth 's atmosphere such as carbon dioxide , methane , and water vapor absorb energy which cause a blanketing effect that warms the earth . Aerosols such as black carbon also catalyze the warming effect as they are unreflective and absorb energy from the sun supplementing greenhouse gases in the warming effect . These combined factors are warming the Earth 's land as well as the oceans . Many fish species possess a certain range of water temperature that they are able to tolerate which is causing species to migrate to different areas where the water temperature is livable . The warming of the Atlantic Ocean is causing many fish species to shift north towards once cooler waters so they can live within their temperature range . Tropical species are being found outside their normal range and into more northern waters causing an array of ecological , economic , and fishery management problems .", "Carbon dioxide accumulation in Earth's atmosphere The following articles relate to Carbon dioxide accumulation in Earth 's atmosphere : Carbon dioxide in Earth 's atmosphere Global warming Greenhouse effect", "Atmospheric methane Atmospheric methane is the methane present in Earth 's atmosphere . Atmospheric methane concentrations are of interest because it is one of the most potent greenhouse gases in Earth 's atmosphere . The 100-year global warming potential of methane is 28 . That is , over a 100-year period , it traps 28 times more heat per mass unit than carbon dioxide and 32 times the effect when accounted for aerosol interactions . Global methane levels , had risen to 1800 parts per billion ( ppb ) by 2011 , an increase by a factor of 2.5 since pre-industrial times , from 722 ppb , the highest value in at least 800,000 years . Its concentration is higher in the Northern Hemisphere since most sources ( both natural and human ) are located on land and the Northern Hemisphere has more land mass . The concentrations vary seasonally , with , for example , a minimum in the northern tropics during April − May mainly due to removal by the hydroxyl radical . Early in the Earth 's history carbon dioxide and methane likely produced a greenhouse effect . The carbon dioxide would have been produced by volcanoes and the methane by early microbes . During this time , Earth 's earliest life appeared . These first , ancient bacteria added to the methane concentration by converting hydrogen and carbon dioxide into methane and water . Oxygen did not become a major part of the atmosphere until photosynthetic organisms evolved later in Earth 's history . With no oxygen , methane stayed in the atmosphere longer and at higher concentrations than it does today . Methane is created near the surface , and it is carried into the stratosphere by rising air in the tropics . Uncontrolled build-up of methane in Earth 's atmosphere is naturally checked -- although human influence can upset this natural regulation -- by methane 's reaction with hydroxyl radicals formed from singlet oxygen atoms and with water vapor .", "Carbon rift Carbon rift is a theory attributing the input and output of carbon into the environment to human capitalistic systems . This is a derivative of Karl Marx 's concept of metabolic rift . In practical terms , increased commodity production demands that greater levels of carbon dioxide ( or CO2 ) be emitted into the biosphere via fossil fuel consumption . Carbon rift theory states that this ultimately disrupts the natural carbon cycle and that this `` rift '' has adverse effects on nearly every aspect of life . Many of the specifics regarding how this metabolic carbon rift interacts with capitalism are proposed by Brett Clark and Richard York in a 2005 article titled `` Carbon Metabolism : Global capitalism , climate change , and the biospheric rift '' in the journal Theory and Society . Researchers such as Jean P. Sapinski of the University of Oregon claim that , despite increased interest in closing the carbon rift , it is projected that as long as capitalism continues , there is little hope of reducing the rift . Both deforestation and the emission of greenhouse gases have been linked to increased atmospheric CO2 levels . Carbon rift theory states that these are the result of human production through capitalistic systems . There are proposed solutions to climate change such as geoengineering proposed in the December 2015 Paris Agreement . However , some argue that the capitalist mode of production is at fault for the emission of greenhouse gas and that solutions must be found to this issue before climate change itself can be addressed . Carbon rift theory , while rarely criticized directly , often indirectly receives criticism regarding the underlying causes of climate change and attributing the stated effects to alternative explanations for climate change , instead of as a result of human activity . Such explanations include the Chaotic Solar System Theory and that increased water vapor is responsible for climate change .", "Atmosphere of Earth The atmosphere of Earth is the layer of gases , commonly known as air , that surrounds the planet Earth and is retained by Earth 's gravity . The atmosphere of Earth protects life on Earth by absorbing ultraviolet solar radiation , warming the surface through heat retention ( greenhouse effect ) , and reducing temperature extremes between day and night ( the diurnal temperature variation ) . By volume , dry air contains 78.09 % nitrogen , 20.95 % oxygen , 0.93 % argon , 0.04 % carbon dioxide , and small amounts of other gases . Air also contains a variable amount of water vapor , on average around 1 % at sea level , and 0.4 % over the entire atmosphere . Air content and atmospheric pressure vary at different layers , and air suitable for use in photosynthesis by terrestrial plants and breathing of terrestrial animals is found only in Earth 's troposphere and in artificial atmospheres . The atmosphere has a mass of about 5.15 kg , three quarters of which is within about 11 km of the surface . The atmosphere becomes thinner and thinner with increasing altitude , with no definite boundary between the atmosphere and outer space . The Kármán line , at 100 km , or 1.57 % of Earth 's radius , is often used as the border between the atmosphere and outer space . Atmospheric effects become noticeable during atmospheric reentry of spacecraft at an altitude of around 120 km . Several layers can be distinguished in the atmosphere , based on characteristics such as temperature and composition . The study of Earth 's atmosphere and its processes is called atmospheric science ( aerology ) . Early pioneers in the field include Léon Teisserenc de Bort and Richard Assmann .", "Regional effects of global warming Regional effects of global warming are long-term significant changes in the expected patterns of average weather of a specific region due to global warming . The world average temperature is rising due to the greenhouse effect caused by increasing levels of greenhouse gases , especially carbon dioxide . When the global temperature changes , the changes in climate are not expected to be uniform across the Earth . In particular , land areas change more quickly than oceans , and northern high latitudes change more quickly than the tropics , and the margins of biome regions change faster than do their cores . Regional effects of global warming vary in nature . Some are the result of a generalised global change , such as rising temperature , resulting in local effects , such as melting ice . In other cases , a change may be related to a change in a particular ocean current or weather system . In such cases , the regional effect may be disproportionate and will not necessarily follow the global trend . The increasing temperatures from greenhouse gases have been causing sea levels to rise for many years . There are three major ways in which global warming will make changes to regional climate : melting or forming ice , changing the hydrological cycle ( of evaporation and precipitation ) and changing currents in the oceans and air flows in the atmosphere . The coast can also be considered a region , and will suffer severe impacts from sea level rise .", "Greenhouse gas removal Greenhouse gas removal projects are a type of climate engineering that seek to remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere , and thus they tackle the root cause of global warming . These techniques either directly remove greenhouse gases , or alternatively seek to influence natural processes to remove greenhouse gases indirectly . The discipline overlaps with carbon capture and storage and carbon sequestration , and some projects listed may not be considered to be geoengineering by all commentators , instead being described as mitigation .", "Charles David Keeling Charles David Keeling ( April 20 , 1928 -- June 20 , 2005 ) was an American scientist whose recording of carbon dioxide at the Mauna Loa Observatory first alerted the world to the possibility of anthropogenic contribution to the `` greenhouse effect '' and global warming . The Keeling Curve measures the progressive buildup of carbon dioxide , a greenhouse gas , in the atmosphere .", "Carbonate–silicate cycle The carbonate -- silicate geochemical cycle describes the transformation of silicate rocks to carbonate rocks by weathering and sedimentation at Earth 's surface and the transformation of carbonate rocks back into silicates by metamorphism and magmatism . It plays a large part in the carbon cycle , since the equilibrium point of the carbonate-silicate cycle dictates the pace of carbon release from the lithosphere . The carbonate-silicate cycle involves several chemical reactions that occur in different environments . In the atmosphere , gaseous carbon dioxide ( CO2 ) dissolves in rainwater , forming natural carbonic acid ( H2CO3 ) . This weak acid weathers silicate rocks on continents , slowly dissolving the rock and releasing aqueous minerals through the chemical reaction CaSiO3 ( s ) ( wollastonite ) + 2CO2 ( g ) + H2O ( l ) → Ca + 2HCO ( aq ) ( bicarbonate ) + SiO2 ( aq ) ( dissolved silica ) . These dissolved minerals are eventually carried by water to the ocean , where they are used by living organisms such as foraminifera , radiolarians , coccolithopores , and diatoms to create shells of CaCO3 ( calcite ) or SiO2 ( opal ) through the reactions Ca2 + ( aq ) + 2HCO3 → CaCO3 ( s ) + CO2 ( g ) + H2O ( l ) ( for calcite precipitation ) and SiO2 ( aq ) → SiO2 ( s ) ( for opal precipitation ) . When these organisms die , many shells are remineralized but some shells fall all the way to the sea floor and are buried . The cycle is completed when the sea floor is subducted and carbonate minerals recombine with silicate minerals under temperatures above 300 ° C to reform calcium silicates and release gaseous CO2 through volcanism ( CaCO3 ( s ) + SiO2 ( s ) → CaSiO3 ( s ) + CO2 ( g ) ) . The carbonate-silicate cycle impacts the global carbon cycle , as carbon dioxide is removed from the Earth 's surface through the burial of weathered minerals in deep ocean sediments and returned to the atmosphere through metamorphism and volcanism . However , this process is far from being a closed loop . In Earth history generally the formation of carbonates significantly outpaces the formation of silicates , effectively removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere . Because carbon dioxide is a potent greenhouse gas , the carbonate-silicate cycle is suspected to initiate ice ages by creating a negative feedback on the global temperature with a typical time scale of a few million years that is capable of countering water vapor and carbon dioxide short-term positive feedback on global temperature . The carbonate-silicate cycle equilibrium point is shifted on Venus due to surface temperatures above 300 ° C , which favor the formation of calcium silicates over weathering . Thus , Venus has a high-density carbon-dioxide atmosphere .", "Carbon dioxide Carbon dioxide ( chemical formula ) is a colorless gas with a density about 60 % higher than that of air ( 1.225 g/L ) that is odorless at normally encountered concentrations . Carbon dioxide consists of a carbon atom covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms . It occurs naturally in Earth 's atmosphere as a trace gas at a concentration of about 0.04 percent ( 400 ppm ) by volume . Natural sources include volcanoes , hot springs and geysers , and it is freed from carbonate rocks by dissolution in water and acids . Because carbon dioxide is soluble in water , it occurs naturally in groundwater , rivers and lakes , ice caps , glaciers and seawater . It is present in deposits of petroleum and natural gas . As the source of available carbon in the carbon cycle , atmospheric carbon dioxide is the primary carbon source for life on Earth and its concentration in Earth 's pre-industrial atmosphere since late in the Precambrian has been regulated by photosynthetic organisms and geological phenomena . Plants , algae and cyanobacteria use light energy to photosynthesize carbohydrate from carbon dioxide and water , with oxygen produced as a waste product . Carbon dioxide is produced by all aerobic organisms when they metabolize carbohydrates and lipids to produce energy by respiration . It is returned to water via the gills of fish and to the air via the lungs of air-breathing land animals , including humans . Carbon dioxide is produced during the processes of decay of organic materials and the fermentation of sugars in bread , beer and winemaking . It is produced by combustion of wood and other organic materials and fossil fuels such as coal , peat , petroleum and natural gas . It is a versatile industrial material , used , for example , as an inert gas in welding and fire extinguishers , as a pressurizing gas in air guns and oil recovery , as a chemical feedstock and in liquid form as a solvent in decaffeination of coffee and supercritical drying . It is added to drinking water and carbonated beverages including beer and sparkling wine to add effervescence . The frozen solid form of , known as `` dry ice '' is used as a refrigerant and as an abrasive in dry-ice blasting . Carbon dioxide is the most significant long-lived greenhouse gas in Earth 's atmosphere . Since the Industrial Revolution anthropogenic emissions - primarily from use of fossil fuels and deforestation - have rapidly increased its concentration in the atmosphere , leading to global warming . Carbon dioxide also causes ocean acidification because it dissolves in water to form carbonic acid .", "Solar radiation management Solar radiation management ( SRM ) projects are a type of climate engineering which seek to reflect sunlight and thus reduce global warming . Proposed examples include the creation of stratospheric sulfate aerosols . Their principal advantages as an approach to climate engineering is the speed with which they can be deployed and become fully active , their potential low financial cost , and the reversibility of their direct climatic effects . Solar radiation management projects could , for example , be used as a temporary response while levels of greenhouse gases can be brought under control by mitigation and greenhouse gas removal techniques . They would not reduce greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere , and thus do not address problems such as ocean acidification caused by excess carbon dioxide ( CO2 ) .", "Methane Methane ( -LSB- ˈmɛθeɪn -RSB- or -LSB- ˈmiːθeɪn -RSB- ) is a chemical compound with the chemical formula ( one atom of carbon and four atoms of hydrogen ) . It is a group 14 hydride and the simplest alkane , and is the main constituent of natural gas . The relative abundance of methane on Earth makes it an attractive fuel , though capturing and storing it poses challenges due to its gaseous state under normal conditions for temperature and pressure . Natural methane is found both below ground and under the sea floor . When it reaches the surface and the atmosphere , it is known as atmospheric methane . The Earth 's atmospheric methane concentration has increased by about 150 % since 1750 , and it accounts for 20 % of the total radiative forcing from all of the long-lived and globally mixed greenhouse gases ( these gases do n't include water vapor which is by far the largest component of the greenhouse effect ) .", "Integrated Carbon Observation System Integrated Carbon Observation System ( ICOS ) is a new strategic research infrastructure to quantify the greenhouse gas balance in Europe and adjacent regions . It consists of a harmonized network of ecosystem long-term observation sites , a network of atmospheric greenhouse gas concentration sites and a network of ocean observations . The network will be coordinated through a set of central facilities , including an atmospheric and an ecosystem thematic center , a central data center , an analytical laboratory and an oceanic thematic center . ICOS will provide the essential long-term observations required to understand the present state and predict future behavior of the global carbon cycle and greenhouse gas emissions . It will monitor and assess the effectiveness of carbon sequestration and/or greenhouse gases emission reduction activities on global atmospheric composition levels , including attribution of sources and sinks by region and sector . Standardized network will improved access to data and enable the development of flux products for research and political application . ICOS will be a state-of-the-art facility for the European research community . It will contribute the European share to global greenhouse gas observations under GEO , WMO-GAW and GTOS programs .", "Arctic methane emissions Arctic methane release is the release of methane from seas and soils in permafrost regions of the Arctic . While a long-term natural process , it is exacerbated by global warming . This results in a positive feedback effect , as methane is itself a powerful greenhouse gas . The Arctic region is one of the many natural sources of the greenhouse gas methane . Global warming accelerates its release , due to both release of methane from existing stores , and from methanogenesis in rotting biomass . Large quantities of methane are stored in the Arctic in natural gas deposits , permafrost , and as undersea clathrates . Permafrost and clathrates degrade on warming , thus large releases of methane from these sources may arise as a result of global warming . Other sources of methane include submarine taliks , river transport , ice complex retreat , submarine permafrost and decaying gas hydrate deposits . Concentrations in the Arctic atmosphere are higher by 8 -- 10 % than that in the Antarctic atmosphere . During cold glacier epochs , this gradient decreases to practically insignificant levels . Land ecosystems are considered the main sources of this asymmetry , although it has been suggested that `` the role of the Arctic Ocean is significantly underestimated . '' Soil temperature and moisture levels have been found to be significant variables in soil methane fluxes in tundra environments .", "Contraction and Convergence Contraction and Convergence ( C&C ) is a proposed global framework for reducing greenhouse gas emissions to combat climate change . Conceived by the Global Commons Institute -LSB- GCI -RSB- in the early 1990s , the Contraction and Convergence strategy consists of reducing overall emissions of greenhouse gases to a safe level ( contraction ) , resulting from every country bringing its emissions per capita to a level which is equal for all countries ( convergence ) . It is intended to form the basis of an international agreement which will reduce carbon dioxide emissions to avoid dangerous climate change , carbon dioxide being the gas that is primarily responsible for changes in the greenhouse effect on Earth . It is expressed as a simple mathematical formula . This formula can be used as a way for the world to stabilize carbon levels at any level . Advocates of Contraction and Convergence stress that negotiations at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change -LSB- UNFCCC -RSB- are governed sequentially by the ` objective ' of the UNFCCC -LSB- safe and stable GHG concentration in the global atmosphere -RSB- followed by its organising principles -LSB- ` precaution ' and ` equity ' -RSB- . C&C is widely cited and supported .", "Trace gas A trace gas is a gas which makes up less than 1 % by volume of the Earth 's atmosphere , and it includes all gases except nitrogen ( 78.1 % ) and oxygen ( 20.9 % ) . The most abundant trace gas at 0.934 % is argon . Water vapor also occurs in the atmosphere with highly variable abundance .", "Low-carbon economy A low-carbon economy ( LCE ) , low-fossil-fuel economy ( LFFE ) , or decarbonised economy is an economy based on low carbon power sources that therefore has a minimal output of greenhouse gas ( GHG ) emissions into the biosphere , but specifically refers to the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide . GHG emissions due to anthropogenic ( human ) activity are the dominant cause of observed global warming ( climate change ) since the mid-20th century . Continued emission of greenhouse gases will cause further warming and long-lasting changes around the world , increasing the likelihood of severe , pervasive and irreversible impacts for people and ecosystems . Many countries around the world are designing and implementing low emission development strategies ( LEDS ) . These strategies seek to achieve social , economic and environmental development goals while reducing long-term greenhouse gas emissions and increasing resilience to climate change impacts . Globally implemented low-carbon economies are therefore proposed by those having drawn this conclusion , as a means to avoid catastrophic climate change , and as a precursor to the more advanced , zero-carbon economy .", "Polar forests of the Cretaceous Cretaceous polar forests were temperate forests that grew at polar latitudes during the final period of the Mesozoic Era , known as the Cretaceous Period 145 -- 66 Ma . During this period , global average temperature was about 10 C-change higher and carbon dioxide ( CO2 ) levels were approximately 1000 parts per million ( ppm ) , 2.5 times the current concentration in Earth 's atmosphere . The abundance of atmospheric carbon dioxide had a very significant impact on global climate and Earth 's natural systems as its concentration is considered one of the main factors in the development of a pronounced greenhouse Earth during the Cretaceous with a very low average global temperature gradient . As a consequence , high paleolatitudes in both hemispheres were much warmer than at present . This temperature gradient was partly responsible for the lack of continental ice sheets in polar regions . As a response to elevated global temperatures , the Earth 's hydrologic cycle was significantly enhanced due to greater volume of moisture evaporation from the surface of the ocean . In turn , the absolute sea level during this time period stood at elevations much higher than the present level . Continental encroachment of seawater formed widespread shallow seas , including expanses of epeiric seas . An increase in surface area between shallow , warm epeiric seawater and the atmosphere permits higher evaporation rates and more precipitation at various latitudes , producing a more temperate global climate . A widespread temperate climate also had significant effects on high latitude ecosystems .", "Water vapor windows In the Earth 's atmosphere , water vapor absorbs many wavelengths of IR energy , while others are not absorbed . Those sections of the Electromagnetic spectrum that it does not absorb , are like windows in the atmosphere , allowing electromagnetic energy to flow freely in and out of the system . Like a window , that allows light to enter and leave . Originally discovered by John Tyndall , most of the infrared coming from the Universe is blocked , absorbed by water vapor ( and other greenhouse gases ) in the Earth 's atmosphere . Those wavelength ranges that can partially reach the surface , are coming through what is called ` water vapor windows ' . These windows are how Astronomers can view the Universe with IR telescopes , called Infrared astronomy . These windows also allow orbiting satellites to measure the IR energy leaving the planet , the SSTs and other important matters . See Electromagnetic_absorption_by_water #Atmospheric _ effects .", "Geodynamics of terrestrial exoplanets The discovery of extrasolar Earth-sized planets has spurred inquiry regarding their potential for habitability . One of the generally agreed-upon ( Noack and Breuer and references within ) requirements for a life-sustaining planet is a mobile , fractured lithosphere cyclically recycled into a vigorously convecting mantle , commonly known as plate tectonics . Plate tectonics provide a means of geochemical regulation of atmospheric particulates , as well as sequestration of carbon . This prevents `` runaway greenhouse '' scenarios that can result in inhospitable surface temperatures and vaporization of liquid surface water . There is not a clear academic consensus on whether Earth-like exoplanets have plate tectonics , but it is widely thought that the likelihood of plate tectonics on an Earth-like exoplanet is a function of planetary radius , initial temperature upon coalescence , insolation , and presence or absence of liquid-phase surface water .", "Ammonia fountain The ammonia fountain is a type of chemical demonstration . The experiment consists of introducing water through an inlet to a container filled with ammonia gas . Ammonia dissolves into the water and the pressure in the container drops . As a result , more water is forced into the container from another inlet creating a fountain effect . The demonstration introduces concepts like solubility and the gas laws at entry level . A different gas of comparable solubility in water , such as hydrogen chloride , can be used instead of ammonia . If the ammonia is replaced by a liquid vapor , such as water vapor , at a pressure higher than its room-temperature vapor pressure , a similar effect is produced . In this case , the reduction in pressure in the container is due to condensation of the vapor as the container cools to room temperature .", "Idealized greenhouse model The surface of the Sun radiates light and heat at approximately 5,500 ° C . The Earth is much cooler and so radiates heat back away from itself at much longer wavelengths , mostly in the infrared range . The idealized greenhouse model is based on the fact that certain gases in the Earth 's atmosphere , including carbon dioxide and water vapour , are transparent to the high-frequency , high-energy solar radiation , but are much more opaque to the lower frequency infrared radiation leaving the surface of the earth . Thus heat is easily let in , but is partially trapped by these gases as it tries to leave . Rather than get hotter and hotter , Kirchhoff 's law of thermal radiation says that the gases of the atmosphere also have to re-emit the infrared energy that they absorb , and they do so , also at long infrared wavelengths , both upwards into space as well as downwards back towards the Earth 's surface . In the long-term , thermal equilibrium is reached when all the heat energy arriving on the planet is leaving again at the same rate . In this idealized model , the greenhouse gases cause the surface of the planet to be warmer than it would be without them , in order for the required amount of heat energy finally to be radiated out into space from the top of the atmosphere . The greenhouse effect can be illustrated with an idealized planet . This is a common `` textbook model '' : the planet will have a constant surface temperature Ts and an atmosphere with constant temperature Ta . For diagrammatic clarity , a gap can be depicted between the atmosphere and the surface . Alternatively , Ts could be interpreted as a temperature representative of the surface and the lower atmosphere , and Ta could be interpreted as the temperature of the upper atmosphere . In order to justify that Ta and Ts remain constant over the planet , strong ocean and atmospheric currents can be imagined to provide plentiful lateral mixing . Furthermore , any daily or seasonal cycles in temperature are assumed to be insignificant .", "Greenhouse Gases Observing Satellite The Greenhouse Gases Observing Satellite ( GOSat ) , also known as , is an Earth observation satellite and the world 's first satellite dedicated to greenhouse-gas-monitoring . It measures the densities of carbon dioxide and methane from 56,000 locations on the Earth 's atmosphere . The GOSAT was developed by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency ( JAXA ) and launched on 23 January 2009 , from the Tanegashima Space Center . Japan 's Ministry of the Environment , and the National Institute for Environmental Studies ( NIES ) use the data to track gases causing the greenhouse effect , and share the data with NASA and other international scientific organizations .", "Atmospheric river An atmospheric river is a narrow corridor or filament of concentrated moisture in the atmosphere . Atmospheric rivers consist of narrow bands of enhanced water vapor transport , typically along the boundaries between large areas of divergent surface air flow , including some frontal zones in association with extratropical cyclones that form over the oceans . Pineapple Express storms are the most commonly represented and recognized type of atmospheric rivers ; they are given the name due to the warm water vapor plumes originating over the Hawaiian tropics that follow a path towards California . The term was originally coined by researchers Reginald Newell and Yong Zhu of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the early 1990s , to reflect the narrowness of the moisture plumes involved . Atmospheric rivers are typically several thousand kilometers long and only a few hundred kilometers wide , and a single one can carry a greater flux of water than the Earth 's largest river , the Amazon River . There are typically 3 -- 5 of these narrow plumes present within a hemisphere at any given time . In the current research field of atmospheric rivers the length and width factors described above in conjunction with an integrated water vapor depth greater than 2.0 cm are used as standards to categorize atmospheric river events . However , as data modeling techniques progress , integrated water vapor transport ( IVT ) is becoming a more common data type used to interpret atmospheric rivers . Its strength lies in its ability to show the transportation of water vapor over multiple time steps instead of a stagnant measurement of water vapor depth in a specific air column ( IWV ) . In addition IVT is more directly attributed to orographic precipitation , a key factor in the production of intense rainfall and subsequent flooding . Atmospheric rivers have a central role in the global water cycle . On any given day , atmospheric rivers account for over 90 % of the global meridional ( north-south ) water vapor transport , yet they cover less than 10 % of the Earth 's circumference . They also are the major cause of extreme precipitation events that cause severe flooding in many mid-latitude , westerly coastal regions of the world , including the West Coast of North America , Western Europe , and the west coast of North Africa . The significance atmospheric rivers have for the control of coastal water budgets juxtaposed against their creation of detrimental floods can be constructed and studied by looking at California and the surrounding coastal region of the western United States . In this region atmospheric rivers have contributed 30-50 % of total annual rainfall . In conjunction Californian land falling Atmospheric Rivers have been historically associated with approximately all major flooding events . The inconsistency of California 's rainfall is due to the variability in strength and quantity of these storms , which can produce strenuous effects on California 's water budget . The factors described above make California a perfect case study to show the importance of proper water management and prediction of these storms . __ NOTOC __", "Landfill gas Landfill gas is a complex mix of different gases created by the action of microorganisms within a landfill . Landfill gas is approximately forty to sixty percent methane , with the remainder being mostly carbon dioxide . Trace amounts of other volatile organic compounds comprise the remainder ( < 1 % ) . These trace gases include a large array of species , mainly simple hydrocarbons . Landfill gases have an influence on climate change . The major components are CO2 and methane , both of which are greenhouse gas . In terms of global warming potential , methane is over 25 times more detrimental to the atmosphere than carbon dioxide . Landfills are the third largest source of methane in the US .", "Clathrate gun hypothesis The clathrate gun hypothesis is the popular name given to the hypothesis that increases in sea temperatures ( and/or drops in sea levels ) can trigger the sudden release of methane from methane clathrate compounds buried in seabeds and that are contained within seabed permafrost which , because methane itself is a powerful greenhouse gas , leads to further temperature rise and further methane clathrate destabilization -- in effect initiating a runaway process as irreversible , once started , as the firing of a gun . In its original form , the hypothesis proposed that the `` clathrate gun '' could cause abrupt runaway warming on a timescale less than a human lifetime . It was thought to be responsible for warming events in and at the end of the last glacial maximum , however this is now thought to be unlikely . However , there is stronger evidence that runaway methane clathrate breakdown may have caused drastic alteration of the ocean environment ( such as ocean acidification and ocean stratification ) and of the atmosphere of earth on a number of occasions in the past , over timescales of tens of thousands of years . These events include the Paleocene -- Eocene Thermal Maximum 56 million years ago , and most notably the Permian -- Triassic extinction event , when up to 96 % of all marine species became extinct , 252 million years ago .", "Atmosphere of Venus The atmosphere of Venus is the layer of gases surrounding Venus . It is composed primarily of carbon dioxide and is much denser and hotter than that of Earth . The temperature at the surface is 740 K ( 467 ° C , 872 ° F ) , and the pressure is 93 bar ( 9.3 MPa ) , roughly the pressure found 900 m underwater on Earth . The Venusian atmosphere supports opaque clouds made of sulfuric acid , making optical Earth-based and orbital observation of the surface impossible . Information about the topography has been obtained exclusively by radar imaging . Aside from carbon dioxide , the other main component is nitrogen . Other chemical compounds are present only in trace amounts . Mikhail Lomonosov was the first person to hypothesize the existence of an atmosphere on Venus based on his observation of the transit of Venus of 1761 in a small observatory near his house in Saint Petersburg , Russia . Aside from the very surface layers , the atmosphere is in a state of vigorous circulation . The upper layer of troposphere exhibits a phenomenon of super-rotation , in which the atmosphere circles the planet in just four Earth days , much faster than the planet 's sidereal day of 243 days . The winds supporting super-rotation blow at a speed of 100 m/s ( ~ 360 km/h or 220 mph ) or more . Winds move at up to 60 times the speed of the planet 's rotation , while Earth 's fastest winds are only 10 % to 20 % rotation speed . On the other hand , the wind speed becomes increasingly slower as the elevation from the surface decreases , with the breeze barely reaching the speed of 10 km/h ( 2.8 m/s ) on the surface . Near the poles are anticyclonic structures called polar vortices . Each vortex is double-eyed and shows a characteristic S-shaped pattern of clouds . Above there is an intermediate layer of mesosphere which separates the troposphere from the thermosphere . The thermosphere is also characterized by strong circulation , but very different in its nature - the gases heated and partially ionized by sunlight in the sunlit hemisphere migrate to the dark hemisphere where they recombine and downwell . Unlike Earth , Venus lacks a magnetic field . Its ionosphere separates the atmosphere from outer space and the solar wind . This ionised layer excludes the solar magnetic field , giving Venus a distinct magnetic environment . This is considered Venus 's induced magnetosphere . Lighter gases , including water vapour , are continuously blown away by the solar wind through the induced magnetotail . It is speculated that the atmosphere of Venus up to around 4 billion years ago was more like that of the Earth with liquid water on the surface . A runaway greenhouse effect may have been caused by the evaporation of the surface water and subsequent rise of the levels of other greenhouse gases . Despite the harsh conditions on the surface , the atmospheric pressure and temperature at about 50 km to 65 km above the surface of the planet is nearly the same as that of the Earth , making its upper atmosphere the most Earth-like area in the Solar System , even more so than the surface of Mars . Due to the similarity in pressure and temperature and the fact that breathable air ( 21 % oxygen , 78 % nitrogen ) is a lifting gas on Venus in the same way that helium is a lifting gas on Earth , the upper atmosphere has been proposed as a location for both exploration and colonization . On January 29 , 2013 , ESA scientists reported that the ionosphere of the planet Venus streams outwards in a manner similar to `` the ion tail seen streaming from a comet under similar conditions . ''", "Future of Earth The biological and geological future of Earth can be extrapolated based upon the estimated effects of several long-term influences . These include the chemistry at Earth 's surface , the rate of cooling of the planet 's interior , the gravitational interactions with other objects in the Solar System , and a steady increase in the Sun 's luminosity . An uncertain factor in this extrapolation is the ongoing influence of technology introduced by humans , such as climate engineering , which could cause significant changes to the planet . The current Holocene extinction is being caused by technology and the effects may last for up to five million years . In turn , technology may result in the extinction of humanity , leaving the planet to gradually return to a slower evolutionary pace resulting solely from long-term natural processes . Over time intervals of hundreds of millions of years , random celestial events pose a global risk to the biosphere , which can result in mass extinctions . These include impacts by comets or asteroids with diameters of 5 -- or more , and the possibility of a massive stellar explosion , called a supernova , within a 100-light-year radius of the Sun , called a Near-Earth supernova . Other large-scale geological events are more predictable . If the long-term effects of global warming are disregarded , Milankovitch theory predicts that the planet will continue to undergo glacial periods at least until the Quaternary glaciation comes to an end . These periods are caused by variations in eccentricity , axial tilt , and precession of the Earth 's orbit . As part of the ongoing supercontinent cycle , plate tectonics will probably result in a supercontinent in 250 -- 350 million years . Some time in the next 1.5 -- 4.5 billion years , the axial tilt of the Earth may begin to undergo chaotic variations , with changes in the axial tilt of up to 90 ° . During the next four billion years , the luminosity of the Sun will steadily increase , resulting in a rise in the solar radiation reaching the Earth . This will result in a higher rate of weathering of silicate minerals , which will cause a decrease in the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere . In about 600 million years from now , the level of CO2 will fall below the level needed to sustain C3 carbon fixation photosynthesis used by trees . Some plants use the C4 carbon fixation method , allowing them to persist at concentrations as low as 10 parts per million . However , the long-term trend is for plant life to die off altogether . The extinction of plants will be the demise of almost all animal life , since plants are the base of the food chain on Earth . In about one billion years , the solar luminosity will be 10 % higher than at present . This will cause the atmosphere to become a `` moist greenhouse '' , resulting in a runaway evaporation of the oceans . As a likely consequence , plate tectonics will come to an end , and with them the entire carbon cycle . Following this event , in about 2 − 3 billion years , the planet 's magnetic dynamo may cease , causing the magnetosphere to decay and leading to an accelerated loss of volatiles from the outer atmosphere . Four billion years from now , the increase in the Earth 's surface temperature will cause a runaway greenhouse effect , heating the surface enough to melt it . By that point , all life on the Earth will be extinct . The most probable fate of the planet is absorption by the Sun in about 7.5 billion years , after the star has entered the red giant phase and expanded to cross the planet 's current orbit .", "Carbon tax A carbon tax is a tax levied on the carbon content of fuels . It is a form of carbon pricing . Carbon is present in every hydrocarbon fuel ( coal , petroleum , and natural gas ) and converted to carbon dioxide and other products when combusted . In contrast , non-combustion energy sources -- wind , sunlight , geothermal , hydropower , and nuclear -- do not convert hydrocarbons to . is a heat-trapping `` greenhouse '' gas which represents a negative externality on the climate system ( see scientific opinion on global warming ) . Since GHG emissions caused by the combustion of fossil fuels are closely related to the carbon content of the respective fuels , a tax on these emissions can be levied by taxing the carbon content of fossil fuels at any point in the product cycle of the fuel . Carbon tax offers social and economic benefits . It is a tax that increases revenue without significantly altering the economy while simultaneously promoting objectives of climate change policy . The objective of a carbon tax is to reduce the harmful and unfavorable levels of carbon dioxide emissions , thereby decelerating climate change and its negative effects on the environment and human health . Carbon taxes offer a potentially cost-effective means of reducing greenhouse gas emissions . From an economic perspective , carbon taxes are a type of Pigovian tax . They help to address the problem of emitters of greenhouse gases not facing the full social cost of their actions . Carbon taxes can be a regressive tax , in that they may directly or indirectly affect low-income groups disproportionately . The regressive impact of carbon taxes could be addressed by using tax revenues to favour low-income groups . A number of countries have implemented carbon taxes or energy taxes that are related to carbon content . Most environmentally related taxes with implications for greenhouse gas emissions in OECD countries are levied on energy products and motor vehicles , rather than on emissions directly . Opposition to increased environmental regulation such as carbon taxes often centers on concerns that firms might relocate and/or people might lose their jobs . It has been argued , however , that carbon taxes are more efficient than direct regulation and may even lead to higher employment ( see footnotes ) . Many large users of carbon resources in electricity generation , such as the United States , Russia , and China , are resisting carbon taxation .", "Methanotroph Methanotrophs ( sometimes called methanophiles ) are prokaryotes that metabolize methane as their only source of carbon and energy . They can grow aerobically or anaerobically and require single-carbon compounds to survive . These Methanotrophs are currently being modified to absorb methane from the atmosphere , because methane released into the atmosphere contributes to greenhouse gasses , which heat up the earth and cause global warming ." ]

[ "Air pollution Air pollution occurs when harmful substances including particulates and biological molecules are introduced into Earth 's atmosphere . It may cause diseases , allergies or death in humans ; it may also cause harm to other living organisms such as animals and food crops , and may damage the natural or built environment . Human activity and natural processes can both generate air pollution . Indoor air pollution and poor urban air quality are listed as two of the world 's worst toxic pollution problems in the 2008 Blacksmith Institute World 's Worst Polluted Places report . According to the 2014 WHO report , air pollution in 2012 caused the deaths of around 7 million people worldwide , an estimate roughly matched by the International Energy Agency .", "Particulates Atmospheric particulate matter -- also known as particulate matter ( PM ) or particulates -- are microscopic solid or liquid matter suspended in the Earth 's atmosphere . The term aerosol commonly refers to the particulate/air mixture , as opposed to the particulate matter alone . Sources of particulate matter can be man-made or natural . They have impacts on climate and precipitation that adversely affect human health . Subtypes of atmospheric particulate matter include suspended particulate matter ( SPM ) , thoracic and respirable particles , inhalable coarse particles , which are -LSB- coarse -RSB- particles with a diameter between 2.5 and 10 micrometers ( μm ) ( PM10 ) , fine particles with a diameter of 2.5 μm or less ( PM2 .5 ) , ultrafine particles , and soot The IARC and WHO designate airborne particulates a Group 1 carcinogen . Particulates are the deadliest form of air pollution due to their ability to penetrate deep into the lungs and blood streams unfiltered , causing permanent DNA mutations , heart attacks , and premature death . In 2013 , a study involving 312,944 people in nine European countries revealed that there was no safe level of particulates and that for every increase of 10 μg / m3 in PM10 , the lung cancer rate rose 22 % . The smaller PM2 .5 were particularly deadly , with a 36 % increase in lung cancer per 10 μg / m3 as it can penetrate deeper into the lungs ." ]

[ "Obstructive lung disease Obstructive lung disease is a category of respiratory disease characterized by airway obstruction . Many obstructive diseases of the lung result from narrowing of the smaller bronchi and larger bronchioles , often because of excessive contraction of the smooth muscle itself . It is generally characterized by inflamed and easily collapsible airways , obstruction to airflow , problems exhaling and frequent medical clinic visits and hospitalizations . Types of obstructive lung disease include ; asthma , bronchiectasis , bronchitis and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease ( COPD ) . Although COPD shares similar characteristics with all other obstructive lung diseases , such as the signs of coughing and wheezing , they are distinct conditions in terms of disease onset , frequency of symptoms and reversibility of airway obstruction . Cystic fibrosis is also sometimes included in obstructive pulmonary disease .", "Lifestyle disease Lifestyle diseases are defined as diseases linked with the way people live their life . This is commonly caused by alcohol , drug and smoking abuse as well as lack of physical activity and unhealthy eating . Diseases that impact on our lifestyle are heart disease , stroke , obesity and type II diabetes . The diseases that appear to increase in frequency as countries become more industrialized and people live longer . They can include Alzheimer 's disease , arthritis , atherosclerosis , asthma , cancer , chronic liver disease or cirrhosis , chronic obstructive pulmonary disease , type 2 diabetes , heart disease , metabolic syndrome , chronic renal failure , osteoporosis , stroke , depression , and obesity . In the U.K the death rate is four times higher from respiratory disease caused by an unhealthy lifestyle Some commenters maintain a distinction between diseases of longevity and diseases of civilization . Certain diseases , such as diabetes , dental caries and asthma , appear at greater rates in young populations living in the `` western '' way ; their increased incidence is not related to age , so the terms can not accurately be used interchangeably for all diseases .", "Nitrogen dioxide poisoning Nitrogen dioxide poisoning is the illness resulting from the toxic effect of nitrogen dioxide . It usually occurs after the inhalation of the gas beyond the threshold limit value . Nitrogen dioxide is reddish-brown with very a sharp , harsh smell at high concentrations . It is colourless and odourless at lower concentration but yet harmful . Nitrogen dioxide poisoning depends on the duration , frequency and intensity of exposure . Nitrogen dioxide is an irritant of the mucous membrane linked with other air pollutant that causes pulmonary diseases such as OLD , asthma , chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and sometimes acute exacerbation of COPD and in fatal cases , deaths . Its poor solubility in water enhances its passage and its ability to pass through the moist oral mucosa of the respiratory tract . Like most toxic gases , the dose inhaled determines the toxicity on the respiratory tract . Occupational exposures constitute the highest risk of toxicity and domestic exposure is uncommon . Prolonged exposure to low concentration of the gas may have lethal effects , as can short-term exposure to high concentrations like chlorine gas poisoning . It is one of the major air pollutant capable of causing severe heath hazards such as coronary artery disease as well as stroke . Nitrogen dioxide is often released into the environment as a byproduct of fuel combustion but rarely released by spontaneous combustion . Known sources of nitrogen gas poisoning includes automobile exhaust and power stations . The toxicity may also result from non-combustible sources such as the one released from anaerobic fermentation of food grains and anaerobic digestion of biodegradable waste . The World Health Organization ( WHO ) developed a global recommendation limiting exposures to less than 20 parts per billion for chronic exposure and value less 100 ppb for one hour for acute exposure , using nitrogen dioxide as a marker for other pollutants from fuel combustion . The standards also based on the concentration of nitrogen dioxide that show a significant and profound effects on the function of the pulmonary of asthmatic patients . Historically , some cities in the United States including Chicago and Los Angeles have high levels of nitrogen dioxide but the EPA set a standard values less than 100 ppb for a one-hour exposure and less than 53 ppb for chronic exposure .", "Bronchitis Bronchitis is inflammation of the bronchi ( large and medium-sized airways ) in the lungs . Symptoms include coughing up mucus , wheezing , shortness of breath , and chest discomfort . Bronchitis is divided into two types : acute and chronic . Acute bronchitis is also known as a chest cold . Acute bronchitis usually has a cough that lasts around three weeks . In more than 90 % of cases the cause is a viral infection . These viruses may be spread through the air when people cough or by direct contact . Risk factors include exposure to tobacco smoke , dust , and other air pollution . A small number of cases are due to high levels of air pollution or bacteria such as Mycoplasma pneumoniae or Bordetella pertussis . Treatment of acute bronchitis typically involves rest , paracetamol ( acetaminophen ) , and NSAIDs to help with the fever . Chronic bronchitis is defined as a productive cough that lasts for three months or more per year for at least two years . Most people with chronic bronchitis have chronic obstructive pulmonary disease ( COPD ) . Tobacco smoking is the most common cause , with a number of other factors such as air pollution and genetics playing a smaller role . Treatments include quitting smoking , vaccinations , rehabilitation , and often inhaled bronchodilators and steroids . Some people may benefit from long-term oxygen therapy or lung transplantation . Acute bronchitis is one of the most common diseases . About 5 % of adults are affected and about 6 % of children have at least one episode a year . In 2010 , COPD affects 329 million people or nearly 5 % of the global population . In 2013 , it resulted in 2.9 million deaths , up from 2.4 million deaths in 1990 .", "Chronic lung disease Chronic lung disease may refer to : Asthma Bronchopulmonary dysplasia Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease , including chronic bronchitis and emphysema", "Occupational cardiovascular disease Occupational cardiovascular disease is disease of the heart or blood vessels that are caused by working conditions , making them a form of occupational illness . Little is known about occupational risks for heart disease , but links have been established between cardiovascular disease and certain toxins ( including carbon disulfide , nitroglycerin , and carbon monoxide ) , extreme heat and cold , exposure to tobacco smoke , depression , and occupational stress . Other occupational hazards potentially related to cardiovascular disease include noise exposure at work , shift work , and physical activity at work . A 2015 SBU-report including a systematic review of non-chemical riskfactors for occupation cardiovascular disease found an association between certain occupational risk factors and developing cardiovascular disease in those : With mentally stressfull work with a lack of control of their own working situation -- with a effort-reward imbalance Who experience low social support at work ; who experience injustice or experience insufficient opportunities for personal development ; or those who experience job insecurity Those who work night schedules ; or have long working weeks Those who are exposed to noise Specifically the risk of stroke was also increased by : Exposure to ionizing radiation Hypertension develops more often in those who experience job strain and who have shift-work . Differences between women and men in risk are small , however men risk suffering and dieing of heart attacks or stroke twice as often as women during working life .", "Exacerbation An exacerbation , in medicine , is the worsening of a disease or an increase in its symptoms . Examples includes an acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and acute exacerbation of congestive heart failure .", "Chronic Respiratory Disease Chronic Respiratory Disease is a quarterly peer-reviewed medical journal that covers research in the field of respiratory disease , including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease , respiratory failure , and obstructive sleep apnea . The editors-in-chief are Mike Morgan ( Glenfield Hospital ) , Carolyn Rochester ( Yale University ) , and Sally Singh ( Glenfield Hospital ) . It was established in 2004 and is published by SAGE Publications .", "Effect of oxygen on chronic obstructive pulmonary disease In some individuals , the effect of oxygen on chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is to cause increased carbon dioxide retention , which may cause drowsiness , headaches , and in severe cases lack of respiration , which may lead to death . People with lung ailments or with central respiratory depression , who receive supplemental oxygen , require careful monitoring .", "Pulmonary heart disease Pulmonary heart disease , also known as cor pulmonale is the enlargement and failure of the right ventricle of the heart as a response to increased vascular resistance ( such as from pulmonic stenosis ) or high blood pressure in the lungs . Chronic pulmonary heart disease usually results in right ventricular hypertrophy ( RVH ) , whereas acute pulmonary heart disease usually results in dilatation . Hypertrophy is an adaptive response to a long-term increase in pressure . Individual muscle cells grow larger ( in thickness ) and change to drive the increased contractile force required to move the blood against greater resistance . Dilatation is a stretching ( in length ) of the ventricle in response to acute increased pressure . To be classified as pulmonary heart disease , the cause must originate in the pulmonary circulation system . Two causes are vascular changes as a result of tissue damage ( e.g. disease , hypoxic injury ) , and chronic hypoxic pulmonary vasoconstriction . If left untreated , then death may result , RVH due to a systemic defect is not classified as pulmonary heart disease . The heart and lungs are intricately related ; whenever the heart is affected by a disease , the lungs will follow and vice versa .", "Alcoholic lung disease Alcoholic lung disease is disease of the lungs caused by excessive alcohol consumption . The term ` alcoholic lung disease ' is not a generally accepted medical diagnosis , and `` the association between alcohol abuse and acute lung injury remains largely unrecognized , even by lung researchers '' . Chronic alcohol ingestion impairs multiple critical cellular functions in the lung . These cellular impairments lead to increased susceptibility to serious complications from lung disease . Recent research cites alcoholic lung disease as comparable to liver disease in alcohol-related mortality . Alcoholics have a higher risk of developing acute respiratory distress syndrome ( ARDS ) and experience higher rates of mortality from ARDS when compared to non-alcoholics . Alcohol abuse will make you more prone to getting an infection after major trauma to the lungs/respiratory system.It creates an increased risk of aspiration of gastric acid , microbes from the upper part of the throat , decreased mucous-facilitated clearance of bacterial pathogens from the upper airway and impaired pulmonary host defences . This increased colonization by pathogenic organisms , combined with the acute intoxicating effects of alcohol and the subsequent depression of the normally protective gag and cough reflexes , leads to more frequent and severe pneumonia 's from gram-negative organisms . Defects in the function of the upper airways clearance mechanisms in alcoholic patients .", "Asbestos-related diseases Asbestos-related diseases are disorders of the lung and pleura caused by the inhalation of asbestos fibres . Asbestos-related diseases include non-malignant disorders such as asbestosis ( pulmonary fibrosis due to asbestos ) , diffuse pleural thickening , pleural plaques , pleural effusion , rounded atelectasis and malignancies such as lung cancer and malignant mesothelioma . People who worked in jobs with high asbestos dust exposure are at the highest risk of developing asbestos-related disease . However , exposure to asbestos may also occur in the worker 's home due to dust that has accumulated on the worker 's clothing ( para-occupational exposure ) . Asbestos-related diseases can also occur as a result of non-occupational , environmental exposure . Asbestos was extensively used in many building materials , therefore large quantities of asbestos still remain in buildings that were built prior to the restriction of asbestos use that applies in many countries . The weathering and aging of such buildings may cause asbestos fragments to be released in the air and create a potential hazard . Anyone who disturbs the asbestos-containing material during home maintenance and renovation can be affected , although the exact risks are difficult to quantify .", "COPD: Journal of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease The COPD : Journal of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Diesase is a peer-reviewed medical journal that covers all aspects of chronic obstructive lung disease and its related conditions .", "Respiratory Health Association of Metropolitan Chicago Respiratory Health Association is a not-for-profit organization located on Chicago 's Near West Side . Initially founded as the Chicago Tuberculosis Institute , the organization has undergone several name changes since 1906 to incorporate its expanding mission . Today , the association fights lung disease and promotes healthy lungs through research , advocacy and educational efforts on behalf of individuals and families affected by lung cancer , asthma , chronic obstructive pulmonary disease ( COPD ) and other lung diseases . The organization serves people living with lung disease through community-based interventions , including assisting with grants for research , creating policy initiatives that address long-term concerns on respiratory diseases , and developing programs to prevent lung disease .", "Chronic pulmonary aspergillosis Aspergillosis is an infection caused by the fungus Aspergillus . Aspergillosis describes a large number of diseases involving both infection and growth of fungus as well as allergic responses . Aspergillosis can occur in a variety of organs , both in humans and animals . The most common sites of infection are the respiratory apparatus ( lungs , sinuses ) and these infections can be : Invasive ( e.g. -- IPA ) Non-invasive ( e.g. Allergic Pulmonary Aspergillosis - ABPA ) Chronic pulmonary and aspergilloma ( e.g. chronic cavitary , semi-invasive ) Severe asthma with fungal sensitisation ( SAFS ) Chronic pulmonary aspergillosis ( CPA ) is a long-term aspergillus infection of the lung and Aspergillus fumigatus is almost always the species responsible for this illness . Patients fall into several groups as listed below . Those with an aspergilloma which is a ball of fungus found in a single lung cavity - which may improve or disappear , or change very little over a few years . Aspergillus nodule Chronic cavitary pulmonary aspergillosis ( CCPA ) where cavities are present in the lungs , but not necessarily with a fungal ball ( aspergilloma ) . Chronic fibrosing pulmonary aspergillosis this may develop where pulmonary aspergillosis remains untreated and chronic scarring of the lungs occurs . Unfortunately scarring of the lungs does not improve . Most patients with CPA have or have had an underlying lung disease . The most common diseases include tuberculosis , atypical mycobacterium infection , stage III fibrocystic pulmonary sarcoidosis , ABPA , lung cancer , COPD and emphysema , asthma and silicosis .", "World Trade Center lung World Trade Center lung is the name for a collection of lung diseases found in people who worked at or were near to the Ground Zero site of the September 11 attacks in New York City . This cluster of diseases includes asthma , asthmatic bronchitis , terminal airways disease , sarcoidosis , and acute eosinophilic pneumonia . The particulate matter from the destruction of the towers contained fibrogenic and other harmful materials also found in responders ' lungs , including fiberglass , asbestos , aluminum , calcium silicate , polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons , silica , vitreous fibers , carbon nanotubes , fly ash , titanium , magnesium silicate , and phosphate .", "Bronchodilator A bronchodilator is a substance that dilates the bronchi and bronchioles , decreasing resistance in the respiratory airway and increasing airflow to the lungs . Bronchodilators may be endogenous ( originating naturally within the body ) , or they may be medications administered for the treatment of breathing difficulties . They are most useful in obstructive lung diseases , of which asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease are the most common conditions . Although this remains somewhat controversial , they might be useful in bronchiolitis and Bronchiectasis . They are often prescribed but of unproven significance in restrictive lung diseases . Bronchodilators are either short-acting or long-acting . Short-acting medications provide quick or `` rescue '' relief from acute bronchoconstriction . Long-acting bronchodilators help to control and prevent symptoms . The three types of prescription bronchodilating drugs are β2-agonists ( short - and long-acting ) , anticholinergics ( short-acting ) , and theophylline ( long-acting ) .", "Acute interstitial pneumonitis Acute interstitial pneumonitis ( also known as acute interstitial pneumonia or Hamman -- Rich syndrome ) is a rare , severe lung disease that usually affects otherwise healthy individuals . There is no known cause or cure . Acute interstitial pneumonitis is often categorized as both an interstitial lung disease and a form of acute respiratory distress syndrome ( ARDS ) but it is distinguished from the chronic forms of interstitial pneumonia such as idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis .", "Pleural disease ", "Criteria air contaminants Criteria air contaminants ( CAC ) , or criteria pollutants , are a set of air pollutants that cause smog , acid rain , and other health hazards . CACs are typically emitted from many sources in industry , mining , transportation , electricity generation and agriculture . In most cases they are the products of the combustion of fossil fuels or industrial processes . The history of each criteria air pollutant is listed below :", "Asthma-related microbes Chronic Mycoplasma pneumonia and Chlamydia pneumonia infections are associated with the onset and exacerbation of asthma . These microbial infections result in chronic lower airway inflammation , impaired mucociliary clearance , an increase in mucous production and eventually asthma . Furthermore , children who experience severe viral respiratory infections early in life have a high possibility of having asthma later in their childhood . These viral respiratory infections are mostly caused by respiratory syncytial virus ( RSV ) and human rhinovirus ( HRV ) . Although RSV infections increase the risk of asthma in early childhood , the association between asthma and RSV decreases with increasing age . HRV on the other hand is an important cause of bronchiolitis and is strongly associated with asthma development . In children and adults with established asthma , viral upper respiratory tract infections ( URIs ) , especially HRVs infections , can produce acute exacerbations of asthma . Thus , Chlamydia pneumoniae , Mycoplasma pneumoniae and human rhinoviruses are microbes that play a major role in non-atopic asthma .", "ICD-10 Chapter X: Diseases of the respiratory system ", "Chemical hazard A chemical hazard is a type of occupational hazard caused by exposure to chemicals in the workplace . Exposure to chemicals in the workplace can cause acute or long-term detrimental health effects . There are many types of hazardous chemicals , including neurotoxins , immune agents , dermatologic agents , carcinogens , reproductive toxins , systemic toxins , asthmagens , pneumoconiotic agents , and sensitizers . These hazards can cause physical and/or health risks . Depending on chemical , the hazards involved may be varied , thus it is important to know and apply the PPE especially during the lab . Longterm exposure to chemicals such as silica dust , engine exhausts , tobacco smoke , and/or lead ( among others ) have been shown to increase risk of heart disease , stroke , and high blood pressure .", "Your Disease Risk Your Disease Risk is a publicly available health risk assessment tool on the Internet . Launched in early 2000 and continually updated , the site offers risk assessments for twelve different cancers and four other important chronic diseases : heart disease , stroke , diabetes , and osteoporosis . The site began in 1998 as a pen and paper questionnaire called the Harvard Cancer Risk Index . In January 2000 , The Harvard Cancer Risk Index developed into an online assessment and was renamed Your Cancer Risk , and offered assessments for four cancers : breast , colon , lung , and prostate . Six months later , eight additional cancers were added . In 2004 , the site was renamed Your Disease Risk to reflect the addition of four further conditions : heart disease , stroke , diabetes , and osteoporosis . Since many common chronic diseases share risk factors , the renaming promoted the importance of a healthy lifestyle to lowering disease risks . In 2007 , the site moved to the Alvin J. Siteman Cancer Center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine . In 2012 , researchers released a related iPad app , called Zuum , that offers customized advice for healthier living based on an individual 's diet , exercise and other habits .", "Hypoxic hypoxia Hypoxic hypoxia is a result of insufficient oxygen available to the lungs . A blocked airway , a drowning or a reduction in partial pressure ( high altitude above 10,000 feet ) are examples of how lungs can be deprived of oxygen . Some medical examples are abnormal pulmonary function or respiratory obstruction . Hypoxic hypoxia is seen in patients suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases ( COPD ) , neuromuscular diseases or interstitial lung disease . Some symptoms of hypoxic hypoxia are : Cyanosis Headache Increased reaction time Impaired judgment time Euphoria Visual impairment Drowsiness Lightheaded or dizzy sensation Tingling in fingers and toes Numbness", "Peter J. Barnes (respiratory scientist) Professor Peter John Barnes , MA , DM , DSc , FRCP , FCCP , FMedSci , FRS ( born October 29 , 1946 ) is a British respiratory scientist and clinician , a specialist in the mechanisms and treatment of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease ( COPD ) . He is currently Professor of Thoracic Medicine at the National Heart & Lung Institute , Head of Respiratory Medicine at Imperial College and Honorary Consultant Physician at the Royal Brompton Hospital London .", "Non-communicable disease A non-communicable disease ( NCD ) is a medical condition or disease that is not caused by infectious agents ( non-infectious or non-transmissible ) . NCDs can refer to chronic diseases which last for long periods of time and progress slowly . Sometimes , NCDs result in rapid deaths such as seen in certain diseases such as autoimmune diseases , heart diseases , stroke , cancers , diabetes , chronic kidney disease , osteoporosis , Alzheimer 's disease , cataracts , and others . While sometimes referred to as synonymous with `` chronic diseases '' , NCDs are distinguished only by their non-infectious cause , not necessarily by their duration , though some chronic diseases of long duration may be caused by infections . Chronic diseases require chronic care management , as do all diseases that are slow to develop and of long duration . NCDs are the leading cause of death globally . In 2012 , they caused 68 % of all deaths ( 38 million ) up from 60 % in 2000 . About half were under age 70 and half were women . Risk factors such as a person 's background , lifestyle and environment increase the likelihood of certain NCDs . Every year , at least 5 million people die because of tobacco use and about 2.8 million die from being overweight . High cholesterol accounts for roughly 2.6 million deaths and 7.5 million die because of high blood pressure .", "Particulate pollution Particulate pollution is pollution of an environment that consists of particles suspended in some medium . There are three primary forms : atmospheric particulate matter , marine debris , and space debris . Particle pollution , also called particulate matter or PM , is a mixture of solids and liquid droplets floating in the air . Some particles are released directly from a specific source , while others form in complicated chemical reactions in the atmosphere .", "Smog Smog is a type of air pollutant . The word `` smog '' was coined in the early 20th century as a portmanteau of the words smoke and fog to refer to smoky fog , its opacity , and odour . The word was then intended to refer to what was sometimes known as pea soup fog , a familiar and serious problem in London from the 19th century to the mid 20th century . This kind of visible air pollution is composed of nitrogen oxides , sulfur oxides , ozone , smoke or particulates among others ( less visible pollutants include carbon monoxide , CFCs and radioactive sources ) . Human-made smog is derived from coal emissions , vehicular emissions , industrial emissions , forest and agricultural fires and photochemical reactions of these emissions . Modern smog , as found for example in Los Angeles , is a type of air pollution derived from vehicular emission from internal combustion engines and industrial fumes that react in the atmosphere with sunlight to form secondary pollutants that also combine with the primary emissions to form photochemical smog . In certain other cities , such as Delhi , smog severity is often aggravated by stubble burning in neighboring agricultural areas . The atmospheric pollution levels of Los Angeles , Beijing , Delhi , Mexico City , Tehran and other cities are increased by inversion that traps pollution close to the ground . It is usually highly toxic to humans and can cause severe sickness , shortened life or death .", "Aerosol An aerosol is a colloid of fine solid particles or liquid droplets , in air or another gas . Aerosols can be natural or anthropogenic . Examples of natural aerosols are fog , forest exudates and geyser steam . Examples of artificial aerosols are haze , dust , particulate air pollutants and smoke . The liquid or solid particles have diameter mostly smaller than 1 μm or so ; larger particles with a significant settling speed make the mixture a suspension , but the distinction is not clear-cut . In general conversation , aerosol usually refers to an aerosol spray that delivers a consumer product from a can or similar container . Other technological applications of aerosols include dispersal of pesticides , medical treatment of respiratory illnesses , and combustion technology . Diseases can also spread by means of small droplets in the breath , also called aerosols . Aerosol science covers generation and removal of aerosols , technological application of aerosols , effects of aerosols on the environment and people , and a wide variety of other topics . __ TOC __", "Reactive airway disease Reactive airway disease is a group of conditions that include reversible airway narrowing due to an external stimulation . These conditions generally result in wheezing . Conditions within this group include asthma , chronic obstructive pulmonary disease , and viral upper respiratory infections . The term sometimes is misused as a synonym for asthma . Current medical use of the term reactive airway disease is used in pediatrics to describe an asthma-like syndrome in infants , that may later be confirmed to be asthmatics when they become old enough to participate in diagnostic tests such as the bronchial challenge test .", "International Journal of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease The International Journal of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease is a peer-reviewed medical journal focusing on chronic obstructive pulmonary disease . It was established in 2008 and is published by Dove Medical Press ." ]

[ "Fertilizer A fertilizer ( American English ) or fertiliser ( British English ; see spelling differences ) is any material of natural or synthetic origin ( other than liming materials ) that is applied to soils or to plant tissues ( usually leaves ) to supply one or more plant nutrients essential to the growth of plants ." ]

[ "Greener Postures Greener Postures was Snakefinger 's second full-length album , released by Ralph Records in 1980 . The record is co-produced with The Residents , who also co-wrote many of the songs .", "Persistent vegetative state A persistent vegetative state ( PVS ) is a disorder of consciousness in which patients with severe brain damage are in a state of partial arousal rather than true awareness . After four weeks in a vegetative state ( VS ) , the patient is classified as in a persistent vegetative state . This diagnosis is classified as a permanent vegetative state some months ( 3 in the US and 6 in the UK ) after a non-traumatic brain injury or one year after a traumatic injury . Nowadays , more doctors and neuroscientists prefer to call the state of consciousness an unresponsive wakefulness syndrome , primarily because of ethical questions about whether a patient can be called `` vegetative '' or not .", "Crofters' Holdings (Scotland) Act 1886 The Crofters Holdings ( Scotland ) Act , 1886 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which created legal definitions of crofting parish and crofter , granted security of land tenure to crofters and produced the first Crofters Commission , a land court which ruled on disputes between landlords and crofters . The same court ruled on whether parishes were or were not crofting parishes . In many respects the Act was modelled on the Irish Land Acts of 1870 and 1881 . By granting the crofters security of tenure , the Act put an end to the Highland Clearances . The Act was largely a result of crofters ' agitation which had become well organised and very persistent in Skye and of growing support , throughout the Highlands , for the Crofters Party , which had gained five members of parliament in the general election of 1885 . Agitation took the form of rent strikes ( withholding rent payments ) and occupying land which the landlords had reserved for hunting or sheep . The Act itself did not quell the agitation . In particular it was very weak in terms of enabling the Crofters Commission to resolve disputes about access to land . It was enough however to make much more acceptable , politically , the use of troops in confrontations with agitators . The Act was not fully effective in increasing the equality of land distribution in Scotland ; today , 2/3 of Scotland 's land area is still owned by only 1.252 landowners out of a population of 5 million .", "Fertile Crescent The Fertile Crescent ( also known as the cradle of civilization ) is a crescent-shaped region containing the comparatively moist and fertile land of otherwise arid and semi-arid Western Asia , the Nile Valley and Nile Delta . Having originated in the study of ancient history , the concept soon developed and today retains meanings in international geopolitics and diplomatic relations . In current usage , all definitions of the Fertile Crescent include Mesopotamia , the land in and around the Tigris and Euphrates rivers ; and the Levant , the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea . The modern-day countries with significant territory within the Fertile Crescent are Iraq , Syria , Lebanon , Cyprus , Jordan , Israel , the State of Palestine , Egypt , as well as the southeastern fringe of Turkey and the western fringes of Iran . The region saw the development of some of the earliest human civilizations , which flourished thanks to the water supplies and agricultural resources available in the Fertile Crescent . Technological advances made in the region include the development of writing , glass , the wheel , agriculture , and the use of irrigation .", "Štirovača Štirovača is a forest in North Velebit . Reserve the forest vegetation . Its area is 118.5 acres . Most extends to an altitude of 1100 metres.Stirovaca the rain forest of beech and spruce . Most of it is a rainforest in the secondary stage Klepina duliba . The end was once more covered with forest , and today , of all the towering forests remained a small part in Štirovača . The type the spruce forest ( Aremonio-Piceetum ) , which is a relict boreal vegetation that existed in the ice ages , and which stretched far further south than today 's southern border . The land favors podzolasto soil , elevation , which is required for this type of noise in these latitudes ( 900 -- 1100 m , and Stirovaca is at 1100 m ) and a relief position , and these forests occur in sinkholes , bays and gorges Croatian highlands . This is because in them create a special microclimate conditions . Collects the cold air , so called . frost areas because of the appearance of temperature inversions and thus become more competitive in spruce compared to other wood species .", "Zelimxan Zelimkhan ( also spelled Zelim-Khan ) ( January 1872 , Kharachoy , Terek Oblast - 26 September 1913 ) is a Chechen and Ingush hero , who is viewed today as a version of a Chechen Robin Hood . Today the name is given to Chechen and Ingush children . Zelimkhan was an abrek , a raider of the Cossacks and Russian colonists . He stole mainly to feed Chechens , and because the Cossacks were living on what the Chechens perceived to be their land , which was extremely fertile . Without control of these fertile lands , the Chechens became impoverished . To solve this problem , abreks , such as Zelimkhan and his Ingush comrade-in-arms , Sulom-Beck Sagopshinski , raided the Cossacks , Russian banks , Vladikavkaz mint , the Czar 's post which was transported on the Georgian military highway , in order to restore justice and help the poor .", "Standard Fruits and Vegetable Baskets and Containers Act of 1916 In United States federal agricultural legislation , the Standard Fruits and Vegetable Baskets and Containers Act of 1916 dealt with containers for small fruits and vegetables , and prescribed the exact capacity of the containers . It fixed the cubic contents for dry half-pint , pint , and quart-size containers . It made no reference to the dimensions or form of the container , thus leaving it to the individual states to adopt standards in such respects . The Act was repealed in 1968 under Public Law 90-628 .", "Land tenure in Angola The system of land tenure in Angola was addressed by the 2004 land act . While the land act is a crucial step towards normalization of land ownership in post-war Angola , some problems such as competing land claims , land grabbing and the unresolved status of customary land tenure persist .", "Fajã da Maria Pereira The Fajã da Maria Pereira is a permanent debris field , built from the collapsing cliffs on the northern coast of the civil parish of Rosais , in the municipality of Velas , island of São Jorge , in the Portuguese archipelago of the Azores . Name after a former property-owner , the fertile lands of this microclimate are today used to support grazing animals and the cultivation of potatoes and other vegetables , in addition to vineyards ( primarily during the growing season ) . Six homes occupy the fajã , supported by a system of cisterns providing potable water , necessary for a local consumption .", "Rem (mythology) Rem ( `` to weep '' ) , also Rem-Rem , Remi , or Remi the Weeper , who lives in Rem-Rem , the realm of weeping was a fish god in Egypt who fertilized the land with his tears , producing both vegetation and the reptiles . He is assumed to be the personification of Ra 's tears .", "Vegetative Vegetative describes vegetation . Vegetative may also refer to : Vegetative reproduction , a type of asexual reproduction for plants Persistent vegetative state , a condition of people with severe brain damage Plant community , sometimes called a vegetative community , a collection of plants in a geographic area Vegetative ( or somatic ) cell , a non-reproductive cell", "Perfluorobutanesulfonic acid Perfluorobutanesulfonic acid ( PFBS ) is a chemical compound with a four carbon fluorocarbon chain and a sulfonic acid functional group . As an anion it functions as a stable fluorosurfactant because of the strength of carbon -- fluorine bonds . Since June 2003 , 3M has used PFBS as a replacement for the persistent , toxic , and bioaccumulative perfluorooctanesulfonic acid ( PFOS ) in its Scotchgard stain repellents .3 M markets surfactant with PFBS in two fluorosurfactants . PFBS has a much shorter half-life of a little over one month in people than PFOS with 5.4 years . PFBS is persistent in the environment . Studies have not yet been specifically conducted to determine safety in humans .", "Ganmodoki is a fried tofu fritter made with vegetables , such as carrots , lotus roots and burdock . It may also contain egg . Ganmodoki means pseudo-goose . This is because ganmodoki is said to taste like goose ; compare mock turtle soup . Ganmodoki is also called ganmo for short . In the Edo period , ganmodoki was a stir-fried konjac dish . A dish similar to the ganmodoki today was made by wrapping chopped up vegetables in tofu ( much like a manjū ) and deep frying it . In the Kansai Region , Ganmodoki is called hiryōzu , hiryuzu or hirōsu , from the Portuguese word filhós '' .", "Draganovo, Veliko Tarnovo Province Draganovo is a village in Gorna Oryahovitsa Municipality in Veliko Tarnovo Province in Central Bulgaria . Draganovo is known in the area for its farms and vegetable gardens . Due to the fertile soil around the village it is one of the main producers of cabbage and tomatoes in the central/north eastern regions of Bulgaria . After World War II gardeners from Draganovo has been dispatched in Hungary and other parts of Europe to help rebuild the land and make it fertile again . The river Yantra flows through the village . The river contributes for the village 's fertile soils .", "Samundri Tehsil Samundri Tehsil ( Urdu/Punjabi : ) is an administrative subdivision , tehsil , of Faisalabad District in Punjab province of Pakistan . The lands of the Tehsil Samundri are irrigated by Gugera Branch Canal and Burala branch canal . All villages of the tehsil carry G.B. with their Chak numbers and name of village usually follows it for example Chak No . 439 GB MAHALAM , CHAK No. 48 GB Maluwaal , Chak 444 GB Poohla and Chak No. 373 Karamsar etc. . Sugar cane is the major cash crop of the area . Wheat , cotton and vegetables are also grown in the fertile lands of the tehsil . Samundri is one of the old tehsils of Pakistan .", "Psamment In USDA soil taxonomy , a psamment is defined as an entisol which consists basically of unconsolidated sand deposits , often found in shifting sand dunes but also in areas of very coarse-textured parent material subject to millions of years of weathering . This latter case is characteristic of the Guiana Highlands of northern South America . A psamment has no distinct soil horizons , and must consist entirely of material of loamy sand or coarser in texture . In the FAO soil classification , psamments are known as arenosols . Psamments cover 3.4 % of the global land mass . They occur throughout the world , being especially abundant in the deserts of Africa and Australia and on the ancient landforms of eastern South America . Areas dominated by psamments also occur in other humid regions , notably in Florida and Nebraska ( the Sand Hills ) . Psamments typically have very low water-holding capacities because the sand in the soil is not graded so that sands of varying coarseness are constantly mixed right through the soil . Because most sands are highly siliceous , psamments are also extremely low in all essential nutrients , most especially phosphorus and are highly acidic in all except very arid climates . Psamments formed as a result of glacial erosion ( common in northern Europe ) are typically of rather higher native fertility because of their youth , but are still much less fertile than most soils in the regions they are located in . The vegetation on psamments varies enormously owing to the variety of climates , but in many cases is remarkably well-adapted to the climate , as with the Fynbos of the Cape region in South Africa - famous for its remarkable biodiversity and the equally species-rich Kwongan of southwestern Western Australia . The campinas and kerangas are healthy forests typical of psamments in South America and Borneo . Few psamments are farmed , and where they are , the cost is high because of the expense of fertilization . They are always much less productive than other soils in the same region even when fertilized , and require careful management because the sand is very easily eroded . In USDA soil taxonomy , psamments are divided into : Cryopsamments : psamments that have a cryic soil temperature regime Quartzipsamments : other psamments that have , in the 0.02 to 2.0 mm fraction within the particle-size control section , a total of more than 90 percent ( by weighted average ) resistant minerals Torripsamments : other psamments that have an aridic ( or torric ) moisture regime Ustipsamments : other psamments that have an ustic moisture regime Xeropsamments : other psamments that have a xeric moisture regime Udipsamments : other psamments .", "Inaja Land Co. v. Commissioner Inaja Land Co. , Ltd. v. Commissioner , 9 T.C. 727 ( 1947 ) was a United States income tax case which discussed whether , and how much , basis the taxpayer could recover to offset a gain from compensation from the government for an easement on his land . HELD : 1 . The $ 50,000 that petitioner received from the City -- for a right of way and an easement on taxpayer 's land , and releasing the city from all claims and demands , etc. -- was lost ( present ) capital rather than lost ( future ) profits ; i.e. it should be chargeable to the capital account for land , rather than treated as taxable income under I.R.C. § 22 ( a ) -LSB- today § 61 ( a ) -RSB- . 2 . Since , under the circumstances , it was practically impossible to allocate a basis to the easements granted , entirety of the net amount received will be recovered from that basis .", "Huerta A huerta ( -LSB- ˈwerta -RSB- ) or horta ( -LSB- ˈɔɾta -RSB- , -LSB- ˈɔɾtɐ -RSB- ) , from Latin hortus , `` garden '' , is a fertile area , or a field in a fertile area , common in Spain and Portugal , in which a variety of common vegetables and fruit trees are cultivated for family consumption and sale . Typically , huertas belonging to different people are in groups around rivers or other water source because of the amount of irrigation required . It is a kind of market garden .", "Los Fresnos, Texas Los Fresnos ( Spanish for `` The Ash Trees '' ) is a city in Cameron County , Texas , United States . The population was 5,542 at the 2010 census , up from 4,512 at the 2000 census . It is part of the Brownsville -- Harlingen -- Raymondville and the Matamoros -- Brownsville metropolitan areas . Located in south-central Cameron County , the city was named for the fresnos ( Fraxinus berlandieriana ) scattered in the woods and along streams . In 1912 , Lon Hill , an early land owner , formed a company to develop a canal system which would use the Rio Grande to irrigate land for farming . Railroad construction in the early 1900s began to bring settlers to the area , and by 1915 a post office was established . Because of the fertile , irrigated land , farm products increased , and with the long growing season in the Rio Grande Valley , farming flourished . Today the city is still surrounded by fertile farm/ranch land . Major crops are cotton , sugarcane , grains , oranges , and red grapefruit .", "Land Transfer Act 1952 The Land Transfer Act 1952 is an Act of Parliament passed in New Zealand in 1952 . It implements the Torrens title system of land registration . Much of it is based on the Land Transfer Act 1885 .", "Soil management Soil management concerns all operations , practices , and treatments used to protect soil and enhance its performance ( such as soil fertility or soil mechanics ) . It includes soil conservation , soil amendment , and optimal soil health . In agriculture , some amount of soil management is needed both in nonorganic and organic types to prevent agricultural land from becoming poorly productive over decades . Organic farming in particular stresses optimal soil management , because it uses soil health as the exclusive or nearly exclusive source of its fertilization and pest control .", "Bob Greener Robert `` Bob '' Greener ( 17 July 1899 -- February 1970 ) was an English professional footballer who played as a half-back or an inside forward in the Football League for Crystal Palace and York City and in non-League football for Birtley Colliery . After retiring , he worked at Crystal Palace as assistant trainer and later trainer .", "Caitlin McDougall Caitlin McDougall is an Australian actress who is best known for her roles in the television series Always Greener and The Alice . McDougall is married to actor Erik Thomson and they have a daughter called Eilish . Mcdougall co-starred with her husband in the Australian drama series The Alice . McDougall has appeared in the movies Hey Hey it 's Esther Blueburger , Ned and You Better Watch Out . Her television roles have included Always Greener , The Alice , All Saints , Neighbours , A Country Practice , Ocean Girl , Newlyweds and Xena : Warrior Princess .", "Agriculture in Guyana Agriculture was once the chief economic activity in Guyana despite the coastal plain which comprised only about 5 percent of the country 's land area being suitable for cultivation of crops . Much of this fertile area lay more than one meter below the high-tide level of the sea and had to be protected by a system of dikes and dams , making agricultural expansion expensive and difficult . In the 1980s , there were reports that the 200-year-old system of dikes in Guyana was in a serious state of disrepair . Guyana 's remaining land area is divided into a white sand belt , which is forested , and interior highlands consisting of mountains , plateaus , and savanna . 2 % of the land is arable land . Today , sugar and rice are the most important primary agricultural products , as they had been since the nineteenth century . Sugar was produced primarily for export whereas most rice was consumed domestically . Today in Guyana sugar production generates the most revenue in the primary industry , at around 15 % of the total annual GNP . Other important crops include wheat , bananas , coconuts , coffee , cocoa , citrus fruits , pepper and pumpkin and livestock commodies from the country 's various cattle ranches including beef , pork , poultry , dairy products and fish , notably shrimp . In some areas peanuts are also an important crop . Many of these products including rice are of extreme importance to national food security within the country . Small amounts of vegetables , vegetable oil and tobacco are also produced . During the late 1980s , some farmers succeeded in diversifying into specialty products such as heart-of-palm and asparagus for export to Europe .", "Reproductive system of gastropods Gastropods are defined as snails and slugs , belonging to a larger group called Molluscs . Gastropods have a very unique reproductive system , varying significantly from one taxonomic group to another . They can be separated into three categories : marine , freshwater , and land . Reproducing in marine or freshwater environments makes getting sperm to egg much easier for gastropods , while on land it is much more difficult to get sperm to egg . The majority of gastropods have internal fertilization , but there are some prosobranch species that have external fertilization . Gastropods are capable of being either male or female , or hermaphrodites , and this makes their reproduction system unique amongst many other invertebrates . Hermaphroditic gastropods possess both the egg and sperm gametes which gives them the opportunity to self-fertilize .", "Krali Marko, Pazardzhik Province Krali Marko is a small village in Pazardzhik Municipality , Pazardzhik Province , southern Bulgaria . the population is 264 . The village is located on the right bank of the Luda Yana river , close to the large village of Chernogorovo . Despite its small population , Krali Marko occupies a relatively large area , because the houses usually have enormous yards where the locals grow flowers , fruit and vegetables . There is no school because of the few inhabitants , so the children attend the schcool in Chernogorovo . In spring and summer the village is all in green with blossoming trees and flowers . The favourable climate , the fertile soils and the well developed irrigation system in the whole region have determinated intense and productive agriculture . The most important crops include vegetables ( tomatoes , cucumbers , potatoes , pepper , aubergines ) ; fruit ( strawberries , apples , peaches , figs ) ; wheat , maize , barley . The most spread domestic animals are chicken including and a chicken farm . Category : Villages in Pazardzhik Province", "Indian old field Indian Old Field , or simply Old Field , was a common term used in Colonial American times and up until the early nineteenth century United States , by American explorers , surveyors , cartographers and settlers , in reference to land formerly cleared and utilized by Indians for farming ( corn fields or vegetable patches ) or occupation . The term appears in many old maps and land documents , often persisting for many decades . It also remains in a number of present-day place names of the Eastern US .", "Greener Greener is a surname . Notable people with the surname include : Bob Greener ( 1899 -- 1970 ) , English professional footballer Christopher Greener ( born 1943 ) , United Kingdom 's tallest human Matthew Greener , British musician Richard Theodore Greener ( 1844 -- 1922 ) , American diplomat William Greener ( 1806 -- 1869 ) , English inventor and gunsmith", "Watson Farm Watson Farm in Jamestown , Rhode Island , United States , was established in 1789 . Job Watson purchased a piece of the farmland , and for the next two centuries , five successive generations of the Watson family cultivated the land , changing their crops and practices as needed to adapt to the evolving market . Today , the property is still a working family farm , and the 1796 house is still used as the farmers ' residence . The farmers raise cattle and sheep for beef , lamb , and wool markets , grow acres of grass for winter hay supplies , make compost for fertilizer , and cultivate a large vegetable garden . The farm , which is owned by Historic New England , holds a CSA farmer 's market each summer .", "Green sport event A green sport event is a sporting event that stresses utilizing greener resources . Fans can do their part by riding public transportation to the event . People are being more aware of many things , like using earth friendly paper products , fertilizer and pesticides . Also see sustainable event management or event greening .", "Jo Porter Jo Porter is an Australian TV producer and executive , best known for her association with the Seven Network drama department for whom she produced All Saints , Always Greener , Headland and Packed to the Rafters . In 2011 she became Director of Drama for Fremantlemedia Australia . She is the co-creator of the TV series Wonderland .", "General Land Exchange Act of 1922 The General Land Exchange Act of 1922 ( 16 U.S.C. 485 , 486 ) was signed into law by President of the United States Warren G. Harding on March 20 , 1922 This act allowed the US Forest Service to consolidate its holdings in national forests where a large percentage of private lands were intermingled with forest lands . It made possible the exchange of inholdings within national forests for private lands of equal value and within the same state . This act also made for better management and administration in accordance with future planning initiatives because the process of a mutually desirable exchange was greatly simplified by this legislation to a matter of just signing papers . Chief Forester William B. Greeley predicted in 1922 that `` this law would probably be regarded as one of the half-dozen most important laws affecting the National Forests . ''" ]

[ "Medieval Warm Period The Medieval Warm Period ( MWP ) , Medieval Climate Optimum , or Medieval Climatic Anomaly was a time of warm climate in the North Atlantic region that may also have been related to other climate events around the world during that time , including China and other areas , lasting from about 950 to 1250 . It was followed by a cooler period in the North Atlantic and elsewhere termed the Little Ice Age . Some refer to the event as the Medieval Climatic Anomaly as this term emphasizes that effects other than temperature were important . Despite uncertainties , especially for the period prior to 1600 for which data are scarce , the warmest period of the last 2,000 years prior to the 20th century in the Northern Hemisphere very likely occurred between 950 and 1100 . Proxy records show peak warmth occurred at different times for different regions , indicating that the Medieval Warm Period was not a time of globally uniform change . Temperatures in some regions matched or exceeded recent temperatures in these regions , but globally the Medieval Warm Period was cooler than recent global temperatures . Possible causes of the Medieval Warm Period include increased solar activity , decreased volcanic activity , and changes to ocean circulation ." ]

[ "Planetary equilibrium temperature The planetary equilibrium temperature is a theoretical temperature that a planet would be at when considered simply as if it were a black body being heated only by its parent star . In this model , the presence or absence of an atmosphere ( and therefore any greenhouse effect ) is not considered , and one treats the theoretical black body temperature as if it came from an idealized surface of the planet . Other authors use different names for this concept , such as equivalent blackbody temperature of a planet , or the effective radiation emission temperature of the planet . Similar concepts include the global mean temperature , global radiative equilibrium , and global-mean surface air temperature , which includes the effects of global warming .", "Description of the Medieval Warm Period and Little Ice Age in IPCC reports The description of the Medieval Warm Period and Little Ice Age in IPCC reports has changed since the first report in 1990 as scientific understanding of the temperature record of the past 1000 years has improved . The Medieval Warm Period ( MWP ) and Little Ice Age ( LIA ) are the best-known temperature fluctuations in the last millennium . Critics of the `` hockey stick graph '' of all subsequent reports have claimed that the record of the MWP and LIA were suppressed in the IPCC Third Assessment Report , although every report has discussed the phenomena .", "Regional effects of global warming Regional effects of global warming are long-term significant changes in the expected patterns of average weather of a specific region due to global warming . The world average temperature is rising due to the greenhouse effect caused by increasing levels of greenhouse gases , especially carbon dioxide . When the global temperature changes , the changes in climate are not expected to be uniform across the Earth . In particular , land areas change more quickly than oceans , and northern high latitudes change more quickly than the tropics , and the margins of biome regions change faster than do their cores . Regional effects of global warming vary in nature . Some are the result of a generalised global change , such as rising temperature , resulting in local effects , such as melting ice . In other cases , a change may be related to a change in a particular ocean current or weather system . In such cases , the regional effect may be disproportionate and will not necessarily follow the global trend . The increasing temperatures from greenhouse gases have been causing sea levels to rise for many years . There are three major ways in which global warming will make changes to regional climate : melting or forming ice , changing the hydrological cycle ( of evaporation and precipitation ) and changing currents in the oceans and air flows in the atmosphere . The coast can also be considered a region , and will suffer severe impacts from sea level rise .", "Roman Warm Period The Roman Warm Period or the Roman climatic optimum has been proposed as a period of unusually warm weather in Europe and the North Atlantic that ran from approximately 250 BC to AD 400 .", "Little Ice Age The Little Ice Age ( LIA ) was a period of cooling that occurred after the Medieval Warm Period . Although it was not a true ice age , the term was introduced into scientific literature by François E. Matthes in 1939 . It has been conventionally defined as a period extending from the 16th to the 19th centuries , but some experts prefer an alternative timespan from about 1300 to about 1850 . Climatologists and historians working with local records no longer expect to agree on either the start or end dates of the period , which varied according to local conditions . The NASA Earth Observatory notes three particularly cold intervals : one beginning about 1650 , another about 1770 , and the last in 1850 , all separated by intervals of slight warming . The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Third Assessment Report considered the timing and areas affected by the Little Ice Age suggested largely-independent regional climate changes rather than a globally-synchronous increased glaciation . At most , there was modest cooling of the Northern Hemisphere during the period . Several causes have been proposed : cyclical lows in solar radiation , heightened volcanic activity , changes in the ocean circulation , variations in Earth 's orbit and axial tilt ( orbital forcing ) , inherent variability in global climate , and decreases in the human population .", "Global cooling Global cooling was a conjecture during the 1970s of imminent cooling of the Earth 's surface and atmosphere culminating in a period of extensive glaciation . This hypothesis had little support in the scientific community , but gained temporary popular attention due to a combination of a slight downward trend of temperatures from the 1940s to the early 1970s and press reports that did not accurately reflect the full scope of the scientific climate literature , which showed a larger and faster-growing body of literature projecting future warming due to greenhouse gas emissions . The current scientific opinion on climate change is that the Earth has not durably cooled , but underwent global warming throughout the 20th century .", "Polar amplification Polar amplification is the phenomenon that any change in the net radiation balance ( for example greenhouse intensification ) tends to produce a larger change in temperature near the poles than the planetary average . On a planet with an atmosphere that can restrict longwave radiation to space ( a greenhouse effect ) , surface temperatures will be warmer than a simple planetary equilibrium temperature calculation would predict . Where the atmosphere or an extensive ocean is able to convect heat polewards , the poles will be warmer and equatorial regions cooler than their local net radiation balances would predict . In the extreme , the planet Venus is thought to have experienced a very large increase in greenhouse effect over its lifetime , so much so that its poles have warmed sufficiently to render its surface temperature effectively isothermal ( no difference between poles and equator ) . On Earth , water vapor and trace gasses provide a lesser greenhouse effect , and the atmosphere and extensive oceans provide efficient poleward heat transport . Both palaeoclimate changes and recent global warming changes have exhibited strong polar amplification , as described below .", "Greenhouse effect The greenhouse effect is the process by which radiation from a planet 's atmosphere warms the planet 's surface to a temperature above what it would be without its atmosphere . If a planet 's atmosphere contains radiatively active gases ( i.e. , greenhouse gases ) the atmosphere will radiate energy in all directions . Part of this radiation is directed towards the surface , warming it . The downward component of this radiation -- that is , the strength of the greenhouse effect -- will depend on the atmosphere 's temperature and on the amount of greenhouse gases that the atmosphere contains . On Earth , the atmosphere is warmed by absorption of infrared thermal radiation from the underlying surface ( heated by the sun ) , absorption of shorter wavelength radiant energy from the sun , and convective heat fluxes from the surface . Greenhouse gases in the atmosphere radiate energy , some of which is directed to the surface and lower atmosphere . The mechanism that produces this difference between the actual surface temperature and the effective temperature is due to the atmosphere and is known as the greenhouse effect . Earth 's natural greenhouse effect is critical to supporting life . Human activities , primarily the burning of fossil fuels and clearing of forests , have intensified the natural greenhouse effect , causing global warming . The mechanism is named after a faulty analogy with the effect of solar radiation passing through glass and warming a greenhouse . The way a greenhouse retains heat is fundamentally different , as a greenhouse works by reducing airflow and retaining warm air inside the structure .", "Bølling-Allerød warming The Bølling-Allerød interstadial was an abrupt warm and moist interstadial period that occurred during the final stages of the last glacial period . This warm period ran from c. 14,700 to c. 12,700 years before the present ( BP ) . It began with the end of the cold period known as the Oldest Dryas , and ended abruptly with the onset of the Younger Dryas , a cold period that reduced temperatures back to near-glacial levels within a decade . In some regions , a cold period known as the Older Dryas can be detected in the middle of the Bølling-Allerød interstadial . In these regions the period is divided into the Bølling oscillation , which peaked around 14,500 BP , and the Allerød oscillation , which peaked closer to 13,000 BP . Estimates of CO2 rise are 20 -- 35 ppmv within 200 years , a rate less than 29 -- 50 % compared to the anthropogenic global warming signal from the past 50 years , and with a radiative forcing of 0.59 -- 0.75 W m − 2 .", "Cool tropics paradox The cool tropics paradox refers to an apparent difference between modeled estimates of tropical temperatures during warm , ice-free periods of the Cretaceous and Eocene , and the colder temperatures which proxies suggested were present . The long-standing paradox was resolved when novel proxy derived temperatures showed significantly warmer tropics during past greenhouse climates . The low-gradient problem , i.e. the very warm polar regions with respect to present day , is still an issue for state-of-the-art climate models .", "2014–16 El Niño event The 2014 -- 16 El Niño was a warming of the eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean that resulted in unusually warm waters developing between the coast of South America and the International Date Line . These unusually warm waters influenced the world 's weather in a number of ways , which in turn significantly affected various parts of the world . These included drought conditions in Venezuela , Australia and a number of Pacific islands while significant flooding was also recorded . During the event more tropical cyclones than normal occurred within the Pacific Ocean , while fewer than normal occurred in the Atlantic Ocean .", "Global warming hiatus A global warming hiatus , also sometimes referred to as a global warming pause or a global warming slowdown , is a period of relatively little change in globally averaged surface temperatures . In the current episode of global warming many such 15-year periods appear in the surface temperature record , along with robust evidence of the long-term warming trend ; climate is classically averaged over 30-year periods . Publicity has surrounded claims of a global warming hiatus during the period 1998 -- 2013 . The exceptionally warm El Niño year of 1998 was an outlier from the continuing temperature trend , and so subsequent annual temperatures gave the appearance of a hiatus : by January 2006 , it appeared to some that global warming had stopped or paused . A 2009 study showed that decades without warming were not exceptional , and in 2011 a study showed that if allowances were made for known variability , the rising temperature trend continued unabated . There was increased public interest in 2013 in the run-up to publication of the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report , and despite concerns that a 15-year period was too short to determine a meaningful trend , the IPCC included a section on a hiatus , which it defined as a much smaller increasing linear trend over the 15 years from 1998 to 2012 , than over the 60 years from 1951 to 2012 . Various studies examined possible causes of the short-term slowdown . Even though the overall climate system has continued to accumulate energy due to Earth 's positive energy budget , the available temperature readings at the Earth 's surface indicate slower rates of increase in surface warming than in the prior decade . Since measurements at the top of the atmosphere show that Earth is receiving more energy than it is radiating back into space , the retained energy should be producing warming in the Earth 's climate system . Research reported in July 2015 on an updated NOAA dataset casts doubt on the existence of a hiatus , and it finds no indication of a slowdown even in earlier years . Scientists working on other datasets welcomed this study , though they have expressed the view that the recent warming trend was less than in previous periods of the same length . Subsequently , a detailed study supports the conclusion that warming is continuing , but it also find there was less warming between 2001 and 2010 than climate models had predicted , and that this slowdown might be attributed to short-term variations in the Pacific decadal oscillation ( PDO ) , which was negative during that period . Another review finds `` no substantive evidence '' of a pause in global warming . A statistical study of global temperature data since 1970 concludes that the term ` hiatus ' or ` pause ' is not justified . Independent of these discussions about data and measurements for earlier years , 2015 turned out to be much warmer than any of the earlier years , already before El Niño conditions started . The warmth of 2015 largely ended any remaining scientific credibility of claims that the supposed `` hiatus '' since 1998 had any significance for the long-term warming trend . In January 2017 , a study published in the journal Science Advances cast further doubt on the existence of a recent pause , with more evidence that ocean temperatures have been underestimated . An April 2017 study found the data consistent with a steady warming trend globally since the 1970s , with fluctuations within the expected range of short term variability .", "Polar forests of the Cretaceous Cretaceous polar forests were temperate forests that grew at polar latitudes during the final period of the Mesozoic Era , known as the Cretaceous Period 145 -- 66 Ma . During this period , global average temperature was about 10 C-change higher and carbon dioxide ( CO2 ) levels were approximately 1000 parts per million ( ppm ) , 2.5 times the current concentration in Earth 's atmosphere . The abundance of atmospheric carbon dioxide had a very significant impact on global climate and Earth 's natural systems as its concentration is considered one of the main factors in the development of a pronounced greenhouse Earth during the Cretaceous with a very low average global temperature gradient . As a consequence , high paleolatitudes in both hemispheres were much warmer than at present . This temperature gradient was partly responsible for the lack of continental ice sheets in polar regions . As a response to elevated global temperatures , the Earth 's hydrologic cycle was significantly enhanced due to greater volume of moisture evaporation from the surface of the ocean . In turn , the absolute sea level during this time period stood at elevations much higher than the present level . Continental encroachment of seawater formed widespread shallow seas , including expanses of epeiric seas . An increase in surface area between shallow , warm epeiric seawater and the atmosphere permits higher evaporation rates and more precipitation at various latitudes , producing a more temperate global climate . A widespread temperate climate also had significant effects on high latitude ecosystems .", "Thermal history of the Earth The thermal history of the Earth is the study of the cooling history of Earth 's interior . It is a sub-field of geophysics . Thermal histories are also computed for the internal cooling of other planetary and stellar bodies . The study of the thermal evolution of Earth 's interior is uncertain and controversial in all aspects , from the interpretation of petrologic observations used to infer the temperature of the interior , to the fluid dynamics responsible for heat loss , to material properties that determine the efficiency of heat transport .", "Effects of global warming on South Asia ", "Capping inversion A capping inversion is an elevated inversion layer that caps a convective boundary layer . The boundary layer is the part of the atmosphere which is closest to the ground . Normally , the sun heats the ground , which in turn heats the air just above it . Thermals form when this warm air rises into the cold air ( warm air is less dense than cold air ) , a process described by convection . A convective layer such as this has the potential for cloud formation , since condensation occurs as the warm air rises and cools . An inversion occurs when the normal temperature ( warm air below , cold air above ) profile is reversed , creating a stable configuration of dense , cold air sitting below lighter , warm air . An elevated inversion layer is thus a region of warm air above a region of cold air , but higher in the atmosphere ( generally not touching the surface ) . A capping inversion occurs when there is a boundary layer with a normal temperature profile ( warm air rising into cooler air ) and the layer above that is an inversion layer ( cooler air below warm air ) . Cloud formation from the lower layer is `` capped '' by the inversion layer . If the capping inversion layer or `` cap '' is too strong ( too close to the surface ) , it will prevent thunderstorms from developing . A strong cap can result in foggy conditions . However , if the air at the surface is unstable enough , strong updrafts can be forced through the capping inversion . This selective process of only allowing the strongest updrafts to form thunderstorms often results in outbreaks of severe weather .", "Global cooling (disambiguation) Global cooling was a 1970s conjecture about global climate change . Global cooling may also refer to : In general , one of the means by which Earth can undergo climate change Climate change denial , including contrarian views about global warming in the 20th and 21st centuries Cooling periods on the multimillion-year scale in the geologic temperature record Geophysical global cooling , a conjecture about the formation of natural features that was made obsolete by the theory of plate tectonics Little Ice Age , a period from the 16th to 19th centuries characterized by cooling and coincident with below average sunspots frequency", "Instrumental temperature record The instrumental temperature record provides the temperature of Earth 's climate system from the historical network of in situ measurements of surface air temperatures and ocean surface temperatures . Data are collected at thousands of meteorological stations , buoys and ships around the globe . The longest-running temperature record is the Central England temperature data series , that starts in 1659 . The longest-running quasi-global record starts in 1850 . In recent decades more extensive sampling of ocean temperatures at various depths have begun allowing estimates of ocean heat content but these do not form part of the global surface temperature datasets .", "Temperature record of the past 1000 years For information on the description of the Medieval Warm Period and Little Ice Age in various IPCC reports see MWP and LIA in IPCC reportsThe temperature record of the past 1,000 years is reconstructed using data from climate proxy records in conjunction with the modern instrumental temperature record which only covers the last 150 years at a global scale . Large-scale reconstructions covering part or all of the 1st millennium and 2nd millennium have shown that recent temperatures are exceptional : the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Fourth Assessment Report of 2007 concluded that `` Average Northern Hemisphere temperatures during the second half of the 20th century were very likely higher than during any other 50-year period in the last 500 years and likely '' the highest in at least the past 1,300 years . '' The curve shown in graphs of these reconstructions is widely known as the hockey stick graph because of the sharp increase in temperatures during the last century . As of 2010 this broad pattern was supported by more than two dozen reconstructions , using various statistical methods and combinations of proxy records , with variations in how flat the pre-20th-century `` shaft '' appears . Sparseness of proxy records results in considerable uncertainty for earlier periods . Individual proxy records , such as tree ring widths and densities used in dendroclimatology , are calibrated against the instrumental record for the period of overlap . Networks of such records are used to reconstruct past temperatures for regions : tree ring proxies have been used to reconstruct Northern Hemisphere extratropical temperatures ( within the tropics trees do not form rings ) but are confined to land areas and are scarce in the Southern Hemisphere which is largely ocean . Wider coverage is provided by multiproxy reconstructions , incorporating proxies such as lake sediments , ice cores and corals which are found in different regions , and using statistical methods to relate these sparser proxies to the greater numbers of tree ring records . The `` Composite Plus Scaling '' ( CPS ) method is widely used for large-scale multiproxy reconstructions of hemispheric or global average temperatures ; this is complemented by Climate Field Reconstruction ( CFR ) methods which show how climate patterns have developed over large spatial areas , making the reconstruction useful for investigating natural variability and long-term oscillations as well as for comparisons with patterns produced by climate models . During the 1,900 years before the 20th century , it is likely that the next warmest period was from 950 to 1100 , with peaks at different times in different regions . This has been called the Medieval Warm Period , and some evidence suggests widespread cooler conditions during a period around the 17th century known as the Little Ice Age . In the hockey stick controversy , contrarians have asserted that the Medieval Warm Period was warmer than at present , and have disputed the data and methods of climate reconstructions .", "Ocean current An ocean current is a continuous , directed movement of seawater generated by forces acting upon this mean flow , such as breaking waves , wind , the Coriolis effect , cabbeling , temperature and salinity differences , while tides are caused by the gravitational pull of the Sun and Moon . Depth contours , shoreline configurations , and interactions with other currents influence a current 's direction and strength . Therefore ocean currents are primarily horizontal water movements . Ocean currents flow for great distances , and together , create the global conveyor belt which plays a dominant role in determining the climate of many of the Earth 's regions . More specifically , ocean currents influence the temperature of the regions through which they travel . For example , warm currents traveling along more temperate coasts increase the temperature of the area by warming the sea breezes that blow over them . Perhaps the most striking example is the Gulf Stream , which makes northwest Europe much more temperate than any other region at the same latitude . Another example is Lima , Peru where the climate is cooler ( sub-tropical ) than the tropical latitudes in which the area is located , due to the effect of the Humboldt Current .", "Cool Globes: Hot Ideas for a Cooler Planet Cool Globes : Hot Ideas for a Cooler Planet is a public art project dedicated to increasing awareness of global warming . A nonprofit corporation , `` Cool Globes : Hot Ideas for a Cooler Planet '' sponsored a Chicago public art exhibit of 125 5 ft globes decorated with solutions to global warming , placed in Grant Park near the Field Museum of Natural History , the Shedd Aquarium , and along the lakefront bike path during the summer of 2007 . The project is similar to the popular `` Cows on Parade '' exhibit of 1999 , but with a social conscience . The Cool Globes adopts the idea of Berlin 's town mascot ; the entailing United Buddy Bears exhibitions are very different from all other urban events . The bears were created by the German artists Klaus and Eva Herlitz . The idea and the philosophy behind the United Buddy Bears exhibitions are unique : with its international approach and its symbolism , this synthesis of the arts globally promotes tolerance , international understanding and a peaceful coexistence .", "Holocene climatic optimum The Holocene Climate Optimum ( HCO ) was a warm period during roughly the interval 9,000 to 5,000 years BP . This event has also been known by many other names , including : Hypsithermal , Altithermal , Climatic Optimum , Holocene Optimum , Holocene Thermal Maximum , and Holocene Megathermal . This warm period was followed by a gradual decline until about two millennia ago . For other temperature fluctuations see : Temperature record For other past climate fluctuation see : Paleoclimatology For the pollen zone and Blytt-Sernander period associated with the climate optimum , see : Atlantic ( period )", "2013 heatwave in Ireland and the United Kingdom The 2013 heat wave in the United Kingdom and Ireland was a period of unusually hot weather primarily in July 2013 , with isolated warm days in June and August . A prolonged high pressure system over Britain and Ireland caused higher than average temperatures for 19 consecutive days in July , reaching 33.5 ° C at Heathrow and Northolt . Following a brief period of cooler weather at the end of July , temperatures temporarily rose again , peaking at 34.1 ° C on 1 August in the United Kingdom , the warmest the country had seen since July 2006 , and 31.0 ° C in Ireland . At 19 days , the July heatwave was the longest continuous period of hot weather in the UK since August 1997 . However , in the general sense , Britain did not have an overall exceptional summer ; the country experienced cool low pressure systems brought by an unseasonably low latitude by the jet stream for the 6 summers previous , which made the summer of 2013 more `` welcome '' and feel warmer than other summers . The historical records suggests `` Using the CET record ( for June , July & August ) , the average temperature by that measure was 16.3 degC ( Provisional ) : neither June nor August was exceptionally warm , so this value does not ` rate ' too highly when set against other very warm summer seasons . '' With June being a cool month and August being an Average month , in terms of temperatures the English Central summer temperature ended up being on the average side set up against previous summers since the CET series began in 1659 .", "Climate Climate is the statistics of weather , usually over a 30-year interval . It is measured by assessing the patterns of variation in temperature , humidity , atmospheric pressure , wind , precipitation , atmospheric particle count and other meteorological variables in a given region over long periods of time . Climate differs from weather , in that weather only describes the short-term conditions of these variables in a given region . A region 's climate is generated by the climate system , which has five components : atmosphere , hydrosphere , cryosphere , lithosphere , and biosphere . The climate of a location is affected by its latitude , terrain , and altitude , as well as nearby water bodies and their currents . Climates can be classified according to the average and the typical ranges of different variables , most commonly temperature and precipitation . The most commonly used classification scheme was the Köppen climate classification . The Thornthwaite system , in use since 1948 , incorporates evapotranspiration along with temperature and precipitation information and is used in studying biological diversity and how climate change affects it . The Bergeron and Spatial Synoptic Classification systems focus on the origin of air masses that define the climate of a region . Paleoclimatology is the study of ancient climates . Since direct observations of climate are not available before the 19th century , paleoclimates are inferred from proxy variables that include non-biotic evidence such as sediments found in lake beds and ice cores , and biotic evidence such as tree rings and coral . Climate models are mathematical models of past , present and future climates . Climate change may occur over long and short timescales from a variety of factors ; recent warming is discussed in global warming . Global warming results in redistributions . For example , `` a 3 ° C change in mean annual temperature corresponds to a shift in isotherms of approximately 300 -- 400 km in latitude ( in the temperate zone ) or 500 m in elevation . Therefore , species are expected to move upwards in elevation or towards the poles in latitude in response to shifting climate zones '' .", "Global warming in Antarctica The effects of global warming in Antarctica may include rising temperatures and increasing snow melt .", "Subatlantic The Subatlantic is the current climatic age of the Holocene epoch . It started at about 2,500 years BP and is still ongoing . Its average temperatures were slightly lower than during the preceding Subboreal and Atlantic . During its course the temperature underwent several oscillations which had a strong influence on fauna and flora and thus indirectly on the evolution of human civilizations . With intensifying industrialisation , human society started to stress the natural climatic cycles with increased greenhouse gas emissions .", "Save the Planet Save the Planet is a minor political party in Australia . The environmentalist party aims to avoid global warming by returning average global temperatures to pre-industrial levels as quickly as possible . The party also aims to create a world that is environmentally and socially sustainable without inequality .", "Global temperature record The global temperature record shows the fluctuations of the temperature of the atmosphere and the oceans through various spans of time. The most detailed information exists since 1850, when methodical thermometer-based records began. There are numerous estimates of temperatures since the end of the Pleistocene glaciation, particularly during the current Holocene epoch. Older time periods are studied by paleoclimatology.", "Global warming (disambiguation) Global warming is one of the common names for the current change in Earth 's climate . Global warming may also refer to : Global Warming ( Pitbull album ) , a 2011 music album by Pitbull Global Warming ( Sonny Rollins album ) , a 1998 music album by Sonny Rollins Global warming game , several games based on the concept Not to be confused with the Global warming controversy , which refers to the public debate over scientific conclusions on climate change .", "Mythical continents ", "Atlantic (period) The Atlantic in palaeoclimatology was the warmest and moistest Blytt-Sernander period , pollen zone and chronozone of Holocene northern Europe . The climate was generally warmer than today . It was preceded by the Boreal , with a climate similar to today 's , and was followed by the Subboreal , a transition to the modern . Because it was the warmest period of the Holocene , the Atlantic is often referenced more directly as the Holocene climatic optimum , or just climatic optimum .", "Global weirding " ]

[ "Climate change (general concept) Climate variability includes all the variations in the climate that last longer than individual weather events, whereas the term climate change only refers to those variations that persist for a longer period of time, typically decades or more. In the time since the industrial revolution the climate has increasingly been affected by human activities that are causing global warming and climate change.The climate system receives nearly all of its energy from the sun. The climate system also radiates energy to outer space. The balance of incoming and outgoing energy, and the passage of the energy through the climate system, determines Earth\\'s energy budget. When the incoming energy is greater than the outgoing energy, earth\\'s energy budget is positive and the climate system is warming. If more energy goes out, the energy budget is negative and earth experiences cooling.\\nThe energy moving through Earth\\'s climate system finds expression in weather, varying on geographic scales and time. Long-term averages and variability of weather in a region constitute the region\\'s climate. Such changes can be the result of \"internal variability\", when natural processes inherent to the various parts of the climate system alter the distribution of energy. Examples include variability in ocean basins such as the Pacific decadal oscillation and Atlantic multidecadal oscillation. Climate variability can also result from external forcing, when events outside of the climate system\\'s components nonetheless produce changes within the system. Examples include changes in solar output and volcanism.\\nClimate variability has consequences for sea level changes, plant life, and mass extinctions; it also affects human societies.", "Sarah Palin Sarah Louise Palin ( -LSB- ˈpeɪlᵻn -RSB- née Heath ; born February 11 , 1964 ) is an American politician , commentator , and author who served as the ninth Governor of Alaska from 2006 until her resignation in 2009 . As the Republican Party nominee for Vice President of the United States in the 2008 election alongside presidential nominee , Arizona Senator John McCain , she was the first Alaskan on the national ticket of a major political party and the first Republican woman selected as a vice presidential candidate . Also , her book Going Rogue has sold more than two million copies . She was elected to the Wasilla city council in 1992 and became mayor of Wasilla in 1996 . In 2003 , after an unsuccessful run for lieutenant governor , she was appointed chair of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission , responsible for overseeing the state 's oil and gas fields for safety and efficiency . She was the youngest person and the first woman to be elected Governor of Alaska . Since her resignation as Governor , she has endorsed and campaigned for the Tea Party movement as well as several candidates in multiple election cycles , prominently including Donald Trump for President in 2016 . From 2010 to 2015 , she provided political commentary for Fox News . On April 3 , 2014 , Palin premiered her TV show , Amazing America with Sarah Palin , on the Sportsman Channel , which ran until February 12 , 2015 . On July 27 , 2014 , Palin launched the online news network called the Sarah Palin Channel , which was closed on July 4 , 2015 .", "Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) is a scientific and intergovernmental body under the auspices of the United Nations , set up at the request of member governments , dedicated to the task of providing the world with an objective , scientific view of climate change and its political and economic impacts . It was first established in 1988 by two United Nations organizations , the World Meteorological Organization ( WMO ) and the United Nations Environment Programme ( UNEP ) , and later endorsed by the United Nations General Assembly through Resolution 43/53 . Membership of the IPCC is open to all members of the WMO and UNEP . The IPCC produces reports that support the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change ( UNFCCC ) , which is the main international treaty on climate change . The ultimate objective of the UNFCCC is to `` stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic -LSB- i.e. , human-induced -RSB- interference with the climate system '' . IPCC reports cover `` the scientific , technical and socio-economic information relevant to understanding the scientific basis of risk of human-induced climate change , its potential impacts and options for adaptation and mitigation . '' The IPCC does not carry out its own original research , nor does it do the work of monitoring climate or related phenomena itself . The IPCC bases its assessment on the published literature , which includes peer-reviewed and non-peer-reviewed sources . Thousands of scientists and other experts contribute ( on a voluntary basis , without payment from the IPCC ) to writing and reviewing reports , which are then reviewed by governments . IPCC reports contain a `` Summary for Policymakers '' , which is subject to line-by-line approval by delegates from all participating governments . Typically this involves the governments of more than 120 countries . The IPCC provides an internationally accepted authority on climate change , producing reports which have the agreement of leading climate scientists and the consensus of participating governments . The 2007 Nobel Peace Prize was shared , in equal parts , between the IPCC and Al Gore ." ]

[ "Christopher C. Horner Christopher C. Horner is an attorney in Washington , D.C. and a Senior Fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute who opposes the mainstream view of climate change and has been prominent in promoting climate change denial . He is the author of three books disputing the scientific evidence for man-made global warming . Horner had a financial relationship with coal companies who provided him with funds . Horner has been criticized for hounding climate scientists with frivolous requests for documentation and emails .", "Vicky Pope Vicky Pope is head of the climate predictions programme at the Hadley Centre . She spent 6 years as manager of atmospheric climate model development and evaluation . Since October 2004 she has been Head of the Climate Prediction Programme which provides independent scientific advice on climate change . Her research interests include developing and validating climate models . In an interview for The Guardian newspaper , she said : `` very few '' scientists disputed the latest IPCC report . `` The consensus on warming since the 1850s is that a large part is due to man 's activities , '' she said . `` That 's the line of the IPCC report and that position is strengthening . It is a very widespread consensus . There are a few very vocal people who are sceptics , only some of whom are actually scientists . Sceptics obviously have a place in the community . '' link", "Environmental skepticism Environmental skepticism is the belief that claims by environmentalists , and the environmental scientists who support them , are false or exaggerated . The term is also applied to those who are critical of environmentalism in general . Environmental skepticism is closely linked with anti-environmentalism and climate change denial . Environmental skeptics have argued that the extent of harm coming from human activities is less certain than some scientists and scientific bodies claim , or that it is too soon to be introducing curbs in these activities on the basis of existing evidence , or that further discussion is needed regarding who should pay for such environmental initiatives . One of the focus themes in the environmental skeptics movement is the idea that environmentalism is a growing threat to social and economic progress and the civil liberties . The popularity of the term was enhanced by Bjørn Lomborg 's book The Skeptical Environmentalist . Lomborg approached environmental claims from a statistical and economic standpoint , and concluded that often the claims made by environmentalists were overstated . Lomborg argued , on the basis of cost -- benefit analysis , that few environmentalist claims warranted serious concern . However , in 2010 , Lomborg stated that he believes in the need for `` tens of billions of dollars a year to be invested in tackling climate change '' and declared global warming to be `` undoubtedly one of the chief concerns facing the world today '' and `` a challenge humanity must confront '' . He summarized his position , saying `` Global warming is real - it is man-made and it is an important problem . But it is not the end of the world . ''", "Climate justice Climate justice is a term used for framing global warming as an ethical and political issue , rather than one that is purely environmental or physical in nature . This is done by relating the effects of climate change to concepts of justice , particularly environmental justice and social justice and by examining issues such as equality , human rights , collective rights , and the historical responsibilities for climate change . A fundamental proposition of climate justice is that those who are least responsible for climate change suffer its gravest consequences . Occasionally , the term is also used to mean actual legal action on climate change issues .", "Somebody Like Me (Silkk the Shocker song) `` Somebody Like Me `` is a single by American rapper Silkk The Shocker and features singer-songwriter Mýa from Silkk 's third album Made Man.The track was produced by The Whole 9 for Miller 's third studio album Made Man . Somebody Like Me was written by Mýa , Vyshonn Miller and The Whole 9 .", "2007 Nobel Peace Prize The 2007 Nobel Peace Prize was shared , in two equal parts , between the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) and Al Gore `` for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change , and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change '' .", "Déjà Voodoo (Gov't Mule album) Déjà Voodoo is the sixth studio album by southern rock jam band Gov ' t Mule . The album was released on September 14 , 2004 , by ATO Records . It was the first Gov ' t Mule album to feature Andy Hess and Danny Louis as permanent members , and it was also the first album that Gov ' t Mule did not play live before its release . The title is a reference to the fact that the band believes it rocks just like it used to before the death of former bassist Allen Woody . Beginning in late 2005 , the album was released to include the Mo ' Voodoo EP .", "Walt Monegan Walter Carleton `` Walt '' Monegan III ( born May 1951 ) is the former Police Chief of Anchorage , Alaska , and later Commissioner of Public Safety for the state of Alaska . His dismissal in July 2008 by Alaska governor Sarah Palin drew considerable attention , particularly in the wake of Palin 's selection as the Vice-Presidential nominee of the Republican Party the following month . Monegan accused Palin of not telling the truth about the reasons for his dismissal . In April , 2016 , Alaska Governor Bill Walker reappointed Monegan as the Commissioner of Public Safety .", "World Mayors Council on Climate Change The World Mayors Council on Climate Change ( WMCCC ) is an alliance of mayors who have made a commitment to the protection of climate change . Since 2012 , the Chair is Park Won-soon , Mayor of Seoul , South Korea . The Vice-Chair is Juergen Nimptsch , Mayor of Bonn , Germany .", "Steve Cowper Stephen Cambreleng `` Steve '' Cowper ( born August 21 , 1938 ) is an American Democratic politician who was the sixth Governor of Alaska from 1986-90 . He was governor during the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill .", "Katie McGinty Kathleen Alana `` Katie '' McGinty ( born May 11 , 1963 ) is an American former state and federal environmental policy official . She served as an environmental advisor to Vice President Al Gore and President Bill Clinton . Later , she served as Secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection in the Cabinet of Governor Ed Rendell . Prior to the nomination of Lisa P. Jackson , she was mentioned as a possible United States Environmental Protection Agency Administrator under President Barack Obama , and as a possible candidate to succeed Ed Rendell as Governor of Pennsylvania , but was not a candidate in the 2010 election . McGinty was an unsuccessful candidate for Governor of Pennsylvania in 2014 . After Democrat Tom Wolf won Pennsylvania 's 2014 gubernatorial election , he appointed McGinty as his Chief of Staff . On August 4 , 2015 , she officially announced her candidacy for the United States Senate in 2016 . McGinty won the Democratic nomination on April 26 , 2016 , but lost , with 47.2 % of the vote , to incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Pat Toomey in the general election .", "Gov. James T. Lewis House The Gov. James T. Lewis House is located in Columbus , Wisconsin , United States . It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982 .", "Daylight saving time in Ecuador Ecuador currently doesn ´ t use DST . President Sixto Durán Ballén imposed daylight saving time in 1992 in an energy-saving effort . It was poorly received by the populace and did not last long .", "Climate change Climate change is a change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns when that change lasts for an extended period of time ( i.e. , decades to millions of years ) . Climate change may refer to a change in average weather conditions , or in the time variation of weather around longer-term average conditions ( i.e. , more or fewer extreme weather events ) . Climate change is caused by factors such as biotic processes , variations in solar radiation received by Earth , plate tectonics , and volcanic eruptions . Certain human activities have been identified as primary causes of ongoing climate change , often referred to as global warming . Scientists actively work to understand past and future climate by using observations and theoretical models . A climate record -- extending deep into the Earth 's past -- has been assembled , and continues to be built up , based on geological evidence from borehole temperature profiles , cores removed from deep accumulations of ice , floral and faunal records , glacial and periglacial processes , stable-isotope and other analyses of sediment layers , and records of past sea levels . More recent data are provided by the instrumental record . General circulation models , based on the physical sciences , are often used in theoretical approaches to match past climate data , make future projections , and link causes and effects in climate change .", "By a Thread (Gov't Mule album) By a Thread is the ninth studio album by American southern rock jam band Gov ' t Mule . The album was released on October 27 , 2009 , by Evil Teen Records . It is the first album to feature bassist Jorgen Carlsson , who joined the band in 2008 , replacing Andy Hess . On August 17 , 2009 , the first track of the album , `` Broke Down on the Brazos '' , was made available for listening on Gov ' t Mule 's official website , as well as on the band 's Myspace and Facebook pages . The track features the playing of Billy Gibbons , best known as the singer and guitarist for the American blues rock band ZZ Top .", "Climate ethics Climate ethics is an area of research that focuses on the ethical dimensions of climate change ( also known as global warming ) , and concepts such as climate justice . Human-induced climate change raises many profound ethical questions , yet many believe that these ethical issues have not been addressed adequately in climate change policy debates or in the scientific and economic literature on climate change ; and that , consequently , ethical questions are being overlooked or obscured in climate negotiations , policies and discussions . It has been pointed out that those most responsible for climate change are not the same people as those most vulnerable to its effects . Terms such as climate justice and ecological justice ( ` eco justice ' ) are used worldwide , and have been adopted by various groups .", "Scott Pruitt Edward Scott Pruitt ( born May 9 , 1968 ) is an American lawyer and Republican politician from the state of Oklahoma who is currently the 14th Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency . Nominated by President Donald Trump in December 2016 , Pruitt was confirmed by the Senate to lead the EPA on February 17 , 2017 . Pruitt represented Tulsa and Wagoner Counties in the Oklahoma Senate from 1998 until 2006 . In 2006 , Pruitt narrowly lost to Oklahoma Speaker of the House Todd Hiett in a bid for the Republican nomination for Lieutenant Governor of Oklahoma . In 2010 , Pruitt was elected Attorney General of Oklahoma . In that role , he was viewed as a proponent of federalism , supporting religious freedom laws and opposing abortion rights , same-sex marriage , the Affordable Care Act , and environmental regulations as a self-described `` leading advocate against the EPA 's activist agenda '' . He fought the agency 's efforts on climate and clear air in several lawsuits , often closely coordinating with the fossil fuel industry , which supported him with almost $ 300,000 in campaign contributions . In 2012 , Pruitt was elected as chairman of the Republican Attorneys General Association , and re-elected for a second term in February 2013 . Pruitt rejects the scientific consensus that human activities are a primary contributor to climate change . He specifically rejects the stance of the scientific community , including US agencies NASA and NOAA , that carbon dioxide is the primary contributor .", "Devesh Chauhan Devesh Singh Chauhan ( born 11 December 1981 in Village Silayta , Etawah , Uttar Pradesh ) is a field hockey goalkeeper from India , who made his international debut for the Men 's National Team in early 2000 . Chauhan represented his native country twice at the Summer Olympics , in 2000 ( Sydney , Australia ) and in 2004 ( Athens , Greece ) , where India finished in seventh place on both occasions.chauhan got Arjuna award in 2003 by gov ' t to India and lakshman award in 2001 ; Yash bharti award in 2005 and ahilyabai Hillary award in 2006 by gov ' t to Uttar Pradesh .", "Al-Magar Al-Magar is one of the Neolithic civilization that discovered in the Arabian Peninsula , particularly in Najd , Saudi Arabia . The early man had once lived in that area and practiced the art of agriculture and animal husbandry in this area before the desertification had actually begun or during the catastrophic event of climate change that ended with a large spread of desert across the country . The people who settled there lived in stone houses built with dry masonry . It is also proof that the Arabs were the first to tame the horse .", "Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow The Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow ( CFACT ) is a Washington , D.C.-based 501 ( c ) ( 3 ) nonprofit organization founded in 1985 that advocates for free-market solutions to environmental issues , but has increasingly turned to climate denial . For example , CFACT co-founder Craig Rucker stated that mankind faces a threat `` not from man-made global warming , but from man-made hysteria . '' At the 29 April 2017 Climate March , leaflets distributed by CFACT claimed the scientific consensus that mankind is now driving global changes in the planet 's climate are `` bogus '' , that reports of record-setting temperatures are `` the hottest lie '' being told , and `` CO2 is not the ` control knob ' of the climate '' .", "The Masked Avengers' prank on Sarah Palin On November 1 , 2008 , American vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin fell victim to a prank call by the Masked Avengers , a Quebecer radio comedy duo , who tricked Palin into believing she was talking to French President Nicolas Sarkozy . During the conversation , the fake Sarkozy , speaking in English ( the real Sarkozy does not speak English ) , talked to Palin about foreign policy , hunting , and the 2008 U.S. presidential election . After it was revealed to Palin that the call was a prank , she handed the phone to one of her assistants who told the comedy duo `` I have to let you go '' and hung up . Both the McCain and Obama campaigns released light-hearted statements about the prank . However , a McCain campaign advisor said that behind the scenes , aides and advisors to the campaign were not happy that the pranksters were able to lie their way up to Palin , or with the publicity Palin received because of the call .", "Public opinion on climate change Public opinion on climate change is the aggregate of attitudes or beliefs held by the adult population concerning the science , economics , and politics of global warming . It is affected by media coverage of climate change .", "An Inconsistent Truth An Inconsistent Truth is a 2012 documentary film written , produced , and featuring , nationally syndicated conservative talk radio host Phil Valentine and directed by Shayne Edwards . Valentine , a skeptic of global warming theory , interviewed scientists about the validity of Al Gore 's film An Inconvenient Truth and the facts presented within . What he is told by the scientists he interviews is that there is no consensus on the issue of global warming or climate change . The film argues that global warming proponents keep changing its label , basing their argument on what Valentine says is shaky scientific ground .", "Martin Eisenstadt The Martin Eisenstadt hoax is an elaborate scheme of filmmakers Dan Mirvish and Eitan Gorlin that involved the creation of a fictional `` talking head '' , Martin Eisenstadt , who was quoted by numerous major news outlets ( such as the Los Angeles Times and MSNBC ) , as well as countless blogs , all of which failed to verify his actual existence . `` Eisenstadt '' claimed to be the source of commentary about Sarah Palin in the wake of John McCain 's 2008 Presidential Campaign . Mirvish and Gorlin have since written a satirical novel called I Am Martin Eisenstadt : One Man 's ( Wildly Inappropriate ) Adventures with the Last Republicans for Farrar , Straus and Giroux ISBN 978-0-86547-914-2 . The book was written under Eisenstadt 's pseudonym and purports to be a first-person memoir of Eisenstadt 's experience with the McCain/Palin campaign , including buying Palin 's wardrobe . In the book , the Eisenstadt character denies rumors that he does not exist .", "United Kingdom environmental law United Kingdom environmental law concerns the protection of the environment in the United Kingdom . Environmental law is increasingly a European and an international issue , due to the cross border issues of air and water pollution , and man made climate change .", "Be Somebody... or Be Somebody's Fool! Be Somebody ... or Be Somebody 's Fool ! is a 1984 motivational video hosted by Mr. T ( from The A-Team ) and distributed by MCA Home Video . The production drew strongly on new wave and R&B culture of the mid-1980s to appeal to children to respect elders , avoid peer pressure , and build self-confidence . It featured a showcase of emerging talent , including Ice-T , Martika , Fergie , Tammy Townsend , Bumper Robinson , Shanice , and New Edition with Bobby Brown . The video has led to a proliferation of video clips that are circulated on the Internet . The project was produced by Topper Carew , a sitcom writer who had worked alongside Mr. T as a producer and writer on the feature film D.C. Cab . Mr. T returned to motivational roles for the 2006 television series I Pity the Fool . A companion book by St. Martin 's Press and a soundtrack album by MCA Records were also released in conjunction with the video .", "Mo' Voodoo Mo ' Voodoo is an EP by Gov ' t Mule . In May 2005 , Gov ' t Mule released this five song EP of additional material recorded during breaks of their last tour . It is now included as a bonus CD of the Deja Voodoo album .", "Gov't Mule Gov ' t Mule ( pronounced Government Mule ) is an American southern rock jam band , formed in 1994 as a side project of The Allman Brothers Band by guitarist Warren Haynes and bassist Allen Woody . Fans often refer to Gov ' t Mule simply as Mule . The band released their debut album , Gov ' t Mule , in 1995 , and have since released an additional nine studio albums , plus numerous EPs and live releases . Gov ' t Mule has become a staple act at music festivals across North America , with both its members and frequent guests boasting members from other notable bands , adding various funk and blues rock elements to the band 's sound .", "Governorship of Sarah Palin In 2006 , Sarah Palin was elected governor of Alaska . Running on a clean-government platform , Palin defeated incumbent Governor Frank Murkowski in the Republican gubernatorial primary election in August . She then went on to win the general election in November , defeating former Governor Tony Knowles 48.3 % to 40.9 % . Her running mate was State Senator Sean Parnell . During the Republican gubernatorial primary campaign , Palin was endorsed by former Alaska Governor Walter Hickel , and groups such as the Alaska Correctional Officers Association and Alaska Right to Life . Later , in the general election for governor , she was supported by Governor Frank Murkowski . Republican U.S. Senator Ted Stevens made a last-moment endorsement , filming a television commercial with Palin for the gubernatorial campaign . During her campaign for governor , Palin declared that education , public safety , and transportation would be the three cornerstones of her administration . She won the race despite spending less than her Democratic opponent . Palin became Alaska 's first female governor and , at 42 , the youngest in state history . She is the first Alaskan governor born after Alaska achieved U.S. statehood and the first governor not inaugurated in Juneau ; she chose to have the ceremony in Fairbanks instead . She took office on December 4 , 2006 , and maintained a high approval rating throughout her term ; . On July 3 , 2009 , Sarah Palin announced her resignation as governor of Alaska . She stepped down on July 26 , 2009 , being replaced by Governor Sean Parnell .", "Sean Parnell Sean R. Parnell ( born November 19 , 1962 ) is an American politician . Parnell , a Republican , succeeded to the office of Governor of Alaska on 26 July 2009 when Governor Sarah Palin resigned . He served as the tenth Governor of Alaska from 2009 to 2014 . Parnell was elected Governor of Alaska in his own right in 2010 by 59.06 % of the vote , as the largest percentage margin of any Alaska governor since statehood . In 2014 , he narrowly lost his bid for re-election and has since returned to work in the private sector . Born in Hanford , California , Parnell is a graduate from the University of Puget Sound 's School of Law ( now known as Seattle University School of Law ) . He practiced law before being elected to the Alaska House of Representatives in 1992 and he continued to work in private legal practice while he was a member of the Alaska House and later , the Alaska Senate . He served two terms in the Alaska House from 1993 to 1997 before he was elected to one term in the Alaska Senate from 1997 to 2001 . Parnell continued his legal career in the private sector , working as an attorney and as the state government relations director for Phillips Petroleum ( Alaska ) ( now known as ConocoPhillips Alaska ) and an attorney at the law firm Patton Boggs . Returning to public service , Parnell won the Republican primary race for lieutenant governor in 2006 and became Sarah Palin 's running mate in her 2006 gubernatorial campaign , where the Palin-Parnell ticket defeated former Democratic Governor Tony Knowles . Parnell was sworn in as Lieutenant Governor of Alaska in December 2006 and later assumed the governorship after Palin resigned in July 2009 . Parnell was elected to a full term as Governor in 2010 , defeating former State Representative Ethan Berkowitz in the general election . Parnell is the first unelected Alaska Governor to be elected in his own right . He was narrowly defeated for a second term in 2014 by the `` unity ticket '' of Republican-turned-Independent Bill Walker and Democrat Byron Mallott .", "The Undefeated (2011 film) The Undefeated is an American political documentary on Sarah Palin , who was Governor of Alaska and later the Republican Party nominee for vice president in the 2008 United States presidential election . The documentary is written and directed by Stephen Bannon . The Undefeated was released on , 2011 .", "Faith Spotted Eagle Faith Spotted Eagle ( Dakota : Tunkan Inajin Win or Tȟuŋkáŋ Inážiŋ Win -LSB- tˣuŋkáŋ ináʒiŋ win -RSB- `` Standing Stone '' born 1948 ) is a Native American activist and politician . She is a member of the Yankton Sioux Nation who attempted to block development of the Keystone XL pipeline and the Dakota Access Pipeline . In the 2016 presidential election , she became the first Native American to receive an electoral vote for President of the United States as well as one of the first two women to receive a presidential electoral vote . Spotted Eagle 's single vote came from a faithless elector in Washington , who cast it for her instead of Hillary Clinton ." ]

[ "Palm oil Palm oil ( also known as dendê oil , from Portuguese -LSB- ˈdɛnde -RSB- ) is an edible vegetable oil derived from the mesocarp ( reddish pulp ) of the fruit of the oil palms , primarily the African oil palm Elaeis guineensis , and to a lesser extent from the American oil palm Elaeis oleifera and the maripa palm Attalea maripa . Palm oil is naturally reddish in color because of a high beta-carotene content . It is not to be confused with palm kernel oil derived from the kernel of the same fruit , or coconut oil derived from the kernel of the coconut palm ( Cocos nucifera ) . The differences are in color ( raw palm kernel oil lacks carotenoids and is not red ) , and in saturated fat content : palm mesocarp oil is 49 % saturated , while palm kernel oil and coconut oil are 81 % and 86 % saturated fats , respectively . However , crude red palm oil that has been refined , bleached and deodorized , a common commodity called RBD palm oil , does not contain carotenoids . Along with coconut oil , palm oil is one of the few highly saturated vegetable fats and is semisolid at room temperature . Palm oil is a common cooking ingredient in the tropical belt of Africa , Southeast Asia and parts of Brazil . Its use in the commercial food industry in other parts of the world is widespread because of its lower cost and the high oxidative stability ( saturation ) of the refined product when used for frying . One source reported that humans consumed an average 17 lb of palm oil per person in 2015 . The use of palm oil in food products has attracted the concern of environmental activist groups ; the high oil yield of the trees has encouraged wider cultivation , leading to the clearing of forests in parts of Indonesia and Malaysia to make space for oil-palm monoculture . This has resulted in significant acreage losses of the natural habitat of the orangutan , of which both species are endangered ; one species in particular , the Sumatran orangutan , has been listed as critically endangered . In 2004 , an industry group called the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil was formed to work with the palm oil industry to address these concerns . Additionally , in 1992 , in response to concerns about deforestation , the Government of Malaysia pledged to limit the expansion of palm oil plantations by retaining a minimum of half the nation 's land as forest cover .", "Deforestation Deforestation , clearance or clearing is the removal of a forest or stand of trees where the land is thereafter converted to a non-forest use . Examples of deforestation include conversion of forestland to farms , ranches , or urban use . The most concentrated deforestation occurs in tropical rainforests . About 30 % of Earth 's land surface is covered by forests . Deforestation occurs for multiple reasons : trees are cut down to be used for building or sold as fuel , ( sometimes in the form of charcoal or timber ) , while cleared land is used as pasture for livestock and plantation . The removal of trees without sufficient reforestation has resulted in damage to habitat , biodiversity loss and aridity . It has adverse impacts on biosequestration of atmospheric carbon dioxide . Deforestation has also been used in war to deprive the enemy of vital resources and cover for its forces . Modern examples of this were the use of Agent Orange by the British military in Malaya during the Malayan Emergency and the United States military in Vietnam during the Vietnam War . As of 2005 , net deforestation rates have ceased to increase in countries with a per capita GDP of at least US$ 4,600 . Deforested regions typically incur significant adverse soil erosion and frequently degrade into wasteland . Disregard of ascribed value , lax forest management and deficient environmental laws are some of the factors that allow deforestation to occur on a large scale . In many countries , deforestation , both naturally occurring and human-induced , is an ongoing issue . Deforestation causes extinction , changes to climatic conditions , desertification , and displacement of populations as observed by current conditions and in the past through the fossil record . More than half of all plant and land animal species in the world live in tropical forests . Between 2000 and 2012 , 2.3 e6sqkm of forests around the world were cut down . As a result of deforestation , only 6.2 e6km2 remain of the original 16 e6km2 of forest that formerly covered the Earth .", "Wind turbine A wind turbine is a device that converts the wind 's kinetic energy into electrical power . Wind turbines are manufactured in a wide range of vertical and horizontal axis types . The smallest turbines are used for applications such as battery charging for auxiliary power for boats or caravans or to power traffic warning signs . Slightly larger turbines can be used for making contributions to a domestic power supply while selling unused power back to the utility supplier via the electrical grid . Arrays of large turbines , known as wind farms , are becoming an increasingly important source of intermittent renewable energy and are used by many countries as part of a strategy to reduce their reliance on fossil fuels ." ]

[ "Gunung Rara Forest Reserve Gunung Rara Forest Reserve is a rainforest area in Malaysia , on the island of Borneo . It is located in South-Central Sabah , in Tawau Division . Borneo elephants probably were killed in a concession area of Yayasan Sabah in the reserve . The concession was originally intended to be managed into perpetuity for the benefit of all Sabahans but was instead largely decimated by overharvesting . The reserve sits between Danum Valley and Maliau Basin Conservation areas . There are palm oil plantations in the reserve . The rainforests in Sabah are endangered by palm oil plantations .", "Benso Oil Palm Plantation Benso Oil Palm Plantation is a Ghanaian oil palm plantation and company , based at the Adum Banso Estate in Takoradi . The company is listed on the Ghana Stock Exchange , its symbol is ( BOPP ) . It was formed in 2004 and is involved with the production and processing of palm oil .", "United Plantations United Plantations Berhad is a Malaysia-based oil palm plantation company .", "Rhinotia haemoptera Rhinotia haemoptera , the red weevil , is a beetle species in the genus Rhinotia found in Australia . It resembles a fire-coloured beetle ( Pyrochroidae ) in colour . This insect pest can destroy groves and plantations of coconut and migrate to date palms and other palms , causing economic damage to farmers and landscapers . The nematode species Heterorhabditis indica has been used effectively against the red weevil .", "Malaysian Palm Oil Board The Malaysian Palm Oil Board ( Lembaga Minyak Sawit Malaysia ) , abbreviated MPOB , is a government agency responsible for the promotion and development of the palm oil industry in Malaysia . It is one of the agencies under Malaysia 's Ministry of Plantation Industries and Commodities .", "Wampu River ( see also Wampú River ( Honduras ) ) The Wampu River is a river in North Sumatra , Indonesia . It rises as the Lau Biang river in Karo Regency near Siberaya , flowing past Kabanjahe , Perbesi , Kuta Buluh , Marike and onto Bohorok in Langkat Regency , where the river is known as the Wampu . It flows past Stabat and Tanjung Langkat before emptying into the Strait of Malacca . The Bohorok River is a tributary of the Wampu . Much of the river valley was once fertile rainforest , but most has now been destroyed for logging and oil palm plantations .", "Biodiversity of Colombia Colombia is the country with the second-highest biodiversity in the world , behind Brazil . As of 2016 , 56,343 species are registered in Colombia , of which 9153 endemic . The country occupies the first position worldwide in number of orchids and birds , second position in plants , amphibians , butterflies and fresh water fish , third place in species of palm trees and reptiles and globally holds the fourth position in biodiversity of mammals . The country hosts 59 nationally designated protected areas . At the establishment of the as of 2017 most recent addition , Bahía Portete -- Kaurrele National Natural Park , Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos said `` The biodiversity is to Colombia , what oil is for the Arabs '' .", "Palm oil production in Indonesia Palm oil production is important to the economy of Indonesia as the country is the world 's biggest producer and consumer of the commodity , providing about half the world supply . Oil palm plantations stretch across 6 million hectares ( roughly twice the size of Belgium ) . Indonesia plans by 2015 to add 4 million additional hectares towards oil palm biofuel production . As of 2012 , Indonesia produces 35 percent of the world 's certified sustainable palm oil ( CSPO ) . In addition to servicing traditional markets , Indonesia is looking to put more effort into producing biodiesel . China and India are the major importers of palm oil , accounting for more than a third of global palm oil imports .", "Kulim (Malaysia) Berhad Kulim ( Malaysia ) Berhad is a Malaysian company . Through its subsidiaries , it engages in oil palm plantation , investment holding , and property investment businesses in Malaysia . The company also manufactures rubber-based products , oleochemicals , and esters ; produces oil palm clones by plant tissue culture technology ; and distributes tropical fruits , as well as engaging in crude palm oil processing . The Corporate Office of Kulim ( Malaysia ) Berhad is located at Johor , Malaysia . It provides plantation management and consultancy services , assembles agricultural and mechanical equipment and researches and produces oil palm seeds . It also operates quick service restaurants . It has operations primarily in Malaysia and Indonesia . The company was incorporated in 1933 and is based in Johor Bahru , Malaysia . Kulim ( Malaysia ) Berhad is a subsidiary of Johor Corporation .", "NASA wind turbines Starting in 1975 , NASA managed a program for the United States Department of Energy and the United States Department of Interior to develop utility-scale wind turbines for electric power , in response to the increase in oil prices . A number of the world 's largest wind turbines were developed and tested under this pioneering program . The program was an attempt to leap well beyond the then-current state of the art of wind turbine generators , and developed a number of technologies later adopted by the wind turbine industry . The development of the commercial industry however was delayed by a significant decrease in competing energy prices during the 1980s .", "Indio Maíz Biological Reserve Indio Maíz Biological Reserve measures about 4,500 square kilometers and is situated on the southeastern corner of Nicaragua bordering the San Juan River . It is the second largest expanse of lowland rainforest reserve in Nicaragua and is referred to as `` the gem of Central American nature reserves '' by UCLA biologists . Indio Maíz is rich in biodiversity , it holds a higher number in species of trees , birds , and insects than all of Europe . It is also noted as a popular protected area for tourists .", "Palm stearin Palm stearin is the solid fraction of palm oil that is produced by partial crystallization at controlled temperature . It is more variable in composition than palm olein , the liquid fraction of palm oil , especially in terms of its solid fat content , and therefore has more variable physical characteristics.p . 34 Like crude palm fruit oil , palm stearin contains carotenoids , but physically refined palm oils do not , as they are removed or destroyed in the refining process.p . 37", "Beinn an Tuirc windfarm Beinn an Tuirc wind farm is a wind farm in Argyll , Scotland . The site has 46 turbines with a total generating capacity of 30.36 MW , and is operated by Scottish Power . It was commissioned in 2001 and started operation in 2002 . It cost # 21 million to build . The turbines were built by Danish company Vestas , which specializes in their manufacture . It is 10 miles ( 16 kilometres ) north of Campbeltown on the slopes of the Beinn an Tuirc , the highest hill on the Kintyre peninsula . Scottish Power was awarded a Queen 's Award for Enterprise in 2006 for constructing Beinn an Tuirc and Black Law wind farms with a `` collaborative and responsible approach '' . This referred to the company 's practice of taking into account environmental concerns and the wishes of the local community in the wind farms ' construction . One of the V47 turbines suffered a catastrophic failure in November 2007 when a brake problem led to the tower being bent in two . This was the first incident of an operational turbine tower collapsing in the UK . The farm was closed as a precaution , but soon reopened . In an unusual move , Scottish Power has offered local rangers # 30 for every mountain hare they hand over . The idea is to re-introduce this species to an area near to the wind farm in an attempt to lure golden eagles away from the turbines . The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds said , `` Scottish Power 's approach in creating this habitat that takes into account local biodiversity is to be welcomed . ''", "Stateline Wind Farm The Stateline Wind Farm is a wind farm located on Vansycle Ridge , which receives 16 to 18 mph ( 26 -- 29 km/h ) average wind speeds from the Columbia Gorge , on the border between Washington and Oregon in the United States . With 186 turbines currently operating in both states and 279 more approved for construction , it is the largest wind project in the Northwestern United States and will be the largest in the world . Costing $ 300 million to build , it began operation in 2001 . The project employs 660 kW capacity Vestas wind turbines , which collectively will produce a maximum electrical output of 306.9 MW . ( The current operating capacity is 122.8 MW . ) On average , the project is expected to produce 30 to 35 percent of that capacity year-round . Turbines are controlled individually by electronic systems which direct them into the wind and adjust the pitch of the blades to maximize electrical production at any wind speed from 7 to 56 mph . The turbines automatically shut down at wind speeds excess of 56 mph , a feature which allows them to withstand hurricane-force winds . The wind turbines are grouped in strings of 5 to 37 turbines , each turbine spaced approximately 250 feet ( 76 m ) from the next , generally slightly downwind of the crest of ridges . Each turbine tower is 166 feet ( 50 m ) tall , with blades 76 feet ( 23 m ) wide . Environmental impact studies determined that the site was not used extensively by birds or other species vulnerable to injury from turbines , and the turbine towers ' construction , along with the use of underground power lines , was designed to minimize perching places for birds . The area around the project is used primarily for private farming , including dryland wheat farming and cattle grazing . The Stateline Wind Project is several miles northwest of the Vansycle Wind Project in Umatilla County , Oregon . Both are owned and operated by Florida Power & Light . A wind turbine collapsed over the weekend of November 2 , 2013 on the Washington side of the Stateline Wind Project .", "PT Perusahaan Perkebunan London Sumatra Indonesia London Sumatera Indonesia is an agribusiness company in Sumatra , Indonesia . Its head offices are based in Jakarta and regional offices are located in Medan , Palembang , Samarinda and Makassar . It is engaged promarily in the palm oil business . The company has palm plantations sells palm oil products , rubber , palm oil seeds , cocoa and tea . The plantation estates and processing facilities are located in Sumatera Utara , Sumatera Selatan , Kalimantan Timur , and on the Indonesian islands of Sulawesi and Java . Subsidiaries include PT Multi Agro Kencana Prima , Lonsum Singapore Pte Ltd , PT Tani Musi Persada and PT Sumatra Agri Sejahtera . The company trades on the Jakarta Stock Exchange .", "Bukit Tigapuluh National Park Bukit Tigapuluh National Park ( also called Bukit Tiga Puluh and Bukit Tigapulah ) - The Thirty Hills - is a 143,223 hectare National Park in eastern Sumatra , consisting primarily of tropical lowland forest , largely in Riau province , with a smaller part of 33,000 ha in Jambi province . It is famous as one of the last refuges of endangered species such as the Sumatran orangutan , Sumatran tiger , Sumatran elephant , Sumatran rhinoceros and Asian tapir , as well as many endangered bird species . It forms part of the Tesso Nilo Complex biodiversity hotspot . The Park is inhabited by the indigenous peoples of the Orang Rimba and Talang Mamak tribes . The Park itself has been under consistent threat from illegal logging and palm oil plantations , with two thirds of the park logged .", "Tawau Hills National Park Tawau Hills Park , was established in 1979 , primarily as a protection for the water catchment area of Tawau town , Sabah , Malaysia . It is located 24 kilometres from Tawau , and comprises 279.72 km ² of lowland dipterocarp rainforest , surrounded by oil palm and cacao plantations . The park offers picnic areas , camping sites , and chalets . The Park contains rugged volcanic landscapes including a hot spring and spectacular waterfalls . The highest point in the park is Gunung Magdalena ( 1310 m ) . It is administered by the Sabah Parks .", "Insect biodiversity Insect biodiversity accounts for a large proportion of all biodiversity on the planet , with over 1,000,000 insect species described .", "Oenocarpus bataua The patawa , sehe , hungurahua ( Ecuador ) or mingucha ( Oenocarpus bataua or Jessenia bataua ) is a palm tree native to the Amazon rainforest , that produces edible fruits rich in high quality oil .", "Ministry of Plantation Industries and Commodities (Malaysia) The Ministry of Plantation Industries and Commodities ( Kementerian Perusahaan Perladangan dan Komoditi ) , abbreviated MPIC , KPPK , is a ministry of the Government of Malaysia that is responsible for plantation and commodities : palm oil , rubber , timber , furniture , cocoa , pepper , kenaf , tobacco .", "Philip James DeVries Philip James DeVries PhD ( born March 7 , 1952 ) is a tropical biologist whose research focuses on insect ecology and evolution , especially butterflies . His best-known work includes symbioses between caterpillars , ants and plants , and community level biodiversity of rainforest butterflies .", "Hemang Twifo ntafrewaso is a town in the Central region of Ghana . The town is known for the twifo oil palm plantation ( TOPP ) . The school is a second cycle institution .", "Astrocaryum faranae Astrocaryum faranae is a palm native to Amazon Rainforest vegetation in Brazil . This plant has a commercial value because it has oil seeds which may be used to make cosmetics .", "Journal of Plantation Crops The Journal of Plantation Crops is a triannual peer-reviewed scientific journal and is the official publication of the Indian Society for Plantation Crops . The scope includes are topics relating to plantation cropping systems and crops like coconut , arecanut , oil palm , cashew , spices , cocoa , coffee , tea , and rubber . The Journal of Plantation Crops was established in 1973 and the editor-in-chief is V. Krishnakumar .", "List of energy resources These are modes of energy production , energy storage , or energy conservation , listed alphabetically . Note that not all sources are accepted as legitimate or have been proven to be tappable . Atomic energy Banki turbine -- hydro power , like overshot or even like turbine ... Battery ( electricity ) Bioalcohol Biodiesel Biodiesel production Biofuel Biogas Biomass Bio-nano generator Bitumen Breeder reactor Bubble fusion -- a nuclear fusion reaction hypothesized to occur during sonoluminescence , an extreme form of acoustic cavitation . Coal Coal mining Cold fusion Combustion Compound turbine -- two axle , steam Compressed air energy storage Concentrated solar power Deep lake water cooling Diesel Dyson sphere Electrical grid Energy tower External combustion engine Fischer-Tropsch process Flywheel ( storage ) Fossil fuel Fossil-fuel power station Francis turbine Fuel -- a substance used as a source of energy , usually by the heat produced in combustion . Fuel cell Fuel efficiency Fusion power Gas turbine Gasohol Geothermal exchange heat pump Geothermal heating Geothermal power Grid energy storage High-altitude wind power - Energy can be captured from the wind by kites , aerostats , airfoil matrices , balloons , bladed turbines , kytoon , tethered gliders sailplanes Hydroelectricity Hydrogen economy Hydrogen storage , Underground hydrogen storage Hydropower-Energy from moving water Implosion Kaplan turbine Light crude Liquid fuel Liquid nitrogen economy Marine current power Magnetohydrodynamic , generator , MHD generator or dynamo transforms thermal energy or kinetic energy directly into electricity Methane clathrate Methanol Methanol economy Natural gas Natural gas field Natural gas vehicle Nuclear energy -- energy in the nucleus or core of atoms Nuclear fusion Nuclear reactor Nuclear reprocessing Oil drilling Oil platform Oil refinery Oil shale Oil well Osmotic power - or salinity gradient power - is the energy available from the difference in the salt concentration between seawater and river water OTEC -- Ocean thermal energy conversion Oxidation Peat Perpetuum Mobile Petroleum Photovoltaics Piezoelectricity Pneumatics -- compressed air Products based on refined oil Propellant Pumped-storage hydroelectricity Pyrolysis Renewable energy Savonius wind turbine -- wind Small hydro Solar box cooker Solar cell Solar chimney Solar panel Solar energy Solar power satellite Solar thermal energy Solar updraft tower -- large version of the solar chimney concept Solar water heating Solid fuel Sonoluminescence -- the emission of short bursts of light from imploding bubbles in a liquid when excited by sound . SSTAR -- small , sealed , transportable , autonomous reactor Steam turbine Stirling engine Straight vegetable oil Stranded gas reserve Sulfur-iodine cycle Sustainable design Synfuel Syngas Tar sands Tesla turbine Thermal depolymerization Thermal power station Thorium Tidal power Transmutation Turgo turbine -- impulse water turbine designed for medium head applications Tyson turbine -- for river flow harnessing UASB Uranium Vacuum energy Vibration energy scavenging Vortex energy Water turbine Wave power Wind energy Wind farm Wind turbine Wood fuel Wood gas Zero-point energy", "Coconut timber Coconut timber is a hardwood-substitute from coconut palm trees . It is referred to in the Philippines as Coconut Lumber , or Coco Lumber , and elsewhere additionally as Cocowood . It is a new timber resource that comes from plantation crops and offers an alternative to rainforest timber .", "Sarawak Land Development Board Sarawak Land Development Board ( SLDB ) is a Malaysian body corporate active in palm oil industry and other industries founded in 1972 . Sarawak Plantation Berhad ( SPB ; ) was specially incorporated as the vehicle company for the privatisation of Sarawak Land Development Board 's ( SLDB ) assets It has developed extensive areas for oil palm and cocoa .", "Elmina Estate Elmina Estate ( Ladang Elmina in the Malaysian language ) is an oil palm plantation near Sungai Buloh , Selangor , Malaysia . It is currently owned and operated by Sime Darby Berhad .", "Doubly-fed electric machine Doubly-fed electric machines are electric motors or electric generators where both the field magnet windings and armature windings are separately connected to equipment outside the machine . By feeding adjustable frequency AC power to the field windings , the magnetic field can be made to rotate , allowing variation in motor or generator speed . This is useful , for instance , for generators used in wind turbines .", "Carno wind farm Carno is a wind farm of 68 turbines which started operation in October 1996 . It covers an area of over 600 hectares on Trannon Moor , a plateau to the west of the village of Carno in Powys , Mid Wales , 400 m above sea level . Carno currently has the largest production capacity in Wales . Originally consisting of 56 wind turbines each of 600 kilowatts ( kW ) maximum output , the combined maximum power of 33.6 megawatts ( MW ) made Carno the largest Wind Farm in Europe at the time of its construction . The total project cost was approximately # 26 million . Information : Number of turbines : 56 ( extended to 68 with Carno 2 in 2008 ) Turbine manufacturer : Bonus Energy A/S , Denmark Turbine rating : 600 kW . Combined maximum power : 33.6 MW Tower height to hub : 31.5 m Blade number and diameter : 3 blades , each 44 m long Annual production : 90 million units Wildlife information : 37 species of birds . 512 species of insects & spiders , including one Red Data Book entry , the nationally scarce Trechus rivularis ground beetle . Archaeological features : Bronze Age cairns , standing stones and a possible Roman road crossing from east to west . Public footpaths cross the site and are waymarked on Ordnance Survey maps . In 2008 , an extension designated `` Carno 2 '' was completed , bringing the total number of turbines to 68 , comprising 12 new Siemens 1.3 MW wind turbines with a hub height of 49 m , blade length of 30 m and rotor diameter of 62 m giving a tip height of 80 m.", "Herakles Farms Herakles Farms , formerly known as SG Sustainable Oils , is an American company active in oil palm plantations and timber business . Its headquarters are in New York City . According to its web site , it is committed to sustainability .", "Small wind turbine A small wind turbine is a wind turbine used for microgeneration , as opposed to large commercial wind turbines , such as those found in wind farms , with greater individual power output . The Canadian Wind Energy Association ( CanWEA ) defines `` small wind '' as ranging from less than 1000 Watt ( 1 kW ) turbines up to 300 kW turbines . The smaller turbines may be as small as a 50 Watt auxiliary power generator for a boat , caravan , or miniature refrigeration unit ." ]

[ "Great Barrier Reef The Great Barrier Reef is the world 's largest coral reef system composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for over 2300 km over an area of approximately 344400 km2 . The reef is located in the Coral Sea , off the coast of Queensland , Australia . The Great Barrier Reef can be seen from outer space and is the world 's biggest single structure made by living organisms . This reef structure is composed of and built by billions of tiny organisms , known as coral polyps . It supports a wide diversity of life and was selected as a World Heritage Site in 1981 . CNN labelled it one of the seven natural wonders of the world . The Queensland National Trust named it a state icon of Queensland . A large part of the reef is protected by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park , which helps to limit the impact of human use , such as fishing and tourism . Other environmental pressures on the reef and its ecosystem include runoff , climate change accompanied by mass coral bleaching , and cyclic population outbreaks of the crown-of-thorns starfish . According to a study published in October 2012 by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , the reef has lost more than half its coral cover since 1985 . The Great Barrier Reef has long been known to and used by the Aboriginal Australian and Torres Strait Islander peoples , and is an important part of local groups ' cultures and spirituality . The reef is a very popular destination for tourists , especially in the Whitsunday Islands and Cairns regions . Tourism is an important economic activity for the region , generating over AUD$ 3 billion per year . In November 2014 , Google launched Google Underwater Street View in 3D of the Great Barrier Reef . A March 2016 report stated that coral bleaching was more widespread than previously thought , seriously affecting the northern parts of the reef as a result of warming ocean temperatures . In October 2016 , Outside published an obituary for the reef ; the article was criticized for being premature and hindering efforts to bolster the resilience of the reef . In March 2017 , the journal Nature published a paper showing that huge sections of a 800-kilometre ( 500 mi ) stretch in the northern part of the reef had died in the course of 2016 due to high water temperatures , an event that the authors put down to the effects of global climate change .", "Scientific consensus on climate change There is currently a strong scientific consensus that the Earth is warming and that this warming is mainly caused by human activities. This consensus is supported by various studies of scientists' opinions and by position statements of scientific organizations, many of which explicitly agree with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) synthesis reports. Nearly all actively publishing climate scientists (97–98%) support the consensus on anthropogenic climate change, and the remaining 2% of contrarian studies either cannot be replicated or contain errors.", "Climate change in Australia Climate change has been a major issue in Australia since the beginning of the 21st century . In 2013 , the CSIRO released a report stating that Australia is becoming hotter , and that it will experience more extreme heat and longer fire seasons because of climate change . In 2014 , the Bureau of Meteorology released a report on the state of Australia 's climate that highlighted several key points , including the significant increase in Australia 's temperatures ( particularly night-time temperatures ) and the increasing frequency of bush fires , droughts and floods , which have all been linked to climate change . Since the beginning of the 20th century Australia has experienced an increase of nearly 1 ° C in average annual temperatures , with warming occurring at twice the rate over the past 50 years than in the previous 50 years . Recent climate events such as extremely high temperatures and widespread drought have focused government and public attention on the impacts of climate change in Australia . Rainfall in southwestern Australia has decreased by 10 -- 20 % since the 1970s , while southeastern Australia has also experienced a moderate decline since the 1990s . Rainfall patterns are expected to be problematic , as rain has become heavier and infrequent , as well as more common in summer rather than in winter , with little or no uptrend in rainfall in the Western Plateau and the Central Lowlands of Australia . Water sources in the southeastern areas of Australia have depleted due to increasing population in urban areas ( rising demand ) coupled with climate change factors such as persistent prolonged drought ( diminishing supply ) . At the same time , Australia continues to have the highest per capita greenhouse gas emissions . Temperatures in Australia have also risen dramatically since 1910 and nights have become warmer . A carbon tax was introduced in 2011 by the Gillard government in an effort to reduce the impact of climate change and despite some criticism , it successfully reduced Australia 's carbon dioxide emissions , with coal generation down 11 % since 2008 -- 09 . The subsequent Australian Government , elected in 2013 under then Prime Minister Tony Abbott was criticised for being `` in complete denial about climate change '' . Furthermore , the Abbott government repealed the carbon tax on 17 July 2014 in a heavily criticised move . The renewable energy target ( RET ) , launched in 2001 , was heavily modified under Abbott 's government . However , under the government of Malcolm Turnbull , Australia attended the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference and adopted the Paris Agreement . This agreement includes a review of emission reduction targets every 5 years from 2020 . The federal government and all state governments ( New South Wales , Victoria , Queensland , South Australia , Western Australia , Tasmania , Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory ) have explicitly recognised that climate change is being caused by greenhouse gas emissions , in conformity with the scientific opinion on climate change . Sectors of the population have campaigned against new coal mines and coal-fired power stations , reflecting concerns about the effects of global warming on Australia . The Garnaut Climate Change Review predicted that a net benefit to Australia may be derived by stabilising greenhouse gases in the atmosphere at 450ppm CO2 eq . The per-capita carbon footprint in Australia was rated 12th in the world by PNAS in 2011 , considerably large given the small population of the country ." ]

[ "Surveys of scientists' views on climate change Surveys of scientists ' views on climate change - with a focus on human-caused or anthropogenic global warming ( AGW ) - have been undertaken since the 1990s . A 2016 paper ( which was co-authored by Naomi Oreskes , Peter Doran , William Anderegg , Bart Verheggen , Ed Maibach , J. Stuart Carlton and John Cook , and which was based on a half a dozen independent studies by the authors ) concluded that `` the finding of 97 % consensus -LSB- that humans are causing recent global warming -RSB- in published climate research is robust and consistent with other surveys of climate scientists and peer-reviewed studies . ''", "Global warming controversy The global warming controversy concerns the public debate over whether global warming is occurring , how much has occurred in modern times , what has caused it , what its effects will be , whether any action should be taken to curb it , and if so what that action should be . In the scientific literature , there is a strong consensus that global surface temperatures have increased in recent decades and that the trend is caused by human-induced emissions of greenhouse gases . No scientific body of national or international standing disagrees with this view , though a few organizations with members in extractive industries hold non-committal positions . Disputes over the key scientific facts of global warming are more prevalent in the media than in the scientific literature , where such issues are treated as resolved , and such disputes are more prevalent in the United States than globally . Political and popular debate concerning the existence and cause of climate change includes the reasons for the increase seen in the instrumental temperature record , whether the warming trend exceeds normal climatic variations , and whether human activities have contributed significantly to it . Scientists have resolved these questions decisively in favour of the view that the current warming trend exists and is ongoing , that human activity is the cause , and that it is without precedent in at least 2000 years . Public disputes that also reflect scientific debate include estimates of how responsive the climate system might be to any given level of greenhouse gases ( climate sensitivity ) , how global climate change will play out at local and regional scales , and what the consequences of global warming will be . Global warming remains an issue of widespread political debate , often split along party political lines , especially in the United States . Many of the issues that are settled within the scientific community , such as human responsibility for global warming , remain the subject of politically or economically motivated attempts to downplay , dismiss or deny them -- an ideological phenomenon categorised by academics and scientists as climate change denial . The sources of funding for those involved with climate science -- both supporting and opposing mainstream scientific positions -- have been questioned by both sides . There are debates about the best policy responses to the science , their cost-effectiveness and their urgency . Climate scientists , especially in the United States , have reported official and oil-industry pressure to censor or suppress their work and hide scientific data , with directives not to discuss the subject in public communications . Legal cases regarding global warming , its effects , and measures to reduce it have reached American courts . The fossil fuels lobby has been identified as overtly or covertly supporting efforts to undermine or discredit the scientific consensus on global warming .", "Global warming hiatus A global warming hiatus , also sometimes referred to as a global warming pause or a global warming slowdown , is a period of relatively little change in globally averaged surface temperatures . In the current episode of global warming many such 15-year periods appear in the surface temperature record , along with robust evidence of the long-term warming trend ; climate is classically averaged over 30-year periods . Publicity has surrounded claims of a global warming hiatus during the period 1998 -- 2013 . The exceptionally warm El Niño year of 1998 was an outlier from the continuing temperature trend , and so subsequent annual temperatures gave the appearance of a hiatus : by January 2006 , it appeared to some that global warming had stopped or paused . A 2009 study showed that decades without warming were not exceptional , and in 2011 a study showed that if allowances were made for known variability , the rising temperature trend continued unabated . There was increased public interest in 2013 in the run-up to publication of the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report , and despite concerns that a 15-year period was too short to determine a meaningful trend , the IPCC included a section on a hiatus , which it defined as a much smaller increasing linear trend over the 15 years from 1998 to 2012 , than over the 60 years from 1951 to 2012 . Various studies examined possible causes of the short-term slowdown . Even though the overall climate system has continued to accumulate energy due to Earth 's positive energy budget , the available temperature readings at the Earth 's surface indicate slower rates of increase in surface warming than in the prior decade . Since measurements at the top of the atmosphere show that Earth is receiving more energy than it is radiating back into space , the retained energy should be producing warming in the Earth 's climate system . Research reported in July 2015 on an updated NOAA dataset casts doubt on the existence of a hiatus , and it finds no indication of a slowdown even in earlier years . Scientists working on other datasets welcomed this study , though they have expressed the view that the recent warming trend was less than in previous periods of the same length . Subsequently , a detailed study supports the conclusion that warming is continuing , but it also find there was less warming between 2001 and 2010 than climate models had predicted , and that this slowdown might be attributed to short-term variations in the Pacific decadal oscillation ( PDO ) , which was negative during that period . Another review finds `` no substantive evidence '' of a pause in global warming . A statistical study of global temperature data since 1970 concludes that the term ` hiatus ' or ` pause ' is not justified . Independent of these discussions about data and measurements for earlier years , 2015 turned out to be much warmer than any of the earlier years , already before El Niño conditions started . The warmth of 2015 largely ended any remaining scientific credibility of claims that the supposed `` hiatus '' since 1998 had any significance for the long-term warming trend . In January 2017 , a study published in the journal Science Advances cast further doubt on the existence of a recent pause , with more evidence that ocean temperatures have been underestimated . An April 2017 study found the data consistent with a steady warming trend globally since the 1970s , with fluctuations within the expected range of short term variability .", "Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5 °C The Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5 °C (SR15) was published by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) on 8 October 2018. The report, approved in Incheon, South Korea, includes over 6,000 scientific references, and was prepared by 91 authors from 40 countries. In December 2015, the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference called for the report. The report was delivered at the United Nations' 48th session of the IPCC to \"deliver the authoritative, scientific guide for governments\" to deal with climate change.Its key finding is that meeting a 1.5 °C (2.7 °F) target is possible but would require \"deep emissions reductions\" and \"rapid, far-reaching and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society.\" Furthermore, the report finds that \"limiting global warming to 1.5 °C compared with 2 °C would reduce challenging impacts on ecosystems, human health and well-being\" and that a 2 °C temperature increase would exacerbate extreme weather, rising sea levels and diminishing Arctic sea ice, coral bleaching, and loss of ecosystems, among other impacts. SR15 also has modelling that shows that, for global warming to be limited to 1.5 °C, \"Global net human-caused emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) would need to fall by about 45 percent from 2010 levels by 2030, reaching 'net zero' around 2050.\" The reduction of emissions by 2030 and its associated changes and challenges, including rapid decarbonisation, was a key focus on much of the reporting which was repeated through the world.", "The Great Global Warming Swindle The Great Global Warming Swindle is a polemical documentary film that suggests that the scientific opinion on climate change is influenced by funding and political factors , and questions whether scientific consensus on global warming exists . The program was formally criticised by Ofcom , the UK broadcasting regulatory agency , which upheld complaints of misrepresentation made by David King . The film , made by British television producer Martin Durkin , presents scientists , economists , politicians , writers , and others who dispute the scientific consensus regarding anthropogenic global warming . The programme 's publicity materials assert that man-made global warming is `` a lie '' and `` the biggest scam of modern times . '' Its original working title was `` Apocalypse my arse '' , but the title The Great Global Warming Swindle was later adopted as an allusion to the 1980 mockumentary The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle about British punk band the Sex Pistols . The UK 's Channel 4 premiered the documentary on 8 March 2007 . The channel described the film as `` a polemic that drew together the well-documented views of a number of respected scientists to reach the same conclusions . This is a controversial film but we feel that it is important that all sides of the debate are aired . '' According to Hamish Mykura , Channel 4 's head of documentaries , the film was commissioned `` to present the viewpoint of the small minority of scientists who do not believe global warming is caused by anthropogenic production of carbon dioxide . '' Although the documentary was welcomed by global warming sceptics , it was criticised by scientific organisations and individual scientists ( including one of the scientists interviewed in the film and one whose research was used to support the film 's claims ) . The film 's critics argued that it had misused and fabricated data , relied on out-of-date research , employed misleading arguments , and misrepresented the position of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change . Later broadcasts corrected three errors in the original film .", "Long-term effects of global warming See also Effects of global warming . The focus of this article is on the effects beyond 2100 . There are expected to be various long-term effects of global warming . Most discussion and research , including that by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) reports , concentrates on the effects of global warming up to 2100 , with only an outline of the effects beyond this .", "History of climate change science The history of the scientific discovery of climate change began in the early 19th century when ice ages and other natural changes in paleoclimate were first suspected and the natural greenhouse effect first identified . In the late 19th century , scientists first argued that human emissions of greenhouse gases could change the climate . Many other theories of climate change were advanced , involving forces from volcanism to solar variation . In the 1960s , the warming effect of carbon dioxide gas became increasingly convincing . Some scientists also pointed out that human activities that generated atmospheric aerosols ( e.g. , `` pollution '' ) could have cooling effects as well . During the 1970s , scientific opinion increasingly favored the warming viewpoint . By the 1990s , as a result of improving fidelity of computer models and observational work confirming the Milankovitch theory of the ice ages , a consensus position formed : greenhouse gases were deeply involved in most climate changes and human caused emissions were bringing discernible global warming . Since the 1990s , scientific research on climate change has included multiple disciplines and has expanded . Research has expanded our understanding of causal relations , links with historic data and ability to model climate change numerically . Research during this period has been summarized in the Assessment Reports by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change . Climate change is a significant and lasting change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns over periods ranging from decades to millions of years . It may be a change in average weather conditions , or in the distribution of weather around the average conditions ( such as more or fewer extreme weather events ) . Climate change is caused by factors that include oceanic processes ( such as oceanic circulation ) , biotic processes , variations in solar radiation received by Earth , plate tectonics and volcanic eruptions , and human-induced alterations of the natural world . The latter effect is currently causing global warming , and `` climate change '' is often used to describe human-specific impacts .", "The 2030 °Challenge The 2030 ° Challenge is an initiative by Edward Mazria and Architecture 2030 asking the global architecture and construction community to adopt a series of greenhouse gas reduction targets for new and renovated buildings . In many developed countries the construction and use of buildings is the leading consumer of energy and producer of greenhouse gas emissions . Stabilizing and reversing emissions in this sector is key to keeping future global warming under one degree celsius ( ° C ) above today 's level , in order to avoid increased global warming , potentially to reach a tipping point .", "Global dimming Global dimming is the gradual reduction in the amount of global direct irradiance at the Earth 's surface that was observed for several decades after the start of systematic measurements in the 1950s . The effect varies by location , but worldwide it has been estimated to be of the order of a 4 % reduction over the three decades from 1960 -- 1990 . However , after discounting an anomaly caused by the eruption of Mount Pinatubo in 1991 , a very slight reversal in the overall trend has been observed . Global dimming is thought to have been caused by an increase in particulates such as sulfate aerosols in the atmosphere due to human action . It has interfered with the hydrological cycle by reducing evaporation and may have reduced rainfall in some areas . Global dimming also creates a cooling effect that may have partially counteracted the effect of greenhouse gases on global warming .", "Regional effects of global warming Regional effects of global warming are long-term significant changes in the expected patterns of average weather of a specific region due to global warming . The world average temperature is rising due to the greenhouse effect caused by increasing levels of greenhouse gases , especially carbon dioxide . When the global temperature changes , the changes in climate are not expected to be uniform across the Earth . In particular , land areas change more quickly than oceans , and northern high latitudes change more quickly than the tropics , and the margins of biome regions change faster than do their cores . Regional effects of global warming vary in nature . Some are the result of a generalised global change , such as rising temperature , resulting in local effects , such as melting ice . In other cases , a change may be related to a change in a particular ocean current or weather system . In such cases , the regional effect may be disproportionate and will not necessarily follow the global trend . The increasing temperatures from greenhouse gases have been causing sea levels to rise for many years . There are three major ways in which global warming will make changes to regional climate : melting or forming ice , changing the hydrological cycle ( of evaporation and precipitation ) and changing currents in the oceans and air flows in the atmosphere . The coast can also be considered a region , and will suffer severe impacts from sea level rise .", "Kimbe Bay Kimbe Bay is a large bay in West New Britain Province , off the northern coast of New Britain , Papua New Guinea , at . Kimbe Bay is an important biodiversity hotspot . 60 percent of the coral species of the entire Indo-Pacific region live here . Kimbe Bay is the home of more than 860 coral reef fish species . Because of a massive die-off of coral worldwide due to pollution , human activities , and global warming , Kimbe Bay has become increasingly important , since it is seen as one of the last holdouts for coral should the degradation continue . Efforts are currently underway to limit the human impact on the bay . Due to its beauty it is also a popular diving site .", "Lavoisier Group The Lavoisier Group is an Australian organisation formed by politicians and dominated by retired industrial businesspeople and engineers . It does not accept the science of global warming and works to influence attitudes of policy makers and politicians . The organisation downplays the risk of the effects of global warming , rejects the scientific conclusion that human activity causes it , and opposes policies designed to curtail it . Some members regard climate change as a `` scam . '' The group was named after French scientist Antoine Lavoisier ( 1743-1794 ) , the father of modern chemistry who disproved the Phlogiston theory of combustion .", "Global warming Global warming , also referred to as climate change , is the observed century-scale rise in the average temperature of the Earth 's climate system and its related effects . Multiple lines of scientific evidence show that the climate system is warming . Many of the observed changes since the 1950s are unprecedented in the instrumental temperature record which extends back to the mid 19th century , and in paleoclimate proxy records over thousands of years . In 2013 , the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) Fifth Assessment Report concluded that `` It is extremely likely that human influence has been the dominant cause of the observed warming since the mid-20th century . '' The largest human influence has been emission of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide , methane and nitrous oxide . Climate model projections summarized in the report indicated that during the 21st century the global surface temperature is likely to rise a further 0.3 to for their lowest emissions scenario and 2.6 to for the highest emissions scenario . These findings have been recognized by the national science academies of the major industrialized nations and are not disputed by any scientific body of national or international standing . Future climate change and associated impacts will differ from region to region around the globe . Anticipated effects include warming global temperature , rising sea levels , changing precipitation , and expansion of deserts in the subtropics . Warming is expected to be greater over land than over the oceans and greatest in the Arctic , with the continuing retreat of glaciers , permafrost and sea ice . Other likely changes include more frequent extreme weather events including heat waves , droughts , heavy rainfall with floods and heavy snowfall ; ocean acidification ; and species extinctions due to shifting temperature regimes . Effects significant to humans include the threat to food security from decreasing crop yields and the abandonment of populated areas due to rising sea levels . Because the climate system has a large `` inertia '' and greenhouse gases will stay in the atmosphere for a long time , many of these effects will not only exist for decades or centuries , but will persist for tens of thousands of years . Possible societal responses to global warming include mitigation by emissions reduction , adaptation to its effects , building systems resilient to its effects , and possible future climate engineering . Most countries are parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change ( UNFCCC ) , whose ultimate objective is to prevent dangerous anthropogenic climate change . Parties to the UNFCCC have agreed that deep cuts in emissions are required and that global warming should be limited to well below 2.0 C-change relative to pre-industrial levels , with efforts made to limit warming to 1.5 C-change . Public reactions to global warming and concern about its effects are also increasing . A global 2015 Pew Research Center report showed a median of 54 % consider it `` a very serious problem '' . There are significant regional differences , with Americans and Chinese ( whose economies are responsible for the greatest annual CO2 emissions ) among the least concerned .", "Effects of global warming on humans Climate change has brought about possibly permanent alterations to Earth 's geological , biological and ecological systems . These changes have led to the emergence of large-scale environmental hazards to human health , such as extreme weather , ozone depletion , increased danger of wildland fires , loss of biodiversity , stresses to food-producing systems and the global spread of infectious diseases . The World Health Organization ( WHO ) estimates that 160,000 deaths , since 1950 , are directly attributable to climate change . Many believe this to be a conservative estimate . To date , a neglected aspect of the climate change debate , much less research has been conducted on the impacts of climate change on health , food supply , economic growth , migration , security , societal change , and public goods , such as drinking water , than on the geophysical changes related to global warming . Human impacts can be both negative and positive . Climatic changes in Siberia , for instance , are expected to improve food production and local economic activity , at least in the short to medium term . Numerous studies suggest , however , that the current and future impacts of climate change on human society are and will continue to be overwhelmingly negative . The majority of the adverse effects of climate change are experienced by poor and low-income communities around the world , who have much higher levels of vulnerability to environmental determinants of health , wealth and other factors , and much lower levels of capacity available for coping with environmental change . A report on the global human impact of climate change published by the Global Humanitarian Forum in 2009 , estimated more than 300,000 deaths and about $ 125 billion in economic losses each year , and indicating that most climate change induced mortality is due to worsening floods and droughts in developing countries .", "Attribution of recent climate change Attribution of recent climate change is the effort to scientifically ascertain mechanisms responsible for recent climate changes on Earth , commonly known as ` global warming ' . The effort has focused on changes observed during the period of instrumental temperature record , when records are most reliable ; particularly in the last 50 years , when human activity has grown fastest and observations of the troposphere have become available . The dominant mechanisms are anthropogenic , i.e. , the result of human activity . They are : increasing atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases global changes to land surface , such as deforestation increasing atmospheric concentrations of aerosols . There are also natural mechanisms for variation including climate oscillations , changes in solar activity , and volcanic activity . According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) , it is `` extremely likely '' that human influence was the dominant cause of global warming between 1951 and 2010 . The IPCC defines `` extremely likely '' as indicating a probability of 95 to 100 % , based on an expert assessment of all the available evidence . Multiple lines of evidence support attribution of recent climate change to human activities : A basic physical understanding of the climate system : greenhouse gas concentrations have increased and their warming properties are well-established . Historical estimates of past climate changes suggest that the recent changes in global surface temperature are unusual . Computer-based climate models are unable to replicate the observed warming unless human greenhouse gas emissions are included . Natural forces alone ( such as solar and volcanic activity ) can not explain the observed warming . The IPCC 's attribution of recent global warming to human activities is a view shared by the scientific community , and is also supported by 196 other scientific organizations worldwide ( see also : scientific opinion on climate change ) .", "Mitigation of global warming in Australia Mitigation of global warming involves taking actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to enhance sinks aimed at reducing the extent of global warming . This is in distinction to adaptation to global warming , which involves taking action to minimise the effects of global warming . Scientific consensus on global warming , together with the precautionary principle and the fear of non-linear climate transitions , is leading to increased effort to develop new technologies and sciences and carefully manage others in an attempt to mitigate global warming . Carbon capture and storage ( CCS ) for coal-fired power stations has been put forward as a solution to rising greenhouse gas emissions . However , CCS can not deliver in time to avoid dangerous increases in temperatures , as widespread commercial use of CCS is not expected before 2030 . Following the introduction of government mandatory renewable energy targets , more opportunities have opened up for renewable energy technologies such as wind power , photovoltaics , and solar thermal technologies . The deployment of these technologies provides opportunities for mitigating greenhouse gases . A carbon price was introduced on 1 July 2012 by the government of Julia Gillard with the purpose of reducing Australia 's carbon emissions . It requires large businesses ( defined as those with annual carbon dioxide equivalent emissions over 25,000 tonnes annually ) to pay a price for emissions permits . The tax was scrapped by the Abbott government in July 2014 in what was a widely criticised and highly publicised move .", "Hurricane Katrina and global warming The tremendous destruction caused by recent Atlantic Ocean tropical cyclones , such as Hurricanes Katrina , Wilma , and Sandy caused a substantial upsurge in interest in the subject of global warming by news media and the wider public , and concerns that global climatic change may have played a significant role in those events . Time Magazine , for example , published an article titled , `` Is Global Warming Fueling Katrina ? '' -- however , the article itself addressed hurricanes in general , rather than Katrina specifically , and was inconclusive . Shortly after the hurricane , former Boston Globe reporter Ross Gelbspan wrote an op-ed piece for the Globe titled , `` Katrina 's Real Name '' , declaring that the hurricane 's `` real name is global warming . '' Gelbspan went on to assert : `` Although Katrina began as a relatively small hurricane that glanced off south Florida , it was supercharged with extraordinary intensity by the relatively blistering sea surface temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico . '' Gelbspan did not single out Katrina from other recent storms in that regard ; in the article he went on to attribute other major weather events over the preceding year to global warming , including a blizzard in Los Angeles , high winds in Scandinavia , wildfires in Spain , and a drought centered in Missouri . Britain 's then deputy prime minister , John Prescott , has linked Katrina with global warming , and statements made shortly after the hurricane by Germany 's environment minister , Jürgen Trittin , indicate he believes that global warming is responsible for an increase in the frequency of destructive natural events . Kerry Emanuel had recently published a paper in the journal Nature that found a good correlation between hurricane intensity and sea surface temperatures . Some journalists have claimed Emanuel 's paper concludes that the recent increase in intense Atlantic storms is due to global warming , but Emanuel stated that `` it would be absurd to attribute the Katrina disaster to global warming '' . The Internet blog RealClimate has written that `` there is no way to prove that Katrina either was , or was not , affected by global warming '' .", "Climate engineering Climate engineering , commonly referred to as geoengineering , also known as climate intervention , is the deliberate and large-scale intervention in the Earth 's climatic system with the aim of limiting adverse global warming . Climate engineering is an umbrella term for measures that mainly fall into two types : carbon dioxide removal and solar radiation management . Carbon dioxide removal addresses the cause of global warming by removing one of the greenhouse gases ( carbon dioxide ) from the atmosphere . Solar radiation management attempts to offset effects of greenhouse gases by causing the Earth to absorb less solar radiation . Climate engineering approaches are sometimes viewed as additional potential options for limiting global warming , alongside mitigation and adaptation . There is substantial agreement among scientists that climate engineering can not substitute for climate change mitigation . Some approaches might be used as accompanying measures to sharp cuts in greenhouse gas emissions . Given that all types of measures for addressing climate change have economic , political , or physical limitations , some climate engineering approaches might eventually be used as part of an ensemble of measures . Research on costs , benefits , and various types of risks of most climate engineering approaches is at an early stage and their understanding needs to improve to judge their adequacy and feasibility . Almost all research into solar radiation management has consisted of computer modelling or laboratory tests , and an attempt to move to outdoor experimentation was controversial . Some carbon dioxide removal practices , such as planting of trees and bio-energy with carbon capture and storage projects , are underway . Their scalability to effectively affect global climate is , however , debated . Ocean iron fertilization has been given small-scale research trials , sparking substantial controversy . Most experts and major reports advise against relying on climate engineering techniques as a simple solution to global warming , in part due to the large uncertainties over effectiveness and side effects . However , most experts also argue that the risks of such interventions must be seen in the context of risks of dangerous global warming . Interventions at large scale may run a greater risk of disrupting natural systems resulting in a dilemma that those approaches that could prove highly ( cost - ) effective in addressing extreme climate risk , might themselves cause substantial risk . Some have suggested that the concept of engineering the climate presents a so-called `` moral hazard '' because it could reduce political and public pressure for emissions reduction , which could exacerbate overall climate risks ; others assert that the threat of climate engineering could spur emissions cuts . Some are in favour of a moratorium on out-of-doors testing and deployment of solar radiation management ( SRM ) .", "Climate change Climate change is a change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns when that change lasts for an extended period of time ( i.e. , decades to millions of years ) . Climate change may refer to a change in average weather conditions , or in the time variation of weather around longer-term average conditions ( i.e. , more or fewer extreme weather events ) . Climate change is caused by factors such as biotic processes , variations in solar radiation received by Earth , plate tectonics , and volcanic eruptions . Certain human activities have been identified as primary causes of ongoing climate change , often referred to as global warming . Scientists actively work to understand past and future climate by using observations and theoretical models . A climate record -- extending deep into the Earth 's past -- has been assembled , and continues to be built up , based on geological evidence from borehole temperature profiles , cores removed from deep accumulations of ice , floral and faunal records , glacial and periglacial processes , stable-isotope and other analyses of sediment layers , and records of past sea levels . More recent data are provided by the instrumental record . General circulation models , based on the physical sciences , are often used in theoretical approaches to match past climate data , make future projections , and link causes and effects in climate change .", "Climatic Research Unit documents Climatic Research Unit documents including thousands of e-mails and other computer files were stolen from a server at the Climatic Research Unit of the University of East Anglia in a hacking incident in November 2009 . The documents were redistributed first through several blogs of global warming skeptics , and allegations were made that they indicated misconduct by leading climate scientists . A series of investigations rejected these allegations , while concluding that CRU scientists should have been more open with distributing data and methods on request . Precisely six committees investigated the allegations and published reports , finding no evidence of fraud or scientific misconduct . The scientific consensus that global warming is occurring as a result of human activity remained unchanged by the end of the investigations . The incident occurred shortly before the opening December 2009 Copenhagen global climate summit . It has prompted general discussion about increasing the openness of scientific data ( though the majority of climate data have always been freely available ) . Scientists , scientific organisations , and government officials have stated that the incident does not affect the overall scientific case for climate change . Andrew Revkin reported in the New York Times that `` The evidence pointing to a growing human contribution to global warming is so widely accepted that the hacked material is unlikely to erode the overall argument . ''", "A Big Fix A Big Fix : Radical Solutions for Australia 's Environmental Crisis is a 2005 book by Ian Lowe which argues that the warnings from environmental scientists are urgent and unequivocal . Professor Lowe suggests that resources are being used too quickly , environmental systems are being compromised , and society is being destabilised by the increasing gap between rich and poor . Lowe proposes several radical solutions . He advocates a fundamental change to our personal values and social institutions and provides a vision of a healthier society -- one that is more humane , takes an eco-centric approach , adopts longer-term thinking , and respects natural systems .", "List of glaciers in Glacier National Park (U.S.) There are at least 35 named glaciers in Glacier National Park ( U.S. ) . In 1850 , the area now comprising the national park had 150 glaciers . There are 25 active glaciers remaining in the park today . Since the ice ages stopped 10,000 years ago , there have been many slight climate shifts causing periods of glacier growth or melt-back . The glaciers are currently being studied to see the effect of global warming It is estimated that if current warming trends continue , there will be no glaciers left in the park by 2030 .", "Global Warming Policy Foundation The Global Warming Policy Foundation ( GWPF ) is a think tank in the United Kingdom , whose stated aims are to challenge `` extremely damaging and harmful policies '' envisaged by governments to mitigate anthropogenic global warming . It promotes climate change denial . In 2014 , when the Charity Commission ruled that the GWPF had breached rules on impartiality , a non-charitable organisation called the `` Global Warming Policy Forum '' or `` GWPF '' was created as a wholly owned subsidiary , to do lobbying that a charity could not . The GWPF website carries an array of articles `` sceptical '' of scientific findings of anthropogenic global warming and its impacts .", "Effects of climate change The effects of climate change may refer to : Effects of global warming , the effects of current climate change Historical impacts of climate change , during the early evolution and history of humans , prior to current global warming", "The Greenhouse Conspiracy The Greenhouse Conspiracy is a documentary film broadcast by Channel 4 in the United Kingdom on 12 August 1990 , as part of the Equinox series , which criticised the theory of global warming and asserted that scientists critical of global warming theory were denied funding . It is one of the earliest instances of the suggestion of a conspiracy to promote false claims supporting global warming . Although the title of the program implied the existence of a conspiracy , when interviewed on the program Patrick Michaels played down the idea , saying , `` It may not quite add up to a conspiracy , but certainly a coalition of interests has promoted the greenhouse theory : scientists have needed funds , the media a story , and governments a worthy cause '' .", "2035 ", "Greenhouse gas A greenhouse gas ( abbrev . GHG ) is a gas in an atmosphere that absorbs and emits radiation within the thermal infrared range . This process is the fundamental cause of the greenhouse effect . The primary greenhouse gases in Earth 's atmosphere are water vapor , carbon dioxide , methane , nitrous oxide , and ozone . Without greenhouse gases , the average temperature of Earth 's surface would be about -18 ° C , rather than the present average of 15 ° C . In the Solar System , the atmospheres of Venus , Mars and Titan also contain gases that cause a greenhouse effect . Human activities since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution ( taken as the year 1750 ) have produced a 40 % increase in the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide , from 280 ppm in 1750 to 406 ppm in early 2017 . This increase has occurred despite the uptake of a large portion of the emissions by various natural `` sinks '' involved in the carbon cycle . Anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions ( i.e. , emissions produced by human activities ) come from combustion of fossil fuels , principally coal , oil , and natural gas , along with deforestation , soil erosion and animal agriculture . It has been estimated that if greenhouse gas emissions continue at the present rate , Earth 's surface temperature could exceed historical values as early as 2047 , with potentially harmful effects on ecosystems , biodiversity and the livelihoods of people worldwide . Recent estimates suggest that on the current emissions trajectory the Earth could pass a threshold of 2 ° C global warming , which the United Nations ' IPCC designated as the upper limit to avoid `` dangerous '' global warming , by 2036 .", "Duncan Wingham Duncan John Wingham ( born 12 October 1957 ) is a British physicist who is Professor of Climate Physics at University College London , and was the first Director of the Centre for Polar Observation & Modelling . He is chief executive of the Natural Environment Research Council and Principal Scientist for the CryoSat Satellite Mission . In the 1990s , Wingham was involved in a four-year satellite study of the Antarctic ice sheet . His conclusion then , and from later research , is that the Antarctic has contributed little to observed rising sea levels in the 20th century . However , he has also stated that `` it is possible that the consequences of global warming on sea level rise have been underestimated ... Other sources of rise must be underestimated . In particular it is possible that the effect of global warming on thermal expansion -LSB- on the oceans -RSB- is larger than we thought '' . In a 2005 interview Wingham stated '' -LSB- t -RSB- he Antarctic is to some extent insulated from global warming because to its north are zonal flows in the atmosphere and ocean , unimpeded by other landmasses ... I am not denying global warming . ''", "Economics of global warming The economics of global warming concerns the economic aspects of global warming ; this can inform policies that governments might consider in response . A number of factors make this a difficult problem from both economic and political perspectives : it is a long-term , intergenerational problem ; benefits and costs are distributed unequally both within and across countries ; and scientific and public opinions may diverge . One of the most important greenhouse gases is carbon dioxide . Around 20 % of carbon dioxide which is emitted due to human activities can remain in the atmosphere for many thousands of years . The long time scales and uncertainty associated with global warming have led analysts to develop `` scenarios '' of future environmental , social and economic changes . These scenarios can help governments understand the potential consequences of their decisions . The impacts of climate change include the loss of biodiversity , sea level rise , increased frequency and severity of some extreme weather events , and acidification of the oceans . Economists have attempted to quantify these impacts in monetary terms , but these assessments can be controversial . The two main policy responses to global warming are to reduce greenhouse gas emissions ( climate change mitigation ) and to adapt to the impacts of global warming ( e.g. , by building levees in response to sea level rise ) . Another policy response which has recently received greater attention is geoengineering of the climate system ( e.g. injecting aerosols into the atmosphere to reflect sunlight away from the Earth 's surface ) . One of the responses to the uncertainties of global warming is to adopt a strategy of sequential decision making . This strategy recognizes that decisions on global warming need to be made with incomplete information , and that decisions in the near term will have potentially long-term impacts . Governments might choose to use risk management as part of their policy response to global warming . For instance , a risk-based approach can be applied to climate impacts which are difficult to quantify in economic terms , e.g. , the impacts of global warming on indigenous peoples . Analysts have assessed global warming in relation to sustainable development . Sustainable development considers how future generations might be affected by the actions of the current generation . In some areas , policies designed to address global warming may contribute positively towards other development objectives . In other areas , the cost of global warming policies may divert resources away from other socially and environmentally beneficial investments ( the opportunity costs of climate change policy ) .", "May 2005 in science __ NOTOC __", "Census of Coral Reefs The Census of Coral Reefs ( CReefs ) is a field project of the Census of Marine Life that surveys the biodiversity of coral reef ecosystems internationally . The project works to study what species live in coral reef ecosystems , to develop standardized protocols for studying coral reef ecosystems , and to increase access to and exchange of information about coral reefs scattered throughout the globe . The CReefs project uses the implementation of autonomous reef-monitoring structures ( ARMS ) to study the species that inhabit coral reefs . These structures are placed on the sea floor in areas where coral reefs exist , where they are left for one year . At the end of the year , the ARMS is pulled to the surface , along with the species which have inhabited it , for analysis . Coral reefs are thought to be the most organically different of all marine ecosystems . Major declines in key reef ecosystems suggest a decline in reef population throughout the world due to environmental stresses . The vulnerability of coral reef ecosystems is expected to increase significantly in response to climate change . The reefs are also being threatened by induced coral bleaching , ocean acidification , sea-level rise , and changing storm tracks . Reef biodiversity could be in danger of being lost before it is even documented , and researchers will be left with a limited and poor understanding of these complex ecosystems . In an attempt to enhance global understanding of reef biodiversity , the goals of the CReefs Census of Coral Reef Ecosystems were to conduct a diverse global census of coral reef ecosystems . And increase access to and exchange of coral reef data throughout the world . Because coral reefs are the most diverse and among the most threatened of all marine ecosystems , there is great justification to learn more about them .", "Global stilling Global stilling is the decrease of wind speed observed near the Earth ´ s surface ( ~ 10-meter height ) over the last three decades ( mainly since the 1980s ) , originally termed `` stilling '' . This slowdown of surface winds has mainly affected mid-latitude regions of both hemispheres , with a global average reduction of -0.140 m s-1 dec-1 ( meters per second per decade ) or between 5 and 15 % over the past 50-years . The weakening of winds has mainly occurred over continental surfaces , whereas winds has tended to strengthen over ocean regions . In the last few years , a break in this decrease of wind speed has been detected with a recovery at global scales since 2013 . The exact causes of the global stilling are uncertain and has been mainly attributed to two major drivers : ( i ) changes in large scale atmospheric circulation , and ( ii ) an increase of surface roughness due to e.g. forest growth , land use changes , and urbanization . Under a global warming scenario , changes in wind speed are currently a potential concern for the society , due to their impacts on a wide array of spheres , such as wind power generation , ecohydrological implications for agriculture and hydrology , wind-related hazards and catastrophes , or air quality and human health , among many others ." ]

[ "Australia Australia ( -LSB- əˈstreɪliə -RSB- , -LSB- ɒ - -RSB- , -LSB- - ljə -RSB- ) , officially the Commonwealth of Australia , is a country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent , the island of Tasmania and numerous smaller islands . It is the world 's sixth-largest country by total area . The neighbouring countries are Papua New Guinea , Indonesia and East Timor to the north ; the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu to the north-east ; and New Zealand to the south-east . Australia 's capital is Canberra , and its largest urban area is Sydney . For about 50,000 years before the first British settlement in the late 18th century , Australia was inhabited by indigenous Australians , who spoke languages classifiable into roughly 250 groups . After the European discovery of the continent by Dutch explorers in 1606 , Australia 's eastern half was claimed by Great Britain in 1770 and initially settled through penal transportation to the colony of New South Wales from 26 January 1788 . The population grew steadily in subsequent decades , and by the 1850s most of the continent had been explored and an additional five self-governing crown colonies established . On 1 January 1901 , the six colonies federated , forming the Commonwealth of Australia . Australia has since maintained a stable liberal democratic political system that functions as a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy comprising six states and several territories . The population of 24 million is highly urbanised and heavily concentrated on the eastern seaboard . Australia has the world 's 13th-largest economy and ninth-highest per capita income ( IMF ) . With the second-highest human development index globally , the country ranks highly in quality of life , health , education , economic freedom , and civil liberties and political rights . Australia is a member of the United Nations , G20 , Commonwealth of Nations , ANZUS , Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development ( OECD ) , World Trade Organization , Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation , and the Pacific Islands Forum .", "Climate change and agriculture -RSB- Climate change and agriculture are interrelated processes , both of which take place on a global scale . Climate change affects agriculture in a number of ways , including through changes in average temperatures , rainfall , and climate extremes ( e.g. , heat waves ) ; changes in pests and diseases ; changes in atmospheric carbon dioxide and ground-level ozone concentrations ; changes in the nutritional quality of some foods ; and changes in sea level . Climate change is already affecting agriculture , with effects unevenly distributed across the world . Future climate change will likely negatively affect crop production in low latitude countries , while effects in northern latitudes may be positive or negative . Climate change will probably increase the risk of food insecurity for some vulnerable groups , such as the poor . Agriculture contributes to climate change by ( 1 ) anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases ( GHGs ) , and ( 2 ) by the conversion of non-agricultural land ( e.g. , forests ) into agricultural land . Agriculture , forestry and land-use change contributed around 20 to 25 % to global annual emissions in 2010 . There are a range of policies that can reduce the risk of negative climate change impacts on agriculture , and to reduce GHG emissions from the agriculture sector .", "Agriculture Agriculture or farming is the cultivation and breeding of animals , plants and fungi for food , fiber , biofuel , medicinal plants and other products used to sustain and enhance human life . Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization , whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the development of civilization . The study of agriculture is known as agricultural science . The history of agriculture dates back thousands of years , and its development has been driven and defined by greatly different climates , cultures , and technologies . Industrial agriculture based on large-scale monoculture farming has become the dominant agricultural methodology . Modern agronomy , plant breeding , agrochemicals such as pesticides and fertilizers , and technological developments have in many cases sharply increased yields from cultivation , but at the same time have caused widespread ecological damage and negative human health effects . Selective breeding and modern practices in animal husbandry have similarly increased the output of meat , but have raised concerns about animal welfare and the health effects of the antibiotics , growth hormones , and other chemicals commonly used in industrial meat production . Genetically modified organisms are an increasing component of agriculture , although they are banned in several countries . Agricultural food production and water management are increasingly becoming global issues that are fostering debate on a number of fronts . Significant degradation of land and water resources , including the depletion of aquifers , has been observed in recent decades , and the effects of global warming on agriculture and of agriculture on global warming are still not fully understood . The major agricultural products can be broadly grouped into foods , fibers , fuels , and raw materials . Specific foods include cereals ( grains ) , vegetables , fruits , oils , meats and spices . Fibers include cotton , wool , hemp , silk and flax . Raw materials include lumber and bamboo . Other useful materials are also produced by plants , such as resins , dyes , drugs , perfumes , biofuels and ornamental products such as cut flowers and nursery plants . Over one third of the world 's workers are employed in agriculture , second only to the service sector , although the percentages of agricultural workers in developed countries has decreased significantly over the past several centuries .", "Kyoto Protocol The Kyoto Protocol is an international treaty which extends the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change ( UNFCCC ) that commits State Parties to reduce greenhouse gas emissions , based on the fact that ( a ) global warming exists and ( b ) human-made CO2 emissions have caused it . The Kyoto Protocol was adopted in Kyoto , Japan , on 11 December 1997 and entered into force on 16 February 2005 . There are currently 192 parties ( Canada withdrew effective December 2012 ) to the Protocol . The Kyoto Protocol implemented the objective of the UNFCCC to fight global warming by reducing greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere to `` a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system '' ( Art. 2 ) . The Protocol is based on the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities : it puts the obligation to reduce current emissions on developed countries on the basis that they are historically responsible for the current levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere . The Protocol 's first commitment period started in 2008 and ended in 2012 . A second commitment period was agreed on in 2012 , known as the Doha Amendment to the protocol , in which 37 countries have binding targets : Australia , the European Union ( and its 28 member states ) , Belarus , Iceland , Kazakhstan , Liechtenstein , Norway , Switzerland , and Ukraine . Belarus , Kazakhstan and Ukraine have stated that they may withdraw from the Protocol or not put into legal force the Amendment with second round targets . Japan , New Zealand and Russia have participated in Kyoto 's first-round but have not taken on new targets in the second commitment period . Other developed countries without second-round targets are Canada ( which withdrew from the Kyoto Protocol in 2012 ) and the United States ( which has not ratified the Protocol ) . As of July 2016 , 66 states have accepted the Doha Amendment , while entry into force requires the acceptances of 144 states . Of the 37 countries with binding commitments , 7 have ratified . Negotiations were held in the framework of the yearly UNFCCC Climate Change Conferences on measures to be taken after the second commitment period ends in 2020 . This resulted in the 2015 adoption of the Paris Agreement , which is a separate instrument under the UNFCCC rather than an amendment of the Kyoto protocol ." ]

[ "List of countries by carbon dioxide emissions per capita This is a list of countries by carbon dioxide emissions per capita from 1990 through 2011 . All data was calculated by the US Department of Energy 's Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center ( CDIAC ) , mostly based on data collected from country agencies by the United Nations Statistics Division . Countries are ranked by their metric tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions per capita in 2009 . The data only considers carbon dioxide emissions from the burning of fossil fuels and cement manufacture , but not emissions from land use such as deforestation . Emissions from international shipping or bunker fuels are also not included in national figures , which can make a huge difference for small countries with important ports . The carbon dioxide emissions of a country are only an indicator of one greenhouse gas . For a more complete idea of how a country influences climate change , gases such as methane and nitrous oxide should be taken into account . This is particularly so in agricultural economies . Carbon dioxide emissions are also known for earlier periods . A study of a global sample of twelve countries provide estimates for emissions since 1800 and explores the long-run drivers of carbon dioxide emissions by decomposing changes in carbon emissions into population , income , technological and energy mix changes .", "2002 United Nations Climate Change Conference The 2002 United Nations Climate Change Conference took place from October 23 to November 1 , 2002 , in New Delhi , India . The conference included the 8th Conference of the Parties ( COP8 ) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change ( UNFCCC ) . The conference adopted the Delhi Ministerial Declaration that , amongst others , called for efforts by developed countries to transfer technology and minimize the impact of climate change on developing countries . It is also approved the New Delhi work programme on Article 6 of the Convention . The COP8 was marked by Russia 's hesitation , stating that it needed more time to think it over . The Kyoto Protocol could enter into force once it was ratified by 55 countries , including countries responsible for 55 per cent of the developed world 's 1990 carbon dioxide emissions . With the United States ( 36.1 per cent share of developed-world carbon dioxide ) and Australia refusing ratification , Russia 's agreement ( 17 % of global emissions in 1990 ) was required to meet the ratification criteria and therefore Russia could delay the process .", "Carbon pricing in Australia A carbon pricing scheme in Australia , commonly dubbed by its critics as a `` carbon tax '' , was introduced by the Gillard Labor Government in 2011 as the Clean Energy Act 2011 which came into effect on 1 July 2012 . It was in operation until it was repealed on 17 July 2014 , and backdated to 1 July 2014 . In its place the Abbott Government set up the Emission Reduction Fund in December 2014 . As a result of being in place for such a short time , regulated organisations responded in a rather tepid and informal manner , with very few investments in emissions reductions being made . The 2011 scheme required entities which emit over 25,000 tonnes per year of carbon dioxide equivalent greenhouse gases and which were not in the transport or agriculture sectors to obtain emissions permits , called carbon units . Carbon units were either purchased from the government or issued free as part of industry assistance measures . The Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency stated that in June 2013 only 260 entities were subject to the scheme , of which approximately 185 were liable to pay for carbon units under the carbon price scheme . The carbon price was part of a broad energy reform package called the Clean Energy Futures Plan , which aimed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Australia by 5 % below 2000 levels by 2020 and 80 % below 2000 levels by 2050 . The plan set out to achieve these targets by encouraging Australia 's largest emitters to increase energy efficiency and invest in sustainable energy . The scheme was administered by the Clean Energy Regulator . Compensation to industry and households was funded by the revenue derived from the charge . As part of the scheme , personal income tax was reduced for those earning less than $ 80,000 per year and the tax-free threshold was increased from $ 6,000 to $ 18,200 . Initially the price of a permit for one tonne of carbon was fixed at $ 23 for the 2012 -- 13 financial year , with unlimited permits being available from the government . The fixed price rose to $ 24.15 for 2013 -- 14 . The government had announced that the scheme was part of a transition to an emissions trading scheme in 2014 -- 15 , where the available permits will be limited in line with a pollution cap . The scheme primarily applied to electricity generators and industrial sectors . It did not apply to road transport and agriculture . Domestic aviation did not face the carbon price scheme per se , but was subject to an additional fuel excise levy of approximately 6 cents per litre . In February 2012 , the Sydney Morning Herald reported that Clean Energy Future carbon price scheme had not deterred new investment in the coal industry , as spending on exploration had increased by 62 % in 2010-2011 , more than any other mineral commodity . The government agency Geoscience Australia reported that investment in coal prospecting reached $ 520 million in 2010-2011 . Falls in carbon emissions were observed following implementation of this policy . It was noted that emissions from sectors subject to the pricing mechanism were 1.0 % lower and nine months after the introduction of the pricing scheme , Australia 's carbon dioxide emissions from electricity generation had fallen to a 10-year low , with coal generation down 11 % from 2008 to 2009 . However , attribution of these trends to carbon pricing have been disputed , with Frontier Economics claiming trends are largely explained by factors unrelated to the carbon tax . Electricity demand had been falling and in 2012 was at the lowest level seen since 2006 in the National Electricity Market .", "List of countries by greenhouse gas emissions per capita This is a list of countries ranked by greenhouse-gas emissions per capita in 2000 . It is based on data for carbon dioxide , methane , nitrous oxide , perfluorocarbon , hydrofluorocarbon and sulfur hexafluoride emissions compiled by the World Resources Institute ( WRI ) from a variety of sources , including CDIAC and the US Environmental Protection Agency . Bunker-fuel emissions are not included . Two sets of per capita emissions are given , one with an estimate of the effects of land-use change ( for example , cutting down forests ) and one without . The former is based on regional estimates in Houghton ( 2003 ) . Difficulties with determining rates of deforestation and the magnitude of carbon stocks held by the remaining forests and with distributing regional carbon fluxes among individual countries mean that the land-use change components have a large margin of error , perhaps as large as + / -150 % in some cases . They are included here because , although difficult to quantify accurately at a country level , land-use change is a significant contributor to global warming . The WRI estimates that it accounted for almost a fifth of global anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions in 2000 . For 2005 the data for a large number of countries only includes emissions ( see note 12 . )", "Carbon accounting Carbon accounting refers generally to processes undertaken to `` measure '' amounts of carbon dioxide equivalents emitted by an entity . It is used inter alia by nation states , corporations , individuals -- to create the carbon credit commodity traded on carbon markets ( or to establish the demand for carbon credits ) . Correspondingly , examples for products based upon forms of carbon accounting can be found in national inventories , corporate environmental reports or carbon footprint calculators . Likening sustainability measurement , as an instance of ecological modernisation discourses and policy , carbon accounting is hoped to provide a factual ground for carbon-related decision-making . However , social scientific studies of accounting challenge this hope , pointing to the socially constructed character of carbon conversion factors or of the accountants ' work practice which can not implement abstract accounting schemes into reality . While natural sciences claim to know and measure carbon , for organisations it is usually easier to employ forms of carbon accounting to represent carbon . The trustworthiness of accounts of carbon emissions can easily be contested . Thus , how well carbon accounting represents carbon is difficult to exactly know . Science and Technology Studies scholar Donna Haraway 's pluralised concept of knowledge , i.e. knowledges , can well be used to understand better the status of knowledge produced by carbon accounting : carbon accounting produced a version of understanding of carbon emissions . Other carbon accountants would produce other results .", "Climate Change and Emissions Management Amendment Act __ NOTOC __ The Climate Change and Emissions Management Amendment Act of the Canadian province of Alberta was the first law of its type to impose greenhouse gas cuts on large industrial facilities . Starting from July 1 , 2007 , Alberta facilities that emit more than 100,000 tonnes of greenhouse gases per year will be required to reduce their emissions intensity by 12 percent under the Climate Change and Emissions Management Amendment Act . Companies have three ways to meet their reductions : they can make operating improvements , buy an Alberta-based credit , or contribute to the Climate Change and Emissions Management Fund . The regulations apply to about 100 large facilities which emit more than 100,000 tonnes of greenhouse gases a year . Those facilities account for about 70 per cent of Alberta 's industrial greenhouse gas emissions . The annual cost of compliance is estimated to be $ 177 million - or less than one tenth of one per cent of Alberta 's nominal GDP ( $ 242 billion in 2006 ) .", "Carbon emission label A carbon emission label or carbon label describes the carbon dioxide emissions created as a by-product of manufacturing , transporting , or disposing of a consumer product . This information is important to consumers wishing to minimize their ecological footprint and contribution to global warming made by their purchases .", "Carbon respiration Carbon respiration ( also called carbon emissions and carbon releases ) is used in combination with carbon fixation to gauge carbon flux ( as CO2 ) between atmospheric carbon and the global carbon cycle .", "Certified Emission Reduction Certified Emission Reductions ( CERs ) are a type of emissions unit ( or carbon credits ) issued by the Clean Development Mechanism ( CDM ) Executive Board for emission reductions achieved by CDM projects and verified by a DOE ( Designated Operational Entity ) under the rules of the Kyoto Protocol . CERs can be used by Annex 1 countries in order to comply with their emission limitation targets or by operators of installations covered by the European Union Emission Trading Scheme ( EU ETS ) in order to comply with their obligations to surrender EU Allowances , CERs or Emission Reduction Units ( ERUs ) for the emissions of their installations . CERs can be held by governmental and private entities on electronic accounts with the UN . CERs can be purchased from the primary market ( purchased from an original party that makes the reduction ) or secondary market ( resold from a marketplace ) . At present , most of the approved CERs are recorded in CDM Registry accounts only . It is only when the CER is actually sitting in an operator 's trading account that its value can be monetized through being traded . The UNFCCC 's International Transaction Log has already validated and transferred CERs into the accounts of some national climate registries , although European operators are waiting for the European Commission to facilitate the transfer of their units into the registries of their Member States . Temporary CERs and Long CERs are special types of CERs issued for forestry projects . They are two ways of accounting for non-permanence in forestry CDM project activities . Temporary CER or tCER is a CER issued for an afforestation or reforestation project activity under the CDM which expires at the end of the commitment period following the one during which it was issued . Long-term CER or lCER is a CER issued for an afforestation or reforestation project activity which expires at the end of its crediting period . In August 2008 prices for CERS were $ 20 a tonne . By September 2012 , prices for CERS had collapsed to below $ 5 . This was in response to the Eurozone debt crisis reducing industrial activity and the over-allocation of emission allowances under the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme . The Economist described the Clean Development Mechanism as a `` complete disaster in the making '' and `` in need of a radical overhaul '' . The Guardian also reported the prolonged downward trend in the price of CERs , which had been traded for as much as $ 20 ( # 12.50 ) a tonne before the global financial crisis to less than $ 3 . In October 2012 , CER prices fell to a new low of 1.36 euros a tonne on the London ICE Futures Europe exchange . In October 2012 Thomson Reuters Point Carbon calculated that the oversupply of units from the Clean Development Mechanism and Joint Implementation would be 1,400 million units for the period up to 2020 . Point Carbon predicted that CER prices would to drop from $ 2 to 50 cents . On 12 December 2012 CER prices reached another record low of 31 cents .", "Mitigation of aviation's environmental impact Aviation affects the environment due to aircraft engines emitting noise , particulates , and gases which contribute to climate change and global dimming . Despite emission reductions from automobiles and more fuel-efficient ( and therefore less polluting ) turbofan and turboprop engines , the rapid growth of air travel in recent years contributes to an increase in total pollution attributable to aviation . In the EU , greenhouse gas emissions from aviation increased by 87 % between 1990 and 2006 . At present aviation accounts for 2.5 % of global CO2 emissions . Due to projected growth in air travel , in the most technologically radical scenarios for having a better than 50 % chance of keeping global warming below 2 degrees Celsius , in 2050 aviation will make up 15 % of global CO2 emissions . In more conventional scenarios its emissions will exceed the entire global carbon budget before then . This presents governments and the operators of aircraft with a responsibility to reduce the aviation industry 's emissions .", "Forests for the 21st Century Forests for the 21st Century is a short video promoting and explaining the benefits of forest landscape restoration . In the last few centuries people have removed more than half of the world 's forest cover . Deforestation is currently responsible for nearly 20 per cent of global carbon emissions . This tide of deforestation can be reversed , but we can make a much greater impact if we also put back some of our lost forests . Planting more trees can lock up more carbon , improve the environment and people 's lives . Many regions and countries have already restored much of their forest .", "Institute of Chartered Accountants Australia The Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia ( the Institute ) was the professional accounting body representing Chartered Accountants in Australia . It had over 61,000 members and some 12,000 students . It was one of three major legally recognised Professional Accountancy bodies in Australia . The others being CPA Australia and Institute of Public Accountants . It is a founding member of the Global Accounting Alliance ( GAA ) . Members of the Institute are part of the international accounting coalition of the world 's premier accounting bodies , the GAA . Chartered Accountants audit 100 per cent of the Top ASX-listed companies in Australia . In November 2013 Members of The Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia and the New Zealand Institute of Chartered Accountants voted yes on a proposal to create One New Institute : `` Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand '' . New Zealand Institute of Chartered Accountants and the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia ( ICAA ) amalgamated to become Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand .", "Low-carbon economy A low-carbon economy ( LCE ) , low-fossil-fuel economy ( LFFE ) , or decarbonised economy is an economy based on low carbon power sources that therefore has a minimal output of greenhouse gas ( GHG ) emissions into the biosphere , but specifically refers to the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide . GHG emissions due to anthropogenic ( human ) activity are the dominant cause of observed global warming ( climate change ) since the mid-20th century . Continued emission of greenhouse gases will cause further warming and long-lasting changes around the world , increasing the likelihood of severe , pervasive and irreversible impacts for people and ecosystems . Many countries around the world are designing and implementing low emission development strategies ( LEDS ) . These strategies seek to achieve social , economic and environmental development goals while reducing long-term greenhouse gas emissions and increasing resilience to climate change impacts . Globally implemented low-carbon economies are therefore proposed by those having drawn this conclusion , as a means to avoid catastrophic climate change , and as a precursor to the more advanced , zero-carbon economy .", "List of U.S. states by carbon dioxide emissions This is a list of U.S. states by carbon dioxide emissions due to human activity . The data presented below from the US Environmental Protection Agency and the US Energy Information Administration corresponds to emissions in 2014 . Interactive bar charts ( showing state rankings for total and per-capita emissions ) and interactive maps ( for both total emissions and per capita emissions ) for the 2014 data are available on Tableau Public . __ TOC __", "Asia-Pacific Emissions Trading Forum The Asia-Pacific Emissions Trading Forum ( AETF ) was an information service and business network dealing with domestic and international developments in emissions trading policy in Australia and the Asia-Pacific region . The AETF was originally called the Australasian Emissions Trading Forum , and was founded in 1998 under the auspices of the Sydney Futures Exchange following a proposal from Beck Consulting Services . From 2001 until 2011 the AETF published the AETF Review ( Bib ID 3998494 ) , held regular member meetings and convened numerous events and conferences . The AETF Review was published six times per year and included original articles on emissions trading developments and related topics . In 2011 the AETF formed the foundation of the new Carbon Market Institute , a not-for-profit institute , established in Melbourne , Australia to continue and develop the AETF programs . The AETF was founded to assist all potential stakeholders understand and respond to emissions trading developments both domestically and internationally . Emissions trading is a key element of the Kyoto Protocol and subsequent proposals to manage global greenhouse gas emissions under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change . National or regional schemes are operating in the European Union , New Zealand and the United States and are under active consideration in China , Japan and elsewhere . In Australia , legislation under Clean Energy Future Scheme has been passed to introduce a national emissions trading scheme from 2015 .", "Emissions Trading Scheme in South Korea South Korea 's Emissions Trading Scheme ( KETS ) is the second largest in scale after the European Union Emission Trading Scheme and was launched on January 1 , 2015 . South Korea is the second country in Asia to initiate a nation-wide carbon market after Kazakhstan . Complying to the country 's pledge made at the Copenhagen Accord of 2009 , the South Korean government aims to reduce its greenhouse gas ( GHG ) emissions by 30 % below its business as usual scenario by 2020 . They have officially employed the cap-and-trade system and the operation applies to over 525 companies which are accountable for approximately 68 % of the nation 's GHG output . The operation is divided up into three periods . The first and second phases consist of 3 years each , 2015 to 2017 and 2018 to 2020 . The final phase will spread out over the next 5 years from 2021 to 2025 . The cap-and-trade system is a tool of carbon pricing that has been adapted by several countries to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions through a market mechanism . It entails a market open to the transaction of trade permits , which allow participating businesses or countries to emit a given amount of greenhouse gases . A cap is set by the government which defines the maximum level of total emissions permitted during a certain time period . The South Korean government had set the emissions cap for the first year of implementation ( 2015 ) as 573 MtCO2e . The major objectives of the KETS is to place South Korea at the forefront of the global effort in reducing GHG emissions and to develop its market competitiveness in the clean energy sector . As one of the top 10 largest contributors to global greenhouse gas emissions and a nation with the highest growth rate in GHG emissions , South Korea 's awareness of its carbon footprint has increased over the years . The country grows more vulnerable to climate change as the average temperature has risen by 1.5 degrees Celsius causing frequent natural disasters . Furthermore , the South Korean government aims to cut back its reliance on imported fossil fuel energy which accounts for roughly 97 % of its primary energy consumption . Lastly , by implementing the emissions trading scheme , the government has prospects of developing its green industries and increase its global share of the clean energy market .", "Environmental impact of aviation The environmental impact of aviation occurs because aircraft engines emit heat , noise , particulates and gases which contribute to climate change and global dimming . Among others airplanes emit particles and gases such as carbon dioxide , water vapor , hydrocarbons , carbon monoxide , nitrogen oxides , sulfur oxides , lead and black carbon which interact among themselves and with the atmosphere . Despite emission reductions from automobiles and more fuel-efficient and less polluting turbofan and turboprop engines , the rapid growth of air travel in recent years contributes to an increase in total pollution attributable to aviation . From 1992 to 2005 , passenger kilometers increased 5.2 % per year . And in the European Union , greenhouse gas emissions from aviation increased by 87 % between 1990 and 2006 . Comprehensive research shows that despite anticipated efficiency innovations to airframes , engines , aerodynamics and flight operations , there is no end in sight -- even many decades out -- to rapid growth in CO2 emissions from air travel and air freight , due to projected continual growth in air travel . This is because international aviation emissions have escaped international regulation up to the ICAO triennial conference in October 2016 agreed on the CORSIA offset scheme , and because of the lack of taxes on aviation fuel worldwide , lower fares become more frequent than otherwise which gives a competitive advantage over other transportation modes . Unless market constraints are put in place this growth in aviation 's emissions will result in the sector 's emissions amounting to all or nearly all of the annual global emissions budget by mid-century , if climate change is to be held to a temperature increase of 2 ° C or less . There is an ongoing debate about possible taxation of air travel and the inclusion of aviation in an emissions trading scheme , with a view to ensuring that the total external costs of aviation are taken into account .", "Contraction and Convergence Contraction and Convergence ( C&C ) is a proposed global framework for reducing greenhouse gas emissions to combat climate change . Conceived by the Global Commons Institute -LSB- GCI -RSB- in the early 1990s , the Contraction and Convergence strategy consists of reducing overall emissions of greenhouse gases to a safe level ( contraction ) , resulting from every country bringing its emissions per capita to a level which is equal for all countries ( convergence ) . It is intended to form the basis of an international agreement which will reduce carbon dioxide emissions to avoid dangerous climate change , carbon dioxide being the gas that is primarily responsible for changes in the greenhouse effect on Earth . It is expressed as a simple mathematical formula . This formula can be used as a way for the world to stabilize carbon levels at any level . Advocates of Contraction and Convergence stress that negotiations at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change -LSB- UNFCCC -RSB- are governed sequentially by the ` objective ' of the UNFCCC -LSB- safe and stable GHG concentration in the global atmosphere -RSB- followed by its organising principles -LSB- ` precaution ' and ` equity ' -RSB- . C&C is widely cited and supported .", "Carbon shifting Carbon shifting is the tendency for an individual to increase carbon dioxide emissions in one area of their lifestyle as a result of reducing emissions elsewhere . ` Carbon shifting ' might more accurately be termed ` domestic carbon shifting ' to distinguish it from carbon leakage which has occasionally also been called carbon shifting . Many attempts to encourage people to change aspects of their lifestyle and so reduce their carbon dioxide emissions make a virtue of the financial savings . In the United Kingdom the Energy Saving Trust lists various ways of saving energy , e.g. `` Energy saving light bulbs last up to 12 times longer than ordinary lightbulbs and can save you # 9 per year in electricity ( and 38 kilograms of ) or # 100 over the bulbs lifetime . '' However , whether or not carbon dioxide emissions are ultimately reduced will depend on how that saved money is spent . If the amount of money saved through walking to work is eventually spent on an extra city break involving air travel the net emissions may well increase . The problem of carbon shifting may undermine many voluntary piecemeal attempts at reducing carbon dioxide emissions . However , carbon shifting is not inherently negative . If a person can be persuaded to avoid activities that produce a high level of emissions for a given financial outlay then they may shift to activities that produce lower emissions for that same amount of money . Positive carbon shifting might be encouraged through the use of a carbon tax or the implementation of a Personal carbon trading scheme . The phenomenon of carbon shifting also suggests that for some comparative purposes the most appropriate measure of emissions would be emissions per unit of currency rather than total emissions . An activity that produces slightly lower emissions at a significantly lower cost may not necessarily be the best activity to promote as it leaves the individual with more money to spend on other emitting activities . Similarly , if two passengers are traveling on the same aircraft they might be deemed to be emitting the same total amount of carbon dioxide . However , if one of them paid a lower fare then , by this measure , they would be deemed to be damaging the environment more .", "Greenhouse gas emissions in Kentucky The report `` Kentucky Greenhouse Gas Inventory '' provides a detailed inventory of greenhouse gas emissions and sinks for Kentucky in 1990 . Emissions were estimated using methods from EPA 's 1995 guidance document State Workbook : Methodologies for Estimating Greenhouse Gas Emissions . In 1990 , Kentucky emitted 35.4 million metric tons of carbon equivalent ( MMTCE ) . In addition , Kentucky estimated emissions of 0.4 MMTCE from biofuels . Emissions from biofuels are not included . The principal greenhouse gases were carbon dioxide , comprising 87.9 million metric tons ( 24.0 MMTCE ) , and methane , with 1.1 million metric tons ( 6.4 MMTCE ) . Other emissions included 0.0016 million metric tons of perfluorocarbons ( PFCs ) ( 4.8 MMTCE ) , and 0.003 million metric tons of nitrous oxide ( 0.2 MMTCE ) The major source of carbon dioxide emissions was fossil fuel combustion ( 96 % ) , the majority of which is utility coal . Minor emissions came from cement and lime production and forest/grassland conversion . Carbon dioxide sinks ( i.e. , an increase in forest carbon storage ) offset about 26 % of the total carbon dioxide emissions . Sources of methane emissions were coal mining ( 73 % ) , domesticated animals ( 12 % ) , landfills ( 10 % ) , manure management ( 3 % ) , and natural gas/oil extraction ( 2 % ) . Nitrous oxide emissions were from fertilizer use . Sources of perfluorocarbons were HCFC-22 production ( 91 % ) and aluminum production ( 9 % ) . Kentucky 's emissions in 1990 were 9.6 MTCE per capita , compared to 1990 U.S. emissions of 6.4 MTCE per capita . Kentucky 's per capita emissions are high due to the large volume of coal-related activities in the state .", "Assigned amount units An Assigned Amount Unit ( AAU ) is a tradable ` Kyoto unit ' or ` carbon credit ' representing an allowance to emit greenhouse gases comprising one metric tonne of carbon dioxide equivalents calculated using their Global Warming Potential . Assigned Amount Units are issued up to the level of initial `` assigned amount '' of an Annex 1 Party to the Kyoto Protocol . The `` assigned amounts '' are the Kyoto Protocol Annex B emission targets ( or `` quantified emission limitation and reduction objectives '' ) expressed as levels of allowed emissions over the 2008-2012 commitment period .", "350.org 350 . org is an international environmental organization encouraging citizens to action with the belief that publicizing the increasing levels of carbon dioxide will pressure world leaders to address climate change and to reduce levels from 400 parts per million to 350 parts per million . It was founded by author Bill McKibben with the goal of building a global grassroots movement to raise awareness about human-driven climate change , to confront climate change denial , and to cut emissions of carbon dioxide in order to slow the rate of global warming . 350 . org takes its name from the research of Goddard Institute for Space Studies scientist James E. Hansen , who posited in a 2007 paper that 350 parts-per-million ( ppm ) of CO2 in the atmosphere is a safe upper limit to avoid a climate tipping point .", "Weighted average cost of carbon The Weighted average cost of carbon is used in finance to measure a firm 's specific cost of carbon . It expresses how much an organization is expending to either reduce carbon emissions internally ( abatement ) or offsetting externally ( carbon offset ) . As such , the weighted average cost of carbon is the cost a company incurs to balance its carbon liability ( carbon footprint ) . It is a term with growing importance as legislation globally moves to internalize the impact of emission through cost mechanisms .", "Carbon audit regime A carbon audit regime is a means of accounting for quantifiable greenhouse gas control efforts . It establishes that the claimed reductions in emissions or enhancements of carbon sinks , has actually occurred and is stable . The UK is the only nation in the world that presently has such a regime .", "Personal carbon credits Personal carbon credits are carbon credits created and owned by individuals who reduce their green house gas ( GHG ) emissions by a real and verifiable amount . Individuals cause GHG emissions from a variety of direct and indirect activities including transportation use , electrical use and home heating and cooling . Verifiable reductions in GHG emissions are aggregated into 1 metric ton increments and they become personal Carbon Credits . Traditional carbon credits are purchased by GHG emitters to offset the difference between their actual emissions and their allowable limit under a cap and trade type GHG reduction program or to reduce their total GHG emissions under a voluntary limit . These same credits are created when specific GHG reduction projects produce real , additional and verifiable GHG reductions . These carbon projects are typically large in scale and include reforestation , fuel switching and biogas projects . Personal carbon credits follow the same concept as traditional carbon credits , but these projects are small in scale , developed by individuals and encourage actual reduction in energy demand at the use point . They are applicable globally , wherever the verification requirements can be satisfied . Personal carbon credits differ from personal carbon trading which imposes a cap or allowance on individual GHG emissions . Personal carbon credits are a voluntary method for individuals to directly reduce energy consumption and the resulting GHG emissions . Successful individual reductions are rewarded through lower utility costs and the value of the created personal carbon credits . Personal carbon credits were first introduced by My Emissions Exchange in April 2009 . Some experts on carbon credit markets have called for inclusion of small scale GHG reduction projects and verification methods that are valid , appropriate and cost effective for projects of this size . Personal carbon credits address this need and create more opportunities for GHG reductions .", "Advanced Global Trading Advanced Global Trading or AGT is an emissions trading and environmental consultancy firm headquartered in Dubai , United Arab Emirates and with offices in Bahrain , Doha , Zurich and Johannesburg . AGT deals in sourcing and trading of Verified Carbon Standard approved emissions trading permits ( ETP ) , and specialised in buying and selling of emissions trading certificates and permits in the over-the-counter markets .", "Prime Ministerial Task Group on Emissions Trading Prime Ministerial Task Group on Emissions Trading was a Task Group set up on 10 December 2006 by Australian Prime Minister John Howard to develop an Australian Carbon Trading Scheme . The terms of reference of the task group was : Australia enjoys major competitive advantages through the possession of large reserves of fossil fuels and uranium . In assessing Australia 's further contribution to reducing greenhouse gas emissions , these advantages must be preserved . Against this background the Task Group will be asked to advise on the nature and design of a workable global emissions trading system in which Australia would be able to participate . The Task Group will advise and report on additional steps that might be taken , in Australia , consistent with the goal of establishing such a system . The Prime Ministerial Task Group submitted its final report on 31 May 2007 . The scheme proposed by the Task Group had some similarities to the `` hybrid scheme '' developed by Warwick McKibbin . Prime Minister John Howard announced on 4 June 2007 the government 's plan for a carbon trading scheme to be launched in 2012 . Howard took the draft carbon trading scheme to the 2007 federal election .", "Emission Reduction Unit The emission reduction unit ( ERU ) is an emissions unit issued under a Joint Implementation project in terms of the Kyoto Protocol . An ERU represents a reduction of greenhouse gases under the Joint Implementation mechanism , where it represents one tonne of equivalent reduced . To allow comparison between the different effects of gases on the environment , scientists have defined multipliers for gases that compare their greenhouse potency ( global warming potential ) relative to that of carbon dioxide . One example of a Joint Implementation project resulting in an emission reduction unit , is the production of biogases by landfill sites . These gases consist of mainly methane which escapes to the atmosphere if it is not collected . The main reason for dealing with methane is that it has a 100-year global warming potential multiplier of 25 compared to carbon dioxide ( i.e. has 25 times the greenhouse potency ) . Collection of methane is usually accompanied by its combustion . Burning one tonne of methane produces nearly 3 tonnes of , thus reducing its greenhouse effect by ( 25-3 = 22 ) ERU . In December 2012 , ERU prices crashed to a low of 15 euro cents before recovering to 23c after news that EU 's Climate Change Committee was to vote on a ban of ERUs from countries that have not signed up to a second commitment period under the Kyoto Protocol . In January 2013 , Bloomberg reported that emission reduction unit prices declined 89 percent in 2012", "Carbon profiling Carbon profiling is a mathematical process that calculates how much carbon dioxide is put into the atmosphere per m2 of space in a building over one year . The analysis is in two parts which are then added together to produce an overall figure which is termed the ` Carbon Profile ' : operational carbon emissions embodied carbon emissions . Embodied carbon emissions relate to the amount of carbon dioxide emitted into the atmosphere from creating and maintaining the materials that form the building e.g. the carbon dioxide released from the baking of bricks or smelting or iron . In the Carbon Profiling Model these emissions are measured as Embodied Carbon Efficiency ( ECE ) , measured as kg of CO2/m2/year . Occupational Carbon Emissions relate to the amount of Carbon Dioxide emitted into the atmosphere from the direct use of energy to run the building e.g. the heating or electricity used by the building over the year . In the Carbon Profiling Model these emissions are measured in BER 's ( Building Emission Rate ) in kg of / m2/year . The BER is a United Kingdom government accepted unit of measurement that comes from an approved calculation process called sBEM ( Simplified Building Emission Model ) The purpose of Carbon Profiling is to provide a method of analyzing and comparing both operational and embodied carbon emissions at the same time . With this information it is then possible to allocate a projects resources in such a way to minimize the total amount of Carbon Dioxide emitted into the atmosphere through the use of a given piece of space . A secondary benefit is that having quantified the Carbon Profiling of different buildings it is then possible to make comparisons and rank buildings in term of their performance . This allows investors and occupiers to identify which building are good and bad carbon investments . Simon Sturgis and Gareth Roberts of Sturgis Associates in the United Kingdom originally developed ` Carbon Profiling ' in December 2007 .", "Flick Off FLICK OFF ( flick off ) is a Canadian advertising campaign launched by Key Gordon Communications . It is a movement to fight climate change by getting Canadians to use less energy . Its sponsors include MuchMusic , Roots Canada , Environmental Defence Canada and the Government of Ontario . Some view this program as a continuation of the scrapped program One-Tonne Challenge in global perspective . The motivation for the campaign is both to reduce energy consumption for its own sake and also with the aim of reducing carbon emissions to ultimately combat global warming . The website associated with the campaign is aimed specifically at young Canadians . The website contains educational material about causes and consequences of global warming and strategies for reducing carbon emissions , and includes a `` carbon calculator '' called One Less Tonne to measure individual carbon dioxide emissions . The website was launched by British entrepreneur Richard Branson and Ontario Environment Minister Laurel Broten in Toronto on April 25 , 2007 . According to the official website , the campaign is now in `` hibernation '' .", "Green gross domestic product The green gross domestic product ( green GDP or GGDP ) is an index of economic growth with the environmental consequences of that growth factored into a country 's conventional GDP . Green GDP monetizes the loss of biodiversity , and accounts for costs caused by climate change . Some environmental experts prefer physical indicators ( such as `` waste per capita '' or `` carbon dioxide emissions per year '' ) , which may be aggregated to indices such as the `` Sustainable Development Index '' .", "Territorialisation of carbon governance Territorialisation of Carbon Governance ( ToCG ) is a concept used in political geography or environmental policy which is considered to be a new logic of environmental governance . This method creates carbon-relevant citizens who become enrolled in the process of governing the climate . The territorialisation of carbon governance transforms climate change from a global to local issue . It embodies political practices that serve to connect the causes and consequences of global climate change to local communities . The commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions ( GHG ) has been a key component of sustainability within governance since the early 1990s . The ICLEI - Local Governments for Sustainability is an international association of local governments which brings together 1200 cities , towns and the associated 70 countries in their commitment to sustainable development . Further responses that seek to address these issues , include international body the IPCC Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change , the Rio Earth Summit and United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change ( UNFCCC ) . These organisations strive to tackle anthropogenic forces which are increasing risks of global warming . Under the territorialisation of carbon , climate and global flows of carbon are regarded as ` national sinks ' . This is a means by which the carbon cycle can be managed and territorialised through being assigned to a physical geographical space instead of being thought of as a global phenomenon . The act of territorialisation oversees the combining of material natures and state institutions into one system through the creation of carbon territories . This approach can allow individual states and governments to control and monitor their carbon emissions in order to improve their efforts in carbon governance . Carbon governance can be interpreted as the institutional arrangements under which greenhouse gas emissions are addressed and mitigated . This is achieved through regulating and controlling carbon activities . Measures and protocols exist in an attempt to address the issues surrounding greenhouse gas emissions . Carbon governance is addressed via governmental decisions made through leadership and management which attempt to improve and resolve problems related to climate change ." ]

[ "Earth Earth ( from Eorðe -LSB- Γαῖα , Gaia -RSB- Terra ) , otherwise known as the World or the Globe , is the third planet from the Sun and the only object in the Universe known to harbor life . It is the densest planet in the Solar System and the largest of the four terrestrial planets . According to radiometric dating and other sources of evidence , Earth formed about 4.54 billion years ago . Earth 's gravity interacts with other objects in space , especially the Sun and the Moon , Earth 's only natural satellite . During one orbit around the Sun , Earth rotates about its axis over 365 times ; thus , an Earth year is about 365.26 days long . Earth 's axis of rotation is tilted , producing seasonal variations on the planet 's surface . The gravitational interaction between the Earth and Moon causes ocean tides , stabilizes the Earth 's orientation on its axis , and gradually slows its rotation . Earth 's lithosphere is divided into several rigid tectonic plates that migrate across the surface over periods of many millions of years . About 71 % of Earth 's surface is covered with water , mostly by its oceans . The remaining 29 % is land consisting of continents and islands that together have many lakes , rivers and other sources of water that contribute to the hydrosphere . The majority of Earth 's polar regions are covered in ice , including the Antarctic ice sheet and the sea ice of the Arctic ice pack . Earth 's interior remains active with a solid iron inner core , a liquid outer core that generates the Earth 's magnetic field , and a convecting mantle that drives plate tectonics . Within the first billion years of Earth 's history , life appeared in the oceans and began to affect the Earth 's atmosphere and surface , leading to the proliferation of aerobic and anaerobic organisms . Some geological evidence indicates that life may have arisen as much as 4.1 billion years ago . Since then , the combination of Earth 's distance from the Sun , physical properties , and geological history have allowed life to evolve and thrive . In the history of the Earth , biodiversity has gone through long periods of expansion , occasionally punctuated by mass extinction events . Over 99 % of all species that ever lived on Earth are extinct . Estimates of the number of species on Earth today vary widely ; most species have not been described . Over 7.4 billion humans live on Earth and depend on its biosphere and minerals for their survival . Humans have developed diverse societies and cultures ; politically , the world has about 200 sovereign states .", "Eemian The Eemian ( also called the last interglacial , Sangamonian , Ipswichian , Mikulin , Kaydaky , Valdivia or Riss-Würm ) was the interglacial period which began about 130,000 years ago and ended about 115,000 years ago . It corresponds to Marine Isotope Stage 5e . Although sometimes referred to as the `` last interglacial '' ( in the `` most recent previous '' sense of `` last '' ) , it was the second-to-latest interglacial period of the current Ice Age , the most recent being the Holocene which extends to the present day ( having followed the last glacial period ) . The prevailing Eemian climate is believed to have been warmer than that of the Holocene . The Eemian is known as the Ipswichian in the UK , the Mikulin interglacial in Russia , the Valdivia interglacial in Chile and the Riss-Würm interglacial in the Alps . Depending on how a specific publication defines the Sangamonian Stage of North America , the Eemian is equivalent to either all or part of it .", "Fahrenheit Fahrenheit is a temperature scale based on one proposed in 1724 by Amsterdam-based physicist Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit ( 1686 -- 1736 ) , after whom the scale is named . It uses the degree Fahrenheit ( symbol ° F ) as the unit . Several accounts of how he originally defined his scale exist . The lower defining point , 0 ° F , was established as the temperature of a solution of brine made from equal parts of ice and salt . Further limits were established as the melting point of ice ( 32 ° F ) and his best estimate of the average human body temperature ( 96 ° F , about 2.6 ° F less than the modern value due to a later redefinition of the scale ) . The scale is now usually defined by two fixed points : the temperature at which water freezes into ice is defined as 32 ° F , and the boiling point of water is defined to be 212 ° F , a 180 ° F separation , as defined at sea level and standard atmospheric pressure . By the end of the 20th century , Fahrenheit was used as the official temperature scale only in the United States ( including its unincorporated territories ) , its freely associated states in the Western Pacific ( Palau , the Federated States of Micronesia and the Marshall Islands ) , the Bahamas , Belize , and the Cayman Islands . All other countries in the world now use the Celsius scale , defined since 1954 by absolute zero being − 273.15 ° C and the triple point of water being at 0.01 ° C.", "List of ecoregions in North America (CEC) This list of ecoregions of North America provides an overview of North American ecoregions designated by the Commission for Environmental Cooperation ( CEC ) in its North American Environmental Atlas . It should not be confused with Wikipedia articles based on the classification system developed by the World Wildlife Fund , such as List of ecoregions ( WWF ) and Lists of ecoregions by country . The commission was established in 1994 by the member states of Canada , Mexico , and the United States to address regional environmental concerns under the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation ( NAAEC ) , the environmental side accord to the North American Free Trade Agreement ( NAFTA ) . The Commission 's 1997 report , Ecological Regions of North America , provides a framework that may be used by government agencies , non-governmental organizations , and academic researchers as a basis for risk analysis , resource management , and environmental study of the continent 's ecosystems . Ecoregions may be identified by similarities in geology , physiography , vegetation , climate soils , land use , wildlife distributions , and hydrology . The classification system has four levels . Only the first three levels are shown on this list . `` Level I '' divides North America into 15 broad ecoregions . `` Level II '' subdivides the continent into 52 smaller ecoregions . `` Level III '' subdivides those regions again into 182 ecoregions . `` Level IV '' is a further subdivision of Level III ecoregions . Level IV mapping is still underway but is complete across most of the United States . For an example of Level IV data , see List of ecoregions in Oregon and the associated articles ." ]

[ "0° 0 ° or 0 degrees may refer to : prime meridian , longitude equator , latitude freezing point of water ( Celsius ) absolute zero , the lower limit of the thermodynamic temperature scale 0 ° Fahrenheit , approximately -17.78 ° Celsius", "Self-cleaning oven A self-cleaning oven is an oven which uses high temperature ( approximately 500 degrees Celsius or 900 degrees Fahrenheit ) to burn off leftovers from baking , without the use of any chemical agents .", "Heat urticaria Heat urticaria presents within five minutes after the skin has been exposed to heat above 43 degrees Celsius ( 109.4 degrees Fahrenheit ) , with the exposed area becoming burned , stinging , and turning red , swollen , and indurated .", "Planck temperature Planck temperature , denoted by TP , is the unit of temperature in the system of natural units known as Planck units . It serves as the defining unit of the Planck temperature scale . In this scale the magnitude of the Planck temperature is equal to 1 , while that of absolute zero is 0 . Other temperatures can be converted to Planck temperature units . For example , 0 ° C = 273.15 K = 1.9279 × 10 − 30TP . In SI units , the Planck temperature is about 1.417 × 1032 kelvin ( equivalently , degrees Celsius , since the difference is trivially small at this scale ) , or 2.55 × 1032 degrees Fahrenheit or Rankine .", "Cold inflation pressure Cold inflation pressure is the inflation pressure of tires before the car is driven and the tires warmed up . Recommended cold inflation pressure is displayed on the owner 's manual and on the placard ( or sticker ) attached to the vehicle door edge , pillar , glovebox door or fuel filler flap . Drivers are encouraged to make sure their tires are adequately inflated , as suboptimal tire pressure can greatly reduce fuel economy , increase emissions , increased wear on the edges of the tire surface , and can lead to premature failure of the tire . Excessive pressure , on the other hand , may lead to impact-breaks , decrease braking performance , and cause uneven wear ( i.e. greater wear on the center part of the tire surface ) . Tire pressure is commonly measured in psi in the imperial and US customary systems , bar , which is deprecated but accepted for use with SI or the kilopascal ( kPa ) , which is an SI unit . Ambient temperature affects the cold tire pressure . Absolute cold tire pressure ( gauge pressure plus atmospheric pressure ) varies directly with the absolute temperature , measured in kelvins . From physics , the ideal gas law states that PV = nRT where P is absolute pressure , T is absolute temperature ( Kelvin ) , V is the volume ( assumed to be relatively constant in the case of a tire ) , and nR is constant for a given number of molecules of gas . To understand this , assume the tire was filled when it was 300 kelvin ( 80 degrees Fahrenheit ) . If the temperature varies 10 % , i.e. by 30 kelvin ( also 30 Celsius degrees or 54 Fahrenheit degrees ) , the pressure varies 10 % . So if the tire was filled at 80F to 32 psi ( or 47 psi absolute when we add atmospheric pressure ) , the change would be 4.7 psi for this 30 Celsius degree change , or .16 psi per Celsius degree or .1 psi per Fahrenheit degree or 1 psi for every 10 Fahrenheit degrees . Using SI units , that would be 1.1 kPa per kelvin . Hence , for a tire filled to 32 psi , the approximation usually made is that within the range of normal atmospheric temperatures and pressures : Tire pressure increases 1 psi for each 10 Fahrenheit degree increase in temperature , or conversely decreases 1 psi for each 10 Fahrenheit degree decrease in temperature and in SI units , tire pressure increases 1.1 kPa for each 1 Celsius degree increase in temperature , or conversely decreases 1.1 kPa for each 1 Celsius degree decrease in temperature . For tires that need inflation greater than 32psi it might be easier to use a Rule of Thumb of 2 % pressure change for a change of 10 degrees Fahrenheit . From the table below , one can see that these are only approximations .", "Dimension (metadata) In metadata , dimension is a set of equivalent units of measure , where equivalence between two units of measure is determined by the existence of a quantity preserving one-to-one correspondence between values measured in one unit of measure and values measured in the other unit of measure , independent of context , and where characterizing operations are the same . The equivalence defined here forms an equivalence relation on the set of all units of measure . Each equivalence class corresponds to a dimensionality . The units of measure `` temperature in degrees Fahrenheit '' and `` temperature in degrees Celsius '' have the same dimensionality , because given a value measured in degrees Fahrenheit there is a value measured in degrees Celsius with the same quantity , and vice versa . Quantity preserving one-to-one correspondences are the well-known equations Cº = ( 5/9 ) * ( Fº − 32 ) and Fº = ( 9/5 ) * ( Cº ) + 32 . Units of measure are not limited to physical categories . Examples of physical categories are : linear measure , area , volume , mass , velocity , time duration.Examples of non-physical categories are : currency , quality indicator , colour intensity . Quantities may be grouped together into categories of quantities which are mutually comparable . Lengths , diameters , distances , heights , wavelengths and so on would constitute such a category . Mutually comparable quantities have the same dimensionality . ISO 31-0 calls these quantities of the same kind .", "Takikawa, Hokkaido is a city located in Sorachi Subprefecture , Hokkaido , Japan . Takikawa City is located in the central area of Hokkaido , it is conveniently located between the cities of Sapporo ( biggest city ) and Asahikawa ( second biggest city ) . The population of Takikawa is about 41000 people . Takikawa has an inland climate so there is a big temperature difference between summer and winter . The average temperature in Takikawa is about 19 degrees Celsius ( 66.2 Fahrenheit ) in summer ( July ~ September ) and -- 5.9 degrees Celsius ( 21.4 Fahrenheit ) in winter ( December ~ February ) . Takikawa is one of the snowiest locations in Hokkaido , the average amount of snowfall in the past 10 years is 7.77 meters ( 25 feet , 6 inches ) . Takikawa is also the biggest city in northern Sorachi , making it a hub for neighbouring towns . Takikawa is situated between the Ishikari River and Sorachi River , about 60 % of Takikawa is covered in greenery by either forest or agriculture farmland . Takikawa is surrounded by rich nature . As of December , 2016 , the city has an estimated population of 41,306 , with 21,561 households . The total area is 115.82 km ² .", "Ixtlahuacán del Río Ixtlahuacán del Rio is a town and municipality in the center of the Mexican state of Jalisco , a little less than 50 kilometers from state capital Guadalajara . It stands at 1,655 meters above sea level ; the climate is semi-arid , with a mild winter and an average annual temperature of 19 degrees Celsius ( 66 degrees Fahrenheit ) .", "Kelvin The kelvin is a unit of measure for temperature based upon an absolute scale . It is one of the seven base units in the International System of Units ( SI ) and is assigned the unit symbol K . The Kelvin scale is an absolute , thermodynamic temperature scale using as its null point absolute zero , the temperature at which all thermal motion ceases in the classical description of thermodynamics . The kelvin is defined as the fraction of the thermodynamic temperature of the triple point of water ( exactly 0.01 ° C or 32.018 ° F ) . In other words , it is defined such that the triple point of water is exactly 273.16 K. The Kelvin scale is named after the Belfast-born , Glasgow University engineer and physicist William Lord Kelvin ( 1824 -- 1907 ) , who wrote of the need for an `` absolute thermometric scale '' . Unlike the degree Fahrenheit and degree Celsius , the kelvin is not referred to or typeset as a degree . The kelvin is the primary unit of temperature measurement in the physical sciences , but is often used in conjunction with the Celsius degree , which has the same magnitude . The definition implies that absolute zero ( 0 K ) is equivalent to -273.15 C.", "Ultuna `` Ultuna '' is also the name of a neighbourhood in Helsinki , Finland . Ultuna is the location of the headquarters and main campus of the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences ( Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet , SLU ) in southern Uppsala , Sweden . Ultuna is known for sharing ( with Målilla , Småland ) Sweden 's heat record of 38 degrees Celsius ( 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit ) .", "World's tallest thermometer The World 's Tallest Thermometer is a landmark located in Baker , California , USA . It is an electric sign that commemorates the record 134 degrees Fahrenheit ( 57 degrees Celsius ) recorded in nearby Death Valley on July 10 , 1913 . The sign weighs 76812 lb and is held together by 125 cuyd of concrete . It stands 134 ft tall and is capable of displaying a maximum temperature of 134 F , both of which are a reference to the temperature record .", "Rankine scale Rankine ( -LSB- ˈræŋkɪn -RSB- ) is a thermodynamic temperature based on an absolute scale named after the Glasgow University engineer and physicist William John Macquorn Rankine , who proposed it in 1859 . ( The Kelvin scale was first proposed in 1848 . ) The symbol for degrees Rankine is ° R ( or ° Ra if necessary to distinguish it from the Rømer and Réaumur scales ) . By analogy with kelvin , some authors term the unit rankine , omitting the degree symbol . Zero on both the Kelvin and Rankine scales is absolute zero , but the Rankine degree is defined as equal to one degree Fahrenheit , rather than the one degree Celsius used by the Kelvin scale . A temperature of − 459.67 ° F is exactly equal to 0 ° R. The US National Institute of Standards and Technology recommends against using the degree symbol when citing Rankine in NIST publications . Some important temperatures relating the Rankine scale to other temperature scales are shown in the table below .", "Ixtlán de los Hervores Ixtlán de los Hervores , also known as Ixtlán , is a city in the Mexican state of Michoacán . It is located 29 kilometres ( 18 mi ) from Jiquilpan by state highway 16 and 26 kilometres to the northeast of the city of Zamora by way of highway 35 . It is about 80 mi southeast of Guadalajara . Ixtlán de los Hervores is known for its thermal water springs . In Ixtlán de los Hervores one will find three geysers that surges up from the depths of the earth with tremendous pressure . The jet rises more than 30 metres in height and reaches temperatures of 96 degrees Celsius ( 204.8 degrees Fahrenheit ) . There are two new geysers , one near the soccer field . A rustic spa has been built near the geyser with services for people who are seeking the healing powers of sulphurous waters found here .", "Steam room A steam room is an enclosed space with large amounts of high-temperature steam , creating a high-humidity environment . People sit in this room in a similar way to a sauna ( conversely a hot , but dry atmosphere ) , for relaxation and purported benefits to health and well-being . They can be commonly found in gyms , sanitariums and health resorts . Smaller , standalone steamroom enclosures can also be found in residential buildings . Steam rooms are commonly maintained at a temperature of 41 degrees Celsius ( 105 Fahrenheit ) or above , with a high humidity of around 100 % adding to the sensation . In comparison , saunas are maintained at a much higher temperature due to the lack of humidity in the air ( often 70-90 degrees Celsius , 158-194 Fahrenheit ) . The amount of power required for steam generation varies depending on construction style .", "Bay Challenge The Bay Challenge is an annual open water swimming event from Sandy Cove , West Vancouver to Kitsilano Beach in Vancouver that crosses English Bay . The distance of the current course is approximately 9 kilometers . The changing tides , cold temperatures and rough water make this race particularly challenging . The event is held in the latter part of July every year , when the water temperature is between 16 and 20 degrees celsius ( 60-73 degrees Fahrenheit ) . Hosted by the Vancouver Open Water Swim Association , the focus is on an inclusive event that allows swimmers of all levels and abilities to participate . The Bay Challenge is open to both solo and relay participants to allow as many people as possible to experience the thrill of the challenge .", "Zabalius apicalis Zabalius apicalis is a species of katydid , native to Africa . The animal lays eggs in water with a incubation period of 18 days , Males moult six times and reach adulthood at about 55 days , and females moult seven times and reach adulthood at about 65 days Embryos take longer to develop the hotter they are and do not develop above 30.5 degrees Celsius ( 86.9 fahrenheit )", "Dhanotu Dhanotu is a village in the Kangra district in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh . It is 13 km from Dharamsala bus stand and 9 km from Dharamsala airport . Primarily known for growing rice , wheat and corn , it is the farm country of Dharamsala area . At any given time , it is 6 degrees Celsius warmer than Dharamsala . Psalms 37:8 -9 Cease from anger , and forsake wrath : fret not thyself in any wise to do evil . For evildoers shall be cut off : but those that wait upon the LORD , they shall inherit the earth . ʃdʒ", "Otívar Otívar is a municipality located at 267.80 metres above sea level in the Province of Granada , Spain . According to the 2004 census ( INE ) , the village has a population of 1113 inhabitants . Agriculture is Otívar ´ s predominant economic activity ( mainly tropical fruit ) however , due to the dramatic scenery of the surrounding mountains , a number of northern Europeans have discovered its charms and either take rural holidays here , or in a few cases have settled here and integrated with the local population . Otívar contains a cross between a subtropical micro climate and a coastal mediterranean climate , creating a perfect environment for the famous `` Níspero '' known in English as the `` loquat '' . The average yearly temperature is 14.80 ° C ( degrees Celsius ) . In the warmer months the average temperature is 28,80 ° C ( degrees Celsius ) and in the colder months the average temperature is 4,50 ° C ( degrees Celsius ) . The current mayor is Francisco Robles Carrascosa , from the political party of PP . This is the second consecutive term the mayor has won , after the PSOE ´ s defeat four years ago . Category : Municipalities in the Province of Granada Category : Populated places in the Province of Granada", "Muthalnaickerpatti Muthalnaickerpatti ( or Muthal Nayakkam Patti ) is a small village in Virudhunagar district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu . This village is located between Sattur ( Cucumber city ) and Sivakasi ( Kutty Japan ) . Geography The climate is usually hot , with rains during September - November . Temperatures during summer reach a maximum of 35 and a minimum of 25 degrees Celsius . Winter temperatures range between 25 and 19 degrees Celsius . The average annual rainfall is about 75 cm .", "Basal body temperature Basal body temperature ( BBT ) is the lowest body temperature attained during rest ( usually during sleep ) . It is usually estimated by a temperature measurement immediately after awakening and before any physical activity has been undertaken . This will lead to a somewhat higher value than the true BBT ( see Fig. 1 ) . For more accurate results , it is determined by using internally worn temperature loggers . In women , ovulation causes an increase of one-half to one degree Fahrenheit ( one-quarter to one-half degree Celsius ) in BBT ; monitoring of BBTs is one way of estimating the day of ovulation . The tendency of a woman to have lower temperatures before ovulation , and higher temperatures afterwards , is known as a biphasic pattern . Charting of this pattern may be used as a component of fertility awareness . The BBT of men is comparable to the BBT of women in their follicular phase .", "Millisecond furnace A Millisecond Furnace is a device used for cracking naphtha into ethylene , by extremely short ( 50 to 100 millisecond ) exposure to temperatures of about 900 degrees Celsius , followed by a rapid quenching below 750 degrees Celsius . It was developed by M W Kellogg and Idemitsu in the 1970s .", "Stratopause The stratopause ( formerly Mesopeak ) is the level of the atmosphere which is the boundary between two layers : the stratosphere and the mesosphere . In the stratosphere the temperature increases with altitude , and the stratopause is the region where a maximum in the temperature occurs . This atmospheric feature is not only associated with Earth : it occurs on any other planet or moon that has an atmosphere as well . On Earth , the stratopause is 50 to high above the Earth 's surface . The atmospheric pressure is around 1/1000 of the pressure at sea level . The temperature in the stratopause is -15 degrees Celsius ( 5 degrees Fahrenheit ) .", "Higuerote Higuerote ( -LSB- iɣeˈɾote -RSB- ) is the capital city of Brión Municipality , located in the coastal region of Barlovento , in the state of Miranda , Venezuela , approximately an hour and a half from Caracas . Its average annual temperature is about 27 degrees Celsius .", "Walk-in/Truck-in ovens Walk-in/Truck-in ovens are batch ovens that can take on various industrial applications , including aging , bonding , curing , drying , finish baking , heat treating , and preheating . Walk-in/Truck-in ovens are a larger type of oven , with typical sizes from under 200 to up to 2000 cuft , and maximum temperatures that can be over 850 degrees Fahrenheit ( 450 degrees Celsius ) . Models may be configured with horizontal or vertical airflow , and gas , steam , or electric heat .", "Olympus Stylus Tough TG-860 The Olympus Stylus Tough TG-860 is a digital rugged compact camera announced by Olympus on February 5 , 2015 . It has built-in WiFi and GPS , and is waterproof to a depth of 15m ( 50 feet ) , freezeproof to -10 degrees Celsius ( 14 degrees Fahrenheit ) , crushproof to a force of 100kg or 220 pounds . It 's also shockproof against drops from up to 2.1 m ( 7 feet ) in height .", "Standard cubic foot Standard cubic foot is a unit used mostly in the natural gas industry to represent an amount of natural gas . Per the EIA glossary : Standard Cubic foot is the amount of natural gas contained at standard temperature and pressure ( 60 degrees Fahrenheit and 14.73 pounds standard per square inch ) in a cube whose edges are one foot long . A standard cubic foot ( at 14.73 psi and 60 degree F ) is equivalent to 0.0283058557 standard cubic meters ( at 101.325 kPa and 15 degrees Celsius ) .", "Sex with a Smile Sex with a Smile is a 1976 Italian comedy film starring Marty Feldman , Barbara Bouchet , Edwige Fenech , Dayle Haddon and directed by Sergio Martino . While the cast was relatively popular internationally , advertising for the film in the U.S. concentrated almost exclusively on Marty Feldman , even though he only appeared in one segment of the film . The original Italian title was 40 gradi all ` ombra del lenzuolo , colloquially translatable as 104 Degrees Under the Sheets ( 40 degrees Celsius equals 104 degrees Fahrenheit ) . It was followed by a sequel entitled Spogliamoci così senza pudor , colloquially translatable as Let 's Get This Naked without Modesty .", "ISO 1 ISO 1 is an international standard set by the International Organization for Standardization that specifies the standard reference temperature for geometrical product specification and verification . The temperature is fixed at 20 ° C , which is equal to 293.15 kelvins and 68 degrees Fahrenheit . Due to thermal expansion , precision length measurements need to be made at ( or converted to ) a defined temperature . ISO 1 helps in comparing measurements by defining such a reference temperature . The reference temperature of 20 ° C was adopted by the CIPM on 15 April 1931 , and became ISO recommendation number 1 in 1951 . It soon replaced worldwide other reference temperatures for length measurements that manufacturers of precision equipment had used before , including 0 ° C , 62 ° F , and 25 ° C. Among the reasons for choosing 20 ° C was that this was a comfortable and practical workshop temperature and that it resulted in an integer value on both the Celsius and Fahrenheit scales .", "Huzhong District Huzhong District is a district of Daxing ` anling Prefecture , Heilongjiang province , People 's Republic of China . In an average year , temperatures drop to below -40 degrees Celsius on more than 30 days .", "Pasanauri Pasanauri ( ფასანაური , also spelled Passanauri ) is a small town ( daba ) in Georgia , situated in the Dusheti district , Mtskheta-Mtianeti region . Pasanauri lies about 90 km north of the nation 's capital of Tbilisi , at elevation of 1,050 m. above sea level . Located on the Georgian Military Road , Pasanauri is flanked by the Aragvi River , and surrounded by the Caucasus Mountains . Average winter temperature is 0 degrees Celsius , but often falls below 10 degrees Celsius . As of the 2002 census , the townlet had a population of 1.600 . Due to its picturesque location and the proximity to nearby historical sites as well as for its mineral water , hiking routes , handcrafted items and food , Pasanauri became a popular tourist destination in the Soviet period , but suffered decay during the years of post-Soviet crisis .", "0F 0F ( zero F ) may refer to : Zero degrees Fahrenheit Caledonian Railway 0F Class LMS Kitson Class 0F , a classification of LMS Kitson 0-4-0ST", "NGC 40 NGC 40 ( also known as the Bow-Tie Nebula and Caldwell 2 ) is a planetary nebula discovered by William Herschel on November 25 , 1788 , and is composed of hot gas around a dying star . The star has ejected its outer layer which has left behind a smaller , hot star with a temperature on the surface of about 50,000 degrees Celsius . Radiation from the star causes the shed outer layer to heat to about 10,000 degrees Celsius , and is about one light-year across . About 30,000 years from now , scientists theorize that NGC 40 will fade away , leaving only a white dwarf star approximately the size of Earth ." ]

[ "Terrestrial television Terrestrial television or broadcast television is a type of television broadcasting in which the television signal is transmitted by radio waves from the terrestrial ( Earth based ) transmitter of a television station to a TV receiver having an antenna . The term is more common in Europe , while in North America it is referred to as broadcast television or sometimes over-the-air television ( OTA ) . The term `` terrestrial '' is used to distinguish this type from the newer technologies of satellite television ( direct broadcast satellite or DBS television ) , in which the television signal is transmitted to the receiver from an overhead satellite , and cable television , in which the signal is carried to the receiver through a cable . Terrestrial television was the first technology used for television broadcasting , with the first long-distance public television broadcast from Washington , D.C. , on 7 April 1927 . The BBC began broadcasting in 1929 and had a regular schedule of television programmes in 1930 . However , these early experimental systems had insufficient picture quality to attract the public , due to their mechanical scan technology , and television did n't become widespread until after World War II with the advent of electronic scan technology . The television broadcasting business followed the model of radio networks , with local television stations in cities and towns affiliated with television networks , either commercial ( in USA ) or government-controlled ( in Europe ) , which provided content . Television broadcasts were in black and white until the 1960s , when color television broadcasting began . There was no other method of television delivery until the 1950s with the beginnings of cable television and community antenna television ( CATV ) . CATV was , initially , only a re-broadcast of over-the-air signals . With the widespread adoption of cable across the United States in the 1970s and 1980s , viewing of terrestrial television broadcasts has been in decline ; in 2013 , it was estimated that about 7 % of US households used an antenna . A slight increase in use began after the 2009 final conversion to digital terrestrial television broadcasts , which offer HDTV image quality as an alternative to CATV for cord cutters .", "Digital radio Digital radio is the use of digital technology to transmit and/or receive across the radio spectrum . They may refer to digital transmission by radio waves , including digital broadcasting , and especially to Digital audio radio services . The term is also applied to radio equipment using digital electronics to process analog radio signals .", "Satellite television Satellite television is a service that delivers television programming to customers by relaying it from a communications satellite orbiting the Earth directly to the customer 's location . The signals are received via an outdoor parabolic antenna usually referred to as a satellite dish and a low-noise block downconverter . A satellite receiver then decodes the desired television programme for viewing on a television set . Receivers can be external set-top boxes , or a built-in television tuner . Satellite television provides a wide range of channels and services . It is the only television available in many remote geographic areas without terrestrial television or cable television service . Modern systems signals are relayed from a communications satellite on the Ku band frequencies ( 12 -- 18 GHz ) requiring only a small dish less than a meter in diameter . The first satellite TV systems were an obsolete type now known as television receive-only . These systems received weaker analog signals transmitted in the C-band ( 4 -- 8 GHz ) from FSS type satellites , requiring the use of large 2-3 meter dishes . Consequently , these systems were nicknamed `` big dish '' systems , and were more expensive and less popular . Early systems used analog signals , but modern ones use digital signals which allow transmission of the modern television standard high-definition television . Different receivers are required for the two types . Some transmissions and channels are unencrypted and therefore free-to-air or free-to-view , while many other channels are transmitted with encryption ( pay television ) , requiring the customer to subscribe and pay a monthly fee to receive the programming ." ]

[ "Satellite subcarrier audio Satellite subcarrier audio is audio transmitted by way of satellite that utilizes a separate analog or digital signal carried on a main radio transmission ( usually video ) on a specific satellite transponder . More technically , it is an already-modulated signal , which is then modulated into another signal of higher frequency and bandwidth . In a more general sense , satellite subcarrier audio is an early form of satellite radio not intended for the consumer market but was initially unencrypted , thus receivable to satellite hobbyists . Original analog video only has one channel per transponder , with subcarriers for audio and automatic transmission identification service ATIS . Non-multiplexed radio stations can also travel in single channel per carrier ( SCPC ) mode , with multiple carriers ( analog or digital ) per transponder . This allows each station to transmit directly to the satellite , rather than paying for a whole transponder , or using landlines to send it to an earth station for multiplexing with other stations .", "Low-rate picture transmission The low-rate picture transmission ( LRPT ) is a digital transmission system , intended to deliver images and data from an orbital weather satellite directly to end users via a VHF radio signal . It is used aboard polar-orbiting , near-Earth weather satellite programs such as MetOp and NPOESS .", "Satellite Home Viewer Act The Satellite Home Viewer Act of 1998 comprises a set of regulations which govern the transmissions of television stations in the United States , specifically imposing the restriction of satellite carrier transmissions of a network station 's transmissions only to subscribers who can not receive these broadcasts via antenna and have not subscribed to a cable system providing these broadcasts , and which also concern regularizing satellite carriers ' submission of lists of subscribers to networks , the coordination of broadcasting fees with territorial coverage of transmissions , and the distribution of fees to copyright owners of works included in transmissions .", "Single channel per carrier Single channel per carrier ( SCPC ) refers to using a single signal at a given frequency and bandwidth . Most often , this is used on broadcast satellites to indicate that radio stations are not multiplexed as subcarriers onto a single video carrier , but instead independently share a transponder . It may also be used on other communications satellites , or occasionally on non-satellite transmissions . In an SCPC system , satellite bandwidth is dedicated to a single source . This makes sense if it is being used for something like satellite radio , which broadcasts continuously . Another very common application is voice , where a small amount of fixed bandwidth is required . However , it does not make sense for burst transmissions like satellite internet access or telemetry , since a customer would have to pay for the satellite bandwidth even when they were not using it . Where multiple access is concerned , SCPC is essentially FDMA . Some applications use SCPC instead of TDMA , because they require guaranteed , unrestricted bandwidth . As satellite TDMA technology improves however , the applications for SCPC are becoming more limited .", "Satellite truck A satellite truck is a mobile communications satellite earth station , typically mounted on a truck chassis as a platform . They are used for remote television broadcasts , to transmit the video signal back to the studio or production facility for editing and broadcast . Satellite trucks usually travel with a production truck , which contains the video cameras , sound equipment and crew . A satellite truck has a large satellite dish antenna which is pointed at a communications satellite , which relays the signal back down to the studio . Satellite communication allows transmission from any location that the production truck can reach , provided a line of sight ( direct view ) to the desired satellite is available .", "High-resolution picture transmission Weather satellite pictures are often broadcast as high-resolution picture transmissions ( HRPTs ) , color high-resolution picture transmissions ( CHRPTs ) for Chinese weather satellite transmissions , or advanced high-resolution picture transmissions ( AHRPTs ) for EUMETSAT weather satellite transmissions . HRPT transmissions are available around the world and are available from both polar and geostationary weather satellites . The polar satellites rotate in orbits that allow each location on earth to be covered by the weather satellite twice per day while the geostationary satellites remain in one location at the equator taking weather images of the earth from that location over the equator . The sensor on weather satellites that picks up HRPT is referred to as an Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer ( AVHRR ) . Broadcast signal The working frequency band for HRPT is L Band at 1.670 -- 1.710 GHz and the modulation types are BPSK and QPSK . On NOAA KLM satellites the transmission power is 6.35 Watts , or 38.03 dBm . The METOP-A satellite broadcasts with a bandwidth of 4.5 MHz .", "Automatic picture transmission The Automatic Picture Transmission ( APT ) system is an analog image transmission system developed for use on weather satellites . It was introduced in the 1960s and over four decades has provided image data to relatively low-cost user stations at locations in most countries of the world . A user station anywhere in the world can receive local data at least twice a day from each satellite as it passes nearly overhead .", "StarBand StarBand was a two-way satellite broadband Internet service available in the U.S. from 2000 -- 2015 . StarBand ceased operations effective September 30 , 2015 , citing increased competition from other internet providers . The StarBand satellite Internet system was a VSAT platform that used Ku band satellites for transmission of data from users ' PCs to the StarBand network operations center . Two-way bandwidth for residential users was up to 1.5 Mbit/s download speed and 256 kbit/s upload speed , with unlimited usage and online hours . A 0.75 meter satellite dish is needed ; the antenna was sufficiently small that homeowner associations could not prohibit its installation .", "G Sat G Sat ( Global Satellite ) is a subscription-based direct-to-home ( DTH ) satellite television service commercially available in the Philippines . G Sat is owned by Global Broadcasting and Multimedia Inc. ( GBMI ) and First United Broadcasting Corporation , registered in the Philippines with the Securities and Exchange Commission ( SEC ) . It is operated and managed by international and professional management groups engaged in the business of : satellite wireless transmission , WIMAX transmission , landline transmission , satellite internet data transmission , satellite direct-to-home TV operation , terrestrial television operation , broadband data service , head end in the sky operation , content aggregation , production and distribution , consolidation of telecom and broadcasting management . In August 2016 , G Sat was moved to SES-9 from their former satellite broadcaster NSS 11 due on its system upgrade .", "Television receive-only Television receive-only ( TVRO ) is a term used chiefly in North America to refer to the reception of satellite television from FSS-type satellites , generally on C-band analog ; free-to-air and unconnected to a commercial DBS provider . TVRO was the main means of consumer satellite reception in the United States and Canada until the mid-1990s with the arrival of direct-broadcast satellite television services such as PrimeStar , USSB , Bell TV , DirecTV , Dish Network , Sky TV that transmit Ku signals . While these services are at least theoretically based on open standards ( DVB-S , MPEG-2 , MPEG-4 ) , the majority of services are encrypted and require proprietary decoder hardware . TVRO systems relied on feeds being transmitted unencrypted and using open standards , which heavily contrasts to DBS systems in the region . The term is also used to refer to receiving digital television `` backhaul '' feeds from FSS-type satellites . Reception of free-to-air satellite signals , generally Ku band Digital Video Broadcasting , for home viewing is still common in Europe , India and Australia , although the TVRO nomenclature was never used there . Free-to-air satellite signals are also very common in the People 's Republic of China , as many rural locations can not receive cable television and solely rely on satellites to deliver television signals to individual homes .", "Earth observation satellites transmission frequencies The earth is constantly being monitored by a great number satellites operating in the earth exploration-satellite service ( EESS ) or space research service ( SRS ) . These artificial satellites have onboard space radio stations from which they gather data . The data is transmitted back to earth via feeder links . This article lists a number of current active Earth observation satellites and their downlink transmission frequencies .", "FTA receiver A free-to-air or FTA Receiver is a satellite television receiver designed to receive unencrypted broadcasts . Modern decoders are typically compliant with the MPEG-2 / DVB-S and more recently the MPEG-4 / DVB-S2 standard for digital television , while older FTA receivers relied on analog satellite transmissions which have declined rapidly in recent years .", "Satellite phone A satellite telephone , satellite phone , or satphone is a type of mobile phone that connects to orbiting satellites instead of terrestrial cell sites . They provide similar functionality to terrestrial mobile telephones ; voice , short messaging service and low-bandwidth internet access are supported through most systems . Depending on the architecture of a particular system , coverage may include the entire Earth or only specific regions . The mobile equipment , also known as a terminal , varies widely . Early satellite phone handsets had a size and weight comparable to that of a late-1980s or early-1990s mobile phone , but usually with a large retractable antenna . More recent satellite phones are similar in size to a regular mobile phone while some prototype satellite phones have no distinguishable difference from an ordinary smartphone . Satphones are popular on expeditions into remote areas where terrestrial cellular service is unavailable . A fixed installation , such as one used aboard a ship , may include large , rugged , rack-mounted electronics , and a steerable microwave antenna on the mast that automatically tracks the overhead satellites . Smaller installations using VoIP over a two-way satellite broadband service such as BGAN or VSAT bring the costs within the reach of leisure vessel owners . Internet service satellite phones have notoriously poor reception indoors , though it may be possible to get a consistent signal near a window or in the top floor of a building if the roof is sufficiently thin . The phones have connectors for external antennas that can be installed in vehicles and buildings . The systems also allow for the use of repeaters , much like terrestrial mobile phone systems .", "Amateur radio satellite An amateur radio satellite is an artificial satellite built and used by amateur radio operators for use in the Amateur-satellite service . These satellites use amateur radio frequency allocations to facilitate communication between amateur radio stations . Many amateur-satellites receive an OSCAR designation , which is an acronym for Orbiting Satellite Carrying Amateur Radio . The designation is assigned by AMSAT , an organization which promotes the development and launch of amateur radio satellites . Because of the prevalence of this designation , amateur radio satellites are often referred to as OSCARs . These satellites can be used for free by licensed amateur radio operators for voice ( FM , SSB ) and data communications ( AX .25 , packet radio , APRS ) . Currently , over 5 fully operational amateur-satellites in orbit act as repeaters , linear transponders or store and forward digital relays . Throughout the years , amateur-satellites have helped make breakthroughs in the science of satellite communications . A few advancements include the launch of the first satellite voice transponder ( OSCAR 3 ) and the development of highly advanced digital `` store-and-forward '' messaging transponder techniques .", "Hisaki (satellite) Hisaki , also known as the Spectroscopic Planet Observatory for Recognition of Interaction of Atmosphere ( SPRINT-A ) is a Japanese ultraviolet astronomy satellite operated by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency ( JAXA ) . The first mission of the Small Scientific Satellite programme , it was launched in September 2013 on the maiden flight of the Epsilon rocket . Hisaki was named after a cape used by local fishermen to pray for safe travels in the eastern part of Kimotsuki , Kagoshima near the Uchinoura Space Center , but has the additional meaning of `` beyond the Sun '' . An old name for the mission was EXCEED ( Extreme Ultraviolet Spectroscope for Exospheric Dynamics ) .", "Relay program The Relay program consisted of Relay 1 and Relay 2 , two early American satellites in Low Earth orbit . Both were primarily experimental communications satellites funded by NASA and developed by RCA . As of December 2 , 2016 , both satellites were still in orbit . Relay 1 provided the first American television transmissions across the Pacific Ocean .", "Amos-4 AMOS 4 is an Israeli commercial communication satellite , part of the AMOS series of satellites . The satellite is positioned at the 65 ° E longitude in the geostationary belt . It lifted off on 31 August 2013 , 20:05 UTC from Baikonur , Kazakhstan . Transmission and communication services given by this satellite include direct distribution of TV and radio translations , TV and radio translations to communication centers , distribution of internet services and data transmissions to communication networks . It offers coverage across Southeast Asia along with high power coverage beams offering communication links from East Asia to the Middle East .", "Shortwave radio Shortwave radio is radio transmission using shortwave frequencies , generally 1.6 -- , just above the medium wave AM broadcast band . Radio waves in this band can be reflected or refracted from a layer of electrically charged atoms in the atmosphere called the ionosphere . Therefore , short waves directed at an angle into the sky can be reflected back to Earth at great distances , beyond the horizon . This is called skywave or skip propagation . Thus shortwave radio can be used for very long distance communication , in contrast to radio waves of higher frequency which travel in straight lines ( line-of-sight propagation ) and are limited by the visual horizon , about 40 miles . Shortwave radio is used for broadcasting of voice and music to shortwave listeners over very large areas ; sometimes entire continents or beyond . It is also used for military over-the-horizon radar , diplomatic communication , and two-way international communication by amateur radio enthusiasts for hobby , educational and emergency purposes .", "SATCOM SATCOM or Satcom may refer to : Short for Satellite Communications and used frequently in the context of VSAT ( Very Small Aperture Terminal ) Communications satellites or comsats Satcom ( satellite ) , a fleet of early geostationary communications satellites Used by some airliners to transmit ACARS messages Generic term for mobile telephony via satellite ( i.e. , aircraft and watercraft )", "SSETI Express Satellite SSETI Express was the first spacecraft to be designed and built by European students and was launched by the European Space Agency . SSETI Express ( SSETI being the acronym for Student Space Exploration and Technology Initiative ) is a small spacecraft , similar in size and shape to a washing machine . On board the student-built spacecraft were three CubeSat pico-satellites , extremely small satellites weighing around one kg each . These were deployed one hour and forty minutes after launch . 23 university groups , working from locations spread across Europe and with very different cultural backgrounds , worked together via the internet to jointly create the satellite . The expected lifetime of the mission was planned to be 2 months . Express is the fastest developed micro-satellite in history .", "Distributed transmission system In North American digital terrestrial television broadcasting , a distributed transmission system ( DTS or DTx ) is a form of single-frequency network in which a single broadcast signal is fed via microwave , landline , or communications satellite to multiple synchronised terrestrial radio transmitter sites . The signal is then simultaneously broadcast on the same frequency in different overlapping portions of the same coverage area , effectively combining many small transmitters to generate a broadcast area rivalling that of one large transmitter or to fill gaps in coverage due to terrain or localised obstacles .", "Satellite geolocation Satellite geolocation is the process of locating the origin of a signal appearing on a satellite communication channel . Typically , this process is used to mitigate interference on communication satellites . Usually , these interference signals are caused by human error or equipment failure , but can also be caused by deliberate jamming . Identifying the geographical location of an interfering signal informs the mitigation activity .", "Strela (satellite) Strela ( Стрела , arrow ) is a Russian ( previously Soviet ) military communications satellite constellation operating in low Earth orbit . These satellites operate as mailboxes ( `` store-and-forward '' ) : they remember the received messages and then resend them after scheduled time , or by command from the Earth . Some sources state the satellites are capable of only three months of active operation , but in accordance to others they can serve for about five years . The satellites are used for transmission of encrypted messages and images .", "Footprint (satellite) The footprint of a communications satellite is the ground area that its transponders offer coverage , and determines the satellite dish diameter required to receive each transponder 's signal . There is usually a different map for each transponder ( or group of transponders ) , as each may be aimed to cover different areas . Footprint maps usually show either the estimated minimum satellite dish diameter required or the signal strength in each area measured in dBW .", "GPS satellite blocks A GPS satellite is a satellite used by the NAVSTAR Global Positioning System ( GPS ) . The first satellite in the system , Navstar 1 , was launched February 22 , 1978 . The GPS satellite constellation is operated by the 50th Space Wing of the United States Air Force . The GPS satellites circle the Earth at an altitude of about 20,000 km ( 12,427 miles ) and complete two full orbits every day .", "Oreoglanis macronemus Oreoglanis macronemus is a species of sisorid catfish . It is known only from four preserved specimens collected from the Xiangkhoang Plateau , northern Laos , by an expedition led by Jean Théodore Delacour in the mid-1920s and misidentified as Euchiloglanis sp . These specimens are in the Natural History Museum , London . This is a very small catfish ( the largest specimen , a male , has a standard length of 6.5 cm ) , generally smaller than most other Oreoglanis species ( although the small sample size makes this distinction largely irrelevant ) . The main difference between this species and its congeners is its extremely long nasal barbels , almost half the length of the head .", "Satellite flare Satellite flare , also known as satellite glint , is the visible phenomenon caused by the reflective surfaces of passing satellites ( such as antennas , SAR or solar panels ) , reflecting sunlight toward the Earth below and appearing as a brief , bright `` flare '' . The Iridium constellation with 66 active telecommunication satellites in low Earth orbit are known to cause the brightest flares of all orbiting satellites .", "Radio wave Radio waves are a type of electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths in the electromagnetic spectrum longer than infrared light . Radio waves have frequencies as high as 300 GHz to as low as 3 kHz , though some definitions describe waves above 1 or 3 GHz as microwaves , or include waves of any lower frequency . At 300 GHz , the corresponding wavelength is 1 mm , and at 3 kHz is 100 km . Like all other electromagnetic waves , they travel at the speed of light . Naturally occurring radio waves are generated by lightning , or by astronomical objects . Artificially generated radio waves are used for fixed and mobile radio communication , broadcasting , radar and other navigation systems , communications satellites , computer networks and innumerable other applications . Radio waves are generated by radio transmitters and received by radio receivers . Different frequencies of radio waves have different propagation characteristics in the Earth 's atmosphere ; long waves can diffract around obstacles like mountains and follow the contour of the earth ( ground waves ) , shorter waves can reflect off the ionosphere and return to earth beyond the horizon ( skywaves ) , while much shorter wavelengths bend or diffract very little and travel on a line of sight , so their propagation distances are limited to the visual horizon . To prevent interference between different users , the artificial generation and use of radio waves is strictly regulated by law , coordinated by an international body called the International Telecommunications Union ( ITU ) , which defines radio waves as `` electromagnetic waves of frequencies arbitrarily lower than 3 000 GHz , propagated in space without artificial guide '' . The radio spectrum is divided into a number of radio bands on the basis of frequency , allocated to different uses .", "Geo Entertainment Geo Entertainment or Geo Drama is a Pakistani entertainment television channel owned by Geo Television Network was established in May 2002 . Its test transmission started on 14 August 2002 on the PAS 10 digital satellite whereas on 1 October 2002 the regular transmission of Geo Entertainment was started .", "Satellite modem A satellite modem or satmodem is a modem used to establish data transfers using a communications satellite as a relay . There is a wide range of satellite modems from cheap devices for home Internet access to expensive multifunctional equipment for enterprise use . A `` modem '' stands for `` modulator-demodulator '' . A satellite modem 's main function is to transform an input bitstream to a radio signal and vice versa . There are some devices that include only a demodulator ( and no modulator , thus only allowing data to be downloaded by satellite ) that are also referred to as `` satellite modems . '' These devices are used in satellite Internet access ( in this case uploaded data is transferred through a conventional PSTN modem or an ADSL modem ) .", "Small Satellite Conference Internationally recognized as the premier conference on small satellites , the AIAA/USU Conference on Small Satellites ( also known as the Small Satellite Conference , or Small Sat ) is held each August on the campus of Utah State University ( USU ) in Logan , Utah , USA . This annual gathering provides a forum for the best minds in the small satellite community to review recent successes , explore new directions , and introduce emerging technologies in small spacecraft development . In addition to creating an excellent environment for networking and speaking with experts in military , science , and academic fields , the Conference offers a program of international relevance , focusing on the key challenges and opportunities facing the small satellite community today .", "GPS navigation device A GPS navigation device or GPS receiver , and when used for vehicle navigation commonly referred to simply as a GPS , is a device that is capable of receiving information from GPS satellites and then to accurately calculate its geographical location . The Global Positioning System ( GPS ) is a global navigation satellite system ( GNSS ) made up of a network of a minimum of 24 , but currently 30 , satellites placed into orbit by the U.S. Department of Defense . The GPS was originally developed for use by the United States military , but in the 1980s , the United States government allowed the system to be used for civilian purposes . Though the GPS satellite data is free and works anywhere in the world , the GPS device and the associated software must be bought or rented . A GPS device can retrieve from the GPS system location and time information in all weather conditions , anywhere on or near the Earth . A GPS reception requires an unobstructed line of sight to four or more GPS satellites , and is subject to poor satellite signal conditions . In exceptionally poor signal conditions , for example in urban areas , satellite signals may exhibit multipath propagation where signals skip off structures , or are weakened by meteorological conditions . Obstructed lines of sight may arise from a tree canopy or inside a structure , such as in a building , garage or tunnel . Today , most standalone GPS receivers are used in automobiles . The GPS capability of smartphones may use assisted GPS ( A-GPS ) technology , which can use the base station or cell towers to provide the device location tracking capability , especially when GPS signals are poor or unavailable . However , the mobile network part of the A-GPS technology would not be available when the smartphone is outside the range of the mobile reception network . The Russian Global Navigation Satellite System ( GLONASS ) was developed contemporaneously with GPS , but suffered from incomplete coverage of the globe until the mid-2000s . GLONASS can be added to GPS devices which makes more satellites available and enabling positions to be fixed more quickly and accurately , to within 2 meters ." ]

[ "Sea level rise A sea level rise is an increase in the volume of water in the world 's oceans , resulting in an increase in global mean sea level . Sea level rise is usually attributed to global climate change by thermal expansion of the water in the oceans and by melting of Ice sheets and glaciers on land . Melting of floating ice shelves or icebergs at sea raises sea levels only slightly . Sea level rise at specific locations may be more or less than the global average . Local factors might include tectonic effects , subsidence of the land , tides , currents , storms , etc. . Sea level rise is expected to continue for centuries . Because of the slow inertia , long response time for parts of the climate system , it has been estimated that we are already committed to a sea-level rise of approximately 2.3 m for each degree Celsius of temperature rise within the next 2,000 years . IPCC Summary for Policymakers , AR5 , 2014 , indicated that the global mean sea level rise will continue during the 21st century , very likely at a faster rate than observed from 1971 to 2010 . Projected rates and amounts vary . A January 2017 NOAA report suggests a range of GMSL rise of 0.3 -- 2.5 m possible during the 21st century . Sea level rises can considerably influence human populations in coastal and island regions and natural environments like marine ecosystems ." ]

[ "James O'Brien (oceanographer) James O'Brien ( born August 10 , 1935 , died September 20 , 2016 ) is the emeritus Robert O. Lawton Professor of Meteorology and Oceanography at Florida State University . He believes sea levels are rising but predicts a more modest 18 in rise instead of 6 ft by 2100 targeted by some other scientists . He stated that `` sea level in Florida is going to continue to rise period . Unless we go back into an Ice age , we will continue to rise at over 8 in in 10 year . That 's without any global warming . ''", "Raised shoreline A raised shoreline is an ancient shoreline exposed above current water level . These landforms are formed by a relative change in sea level due to global sea level rise , isostatic rebound , and/or tectonic uplift . These surfaces are usually exposed above modern sea level when a heavily glaciated area experiences a glacial retreat , causing water levels to rise . This area will then experience post-glacial rebound , effectively raising the shoreline surface . Examples of raised shorelines can be found along the coasts of formerly glaciated areas in Ireland and Scotland , as well as in North America . Raised shorelines are exposed at various locations around the Puget Sound of Washington State .", "Marine transgression A marine transgression is a geologic event during which sea level rises relative to the land and the shoreline moves toward higher ground , resulting in flooding . Transgressions can be caused either by the land sinking or the ocean basins filling with water ( or decreasing in capacity ) . Transgressions and regressions may be caused by tectonic events such as orogenies , severe climate change such as ice ages or isostatic adjustments following removal of ice or sediment load . During the Cretaceous , seafloor spreading created a relatively shallow Atlantic basin at the expense of deeper Pacific basin . This reduced the world 's ocean basin capacity and caused a rise in sea level worldwide . As a result of this sea level rise , the oceans transgressed completely across the central portion of North America and created the Western Interior Seaway from the Gulf of Mexico to the Arctic Ocean . The opposite of transgression is regression , in which the sea level falls relative to the land and exposes former sea bottom . During the Pleistocene Ice Ages , so much water was removed from the oceans and stored on land as year-round glaciers that the ocean regressed 120 m , exposing the Bering land bridge between Alaska and Asia .", "Past sea level Global or eustatic sea level has fluctuated significantly over the Earth 's history . The main factors affecting sea level are the amount and volume of available water and the shape and volume of the ocean basins . The primary influences on water volume are the temperature of the seawater , which affects density , and the amounts of water retained in other reservoirs like rivers , aquifers , lakes , glaciers , polar ice caps and sea ice . Over geological timescales , changes in the shape of the oceanic basins and in land/sea distribution affect sea level . In addition to eustatic changes , local changes in sea level are caused by tectonic uplift and subsidence . Over geologic time sea level has fluctuated by hundreds of meters . Today 's interglacial level is near historic highs and is 130 meters above the low level reached during the Last Glacial Maximum 19,000 -- 20,000 years ago . Observational and modeling studies of mass loss from glaciers and ice caps indicate a contribution to sea-level rise of 0.2 to 0.4 mm/yr averaged over the 20th century . Over this last million years , whereas it was higher most of the time before then , sea level was lower than today .", "Climate inertia Climate inertia describes the widespread inherent characteristic of the climate , ecological , and socio-economic systems . Inertia from anthropogenic impacts may be slow to become apparent , or could be irreversible if climate change crosses associated thresholds . Melting ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica take time to respond to the emissions of fossil fuel carbon in the climate system . The global warming also causes thermal inertia , thermal expansion of the oceans , which contributes to sea level rise . It has been estimated that we are already committed to a sea-level rise of approximately 2.3 meters for each degree of temperature rise within the next 2,000 years .", "Ice2sea Ice2sea is a program of scientific research funded by the European Union 's Framework 7 Programme to study the effects of climate change on glaciation and the melting of ice caps and glaciers on sea level . The ice2sea project , a collaborative of 24 research institutions , which is headed by Prof David Vaughan , aims to reduce the uncertainty in sea-level projections which are of great economic and social importance to the European Union , especially as large areas of coastal area in Europe are below or less than a metre above sea level . The 2007 fourth Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) report highlighted ice sheets * as the most significant remaining uncertainty in projections of sea-level rise . Understanding about the crucial ice-sheet effects was `` too limited to assess their likelihood or provide a best estimate of an upper bound for sea-level rise '' . Improved scientific results from ice2sea will feed directly into the fifth IPCC report ( due in 2013 ) to generate more accurate sea-level rise projections . The initiative recently funded research by scientists from the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in Germany , which was published in Nature in 2012 , which predicts the disappearance of the 450000 km2 vast Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf in east Antarctica by the end of the century which could add up to 4.4 mm of rise of sea level each year due to its melting alone .", "Copenhagen Diagnosis The Copenhagen Diagnosis is a report written by twenty-six climate scientists from eight countries . It was published in 2009 and was a summary of the peer-reviewed literature to date . The Copenhagen Diagnosis is a follow-up of the previous Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 's Working Group 1 Report . The studies summarized , which date back to the cutoff point of the Working Group 1 Report , are those that authors viewed most relevant to the discussions at the 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference . The Copenhagen Diagnosis served as the midpoint between IPCC -- AR4 and IPCC-AR5 . In total , the Copenhagen Diagnosis contains eight main sections , which are : Surging Greenhouse gas emissions Since 1990 , the combined global emission of carbon dioxide from various origins , such as cement production , deforestation , and fossil fuel burning , has increased 27 % . Human-induced warming Studies conducted by Lee and Rind show that only 10 % of global warming over the past century was due to the Sun . Acceleration of melting ice caps Glaciers and melting ice caps can contribute to about 8/10ths of a meter to global sea level rise . Rapid Arctic sea-ice decline According to simulations run by NCAR Climate System Model version 3 , the Arctic summer is expected to be ice-free by 2040 . Underestimation of changing sea levels In contrast to previous IPCC , the rate of sea level rise ( 3.4 mm/yr over the past 15 years ) has increased around 80 % faster than previously predicted . Damage due to inaction A region of permafrost , called the Yedoma , stores about 500 Gt of CO2 and , once released due to rising global temperatures , will increase global temperatures even more . Turning point must come soon The largest climate science conference , held in 2009 , has stated , `` Temperature rises above 2 ° C will be difficult for contemporary societies to cope with , and are likely to cause major societal and environmental disruptions through the rest of the century and beyond . '' The Future By 2100 , global mean air-temperature is projected to warm by 2 ° C -- 7 ° C above pre-industrial levels .", "Hundred-year wave A hundred-year wave is a statistically projected water wave , the height of which , on average , is met or exceeded once in a hundred years for a given location . The likelihood of this wave height being attained at least once in the hundred-year period is 63 % . As a projection of the most extreme wave which can be expected to occur in a given body of water , the hundred-year wave is a factor commonly taken into consideration by designers of oil platforms and other offshore structures . Periods of time other than a hundred years may also be taken into account , resulting in , for instance , a fifty-year wave . Various methods are employed to predict the possible steepness and period of these waves , in addition to their height .", "Tide Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the Moon and the Sun and the rotation of the Earth . The times and amplitude of tides at any given locale are influenced by the alignment of the Sun and Moon , by the pattern of tides in the deep ocean , by the amphidromic systems of the oceans , and the shape of the coastline and near-shore bathymetry ( see Timing ) . Some shorelines experience a semi-diurnal tide -- two nearly equal high and low tides each day . Other locations experience a diurnal tide -- only one high and low tide each day . A `` mixed tide '' -- two uneven tides a day , or one high and one low -- is also possible . Tides vary on timescales ranging from hours to years due to a number of factors . To make accurate records , tide gauges at fixed stations measure water level over time . Gauges ignore variations caused by waves with periods shorter than minutes . These data are compared to the reference ( or datum ) level usually called mean sea level . While tides are usually the largest source of short-term sea-level fluctuations , sea levels are also subject to forces such as wind and barometric pressure changes , resulting in storm surges , especially in shallow seas and near coasts . Tidal phenomena are not limited to the oceans , but can occur in other systems whenever a gravitational field that varies in time and space is present . For example , the solid part of the Earth is affected by tides , though this is not as easily seen as the water tidal movements .", "Meltwater pulse 1A Meltwater pulse 1A ( MWP1a ) is the name used by Quaternary geologists , paleoclimatologists , and oceanographers for a period of rapid post-glacial sea level rise during which global sea level rose between 16 m and 25 m in about 400 -- 500 years , giving mean rates of roughly 40 -- 60 mm/yr . Meltwater pulse 1A is also known as catastrophic rise event 1 ( CRE1 ) in the Caribbean Sea . The rates of sea level rise associated with meltwater pulse 1A are the highest known rates of post-glacial , eustatic sea level rise . Meltwater pulse 1A is also the most widely recognized and least disputed of the named , postglacial meltwater pulses . Other named , postglacial meltwater pulses are known most commonly as meltwater pulse 1A0 ( meltwater pulse 19ka ) , meltwater pulse 1B , meltwater pulse 1C , meltwater pulse 1D , and meltwater pulse 2 . It and these other periods of rapid sea level rise are known as meltwater pulses because the inferred cause of them was the rapid release of meltwater into the oceans from the collapse of continental ice sheets .", "Climate change Climate change is a change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns when that change lasts for an extended period of time ( i.e. , decades to millions of years ) . Climate change may refer to a change in average weather conditions , or in the time variation of weather around longer-term average conditions ( i.e. , more or fewer extreme weather events ) . Climate change is caused by factors such as biotic processes , variations in solar radiation received by Earth , plate tectonics , and volcanic eruptions . Certain human activities have been identified as primary causes of ongoing climate change , often referred to as global warming . Scientists actively work to understand past and future climate by using observations and theoretical models . A climate record -- extending deep into the Earth 's past -- has been assembled , and continues to be built up , based on geological evidence from borehole temperature profiles , cores removed from deep accumulations of ice , floral and faunal records , glacial and periglacial processes , stable-isotope and other analyses of sediment layers , and records of past sea levels . More recent data are provided by the instrumental record . General circulation models , based on the physical sciences , are often used in theoretical approaches to match past climate data , make future projections , and link causes and effects in climate change .", "Kivalina, Alaska Kivalina Kivalliñiq in Iñupiaq ) is a city and village in Northwest Arctic Borough , Alaska , United States . The population was 377 at the 2000 census and 374 as of the 2010 census . The island on which the village lies is threatened by rising sea levels and coastal erosion . , it is predicted that the island will be inundated by 2025 .", "Clinical prediction rule A clinical prediction rule is a type of medical research study in which researchers try to identify the best combination of medical sign , symptoms , and other findings in predicting the probability of a specific disease or outcome . Physicians have difficulty in estimated risks of diseases ; frequently erring towards overestimation , perhaps due to cognitive biases such as base rate fallacy in which the risk of an adverse outcome is exaggerated .", "Surface pressure In atmospheric science , surface pressure is the atmospheric pressure at a location on Earth 's surface . It is directly proportional to the mass of air over that location . For numerical reasons , atmospheric models such as general circulation models ( GCMs ) usually predict the nondimensional logarithm of surface pressure . The average value of surface pressure on Earth is 985hPa . This is in contrast to mean sea-level pressure , which involves the extrapolation of pressure to sea-level for locations above or below sea-level . The average pressure at mean sea-level ( MSL ) in the International Standard Atmosphere ( ISA ) is 1013.25 hPa , or 1 atmosphere ( Atm ) , or 29.92 inches of mercury . Pressure ( P ) , mass ( m ) , and the acceleration due to gravity ( g ) , are related by P = F/A = ( m * g ) / A , where A is surface area . Atmospheric pressure is thus proportional to the weight per unit area of the atmospheric mass above that location .", "Taro Island Taro Island is a small island in the Solomon Islands with 507 inhabitants , capital of Choiseul Province and is located in Choiseul Bay off the northwest coast . Taro Island is home to the Choiseul Bay Airport , served by Solomon Airlines with flights to Gizo and other destinations . In September 2012 , groundbreaking for the construction of a police housing project began . The project will be supervised by the Choiseul Province police board , and will strengthen police presence on the island . The island is very vulnerable to sea level rise . In 2016 , John A. Church , Colin Woodroffe , and other Australian researchers from CSIRO predicted that Taro Island would become the first provincial capital globally to relocate residents and services due to the threat of sea level rise .", "Hypsometry Hypsometry ( from Greek ὕψος , hupsos , `` height '' and μέτρον , metron , `` measure '' ) is the measurement of land elevation relative to sea level . Bathymetry is the underwater equivalent . A hypsometer is an instrument used in hypsometry , which estimates the elevation by boiling water -- water boils at different temperatures depending on the air pressure , and thus altitude . On Earth , the elevations can take on either positive or negative ( below sea level ) values , and are bimodal due to the contrast between the continents and oceans . On other planets within this solar system , elevations are typically unimodal , owing to the lack of oceans on those bodies .", "Gjesværstappan Gjesværstappan is a group of high , steep-sided , grass-covered islands which are located north of the village of Gjesvær in Nordkapp Municipality in Finnmark county , Norway . The three main islands are Storstappen , Kjerkestappen , and Bukkstappen . Storstappan rises to a height of 283 m above sea level and has a peninsula called Stauren that rises to 165 m. Kjerkestappen rises to an elevation of 166 m above sea level and Bukkstappen rises to 92 m above sea level . Historically , there were people that lived on the islands and there was a church on Kjerkestappen .", "Jonathan M. Gregory Jonathan M. Gregory FRS is a climate modeller working on mechanisms of global and large-scale change in climate and sea level on multidecadal and longer timescales . He is currently a senior scientist in the Climate Division of NERC 's National Centre for Atmospheric Science ( NCAS-Climate ) , located in the Department of Meteorology at the University of Reading ; and a Research Fellow in climate change at the Met Office Hadley Centre . A 2004 study , led by Gregory and published in the journal Nature , predicted that the Greenland ice sheet is likely to be eliminated as a consequence of global warming , resulting in a rise in global sea-levels by 7 meters over the next 1000 years or more . He was a co-ordinating Lead Author of the 2001 IPCC Third Assessment Report chapter 11 Changes in Sea Level , and a contributing author to the sea level chapter in the IPCC Second Assessment Report '' . Gregory was also a co-Lead Author of the 2007 IPCC Fourth Assessment Report chapter 5 Observations : Oceanic Climate Change and Sea Level , and chapter 10 Global Climate Projections . IPCC was a co-recipient ( with Al Gore ) of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for its work on climate change . In 2010 Jonathan Gregory was awarded an Advanced Grant by the European Research Council to carry out research on sea level change . In 2017 Jonathan Gregory was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society .", "CryoSat CryoSat is an ESA programme to monitor variations in the extent and thickness of polar ice through use of a satellite in low Earth orbit . The information provided about the behaviour of coastal glaciers that drain thinning ice sheets will be key to better predictions of future sea level rise . The CryoSat-1 spacecraft was lost in a launch failure in 2005 , however the programme was resumed with the successful launch of a replacement , CryoSat-2 , launched on 8 April 2010 . CryoSat is operated from the European Space Operations Centre ( ESOC ) in Darmstadt , Germany .", "Argyrodes chionus Argyrodes chionus is a species of tangle-web spider that is endemic to Aldabra in the Seychelles . It is found in dry shrubland at sea level . It is threatened by habitat deterioration due to sea level rise .", "Annual cycle of sea level height The annual cycle of sea level height ( or seasonal cycle or annual harmonic ) describes the variation of sea level that occurs with a period of one year . Historically , analysis of the annual cycle has been limited by locations with tide gauge records , i.e. , coastlines and some islands in the deep ocean , and by sparse records in the Southern Hemisphere . Since 1992 , satellite-based altimeters have provided near global coverage of sea level variability , allowing for a more thorough understanding of the annual cycle both in the deep ocean and in coastal margins .", "Campbell Plateau The Campbell Plateau is a large oceanic plateau south of New Zealand and the Chatham Rise . It originated in the Gondwanan breakup and is part of Zealandia , a largely submerged continent . The above sea level parts of the plateau -- the Bounty Islands , Antipodes Islands , Auckland Islands and Campbell Island -- form part of the New Zealand Subantarctic Islands which were declared a World Heritage Site in 1998 . Large parts of the Campbell Plateau lies less than 1000 m below sea level . It rises to 500 m at the Pukaki Rise and emerges above sea level at the Auckland and Campbell Islands . Covering an area of 800000 km2 , the Campbell Plateau has a gently undulating bathymetry with major rises trending east-west : Campbell Island Rise , Pukaki Rise , and Bounty Island Ridge . There are two near-parallel rises on the western margin : Stewart Island -- Snare Island Rise and Auckland Island platform . The continental slopes are steep on western and southern margins while the northern margin slowly falls into the Bounty Trough .", "Global warming in Tuvalu Global warming is a concern in Tuvalu since the average height of the islands is less than 2 m above sea level , with the highest point of Niulakita being about 4.6 m above sea level . Tuvalu could be one of the first nations to experience the effects of sea level rise . Not only could parts of the island be flooded but the rising saltwater table could also destroy deep rooted food crops such as coconut , pulaka , and taro .", "Future sea level The rate of global mean sea-level rise ( ~ 3 mm/yr ; SLR ) has accelerated compared to the mean of the 20th century ( ~ 2 mm/yr ) , but the rate of rise is locally variable . Factors contributing to SLR include decreased global ice volume and warming of the ocean . On Greenland , the deficiency between annual ice gained and lost tripled between 1996 and 2007 . On Antarctica the deficiency increased by 75 % . Mountain glaciers are retreating and the cumulative mean thickness change has accelerated from about − 1.8 to − 4 m in 1965 to 1970 to about − 12 to − 14 m in the first decade of the 21st century . From 1961 to 2003 , ocean temperatures to a depth of 700 m increased and portions of the deeper ocean are warming . The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( 2007 ) projected sea level would reach 0.18 to 0.59 m above present by the end of the 21st century but lacked an estimate of ice flow dynamics calving . Calving was added by Pfeffer et al. ( 2008 ) indicating 0.8 to 2 m of SLR by 2100 ( favouring the low end of this range ) . Rahmstorf ( 2007 ) estimated SLR will reach 0.5 to 1.4 m by the end of the century . Pielke ( 2008 ) points out that observed SLR has exceeded the best case projections thus far . These approximations and others indicate that global mean SLR may reach 1 m by the end of this century . However , sea level is highly variable and planners considering local impacts must take this variability into account .", "National Tidal and Sea Level Facility Established in 2002 , The National Tidal and Sea Level Facility is responsible for monitoring sea levels in the UK . The NTSLF comprises the UK National Tide Gauge Network , geodetic networks , and gauges in the British Dependent Territories of the South Atlantic and Gibraltar . Data collected is used to create tidal predictions , monitor climate change and determine extreme sea levels for navigation and coastal engineering design . The Network is funded by the UK Environment Agency . Associated scientific research is funded by the Natural Environment Research Council ( NERC ) and the Department for Environment , Food and Rural Affairs ( Defra ) .", "Retrogradation Retrogradation is the landward change in position of the front of a river delta with time . This occurs when the mass balance of sediment into the delta is such that the volume of incoming sediment is less than the volume of the delta that is lost through subsidence , sea-level rise , and/or erosion . As a result , retrogradation is most common : during periods of sea-level rise which results in marine transgression . This can occur during major periods of global warming and the melting of continental ice sheets . with extremely low sediment input .", "Expanding Earth The expanding Earth or growing Earth hypothesis asserts that the position and relative movement of continents is at least partially due to the volume of Earth increasing . Conversely , geophysical global cooling was the hypothesis that various features could be explained by Earth contracting . Although it was suggested historically , since the recognition of plate tectonics in the 1970s , scientific consensus has rejected any significant expansion or contraction of Earth .", "Elevation The elevation of a geographic location is its height above or below a fixed reference point , most commonly a reference geoid , a mathematical model of the Earth 's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface ( see Geodetic system , vertical datum ) . Elevation , or geometric height , is mainly used when referring to points on the Earth 's surface , while altitude or geopotential height is used for points above the surface , such as an aircraft in flight or a spacecraft in orbit , and depth is used for points below the surface . Elevation is not to be confused with the distance from the center of the Earth ; due to equatorial bulge , the summits of Mt. Everest and Chimborazo have , respectively , the largest elevation and the largest geocentric distance .", "Environmental skepticism Environmental skepticism is the belief that claims by environmentalists , and the environmental scientists who support them , are false or exaggerated . The term is also applied to those who are critical of environmentalism in general . Environmental skepticism is closely linked with anti-environmentalism and climate change denial . Environmental skeptics have argued that the extent of harm coming from human activities is less certain than some scientists and scientific bodies claim , or that it is too soon to be introducing curbs in these activities on the basis of existing evidence , or that further discussion is needed regarding who should pay for such environmental initiatives . One of the focus themes in the environmental skeptics movement is the idea that environmentalism is a growing threat to social and economic progress and the civil liberties . The popularity of the term was enhanced by Bjørn Lomborg 's book The Skeptical Environmentalist . Lomborg approached environmental claims from a statistical and economic standpoint , and concluded that often the claims made by environmentalists were overstated . Lomborg argued , on the basis of cost -- benefit analysis , that few environmentalist claims warranted serious concern . However , in 2010 , Lomborg stated that he believes in the need for `` tens of billions of dollars a year to be invested in tackling climate change '' and declared global warming to be `` undoubtedly one of the chief concerns facing the world today '' and `` a challenge humanity must confront '' . He summarized his position , saying `` Global warming is real - it is man-made and it is an important problem . But it is not the end of the world . ''", "Climate Climate is the statistics of weather , usually over a 30-year interval . It is measured by assessing the patterns of variation in temperature , humidity , atmospheric pressure , wind , precipitation , atmospheric particle count and other meteorological variables in a given region over long periods of time . Climate differs from weather , in that weather only describes the short-term conditions of these variables in a given region . A region 's climate is generated by the climate system , which has five components : atmosphere , hydrosphere , cryosphere , lithosphere , and biosphere . The climate of a location is affected by its latitude , terrain , and altitude , as well as nearby water bodies and their currents . Climates can be classified according to the average and the typical ranges of different variables , most commonly temperature and precipitation . The most commonly used classification scheme was the Köppen climate classification . The Thornthwaite system , in use since 1948 , incorporates evapotranspiration along with temperature and precipitation information and is used in studying biological diversity and how climate change affects it . The Bergeron and Spatial Synoptic Classification systems focus on the origin of air masses that define the climate of a region . Paleoclimatology is the study of ancient climates . Since direct observations of climate are not available before the 19th century , paleoclimates are inferred from proxy variables that include non-biotic evidence such as sediments found in lake beds and ice cores , and biotic evidence such as tree rings and coral . Climate models are mathematical models of past , present and future climates . Climate change may occur over long and short timescales from a variety of factors ; recent warming is discussed in global warming . Global warming results in redistributions . For example , `` a 3 ° C change in mean annual temperature corresponds to a shift in isotherms of approximately 300 -- 400 km in latitude ( in the temperate zone ) or 500 m in elevation . Therefore , species are expected to move upwards in elevation or towards the poles in latitude in response to shifting climate zones '' .", "Sea-level curve The sea-level curve is the representation of the changes of the sea level throughout the geological history . The first such curve is the Vail curve or Exxon curve . The names of the curve refer to the fact that in 1977 a team of Exxon geologists from Esso Production Research headed by Peter Vail published a monograph on global eustatic sea-level changes . Their sea-level curve was based on seismic and biostratigraphic data accumulated during petroleum exploration . The Vail curve ( and the monograph itself ) was the subject of debate among geologists , because it was based on undisclosed commercially confidential stratigraphic data , and hence not independently verifiable . Because of this , there were later efforts to establish a sea-level curve based on non-commercial data . In 1987 -- 1988 a revised eustatic sea-level curve for the Mesozoic and Cenozoic eras was published , now known as the Haq sea-level curve , in reference to the Pakistani-American Oceanographer Bilal Haq .", "Global Sea Level Observing System The Global Sea Level Observing System ( GLOSS ) is an Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission program whose purpose is to measure sea level globally for long-term climate change studies . The program 's purpose has changed since the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and the program now collects realtime measurements of sea level . The project is currently upgrading the over 290 stations it currently runs , so that they can send realtime data via satellite to newly set up national tsunami centres . They are also fitting the stations with solar panels so they can continue to operate even if the mains power supply is interrupted by severe weather . The Global Sea Level Observing System does not compete with Deep-ocean Assessment and Reporting of Tsunamis as most GLOSS transducers are located close to land masses while DART 's transducers are far out in the ocean ." ]

[ "Antarctic sea ice Antarctic sea ice is the sea ice of the Southern Ocean . It extends far north in winter and retreats almost to the coastline each summer . Sea ice is frozen seawater that is usually less than a few meters thick . This is in contrast to ice shelves , which are formed by glaciers , float in the sea , and are up to a kilometer thick . There are two subdivisions of sea ice : fast ice , which is attached to land ; and ice floes , which are not . Sea ice in the Southern Ocean melts from the bottom instead of from the surface like Arctic ice because it is covered in snow . As a result , melt ponds are rarely observed . On average , Antarctic sea ice is younger , thinner , warmer , saltier , and more mobile than Arctic sea ice . Due to its inaccessibility , it is not as well-studied as Arctic ice .", "Antarctica Antarctica ( UK English -LSB- ænˈtɑːktɪkə -RSB- or -LSB- ænˈtɑːtɪkə -RSB- , US English -LSB- æntˈɑːrktɪkə -RSB- ) is Earth 's southernmost continent . It contains the geographic South Pole and is situated in the Antarctic region of the Southern Hemisphere , almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle , and is surrounded by the Southern Ocean . At 14000000 km2 , it is the fifth-largest continent . For comparison , Antarctica is nearly twice the size of Australia . About 98 % of Antarctica is covered by ice that averages 1.9 km in thickness , which extends to all but the northernmost reaches of the Antarctic Peninsula . Antarctica , on average , is the coldest , driest , and windiest continent , and has the highest average elevation of all the continents . Antarctica is a desert , with annual precipitation of only 200 mm ( 8 in ) along the coast and far less inland . The temperature in Antarctica has reached − 89.2 ° C ( − 128.6 ° F ) , though the average for the third quarter ( the coldest part of the year ) is − 63 ° C ( − 81 ° F ) . Anywhere from 1,000 to 5,000 people reside throughout the year at the research stations scattered across the continent . Organisms native to Antarctica include many types of algae , bacteria , fungi , plants , protista , and certain animals , such as mites , nematodes , penguins , seals and tardigrades . Vegetation , where it occurs , is tundra . Although myths and speculation about a Terra Australis ( `` Southern Land '' ) date back to antiquity , Antarctica is noted as the last region on Earth in recorded history to be discovered and colonised by humans , being only first sighted in 1820 by the Russian expedition of Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen and Mikhail Lazarev on Vostok and Mirny , who sighted the Fimbul ice shelf . The continent , however , remained largely neglected for the rest of the 19th century because of its hostile environment , lack of easily accessible resources , and isolation . In 1895 , the first confirmed landing was conducted by a team of Norwegians . Antarctica is a de facto condominium , governed by parties to the Antarctic Treaty System that have consulting status . Twelve countries signed the Antarctic Treaty in 1959 , and thirty-eight have signed it since then . The treaty prohibits military activities and mineral mining , prohibits nuclear explosions and nuclear waste disposal , supports scientific research , and protects the continent 's ecozone . Ongoing experiments are conducted by more than 4,000 scientists from many nations ." ]

[ "Antarctic ice sheet The Antarctic ice sheet is one of the two polar ice caps of the Earth . It covers about 98 % of the Antarctic continent and is the largest single mass of ice on Earth . It covers an area of almost 14 e6km2 and contains 26.5 e6km3 of ice . Approximately 61 percent of all fresh water on the Earth is held in the Antarctic ice sheet , an amount equivalent to about 58 m of sea-level rise . In East Antarctica , the ice sheet rests on a major land mass , but in West Antarctica the bed can extend to more than 2,500 m below sea level . Much of the land in this area would be seabed if the ice sheet were not there . In contrast to the melting of the Arctic sea ice , sea ice around Antarctica was expanding . The reasons for this are not fully understood , but suggestions include the climatic effects on ocean and atmospheric circulation of the ozone hole , and/or cooler ocean surface temperatures as the warming deep waters melt the ice shelves .", "Sea ice Sea ice arises as seawater freezes . Because ice is less dense than water , it floats on the ocean 's surface ( as does fresh water ice , which has an even lower density ) . Sea ice covers about 7 % of the Earth 's surface and about 12 % of the world 's oceans . Much of the world 's sea ice is enclosed within the polar ice packs in the Earth 's polar regions : the Arctic ice pack of the Arctic Ocean and the Antarctic ice pack of the Southern Ocean . Polar packs undergo a significant yearly cycling in surface extent , a natural process upon which depends the Arctic ecology , including the ocean 's ecosystems . Due to the action of winds , currents and temperature fluctuations , sea ice is very dynamic , leading to a wide variety of ice types and features . Sea ice may be contrasted with icebergs , which are chunks of ice shelves or glaciers that calve into the ocean . Depending on location , sea ice expanses may also incorporate icebergs .", "Ross Gyre The Ross Gyre is one of the two gyres that exist within the Southern Ocean . The gyre is located in the Ross Sea , and rotates clockwise . The gyre is formed by interactions between the Antarctic Circumpolar Current and the Antarctic Continental Shelf . Sea ice has been noted to persist in the central area of the gyre . There is some evidence that global warming has resulted in some decrease of the salinity of the waters of the Ross Gyre since the 1950s .", "Sea Ice Physics and Ecosystem eXperiment The Sea Ice Physics and Ecosystem eXperiment ( SIPEX ) was an Australian contribution to the International Polar Year ( IPY ) . The expedition studied the sea ice in the Antarctica zone in September and October 2007 , investigating links between the sea ice and the Southern Ocean ecosystems . Taking part were 45 scientists from 8 different countries , each a specialist on some aspect of the Antarctic sea ice zone . Travelling aboard the research vessel Aurora Australis , the researchers covered East Antarctica between 110 ° E and 130 ° E. Experiments dealt with ice thickness and snow cover , the sympagic fauna and flora and examined the effects of ocean currents and wind . The extent and distribution of sea ice in the polar regions is a sensitive indicator of global climate change . Global warming has been implicated in significant reductions in the extent of sea ice and this trend is set to continue . An improved understanding of sea ice may lead to improved conservation policies in Antarctica .", "Arctic sea ice decline Arctic sea ice decline is the sea ice loss observed in recent decades in the Arctic Ocean . The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) Fourth Assessment Report states that greenhouse gas forcing is largely , but not wholly , responsible for the decline in Arctic sea ice extent . A study from 2011 suggested that internal variability enhanced the greenhouse gas forced sea ice decline over the last decades . A study from 2007 found the decline to be `` faster than forecasted '' by model simulations . The IPCC Fifth Assessment Report concluded with high confidence that sea ice continues to decrease in extent , and that there is robust evidence for the downward trend in Arctic summer sea ice extent since 1979 . It has been established that the region is at its warmest for at least 40,000 years and the Arctic-wide melt season has lengthened at a rate of 5 days per decade ( from 1979 to 2013 ) , dominated by a later autumn freezeup . Sea ice changes have been identified as a mechanism for polar amplification .", "Weddell Polynya The Weddell Polynya or Weddell Sea Polynya is a polynya or irregular area of open water surrounded by sea ice in the Weddell Sea of the Southern Ocean off Antarctica and near the Maud Rise . The size of New Zealand , it re-occurred each winter between 1974 and 1976 . These were the first three austral winters observed by the Nimbus-5 Electrically Scanning Microwave Radiometer ( ESMR ) . Since 1976 , the polynya has never been seen again . Since the 1970s , the polar Southern Ocean south of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current has freshened and stratified , likely a result of anthropogenic climate change . Such stratification may be responsible for suppressing the return of the Weddell Sea polynya .", "Antarctic Cold Reversal The Antarctic Cold Reversal ( ACR ) was an important episode of cooling in the climate history of the Earth during the deglaciation at the close of the last ice age . It illustrates the complexity of the climate changes at the transition from the Pleistocene to the Holocene Epochs . The Last Glacial Maximum and sea-level minimum occurred c. 21,000 years before present ( BP ) . Antarctic ice cores show gradual warming beginning 3000 years later . At about 14,700 BP , there was a large pulse of meltwater , identified as Meltwater pulse 1A , probably from either the Antarctic ice sheet or the Laurentide ice sheet . Meltwater pulse 1A produced a marine transgression that raised global sea level about 20 meters in two to five centuries and is thought to have influenced the start of the Bølling / Allerød interstadial , the major break with glacial cold in the Northern Hemisphere . Meltwater pulse 1A was followed in Antarctica and the Southern Hemisphere by a renewed cooling , the Antarctic Cold Reversal , in c. 14,500 BP , which lasted for two millennia -- an instance of warming causing cooling . The ACR brought an average cooling of perhaps 3 ° C . The Younger Dryas cooling , in the Northern Hemisphere , began while the Antarctic Cold Reversal was still ongoing , and the ACR ended in the midst of the Younger Dryas . This pattern of climate decoupling between the Northern and Southern Hemispheres and of `` southern lead , northern lag '' would manifest in subsequent climate events . The cause or causes of this hemispheric decoupling , of the `` lead/lag '' pattern and of the specific mechanisms of the warming and cooling trends are still subjects of study and dispute among climate researchers . The specific dating and intensity of the Antarctic Cold Reversal are also under debate . The onset of the Antarctic Cold Reversal was followed , after about 800 years , by an Oceanic Cold Reversal in the Southern Ocean .", "Ice shelf An ice shelf is a thick floating platform of ice that forms where a glacier or ice sheet flows down to a coastline and onto the ocean surface . Ice shelves are only found in Antarctica , Greenland , Canada and the Russian Arctic . The boundary between the floating ice shelf and the grounded ( resting on bedrock ) ice that feeds it is called the grounding line . The thickness of ice shelves ranges from about 100 to 1000 meters . In contrast , sea ice is formed on water , is much thinner ( typically less than 3m ) , and forms throughout the Arctic Ocean . It also is found in the Southern Ocean around the continent of Antarctica . Ice shelves are principally driven by gravity-driven pressure from the grounded ice . That flow continually moves ice from the grounding line to the seaward front of the shelf . The primary mechanism of mass loss from ice shelves was thought to have been iceberg calving , in which a chunk of ice breaks off from the seaward front of the shelf . A study by NASA and university researchers - published in the June 14 , 2013 issue of Science - found however that ocean waters melting the undersides of Antarctic ice shelves are responsible for most of the continent 's ice shelf mass loss . Typically , a shelf front will extend forward for years or decades between major calving events . Snow accumulation on the upper surface and melting from the lower surface are also important to the mass balance of an ice shelf . Ice may also accrete onto the underside of the shelf . The density contrast between glacial ice , which is denser than normal ice , and liquid water means that only about 1/9 of the floating ice is above the ocean surface . The world 's largest ice shelves are the Ross Ice Shelf and the Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf in Antarctica . The term captured ice shelf has been used for the ice over a subglacial lake , such as Lake Vostok .", "Geography of Antarctica The geography of Antarctica is dominated by its south polar location and , thus , by ice . The Antarctic continent , located in the Earth 's southern hemisphere , is centered asymmetrically around the South Pole and largely south of the Antarctic Circle . It is washed by the Southern ( or Antarctic ) Ocean or , depending on definition , the southern Pacific , Atlantic , and Indian Oceans . It has an area of more than 14 million km ² . Some 98 % of Antarctica is covered by the Antarctic ice sheet , the world 's largest ice sheet and also its largest reservoir of fresh water . Averaging at least 1.6 km thick , the ice is so massive that it has depressed the continental bedrock in some areas more than 2.5 km below sea level ; subglacial lakes of liquid water also occur ( e.g. , Lake Vostok ) . Ice shelves and rises populate the ice sheet on the periphery .", "Arctic ice pack The Arctic ice pack is the ice cover of the Arctic Ocean and its vicinity . The Arctic ice pack undergoes a regular seasonal cycle in which ice melts in spring and summer , reaches a minimum around mid-September , then increases during fall and winter . Summer ice cover in the Arctic is about 50 % of winter cover . Some of the ice survives from one year to the next . Currently 28 % of Arctic basin sea ice is multi-year ice , thicker than seasonal ice : up to 3 - thick over large areas , with ridges up to 20 m thick . As well as the regular seasonal cycle there has been an underlying trend of declining sea ice in the Arctic in recent decades .", "West Antarctica West Antarctica , or Lesser Antarctica , one of the two major regions of Antarctica , is the part of that continent that lies within the Western Hemisphere , and includes the Antarctic Peninsula . It is separated from East Antarctica by the Transantarctic Mountains and is covered by the West Antarctic Ice Sheet . It lies between the Ross Sea ( partly covered by the Ross Ice Shelf ) , and the Weddell Sea ( largely covered by the Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf ) . It may be considered a giant peninsula stretching from the South Pole towards the tip of South America . West Antarctica is largely covered by the Antarctic ice sheet , but there have been signs that climate change is having some effect and that this ice sheet may have started to shrink slightly . The coasts of the Antarctic Peninsula are the only parts of West Antarctica that become ( in summer ) ice-free . These constitute the Marielandia Antarctic tundra and have the warmest climate in Antarctica . The rocks are clad in mosses and lichens that can cope with the intense cold of winter and the short growing-season .", "Drift ice Drift ice is any sea ice other than fast ice , the latter being attached ( `` fastened '' ) to the shoreline or other fixed objects ( shoals , grounded icebergs , etc. ) . Drift ice is carried along by winds and sea currents , hence its name . When drift ice is driven together into a large single mass ( > 70 % coverage ) , it is called pack ice . Wind and currents can pile up that ice to form ridges up to several metres in height . These represent a challenge for icebreakers and offshore structures operating in cold oceans and seas . Drift ice consists of floes , individual pieces of sea ice 20 m or more across . There are names for various floe sizes : small -- 20 m to 100 m ; medium -- 100 m to 500 m ; big -- 500 m to 2000 m ; vast -- 2 km to 10 km ; and giant -- more than 10 km . Seasonal ice drift in the Sea of Okhotsk by the northern coast of Hokkaidō , Japan has become a tourist attraction of this area with harsh climate , and is one of the 100 Soundscapes of Japan . The Sea of Okhotsk is the southernmost area in the Northern hemisphere where drift ice may be observed . Drift ice affects : Security of navigation Climatic impact ( see Polar ice packs ) Geological impact Biosphere influence ( see Ecology of sea ice ) The two major ice packs are the Arctic ice pack and the Antarctic ice pack . The most important areas of pack ice are the polar ice packs formed from seawater in the Earth 's polar regions : the Arctic ice pack of the Arctic Ocean and the Antarctic ice pack of the Southern Ocean . Polar packs significantly change their size during seasonal changes of the year . Because of vast amounts of water added to or removed from the oceans and atmosphere , the behavior of polar ice packs has a significant impact on global changes in climate .", "Polar seas Polar seas is a collective term for the Arctic Ocean ( about 4-5 percent of Earth 's oceans ) and the southern part of the Southern Ocean ( south of Antarctic Convergence , about 10 percent of Earth 's oceans ) . In the coldest years , sea ice can cover around 13 percent of the Earth 's total surface at its maximum , but out of phase in the two hemispheres . The polar seas contain a huge biome with many organisms . Among the species that inhabit various polar seas and surrounding land areas are polar bear , penguin , reindeer ( caribou ) , muskox , wolverine , ermine , lemming , Arctic hare , Arctic ground squirrel , whale , harp seal , and walrus . These species have unique adaptations to the extreme conditions . Many might be endangered if they can not adapt to changing conditions . Contrary to popular opinion , the World Wildlife Fund studies for polar bears show that this species has prospered since 1950 , attaining five times the numbers found in 1950 . In general , Arctic ecosystems are relatively fragile and slow to recover from serious damage .", "Weddell Sea The Weddell Sea is part of the Southern Ocean and contains the Weddell Gyre . Its land boundaries are defined by the bay formed from the coasts of Coats Land and the Antarctic Peninsula . The easternmost point is Cape Norvegia at Princess Martha Coast , Queen Maud Land . To the east of Cape Norvegia is the King Haakon VII Sea . Much of the southern part of the sea is covered by a permanent , massive ice shelf field , the Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf ( not pack ice ) . The sea is contained within the two overlapping Antarctic territorial claims of Argentina , ( Argentine Antarctica ) and Britain ( British Antarctic Territory ) , and also resides partially within the territorial claim of Chile ( Antarctic Chilean Territory ) . At its widest the sea is around 2,000 km across , and its area is around 2.8 e6km2 . Various ice shelves , including the Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf , fringe the Weddell sea . Some of the ice shelves on the east side of the Antarctic Peninsula , which formerly covered roughly 3900 sqmi of the Weddell Sea , had completely disappeared by 2002 ; see . Whilst a dramatic event , the area that disappeared was far smaller than the total area of ice shelf that remains . The Weddell Sea has been deemed by scientists to have the clearest water of any sea . Dutch researchers from the German Alfred Wegener Institute , on finding a Secchi disc visible at a depth of 262 ft on 13 October 1986 , ascertained that the clarity corresponded to that of distilled water . In his 1950 book The White Continent , historian Thomas R. Henry writes : He continues for an entire chapter , relating myths of the green-haired merman sighted in the sea 's icy waters , the inability of crews to navigate a path to the coast until 1949 , and treacherous `` flash freezes '' that left ships , such as Ernest Shackleton 's Endurance , at the mercy of the ice floes .", "Fragilariopsis kerguelensis Fragilariopsis kerguelensis , is a pennate diatom native to the Southern Ocean . It has been characterized as `` the most abundant diatom in the Antarctic Seas '' .", "Ice age An ice age is a period of long-term reduction in the temperature of Earth 's surface and atmosphere , resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers . Within a long-term ice age , individual pulses of cold climate are termed `` glacial periods '' ( or alternatively `` glacials '' or `` glaciations '' or colloquially as `` ice age '' ) , and intermittent warm periods are called `` interglacials '' . In the terminology of glaciology , ice age implies the presence of extensive ice sheets in both northern and southern hemispheres . By this definition , we are in an interglacial period -- the Holocene -- of the ice age . The ice age began 2.6 million years ago at the start of the Pleistocene epoch , because the Greenland , Arctic , and Antarctic ice sheets still exist .", "Southern Ocean The Southern Ocean , also known as the Antarctic Ocean or the Austral Ocean , comprises the southernmost waters of the World Ocean , generally taken to be south of 60 ° S latitude and encircling Antarctica . As such , it is regarded as the fourth-largest of the five principal oceanic divisions : smaller than the Pacific , Atlantic , and Indian Oceans but larger than the Arctic Ocean . This ocean zone is where cold , northward flowing waters from the Antarctic mix with warmer subantarctic waters . By way of his voyages in the 1770s , Captain James Cook proved that waters encompassed the southern latitudes of the globe . Since then , geographers have disagreed on the Southern Ocean 's northern boundary or even existence , considering the waters part of the Pacific , Atlantic , and Indian Oceans , instead . This remains the current official policy of the International Hydrographic Organization ( IHO ) , since a 2000 revision of its definitions including the Southern Ocean as the waters south of the 60th parallel has not yet been adopted . Others regard the seasonally-fluctuating Antarctic Convergence as the natural boundary .", "Amundsen Sea The Amundsen Sea , an arm of the Southern Ocean off Marie Byrd Land in western Antarctica , lies between Cape Flying Fish ( the northwestern tip of Thurston Island ) to the east and Cape Dart on Siple Island to the west . Cape Flying Fish marks the boundary between the Amundsen Sea and the Bellingshausen Sea . West of Cape Dart there is no named marginal sea of the Southern Ocean between the Amundsen and Ross Seas . The Norwegian expedition of 1928 -- 1929 under Captain Nils Larsen named the body of water for the Norwegian polar explorer Roald Amundsen while exploring this area in February 1929 . The sea is mostly ice-covered , and the Thwaites Ice Tongue protrudes into it . The ice sheet which drains into the Amundsen Sea averages about 3 km in thickness ; roughly the size of the state of Texas , this area is known as the Amundsen Sea Embayment ( ASE ) ; it forms one of the three major ice-drainage basins of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet .", "Antarctic continental shelf The Antarctic continental shelf is a geological feature that underlies the Southern Ocean , surrounding the continent of Antarctica . The shelf is generally narrow and unusually deep , its edge lying at depths averaging 500 meters ( the global mean is around 100 meters ) , with troughs extending as far as 2000 meters deep . It is home to a thriving ecosystem of penguins and cold-water fish and crustaceans . Several countries have issued proclamations claiming ownership over parts of the shelf , including Chile ( since 1947 ) , Australia ( since 1953 ) , France , and Argentina .", "Antarctic Convergence The Antarctic Convergence is a curve continuously encircling Antarctica , varying in latitude seasonally , where cold , northward-flowing Antarctic waters meet the relatively warmer waters of the subantarctic . Antarctic waters predominantly sink beneath subantarctic waters , while associated zones of mixing and upwelling create a zone very high in marine productivity , especially for Antarctic krill . This line , like the Arctic tree line , is a natural boundary rather than an artificial one like a line of latitude . It not only separates two hydrological regions , but also separates areas of distinctive marine life associations and of different climates . There is no Arctic equivalent , due to the amount of land surrounding the northern polar region .", "Adaptation to global warming in Australia ", "Karoo Ice Age The Karoo Ice Age from 360 -- 260 million years ago ( Mya ) was the second major ice age of the Phanerozoic Eon . It is named after the tillite ( Dwyka Group ) found in the Karoo region of South Africa ( and adjacent areas ) , where evidence for this ice age was first clearly identified in the 19th century . The tectonic assembly of the continents of Euramerica ( later with the Uralian orogeny , into Laurasia ) and Gondwana into Pangaea , in the Hercynian-Alleghany Orogeny , made a major continental land mass within the Antarctic region , and the closure of the Rheic Ocean and Iapetus Ocean saw disruption of warm-water currents in the Panthalassa Ocean and Paleotethys Sea , which led to progressive cooling of summers , and the snowfields accumulating in winters , causing mountainous alpine glaciers to grow , and then spread out of highland areas , making continental glaciers which spread to cover much of Gondwana . At least two major periods of glaciation have been discovered : The first glacial period was associated with the Mississippian subperiod ( 359.2 -- 318.1 Mya ) : ice sheets expanded from a core in southern Africa and South America . The second glacial period was associated with the Pennsylvanian subperiod ( 318.1 -- 299 Mya ) ; ice sheets expanded from a core in Australia and India . The extent of ancient glaciations in Antarctica is not well known , because the present ice sheet hides the evidence .", "Sea ice growth processes Sea ice is a complex composite composed primarily of pure ice in various states of crystallization along with air bubbles and included pockets of brine . Understanding its growth processes is important both for climate scientists for use in simulations as well remote sensing specialists since the composition and microstructural properties of the ice ultimately affect how it interacts with electromagnetic radiation . Sea ice growth models for predicting the ice distribution and extent are also valuable for shipping concerns . An ice growth model can be combined with remote sensing measurements in an assimilation model as a means of generating more accurate ice charts .", "Cook Ice Shelf Cook Ice Shelf is an ice shelf about 55 mi wide , occupying a deep recession of the coastline between Cape Freshfield and Cape Hudson , to the east of Deakin Bay . This indentation was called Cook Bay by the Australasian Antarctic Expedition , 1911 -- 14 , under Douglas Mawson , who named it for Joseph Cook , Prime Minister of Australia in 1914 . The generic term has been amended , as the bay is permanently filled by an ice shelf . Scientists studying the effects of global warming have proposed that sea water encroachment in the area could destabilize a significant portion of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet .", "ANDRILL ANDRILL ( ANtarctic DRILLing Project ) is a scientific drilling project in Antarctica gathering information about past periods of global warming and cooling . The project involves scientists from Germany , Italy , New Zealand , and the United States . At two sites in 2006 and 2007 , ANDRILL team members drilled through ice , seawater , sediment and rock to a depth over more than 1,200 m and recovered a virtually continuous core record from the present to nearly 20 million years ago . The project is based at McMurdo Station in Antarctica . In studying the cores , ANDRILL scientists from various disciplines are gathering detailed information about past periods of global warming and cooling . A major goal of the project is to significantly improve the understanding of Antarctica 's impact on the world 's oceans currents and the atmosphere by reconstructing the behavior of Antarctic sea-ice , ice-shelves , glaciers and sea currents over tens of millions of years . Initial results imply rapid changes and dramatically different climates at various times on the southernmost continent.Quirin Scheirmeier , `` Sediment cores reveal Antarctica 's warmer past , '' Nature News , April 24 , 2008 . The $ 30 million project has achieved its operational goal of retrieving a continuous core record of the last 17 million years , filling crucial gaps left by previous drilling projects . Making use of knowledge gained through prior Antarctic drilling projects , ANDRILL employed novel techniques to reach record depths at its two drilling sites . Among the innovations deployed were a hot-water drilling system that allowed for easier ice-boring and a flexible drill pipe that could accommodate tidal oscillations and strong currents . On December 16 , 2006 , ANDRILL broke the previous record of 999.1 m set in 2000 by the Ocean Drilling Program 's drill ship , the Joides Resolution . The Antarctic-record 1285 m of core ANDRILL went on to recover represents geologic time to about 13 million years ago . In 2007 , drilling at the Southern McMurdo Sound , ANDRILL scientists recovered another 1138 meters ( 3733.6 ft ) of core . One goal in 2006 was to look at a period of around 3 to 5 million years ago in the Pliocene , which scientists know to be warmer . The team 's sedimentologists identified more than 60 cycles in which ice sheets or glaciers advanced and retreated across McMurdo Sound .", "Antarctic krill Antarctic krill ( Euphausia superba ) is a species of krill found in the Antarctic waters of the Southern Ocean . It is a small , swimming crustacean that lives in large schools , called swarms , sometimes reaching densities of 10,000 -- 30,000 individual animals per cubic metre . It feeds directly on minute phytoplankton , thereby using the primary production energy that the phytoplankton originally derived from the sun in order to sustain their pelagic ( open ocean ) life cycle . It grows to a length of 6 cm , weighs up to 2 g , and can live for up to six years . It is a key species in the Antarctic ecosystem and is , in terms of biomass , probably the most abundant animal species on the planet ( approximately 500 million tonnes , corresponding to 300 to 400 trillion individuals ) .", "Ice-albedo feedback Ice-albedo feedback ( or snow-albedo feedback ) is a positive feedback climate process where a change in the area of snow-covered land , ice caps , glaciers or sea ice alters the albedo . This change in albedo acts to reinforce the initial alteration in ice area . Cooling tends to increase ice cover and hence the albedo , reducing the amount of solar energy absorbed and leading to more cooling . Conversely , warming tends to decrease ice cover and hence the albedo , increasing the amount of solar energy absorbed , leading to more warming . The effect also applies on the small scale to snow-covered surfaces . A small amount of snow melt exposes darker ground which absorbs more radiation , leading to more snowmelt . The effect has mostly been discussed in terms of the recent trend of declining Arctic sea ice . Internal feedback processes may also potentially occur , as land ice melts and causes eustatic sea level rise , and also potentially induces earthquakes as a result of isostatic rebound , which further acts to disrupt glaciers , ice shelves , etc. .", "Human impact on marine life Human activities affect marine life and marine habitats through overfishing, habitat loss, the introduction of invasive species, ocean pollution, ocean acidification and ocean warming. These impact marine ecosystems and food webs and may result in consequences as yet unrecognised for the biodiversity and continuation of marine life forms.According to the IPCC (2019), since 1950 \"many marine species across various groups have undergone shifts in geographical range and seasonal activities in response to ocean warming, sea ice change and biogeochemical changes, such as oxygen loss, to their habitats.\"It has been estimated only 13% of the ocean area remains as wilderness, mostly in open ocean areas rather than along the coast.", "Sympagic ecology A sympagic environment is one where water exists mostly as a solid , ice , such as a polar ice cap or glacier . Solid sea ice is permeated with channels filled with salty brine . These briny channels and the sea ice itself have its ecology , referred to as `` sympagic ecology '' . Residents of temperate or tropical climates often assume , mistakenly , that ice and snow are devoid of life . In fact , a number of varieties of algae such as diatoms engage in photosynthesis in arctic and alpine regions of Earth . Other energy sources include Aeolian dust and pollen swept in from other regions . These ecosystems also include bacteria and fungi , as well as animals like flatworms and crustaceans . A number of sympagic worm species are commonly called ice worms . Additionally , the ocean has abundant plankton , and prolific algal blooms occur in the polar regions each summer as well as in high mountain lakes , bringing nutrients to those parts of the ice in contact with the water . In the spring , krill can scrape off the green lawn of ice algae from the underside of the pack ice .", "Sea ice thickness Sea ice thickness spatial extent , and open water within ice packs can vary rapidly in response to weather and climate . Sea ice concentration are measured by satellites , with the Special Sensor Microwave Imager / Sounder ( SSMIS ) , and the European Space Agency 's Cryosat-2 satellite to map the thickness and shape of the Earth 's polar ice cover . The sea ice volume is calculated with the Pan-Arctic Ice Ocean Modeling and Assimilation System ( PIOMAS ) , which blends satellite-observed data , such as sea ice concentrations into model calculations to estimate sea ice thickness and volume . Sea ice thickness determines a number of important fluxes such as heat flux between the air and ocean surface -- see below -- as well as salt and fresh water fluxes between the ocean since saline water ejects much of its salt content when frozen -- see sea ice growth processes . It is also important for navigators on icebreakers since there is an upper limit to the thickness of ice any ship can sail through .", "Duncan Wingham Duncan John Wingham ( born 12 October 1957 ) is a British physicist who is Professor of Climate Physics at University College London , and was the first Director of the Centre for Polar Observation & Modelling . He is chief executive of the Natural Environment Research Council and Principal Scientist for the CryoSat Satellite Mission . In the 1990s , Wingham was involved in a four-year satellite study of the Antarctic ice sheet . His conclusion then , and from later research , is that the Antarctic has contributed little to observed rising sea levels in the 20th century . However , he has also stated that `` it is possible that the consequences of global warming on sea level rise have been underestimated ... Other sources of rise must be underestimated . In particular it is possible that the effect of global warming on thermal expansion -LSB- on the oceans -RSB- is larger than we thought '' . In a 2005 interview Wingham stated '' -LSB- t -RSB- he Antarctic is to some extent insulated from global warming because to its north are zonal flows in the atmosphere and ocean , unimpeded by other landmasses ... I am not denying global warming . ''", "Antarctic oscillation The Antarctic oscillation ( AAO , to distinguish it from the Arctic oscillation or AO ) is a low-frequency mode of atmospheric variability of the southern hemisphere . It is also known as the Southern Annular Mode ( SAM ) . It is defined as a belt of westerly winds or low pressure surrounding Antarctica which moves north or south as its mode of variability . In its positive phase , the westerly wind belt contracts towards Antarctica , while its negative phase involves this belt moving towards the Equator . In 2014 , Dr Nerilie Abram used a network of temperature-sensitive ice core and tree growth records to reconstruct a 1000-year history of the Southern Annular Mode . This work suggests that the Southern Annular Mode is currently in its most extreme positive phase over at least the last 1000 years , and that recent positive trends in the SAM are attributed to increasing greenhouse gas levels and later stratospheric ozone depletion ." ]

[ "Phalodi Phalodi is a city and a municipality in Jodhpur district in the Indian state of Rajasthan . It is the headquarters for Phalodi tehsil . Phalodi is also called the `` salt city '' due to the concentration of a large number of salt industries located in the area . Phalodi is in the buffer zone of Thar Desert and often subject to extreme temperature conditions due to arid climate . It holds the record for the highest verified temperature recorded in India at 52 degrees Celsius ( 123.8 ° F ) on 20 May 2016 .", "2019 heat wave in India and Pakistan From mid-May to mid-June 2019, India and Pakistan had a severe heat wave. It was one of the hottest and longest heat waves since the two countries began recording weather reports. The highest temperatures occurred in Churu, Rajasthan, reaching up to 50.8 °C (123.4 °F), a near record high in India, missing the record of 51.0 °C (123.8 °F) set in 2016 by a fraction of a degree. As of 12 June 2019, 32 days are classified as parts of the heatwave, making it the second longest ever recorded.As a result of hot temperatures and inadequate preparation, more than 184 people died in the state of Bihar, with many more deaths reported in other parts of the country. In Pakistan, five infants died after extreme heat exposure.The heat wave coincided with extreme droughts and water shortages across India and Pakistan. In mid-June, reservoirs that previously supplied Chennai ran dry, depriving millions. The water crisis was exacerbated by high temperatures and lack of preparation, causing protests and fights that sometimes led to killing and stabbing.", "Abadan, Iran Abadan ( آبادان Ābādān ) is a city in and the capital of Abadan County , Khuzestan Province which is located in central west of Iran . It lies on Abadan Island ( 68 km long , 3 -- 19 km or 2 -- 12 miles wide ) , the island is bounded in the west by the Arvand waterway and to the east by the Bahmanshir outlet of the Karun River ( the Shatt al-Arab ) , 53 km from the Persian Gulf , near the Iraqi-Iran border . '' '", "2010 Northern Hemisphere heat waves The 2010 Northern Hemisphere summer heat waves included severe heat waves that impacted most of the United States, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, China, Hong Kong, North Africa and the European continent as a whole, along with parts of Canada, Russia, Indochina, South Korea and Japan during May, June, July, and August 2010. The first phase of the global heatwaves was caused by a moderate El Niño event, which lasted from June 2009 to May 2010. The first phase lasted only from April 2010 to June 2010, and caused only moderate above average temperatures in the areas affected. But it also set new record high temperatures for most of the area affected, in the Northern Hemisphere. The second phase (the main, and most devastating phase) was caused by a very strong La Niña event, which lasted from June 2010 to June 2011. According to meteorologists, the 2010–11 La Niña event was one of the strongest La Niña events ever observed. That same La Niña event also had devastating effects in the Eastern states of Australia. The second phase lasted from June 2010 to October 2010, caused severe heat waves, and multiple record-breaking temperatures. The heatwaves began on April 2010, when strong anticyclones began to develop, over most of the affected regions, in the Northern Hemisphere. The heatwaves ended in October 2010, when the powerful anticyclones over most of the affected areas dissipated. The heat wave during the summer of 2010 was at its worst in June, over the Eastern United States, Middle East, Eastern Europe and European Russia, and over Northeastern China and southeastern Russia. June 2010 marked the fourth consecutive warmest month on record globally, at 0.66 °C (1.22 °F) above average, while the period April–June was the warmest ever recorded for land areas in the Northern Hemisphere, at 1.25 °C (2.25 °F) above average. The previous record for the global average temperature in June was set in 2005 at 0.66 °C (1.19 °F), and the previous warm record for April–June over Northern Hemisphere land areas was 1.16 °C (2.09 °F), set in 2007. The strongest of the anticyclones, the one situated over Siberia, registered a maximum high pressure of 1040 millibars. The weather caused forest fires in China, where three in a team of 300 died fighting a fire that broke out in the Binchuan County of Dali, as Yunnan suffered the worst drought in 60 years by February 17. A major drought was reported across the Sahel as early as January. In August, a section of the Petermann Glacier tongue connecting northern Greenland, the Nares Strait and the Arctic Ocean broke off, the biggest ice shelf in the Arctic to detach in 48 years. By the time the heatwaves had ended in late October 2010, about $500 billion (2011 USD) of damage was done, in the Northern Hemisphere alone. The World Meteorological Organization stated that the heat waves, droughts and flooding events fit with predictions based on global warming for the 21st century, include those based on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's 2007 4th Assessment Report. Some climatologists argue that these weather events would not have happened if the atmospheric carbon dioxide was at pre-industrial levels." ]

[ "World's tallest thermometer The World 's Tallest Thermometer is a landmark located in Baker , California , USA . It is an electric sign that commemorates the record 134 degrees Fahrenheit ( 57 degrees Celsius ) recorded in nearby Death Valley on July 10 , 1913 . The sign weighs 76812 lb and is held together by 125 cuyd of concrete . It stands 134 ft tall and is capable of displaying a maximum temperature of 134 F , both of which are a reference to the temperature record .", "1911 Eastern North America heat wave The 1911 Eastern North America heat wave was an 11-day heat wave in New York City and other Eastern cities that killed 380 people starting on July 4 , 1911 . In Nashua , New Hampshire , the temperature peaked at 106 degrees Fahrenheit ( 41 C ) . In New York City , 146 people and 600 horses died . In Boston , the temperature rose to 104 ° ( 40 ° C ) on July 4 , an all-time record high that still stands today .", "List of extreme weather records in Pakistan The weather extremes in Pakistan include high and low temperatures , Heaviest rainfall and flooding . The highest temperature ever recorded in Pakistan is 54 ° C which was recorded in Turbat , Balochistan 30 May 2017 It was not only the hottest temperature ever recorded in Pakistan but also the hottest reliably measured temperature ever recorded on the continent of Asia . and the fourth-highest temperature ever recorded on earth . The second-highest temperature ever recorded in Pakistan is 53 C which was recorded in Larkana , Sindh on 26 May 2010 . It is hottest city in Pakistan , as well as the second hottest city in the world , but it is second-hottest place in Pakistan and fifth-hottest place of world . It is fifth-highest temperature ever recorded on Earth . The highest rainfall of 620 mm was recorded in Islamabad during 24 hours on 23 July 2001 . The record-breaking rain fell in just 10 hours .", "2017 Pakistan heat wave In April 2017 , a severe heat wave with temperatures as high as 51 ° C ( 124 ° F ) hit Pakistan , especially its southern parts . This heat wave broke the old temperature records of many cities in the country for the month of April . Larkana , a city in the southern province of Sindh , experienced the highest maximum temperature of 51.0 ° C on 20 April , breaking the previous day 's record of 50 ° C.", "2002 India heat wave More than 1,030 people were killed in the 2002 heatwave in south India . Most of the dead were poor and elderly and a majority of deaths occurred in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh . In districts that were impacted most , the heat was so severe that ponds and rivers evaporated and in those same districts birds had fallen from the sky and animals were collapsing from the intense heat . It is said by officials to be the worst heat wave in four years . The relief commissioner of Andhra Pradesh , Rosaiah , said that the maximum number of 172 deaths related to heat took place in the East Godavari district . There were also 166 deaths in Prakasam and 144 deaths in West Godavari . Unusually high temperatures were detected across India during April of the year 2002 . In addition , this heat wave over northern zones of India lasted from the middle of April to the third week in May , thus , causing these fatalities . On May 10 the highest temperature recorded in the region of Gannavaram ( Vijayawada ) was 49 degrees Celsius ( 120.2 degrees Fahrenheit ) . According to the BBC News , `` Heatwaves are defined as periods of abnormally high temperatures and usually occur between March and June in India . May is the country 's hottest month , with an average maximum temperature of 41C ( 104F ) in Delhi . Longer , more severe heatwaves are becoming increasingly frequent globally . Intense heat can cause cramps , exhaustion and heat stroke . Thousands of people have died across India during heatwaves in 2002 and 2003 . '' The heatwaves also affected the northern states of Punjab , Haryana , Orissa and 100 people suffered from heat-related sickness . 2010 Indian heatwave", "1990 United Kingdom heat wave The 1990 heat wave in the United Kingdom was a particularly severe heat event with temperatures hitting record highs of 37.1 C on 3 August . The temperature was recorded at Cheltenham , Gloucestershire , and was a full degree Celsius above the previous record , set in 1911 . However , this record was subsequently broken in the 2003 heatwave .", "2007 Asian heat wave The 2007 Asian heat wave affected the South Asian countries of India , Pakistan , Bangladesh , and Nepal , as well as Russia , Japan and the People 's Republic of China . The heat wave ran during the months of May and June , which continued to September in Japan .", "Gotvand Gotvand is a city in and the capital of Gotvand County , Khuzestan Province , Iran . At the 2006 census , its population was 21,428 , in 4,422 families . Gotvand holds share-record for highest temperature recorded in Iran with 53,0 ° C ( July 17 , 2014 ) , tying the record set at Dehloran in July 2011 . The Lower and Upper Gotvand Dams are located northeast of the city on the Karun River .", "2013 extreme weather events The 2013 extreme weather events included several all-time temperature records in Northern and Southern Hemisphere . The February extent of snow cover in Eurasia and North America was above average , while the extent of Arctic ice in the same month was 4,5 % below the 1981 -- 2010 average . The Northern Hemisphere weather extremes have been linked to the melting of Arctic sea ice , which alters atmospheric circulation in a way that leads to more snow and ice . By January 11 , 233 weather-related deaths were reported in India . Elsewhere , particularly in Russia , the Czech Republic and the United Kingdom , low temperatures affected wildlife , delaying bird breeding and disrupting the bird migration . On January 10 Bangladesh faced the lowest temperature since country 's independence , at 3.0 ° C in Saidpur . While Finland and most of Northern European countries got the record high , and even the highest temperatures at Europe during May and June , Western - and Middle Europe faced much cooler weather and even their wettest May and June ever . During summer prolonged heat waves in the Northern Hemisphere set new record high temperatures . On March 24 , 2014 , the secretary-general of the World Meteorological Organization Michel Jarraud announced that `` many of the extreme events of 2013 were consistent with what we would expect as a result of human-induced climate change '' .", "2009 Pacific Northwest heat wave The 2009 Pacific Northwest heat wave was a heat wave that affected the Pacific Northwest region of the United States and Canada in late July 2009 , particularly areas west of the Cascade Mountains in British Columbia , Oregon and Washington . The heat wave set many new heat records across the area , and broke the previous all-time record high temperature in Seattle by three Fahrenheit degrees ( 1.7 Celsius degrees ) . Because the temperatures reached in the heat wave are rare in the Pacific Northwest , few residents own air conditioners .", "Qaisumah Qaisumah or Al Qaysumah is a village belonging to the city of Hafar Al-Batin , in Eastern Province ( also known as Ash Sharqiyah ) , Saudi Arabia . It is located at around . The weather here is extreme with rainfall ranging between 5 -- 10 mm . Summer temperatures ranges from 45-51 degrees Celsius . Whereas the winter temperatures may go below freezing point ( between -1 to 6 degrees Celsius ) , with the lowest temperature recorded is -6 degree Celsius . The town has 100 % Islam religion with no minorities in and around the town . -LSB- Citation needed -RSB-", "Degree of frost A degree of frost is a non-standard unit of measure for air temperature meaning degrees below melting point ( also known as `` freezing point '' ) of water ( 0 degrees Celsius or 32 degrees Fahrenheit ) . `` Degree '' in this case can refer to degree Celsius or Fahrenheit . When based on Celsius , 0 degrees of frost is the same as 0 ° C , and any other value is simply the negative of the Celsius temperature . When based on Fahrenheit , the conversion is a bit more complicated , as 0 degrees of frost is equal to 32 ° F. Conversion formulas : T -LSB- degrees of frost -RSB- = 32 ° F - T -LSB- ° F -RSB- T -LSB- ° F -RSB- = 32 ° F - T ( degrees of frost ) The term `` degrees of frost '' was widely used in accounts of the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration in the early 20th century . The term appears frequently in Ernest Shackleton 's books South and Heart of the Antarctic , Apsley Cherry-Garrard 's account of his Antarctic adventures in The Worst Journey in the World ( wherein he recorded 109.5 ( Fahrenheit ) degrees of frost , -- 77.5 ° F or -- 60.8 ° C ) , as well as Admiral Richard E. Byrd 's book Alone .", "0° 0 ° or 0 degrees may refer to : prime meridian , longitude equator , latitude freezing point of water ( Celsius ) absolute zero , the lower limit of the thermodynamic temperature scale 0 ° Fahrenheit , approximately -17.78 ° Celsius", "Self-cleaning oven A self-cleaning oven is an oven which uses high temperature ( approximately 500 degrees Celsius or 900 degrees Fahrenheit ) to burn off leftovers from baking , without the use of any chemical agents .", "List of extreme temperatures in Germany The following table lists the highest and lowest temperatures recorded in each state in Germany , in both Fahrenheit and Celsius .", "List of extreme temperatures in Italy The following table lists the highest and lowest temperatures recorded in each region in Italy , in both Fahrenheit and Celsius . * Also on earlier date or dates in that region or city .", "2013 Southwestern United States heat wave The 2013 Southwestern United States heat wave occurred in late June to early July 2013 , lasting from around four days to a week locally . Daily highs were up to 15 ° C ( 26 ° F ) above average , with relative humidity below 15 % . Many locations experienced temperatures over 45 ° C ( 113 ° F ) . 46 monthly record high temperatures were reached or broken , and 21 records for the highest overnight temperatures were reached or broken .", "U.S. state temperature extremes The following table lists the highest and lowest temperatures recorded in each state in the United States , in both Fahrenheit and Celsius during the past two centuries . * Also on earlier date or dates in that state", "U.S. state and territory temperature extremes The following table lists the highest and lowest temperatures recorded in the 50 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, and the 5 inhabited U.S. territories during the past two centuries, in both Fahrenheit and Celsius. If two dates have the same temperature record (e.g. record low of 40°F in 1911 in Aibonito and 1966 in San Sebastian in Puerto Rico), only the most recent date is shown.", "Effects of global warming on South Asia ", "2015 Pakistan heat wave A severe heat wave with temperatures as high as 49 C struck southern Pakistan in June 2015 . It caused the deaths of about 2,000 people from dehydration and heat stroke , mostly in Sindh province and its capital city , Karachi . The heat wave also claimed the lives of zoo animals and countless agricultural livestock . The event followed a separate heat wave in neighboring India that killed 2,500 people in May 2015 .", "Stratopause The stratopause ( formerly Mesopeak ) is the level of the atmosphere which is the boundary between two layers : the stratosphere and the mesosphere . In the stratosphere the temperature increases with altitude , and the stratopause is the region where a maximum in the temperature occurs . This atmospheric feature is not only associated with Earth : it occurs on any other planet or moon that has an atmosphere as well . On Earth , the stratopause is 50 to high above the Earth 's surface . The atmospheric pressure is around 1/1000 of the pressure at sea level . The temperature in the stratopause is -15 degrees Celsius ( 5 degrees Fahrenheit ) .", "Climate of Nawabshah The climate of Nawabshah is hot to extremely hot during the summers and cold/foggy during the winters . The highest temperatures each year in Pakistan , typically rising to above 50 ° C , are usually recorded in Nawabshah District and Sibbi from May to August . On 26 May 2010 record breaking severe heat wave hit the city and the mercury level reached 52 ° C which is the highest temperature ever recorded in Nawabshah . The climate is generally dry and hot , but sometimes the temperature falls to 0 ° C. On January 7 , 2011 temperatures dropped to 4 ° C in the city .", "2011 North American heat wave The 2011 North American heat wave was a deadly summer 2011 heat wave that affected the Southern Plains , Midwestern United States , Eastern Canada , Northeastern United States , and much of the Eastern Seaboard , and had Heat index/Humidex readings reaching upwards of 131 ° F. On a national basis , the heat wave was the hottest in 75 years .", "2013 heatwave in Ireland and the United Kingdom The 2013 heat wave in the United Kingdom and Ireland was a period of unusually hot weather primarily in July 2013 , with isolated warm days in June and August . A prolonged high pressure system over Britain and Ireland caused higher than average temperatures for 19 consecutive days in July , reaching 33.5 ° C at Heathrow and Northolt . Following a brief period of cooler weather at the end of July , temperatures temporarily rose again , peaking at 34.1 ° C on 1 August in the United Kingdom , the warmest the country had seen since July 2006 , and 31.0 ° C in Ireland . At 19 days , the July heatwave was the longest continuous period of hot weather in the UK since August 1997 . However , in the general sense , Britain did not have an overall exceptional summer ; the country experienced cool low pressure systems brought by an unseasonably low latitude by the jet stream for the 6 summers previous , which made the summer of 2013 more `` welcome '' and feel warmer than other summers . The historical records suggests `` Using the CET record ( for June , July & August ) , the average temperature by that measure was 16.3 degC ( Provisional ) : neither June nor August was exceptionally warm , so this value does not ` rate ' too highly when set against other very warm summer seasons . '' With June being a cool month and August being an Average month , in terms of temperatures the English Central summer temperature ended up being on the average side set up against previous summers since the CET series began in 1659 .", "Celsius Celsius , also known as centigrade , is a metric scale and unit of measurement for temperature . As an SI derived unit , it is used by most countries in the world . It is named after the Swedish astronomer Anders Celsius ( 1701 -- 1744 ) , who developed a similar temperature scale . The degree Celsius ( ° C ) can refer to a specific temperature on the Celsius scale as well as a unit to indicate a temperature interval , a difference between two temperatures or an uncertainty . Before being renamed to honour Anders Celsius in 1948 , the unit was called centigrade , from the Latin centum , which means 100 , and gradus , which means steps . The current scale is based on 0 ° for the freezing point of water and 100 ° for the boiling point of water at 1 atm pressure following a change introduced by Jean-Pierre Christin to reverse the Celsius thermometer scale ( from water boiling at 0 degrees and ice melting at 100 degrees ) . This scale is widely taught in schools today . By international agreement the unit `` degree Celsius '' and the Celsius scale are currently defined by two different temperatures : absolute zero , and the triple point of Vienna Standard Mean Ocean Water ( VSMOW ) , a specially purified water . This definition also precisely relates the Celsius scale to the Kelvin scale , which defines the SI base unit of thermodynamic temperature with symbol K. Absolute zero , the lowest temperature possible , is defined as being precisely 0 K and − 273.15 ° C . The temperature of the triple point of water is defined as exactly 273.16 K at 611.657 Pa pressure . Thus , the magnitude of one degree Celsius and that of one kelvin are exactly the same and the difference between the two scales ' null points is precisely 273.15 degrees ( and ) .", "Kelvin The kelvin is a unit of measure for temperature based upon an absolute scale . It is one of the seven base units in the International System of Units ( SI ) and is assigned the unit symbol K . The Kelvin scale is an absolute , thermodynamic temperature scale using as its null point absolute zero , the temperature at which all thermal motion ceases in the classical description of thermodynamics . The kelvin is defined as the fraction of the thermodynamic temperature of the triple point of water ( exactly 0.01 ° C or 32.018 ° F ) . In other words , it is defined such that the triple point of water is exactly 273.16 K. The Kelvin scale is named after the Belfast-born , Glasgow University engineer and physicist William Lord Kelvin ( 1824 -- 1907 ) , who wrote of the need for an `` absolute thermometric scale '' . Unlike the degree Fahrenheit and degree Celsius , the kelvin is not referred to or typeset as a degree . The kelvin is the primary unit of temperature measurement in the physical sciences , but is often used in conjunction with the Celsius degree , which has the same magnitude . The definition implies that absolute zero ( 0 K ) is equivalent to -273.15 C.", "Cold inflation pressure Cold inflation pressure is the inflation pressure of tires before the car is driven and the tires warmed up . Recommended cold inflation pressure is displayed on the owner 's manual and on the placard ( or sticker ) attached to the vehicle door edge , pillar , glovebox door or fuel filler flap . Drivers are encouraged to make sure their tires are adequately inflated , as suboptimal tire pressure can greatly reduce fuel economy , increase emissions , increased wear on the edges of the tire surface , and can lead to premature failure of the tire . Excessive pressure , on the other hand , may lead to impact-breaks , decrease braking performance , and cause uneven wear ( i.e. greater wear on the center part of the tire surface ) . Tire pressure is commonly measured in psi in the imperial and US customary systems , bar , which is deprecated but accepted for use with SI or the kilopascal ( kPa ) , which is an SI unit . Ambient temperature affects the cold tire pressure . Absolute cold tire pressure ( gauge pressure plus atmospheric pressure ) varies directly with the absolute temperature , measured in kelvins . From physics , the ideal gas law states that PV = nRT where P is absolute pressure , T is absolute temperature ( Kelvin ) , V is the volume ( assumed to be relatively constant in the case of a tire ) , and nR is constant for a given number of molecules of gas . To understand this , assume the tire was filled when it was 300 kelvin ( 80 degrees Fahrenheit ) . If the temperature varies 10 % , i.e. by 30 kelvin ( also 30 Celsius degrees or 54 Fahrenheit degrees ) , the pressure varies 10 % . So if the tire was filled at 80F to 32 psi ( or 47 psi absolute when we add atmospheric pressure ) , the change would be 4.7 psi for this 30 Celsius degree change , or .16 psi per Celsius degree or .1 psi per Fahrenheit degree or 1 psi for every 10 Fahrenheit degrees . Using SI units , that would be 1.1 kPa per kelvin . Hence , for a tire filled to 32 psi , the approximation usually made is that within the range of normal atmospheric temperatures and pressures : Tire pressure increases 1 psi for each 10 Fahrenheit degree increase in temperature , or conversely decreases 1 psi for each 10 Fahrenheit degree decrease in temperature and in SI units , tire pressure increases 1.1 kPa for each 1 Celsius degree increase in temperature , or conversely decreases 1.1 kPa for each 1 Celsius degree decrease in temperature . For tires that need inflation greater than 32psi it might be easier to use a Rule of Thumb of 2 % pressure change for a change of 10 degrees Fahrenheit . From the table below , one can see that these are only approximations .", "Heat wave A heat wave is a prolonged period of excessively hot weather , which may be accompanied by high humidity , especially in oceanic climate countries . While definitions vary , a heat wave is measured relative to the usual weather in the area and relative to normal temperatures for the season . Temperatures that people from a hotter climate consider normal can be termed a heat wave in a cooler area if they are outside the normal climate pattern for that area . The term is applied both to hot weather variations and to extraordinary spells of hot which may occur only once a century . Severe heat waves have caused catastrophic crop failures , thousands of deaths from hyperthermia , and widespread power outages due to increased use of air conditioning . A heat wave is considered extreme weather , and a danger because heat and sunlight may overheat the human body .", "Steam room A steam room is an enclosed space with large amounts of high-temperature steam , creating a high-humidity environment . People sit in this room in a similar way to a sauna ( conversely a hot , but dry atmosphere ) , for relaxation and purported benefits to health and well-being . They can be commonly found in gyms , sanitariums and health resorts . Smaller , standalone steamroom enclosures can also be found in residential buildings . Steam rooms are commonly maintained at a temperature of 41 degrees Celsius ( 105 Fahrenheit ) or above , with a high humidity of around 100 % adding to the sensation . In comparison , saunas are maintained at a much higher temperature due to the lack of humidity in the air ( often 70-90 degrees Celsius , 158-194 Fahrenheit ) . The amount of power required for steam generation varies depending on construction style .", "Dry-bulb temperature The dry-bulb temperature ( DBT ) is the temperature of air measured by a thermometer freely exposed to the air but shielded from radiation and moisture . DBT is the temperature that is usually thought of as air temperature , and it is the true thermodynamic temperature . It indicates the amount of heat in the air and is directly proportional to the mean kinetic energy of the air molecules . Temperature is usually measured in degrees Celsius ( ° C ) , Kelvin ( K ) , or Fahrenheit ( ° F ) . Unlike wet bulb temperature , dry bulb temperature does not indicate the amount of moisture in the air . In construction , it is an important consideration when designing a building for a certain climate . Nall called it one of `` the most important climate variables for human comfort and building energy efficiency . '' DBT is an important variable in Psychrometrics , being the horizontal axis of a Psychrometric chart .", "Extreme weather events of 535–536 The extreme weather events of 535 -- 536 were the most severe and protracted short-term episodes of cooling in the Northern Hemisphere in the last 2000 years . The event is thought to have been caused by an extensive atmospheric dust veil , possibly resulting from a large volcanic eruption in the tropics , or debris from space impacting the Earth . Its effects were widespread , causing unseasonal weather , crop failures and famines worldwide ." ]

[ "James Hansen James Edward Hansen ( born 29 March 1941 ) is an American adjunct professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Columbia University . He is best known for his research in climatology , his 1988 Congressional testimony on climate change that helped raise broad awareness of global warming , and his advocacy of action to avoid dangerous climate change . In recent years he has become a climate activist to mitigate the effects of climate change , on a few occasions leading to his arrest . In 2000 , Hansen advanced an alternative view of global warming over the last 100 years , arguing that during that time frame the negative forcing via aerosols and the positive forcing via largely balanced each other out , and that the 0.74 ± 0.18 ° C net rise in average global temperatures could mostly be explained by greenhouse gases other than carbon dioxide , such as methane and chlorofluorocarbons . However , even then he wrote `` the future balance of forcings is likely to shift toward dominance of CO2 over aerosols ''", "Greenhouse gas A greenhouse gas ( abbrev . GHG ) is a gas in an atmosphere that absorbs and emits radiation within the thermal infrared range . This process is the fundamental cause of the greenhouse effect . The primary greenhouse gases in Earth 's atmosphere are water vapor , carbon dioxide , methane , nitrous oxide , and ozone . Without greenhouse gases , the average temperature of Earth 's surface would be about -18 ° C , rather than the present average of 15 ° C . In the Solar System , the atmospheres of Venus , Mars and Titan also contain gases that cause a greenhouse effect . Human activities since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution ( taken as the year 1750 ) have produced a 40 % increase in the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide , from 280 ppm in 1750 to 406 ppm in early 2017 . This increase has occurred despite the uptake of a large portion of the emissions by various natural `` sinks '' involved in the carbon cycle . Anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions ( i.e. , emissions produced by human activities ) come from combustion of fossil fuels , principally coal , oil , and natural gas , along with deforestation , soil erosion and animal agriculture . It has been estimated that if greenhouse gas emissions continue at the present rate , Earth 's surface temperature could exceed historical values as early as 2047 , with potentially harmful effects on ecosystems , biodiversity and the livelihoods of people worldwide . Recent estimates suggest that on the current emissions trajectory the Earth could pass a threshold of 2 ° C global warming , which the United Nations ' IPCC designated as the upper limit to avoid `` dangerous '' global warming , by 2036 .", "An Inconvenient Truth An Inconvenient Truth is a 2006 American documentary film directed by Davis Guggenheim about former United States Vice President Al Gore 's campaign to educate citizens about global warming via a comprehensive slide show that , by his own estimate made in the film , he has given more than a thousand times . The idea to document his efforts came from producer Laurie David , who saw his presentation at a town-hall meeting on global warming , which coincided with the opening of The Day After Tomorrow . Laurie David was so inspired by Gore 's slide show that she , with producer Lawrence Bender , met with Guggenheim to adapt the presentation into a film . Premiering at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival and opening in New York City and Los Angeles on May 24 , 2006 , the documentary was a critical and box office success , winning two Academy Awards for Best Documentary Feature and Best Original Song . The film grossed $ 24 million in the U.S. and $ 26 million at the international box office , becoming the tenth highest grossing documentary film to date in the United States . Since the film 's release , An Inconvenient Truth has been credited for raising international public awareness of global warming and reenergizing the environmental movement . The documentary has also been included in science curricula in schools around the world , which has spurred some controversy . A sequel to the film , titled An Inconvenient Sequel : Truth to Power , will be released on July 28 , 2017 .", "Global warming Global warming , also referred to as climate change , is the observed century-scale rise in the average temperature of the Earth 's climate system and its related effects . Multiple lines of scientific evidence show that the climate system is warming . Many of the observed changes since the 1950s are unprecedented in the instrumental temperature record which extends back to the mid 19th century , and in paleoclimate proxy records over thousands of years . In 2013 , the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) Fifth Assessment Report concluded that `` It is extremely likely that human influence has been the dominant cause of the observed warming since the mid-20th century . '' The largest human influence has been emission of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide , methane and nitrous oxide . Climate model projections summarized in the report indicated that during the 21st century the global surface temperature is likely to rise a further 0.3 to for their lowest emissions scenario and 2.6 to for the highest emissions scenario . These findings have been recognized by the national science academies of the major industrialized nations and are not disputed by any scientific body of national or international standing . Future climate change and associated impacts will differ from region to region around the globe . Anticipated effects include warming global temperature , rising sea levels , changing precipitation , and expansion of deserts in the subtropics . Warming is expected to be greater over land than over the oceans and greatest in the Arctic , with the continuing retreat of glaciers , permafrost and sea ice . Other likely changes include more frequent extreme weather events including heat waves , droughts , heavy rainfall with floods and heavy snowfall ; ocean acidification ; and species extinctions due to shifting temperature regimes . Effects significant to humans include the threat to food security from decreasing crop yields and the abandonment of populated areas due to rising sea levels . Because the climate system has a large `` inertia '' and greenhouse gases will stay in the atmosphere for a long time , many of these effects will not only exist for decades or centuries , but will persist for tens of thousands of years . Possible societal responses to global warming include mitigation by emissions reduction , adaptation to its effects , building systems resilient to its effects , and possible future climate engineering . Most countries are parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change ( UNFCCC ) , whose ultimate objective is to prevent dangerous anthropogenic climate change . Parties to the UNFCCC have agreed that deep cuts in emissions are required and that global warming should be limited to well below 2.0 C-change relative to pre-industrial levels , with efforts made to limit warming to 1.5 C-change . Public reactions to global warming and concern about its effects are also increasing . A global 2015 Pew Research Center report showed a median of 54 % consider it `` a very serious problem '' . There are significant regional differences , with Americans and Chinese ( whose economies are responsible for the greatest annual CO2 emissions ) among the least concerned ." ]

[ "List of countries by carbon dioxide emissions per capita This is a list of countries by carbon dioxide emissions per capita from 1990 through 2011 . All data was calculated by the US Department of Energy 's Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center ( CDIAC ) , mostly based on data collected from country agencies by the United Nations Statistics Division . Countries are ranked by their metric tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions per capita in 2009 . The data only considers carbon dioxide emissions from the burning of fossil fuels and cement manufacture , but not emissions from land use such as deforestation . Emissions from international shipping or bunker fuels are also not included in national figures , which can make a huge difference for small countries with important ports . The carbon dioxide emissions of a country are only an indicator of one greenhouse gas . For a more complete idea of how a country influences climate change , gases such as methane and nitrous oxide should be taken into account . This is particularly so in agricultural economies . Carbon dioxide emissions are also known for earlier periods . A study of a global sample of twelve countries provide estimates for emissions since 1800 and explores the long-run drivers of carbon dioxide emissions by decomposing changes in carbon emissions into population , income , technological and energy mix changes .", "Carbon neutrality Carbon neutrality , or having a net zero carbon footprint , refers to achieving net zero carbon emissions by balancing a measured amount of carbon released with an equivalent amount sequestered or offset , or buying enough carbon credits to make up the difference . It is used in the context of carbon dioxide releasing processes associated with transportation , energy production , and industrial processes such as production of carbon neutral fuel . The carbon neutrality concept may be extended to include other greenhouse gases ( GHG ) measured in terms of their carbon dioxide equivalence ( e ) -- the impact a GHG has on the atmosphere expressed in the equivalent amount of CO2 . The term `` climate neutral '' reflects the broader inclusiveness of other greenhouse gases in climate change , even if CO2 is the most abundant , encompassing other greenhouse gases regulated by the Kyoto Protocol , namely : methane ( CH4 ) , nitrous oxide ( N2O ) , hydrofluorocarbons ( HFC ) , perfluorocarbons ( PFC ) , and sulphur hexafluoride ( SF6 ) . Both terms are used interchangeably throughout this article . The best practice for organizations and individuals seeking carbon neutral status entails reducing and/or avoiding carbon emissions first so that only unavoidable emissions are offset . Carbon neutral status is commonly achieved in two ways : Balancing carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere from burning fossil fuels , with renewable energy that creates a similar amount of useful energy , so that the carbon emissions are compensated , or alternatively using only renewable energies that do n't produce any carbon dioxide ( also called a post-carbon economy ) . Carbon offsetting by paying others to remove or sequester 100 % of the carbon dioxide emitted from the atmosphere -- for example by planting trees -- or by funding ` carbon projects ' that should lead to the prevention of future greenhouse gas emissions , or by buying carbon credits to remove ( or ` retire ' ) them through carbon trading . While carbon offsetting is often used alongside energy conservation measures to minimize energy use , the practice is criticized by some . The concept may be extended to include other greenhouse gases measured in terms of their carbon dioxide equivalence . The phrase was the New Oxford American Dictionary 's Word Of The Year for 2006 .", "Carbon shifting Carbon shifting is the tendency for an individual to increase carbon dioxide emissions in one area of their lifestyle as a result of reducing emissions elsewhere . ` Carbon shifting ' might more accurately be termed ` domestic carbon shifting ' to distinguish it from carbon leakage which has occasionally also been called carbon shifting . Many attempts to encourage people to change aspects of their lifestyle and so reduce their carbon dioxide emissions make a virtue of the financial savings . In the United Kingdom the Energy Saving Trust lists various ways of saving energy , e.g. `` Energy saving light bulbs last up to 12 times longer than ordinary lightbulbs and can save you # 9 per year in electricity ( and 38 kilograms of ) or # 100 over the bulbs lifetime . '' However , whether or not carbon dioxide emissions are ultimately reduced will depend on how that saved money is spent . If the amount of money saved through walking to work is eventually spent on an extra city break involving air travel the net emissions may well increase . The problem of carbon shifting may undermine many voluntary piecemeal attempts at reducing carbon dioxide emissions . However , carbon shifting is not inherently negative . If a person can be persuaded to avoid activities that produce a high level of emissions for a given financial outlay then they may shift to activities that produce lower emissions for that same amount of money . Positive carbon shifting might be encouraged through the use of a carbon tax or the implementation of a Personal carbon trading scheme . The phenomenon of carbon shifting also suggests that for some comparative purposes the most appropriate measure of emissions would be emissions per unit of currency rather than total emissions . An activity that produces slightly lower emissions at a significantly lower cost may not necessarily be the best activity to promote as it leaves the individual with more money to spend on other emitting activities . Similarly , if two passengers are traveling on the same aircraft they might be deemed to be emitting the same total amount of carbon dioxide . However , if one of them paid a lower fare then , by this measure , they would be deemed to be damaging the environment more .", "Carbon credit A carbon credit is a generic term for any tradable certificate or permit representing the right to emit one tonne of carbon dioxide or the mass of another greenhouse gas with a carbon dioxide equivalent ( tCO2e ) equivalent to one tonne of carbon dioxide . Carbon credits and carbon markets are a component of national and international attempts to mitigate the growth in concentrations of greenhouse gases ( GHGs ) . One carbon credit is equal to one tonne of carbon dioxide , or in some markets , carbon dioxide equivalent gases . Carbon trading is an application of an emissions trading approach . Greenhouse gas emissions are capped and then markets are used to allocate the emissions among the group of regulated sources . The goal is to allow market mechanisms to drive industrial and commercial processes in the direction of low emissions or less carbon intensive approaches than those used when there is no cost to emitting carbon dioxide and other GHGs into the atmosphere . Since GHG mitigation projects generate credits , this approach can be used to finance carbon reduction schemes between trading partners and around the world . There are also many companies that sell carbon credits to commercial and individual customers who are interested in lowering their carbon footprint on a voluntary basis . These carbon offsetters purchase the credits from an investment fund or a carbon development company that has aggregated the credits from individual projects . Buyers and sellers can also use an exchange platform to trade , which is like a stock exchange for carbon credits . The quality of the credits is based in part on the validation process and sophistication of the fund or development company that acted as the sponsor to the carbon project . This is reflected in their price ; voluntary units typically have less value than the units sold through the rigorously validated Clean Development Mechanism .", "CO2 fertilization effect The fertilization effect or carbon fertilization effect suggests that the increase of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere increases the rate of photosynthesis in plants . The effect varies by species and availability of water . From a quarter to half of Earth 's vegetated lands has shown significant greening over the last 35 years largely due to rising levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide . One related trend may be what has been termed `` Arctic greening . '' Scientists have been finding , of late , that as northern portions of the planet warm up even as total atmospheric carbon dioxide increases , there 's been an increase in plant growth in these regions . Studies led by Trevor Keenan from the Department of Energy 's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory ( Berkeley Lab ) show that , from 2002 to 2014 , plants appear to have gone into overdrive , starting to pull more carbon dioxide out of the air than they have done before . The result was that the rate at which carbon dioxide accumulates in the atmosphere did not increase during this time period , although previously , it had grown considerably in concert with growing greenhouse gas emissions .", "Carbon emission trading Carbon emissions trading is a form of emissions trading that specifically targets carbon dioxide ( calculated in tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent or tCO2e ) and it currently constitutes the bulk of emissions trading . This form of permit trading is a common method countries utilize in order to meet their obligations specified by the Kyoto Protocol ; namely the reduction of carbon emissions in an attempt to reduce ( mitigate ) future climate change . Under Carbon trading , a country having more emissions of carbon is able to purchase the right to emit more and the country having less emission trades the right to emit carbon to other countries . More carbon emitting countries , by this way try to keep the limit of carbon emission specified to them .", "Carbon dioxide clathrate Carbon dioxide hydrate is a snow-like crystalline substance composed of water ice and carbon dioxide . It normally is a Type I gas clathrate . However , there has been some experimental evidence for the development of a metastable Type II phase at A temperature near the ice melting point . The clathrate can exist below 283K ( 10 ° C ) at a range of pressures of carbon dioxide . It is quite likely to be important on Mars due to the presence of carbon dioxide and ice at low temperatures .", "Gorgon Carbon Dioxide Injection Project The Gorgon Carbon Dioxide Injection Project is part of the Gorgon Project , the world 's largest natural gas project . The Gorgon Project , located on Barrow Island in Western Australia , includes a liquefied natural gas ( LNG ) plant , a domestic gas plant , and a Carbon Dioxide Injection Project . The initial carbon dioxide injections are planned to take place by the end of 2017 . Once launched , the Gorgon Carbon Dioxide Injection Project will be the world 's largest CO2 injection plant , with an ability to store up to 4 million tons of CO2 per year -- approximately 120 million tons over the project 's lifetime , and 40 percent of total Gorgon Project emissions .", "Global warming potential Global warming potential ( GWP ) is a relative measure of how much heat a greenhouse gas traps in the atmosphere . It compares the amount of heat trapped by a certain mass of the gas in question to the amount of heat trapped by a similar mass of carbon dioxide . A GWP is calculated over a specific time interval , commonly 20 , 100 , or 500 years . GWP is expressed as a factor of carbon dioxide ( whose GWP is standardized to 1 ) . In the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change , methane has a lifetime of 12.4 years and with climate-carbon feedbacks a global warming potential of 86 over 20 years and 34 over 100 years in response to emissions . User related choices such as the time horizon can greatly affect the numerical values obtained for carbon dioxide equivalents . For a change in time horizon from 20 to 100 years , the GWP for methane decreases by a factor of approximately 2.5 . The substances subject to restrictions under the Kyoto protocol either are rapidly increasing their concentrations in Earth 's atmosphere or have a large GWP . The GWP depends on the following factors : the absorption of infrared radiation by a given species the spectral location of its absorbing wavelengths the atmospheric lifetime of the species Thus , a high GWP correlates with a large infrared absorption and a long atmospheric lifetime . The dependence of GWP on the wavelength of absorption is more complicated . Even if a gas absorbs radiation efficiently at a certain wavelength , this may not affect its GWP much if the atmosphere already absorbs most radiation at that wavelength . A gas has the most effect if it absorbs in a `` window '' of wavelengths where the atmosphere is fairly transparent . The dependence of GWP as a function of wavelength has been found empirically and published as a graph . Because the GWP of a greenhouse gas depends directly on its infrared spectrum , the use of infrared spectroscopy to study greenhouse gases is centrally important in the effort to understand the impact of human activities on global climate change .", "Road-effect zone The Road-effect zone is the area in which effects on the natural environment extend outward from a road . Such effects are substance emissions like carbon monoxide , carbon dioxide , particulate matter , nitrogen oxide , volatile organic compounds , biological matter , rubber , or salt , intangible emissions like noise or light , and changes of the micro climate like alterations of wind , water flows , temperature or moisture .", "Climate change in Japan Climate change in Japan is being addressed at a governmental level . The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) proposes two hypothetical future scenarios . One is Scenario `` A1B '' based on the assumption that a future world will have more global economic growth ( the concentration of carbon dioxide will be 720ppm in 2100 ) . The other is Scenario `` B1 '' based on the assumption that a future world will have global green economy ( the concentration of carbon dioxide will be 550ppm in 2100 ) . Earth Simulator calculations , reveal the daily increase in mean temperature in Japan during the period of 2071 to 2100 . The temperature has increased by 3.0 ° C in Scenario B1 and 4.2 ° C in A1B compared to that of 1971 to 2000 . Similarly , the daily maximum temperature in Japan increased by 3.1 ° C in B1 and 4.4 ° C in A1B . The precipitation in summer in Japan increased steadily due to global warming ( the annual average precipitation increased by 17 % in Scenario B1 and by 19 % in Scenario A1B during the period of 2071 to 2100 compared to that of 1971 to 2000 ) . Currently , Japan is a world leader in the development of new climate-friendly technologies . Honda and Toyota hybrid electric vehicles were named to have the highest fuel efficiency and lowest emissions . The fuel economy and emissions decrease is due to the advanced technology in hybrid systems , biofuels , use of lighter weight material and better engineering . As a signatory of the Kyoto Protocol , and host of the 1997 conference which created it , Japan is under treaty obligations to reduce its carbon dioxide emissions and to take other steps related to curbing climate change . The Cool Biz campaign introduced under former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi was targeted at reducing energy use through the reduction of air conditioning use in government offices .", "Carbon emission label A carbon emission label or carbon label describes the carbon dioxide emissions created as a by-product of manufacturing , transporting , or disposing of a consumer product . This information is important to consumers wishing to minimize their ecological footprint and contribution to global warming made by their purchases .", "Carbon tetroxide Carbon tetroxide is a highly unstable oxide of carbon with formula . It was proposed as an intermediate in the O-atom exchange between carbon dioxide and oxygen at high temperatures .", "Supercritical carbon dioxide Supercritical carbon dioxide ( s ) is a fluid state of carbon dioxide where it is held at or above its critical temperature and critical pressure . Carbon dioxide usually behaves as a gas in air at standard temperature and pressure ( STP ) , or as a solid called dry ice when frozen . If the temperature and pressure are both increased from STP to be at or above the critical point for carbon dioxide , it can adopt properties midway between a gas and a liquid . More specifically , it behaves as a supercritical fluid above its critical temperature ( 304.25 K ) and critical pressure ( 72.9 atm ) , expanding to fill its container like a gas but with a density like that of a liquid . Supercritical is becoming an important commercial and industrial solvent due to its role in chemical extraction in addition to its low toxicity and environmental impact . The relatively low temperature of the process and the stability of also allows most compounds to be extracted with little damage or denaturing . In addition , the solubility of many extracted compounds in varies with pressure , permitting selective extractions .", "Carbon profiling Carbon profiling is a mathematical process that calculates how much carbon dioxide is put into the atmosphere per m2 of space in a building over one year . The analysis is in two parts which are then added together to produce an overall figure which is termed the ` Carbon Profile ' : operational carbon emissions embodied carbon emissions . Embodied carbon emissions relate to the amount of carbon dioxide emitted into the atmosphere from creating and maintaining the materials that form the building e.g. the carbon dioxide released from the baking of bricks or smelting or iron . In the Carbon Profiling Model these emissions are measured as Embodied Carbon Efficiency ( ECE ) , measured as kg of CO2/m2/year . Occupational Carbon Emissions relate to the amount of Carbon Dioxide emitted into the atmosphere from the direct use of energy to run the building e.g. the heating or electricity used by the building over the year . In the Carbon Profiling Model these emissions are measured in BER 's ( Building Emission Rate ) in kg of / m2/year . The BER is a United Kingdom government accepted unit of measurement that comes from an approved calculation process called sBEM ( Simplified Building Emission Model ) The purpose of Carbon Profiling is to provide a method of analyzing and comparing both operational and embodied carbon emissions at the same time . With this information it is then possible to allocate a projects resources in such a way to minimize the total amount of Carbon Dioxide emitted into the atmosphere through the use of a given piece of space . A secondary benefit is that having quantified the Carbon Profiling of different buildings it is then possible to make comparisons and rank buildings in term of their performance . This allows investors and occupiers to identify which building are good and bad carbon investments . Simon Sturgis and Gareth Roberts of Sturgis Associates in the United Kingdom originally developed ` Carbon Profiling ' in December 2007 .", "List of countries by carbon dioxide emissions -RSB- This is a list of sovereign states and territories by carbon dioxide emissions due to certain forms of human activity , based on the EDGAR database created by European Commission and Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency released in 2015 . The following table lists the 2015 annual emissions estimates ( in thousands of tonnes ) along with a list of emissions per capita ( in tonnes of per year ) from same source . The data only considers carbon dioxide emissions from the burning of fossil fuels and cement manufacture , but not emissions from land use , land-use change and forestry . Emissions from international shipping or bunker fuels are also not included in national figures , which can make a huge difference for small countries with important ports . The top 10 largest emitter countries account for 67.6 % of the world total . Other powerful , more potent greenhouse gases , including methane , are not included in this data .", "Thomas D. Sharkey (plant biochemist) Thomas D. Sharkey is a plant biochemist who studies gas exchange between plants and the atmosphere . His research has covered ( 1 ) carbon metabolism of photosynthesis from carbon dioxide uptake to carbon export from the Calvin-Benson Cycle , ( 2 ) isoprene emission from plants , and ( 3 ) abiotic stress tolerance . Four guiding questions are : ( 1 ) how leaf photosynthesis affects plant yield , ( 2 ) does some carbon fixation follow an oxidative pathway that reduces sugar output but stabilizes photosynthesis , ( 3 ) why plants make isoprene , and ( 4 ) how plants cope with high temperature .", "List of U.S. states by carbon dioxide emissions This is a list of U.S. states by carbon dioxide emissions due to human activity . The data presented below from the US Environmental Protection Agency and the US Energy Information Administration corresponds to emissions in 2014 . Interactive bar charts ( showing state rankings for total and per-capita emissions ) and interactive maps ( for both total emissions and per capita emissions ) for the 2014 data are available on Tableau Public . __ TOC __", "Mitigation of global warming in Australia Mitigation of global warming involves taking actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to enhance sinks aimed at reducing the extent of global warming . This is in distinction to adaptation to global warming , which involves taking action to minimise the effects of global warming . Scientific consensus on global warming , together with the precautionary principle and the fear of non-linear climate transitions , is leading to increased effort to develop new technologies and sciences and carefully manage others in an attempt to mitigate global warming . Carbon capture and storage ( CCS ) for coal-fired power stations has been put forward as a solution to rising greenhouse gas emissions . However , CCS can not deliver in time to avoid dangerous increases in temperatures , as widespread commercial use of CCS is not expected before 2030 . Following the introduction of government mandatory renewable energy targets , more opportunities have opened up for renewable energy technologies such as wind power , photovoltaics , and solar thermal technologies . The deployment of these technologies provides opportunities for mitigating greenhouse gases . A carbon price was introduced on 1 July 2012 by the government of Julia Gillard with the purpose of reducing Australia 's carbon emissions . It requires large businesses ( defined as those with annual carbon dioxide equivalent emissions over 25,000 tonnes annually ) to pay a price for emissions permits . The tax was scrapped by the Abbott government in July 2014 in what was a widely criticised and highly publicised move .", "List of countries by ratio of GDP to carbon dioxide emissions On 6 October 2010 , the International Energy Agency released for free download the 2008 numbers for over 140 countries/regions/economies . The list of countries below is arranged by their ratio of gross domestic product , nominal and by purchasing power parity , to carbon dioxide emissions . GDP data is for the year 2006 produced by the International Monetary Fund . Carbon dioxide emissions data is for 2006 , provided by the CDIAC for United Nations ( see List of countries by carbon dioxide emissions ) . The countries at the top of the list are the most efficient . They produce the most economic output with the least emissions . Countries at the bottom of the list produce the most emissions per unit of economic output . Including French Guiana , French Polynesia , Guadeloupe , Martinique , New Caledonia , Saint Pierre and Miquelon and Réunion Including Greenland and Faroe Islands Including Netherlands Antilles Including Taiwan and Macau , excluding Hong Kong", "Center for Negative Carbon Emissions The Center for Negative Carbon Emissions ( CNCE ) is led by Director Klaus S. Lackner , and was founded in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment ( SSEBE ) at Arizona State University in 2014 . CNCE is advancing carbon management technologies that can capture carbon dioxide directly from ambient air in an outdoor operating environment . CNCE aims to demonstrate systems that over time increase in scope , reliability and efficiency while lowering the cost of carbon dioxide capture from air .", "Bio-energy with carbon capture and storage Bio-energy with carbon capture and storage ( BECCS ) is a future greenhouse gas mitigation technology which produces negative carbon dioxide emissions by combining bioenergy ( energy from biomass ) use with geologic carbon capture and storage . The concept of BECCS is drawn from the integration of trees and crops , which extract carbon dioxide ( CO2 ) from the atmosphere as they grow , the use of this biomass in processing industries or power plants , and the application of carbon capture and storage via CO2 injection into geological formations . There are other non-BECCS forms of carbon dioxide removal and storage that include technologies such as biochar , carbon dioxide air capture and biomass burial . According to a recent Biorecro report , there is 550 000 tonnes CO2/year in total BECCS capacity currently operating , divided between three different facilities ( as of January 2012 ) . In the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) , BECCS was indicated as a key technology for reaching low carbon dioxide atmospheric concentration targets . The negative emissions that can be produced by BECCS has been estimated by the Royal Society to be equivalent to a 50 to 150 ppm decrease in global atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations and according to the International Energy Agency , the BLUE map climate change mitigation scenario calls for more than 2 gigatonnes of negative CO2 emissions per year with BECCS in 2050 . According to Stanford University , 10 gigatonnes is achievable by this date . The Imperial College London , the UK Met Office Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and Research , the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research , the Walker Institute for Climate System Research , and the Grantham Institute for Climate Change issued a joint report on carbon dioxide removal technologies as part of the AVOID : Avoiding dangerous climate change research program , stating that `` Overall , of the technologies studied in this report , BECCS has the greatest maturity and there are no major practical barriers to its introduction into today 's energy system . The presence of a primary product will support early deployment . '' According to the OECD , `` Achieving lower concentration targets ( 450 ppm ) depends significantly on the use of BECCS '' .", "Greenhouse gas emissions in Kentucky The report `` Kentucky Greenhouse Gas Inventory '' provides a detailed inventory of greenhouse gas emissions and sinks for Kentucky in 1990 . Emissions were estimated using methods from EPA 's 1995 guidance document State Workbook : Methodologies for Estimating Greenhouse Gas Emissions . In 1990 , Kentucky emitted 35.4 million metric tons of carbon equivalent ( MMTCE ) . In addition , Kentucky estimated emissions of 0.4 MMTCE from biofuels . Emissions from biofuels are not included . The principal greenhouse gases were carbon dioxide , comprising 87.9 million metric tons ( 24.0 MMTCE ) , and methane , with 1.1 million metric tons ( 6.4 MMTCE ) . Other emissions included 0.0016 million metric tons of perfluorocarbons ( PFCs ) ( 4.8 MMTCE ) , and 0.003 million metric tons of nitrous oxide ( 0.2 MMTCE ) The major source of carbon dioxide emissions was fossil fuel combustion ( 96 % ) , the majority of which is utility coal . Minor emissions came from cement and lime production and forest/grassland conversion . Carbon dioxide sinks ( i.e. , an increase in forest carbon storage ) offset about 26 % of the total carbon dioxide emissions . Sources of methane emissions were coal mining ( 73 % ) , domesticated animals ( 12 % ) , landfills ( 10 % ) , manure management ( 3 % ) , and natural gas/oil extraction ( 2 % ) . Nitrous oxide emissions were from fertilizer use . Sources of perfluorocarbons were HCFC-22 production ( 91 % ) and aluminum production ( 9 % ) . Kentucky 's emissions in 1990 were 9.6 MTCE per capita , compared to 1990 U.S. emissions of 6.4 MTCE per capita . Kentucky 's per capita emissions are high due to the large volume of coal-related activities in the state .", "Carbon Recycling International Carbon Recycling International Inc. ( CRI ) is an Icelandic renewable methanol company . Its emissions-to-liquid process uses carbon dioxide and water and electricity to create methanol fuel .", "Carbon diet A carbon diet refers to reducing the impact on climate change by reducing greenhouse gas production specifically , CO2 production . In today 's society , we produce CO2 in every day activities such as driving , heating , deforestation and the burning of fossil fuels such as coal , oil and gas . It has been found that carbon dioxide from the burning of coal , natural gas , and oil for electricity and heat is the largest single source of global greenhouse gas emissions . For years , governments and corporations have been attempting to balance out their emissions by participating in carbon-offsetting -- the practice in which they invest in renewable energy to compensate for the global-warming pollution that they produce . Despite these efforts the results are still far off and we continue to see growth in CO2 concentration . Now , a growing number of individuals are trying to make a reduction in the amount of CO2 that is being produced by participating in low carbon dieting . This small adjustment in household CO2 production has the potential to reduce emissions much more quickly than other kinds of changes and it deserves explicit consideration as part of climate policy . It can potentially help avoid `` overshoot '' of greenhouse gas concentration targets ; provide a demonstration effect ; reduce emissions at low cost ; and buy time to develop new technologies , policies , and institutions to reach long-term greenhouse gas emission targets and to develop adaptation strategies .", "Disulfur dioxide Disulfur dioxide , dimeric sulfur monoxide or SO dimer is an oxide of sulfur . The solid is unstable with a lifetime of a few seconds at room temperature .", "Carbon dioxide removal Carbon dioxide removal ( CDR ) methods refers to a number of technologies which reduce the levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere . Among such technologies are bio-energy with carbon capture and storage , biochar , direct air capture , ocean fertilization and enhanced weathering . CDR is a different approach than removing CO2 from the stack emissions of large fossil fuel point sources , such as power stations . The latter reduces emission to the atmosphere but can not reduce the amount of carbon dioxide already in the atmosphere . As CDR removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere , it creates negative emissions , offsetting emissions from small and dispersed point sources such as domestic heating systems , airplanes and vehicle exhausts . It is regarded by some as a form of climate engineering , while other commentators describe it as a form of carbon capture and storage or extreme mitigation . Whether CDR would satisfy common definitions of `` climate engineering '' or `` geoengineering '' usually depends upon the scale on which it would be undertaken . The likely need for CDR has been publicly expressed by a range of individuals and organizations involved with climate change issues , including IPCC chief Rajendra Pachauri , the UNFCCC executive secretary Christiana Figueres , and the World Watch Institute . Institutions with major programs focusing on CDR include the Lenfest Center for Sustainable Energy at the Earth Institute , Columbia University , and the Climate Decision Making Center , an international collaboration operated out of Carnegie-Mellon University 's Department of Engineering and Public Policy . The mitigation effectiveness of air capture is limited by societal investment , land use , availability of geologic reservoirs , and leakage . The reservoirs are estimated to be sufficient to for storing at least 545 GtC . Storing 771 GtC would cause an 186 ppm atmospheric reduction . In order to return the atmospheric CO2 content to 350 ppm we need atmospheric reduction of 50 ppm plus an additional 2 ppm per year of current emissions .", "Green textile Green textiles are farmed , processed and manufactured with minimal impact on the environment with regard to energy , resource , raw material usage ; greenhouse gases / Carbon dioxide emissions ; toxic emissions and waste generation .", "List of countries by carbon intensity This article lists countries by their carbon intensity . Carbon intensity is defined as a country 's annual carbon dioxide emissions divided by the country 's gross domestic product . National incomes are calculated using market exchange rates ( MER ) and purchasing power parities ( PPP ) . Units are metric tons of carbon dioxide per thousand year 2005 US dollars .", "Boudouard reaction The Boudouard reaction , named after Octave Leopold Boudouard , is the redox reaction of a chemical equilibrium mixture of carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide at a given temperature . It is the disproportionation of carbon monoxide into carbon dioxide and graphite or its reverse : 2CO + C The Boudouard Reaction to form carbon dioxide and carbon is exothermic at all temperatures . However , the standard enthalpy of the Boudouard reaction becomes less negative with increasing temperature , as shown to the side . While the formation enthalpy of is higher than that of , the formation entropy is much lower . Consequently , the standard free energy of formation of from its component elements is almost constant and independent of the temperature , while the free energy of formation of decreases with temperature . At high temperatures , the forward reaction is therefore endergonic , favoring the ( exergonic ) reverse reaction toward CO , even though the forward reaction is still exothermic . The effect of temperature on the extent of the Boudouard reaction is indicated better by the value of the equilibrium constant than by the standard free energy of reaction . The value of log10 ( Keq ) for the reaction ( valid between 500 -- ) is : has a value of zero at . The implication of the change in Keq with temperature is that a gas containing may form elemental carbon if the mixture cools below a certain temperature . The thermodynamic activity of carbon may be calculated for a / mixture by knowing the partial pressure of each species and the value of Keq . For instance , in a high temperature reducing environment , such as that created for the reduction of iron oxide in a blast furnace or the preparation of carburizing atmospheres , carbon monoxide is the stable oxide of carbon . When a gas rich in is cooled to the point where the activity of carbon exceeds one , the Boudouard Reaction can take place . Carbon monoxide then tends to disproportionate into carbon dioxide and graphite , which forms soot . In industrial catalysis , this is not just an eyesore ; sooting ( also called coking ) can cause serious and even irreversible damage to catalysts and catalyst beds . This is a problem in the catalytic reforming of petroleum and the steam reforming of natural gas . The reaction is named after the French chemist , Octave Leopold Boudouard ( 1872 -- 1923 ) , who investigated this equilibrium in 1905 .", "Carbon offset A carbon offset is a reduction in emissions of carbon dioxide or greenhouse gases made in order to compensate for or to offset an emission made elsewhere . Carbon offsets are measured in metric tons of carbon dioxide-equivalent ( CO2e ) and may represent six primary categories of greenhouse gases : carbon dioxide , methane ( CH4 ) , nitrous oxide ( N2O ) , perfluorocarbons ( PFCs ) , hydrofluorocarbons ( HFCs ) , and sulfur hexafluoride ( SF6 ) . One carbon offset represents the reduction of one metric ton of carbon dioxide or its equivalent in other greenhouse gases . There are two markets for carbon offsets . In the larger , compliance market , companies , governments , or other entities buy carbon offsets in order to comply with caps on the total amount of carbon dioxide they are allowed to emit . This market exists in order to achieve compliance with obligations of Annex 1 Parties under the Kyoto Protocol , and of liable entities under the EU Emission Trading Scheme . In 2006 , about $ 5.5 billion of carbon offsets were purchased in the compliance market , representing about 1.6 billion metric tons of CO2e reductions . In the much smaller , voluntary market , individuals , companies , or governments purchase carbon offsets to mitigate their own greenhouse gas emissions from transportation , electricity use , and other sources . For example , an individual might purchase carbon offsets to compensate for the greenhouse gas emissions caused by personal air travel . Many companies ( see list ) offer carbon offsets as an up-sell during the sales process so that customers can mitigate the emissions related with their product or service purchase ( such as offsetting emissions related to a vacation flight , car rental , hotel stay , consumer good , etc. ) . In 2008 , about $ 705 million of carbon offsets were purchased in the voluntary market , representing about 123.4 million metric tons of CO2e reductions . Some fuel suppliers in the UK offer fuel which has been carbon offset such as Fuel dyes . Offsets are typically achieved through financial support of projects that reduce the emission of greenhouse gases in the short - or long-term . The most common project type is renewable energy , such as wind farms , biomass energy , or hydroelectric dams . Others include energy efficiency projects , the destruction of industrial pollutants or agricultural byproducts , destruction of landfill methane , and forestry projects . Some of the most popular carbon offset projects from a corporate perspective are energy efficiency and wind turbine projects . Carbon offsetting has gained some appeal and momentum mainly among consumers in western countries who have become aware and concerned about the potentially negative environmental effects of energy-intensive lifestyles and economies . The Kyoto Protocol has sanctioned offsets as a way for governments and private companies to earn carbon credits that can be traded on a marketplace . The protocol established the Clean Development Mechanism ( CDM ) , which validates and measures projects to ensure they produce authentic benefits and are genuinely `` additional '' activities that would not otherwise have been undertaken . Organizations that are unable to meet their emissions quota can offset their emissions by buying CDM-approved Certified Emissions Reductions . Emissions from burning fuel , such as red diesel , has pushed one UK fuel supplier to create a carbon offset fuel named Carbon Offset Red Diesel . Offsets may be cheaper or more convenient alternatives to reducing one 's own fossil-fuel consumption . However , some critics object to carbon offsets , and question the benefits of certain types of offsets . Due diligence is recommended to help businesses in the assessment and identification of `` good quality '' offsets to ensure offsetting provides the desired additional environmental benefits , and to avoid reputational risk associated with poor quality offsets . Offsets are viewed as an important policy tool to maintain stable economies and to improve sustainability . One of the hidden dangers of climate change policy is unequal prices of carbon in the economy , which can cause economic collateral damage if production flows to regions or industries that have a lower price of carbon -- unless carbon can be purchased from that area , which offsets effectively permit , equalizing the price .", "Susan Brantley Susan L. Brantley is an American geologist and geochemist who is Distinguished Professor of Geosciences at Pennsylvania State University . Her research dominantly studies interactions between fluids and minerals at low temperatures , biological reactions in water-rich fluids within soils , and the geochemical processes that convert rock into soil . However , among many other topics she has also published work on carbon dioxide emissions from volcanoes , and the environmental impact of shale gas extraction and nuclear waste disposal . During her career , Brantley has published over 200 research papers and book chapters , has been awarded academic prizes and fellowships by many of the world 's leading geoscience societies , and has been described as `` one of the leading aqueous geochemists of her generation . ''" ]

[ "Climate change denial Climate change denial , or global warming denial , is part of the global warming controversy . It involves denial , dismissal , unwarranted doubt or contrarian views which strongly depart from the scientific opinion on climate change , including the extent to which it is caused by humans , its impacts on nature and human society , or the potential of adaptation to global warming by human actions . Some deniers do endorse the term , but others often prefer the term climate change skepticism , although this is a misnomer for those who deny anthropogenic global warming . In effect , the two terms form a continuous , overlapping range of views , and generally have the same characteristics : both reject , to a greater or lesser extent , mainstream scientific opinion on climate change . Climate change denial can also be implicit , when individuals or social groups accept the science but fail to come to terms with it or to translate their acceptance into action . Several social science studies have analyzed these positions as forms of denialism . Campaigning to undermine public trust in climate science has been described as a `` denial machine '' of industrial , political and ideological interests , supported by conservative media and skeptical bloggers in manufacturing uncertainty about global warming . In the public debate , phrases such as climate skepticism have frequently been used with the same meaning as climate denialism . The labels are contested : those actively challenging climate science commonly describe themselves as `` skeptics '' , but many do not comply with common standards of scientific skepticism and , regardless of evidence , persistently deny the validity of human caused global warming . Although scientific opinion on climate change is that human activity is extremely likely to be the primary driver of climate change , the politics of global warming have been affected by climate change denial , hindering efforts to prevent climate change and adapt to the warming climate . Those promoting denial commonly use rhetorical tactics to give the appearance of a scientific controversy where there is none . Of the world 's countries , the climate change denial industry is most powerful in the United States . Since January 2015 , the United States Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works has been chaired by oil lobbyist and climate change denier Jim Inhofe . Inhofe is notorious for having called climate change `` the greatest hoax ever perpetrated against the American people '' and for having claimed to have debunked the alleged hoax in February 2015 when he brought a snowball with him in the Senate chamber and tossed it across the floor . Organised campaigning to undermine public trust in climate science is associated with conservative economic policies and backed by industrial interests opposed to the regulation of emissions . Climate change denial has been associated with the fossil fuels lobby , the Koch brothers , industry advocates and libertarian think tanks , often in the United States . More than 90 % of papers sceptical on climate change originate from right-wing think tanks . The total annual income of these climate change counter-movement-organizations is roughly $ 900 million . Between 2002 and 2010 , nearly $ 120 million ( # 77 million ) was anonymously donated via the Donors Trust and Donors Capital Fund to more than 100 organisations seeking to undermine the public perception of the science on climate change . In 2013 the Center for Media and Democracy reported that the State Policy Network ( SPN ) , an umbrella group of 64 U.S. think tanks , had been lobbying on behalf of major corporations and conservative donors to oppose climate change regulation . Since the late 1970s , oil companies have published research broadly in line with the standard views on global warming . Despite this , oil companies organized a climate change denial campaign to disseminate public disinformation for several decades , a strategy that has been compared to the organized denial of the hazards of tobacco smoking by tobacco companies .", "Climate change policy of the United States Global climate change was first addressed in United States policy beginning in the early 1960s . The Environmental Protection Agency ( EPA ) defines climate change as `` any significant change in the measures of climate lasting for an extended period of time . '' Essentially , climate change includes major changes in temperature , precipitation , or wind patterns , as well as other effects , that occur over several decades or longer . Climate change policy in the US has transformed rapidly over the past twenty years and is being developed at both the state and federal level . The politics of global warming and climate change have polarized certain political parties and other organizations . This article focuses on climate change policy within the United States , as well as exploring the positions of various parties and the influences on policy making and environmental justice repercussions .", "Global warming conspiracy theory A global warming conspiracy theory invokes claims that scientific consensus on global warming is based on conspiracies to produce false data or suppress dissent . It is one of a number of tactics used in climate change denial to legitimize political controversy disputing this consensus . Global warming conspiracy theorists typically allege that , through worldwide acts of professional and criminal misconduct , the science behind global warming has been invented or distorted for ideological or financial reasons , or both ." ]

[ "Great Wall of China hoax The Great Wall of China hoax was a faked newspaper story concocted on June 25 , 1899 by four reporters in Denver , Colorado about bids by American businesses on a contract to demolish the Great Wall of China and construct a road in its place . The story was reprinted by a number of newspapers . In 1939 , an urban legend began when Denver songwriter Harry Lee Wilber claimed in a magazine article that the 1899 hoax had ignited the Boxer Rebellion of 1900 . The radio commentators Paul Harvey and Dwight Sands perpetuated the legend . Variations have been incorporated into sermons about `` the power of the tongue , '' a morality tale used by preachers to highlight the consequences of lying . In fact , however , there was never any such connection and Boxer activity intensified in response to the German invasion in Shandong during March 1899 -- before the hoax was invented . No Chinese history reference relates the hoax to the Boxer Rebellion . The cultural historian Carlos Rojas comments that the original hoax being perpetuated by a second hoax , a `` metahoax , '' illustrates the ability of the Great Wall to `` mean radically different things in different contexts . ''", "Public opinion on climate change Public opinion on climate change is the aggregate of attitudes or beliefs held by the adult population concerning the science , economics , and politics of global warming . It is affected by media coverage of climate change .", "Climate ethics Climate ethics is an area of research that focuses on the ethical dimensions of climate change ( also known as global warming ) , and concepts such as climate justice . Human-induced climate change raises many profound ethical questions , yet many believe that these ethical issues have not been addressed adequately in climate change policy debates or in the scientific and economic literature on climate change ; and that , consequently , ethical questions are being overlooked or obscured in climate negotiations , policies and discussions . It has been pointed out that those most responsible for climate change are not the same people as those most vulnerable to its effects . Terms such as climate justice and ecological justice ( ` eco justice ' ) are used worldwide , and have been adopted by various groups .", "List of climate research satellites The invention of climate research through the use of satellite remote telemetry began in the 1960s through development of space probes to study other planets . During the U.S. economic decline in 1977 , with much of NASA 's money going toward the Shuttle program , the Reagan Administration proposed to reduce spending on planetary exploration . During this time , new scientific evidence emerged from ice and sediment cores that Earth 's climate had experienced rapid changes in temperature , running contrary to the previously held belief that the climate changed on a geological time scale . These changes increased political interest in gathering remote-sensing data on the Earth itself and stimulated the science of climatology .", "Gust Goettl Gust Goettl was an inventor , entrepreneur , businessman . Many times he did not invent a product , but he did used existing designs to influence future designs . For example , `` he did not invent the evaporative cooler , he kept improving it '' . One of his changes to this particular invention resulted in the `` Combination Refrigeration and Evaporative Cooling Air Conditioner , '' designed to improve cooling within arid climates .", "Chang Jen-Hu Chang Jen-Hu ( Traditional Chinese : 張鏡湖 ) , or J.H.Chang , 1927 - , is a Taiwanese educator , geographer specialized in ancient climate change , and the agricultural development of China and Taiwan . Chang is the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Chinese Culture University .", "Climate Change Denial: Heads in the Sand Climate Change Denial : Heads in the Sand is a non-fiction book about climate change denial , coauthored by Haydn Washington and John Cook , with a foreword by Naomi Oreskes . Washington had a background in environmental science prior to authoring the work , and Cook was educated in physics and founded the website Skeptical Science which compiles peer-reviewed evidence of global warming . The book was first published in hardcover and paperback formats in 2011 by Earthscan , a division of Routledge . The book presents an in-depth analysis and refutation of climate change denial , going over several arguments point-by-point and disproving them with peer-reviewed evidence from the scientific consensus for climate change . The authors assert that those denying climate change engage in tactics including cherry picking data purported to support their specific viewpoints , and attacking the integrity of climate scientists . They use social science theory to examine the phenomenon of climate change denial in the wider public , and call this phenomenon a form of pathology . The book traces financial support for climate change denial to the fossil fuel industry , asserting these companies have attempted to influence public opinion on the matter . Washington and Cook write that politicians have a tendency to use weasel words as part of a propaganda tactic through use of spin , as a way to deflect public interest away from climate change and remain passive on the issue . The authors conclude that if the public ceased engaging in denial , the problem of climate change could be realistically addressed . For his research on the book , and efforts in communicating the essence of climate change science to the general public , John Cook won the 2011 Australian Museum Eureka Prize for Advancement of Climate Change Knowledge . Climate Change Denial received a positive reception in reviews from publications including : The Ecologist , ECOS magazine , academic journal Natures Sciences Sociétés , the journal Education published by the New South Wales Teachers Federation , . An article in The New American was critical , describing the labels of `` deniers '' and `` denialists '' as cruel and forms of character assassination .", "Climate change in Finland Climate change in Finland discuss the climate change issues in Finland .", "Climate change in Germany Climate change in Europe describes the climate change related issues in Europe . This includes the climate politics , contribution in the global warming and the influence of the global warming in Europe .", "Climate change acronyms The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change ( UNFCCC ) use tens of acronyms and initialisms in documents relating to climate change policy .", "Climate change in Africa Climate change in Africa pertains to aspects of climate change within the continent of Africa .", "International Climate Change Partnership The International Climate Change Partnership ( ICCP ) is an organization of companies and trade associations from around the world working to influence international climate change legislation .", "Dork Sahagian Dork Sahagian is an Armenian American climate scientist . He is the Director of the Environmental Initiative at Lehigh University in Bethlehem , Pennsylvania . He invented a technique for calculating the Earth 's air pressure in the past , based on the difference in the size of the bubbles in cooled volcanic lava . Sahagian contributed to three of four assessment reports by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) , which on October 12 , 2007 was jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize with former vice president Al Gore .", "The Climate Reality Project The Climate Reality Project is a non-profit organization involved in education and advocacy related to climate change . The project was established in July 2011 after the joining of two environmental groups , The Alliance for Climate Protection and The Climate Project , which were both founded in 2006 by Al Gore . Among its activities , The Climate Reality Project hosts an annual event called 24 Hours of Reality and , in 2013 , launched Reality Drop , a social media tool .", "The Discovery of Global Warming The Discovery of Global Warming is a book by the physicist and historian Spencer R. Weart published in 2003 ; revised and updated edition , 2008 . It traces the history of scientific discoveries that led to the current scientific opinion on climate change . It has been translated into Spanish , Japanese , Italian , Arabic , Chinese and Korean .", "Facebook privacy and copyright hoaxes The Facebook privacy and copyright hoaxes are a collection of similar internet hoaxes that claim that posting a status on social networking site Facebook constitutes a privacy notice that protects your posts on the site from copyright infringement or that provides privacy protection to their profile information and other content they have posted to the site . The hoax takes the form of a Facebook status that , when posted , urges others to post the same or a similar status . The hoax first became popular in May and June 2012 , but has since re-appeared multiple times , including in November 2012 and then again in 2015 , first in January and later in September of that year . All of the hoaxes are based on several misunderstandings , including , with respect to the privacy version , the fact that it incorrectly assumes that Facebook becoming a public company in May 2012 affects how it treats user information , the assumption that posting certain content online can protect someone from adverse legal consequences , and the fact that the hoax ignores that if Facebook wanted to significantly change its terms of service agreement , it would have to provide notification of these changes .", "Effects of climate change The effects of climate change may refer to : Effects of global warming , the effects of current climate change Historical impacts of climate change , during the early evolution and history of humans , prior to current global warming", "Chinese Cultural Fever Chinese Cultural Fever - ( Chinese , trad . 文化熱 , simpl . 文化热 , pinyin Wénhuàrè ) was a cultural tendency in China in the late 1980s , started with economic reforms . It can be considered the first independent cultural initiative in China since 1949 . After a period of isolation , China opened to Western Thought . This tendency ended in 1989 due to the sudden change of political climate .", "Global cooling Global cooling was a conjecture during the 1970s of imminent cooling of the Earth 's surface and atmosphere culminating in a period of extensive glaciation . This hypothesis had little support in the scientific community , but gained temporary popular attention due to a combination of a slight downward trend of temperatures from the 1940s to the early 1970s and press reports that did not accurately reflect the full scope of the scientific climate literature , which showed a larger and faster-growing body of literature projecting future warming due to greenhouse gas emissions . The current scientific opinion on climate change is that the Earth has not durably cooled , but underwent global warming throughout the 20th century .", "Climate Change Bill Climate Change Bill may refer to : American Clean Energy and Security Act The Bill for the Climate Change Act 2008", "List of climate change books This is a list of climate change books that describe , as a major theme , the effects of human activity on climate change .", "Political economy of climate change Political economy of climate change is an approach that applies the political economy thinking of collective or political processes to study the critical issues surrounding the decision-making on climate change . As the issue of climate change reaching the top of international agenda , the complexity of the environmental problems in combination with various other social political challenges have put great pressures on the scholars to explore a better understanding of the multiple actors and influencing factors that affect the climate change negotiation and to seek more effective solutions to tackle climate change . Analyzing these issues from a political economy perspective helps to explain the complex interactions between different stakeholders in respond to climate change impacts and provides broader opportunities to achieve better implementation of climate change policies .", "Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research The Oeschger Centre for Climate and Climate Change Research ( OCCR ) , is the interdisciplinary centre of excellence for climate research of the University of Bern .", "Climate risk Climate risk means a risk resulting from climate change and affecting natural and human systems and regions . In the course of increasing global temperature and extreme weather phenomena the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) has been founded by the United Nations Environment Programme ( UNEP ) and the World Meteorological Organization ( WMO ) for a better understanding of climate change and meeting concerns of these observations . Its main aim is evaluating climate risks and exploring strategies for the prevention of these risks .", "The Climate Mobilization The Climate Mobilization ( TCM ) is a grassroots environmental advocacy group working toward large-scale political action against global warming , with the belief that the crisis of climate change requires a national economic effort on the scale of the American mobilization of the home front during World War II . It was founded by psychologist Margaret Klein Salamon to confront climate change denial and build the political will necessary to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions and 100 % clean energy within a decade in order to avoid crossing potentially catastrophic climate tipping points and begin restoring a safe climate .", "Greenhouse effect The greenhouse effect is the process by which radiation from a planet 's atmosphere warms the planet 's surface to a temperature above what it would be without its atmosphere . If a planet 's atmosphere contains radiatively active gases ( i.e. , greenhouse gases ) the atmosphere will radiate energy in all directions . Part of this radiation is directed towards the surface , warming it . The downward component of this radiation -- that is , the strength of the greenhouse effect -- will depend on the atmosphere 's temperature and on the amount of greenhouse gases that the atmosphere contains . On Earth , the atmosphere is warmed by absorption of infrared thermal radiation from the underlying surface ( heated by the sun ) , absorption of shorter wavelength radiant energy from the sun , and convective heat fluxes from the surface . Greenhouse gases in the atmosphere radiate energy , some of which is directed to the surface and lower atmosphere . The mechanism that produces this difference between the actual surface temperature and the effective temperature is due to the atmosphere and is known as the greenhouse effect . Earth 's natural greenhouse effect is critical to supporting life . Human activities , primarily the burning of fossil fuels and clearing of forests , have intensified the natural greenhouse effect , causing global warming . The mechanism is named after a faulty analogy with the effect of solar radiation passing through glass and warming a greenhouse . The way a greenhouse retains heat is fundamentally different , as a greenhouse works by reducing airflow and retaining warm air inside the structure .", "Centre for Climate Change Economics and Policy The Centre for Climate Change Economics and Policy ( CCCEP ) is a climate change research centre in England . It is hosted jointly by the University of Leeds and the London School of Economics and Political Science ( LSE ) . CCCEP is part of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment , which is chaired by Lord Nicholas Stern of Brentford , former Chief Economist of the World Bank and author of the widely known Stern Review . CCCEP was established in 2008 , and is funded by the ESRC . Its mission is to advance public and private action on climate change through rigorous , innovative research . In pursuit of its mission , CCCEP has five research themes in its phase 2 programme : Understanding green growth and climate-compatible development Advancing climate finance and investment Evaluating the performance of climate policies Managing climate risks and uncertainties and strengthening climate services Enabling rapid transitions in mitigation and adaptation In October 2016 , The Daily mail reported allegations that CCCEP had fraudulently obtained millions of dollars from UK taxpayers by claiming credit for research they did not produce . The organization responded to the claims saying that the alleged fraud was an overreaction to a clerical error .", "Carbon rift Carbon rift is a theory attributing the input and output of carbon into the environment to human capitalistic systems . This is a derivative of Karl Marx 's concept of metabolic rift . In practical terms , increased commodity production demands that greater levels of carbon dioxide ( or CO2 ) be emitted into the biosphere via fossil fuel consumption . Carbon rift theory states that this ultimately disrupts the natural carbon cycle and that this `` rift '' has adverse effects on nearly every aspect of life . Many of the specifics regarding how this metabolic carbon rift interacts with capitalism are proposed by Brett Clark and Richard York in a 2005 article titled `` Carbon Metabolism : Global capitalism , climate change , and the biospheric rift '' in the journal Theory and Society . Researchers such as Jean P. Sapinski of the University of Oregon claim that , despite increased interest in closing the carbon rift , it is projected that as long as capitalism continues , there is little hope of reducing the rift . Both deforestation and the emission of greenhouse gases have been linked to increased atmospheric CO2 levels . Carbon rift theory states that these are the result of human production through capitalistic systems . There are proposed solutions to climate change such as geoengineering proposed in the December 2015 Paris Agreement . However , some argue that the capitalist mode of production is at fault for the emission of greenhouse gas and that solutions must be found to this issue before climate change itself can be addressed . Carbon rift theory , while rarely criticized directly , often indirectly receives criticism regarding the underlying causes of climate change and attributing the stated effects to alternative explanations for climate change , instead of as a result of human activity . Such explanations include the Chaotic Solar System Theory and that increased water vapor is responsible for climate change .", "Bangladesh Climate Change Trust Bangladesh Climate Change Trust is a government trust in Bangladesh that utilities funds to take action against problems caused by climate change .", "Climate change and ecosystems This article is about climate change and ecosystems .", "Runaway climate change Runaway climate change or runaway global warming is hypothesized to follow a tipping point in the climate system , after accumulated climate change initiates a reinforcing positive feedback . This is thought to cause the climate to rapidly change until it reaches a new stable condition . These phrases may be used with reference to concerns about rapid global warming . Some astronomers use the expression runaway greenhouse effect to describe a situation where the climate deviates catastrophically and permanently from the original state -- as happened on Venus . Although these terms are rarely used in the peer-reviewed climatological literature , that literature does use the similar phrase `` runaway greenhouse effect '' , which refers specifically to climate changes that cause a planetary body 's water to boil off .", "Climate change education (CCE) Climate Change Education ( CCE ) is learning geared toward helping people address and develop effective responses to climate change . It helps learners understand the causes and consequences of climate change , prepares them to live with the impacts of climate change and empowers learners to take appropriate actions to adopt more sustainable lifestyles . CCE helps policy-makers understand the urgency and importance of putting mechanisms into place to combat climate change on a national and global scale . Communities learn about how climate change will affect them , what they can do to protect themselves from negative consequences , and how they can reduce their own climate footprint . In particular , CCE helps increase the resilience of already vulnerable communities who are the most likely to be adversely affected by climate change . CCE is rooted in Education for Sustainable Development ( ESD ) ." ]

[ "Carbon dioxide Carbon dioxide ( chemical formula ) is a colorless gas with a density about 60 % higher than that of air ( 1.225 g/L ) that is odorless at normally encountered concentrations . Carbon dioxide consists of a carbon atom covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms . It occurs naturally in Earth 's atmosphere as a trace gas at a concentration of about 0.04 percent ( 400 ppm ) by volume . Natural sources include volcanoes , hot springs and geysers , and it is freed from carbonate rocks by dissolution in water and acids . Because carbon dioxide is soluble in water , it occurs naturally in groundwater , rivers and lakes , ice caps , glaciers and seawater . It is present in deposits of petroleum and natural gas . As the source of available carbon in the carbon cycle , atmospheric carbon dioxide is the primary carbon source for life on Earth and its concentration in Earth 's pre-industrial atmosphere since late in the Precambrian has been regulated by photosynthetic organisms and geological phenomena . Plants , algae and cyanobacteria use light energy to photosynthesize carbohydrate from carbon dioxide and water , with oxygen produced as a waste product . Carbon dioxide is produced by all aerobic organisms when they metabolize carbohydrates and lipids to produce energy by respiration . It is returned to water via the gills of fish and to the air via the lungs of air-breathing land animals , including humans . Carbon dioxide is produced during the processes of decay of organic materials and the fermentation of sugars in bread , beer and winemaking . It is produced by combustion of wood and other organic materials and fossil fuels such as coal , peat , petroleum and natural gas . It is a versatile industrial material , used , for example , as an inert gas in welding and fire extinguishers , as a pressurizing gas in air guns and oil recovery , as a chemical feedstock and in liquid form as a solvent in decaffeination of coffee and supercritical drying . It is added to drinking water and carbonated beverages including beer and sparkling wine to add effervescence . The frozen solid form of , known as `` dry ice '' is used as a refrigerant and as an abrasive in dry-ice blasting . Carbon dioxide is the most significant long-lived greenhouse gas in Earth 's atmosphere . Since the Industrial Revolution anthropogenic emissions - primarily from use of fossil fuels and deforestation - have rapidly increased its concentration in the atmosphere , leading to global warming . Carbon dioxide also causes ocean acidification because it dissolves in water to form carbonic acid .", "Carbonic acid Not to be confused with Carbolic acid , an antiquated name for phenol . Carbonic acid is a chemical compound with the chemical formula H2CO3 ( equivalently OC ( OH ) 2 ) . It is also a name sometimes given to solutions of carbon dioxide in water ( carbonated water ) , because such solutions contain small amounts of H2CO3 . In physiology , carbonic acid is described as volatile acid or respiratory acid , because it is the only acid excreted as a gas by the lungs . It plays an important role in the bicarbonate buffer system to maintain acid -- base homeostasis . Carbonic acid , which is a weak acid , forms two kinds of salts , the carbonates and the bicarbonates . In geology , carbonic acid causes limestone to dissolve producing calcium bicarbonate which leads to many limestone features such as stalactites and stalagmites . It was long believed that carbonic acid could not exist as a pure compound . However , in 1991 it was reported that NASA scientists had succeeded in making solid H2CO3 samples .", "PH In chemistry , pH ( -LSB- piːˈeɪtʃ -RSB- ) ( potential of hydrogen ) is a numeric scale used to specify the acidity or basicity of an aqueous solution . It is approximately the negative of the base 10 logarithm of the molar concentration , measured in units of moles per liter , of hydrogen ions . More precisely it is the negative of the logarithm to base 10 of the activity of the hydrogen ion . Solutions with a pH less than 7 are acidic and solutions with a pH greater than 7 are basic . Pure water is neutral , at pH 7 , being neither an acid nor a base . Contrary to popular belief , the pH value can be less than 0 or greater than 14 for very strong acids and bases respectively . pH measurements are important in agronomy , medicine , biology , chemistry , agriculture , forestry , food science , environmental science , oceanography , civil engineering , chemical engineering , nutrition , water treatment and water purification , as well as many other applications . The pH scale is traceable to a set of standard solutions whose pH is established by international agreement . Primary pH standard values are determined using a concentration cell with transference , by measuring the potential difference between a hydrogen electrode and a standard electrode such as the silver chloride electrode . The pH of aqueous solutions can be measured with a glass electrode and a pH meter , or an indicator .", "Global warming Global warming , also referred to as climate change , is the observed century-scale rise in the average temperature of the Earth 's climate system and its related effects . Multiple lines of scientific evidence show that the climate system is warming . Many of the observed changes since the 1950s are unprecedented in the instrumental temperature record which extends back to the mid 19th century , and in paleoclimate proxy records over thousands of years . In 2013 , the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) Fifth Assessment Report concluded that `` It is extremely likely that human influence has been the dominant cause of the observed warming since the mid-20th century . '' The largest human influence has been emission of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide , methane and nitrous oxide . Climate model projections summarized in the report indicated that during the 21st century the global surface temperature is likely to rise a further 0.3 to for their lowest emissions scenario and 2.6 to for the highest emissions scenario . These findings have been recognized by the national science academies of the major industrialized nations and are not disputed by any scientific body of national or international standing . Future climate change and associated impacts will differ from region to region around the globe . Anticipated effects include warming global temperature , rising sea levels , changing precipitation , and expansion of deserts in the subtropics . Warming is expected to be greater over land than over the oceans and greatest in the Arctic , with the continuing retreat of glaciers , permafrost and sea ice . Other likely changes include more frequent extreme weather events including heat waves , droughts , heavy rainfall with floods and heavy snowfall ; ocean acidification ; and species extinctions due to shifting temperature regimes . Effects significant to humans include the threat to food security from decreasing crop yields and the abandonment of populated areas due to rising sea levels . Because the climate system has a large `` inertia '' and greenhouse gases will stay in the atmosphere for a long time , many of these effects will not only exist for decades or centuries , but will persist for tens of thousands of years . Possible societal responses to global warming include mitigation by emissions reduction , adaptation to its effects , building systems resilient to its effects , and possible future climate engineering . Most countries are parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change ( UNFCCC ) , whose ultimate objective is to prevent dangerous anthropogenic climate change . Parties to the UNFCCC have agreed that deep cuts in emissions are required and that global warming should be limited to well below 2.0 C-change relative to pre-industrial levels , with efforts made to limit warming to 1.5 C-change . Public reactions to global warming and concern about its effects are also increasing . A global 2015 Pew Research Center report showed a median of 54 % consider it `` a very serious problem '' . There are significant regional differences , with Americans and Chinese ( whose economies are responsible for the greatest annual CO2 emissions ) among the least concerned .", "Snowball Earth The Snowball Earth hypothesis proposes that Earth 's surface became entirely or nearly entirely frozen at least once , sometime earlier than 650 Mya ( million years ago ) . Proponents of the hypothesis argue that it best explains sedimentary deposits generally regarded as of glacial origin at tropical palaeolatitudes , and other enigmatic features in the geological record . Opponents of the hypothesis contest the implications of the geological evidence for global glaciation and the geophysical feasibility of an ice - or slush-covered ocean , and emphasize the difficulty of escaping an all-frozen condition . A number of unanswered questions remain , including whether the Earth was a full snowball , or a `` slushball '' with a thin equatorial band of open ( or seasonally open ) water . The snowball Earth episodes occurred before the sudden radiation of multicellular bioforms , known as the Cambrian explosion . The most recent snowball episode may have triggered the evolution of multicellularity . Another , much earlier and longer snowball episode , the Huronian glaciation , which occurred 2400 to 2100 Mya , may have been triggered by the first appearance of oxygen in the atmosphere , the `` Great Oxygenation Event . ''" ]

[ "Carbonate hardness Carbonate hardness , or carbonate alkalinity is a measure of the alkalinity of water caused by the presence of carbonate and bicarbonate anions . Carbonate hardness is usually expressed either as parts per million ( ppm or mg/L ) , or in degree KH ( dKH ) ( from the German `` Karbonathärte '' ) . One degree KH is equal to 17.848 mg/l ( ppm ) , e.g. one degree KH corresponds to the carbonate and bicarbonate ions found in a solution of approximately 17.848 milligrams of calcium carbonate per litre of water ( 17.848 ppm ) . Both measurements ( mg/L or KH ) are usually expressed as mg/L -- meaning the concentration of carbonate expressed as if calcium carbonate were the sole source of carbonate ions . Carbonate and bicarbonate anions contribute to alkalinity due to their basic nature , hence their ability to neutralize acid . Mathematically , the carbonate anion concentration is counted twice due to its ability to neutralize two protons , while bicarbonate is counted once as it can neutralize one proton . Therefore , bicarbonates that are present in the water are converted to an equivalent concentration of carbonates when determining KH . For example : An aqueous solution containing 120 mg NaHCO3 ( baking soda ) per litre of water will contain 1.4285 mmol/L of bicarbonate , since the molar mass of baking soda is 84.007 g/mol . This is equivalent in carbonate hardness to a solution containing 0.71423 mmol/L of ( calcium ) carbonate , or 71.485 mg/L of calcium carbonate ( molar mass 100.09 g/mol ) . Since one degree KH = 17.848 mg/L CaCO3 , this solution has a KH of 4.0052 degrees . For water with a pH below 8.5 , the CO32 − will be less than 1 % of the HCO3 − . In a solution where only CO2 affects the pH , carbonate hardness can be used to calculate the concentration of dissolved CO2 in the solution with the formula CO2 = 3 × KH × 10 ( 7-pH ) , where KH is degrees of carbonate hardness and CO2 is given in ppm . The term carbonate hardness is also sometimes used as a synonym for temporary hardness , in which case it refers to that portion of hard water that can be removed by processes such as boiling or lime softening , and then separation of water from the resulting precipitate .", "Ocean acidification Ocean acidification is the ongoing decrease in the pH of the Earth 's oceans , caused by the uptake of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere . Seawater is slightly basic ( meaning pH > 7 ) , and the process in question is a shift towards pH-neutral conditions rather than a transition to acidic conditions ( pH < 7 ) . Ocean alkalinity is not changed by the process , or may increase over long time periods due to carbonate dissolution . An estimated 30 -- 40 % of the carbon dioxide from human activity released into the atmosphere dissolves into oceans , rivers and lakes . To achieve chemical equilibrium , some of it reacts with the water to form carbonic acid . Some of these extra carbonic acid molecules react with a water molecule to give a bicarbonate ion and a hydronium ion , thus increasing ocean acidity ( H + ion concentration ) . Between 1751 and 1996 surface ocean pH is estimated to have decreased from approximately 8.25 to 8.14 , representing an increase of almost 35 % in H + ion concentration in the world 's oceans . Earth System Models project that within the last decade ocean acidity exceeded historical analogues and in combination with other ocean biogeochemical changes could undermine the functioning of marine ecosystems and disrupt the provision of many goods and services associated with the ocean . Increasing acidity is thought to have a range of potentially harmful consequences for marine organisms , such as depressing metabolic rates and immune responses in some organisms , and causing coral bleaching . By increasing the presence of free hydrogen ions , each molecule of carbonic acid that forms in the oceans ultimately results in the conversion of two carbonate ions into bicarbonate ions . This net decrease in the amount of carbonate ions available makes it more difficult for marine calcifying organisms , such as coral and some plankton , to form biogenic calcium carbonate , and such structures become vulnerable to dissolution . Ongoing acidification of the oceans threatens food chains connected with the oceans . As members of the InterAcademy Panel , 105 science academies have issued a statement on ocean acidification recommending that by 2050 , global emissions be reduced by at least 50 % compared to the 1990 level . While ongoing ocean acidification is anthropogenic in origin , it has occurred previously in Earth 's history . The most notable example is the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum ( PETM ) , which occurred approximately 56 million years ago . For reasons that are currently uncertain , massive amounts of carbon entered the ocean and atmosphere , and led to the dissolution of carbonate sediments in all ocean basins . Ocean acidification has been called the `` evil twin of global warming '' and `` the other problem '' .", "Oceanic carbon cycle The oceans contain around 36,000 gigatons of carbon , mostly in the form of bicarbonate ion ( over 90 % , with most of the remainder being carbonate ) . At the surface of the oceans towards the poles , seawater becomes cooler and more carbonic acid is formed as CO2 becomes more soluble . This is coupled to the ocean 's thermohaline circulation which transports dense surface water into the ocean 's interior ( see the entry on the solubility pump ) . Although the deep ocean contains much more dissolved inorganic carbon than the surface ocean , the concentration is only 15 % higher in the deep ocean as compared to the surface ocean due to the higher volume of the deep ocean . In upper ocean areas of high biological productivity , organisms convert reduced carbon to tissues , or carbonates to hard body parts such as shells and tests . These are , respectively , oxidized ( soft-tissue pump ) and redissolved ( carbonate pump ) at lower average levels of the ocean than those at which they formed , resulting in a downward flow of carbon ( see entry on the biological pump ) . The flux or absorption of carbon dioxide into the world 's oceans is influenced by the presence of widespread viruses within ocean water , that infect many species of bacteria . The resulting bacterial deaths spawn a sequence of events that lead to greatly enlarged respiration of carbon dioxide , enhancing the role of the oceans as a carbon sink . The balance of dissolved inorganic carbon ( DIC ) : dissolved organic carbon ( DOC ) : particle organic carbon is about 2000:38:1 . The CaCO3 counter pump increases the partial pressure of CO2 in the ocean , thus leading to higher outgasing of carbon dioxide . Higher ocean temperatures lead to stronger layering , thus less mixing and less capacity for thermohaline circulation to bring carbon into lower ocean layers . The weathering of silicate rock ( see carbonate-silicate cycle ) . Carbonic acid reacts with weathered rock to produce bicarbonate ions . The bicarbonate ions produced are carried to the ocean , where they are used to make marine carbonates . Unlike dissolved CO2 in equilibrium or tissues , which decay , weathering does not move the carbon into a reservoir from which it can readily return to the atmosphere . Much remains to be learned about the cycling of carbon in the deep ocean . For example , a recent discovery is that larvacean mucus houses ( commonly known as `` sinkers '' ) are created in such large numbers that they can deliver as much carbon to the deep ocean as has been previously detected by sediment traps . Because of their size and composition , these houses are rarely collected in such traps , so most biogeochemical analyses have erroneously ignored them . The amount of dissolved inorganic carbon in the ocean is significantly higher in the deep layer ( below 300 m depth ) . This is caused by the solubility pump and the biological pump .", "Jamaican vomiting sickness Jamaican vomiting sickness is an acute illness caused by the toxin hypoglycin A , which is present in fruit of the ackee tree . While in the fully ripened arilli , hypoglycin A is at levels of less than 0.1 ppm , in unripe arilli it can be over 1000 ppm ; and cause vomiting and even death .", "Acute uric acid nephropathy Acute uric acid nephropathy ( AUAN , also acute urate nephropathy ) is a rapidly worsening ( decreasing ) kidney function ( renal insufficiency ) that is caused by high levels of uric acid in the urine ( hyperuricosuria ) .", "Muon g−2 Muon g-2 ( pronounced `` gee minus two '' ) is a particle physics experiment Fermilab to measure the anomaly of the magnetic moment of a muon to a precision of 0.14 ppm , which will be a sensitive test of the Standard Model . And it could provide evidence of the existence of entirely new particles . The muon , like its lighter sibling the electron , acts like a spinning magnet . The parameter known as `` g '' indicates how strong the magnet is and the rate of its gyration . The value of g is slightly larger than 2 , hence the name of the experiment . This difference from 2 is caused by the presence of virtual particles that appear from the vacuum and then quickly disappear into it again . In measuring g-2 with high precision and comparing its value to the theoretical prediction , physicists will discover whether the experiment agrees with theory . Any deviation would point to as yet undiscovered subatomic particles that exist in nature .", "Persistent pupillary membrane Persistent pupillary membrane ( PPM ) is a condition of the eye involving remnants of a fetal membrane that persist as strands of tissue crossing the pupil . The pupillary membrane in mammals exists in the fetus as a source of blood supply for the lens . It normally atrophies from the time of birth to the age of four to eight weeks . PPM occurs when this atrophy is incomplete . It generally does not cause any symptoms . The strands can connect to the cornea or lens , but most commonly to other parts of the iris . Attachment to the cornea can cause small corneal opacities , while attachment to the lens can cause small cataracts . Using topical atropine to dilate the pupil may help break down PPMs . In dogs , PPM is inherited in the Basenji but can occur in other breeds such as the Pembroke Welsh Corgi , Chow Chow , Mastiff , and English Cocker Spaniel . It is also rarely seen in cats , horses , and cattle .", "Malvalic acid Malvalic acid is a cyclopropenic fatty acid found in cottonseed oil . The cyclopropene ring is thought to be one of the causes of abnormalities that develop in animals that ingest cottonseed oil . This reactivity could be cause for concern depending on concentration . Hydrogenation of the oil destroys malvalic acid .", "Post Present Medium Post Present Medium ( or PPM ) is a record label started and run by Dean Allen Spunt , also from the band No Age . Since he started the label in 2001 with the release of a 7 '' by Portland/Olympia natives The Intima , PPM has released over 50 records . Some of those artists include Mika Miko , Abe Vigoda , Barr , Best Coast , No Age , Gun Outfit , Silk Flowers , John Wiese , Eric Copeland , Infinite Body , and SFV Acid .", "Calcium reactor __ NOTOC __ In marine and reef aquariums , a calcium reactor creates a balance of alkalinity . An acidic solution is produced by injecting carbon dioxide into a chamber with salt water and calcium rich media . The carbon dioxide lowers the pH by producing a solution high in carbonic acid , and dissolves calcium . The effluent is returned to the reef aquarium where the calcium is consumed by organisms , primarily corals when building skeletons . A calcium reactor is an efficient method to supply calcium to a reef aquarium . Reactors may be used in elaborate freshwater and brackish aquariums where freshwater clams and other invertebrates need a constant supply of calcium . The reactor dissolves the calcium-laden media to provide bicarbonates HCO3 − ( alkalinity ) and calcium ( Ca + + ) ions at the sames rate as consumed during calcification . Effectively dissolving the media requires an acidic pH. Saltwater may have a pH of 7.8 or higher , so to reduce the pH carbon dioxide ( CO2 ) is used . The reaction formula is : CaCO3 + H2O + CO2 < -- -- > Ca2 + + 2HCO3 − Inside the reaction chamber , a calcium rich media ( aragonite ) , mainly CaCO3 , is forced into contact with water injected with carbon dioxide ( CO2 ) in order to create carbonic acid ( H2CO3 ) . This increases the solubility of the calcium carbonate . The reaction frees the calcium and carbonate , supplying the aquarium with water rich in Ca2 + and CO32 − , important for maintaining alkalinity and calcium levels . The bubble counter measures carbon dioxide . The flow rate of carbon dioxide is monitored so that the dissolved gas goes into the solution , with a minimum unconsumed . A needle valve or solenoid valve regulates the CO2 bubble rate . Valves with precise adjustment abilities improve bubble control . The feed pump controls the volume of water exchange . This is important because a high rate of water flow into the reactor reduces its efficiency , thus resulting in underproduction and a waste of CO2 . Some reactors siphon water into the input of the reactor 's re-circulation pump . A potential complication is the medium in the reactor becoming compacted , increasing back pressure onto the pump and reducing water into the reactor . Placing a gate or needle valve on the reactor 's outlet side will improve flow characteristics compared to control from the inlet side . A peristaltic pumps are effective operating against pressure , capable of supplying an adjustable and continuous flow over flow rates with minimal maintenance . The pH control is connected to a probe in the reactor and adjusts the rate at which the calcium media dissolves . This probe monitors the pH level in the calcium reactor . The pH range for the typical calcium reactor is 6.5 - 6.8 . When the pH rises above a certain level , a valve opens , allowing carbon dioxide to enter the reactor . The control closes the valve as the pH falls below this level . Some pH controllers have an interface for an air pump . This air pump is connected to an airstone in the sump or main tank . If the probe detects a low pH level , the pump activates . The bubbles raise the pH by dissipating the CO2 gas .", "Cyanuric acid amidohydrolase In enzymology , a cyanuric acid amidohydrolase is an enzyme that catalyzes the chemical reaction cyanuric acid + H2O biuret + CO2 Thus , the two substrates of this enzyme are cyanuric acid and H2O , whereas its two products are biuret and CO2 . This enzyme belongs to the family of hydrolases , those acting on carbon-nitrogen bonds other than peptide bonds , specifically in cyclic amides . The systematic name of this enzyme class is cyanuric acid amidohydrolase . This enzyme participates in atrazine degradation .", "Hydrogenacetylenedicarboxylate Hydrogenacetylenedicarboxylate ( often abbreviated as Hadc or HADC ) is a monovalent anion with the formula C4HO4 − or HO2C-C ≡ C-CO2 − . The anion can be derived from acetylenedicarboxylic acid by removal of a single proton , or from the acetylenedicarboxylate dianion by addition of a proton . The name is also used for any salt of this anion ; which may also be called acid , hydrogen , or monobasic acetylenedicarboxylate . The parent acid was synthetized by E. Bandrowski in 1877 . Salts of this anion are of interest in crystallography because they contain unusually short and strong hydrogen bonds .", "Uricosuria Uricosuria refers to uric acid in the urine . Urine levels of uric acid can be described as : Hyperuricosuria , an abnormally high level of uric acid in the urine Hypouricosuria , an abnormally low level of uric acid in the urine Agents that increase uric acid in the urine are termed uricosurics .", "Hydrogenoxalate Hydrogenoxalate or hydrogen oxalate is an anion with chemical formula HC2O4 − or HO2C -- CO2 − , derived from oxalic acid by the loss of a single proton ; or , alternatively , from the oxalate anion C2O42 − by addition of a proton . The name is also used for any salt containing this anion , such as NaHC2O4 , KHC2O4 , or NH3HC2O4 . Hydrogenoxalates may also be called ( especially in older literature ) bioxalates , acid oxalates , or monobasic oxalates .", "N-carbamoyl-D-amino acid hydrolase In enzymology , a N-carbamoyl-D-amino acid hydrolase is an enzyme that catalyzes the chemical reaction N-carbamoyl-D-amino acid + H2O D-amino acid + NH3 + CO2 Thus , the two substrates of this enzyme are N-carbamoyl-D-amino acid and H2O , whereas its 3 products are D-amino acid , NH3 , and CO2 . This enzyme belongs to the family of hydrolases , those acting on carbon-nitrogen bonds other than peptide bonds , specifically in linear amides . The systematic name of this enzyme class is '' '' '' .", "Clostridial aminopeptidase Clostridial aminopeptidase ( , Clostridium histolyticum aminopeptidase ) is an enzyme . This enzyme catalyses the following chemical reaction Release of any N-terminal amino acid , including proline and hydroxyproline , but no cleavage of Xaa-Pro - This enzyme is secreted enzyme from Clostridium histolyticum . It requiring Mn2 + or Co2 + .", "Francis Hodgkinson Francis Hodgkinson ( died 1840 ) was professor of Regius civil law ( 1834 ) and history ( 1799 ) at Trinity College , Dublin . He was also vice-provost of the college from 1821 to 1832 . Hodgkinson did not deliver any lectures on history between the date of his appointment in 1799 and his death in 1840 , causing his assistant , George Miller , to develop his own lecture course which was subsequently published in several editions . Nor did Hodgkinson deliver any lectures on law .", "Cetyl myristoleate Cetyl myristoleate is a chemical compound which is a type of fatty acid ester or , more specifically , a cetylated fatty acid ( CFA ) . It is the cetyl ester of myristoleic acid . Although it is used as a dietary supplement , there is little clinical evidence to support a benefit for any medical condition .", "Hurricane Blanca The name Blanca has been used for ten tropical cyclones in the Eastern Pacific Ocean . Hurricane Blanca ( 1966 ) never affected land and set a record for the farthest traveling storm that formed in the Eastern Pacific by traveling 4,300 miles . Tropical Storm Blanca ( 1970 ) dissipated after 3 days and did not make landfall . Tropical Storm Blanca ( 1974 ) did not make landfall . Tropical Storm Blanca ( 1979 ) did not make landfall . Hurricane Blanca ( 1985 ) did not affect any land . Tropical Storm Blanca ( 1991 ) did not cause any casualties or damages . Tropical Storm Blanca ( 1997 ) did not cause any major damage or casualties . Tropical Storm Blanca ( 2003 ) did not have any effects on land . Tropical Storm Blanca ( 2009 ) did not make landfall , but contributed to flooding in Mexico . Hurricane Blanca ( 2015 ) was a record-breaking , two time Category 4 hurricane which made landfall in the Baja California Peninsula as a tropical storm , being the earliest storm on record to do so . Category : Pacific hurricane disambiguation pages", "Inorganic anhydride An inorganic anhydride is a chemical compound that is related to another by the loss of the elements of water , H2O . It shares this definition with acid anhydrides but inorganic anhydrides do not contain any organic moiety . For example , carbon dioxide is the anhydride of carbonic acid : H2CO3 -- H2O = CO2 Although the term is somewhat archaic , it survives in current use in the name of the enzyme carbonic anhydrase , which catalyzes this reaction . Other inorganic acids have anhydrides which are oxides . Examples include : silicon dioxide is the anhydride of silicic acid : Si ( OH ) 4 -- 2H2O = SiO2 phosphorus pentoxide is the anhydride of phosphoric acid : 2H3PO4 -- 3H2O = P2O5 . vanadium pentoxide is the anhydride of vanadic acid : 2H3VO4 -- 3H2O = V2O5 . sulfur trioxide is the anhydride of sulfuric acid : H2SO4 = SO3 + H2O . This reaction is important in the manufacture of the acid . chromium trioxide is the anydride of chromic acid : H2CrO4 -- H2O = CrO3 iron ( II ) oxide is the anhydride of the aqueous ferrous ion : -LSB- Fe ( H2O ) 6 -RSB- 2 + -- 6H2O = FeO + 2H + + 5H2O A significant property of these anhydrides is that they are acidic oxides . This follows from the definition , since loss of water from an acid is not an acid-base reaction . Although it is difficult to classify these oxides as acids , the property is manifest in reactions with bases . For example , carbon dioxide reacts with alkali . CO2 + OH − HCO3 − + OH − CO32 − + H2O For this reason , alkali is kept in stoppered vessels to inhibit reaction with atmospheric carbon dioxide . In geochemistry complex silicates are often written as though they are the products of an acid-base reaction . For example , the chemical formula of the mineral olivine can be written either as ( Mg , Fe ) 2SiO4 or as ( MgO , FeO ) 2SiO2 . This mineral is said to be ultramafic , meaning that it has a very high nominal content of the bases magnesium oxide and iron oxide and hence , a low content of the acid silicon dioxide . Category : Inorganic compounds", "Citrazinic acid Citrazinic acid is a heterocyclic compound consisting of a dihydropyridine ring derived from citric acid . The yellow solid exists as multiple tautomers ; as seen also for the simpler 2-pyridone . Citrazinic acid is very sparingly soluble in water , acid and methanol but is soluble in basic solutions ( e.g. ammonia water ) . For NMR purposes it is also sparingly soluble in d6-DMSO ( 2H , 6.20 ppm ) . Category : Carboxylic acids Category :2 - Pyridones", "Dicarboxylic aminoaciduria Dicarboxylic aminoaciduria is a rare form of aminoaciduria ( 1:35 000 births ) which is an autosomal recessive disorder of urinary glutamate and aspartate due to genetic errors related to transport of these amino acids . Mutations resulting in a lack of expression of the SLC1A1 gene , a member of the solute carrier family , are found to cause development of dicarboxylic aminoaciduria in humans . SLC1A1 encodes for EAAT3 which is found in the neurons , intestine , kidney , lung , and heart . EAAT3 is part of a family of high affinity glutamate transporters which transport both glutamate and aspartate across the plasma membrane .", "Peak programme meter A peak programme meter ( PPM ) is an instrument used in professional audio for indicating the level of an audio signal . There are many different kinds of PPM . They fall into broad categories : True peak programme meter . This shows the peak level of the waveform no matter how brief its duration . Quasi peak programme meter ( QPPM ) . This only shows the true level of the peak if it exceeds a certain duration , typically a few milliseconds . On peaks of shorter duration , it indicates less than the true peak level . The extent of the shortfall is determined by the ` integration time ' . Sample peak programme meter ( SPPM ) . This is a PPM for digital audio -- which shows only peak sample values , not the true waveform peaks ( which may fall between samples and be up to 3 dB higher in amplitude ) . It may have either a ` true ' or a ` quasi ' integration characteristic . Over-sampling peak programme meter . This is a sample PPM in which the signal has first been over-sampled , typically by a factor of four , to alleviate the problem with a basic sample PPM . In professional usage , where consistent level measurements are needed across an industry , audio level meters often comply with a detailed formal standard . This ensures that all compliant meters indicate the same level for a given audio signal . The principal standard for PPMs is IEC 60268-10 . It describes two different quasi-PPM designs that have roots in meters originally developed in the 1930s for the AM radio broadcasting networks of Germany ( Type I ) and the United Kingdom ( Type II ) . The term Peak Programme Meter usually refers to these IEC-specified types and similar designs . Though originally designed for monitoring analogue audio signals , these PPMs are now also used with digital audio . PPMs do not provide effective loudness monitoring . Newer types of meter do , and there is now a push within the broadcasting industry to move away from traditional level meters such as those featured in this article to two new types : loudness meters based on EBU Tech . 3341 and oversampling true PPMs . The former would be used to standardise broadcast loudness to − 23 LUFS and the latter to prevent digital clipping .", "Trifluoromethanesulfonic anhydride Triflic anhydride is the chemical compound with the formula ( CF3SO2 ) 2O . This compound is a particularly strong electrophile , useful for introducing the triflyl group , CF3SO2 . Triflic anhydride is the acid anhydride of the strong acid triflic acid , CF3SO2OH . It can be assayed by 19F NMR spectroscopy : − 72.6 ppm vs. -77.3 for TfOH ( std CFCl3 ) .", "Tin sources and trade in ancient times Tin is an essential metal in the creation of tin bronzes , and its acquisition was an important part of ancient cultures from the Bronze Age onward . Its use began in the Middle East and the Balkans around 3000 BC . Tin is a relatively rare element in the Earth 's crust , with about 2 parts per million ( ppm ) , compared to iron with 50,000 ppm , copper with 70 ppm , lead with 16 ppm , arsenic with 5 ppm , silver with 0.1 ppm , and gold with 0.005 ppm . Ancient sources of tin were therefore rare , and the metal usually had to be traded over very long distances to meet demand in areas which lacked tin deposits . Known sources of tin in ancient times include the southeastern tin belt that runs from Yunnan in China to the Malay Peninsula ; Devon and Cornwall in England ; Brittany in France ; the border between Germany and the Czech Republic ; Spain ; Portugal ; Italy ; and central and South Africa . Syria and Egypt have been suggested as minor sources of tin , but the archaeological evidence is inconclusive .", "Acetylenedicarboxylate Acetylenedicarboxylate ( often abbreviated as ADC or adc ) is a divalent anion with formula C4O42 − or -LSB- O2C -- C ≡ C -- CO2 -RSB- 2 − ; or any salt or ester thereof . The anion can be derived from acetylenedicarboxylic acid C4H2O4 by the loss of two protons . It is one of several oxocarbon anions which , like carbonate CO32 − and oxalate C2O42 − , consist solely of carbon and oxygen . Removal of a single proton from the acid gives the monovalent hydrogenacetylenedicarboxylate anion , HC4O4 − .", "3-Phosphoglyceric acid 3-Phosphoglyceric acid ( 3PG ) , or glycerate 3-phosphate ( GP ) , is a biochemically significant 3-carbon molecule that is a metabolic intermediate in both glycolysis and the Calvin cycle . This chemical is often termed PGA when referring to the Calvin cycle . In the Calvin cycle , 3-Phosphoglycerate is the product of the spontaneous split of an unstable 6-carbon intermediate formed by CO2 fixation . Thus , two 3-phosphoglycerate molecules are produced for each molecule of CO2 fixed .", "Xenotropic murine leukemia virus-related virus Xenotropic murine leukemia virus-related virus ( XMRV ) is `` a laboratory-derived mouse virus that was generated through recombination between two endogenous murine retroviruses during propagation of a prostate cancer xenograft in the mid-1990 's . '' The chimeric virus was first described in 2006 as an apparently novel retrovirus and potential human pathogen . Initial reports erroneously linked the virus to prostate cancer and later to chronic fatigue syndrome ( CFS ) , leading to considerable interest in the scientific and patient communities , investigation of XMRV as a potential cause of multiple medical conditions , and public health concerns about the safety of the donated blood supply . XMRV has now been established as a laboratory contaminant . False positive detection of XMRV may also occur because of contamination of clinical specimens and laboratory reagents with other mouse retroviruses or related nucleic acids . Most scientific publications claiming an association of XMRV with CFS or prostate cancer have been retracted , and allegations of research misconduct were leveled against at least one CFS investigator . There is no evidence that XMRV can infect humans , nor has it been demonstrated that XMRV is associated with or causes any human disease .", "Ripening Ripening is a process in fruits that causes them to become more palatable . In general , fruit becomes sweeter , less green , and softer as it ripens . Even though the acidity of fruit increases as it ripens , the higher acidity level does not make the fruit seem tarter . This is attributed to the Brix-Acid Ratio .", "Fatty-acid peroxidase In enzymology , a fatty-acid peroxidase is an enzyme that catalyzes the chemical reaction palmitate + 2 H2O2 pentadecanal + CO2 + 3 H2O Thus , the two substrates of this enzyme are palmitate and H2O2 , whereas its 3 products are pentadecanal , CO2 , and H2O . This enzyme belongs to the family of oxidoreductases , specifically those acting on a peroxide as acceptor ( peroxidases ) . The systematic name of this enzyme class is hexadecanoate : hydrogen-peroxide oxidoreductase . This enzyme is also called long chain fatty acid peroxidase .", "8-amino-7-oxononanoate synthase In enzymology , a 8-amino-7-oxononanoate synthase is an enzyme that catalyzes the chemical reaction 6-carboxyhexanoyl-CoA + L-alanine 8-amino-7-oxononanoate + CoA + CO2 Thus , the two substrates of this enzyme are 6-carboxyhexanoyl-CoA and L-alanine , whereas its 3 products are 8-amino-7-oxononanoate , CoA , and CO2 . This enzyme belongs to the family of transferases , specifically those acyltransferases transferring groups other than aminoacyl groups . The systematic name of this enzyme class is 6-carboxyhexanoyl-CoA : L-alanine C-carboxyhexanoyltransferase ( decarboxylating ) . Other names in common use include 7-keto-8-aminopelargonic acid synthetase , 7-keto-8-aminopelargonic synthetase , and 8-amino-7-oxopelargonate synthase . This enzyme participates in biotin metabolism . It employs one cofactor , pyridoxal phosphate .", "Kolbe electrolysis The Kolbe electrolysis or Kolbe reaction is an organic reaction named after Hermann Kolbe . The Kolbe reaction is formally a decarboxylative dimerisation of two carboxylic acids ( or carboxylate ions ) The overall general reaction is : If a mixture of two different carboxylates are used , all combinations of them are generally seen as the organic product structures : 3 R1COO − + 3 R2COO − → R1 − R1 + R1 − R2 + R2 − R2 + 6 CO2 + 6 e − The reaction mechanism involves a two-stage radical process : electrochemical decarboxylation gives a radical intermediate , then two such intermediates combine to form a covalent bond . As an example , electrolysis of acetic acid yields ethane and carbon dioxide : CH3COOH → CH3COO − → CH3COO · → CH3 · + CO2 2CH3 · → CH3CH3 Another example is the synthesis of 2,7-dimethyl-2 ,7 - dinitrooctane from 4-methyl-4-nitrovaleric acid :" ]

[ "Science Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe . Contemporary science is typically subdivided into the natural sciences , which study the material universe ; the social sciences , which study people and societies ; and the formal sciences , which study logic and mathematics . The formal sciences are often excluded as they do not depend on empirical observations . Disciplines which use science , like engineering and medicine , may also be considered to be applied sciences . From classical antiquity through the 19th century , science as a type of knowledge was more closely linked to philosophy than it is now , and in the Western world the term `` natural philosophy '' once encompassed fields of study that are today associated with science , such as astronomy , medicine , and physics . However , during the Islamic Golden Age foundations for the scientific method were laid by Ibn al-Haytham in his Book of Optics . While the classification of the material world by the ancient Indians and Greeks into air , earth , fire and water was more philosophical , medieval Middle Easterns used practical and experimental observation to classify materials . In the 17th and 18th centuries , scientists increasingly sought to formulate knowledge in terms of physical laws . Over the course of the 19th century , the word `` science '' became increasingly associated with the scientific method itself as a disciplined way to study the natural world . It was during this time that scientific disciplines such as biology , chemistry , and physics reached their modern shapes . That same time period also included the origin of the terms `` scientist '' and `` scientific community '' , the founding of scientific institutions , and the increasing significance of their interactions with society and other aspects of culture .", "Scientific method The scientific method is a body of techniques for investigating phenomena , acquiring new knowledge , or correcting and integrating previous knowledge . To be termed scientific , a method of inquiry is commonly based on empirical or measurable evidence subject to specific principles of reasoning . The Oxford Dictionaries Online define the scientific method as `` a method or procedure that has characterized natural science since the 17th century , consisting in systematic observation , measurement , and experiment , and the formulation , testing , and modification of hypotheses '' . Experiments need to be designed to test hypotheses . The most important part of the scientific method is the experiment . The scientific method is a continuous process , which usually begins with observations about the natural world . Human beings are naturally inquisitive , so they often come up with questions about things they see or hear and often develop ideas ( hypotheses ) about why things are the way they are . The best hypotheses lead to predictions that can be tested in various ways , including making further observations about nature . In general , the strongest tests of hypotheses come from carefully controlled and replicated experiments that gather empirical data . Depending on how well the tests match the predictions , the original hypothesis may require refinement , alteration , expansion or even rejection . If a particular hypothesis becomes very well supported a general theory may be developed . Although procedures vary from one field of inquiry to another , identifiable features are frequently shared in common between them . The overall process of the scientific method involves making conjectures ( hypotheses ) , deriving predictions from them as logical consequences , and then carrying out experiments based on those predictions . A hypothesis is a conjecture , based on knowledge obtained while formulating the question . The hypothesis might be very specific or it might be broad . Scientists then test hypotheses by conducting experiments . Under modern interpretations , a scientific hypothesis must be falsifiable , implying that it is possible to identify a possible outcome of an experiment that conflicts with predictions deduced from the hypothesis ; otherwise , the hypothesis can not be meaningfully tested . The purpose of an experiment is to determine whether observations agree with or conflict with the predictions derived from a hypothesis . Experiments can take place anywhere from a college lab to CERN 's Large Hadron Collider . There are difficulties in a formulaic statement of method , however . Though the scientific method is often presented as a fixed sequence of steps , it represents rather a set of general principles . Not all steps take place in every scientific inquiry ( or to the same degree ) , and are not always in the same order . Some philosophers and scientists have argued that there is no scientific method , such as Lee Smolin and Paul Feyerabend ( in his Against Method ) . Nola and Sankey remark that `` For some , the whole idea of a theory of scientific method is yester-year 's debate '' ." ]

[ "Push-to-talk Push-to-talk ( PTT ) , also known as press-to-transmit , is a method of having conversations or talking on half-duplex communication lines , including two-way radio , using a momentary button to switch from voice reception mode to transmit mode .", "Hatch Park Hatch Park is a Site of Special Scientific Interest ( SSSI ) near Mersham and Brabourne , five miles ( 8 km ) from Ashford in Kent , England . The site is of special interest for its unimproved acidic grassland , a scarce habitat in Kent , with its ancient pollarded woodlands , supporting the richest epiphytic lichen community in the county . The grassland is the remnant of a formerly much more extensive deerpark , and the turf here is believed to have remained unbroken for the last 500 years . The deerpark still exists but on a smaller scale , including some artificial ponds and marshy areas .", "Communalness Communalness , as suggested by Robert A. Freitas Jr. , is a level of an emergent phenomenon which originates from electronic sentience , and represents a broader mode of thinking than just normal consciousness . While consciousness is limited to the individual , communalness describes a complex organization of numerous individuals which on a higher level is tightly connected to each other . Such an organization would maybe have the same intimate awareness of its own existence as a whole as people have consciousness of their own bodies .", "NEC N343i The NEC N343i is a GSM 900 -- GSM 1800 -- GSM 1900 mobile phone which was manufactured by NEC . Announced in quarter 2 of 2005 , the phone 's most attractive point was its modern new looks ; at just 109 × 43 × 12.7 mm and weighing only 95 g , the phone was one of the smallest candy-bar models available in the UK . The phone was one of the first coupled with the launch of telecommunication company O2 's i-mode service , a global system where operators design the compatible handsets , give strong editorial and usability rules to content providers , and propose an open business model to them . i-mode uses open standards as technologies : a light version of HTML is used for producing content , the i-mode mail is interoperable with e-mail , images and sound formats are the ones used on the Web . i-mode users have access to various services such as e-mail , sports results , weather forecast , games , financial services and ticket booking . The N343i has been criticized for high temperatures , regular failure , and most commonly poor battery and reception levels and praised for its small form factor , low price and good looks .", "Pollard railway station Pollard was a railway station on the Shelbourne line between the townships of Bradford and Nuggetty . It was originally called Bradford Station . There was a ticket office , shelter and toilets . There were no sidings so goods trains would leave trucks behind at Pollard on the way back to Maldon for the next train to push them into Shelbourne and then to their intended destination . Nothing remains of the station today , other than the platform mound .", "Highway Book Shop The Highway Book Shop was a bookstore and publishing company , located on Ontario Highway 11 near Cobalt , Ontario , which operated from 1957 to 2011 . Considered a landmark and cultural institution in the region , it was one of the largest and most famous independent bookstores in Canada . First established as a conventional printing business in 1957 by Douglas Pollard and his then-wife Jean ( née Hope ) , the business expanded into book sales after receiving a box of books as payment for a printing job . As the business grew , Pollard eventually expanded further into book publishing , releasing an extensive catalogue of titles in English , French and First Nations languages . Books about the history and culture of Northern Ontario were the publishing arm 's primary interest , although the company also published some fiction and poetry titles by local authors , as well as how-to and humour titles . In addition to its physical store , the shop also maintained an extensive mail order business , as well as a search service for people interested in purchasing rare or out-of-print books , and frequently travelled throughout Ontario to sell books at regional fairs and festivals . At its peak , the store had over 300,000 titles in stock in a variety of locations , including the main building , on-site trailers and several warehouses . By the early 2000s , the store also had a presence on AbeBooks , increasing its visibility for international sales of its rare books . Following Jean Pollard 's death , Douglas remarried in 1979 to Lois ( née Williams ) , who also became active in the store . Douglas Pollard was awarded an honorary doctorate by Nipissing University the following year , the first honorary degree ever granted by that institution . Douglas Pollard was also active in the national literary community , including as a board member of the Ontario Arts Council and as a member of the committee for the Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour . He was inducted into the Order of Canada in 2008 , although he died in 2009 before his actual induction ceremony . Lois Pollard accepted the award on his behalf . In her late 80s and keen to retire , Lois Pollard placed the store up for sale soon after Douglas ' death , but closed it in 2011 after failing to find a willing buyer . She published a history of the store , Highway Book Shop : Northern Ontario 's Unexpected Treasure , in 2011 , and donated a large collection of records and memorabilia from the store to the Laurentian University archives in 2010 and 2011 . Although the physical store is no longer in operation , its website still exists and some titles published by the company are still available for sale through the site .", "Modal analysis using FEM The goal of modal analysis in structural mechanics is to determine the natural mode shapes and frequencies of an object or structure during free vibration . It is common to use the finite element method ( FEM ) to perform this analysis because , like other calculations using the FEM , the object being analyzed can have arbitrary shape and the results of the calculations are acceptable . The types of equations which arise from modal analysis are those seen in eigensystems . The physical interpretation of the eigenvalues and eigenvectors which come from solving the system are that they represent the frequencies and corresponding mode shapes . Sometimes , the only desired modes are the lowest frequencies because they can be the most prominent modes at which the object will vibrate , dominating all the higher frequency modes . It is also possible to test a physical object to determine its natural frequencies and mode shapes . This is called an Experimental Modal Analysis . The results of the physical test can be used to calibrate a finite element model to determine if the underlying assumptions made were correct ( for example , correct material properties and boundary conditions were used ) .", "Women in science Women have made significant contributions to science from the earliest times . Historians with an interest in gender and science have illuminated the scientific endeavors and accomplishments of women , the barriers they have faced , and the strategies implemented to have their work peer-reviewed and accepted in major scientific journals and other publications . The historical , critical and sociological study of these issues has become an academic discipline in its own right . The involvement of women in the field of medicine occurred in several early civilizations , and the study of natural philosophy in ancient Greece was open to women . Women contributed to the proto-science of alchemy in the first or second centuries AD . During the Middle Ages , convents were an important place of education for women , and some of these communities provided opportunities for women to contribute to scholarly research . While the eleventh century saw the emergence of the first universities , women were , for the most part , excluded from university education . The attitude to educating women in medical fields in Italy appears to have been more liberal than in other places . The first known woman to earn a university chair in a scientific field of studies , was eighteenth-century Italian scientist , Laura Bassi . Although gender roles were largely defined in the eighteenth century , women experienced great advances in science . During the nineteenth century , women were excluded from most formal scientific education , but they began to be admitted into learned societies during this period . In the later nineteenth century , the rise of the women 's college provided jobs for women scientists and opportunities for education . Marie Curie , the first woman to receive a Nobel Prize in 1903 ( physics ) , went on to become a double Nobel Prize recipient in 1911 ( chemistry ) , both for her work on radiation . Forty women have been awarded the Nobel Prize between 1901 and 2010 . 17 women have been awarded the Nobel Prize in physics , chemistry , physiology or medicine .", "Communal apartment Communal apartments ( singular : коммуналка , коммунальная квартира , kommunalka , kommunal ` naya kvartira ) appeared in the Soviet Union following the Russian revolution of 1917 . Communal apartments emerged as a response to a housing crisis in urban areas - authorities presented them as a product of the `` new collective vision of the future '' . Between two and seven families typically shared a communal apartment . Each family had its own room , which often served as a living room , dining room , and bedroom for the entire family . All the residents of the entire apartment shared the use of the hallways , kitchen ( commonly known as the `` communal kitchen '' ) , bathroom and telephone ( if any ) . The communal apartment became the predominant form of housing in the USSR for generations , and examples still exist in `` the most fashionable central districts of large Russian cities '' .", "Maintenance mode In the world of software development , maintenance mode refers to a point in a program 's life when it has reached all of its goals and is generally considered to be `` complete '' and bug-free . Continued development is deemed unnecessary or ill-advised , but occasional bug fixes and security patches are still issued , hence the term maintenance mode . Maintenance mode often transitions to abandonware . Sometimes , when a popular free software project undergoes a major overhaul , the pre-overhaul version is kept active and put into maintenance mode because it will still be widely used in production for the foreseeable future . Project forks can also spawn from programs that go into maintenance mode too soon or have enough developer support for a more advanced version . A good example of this is the vi editor , which was in maintenance mode and forked into Vi IMproved . The Vim fork has many useful features that vi does not , such as syntax highlighting and the ability to have multiple open buffers . Category : Software maintenance", "MouseText MouseText designed by Bruce Tognazzini is a set of 32 graphical characters first implemented in the Apple IIc . They were then retrofitted to the Apple IIe forming part of the Enhanced IIe upgrade . A slightly revised version was then released with the Apple IIgs . By including box-drawing characters , MouseText made it possible to display simple text user interfaces resembling the Macintosh graphical user interface . Since the Apples lacked the ability to display user-defined characters in text mode , all GUI-like displays beyond crude ASCII art approximations had to use the slower and more memory-hungry graphical mode before MouseText was available . MouseText resulted in an eightfold increase in display speed for mouse applications , bringing such text-based applications as word processors up to the same speed as the original Macintosh . Word processors running on the two computers would not be confused with one another , however , as the mouse under MouseText would move in discrete jumps from character cell to character cell , rather than the smooth movement of the Macintosh , and text was still monospaced .", "Pollards Corner, Virginia Pollards Corner is an unincorporated community in King William County , Virginia , United States .", "Yaesu FT-1000MP The FT-1000MP is an amateur radio ( `` ham '' ) transceiver series , built by Yaesu . It is an `` all-mode '' set , operating in the High Frequency ( HF ) frequency range . The `` MP '' suffix in the name was an homage to Sako Hasegawa , the late founder of the company whose callsign was JA1MP , and who heavily influenced the design and feature set built into this radio . The FT-1000MP was Yaesu 's flagship radio at the time of its introduction ( 1995 ) , being both the most feature-rich and the most expensive radio that Yaesu had offered to the amateur radio community . It was manufactured for approximately 10 years in several models , including the original , the Mark-V , and Mark-V Field . Its features include Digital Signal Processing , dual receivers , up to 200 Watts of output power ( in some models ) and dual AC and 12VDC power ( again , in some models ) . Other advanced features include switchable Class ` A ' to improve linearity of the output signal , FM capability and being designed to allow operators to install special filter circuits for improved operation in various modes . At the same time , the radio was designed to be simple enough that newly-licensed operators would be able to rapidly become expert in its use . For instance , switching between the various operating bands is done by pressing a single push button on the front panel . Numerous frequencies can be stored in the radio 's memory for rapid return to them , and selecting between the two variable-frequency oscillators allows one frequency to be kept handy while the other VFO is used to chase signals from other stations . This can be especially useful during emergency operations or in contests such as ` Field Day . '' The FT-1000MP series radios can be controlled by Yaesu 's Computer Aided Transceiver system , through an optional cable , connected between the radio and a computer . The radio itself is fairly massive , even by the standards of the 1990s . However , the 5.3 '' x 16 '' ( 135mm x 410mm ) face allows for the many controls and indicators which make this radio easy and comfortable to use . The FT-1000MP Mk V Field model has a handle installed on the right side , and feet on the left , so that it can be carried similar to an item of luggage . Although discontinued over a decade ago , it remains a favorite among radio amateurs , and pricing on the used market has stayed high as a result -- not common in amateur radio , as new `` flagship '' - level equipment tends to be rapidly overtaken by newer technology . While buyers of multi-thousand-dollar radios for hobby use tend to keep up with the times , many MPs are still in their original owners ' hands . Sales of MP-specific accessories also continue to be strong .", "Folded inverted conformal antenna The folded inverted conformal antenna ( FICA ) belongs to the microstrip antenna family . The FICA placement on the handset board and its feeding mechanisms are similar to those used currently for the great majority of handsets with internal planar inverted-F antenna ( PIFA ) components . Whereas multiband PIFAs exhibit two resonant modes , which operate by sharing the same available antenna volume , the FICA structure is synthesised in order to sustain three resonant modes that better reuse the volume . The implementation of volume reuse allows spreading of the reactive electromagnetic energy associated with each resonant mode across the entire antenna volume . This results in FICA modes exhibiting a lower Q factor and a wider fractional bandwidth than the corresponding PIFA modes .", "Model 500 telephone The Western Electric model 500 telephone series was the standard domestic desk telephone set issued by the Bell System in North America from 1950 through the 1984 Bell System divestiture . Millions of model 500-series phones were produced and were present in most homes in North America . Many are still in use today because of their durability and ample availability . Its modular construction compared to previous types simplified manufacture and repair , and facilitated a large number of variants with added features . Touch-tone service was introduced to residential customers in 1963 with the model 1500 telephone , which had a push-button pad for the ten digits . The model 2500 telephone , introduced in 1968 , added the * and # keys , and is still produced by several manufacturers .", "Jewish prayer modes Jewish liturgical music is characterized by a set of musical modes . The prayer modes form part of what is known as the musical nusach ( tradition ) of a community , and serve both to identify different types of prayer and to link those prayers to the time of year or even time of day in which they are set . Various Jewish traditions developed their own modal systems , such as the maqamat of the Middle Eastern Jewish communities . The modes discussed in this article are specific to the traditions of Eastern European ( Ashkenazi ) Jewish Communities . There are three main modes , as well as a number of combined or compound modes . The three main modes are called Ahavah Rabbah , Magein Avot and Adonai Malach . Traditionally , the cantor ( hazzan ) improvised sung prayers within the designated mode , while following a general structure of how each prayer should sound . Over time many of these chants have been written down and standardized , yet the practice of improvisation still exists to this day . Early studies in the history of Jewish Prayer Modes concluded that the musical scales used were based upon ancient Biblical cantillation , but modern scholarship has questioned the validity of these findings .", "Henry Pollard Henry Pollard may refer to : Henry Moses Pollard ( 1836 -- 1904 ) , U.S. Representative from Missouri H. B. Pollard , first postmaster of Ashland , Kentucky Henry Pollard ( tennis ) Henry Graham Pollard ( 1903 -- 1976 ) , British bookseller and bibliographer", "SINCGARS Single Channel Ground and Airborne Radio System ( SINCGARS ) is a Combat Net Radio ( CNR ) currently used by U.S. and allied military forces . The radios , which handle voice and data communications , are designed to be reliable , secure , and easily maintained . Vehicle-mount , backpack , airborne , and handheld form factors are available . SINCGARS uses 25 kHz channels in the very high frequency ( VHF ) FM band , from 30.000 to 87.975 megahertz ( MHz ) . It has single-frequency and frequency hopping modes . The frequency-hopping mode hops 111 times a second . The SINCGARS family has mostly replaced the Vietnam-war-era synthesized single frequency radios ( AN/PRC -77 and AN/VRC -12 ) , although it can work with them . The airborne AN/ARC -201 radio is phasing out the older tactical air-to-ground radios ( AN/ARC -114 and AN/ARC -131 ) . Over 570,000 radios have been purchased . There have been several system improvement programs , including the Integrated Communications Security ( ICOM ) models , which have provided integrated voice and data encryption , the Special Improvement Program ( SIP ) models , which add additional data modes , and the advanced SIP ( ASIP ) models , which are less than half the size and weight of ICOM and SIP models and provided enhanced FEC ( forward error correction ) data modes , RS-232 asynchronous data , Packet Data formats , and direct interfacing to Precision Lightweight GPS Receiver ( PLGR ) devices providing radio level situational awareness capability . In 1992 , the U.S. Air Force awarded a contract to replace the AN/ARC -188 for communications between Air Force aircraft and Army units .", "Intramodal dispersion In fiber-optic communication , an intramodal dispersion , is a category of dispersion that occurs within a single mode optical fiber . This dispersion mechanism is a result of material properties of optical fiber and applies to both single-mode and multi-mode fibers . Two distinct types of intramodal dispersion are : chromatic dispersion and polarization mode dispersion .", "Pollard, Alabama Pollard is a town in Escambia County , Alabama , United States . It was the first established county seat of Escambia County , from its creation in 1868 until 1883 , when it lost that distinction to Brewton . At the 2010 census the population was 137 .", "Jacko (MTV) Jacko is an MTV-produced mini-series , currently shown entirely online . The 10-episode series follows the adventures of Jacko , a 23-year-old from the city of Stavros located in an unnamed Eastern European country , presumably Ukraine . Jacko , who has very poor English skills yet still narrates the series , dreams of becoming a photographer 's model . The series follows him as he journeys to Berlin to pursue his dream . For reasons left unexplained , Jacko does n't wear pants . Jacko is partially animated , partially live action . Jacko himself , and his parents , appear as very crudely drawn , black and white pencil sketch cartoons , while his settings and most other characters are portrayed with still photographs or live-action footage .", "Harry Pollard (photographer) Harry Pollard ( 1880 -- 1968 ) was a Canadian photographer whose specialty was photographing First Nations ( Native American ) people . He was born in Tillsonburg , Ontario , Canada . In 1899 , young Harry arrived in Calgary , and opened a photography studio there . In 1924 , Pollard was press photographer for Associated Screen News , a subsidiary of Canadian Pacific Railway . He was hired to take promotional pictures of ocean cruises , and his job took him around the world 14 times . The Harry Pollard photograph collection is in the Provincial Archives of Alberta , having been acquired by the provincial government in 1964 .", "Casio F-91W The Casio F-91W is a quartz digital watch model , manufactured by the Japanese company Casio Computer Co. , Ltd. . It is a part of the Casio F-series of digital watches . The original F-91W was introduced in 1991 and is still in production and demand . It is popular for its simplicity , reliability , and unpretentious , clean design . The watch is available in several variants . Casio does not release sales figures for the model , but admits it continues to sell `` well '' .", "Transition economy A transition economy or transitional economy is an economy which is changing from a centrally planned economy to a market economy . Transition economies undergo a set of structural transformations intended to develop market-based institutions . These include economic liberalization , where prices are set by market forces rather than by a central planning organization . In addition to this trade barriers are removed , there is a push to privatize state-owned enterprises and resources , state and collectively run enterprises are restructured as businesses , and a financial sector is created to facilitate macroeconomic stabilization and the movement of private capital . The process has been applied in China , the former Soviet Union and Eastern bloc countries of Europe and some Third world countries , and detailed work has been undertaken on its economic and social effects . The transition process is usually characterized by the changing and creating of institutions , particularly private enterprises ; changes in the role of the state , thereby , the creation of fundamentally different governmental institutions and the promotion of private-owned enterprises , markets and independent financial institutions . In essence , one transition mode is the functional restructuring of state institutions from being a provider of growth to an enabler , with the private sector its engine . Another transition mode is change the way that economy grows and practice mode . The relationships between these two transition modes are micro and macro , partial and whole . The truly transition economics should include both the micro transition and macro transition . Due to the different initial conditions during the emerging process of the transition from planned economics to market economics , countries uses different transition model . Countries like P.R.China and Vietnam adopted a gradual transition mode , however Russia and some other East-European countries , such as the former Socialist Republic of Yugoslavia , used a more aggressive and quicker paced model of transition . The term transition period is often used to describe the process of transition from capitalism to socialism , preceding the establishment of fully developed socialism .", "Demo mode The demo mode ( short for `` demonstration mode '' , also sometimes mentioned as floor mode or kiosk mode ) is a feature often found in consumer electronics . A demo mode is usually programmed into the floor model 's firmware , which may be accessed by the pressing of a combination of keys and/or the launch of a program . Demo mode is usually activated by retail stores on their consumer electronics floor models . The demo mode may also be pre-enabled on the floor model . The purpose of a demo mode is threefold : It demonstrates the features of the unit in question It catches the eye of the consumer with a flashy show of lights , entertaining sound , or both . To reset or prevent malicious changes to the floor model . The central idea behind a demo mode is in-store advertising , preview or premiere of the product .", "Crimepush CrimePush Inc. a Washington D.C. based company , created in 2012 by Shayan Pahlevani , his brother Eman Pahlevani , and friend Samier Mansur . The Company developed and published the crime reporting smartphone application , CrimePush Security . Check in feature allows users to check in with friends and family to update loved ones in case of threat or emergency . Upon launching the application , users will have the option of inputting emergency contact , personal , and medical information such as medical history , allergies , primary physician . Upon a medical emergency , the user 's distress will be pushed to emergency contacts and medical information will be pushed to ambulatory services , giving them the ability to better treat the patient .", "Arabidopsis Arabidopsis ( rockcress ) is a genus in the family Brassicaceae . They are small flowering plants related to cabbage and mustard . This genus is of great interest since it contains thale cress ( Arabidopsis thaliana ) , one of the model organisms used for studying plant biology and the first plant to have its entire genome sequenced . Changes in thale cress are easily observed , making it a very useful model .", "Push Access Protocol Push Access Protocol ( or PAP ) is a protocol defined in WAP-164 of the Wireless Application Protocol ( WAP ) suite from the Open Mobile Alliance . PAP is used for communicating with the Push Proxy Gateway , which is usually part of a WAP Gateway . PAP is intended for use in delivering content from Push Initiators to Push Proxy Gateways for subsequent delivery to narrow band devices , including mobile phones and pagers . Example messages include news , stock quotes , weather , traffic reports , and notification of events such as email arrival . With Push functionality , users are able to receive information without having to request it . In many cases it is important for the user to get the information as soon as it is available . The Push Access Protocol is not intended for use over the air . PAP is designed to be independent of the underlying transport protocol . PAP specifies the following possible operations between the Push Initiator and the Push Proxy Gateway : Submit a Push Cancel a Push Query for status of a Push Query for wireless device capabilities Result notification The interaction between the Push Initiators and the Push Proxy Gateways is in the form of XML messages .", "Org-mode Org-mode ( also : Org mode ; -LSB- ˈɔːrɡ_moʊd -RSB- ) is an editing and organizing mode for notes , planning , and authoring in the free software text editor Emacs . The name is used to encompass plain text files ( `` org files '' ) that include simple marks to indicate levels of a hierarchy ( which could be the outline of an essay , a topic list with subtopics , nested computer code , ... ) , and an editor with functions that can read the markup and manipulate hierarchy elements ( expand/hide elements , move blocks of elements , check off to-do list items , ... ) . Org-mode was created by Carsten Dominik in 2003 , originally to organize his life and work , and since the first release numerous users and developers have contributed to this free software package , Emacs includes Org-mode as a major mode . Bastien Guerry is the current maintainer , in cooperation with an active development community . Since its success in Emacs , some other systems have also begun providing functions to work with org files .", "First Battle of the Masurian Lakes The First Battle of the Masurian Lakes was a German offensive in the Eastern Front during the early stages of World War I . It pushed the Russian First Army back across its entire front , eventually ejecting it from Germany . Further progress was hampered by the arrival of the Russian Tenth Army on the Germans ' left flank .", "Pollard Meadows, Edmonton Pollard Meadows is a residential neighbourhood located in the Mill Woods area of south Edmonton , Alberta , Canada . It is a part of the Mill Woods community of Southwood .", "Rast (mode) Rast ( Rast ) is a musical modal system in traditional mugham music . This is the first mode of main modes in mugham which kept its base and root , unchanged its function during the historical period of development . Rast mugam based on this mode is called `` mother of mugams '' . Rast mode consists of 1 +1 +0.5 tone , which is created in three tetra-chords in the result of amalgamation of reach method of the first main tetra-chord . Literaryly , Rast creates courage and cheerfulness at listener . Subgenres of Rast are : Bardasht ( with Novruzu-Ravanda ) , Maye , Ushshag , Huseyni , Vilayati , Dilkesh , Kurdu , Shikasteyi-fars ( Khojasta ) , Erag , Penjgah , Rak-Khorasani , Gerai , space for Rast . Other mugams relating to the Rast are : Mahur , Mahur-Hindi , Orta Mahur , Bayaty-Gajar , Gatar ." ]

[ "Attribution of recent climate change Attribution of recent climate change is the effort to scientifically ascertain mechanisms responsible for recent climate changes on Earth , commonly known as ` global warming ' . The effort has focused on changes observed during the period of instrumental temperature record , when records are most reliable ; particularly in the last 50 years , when human activity has grown fastest and observations of the troposphere have become available . The dominant mechanisms are anthropogenic , i.e. , the result of human activity . They are : increasing atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases global changes to land surface , such as deforestation increasing atmospheric concentrations of aerosols . There are also natural mechanisms for variation including climate oscillations , changes in solar activity , and volcanic activity . According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) , it is `` extremely likely '' that human influence was the dominant cause of global warming between 1951 and 2010 . The IPCC defines `` extremely likely '' as indicating a probability of 95 to 100 % , based on an expert assessment of all the available evidence . Multiple lines of evidence support attribution of recent climate change to human activities : A basic physical understanding of the climate system : greenhouse gas concentrations have increased and their warming properties are well-established . Historical estimates of past climate changes suggest that the recent changes in global surface temperature are unusual . Computer-based climate models are unable to replicate the observed warming unless human greenhouse gas emissions are included . Natural forces alone ( such as solar and volcanic activity ) can not explain the observed warming . The IPCC 's attribution of recent global warming to human activities is a view shared by the scientific community , and is also supported by 196 other scientific organizations worldwide ( see also : scientific opinion on climate change ) .", "Global warming hiatus A global warming hiatus , also sometimes referred to as a global warming pause or a global warming slowdown , is a period of relatively little change in globally averaged surface temperatures . In the current episode of global warming many such 15-year periods appear in the surface temperature record , along with robust evidence of the long-term warming trend ; climate is classically averaged over 30-year periods . Publicity has surrounded claims of a global warming hiatus during the period 1998 -- 2013 . The exceptionally warm El Niño year of 1998 was an outlier from the continuing temperature trend , and so subsequent annual temperatures gave the appearance of a hiatus : by January 2006 , it appeared to some that global warming had stopped or paused . A 2009 study showed that decades without warming were not exceptional , and in 2011 a study showed that if allowances were made for known variability , the rising temperature trend continued unabated . There was increased public interest in 2013 in the run-up to publication of the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report , and despite concerns that a 15-year period was too short to determine a meaningful trend , the IPCC included a section on a hiatus , which it defined as a much smaller increasing linear trend over the 15 years from 1998 to 2012 , than over the 60 years from 1951 to 2012 . Various studies examined possible causes of the short-term slowdown . Even though the overall climate system has continued to accumulate energy due to Earth 's positive energy budget , the available temperature readings at the Earth 's surface indicate slower rates of increase in surface warming than in the prior decade . Since measurements at the top of the atmosphere show that Earth is receiving more energy than it is radiating back into space , the retained energy should be producing warming in the Earth 's climate system . Research reported in July 2015 on an updated NOAA dataset casts doubt on the existence of a hiatus , and it finds no indication of a slowdown even in earlier years . Scientists working on other datasets welcomed this study , though they have expressed the view that the recent warming trend was less than in previous periods of the same length . Subsequently , a detailed study supports the conclusion that warming is continuing , but it also find there was less warming between 2001 and 2010 than climate models had predicted , and that this slowdown might be attributed to short-term variations in the Pacific decadal oscillation ( PDO ) , which was negative during that period . Another review finds `` no substantive evidence '' of a pause in global warming . A statistical study of global temperature data since 1970 concludes that the term ` hiatus ' or ` pause ' is not justified . Independent of these discussions about data and measurements for earlier years , 2015 turned out to be much warmer than any of the earlier years , already before El Niño conditions started . The warmth of 2015 largely ended any remaining scientific credibility of claims that the supposed `` hiatus '' since 1998 had any significance for the long-term warming trend . In January 2017 , a study published in the journal Science Advances cast further doubt on the existence of a recent pause , with more evidence that ocean temperatures have been underestimated . An April 2017 study found the data consistent with a steady warming trend globally since the 1970s , with fluctuations within the expected range of short term variability .", "Little Ice Age The Little Ice Age ( LIA ) was a period of cooling that occurred after the Medieval Warm Period . Although it was not a true ice age , the term was introduced into scientific literature by François E. Matthes in 1939 . It has been conventionally defined as a period extending from the 16th to the 19th centuries , but some experts prefer an alternative timespan from about 1300 to about 1850 . Climatologists and historians working with local records no longer expect to agree on either the start or end dates of the period , which varied according to local conditions . The NASA Earth Observatory notes three particularly cold intervals : one beginning about 1650 , another about 1770 , and the last in 1850 , all separated by intervals of slight warming . The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Third Assessment Report considered the timing and areas affected by the Little Ice Age suggested largely-independent regional climate changes rather than a globally-synchronous increased glaciation . At most , there was modest cooling of the Northern Hemisphere during the period . Several causes have been proposed : cyclical lows in solar radiation , heightened volcanic activity , changes in the ocean circulation , variations in Earth 's orbit and axial tilt ( orbital forcing ) , inherent variability in global climate , and decreases in the human population .", "Global warming Global warming , also referred to as climate change , is the observed century-scale rise in the average temperature of the Earth 's climate system and its related effects . Multiple lines of scientific evidence show that the climate system is warming . Many of the observed changes since the 1950s are unprecedented in the instrumental temperature record which extends back to the mid 19th century , and in paleoclimate proxy records over thousands of years . In 2013 , the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) Fifth Assessment Report concluded that `` It is extremely likely that human influence has been the dominant cause of the observed warming since the mid-20th century . '' The largest human influence has been emission of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide , methane and nitrous oxide . Climate model projections summarized in the report indicated that during the 21st century the global surface temperature is likely to rise a further 0.3 to for their lowest emissions scenario and 2.6 to for the highest emissions scenario . These findings have been recognized by the national science academies of the major industrialized nations and are not disputed by any scientific body of national or international standing . Future climate change and associated impacts will differ from region to region around the globe . Anticipated effects include warming global temperature , rising sea levels , changing precipitation , and expansion of deserts in the subtropics . Warming is expected to be greater over land than over the oceans and greatest in the Arctic , with the continuing retreat of glaciers , permafrost and sea ice . Other likely changes include more frequent extreme weather events including heat waves , droughts , heavy rainfall with floods and heavy snowfall ; ocean acidification ; and species extinctions due to shifting temperature regimes . Effects significant to humans include the threat to food security from decreasing crop yields and the abandonment of populated areas due to rising sea levels . Because the climate system has a large `` inertia '' and greenhouse gases will stay in the atmosphere for a long time , many of these effects will not only exist for decades or centuries , but will persist for tens of thousands of years . Possible societal responses to global warming include mitigation by emissions reduction , adaptation to its effects , building systems resilient to its effects , and possible future climate engineering . Most countries are parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change ( UNFCCC ) , whose ultimate objective is to prevent dangerous anthropogenic climate change . Parties to the UNFCCC have agreed that deep cuts in emissions are required and that global warming should be limited to well below 2.0 C-change relative to pre-industrial levels , with efforts made to limit warming to 1.5 C-change . Public reactions to global warming and concern about its effects are also increasing . A global 2015 Pew Research Center report showed a median of 54 % consider it `` a very serious problem '' . There are significant regional differences , with Americans and Chinese ( whose economies are responsible for the greatest annual CO2 emissions ) among the least concerned ." ]

[ "Global warming controversy The global warming controversy concerns the public debate over whether global warming is occurring , how much has occurred in modern times , what has caused it , what its effects will be , whether any action should be taken to curb it , and if so what that action should be . In the scientific literature , there is a strong consensus that global surface temperatures have increased in recent decades and that the trend is caused by human-induced emissions of greenhouse gases . No scientific body of national or international standing disagrees with this view , though a few organizations with members in extractive industries hold non-committal positions . Disputes over the key scientific facts of global warming are more prevalent in the media than in the scientific literature , where such issues are treated as resolved , and such disputes are more prevalent in the United States than globally . Political and popular debate concerning the existence and cause of climate change includes the reasons for the increase seen in the instrumental temperature record , whether the warming trend exceeds normal climatic variations , and whether human activities have contributed significantly to it . Scientists have resolved these questions decisively in favour of the view that the current warming trend exists and is ongoing , that human activity is the cause , and that it is without precedent in at least 2000 years . Public disputes that also reflect scientific debate include estimates of how responsive the climate system might be to any given level of greenhouse gases ( climate sensitivity ) , how global climate change will play out at local and regional scales , and what the consequences of global warming will be . Global warming remains an issue of widespread political debate , often split along party political lines , especially in the United States . Many of the issues that are settled within the scientific community , such as human responsibility for global warming , remain the subject of politically or economically motivated attempts to downplay , dismiss or deny them -- an ideological phenomenon categorised by academics and scientists as climate change denial . The sources of funding for those involved with climate science -- both supporting and opposing mainstream scientific positions -- have been questioned by both sides . There are debates about the best policy responses to the science , their cost-effectiveness and their urgency . Climate scientists , especially in the United States , have reported official and oil-industry pressure to censor or suppress their work and hide scientific data , with directives not to discuss the subject in public communications . Legal cases regarding global warming , its effects , and measures to reduce it have reached American courts . The fossil fuels lobby has been identified as overtly or covertly supporting efforts to undermine or discredit the scientific consensus on global warming .", "Scientific consensus on climate change There is currently a strong scientific consensus that the Earth is warming and that this warming is mainly caused by human activities. This consensus is supported by various studies of scientists' opinions and by position statements of scientific organizations, many of which explicitly agree with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) synthesis reports. Nearly all actively publishing climate scientists (97–98%) support the consensus on anthropogenic climate change, and the remaining 2% of contrarian studies either cannot be replicated or contain errors.", "Climate of Adelaide Adelaide has a Mediterranean climate ( Köppen climate classification Csa ) , with mild to cool winters with moderate rainfall and warm to hot , dry summers . Adelaide is the driest of the Australian capital cities and the past two decades have been far warmer than usual , with the past 8 years seeing an excess of 40 + degrees every summer . Alarmingly , the city has also recorded almost 10 consecutive years of below-average Spring rainfall , with 2014 on track to continuing this trend . A spike in heat waves , droughts and record-breaking high temperatures over the past decade has led to some concerns over the effects of global warming and Man-made climate change ( AGW ) on the city . Nine of the ten warmest years recorded in Adelaide have occurred since 2002 , with 2013 being the hottest year and summer 2015 -- 2016 being the fourth-hottest summer recorded .", "Drought in Australia Drought in Australia is defined by the Australian Bureau of Meteorology as rainfall over a three-month period being in the lowest decile of what has been recorded for that region in the past . This definition takes into account that drought is a relative term and rainfall deficiencies need to be compared to typical rainfall patterns including seasonal variations . Specifically drought in Australia is defined in relation to a rainfall deficiency of pastoral leases and is determined by decile analysis applied to a certain area . Note that this definition uses rainfall only because long-term records are widely available across most of Australia . However , it does not take into account other variables that might be important for establishing surface water balance , such as evaporation and condensation . Historical climatic records are now sufficiently reliable to profile climate variability taking into account expectations for regions . Bureau of Meteorology records since the 1860s show that a ` severe ' drought has occurred in Australia , on average , once every 18 years . State Governments are responsible for declaring a region drought affected and the declaration will take into account factors other than rainfall . The worst drought to affect the country occurred in the 21st century -- between the years 2003 to 2012 . Nonetheless , many regions of Australia are still in significant drought and rainfall records have showed a marked decrease in precipitation levels since 1994 , with many scientists attributing this to climate change and global warming . Deficiencies in northern Australia increased in 2013 -- 14 , leading to an extended drought period in certain parts of Queensland .", "IPCC First Assessment Report The First Assessment Report ( FAR ) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) was completed in 1990 . It served as the basis of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change ( UNFCCC ) . The report was issued in three main sections , corresponding to the three Working Groups of scientists that the IPCC had established . Working Group I : Scientific Assessment of Climate Change , edited by J.T. Houghton , G.J. Jenkins and J.J. Ephraums Working Group II : Impacts Assessment of Climate Change , edited by W.J. McG . Tegart , G.W. Sheldon and D.C. Griffiths Working Group III : The IPCC Response Strategies Each section included a summary for policymakers . This format was followed in subsequent Assessment Reports . The executive summary of the policymakers ' summary of the WG I report includes : We are certain of the following : there is a natural greenhouse effect ... ; emissions resulting from human activities are substantially increasing the atmospheric concentrations of the greenhouse gases : CO2 , methane , CFCs and nitrous oxide . These increases will enhance the greenhouse effect , resulting on average in an additional warming of the Earth 's surface . The main greenhouse gas , water vapour , will increase in response to global warming and further enhance it . We calculate with confidence that : ... CO2 has been responsible for over half the enhanced greenhouse effect ; long-lived gases would require immediate reductions in emissions from human activities of over 60 % to stabilise their concentrations at today 's levels ... Based on current models , we predict : under -LSB- BAU -RSB- increase of global mean temperature during the -LSB- 21st -RSB- century of about 0.3 oC per decade ( with an uncertainty range of 0.2 to 0.5 oC per decade ) ; this is greater than that seen over the past 10,000 years ; under other ... scenarios which assume progressively increasing levels of controls , rates of increase in global mean temperature of about 0.2 oC -LSB- to -RSB- about 0.1 oC per decade . There are many uncertainties in our predictions particularly with regard to the timing , magnitude and regional patterns of climate change , due to our incomplete understanding of : sources and sinks of GHGs ; clouds ; oceans ; polar ice sheets . Our judgement is that : global mean surface air temperature has increased by 0.3 to 0.6 oC over the last 100 years ... ; The size of this warming is broadly consistent with predictions of climate models , but it is also of the same magnitude as natural climate variability . Thus the observed increase could be largely due to this natural variability ; alternatively this variability and other human factors could have offset a still larger human-induced greenhouse warming . The unequivocal detection of the enhanced greenhouse effect is not likely for a decade or more . under the IPCC business as usual emissions scenario , an average rate of global mean sea level rise of about 6 cm per decade over the next century ( with an uncertainty range of 3 -- 10 cm per decade ) , mainly due to thermal expansion of the oceans and the melting of some land ice . The predicted rise is about 20 cm ... by 2030 , and 65 cm by the end of the next century .", "Scientific opinion on climate change The scientific opinion on climate change is the overall judgment among scientists regarding the extent to which global warming is occurring , its causes , and its probable consequences . The scientific consensus is that the Earth 's climate system is unequivocally warming , and that it is extremely likely ( meaning 95 % probability or higher ) that this warming is predominantly caused by humans . It is likely that this mainly arises from increased concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere , such as from deforestation and the burning of fossil fuels , partially offset by human caused increases in aerosols ; natural changes had little effect . This scientific opinion is expressed in synthesis reports , by scientific bodies of national or international standing , and by surveys of opinion among climate scientists . Individual scientists , universities , and laboratories contribute to the overall scientific opinion via their peer-reviewed publications , and the areas of collective agreement and relative certainty are summarised in these respected reports and surveys . National and international science academies and scientific societies have assessed current scientific opinion on global warming . These assessments are generally consistent with the conclusions of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change . The IPCC Fourth Assessment Report stated that : Warming of the climate system is unequivocal , as evidenced by increases in global average air and ocean temperatures , the widespread melting of snow and ice , and rising global average sea level . Most of the global warming since the mid-20th century is very likely due to human activities . Benefits and costs of climate change for -LSB- human -RSB- society will vary widely by location and scale . Some of the effects in temperate and polar regions will be positive and others elsewhere will be negative . Overall , net effects are more likely to be strongly negative with larger or more rapid warming . The range of published evidence indicates that the net damage costs of climate change are likely to be significant and to increase over time . The resilience of many ecosystems is likely to be exceeded this century by an unprecedented combination of climate change , associated disturbances ( e.g. flooding , drought , wildfire , insects , ocean acidification ) and other global change drivers ( e.g. land-use change , pollution , fragmentation of natural systems , over-exploitation of resources ) . Some scientific bodies have recommended specific policies to governments , and science can play a role in informing an effective response to climate change . Policy decisions , however , may require value judgements and so are not included in the scientific opinion . No scientific body of national or international standing maintains a formal opinion dissenting from any of these main points . The last national or international scientific body to drop dissent was the American Association of Petroleum Geologists , which in 2007 updated its statement to its current non-committal position . Some other organizations , primarily those focusing on geology , also hold non-committal positions .", "Cooling down Cooling down ( the prescribed event of which is called a cool down , cooldown , or cool-down ; or warm down , in allusion to use in combination with warm up ) is an easy exercise , done after a more intense activity , to allow the body to gradually transition to a resting or near-resting state . Depending on the intensity of the exercise , cooling down can involve a slow jog or walk . With lower intensities stretching can be used . Cooling down allows the heart rate to return to its resting rate . Anecdotally cooling down may reduce dizziness for professional or serious athletes and vocal performers after strenuous workouts . Studies are currently inconclusive as to whether the process actually reduces delayed-onset muscle soreness and muscle soreness not caused by lactate production during intense exercise . Some have shown a weak correlation : however , the majority of recent studies discount the relationship . One study has shown that athletes who perform an appropriate cool-down are less likely to become injured .", "Hockey stick graph Hockey stick graphs present the global or hemispherical mean temperature record of the past 500 to 2000 years as shown by quantitative climate reconstructions based on climate proxy records . These reconstructions have consistently shown a slow long term cooling trend changing into relatively rapid warming in the 20th century , with the instrumental temperature record by 2000 exceeding earlier temperatures . The term `` hockey stick graph '' was coined by the climatologist Jerry Mahlman , to describe the pattern shown by the ( MBH99 ) reconstruction , envisaging a graph that is relatively flat with a downward trend to 1900 as forming an ice hockey stick 's `` shaft '' followed by a sharp , steady increase corresponding to the `` blade '' portion . The reconstructions have featured in Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) reports as evidence of global warming . Arguments over the reconstructions have been taken up by fossil fuel industry funded lobbying groups attempting to cast doubt on climate science . Paleoclimatology dates back to the 19th century , and the concept of examining varves in lake beds and tree rings to track local climatic changes was suggested in the 1930s . In the 1960s , Hubert Lamb generalised from historical documents and temperature records of central England to propose a Medieval Warm Period from around 900 to 1300 , followed by Little Ice Age . This was the basis of a `` schematic diagram '' featured in the IPCC First Assessment Report of 1990 beside cautions that the medieval warming might not have been global . The use of indicators to get quantitative estimates of the temperature record of past centuries was developed , and by the late 1990s a number of competing teams of climatologists found indications that recent warming was exceptional . introduced the `` Composite Plus Scaling '' ( CPS ) method used by most later large scale reconstructions . Their study was featured in the IPCC Second Assessment Report of 1995 . In 1998 Michael E. Mann , Raymond S. Bradley and Malcolm K. Hughes developed new statistical techniques to produce ( MBH98 ) , the first eigenvector-based climate field reconstruction ( CFR ) . This showed global patterns of annual surface temperature , and included a graph of average hemispheric temperatures back to 1400 with shading emphasising that uncertainties ( to two standard error limits ) were much greater in earlier centuries . independently produced a CPS reconstruction extending back for a thousand years , and ( MBH99 ) used the MBH98 methodology to extend their study back to 1000 . A version of the MBH99 graph was featured prominently in the 2001 IPCC Third Assessment Report ( TAR ) , which also drew on Jones et al. 1998 and three other reconstructions to support the conclusion that , in the Northern Hemisphere , the 1990s was likely to have been the warmest decade and 1998 the warmest year during the past 1,000 years . The graph became a focus of dispute for those opposed to the strengthening scientific consensus that late 20th century warmth was exceptional . In 2003 , as lobbying over the 1997 Kyoto Protocol intensified , a paper claiming greater medieval warmth was quickly dismissed by scientists in the Soon and Baliunas controversy . Later in 2003 , Stephen McIntyre and Ross McKitrick published disputing the data used in MBH98 paper . In 2004 Hans von Storch published criticism of the statistical techniques as tending to underplay variations in earlier parts of the graph , though this was disputed and he later accepted that the effect was very small . In 2005 McIntyre and McKitrick published criticisms of the principal components analysis methodology as used in MBH98 and MBH99 . Their analysis was subsequently disputed by published papers including and which pointed to errors in the McIntyre and McKitrick methodology . Political disputes led to the formation of a panel of scientists convened by the National Research Council , their North Report in 2006 supported Mann 's findings with some qualifications , including agreeing that there were some statistical failings but these had little effect on the result . More than two dozen reconstructions , using various statistical methods and combinations of proxy records , support the broad consensus shown in the original 1998 hockey-stick graph , with variations in how flat the pre-20th century `` shaft '' appears . The 2007 IPCC Fourth Assessment Report cited 14 reconstructions , 10 of which covered 1,000 years or longer , to support its strengthened conclusion that it was likely that Northern Hemisphere temperatures during the 20th century were the highest in at least the past 1,300 years . Further reconstructions , including Mann et al. 2008 and , have supported these general conclusions .", "List of scientists opposing the mainstream scientific assessment of global warming This is a list of scientists who have made statements that conflict with the scientific consensus on global warming as summarized by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and endorsed by other scientific bodies . As approximately 97 % of publishing climate scientists support the consensus on anthropogenic climate change , this list represents a minority viewpoint . The scientific consensus is that the global average surface temperature has risen over the last century . Scientific opinion on climate change was summarized in the 2001 Third Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) . The main conclusions on global warming at that time were as follows : The global average surface temperature has risen 0.6 ± 0.2 ° C since the late 19th century , and 0.17 ° C per decade in the last 30 years . `` There is new and stronger evidence that most of the warming observed over the last 50 years is attributable to human activities '' , in particular emissions of the greenhouse gases carbon dioxide and methane . If greenhouse gas emissions continue the warming will also continue , with temperatures projected to increase by 1.4 ° C to 5.8 ° C between 1990 and 2100 . Accompanying this temperature increase will be increases in some types of extreme weather and a projected sea level rise . The balance of impacts of global warming become significantly negative at larger values of warming . These findings are recognized by the national science academies of all the major industrialized nations ; the consensus has strengthened over time and is now virtually unanimous . The level of consensus correlates with expertise in climate science . There have been several efforts to compile lists of dissenting scientists , including a 2008 US senate minority report , the Oregon Petition , and a 2007 list by the Heartland Institute , all three of which have been criticized on a number of grounds . For the purpose of this list , a `` scientist '' is defined as an individual who has published at least one peer-reviewed research article in the broad field of natural sciences , although not necessarily in a field relevant to climatology . Since the publication of the IPCC Third Assessment Report , each has made a clear statement in his or her own words ( as opposed to the name being found on a petition , etc. ) disagreeing with one or more of the report 's three main conclusions . Their views on climate change are usually described in more detail in their biographical articles . Few of the statements in the references for this list are part of the peer-reviewed scientific literature ; most are from other sources such as interviews , opinion pieces , online essays and presentations . NB : Only individuals who have their own Wikipedia article may be included in the list .", "Hurricane Alley Hurricane Alley is an area of warm water in the Atlantic Ocean stretching from the west coast of northern Africa to the east coast of Central America and Gulf Coast of the Southern United States . Many hurricanes form within this area . The sea surface temperature of the Atlantic in Hurricane Alley has been steadily growing warmer over the past decades , which most climate scientists believe accounts for the increase in hurricane activity .", "Satellite temperature measurements The temperature of the atmosphere at various altitudes as well as sea and land surface temperatures can be inferred from satellite measurements . These measurements can be used to locate weather fronts , monitor the El Niño-Southern Oscillation , determine the strength of tropical cyclones , study urban heat islands and monitor the global climate . Wildfires , volcanos , and industrial hot spots can also be found via thermal imaging from weather satellites . Weather satellites do not measure temperature directly . They measure radiances in various wavelength bands . Since 1978 microwave sounding units ( MSUs ) on National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration polar orbiting satellites have measured the intensity of upwelling microwave radiation from atmospheric oxygen , which is related to the temperature of broad vertical layers of the atmosphere . Measurements of infrared radiation pertaining to sea surface temperature have been collected since 1967 . Satellite datasets show that over the past four decades the troposphere has warmed and the stratosphere has cooled . Both of these trends are consistent with the influence of increasing atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases .", "Ocean heat content Oceanic heat content ( OHC ) is the heat stored in the ocean . Oceanography and climatology are the science branches which study ocean heat content . Changes in the ocean heat content play an important role in the sea level rise , because of thermal expansion . It is with high confidence that ocean warming accounts for 90 % of the energy accumulation from global warming between 1971 and 2010 .", "Economics of global warming The economics of global warming concerns the economic aspects of global warming ; this can inform policies that governments might consider in response . A number of factors make this a difficult problem from both economic and political perspectives : it is a long-term , intergenerational problem ; benefits and costs are distributed unequally both within and across countries ; and scientific and public opinions may diverge . One of the most important greenhouse gases is carbon dioxide . Around 20 % of carbon dioxide which is emitted due to human activities can remain in the atmosphere for many thousands of years . The long time scales and uncertainty associated with global warming have led analysts to develop `` scenarios '' of future environmental , social and economic changes . These scenarios can help governments understand the potential consequences of their decisions . The impacts of climate change include the loss of biodiversity , sea level rise , increased frequency and severity of some extreme weather events , and acidification of the oceans . Economists have attempted to quantify these impacts in monetary terms , but these assessments can be controversial . The two main policy responses to global warming are to reduce greenhouse gas emissions ( climate change mitigation ) and to adapt to the impacts of global warming ( e.g. , by building levees in response to sea level rise ) . Another policy response which has recently received greater attention is geoengineering of the climate system ( e.g. injecting aerosols into the atmosphere to reflect sunlight away from the Earth 's surface ) . One of the responses to the uncertainties of global warming is to adopt a strategy of sequential decision making . This strategy recognizes that decisions on global warming need to be made with incomplete information , and that decisions in the near term will have potentially long-term impacts . Governments might choose to use risk management as part of their policy response to global warming . For instance , a risk-based approach can be applied to climate impacts which are difficult to quantify in economic terms , e.g. , the impacts of global warming on indigenous peoples . Analysts have assessed global warming in relation to sustainable development . Sustainable development considers how future generations might be affected by the actions of the current generation . In some areas , policies designed to address global warming may contribute positively towards other development objectives . In other areas , the cost of global warming policies may divert resources away from other socially and environmentally beneficial investments ( the opportunity costs of climate change policy ) .", "Temperature record of the past 1000 years For information on the description of the Medieval Warm Period and Little Ice Age in various IPCC reports see MWP and LIA in IPCC reportsThe temperature record of the past 1,000 years is reconstructed using data from climate proxy records in conjunction with the modern instrumental temperature record which only covers the last 150 years at a global scale . Large-scale reconstructions covering part or all of the 1st millennium and 2nd millennium have shown that recent temperatures are exceptional : the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Fourth Assessment Report of 2007 concluded that `` Average Northern Hemisphere temperatures during the second half of the 20th century were very likely higher than during any other 50-year period in the last 500 years and likely '' the highest in at least the past 1,300 years . '' The curve shown in graphs of these reconstructions is widely known as the hockey stick graph because of the sharp increase in temperatures during the last century . As of 2010 this broad pattern was supported by more than two dozen reconstructions , using various statistical methods and combinations of proxy records , with variations in how flat the pre-20th-century `` shaft '' appears . Sparseness of proxy records results in considerable uncertainty for earlier periods . Individual proxy records , such as tree ring widths and densities used in dendroclimatology , are calibrated against the instrumental record for the period of overlap . Networks of such records are used to reconstruct past temperatures for regions : tree ring proxies have been used to reconstruct Northern Hemisphere extratropical temperatures ( within the tropics trees do not form rings ) but are confined to land areas and are scarce in the Southern Hemisphere which is largely ocean . Wider coverage is provided by multiproxy reconstructions , incorporating proxies such as lake sediments , ice cores and corals which are found in different regions , and using statistical methods to relate these sparser proxies to the greater numbers of tree ring records . The `` Composite Plus Scaling '' ( CPS ) method is widely used for large-scale multiproxy reconstructions of hemispheric or global average temperatures ; this is complemented by Climate Field Reconstruction ( CFR ) methods which show how climate patterns have developed over large spatial areas , making the reconstruction useful for investigating natural variability and long-term oscillations as well as for comparisons with patterns produced by climate models . During the 1,900 years before the 20th century , it is likely that the next warmest period was from 950 to 1100 , with peaks at different times in different regions . This has been called the Medieval Warm Period , and some evidence suggests widespread cooler conditions during a period around the 17th century known as the Little Ice Age . In the hockey stick controversy , contrarians have asserted that the Medieval Warm Period was warmer than at present , and have disputed the data and methods of climate reconstructions .", "Crowe Horwath International Crowe Horwath International is a network of accounting and advisory services firms . Crowe Horwath International is ranked among the top 10 global accounting networks . The network consists of 752 offices with over 33,207 employees in 130 countries .", "Steam devil A steam devil is a small , weak whirlwind over water ( or sometimes wet land ) that has drawn fog into the vortex , thus rendering it visible . They form over large lakes and oceans during cold air outbreaks while the water is still relatively warm , and can be an important mechanism in vertically transporting moisture . They are a component of sea smoke . Smaller steam devils and steam whirls can form over geyser basins even in warm weather because of the very high water temperatures . Although observations of steam devils are generally quite rare , hot springs in Yellowstone Park produce them on a daily basis . Steam devils have only been reported and studied since the 1970s . They are weaker than waterspouts and distinct from them . The latter are more akin to weak tornadoes over water .", "Sea surface temperature Sea surface temperature ( SST ) is the water temperature close to the ocean 's surface . The exact meaning of surface varies according to the measurement method used , but it is between 1 mm and 20 m below the sea surface . Air masses in the Earth 's atmosphere are highly modified by sea surface temperatures within a short distance of the shore . Localized areas of heavy snow can form in bands downwind of warm water bodies within an otherwise cold air mass . Warm sea surface temperatures are known to be a cause of tropical cyclogenesis over the Earth 's oceans . Tropical cyclones can also cause a cool wake , due to turbulent mixing of the upper 30 m of the ocean . SST changes diurnally , like the air above it , but to a lesser degree . There is less SST variation on breezy days than on calm days . In addition , ocean currents such as the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation ( AMO ) , can effect SST 's on multi-decadal time scales , a major impact results from the global thermohaline circulation , which affects average SST significantly throughout most of the world 's oceans . Coastal SSTs can cause offshore winds to generate upwelling , which can significantly cool or warm nearby landmasses , but shallower waters over a continental shelf are often warmer . Onshore winds can cause a considerable warm-up even in areas where upwelling is fairly constant , such as the northwest coast of South America . Its values are important within numerical weather prediction as the SST influences the atmosphere above , such as in the formation of sea breezes and sea fog . It is also used to calibrate measurements from weather satellites .", "David Legates David Russell Legates is a Professor of Geography at the University of Delaware . He is the former Director of the Center for Climatic Research at the same university , and a former Delaware State Climatologist . Legates has published research papers , opinion editorials , and spoken openly in opposition to the consensus scientific opinion on climate change . More recently , he has been known for his skepticism toward the anthropogenic cause of the observed global warming patterns and the severity of its consequences at the local geographical scale . Legates viewpoint , as stated in a 2015 study that he co-authored , is that the Earth will experience about 1.0 C warming over the 2000 to 2100 period .", "Bølling-Allerød warming The Bølling-Allerød interstadial was an abrupt warm and moist interstadial period that occurred during the final stages of the last glacial period . This warm period ran from c. 14,700 to c. 12,700 years before the present ( BP ) . It began with the end of the cold period known as the Oldest Dryas , and ended abruptly with the onset of the Younger Dryas , a cold period that reduced temperatures back to near-glacial levels within a decade . In some regions , a cold period known as the Older Dryas can be detected in the middle of the Bølling-Allerød interstadial . In these regions the period is divided into the Bølling oscillation , which peaked around 14,500 BP , and the Allerød oscillation , which peaked closer to 13,000 BP . Estimates of CO2 rise are 20 -- 35 ppmv within 200 years , a rate less than 29 -- 50 % compared to the anthropogenic global warming signal from the past 50 years , and with a radiative forcing of 0.59 -- 0.75 W m − 2 .", "Mitigation of global warming in Australia Mitigation of global warming involves taking actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to enhance sinks aimed at reducing the extent of global warming . This is in distinction to adaptation to global warming , which involves taking action to minimise the effects of global warming . Scientific consensus on global warming , together with the precautionary principle and the fear of non-linear climate transitions , is leading to increased effort to develop new technologies and sciences and carefully manage others in an attempt to mitigate global warming . Carbon capture and storage ( CCS ) for coal-fired power stations has been put forward as a solution to rising greenhouse gas emissions . However , CCS can not deliver in time to avoid dangerous increases in temperatures , as widespread commercial use of CCS is not expected before 2030 . Following the introduction of government mandatory renewable energy targets , more opportunities have opened up for renewable energy technologies such as wind power , photovoltaics , and solar thermal technologies . The deployment of these technologies provides opportunities for mitigating greenhouse gases . A carbon price was introduced on 1 July 2012 by the government of Julia Gillard with the purpose of reducing Australia 's carbon emissions . It requires large businesses ( defined as those with annual carbon dioxide equivalent emissions over 25,000 tonnes annually ) to pay a price for emissions permits . The tax was scrapped by the Abbott government in July 2014 in what was a widely criticised and highly publicised move .", "Everything's Cool (film) Everything 's Cool is a 2007 documentary film that examines the divide between scientists and the general populace on the topic of global warming . Director Dan Gold said of the motivation for the film that `` I 'm optimistic that finally the message that this is real , that human beings are the cause of the most recent warming trend , and that it 's an important issue , that message is actually reaching America . On the other hand ... if that message was fully understood , we would be moving a lot faster to slow this down and to reverse this course . '' The documentary was shown at the Sundance film festival in January 2007 and at the San Francisco International Film Festival in May 2007 . The directors also took Blue Vinyl , a film about plastic pollution , to Sundance in 2002 . It was shown on CBC in Canada as part of the Passionate Eye series . The New York Times called it `` a breezy polemic about the politics of global warming ... -LSB- that -RSB- adopts a cheerful comic tone to avoid scaring audiences . '' The LA Times said that `` With wit and passion , Gold and Helfand marshal a plethora of data and developments yet never lose their narrative thread . '' . The New York Sun was less favourable , calling it `` the best movie I 've ever seen about global warming for kids in junior high school , but it 's the most annoying movie about global warming I 've ever seen for adults . ''", "Volcanic winter A volcanic winter is a reduction in global temperatures caused by volcanic ash and droplets of sulfuric acid and water obscuring the Sun and raising Earth 's albedo ( increasing the reflection of solar radiation ) after a large particularly explosive volcanic eruption . Long-term cooling effects are primarily dependent upon injection of sulfur gasses into the stratosphere where they undergo a series of reactions to create sulfuric acid which can nucleate and form aerosols . Volcanic stratospheric aerosols cool the surface by reflecting solar radiation and warm the stratosphere by absorbing terrestrial radiation . The volcanic aerosols , resulting from the 1991 Pinatubo eruption and others , have been shown to contribute to anthropogenic ozone depletion . The variations in atmospheric warming and cooling results in changes in tropospheric and stratospheric circulation .", "Ice-sheet model In climate modelling , Ice-sheet models use numerical methods to simulate the evolution , dynamics and thermodynamics of ice sheets , such as the Greenland ice sheet , the Antarctic ice sheet or the large ice sheets on the northern hemisphere during the last glacial period . They are used for a variety of purposes , from studies of the glaciation of Earth over glacial -- interglacial cycles in the past to projections of ice-sheet decay under future global warming conditions .", "Center for the Study of Carbon Dioxide and Global Change The Center for the Study of Carbon Dioxide and Global Change is a 501 ( c ) ( 3 ) non-profit organization based in Tempe , Arizona . The Center produces a weekly online science newsletter called CO2Science . The Center was founded and is run by Craig D. Idso , along with Sherwood B. Idso , his father , and Keith E. Idso , his brother . They came from backgrounds in agriculture and climate . According to the Idsos , they became involved in the global warming controversy through their study of earth 's temperature sensitivity to radiative perturbations and plant responses to elevated CO2 levels and carbon sequestration . The Center sharply disputes the consensus scientific opinion on climate change shown in IPCC assessment reports , and believes that global warming will be beneficial to mankind .", "Cool Earth Cool Earth is a UK-based international NGO that protects endangered rainforest in order to combat global warming , protect ecosystems and to provide employment for local people . The organisation receives its income through business partnerships , trust funds and individual contributions from over 50,000 sponsors in order to secure specific tracts of endangered rainforest . Through the Cool Earth website , an individual can donate to support indigenous communities to protect their rainforest . Less than 10 % of Cool Earth 's supporter income is spent on administration . In 2015 , it was named Charity of the Year in its category at the Civil Society Media Charity Awards and best International NGO at the PEA Awards . It is supported by various celebrities including Professor James Lovelock , Vivienne Westwood , Ricky Gervais and Sir David Attenborough .", "An Appeal to Reason An Appeal to Reason : A Cool Look at Global Warming is a 2008 book by Nigel Lawson . In it , Lawson argues that global warming is happening , but that the science is far from settled . He opposes the scientific consensus as summarized by the IPCC . He also argues that warming will bring both benefits and negative consequences , and that the impact of these changes will be relatively moderate rather than apocalyptic . He criticizes politicians and scientists who predict catastrophe unless urgent action is taken , and he calls for gradual adaptation instead . The book has been criticized by some climatologists , including IPCC authors Jean Palutikof and Robert Watson .", "Future sea level The rate of global mean sea-level rise ( ~ 3 mm/yr ; SLR ) has accelerated compared to the mean of the 20th century ( ~ 2 mm/yr ) , but the rate of rise is locally variable . Factors contributing to SLR include decreased global ice volume and warming of the ocean . On Greenland , the deficiency between annual ice gained and lost tripled between 1996 and 2007 . On Antarctica the deficiency increased by 75 % . Mountain glaciers are retreating and the cumulative mean thickness change has accelerated from about − 1.8 to − 4 m in 1965 to 1970 to about − 12 to − 14 m in the first decade of the 21st century . From 1961 to 2003 , ocean temperatures to a depth of 700 m increased and portions of the deeper ocean are warming . The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( 2007 ) projected sea level would reach 0.18 to 0.59 m above present by the end of the 21st century but lacked an estimate of ice flow dynamics calving . Calving was added by Pfeffer et al. ( 2008 ) indicating 0.8 to 2 m of SLR by 2100 ( favouring the low end of this range ) . Rahmstorf ( 2007 ) estimated SLR will reach 0.5 to 1.4 m by the end of the century . Pielke ( 2008 ) points out that observed SLR has exceeded the best case projections thus far . These approximations and others indicate that global mean SLR may reach 1 m by the end of this century . However , sea level is highly variable and planners considering local impacts must take this variability into account .", "Storm World In his book Storm World : Hurricanes , Politics , and the Battle over Global Warming , Chris Mooney discusses tensions between two different approaches to analyzing global warming and its effect on hurricanes .", "Global warming conspiracy theory A global warming conspiracy theory invokes claims that scientific consensus on global warming is based on conspiracies to produce false data or suppress dissent . It is one of a number of tactics used in climate change denial to legitimize political controversy disputing this consensus . Global warming conspiracy theorists typically allege that , through worldwide acts of professional and criminal misconduct , the science behind global warming has been invented or distorted for ideological or financial reasons , or both .", "Global Accounting Alliance The Global Accounting Alliance ( GAA ) is an international coalition of accounting organisations that was formed in 2006 . The GAA aims to promote standards of quality professional services , support their members , and share information and collaborate on international accounting issues . The members of the alliance represent over 775,000 of professional accountants . The GAA provides members with a GAA Passport which provides access to other member bodies so they can access restricted areas of the local institute website , training and development , and publications at member rates when visiting their country .", "Climate of the Arctic The climate of the Arctic is characterized by long , cold winters and short , cool summers . There is a large amount of variability in climate across the Arctic , but all regions experience extremes of solar radiation in both summer and winter . Some parts of the Arctic are covered by ice ( sea ice , glacial ice , or snow ) year-round , and nearly all parts of the Arctic experience long periods with some form of ice on the surface . Average January temperatures range from about − 34 ° C to 0 ° C ( − 40 to +32 ° F ) , and winter temperatures can drop below − 50 ° C ( − 58 ° F ) over large parts of the Arctic . Average July temperatures range from about − 10 to +10 ° C ( 14 to 50 ° F ) , with some land areas occasionally exceeding 30 ° C ( 86 ° F ) in summer . The Arctic consists of ocean that is largely surrounded by land . As such , the climate of much of the Arctic is moderated by the ocean water , which can never have a temperature below − 2 ° C ( 28 ° F ) . In winter , this relatively warm water , even though covered by the polar ice pack , keeps the North Pole from being the coldest place in the Northern Hemisphere , and it is also part of the reason that Antarctica is so much colder than the Arctic . In summer , the presence of the nearby water keeps coastal areas from warming as much as they might otherwise .", "Hurricane Katrina and global warming The tremendous destruction caused by recent Atlantic Ocean tropical cyclones , such as Hurricanes Katrina , Wilma , and Sandy caused a substantial upsurge in interest in the subject of global warming by news media and the wider public , and concerns that global climatic change may have played a significant role in those events . Time Magazine , for example , published an article titled , `` Is Global Warming Fueling Katrina ? '' -- however , the article itself addressed hurricanes in general , rather than Katrina specifically , and was inconclusive . Shortly after the hurricane , former Boston Globe reporter Ross Gelbspan wrote an op-ed piece for the Globe titled , `` Katrina 's Real Name '' , declaring that the hurricane 's `` real name is global warming . '' Gelbspan went on to assert : `` Although Katrina began as a relatively small hurricane that glanced off south Florida , it was supercharged with extraordinary intensity by the relatively blistering sea surface temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico . '' Gelbspan did not single out Katrina from other recent storms in that regard ; in the article he went on to attribute other major weather events over the preceding year to global warming , including a blizzard in Los Angeles , high winds in Scandinavia , wildfires in Spain , and a drought centered in Missouri . Britain 's then deputy prime minister , John Prescott , has linked Katrina with global warming , and statements made shortly after the hurricane by Germany 's environment minister , Jürgen Trittin , indicate he believes that global warming is responsible for an increase in the frequency of destructive natural events . Kerry Emanuel had recently published a paper in the journal Nature that found a good correlation between hurricane intensity and sea surface temperatures . Some journalists have claimed Emanuel 's paper concludes that the recent increase in intense Atlantic storms is due to global warming , but Emanuel stated that `` it would be absurd to attribute the Katrina disaster to global warming '' . The Internet blog RealClimate has written that `` there is no way to prove that Katrina either was , or was not , affected by global warming '' ." ]

[ "Effects of global warming The effects of global warming are the environmental and social changes caused ( directly or indirectly ) by human emissions of greenhouse gases . There is a scientific consensus that climate change is occurring , and that human activities are the primary driver . Many impacts of climate change have already been observed , including glacier retreat , changes in the timing of seasonal events ( e.g. , earlier flowering of plants ) , and changes in agricultural productivity . Future effects of climate change will vary depending on climate change policies and social development . The two main policies to address climate change are reducing human greenhouse gas emissions ( climate change mitigation ) and adapting to the impacts of climate change . Geoengineering is another policy option . Near-term climate change policies could significantly affect long-term climate change impacts . Stringent mitigation policies might be able to limit global warming ( in 2100 ) to around 2 ° C or below , relative to pre-industrial levels . Without mitigation , increased energy demand and extensive use of fossil fuels might lead to global warming of around 4 ° C. Higher magnitudes of global warming would be more difficult to adapt to , and would increase the risk of negative impacts .", "Agriculture Agriculture or farming is the cultivation and breeding of animals , plants and fungi for food , fiber , biofuel , medicinal plants and other products used to sustain and enhance human life . Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization , whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the development of civilization . The study of agriculture is known as agricultural science . The history of agriculture dates back thousands of years , and its development has been driven and defined by greatly different climates , cultures , and technologies . Industrial agriculture based on large-scale monoculture farming has become the dominant agricultural methodology . Modern agronomy , plant breeding , agrochemicals such as pesticides and fertilizers , and technological developments have in many cases sharply increased yields from cultivation , but at the same time have caused widespread ecological damage and negative human health effects . Selective breeding and modern practices in animal husbandry have similarly increased the output of meat , but have raised concerns about animal welfare and the health effects of the antibiotics , growth hormones , and other chemicals commonly used in industrial meat production . Genetically modified organisms are an increasing component of agriculture , although they are banned in several countries . Agricultural food production and water management are increasingly becoming global issues that are fostering debate on a number of fronts . Significant degradation of land and water resources , including the depletion of aquifers , has been observed in recent decades , and the effects of global warming on agriculture and of agriculture on global warming are still not fully understood . The major agricultural products can be broadly grouped into foods , fibers , fuels , and raw materials . Specific foods include cereals ( grains ) , vegetables , fruits , oils , meats and spices . Fibers include cotton , wool , hemp , silk and flax . Raw materials include lumber and bamboo . Other useful materials are also produced by plants , such as resins , dyes , drugs , perfumes , biofuels and ornamental products such as cut flowers and nursery plants . Over one third of the world 's workers are employed in agriculture , second only to the service sector , although the percentages of agricultural workers in developed countries has decreased significantly over the past several centuries .", "Richard Tol Richard S. J. Tol ( born 2 December 1969 , Hoorn , the Netherlands ) is a professor of economics at the University of Sussex . He is also professor of the economics of climate change at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam . He is a member of the Academia Europaea .", "Politics of global warming The complex politics of global warming results from numerous cofactors arising from the global economy 's interdependence on carbon dioxide emitting hydrocarbon energy sources and because carbon dioxide is directly implicated in global warming -- making global warming a non-traditional environmental challenge ." ]

[ "Low-carbon economy A low-carbon economy ( LCE ) , low-fossil-fuel economy ( LFFE ) , or decarbonised economy is an economy based on low carbon power sources that therefore has a minimal output of greenhouse gas ( GHG ) emissions into the biosphere , but specifically refers to the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide . GHG emissions due to anthropogenic ( human ) activity are the dominant cause of observed global warming ( climate change ) since the mid-20th century . Continued emission of greenhouse gases will cause further warming and long-lasting changes around the world , increasing the likelihood of severe , pervasive and irreversible impacts for people and ecosystems . Many countries around the world are designing and implementing low emission development strategies ( LEDS ) . These strategies seek to achieve social , economic and environmental development goals while reducing long-term greenhouse gas emissions and increasing resilience to climate change impacts . Globally implemented low-carbon economies are therefore proposed by those having drawn this conclusion , as a means to avoid catastrophic climate change , and as a precursor to the more advanced , zero-carbon economy .", "Climate change in Saskatchewan The effects of climate change in Saskatchewan are now being observed in parts of the province . There is evidence of reduction of biomass in Saskatchewan 's boreal forests ( as with those of other Canadian prairie provinces ) that is linked by researchers to drought-related water stress stemming from global warming , most likely caused by greenhouse gas emissions . While studies , as early as 1988 ( Williams , et al. , 1988 ) have shown that climate change will affect agriculture , whether the effects can be mitigated through adaptations of cultivars , or crops , is less clear . Resiliency of ecosystems may decline with large changes in temperature . The provincial government has responded to the threat of climate change by introducing a plan to reduce carbon emissions , `` The Saskatchewan Energy and Climate Change Plan '' , in June 2007 .", "Climate engineering Climate engineering , commonly referred to as geoengineering , also known as climate intervention , is the deliberate and large-scale intervention in the Earth 's climatic system with the aim of limiting adverse global warming . Climate engineering is an umbrella term for measures that mainly fall into two types : carbon dioxide removal and solar radiation management . Carbon dioxide removal addresses the cause of global warming by removing one of the greenhouse gases ( carbon dioxide ) from the atmosphere . Solar radiation management attempts to offset effects of greenhouse gases by causing the Earth to absorb less solar radiation . Climate engineering approaches are sometimes viewed as additional potential options for limiting global warming , alongside mitigation and adaptation . There is substantial agreement among scientists that climate engineering can not substitute for climate change mitigation . Some approaches might be used as accompanying measures to sharp cuts in greenhouse gas emissions . Given that all types of measures for addressing climate change have economic , political , or physical limitations , some climate engineering approaches might eventually be used as part of an ensemble of measures . Research on costs , benefits , and various types of risks of most climate engineering approaches is at an early stage and their understanding needs to improve to judge their adequacy and feasibility . Almost all research into solar radiation management has consisted of computer modelling or laboratory tests , and an attempt to move to outdoor experimentation was controversial . Some carbon dioxide removal practices , such as planting of trees and bio-energy with carbon capture and storage projects , are underway . Their scalability to effectively affect global climate is , however , debated . Ocean iron fertilization has been given small-scale research trials , sparking substantial controversy . Most experts and major reports advise against relying on climate engineering techniques as a simple solution to global warming , in part due to the large uncertainties over effectiveness and side effects . However , most experts also argue that the risks of such interventions must be seen in the context of risks of dangerous global warming . Interventions at large scale may run a greater risk of disrupting natural systems resulting in a dilemma that those approaches that could prove highly ( cost - ) effective in addressing extreme climate risk , might themselves cause substantial risk . Some have suggested that the concept of engineering the climate presents a so-called `` moral hazard '' because it could reduce political and public pressure for emissions reduction , which could exacerbate overall climate risks ; others assert that the threat of climate engineering could spur emissions cuts . Some are in favour of a moratorium on out-of-doors testing and deployment of solar radiation management ( SRM ) .", "Climate change and potatoes Global warming is predicted to have significant effects on global potato production . Like many crops , potatoes are likely to be affected by changes in atmospheric carbon dioxide , temperature and precipitation , as well as interactions between these factors . As well as affecting potatoes directly , climate change will also affect the distributions and populations of many potato diseases and pests . Potato is one of the world 's most important food crops . Potato production must be adapted to climate change to avoid reductions in crop yields .", "Global warming potential Global warming potential ( GWP ) is a relative measure of how much heat a greenhouse gas traps in the atmosphere . It compares the amount of heat trapped by a certain mass of the gas in question to the amount of heat trapped by a similar mass of carbon dioxide . A GWP is calculated over a specific time interval , commonly 20 , 100 , or 500 years . GWP is expressed as a factor of carbon dioxide ( whose GWP is standardized to 1 ) . In the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change , methane has a lifetime of 12.4 years and with climate-carbon feedbacks a global warming potential of 86 over 20 years and 34 over 100 years in response to emissions . User related choices such as the time horizon can greatly affect the numerical values obtained for carbon dioxide equivalents . For a change in time horizon from 20 to 100 years , the GWP for methane decreases by a factor of approximately 2.5 . The substances subject to restrictions under the Kyoto protocol either are rapidly increasing their concentrations in Earth 's atmosphere or have a large GWP . The GWP depends on the following factors : the absorption of infrared radiation by a given species the spectral location of its absorbing wavelengths the atmospheric lifetime of the species Thus , a high GWP correlates with a large infrared absorption and a long atmospheric lifetime . The dependence of GWP on the wavelength of absorption is more complicated . Even if a gas absorbs radiation efficiently at a certain wavelength , this may not affect its GWP much if the atmosphere already absorbs most radiation at that wavelength . A gas has the most effect if it absorbs in a `` window '' of wavelengths where the atmosphere is fairly transparent . The dependence of GWP as a function of wavelength has been found empirically and published as a graph . Because the GWP of a greenhouse gas depends directly on its infrared spectrum , the use of infrared spectroscopy to study greenhouse gases is centrally important in the effort to understand the impact of human activities on global climate change .", "Climate-friendly gardening Climate-friendly gardening is gardening in ways which reduce emissions of greenhouse gases from gardens and encourage the absorption of carbon dioxide by soils and plants in order to aid the reduction of global warming . To be a climate-friendly gardener means considering both what happens in a garden and the materials brought into it and the impact they have on land use and climate . It can also include garden features or activities in the garden that help to reduce greenhouse gas emissions elsewhere .", "Green Earth Appeal ", "Greenhouse gas A greenhouse gas ( abbrev . GHG ) is a gas in an atmosphere that absorbs and emits radiation within the thermal infrared range . This process is the fundamental cause of the greenhouse effect . The primary greenhouse gases in Earth 's atmosphere are water vapor , carbon dioxide , methane , nitrous oxide , and ozone . Without greenhouse gases , the average temperature of Earth 's surface would be about -18 ° C , rather than the present average of 15 ° C . In the Solar System , the atmospheres of Venus , Mars and Titan also contain gases that cause a greenhouse effect . Human activities since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution ( taken as the year 1750 ) have produced a 40 % increase in the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide , from 280 ppm in 1750 to 406 ppm in early 2017 . This increase has occurred despite the uptake of a large portion of the emissions by various natural `` sinks '' involved in the carbon cycle . Anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions ( i.e. , emissions produced by human activities ) come from combustion of fossil fuels , principally coal , oil , and natural gas , along with deforestation , soil erosion and animal agriculture . It has been estimated that if greenhouse gas emissions continue at the present rate , Earth 's surface temperature could exceed historical values as early as 2047 , with potentially harmful effects on ecosystems , biodiversity and the livelihoods of people worldwide . Recent estimates suggest that on the current emissions trajectory the Earth could pass a threshold of 2 ° C global warming , which the United Nations ' IPCC designated as the upper limit to avoid `` dangerous '' global warming , by 2036 .", "Ludwigia glandulosa Ludwigia glandulosa '' ( cylindricfruit primrose-willow ) is an amphibious plant from southeast United States . It can grow partially or fully submerged . It grows very slowly and needs carbon dioxide in order to grow well . The leaves of this plant will turn greener if not enough light is provided .", "Stern Review The Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change is a 700-page report released for the Government of the United Kingdom on 30 October 2006 by economist Nicholas Stern , chair of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the London School of Economics ( LSE ) and also chair of the Centre for Climate Change Economics and Policy ( CCCEP ) at Leeds University and LSE . The report discusses the effect of global warming on the world economy . Although not the first economic report on climate change , it is significant as the largest and most widely known and discussed report of its kind . The Review states that climate change is the greatest and widest-ranging market failure ever seen , presenting a unique challenge for economics . The Review provides prescriptions including environmental taxes to minimise the economic and social disruptions . The Stern Review 's main conclusion is that the benefits of strong , early action on climate change far outweigh the costs of not acting . The Review points to the potential impacts of climate change on water resources , food production , health , and the environment . According to the Review , without action , the overall costs of climate change will be equivalent to losing at least 5 % of global gross domestic product ( GDP ) each year , now and forever . Including a wider range of risks and impacts could increase this to 20 % of GDP or more , also indefinitely . Stern believes that 5 -- 6 degrees of temperature increase is `` a real possibility . '' The Review proposes that one percent of global GDP per annum is required to be invested to avoid the worst effects of climate change . In June 2008 , Stern increased the estimate for the annual cost of achieving stabilisation between 500 and 550 ppm CO2e to 2 % of GDP to account for faster than expected climate change . There has been a mixed reaction to the Stern Review from economists . Several economists have been critical of the Review , for example , a paper by Byatt et al. ( 2006 ) describes the Review as `` deeply flawed '' . Some economists ( such as Brad DeLong and John Quiggin ) have supported the Review . Others have criticised aspects of Review 's analysis , but argued that some of its conclusions might still be justified based on other grounds , e.g. , see papers by Martin Weitzman ( 2007 ) and Dieter Helm ( 2008 ) .", "Agrometeorology Agrometeorology is the study of weather and use of weather and climate information to enhance or expand agricultural crops and/or to increase crop production . Agrometeorology mainly involves the interaction of meteorological and hydrological factors , on one hand and agriculture , which encompasses horticulture , animal husbandry , and forestry . It is an interdisciplinary , holistic science forming a bridge between physical and biological sciences and beyond . It deals with a complex system involving soil , plant , atmosphere , agricultural management options , and others , which are interacting dynamically on various spatial and temporal scales . Specifically , the fully coupled soil-plant-atmosphere system has to be well-understood in order to develop reasonable operational applications or recommendations for stakeholders . For these reasons , a comprehensive analysis of cause-effect relationships and principles that describe the influence of the state of the atmosphere , plants , and soil on different aspects of agricultural production , as well as the nature and importance of feedback between these elements of the system is necessary . Agrometeorological methods therefore use information and data from different key sciences such as soil physics and chemistry , hydrology , meteorology , crop and animal physiology and phenology , agronomy , and others . Observed information is often combined in more or less complex models , focused on various components of system parts such as mass balances ( i.e. soil carbon , nutrients , and water ) , biomass production , crop growth and yield , and crop or pest phenology in order to detect sensitivities or potential responses of the soil-biosphere-atmosphere system . However , model applications still involve many uncertainties , which calls for further improvements of the description of system processes . A better quality of operational applications at various scales ( monitoring , forecasting , warning , recommendations , etc. ) is crucial for stakeholders . For example , new methods for spatial applications involve GIS and Remote Sensing for spatial data presentation and generation . Further , tailor-made products and information transfer are critical to allow effective management decisions in the short and long term . These should cover sustainability and enhancement strategies ( including risk management , mitigation and adaptation ) considering climate variability and change . Papers are invited addressing these problems in the context of agrometeorological applications in `` atmosphere '' as an actual and important contribution to the state of the art .", "Carbon dioxide equivalent Carbon dioxide equivalent ( CDE ) and equivalent carbon dioxide ( e and eq ) are two related but distinct measures for describing how much global warming a given type and amount of greenhouse gas may cause , using the functionally equivalent amount or concentration of carbon dioxide as the reference .", "Bio-energy with carbon capture and storage Bio-energy with carbon capture and storage ( BECCS ) is a future greenhouse gas mitigation technology which produces negative carbon dioxide emissions by combining bioenergy ( energy from biomass ) use with geologic carbon capture and storage . The concept of BECCS is drawn from the integration of trees and crops , which extract carbon dioxide ( CO2 ) from the atmosphere as they grow , the use of this biomass in processing industries or power plants , and the application of carbon capture and storage via CO2 injection into geological formations . There are other non-BECCS forms of carbon dioxide removal and storage that include technologies such as biochar , carbon dioxide air capture and biomass burial . According to a recent Biorecro report , there is 550 000 tonnes CO2/year in total BECCS capacity currently operating , divided between three different facilities ( as of January 2012 ) . In the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) , BECCS was indicated as a key technology for reaching low carbon dioxide atmospheric concentration targets . The negative emissions that can be produced by BECCS has been estimated by the Royal Society to be equivalent to a 50 to 150 ppm decrease in global atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations and according to the International Energy Agency , the BLUE map climate change mitigation scenario calls for more than 2 gigatonnes of negative CO2 emissions per year with BECCS in 2050 . According to Stanford University , 10 gigatonnes is achievable by this date . The Imperial College London , the UK Met Office Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and Research , the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research , the Walker Institute for Climate System Research , and the Grantham Institute for Climate Change issued a joint report on carbon dioxide removal technologies as part of the AVOID : Avoiding dangerous climate change research program , stating that `` Overall , of the technologies studied in this report , BECCS has the greatest maturity and there are no major practical barriers to its introduction into today 's energy system . The presence of a primary product will support early deployment . '' According to the OECD , `` Achieving lower concentration targets ( 450 ppm ) depends significantly on the use of BECCS '' .", "Scott Denning A. Scott Denning is a climate scientist and professor of atmospheric science at Colorado State University , whose faculty he joined in 1998 . He is known for his research into atmosphere-biosphere interactions and atmospheric carbon dioxide . He firmly supports action to avoid dangerous climate change and has said that the science behind it is `` settled '' . He has also argued that , if no action is taken on the matter , global warming could cause the climate of Colorado to resemble the current climate of its neighbors to the south , such as southern New Mexico , Texas and Mexico .", "Center for the Study of Carbon Dioxide and Global Change The Center for the Study of Carbon Dioxide and Global Change is a 501 ( c ) ( 3 ) non-profit organization based in Tempe , Arizona . The Center produces a weekly online science newsletter called CO2Science . The Center was founded and is run by Craig D. Idso , along with Sherwood B. Idso , his father , and Keith E. Idso , his brother . They came from backgrounds in agriculture and climate . According to the Idsos , they became involved in the global warming controversy through their study of earth 's temperature sensitivity to radiative perturbations and plant responses to elevated CO2 levels and carbon sequestration . The Center sharply disputes the consensus scientific opinion on climate change shown in IPCC assessment reports , and believes that global warming will be beneficial to mankind .", "Robert O. Mendelsohn Robert O. Mendelsohn ( born 1952 in New York City ) is an American environmental economist . He is currently the Edwin Weyerhaeuser Davis Professor of the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies at Yale University , Professor of Economics in Economics Department at Yale University and Professor in the School of Management at Yale University.Professor Mendelsohn is a major figure in the economics of global warming , being for example a contributor to the first Copenhagen Consensus report . Mendelsohn received a BA in economics from Harvard University in 1973 and obtained his Ph.D. in economics from Yale University in 1978 . Professor Mendelsohn has written over one hundred peer-reviewed articles and edited six books . The focus of his research has been the valuation of the environment . He has developed methods to value natural ecosystems including coral reefs , old-growth forests , non-timber forest products , ecotourism , and outdoor recreation . He has also developed methods to value pollution including emissions of criteria pollutants ( such as particulates and sulfur dioxide ) and hazardous waste sites . His most recent work values the impacts of greenhouse gases , including the effects of climate change on agriculture , forests , water resources , energy , and coasts . This research carefully integrates adaptation into impact assessment and has recently been extended to developing countries around the world . He has also been involved in studies of nonrenewable resources , forest management , and specifically carbon sequestration in forests .", "Effects of global warming on South Asia ", "Physical properties of greenhouse gases ", "Simon Tett Simon Tett is a climatologist working at the University of Edinburgh . He used to work at the Hadley Centre . His most-cited paper , is , and of it he says : All attempts at detecting and attributing climate change signals need a reliable observed data set and simulations with mechanisms that drive climate change included . In a nutshell , this paper is important because it was the first study to investigate the effect of sulphate aerosols in a general circulation model of the climate system . The experiments simulate the climate back to 1860 ( which is when the global records of surface temperature became reliable ) ... After 1970 our model with greenhouse gases alone begins to depart significantly from the observations . However , when we included sulphate aerosols , which have a cooling effect , the model agreed with the data from the 1930s and onwards . The rapid warming that has taken place since 1970 is , according to the model , attributable to a heating effect from greenhouse gases and a cooling effect from sulphate aerosols .", "Peak wheat Peak wheat is the concept that agricultural production , due to its high use of water and energy inputs , is subject to the same profile as oil and other fossil fuel production . The central tenet is that a point is reached , the `` peak '' , beyond which agricultural production plateaus and does not grow any further , and may even go into permanent decline . Based on current supply and demand factors for agricultural commodities ( e.g. changing diets in the emerging economies , biofuels , declining acreage under irrigation , growing global population , stagnant agricultural productivity growth ) , some commentators are predicting a long-term annual production shortfall of around 2 % which , based on the highly inelastic demand curve for food crops , could lead to sustained price increases in excess of 10 % a year - sufficient to double crop prices in seven years . According to the World Resources Institute , global per capita food production has been increasing substantially for the past several decades .", "Tipping points in the climate system A tipping point in the climate system is a threshold that, when exceeded, can lead to large changes in the state of the system. Potential tipping points have been identified in the physical climate system, in impacted ecosystems, and sometimes in both. For instance, feedback from the global carbon cycle is a driver for the transition between glacial and interglacial periods, with orbital forcing providing the initial trigger. Earth's geologic temperature record includes many more examples of geologically rapid transitions between different climate states.Climate tipping points are of particular interest in reference to concerns about global warming in the modern era. Possible tipping point behaviour has been identified for the global mean surface temperature by studying self-reinforcing feedbacks and the past behavior of Earth's climate system. Self-reinforcing feedbacks in the carbon cycle and planetary reflectivity could trigger a cascading set of tipping points that lead the world into a hothouse climate state.Large-scale components of the Earth system that may pass a tipping point have been referred to as tipping elements. Tipping elements are found in the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, possibly causing tens of meters of sea level rise. These tipping points are not always abrupt. For example, at some level of temperature rise the melt of a large part of the Greenland ice sheet and/or West Antarctic Ice Sheet will become inevitable; but the ice sheet itself may persist for many centuries. Some tipping elements, like the collapse of ecosystems, are irreversible.", "Greenhouse effect The greenhouse effect is the process by which radiation from a planet 's atmosphere warms the planet 's surface to a temperature above what it would be without its atmosphere . If a planet 's atmosphere contains radiatively active gases ( i.e. , greenhouse gases ) the atmosphere will radiate energy in all directions . Part of this radiation is directed towards the surface , warming it . The downward component of this radiation -- that is , the strength of the greenhouse effect -- will depend on the atmosphere 's temperature and on the amount of greenhouse gases that the atmosphere contains . On Earth , the atmosphere is warmed by absorption of infrared thermal radiation from the underlying surface ( heated by the sun ) , absorption of shorter wavelength radiant energy from the sun , and convective heat fluxes from the surface . Greenhouse gases in the atmosphere radiate energy , some of which is directed to the surface and lower atmosphere . The mechanism that produces this difference between the actual surface temperature and the effective temperature is due to the atmosphere and is known as the greenhouse effect . Earth 's natural greenhouse effect is critical to supporting life . Human activities , primarily the burning of fossil fuels and clearing of forests , have intensified the natural greenhouse effect , causing global warming . The mechanism is named after a faulty analogy with the effect of solar radiation passing through glass and warming a greenhouse . The way a greenhouse retains heat is fundamentally different , as a greenhouse works by reducing airflow and retaining warm air inside the structure .", "Technological Innovation for Climate Change Mitigation ", "Kenneth Hare Fredrick Kenneth Hare , ( February 5 , 1919 -- September 3 , 2002 ) was a Canadian climatologist and academic , who researched atmospheric carbon dioxide , climate change , drought , and arid zone climates and was a strong advocate for preserving the natural environment .", "Climate footprint The term climate footprint has emerged from the field of carbon footprinting , and refers to a measure of the full set of greenhouse gases ( GHGs ) controlled under the Kyoto Protocol . A climate footprint is a more comprehensive measure of anthropogenic impact upon the climate than a carbon footprint , but is also more costly and labour-intensive to calculate . A climate footprint is a measure of the total amount of carbon dioxide ( CO2 ) , methane ( CH4 ) , nitrous oxide ( N2O ) , hydrofluorocarbons ( HFCs ) , perfluorocarbons ( PFCs ) and sulphur hexafluoride ( SF6 ) emissions of a defined population , system or activity , considering all relevant sources , sinks and storage within the spatial and temporal boundary of the population , system or activity of interest . Calculated as carbon dioxide equivalent ( CO2e ) using the relevant 100-year global warming potential ( GWP100 ) .", "Migration of marine species in the Northern Atlantic Ocean The world 's oceans are warming due to climate change . Climate change is caused by three major factors which are the greenhouse effect , variation in the sun 's energy that reaches Earth , and changes in reflectivity within Earth 's atmosphere and its surface . The greenhouse effect is caused by greenhouse gases that absorb sunlight . Energy from the sun that reaches Earth is either retained or sent into space . Greenhouse gases in Earth 's atmosphere such as carbon dioxide , methane , and water vapor absorb energy which cause a blanketing effect that warms the earth . Aerosols such as black carbon also catalyze the warming effect as they are unreflective and absorb energy from the sun supplementing greenhouse gases in the warming effect . These combined factors are warming the Earth 's land as well as the oceans . Many fish species possess a certain range of water temperature that they are able to tolerate which is causing species to migrate to different areas where the water temperature is livable . The warming of the Atlantic Ocean is causing many fish species to shift north towards once cooler waters so they can live within their temperature range . Tropical species are being found outside their normal range and into more northern waters causing an array of ecological , economic , and fishery management problems .", "Carbon monitoring Carbon monitoring refers to tracking how much carbon dioxide or methane is produced by particular activity at a particular point in time . For example , it may refer to tracking methane emissions from agriculture , or carbon dioxide emissions from land use changes , such as deforestation , or from burning fossil fuels , whether in a power plant , automobile , or other device . Because carbon dioxide is the greenhouse gas emitted in the largest quantities , and methane is an even more potent greenhouse gas , monitoring carbon emissions is widely seen as crucial to any effort to reduce emissions and thereby slow climate change . Monitoring carbon emissions is key to the cap-and-trade program currently being used in Europe , as well as the one in California , and will be necessary for any such program in the future , like the Paris Agreement . The lack of reliable sources of consistent data on carbon emissions is a significant barrier to efforts to reduce emissions .", "Cicer Cicer is a genus of the legume family Fabaceae and the only genus found in tribe Cicereae . Its native distribution is across the Middle East and Asia . Its best-known and only domesticated member is Cicer arietinum ; this species includes the chickpea , also known as garbanzo bean . Possibilities of More Domesticated Species of the Cicer genus in the Future Currently , the only domesticated species of the Cicer genus is Cicer arietinum , commonly known as the chickpea . The chickpea is a staple food source that is used in a large number of Middle eastern households and is becoming increasingly more common among households around the world . In the coming years , it will become more difficult to feed the growing population of the world , and in anticipation of this crisis , many researchers are trying to find new sources of food from undomesticated species of plants . The hope is that through research , domestication , and crop improvement , plants that were previously inedible can become a major source of food . The wild progenitor of the chickpea ( Cicer arietinum ) is Cicer reticulatum . Since the chickpea has descended from this wild plant , there is a possibility that this wild progenitor can offer other forms of edible chickpeas after domestication . In wild chickpea ( Cicer reticulatum ) , a considerable proportion of the mature pods remain intact , and this characteristic leads to the species being described as preadapted to domestication . This essentially means that the function of one of its traits can change , or evolve , as the progenitor is domesticated . This implies that traits such as texture , size , and most importantly , nutritional content can be adjusted in this species . Domesticated chickpea is considered vernalization insensitive ( it can flower at all times of the year ) , whereas wild Cicer reticulatum shows a considerable flowering advance ( of up to 30 days ) in response to vernalization -- which means that the plant would have to grow in areas where it is exposed to a prolonged period of cold before it can properly grow . Although there is promise for some kind of domestication process to allow for and create new sources of food through Cicer reticulatum , there are several issues that make domestication of this wild species quite difficult . The first of these problems is that Cicer reticulatum may offer only limited adaptive allelic variation for improving the chickpea crop . Also , the narrow range of the Cicer reticulatum suggests that the prospects for improving the adaptive range of domesticated chickpea are quite limited . The patchy distribution of the wild plant , the small number of seeds produced per plant , and the relatively low allelic variation within populations ( of the wild progenitor ) makes germplasm conservation ( conservation of seeds or tissues , otherwise known as the living genetic resources of plants ) a bit difficult . When tried in the past , chickpea breeding has faced problems because of the lack of genetic diversity . This has caused limitations in efforts to improve resistance to diseases such as Ascochyta blight and Fusarium wilt . There have also been problems such as insects susceptible to breaking through the chickpea pods and limitations in increasing tolerance to abiotic stresses such as terminal drought and extreme temperatures . To fix these limitations , the introduction of alleles controlling the traits of interest from wild germplasm is essential in order to increase the genetic diversity of cultivated chickpeas . Currently , the chickpea 's immediate ancestor , Cicer reticulatum , and its interfertile sister species Cicer echinospermum , are the main sources of new variation . Introgression is still possible from the more distantly related gene pools , but more research has to be done on this possibility . But the narrow variation of the wild progenitor ( Cicer reticulatum ) of the chickpea and the limited number of Cicer reticulatum accessions have caused a need to look for desired alleles in other more distantly related Cicer species Resistances of Various Cicer perennials and Potential for Plant Improvement Cicer perennials harbor great resistances in particular environments in comparison to the resistances of other herbaceous species . Although some Cicer perennials are difficult to harvest , there have been studies to improve the germination of particular species . Various studies highlight the specific resistances and improvements in fitness of particular Cicer perennial species . For example , one way in which Cicer canariense , a perennial species , was able to improve its fitness is by the help of scientific experimentation . Cicer canariense , a perennial species , has a lowered field emergence due to a hard seed coats . However , various methods such as chemical scarification with concentrated sulphuric acid as well as hot water treatment can be used to improve germination . In one particular study , physical dormancy was overcome most effectively by mechanical scarification and sulphur immersion . More studies regarding crop development could introduce this species as a potential food source . Another perennial species , Cicer anatolicum , resists ascochyta blight superior to the cultivated chickpea . Access to this resistance is barred due to hybridization barriers . A detailed study on endogenous hormones showed that interspecific hybrid production could occur if hormone profiles between the cultivated chickpea and the perennial are synchronized . Further experimentation on hormone profiles could open up hybridization barriers between the modern chickpea and Cicer anatolicum . Another barricade that could be overcome is the inability to cultivate specific Cicer perennials in different parts of the world . Many Cicer perennials and annual plants grow in different environments . So far , none of the perennial Cicer species have been grown successfully in a tropical or subtropical setting in which annual Cicer species grow . If the pollen of perennial species can be preserved for use in the different parts of the world in which annual species grow , then crossability techniques can be performed more effectively . This difficulty in use of the perennial germplasm can be resolved by transshipping viable pollen across the ocean . If this issue were to be resolved , more Cicer perennials could be planted in various portions of the world . Another constraint that affects the Cicer species is Helicoverpa armigera . The bollworm Helicoverpa armigera is one of the biggest problems for a chickpea 's survival . Host plant resistance is an effective method to resolve these pests . The study found that perennials such as Cicer canariense and Cicer microphyllum have high resistance to Helicoverpa armigera compared to Cicer judaicum , an annual plant . More experimentation on cross-breeding could give clues on the genetic origin of the proteins responsible for this resistance . Drought resistance is another opposition to overcome for many Cicer perennials . About 90 % of chickpea ( Cicer arietinum ) in the world is grown with very little rainfall and where drought is a significant constraint to growth . This study assessed the resistance of drought of many perennials compared to annuals . When tested , the perennial wild Cicer species recovered after wilting and drying out and also tolerated high temperatures . Of all the perennials tested crossbreeding with Cicer anatolicum should be tested because of its close genetic affinities to the annual species . These resistances and improvements in the Cicer perennial genome can be a potential reservoir of knowledge for the exploration of the genes that contribute to the perennials ' traits . Drought and pest resistance along with scientific improvements in crop development play a huge role in the evolution of many Cicer perennials . Further studies of genetic exchange and crossbreeding between Cicer perennials could potentially benefit the traits of contemporary food-bearing crops and provide extensive knowledge for innovation .", "Climate change in the United States Because of global warming , there has been concern in the United States and internationally , that the country should reduce total greenhouse gas which is relatively high per capita . In 2012 , the United States experienced its warmest year on record . , the thirteen warmest years for the entire planet have all occurred since 1998 , transcending those from 1880 . From 1950 to 2009 , the American government 's surface temperature record shows an increase by 1 F-change , approximately . Global warming has caused many changes in the U.S. . According to a 2009 statement by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration ( NOAA ) , trends include lake and river ice melting earlier in the spring , plants blooming earlier , multiple animal species shifting their habitat ranges northward , and reductions in the size of glaciers . Predicting future climate changes are fraught with difficulty . Some research has warned against possible problems due to American climate changes such as the spread of invasive species and possibilities of floods as well as droughts . Changes in climate in the regions of the United States appear significant . Drought conditions appear to be worsening in the southwest while improving in the northeast for example . President Barack Obama committed in the December 2009 Copenhagen Climate Change Summit to reduce carbon dioxide emissions in the range of 17 % below 2005 levels by 2020 , 42 % below 2005 levels by 2030 , and 83 % below 2005 levels by 2050 . In an address towards the U.S. Congress in June 2013 , Obama detailed a specific action plan to achieve the 17 % carbon emissions cut from 2005 by 2020 . He included such measures as shifting from coal-based power generation to solar and natural gas production . Climate change is seen as a national security threat to the United States . In 2015 , according to The New York Times and others , oil companies knew that burning oil and gas could cause global warming since the 1970s but , nonetheless , funded deniers for years . 2016 was an historic year for billion-dollar weather and climate disasters in U.S.", "Endophyte An endophyte is an endosymbiont , often a bacterium or fungus , that lives within a plant for at least part of its life cycle without causing apparent disease . Endophytes are ubiquitous and have been found in all species of plants studied to date ; however , most of the endophyte/plant relationships are not well understood . Some endophytes may enhance host growth , nutrient acquisition and may improve the plant 's ability to tolerate abiotic stresses , such as drought , and enhance resistance to insects , plant pathogens and herbivores . As often with other organisms associated with plants such as mycorrhizal fungus , endophytes gain carbon from their association with the plant host .", "Journal for Geoclimatic Studies The Journal for Geoclimatic Studies is the name given to a nonexistent journal which published a fabricated global warming study in November 2007 entitled , `` Carbon dioxide production by benthic bacteria : the death of manmade global warming theory ? '' The published study identified the Journal for Geoclimatic Studies as an official publication of Okinawa University 's Institute for Geoclimatic Studies ( The Institute for Geoclimatic Studies is also fraudulent and does not exist ) . The spurious study , ostensibly authored by Daniel Klein and Mandeep J. Gupta of the University of Arizona 's Department of Climatology , and Philip Cooper and Arne FR Jansson at the University of Gothenburg 's Department of Atmospheric Physics , claimed that global warming was not human caused , but the work of carbon-dioxide emitting bacteria based on the ocean floor . The report was circulated by a number of global warming skeptics before discovery that the study authors and university departments identified in the publication did not exist . The website where the study was published was taken down once the deception was revealed , and its ownership was traced to David Thorpe , a science journalist and web designer based in the United Kingdom . The true author of the article is purportedly a man identifying himself as Mark Cox , who has claimed the hoax was designed to expose the gullibility and scientific illiteracy of global warming skeptics .", "Carbon rift Carbon rift is a theory attributing the input and output of carbon into the environment to human capitalistic systems . This is a derivative of Karl Marx 's concept of metabolic rift . In practical terms , increased commodity production demands that greater levels of carbon dioxide ( or CO2 ) be emitted into the biosphere via fossil fuel consumption . Carbon rift theory states that this ultimately disrupts the natural carbon cycle and that this `` rift '' has adverse effects on nearly every aspect of life . Many of the specifics regarding how this metabolic carbon rift interacts with capitalism are proposed by Brett Clark and Richard York in a 2005 article titled `` Carbon Metabolism : Global capitalism , climate change , and the biospheric rift '' in the journal Theory and Society . Researchers such as Jean P. Sapinski of the University of Oregon claim that , despite increased interest in closing the carbon rift , it is projected that as long as capitalism continues , there is little hope of reducing the rift . Both deforestation and the emission of greenhouse gases have been linked to increased atmospheric CO2 levels . Carbon rift theory states that these are the result of human production through capitalistic systems . There are proposed solutions to climate change such as geoengineering proposed in the December 2015 Paris Agreement . However , some argue that the capitalist mode of production is at fault for the emission of greenhouse gas and that solutions must be found to this issue before climate change itself can be addressed . Carbon rift theory , while rarely criticized directly , often indirectly receives criticism regarding the underlying causes of climate change and attributing the stated effects to alternative explanations for climate change , instead of as a result of human activity . Such explanations include the Chaotic Solar System Theory and that increased water vapor is responsible for climate change ." ]

[ "Economy of Venezuela The economy of Venezuela is largely based on the petroleum sector and manufacturing . Revenue from petroleum exports accounts for more than 50 % of the country 's GDP and roughly 95 % of total exports . Venezuela is the sixth largest member of OPEC by oil production . From the 1950s to the early 1980s the Venezuelan economy experienced a steady growth that attracted many immigrants , with the nation enjoying the highest standard of living in Latin America . During the collapse of oil prices in the 1980s the economy contracted , the monetary sign commenced a progressive devaluation , and inflation skyrocketed to reach peaks of 84 % in 1989 and 99 % in 1996 , three years prior to Hugo Chávez taking office . Venezuela manufactures and exports heavy industry products such as steel , aluminium and cement , with production concentrated around Ciudad Guayana , near the Guri Dam , one of the largest in the world and the provider of about three-quarters of Venezuela 's electricity . Other notable manufacturing includes electronics and automobiles , as well as beverages , and foodstuffs . Agriculture in Venezuela accounts for approximately 3 % of GDP , 10 % of the labor force , and at least one-fourth of Venezuela 's land area . Venezuela exports rice , corn , fish , tropical fruit , coffee , pork , and beef . The country is not self-sufficient in most areas of agriculture . In spite of strained relations between the two countries , the United States has been Venezuela 's most important trading partner . U.S. exports to Venezuela have included machinery , agricultural products , medical instruments , and cars . Venezuela is one of the top four suppliers of foreign oil to the United States . About 500 U.S. companies are represented in Venezuela . According to Central Bank of Venezuela , the government received from 1998 to 2008 around 325 billion USD through oil production and export in general , and according to the International Energy Agency , to August 2015 has production of 2.4 million barrels per day , 500,000 of which go to the United States of America . Since Hugo Chávez 's `` socialist revolution '' half-dismantled its PDVSA oil giant corporation in 2002 by firing most of its 20,000-strong dissident professional human capital , and imposed stringent currency controls in 2003 in an attempt to prevent capital flight , there has been a steady decline in oil production and exports and a series of stern currency devaluations , disrupting the economy . Further yet , price controls , expropriation of numerous farmlands and various industries , among other disputable government policies including a near-total freeze on any access to foreign currency at reasonable `` official '' exchange rates , have resulted in severe shortages in Venezuela and steep price rises of all common goods , including food , water , household products , spare parts , tools and medical supplies ; forcing many manufacturers to either cut production or close down , with many ultimately abandoning the country , as has been the case with several technological firms and most automobile makers . In 2015 , Venezuela had over 100 % inflation -- the highest in the world and the highest in the country 's history at that time . The rate increased to nearly 500 % by the end of 2016 with Venezuela spiraling into hyperinflation while the population poverty rate was between 76 % to 80 % according to independent sources .", "Technological and industrial history of China The technological and industrial history of China is extremely varied , and extensive . China 's industrial sector has shown great progress using most of its technology from the 1950s .", "Mineral industry of Africa The mineral industry of Africa is the largest mineral industries in the world . Africa is the second largest continent , with 30 million km ² of land , which implies large quantities of resources . For many African countries , mineral exploration and production constitute significant parts of their economies and remain keys to economic growth . Africa is richly endowed with mineral reserves and ranks first or second in quantity of world reserves of bauxite , cobalt , industrial diamond , phosphate rock , platinum-group metals ( PGM ) , vermiculite , and zirconium . Gold mining is Africa 's main mining resource . The Central African Mining and Exploration Company ( CAMEC ) , one of Africa 's primary mining enterprises , is criticized for its unregulated environmental impact and minimal social stewardship . In the spring of 2009 , retired British cricket player Phil Edmonds ' assets were seized by the United Kingdom 's government due to CAMEC 's illicit association with self-appointed Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe . CAMEC recently sold 95.4 % of its shares to the Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation . It is under restructuring and is no longer trading under the CAMEC brand . African mineral reserves rank first or second for bauxite , cobalt , diamonds , phosphate rocks , platinum-group metals ( PGM ) , vermiculite and zirconium . Many other minerals are present in quantity . The 2012 share of world production from African soil was bauxite 7 % ; aluminium 5 % ; chromite 38 % ; cobalt 60 % ; copper 9 % ; gold 20 % ; iron ore 2 % ; steel 1 % ; lead ( Pb ) 2 % ; manganese 38 % ; zinc 1 % ; cement 4 % ; natural diamond 56 % ; graphite 2 % ; phosphate rock 21 % ; coal 4 % ; mineral fuels ( including coal ) & petroleum 12 % ; uranium 18 % ." ]

[ "Mersbrass Valves manufacturer - China Yuhuan Mersbrass Co. , Ltd is a manufacturer of various brass ball valve , check valve , floor drain and various kinds of copper fitting etc. . Their products are used in a wide range of industry , such as , petroleum , chemical industry , metallurgical industry , chemical fibre , urban construction , power industry and cement . The company has an accredited IS09001 certificate of quality system .", "Mining in Mauritania Mauritania 's mineral sector was dominated by iron ore mining and beneficiation . Other mineral commodities produced in the country included cement , copper , gold , gypsum , petroleum , salt , and steel . The Ministère des Mines et de l'Industrie was the Government agency responsible for enacting the Mining Code and for the coordination of all activities in the mining sector . The Direction des Mines et de la Géologie was the entity responsible for promoting the mineral sector and for providing geologic and mining information to potential investors ; the Direction des Hydrocarbures was in charge of the development of the petroleum sector ; and the Office Mauritanien des Recherches Géologiques was the Government entity responsible for evaluating areas of mineral potential for exploration . Société Nationale Industrielle et Minière ( SNIM ) was responsible for iron ore production and benefciation . In 2007 , the total value of exports from Mauritania was estimated to be about $ 1.5 billion . Excluding fish exports , which amounted to $ 254 million , all the main export categories were either mining or hydrocarbon products . Iron ore exports , which were valued at $ 575 million , represented about 38 % of the country 's total exports ; crude oil exports were valued at $ 339 million and accounted for 23 % ; copper exports were valued at $ 184 million and accounted for about 13 % ; and gold exports were valued at $ 59 million and accounted for 4 % of total exports . All mineral commodity production increased during the year with the exception of crude petroleum , which decreased by about 51 % to 5487000 oilbbl compared with 11168000 oilbbl in 2006 . Cement production increased by 14.6 % to 409,513 metric tons ( t ) compared with a revised 357,239 t in 2006 . Gypsum production increased by 8.9 % ; iron ore production , by 6.8 % ; salt production , by about 35.5 % ; and crude steel production , by about 4.2 % . The sharp increase in copper and gold production was owing to the opening of the Guelb Mohgrein Mine in late 2006 . Mining , which was one of the country 's most important sectors to the national economy , contributed about 12 % of the gross domestic product ( GDP ) and represented more than one-half of the country 's export earnings in 2005 . according to the Ministère des Mines et de l'industrie ( MMi ) , the development , diversification , and promotion of the mining sector have become the government 's priority in recent years . the number of foreign companies applying for prospecting licenses was increasing , and projects were at various stages ranging from grassroots exploration to mine development .", "Showa Steel Works The was a Japanese government-sponsored steel mill that was one of the showpieces of the industrialization program for Manchukuo in the late 1930s . Shōwa Steel Works began as the Anshan Iron & Steel Works , a subsidiary of the South Manchurian Railway Company in 1918 . The city of Anshan in Liaoning was chosen for its proximity to the Takushan iron ore deposits and rail works at Mukden . The company used low grade iron ; in 1934 it mined 950,000 tonnes . In 1933 , after a reorganization , it was renamed the Shōwa Steel Works . Shōwa Steel produced pig iron and steel , and the steel mill was soon surrounded by a large industrial complex of other factories to produce a variety of metal products . Sumitomo Steel Pipe established a plant to produce steel pipes , and Manchurian Roll Manufacturing Company to produce steel mill rolls . To feed the furnaces , coal mines were established at Fushun , 35 kilometers to the east , which also led to electric power plants , coal liquefaction plants , cement works , brick kilns . By the end of the 1930s , there were over 780 Japanese industrial plants in Fengtian province . In 1937 , under the direction of the Kwangtung Army , Japanese industrialist Yoshisuke Aikawa organized a holding company called the Manshu Jukogyo Kaihatsu KK ( `` Mangyō '' ) , a Manchukuo zaibatsu with major shareholdings in the South Manchuria Railway , co-owned by Nissan and Manchukuo . The new zaibatsu invested heavily in Shōwa Steel , and took a controlling interest . As part of the new business plan , Shōwa Steel licensed the Krupp-Renn process from German steel makers , and sent people to Germany for training from September 1937 . Equipment received from Krupp was installed by 1939 , greatly increasing production efficiencies . Total production of processed iron in Manchuria reached 1,000,000 tonnes in 1931-32 , of which almost half was made by Shōwa Steel ; iron production grew to 7,000,000 of tonnes in 1938 . In 1941 , Shōwa Steel Works had a total capacity production of 1,750,000 tonnes of iron bars and 1,000,000 tonnes of processed steel . By 1942 , Shōwa Steel Works total production capacity reached 3,600,000 tonnes , making it one of the major iron and steel centers in the world . It was therefore of strategic importance in the Pacific War , and was subject to constant attack by B-29 Superfortress strategic bombers of the USAAF . Japanese Army detached the 1st Chutai ( unit ) of 104th Sentai ( squadron ) of the Imperial Japanese Army Air Force , to Anshan , with other air squadrons for industrial defense purposes . Although this unit was equipped with modern Nakajima Ki-84 Ia ( Manshu Type ) `` Hayate '' Frank fighters , manufactured by Manshūkoku Hikōki Seizo KK , the plant suffered heavy damage from the air raids , losing up to 30 % of its capacity . After the end of the war , Soviet Red Army forces dismantled anything that was left of Shōwa Steel Works and shipped it to the Soviet Union . The Chinese communists then occupied the ruins , and rebuilt the factory into the Anshan Iron & Steel Works , which remains one of the major steel producing plants in modern China . As a side note , on one of the B-29 missions , an aircraft commanded by Captain Howard Jarrel suffered engine damage through a Japanese antiaircraft burst over the Anshan target zone . Rather than crash-land in Japanese-held territory , he decided to land in Vladivostok , two hours to the northeast , in the Soviet Far East . As the Soviet Union was still neutral in the Pacific War , when the bomber landed , all crewmen were immediately arrested and the aircraft confiscated . This incident led to the development of the Soviet Tu-4 `` Bull '' bomber , a reverse-engineered copy of the B-29 .", "Benjamin Franklin Jones (industrialist) Benjamin Franklin Jones , Sr. ( August 8 , 1824 -- May 19 , 1903 ) was a pioneer of the iron and steel industry in Pittsburgh . Originally involved in the river barge industry , he purchased a share in American Iron Works in 1851 , along with Bernard Lauth . He later joined with James H. Laughlin to form Jones and Laughlin Steel Company , a steel mill heavily dependent on river transportation . The B.F. Jones Memorial Library in Aliquippa Pennsylvania , the site of J&L Steel 's Aliquippa Works , was built in his honor with funds donated by his daughter .", "History of the petroleum industry in Canada (natural gas liquids) Canada 's natural gas liquids industry dates back to the discovery of wet natural gas at Turner Valley , Alberta in 1914 . The gas was less important than the natural gasoline - `` skunk gas '' it was called , because of its distinctive odour - that early producers extracted from it . That natural gas liquid ( NGL ) could be poured directly into an automobile 's fuel tank . As the natural gas industry grew with pipeline construction in the 1950s , many companies - Imperial , British American ( B/A ; later Gulf Canada ) and Shell , for example - constructed plants in Alberta to process newly discovered natural gas so it could be made pipeline-ready . Many of these plants extracted NGLs from natural gas as part of natural gas processing . For NGLs to become a major business , however , took the efforts of large and imaginative players , plus the development of a much larger gas supply from which to extract these light hydrocarbons . Conditions were right in the 1960s , and the two companies that took advantage of the opportunity were Amoco Corporation and Dome Petroleum , neither of which is any longer in existence . Amoco took over Dome after the company essentially went bankrupt in 1988 , and BP took over Amoco in a friendly merger ten years later . Here is the story of how those two companies developed key components of the infrastructure for this vital niche industry . Headquarters for Amoco Corporation were in Chicago , because that city is close to Whiting , Indiana . Whiting was home of Amoco 's largest oil refinery ( and one of the largest in the world ) . In operation since 1890 , Whiting originally refined sour crude oil from the neighbouring state of Ohio . And it was Standard of Indiana 's ( Amoco 's ) most important single asset after the US Supreme Court ordered the Standard Oil Trust broken up . In its early years , Amoco was primarily a refiner and a marketer of refined products to expanding Midwestern markets . Whiting provided products that could be marketed from Chicago -- a city that was itself a large market for petroleum products . By 1970 , Amoco had become one of the largest integrated oil corporations in the world through both acquisitions and internal growth . Besides being a large-scale refiner and distributor of refined products , it was a powerful force in petrochemicals , oil and gas exploration and production , pipelines , and in the marketing of crude oil , natural gas and natural gas liquids ( NGLs ) . The corporation was growing globally , but it was heavily focused in North America . And though its oil and gas activity was concentrated in the US southwest and in western Canada , its marketing presence was strongest in middle America . From its Chicago base , the corporation had unrivalled intelligence about hydrocarbon demand in the US Midwest ." ]

[ "Hockey stick controversy In the hockey stick controversy , the data and methods used in reconstructions of the temperature record of the past 1000 years have been disputed . Reconstructions have consistently shown that the rise in the instrumental temperature record of the past 150 years is not matched in earlier centuries , and the name `` hockey stick graph '' was coined for figures showing a long-term decline followed by an abrupt rise in temperatures . These graphs were publicised to explain the scientific findings of climatology , and in addition to scientific debate over the reconstructions , they have been the topic of political dispute . The issue is part of the global warming controversy and has been one focus of political responses to reports by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) . Arguments over the reconstructions have been taken up by fossil fuel industry funded lobbying groups attempting to cast doubt on climate science . The use of proxy indicators to get quantitative estimates of the temperature record of past centuries was developed from the 1990s onwards , and found indications that recent warming was exceptional . The reconstruction introduced the `` Composite Plus Scaling '' ( CPS ) method used by most later large-scale reconstructions , and its findings were disputed by Patrick Michaels at the United States House Committee on Science . In 1998 , Michael E. Mann , Raymond S. Bradley and Malcolm K. Hughes developed new statistical techniques to produce ( MBH98 ) , the first eigenvector-based climate field reconstruction ( CFR ) . This showed global patterns of annual surface temperature , and included a graph of average hemispheric temperatures back to 1400 . In ( MBH99 ) the methodology was extended back to 1000 . The term hockey stick was coined by the climatologist Jerry D. Mahlman , to describe the pattern this showed , envisaging a graph that is relatively flat to 1900 as forming an ice hockey stick 's `` shaft '' , followed by a sharp increase corresponding to the `` blade '' . A version of this graph was featured prominently in the 2001 IPCC Third Assessment Report ( TAR ) , along with four other reconstructions supporting the same conclusion . The graph was publicised , and became a focus of dispute for those opposed to the strengthening scientific consensus that late 20th-century warmth was exceptional . Those disputing the graph included Pat Michaels , the George C. Marshall Institute and Fred Singer . A paper by Willie Soon and Sallie Baliunas claiming greater medieval warmth was used by the Bush administration chief of staff Philip Cooney to justify altering the first Environmental Protection Agency Report on the Environment . The paper was quickly dismissed by scientists in the Soon and Baliunas controversy , but on July 28 , Republican Jim Inhofe spoke in the Senate citing it to claim `` that man-made global warming is the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people '' . Later in 2003 , a paper by Steve McIntyre and Ross McKitrick disputing the data used in MBH98 paper was publicised by the George C. Marshall Institute and the Competitive Enterprise Institute . In 2004 , Hans von Storch published criticism of the statistical techniques as tending to underplay variations in earlier parts of the graph , though this was disputed and he later accepted that the effect was very small . In 2005 , McIntyre and McKitrick published criticisms of the principal component analysis methodology as used in MBH98 and MBH99 . The analysis therein was subsequently disputed by published papers , including and , which pointed to errors in the McIntyre and McKitrick methodology . In June 2005 , Rep. Joe Barton launched what Sherwood Boehlert , chairman of the House Science Committee , called a `` misguided and illegitimate investigation '' into the data , methods and personal information of Mann , Bradley and Hughes . At Boehlert 's request , a panel of scientists convened by the National Research Council was set up , which reported in 2006 , supporting Mann 's findings with some qualifications , including agreeing that there were some statistical failings but these had little effect on the result . Barton and U.S. Rep. Ed Whitfield requested Edward Wegman to set up a team of statisticians to investigate , and they supported McIntyre and McKitrick 's view that there were statistical failings , although they did not quantify whether there was any significant effect . They also produced an extensive network analysis which has been discredited by expert opinion and found to have issues of plagiarism . Arguments against the MBH studies were reintroduced as part of the Climatic Research Unit email controversy , but dismissed by eight independent investigations . More than two dozen reconstructions , using various statistical methods and combinations of proxy records , have supported the broad consensus shown in the original 1998 hockey-stick graph , with variations in how flat the pre-20th century `` shaft '' appears . The 2007 IPCC Fourth Assessment Report cited 14 reconstructions , 10 of which covered 1,000 years or longer , to support its strengthened conclusion that it was likely that Northern Hemisphere temperatures during the 20th century were the highest in at least the past 1,300 years . Over a dozen subsequent reconstructions , including Mann et al. 2008 and , have supported these general conclusions .", "Global warming controversy The global warming controversy concerns the public debate over whether global warming is occurring , how much has occurred in modern times , what has caused it , what its effects will be , whether any action should be taken to curb it , and if so what that action should be . In the scientific literature , there is a strong consensus that global surface temperatures have increased in recent decades and that the trend is caused by human-induced emissions of greenhouse gases . No scientific body of national or international standing disagrees with this view , though a few organizations with members in extractive industries hold non-committal positions . Disputes over the key scientific facts of global warming are more prevalent in the media than in the scientific literature , where such issues are treated as resolved , and such disputes are more prevalent in the United States than globally . Political and popular debate concerning the existence and cause of climate change includes the reasons for the increase seen in the instrumental temperature record , whether the warming trend exceeds normal climatic variations , and whether human activities have contributed significantly to it . Scientists have resolved these questions decisively in favour of the view that the current warming trend exists and is ongoing , that human activity is the cause , and that it is without precedent in at least 2000 years . Public disputes that also reflect scientific debate include estimates of how responsive the climate system might be to any given level of greenhouse gases ( climate sensitivity ) , how global climate change will play out at local and regional scales , and what the consequences of global warming will be . Global warming remains an issue of widespread political debate , often split along party political lines , especially in the United States . Many of the issues that are settled within the scientific community , such as human responsibility for global warming , remain the subject of politically or economically motivated attempts to downplay , dismiss or deny them -- an ideological phenomenon categorised by academics and scientists as climate change denial . The sources of funding for those involved with climate science -- both supporting and opposing mainstream scientific positions -- have been questioned by both sides . There are debates about the best policy responses to the science , their cost-effectiveness and their urgency . Climate scientists , especially in the United States , have reported official and oil-industry pressure to censor or suppress their work and hide scientific data , with directives not to discuss the subject in public communications . Legal cases regarding global warming , its effects , and measures to reduce it have reached American courts . The fossil fuels lobby has been identified as overtly or covertly supporting efforts to undermine or discredit the scientific consensus on global warming ." ]

[ "Ulimang The village of Ulimang is where the Ngaraard State Office ( Ngaraard Branch ) is located . Note : Another state office branch is located in Meketii , Koror . Ngaraard Elementary school is located here . Ulimang 's coast is an orange , sandy beach , and a small , high dock reaching out into the ocean . There is a large , red , public resting house near the dock . The villages of Ngesang in Elab are located north of this village . To the west is Ngebuked and to the south is Ngkeklau . How to get to Ulimang is to go north on the compact road and when you see a sign that says Ngebuked , go down that road and turn right . Keep on driving straight along the road until you see a sign that says Ngaraard Evangelical Church . When you see it , you are in Ulimang . Category : Populated places in Palau Category : Ngaraard", "Thomas A. Watson Thomas Augustus Watson ( January 18 , 1854 -- December 13 , 1934 ) was an assistant to Alexander Graham Bell , notably in the invention of the telephone in 1876 . He is best known because , as the recipient of the first telephone call -- although coming from just the next room -- his name became the first words ever said over the phone . `` Mr. Watson -- Come here -- I want to see you , '' Bell said when first using the new invention , according to Bell 's laboratory notebook . There is some dispute about the actual words used , as Thomas Watson , in his own voice , remembered it as `` Mr. Watson -- Come here -- I want you , '' in a film made for Bell Labs in 1931 which is referenced below in `` The Engines of our Ingenuity . ''", "When Will I See You Again (disambiguation) `` When Will I See You Again '' is a 1974 song by American soul group The Three Degrees . When Will I See You Again may also refer to : When Will I See You Again ( Johnny Mathis album ) , 1975 When Will I See You Again ( Thomas Anders album ) , 1993", "Why Can't He Be You `` Why Ca n't He Be You '' ' is a song written by Hank Cochran that was originally recorded by American country artist Patsy Cline . Although the song was not actually released as an A-side single , it did become a minor chart hit was later included on Cline 's Greatest Hits album . It has since been notably covered by Loretta Lynn and Norah Jones .", "Acutezza Actuezza Pronunciation : -LSB- akuˈtettsa -RSB- N or F Definition : Acutezza is the act or use of word play . It is also an Italian derived word . Therefore , the direct translation from Italian to English is acuteness ; shrewdness ; shrillness Acutezza in Rhetoric Rhetors most commonly use word play to give the audience a relevance to themselves and a sense of likability . Rhetors also use Acutezza to mask an unpleasant sounding phrase as a means of persuasion . At times Acutezza can seem clever or witty as if the Rhetor is trying to `` pull one over '' on the audience similar to an enthymeme , which can be the case , but more often than not the speaker is only trying to make his case sound better and as positive as possible . However , in addition to speech , Acutezza can be seen visually as well . This is done through positioning the words in a certain manner on a page to reflect the actual content of the sentence or phrase . If you look to the picture on the left you see an example of physical word play in the Stinky Cheese Man . Notice how the words shrink on the page as you read about a giant talking to a small person . The reader becomes both physically and mentally persuaded through looking at the poem and understanding the content .", "When You See Me You Know Me When You See Me You Know Me is an early Jacobean history play about Henry VIII , written by Samuel Rowley and first published in 1605 . The play was acted by Prince Henry 's Men , the company to which Rowley belonged through most of his acting career , and premiered most likely in 1604 at the Fortune Theatre . The play was entered into the Stationers ' Register on 12 Feb. 1605 ; the quarto that followed was published by the bookseller Nathaniel Butter . Rowley 's play has been cited as a `` probable source '' for Shakespeare 's and Fletcher 's Henry VIII . The second quarto edition of When You See Me was issued in 1613 , the year in which Henry VIII was performed . Subsequent quartos of When You See Me appeared in 1621 and 1632 . Inevitably , Rowley had to take a selective approach to the vast subject of Henry VIII 's biography ; he chose to emphasize the King 's conflict with Cardinal Wolsey and the birth and early education of Edward VI . Rowley 's approach is loose and broadly synthetic : the events depicted in the play actually spread over three decades ( 1514 -- 44 ) ; Wolsey is still alive at the end of the play , though he should have been long dead . The young Edward is depicted as an incipient hero of Protestantism , defending his sister Elizabeth and Thomas Cranmer when they are accused of treason . Rowley also shows the King going out in disguise to mingle with his subjects , as in the legends surrounding Harun al-Rashid and similar figures . Henry is even shown getting into brawls and being arrested . Comic relief is provided by scenes of the King with his jester Will Summers . Scholars have noted links between When You See Me and the `` B text '' or 1616 version of Marlowe 's Doctor Faustus . The Diary of Philip Henslowe records a payment to Rowley for additions to Marlowe 's play in Nov. 1602 . The common features between When You See Me and Faustus have been employed in an effort to trace Rowley 's contribution to the B text .", "Hang You Up `` Hang You Up '' is the second single from Yellowcard 's seventh album When You 're Through Thinking , Say Yes , released on February 22 , 2011 , on iTunes . The song was originally written by lead singer Ryan Key for the side project Big If , a project he was involved in between 2008 -- 2010 , while Yellowcard was on a hiatus .", "I Need You Now I Need You Now may refer to : I Need You Now ( album ) , a 2002 album by Smokie Norful `` I Need You Now '' ( 1954 song ) , a song written by Al Jacobs and Jimmie Crane `` I Need You Now '' ( Agnes song ) , a 2009 song by Agnes Carlsson '' ( I Need You Now ) More Than Words Can Say '' , a 1990 song by Alias", "If You See Her If You See Her is the fifth studio album by country music duo Brooks & Dunn , released in 1998 on Arista Nashville . The album featured five chart singles : `` If You See Him/If You See Her '' ( # 1 ) , `` How Long Gone '' ( # 1 ) , `` Husbands and Wives '' ( a cover of a Roger Miller song ) ( # 1 ) , `` I Ca n't Get Over You '' ( # 5 ) , and `` South of Santa Fe '' ( # 41 ) . This last song was the first ( and only ) single of Brooks & Dunn 's career to miss Top 40 entirely , and was the last single to feature Kix Brooks on lead vocals instead of Ronnie Dunn . The album is a counterpart to Reba McEntire 's album If You See Him ( released on the same day ) , which shared the track `` If You See Him/If You See Her '' . A bonus limited edition EP was made available when consumers bought both If You See Him and If You See Her at the same time .", "You Read to Me, I'll Read to You You Read to Me , I 'll Read to You : Very Short Mother Goose Tales to Read Together is the third book in the You Read to Me , I 'll Read to You series . It is written by Mary Ann Hoberman and illustrated by Michael Emberley .", "She's No You `` She 's No You '' is the second single in Jesse McCartney 's debut album , Beautiful Soul . The single was released in 2005 . McCartney , who co-wrote the song , says he was in a caffeine `` buzz '' when he wrote it , hence the fast pace it has . The radio edit was packaged into the 2006 Hannah Montana soundtrack CD .", "Now You See Me, Now You Don't Now You See Me , Now You Do n't may refer to : `` Now You See Me , Now You Do n't '' ( Pee-wee 's Playhouse ) , a 1986 episode of Pee-wee 's Playhouse '' ( Now You See Me ) Now You Do n't '' , a song on Lee Ann Womack 's 1998 album Some Things I Know Now You See Me , Now You Do n't ( album ) , a 1982 album by Cliff Richard and title-track of the album `` Now You See Me , Now You Do n't '' , a 2008 episode of America 's Next Top Model , Cycle 11 `` Now You See Me , Now You Do n't '' , a 2013 episode in the fourth season of Pretty Little Liars Now You See Me , Now You Do n't , a 1975 education film by Densey Clyne Now You See Me , Now You Do n't , a 1994 film with Anthony Wong", "Zikzak Zikzak was an alternative pop music duo featuring San Francisco based singer-songwriter Todd Stadtman and multi-instrumentalist/arranger David Rubinstein . The pair released one full-length album - 2000 's See You There - and one seven inch single , both on the Bitter Records imprint , before disbanding in 2001 . AllMusic gave See You There 3/5 stars , comparing Stadtman 's voice to Morrissey , and praising tracks including `` You Say That Love Is Everything '' , `` Halfway Down '' , and `` Everything There Is to Have '' .", "When Did You Last See Your Money? When Did You Last See Your Money ? is the ninth episode of the fifth series of the British comedy series Dad 's Army that was originally transmitted on 1 December 1972 .", "You, John Jones! You , John Jones ! ( 1943 ) is a short film directed by Mervyn LeRoy , written by Carey Wilson , and released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer , and starring James Cagney , Ann Sothern , and Margaret O'Brien . The film credits the War Activities Committee of the Motion Picture Industry for its production . The title frame also says `` Produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer as their contribution to United Nations Week '' .", "Stalingrad: Dogs, Do You Want to Live Forever? Stalingrad : Dogs , Do You Want to Live Forever ? ( German : Hunde , wollt ihr ewig leben ) is an 1959 West-German film , directed by Frank Wisbar and based on the eponymous novel by Fritz Wöss . The movie revolves around the Battle of Stalingrad . The title is drawn from Friedrich the Great 's words when he saw his soldiers fleeing at Kolin : `` You cursed rascals , do you want to live forever ? ''", "What Do You Say What Do You Say may refer to : `` What Do You Say '' ( Reba McEntire song ) `` What Do You Say '' ( Filter song )", "Jules et Jim (band) Jules et Jim is a trip hop / drum and bass band consisting of Jean-Marc Lederman ( of The Weathermen ) and Julianne Regan ( of All About Eve ) . A 1999 press release describing their music reads : `` While their sound is eerie , the vocal 's in your face . When the voice whispers , the music slashes like a flick-knife . It 's warm but chilled , it 's groovy while discreet , it 's a night record you wan na hear when the sun comes up . ''", "Say You'll Be Mine (Amy Grant song) For the single by Steps , see Say You 'll Be Mine ( Steps song ) `` Say You 'll Be Mine '' is a 1994 single by Christian music singer Amy Grant . It was released as the second single from the House of Love album in the United Kingdom . However , unlike the previous singles from House of Love , `` Say You 'll Be Mine '' was not released in the United States . On her 2004 DVD release , Greatest Videos 1986-2004 , Grant revealed that `` Say You 'll Be Mine '' was planned as a U.S. single but the label pulled its release at the last minute . It performed better in the UK than its three predecessors , reaching # 41 .", "Salamat Salamat is the word for `` Thank You '' in many Filipino languages , including Malaysia , Tagalog , Cebuano , and Hiligaynon . It most likely comes from the triliteral Semitic root S-L-M , due to Arab influence . In its Arabic form سلامات , it is also used as a greeting in many Arabic cultures . Arabs use this word informally to say `` wish you feel better soon '' .", "Tom Harris (botanist) Professor Tom Harris was a distinguished paleobotanist and keen gardener . Tom Harris was an academic at the University of Reading who was Head of the Department of Botany . Harris supervised William Chaloner ( botanist ) and Winifred Pennington , both later professors of botany . Tom Harris would say to students : `` If you 're not prepared to die for botany , you 'd better be prepared to kill for it ! '' The Harris Garden , located on the University of Reading 's Whiteknights Campus , was named after him .", "Calypso War War is a calypso form that has existed since at least the turn of the twentieth century . Originally it was sung in patois or French creole . The classic War form is an eight-line stanza , the first four lines in a minor key , then modulating into the major , and returning to the minor with the refrain `` santimanite '' ( `` sans humanité '' in patois , in English `` without humanity '' ) . The object of War is to promote the calypsonian and defeat his competitors . A War verse by Growling Tiger : When I was a child at the age of five And my dear old grandfather was alive He would sit me upon his knee And say `` boy listen to me '' He said `` boy I will tell you your birth '' -LSB- i.e. fortune -RSB- `` and it is to rule over men on this earth '' . So I 'm sorry for the molesters who mess with this Tiger Santimantay A War verse by Mighty Terror : If you want to see what I say is true Just call a Jamaican singer to you And ask him to sing extemporaneously You will see he has n't this ability But if you call me or Lord Kitchener We will sing from January to December Why ? For we are born Trinidadians and true calypsonians Here in Great Britain", "When You Walk in the Room `` When You Walk in the Room '' is a song written and recorded by Jackie DeShannon , first released by her in 1963 but covered by many artists . The lyrics of the song attempt to detail the singer 's emotions when in the presence of the person he or she loves . There is also an expression of frustration by the singer that he or she can not manage to tell that person of his or her love . DeShannon 's original version was released as a single on November 23 , 1963 . as the B-Side to `` Till You Say You 'll Be Mine '' . It was later rereleased as a single A-side in September 1964 , and later included on the album Breakin ' It Up on the Beatles Tour . The single charted on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States , peaking at # 99 .", "Don't Say You Love Me Do n't Say You Love Me may refer to : `` Do n't Say You Love Me '' ( M2M song ) `` Do n't Say You Love Me '' ( Erasure song ) `` Do n't Say You Love Me '' , a song by The Corrs , from their album Talk on Corners `` Do n't Say You Love Me '' , a song by Free , from their album Fire and Water `` Do n't Say You Love Me '' , a song by Billy Squier , from his album Hear & Now", "Blairbuie Blairbuie is a hamlet in Coigach , Scotland . It has just 6 houses and a sheep shed . When driving past the junction which connects Blairbuie to the rest of Coigach , you see some fading writing in white paint on a rockface which reads ` Blairbuie ' ,", "Fossil hash Hash fossils are not actually one fossil , they are many fossils in the same rock . The term hash fossil describes the fossil formed when all the organic material in an environment falls to the ocean floor and fossilizes , hence the name `` hash '' . When you look at a hash fossil , you actually are looking at a piece of ancient seabed . In hash fossils you can usually find the pieces of corals , crinoids , bryzoans , and brachiopods . Also you can rarely find a piece of a trilobite . Hash fossils are very common , and are most easily found in limestone .", "Say, You Haven't Sacrificed at All! (March) `` Say , You Have n't Sacrificed at All ! ( March ) '' , also written as `` Say-You Have n't Sacrificed at All ! '' or `` Say-You Have-n ' t Sacrificed at All ! '' , is a World War I era song released in 1918 . Most sources have attributed the role of composer to Will E. Dulmage and lyricist to J. Fred Lawton , as it is credited on the sheet music cover . One source has their roles reversed , and another source claims both composed the music . The song was published by Chas E. Roat Music Co. of Battle Creek , Michigan . On the cover is a soldier with a head wound , pointing . Behind him are British , French , and American flags . It was written for both voice and piano . The song 's lyrics conveys the message to listeners that they have n't done enough on their part to help the war effort . Only those who have actually fought in battle can say they have sacrificed for America . For those who are unable to fight , they are told they must give as much time and money as they can , because `` to loaf on Uncle Sammy is a crime . '' The chorus is as follows : Have you had a gun up on your good right shoulder ? Have you ever slept out in the mud ? Have you performed your duties among the rats and cooties ? Have you ever shed a drop of blood for Uncle Sammy ? Have you ever charged out there on No Man 's Land ? Have you ever heard your captain call Over the Top Till you know how bullets sing how they ring how they sting Say you have n't sacrificed at all The sheet music can be found at the Library of Congress and Pritzker Military Museum & Library .", "Dave Franco Dave Franco ( born June 12 , 1985 ) is an American television and film actor . He began his career with small roles in films such as Superbad and Charlie St. Cloud , before making his breakthrough performance in the 2012 buddy comedy 21 Jump Street . He has also had roles in Fright Night , Now You See Me , Now You See Me 2 , Warm Bodies , Neighbors , Nerve and on the ninth season of the series Scrubs . He is the youngest of the three brothers Tom Franco and James Franco .", "Hold On (Badfinger song) `` Hold On '' is the third track from Badfinger 's 1981 album Say No More . Co-written by Tom Evans and Joe Tansin ( who had actually left the band prior to the recording of Say No More and was not credited on the original release ) , the track was their second to last new single ( the last being `` I Got You '' , also from Say No More ) .", "Say You Will (Fleetwood Mac song) `` Say You Will '' is a song from Fleetwood Mac 's 2003 album Say You Will . The song reached # 17 on Billboard 's Adult Contemporary chart in 2003 for three weeks , and was performed live on Fleetwood Mac 's Say You Will Tour . The song features vocals from American singer-songwriter Sheryl Crow , bass guitarist John McVie 's daughter Molly McVie , singer Stevie Nicks ' niece Jessica Nicks and Jessica 's best friend Maddy Felsch .", "When Will I See You Again (Thomas Anders album) When Will I See You Again is the title of the fourth studio album by singer-songwriter & producer Thomas Anders . It was released in 1993 , and was produced by Ralf Stemmann and Christian De Walden ( Amanda Lear ) . It features a remake of The Three Degrees ' classics When Will I See You Again . I 'll Love You Forever , The Love In Me and When Will I See You Again ( duet with The Three Degrees ) were released as singles . Marathon Of Life was written by Ralf Stemmann for the Swedish movie `` Stockholm Marathon '' , where Anders played a small part . I 'll Love You Forever was covered by Norwegian singer Wencke Myhre in 1994 and by Filipino trio `` Vanna Vanna '' in 1995 .", "Say You'll Be Mine Say You 'll Be Mine may refer to : `` Say You 'll Be Mine '' ( Christopher Cross song ) , single by Christopher Cross from his self-titled 1980 album Christopher Cross `` Say You 'll Be Mine '' ( Amy Grant song ) , a single by Amy Grant from her 1994 album House of Love `` Say You 'll Be Mine '' ( Steps song ) , Side A of a Double-A side single `` Say You 'll Be Mine/Better the Devil You Know '' by Steps from their 1999 album Steptacular `` Say You 'll be Mine '' , a 2008 song by Kitty , Daisy & Lewis" ]

[ "Climate change mitigation Climate change mitigation consists of actions to limit the magnitude or rate of long-term climate change . Climate change mitigation generally involves reductions in human ( anthropogenic ) emissions of greenhouse gases ( GHGs ) . Mitigation may also be achieved by increasing the capacity of carbon sinks , e.g. , through reforestation . Mitigation policies can substantially reduce the risks associated with human-induced global warming . According to the IPCC 's 2014 assessment report , `` Mitigation is a public good ; climate change is a case of the ` tragedy of the commons . Effective climate change mitigation will not be achieved if each agent ( individual , institution or country ) acts independently in its own selfish interest ( see international cooperation and emissions trading ) , suggesting the need for collective action . Some adaptation actions , on the other hand , have characteristics of a private good as benefits of actions may accrue more directly to the individuals , regions , or countries that undertake them , at least in the short term . Nevertheless , financing such adaptive activities remains an issue , particularly for poor individuals and countries . '' Examples of mitigation include phasing out fossil fuels by switching to low-carbon energy sources , such as renewable and nuclear energy , and expanding forests and other `` sinks '' to remove greater amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere . Energy efficiency may also play a role , for example , through improving the insulation of buildings . Another approach to climate change mitigation is climate engineering . Most countries are parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change ( UNFCCC ) . The ultimate objective of the UNFCCC is to stabilize atmospheric concentrations of GHGs at a level that would prevent dangerous human interference of the climate system . Scientific analysis can provide information on the impacts of climate change , but deciding which impacts are dangerous requires value judgments . In 2010 , Parties to the UNFCCC agreed that future global warming should be limited to below 2.0 ° C ( 3.6 ° F ) relative to the pre-industrial level . With the Paris Agreement of 2015 this was confirmed , but was revised with a new target laying down `` parties will do the best '' to achieve warming below 1.5 ° C . The current trajectory of global greenhouse gas emissions does not appear to be consistent with limiting global warming to below 1.5 or 2 ° C . Other mitigation policies have been proposed , some of which are more stringent or modest than the 2 ° C limit .", "Scientific consensus on climate change There is currently a strong scientific consensus that the Earth is warming and that this warming is mainly caused by human activities. This consensus is supported by various studies of scientists' opinions and by position statements of scientific organizations, many of which explicitly agree with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) synthesis reports. Nearly all actively publishing climate scientists (97–98%) support the consensus on anthropogenic climate change, and the remaining 2% of contrarian studies either cannot be replicated or contain errors.", "Roger A. Pielke Jr. Roger A. Pielke Jr. ( born November 2 , 1968 ) is an American political scientist and professor and the director of the Sports Governance Center within the Department of Athletics at the Center for Science and Technology Policy Research at the University of Colorado Boulder . He previously served in the Environmental Studies Program and was a Fellow of the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences ( CIRES ) where he served as Director of the Center for Science and Technology Policy Research at the University of Colorado Boulder from 2001 to 2007 . Pielke was a visiting scholar at Oxford University 's Saïd Business School in the 2007-2008 academic year . His interests include understanding the politicization of science ; decision making under uncertainty ; policy education for scientists in areas such as climate change , disaster mitigation , and world trade ; and research on the governance of sports organizations , including FIFA and the NCAA .", "Global warming controversy The global warming controversy concerns the public debate over whether global warming is occurring , how much has occurred in modern times , what has caused it , what its effects will be , whether any action should be taken to curb it , and if so what that action should be . In the scientific literature , there is a strong consensus that global surface temperatures have increased in recent decades and that the trend is caused by human-induced emissions of greenhouse gases . No scientific body of national or international standing disagrees with this view , though a few organizations with members in extractive industries hold non-committal positions . Disputes over the key scientific facts of global warming are more prevalent in the media than in the scientific literature , where such issues are treated as resolved , and such disputes are more prevalent in the United States than globally . Political and popular debate concerning the existence and cause of climate change includes the reasons for the increase seen in the instrumental temperature record , whether the warming trend exceeds normal climatic variations , and whether human activities have contributed significantly to it . Scientists have resolved these questions decisively in favour of the view that the current warming trend exists and is ongoing , that human activity is the cause , and that it is without precedent in at least 2000 years . Public disputes that also reflect scientific debate include estimates of how responsive the climate system might be to any given level of greenhouse gases ( climate sensitivity ) , how global climate change will play out at local and regional scales , and what the consequences of global warming will be . Global warming remains an issue of widespread political debate , often split along party political lines , especially in the United States . Many of the issues that are settled within the scientific community , such as human responsibility for global warming , remain the subject of politically or economically motivated attempts to downplay , dismiss or deny them -- an ideological phenomenon categorised by academics and scientists as climate change denial . The sources of funding for those involved with climate science -- both supporting and opposing mainstream scientific positions -- have been questioned by both sides . There are debates about the best policy responses to the science , their cost-effectiveness and their urgency . Climate scientists , especially in the United States , have reported official and oil-industry pressure to censor or suppress their work and hide scientific data , with directives not to discuss the subject in public communications . Legal cases regarding global warming , its effects , and measures to reduce it have reached American courts . The fossil fuels lobby has been identified as overtly or covertly supporting efforts to undermine or discredit the scientific consensus on global warming ." ]

[ "Climate change in Argentina According to scientists , global warming is predicted to have significant effects on the climate of Argentina . Though temperatures have increased at a slower rate than the global average , nonetheless these impacts have occurred in many areas . If these trends continue , it is predicted that climate change will exacerbate existing natural disasters such as increasing the intensity and frequency of floods or create new ones .", "Petr Chýlek Petr Chýlek is a researcher for Space and Remote Sensing Sciences at Los Alamos National Laboratory . Prior to becoming a government researcher in 2001 , Chýlek was a Professor at several US and Canadian universities including SUNY Albany , Purdue University , University of Oklahoma and Dalhousie University in Halifax , Canada . Chýlek has published over 100 first authored scientific papers in remote sensing , atmospheric radiation , climate change , cloud and aerosol physics , applied laser physics and ice core analysis . His work has been cited more than 4000 times . Chylek is best known for his work in remote sensing , aerosols and climate change . In 2006 , Chýlek served as Chairman , Scientific Program Committee for The Second International Conference on Global Warming and the Next Ice Age held at Los Alamos National Laboratory in Santa Fe , NM . Speakers included Venkatachalam Ramaswamy , Chris Folland , Gerald North , Roger A. Pielke , William M. Gray and Jan Veizer . The conference included a two-day workshop on climate prediction uncertainties . The papers presented at the 2006 Conference were published in a special section of the Journal of Geophysical Research - Atmospheres in 2007 . In 2007 , Chýlek and co-authors published a peer-reviewed paper estimating climate sensitivity to doubled atmospheric CO2 to be significantly less than the IPCC estimate . Chýlek received his diploma in theoretical physics from Charles University in Prague , Czech Republic . He received his Ph.D. in physics from UC Riverside in 1970 .", "Sunshine tax `` Sunshine tax '' or `` Paradise tax '' is an ironic term used in the United States and Canada to describe the phenomenon that salaries are often lower than the national average , and costs of living higher than the national average , in places that have a desirably temperate climate . The phenomenon arises because many people are willing to accept lower earnings and higher costs of living to live in a place like Hawaii , California , Florida , Colorado , the Okanagan region of British Columbia , or other places with an attractive climate . `` As most people know , everything seems to cost more in California . The houses are more expensive , the gas and groceries cost more and do n't ask about the cost of daycare . This added cost of living has inspired its own term -- the sunshine tax . It is the added cost to live in one of the best climates on earth , where the sun shines almost every day . '' The term can also be used to mean anything that has the effect of making costs higher in areas like the Sunbelt . In 2007 , the San Diego Union-Tribune calculated the cost of the California sunshine tax at $ 1.1 billion just for the additional cost of gasoline in the state . In Hawaii , the same concept is called a `` paradise tax '' . It arises because incomes are lower and the cost of living is higher in Hawaii than on the mainland . It is not an actual tax , but a perceived persistent difference between costs among locations . It is also described as `` the price you pay for paradise '' or `` the cost of living in paradise . '' Randall W. Roth , in a book entitled The Price of Paradise , listed a number of possible causes , including shipping costs , land availability , and differences in regulation .", "The Hartwell Paper The Hartwell Paper calls for a reorientation of climate policy after the perceived failure in 2009 of the UNFCCC climate conference in Copenhagen . The paper was published in May 2010 by the London School of Economics in cooperation with the University of Oxford . The authors are 14 natural and social scientists from Asia , Europe and North America , including Mike Hulme , Roger A. Pielke ( Jr ) , Nico Stehr and Steve Rayner , who met under the Chatham House Rule . The paper argues that `` decarbonisation will only be achieved successfully as a benefit contingent upon other goals which are politically attractive and relentlessly pragmatic . '' It emphasizes human dignity as a necessary guiding principle for climate policy : `` To reframe the climate issue around matters of human dignity is not just noble or necessary . It is also likely to be more effective than the approach of framing around human sinfulness -- which has failed and will continue to fail . '' It has three main objectives : 1 . Energy access for all The paper advocates taking investments in the innovations of renewable energy to decrease energy costs and to make them more affordable to society . Only this diversification of energy could extend the access to energy , especially in undeveloped countries . 2 . Clean energy 3 . Dealing with climate change The ultimate goal is `` to develop non-carbon energy supplies at unsubsidised costs less than those using fossil fuels . '' The Hartwell Paper recommends achieving this goal by introducing low carbon taxes . Moreover this money should be used to develop a CO2 free energy supply .", "Climate change adaptation in Nepal Climate change ( CC ) refers `` to the change of earth 's global or regional climate over a long period of time , whether due to natural variability or as the result of human activities '' IPCC , 2007d :30 . By the impact of climate change , as systems become more vulnerable to natural hazards , there is a greater need to develop responses ( that is , adjustments in existing practices , processes or structures ) that are able to counter potential future disasters . Such a response is known as adaptation to climate change IPCC , 2001b ; Smit et al. , 1999 . Community forest user group ( CFUG ) is main areas to act climate change adaptation in Nepa", "Regional Atmospheric Modeling System The Regional Atmospheric Modeling System ( RAMS ) is a set of computer program that simulates the atmosphere for weather and climate research and for numerical weather prediction ( NWP ) . Other components include a data analysis and a visualization package . RAMS was developed in the 1980s at Colorado State University ( CSU ) , spearheaded by William R. Cotton and Roger A. Pielke , for mesoscale meteorological modeling . Subsequent development is primarily done by Robert L. Walko and Craig J. Tremback under the supervision of Cotton and Pielke . It is a comprehensive non-hydrostatic model . It is written primarily in Fortran with some C code and it runs best under the Unix operating system . Version 6 was released in 2009 . RAMS is the basis for a system simulating the Martian atmosphere that is named MRAMS .", "Stern Review The Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change is a 700-page report released for the Government of the United Kingdom on 30 October 2006 by economist Nicholas Stern , chair of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the London School of Economics ( LSE ) and also chair of the Centre for Climate Change Economics and Policy ( CCCEP ) at Leeds University and LSE . The report discusses the effect of global warming on the world economy . Although not the first economic report on climate change , it is significant as the largest and most widely known and discussed report of its kind . The Review states that climate change is the greatest and widest-ranging market failure ever seen , presenting a unique challenge for economics . The Review provides prescriptions including environmental taxes to minimise the economic and social disruptions . The Stern Review 's main conclusion is that the benefits of strong , early action on climate change far outweigh the costs of not acting . The Review points to the potential impacts of climate change on water resources , food production , health , and the environment . According to the Review , without action , the overall costs of climate change will be equivalent to losing at least 5 % of global gross domestic product ( GDP ) each year , now and forever . Including a wider range of risks and impacts could increase this to 20 % of GDP or more , also indefinitely . Stern believes that 5 -- 6 degrees of temperature increase is `` a real possibility . '' The Review proposes that one percent of global GDP per annum is required to be invested to avoid the worst effects of climate change . In June 2008 , Stern increased the estimate for the annual cost of achieving stabilisation between 500 and 550 ppm CO2e to 2 % of GDP to account for faster than expected climate change . There has been a mixed reaction to the Stern Review from economists . Several economists have been critical of the Review , for example , a paper by Byatt et al. ( 2006 ) describes the Review as `` deeply flawed '' . Some economists ( such as Brad DeLong and John Quiggin ) have supported the Review . Others have criticised aspects of Review 's analysis , but argued that some of its conclusions might still be justified based on other grounds , e.g. , see papers by Martin Weitzman ( 2007 ) and Dieter Helm ( 2008 ) .", "Menu cost In economics , a menu cost is the cost to a firm resulting from changing its prices . The name stems from the cost of restaurants literally printing new menus , but economists use it to refer to the costs of changing nominal prices in general . In this broader definition , menu costs might include updating computer systems , re-tagging items , and hiring consultants to develop new pricing strategies as well as the literal costs of printing menus . More generally , the menu cost can be thought of as resulting from costs of information , decision and implementation resulting in bounded rationality . Because of this expense , firms sometimes do not always change their prices with every change in supply and demand , leading to nominal rigidity Generally , the effect on the firm of small shifts in price ( by changes in supply and/or demand , or else because of slight adjustments in monetary policy ) is relatively minor compared to the costs of notifying the public of this new information . Therefore , the firm would rather exist in slight disequilibrium than incur the menu costs .", "Roger Miret and The Disasters (album) Roger Miret and the Disasters is the eponymous debut album by Roger Miret and the Disasters . It was released on September 10 , 2002 . `` New York Belongs to Me '' is a cover of Cock Sparrer 's `` England Belongs to Me '' , with a few word changes . The cover originally appeared on Worldwide Tribute to the Real Oi , Vol . 2", "Climate Change and Emissions Management Amendment Act __ NOTOC __ The Climate Change and Emissions Management Amendment Act of the Canadian province of Alberta was the first law of its type to impose greenhouse gas cuts on large industrial facilities . Starting from July 1 , 2007 , Alberta facilities that emit more than 100,000 tonnes of greenhouse gases per year will be required to reduce their emissions intensity by 12 percent under the Climate Change and Emissions Management Amendment Act . Companies have three ways to meet their reductions : they can make operating improvements , buy an Alberta-based credit , or contribute to the Climate Change and Emissions Management Fund . The regulations apply to about 100 large facilities which emit more than 100,000 tonnes of greenhouse gases a year . Those facilities account for about 70 per cent of Alberta 's industrial greenhouse gas emissions . The annual cost of compliance is estimated to be $ 177 million - or less than one tenth of one per cent of Alberta 's nominal GDP ( $ 242 billion in 2006 ) .", "Climate change and gender Climate change and gender is concerned with gender differences in the context of climate change and the complex and intersecting power relations arising from it . By altering the ecosystems of the planet , climate change , and more specifically global warming , directly impacts the human race . These effects vary for different segments of the population , specifically for people of different genders . In many cases , women are more vulnerable to the negative effects of climate change because of their lower social status in most countries . Many impoverished women , especially those in the developing world , are farmers and depend on the natural environment for subsistence and income . By further limiting their already constrained access to physical , social , political , and fiscal resources , climate change often burdens women more than men . Locally and globally , both governments and non-governmental organizations respond to climate change . Some of these efforts focus on mitigating the effects of climate change while others aid societies in adapting their lifestyles to changes in their environment . Most policy responses in the late 20th and early 21st century either did not focus on the social effects of climate change or did not consider gender in these efforts . Analysis of gender in climate change , however , not only means applying a binary male/female system of analysis on sets of quantitative data but also scrutinizing discursive constructions that shapes power relations connected to climate change .", "Environmental issues in Haiti Environmental issues in Haiti include a severe deforestation problem , overpopulation , a lack of sanitation , natural disasters , and food insecurity . A major reason for these environmental issues is that there is not sufficient protection or management of the country 's natural resources . Other environmental issues , such as decreases in precipitation and more severe natural disasters , will likely arise in Haiti as a result of climate change . Experts agree that Haiti needs to adopt new policies to address both the issues that already exist and to prepare for the effects of climate change .", "The Standing March The Standing March is a collaborative art installation by the French artist JR and the American filmmaker Darren Aronofsky . The artwork , which depicts more than 500 people , was projected onto the facade of the National Assembly building during the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris .", "2005 United Nations Climate Change Conference The 2005 United Nations Climate Change Conference took place between November 28 and December 9 , 2005 , in Montreal , Quebec , Canada . The conference included the 11th Conference of the Parties ( COP11 ) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change ( UNFCCC ) , and was the first Meeting of the Parties ( MOP1 ) to the Kyoto Protocol since their initial meeting in Kyoto in 1997 . It was one of the largest intergovernmental conferences on climate change ever . The event marked the entry into force of the Kyoto Protocol on 16 February 2005 . Hosting more than 10,000 delegates , it was one of Canada 's largest international events ever and the largest gathering in Montreal since Expo 67 . The Montreal Action Plan was an agreement to `` extend the life of the Kyoto Protocol beyond its 2012 expiration date and negotiate deeper cuts in greenhouse-gas emissions '' by starting negotiations , without delay on an extension of the protocol . Canada 's environment minister , at the time , Stéphane Dion , said the agreement provides a `` map for the future '' .", "Environmental issues in Mongolia There are many pressing environmental issues in Mongolia that are detrimental to both human and biophysical wellness . These problems have arisen in part due to natural factors , but increasingly because of human actions . One of these issues is climate change , which will be responsible for an increase in desertification , natural disasters , and land degradation . Another is deforestation , which is expanding due to human recklessness , pests , disease , and fire . Mongolian lands are becoming more arid through desertification , a process that is being exacerbated due to irresponsible land use . Additionally , more and more species are disappearing and at risk for extinction . And , especially in population centers , Mongolians deal with air and water pollution caused by human industrialization .", "Loss and damage The term Loss and damage denotes impacts of climate-related stressors that occur despite efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to climatic changes . Loss and damage can result from sudden-onset events ( climate disasters , such as cyclones ) as well as slow-onset processes ( such as sea level rise ) . Loss and damage can occur in human systems ( such as livelihoods ) as well as natural systems ( such as biodiversity ) , though the emphasis in research and policy is on human impacts . Within the realm of loss and damage to human systems , a distinction is made between economic losses and non-economic losses . The main difference between the two is that non-economic losses involve things that are not commonly traded in markets . At the 18th Conference of the Parties meeting of the UNFCCC in 2012 in Doha , Qatar , it took 36 hours of negotiation between 195 nations to arrive at a plan to address loss and damage associated with adverse effects of climate change particularly in countries most vulnerable to climate change . A new website was launched at the conference by the Loss and Damage Vulnerable Countries Initiative . It described its aim as being `` the first dedicated site for news , resources and opinion on the issue of loss and damage associated with the adverse impacts of climate change '' . Examples of types of loss and damage include farmers who can no longer grow crops to eat , or grass to feed cattle , because their soil has become too salty , and fishermen who have lost their livelihoods because rivers have dried up . In popular press , and in statements by some parties in the climate negotiations , the terms loss and damage is often associated with liability and compensation . This explains why the topic raises heated debates , and tends to widen the divide between developed countries , which are historically responsible for most greenhouse gas emissions , and developing countries that are more vulnerable to impacts of climate change . For vulnerable countries , loss and damage is most of all about recognizing that past and current efforts to avoid dangerous climate change , and that there are limits and constraints to adaptation . The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change has developed a work programme on loss and damage which aims to find ways to address the issue in developing countries that are particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change . On 12 -- 14 September 2013 , it held a meeting in Fiji to consider how best to address loss and damage from ` slow-onset events ' . These are impacts of climate change that occur over time , such as sea-level rise , rather than in a single , destructive event . Bangladesh is already suffering from loss and damage resulting from sea-level rise , due to its flat terrain in the coastal region . At the 19th Conference of the Parties meeting of the UNFCCC in 2013 in Warsaw , Poland , the Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage associated with Climate Change Impacts was established . At the 20th Conference of the Parties in Lima , Peru ( 2014 ) , the work plan of the executive committee of the Warsaw International Mechanism was approved . The 5th Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) , published in 2013-2014 had no separate chapter on loss and damage , but WG2 Chapter 16 about adaptation limits and constraints , is very relevant for people interested in loss and damage . A qualitative data analysis ( QDA ) of what the IPCC 5th Assessment Report has to say about loss and damage surprisingly showed that the term was used much more often in statements about Annex 1 countries ( e.g. US , Australia or European countries ) than in text about non-Annex 1 countries ( most countries in Africa , Asia Latin America and the Pacific ) , which tend to be more vulnerable to impacts of climate change . Whether or not the IPCC 6th Assessment Report will have a chapter on loss and damage has not yet been decided .", "Climate change in Canada In Canada mitigation of anthropogenic climate change is being addressed more seriously by the provinces than by the federal government . The 2015 election signals greater federal leadership as noted in Canada 's National Statement at COP21 , making climate change a top priority , and pledging actions based on the best scientific evidence and advice .", "Economists' Statement on Climate Change The Economists ' Statement on Climate Change was published in 1997 , prior to the Kyoto Protocol negotiated that same year , to promote market-based solutions to climate change . It was signed by more than 2,600 economists , including 18 Nobel Prize laureates , and remains the largest public statement in the history of the economics profession . The statement was coordinated by Redefining Progress , an environmental economics think tank founded by Ted Halstead .", "Alliance for Climate Education Alliance for Climate Education , or ACE , educates young people on the science of climate change and empowers them to take action . ACE is a 501 ( c ) 3 nonprofit that provides educational resources on climate science and justice , as well training for young climate leaders . Since 2008 , ACE has reached more than 2,000,000 students nationwide .", "Global Planners Network The Global Planners Network ( commonly abbreviated to GPN ) is a group of spatial planning institutes and other organisations , who have signed the Vancouver Declaration . Members sign this declaration to show their commitment to working `` together , and with others , to tackle the challenges of rapid urbanisation , the urbanisation of poverty and the hazards posed by climate change and natural disasters . '' Current GPN membership extends to 25 organisations representing more than 150,000 planners .", "Burtoni Award The Burtoni Award was created in 2003 by a group of leading experts and policy makers in the field of climate change . Its purpose is to recognize outstanding contributions to the science of adaptation to climate change . The award is named after the first recipient of the award , Ian Burton , an Emeritus Professor at the University of Toronto and a pioneer in the field of adaptation to climate change and extreme events and disasters . Ian has contributed to three Assessment Reports of the IPCC ( Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ) and the recent Special Report on Extremes ( SREX ) . Subsequent recipients of the Burtoni Award are : Roger Jones ( Australia ) 2005 . Saleemul Huq ( Bangladesh ) 2007 . Coleen Vogel ( South Africa ) 2010 . Karen O'Brien ( Norway/USA ) 2012 . Mark Pelling ( United Kingdom ) 2015 . Richard J.T. Klein ( the Netherlands ) 2016 . Short biographies of the awardees follow : Roger Jones is Professorial Research Fellow at the Centre for Strategic Economic Research , Victoria University Australia . He was a Coordinating Lead Author in the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report and has the same role in the Fifth Assessment Report . The Burtoni was awarded in recognition of his innovations in research methods for assessing adaptation to climate change , particularly in the application of risk management to adaptation . Saleemul Huq is a Senior Fellow with the International Institute for Environment and Development in London and Director of ICCCD ( International Centre for Climate Change and Development in Dhaka , Bangladesh . He received the award for his work linking adaptation and development , his research on decision making and his efforts to build capacity . It was awarded during a three-day workshop on Community-based Adaptation to Climate Change in Dhaka . Coleen Vogel is an Independent Consultant and previously Professor of Sustainability at the University of Witwatersrand , Johannesburg . She was Lead Author for the IPCC 4th assessment Report Working Group 2 Chapter on Africa , and she chaired the International Scientific Committee of the International Human Dimensions Programme on Climate Change . Karen O'Brien is Professor in the Department of Sociology and Human Geography at the University of Oslo , Norway . She was Lead Author of the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report for Working Group II ( Chapter 20 : Climate-resilient pathways : adaptation , mitigation , and sustainable development ) . She was a Coordinating Lead Author of the IPCC Special Report on Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation ( SREX ) in Chapter 8 ` Towards a Resilient and Sustainable Future ' . She was Chair of the Global Environmental Change and Human Security ( GECHS ) project of the IHDP from 2005-2010 . Mark Pelling is Professor of Geography at King 's College London . His research interests are in the institutions and social relationships that shape vulnerability and adaptation to natural disasters , including those associated with climate change , and in the ways in which conflicting values and practices of development inform resilience and transformation in the face of environmental change . He served as a coordinating author for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Special Report on Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation ( SREX ) and its Fifth Assessment Report . He also sits on the Scientific Steering Committees for the IGBP-IHDP core project Land-Ocean Interactions in the Coastal Zone ( LOICZ ) and the ICSU core project Integrated Research on Disaster Risk ( IRDR ) . Richard J.T. Klein is a Senior Research Fellow at the Stockholm Environment Institute and Editor-in-Chief of the journal Climate and Development . He was awarded the Burtoni in recognition of his work to advance knowledge through international research , capacity-building and educational collaborations , including as co-director and chief scientist of the Nordic Centre of Excellence for Strategic Adaptation Research ( NORD-STAR ) and as a member , until 2015 , of the Scientific Steering Committee of the Global Programme of Research on Climate Change Vulnerability , Impacts and Adaptation ( PROVIA ) . He was only 24 when he became lead author of a chapter in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Second Assessment Report , published in 1994 . He has been a lead author or coordinating lead author of every IPCC Assessment Report since , as well as two Special Reports .", "Action/2015 action/2015 was a global coalition of more than 2200 organisations and networks from over 150 countries , united by the belief that 2015 was a critical year for progress in the fight against climate change , poverty and inequality . Throughout the year , this coalition engaged and mobilised the public at critical decision-making points to call on leaders to commit to strong goals and agreements at two crucial UN summits in 2015 - the UN General Assembly and the UN Climate Change Conference . Throughout the year millions of activists came together through action/2015 to ensure world leaders would feel the pressure to seize the opportunity to tackle poverty , inequality and climate change . With 31 million campaign actions taken in 157 countries , action/2015 was a massive global movement for change -- the biggest-ever of its kind .", "Effects of climate change on wine production Climate change in recent times has become a major issue and talking point globally because of its effects on the environment and the repercussions this could be having or possibly have . The effects of climate change on Viniculture ( wine production ) are described in this article .", "Atlantic (period) The Atlantic in palaeoclimatology was the warmest and moistest Blytt-Sernander period , pollen zone and chronozone of Holocene northern Europe . The climate was generally warmer than today . It was preceded by the Boreal , with a climate similar to today 's , and was followed by the Subboreal , a transition to the modern . Because it was the warmest period of the Holocene , the Atlantic is often referenced more directly as the Holocene climatic optimum , or just climatic optimum .", "All India Disaster Mitigation Institute The All India Disaster Mitigation Institute ( AIDMI ) is a NGO registered in India . Located at Ahmedabad , Gujarat , India , it works on disaster risk reduction , climate change adaptation and disaster mitigation . It was founded by Mihir R Bhatt , the son of social worker Ila Bhatt .", "Christiane Pielke Christiane Pielke ( born 12 May 1963 in Hannover ) is a German former swimmer who competed in the 1984 and 1988 Summer Olympics .", "Climate-friendly school A climate-friendly school is a school that uses education for sustainable development ( ESD ) to promote a culture of sustainability in which students , staff and families hold shared values and beliefs about the importance of taking action for a more sustainable society . Taking care of the environment and contributing to reducing climate change is an integral part of this . Climate action means different things to different schools . Some schools see climate action as key to `` doing their part '' to take care of the planet . For other schools , it is about addressing issues directly affecting them . For example , several schools in disaster-prone Japan see climate action as a practical way of helping students and their families stay safe and prepare for the future .", "Climate Hustle Climate Hustle is a 2016 film rejecting the existence and cause of climate change , narrated by climate change denialist Marc Morano , produced and directed by Christopher Rogers , co-written by Morano and Mick Curran , and funded by the Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow ( CFACT ) , a free market pressure group funded by the fossil fuel lobby . According to Ars Technica , the film offers `` a fast-paced , uninterrupted delivery of superficial and false claims about climate science '' .", "VNREDSat 1A VNREDSat-1 ( short for Vietnam Natural Resources , Environment and Disaster Monitoring Satellite ) is the first optical Earth Observing satellite of Vietnam ; its primary mission is to monitor and study the effects of climate change , predict and take measures to prevent natural disasters , and optimise the management of Vietnam 's natural resources .", "Effects of global warming on marine mammals The effect of global warming on marine mammals is a growing concern . Many of the effects of climate change are currently unknown due to its unpredictability , but many are becoming increasingly evident today . Some effects are very direct such as loss of habitat , temperature stress , and exposure to severe weather . Other effects are more indirect such as changes in host pathogen associations , changes in body condition because of predator -- prey interaction , changed in exposure to toxins , and increased human interactions . These are just a few examples of what marine mammals are dealing with as a result of rapid climate change . There are a number of marine mammals that have been affected by climate change including walruses , seals , penguins , and polar bears .", "Climate variability Climate variability includes all the variations in the climate that last longer than individual weather events, whereas the term climate change only refers to those variations that persist for a longer period of time, typically decades or more. In the time since the industrial revolution the climate has increasingly been affected by human activities that are causing global warming and climate change.The climate system receives nearly all of its energy from the sun. The climate system also radiates energy to outer space. The balance of incoming and outgoing energy, and the passage of the energy through the climate system, determines Earth's energy budget. When the incoming energy is greater than the outgoing energy, earth's energy budget is positive and the climate system is warming. If more energy goes out, the energy budget is negative and earth experiences cooling. The energy moving through Earth's climate system finds expression in weather, varying on geographic scales and time. Long-term averages and variability of weather in a region constitute the region's climate. Such changes can be the result of \"internal variability\", when natural processes inherent to the various parts of the climate system alter the distribution of energy. Examples include variability in ocean basins such as the Pacific decadal oscillation and Atlantic multidecadal oscillation. Climate variability can also result from external forcing, when events outside of the climate system's components nonetheless produce changes within the system. Examples include changes in solar output and volcanism. Climate variability has consequences for sea level changes, plant life, and mass extinctions; it also affects human societies.", "Climate gap The climate gap refers to a body of data indicating disparities in how climate change impacts various racial , ethnic and socioeconomic groups in the United States . The data show that low socioeconomic status groups and racial and ethnic minorities will experience more negative health and economic impacts from the results of climate change than other populations in the United States . This term , climate gap , was first used in the May 2009 report , `` The Climate Gap : Inequalities in How Climate Change Hurts Americans & How to Close the Gap '' , as well as in a concurrent paper published in the journal , Environmental Justice , by Seth B. Shonkoff , Rachel Morello-Frosch and colleagues entitled , `` Minding the Climate Gap : Implications of Environmental Health Inequities for Mitigation Policies in California '' ." ]

[ "Sustainable energy Sustainable energy is energy that is consumed at insignificant rates compared to its supply and with manageable collateral effects , especially environmental effects . Another common definition of sustainable energy is an energy system that serves the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs . The organizing principle for sustainability is sustainable development , which includes the four interconnected domains : ecology , economics , politics and culture . Sustainability science is the study of sustainable development and environmental science . Technologies promote sustainable energy including renewable energy sources , such as hydroelectricity , solar energy , wind energy , wave power , geothermal energy , bioenergy , tidal power and also technologies designed to improve energy efficiency . Costs have fallen dramatically in recent years , and continue to fall . Most of these technologies are either economically competitive or close to being so . Increasingly , effective government policies support investor confidence and these markets are expanding . Considerable progress is being made in the energy transition from fossil fuels to ecologically sustainable systems , to the point where many studies support 100 % renewable energy .", "Nuclear power Nuclear power is the use of nuclear reactions that release nuclear energy to generate heat , which most frequently is then used in steam turbines to produce electricity in a nuclear power plant . The term includes nuclear fission , nuclear decay and nuclear fusion . Presently , the nuclear fission of elements in the actinide series of the periodic table produce the vast majority of nuclear energy in the direct service of humankind , with nuclear decay processes , primarily in the form of geothermal energy , and radioisotope thermoelectric generators , in niche uses making up the rest . Owing , fundamentally , to the delayed critical fission process , Fission-electric power stations are one of the leading low carbon power generation methods of producing electricity , and in terms of total life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions per unit of energy generated , has emission values lower than `` renewable energy '' when the latter is taken as a single energy source . Since all electricity supplying technologies use cement , etc. , during construction , emissions are yet to be brought to zero . A 2014 analysis of the carbon footprint literature by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) reported that the embodied total life-cycle emission intensity of fission electricity has a median value of 12 g eq/kWh which is the lowest out of all commercial baseload energy sources , and second lowest out of all commercial electricity technologies known , after wind power which is an Intermittent energy source with embodied greenhouse gas emissions , per unit of energy generated of 11 g eq/kWh . Each result is contrasted with coal and fossil gas at 820 and 490 g eq/kWh . With this translating into , from the beginning of fission-electric power station commercialization in the 1970s , having prevented the emission of about 64 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent , greenhouse gases that would have otherwise resulted from the burning of fossil fuels in thermal power stations . There is a social debate about nuclear power . Proponents , such as the World Nuclear Association and Environmentalists for Nuclear Energy , contend that nuclear power is a safe , sustainable energy source that reduces carbon emissions . Opponents , such as Greenpeace International and NIRS , contend that nuclear power poses many threats to people and the environment . Far-reaching fission power reactor accidents , or accidents that resulted in medium to long-lived fission product contamination of inhabited areas , have occurred in Generation I and II reactor designs , blueprinted between 1950 and 1980 . These include the Chernobyl disaster which occurred in 1986 , the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster ( 2011 ) , and the more contained Three Mile Island accident ( 1979 ) . There have also been some nuclear submarine accidents . In terms of lives lost per unit of energy generated , analysis has determined that fission-electric reactors have caused fewer fatalities per unit of energy generated than the other major sources of energy generation . Energy production from coal , petroleum , natural gas and hydroelectricity has caused a greater number of fatalities per unit of energy generated due to air pollution and energy accident effects . Four years after the Fukushima-Daiichi accident , there have been no fatalities due to exposure to radiation , and no discernible increased incidence of radiation-related health effects are expected among exposed members of the public and their descendants . The Japan Times estimated 1,600 deaths were the result of evacuation , due to physical and mental stress stemming from long stays at shelters , a lack of initial care as a result of hospitals being disabled by the tsunami , and suicides . In 2015 : Ten new reactors were connected to the grid . Seven reactors were permanently shut down . 441 reactors had a worldwide net capacity of 382,855 megawatts of electricity . 67 new nuclear reactors were under construction . Most of the new activity is in China where there is an urgent need to control pollution from coal plants . In October 2016 , Watts Bar 2 became the first new United States reactor to enter commercial operation since 1996 .", "Global warming Global warming , also referred to as climate change , is the observed century-scale rise in the average temperature of the Earth 's climate system and its related effects . Multiple lines of scientific evidence show that the climate system is warming . Many of the observed changes since the 1950s are unprecedented in the instrumental temperature record which extends back to the mid 19th century , and in paleoclimate proxy records over thousands of years . In 2013 , the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) Fifth Assessment Report concluded that `` It is extremely likely that human influence has been the dominant cause of the observed warming since the mid-20th century . '' The largest human influence has been emission of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide , methane and nitrous oxide . Climate model projections summarized in the report indicated that during the 21st century the global surface temperature is likely to rise a further 0.3 to for their lowest emissions scenario and 2.6 to for the highest emissions scenario . These findings have been recognized by the national science academies of the major industrialized nations and are not disputed by any scientific body of national or international standing . Future climate change and associated impacts will differ from region to region around the globe . Anticipated effects include warming global temperature , rising sea levels , changing precipitation , and expansion of deserts in the subtropics . Warming is expected to be greater over land than over the oceans and greatest in the Arctic , with the continuing retreat of glaciers , permafrost and sea ice . Other likely changes include more frequent extreme weather events including heat waves , droughts , heavy rainfall with floods and heavy snowfall ; ocean acidification ; and species extinctions due to shifting temperature regimes . Effects significant to humans include the threat to food security from decreasing crop yields and the abandonment of populated areas due to rising sea levels . Because the climate system has a large `` inertia '' and greenhouse gases will stay in the atmosphere for a long time , many of these effects will not only exist for decades or centuries , but will persist for tens of thousands of years . Possible societal responses to global warming include mitigation by emissions reduction , adaptation to its effects , building systems resilient to its effects , and possible future climate engineering . Most countries are parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change ( UNFCCC ) , whose ultimate objective is to prevent dangerous anthropogenic climate change . Parties to the UNFCCC have agreed that deep cuts in emissions are required and that global warming should be limited to well below 2.0 C-change relative to pre-industrial levels , with efforts made to limit warming to 1.5 C-change . Public reactions to global warming and concern about its effects are also increasing . A global 2015 Pew Research Center report showed a median of 54 % consider it `` a very serious problem '' . There are significant regional differences , with Americans and Chinese ( whose economies are responsible for the greatest annual CO2 emissions ) among the least concerned ." ]

[ "Fast fuel system A Fast fuel system allows speedy refuelling of vehicles . Most large earthmoving and mining vehicles with diesel fuel tanks over 150 USgal are equipped with fast refueling systems . Fast refueling systems utilize an automatic shut off fuel nozzle , receiver and level control device . Fast refuel systems operate by connection of a fill nozzle to the vehicle 's fuel tank and a source mounted pump delivers fuel into the tank at rates up to 150 USgal per minute . Fast fill systems in general allow for ground level refueling and automatic shut-off upon a full tank . Ground level refueling increases operator safety as climbing onto vehicles during refueling is not necessary as the fill point receiver may be located in a location on the vehicle which is easily accessed .", "Facilities on the Mass Rapid Transit (Singapore) Stations on the Mass Rapid Transit , the rapid transit system in Singapore , are either above-ground or underground , or just below ground level ( in the case of the North-South Line side of Bishan MRT Station ) . Most stations have a concourse level , where fares are paid based on the length of the ride , and a platform level , where passengers get on and off trains . Usually , the concourse is closer to ground level than the platform level is . Most stations have island platforms . Amenities include retail spaces , General Ticketing Machines , at least one Passenger Service Centres , payphones , toilets , and LED and plasma displays that show the time until the next train .", "Climate change in Tuvalu Global warming (recent climate change) is particularly threatening in Tuvalu. This is because the average height of the islands is less than 2 metres (6.6 ft) above sea level, with the highest point of Niulakita being about 4.6 metres (15 ft) above sea level. Between 1971 and 2014, during a period of global warming, Tuvalu islands have increased in size, according to aerial photography and satellite imagery. Over four decades, there was a net increase in land area in Tuvalu of 73.5 ha (2.9%), although the changes were not uniform, with 74% of land increasing in size and 27% of land decreasing in size. The sea level at the Funafuti tide gauge has risen at 3.9 mm per year, which is approximately twice the global average.Tuvalu could be one of the first nations to be significantly impacted by rising sea levels. Not only could parts of the island be flooded but the rising saltwater table could also destroy deep rooted food crops such as coconut, pulaka, and taro. Research from the University of Auckland suggests that Tuvalu may remain habitable over the next century. However, as of March 2018, Prime Minister Enele Sopoaga stated that Tuvalu is not expanding and has gained no additional habitable land. Sopoaga has also said that evacuating the islands is the last resort.", "Carbon bubble The carbon bubble is a hypothesized bubble in the valuation of companies dependent on fossil-fuel-based energy production , because the true costs of carbon dioxide in intensifying global warming are not yet taken into account in a company 's stock market valuation . Currently the price of fossil fuels companies ' shares is calculated under the assumption that all fossil fuel reserves will be consumed . An estimate made by Kepler Chevreux puts the loss in value of the fossil fuel companies due to the impact of the growing renewables industry at US$ 28 trillion over the next two decades-long . A more recent analysis made by Citi puts that figure at $ 100 trillion . Analysts in both the petroleum and financial industries are concluding that the `` age of oil '' has already reached a new stage where the excess supply that appeared in late 2014 may continue to prevail in the future . A consensus appears to be emerging that an international agreement will be reached to introduce measures to constrain the combustion of hydrocarbons in an effort to limit global temperature rise to the nominal 2 ° C that is consensually predicted to limit environmental harm to tolerable levels . According to the UK 's Committee on Climate Change , overvaluing companies that produce fossil fuels and greenhouse gases poses a serious threat to the economy . The committee warned the British government and Bank of England of the risks of the carbon bubble in 2014 . The following year , Mark Carney , the Governor of the Bank of England , in his lecture to Lloyd 's of London , warned that limiting global warming to 2 ° C appears to require that the `` vast majority '' of fossil fuel reserves be `` stranded '' , or `` literally unburnable without expensive carbon-capture technology '' , resulting in `` potentially huge '' exposure to investors in that sector . He concluded that `` the window of opportunity is finite and shrinking '' for responding to the threat that climate change poses to financial resilience and longer-term prosperity , which he called the `` tragedy of the horizon '' . That same month , the Prudential Regulation Authority of the Bank of England issued a report discussing the risks and opportunities that climate change presents to the insurance industry . In his speech announcing his denial of the proposal to build the Keystone XL oil pipeline , U.S. President Barack Obama gave as one reason for the decision '' ... ultimately , if we 're going to prevent large parts of this Earth from becoming not only inhospitable but uninhabitable in our lifetimes , we 're going to have to keep some fossil fuels in the ground ... '' .", "Rapid transit (disambiguation) A rapid transit is a public transport system in an urban area with high capacity , high frequency not needing timetables , is fast and is segregated from other traffic . Rapid transit may also refer to : Bus rapid transit , a term applied to a variety of public transportation systems using buses Bombardier Advanced Rapid Transit , a rapid transit system manufactured by Bombardier Transportation", "Siyyan Himar Siyyan Himar or Rocher Moulhele is a pair of small islands , about 100 m apart and rising only 1.8 m above sea level , located about 3.8 km off the coast of Djibouti and 4.4 km northeast of the Siyyan peninsula , in the Bab-el-Mandeb strait ( between the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden ) . They are an uplifted ridge of a fossil coral reef .", "Equilibrium level In meteorology , the equilibrium level ( EL ) , or level of neutral buoyancy ( LNB ) , or limit of convection ( LOC ) , is the height at which a rising parcel of air is at the same temperature as its environment . This means that unstable air is now stable when it reaches the equilibrium level and convection stops . This level is often near the tropopause and can be indicated as near where the anvil of a thunderstorm because it is where the thunderstorm updraft is finally cut off , except in the case of overshooting tops where it continues rising to the maximum parcel level ( MPL ) due to momentum . More precisely , the cumulonimbus will stop rising around a few kilometres prior to reaching the level of neutral buoyancy and on average anvil glaciation occurs at a higher altitude over land than over sea ( despite little difference in LNB from land to sea ) .", "Mayodia Pass Mayodia Pass is located about 56 km away from Roing in Arunachal Pradesh , at the Indo-China border above 2,655 m above sea level . Mayodia got its name from a Nepali girl , Maya , who vanished in the snow and could not be traced . It witnesses heavy snowfall in January and February , snowfall starts in November and continues till April . So , it is fast becoming the most-favoured destination of those who want to experience the magic of snowfall .", "Global warming in Tuvalu Global warming is a concern in Tuvalu since the average height of the islands is less than 2 m above sea level , with the highest point of Niulakita being about 4.6 m above sea level . Tuvalu could be one of the first nations to experience the effects of sea level rise . Not only could parts of the island be flooded but the rising saltwater table could also destroy deep rooted food crops such as coconut , pulaka , and taro .", "Airport (RTA Rapid Transit station) Airport is a station on the RTA Red Line in Cleveland , Ohio , USA . It is the western terminus of the Red Line and is located off the lower level below the middle of the baggage claim level of Cleveland Hopkins International Airport .", "Vote Climate U.S. PAC Vote Climate U.S. PAC is an American super PAC founded in 2013 and directed by American political activist Karyn Strickler . Its mission is `` to elect candidates to get off fossil fuels , transition to clean , renewable energy and put a price on carbon , in order to slow global warming and related weather extremes . '' Strickler has named the implementation of a carbon tax as a principal goal . As a super PAC ( a type of political action committee ) , the organization can not contribute to candidates but can make independent expenditures on their behalf .", "Sunken Forests of New Hampshire The Sunken Forests of New Hampshire are two large areas of tree stumps submerged off New Hampshire 's coast . They sank below sea level after the ending of the Wisconsin Glaciation and subsequent rise in temperature ; isostatic rebound has not kept pace with the rise in sea level , and former coastal forests were overtaken by the Atlantic Ocean . The trees could not thrive , even when they were in the early stages of sinking , because they can not live in salt water for very long . All that is left of the forests are stumps .", "21st-century fossil fuel regulations in the United States Fossil fuel regulations are part of the energy policy in the United States and have gained major significance with the strong dependence on fossil fuel based energy . Regulatory processes are established at the federal and state level due to the immense economic , socio-political and environmental impact of fossil fuel extraction and production . Over 80 % of the United States ' energy comes from fossil fuels such as coal , natural gas , and oil . The Bush administration was marked by the Energy Policy Act of 2005 , which provided a monetary incentive for renewable energy adoption and addressed the issue of climate change . The Obama administration was made up of advocates for renewable energy and natural gas , while Donald Trump built his campaign on promises to revive the coal industry . Oil , gas , and coal companies have been at odds with policy makers who have supported a wider implementation of renewable energy , with the former often spending millions of dollars to lobby against cleaner energy . The Washington Post reported on February 22 , 2017 Scott Pruitt 's potential special interests with the fossil fuel industry as he began his term as the appointed head of the EPA under the Trump administration . Fossil fuel emission disproportionately affects working class , poor and minority populations . The people most adversely affected also have the least political influence and least access to health care .", "Rapid transit in Greece Rapid transit in Greece refers to the systems of rapid transit at present active in Greece . A `` rapid transit '' , `` underground '' , `` subway '' , `` elevated railway '' , `` metro '' or `` metropolitan railway '' system is an electric passenger railway in an urban area with a high capacity and frequency , and grade separation from other traffic . Rapid transit systems are typically located either in underground tunnels or on elevated rails above street level . Outside urban centers , rapid transit lines may run on grade separated ground level tracks . In Greece there are several systems that are called `` Rapid Transit '' : Athens Metro , an underground railway network serving the city of Athens since 2000 ; Athens Tram , a tram network serving the city of Athens , began electrified service in 1908 and revived in 2001 ; Athens-Piraeus Electric Railways , an old suburban railway converted to rapid transit in 1904 ; Thessaloniki Metro , an under-construction underground railway network for Greece 's second-largest city to be completed in 2014 ;", "Achlis The Achlis was one of a number of strange creatures listed in Roman mythology by Pliny the Elder in the 1st century BC . He described it as saying it looked somewhat like an elk , though it bore some very strange characteristics . It was said its upper lip was so large that it had to graze backwards to avoid its lip falling over its mouth . A great problem because its back legs had no joints , forcing it to sleep standing up or leaning against a tree . This allowed hunters a relatively easy way to catch them . They chopped halfway through the tree where the creature slept and when the Achlis put any weight against it he fell onto the ground . Because of its back legs it could not get to its feet fast enough to get away .", "San Francisco International Airport station San Francisco International Airport station is a Bay Area Rapid Transit ( BART ) reversal station on the Pittsburg/Bay Point -- SFO/Millbrae line located inside the San Francisco International Airport , also known as SFO or SFIA . The station is located on level 3 of the International Terminal , next to Parking Garage G . There are two entrances and exits -- one on level 3 , adjacent to the grand foyer off the north side of the International Terminal ; and the other is a level up at the Garage G/BART AirTrain station .", "Van Ness Bus Rapid Transit The Van Ness Bus Rapid Transit project is designed to bring rapid transit services to the thoroughfare from Mission Street to Lombard Street . Dedicated bus lanes for the 47 Van Ness bus , 49 Van Ness -- Mission trolleybus , and Golden Gate Transit are to be constructed along the median with 6 in side platforms for boarding and alighting passengers away from the curb . Additionally , underground water and sewer replacement and landscaping will take place on Van Ness Avenue .", "Dual-thrust In a dual-thrust solid fuel rocket motor , the propellant mass is composed of two different types ( densities ) of fuel . In the case of a tandem dual-thrust motor , the fuel closest to the rocket nozzle burns fast and the fuel further into the motor 's body burns slower . This has the effect of giving the rocket a lot of thrust initially , accelerating it rapidly to high speed . When all the fast-burning propellant has burnt , the slow-burning propellant delivers a much lower level of thrust . The first phase of acceleration is called `` boost '' and the second phase `` sustain '' . Not all dual-thrust motors are in a tandem arrangement but non-tandem motors function much the same ; they just have a different physical layout of fuel . For example they might burn from the inside to the outside ( core burning ) , rather than from the end in ( end burning ) . The advantage of dual-thrust motors is that , if the fuel were all of the fast-burning kind , the rocket would accelerate up to a higher speed initially but because air resistance increases quadratically with speed , the rocket would slow down very rapidly . This would give a higher peak speed but a lower average speed . Instead , the boost phase accelerates the rocket up to a high enough speed ( high enough to propel the rocket to its destination fast , but not high enough to cause excessive air resistance ) , and then the sustain stage allows the rocket to maintain this high speed until it burns out , after which time it is able to coast and slowly lose speed . Dual-thrust motors are most prevalent in rockets which are atmosphere-bound since they have to deal with air resistance over most of their flight . It is similar in concept to multi-stage rockets , but much simpler to design and build since there is no requirement to detach stages , have separate components , etc. .", "Paleontology in Nevada thumb | The location of the state of Nevada Paleontology in Nevada refers to paleontological research occurring within or conducted by people from the U.S. state of Nevada . Nevada has a rich fossil record of plants as well as both invertebrate and vertebrate animal life . During the Late Precambrian eastern and southern Nevada was being gradually covered by a shallow sea that was home to blue-green bacteria . During the early Paleozoic a variety of local aquatic invertebrates inhabited both freshwater ( molluscs ) and salt water ( graptolites ) . By the Carboniferous reefs formed despite a drop in local sea levels and a variety of plants flourished on land . Sea levels continued to drop into the early Mesozoic although ammonites and ichthyosaurs inhabited regions still submerged by the sea . Sea levels continued to drop through the Jurassic . An island chain where Sequoia trees grew emerged during the Cretaceous , but little else is known . Woodlands covered the state during the early part of the Cenozoic era . The state would come to be home to camels , horses , mammoths , and giant ground sloths . Local Native Americans devised myths to explain fossils . By the late 19th century local fossils had attracted the attention of formally trained scientists . Nevertheless , very little organized paleontology has been done within Nevada , and much of that has been carried on by out of state researchers . Consequently , there are few fossils displayed within Nevada . Among the institutions that do house fossils within the state is the Nevada State Museum , Las Vegas . The Triassic ichthyosaur Shonisaurus popularis is the Nevada state fossil .", "Vijayawada Bus Rapid Transit System The city of Vijayawada is one of the few cities in India to have Bus Rapid Transit system a more convenient for public transport .", "Burnsville (MVTA station) The Burnsville Transit Station is a transit facility located in the downtown vicinity of Burnsville , Minnesota , and is the flagship station of the Minnesota Valley Transit Authority . It is a major park and ride location , with approximately 1200 parking spaces . It is also a major route transfer hub for the south of the river suburbs . The station also features indoor climate-controlled waiting , pay phones , restrooms , drinking fountains , vending machines , bus pass sales , newspaper sales and transit information . Due to recently high levels of park and ride demand , MVTA has also started service from the Heart of the City park and ride , only 3 blocks away . It will also serve the planned METRO Orange Line bus rapid transit service , although the transit center is located about 2/3 of a mile ( 1 km ) away from I-35W where the line will run .", "Fossil Fuel Levy The Fossil Fuel Levy ( FFL ) is a levy paid by suppliers of electricity from non-renewable energy sources in the United Kingdom . The costs are shared by the suppliers and consumers , as a proportion of the cost is passed on to consumers in the cost of the electricity supplied . The Fossil Fuel Levy was imposed to fund the Non-Fossil Fuel Obligation .", "Reprocessed uranium Reprocessed uranium ( RepU ) is the uranium recovered from nuclear reprocessing , as done commercially in France , the UK and Japan and by nuclear weapons states ' military plutonium production programs . This uranium actually makes up the bulk of the material separated during reprocessing . Commercial LWR spent nuclear fuel contains on average ( excluding cladding ) only four percent plutonium , minor actinides and fission products by weight . Reuse of reprocessed uranium has not been common because of low prices in the uranium market of recent decades , and because it contains undesirable isotopes of uranium . , uranium prices had begun to rise again , and if the price becomes high enough , it is possible that reprocessed uranium will be re-enriched and reused . A higher enrichment level will be required to compensate for the 236U which is lighter than 238U and therefore will concentrate in the enriched product . Also , if fast breeder reactors ever come into commercial use , reprocessed uranium , like depleted uranium , will be usable in their breeding blankets . There have been some studies involving the use of reprocessed uranium in CANDU reactors . CANDU is designed to use natural uranium as fuel ; the U-235 content remaining in spent PWR/BWR fuel is typically greater than that found in natural uranium , which is about 0.72 % U-235 , allowing the re-enrichment step to be skipped . Fuel cycle tests also have included the DUPIC ( Direct Use of spent PWR fuel In CANDU ) fuel cycle , where used fuel from a Pressurized Water Reactor ( PWR ) is packaged into a CANDU fuel bundle with only physical reprocessing ( cut into pieces ) but no chemical reprocessing .", "Little Joe 1 Little Joe 1 ( LJ-1 ) was a failed launch of a Little Joe solid fuel rocket that was designed to test the Mercury spacecraft Launch Escape and Recovery systems . The vehicle was 48 ft in height , weighed approximately 43000 lb , and was 80 in in diameter with a fin span of 21.3 ft. The Little Joe booster consisted of four Pollux and four Recruit clustered , solid-fuel rockets , could develop a thrust of 250000 lbf , and could lift a maximum payload of 3942 lb . The escape system , using a Grand Central 1KS52000 rocket motor , weighed 1015 lb . On August 21 , 1959 , LJ-1 was being prepared for launch from the Wallops Flight Facility , Wallops Island , Virginia . Suddenly , about a half-hour before the scheduled launch , the escape rocket fired and pulled the Mercury spacecraft away from the launch pad . The spacecraft reached an apogee of 2000 ft and landed about 2000 feet away . The flight time was 20 seconds . According to the Sept. 18 , 1959 accident report , the unexpected triggering of the launch escape system was caused by a transient or electrical leak ; analysis showed it to be due to the rapid-abort system being wired directly into the destruct arming busbar . The batteries were shipped from England to the U.S. uncharged and shorted ; on charging at the pad , the batteries , when enough charge was reached , actuated the sequencer for the abort system , and sensing insufficient altitude , fired the squibs in the abort motor . Insufficient power in the batteries then failed to initiate the tower jettison motor and capsule parachute recovery charge , and both crashed into the sea .", "Paleontology in Vermont Paleontology in Vermont refers to paleontological research occurring within or conducted by people from the U.S. state of Vermont . Fossils are generally uncommon in Vermont . Nevertheless , however , significant finds have been made in the state . Very few fossils are known in Vermont east of the Green Mountains due to the type of rock underlying that area . During the early part of the Paleozoic era , Vermont was covered by a warm , shallow sea that would end up being home to creatures like brachiopods , corals , crinoids , ostracoderms , and trilobites . There are no rocks in the state from the Carboniferous , Permian , Triassic , or Jurassic periods . The few Cretaceous rocks present contain no fossils . The Paleogene and Neogene periods are also absent from the local rock record . During the Ice Age , glaciers scoured the state . At times the state was inundated by seawater , allowing marine mammals to venture in . After the seawater drained away the state was home to mastodons . Local fossils had already attracted scientific attention by the mid-19th century when mastodon remains were found in Rutland County . In 1950 a major Paleozoic invertebrate find occurred . The Pleistocene Beluga whale Delphinapterus leucas is the Vermont state fossil .", "Top of climb In aviation , the top of climb , also referred to as the TOC or T/C , is the computed transition from the climb phase of a flight to the cruise phase , the point at which the planned climb to cruise altitude is completed . The top of climb is usually calculated by an on-board flight management system , and is designed to provide the most economical climb to cruise altitude , or to meet some other objective ( fastest climb , greatest range , etc. ) . The top of climb may be calculated manually with considerable effort . Pilots of small airplanes need to do a flight plan to compute fuel usage and time of the trip , because they do n't have a flight management system . Because climbing to cruise altitude burns fuel quicker , the takeoff to cruise altitude is calculated separately . The airplane 's Pilot Operating Handbook has a table of fuel burned , time , and distance to reach a given altitude from sea level . To calculate the values for airport at 3000 feet , you subtract the values for sea level to 3000 from the sea level to cruise altitude .", "Oil Free Wellington Oil Free Wellington is a protest group which was formed in Wellington , New Zealand , in 2012 . It exists to oppose deep sea oil drilling off the coast of New Zealand 's capital city , Wellington . It also works in support of other groups opposing fossil fuel exploration around New Zealand .", "Burykhia Burykhia hunti is a Precambrian fossil from the White Sea region of Russia dating to . It is considered of ascidian affinity , due to the sac-like morphology and a series of distinctly perforated bands reminiscent of a tunicate pharynx . If B. hunti is a tunicate , it could be the oldest ascidian fossil known as of its publication in 2012 . It is possibly related to the slightly younger Ausia , another putative ascidian from the Vendian biota in Namibia . In the case of Burykhia , the narrow longitudinal vessels support affinity with the suborder Phlebobranchia . Burykhia does not appear to have been colonial .", "Copper in renewable energy Renewable energy sources such as solar , wind , tidal , hydro , biomass , and geothermal have become significant sectors of the energy market . The rapid growth of these sources in the 21st century has been prompted by increasing costs of fossil fuels as well as their negative environmental impacts . While the average capacity of renewable energy sources was only 7 % globally in 2010 , most installation of new capacity has been with renewables . Few new installations were from fossil fuel-based power plants . The trend towards new power capacity by renewables is expected to continue through 2020 . Since renewable energy supplies offset the amount of fossil fuels that need to be combusted in power plants , the use of renewables indirectly helps to reduce CO2 emissions . Hence , renewable energy supplies enable societies to progress towards lower-carbon-based economies . Copper plays an important role in renewable energy systems . Since copper is an excellent thermal and electrical conductor among the engineering metals ( second only to silver ) , power systems that utilize copper generate and transmit energy with high efficiency and with minimum environmental impacts . By using copper instead of other lower electrical energy-efficient metal conductors , less electricity needs to be generated to satisfy a given power demand . This article discusses the role of copper in various renewable energy generation systems .", "Collapsus Collapsus is a project that combines animation , interactive fiction , and documentary film . This story follows how the impending energy crisis affects ten young people , while international powers battle with political dissension and a fearful population during transition from Fossil fuel to alternative fuels . Set in the near future , Collapsus was initialized to raise awareness of the global issue of peak oil .", "Fossil fuel exporters Petroleum , natural gas , and coal are exported from various source countries to countries reliant on these fossil fuels .", "Sprengel explosive Sprengel explosives are a generic class of materials invented by Hermann Sprengel in the 1870s . They consist of stoichiometric mixtures of strong oxidisers and reactive fuels , mixed just prior to use in order to enhance safety . Either the oxidiser or the fuel , or both , should be a liquid to facilitate mixing , and intimate contact between the materials for a fast reaction rate . Sprengel suggested nitric acid , nitrates and chlorates as oxidisers , and nitroaromatics ( e.g. nitrobenzene ) as fuels . Other Sprengel explosives used at various times include charcoal with liquid oxygen ( an oxyliquit ) , `` Rackarock '' , and ANFO ammonium nitrate ( oxidiser ) mixed with a fuel oil ( fuel ) , normally diesel kerosene or nitromethane . Eventually ANFO supplanted all others because its oxidiser was the safest , and - due to its widespread use as a fertiliser in agriculture - also the cheapest . `` Rackarock '' consisted of potassium chlorate and nitrobenzene . It was provided in the form of permeable cartridges of the chlorate , which were placed in wire baskets and dipped in the nitrobenzene for a few seconds before use . For underwater use , it could be provided in cans instead . It was famously used in the massive submarine demolition of a navigational hazard in Long Island Sound in 1885 . The charge of over a hundred tonnes of explosive ( laid in tunnels 20 metres below sea level ) destroyed approximately 600,000 tonnes of rock , and created a wave 30 m high ." ]

[ "Hockey stick controversy In the hockey stick controversy , the data and methods used in reconstructions of the temperature record of the past 1000 years have been disputed . Reconstructions have consistently shown that the rise in the instrumental temperature record of the past 150 years is not matched in earlier centuries , and the name `` hockey stick graph '' was coined for figures showing a long-term decline followed by an abrupt rise in temperatures . These graphs were publicised to explain the scientific findings of climatology , and in addition to scientific debate over the reconstructions , they have been the topic of political dispute . The issue is part of the global warming controversy and has been one focus of political responses to reports by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) . Arguments over the reconstructions have been taken up by fossil fuel industry funded lobbying groups attempting to cast doubt on climate science . The use of proxy indicators to get quantitative estimates of the temperature record of past centuries was developed from the 1990s onwards , and found indications that recent warming was exceptional . The reconstruction introduced the `` Composite Plus Scaling '' ( CPS ) method used by most later large-scale reconstructions , and its findings were disputed by Patrick Michaels at the United States House Committee on Science . In 1998 , Michael E. Mann , Raymond S. Bradley and Malcolm K. Hughes developed new statistical techniques to produce ( MBH98 ) , the first eigenvector-based climate field reconstruction ( CFR ) . This showed global patterns of annual surface temperature , and included a graph of average hemispheric temperatures back to 1400 . In ( MBH99 ) the methodology was extended back to 1000 . The term hockey stick was coined by the climatologist Jerry D. Mahlman , to describe the pattern this showed , envisaging a graph that is relatively flat to 1900 as forming an ice hockey stick 's `` shaft '' , followed by a sharp increase corresponding to the `` blade '' . A version of this graph was featured prominently in the 2001 IPCC Third Assessment Report ( TAR ) , along with four other reconstructions supporting the same conclusion . The graph was publicised , and became a focus of dispute for those opposed to the strengthening scientific consensus that late 20th-century warmth was exceptional . Those disputing the graph included Pat Michaels , the George C. Marshall Institute and Fred Singer . A paper by Willie Soon and Sallie Baliunas claiming greater medieval warmth was used by the Bush administration chief of staff Philip Cooney to justify altering the first Environmental Protection Agency Report on the Environment . The paper was quickly dismissed by scientists in the Soon and Baliunas controversy , but on July 28 , Republican Jim Inhofe spoke in the Senate citing it to claim `` that man-made global warming is the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people '' . Later in 2003 , a paper by Steve McIntyre and Ross McKitrick disputing the data used in MBH98 paper was publicised by the George C. Marshall Institute and the Competitive Enterprise Institute . In 2004 , Hans von Storch published criticism of the statistical techniques as tending to underplay variations in earlier parts of the graph , though this was disputed and he later accepted that the effect was very small . In 2005 , McIntyre and McKitrick published criticisms of the principal component analysis methodology as used in MBH98 and MBH99 . The analysis therein was subsequently disputed by published papers , including and , which pointed to errors in the McIntyre and McKitrick methodology . In June 2005 , Rep. Joe Barton launched what Sherwood Boehlert , chairman of the House Science Committee , called a `` misguided and illegitimate investigation '' into the data , methods and personal information of Mann , Bradley and Hughes . At Boehlert 's request , a panel of scientists convened by the National Research Council was set up , which reported in 2006 , supporting Mann 's findings with some qualifications , including agreeing that there were some statistical failings but these had little effect on the result . Barton and U.S. Rep. Ed Whitfield requested Edward Wegman to set up a team of statisticians to investigate , and they supported McIntyre and McKitrick 's view that there were statistical failings , although they did not quantify whether there was any significant effect . They also produced an extensive network analysis which has been discredited by expert opinion and found to have issues of plagiarism . Arguments against the MBH studies were reintroduced as part of the Climatic Research Unit email controversy , but dismissed by eight independent investigations . More than two dozen reconstructions , using various statistical methods and combinations of proxy records , have supported the broad consensus shown in the original 1998 hockey-stick graph , with variations in how flat the pre-20th century `` shaft '' appears . The 2007 IPCC Fourth Assessment Report cited 14 reconstructions , 10 of which covered 1,000 years or longer , to support its strengthened conclusion that it was likely that Northern Hemisphere temperatures during the 20th century were the highest in at least the past 1,300 years . Over a dozen subsequent reconstructions , including Mann et al. 2008 and , have supported these general conclusions ." ]

[ "Compressed suffix array In computer science , a compressed suffix array is a compressed data structure for pattern matching . Compressed suffix arrays are a general class of data structure that improve on the suffix array . These data structures enable quick search for an arbitrary string with a comparatively small index . Given a text T of n characters from an alphabet Σ , a compressed suffix array supports searching for arbitrary patterns in T. For an input pattern P of m characters , the search time is typically O ( m ) or O ( m + log ( n ) ) . The space used is typically , where is the k-th order empirical entropy of the text T . The time and space to construct a compressed suffix array are normally . The original instantiation of the compressed suffix array solved a long-standing open problem by showing that fast pattern matching was possible using only a linear-space data structure , namely , one proportional to the size of the text T , which takes bits . The conventional suffix array and suffix tree use bits , which is substantially larger . The basis for the data structure is a recursive decomposition using the `` neighbor function , '' which allows a suffix array to be represented by one of half its length . The construction is repeated multiple times until the resulting suffix array uses a linear number of bits . Following work showed that the actual storage space was related to the zeroth-order entropy and that the index supports self-indexing . The space bound was further improved achieving the ultimate goal of higher-order entropy ; the compression is obtained by partitioning the neighbor function by high-order contexts , and compressing each partition with a wavelet tree . The space usage is extremely competitive in practice with other state-of-the-art compressors , and it also supports fast pattern matching . The memory accesses made by compressed suffix arrays and other compressed data structures for pattern matching are typically not localized , and thus these data structures have been notoriously hard to design efficiently for use in external memory . Recent progress using geometric duality takes advantage of the block access provided by disks to speed up the I/O time significantly In addition , potentially practical search performance for a compressed suffix array in external-memory has been demonstrated .", "Generic String Encoding Rules Generic String Encoding Rules ( GSER ) are a set of ASN .1 encoding rules for producing a verbose , human-readable textual transfer syntax for data structures described in ASN .1 . The purpose of GSER is to represent encoded data to the user or input data from the user , in a very straightforward format . GSER was originally designed for the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol ( LDAP ) and is rarely used outside of it . The use of GSER in actual protocols is discouraged since not all character string encodings supported by ASN .1 can be reproduced in it . The GSER encoding rules are specified in RFC 3641 and unlike other common types of encoding rules , are not standardised by ITU-T . Category : ITU-T recommendations Category : Data serialization formats", "Linked data structure In computer science , a linked data structure is a data structure which consists of a set of data records ( nodes ) linked together and organized by references ( links or pointers ) . The link between data can also be called a connector . In linked data structures , the links are usually treated as special data types that can only be dereferenced or compared for equality . Linked data structures are thus contrasted with arrays and other data structures that require performing arithmetic operations on pointers . This distinction holds even when the nodes are actually implemented as elements of a single array , and the references are actually array indices : as long as no arithmetic is done on those indices , the data structure is essentially a linked one . Linking can be done in two ways using dynamic allocation and using array index linking . Linked data structures include linked lists , search trees , expression trees , and many other widely used data structures . They are also key building blocks for many efficient algorithms , such as topological sort and set union-find .", "Julian Todd Julian Todd is a British computer programmer and activist for freedom of information who works in Liverpool . He was inventor and co-founder of Public Whip with Francis Irving , and also the affiliated TheyWorkForYou website , a project that parses raw Hansard data to track how members vote in the UK Parliament . Initially risking prosecution for reusing the raw data under Crown copyright , they were later successful in getting permission to use it . He has since extended this concept of parsing political transcripts to the General Assembly and Security Council of the United Nations to establish UNdemocracy.com in 2007 . Todd is a Director of ScraperWiki . Todd also writes science fiction short stories , and is cited as a major inspiration for the Mundane science fiction movement .", "Transactional IT Transactional IT is concerned with acquiring , processing and communicating raw data about a company 's supply chain and with the compilation and dissemination of reports summarizing these data .", "Computer-Aided Test Tool Computer-Aided Test Tool ( CATT ) is used to create automatic test cases by SAP consultants and ABAP programmers . It is also frequently used to upload master data or to make changes to master data records . The transactions run without user interaction . You can check system messages and test database changes . All tests are logged . The CATT records your keystrokes while performing the actual transaction . You then identify the fields that you wish to change in that view . Then export this data to a spreadsheet to populate with the data required . This is uploaded and executed saving you keying in the data manually . CATT records one of the actual transactions you perform . Identify the fields you wish to change in that view . Export this data to a spreadsheet to populate with the data required . This is uploaded and executed automatically so you do n't have to key in the data manually . Category : SAP SE", "Serial Data Transport Interface Serial Data Transport Interface is a way of transmitting data packets over a Serial Digital Interface datastream . This means that standard SDI infrastructure can be used . Developed to address the needs of the growing number of compressed video standards ( DV , DVCPRO , BetaSX , MPEG2 ) it allows lossless transfer of data to other devices which have the same codec , for example DV to DV or SX to SX . Using a standard SDI transport , the extra data is placed within normal active video , between Start of Active Video ( SAV ) , and End of Active Video ( EAV ) . This gives 1440 10bit words of data at 270Mbit/s ( 1920 words in the 8bit 360Mbit/s standard ) . If an SDTI stream is viewed using a standard SDI device , then the raw data can be seen as a small strip along the left hand side ( usually in purple ) . The DVCAM SDTI has video data at the top , control data in the middle ( Timecode , etc. ) and audio at the bottom just like it is organised on the tape . Because SDTI is used for compressed data the area used is less than a full screen ; this allows for faster than realtime transfers . SDTI is standardized as SMPTE 305M . A 1.5 GBit/s version , using the high definition serial digital interface , is standardized as SMPTE 348M .", "Binary-safe Binary-safe is a term mainly used in the PHP programming-language to describe expected behaviour when passing binary-data into functions whose main responsibility is text & string manipulating . The term is considered official enough to be used widely in the official PHP documentation . A binary-safe function is essentially one that treats its input as a raw stream of bytes and ignores every textual aspect it may have . It would therefore be more correct to characterize a ` binary-safe ' text-function as one which incidentally works on text , but whose primary mode of operation is on raw binary data .", "C-MAC C-MAC is the variant approved by the European Broadcasting Union ( EBU ) for satellite transmissions . The digital information is modulated using 2-4PSK ( phase-shift keying ) , a variation of quadrature PSK where only two of the phaser angles ( ± 90 ° ) are used . The data capacity for C-MAC is 3Mbit/s . C-MAC data has to be sent to the transmitter separately from the vision . The transmitter switches between FM ( vision ) and PSK ( sound/data ) modulation during each television line period .", "OpenCorporates OpenCorporates is a website which shares data on corporate entities as open data under the share-alike attribution Open Database License . It was created by Chris Taggart and Rob McKinnon , under the auspices of their company , Chrinon Ltd , and launched on 20 December 2010 . It has the aims of creating a URL with such data for every corporate entity in the world , importing government data relating to companies and matching it to specific companies . The site also shows groups of companies which are legally part of the same conglomerate . Basic company information is available as open data in XML or JSON format . The OpenCorporates Advisory Board exists to advise OpenCorporates on policy , practice and principles , and to ensure that OpenCorporates remains true to its central mission of the opening of company data for the public good . It 's formed by three members actually : David Eaves , Kaitlin Lee and Andrew Stott . The same team also operate OpenCharities , compiling data on registered charities .", "Compressed data structure The term compressed data structure arises in the computer science subfields of algorithms , data structures , and theoretical computer science . It refers to a data structure whose operations are roughly as fast as those of a conventional data structure for the problem , but whose size can be substantially smaller . The size of the compressed data structure is typically highly dependent upon the entropy of the data being represented . Important examples of compressed data structures include the compressed suffix array and the FM-index , both of which can represent an arbitrary text of characters T for pattern matching . Given any input pattern P , they support the operation of finding if and where P appears in T . The search time is proportional to the sum of the length of pattern P , a very slow-growing function of the length of the text T , and the number of reported matches . The space they occupy is roughly equal to the size of the text T in entropy-compressed form , such as that obtained by Prediction by Partial Matching or gzip . Moreover , both data structures are self-indexing , in that they can reconstruct the text T in a random access manner , and thus the underlying text T can be discarded . In other words , they simultaneously provide a compressed and quickly searchable representation of the text T . They represent a substantial space improvement over the conventional suffix tree and suffix array , which occupy many times more space than the size of T . They also support searching for arbitrary patterns , as opposed to the inverted index , which can support only word-based searches . In addition , inverted indexes do not have the self-indexing feature . An important related notion is that of a succinct data structure , which uses space roughly equal to the information-theoretic minimum , which is a worst-case notion of the space needed to represent the data . In contrast , the size of a compressed data structure depends upon the particular data being represented . When the data are compressible , as is often the case in practice for natural language text , the compressed data structure can occupy space very close to the information-theoretic minimum , and significantly less space than most compression schemes .", "Jiawei Han Jiawei Han ( ; born August 10 , 1949 ) is a Chinese computer scientist and Abel Bliss Professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign . He has been working on research into data mining , data warehousing , database systems , data mining from spatiotemporal data , Web data , and social/information network data .", "Universal Communication Format Universal communication format is a communication protocol developed by the IEEE for multimedia communication . Y. Hiranaka , H. Sakakibara and T. Taketa of Yamagata University proposed UCF in 2005 . From the abstract : Various intelligent equipments and software are gradually designed to communicate with other equipment or software . However , any data format that can be considered as universal and almost eternally usable is not available . In this paper , we present UCF as a candidate bidirectional communication data format , and show its typical application for multimedia data . UCF is formed with the object address and the data to be forwarded . Communications can be simply performed by sending UCF data in required directions . UCF is a proprietary format used by Cisco for their WebEx Web conferencing application .", "Pure TalkUSA PureTalk USA is an American mobile virtual network operator headquartered in Covington , Georgia , United States . PureTalk USA 's mobile network operator is AT&T Mobility . PureTalk USA is a subsidiary of Telrite Corporation . It is most notable for an industry-first offering of rollover data in their data add-on packages , which has since been discontinued .", "Comparison of T-carrier and E-carrier systems The DS designations are used in connection with the North American hierarchy only . Strictly speaking , a DS1 is the data carried on a T1 circuit , and likewise for a DS3 and a T3 , but in practice the terms are used interchangeably . There are other data rates in use , e.g. , military systems that operate at six and eight times the DS1 rate . At least one manufacturer has a commercial system that operates at 90 Mbit/s , twice the DS3 rate . New systems , which take advantage of the high data rates offered by optical communications links , are also deployed or are under development . Higher data rates are now often achieved by using synchronous optical networking ( SONET ) or synchronous digital hierarchy ( SDH ) . A DS3 is delivered native on a copper trunk . DS3 may be converted to an optical fiber run when needing longer distances between termination points . When a DS3 is delivered over fiber it is still an analog type trunk connection at the termination points . When delivering data over an OC3 or greater SONET is used . A DS3 transported over SONET is encapsulated in a STS-1 SONET channel . An OC-3 SONET link contains three STS-1s , and therefore may carry three DS3s . Likewise , OC-12 , OC-48 , and OC-192 may carry 12 , 48 , and 192 DS3s respectively . Category : Multiplexing", "Rawdisk In computing , the term raw disk is used to refer to hard disk access at a raw , binary level , beneath the file system level , and using partition data at the MBR . A notable example is in the context of platform virtualization , and a feature of certain virtualization software is the ability to access a hard disk at the raw level . Virtualization software may typically function via the usage of a virtual drive format like OVF , but some users may want the virtualization software to be able to run an operating system that has been installed on another disk or disk partition . In order to do this , the virtualization software must allow raw disk access to that disk or disk partition , and then allow that entire operating system to boot within the virtualization window . Category : Hard disk drives Category : Virtualization software" ]

[ "Sea level Mean sea level ( MSL ) ( abbreviated simply sea level ) is an average level of the surface of one or more of Earth 's oceans from which heights such as elevations may be measured . MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardised geodetic reference pointthat is used , for example , as a chart datum in cartography and marine navigation , or , in aviation , as the standard sea level at which atmospheric pressure is measured in order to calibrate altitude and , consequently , aircraft flight levels . A common and relatively straightforward mean sea-level standard is the midpoint between a mean low and mean high tide at a particular location . Sea levels can be affected by many factors and are known to have varied greatly over geological time scales . The careful measurement of variations in MSL can offer insights into ongoing climate change , and sea level rise has been widely quoted as evidence of ongoing global warming . The term above sea level generally refers to above mean sea level ( AMSL ) .", "Sea A sea is a large body of salt water that is surrounded in whole or in part by land . More broadly , `` the sea '' is the interconnected system of Earth 's salty , oceanic waters -- considered as one global ocean or as several principal oceanic divisions . The sea moderates Earth 's climate and has important roles in the water cycle , carbon cycle , and nitrogen cycle . Although the sea has been traveled and explored since prehistory , the modern scientific study of the sea -- oceanography -- dates broadly to the British Challenger expedition of the 1870s . The sea is conventionally divided into up to five large oceanic sections -- including the International Hydrographic Organization 's four named oceans ( the Atlantic , Pacific , Indian , and Arctic ) and the Southern Ocean ; smaller , second-order sections , such as the Mediterranean , are known as seas . Owing to the present state of continental drift , the Northern Hemisphere is now fairly equally divided between land and sea ( a ratio of about 2:3 ) but the South is overwhelmingly oceanic ( 1:4.7 ) . Salinity in the open ocean is generally in a narrow band around 3.5 % by mass , although this can vary in more landlocked waters , near the mouths of large rivers , or at great depths . About 85 % of the solids in the open sea are sodium chloride . Deep-sea currents are produced by differences in salinity and temperature . Surface currents are formed by the friction of waves produced by the wind and by tides , the changes in local sea level produced by the gravity of the Moon and Sun . The direction of all of these is governed by surface and submarine land masses and by the rotation of the Earth ( the Coriolis effect ) . Former changes in sea levels have left continental shelves , shallow areas in the sea close to land . These nutrient-rich waters teem with life , which provide humans with substantial supplies of food -- mainly fish , but also shellfish , mammals , and seaweed -- which are both harvested in the wild and farmed . The most diverse areas surround great tropical coral reefs . Whaling in the deep sea was once common but whales ' dwindling numbers prompted international conservation efforts and finally a moratorium on most commercial hunting . Oceanography has established that not all life is restricted to the sunlit surface waters : even under enormous depths and pressures , nutrients streaming from hydrothermal vents support their own unique ecosystem . Life may have started there and aquatic microbial mats are generally credited with the oxygenation of Earth 's atmosphere ; both plants and animals first evolved in the sea . The sea is an essential aspect of human trade , travel , mineral extraction , and power generation . This has also made it essential to warfare and left major cities exposed to earthquakes and volcanoes from nearby faults ; powerful tsunami waves ; and hurricanes , typhoons , and cyclones produced in the tropics . This importance and duality has affected human culture , from early sea gods to the epic poetry of Homer to the changes induced by the Columbian Exchange , from burial at sea to Basho 's haikus to hyperrealist marine art , and inspiring music ranging from the shanties in The Complaynt of Scotland to Rimsky-Korsakov 's `` The Sea and Sinbad 's Ship '' to A-mei 's `` Listen to the Sea '' . It is the scene of leisure activities including swimming , diving , surfing , and sailing . However , population growth , industrialization , and intensive farming have all contributed to present-day marine pollution . Atmospheric carbon dioxide is being absorbed in increasing amounts , lowering its pH in a process known as ocean acidification . The shared nature of the sea has made overfishing an increasing problem ." ]

[ "James O'Brien (oceanographer) James O'Brien ( born August 10 , 1935 , died September 20 , 2016 ) is the emeritus Robert O. Lawton Professor of Meteorology and Oceanography at Florida State University . He believes sea levels are rising but predicts a more modest 18 in rise instead of 6 ft by 2100 targeted by some other scientists . He stated that `` sea level in Florida is going to continue to rise period . Unless we go back into an Ice age , we will continue to rise at over 8 in in 10 year . That 's without any global warming . ''", "Coral in non-tropical regions The poleward migration of coral species refers to the phenomenon brought on by rising sea temperatures, wherein corals are colonising cooler climates in an attempt to circumvent coral bleaching, rising sea levels and ocean acidification. In the age of Anthropocene, the changing global climate has disrupted fundamental natural processes and brought about observable changes in the submarine sphere. Whilst coral reefs are bleaching in tropical areas like the Great Barrier Reef, even more striking, and perhaps more alarming; is the growth of tropical coral species in temperate regions, which has taken place over the past decade. Coral reefs are frequently compared to the \"canaries in the coal mine,\" who were used by miners as an indicator of air quality. In much the same way, \"coral reefs are sensitive to environmental changes that could damage other habitats in the future,\" meaning they will be the first to visually exhibit the true implications of global warming on the natural world.", "Gowrie Little Plain, Queensland Gowrie Little Plain is a locality in the Toowoomba Region local government area on the Darling Downs in southern Queensland , Australia . At the 2011 Australian Census Gowrie Little Plain and several other nearby localities recorded a population of 1,977 . In the south of the locality are a series of hills which rise to around 600 m above sea level .", "Tide (disambiguation) A tide is the rise and fall of a sea level caused by the Moon 's gravity and other factors . Tide may also refer to :", "Rises and falls Rises and falls is a category of the ballroom dance technique that refers to rises and falls of the body of a dancer achieved through actions of knees and feet ( ankles ) . This technique is primarily recognized in International Standard and American Smooth dance categories . Rises and falls are important in Waltz , Foxtrot , Quickstep , and Viennese Waltz . Tango is described the `` level '' or `` flat '' dance , and its basic technique specifically eliminates rises/falls in the overall motion , with the exception of certain advanced figures and styles . The expression `` rises and falls of the body '' is a rather vague one , and in attempts to be more precise some texts refer to center of gravity , rather than body . This may also be misleading if taken out of context : the center of gravity may be lowered , e.g. , by bends and sways . In addition , a certain amount of body rise and fall may be achieved by hip action , used in Latin dance , but absolutely proscribed in Standard and Smooth . Rises and falls of the body is a natural phenomenon during casual walking : when feet are apart the body is closer to the ground than when the feet are together . Some dances , e.g. , Charleston , exaggerate this natural `` bobbing '' , while in many others bobbing at each step is considered to be bad style or lack of proper technique .", "Canadian Lakehead Exhibition The Canadian Lakehead Exhibition ( CLE ) is an annual regional fair in Thunder Bay , Ontario , Canada . Similar in nature to the Canadian National Exhibition in Toronto , it features local and regional artisans and farmers , a midway , concessions and numerous other activities geared towards families and people of all ages . The exhibition takes place yearly in early August and is held on the CLE grounds in the Intercity area .", "Pilbara newspapers Pilbara newspapers is a selection of newspapers published in the Pilbara region of Western Australia . The rise and fall of some of the newspapers reflect the shifts and changes in population in various localities of the region as mining starts and moves through different zones , and also as some mining operations are exhausted or closed .", "Future sea level The rate of global mean sea-level rise ( ~ 3 mm/yr ; SLR ) has accelerated compared to the mean of the 20th century ( ~ 2 mm/yr ) , but the rate of rise is locally variable . Factors contributing to SLR include decreased global ice volume and warming of the ocean . On Greenland , the deficiency between annual ice gained and lost tripled between 1996 and 2007 . On Antarctica the deficiency increased by 75 % . Mountain glaciers are retreating and the cumulative mean thickness change has accelerated from about − 1.8 to − 4 m in 1965 to 1970 to about − 12 to − 14 m in the first decade of the 21st century . From 1961 to 2003 , ocean temperatures to a depth of 700 m increased and portions of the deeper ocean are warming . The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( 2007 ) projected sea level would reach 0.18 to 0.59 m above present by the end of the 21st century but lacked an estimate of ice flow dynamics calving . Calving was added by Pfeffer et al. ( 2008 ) indicating 0.8 to 2 m of SLR by 2100 ( favouring the low end of this range ) . Rahmstorf ( 2007 ) estimated SLR will reach 0.5 to 1.4 m by the end of the century . Pielke ( 2008 ) points out that observed SLR has exceeded the best case projections thus far . These approximations and others indicate that global mean SLR may reach 1 m by the end of this century . However , sea level is highly variable and planners considering local impacts must take this variability into account .", "Type II Cepheid Type II Cepheids are variable stars which pulsate with periods typically between 1 and 50 days . They are population II stars : old , typically metal-poor , low mass objects . Like all Cepheid variables , Type IIs exhibit a relationship between the star 's luminosity and pulsation period , making them useful as standard candles for establishing distances where little other data is available Longer period Type II Cepheids , which are more luminous , have been detected beyond the Local Group in the galaxies NGC 5128 and NGC 4258 .", "Myoporum montanum Myoporum montanum , commonly known as waterbush or boobialla , is a shrub native to Australia , New Guinea and Timor . The species is extremely variable in size growth habit and leaf form , with three primary forms recognised . Its occurrence in many places is restricted to coastal regions , watercourses and other locales with more reliable water supplies . It was this association with water that gave rise to the name water bush .", "Orion variable An Orion variable is a variable star which exhibits irregular and eruptive variations in its luminosity and is typically associated with diffuse nebulae . It is thought that these are young stars which will later become regular , non-variable stars on the zero-age main sequence . Brightness fluctuations can be as much as several magnitudes . T Tauri stars are Orion variables exhibiting characteristic fluorescent violet emission lines from singly ionized Iron ( FeII ) in their star spectra , and also emission from Lithium , a metal that usually is destroyed by the nuclear fusion in the stars . FU Orionis stars or simply `` Fuors '' , are Orion variables that rise 5 -- 6 magnitudes , then sink up to one magnitude and stay there for many decades . The prototype is FU Orionis , and other specimens are V1057 Cygni and V1515 Cygni . Of this diverse class of stars , some Orion variables may exhibit a small amplitude ( up to 1 magnitude ) periodic variation , some are characterized by abrupt fadings , and some show spectral characteristics indicating mass downfall upon the star ( YY Orionis stars ) . Many of these characteristics may occur in any one Orion variable . The term ` Orion Variable ' was a handy catch-all term but is now tending to drop out of disuse among the astronomical community , though for historical reasons the GCVS still uses it . Astronomers use more specialised terms which refer to actual physical differences among the ` zoo ' of young variable stars , such as ` Classical T Tauri ' or ` UX Orionis ' stars .", "Nature reserve A nature reserve ( natural reserve , bioreserve , ( natural/nature ) preserve or ( national/nature ) conserve ) is a protected area of importance for wildlife , flora , fauna or features of geological or other special interest , which is reserved and managed for conservation and to provide special opportunities for study or research . Nature reserves may be designated by government institutions in some countries , or by private landowners , such as charities and research institutions , regardless of nationality . Nature reserves fall into different IUCN categories depending on the level of protection afforded by local laws .", "Discretization of continuous features In statistics and machine learning , discretization refers to the process of converting or partitioning continuous attributes , features or variables to discretized or nominal attributes/features/variables / intervals . This can be useful when creating probability mass functions -- formally , in density estimation . It is a form of discretization in general and also of binning , as in making a histogram . Whenever continuous data is discretized , there is always some amount of discretization error . The goal is to reduce the amount to a level considered negligible for the modeling purposes at hand . Typically data is discretized into partitions of K equal lengths/width ( equal intervals ) or K % of the total data ( equal frequencies ) . Mechanisms for discretizing continuous data include Fayyad & Irani 's MDL method , which uses mutual information to recursively define the best bins , CAIM , CACC , Ameva , and many others Many machine learning algorithms are known to produce better models by discretizing continuous attributes .", "Continuous and discrete variable In mathematics , a variable may be continuous or discrete . If it can take on two particular real values such that it can also take on all real values between them ( even values that are arbitrarily close together ) , the variable is continuous in that interval . If it can take on a value such that there is a non-infinitesimal gap on each side of it containing no values that the variable can take on , then it is discrete around that value . In some contexts a variable can be discrete in some ranges of the number line and continuous in others .", "Local variable In computer science , a local variable is a variable that is given local scope . Local variable references in the function or block in which it is declared override the same variable name in the larger scope . In programming languages with only two levels of visibility , local variables are contrasted with global variables . On the other hand , many ALGOL-derived languages allow any number of nested levels of visibility , with private variables , functions , constants and types hidden within them , either by nested blocks or nested functions . Local variables are fundamental to procedural programming , and more generally modular programming : variables of local scope are used to avoid issues with side-effects that can occur with global variables . Local variables may have a lexical or dynamic scope , though lexical ( static ) scoping is far more common . In lexical scoping ( or lexical scope ; also called static scoping or static scope ) , if a variable name 's scope is a certain block , then its scope is the program text of the block definition : within that block 's text , the variable name exists , and is bound to the variable 's value , but outside that block 's text , the variable name does not exist . By contrast , in dynamic scoping ( or dynamic scope ) , if a variable name 's scope is a certain block , then its scope is that block and all functions transitively called by that block ( except when overridden again by another declaration ) ; after the block ends , the variable name does not exist . Some languages , like Perl and Common Lisp , allow the programmer to choose static or dynamic scoping when defining or redefining a variable . Examples of languages that use dynamic scoping include Logo , Emacs lisp , and the shell languages bash , dash , and the MirBSD Korn shell ( mksh ) 's `` local '' declaration . Most other languages provide lexically scoped local variables . In most languages , local variables are automatic variables stored on the call stack directly . This means that when a recursive function calls itself , local variables in each instance of the function are given distinct addresses . Hence variables of this scope can be declared , written to , and read , without any risk of side-effects to functions outside of the block in which they are declared . Programming languages that employ call by value semantics provide a called subroutine with its own local copy of the arguments passed to it . In most languages , these local parameters are treated the same as other local variables within the subroutine . In contrast , call by reference and call by name semantics allow the parameters to act as aliases of the values passed as arguments , allowing the subroutine to modify variables outside its own scope .", "Muskrat Lake Muskrat Lake is located in the Whitewater Region of Renfrew County , Ontario , Canada . Said to be the home of the lake monster Mussie . Muskrat Lake drains into Muskrat River . Other than a few cottages and campgrounds , Cobden , is the only community on the lake 's shore . Along its eastern shores is Sturgeon Mountain Like many other lakes Muskrat Lake was formed about 10,000 years ago when the glaciers of the last ice age receded . At that point it was superseded by the much larger Champlain Sea . Due to glacial recession the sea was brackish , its salt levels rising and falling over the years making it somewhat salty and somewhat fresh . About 6,000 years ago the water level dropped and the champlain sea disappeared , leaving behind the present day lakes and rivers .", "Natural disaster A natural disaster is a major adverse event resulting from natural processes of the Earth ; examples include floods , hurricanes , tornadoes , volcanic eruptions , earthquakes , tsunamis , and other geologic processes . A natural disaster can cause loss of life or property damage , and typically leaves some economic damage in its wake , the severity of which depends on the affected population 's resilience , or ability to recover and also on the infrastructure available . An adverse event will not rise to the level of a disaster if it occurs in an area without vulnerable population . In a vulnerable area , however , such as Nepal during the 2015 earthquake , an earthquake can have disastrous consequences and leave lasting damage , requiring years to repair .", "Free variables and bound variables In mathematics , and in other disciplines involving formal languages , including mathematical logic and computer science , a free variable is a notation that specifies places in an expression where substitution may take place . Some older books use the terms real variable and apparent variable for free variable and bound variable . The idea is related to a placeholder ( a symbol that will later be replaced by some literal string ) , or a wildcard character that stands for an unspecified symbol . In computer programming , the term free variable refers to variables used in a function that are neither local variables nor parameters of that function . The term non-local variable is often a synonym in this context . A bound variable is a variable that was previously free , but has been bound to a specific value or set of values . For example , the variable x becomes a bound variable when we write : ` For all x , ( x + 1 ) 2 = x2 + 2x + 1 . ' or ` There exists x such that x2 = 2 . ' In either of these propositions , it does not matter logically whether we use x or some other letter . However , it could be confusing to use the same letter again elsewhere in some compound proposition . That is , free variables become bound , and then in a sense retire from being available as stand-in values for other values in the creation of formulae . The term `` dummy variable '' is also sometimes used for a bound variable ( more often in general mathematics than in computer science ) , but that use can create an ambiguity with the definition of dummy variables in regression analysis .", "Umgeni River The Umgeni River or Mgeni River ( Mngeni Umgenirivier ) , is a river in KwaZulu-Natal , South Africa . It rises in the `` Dargle '' in the KZN midlands , and its mouth is at Durban , some distance north of Durban 's natural harbour . The name is taken to mean place of the Acacia trees in Zulu , though other meanings have been proposed . The river is approximately 232 km long with a catchment area of 4432 km2 . The Howick Falls are some famous waterfalls on the Mngeni .", "Mount Buggery (Wangaratta, Victoria) Mount Buggery is a mountain located in the Wangaratta Rural City local government area , near Abbeyard above the Buffalo River in the alpine region of Victoria , Australia . Its summit rises to 1153 m above sea level .", "Champlain Sea The Champlain Sea was a temporary inlet of the Atlantic Ocean , created by the retreating glaciers during the close of the last ice age . The Sea once included lands in what are now the Canadian provinces of Quebec and Ontario , as well as parts of the American states of New York and Vermont . The mass of ice from the continental ice sheets had depressed the rock beneath it over millennia . At the end of the last ice age , while the rock was still depressed , the Saint Lawrence and Ottawa River valleys , as well as modern Lake Champlain , were below sea level and flooded with rising worldwide sea levels , once the ice no longer prevented the ocean from flowing into the region . As the land gradually rose again , in the process known as isostatic rebound , the sea coast gradually retreated to its current location . The sea lasted from about 13,000 years ago to about 10,000 years ago and was continuously shrinking during that time , since the rebounding continent was slowly rising above sea level . At its peak , the sea extended inland as far south as Lake Champlain and somewhat farther west than the city of Ottawa , Ontario , and farther up the Ottawa River past Pembroke . The remaining glaciers fed the sea during that time , making it more brackish than typical seawater . It is estimated that the sea was as much as 150 m above the level of today 's Saint Lawrence and Ottawa Rivers . The best evidence of this former sea is the vast clay plain deposited along the Ottawa and St. Lawrence Rivers . This resulted in distinctive forest types , and large wetlands . Other modern evidence of the sea can be seen in the form of whale fossils , ( belugas , fin whales , and bowhead whales ) and marine shells that have been found near the cities of Ottawa , Ontario , and Montreal , Quebec . There are also fossils of oceanic fish such as capelin . The Sea also left ancient raised shorelines in the former coastal regions , and the Leda clay deposits in areas of deeper water . The northern shore of the lake was in southern Quebec where outcrops of the Canadian shield form the Eardley Escarpment . This escarpment still has distinctive plants that may date back to the sea . The Eardley Escarpment is known locally as the Gatineau Hills ; part of the Mattawa fault at the southeastern edge of the Ottawa-Bonnechere Graben , in Eastern Ontario and the Outaouais region of Quebec , more commonly known as the Ottawa Valley .", "Meringandan West, Queensland Meringandan West is a locality in the Toowoomba Region local government area on the Darling Downs in southern Queensland , Australia . At the 2011 Australian Census Gowrie Little Plain and several other nearby localities recorded a population of 1,977 . The majority of the eastern boundary is aligned with Meringandan Creek Mount Muniganeen is in the north of Meringandan West and rises to heights greater than 600 m above sea level . Central parts of the area have been developed into a residential estate . Meringandan cemetery is located in Peters Road . Meringandan West was part of a local planning scheme developed and adopted by the Toowoomba Region Council in August 2013 .", "High rising terminal The high rising terminal ( HRT ) , also known as upspeak , uptalk , rising inflection , or high rising intonation ( HRI ) , is a feature of some variants of English where declarative sentence clauses end with a rising-pitch intonation , until the end of the sentence where a falling-pitch is applied . Empirically , one report proposes that HRT in American English and Australian English is marked by a high tone ( high pitch or high fundamental frequency ) beginning on the final accented syllable near the end of the statement ( the terminal ) , and continuing to increase in frequency ( up to 40 % ) to the end of the intonational phrase . New research suggests that the actual rise can occur one or more syllables after the last accented syllable of the phrase , and its range is much more variable than previously thought .", "Continuous signal A continuous signal or a continuous-time signal is a varying quantity ( a signal ) whose domain , which is often time , is a continuum ( e.g. , a connected interval of the reals ) . That is , the function 's domain is an uncountable set . The function itself need not be continuous . To contrast , a discrete time signal has a countable domain , like the natural numbers . A signal of continuous amplitude and time is known as a continuous-time signal or an analog signal . This ( a signal ) will have some value at every instant of time . The electrical signals derived in proportion with the physical quantities such as temperature , pressure , sound etc. are generally continuous signals . Other examples of continuous signals are sine wave , cosine wave , triangular wave etc. . The signal is defined over a domain , which may or may not be finite , and there is a functional mapping from the domain to the value of the signal . The continuity of the time variable , in connection with the law of density of real numbers , means that the signal value can be found at any arbitrary point in time . A typical example of an infinite duration signal is : A finite duration counterpart of the above signal could be : and otherwise . The value of a finite ( or infinite ) duration signal may or may not be finite . For example , and otherwise , is a finite duration signal but it takes an infinite value for . In many disciplines , the convention is that a continuous signal must always have a finite value , which makes more sense in the case of physical signals . For some purposes , infinite singularities are acceptable as long as the signal is integrable over any finite interval ( for example , the signal is not integrable , but is ) . Any analog signal is continuous by nature . Discrete-time signals , used in digital signal processing , can be obtained by sampling and quantization of continuous signals . Continuous signal may also be defined over an independent variable other than time . Another very common independent variable is space and is particularly useful in image processing , where two space dimensions are used .", "Alcohol in Somalia Alcohol in Somalia is prohibited by the country 's strict Muslim culture , but historically was allowed in the country and continues to exist illicitly . During the period of Italian Somalia , rum was produced from local sugarcane , continuing until the fall of the Siad Barre regime in 1991 , though others report some local consumption of rum continues .", "Langevin equation In statistical physics , a Langevin equation ( Paul Langevin , 1908 ) is a stochastic differential equation describing the time evolution of a subset of the degrees of freedom . These degrees of freedom typically are collective ( macroscopic ) variables changing only slowly in comparison to the other ( microscopic ) variables of the system . The fast ( microscopic ) variables are responsible for the stochastic nature of the Langevin equation .", "Paleontology in Kansas Paleontology in Kansas refers to paleontological research occurring within or conducted by people from the U.S. state of Kansas . Kansas has been the source of some of the most spectacular fossil discoveries in US history . The fossil record of Kansas spans from the Cambrian to the Pleistocene . From the Cambrian to the Devonian , Kansas was covered by a shallow sea . During the ensuing Carboniferous the local sea level began to rise and fall . When sea levels were low the state was home to richly vegetated deltaic swamps where early amphibians and reptiles lived . Seas expanded across most of the state again during the Permian , but on land the state was home to thousands of different insect species . The popular pterosaur Pteranodon is best known from this state . During the early part of the Cenozoic era Kansas became a savannah environment . Later , during the Ice Age , glaciers briefly entered the state , which was home to camels , mammoths , mastodons , and saber-teeth . Local fossils may have inspired Native Americans to regard some local hills as the homes of sacred spirit animals . Major scientific discoveries in Kansas included the pterosaur Pteranodon and a fossil of the fish Xiphactinus that died in the act of swallowing another fish .", "Covariate In statistics , a covariate is a variable that is possibly predictive of the outcome under study . A covariate may be of direct interest or it may be a confounding or interacting variable . The alternative terms explanatory variable , independent variable , or predictor , are used in a regression analysis . In econometrics , the term `` control variable '' is usually used instead of `` covariate '' . An example is provided by the analysis of trend in sea level by . Here the dependent variable ( and variable of most interest ) was the annual mean sea level at a given location for which a series of yearly values were available . The primary independent variable was time . Use was made of a covariate consisting of yearly values of annual mean atmospheric pressure at sea level . The results showed that inclusion of the covariate allowed improved estimates of the trend against time to be obtained , compared to analyses which omitted the covariate .", "Level sensor Level sensors detect the level of liquids and other fluids and fluidized solids , including slurries , granular materials , and powders that exhibit an upper free surface . Substances that flow become essentially horizontal in their containers ( or other physical boundaries ) because of gravity whereas most bulk solids pile at an angle of repose to a peak . The substance to be measured can be inside a container or can be in its natural form ( e.g. , a river or a lake ) . The level measurement can be either continuous or point values . Continuous level sensors measure level within a specified range and determine the exact amount of substance in a certain place , while point-level sensors only indicate whether the substance is above or below the sensing point . Generally the latter detect levels that are excessively high or low . There are many physical and application variables that affect the selection of the optimal level monitoring method for industrial and commercial processes . The selection criteria include the physical : phase ( liquid , solid or slurry ) , temperature , pressure or vacuum , chemistry , dielectric constant of medium , density ( specific gravity ) of medium , agitation ( action ) , acoustical or electrical noise , vibration , mechanical shock , tank or bin size and shape . Also important are the application constraints : price , accuracy , appearance , response rate , ease of calibration or programming , physical size and mounting of the instrument , monitoring or control of continuous or discrete ( point ) levels . In short , level sensors are one of the very important sensors and play very important role in variety of consumer / industrial applications . As with other type of sensors , level sensors are available or can be designed using variety of sensing principles . Selection of an appropriate type of sensor suiting to the application requirement is very important .", "Variable retention Variable retention is a relatively new silvicultural system that retains forest structural elements for at least one rotation in order to preserve environmental values associated with structurally complex forests . Some examples for environmental values are forest cover connectivity , soil stabilization , microclimate under retained trees , habitats associated with live or dead trees and species diversity due to habitat preservation , and wildlife corridor preservation . Variable retention also aids in emulation of natural disturbances by leaving behind some residual structure from previous stand which is typical for stand replacing disturbances Traditional silviculture systems such as clearcut , patch cut , shelterwood , etc. are focused on maximizing timber production and future regeneration of the trees . Variable retention on the other hand is focused on what is retained", "Mount Walker West, Queensland Mount Walker West is a locality split between the Scenic Rim Region and City of Ipswich local government areas of South East Queensland , Australia . At the 2011 Australia Census the locality and surrounds recorded a population of 392 . Along the eastern extent of Mount Walker West the Bremer River marks the boundary . In the west elevations rise to around 250 metres above sea level .", "Tourist attraction A tourist attraction is a place of interest where tourists visit , typically for its inherent or exhibited natural or cultural value , historical significance , natural or built beauty , offering leisure , adventure and amusement ." ]

[ "James Hansen James Edward Hansen ( born 29 March 1941 ) is an American adjunct professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Columbia University . He is best known for his research in climatology , his 1988 Congressional testimony on climate change that helped raise broad awareness of global warming , and his advocacy of action to avoid dangerous climate change . In recent years he has become a climate activist to mitigate the effects of climate change , on a few occasions leading to his arrest . In 2000 , Hansen advanced an alternative view of global warming over the last 100 years , arguing that during that time frame the negative forcing via aerosols and the positive forcing via largely balanced each other out , and that the 0.74 ± 0.18 ° C net rise in average global temperatures could mostly be explained by greenhouse gases other than carbon dioxide , such as methane and chlorofluorocarbons . However , even then he wrote `` the future balance of forcings is likely to shift toward dominance of CO2 over aerosols ''", "Sea level rise A sea level rise is an increase in the volume of water in the world 's oceans , resulting in an increase in global mean sea level . Sea level rise is usually attributed to global climate change by thermal expansion of the water in the oceans and by melting of Ice sheets and glaciers on land . Melting of floating ice shelves or icebergs at sea raises sea levels only slightly . Sea level rise at specific locations may be more or less than the global average . Local factors might include tectonic effects , subsidence of the land , tides , currents , storms , etc. . Sea level rise is expected to continue for centuries . Because of the slow inertia , long response time for parts of the climate system , it has been estimated that we are already committed to a sea-level rise of approximately 2.3 m for each degree Celsius of temperature rise within the next 2,000 years . IPCC Summary for Policymakers , AR5 , 2014 , indicated that the global mean sea level rise will continue during the 21st century , very likely at a faster rate than observed from 1971 to 2010 . Projected rates and amounts vary . A January 2017 NOAA report suggests a range of GMSL rise of 0.3 -- 2.5 m possible during the 21st century . Sea level rises can considerably influence human populations in coastal and island regions and natural environments like marine ecosystems .", "Cryosphere The cryosphere ( from the Greek κρύος kryos , `` cold '' , `` frost '' or `` ice '' and σφαῖρα sphaira , `` globe , ball '' ) is those portions of Earth 's surface where water is in solid form , including sea ice , lake ice , river ice , snow cover , glaciers , ice caps , ice sheets , and frozen ground ( which includes permafrost ) . Thus , there is a wide overlap with the hydrosphere . The cryosphere is an integral part of the global climate system with important linkages and feedbacks generated through its influence on surface energy and moisture fluxes , clouds , precipitation , hydrology , atmospheric and oceanic circulation . Through these feedback processes , the cryosphere plays a significant role in the global climate and in climate model response to global changes . The term deglaciation describes the retreat of cryospheric features . Cryology is the study of cryospheres ." ]

[ "Whillans Whillans may refer to : Don Whillans ( 1933 -- 1985 ) , British rock climber and mountaineer . Ken Whillans ( 1927 -- 1990 ) , Canadian politician and mayor of Brampton , Ontario . The Whillans Ice Stream , a glaciological feature of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet .", "Askaryan Radio Array The Askaryan Radio Array ( ARA ) is a new detector designed to detect a few GZK neutrinos a year . It measures the enhanced radio-frequency radiation emitted during the interaction of the neutrino in Antarctic ice sheet . The detection is based on the Askaryan effect , an idea by Gurgen Askaryan This detection technique is also being used by the Antarctic Impulse Transient Antenna ( ANITA ) and the Radio Ice Cerenkov Experiment ( RICE ) detectors . The ARA experiment will be built around the IceCube experiment , and will cover an area of approximately 100 square kilometers . A 16-antenna prototype station , the `` ARA Testbed '' , of the ARA system was installed Jan 2011 and began operation allowing the ARA Collaboration to determine the estimated sensitivity of the array design : ARA-37 will cover 200 km2 with neutrino sensitivity of 1016 -- 1019 eV . Measurements of the radio background and ice attenuation length were reported .", "Kamb Glacier Kamb Glacier is a broad elevated glacier , 4 nmi ) long , in the Royal Society Range , Victoria Land , Antarctica , flowing northeast from Fogle Peak to enter Condit Glacier . It was named in 1992 by the Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names after glaciologist Barclay Kamb of the California Institute of Technology , who was from the 1980s a principal investigator in United States Antarctic Research Program studies of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet , including the drilling of deep boreholes to the base of Siple Coast ice streams , and who undertook research in order to determine the mechanisms by which the ice streams are able to move at relatively greater speeds than the surrounding ice sheet .", "Alley Glacier The Alley Glacier is a glacier in Antarctica that drains the north slopes of Britannia Range in the vicinity of Ward Tower and flows north to Darwin Glacier . It was named by the Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names after Richard Alley of the Department of Geosciences , Pennsylvania State University , a United States Antarctic Program glaciologist who specialized in the study of ice streams of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet .", "Joseph Adhémar Joseph Alphonse Adhémar ( 1797 -- 1862 ) was a French mathematician . He was the first to suggest that ice ages were controlled by astronomical forces in his 1842 book Revolutions of the Sea . The Earth 's orbit is elliptical , with the Sun at one focus ; lines drawn through the summer and winter solstice ; and the spring and autumn equinox ; intersect with the sun at right angles . The Earth is closest to the Sun ( perihelion ) near the northern hemisphere winter solstice . The earth moves faster through its orbit when closer to the sun . Hence , the period from the northern hemisphere 's autumn equinox to winter and spring is shorter by around seven days than the period from spring to summer to autumn ; the reverse is true in the southern hemisphere . Hence , northern hemisphere winter is shorter . Because of this , Adhemar reasoned that because the southern hemisphere had more hours of darkness in winter , it must be cooling , and attributed the Antarctic ice sheet to this . Adhemar knew of the 22,000 year cycle of precession of the equinoxes , and theorised that the ice ages occurred in this cycle . One immediate objection to the theory was that the total insolation during a year does not vary at all during the precessional cycle , only its seasonal distribution . Another was that the timing was wrong ; however this could not be tested by observations available at the time . Adhemar 's theory was further developed , first by James Croll and later by Milutin Milanković . Adhemar predicted the Antarctic ice sheet and theorised about its thickness by comparing the depths of the Arctic and circum-Antarctic oceans . Finding the Antarctic oceans deeper ( the measurements he used may not have been fully representative ) and attributing this to the gravitational attraction of the Antarctic ice sheet , he postulated a truly enormous ice sheet approximately 90 km thick .", "Nereson Glacier Nereson Glacier is a glacier about 5 nautical miles ( 9 km ) long draining the north side of Siple Island . Named by Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names ( US-ACAN ) after Nadine A. Nereson , University of Washington , glaciologist whose research in West Antarctica during the 1990s focused on the history of ice flow , and the past and present stability of the ice sheet . Category : Glaciers of Marie Byrd Land", "Stange Ice Shelf Stange Ice Shelf , is an Antarctic ice shelf in Stange Sound , English Coast , bounded to the east by Spaatz Island , to the northwest by Smyley Island , and to the west by fast ice in Carroll Inlet . Named in association with Stange Sound . In contrast to the some other ice shelves on the Antarctic Peninsula , for example the Larsen Ice Shelf , the Stange Ice Shelf has been relatively stable .", "Reeves Glacier Reeves Glacier is a broad glacier originating on the interior upland and descending between Eisenhower Range and Mount Larsen to merge with the Nansen Ice Sheet along the coast of Victoria Land . Discovered and named by the British Antarctic Expedition , 1907 -- 09 , under Shackleton . The New Zealand Antarctic Place-Names Committee ( NZ-APC ) reported that the glacier is probably named for William Pember Reeves , former New Zealand Cabinet Minister , and the Agent-General for New Zealand in London , 1896-1909 . Category : Glaciers of Victoria Land Category : Scott Coast", "Anandakrishnan Glacier Anandakrishnan Glacier is a glacier about 15 nmi long draining through the Ruppert Coast north of Strauss Glacier in Antarctica . It was named by the Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names after Sridhar Anandakrishnan , a Penn State University geophysicist , whose glaciological interests focus on Antarctic ice sheet studies , ice stream migration , time-series investigations , and Antarctic tectonics .", "West Antarctic Rift The West Antarctic Rift is a major , active rift valley lying between East and West Antarctica . It encompasses the Ross Sea , the area under the Ross Ice Shelf and a part of West Antarctica . Its evolution is due to lithospheric thinning of the non-cratonic area of West Antarctica . Exploration of the geology of the West Antarctic Rift is difficult , because , apart from peaks of the Transantarctic Mountains that protrude above the ice , the region is covered by the vast West Antarctic Ice Sheet . Thus , the rift is less well known than other major rift valleys . It is known , however , that like the East African Rift , the West Antarctic Rift is actually a number of much shorter rifts that cross Antarctica . There is also a sharp division between older , broader Paleogene rifts including the Ross Sea Basin and the younger , narrower Terror Rift . There are also a large number of failed rifts extending as far as Berkner Island . Although many rifts within the West Antarctic Rift system are no longer active , it is now known that West Antarctica is moving away from the East Antarctic Craton in a north/northeasterly direction ( approximately in the direction of the South Georgia Islands ) at a rate of about 2 mm per year or 500,000 years per kilometre . The West Antarctic Rift is the source of all the recently active volcanoes within Antarctica , and of most of the major Antarctic mountain systems outside the Antarctic Peninsula . It is also believed to have a major influence on ice flows in West Antarctica , because fast moving ice streams are believed to be influenced by the lubrication provided by water-saturated till , which some argue could help cause breakup of the ice sheet if global warming accelerates .", "Joughin Glacier Joughin Glacier is a glacier east of the Watson Peaks , flowing southeast into Wright Inlet on the Lassiter Coast . Named by the Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names in 2008 after Ian Joughin , an electrical engineer who pioneered the use of interferometric synthetic aperture radar to estimate surface motion and topography of ice sheets both in Antarctica and Greenland . He has used remote sensing , field work , and modeling to study ice dynamics since the early 1990s .", "Joanne Johnson Joanne Johnson ( born 1977 , Birmingham , UK ) is a British geologist and prominent Antarctic scientist , currently working for British Antarctic Survey in the ` Palaeoenvironments , Ice Sheets and Climate Change ' team . Johnson joined British Antarctic Survey in 2002 . She is best known for her work on glacial retreat , and is the namesake of the Johnson Mesa in James Ross Island , Antarctica .", "Sovetskaya (lake) Sovetskaya Lake is a liquid subglacial lake found buried under the Antarctic ice sheet , 2 km below Sovetskaya Research Station . It covers about 1600 km2 .", "Mill Peak Mill Peak is a prominent peak , 1,760 m high , rising above the Antarctic ice sheet 10 nmi south of Pearce Peak and 30 nmi south of Cape Simpson . it was discovered in February 1931 by the British Australian New Zealand Antarctic Research Expedition under Douglas Mawson , who named it for Dr. Hugh Robert Mill .", "List of environmental reports This is a list of notable environmental reports . In this context they relate to the impacts of human activity on the environment . City-level Decoupling : Urban Resource Flows and the Governance of Infrastructure Transitions - by the International Resource Panel Clean Energy Trends - a series of reports by Clean Edge - beginning in 2002 Copeland Report - for the U.S. government , completed in 1933 Copenhagen Diagnosis - written by twenty-six climate scientists from eight countries Dioxin Reassessment Report - by the United States Environmental Protection Agency Environmental Impact of the Big Cypress Swamp Jetport ( `` Leopold Report '' ) - United States Department of the Interior ( 1969 ) Environmental Risks and Challenges of Anthropogenic Metals Flows and Cycles - by the International Resource Panel Forest Principles - United Nations Conference on Environment and Development ( UNCED ) The Global 2000 Report to the President - Council on Environmental Quality ( 1981 ) Global Environment Outlook - United Nations Environment Programme ( UNEP ) Hirsch report ( Peaking of World Oil Production : Impacts , Mitigation , and Risk Management ) - United States Department of Energy Index of Leading Environmental Indicators - Pacific Research Institute IPCC First Assessment Report - Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) IPCC supplementary report , 1992 - IPCC IPCC Second Assessment Report - IPCC IPCC Third Assessment Report Climate Change 2001 - IPCC ( 2001 ) IPCC Fourth Assessment Report Climate Change 2007 - IPCC ( 2007 ) IPCC Fifth Assessment Report ( 2014 ) Leopold Report ( `` Wildlife Management in the National Parks '' ) - Special Advisory Board on Wildlife Management ( 1963 ) Livestock 's Long Shadow - Environmental Issues and Options - United Nations ( 2006 ) Living Planet Report - WWF , every two years Making Sweden an Oil-Free Society - Government of Sweden ( 2006 ) Meat Atlas - published by the Heinrich Böll Foundation and Friends of the Earth Europe Nuclear Power and the Environment - UK Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution - 1976 Our Common Future - World Commission on Environment and Development ( 1987 ) Outlook On Renewable Energy In America ( 2 volumes ) - American Council on Renewable Energy - 2007 Phase I Environmental Site Assessment - generic Planning Policy Statement 10 : Planning for Sustainable Waste Management ( PPS 10 ) - British Government Renewable Energy Sources and Climate Change Mitigation - United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) - planned for 2010 Report of the Royal Commission on Genetic Modification - Royal Commission on Genetic Modification ( 2001 ) State of the Climate - NOAA/NCDC ( published annually ) The State of the World - Worldwatch Institute ( published yearly since 1984 ) Wegman Report - to validate criticisms of reconstructions of the temperature record of the past 1000 years Windscale : Britain 's Biggest Nuclear Disaster ( 2007 ) World Climate Report - Greening Earth Society The World 's 25 Most Endangered Primates - selected and published by the IUCN Species Survival Commission Primate Specialist Group ( IUCN/SSC PSG ) , the International Primatological Society ( IPS ) , and Conservation International ( CI )", "Hudson Mountains The Hudson Mountains is a group of parasitic cones , forming nunataks just above the Antarctic ice sheet in west Ellsworth Land . They lie just east of Cranton Bay and Pine Island Bay at the eastern extremity of Amundsen Sea , and are bounded on the north by Cosgrove Ice Shelf and on the south by Pine Island Glacier .", "IPCC First Assessment Report The First Assessment Report ( FAR ) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) was completed in 1990 . It served as the basis of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change ( UNFCCC ) . The report was issued in three main sections , corresponding to the three Working Groups of scientists that the IPCC had established . Working Group I : Scientific Assessment of Climate Change , edited by J.T. Houghton , G.J. Jenkins and J.J. Ephraums Working Group II : Impacts Assessment of Climate Change , edited by W.J. McG . Tegart , G.W. Sheldon and D.C. Griffiths Working Group III : The IPCC Response Strategies Each section included a summary for policymakers . This format was followed in subsequent Assessment Reports . The executive summary of the policymakers ' summary of the WG I report includes : We are certain of the following : there is a natural greenhouse effect ... ; emissions resulting from human activities are substantially increasing the atmospheric concentrations of the greenhouse gases : CO2 , methane , CFCs and nitrous oxide . These increases will enhance the greenhouse effect , resulting on average in an additional warming of the Earth 's surface . The main greenhouse gas , water vapour , will increase in response to global warming and further enhance it . We calculate with confidence that : ... CO2 has been responsible for over half the enhanced greenhouse effect ; long-lived gases would require immediate reductions in emissions from human activities of over 60 % to stabilise their concentrations at today 's levels ... Based on current models , we predict : under -LSB- BAU -RSB- increase of global mean temperature during the -LSB- 21st -RSB- century of about 0.3 oC per decade ( with an uncertainty range of 0.2 to 0.5 oC per decade ) ; this is greater than that seen over the past 10,000 years ; under other ... scenarios which assume progressively increasing levels of controls , rates of increase in global mean temperature of about 0.2 oC -LSB- to -RSB- about 0.1 oC per decade . There are many uncertainties in our predictions particularly with regard to the timing , magnitude and regional patterns of climate change , due to our incomplete understanding of : sources and sinks of GHGs ; clouds ; oceans ; polar ice sheets . Our judgement is that : global mean surface air temperature has increased by 0.3 to 0.6 oC over the last 100 years ... ; The size of this warming is broadly consistent with predictions of climate models , but it is also of the same magnitude as natural climate variability . Thus the observed increase could be largely due to this natural variability ; alternatively this variability and other human factors could have offset a still larger human-induced greenhouse warming . The unequivocal detection of the enhanced greenhouse effect is not likely for a decade or more . under the IPCC business as usual emissions scenario , an average rate of global mean sea level rise of about 6 cm per decade over the next century ( with an uncertainty range of 3 -- 10 cm per decade ) , mainly due to thermal expansion of the oceans and the melting of some land ice . The predicted rise is about 20 cm ... by 2030 , and 65 cm by the end of the next century .", "Gary Yohe Gary Wynn Yohe is the Huffington Foundation Professor of Economics and Environmental Studies at Wesleyan University , Middletown , Connecticut . He holds a PhD from Yale University . Yohe specializes in Microeconomic theory , Natural Resources , and Environmental Economics . He is a researcher on the economics of climate change and integrated assessment modelling . Among other works , he is an editor of the book `` Avoiding Dangerous Climate Change '' and co-author ( with Edwin Mansfield ) of `` Microeconomics | Microeconomics : Theory and Applications '' . He is a senior member of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) that was awarded a share of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with Al Gore . He has been involved with the IPCC since the mid-1990s , has served , among other capacities , as a Lead Author for four different chapters in the IPCC Third Assessment Report , and as Convening Lead Author for the last chapter of the contribution of Working Group II to the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report . Yohe also worked with the Core Writing Team to prepare the overall Synthesis Report for the entire Assessment . Yohe is also a member of the New York City Panel on Climate Change and the standing Committee on the Human Dimensions of Global Change of the National Academy of Sciences . He is also a standing member of the National Academy of Sciences ' Committee on the Human Dimensions of Global Change . He was a vice-chair of the Third National Climate Assessment . He is one of the four co-signers of an open letter , dated March 12 , 2010 , regarding possible errors in the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report and regularly advises the US government .", "The Ice Sheet at Ogden The Ice Sheet at Ogden , also known as the Weber County Ice Sheet , is located 35 mi north of Salt Lake City on the campus of Weber State University in Ogden . The Ice Sheet opened in 1994 as a recreational training center for curling , ice hockey , and figure skating . During the 2002 Winter Olympics the Ice Sheet hosted the curling events .", "Scott Glacier (Transantarctic Mountains) The Scott Glacier is a major glacier , 120 mi long , that drains the East Antarctic Ice Sheet through the Queen Maud Mountains to the Ross Ice Shelf . The Scott Glacier is one of a series of major glaciers flowing across the Transantarctic Mountains , with the Amundsen Glacier to the west and the Leverett and Reedy glaciers to the east .", "Earth System Grid The Earth System Grid ( ESG ) is a data distribution portal whose development is funded mainly by the -LSB- United States Department of Energy -RSB- . It is the portal through which the Program for Climate Model Diagnosis and Intercomparison at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is distributing data for the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report and the 2014 IPCC Fifth Assessment Report .", "Fram Fram ( `` Forward '' ) is a ship that was used in expeditions of the Arctic and Antarctic regions by the Norwegian explorers Fridtjof Nansen , Otto Sverdrup , Oscar Wisting , and Roald Amundsen between 1893 and 1912 . It was designed and built by the Scottish-Norwegian shipwright Colin Archer for Fridtjof Nansen 's 1893 Arctic expedition in which the plan was to freeze Fram into the Arctic ice sheet and float with it over the North Pole . Fram is said to have sailed farther north ( 85 ° 57 ` N ) and farther south ( 78 ° 41 'S ) than any other wooden ship . Fram is preserved at the Fram Museum in Oslo , Norway .", "Piers Forster Piers Forster is Professor of Physical Climate Change and Director of the Priestley International Centre for Climate at the University of Leeds . A physicist by training , his research focuses on quantifying the different human causes of climate change and the way the Earth responds . He is best known for his work on radiative forcing , climate sensitivity , contrails and geoengineering . He has contributed heavily to the writing of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reports , including acting as a Lead Author for both the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report and IPCC Fifth Assessment Report .", "2006 Antarctic Ice Marathon The second 2006 Antarctic Ice Marathon & 100k were held in Antarctica on 13 and 15 December 2006 , respectively .", "Lake CECs Lake CECs is a subglacial lake in Antarctica at approximately latitude 80 ° S . It has an estimated area of 18 km ² . The territory where the lake is located , some 160 km from Union Glacier , is claimed only by Chile . The lake is located in a buffer zone of three major West Antarctic glaciers . The movement of the ice is almost nonexistent and the area is in a situation of low disturbance . This allows the body of water to be extremely stable , with minimal mass exchanges with its environment . This favors the hypothesis that the lake could support endemic life , which would have developed in extreme isolation . Lake CECs was discovered by the Chilean research center Centro de Estudios Científicos ( CECs ) . The first signs of the lake were detected during Antarctic summer in January 2014 , when a mobile research station team journeyed through the central plateau of West Antarctica . Measurements showed unusual subglacial radar returns , indicating the presence of a waterbody at some 2.6 kilometers depth under the ice . An initial mapping with an ice-penetrating radar confirmed the finding . The research team returned in summer of 2015 and the mapping was completed . The findings were published in a Geophysical Research Letters report by four members of the CECs Glaciology Laboratory .", "Scott Glacier Scott Glacier may refer to any of these glaciers : Scott Glacier ( Alaska ) , a glacier in the Chugach Mountains , near Cordova , Alaska Scott Glacier ( Transantarctic Mountains ) , a major glacier flowing from the East Antarctic Ice Sheet through the Queen Maud subrange of the Transantarctic Mountains into the Ross Ice Shelf Scott Glacier ( East Antarctica ) , a glacier on the outer coast of East Antarctica", "Fox Ice Stream Fox Ice Stream is an ice stream about 6 nmi long flowing into Eltanin Bay southwest of Wirth Peninsula , Antarctica . It was named by the Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names after Adrian Fox of the British Antarctic Survey , part of the USA -- UK cooperative project to compile Glaciological and Coastal-Change Maps of the Antarctic Peninsula ; he was active in field and mapping projects from the early 1990s onwards .", "Independent Police Complaints Council The Independent Police Complaints Council ( IPCC , ) is a civilian body of the Government of Hong Kong , part of the two-tier system in which the Hong Kong Police Force investigates complaints made by the public against its members and the IPCC monitors those investigations . The IPCC was created as an independent body to monitor the review by the Complaints Against Police Office ( CAPO ) of complaints against members of the Police Force . Unlike CAPO , which is a unit of the police force , the IPCC is a civilian body not linked with the police that reports directly to the office of the Chief Executive of Hong Kong . The IPCC was created in 1994 and succeeded an earlier independent review body , the Police Complaints Committee or PCC , to investigate police . The PCC was created in 1986 and reported to the then Governor of Hong Kong . The IPCC is headed by a Secretariat and is governed by The Independent Police Complaints Council ( IPCC ) Ordinance , which enacted in July 2008 . On 1 June 2009 , after the ordinance came into operation , the Chinese official name of IPCC was changed from '' 投訴警方獨立監察委員會 '' to '' 獨立監察警方處理投訴委員會 '' and the English name remain . There have been criticisms in LegCo that the IPCC has limited monitoring power .", "Prilednikovoye Lake Prilednikovoye Lake is a lake 1.25 nautical miles ( 2.3 km ) south-southwest of Tyuleniy Point in the Schirmacher Hills , situated at the edge of the continental ice sheet in Queen Maud Land . Mapped by the Soviet Antarctic Expedition in 1961 and named `` Ozero Prilednikovoye '' ( `` fore-glacier lake '' ) , presumably for its location .", "Antarctic Impulse Transient Antenna The Antarctic Impulsive Transient Antenna ( ANITA ) experiment has been designed to study ultra-high-energy ( UHE ) cosmic neutrinos by detecting the radio pulses emitted by their interactions with the Antarctic ice sheet . This is to be accomplished using an array of radio antennas suspended from a helium balloon flying at a height of about 37,000 meters . The neutrinos , with energies on the order of 1018 eV , produce radio pulses in the ice because of the Askaryan effect . It is believed that these high-energy cosmic neutrinos result from interaction of ultra-high-energy ( 1020 eV ) cosmic rays with the photons of the cosmic microwave background radiation . It is thus hoped that the ANITA experiment can shed light on the origin of these cosmic rays .", "Relief Inlet Relief Inlet is a narrow inlet at the southwest corner of Terra Nova Bay . The feature is formed along a shear plane caused by differential ice movement near the coast of Victoria Land involving the north edge of Drygalski Ice Tongue and south extremities of the Nansen Ice Sheet . So named by the South Magnetic Polar Party , led by T.W.E. David , of the British Antarctic Expedition , 1907 -- 09 , because , after almost giving up hope of rescue , the Nimrod picked up the party here .", "Français Glacier Français Glacier is a glacier 4 nmi wide and 12 nmi long , flowing north-northeast from the continental ice to the Antarctic coast close west of Ravin Bay . Though no glaciers were noted on Captain Jules Dumont d'Urville 's chart of this coast , the close correlation of his `` Baie des Ravins '' feature and narrative description with the indentation of the coast near the mouth of this glacier suggests first sighting of this feature by the French Antarctic Expedition , 1837 -- 40 . During December 1912 members of the Main Base Party of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition ( AAE ) camped on the upland slopes close east of the glacier , but no reference was made to the glacier in the AAE reports , though a clear view and unpublished sketch were obtained of the distant coast to the northwest . It was delineated from air photos taken by U.S. Navy Operation Highjump , 1946 -- 47 . The French Antarctic Expedition under Mario Marret , 1952 -- 53 , sledged west on the sea ice to the ice cliffs close east of the glacier . It was named after the Français , the expedition ship of the French Antarctic Expedition , 1903 -- 05 , under Dr. Jean-Baptiste Charcot ." ]

[ "Future of Earth The biological and geological future of Earth can be extrapolated based upon the estimated effects of several long-term influences . These include the chemistry at Earth 's surface , the rate of cooling of the planet 's interior , the gravitational interactions with other objects in the Solar System , and a steady increase in the Sun 's luminosity . An uncertain factor in this extrapolation is the ongoing influence of technology introduced by humans , such as climate engineering , which could cause significant changes to the planet . The current Holocene extinction is being caused by technology and the effects may last for up to five million years . In turn , technology may result in the extinction of humanity , leaving the planet to gradually return to a slower evolutionary pace resulting solely from long-term natural processes . Over time intervals of hundreds of millions of years , random celestial events pose a global risk to the biosphere , which can result in mass extinctions . These include impacts by comets or asteroids with diameters of 5 -- or more , and the possibility of a massive stellar explosion , called a supernova , within a 100-light-year radius of the Sun , called a Near-Earth supernova . Other large-scale geological events are more predictable . If the long-term effects of global warming are disregarded , Milankovitch theory predicts that the planet will continue to undergo glacial periods at least until the Quaternary glaciation comes to an end . These periods are caused by variations in eccentricity , axial tilt , and precession of the Earth 's orbit . As part of the ongoing supercontinent cycle , plate tectonics will probably result in a supercontinent in 250 -- 350 million years . Some time in the next 1.5 -- 4.5 billion years , the axial tilt of the Earth may begin to undergo chaotic variations , with changes in the axial tilt of up to 90 ° . During the next four billion years , the luminosity of the Sun will steadily increase , resulting in a rise in the solar radiation reaching the Earth . This will result in a higher rate of weathering of silicate minerals , which will cause a decrease in the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere . In about 600 million years from now , the level of CO2 will fall below the level needed to sustain C3 carbon fixation photosynthesis used by trees . Some plants use the C4 carbon fixation method , allowing them to persist at concentrations as low as 10 parts per million . However , the long-term trend is for plant life to die off altogether . The extinction of plants will be the demise of almost all animal life , since plants are the base of the food chain on Earth . In about one billion years , the solar luminosity will be 10 % higher than at present . This will cause the atmosphere to become a `` moist greenhouse '' , resulting in a runaway evaporation of the oceans . As a likely consequence , plate tectonics will come to an end , and with them the entire carbon cycle . Following this event , in about 2 − 3 billion years , the planet 's magnetic dynamo may cease , causing the magnetosphere to decay and leading to an accelerated loss of volatiles from the outer atmosphere . Four billion years from now , the increase in the Earth 's surface temperature will cause a runaway greenhouse effect , heating the surface enough to melt it . By that point , all life on the Earth will be extinct . The most probable fate of the planet is absorption by the Sun in about 7.5 billion years , after the star has entered the red giant phase and expanded to cross the planet 's current orbit .", "Global catastrophic risk A global catastrophic risk is a hypothetical future event that has the potential to damage human well-being on a global scale . Some events could cripple or destroy modern civilization . Any event that could cause human extinction is known as an existential risk . Potential global catastrophic risks include anthropogenic risks ( technology risks , governance risks ) and natural or external risks . Examples of technology risks are hostile artificial intelligence , biotechnology risks , or nanotechnology weapons . Insufficient global governance creates risks in the social and political domain ( potentially leading to a global war with or without a nuclear holocaust , bioterrorism using genetically modified organisms , cyberterrorism destroying critical infrastructures like the electrical grid , or the failure to manage a natural pandemic ) as well as problems and risks in the domain of earth system governance ( with risks resulting from global warming , environmental degradation , mineral resource exhaustion , fossil energy exhaustion , or famine as a result of non-equitable resource distribution , human overpopulation , crop failures and non-sustainable agriculture ) . Examples for non-anthropogenic risks are an asteroid impact event , a supervolcanic eruption , a lethal gamma-ray burst , a geomagnetic storm destroying all electronic equipment , natural long-term climate change , or extraterrestrial life impacting life on Earth .", "Environmental sociology Environmental sociology is typically defined as the sociological study of societal-environmental interactions , although this definition immediately presents the problem of integrating human cultures with the rest of the environment . Although the focus of the field is the relationship between society and environment in general , environmental sociologists typically place special emphasis on studying the social factors that cause environmental problems , the societal impacts of those problems , and efforts to solve the problems . In addition , considerable attention is paid to the social processes by which certain environmental conditions become socially defined as problems . Although there was sometimes acrimonious debate between the constructivist and realist `` camps '' within environmental sociology in the 1990s , the two sides have found considerable common ground as both increasingly accept that while most environmental problems have a material reality they nonetheless become known only via human processes such as scientific knowledge , activists ' efforts , and media attention . In other words , most environmental problems have a real ontological status despite our knowledge/awareness of them stemming from social processes , processes by which various conditions are constructed as problems by scientists , activists , media and other social actors . Correspondingly , environmental problems must all be understood via social processes , despite any material basis they may have external to humans . This interactiveness is now broadly accepted , but many aspects of the debate continue in contemporary research in the field .", "Global issue Informally , a global issue describes any social , economic , political or environmental problem that affects the global community , possibly in a catastrophic way . Solution to global issues requires cooperation among nations . In their book Global Issues , Hite and Seitz emphasize that global issues are qualitatively different from international affairs and that the former arise from growing international interdependencies which makes the issues themselves interdependent ." ]

[ "Terminal value (finance) In finance , the terminal value ( continuing value or horizon value ) of a security is the present value at a future point in time of all future cash flows when we expect stable growth rate forever . It is most often used in multi-stage discounted cash flow analysis , and allows for the limitation of cash flow projections to a several-year period . Forecasting results beyond such a period is impractical and exposes such projections to a variety of risks limiting their validity , primarily the great uncertainty involved in predicting industry and macroeconomic conditions beyond a few years . Thus , the terminal value allows for the inclusion of the value of future cash flows occurring beyond a several-year projection period while satisfactorily mitigating many of the problems of valuing such cash flows . The terminal value is calculated in accordance with a stream of projected future free cash flows in discounted cash flow analysis . For whole-company valuation purposes , there are two methodologies used to calculate the Terminal Value .", "Dynamic financial analysis Dynamic financial analysis ( DFA ) is a simulation approach that looks at an insurance enterprise 's risks holistically as opposed to traditional actuarial analysis , which analyzes risks individually . Specifically , DFA reveals the dependencies of hazards and their impacts on the insurance company 's financial well being such as business mix , reinsurance , asset allocation , profitability , solvency , and compliance . In addition to projecting stochastic future economic scenarios through using scenario generators such as interest rate , underwriting cycle and jurisdictional risk models , DFA also links the scenarios with the financial models of the targeted insurance company that is being analyzed . Such models not only reveal the operation and the business structure of the company , but also uncover the dependencies among its business practices . Because DFA tries to account for every aspect of the company , it produces a vast amount of data . As a result , analyzing and presenting the outputs effectively is of great importance .", "Climate change in Japan Climate change in Japan is being addressed at a governmental level . The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) proposes two hypothetical future scenarios . One is Scenario `` A1B '' based on the assumption that a future world will have more global economic growth ( the concentration of carbon dioxide will be 720ppm in 2100 ) . The other is Scenario `` B1 '' based on the assumption that a future world will have global green economy ( the concentration of carbon dioxide will be 550ppm in 2100 ) . Earth Simulator calculations , reveal the daily increase in mean temperature in Japan during the period of 2071 to 2100 . The temperature has increased by 3.0 ° C in Scenario B1 and 4.2 ° C in A1B compared to that of 1971 to 2000 . Similarly , the daily maximum temperature in Japan increased by 3.1 ° C in B1 and 4.4 ° C in A1B . The precipitation in summer in Japan increased steadily due to global warming ( the annual average precipitation increased by 17 % in Scenario B1 and by 19 % in Scenario A1B during the period of 2071 to 2100 compared to that of 1971 to 2000 ) . Currently , Japan is a world leader in the development of new climate-friendly technologies . Honda and Toyota hybrid electric vehicles were named to have the highest fuel efficiency and lowest emissions . The fuel economy and emissions decrease is due to the advanced technology in hybrid systems , biofuels , use of lighter weight material and better engineering . As a signatory of the Kyoto Protocol , and host of the 1997 conference which created it , Japan is under treaty obligations to reduce its carbon dioxide emissions and to take other steps related to curbing climate change . The Cool Biz campaign introduced under former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi was targeted at reducing energy use through the reduction of air conditioning use in government offices .", "CME SPAN The Standard Portfolio Analysis of Risk , or SPAN , is a system for calculating margin requirements for futures and options on futures . It was developed by the Chicago Mercantile Exchange in 1988 . SPAN is a portfolio margining method that uses grid simulation . It calculates the likely loss in a set of derivative positions ( also called a portfolio ) and sets this value as the initial margin payable by the firm holding the portfolio . In this manner , SPAN provides for offsets between correlated positions and enhances margining efficiency .", "Litigation risk analysis Litigation risk analysis is a subset of decision tree analysis and is the application of decision tree analysis to litigation and lawsuits . The term was first coined by Marc Victor . Litigation risk analysis is a growing practice by lawyers , mediators , and other alternative dispute resolution ( ADR ) professionals . When applied in mediation settings , litigation risk analysis is used to determine litigated best alternative to negotiated agreement ( BATNA ) and worst alternative to negotiated agreement ( WATNA ) scenarios based upon the probabilities and possible outcomes of continuing to litigate the case rather than settle Simple Risk Analysis in Mediation . The process of performing a litigation risk analysis by mediators has been hampered by the need for mediators to physically draw out the decision tree and perform calculations to arrive at an expected value ( EV ) . However , there have been calls for more mediators to adopt the practice of performing such an analysis Risk Analysis in Mediation by Geoff Sharp .", "Urban seismic risk Urban seismic risk is a subset of the general term seismic risk which describes the problems specific to centers of population when they are subjected to earthquakes . Many risks can be minimized with good earthquake construction , and seismic analysis . One of the best ways to deal with the issue is through an earthquake scenario analysis .", "Risk analysis Risk analysis can be defined in many different ways , and much of the definition depends on how risk analysis relates to other concepts . Risk analysis can be `` broadly defined to include risk assessment , risk characterization , risk communication , risk management , and policy relating to risk , in the context of risks of concern to individuals , to public - and private-sector organizations , and to society at a local , regional , national , or global level . '' A useful construct is to divide risk analysis into two components : ( 1 ) risk assessment ( identifying , evaluating , and measuring the probability and severity of risks ) and ( 2 ) risk management ( deciding what to do about risks ) . Some books take a slightly different approach and define risk management as the overarching concept , where risk analysis is the component that seeks to identify and measure the risks and risk mitigation is determining what to do about the risks . Risk analysis can be qualitative or quantitative . Qualitative risk analysis uses words or colors to identify and evaluate risks or presents a written description of the risk , and quantitative risk analysis ( QRA ) calculates numerical probabilities over the possible consequences .", "Information security management Information security ( InfoSec ) describes activities that relate to the protection of information and information infrastructure assets against the risks of loss , misuse , disclosure or damage . Information security management ( ISM ) describes controls that an organization needs to implement to ensure that it is sensibly managing these risks . The risks to these assets can be calculated by analysis of the following issues : Threats to your assets : These are unwanted events that could cause the deliberate or accidental loss , damage or misuse of the assets Vulnerabilities : How susceptible your assets are to attack Impact : The magnitude of the potential loss or the seriousness of the event . Standards that are available to assist organizations implement the appropriate programmes and controls to mitigate these risks are for example BS7799/ISO 27000 , Information Technology Infrastructure Library , O-ISM3 and COBIT .", "Financial condition report In accounting , a financial condition report ( FCR ) is a report on the solvency condition of an insurance company that takes into account both the current financial status , as reflected in the balance sheet , and an assessment of the ability of the company to survive future risk scenarios . Risk assessment in a FCR involves dynamic solvency testing , a type of dynamic financial analysis that simulates management response to risk scenarios , to test whether a company could remain solvent in the face of deteriorating economic conditions or major disasters . Dynamic solvency testing may involve both deterministic projections , based on known risks , and stochastic projections that include random risk events . FCRs are a part of the statutory reporting requirements for life insurance companies in Pakistan , Australia , Ghana and non-life insurance companies in Canada . FCRs are also required in the UK under the Financial Services and Markets Act of 2000 and in Ireland . While many consider FCRs a type of compliance report , they can also be useful for corporate management to identify weaknesses in risk strategy , to test diversification of risk through , e.g. , reinsurance , and to set fair market pricing for options .", "MEHARI MEHARI ( MEthod for Harmonized Analysis of RIsk ) is a free , open-source information risk analysis assessment and risk management method , for the use of information security professionals . MEHARI enables business managers , information security/risk management professionals and other stakeholders to evaluate and manage the organization 's risks relating to information , information systems and information processes ( not just IT ) . It is designed to align with and support information security risk management according to ISO/IEC 27005 , particularly in the context of an ISO/IEC 27001-compliant Information Security Management System ( ISMS ) or a similar overarching security management or governance framework .", "Coupled model intercomparison project In climatology , the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project ( CMIP ) is a framework and the analog of the Atmospheric Model Intercomparison Project ( AMIP ) for global coupled ocean-atmosphere general circulation models ( GCMs ) . CMIP began in 1995 under the auspices of the Working Group on Coupled Modeling ( WGCM ) , which is in turn under auspices of CLIVAR and the Joint Scientific Committee for the World Climate Research Program . The Program for Climate Model Diagnosis and Intercomparison at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory supports CMIP by helping WGCM to determine the scope of the project , by maintaining the project 's data base and by participating in data analysis . CMIP has received model output from the pre-industrial climate simulations ( `` control runs '' ) and 1 % per year increasing-CO2 simulations of about 30 coupled GCMs . More recent phases of the project ( 20C3M , ... ) include more realistic scenarios of climate forcing for both historical , paleoclimate and future scenarios .", "Margin (finance) In finance , margin is collateral that the holder of a financial instrument has to deposit with a counterparty ( most often their broker or an exchange ) to cover some or all of the credit risk the holder poses for the counterparty . This risk can arise if the holder has done any of the following : Borrowed cash from the counterparty to buy financial instruments , Borrowed financial instruments to sell them short , or Entered into a derivative contract . The collateral for a margin account can be the cash deposited in the account or securities provided , and represents the funds available to the account holder for further share trading . On United States futures exchanges , margins were formerly called performance bonds . Most of the exchanges today use SPAN ( `` Standard Portfolio Analysis of Risk '' ) methodology , which was developed by the Chicago Mercantile Exchange in 1988 , for calculating margins for options and futures .", "Credit valuation adjustment Credit valuation adjustment ( CVA ) is the difference between the risk-free portfolio value and the true portfolio value that takes into account the possibility of a counterparty 's default . In other words , CVA is the market value of counterparty credit risk . This price depends on counterparty credit spreads as well as on the market risk factors that drive derivatives ' values and , therefore , exposure . Various related adjustments , collectively xVA , are discussed under Financial economics #Extensions . Unilateral CVA is given by the risk-neutral expectation of the discounted loss . The risk-neutral expectation can be written as where is the maturity of the longest transaction in the portfolio , is the future value of one unit of the base currency invested today at the prevailing interest rate for maturity , is the fraction of the portfolio value that can be recovered in case of a default , is the time of default , is the exposure at time , and is the risk neutral probability of counterparty default between times and . These probabilities can be obtained from the term structure of credit default swap ( CDS ) spreads . More generally CVA can refer to a few different concepts : The mathematical concept as defined above ; A part of the regulatory Capital and RWA ( Risk-weighted asset ) calculation introduced under Basel 3 ; The CVA desk of an investment bank , whose purpose is to : hedge for possible losses due to counterparty default ; hedge to reduce the amount of capital required under the CVA calculation of Basel 3 ; The `` CVA charge '' . The hedging of the CVA desk has a cost associated to it , i.e. the bank has to buy the hedging instrument . This cost is then allocated to each business line of an investment bank ( usually as a contra revenue ) . This allocated cost is called the `` CVA Charge '' . According to the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision 's July 2015 consultation document regarding CVA calculations , if CVA is calculated using 100 timesteps with 10,000 scenarios per timestep , 1 million simulations are required to compute the value of CVA . Calculating CVA risk would require 250 daily market risk scenarios over the 12-month stress period . CVA has to be calculated for each market risk scenario , resulting in 250 million simulations . These calculations have to be repeated across 6 risk types and 5 liquidity horizons , resulting in potentially 8.75 billion simulations .", "Potential future exposure Potential Future Exposure ( PFE ) is defined as the maximum expected credit exposure over a specified period of time calculated at some level of confidence ( i.e. at a given quantile ) . PFE is a measure of counterparty risk/credit risk . It is calculated by evaluating existing trades done against the possible market prices in future during the lifetime of transactions . It can be called sensitivity of risk w.r.t market prices . The calculated expected maximum exposure value is not to be confused with the maximum credit exposure possible . Instead , the maximum credit exposure indicated by the PFE analysis is an upper bound on a confidence interval for future credit exposure . Credit risk managers have traditionally remained focused on current exposure measurement ( i.e. , current mark-to-market exposure , plus outstanding receivables ) and collateral management . The problem with this focus is that it places excessive emphasis on the present and fails to provide an acceptable indication of credit risk at some point in the future . Because losses from credit risk take a relatively long time to evolve , a more useful measure of exposure is potential exposure . Potential exposure is not like current exposure . It exists in the future and therefore represents a range or distribution of outcomes rather than a single point estimate .", "Incomplete markets In economics , incomplete markets are markets in which the number of Arrow -- Debreu securities is less than the number of states of nature . In contrast with complete markets , this shortage of securities will likely restrict individuals from transferring the desired level of wealth among states . An Arrow security purchased or sold at date t is a contract promising to deliver one unit of income in one of the possible contingencies which can occur at date t + 1 . If at each date-event there exists a complete set of such contracts , one for each contingency that can occur at the following date , individuals will trade these contracts in order to insure against future risks , targeting a desirable and budget feasible level of consumption in each state ( i.e. consumption smoothing ) . In most set ups when these contracts are not available , optimal risk sharing between agents will not be possible . For this scenario , agents ( homeowners , workers , firms , investors , etc. ) will lack the instruments to insure against future risks such as employment status , health , labor income , prices , among others .", "Paul Raskin Paul Raskin is the founding President of the Tellus Institute , which has conducted over 3,500 research and policy projects throughout the world on environmental issues , resource planning , scenario analysis , and sustainable development . His research and writing has centered on formulating and analyzing alternative global and regional scenarios , and the requirements for a transition to a sustainable , just , and livable future , called the Great Transition . Dr. Raskin has served as a lead author on a number of high profile international reports , including the U.S. National Academy of Science 's Board on Sustainability , the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment , the United Nations Environment Programme 's Global Environment Outlook , the Earth Charter , and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) Third Assessment Report .", "Acceptance set In financial mathematics , acceptance set is a set of acceptable future net worth which is acceptable to the regulator . It is related to risk measures .", "Future of Life Institute The Future of Life Institute ( FLI ) is a volunteer-run research and outreach organization in the Boston area that works to mitigate existential risks facing humanity , particularly existential risk from advanced artificial intelligence ( AI ) . Its founders include MIT cosmologist Max Tegmark , Skype co-founder Jaan Tallinn , and its board of advisors includes cosmologist Stephen Hawking and entrepreneur Elon Musk .", "Human extinction In futures studies , human extinction is the hypothetical end of the human species . This may be caused by natural causes or it may be anthropogenic , i.e. the result of human action . The likelihood of human extinction in the near future by wholly natural scenarios , such as a meteorite impact or large-scale volcanism , is generally considered to be extremely low . For anthropogenic extinction , many possible scenarios have been proposed : Human global nuclear annihilation , biological warfare or the release of a pandemic-causing agent , dysgenics , overpopulation , ecological collapse , and global warming ; in addition , emerging technologies could bring about new extinction scenarios , such as advanced artificial intelligence , biotechnology or self-replicating nanobots . The probability of anthropogenic human extinction within the next hundred years is the topic of an active debate . Human extinction needs to be differentiated from the extinction of all life on Earth ( see also future of Earth ) and from the extinction of major components of human culture ( e.g. , through a global catastrophe leaving only small , scattered human populations , which might evolve in isolation ) .", "Hazard analysis Note : Parts of this article are written from the perspective of aircraft safety analysis techniques and definitions ; these may not represent current best practice and the article needs to be updated to represent a more generic description of hazard analysis and discussion of more modern standards and techniques . A hazard analysis is used as the first step in a process used to assess risk . The result of a hazard analysis is the identification of different type of hazards . A hazard is a potential condition and exists or not ( probability is 1 or 0 ) . It may in single existence or in combination with other hazards ( sometimes called events ) and conditions become an actual Functional Failure or Accident ( Mishap ) . The way this exactly happens in one particular sequence is called a scenario . This scenario has a probability ( between 1 and 0 ) of occurrence . Often a system has many potential failure scenarios . It also is assigned a classification , based on the worst case severity of the end condition . Risk is the combination of probability and severity . Preliminary risk levels can be provided in the hazard analysis . The validation , more precise prediction ( verification ) and acceptance of risk is determined in the Risk assessment ( analysis ) . The main goal of both is to provide the best selection of means of controlling or eliminating the risk . The term is used in several engineering specialties , including avionics , chemical process safety , safety engineering , reliability engineering and food safety .", "Fixed income analysis Fixed income analysis is the valuation of fixed income or debt securities , and the analysis of their interest rate risk , credit risk , and likely price behavior in hedging portfolios . The analyst might conclude to buy , sell , hold , hedge or stay out of the particular security . Fixed income products are generally bonds issued by various government treasuries , companies or international organizations . Bond holders are usually entitled to coupon payments at periodic intervals until maturity . These coupon payments are generally fixed amounts ( quoted as percentage of the bond 's face value ) or the coupons could float in relation to LIBOR or another reference rate .", "Economic capital __ NOTOC __ In finance , mainly for financial services firms , economic capital is the amount of risk capital , assessed on a realistic basis , which a firm requires to cover the risks that it is running or collecting as a going concern , such as market risk , credit risk , legal risk , and operational risk . It is the amount of money which is needed to secure survival in a worst-case scenario . Firms and financial services regulators should then aim to hold risk capital of an amount equal at least to economic capital . Typically , economic capital is calculated by determining the amount of capital that the firm needs to ensure that its realistic balance sheet stays solvent over a certain time period with a pre-specified probability . Therefore , economic capital is often calculated as value at risk . The balance sheet , in this case , would be prepared showing market value ( rather than book value ) of assets and liabilities . The first accounts of economic capital date back to the ancient Phoenicians , who took rudimentary tallies of frequency and severity of illnesses among rural farmers to gain an intuition of expected losses in productivity . These calculations were advanced by correlations to climate change , political outbreak , and birth rate change . The concept of economic capital differs from regulatory capital in the sense that regulatory capital is the mandatory capital the regulators require to be maintained while economic capital is the best estimate of required capital that financial institutions use internally to manage their own risk and to allocate the cost of maintaining regulatory capital among different units within the organization .", "Existence (disambiguation) Existence , a philosophical concept in metaphysics and ontology . Existence may also refer to : Existence ( Dark Suns album ) Existence ( Beto Vázquez Infinity album ) `` Existence '' ( The X-Files ) , a 2001 television episode eXistenZ , a 1999 horror science-fiction film The Existence , a 2004 EP release by Forever Changed Existence , David Brin novel The 14 , a 1973 British film also released as Existence and The Wild Little Bunch Existence , is the name of a music project founded by Margot Reisinger Existential can mean `` relating to existence '' or `` relating to existentialism '' . It is used in particular to refer to : Existential quantification , in logic and mathematics ( symbolized by ∃ ) Existential clause , in linguistics Existential crisis Existential fallacy Existential humanism Existential forgery Existential risk Existential therapy Existential graph Existential phenomenology", "Orbital forcing Orbital forcing is the effect on climate of slow changes in the tilt of the Earth 's axis and shape of the orbit ( see Milankovitch cycles ) . These orbital changes change the total amount of sunlight reaching the Earth by up to 25 % at mid-latitudes ( from 400 to 500 Wm − 2 at latitudes of 60 degrees ) . In this context , the term `` forcing '' signifies a physical process that affects the Earth 's climate . This mechanism is believed to be responsible for the timing of the ice age cycles . A strict application of the Milankovitch theory does not allow the prediction of a `` sudden '' ice age ( rapid being anything under a century or two ) , since the fastest orbital period is about 20,000 years . The timing of past glacial periods coincides very well with the predictions of the Milankovitch theory , and these effects can be calculated into the future .", "Climatological normal Climatological normal is a 30-year average of a weather variable . Climatological normals are used as an average or baseline to evaluate climate events and provide context for year-to-year variability . Normals can be calculated for a variety of weather variables including temperature and precipitation and rely on data from weather stations . Variability from the 30-year averages is typical and climate variability looks at the magnitude of extremes .", "Risk score Risk score ( or risk scoring ) is the name given to a general practice in applied statistics , bio-statistics , econometrics and other related disciplines , of creating an easily calculated number ( the score ) that reflects the level of risk in the presence of some risk factors ( e.g. risk of mortality or disease in the presence of symptoms or genetic profile , risk financial loss considering credit and financial history , etc. ) . Risk scores are designed to be : Simple to calculate : In many cases all you need to calculate a score is nothing a pen and a piece of paper ( although some scores use rely on more sophisticated or less transparent calculations that require a computer program ) . Easily interpreted : The result of the calculation is a single number , and higher score usually means means higher risk . Furthermore , many scoring methods enforce some form of monotonicity along the measured risk factors to allow a straight forward interpretation of the score ( e.g. risk of mortality only increases with age , risk of payment default only increase with the amount of total debt the customer has , etc. ) . Actionable : Scores are designed around a set of possible actions that should be taken as a result of the calculated score . Effective score-based policies can be designed and executed by setting thresholds on the value of the score and associating them with escalating actions .", "Scenario (disambiguation) Scenario or scenarios may refer to : Scenario , a synopsis of a series of actions and events in a work of the performing arts that lacks a full script , such as a ballet scenario , a possible set of future events , see scenario planning and scenario analysis Scenario ( computing ) , the interaction between a computer user and a computer system or between two software components Scenario optimization , is a technique for obtaining solutions to problems based on randomization of the constraints User scenario , used to communicate an idea for a product or experience involving interactivity Scenario in films , part of the screenwriting process , precursor to a screenplay Scenario -- A Journal for Drama and Theatre Pedagogy , a bilingual online journal Scenario ( album ) , a 1983 album by Al Di Meola Scenarios ( album ) , by Andy Milne and Grégoire Maret Scenario ( song ) , a 1992 song by hip-hop group , A Tribe Called Quest Scenario ( artwork ) , an artificially intelligent interactive cinema project", "Device-independent quantum cryptography A quantum cryptographic protocol is device-independent if its security does not rely on trusting that the quantum devices used are truthful . Thus the security analysis of such a protocol needs to consider scenarios of imperfect or even malicious devices . Several important problems have been shown to admit unconditional secure and device-independent protocols . A closely related topic ( that is not discussed in this article ) is measurement-device independent quantum key distribution .", "Willis Resilience Expedition The Willis Resilience Expedition is a scientific and exploratory program taking place in Antarctica from November 2013 to January 2014 , with goals of gaining a better understanding of the Earth 's changing climate and weather-related risk . Announced in August 2013 , the Expedition will be led by Parker Liautaud , a teenage polar adventurer and environmental campaigner , and fellow explorer Douglas Stoup . The expedition is being underwritten by Willis Group , a global risk advisor , insurance and reinsurance broker . The expedition is significant for a number of reasons : Science . Liautaud and Stoup plan to conduct an isotope transect of Antarctica by collecting snow samples on which stable isotope analysis will be conducted in the hope of providing a valuable contribution to human understanding of Antarctic climate and potential for climate change . World Record Attempt . Parker Liautaud will attempt to ski 640 km unsupported from the coast of Antarctica to the South Pole in 22 days , in the hope of setting a `` coast to Pole '' speed record . At 19 years old , he also hopes to become the youngest person to ski to both the North and the South Poles . Live Communications . The Expedition will be accompanied by a custom-built 6x6 communications truck outfitted with equipment that will provide 24x7 connectivity to the rest of the world , enabling Liautaud and Stoup to document the journey in real time .", "ASTOS ASTOS is a tool dedicated to mission analysis , Trajectory optimization , vehicle design and simulation for space scenarios , i.e. launch , re-entry missions , orbit transfers , Earth observation , navigation , coverage and re-entry safety assessments . It solves Aerospace problems with a data driven interface and automatic initial guesses . Since 1989 , with the support of the European Space Agency , it has developed , and improved this trajectory optimization environment to compute optimal trajectories for a variety of complex multi-phase Optimal control problems . ASTOS is being extensively used at ESA and aerospace industry community to calculate mission analysis , optimal launch and entry trajectories and was one of the tools used by ESA to assess the risk due to the ATV ` Jules Verne ' re-entry . ASTOS is compatible with Windows and Linux platforms and is maintained and commercialized by Astos Solutions GmbH .", "Geopotential model In geophysics , a geopotential model is the theoretical analysis of measuring and calculating the effects of Earth 's gravitational field .", "Nano-Tera The Nano-Tera . ch research program is a Swiss federal program , funding scientific projects which endorse nanotechnology on a tera and Nano Tera scale , in order to improve technology for health , security , energy and the environment . Some of its goals are to detect real time different health risks and conditions through body-integrated bio probing , to reveal security risks through smart buildings and environments , to save energy through ambient sensing and to detect environmental hazards such as floods and avalanches from inaccessible positions on earth ." ]

[ "Little Ice Age The Little Ice Age ( LIA ) was a period of cooling that occurred after the Medieval Warm Period . Although it was not a true ice age , the term was introduced into scientific literature by François E. Matthes in 1939 . It has been conventionally defined as a period extending from the 16th to the 19th centuries , but some experts prefer an alternative timespan from about 1300 to about 1850 . Climatologists and historians working with local records no longer expect to agree on either the start or end dates of the period , which varied according to local conditions . The NASA Earth Observatory notes three particularly cold intervals : one beginning about 1650 , another about 1770 , and the last in 1850 , all separated by intervals of slight warming . The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Third Assessment Report considered the timing and areas affected by the Little Ice Age suggested largely-independent regional climate changes rather than a globally-synchronous increased glaciation . At most , there was modest cooling of the Northern Hemisphere during the period . Several causes have been proposed : cyclical lows in solar radiation , heightened volcanic activity , changes in the ocean circulation , variations in Earth 's orbit and axial tilt ( orbital forcing ) , inherent variability in global climate , and decreases in the human population .", "Instrumental temperature record The instrumental temperature record provides the temperature of Earth 's climate system from the historical network of in situ measurements of surface air temperatures and ocean surface temperatures . Data are collected at thousands of meteorological stations , buoys and ships around the globe . The longest-running temperature record is the Central England temperature data series , that starts in 1659 . The longest-running quasi-global record starts in 1850 . In recent decades more extensive sampling of ocean temperatures at various depths have begun allowing estimates of ocean heat content but these do not form part of the global surface temperature datasets .", "Global warming Global warming , also referred to as climate change , is the observed century-scale rise in the average temperature of the Earth 's climate system and its related effects . Multiple lines of scientific evidence show that the climate system is warming . Many of the observed changes since the 1950s are unprecedented in the instrumental temperature record which extends back to the mid 19th century , and in paleoclimate proxy records over thousands of years . In 2013 , the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) Fifth Assessment Report concluded that `` It is extremely likely that human influence has been the dominant cause of the observed warming since the mid-20th century . '' The largest human influence has been emission of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide , methane and nitrous oxide . Climate model projections summarized in the report indicated that during the 21st century the global surface temperature is likely to rise a further 0.3 to for their lowest emissions scenario and 2.6 to for the highest emissions scenario . These findings have been recognized by the national science academies of the major industrialized nations and are not disputed by any scientific body of national or international standing . Future climate change and associated impacts will differ from region to region around the globe . Anticipated effects include warming global temperature , rising sea levels , changing precipitation , and expansion of deserts in the subtropics . Warming is expected to be greater over land than over the oceans and greatest in the Arctic , with the continuing retreat of glaciers , permafrost and sea ice . Other likely changes include more frequent extreme weather events including heat waves , droughts , heavy rainfall with floods and heavy snowfall ; ocean acidification ; and species extinctions due to shifting temperature regimes . Effects significant to humans include the threat to food security from decreasing crop yields and the abandonment of populated areas due to rising sea levels . Because the climate system has a large `` inertia '' and greenhouse gases will stay in the atmosphere for a long time , many of these effects will not only exist for decades or centuries , but will persist for tens of thousands of years . Possible societal responses to global warming include mitigation by emissions reduction , adaptation to its effects , building systems resilient to its effects , and possible future climate engineering . Most countries are parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change ( UNFCCC ) , whose ultimate objective is to prevent dangerous anthropogenic climate change . Parties to the UNFCCC have agreed that deep cuts in emissions are required and that global warming should be limited to well below 2.0 C-change relative to pre-industrial levels , with efforts made to limit warming to 1.5 C-change . Public reactions to global warming and concern about its effects are also increasing . A global 2015 Pew Research Center report showed a median of 54 % consider it `` a very serious problem '' . There are significant regional differences , with Americans and Chinese ( whose economies are responsible for the greatest annual CO2 emissions ) among the least concerned ." ]

[ "Global warming hiatus A global warming hiatus , also sometimes referred to as a global warming pause or a global warming slowdown , is a period of relatively little change in globally averaged surface temperatures . In the current episode of global warming many such 15-year periods appear in the surface temperature record , along with robust evidence of the long-term warming trend ; climate is classically averaged over 30-year periods . Publicity has surrounded claims of a global warming hiatus during the period 1998 -- 2013 . The exceptionally warm El Niño year of 1998 was an outlier from the continuing temperature trend , and so subsequent annual temperatures gave the appearance of a hiatus : by January 2006 , it appeared to some that global warming had stopped or paused . A 2009 study showed that decades without warming were not exceptional , and in 2011 a study showed that if allowances were made for known variability , the rising temperature trend continued unabated . There was increased public interest in 2013 in the run-up to publication of the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report , and despite concerns that a 15-year period was too short to determine a meaningful trend , the IPCC included a section on a hiatus , which it defined as a much smaller increasing linear trend over the 15 years from 1998 to 2012 , than over the 60 years from 1951 to 2012 . Various studies examined possible causes of the short-term slowdown . Even though the overall climate system has continued to accumulate energy due to Earth 's positive energy budget , the available temperature readings at the Earth 's surface indicate slower rates of increase in surface warming than in the prior decade . Since measurements at the top of the atmosphere show that Earth is receiving more energy than it is radiating back into space , the retained energy should be producing warming in the Earth 's climate system . Research reported in July 2015 on an updated NOAA dataset casts doubt on the existence of a hiatus , and it finds no indication of a slowdown even in earlier years . Scientists working on other datasets welcomed this study , though they have expressed the view that the recent warming trend was less than in previous periods of the same length . Subsequently , a detailed study supports the conclusion that warming is continuing , but it also find there was less warming between 2001 and 2010 than climate models had predicted , and that this slowdown might be attributed to short-term variations in the Pacific decadal oscillation ( PDO ) , which was negative during that period . Another review finds `` no substantive evidence '' of a pause in global warming . A statistical study of global temperature data since 1970 concludes that the term ` hiatus ' or ` pause ' is not justified . Independent of these discussions about data and measurements for earlier years , 2015 turned out to be much warmer than any of the earlier years , already before El Niño conditions started . The warmth of 2015 largely ended any remaining scientific credibility of claims that the supposed `` hiatus '' since 1998 had any significance for the long-term warming trend . In January 2017 , a study published in the journal Science Advances cast further doubt on the existence of a recent pause , with more evidence that ocean temperatures have been underestimated . An April 2017 study found the data consistent with a steady warming trend globally since the 1970s , with fluctuations within the expected range of short term variability .", "Winter of 2009–10 in Europe The winter of 2009 -- 2010 in Europe was unusually cold . Globally , unusual weather patterns brought cold , moist air from the north . Weather systems were undergoing cyclogenesis from North American storms moving across the Atlantic Ocean to the west , and saw many parts of Europe experiencing heavy snowfall and record-low temperatures . This led to a number of deaths , widespread transport disruption , power failures and postponed sporting events .", "Divergence problem The divergence problem is an anomaly from the field of dendroclimatology , the study of past climate through observations of old trees , primarily the properties of their annual growth rings . It is the disagreement between the temperatures measured by the thermometers ( instrumental temperatures ) and the temperatures reconstructed from the latewood densities or , in some cases , widths of tree rings in the far northern forests . While the thermometer records indicate a substantial late 20th century warming trend , many tree rings from such sites do not display a corresponding change in their maximum latewood density . In some studies this issue has also been found with tree ring width . A temperature trend extracted from tree rings alone would not show any substantial warming since the 1950s . The temperature graphs calculated in these two ways thus `` diverge '' from one another , which is the origin of the term .", "January 2016 East Asia cold wave In late January 2016 , a cold wave struck much of East Asia , parts of mainland Southeast Asia and parts of northern South Asia , bringing record cold temperatures and snowfall to many regions . Sleet was reported in Okinawa for the first time on record , and many other regions saw their coldest temperatures in decades . Snowfall and frigid weather stranded thousands of people across four countries . At least 85 people in Taiwan died from hypothermia and cardiac arrest following a sudden drop in temperature during the weekend of January 22 -- 24 . The cold claimed a further fourteen lives in Thailand , and snowstorms resulted in six deaths across Japan . This event was driven by a fast Arctic warming that occurred within the troposphere , forcing the Arctic Oscillation to change phase rapidly from positive ( in late December ) to negative ( in late January ) , facilitating the atmospheric blocking and associated Siberian high buildup .", "Climate of Miami Miami has a tropical monsoon climate ( Köppen climate classification Am ) with hot and humid summers and short , warm winters , with a marked drier season in the winter . Köppen climate classification Its sea-level elevation , coastal location , position just above the Tropic of Cancer , and proximity to the Gulf Stream shape its climate . With January averaging 69.2 F , winter features warm temperatures ; cool air usually settles after the passage of a cold front , which produces much of the little amount of rainfall . Lows sometimes fall to or below 50 F , with an average 3 such occurrences annually , but very rarely 40 F ; from 1981 to 2010 , temperatures reached that level in only eight calendar years . Highs generally reach 70 F or higher , and fail to do so on only an average of 12 days annually . The wet season usually begins during the month of May and continues through mid-October . During this period , temperatures are in the mid 80s to low 90s ( 29 -- 35 ° C ) , accompanied by high humidity , though the heat is often relieved by afternoon thunderstorms or a sea breeze that develops off the Atlantic Ocean , which then allow lower temperatures , but conditions still remain very muggy . Much of the year 's 61.9 in of rainfall occurs during this period . Extreme temperatures range from 26.5 ° F ( recorded as 27 in the almanac ) on February 3 , 1917 , to 100 ° F on July 21 , 1942 , ( − 2.8 to 38 ° C ) , the triple-digit ( ° F ) reading on record ; the more recent freezing temperature seen at Miami International Airport was on December 25 , 1989 . The highest daily minimum temperature is 84 ° F on August 4 , 1993 and September 7 , 1897 ( although the corresponding record for Miami Beach is 90 ° F on July 17 , 2001 ) , and conversely , the lowest daily maximum temperature is 45 ° F on February 19 , 1900 . While Miami has never officially recorded any accumulating snowfall since records have been kept , there were dubious claims of snow flurries on January 19 , 1977 during the cold wave of January 1977 . Weather conditions for the area around Miami were recorded sporadically from 1839 until 1900 , with many years-long gaps . A cooperative temperature and rainfall recording site was established in what is now Downtown in December 1900 . An official Weather Bureau Office opened in Miami in June 1911 . Heavy snow squalls with accumulations that lasted for a few hours after the snow had stopped falling in February 1899 were reported , but these are not official since there is no written record of it . Miami receives abundant rainfall , one of the highest among major cities in the United States . Most of this rainfall occurs from mid-May through early October . Miami has an average annual rainfall of 61.9 in , whereas nearby Fort Lauderdale and Miami Beach receive 66.5 in and 51.7 in , respectively , which demonstrates the high local variability in rainfall rates . Miami reports more thunderstorms than most US cities , with about eighty days per year having thunder reported . These storms are often strong , with frequent lightning and very heavy rain . Occasionally , they can be severe with damaging straight line winds and large hail . Tornadoes and waterspouts sometimes occur , although violent tornadoes of the type seen in other parts of the United States are rare in Florida . During El Niño events , Miami becomes cooler than normal during the dry season with above average precipitation . During La Niña , Miami becomes warmer and drier than normal . A record setting 12-day cold snap in January 2010 was the coldest period since at least the 1940s . During the cold wave of January 1977 that saw snowfall over the majority of the state , isolated flurries have been observed on the outskirts of Miami , which is the only recorded snowfall in the history of the region . The climate for much of the state is humid subtropical ( Köppen Cfa ) , South Florida , as well as all of the Florida Keys , qualify as one of several tropical classifications ( Köppen Aw , Am , or Af ) . Köppen climate classification Southeastern Florida falls into USDA zone 10b for plant hardiness , where annual extreme low temperatures range from 30 to , versus zone 9 in Central Florida , and zone 8 in northern Florida . With global warming , the urban heat island effect , as well as Biscayne Bay as a buffer , the waterside downtown area and the barrier islands including Miami Beach made it into hardiness zone 11a by 2012 . Miami Beach has virtually no freezing weather in its history and very few sub - 40 F weather . Roughly 115 mi north of Miami , Jensen Beach is at the threshold of Florida 's tropical climate designation , with January having an average about 64 F. Southeastern Florida is also the only area in the continental United States to be in Zone 1 for Energy Star recommended insulation levels , with Hawaii , Puerto Rico , and the US Virgin Islands .", "Wibjörn Karlén Wibjörn Karlén ( born 26 August 1937 in Kristine , Kopparberg County , Sweden ) , Ph.D. , is a professor emeritus of physical geography and quaternary geology at Stockholm University , Sweden . In an article which describes Karlén as a paleoclimatologist , he is quoted as saying : `` One of the big problems with trying to determine long-term temperature changes , is that weather records only go back to about 1860 . By relying on statistical reconstruction of the last 1000 years , using only the temperature patterns of the last 140 years instead of actual temperature readings , the IPCC report and Summary missed both a major cooling period as well as a significant warming trend during that millennium . '' Karlén has also criticized the mainstream media for `` spreading the exaggerated views of a human impact on climate . '' He was also named in a 2007 minority report of the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee as one of 400 `` prominent scientists '' who were said to dispute global warming . In 2010 , he predicted that natural climate changes , caused to a large degree by the sun 's activity , would more likely make the climate colder than warmer in the next decades . He is a contributing author to the Fraser Institute 2007 Independent Summary for Policymakers . Karlén is a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences .", "Snow in Florida It is very rare for snow to fall in the U.S. state of Florida , especially in the central and southern portions of the state . With the exception of the far northern areas of the state and the Jacksonville area , most of the major cities of Florida have never recorded measurable snowfall , have only recorded trace ( T ) amounts , or have only reported flurries in the air , usually just a few times each century . In the Florida Keys and Key West there is no known occurrence of snow flurries since the settlement of the region . Due to Florida 's low latitude and subtropical climate , temperatures cold enough to support significant snowfall are infrequent and their duration is fleeting . In general , frost is more common than snow , requiring temperatures of 32 ° F ( 0 ° C ) or less at 2 m above sea level , a cloudless sky , and a relative humidity of 65 % or more . Generally , for snow to occur , the polar jet stream must move southward through Texas and into the Gulf of Mexico , with a stalled cold front across the southern portion of the state curving northeastward to combine freezing air into the frontal clouds . While light snowfall occurs a few times each decade across the northern panhandle , most of the state is too far south of the cold continental air masses responsible for generating snowfall in the rest of the country . The mean maximum monthly snowfall in most parts of Florida is zero . The only other areas in the continental United States with this distinction are extreme southern Texas and parts of coastal southern California . Much of the known information on snow in Florida prior to 1900 is from climatological records provided by the National Weather Service meteorological station in Jacksonville , and information for other locations is sparse . The earliest recorded instance of snow in Florida occurred in 1774 ; being unaccustomed to snow , some Jacksonville residents called it `` extraordinary white rain . '' The first White Christmas in northeastern Florida 's history resulted from a snow event that occurred on December 23 , 1989 .", "Cold start (automotive) A cold start is an attempt to start a vehicle 's engine when it is cold , relative to its normal operating temperature , often due to normal cold weather . A cold start situation is commonplace , as weather conditions in most climates will naturally be at a lower temperature than the typical operating temperature of an engine . Occasionally , the term also refers to starting the engine of a vehicle that has been inactive or abandoned for a significant amount of time such as months , years or even decades .", "Meteorograph Meteorograph may be one of the following : Meteogram a graphical presentation of weather variables with respect to time Barograph a pressure recording device Thermo-hygrograph a pressure and temperature recording device", "Thermoreceptor A thermoreceptor is a non-specialised sense receptor , or more accurately the receptive portion of a sensory neuron , that codes absolute and relative changes in temperature , primarily within the innocuous range . In the mammalian peripheral nervous system , warmth receptors are thought to be unmyelinated C-fibres ( low conduction velocity ) , while those responding to cold have both C-fibers and thinly myelinated A delta fibers ( faster conduction velocity ) . The adequate stimulus for a warm receptor is warming , which results in an increase in their action potential discharge rate . Cooling results in a decrease in warm receptor discharge rate . For cold receptors their firing rate increases during cooling and decreases during warming . Some cold receptors also respond with a brief action potential discharge to high temperatures , i.e. typically above 45 ° C , and this is known as a paradoxical response to heat . The mechanism responsible for this behavior has not been determined . In humans , temperature sensation enters the spinal cord along the axons of Lissauer 's tract that synapse on second order neurons in grey matter of the dorsal horn , one or two vertebral levels up . The axons of these second order neurons then decussate , joining the spinothalamic tract as they ascend to neurons in the ventral posterolateral nucleus of the thalamus .", "Climate of North Dakota North Dakota 's climate is typical of a continental climate with cold winters and warm-hot summers . The state 's location in the Upper Midwest allows it to experience some of the widest variety of weather in the United States , and each of the four seasons has its own distinct characteristics . The eastern half of the state has a humid continental climate ( Köppen climate classification Dfb ) with warm to hot , somewhat humid summers and cold , windy winters , while the western half has a semi-arid climate ( Köppen climate classification BSk ) with less precipitation and less humidity but similar temperature profiles . The areas east of the Missouri River get slightly colder winters , while those west of the stream get higher summer daytime temperatures . In general , the diurnal temperature difference is prone to be more significant in the west due to higher elevation and less humidity .", "Climate of Buenos Aires Buenos Aires , the capital of Argentina , has a temperate climate , which is classified as a humid subtropical climate ( Cfa ) under the Köppen climate classification with four distinct seasons . Summers are hot and humid with frequent thunderstorms while winters are cool and drier with frosts that occurs on average twice per year . Spring and fall are transition seasons characterized by changeable weather . At the central observatory , the highest recorded temperature is 43.3 C while the lowest recorded temperature is -5.4 C. Different climatic factors influence the climate of Buenos Aires . The semi -- permanent South Atlantic High influences its climate throughout the year by bringing in moist winds from the northeast , which bring most of the precipitation to the city in the form of frontal systems during winter or storms produced by cyclogenesis in autumn and winter . The hot temperatures and high insolation in the summer months form a low pressure system called the Chaco Low over northern Argentina , generating a pressure gradient that brings moist easterly winds to the city -- because of this , summer is the rainiest season . In contrast , this low pressure system weakens in the winter , which combined with strong southerly winds results in a drier season due to weaker easterly winds . Being located in the Pampas , Buenos Aires has variable weather due to the passage of contrasting air mass -- the cold , dry Pampero from the south and warm , humid tropical air from the north . The coastal location results in a strong maritime influence , causing extreme temperatures ( hot or cold ) to be rare .", "Spring 2011 United Kingdom heat wave The Spring of 2011 in the United Kingdom was exceptional for the warm weather which occurred during April and the dry weather which was persistent during March and April in certain parts of the UK . April was statistically the warmest and driest in the country since records began in 1910 . There was a contrast between north-western parts of the UK which received substantial amounts of rainfall and south-eastern parts which received very little . As lack of rainfall continued in many parts during May , concerns arose that the country could submit to drought . High pressure was the cause for the warm , dry weather experienced during April . A high temperature of 27.8 ° C was recorded on 23 April at Wisley , Surrey , the highest temperature recorded in April in the UK since 1949 . Thus , the Central England Temperature for the month was 3.7 ° C above the 1971-2000 average , and daily maximum temperatures were up to 6 ° C higher than average .", "Weather front A weather ( state of atmosphere ) front is a boundary separating two masses of air of different densities , and is the principal cause of meteorological phenomena outside the tropics . In surface weather analyses , fronts are depicted using various colored triangles and half-circles , depending on the type of front . The air masses separated by a front usually differ in temperature and humidity . Cold fronts may feature narrow bands of thunderstorms and severe weather , and may on occasion be preceded by squall lines or dry lines . Warm fronts are usually preceded by stratiform precipitation and fog . The weather usually clears quickly after a front 's passage . Some fronts produce no precipitation and little cloudiness , although there is invariably a wind shift . Cold fronts and occluded fronts generally move from west to east , while warm fronts move poleward . Because of the greater density of air in their wake , cold fronts and cold occlusions move faster than warm fronts and warm occlusions . Mountains and warm bodies of water can slow the movement of fronts . When a front becomes stationary , and the density contrast across the frontal boundary vanishes , the front can degenerate into a line which separates regions of differing wind velocity , known as a shearline . This is most common over the open ocean .", "Climate of Moscow Moscow has a humid continental climate ( Köppen climate classification Dfb ) with warm , sometimes hot , somewhat humid summers and long , cold winters . Typical high temperatures in the warm months of June , July and August are around 23 ° C , but during heat waves , which can occur anytime from May to September , daytime temperature highs often top 30 ° C for sometimes one or two weeks . In the winter , temperatures normally drop to approximately -10 ° C , though there can be periods of warmth with temperatures rising above 0 ° C. Summer lasts from mid-May to the beginning of September . Winter lasts from the beginning of November to the end of March .", "Climate of the Arctic The climate of the Arctic is characterized by long , cold winters and short , cool summers . There is a large amount of variability in climate across the Arctic , but all regions experience extremes of solar radiation in both summer and winter . Some parts of the Arctic are covered by ice ( sea ice , glacial ice , or snow ) year-round , and nearly all parts of the Arctic experience long periods with some form of ice on the surface . Average January temperatures range from about − 34 ° C to 0 ° C ( − 40 to +32 ° F ) , and winter temperatures can drop below − 50 ° C ( − 58 ° F ) over large parts of the Arctic . Average July temperatures range from about − 10 to +10 ° C ( 14 to 50 ° F ) , with some land areas occasionally exceeding 30 ° C ( 86 ° F ) in summer . The Arctic consists of ocean that is largely surrounded by land . As such , the climate of much of the Arctic is moderated by the ocean water , which can never have a temperature below − 2 ° C ( 28 ° F ) . In winter , this relatively warm water , even though covered by the polar ice pack , keeps the North Pole from being the coldest place in the Northern Hemisphere , and it is also part of the reason that Antarctica is so much colder than the Arctic . In summer , the presence of the nearby water keeps coastal areas from warming as much as they might otherwise .", "March 2012 North American heat wave In March 2012 , one of the greatest heat waves was observed in many regions of North America . Very warm air pushed northward west of the Great Lakes region , and subsequently spread eastward . The intense poleward air mass movement was propelled by an unusually intense low level southerly jet that stretched from Louisiana to western Wisconsin . Once this warm surge inundated the area , a remarkably prolonged period of record setting temperatures ensued . NOAA 's National Climate Data Center reported that over 7,000 daily record high temperatures were tied or broken from 1 March through 27 March . In some places the temperature exceeded 86 ° F ( 30 ° C ) . For instance , in Grand Rapids , Michigan , the highest temperature recorded was 87 ° F on March 21 ; in Chicago a high of 87 ° F was also recorded on that same day . Records were broken in unusual ways . Chicago , for example , saw temperatures above 80 ° F every day between March 14 -- 18 , breaking records on all five days . Chicago would go on to record eight days at or above 80 ° F during the month , with many suburban areas recording an additional day in the 80s on March 19 ( that day , the city only tied its record high of 78 ° F ) . In context , the National Weather Service 's Chicago branch noted that Chicago typically averages only one day in the 80 's in April . And only once in 140 years of weather observations has April produced as many 80 ° F days as this March . In Traverse City , Michigan one day began with a low temperature ( 67 ° F ) higher than the previous record high for the day . Temperature records across much of southern Canada also were shattered . Some of the most impressive readings came from Nova Scotia on March 22 , when the mercury climbed to 30.0 C at a climate station in Lake Major , making it the highest March temperature recorded in Nova Scotia , and the third highest March temperature recorded in Canada . That same day , the temperature hit 29.2 C at Western Head , Nova Scotia . The heat reached as far east as Cape Breton Island , with the temperature climbing to 24.0 C at Sydney , Nova Scotia on March 22 , a place historically surrounded by ice-jammed waters , frigid winds , and snow in March . The week of March 18 also set record temperatures in Manitoba and much of Ontario as well as into the Maritime Provinces . Non-severe thunderstorms were reported on the evening hours of March 21 , through to the early morning hours March 22 into northern Ontario . In addition , NCEP/NCAR Reanalysis data show that the atmospheric pattern was so persistent that much of the Midwest and Northeast , and up into Ontario , had temperature departures over periods of several days to a week or more of magnitudes which would be unusual even for a single day . Averaged over the seven-day period from March 16 to March 22 inclusive , nearly the entire area of the Midwest and Northeast U.S. and most of Ontario and Quebec had temperatures 10 ° C ( 18 ° F ) or more above the 1981-2010 average . Even more dramatically , most of Iowa and Minnesota , all of Wisconsin and Michigan , and most of southeastern Ontario had seven-day mean temperatures more than 15 ° C ( 27 ° F ) above the climatological average for the same period . An 84 ° F high at Madison , WI in early March was 43 ° F above average and followed an overnight low of 60 ° F , 35 degrees above normal the daily high being more than seven standard deviations above the mean . The absolute temperature and departure statistically would be equivalent to a mid-July high at that station in excess of 125 ° F or more ; the highest temperature recorded there was 107 ° at least once during the heat waves of the middle 1930s . This mild warm spell brought out spring peepers in northern Ontario on 23 March , which are usually not heard until mid-to-late April , or sometimes early May . The warm weather was also responsible for several early-season tornado touchdowns , such as the EF3 that struck Dexter , Michigan , near Ann Arbor .", "List of extreme temperatures in Canada In various locations in Canada , extreme temperatures are often recorded . Here is a list of 15 extreme hot and cold temperature recorded in Canada for the past 120 years , not necessarily the hottest or coldest 15 but some are shown for selected cities or regions , ( e.g. Toronto ) . These are officially recognized extreme temperatures by Environment Canada .", "Winter of 2010–11 in Great Britain and Ireland The winter of 2010 -- 2011 was a weather event that brought heavy snowfalls , record low temperatures , travel chaos and school disruption to the islands of Britain and Ireland . It included the UK 's coldest December since Met Office records began in 1910 , with a mean temperature of -1 ° C , breaking the previous record of 0.1 ° C in December 1981 . Also it was the second-coldest December in the narrower Central England Temperature ( CET ) record series which began in 1659 , falling 0.1 ° C short of the all-time record set in 1890 . The winter of 2010 in England saw the earliest widespread winter snowfall since 1993 with snow falling as early as 24 November across Northumberland and North Yorkshire . A maximum snow depth of 30 in was recorded on 1 December in the Peak District , Sheffield , the Cotswold Hills and the Forest of Dean . In this event Scotland and Northern England were most severely affected . On 9 December temperatures recovered across much of the UK , causing a partial thaw . Later , on Thursday 16 December a cold front reintroduced a cold , arctic airstream . This cold spell brought further snow and ice chaos back to the British Isles with Southern England , Wales , the Republic of Ireland ( excluding the westerly coastal regions ) and Northern Ireland bearing the brunt of the wintry conditions . This led to severe disruption to the road and rail network with several airports being closed including London Heathrow Airport for a time . Several local temperature records were broken including a new record low for Northern Ireland of -18.7 ° C recorded at Castlederg on 23 December 2010 . By the new year a thaw had begun , and there was no recurrence of the extreme conditions for the remainder of the winter . There was some snowfall in early January , and there was an anticyclonic spell at the end of the month that brought some cold , frosty days . February was above average in temperature and ended on a mild note , although the snow returned in much of Scotland during March .", "1997–98 El Niño event The 1997 -- 98 El Niño was regarded as one of the most powerful El Niño -- Southern Oscillation events in recorded history , resulting in widespread droughts , flooding and other natural disasters across the globe . It caused an estimated 16 % of the world 's reef systems to die , and temporarily warmed air temperature by 1.5 ° C , compared to the usual increase of 0.25 ° C associated with El Niño events . It led to a severe outbreak of Rift Valley fever after extreme rainfall in north-eastern Kenya and southern Somalia . It also led to record rainfalls in California during the water season of 1997 -- 98 and one of Indonesia 's worst droughts on record . 1998 ultimately became the warmest year in recorded history ( up until then ) .", "Climate of Sydney The climate of Sydney is humid subtropical ( Köppen Cfa ) , shifting from mild and cool in winter to warm and hot in the summer , with no extreme seasonal differences as the weather is moderated by proximity to the ocean . More contrasting temperatures are recorded in the inland western suburbs . Rainfall is spread evenly throughout the year , though it is generally highest between February and June . Precipitation varies across the region , with areas adjacent to the coast being the wettest . Sydney has 103.9 clear days annually , with the monthly percent possible sunshine ranging from 53 % in January to 72 % in August . The city receives around 20 thunderstorms per year . Sydney 's heat is usually dry when temperatures soar over 35 C . In some hot days , low pressure troughs would increase humidity and southerly busters would decrease temperatures . In late autumn and winter , east coast lows can bring large amounts of rainfall . Sydney experiences an urban heat island effect , making certain parts of the city more vulnerable to extreme heat , particularly the west . Efforts have been introduced to investigate and mitigate this heat effect , including increasing shade from tree canopies , adding rooftop gardens to high rise structures and changing pavement colour . The El Niño Southern Oscillation plays an important role in determining Sydney 's weather patterns : drought and bushfire on the one hand , and storms and flooding on the other . Sydney is prone to heat waves and drought , which have become more common in recent years .", "Warm Mouse Warm Mouse or Heated Mouse is a two-button USB wheeled optical mouse developed by ValueRays . It uses an internal carbon heating element to produce a low volume of far-infrared heat . The level of warmth produced is adjustable to provide a low to high level of heat via an inline switch located on the USB power cable . The device is intended for people working in cold environments who wish to keep their mouse hand warm while using the computer .", "World So Cold (Mudvayne song) `` World So Cold '' is the final single from group Mudvayne 's second record The End of All Things to Come . The song is very different from the rest of the band 's work , being much more mellow while building intensity during the song 's bridge and ending . Its lyrics take on a saddened and deeply personal tone in their sense of resentment toward society .", "Temperature record of the past 1000 years For information on the description of the Medieval Warm Period and Little Ice Age in various IPCC reports see MWP and LIA in IPCC reportsThe temperature record of the past 1,000 years is reconstructed using data from climate proxy records in conjunction with the modern instrumental temperature record which only covers the last 150 years at a global scale . Large-scale reconstructions covering part or all of the 1st millennium and 2nd millennium have shown that recent temperatures are exceptional : the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Fourth Assessment Report of 2007 concluded that `` Average Northern Hemisphere temperatures during the second half of the 20th century were very likely higher than during any other 50-year period in the last 500 years and likely '' the highest in at least the past 1,300 years . '' The curve shown in graphs of these reconstructions is widely known as the hockey stick graph because of the sharp increase in temperatures during the last century . As of 2010 this broad pattern was supported by more than two dozen reconstructions , using various statistical methods and combinations of proxy records , with variations in how flat the pre-20th-century `` shaft '' appears . Sparseness of proxy records results in considerable uncertainty for earlier periods . Individual proxy records , such as tree ring widths and densities used in dendroclimatology , are calibrated against the instrumental record for the period of overlap . Networks of such records are used to reconstruct past temperatures for regions : tree ring proxies have been used to reconstruct Northern Hemisphere extratropical temperatures ( within the tropics trees do not form rings ) but are confined to land areas and are scarce in the Southern Hemisphere which is largely ocean . Wider coverage is provided by multiproxy reconstructions , incorporating proxies such as lake sediments , ice cores and corals which are found in different regions , and using statistical methods to relate these sparser proxies to the greater numbers of tree ring records . The `` Composite Plus Scaling '' ( CPS ) method is widely used for large-scale multiproxy reconstructions of hemispheric or global average temperatures ; this is complemented by Climate Field Reconstruction ( CFR ) methods which show how climate patterns have developed over large spatial areas , making the reconstruction useful for investigating natural variability and long-term oscillations as well as for comparisons with patterns produced by climate models . During the 1,900 years before the 20th century , it is likely that the next warmest period was from 950 to 1100 , with peaks at different times in different regions . This has been called the Medieval Warm Period , and some evidence suggests widespread cooler conditions during a period around the 17th century known as the Little Ice Age . In the hockey stick controversy , contrarians have asserted that the Medieval Warm Period was warmer than at present , and have disputed the data and methods of climate reconstructions .", "Climate of Antarctica The climate of Antarctica is the coldest on Earth . Antarctica 's lowest air temperature record was set on 21 July 1983 , with − 89.2 C at Vostok Station . Satellite measurements have identified even lower ground temperatures , down to − 93.2 C at the cloud free East Antarctic Plateau on 10 August 2010 . It is also extremely dry ( technically a desert ) , averaging 166 mm of precipitation per year . On most parts of the continent the snow rarely melts and is eventually compressed to become the glacier ice that makes up the ice sheet . Weather fronts rarely penetrate far into the continent , because of the katabatic winds . Most of Antarctica has an ice cap climate ( Köppen EF ) with very cold , generally extremely dry weather .", "Siner, Chuvash Republic Seener is a rural locality ( a village ) in Alikovsky District of the Chuvash Republic , Russia , located near the district 's administrative center of Alikovo and near the Cheboksary -- Alikovo -- Krasnye Chetai and Cheboksary -- Alikovo -- Yadrin auto routes . The population is 135 , mostly Chuvash females ; it was 248 , 224 and 156 in 1926 , 1907 and 1859 , respectively . Two small rivers -- the Abashyrma and Khelkassy -- flow in the vicinity of the village . The village only has one street ( Kooperativnaya ) . The climate is moderately continental , with long cold winters and warm summers . Average January temperature is -12.9 ° C , average July temperature -- 18.3 ° C. Absolute recorded minimum temperature is -44 ° C , while the absolute recorded maximum is 37 ° C. Annual average precipitation is 552 mm .", "Thalpotentiginy Thalpotentiginy is a psychological term applied to sexual arousal from heat or even warm weather . It is derived from the Greek thalpos meaning `` warmth '' and the Latin tentigo meaning `` lust , or passion . ''", "Ukiah, Oregon Ukiah is a city in Umatilla County , Oregon , United States . The population was 186 at the 2010 census . It is part of the Pendleton -- Hermiston Micropolitan Statistical Area . It was named by an early settler after the town of Ukiah , California . Ukiah is tied with Seneca , in Grant County , for the coldest official temperature in Oregon . Ukiah dropped to -54 F on February 9 , 1933 , during a major cold snap across Siberia and North America . On February 10 , Seneca also hit − 54 ° F , so the National Weather Service gives Seneca the record because it had the most recent occurrence of that temperature .", "Winter of 2009–10 in Great Britain and Ireland The winter of 2009 -- 10 in the United Kingdom ( also called The Big Freeze by British media ) was a meteorological event that started on 16 December 2009 , as part of the severe winter weather in Europe . January 2010 was provisionally the coldest January since 1987 across the country . A persistent pattern of cold northerly and easterly winds brought cold , moist air to the United Kingdom with many snow showers , fronts and polar lows bringing snowy weather with it . The first snowfall began on 17 December 2009 , before a respite over the Christmas period . The most severe snowy weather began on 5 January in North West England and west Scotland with temperatures hitting a low of -17.6 ° C in Greater Manchester , England . The snow spread to Southern England on 6 January and by 7 January the United Kingdom was blanketed in snow , which was captured by NASA 's Terra satellite . The thaw came a week later , as temperatures started to increase . The winter weather brought widespread transport disruption , school closures , power failures , the postponement of sporting events and 25 deaths . A low of -22.3 ° C was recorded in Altnaharra , Scotland on 8 January 2010 . Overall it was the coldest winter since 1978 -- 79 , with a mean temperature of 1.5 ° C.", "Remote Sensing Systems Remote Sensing Systems ( RSS ) is a private research company founded in 1974 by Frank Wentz . It processes microwave data from a variety of NASA satellites . Most of their research is supported by the Earth Science Enterprise program . The company is based in Santa Rosa , California . They are a widely cited source of data , on the satellite temperature record . Their data is one source of evidence for global warming . Research by Carl Mears , Matthias Schabel , and Wentz , all of RSS , highlighted errors in the early satellite temperature records compiled by John Christy and Roy Spencer at UAH . The UAH data had previously showed no significant temperature trend , bringing the derived satellite data into closer agreement with surface temperature trends , radiosonde data and computer models . The UAH data is now closer to the RSS data but differences remain , for example the Lower Troposphere global average trend since 1979 , RSS currently have +0.133 K/decade while UAH have 0.140 K/decade , while the mid troposphere difference is even more marked at 0.079 K/decade and 0.052 K/decade respectively . However , in a recent online YouTube video , Dr. Carl Mears , a senior scientist with the team behind the satellite data , explained how he believes his data set needed correction . I would have to say that the surface data seems that it 's more accurate , because a number of groups analyze the surface data , including some who set out to prove the other ones wrong , and they all get more or less the same answer .", "Calefactory The calefactory ( also warming house ) was an important room or building in a medieval monastery in Western Europe . It was here that a communal fire was kept so that the monks could warm themselves after long hours of study in the ( unheated ) cloister or other work . In the early Middle Ages this was one of the few heated rooms in the monastery - the others being the infirmary , the guest house and the kitchen - but this policy was generally relaxed , save for a few very strict orders , by the latter part of the mediaeval period when fireplaces became common throughout the claustral buildings . The warming house was always one of the buildings surrounding the cloister and was entered from it . Often it was located close to the refectory so that the warmth could be shared by the monks when they were eating . In many monasteries an upper floor was built over the warming house that served as the muniment room , where the house 's charters , deeds and other legal documents were kept safe from damp .", "Winter of 2010–11 in Europe The winter of 2010 -- 2011 in Europe began with an unusually cold November caused by a cold weather cycle that started in southern Scandinavia and subsequently moved south and west over both Belgium and the Netherlands on 25 November and into the west of Scotland and north east England on 26 November . This was due to a low pressure zone in the Baltics , with a high pressure over Greenland on 24 November . From 22 November 2010 , cold conditions arrived in the United Kingdom , as a cold northerly wind developed and snow began to fall in northern and eastern parts , causing disruption . The winter arrived particularly early for the European climate , with temperatures dropping significantly lower than previous lows for the month of November . On 28 November , Wales recorded its lowest-ever November temperature of -17.3 C in Llysdinam , and Northern Ireland recorded its lowest ever November temperature of -9.5 C in Lough Rea . The UK Met Office issued severe-weather warnings for heavy snow for eastern Scotland and the north-east of England . From January , temperatures were more normal ." ]

[ "Jupiter Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest in the Solar System . It is a giant planet with a mass one-thousandth that of the Sun , but two and a half times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined . Jupiter and Saturn are gas giants ; the other two giant planets , Uranus and Neptune are ice giants . Jupiter has been known to astronomers since antiquity . The Romans named it after their god Jupiter . When viewed from Earth , Jupiter can reach an apparent magnitude of − 2.94 , bright enough for its reflected light to cast shadows , and making it on average the third-brightest object in the night sky after the Moon and Venus . Jupiter is primarily composed of hydrogen with a quarter of its mass being helium , though helium comprises only about a tenth of the number of molecules . It may also have a rocky core of heavier elements , but like the other giant planets , Jupiter lacks a well-defined solid surface . Because of its rapid rotation , the planet 's shape is that of an oblate spheroid ( it has a slight but noticeable bulge around the equator ) . The outer atmosphere is visibly segregated into several bands at different latitudes , resulting in turbulence and storms along their interacting boundaries . A prominent result is the Great Red Spot , a giant storm that is known to have existed since at least the 17th century when it was first seen by telescope . Surrounding Jupiter is a faint planetary ring system and a powerful magnetosphere . Jupiter has at least 67 moons , including the four large Galilean moons discovered by Galileo Galilei in 1610 . Ganymede , the largest of these , has a diameter greater than that of the planet Mercury . Jupiter has been explored on several occasions by robotic spacecraft , most notably during the early Pioneer and Voyager flyby missions and later by the Galileo orbiter . In late February 2007 , Jupiter was visited by the New Horizons probe , which used Jupiter 's gravity to increase its speed and bend its trajectory en route to Pluto . The latest probe to visit the planet is Juno , which entered into orbit around Jupiter on July 4 , 2016 . Future targets for exploration in the Jupiter system include the probable ice-covered liquid ocean of its moon Europa .", "Neptune Neptune is the eighth and farthest known planet from the Sun in the Solar System . In the Solar System , it is the fourth-largest planet by diameter , the third-most-massive planet , and the densest giant planet . Neptune is 17 times the mass of Earth and is slightly more massive than its near-twin Uranus , which is 15 times the mass of Earth and slightly larger than Neptune.Neptune is denser and physically smaller than Uranus because Neptune 's greater mass gravitationally compresses the atmosphere more . Neptune orbits the Sun once every 164.8 years at an average distance of 30.1 AU . It is named after the Roman god of the sea and has the astronomical symbol ♆ , a stylised version of the god Neptune 's trident . Neptune is not visible to the unaided eye and is the only planet in the Solar System found by mathematical prediction rather than by empirical observation . Unexpected changes in the orbit of Uranus led Alexis Bouvard to deduce that its orbit was subject to gravitational perturbation by an unknown planet . Neptune was subsequently observed with a telescope on 23 September 1846 by Johann Galle within a degree of the position predicted by Urbain Le Verrier . Its largest moon , Triton , was discovered shortly thereafter , though none of the planet 's remaining known 14 moons were located telescopically until the 20th century . The planet 's distance from Earth gives it a very small apparent size , making it challenging to study with Earth-based telescopes . Neptune was visited by Voyager 2 , when it flew by the planet on 25 August 1989 . The advent of the Hubble Space Telescope and large ground-based telescopes with adaptive optics has recently allowed for additional detailed observations from afar . Neptune 's composition can be compared and contrasted with the Solar System 's other giant planets . Like Jupiter and Saturn , Neptune 's atmosphere is composed primarily of hydrogen and helium , along with traces of hydrocarbons and possibly nitrogen , but it contains a higher proportion of `` ices '' such as water , ammonia , and methane . However , its interior , like that of Uranus , is primarily composed of ices and rock , which is why Uranus and Neptune are normally considered `` ice giants '' to emphasise this distinction . Traces of methane in the outermost regions in part account for the planet 's blue appearance . In contrast to the hazy , relatively featureless atmosphere of Uranus , Neptune 's atmosphere has active and visible weather patterns . For example , at the time of the Voyager 2 flyby in 1989 , the planet 's southern hemisphere had a Great Dark Spot comparable to the Great Red Spot on Jupiter . These weather patterns are driven by the strongest sustained winds of any planet in the Solar System , with recorded wind speeds as high as 2100 km/h . Because of its great distance from the Sun , Neptune 's outer atmosphere is one of the coldest places in the Solar System , with temperatures at its cloud tops approaching 55 K. Temperatures at the planet 's centre are approximately 5400 K. Neptune has a faint and fragmented ring system ( labelled `` arcs '' ) , which was first detected during the 1960s and confirmed by Voyager 2 ." ]

[ "Power Shift Network Power Shift Network is a North American non-profit organization made up of a network of youth-led social and environmental justice organizations working together to build the youth clean energy and climate movement . It runs campaigns in the United States and Canada to build grassroots power and advocate for tangible changes on climate change and social justice at local , state , national and international levels in North America . The organization changed its name from Energy Action Coalition in July 2016 in order to reflect its new leadership and it shift from a coalition to a network structure . The Power Shift Network 's members , which include other non-profit organizations and student groups focused on environmental justice , social justice , and climate change , focus their organizing and campaigns on campuses , communities , corporate practices , and politics . The Power Shift Network is part of the Global Youth Climate Movement . The Power Shift Network was founded ( as Energy Action Coalition ) in June 2004 at a meeting of representatives from almost 20 environmental groups in Washington , D.C. . The founding of the organization was a result of the coordination of many local and national environmental networks in a day of action on April 1 , 2004 called Fossil Fools Day which advocated for reducing dependence for energy on fossil fuels , with more than 125 registered actions around the U.S.", "Effect of Sun angle on climate The amount of heat energy received at any location on the globe is a direct effect of Sun angle on climate , as the angle at which sunlight strikes the Earth varies by location , time of day , and season due to the Earth 's orbit around the Sun and the Earth 's rotation around its tilted axis . Seasonal change in the angle of sunlight , caused by the tilt of the Earth 's axis , is the basic mechanism that results in warmer weather in summer than in winter . Change in day length is another factor . ( See also season . )", "Renewable energy in the Philippines Renewable energy accounts for 26.44 % of the total electrical energy needs in the Philippines , according to a 2013 survey . Renewable energy sources provided 19,903 gigawatt-hours of electrical energy out of a total need of 75,266 gigawatt-hours in 2013 . There are five main types of renewable energy used in the Philippines , hydropower , geothermal power , wind power , solar power and biomass power . There has been pressure to increase the Philippines ' usage of renewable energy sources in recent years due to the negative effects of fossil fuels -- such as pollution , accelerated climate change and fluctuating prices . A number of laws have been passed by the Philippine Congress to support the use of renewable energy including the Electric Power Industry Reform Act ( 2001 ) , which promotes the use of local and sustainable energy sources to replace imported fossil fuel sources ; the Biofuels Act ( 2006 ) , which encourages the use of biomass fuels ; the Renewable Energy Act ( 2008 ) ; and the Climate Change Act ( 2009 ) , which provides a legal basis for the tackling of climate change through sustainable development . The laws enacted by Congress have resulted in a significant degree of cooperation from private companies producing renewable energy , many of which have contracts with the Philippine Government .", "Turbosteamer A turbosteamer is a term used by BMW to describe a combined cycle engine . Waste heat energy from the internal combustion engine would be used generate steam ( see Waste Heat Recovery Unit ) for a steam engine which would create supplemental power for the vehicle . The turbosteamer device is affixed to the exhaust and cooling system . It salvages the heat wasted in the exhaust and radiator ( as much as 80 % of heat energy ) and uses a steam piston or turbine to relay that power to the crankshaft . The steam circuit produces 14 hp and 15 ft.lbf of torque at peak ( for a 1.8 Straight-4 engine ) , yielding an estimated 15 % gain in fuel efficiency . Unlike gasoline-electric hybrids , these gains increase at higher , steadier speeds .", "Vapor lock Vapor lock is a problem that mostly affects gasoline-fueled internal combustion engines . It occurs when the liquid fuel changes state from liquid to gas while still in the fuel delivery system . This disrupts the operation of the fuel pump , causing loss of feed pressure to the carburetor or fuel injection system , resulting in transient loss of power or complete stalling . Restarting the engine from this state may be difficult . The fuel can vaporize due to being heated by the engine , by the local climate or due to a lower boiling point at high altitude . In regions where higher volatility fuels are used during the winter to improve the starting of the engine , the use of `` winter '' fuels during the summer can cause vapor lock to occur more readily .", "Moons of Jupiter There are 67 known moons of Jupiter . This gives Jupiter the largest number of moons with reasonably stable orbits of any planet in the Solar System . The most massive of the moons are the four Galilean moons , which were independently discovered in 1610 by Galileo Galilei and Simon Marius and were the first objects found to orbit a body that was neither Earth nor the Sun . From the end of the 19th century , dozens of much smaller Jovian moons have been discovered and have received the names of lovers , conquests , or daughters of the Roman god Jupiter or his Greek equivalent Zeus . The Galilean moons are by far the largest and most massive objects to orbit Jupiter , with the remaining 63 moons and its rings together comprising just 0.003 % of the total orbiting mass . Of Jupiter 's moons , eight are regular satellites with prograde and nearly circular orbits that are not greatly inclined with respect to Jupiter 's equatorial plane . The Galilean satellites are nearly spherical in shape due to their planetary mass , and so would be considered ( dwarf ) planets if they were in direct orbit around the Sun . The other four regular satellites are much smaller and closer to Jupiter ; these serve as sources of the dust that makes up Jupiter 's rings . The remainder of Jupiter 's moons are irregular satellites whose prograde and retrograde orbits are much farther from Jupiter and have high inclinations and eccentricities . These moons were probably captured by Jupiter from solar orbits . Sixteen irregular satellites have been discovered since 2003 and have not yet been named .", "Heat Heat is the amount of energy flowing from one body to another spontaneously due to their temperature difference , or by any means other than through work or the transfer of matter . The transfer can be by contact between the source and the destination body , as in conduction ; or by radiation between remote bodies ; or by way of an intermediate fluid body , as in convective circulation ; or by a combination of these . . In thermodynamics , heat is often contrasted with work : heat applies to individual particles ( such as atoms or molecules ) , work applies to objects ( or a system as a whole ) . Heat involves stochastic ( or random ) motion equally distributed among all degrees of freedom , while work is directional , confined to a specific degrees of freedom . Since heat ( like work ) represents a quantity of energy being transferred between two bodies by certain processes , neither body `` has '' a definite amount of heat ( much like a body in itself does n't `` have '' work ) ; in contrast , a body indeed has properties ( state functions ) such as temperature and internal energy . Thus , energy exchanged as heat during a given process changes the ( internal ) energy of each body by equal and opposite amounts . The sign of the quantity of heat can indicate the direction of the transfer , for example from system A to system B ; negation indicates energy flowing in the opposite direction . Although heat flows spontaneously from a hotter body to a cooler one , it is possible to construct a heat pump or refrigeration system that does work to increase the difference in temperature between two systems . Conversely , a heat engine reduces an existing temperature difference to do work on another system . Heat is a consequence of the microscopic motion of particles . When heat is transferred between two objects or systems , the energy of the object or system 's particles increases . As this occurs , the arrangement between particles becomes more and more disordered . In other words , heat is related to the concept of entropy . Historically , many energy units for measurement of heat have been used . The standards-based unit in the International System of Units ( SI ) is the joule ( J ) . Heat is measured by its effect on the states of interacting bodies , for example , by the amount of ice melted or a change in temperature . The quantification of heat via the temperature change of a body is called calorimetry , and is widely used in practice . In calorimetry , sensible heat is defined with respect to a specific chosen state variable of the system , such as pressure or volume . Sensible heat causes a change of the temperature of the system while leaving the chosen state variable unchanged . Heat transfer that occurs at a constant system temperature but changes the state variable is called latent heat with respect to the variable . For infinitesimal changes , the total incremental heat transfer is then the sum of the latent and sensible heat .", "Gliese 777 b Gliese 777 b , also known as Gliese 777 Ab or HD 190360 b , is an extrasolar planet approximately 52 light-years away in the constellation of Cygnus . The planet was discovered orbiting the primary star of the Gliese 777 system in June 2002 ( by the Geneva Extrasolar Planet Search Team ) using the radial velocity method . The planet is at least one half more massive than Jupiter but roughly the same size as Jupiter . Because the inclination of the planet 's orbit is not known , the true mass is unknown . But it is unlikely to be much more than the given minimum mass . The planet has one of the longest orbits currently known for an extrasolar planet . The planet 's mean distance from the star is close to the distance between Jupiter and the Sun . However , unlike Jupiter it has an eccentric orbit . At periastron the distance between the planet and the star is only 2.51 AU and at apastron the distance is as much as 5.33 AU ( compared to the Solar System , distance from the Sun to the inner asteroid belt and from Sun to just beyond the orbit of Jupiter ) . The signal produced by the planet is very weak and the eccentricity was originally supposed to be very circular which led to speculations of a very Jupiter-like planet , with a system of several large moons like Jupiter itself . Fortunately , the inner system should be stable for Earth-like planets despite a known , smaller inner Neptune-like planet which is known to orbit the star at distance of 0.12 AU every 17 Earth days .", "Climate Change Performance Index The Climate Change Performance Index ( CCPI ) is an annual publication by Germanwatch and Climate Action Network Europe . It evaluates the climate protection performance of 58 countries , responsible for over 90 % of global energy-related emissions . CCPI 2013 publication covers emissions from the fossil fuels , except emissions from the shipping industry . Following CCPI 2013 publication may include emissions from deforestation , agriculture and waste . 50 % of the evaluation is based on emissions trend , 30 % on emissions level and 20 % on national and international climate policy assessments made by more than 200 experts . The most recent results ( published December 2014 ) illustrate that efforts are still insufficient to prevent dangerous climate change . Thus , no country received rankings one to three in the results for 2015 although Denmark which topped the list was praised for its efforts .", "International Wastewater Heat Exchange Systems International Wastewater Systems Inc. ( IWS ) , is a Canadian public corporation , based in Vancouver , British Columbia , that specializes in wastewater heat recovery . Founded in 2011 by Lynn Mueller , the company operates throughout North America . A subsidiary SHARC Energy Systems , based in Leicester , UK operates throughout Europe . The company is one of only a few worldwide focusing on waste heat recovery as an alternative energy source , reducing the need to burn fossil fuels . Their systems can be used for domestic hot water production as well as building space heating & cooling . IWHES 's feature product is the Sewage SHARC , a patent pending screen that removes solids from wastewater allowing it to effectively move through a heat exchanger and heat pump .", "100% renewable energy The endeavor to use 100 % renewable energy for electricity , heating and cooling , and transport is motivated by global warming , pollution and other environmental issues , as well as economic and energy security concerns . Shifting the total global primary energy supply to renewable sources requires a transition of the energy system . In 2013 the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said that there are few fundamental technological limits to integrating a portfolio of renewable energy technologies to meet most of total global energy demand . Renewable energy use has grown much faster than even advocates anticipated . In 2014 , renewable sources such as wind , geothermal , solar , biomass , and burnt waste provided 19 % of the total energy consumed worldwide , with roughly half of that coming from traditional use of biomass . The most important sector is electricity with a renewable share of 22.8 % , most of it coming from hydropower with a share of 16.6 % , followed by wind with 3.1 % . There are many places around the world with grids that are run almost exclusively on renewable energy . At the national level , at least 30 nations already have renewable energy contributing more than 20 % of the energy supply . Professors S. Pacala and Robert H. Socolow of Princeton University have developed a series of `` Climate stabilization wedges '' that can allow us to maintain our quality of life while avoiding catastrophic climate change , and `` renewable energy sources , '' in aggregate , constitute the largest number of their `` wedges . '' Mark Z. Jacobson , professor of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford University and director of its Atmosphere and Energy program , says that producing all new energy with wind power , solar power , and hydropower by 2030 is feasible , and that existing energy supply arrangements could be replaced by 2050 . Barriers to implementing the renewable energy plan are seen to be `` primarily social and political , not technological or economic '' . Jacobson says that energy costs today with a wind , solar , and water system should be similar to today 's energy costs from other optimally cost-effective strategies . The main obstacle against this scenario is the lack of political will . Similarly , in the United States , the independent National Research Council has noted that `` sufficient domestic renewable resources exist to allow renewable electricity to play a significant role in future electricity generation and thus help confront issues related to climate change , energy security , and the escalation of energy costs ... Renewable energy is an attractive option because renewable resources available in the United States , taken collectively , can supply significantly greater amounts of electricity than the total current or projected domestic demand . '' The main barriers to the widespread implementation of large-scale renewable energy and low-carbon energy strategies are political rather than technological . According to the 2013 Post Carbon Pathways report , which reviewed many international studies , the key roadblocks are : climate change denial , the fossil fuels lobby , political inaction , unsustainable energy consumption , outdated energy infrastructure , and financial constraints .", "Gravitational redshift In astrophysics , gravitational redshift or Einstein shift is the process by which electromagnetic radiation originating from a source that is in a gravitational field is reduced in frequency , or redshifted , when observed in a region at a higher gravitational potential . This is a direct result of gravitational time dilation -- if one is outside of an isolated gravitational source , the rate at which time passes increases as one moves away from that source . As frequency is inverse of time ( specifically , time required for completing one wave oscillation ) , frequency of the electromagnetic radiation is reduced in an area of higher gravitational potential . There is a corresponding reduction in energy when electromagnetic radiation is red-shifted , as given by Planck 's relation , due to the electromagnetic radiation propagating in opposition to the gravitational gradient . There also exists a corresponding blueshift when electromagnetic radiation propagates from an area of higher gravitational potential to an area of lower gravitational potential . If applied to optical wavelengths , this manifests itself as a change in the colour of visible light as the wavelength of the light is shifted toward the red part of the light spectrum . Since frequency and wavelength are inversely proportional , this is equivalent to saying that the frequency of the light is reduced towards the red part of the light spectrum , giving this phenomenon the name redshift .", "Chemical energy In chemistry , chemical energy is the potential of a chemical substance to undergo a transformation through a chemical reaction to transform other chemical substances . Examples include batteries , food , gasoline , and more . Breaking or making of chemical bonds involves energy , which may be either absorbed or evolved from a chemical system . Energy that can be released ( or absorbed ) because of a reaction between a set of chemical substances is equal to the difference between the energy content of the products and the reactants , if the initial and final temperatures are the same . This change in energy can be estimated from the bond energies of the various chemical bonds in the reactants and products . It can also be calculated from , the internal energy of formation of the reactant molecules , and the internal energy of formation of the product molecules . The internal energy change of a chemical process is equal to the heat exchanged if it is measured under conditions of constant volume and equal initial and final temperature , as in a closed container such as a bomb calorimeter . However , under conditions of constant pressure , as in reactions in vessels open to the atmosphere , the measured heat change is not always equal to the internal energy change , because pressure-volume work also releases or absorbs energy . ( The heat change at constant pressure is called the enthalpy change ; in this case the enthalpy of reaction , if initial and final temperatures are equal ) . Another useful term is the heat of combustion , which is the energy mostly of the weak double bonds of molecular oxygen released due to a combustion reaction and often applied in the study of fuels . Food is similar to hydrocarbon and carbohydrate fuels , and when it is oxidized to carbon dioxide and water , the energy released is analogous to the heat of combustion ( though not assessed in the same way as a hydrocarbon fuel -- see food energy ) . Chemical potential energy is a form of potential energy related to the structural arrangement of atoms or molecules . This arrangement may be the result of chemical bonds within a molecule or otherwise . Chemical energy of a chemical substance can be transformed to other forms of energy by a chemical reaction . As an example , when a fuel is burned the chemical energy of molecular oxygen is converted to heat , and the same is the case with digestion of food metabolized in a biological organism . Green plants transform solar energy to chemical energy ( mostly of oxygen ) through the process known as photosynthesis , and electrical energy can be converted to chemical energy and vice versa through electrochemical reactions . The similar term chemical potential is used to indicate the potential of a substance to undergo a change of configuration , be it in the form of a chemical reaction , spatial transport , particle exchange with a reservoir , etc. . It is not a form of potential energy itself , but is more closely related to free energy . The confusion in terminology arises from the fact that in other areas of physics not dominated by entropy , all potential energy is available to do useful work and drives the system to spontaneously undergo changes of configuration , and thus there is no distinction between `` free '' and `` non-free '' potential energy ( hence the one word `` potential '' ) . However , in systems of large entropy such as chemical systems , the total amount of energy present ( and conserved by the first law of thermodynamics ) of which this Chemical Potential Energy is a part , is separated from the amount of that energy -- Thermodynamic Free Energy ( which Chemical potential is derived from ) -- which ( appears to ) drive the system forward spontaneously as its entropy increases ( in accordance with the second law ) .", "Trombe wall A Trombe wall is a passive solar building design where a wall is built on the winter sun side of a building with a glass external layer and a high heat capacity internal layer separated by a layer of air . Light close to UV in the electromagnetic spectrum passes through the glass almost unhindered then is absorbed by the wall that then re-radiates in the far infrared spectrum which does not pass back through the glass easily , hence heating the inside of the building . Trombe walls are commonly used to absorb heat during sunlit hours of winter then slowly release the heat over night . The essential idea was first explored by Edward S. Morse and patented by him in 1881 . In the 1960s it was fully developed as an architectural element by French engineer Félix Trombe and architect Jacques Michel . Trombe walls work on the basic greenhouse principle that heat from the sun in the form of near-visible shorter-wavelength higher-energy ultraviolet radiation passes through glass largely unimpeded . When this radiation strikes objects the energy is absorbed and then re-emitted in the form of longer-wavelength infra-red radiation that does not pass through glass as readily . Hence heat becomes trapped and builds up in an enclosed structure with high internal heat capacity and glass surfaces that face the sun How effectively objects absorb and shed radiant heat depends on a number of factors ; how dark they are in colour , how directly the surface of the object is opposed to the angle of the radiation striking it , how matte or reflective its surface is , the heat capacity of the object , and the surface conductivity of the object . For Trombe walls to work effectively they are made from high heat capacity materials such as concrete or water , whose surface is dark and matte in colour and placed in direct opposition to the sun striking them . The clearer the glass in front of a Trombe wall appears in the UV spectrum the more short wave radiation will penetrate and the more reflective or non transparent the glass appears in the infra-red spectrum the less re-emitted heat will be escape .", "Radiation In physics , radiation is the emission or transmission of energy in the form of waves or particles through space or through a material medium . This includes : electromagnetic radiation , such as radio waves , microwaves , visible light , x-rays , and gamma radiation particle radiation , such as alpha radiation , beta radiation , and neutron radiation ( particles of non-zero rest energy ) acoustic radiation , such as ultrasound , sound , and seismic waves ( dependent on a physical transmission medium ) gravitational radiation , radiation that takes the form of gravitational waves , or ripples in the curvature of spacetime . Radiation is often categorized as either ionizing or non-ionizing depending on the energy of the radiated particles . Ionizing radiation carries more than 10 eV , which is enough to ionize atoms and molecules , and break chemical bonds . This is an important distinction due to the large difference in harmfulness to living organisms . A common source of ionizing radiation is radioactive materials that emit α , β , or γ radiation , consisting of helium nuclei , electrons or positrons , and photons , respectively . Other sources include X-rays from medical radiography examinations and muons , mesons , positrons , neutrons and other particles that constitute the secondary cosmic rays that are produced after primary cosmic rays interact with Earth 's atmosphere . Gamma rays , X-rays and the higher energy range of ultraviolet light constitute the ionizing part of the electromagnetic spectrum . The lower-energy , longer-wavelength part of the spectrum including visible light , infrared light , microwaves , and radio waves is non-ionizing ; its main effect when interacting with tissue is heating . This type of radiation only damages cells if the intensity is high enough to cause excessive heating . Ultraviolet radiation has some features of both ionizing and non-ionizing radiation . While the part of the ultraviolet spectrum that penetrates the Earth 's atmosphere is non-ionizing , this radiation does far more damage to many molecules in biological systems than can be accounted for by heating effects , sunburn being a well-known example . These properties derive from ultraviolet 's power to alter chemical bonds , even without having quite enough energy to ionize atoms . The word radiation arises from the phenomenon of waves radiating ( i.e. , traveling outward in all directions ) from a source . This aspect leads to a system of measurements and physical units that are applicable to all types of radiation . Because such radiation expands as it passes through space , and as its energy is conserved ( in vacuum ) , the intensity of all types of radiation from a point source follows an inverse-square law in relation to the distance from its source . This law does not apply close to an extended source of radiation or for focused beams .", "Transfer of energy Transfer of energy may refer to : Energy transformation , the process of changing one form of energy to another Heat transfer , the exchange of thermal energy via conduction , convection and radiation Collision , an event in which two or more bodies exert forces on each other over a relatively short time Wireless power transfer , the transmission of electrical energy from a power source to an electrical load , without the use of man-made conductors Transfer of energy from one place to another : Electric power transmission , the bulk movement of electrical energy from a power plant to an electrical substation District heating , a system for distributing heat generated in a centralized location for residential and commercial space heating and water heating", "HD 114729 b HD 114729 b is an extrasolar planet approximately 114 light years away in the constellation of Centaurus . This planet is probably slightly less massive than Jupiter . It is an `` eccentric Jupiter '' meaning that it does not orbit very near the star like the famous 51 Pegasi b but further out and its orbit is very oval-shaped . The mean distance from the star is 2.11 AU , about twice the Earth 's distance from the Sun . At periastron , the planet is only 1.43 AU from the star ( comparable to the distance of Mars from the Sun ) , and at apoastron , the orbital distance is 2.72 AU ( inner asteroid belt ) .", "Balance point temperature The building balance point temperature is the outdoor air temperature when the heat gains of the building are equal to the heat losses . Internal heat sources due to electric lighting , mechanical equipment , body heat , and solar radiation may offset the need for additional heating although the outdoor temperature may be below the thermostat set-point temperature . The building balance point temperature is the base temperature necessary to calculate heating degree day to anticipate the annual energy demand to heat a building . The balance point temperature is a consequence of building design and function rather than outdoor weather conditions .", "Stirling engine A Stirling engine is a heat engine that operates by cyclic compression and expansion of air or other gas ( the working fluid ) at different temperatures , such that there is a net conversion of heat energy to mechanical work . More specifically , the Stirling engine is a closed-cycle regenerative heat engine with a permanently gaseous working fluid . Closed-cycle , in this context , means a thermodynamic system in which the working fluid is permanently contained within the system , and regenerative describes the use of a specific type of internal heat exchanger and thermal store , known as the regenerator . The inclusion of a regenerator differentiates the Stirling engine from other closed cycle hot air engines . Originally conceived in 1816 as an industrial prime mover to rival the steam engine , its practical use was largely confined to low-power domestic applications for over a century . Stirling engines have a high efficiency compared to steam engines , being able to reach 50 % efficiency . They are also capable of quiet operation and can use almost any heat source . The heat energy source is generated external to the Stirling engine rather than by internal combustion as with the Otto cycle or Diesel cycle engines . Because the Stirling engine is compatible with alternative and renewable energy sources it could become increasingly significant as the price of conventional fuels rises , and also in light of concerns such as depletion of oil supplies and climate change . This type of engine is currently generating interest as the core component of micro combined heat and power ( CHP ) units , in which it is more efficient and safer than a comparable steam engine . However , it has a low power-to-weight ratio , rendering it more suitable for use in static installations where space and weight are not at a premium .", "Climate model Climate models use quantitative methods to simulate the interactions of the important drivers of climate , including atmosphere , oceans , land surface and ice . They are used for a variety of purposes from study of the dynamics of the climate system to projections of future climate . All climate models take account of incoming energy from the sun as short wave electromagnetic radiation , chiefly visible and short-wave ( near ) infrared , as well as outgoing long wave ( far ) infrared electromagnetic . Any imbalance results in a change in temperature . Models vary in complexity : A simple radiant heat transfer model treats the earth as a single point and averages outgoing energy This can be expanded vertically ( radiative-convective models ) and/or horizontally Finally , ( coupled ) atmosphere -- ocean -- sea ice global climate models solve the full equations for mass and energy transfer and radiant exchange . Box models can treat flows across and within ocean basins . Other types of modelling can be interlinked , such as land use , allowing researchers to predict the interaction between climate and ecosystems .", "Recycled fuel Fuel made of residues as CO2 produced by using a primary fuel . For example , CO2 pollution in the atmosphere , produced by petrol burning or other sources , can be extracted to produce fuel through an artificial photosynthesis based in nanotechnology , which helps to mitigate pollution , climate change and energy issues .", "Distant minor planet The term distant minor planet is used by the International Astronomical Union 's Minor Planet Center to refer collectively to those minor planets found in the outer Solar System that are not commonly thought of as `` asteroids '' . Included are the populations centaurs , Neptune trojans , and trans-Neptunian objects . All distant objects have a semi-major axis ( average distance from the Sun ) greater than 6 AU , which is just beyond the planet Jupiter .", "Jupiter (disambiguation) Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun . Jupiter or Jupiters may also refer to :", "Automotive thermoelectric generator An automotive thermoelectric generator ( ATEG ) is a device that converts some of the waste heat of an internal combustion engine ( IC ) into electricity using the Seebeck Effect . A typical ATEG consists of four main elements : A hot-side heat exchanger , a cold-side heat exchanger , thermoelectric materials , and a compression assembly system . ATEGs can convert waste heat from an engine 's coolant or exhaust into electricity . By reclaiming this otherwise lost energy , ATEGs decrease fuel consumed by the electric generator load on the engine . However , the cost of the unit and the extra fuel consumed due to its weight must be also considered .", "Avedøre Power Station The Avedøre Power Station ( Avedøreværket ) is a combined heat and power station , located in Avedøre , Denmark , just south of Copenhagen , and is owned by DONG Energy A/S . Avedøre Power Plant is a high-technology facility and one of the world 's most efficient of its kind , being able to utilize as much as 94 % of the energy in the fuel and convert 49 % of the fuel energy into electricity . Apart from using coal , petroleum ( oil ) and natural gas , the plant runs on a wide variety of biomass fuels such as straw and wood pellets . The plant consists of two units with a total capacity of 793 MW of electricity and 918 MW of heat . The combination of producing electricity ( combined heat and power ) and heat for district heating at the same time is widely used in Denmark and the rest of Scandinavia , due to the need of domestic ( and industrial ) heating together with the Danish energy companies putting a big effort into optimising the energy plants . The Avedøre Power Station was designed by the architects Claus Bjarrum and Jørgen Hauxner .", "WASP-15 WASP-15 is a magnitude 11 star located about 1000 light-years away in the constellation Hydra . The star , which is more massive , larger , hotter , and more luminous than the Sun , is also less metal-rich than the Sun . WASP-15 has one known planet in its orbit , WASP-15b ; the planet is a Hot Jupiter with an anomalously high radius , a phenomenon which may be explained by the presence of an internal heat source . The star was first observed by the SuperWASP program in 2006 ; future measurements in 2007 and 2008 , as well as follow-up observations and analysis , eventually led to the discovery of WASP-15b using the transit method and Doppler spectroscopy .", "Co-benefits of climate change mitigation Co-benefits of climate change mitigation as defined in the 4th Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change are the positive benefits related to the reduction of greenhouse gases . Examples of such climate mitigation policies include improved energy efficiency of plants , renewable energy uptake and fuel switching which might enable a range of co-benefits such as air-pollution impacts , technological innovation , energy-supply security through increased energy diversity , reduced fuel cost and employment possibilities .", "Renewable Energy Sources and Climate Change Mitigation The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) published a special report on Renewable Energy Sources and Climate Change Mitigation ( SRREN ) on May 9 , 2011 . The report developed under the leadership of Ottmar Edenhofer evaluates the global potential for using renewable energy to mitigate climate change . This IPCC special report provides broader coverage of renewable energy than was included in the IPCC 's 2007 climate change assessment report , as well as stronger renewable energy policy coverage . Renewable energy can contribute to `` social and economic development , energy access , secure energy supply , climate change mitigation , and the reduction of negative environmental and health impacts '' . Under favourable circumstances , cost savings in comparison to non-renewable energy use exist .", "Energy in Australia Energy in Australia includes energy and electricity production , consumption and export in Australia . Energy policy of Australia describes the politics of Australia as it relates to energy . Australia is a net energy exporter , and was the fourth-highest coal producer in the world in 2009 . Historically -- and until recent times -- energy in Australia was sourced largely from coal and natural gas , however due to the increasing effects of global warming and human-induced climate change on the global environment , there has been a greater shift towards renewable energy such as solar power and wind power both in Australia and abroad . This in turn has led to a decrease in the demand of coal worldwide .", "Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Climate Research Facility The Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Climate Research Facility ( ARM Climate Research Facility ) is a United States Department of Energy scientific user facility for the study of global climate change by the national and international research community . The ARM Climate Research Facility consists of global observation sites and research aircraft that measure radiative properties of the atmosphere , particularly cloud and aerosol formation processes . Continuous data from these sites , as well as supplemental data obtained through intensive field research campaigns , are available to scientists online through the ARM Data Archive . ARM is collaboratively managed by nine DOE national laboratories .", "Michelle Patron Michelle Naomi ( Billig ) Patron ( born 1974 ) is an energy policy expert who currently serves in the White House as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for energy and climate change on the U.S. National Security Staff . Patron received her bachelor 's degree from Columbia University and her master 's degree in international studies from Johns Hopkins University in 1999 . From 1999 to 2003 , Patron was an international policy advisor at the U.S. Department of Energy , advising on relations with major energy producing and consuming countries and designing strategies to address climate change , energy security , and market reform . During 2001 , she served as Energy Attach ¨ at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing . Patron was an International Affairs Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations in 2003-2004 and conducted energy research at Deutsche Bank in New York . She also worked at the International Energy Agency and the Center for International Environmental Law . In 2004 , Patron moved to PIRA ( Petroleum Industry Research Associates ) Energy Group , an energy consulting firm in New York , where she was senior director , managing a research service that tracked global political and regulatory developments and assessing their impact on energy markets . She was at the same time an adjunct professor at New York University 's Center for Global Affairs . Patron is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and has written for Foreign Affairs , Financial Times , and the Los Angeles Times .", "Geothermal energy Geothermal energy is heat energy generated and stored in the Earth . Thermal energy is the energy that determines the temperature of matter . The geothermal energy of the Earth 's crust originates from the original formation of the planet and from radioactive decay of materials ( in currently uncertain but possibly roughly equal proportions ) . The geothermal gradient , which is the difference in temperature between the core of the planet and its surface , drives a continuous conduction of thermal energy in the form of heat from the core to the surface . The adjective geothermal originates from the Greek roots γη ( ge ) , meaning earth , and θερμος ( thermos ) , meaning hot . Earth 's internal heat is thermal energy generated from radioactive decay and continual heat loss from Earth 's formation . Temperatures at the core -- mantle boundary may reach over 4000 ° C ( 7,200 ° F ) . The high temperature and pressure in Earth 's interior cause some rock to melt and solid mantle to behave plastically , resulting in portions of the mantle convecting upward since it is lighter than the surrounding rock . Rock and water is heated in the crust , sometimes up to 370 ° C ( 700 ° F ) . From hot springs , geothermal energy has been used for bathing since Paleolithic times and for space heating since ancient Roman times , but it is now better known for electricity generation . Worldwide , 11,700 megawatts ( MW ) of geothermal power is online in 2013 . An additional 28 gigawatts of direct geothermal heating capacity is installed for district heating , space heating , spas , industrial processes , desalination and agricultural applications as of 2010 . Geothermal power is cost-effective , reliable , sustainable , and environmentally friendly , but has historically been limited to areas near tectonic plate boundaries . Recent technological advances have dramatically expanded the range and size of viable resources , especially for applications such as home heating , opening a potential for widespread exploitation . Geothermal wells release greenhouse gases trapped deep within the earth , but these emissions are much lower per energy unit than those of fossil fuels . The Earth 's geothermal resources are theoretically more than adequate to supply humanity 's energy needs , but only a very small fraction may be profitably exploited . Drilling and exploration for deep resources is very expensive . Forecasts for the future of geothermal power depend on assumptions about technology , energy prices , subsidies , plate boundary movement and interest rates . Pilot programs like EWEB 's customer opt in Green Power Program show that customers would be willing to pay a little more for a renewable energy source like geothermal . But as a result of government assisted research and industry experience , the cost of generating geothermal power has decreased by 25 % over the past two decades . In 2001 , geothermal energy costs between two and ten US cents per kWh ." ]

[ "Retreat of glaciers since 1850 The retreat of glaciers since 1850 affects the availability of fresh water for irrigation and domestic use , mountain recreation , animals and plants that depend on glacier-melt , and , in the longer term , the level of the oceans . Studied by glaciologists , the temporal coincidence of glacier retreat with the measured increase of atmospheric greenhouse gases is often cited as an evidentiary underpinning of global warming . Mid-latitude mountain ranges such as the Himalayas , Alps , Rocky Mountains , Cascade Range , and the southern Andes , as well as isolated tropical summits such as Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa , are showing some of the largest proportionate glacial losses . Glacier mass balance is the key determinant of the health of a glacier . If the amount of frozen precipitation in the accumulation zone exceeds the quantity of glacial ice lost due to melting or in the ablation zone a glacier will advance ; if the accumulation is less than the ablation , the glacier will retreat . Glaciers in retreat will have negative mass balances , and if they do not find an equilibrium between accumulation and ablation , will eventually disappear . The Little Ice Age was a period from about 1550 to 1850 when the world experienced relatively cooler temperatures compared to the present . Subsequently , until about 1940 , glaciers around the world retreated as the climate warmed substantially . Glacial retreat slowed and even reversed temporarily , in many cases , between 1950 and 1980 as global temperatures cooled slightly . Since 1980 , a significant global warming has led to glacier retreat becoming increasingly rapid and ubiquitous , so much so that some glaciers have disappeared altogether , and the existences of many of the remaining glaciers are threatened . In locations such as the Andes of South America and Himalayas in Asia , the demise of glaciers in these regions has the potential to affect water supplies in those areas . The retreat of mountain glaciers , notably in western North America , Asia , the Alps and tropical and subtropical regions of South America , Africa and Indonesia , provide evidence for the rise in global temperatures since the late 19th century . The acceleration of the rate of retreat since 1995 of key outlet glaciers of the Greenland and West Antarctic ice sheets may foreshadow a rise in sea level , which would affect coastal regions .", "Physical impacts of climate change This article is about the physical impacts of climate change . For some of these physical impacts , their effect on social and economic systems are also described . This article refers to reports produced by the IPCC . In their usage , `` climate change '' refers to a change in the state of the climate that can be identified by changes in the mean and/or variability of its properties , and that persists for extended periods , typically decades or longer ( IPCC , 2007d :30 ) . The climate change referred to may be due to natural causes and/or the result of human activity .", "West Antarctic Ice Sheet The Western Antarctic Ice Sheet ( WAIS ) is the segment of the continental ice sheet that covers West ( or Lesser ) Antarctica , the portion of Antarctica on the side of the Transantarctic Mountains which lies in the Western Hemisphere . The WAIS is classified as a marine-based ice sheet , meaning that its bed lies well below sea level and its edges flow into floating ice shelves . The WAIS is bounded by the Ross Ice Shelf , the Ronne Ice Shelf , and outlet glaciers that drain into the Amundsen Sea . It is estimated that the volume of the Antarctic ice sheet is about 25.4 million km3 ( 6.1 million cu mi ) , and the WAIS contains just under 10 % of this , or 2.2 million km3 ( 530,000 cu mi ) . The weight of the ice has caused the underlying rock to sink by between 0.5 and 1 kilometres ( 0.31 -- 0.62 mi ) in a process known as isostatic depression . Under the force of its own weight , the ice sheet deforms and flows . The interior ice flows slowly over rough bedrock . In some circumstances , ice can flow faster in ice streams , separated by slow-flowing ice ridges . The inter-stream ridges are frozen to the bed while the bed beneath the ice streams consists of water-saturated sediments . Many of these sediments were deposited before the ice sheet occupied the region , when much of West Antarctica was covered by the ocean . The rapid ice-stream flow is a non-linear process still not fully understood ; streams can start and stop for unclear reasons . When ice reaches the coast , it either calves or continues to flow outward onto the water . The result is a large , floating ice shelf affixed to the continent .", "Global warming Global warming , also referred to as climate change , is the observed century-scale rise in the average temperature of the Earth 's climate system and its related effects . Multiple lines of scientific evidence show that the climate system is warming . Many of the observed changes since the 1950s are unprecedented in the instrumental temperature record which extends back to the mid 19th century , and in paleoclimate proxy records over thousands of years . In 2013 , the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) Fifth Assessment Report concluded that `` It is extremely likely that human influence has been the dominant cause of the observed warming since the mid-20th century . '' The largest human influence has been emission of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide , methane and nitrous oxide . Climate model projections summarized in the report indicated that during the 21st century the global surface temperature is likely to rise a further 0.3 to for their lowest emissions scenario and 2.6 to for the highest emissions scenario . These findings have been recognized by the national science academies of the major industrialized nations and are not disputed by any scientific body of national or international standing . Future climate change and associated impacts will differ from region to region around the globe . Anticipated effects include warming global temperature , rising sea levels , changing precipitation , and expansion of deserts in the subtropics . Warming is expected to be greater over land than over the oceans and greatest in the Arctic , with the continuing retreat of glaciers , permafrost and sea ice . Other likely changes include more frequent extreme weather events including heat waves , droughts , heavy rainfall with floods and heavy snowfall ; ocean acidification ; and species extinctions due to shifting temperature regimes . Effects significant to humans include the threat to food security from decreasing crop yields and the abandonment of populated areas due to rising sea levels . Because the climate system has a large `` inertia '' and greenhouse gases will stay in the atmosphere for a long time , many of these effects will not only exist for decades or centuries , but will persist for tens of thousands of years . Possible societal responses to global warming include mitigation by emissions reduction , adaptation to its effects , building systems resilient to its effects , and possible future climate engineering . Most countries are parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change ( UNFCCC ) , whose ultimate objective is to prevent dangerous anthropogenic climate change . Parties to the UNFCCC have agreed that deep cuts in emissions are required and that global warming should be limited to well below 2.0 C-change relative to pre-industrial levels , with efforts made to limit warming to 1.5 C-change . Public reactions to global warming and concern about its effects are also increasing . A global 2015 Pew Research Center report showed a median of 54 % consider it `` a very serious problem '' . There are significant regional differences , with Americans and Chinese ( whose economies are responsible for the greatest annual CO2 emissions ) among the least concerned ." ]

[ "Cache Col Glacier Cache Col Glacier is in North Cascades National Park in the U.S. state of Washington , on the east slope of Mix-up Peak . Cache Col Glacier retreated nearly 100 m between 1950 and 2005 . Cache Col Glacier is 1 mi northwest of Yawning Glacier .", "Hidden Creek Glacier Hidden Creek Glacier is in North Cascades National Park in the U.S. state of Washington and is on the northwest slope of Hagan Mountain . Retreat of this glacier from 1979 to 2005 exposed several rock outcroppings in the middle of the glacier . The terminus of Hidden Creek Glacier only retreated 50 m between 1979 and 2011 , however the increase in area of exposed rock outcroppings in the middle of the glacier indicates rapid thinning .", "Grant Glacier Grant Glacier is located in the US state of Montana in Flathead National Forest . The glacier is situated in a cirque and lies below the east slopes of Mount Grant ( 8590 ft ) . Grant Glacier is 1 mi southeast of Stanton Glacier and both 5 mi west of Glacier National Park ( U.S. ) . Images taken of the glacier in 1902 and from the same vantage point in 1998 indicate that the glacier retreated substantially during the 20th Century .", "ISAE 3000 ISAE 3000 is the standard for assurance over non-financial information . ISAE 3000 is issued by the International Federation of Accountants ( IFAC ) . The standard consists of guidelines for the ethical behavior , quality management and performance of an ISAE 3000 engagement . Generally ISAE 3000 is applied for audits of internal control , sustainability and compliance with laws and regulations . ISAE 3402 assurance engagements also should be performed in accordance with the ISAE 3000 standard . ISAE 3000 recognizes two types of reports , a type 1 and a type 2 report . A type 1 report provides assurance on the suitability of design and existence of controls and type 2 report provides assurance on suitability of design , existence and operational effectiveness .", "Canyons of the Teton Range The canyons of the Teton Range lie almost entirely within Grand Teton National Park in the U.S. state of Wyoming . Ranging from 9 mi to less than 1 mi in length and up to 6000 ft deep , the canyons were carved primarily by glaciers over the past 250,000 years . The canyons in the Teton Range descend in altitude generally west to east and many have lakes at their outlets . The lakes were created by terminal moraines left behind by the now retreated glaciers . A few of the canyons have small glaciers that were created mostly during the Little Ice Age ( 1550-1850 ) . Fast retreating Schoolroom Glacier is a tiny glacier located at the head of the South Cascade Canyon . Most of the canyons have streams from which rain and snowmelt flow towards Jackson Hole valley , and due to the sometimes rapid altitude descent , waterfalls are common . The canyons offer the easiest hiking access into the Teton Range .", "Boston Glacier Boston Glacier is located in a large cirque below several mountain peaks in North Cascades National Park in the U.S. state of Washington . The glacier is approximately 1 mi long but nearly 3.5 mi wide and is the largest glacier in North Cascades National Park . Extending in an arc from the north of Forbidden Peak , the glacier is also flanked by Boston Peak to the southwest and Buckner Mountain at its eastern margin . Between Boston Peak and Buckner Mountain , the glacier lies below the arête known as Ripsaw Ridge . Another arete extending between Boston Mountain and Forbidden Peak and further north separate Boston Glacier from the nearly adjoining Quien Sabe and Forbidden Glaciers . Boston Glacier has been in an overall state of retreat since the end of the Little Ice Age around the year 1850 . A moderate advance occurred between 1950 and the mid-1970s however the retreat resumed and between the years 1972 and 2006 the glacier terminus retreated 1470 ft.", "Lower Fremont Glacier Lower Fremont Glacier is east of the Continental Divide in the northern Wind River Range in the U.S. state of Wyoming . The glacier is in the Fitzpatrick Wilderness of Shoshone National Forest , and is among the largest grouping of glaciers in the American Rocky Mountains . Lower Fremont Glacier flows to the southeast and the rapid retreat of this glacier has left behind lateral moraines and a proglacial lake . Lower Fremont Glacier is separated from the Bull Lake Glacier by a moraine and from the Upper Fremont Glacier by cliffs .", "Eliot Glacier Eliot Glacier is a glacier on the northeastern slopes of Mount Hood in the U.S. state of Oregon . Researchers have reported that Eliot Glacier covered an area of 395 acres in 2004 but had retreated 680 m since 1901 , though that decline was less than all but one other glacier on Mount Hood . The glacier 's situation on a northeast slope , its higher altitude accumulation zone close to the summit of Mount Hood and its high level of talus debris may explain its slower retreat .", "Heard Island glaciers The Heard Island glaciers covered 79 percent of Heard Island itself , in 1947 , covering 288 km2 ; by 1988 , this had decreased by 11 percent to 257 km2 . The glaciers fall under the Antarctic Environmental Gradient , which spans 30 degrees of latitude and includes a range of macro-climatic zones from cool temperate islands to the frigid and arid Antarctic continent . Glaciers extend from 2745 m to sea level , with ice up to 150 m deep.The geologic movement of the glaciers can appear fast-flowing due to the steep slope and high precipitation , and are particularly sensitive to climatic fluctuations . Measurements between 1947 and 1980 show glacial retreat , particularly on the eastern flanks , is correlated with changes in weather patterns . A 29 % reduction in area of the Brown Glacier from 1947-2003 was observed . The volcano Big Ben , from which all the glaciers drain , has shown no sign of changing geothermal output to cause the melting ; a 1 degree Celsius warming has occurred over the same time period . Glaciologists continue to study the Brown Glacier , detailing surveys of the glacier 's snout and surface , which determine if glacial retreat is rapid or punctuated . Measurements on the mass balance of the glacier , as well as more detailed ice thickness measurements using a portable radar echo sounder , were undertaken . Monitoring of climatic conditions continues , with emphasis on the impact of Foehn winds on glacier mass balance . An expedition by scientists from the Australian Antarctic Division recently visited the volcanic island in 2009 , observing glaciers that had retreated 50 metres in three years . Repairs were made to an automatic weather station established in November 2000 . Glaciologist Dr. Ian Allison cites that the latest aerial surveys that show continuous rapid melt and that satellite imagery shows the island double in size due to volcanic activity .", "Independent Police Complaints Council The Independent Police Complaints Council ( IPCC , ) is a civilian body of the Government of Hong Kong , part of the two-tier system in which the Hong Kong Police Force investigates complaints made by the public against its members and the IPCC monitors those investigations . The IPCC was created as an independent body to monitor the review by the Complaints Against Police Office ( CAPO ) of complaints against members of the Police Force . Unlike CAPO , which is a unit of the police force , the IPCC is a civilian body not linked with the police that reports directly to the office of the Chief Executive of Hong Kong . The IPCC was created in 1994 and succeeded an earlier independent review body , the Police Complaints Committee or PCC , to investigate police . The PCC was created in 1986 and reported to the then Governor of Hong Kong . The IPCC is headed by a Secretariat and is governed by The Independent Police Complaints Council ( IPCC ) Ordinance , which enacted in July 2008 . On 1 June 2009 , after the ordinance came into operation , the Chinese official name of IPCC was changed from '' 投訴警方獨立監察委員會 '' to '' 獨立監察警方處理投訴委員會 '' and the English name remain . There have been criticisms in LegCo that the IPCC has limited monitoring power .", "Indentation (typesetting) __ FORCETOC __ In the written form of many languages , an indentation is an empty space at the beginning of a line to signal the start of a new paragraph . Many computer languages have adopted this technique to designate `` paragraphs '' or other logical blocks in the program . For example , the following lines are indented , using between one and six spaces : This paragraph is indented by 1 space . This paragraph is indented by 3 spaces . This paragraph is indented by 6 spaces . In computer programming , the neologisms outdent and unindent are used to describe the reversal of the indentation process , realigning text with the page margin ( or with previous , lesser , levels of indentation ) . In right-to-left languages ( e.g. Hebrew and Arabic ) , indentation is used just the same , but from the right margin of the paper , where the line begins .", "Lewis Glacier (Oregon) Lewis Glacier is in the U.S. state of Oregon . The glacier is situated in the Cascade Range at an elevation generally above 9000 ft. Lewis Glacier is on the southeast slopes of South Sister , an inactive stratovolcano . Since its last maximum extent during the Little Ice Age ( 1350 -- 1850 A.D. ) where it descended to an elevation of 6447 ft , the glacier has been in a general state of retreat and the terminus of the glacier was reported in 2005 to be at approximately 8790 ft.", "Portage Lake (Alaska) Portage Lake is a glacial lake in the Chugach National Forest of Alaska . It sits in a long , heavily glaciated valley , and abuts the calving face of Portage Glacier at its southern end . The lake has only become visible since approximately 1914 , with the rapid retreat of Portage Glacier .", "Book of Discipline (United Methodist) The Book of Discipline constitutes the law and doctrine of the United Methodist Church . It follows similar works for its predecessor denominations . It was originally published in 1784 , in the Methodist Episcopal Church , and has been published every four years thereafter following the meeting of the General Conference , which passes legislation that is included in the Book of Discipline . The most recent edition is that of 2016 . The basic unit of reference is the paragraph , not the page , chapter or section . The paragraphs are numbered consecutively within each chapter or section , but numbers are skipped between chapters or sections . The paragraph is often only a few lines , but many are several pages long and they can be divided into multiple subdivisions . Paragraphs are first divided using Arabic numerals ( 1 , 2 , 3 , ... ) which can themselves be divided by italicized lower case letters with parentheses ( a ) , b ) , c ) , d ) ... ) which may be divided using Arabic numerals within double parentheses ( ( 1 ) , ( 2 ) , ( 3 ) , ... ) Traditionally a list of all the bishops with the year of their election is at the beginning of the book . That is followed by a brief history of the church , then the church constitution , and a statement concerning the doctrine and theology of the church . The Social Principles of the church follow . Finally the legislative section , by far the largest part of The Discipline , appears .", "Gary Yohe Gary Wynn Yohe is the Huffington Foundation Professor of Economics and Environmental Studies at Wesleyan University , Middletown , Connecticut . He holds a PhD from Yale University . Yohe specializes in Microeconomic theory , Natural Resources , and Environmental Economics . He is a researcher on the economics of climate change and integrated assessment modelling . Among other works , he is an editor of the book `` Avoiding Dangerous Climate Change '' and co-author ( with Edwin Mansfield ) of `` Microeconomics | Microeconomics : Theory and Applications '' . He is a senior member of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) that was awarded a share of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with Al Gore . He has been involved with the IPCC since the mid-1990s , has served , among other capacities , as a Lead Author for four different chapters in the IPCC Third Assessment Report , and as Convening Lead Author for the last chapter of the contribution of Working Group II to the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report . Yohe also worked with the Core Writing Team to prepare the overall Synthesis Report for the entire Assessment . Yohe is also a member of the New York City Panel on Climate Change and the standing Committee on the Human Dimensions of Global Change of the National Academy of Sciences . He is also a standing member of the National Academy of Sciences ' Committee on the Human Dimensions of Global Change . He was a vice-chair of the Third National Climate Assessment . He is one of the four co-signers of an open letter , dated March 12 , 2010 , regarding possible errors in the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report and regularly advises the US government .", "Intrado Intrado Inc. provides 9-1-1 and emergency communications infrastructure , systems and services to telecommunications service providers and government public safety agencies in the United States and worldwide . Over 200 million calls are made to 9-1-1 annually . Intrado 's customers include all major U.S. wireline , wireless and VoIP carriers , as well as municipalities and over 3000 public safety agencies .", "Neumayer Glacier Neumayer Glacier is a glacier , 8 nautical miles ( 15 km ) long and 2 nautical miles ( 3.7 km ) wide , which flows east along the north flank of the Allardyce Range to the west side of the head of Cumberland West Bay , South Georgia . Charted by the Swedish Antarctic Expedition under Otto Nordenskiöld , 1901 -- 04 , and named for Georg von Neumayer . Between 2005 and 2009 , the glacier retreated 1 km .", "Icy Bay (Alaska) Icy Bay is a body of water in southeast Alaska , formed in the last 100 years by the rapid retreat of the Guyot , Yahtse , and Tyndall Glaciers . It is part of the Wrangell-Saint Elias Wilderness . At the beginning of the 20th century , the bay entrance was permanently blocked by a giant tidewater glacier face that calved icebergs directly into the Gulf of Alaska . A century-long glacial retreat has opened a multi-armed bay more than 30 miles long . Icy Bay is popular destination for sea kayakers , and is reachable by bush plane from Yakutat .", "Knife Point Glacier Knife Point Glacier is on the east side Continental Divide in the northern Wind River Range in the U.S. state of Wyoming . The glacier is in the Fitzpatrick Wilderness of Shoshone National Forest , and is among the largest grouping of glaciers in the American Rocky Mountains . Knife Point Glacier flows to the north and starts below the summit of Knife Point Mountain ( 13001 mi ) . Along with other glaciers in the Wind River Range , Knife Point Glacier 's rapid retreat since the end of the Little Ice Age in 1850 has exposed the remains of numerous specimens of the now believed to be extinct Rocky Mountain locust ( Melanoplus spretus ) and other related species .", "Ermine Glacier Ermine Glacier is located on north slopes of Glacier Peak in the U.S. state of Washington . As is true with all the glaciers found on Glacier Peak , Ermine Glacier is retreating . During the Little Ice Age , Ermine Glacier extended down to an altitude of 4400 ft and was connected to Vista Glacier to its west . From the end of the Little Ice Age to the mid-1950s , Ermine Glacier experienced a general retreat upslope , followed by an advance during a cooler and wetter period until the mid-1970s . However , between 1992 and 2005 , Ermine Glacier again retreated 308 m.", "Credner Glacier Credner Glacier is on Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania , on the northwest slope of the peak and is a remnant of an icecap which once crowned the top of Mount Kilimanjaro . The glacier is situated at an elevation of between 5800 and . Credner Glacier is one of the largest glaciers on the mountain and descends from the Northern Ice Field . Credner is rapidly retreating due to its high exposure point on the northwest slope of Mount Kilimanjaro . A report published in 2013 indicated that in another decade the glacier may no longer exist .", "Scimitar Glacier Scimitar Glacier is located on the west and northwest slopes of Glacier Peak in the U.S. state of Washington . As is true with all the glaciers found on Glacier Peak , Scimitar Glacier is retreating . During the Little Ice Age Scimitar Glacier was connected to Kennedy Glacier to the north . From about 1850 to 1946 , the glacier retreated 5250 ft , but advanced 1738 ft during a colder and wetter period lasting until about 1980 . Scimitar Glacier has retreated since , but due to the thickness of the ice at the terminus , had not lost much of its length through the year 2005 .", "Luna Lake (Washington) Luna Lake is located in North Cascades National Park , in the U. S. state of Washington . Situated 1 mi southwest of Luna Peak which is the tallest mountain in the rugged Picket Range , Luna Lake is a proglacial lake impounded by the moraine of a retreated glacier .", "Emphasis of matter Emphasis of matter is a type of paragraph in , or section of , an auditors ' report on financial statements . Such a paragraph is added to indicate a significant uncertainty or other matter , which is disclosed appropriately in the notes forming part of the financial statements , but which the auditor considers is significant or important enough to warrant a mention in their report . An emphasis of matter paragraph does not qualify the auditors ' opinion ; in fact , such paragraphs typically begin by stating Without qualifying our report ... Under the framework of the International Standards on Auditing ( ISA ) , the emphasis of matter paragraph / section is placed after the opinion paragraph ( and , consequently , towards the end of the report ) , in the auditor 's report . Category : Auditing", "North Guardian Glacier North Guardian Glacier is located on east slopes of Glacier Peak in the U.S. state of Washington . The glacier descends from 8600 ft to 6430 ft and is partially connected to Chocolate Glacier which lies to its south . As is true with all the glaciers found on Glacier Peak , North Guardian Glacier is retreating . North Guardian Glacier retreated approximately 1500 m between 1850 and 1946 , however during a cooler and wetter period from about 1950 to 1979 , the glacier advanced modestly . Since then North Guardian Glacier resumed retreating and thinning and by 2005 the glacier had returned to its minimum length as recorded in 1946 .", "Lyell Glacier Lyell Glacier is in the Sierra Nevada of California . The glacier was discovered by John Muir in 1871 , and was the largest glacier in Yosemite National Park . It lies on the northern slopes of Mount Lyell . The glacier has retreated since the end of the Little Ice Age in the mid-19th century . During the mid-20th Century , the glacier split into two smaller glaciers occupying the high cirques of Mount Lyell . Since 1883 , the glacier area has retreated up to 70 percent . Another glacier , the Maclure Glacier on nearby Mount Maclure , has also retreated significantly . According to a study in 2013 , today the Lyell is no longer a glacier , having lost any movement and thus it should be considered an ice field .", "List of environmental reports This is a list of notable environmental reports . In this context they relate to the impacts of human activity on the environment . City-level Decoupling : Urban Resource Flows and the Governance of Infrastructure Transitions - by the International Resource Panel Clean Energy Trends - a series of reports by Clean Edge - beginning in 2002 Copeland Report - for the U.S. government , completed in 1933 Copenhagen Diagnosis - written by twenty-six climate scientists from eight countries Dioxin Reassessment Report - by the United States Environmental Protection Agency Environmental Impact of the Big Cypress Swamp Jetport ( `` Leopold Report '' ) - United States Department of the Interior ( 1969 ) Environmental Risks and Challenges of Anthropogenic Metals Flows and Cycles - by the International Resource Panel Forest Principles - United Nations Conference on Environment and Development ( UNCED ) The Global 2000 Report to the President - Council on Environmental Quality ( 1981 ) Global Environment Outlook - United Nations Environment Programme ( UNEP ) Hirsch report ( Peaking of World Oil Production : Impacts , Mitigation , and Risk Management ) - United States Department of Energy Index of Leading Environmental Indicators - Pacific Research Institute IPCC First Assessment Report - Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) IPCC supplementary report , 1992 - IPCC IPCC Second Assessment Report - IPCC IPCC Third Assessment Report Climate Change 2001 - IPCC ( 2001 ) IPCC Fourth Assessment Report Climate Change 2007 - IPCC ( 2007 ) IPCC Fifth Assessment Report ( 2014 ) Leopold Report ( `` Wildlife Management in the National Parks '' ) - Special Advisory Board on Wildlife Management ( 1963 ) Livestock 's Long Shadow - Environmental Issues and Options - United Nations ( 2006 ) Living Planet Report - WWF , every two years Making Sweden an Oil-Free Society - Government of Sweden ( 2006 ) Meat Atlas - published by the Heinrich Böll Foundation and Friends of the Earth Europe Nuclear Power and the Environment - UK Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution - 1976 Our Common Future - World Commission on Environment and Development ( 1987 ) Outlook On Renewable Energy In America ( 2 volumes ) - American Council on Renewable Energy - 2007 Phase I Environmental Site Assessment - generic Planning Policy Statement 10 : Planning for Sustainable Waste Management ( PPS 10 ) - British Government Renewable Energy Sources and Climate Change Mitigation - United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) - planned for 2010 Report of the Royal Commission on Genetic Modification - Royal Commission on Genetic Modification ( 2001 ) State of the Climate - NOAA/NCDC ( published annually ) The State of the World - Worldwatch Institute ( published yearly since 1984 ) Wegman Report - to validate criticisms of reconstructions of the temperature record of the past 1000 years Windscale : Britain 's Biggest Nuclear Disaster ( 2007 ) World Climate Report - Greening Earth Society The World 's 25 Most Endangered Primates - selected and published by the IUCN Species Survival Commission Primate Specialist Group ( IUCN/SSC PSG ) , the International Primatological Society ( IPS ) , and Conservation International ( CI )", "Cool Glacier Cool Glacier is located on east slopes of Glacier Peak in the U.S. state of Washington . The glacier descends from 10200 ft to 6900 ft and is partially connected to Chocolate Glacier which lies to its north just below the summit of Glacier Peak . As is true with all the glaciers found on Glacier Peak , Cool Glacier is retreating . Cool Glacier retreated approximately 1500 m between 1850 and 1946 , however during a cooler and wetter period from about 1950 to 1979 , the glacier advanced . Since then Cool Glacier resumed retreating and by 2005 the glacier was within 40 m of its minimum length recorded in 1946 .", "Widows and orphans In typesetting , widows and orphans are lines at the beginning or end of a paragraph , which are left dangling at the top or bottom of a column , separated from the rest of the paragraph . There is some disagreement about the definitions of widow and orphan ; what one source calls a widow another calls an orphan . The Chicago Manual of Style uses these definitions : Widow A paragraph-ending line that falls at the beginning of the following page or column , thus separated from the rest of the text . Orphan A paragraph-opening line that appears by itself at the bottom of a page or column , thus separated from the rest of the text .", "PageNet Founded in 1981 by entrepreneur George Perrin , PageNet ( Paging Network , Inc. ) grew to become the largest wireless messaging company in the world , with more than 10 million pagers in service and $ 1 billion in revenues , before the paging industry 's rapid decline in the late 1990s .", "Ptarmigan Glacier Ptarmigan Glacier is located on north slopes of Glacier Peak in the U.S. state of Washington . As is true with all the glaciers found on Glacier Peak , Ptarmigan Glacier is retreating . During the Little Ice Age , Ptarmigan Glacier extended down to an altitude of 4444 ft but aside from a small advance during the 1970s , has retreated significantly since the end of the Little Ice Age .", "Squak Glacier Squak Glacier is located on the southeast slopes of Mount Baker in the North Cascades of the U.S. state of Washington . Squak Glacier is connected to Easton Glacier to the east and Talum Glaciers to the west . Between 1850 and 1950 , Squak Glacier retreated 8202 ft. During a cooler and wetter period from 1950 to 1979 , the glacier advanced 305 ft but between 1980 and 2006 retreated back 869 ft." ]

[ "Microwave Sounding Unit temperature measurements Microwave Sounding Unit temperature measurements refers to temperature measurement using the Microwave Sounding Unit instrument and is one of several methods of measuring Earth atmospheric temperature from satellites. Microwave measurements have been obtained from the troposphere since 1979, when they were included within NOAA weather satellites, starting with TIROS-N. By comparison, the usable balloon (radiosonde) record begins in 1958 but has less geographic coverage and is less uniform. Microwave brightness measurements do not directly measure temperature. They measure radiances in various wavelength bands, which must then be mathematically inverted to obtain indirect inferences of temperature. The resulting temperature profiles depend on details of the methods that are used to obtain temperatures from radiances. As a result, different groups that have analyzed the satellite data have obtained different temperature trends. Among these groups are Remote Sensing Systems (RSS) and the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH). The satellite series is not fully homogeneous – the record is constructed from a series of satellites with similar but not identical instrumentation. The sensors deteriorate over time, and corrections are necessary for satellite drift in orbit. Particularly large differences between reconstructed temperature series occur at the few times when there is little temporal overlap between successive satellites, making intercalibration difficult.", "The Great Global Warming Swindle The Great Global Warming Swindle is a polemical documentary film that suggests that the scientific opinion on climate change is influenced by funding and political factors , and questions whether scientific consensus on global warming exists . The program was formally criticised by Ofcom , the UK broadcasting regulatory agency , which upheld complaints of misrepresentation made by David King . The film , made by British television producer Martin Durkin , presents scientists , economists , politicians , writers , and others who dispute the scientific consensus regarding anthropogenic global warming . The programme 's publicity materials assert that man-made global warming is `` a lie '' and `` the biggest scam of modern times . '' Its original working title was `` Apocalypse my arse '' , but the title The Great Global Warming Swindle was later adopted as an allusion to the 1980 mockumentary The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle about British punk band the Sex Pistols . The UK 's Channel 4 premiered the documentary on 8 March 2007 . The channel described the film as `` a polemic that drew together the well-documented views of a number of respected scientists to reach the same conclusions . This is a controversial film but we feel that it is important that all sides of the debate are aired . '' According to Hamish Mykura , Channel 4 's head of documentaries , the film was commissioned `` to present the viewpoint of the small minority of scientists who do not believe global warming is caused by anthropogenic production of carbon dioxide . '' Although the documentary was welcomed by global warming sceptics , it was criticised by scientific organisations and individual scientists ( including one of the scientists interviewed in the film and one whose research was used to support the film 's claims ) . The film 's critics argued that it had misused and fabricated data , relied on out-of-date research , employed misleading arguments , and misrepresented the position of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change . Later broadcasts corrected three errors in the original film ." ]

[ "Climate: Long range Investigation, Mapping, and Prediction Climate : Long range Investigation , Mapping , and Prediction , known as CLIMAP , was a major research project of the 1970s and 80s to produce a map of climate conditions during the Last Glacial Maximum . The project was funded by the National Science Foundation as part of the International Decade of Ocean Exploration ( 1970s ) and is based in large part of the collection and analysis of a very large number of sediment cores to create a snapshot of conditions across the oceans . The CLIMAP project also resulted in maps of vegetative zones across the continents and the estimated extent of glaciation at the time . Most CLIMAP results aim to describe the Earth as it was 18 thousand years ago , but there was also an analysis to look at conditions during the previous interglacial -- 120 thousand years ago ( CLIMAP 1981 ) . CLIMAP has been a cornerstone of paleoclimate research and remains the most used sea surface temperature reconstruction of the global ocean during the last glacial maximum ( Yin and Battisti 2001 ) , but it has also been persistently controversial . CLIMAP resulted in estimates of global cooling of only 3.0 ± 0.6 ° C relative to the modern day ( Hoffert and Covey 1992 ) . The climate change during an ice age that occurs far from the continental ice sheets themselves is believed to be primarily controlled by changes in greenhouse gases , hence the conditions during the last glacial maximum provide a natural experiment for measuring the impact of changes in greenhouse gases on climate . The cited estimates of 3.0 ° C implies a climate sensitivity to carbon dioxide changes at the low end of the range proposed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change . However , CLIMAP also suggested that some of the tropics and in particular much of the Pacific Ocean were warmer than they are today . To date , no climate model has been able to reproduce the proposed warming in the Pacific ( Yin and Battisti 2001 ) , with most preferring a several degree cooling . Also , it appears that climate models which are forced to match the CLIMAP sea surface measurements are too warm to match estimates for changes at continental locations ( Pinot et al. 1999 ) . This suggests that either climate model design is missing some important unknown factor , or CLIMAP systematically overestimated the temperatures in the tropical oceans during the last glacial , though there is at present no consistent explanation for why or how this should have happened . Unfortunately cost and difficulty of collecting sediment cores from the open Pacific has limited the availability of samples that might help to confirm or disprove these observations . If the Pacific reconstruction is assumed to be in error , it would result in a larger climate sensitivity to changes in greenhouse gases .", "Global warming hiatus A global warming hiatus , also sometimes referred to as a global warming pause or a global warming slowdown , is a period of relatively little change in globally averaged surface temperatures . In the current episode of global warming many such 15-year periods appear in the surface temperature record , along with robust evidence of the long-term warming trend ; climate is classically averaged over 30-year periods . Publicity has surrounded claims of a global warming hiatus during the period 1998 -- 2013 . The exceptionally warm El Niño year of 1998 was an outlier from the continuing temperature trend , and so subsequent annual temperatures gave the appearance of a hiatus : by January 2006 , it appeared to some that global warming had stopped or paused . A 2009 study showed that decades without warming were not exceptional , and in 2011 a study showed that if allowances were made for known variability , the rising temperature trend continued unabated . There was increased public interest in 2013 in the run-up to publication of the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report , and despite concerns that a 15-year period was too short to determine a meaningful trend , the IPCC included a section on a hiatus , which it defined as a much smaller increasing linear trend over the 15 years from 1998 to 2012 , than over the 60 years from 1951 to 2012 . Various studies examined possible causes of the short-term slowdown . Even though the overall climate system has continued to accumulate energy due to Earth 's positive energy budget , the available temperature readings at the Earth 's surface indicate slower rates of increase in surface warming than in the prior decade . Since measurements at the top of the atmosphere show that Earth is receiving more energy than it is radiating back into space , the retained energy should be producing warming in the Earth 's climate system . Research reported in July 2015 on an updated NOAA dataset casts doubt on the existence of a hiatus , and it finds no indication of a slowdown even in earlier years . Scientists working on other datasets welcomed this study , though they have expressed the view that the recent warming trend was less than in previous periods of the same length . Subsequently , a detailed study supports the conclusion that warming is continuing , but it also find there was less warming between 2001 and 2010 than climate models had predicted , and that this slowdown might be attributed to short-term variations in the Pacific decadal oscillation ( PDO ) , which was negative during that period . Another review finds `` no substantive evidence '' of a pause in global warming . A statistical study of global temperature data since 1970 concludes that the term ` hiatus ' or ` pause ' is not justified . Independent of these discussions about data and measurements for earlier years , 2015 turned out to be much warmer than any of the earlier years , already before El Niño conditions started . The warmth of 2015 largely ended any remaining scientific credibility of claims that the supposed `` hiatus '' since 1998 had any significance for the long-term warming trend . In January 2017 , a study published in the journal Science Advances cast further doubt on the existence of a recent pause , with more evidence that ocean temperatures have been underestimated . An April 2017 study found the data consistent with a steady warming trend globally since the 1970s , with fluctuations within the expected range of short term variability .", "Global Energy and Water Cycle Experiment The Global Energy and Water Cycle Experiment ( GEWEX ) is a research program of the World Climate Research Programme intended to observe , comprehend and model the Earth 's water cycle . The experiment also observes how much energy the Earth receives , studies how much of that energy reaches surfaces of the Earth and how that energy is transformed . Sunlight 's energy evaporates water to produce clouds and rain , and dries out land masses after rain . Rain that falls on land becomes the water budget which can be used by people for agricultural and other processes . GEWEX is a collaboration of researchers worldwide to find better ways of studying the water cycle and how it transforms energy through the atmosphere . If the Earth 's climates were identical from year to year , then people could predict when , where and what crops to plant . However , instability created by solar variation , weather trends , and chaotic events create weather that is unpredictable on seasonal scales . Through weather patterns such as droughts and higher rainfall these cycles impact ecosystems and human activities . GEWEX is designed to collect a much greater amount of data , and see if better models of that data can forecast weather and climate change into the future . GEWEX is organized into several structures . As GEWEX was conceived projects were organized by participating factions , this task is now done by the International GEWEX Project Office ( IGPO ) . IGPO oversees major initiatives and coordinates between national projects in an effort to bring about communication of researchers . IGPO claims to support communication exchange between 2000 scientist and is the instrument for publication of major reports . The Scientific Steering Group organizes the projects and assigns them to panels , which oversee progress and provide critique . The Coordinated Energy and Water Cycle Observations Project ( CEOP ) the ` Hydrology Project ' is a major instrument in GEWEX . This panel includes geographic study areas such as the Climate Prediction Program for the Americas operated by NOAA , but also examines several types of climate zones ( e.g. high altitude and semi-arid ) . Another panel , the GEWEX Radiation Panel oversees the coordinated use of satellites and ground based observation to better estimate energy and water fluxes . One recent result GEWEX 's Radiation panel has assessed data on rainfall for the last 25 years and determined that global rainfall is 2.61 mm/day with a small statistical variation . While the study period is short , after 25 years of measurement regional trends are beginning to appear . The GEWEX Modeling and Prediction Panel takes current models and analyzes the models when climate forcing phenomena occur ( global warming as an example of a ` climate forcing ' event ) . GEWEX is now the core project of WCRP .", "Climate of Sochi Sochi , is a city in Krasnodar Krai , Russia , located on the Black Sea coast has a humid subtropical climate ( Köppen climate classification Cfa ) , with warm rainy winter and sunny warm summer . The territory of Sochi contains many microclimates , the daytime temperatures can vary as much as 10 ° C between coastal areas in Adler and Lazarevsky and 20 ° C - Krasnaya Polyana .", "Lucia Liljegren Lucia Liljegren is an American mechanical engineer who has worked at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory ( on projects related to remediation and storage of radioactive waste ) and as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Aerospace Engineering at Iowa State University . She is best known ( as Lucia ) for her global warming/climate change blog The Blackboard ( Where Climate Talk Gets Hot ! ) , online since 2007 . Professor Judith Curry , a climatologist at Georgia Tech , calls Lucia `` probably the least controversial person in the climate blogosphere , because of her cheerfulness and sense of humor , honesty , and open mindedness . '' In the climate change debate , Lucia classifies herself as a `` lukewarmer '' : a person who recognizes global warming , but doubts the severity of the problem , and the certainty of climate science predictions . The Blackboard was one of the first sites to post some of the CRU emails leaked in the 2009 Climatic Research Unit email controversy .", "WAsP WAsP ( Wind Atlas Analysis and Application Program ) is a Windows program for predicting wind climates , wind resources , and energy yields from wind turbines and wind farms . The predictions are based on wind data measured at meteorological stations in the same region , or on generalized wind climates derived from mesoscale model results . The program includes a complex terrain flow model , a roughness change model , a model for sheltering obstacles , a wind turbine wake model and a model for the average atmospheric stability conditions at the site . The software package further contains a Climate Analyst for creating the wind-climatological inputs , a Map Editor for creating and editing the topographical inputs , and a Turbine Editor for creating the wind turbine inputs to WAsP . The fundamentals of WAsP and the wind atlas methodology are described in the European Wind Atlas . WAsP is developed and distributed by the Department of Wind Energy at the Technical University of Denmark , Denmark . Current version is WAsP 11.5 . WAsP is used for : Wind farm production Wind farm efficiency Micro-siting of wind turbines Power production calculations Wind resource mapping Wind climate estimation Wind atlas generation Wind data analysis", "Stereotype content model The stereotype content model ( SCM ) is a psychological theory that hypothesizes that stereotypes possess two dimensions : warmth and competence . Social groups are perceived as warm if they do not compete with the ingroup for the same resources ( e.g. , college space ) and they are considered competent if they are high in status ( e.g. , economically or educationally successful ) . Thus , lack of competition predicts perceived warmth and status predicts perceived competence . The model was first proposed by social psychologist Susan Fiske and her colleagues Amy Cuddy , Peter Glick and Jun Xu .", "IPCC First Assessment Report The First Assessment Report ( FAR ) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) was completed in 1990 . It served as the basis of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change ( UNFCCC ) . The report was issued in three main sections , corresponding to the three Working Groups of scientists that the IPCC had established . Working Group I : Scientific Assessment of Climate Change , edited by J.T. Houghton , G.J. Jenkins and J.J. Ephraums Working Group II : Impacts Assessment of Climate Change , edited by W.J. McG . Tegart , G.W. Sheldon and D.C. Griffiths Working Group III : The IPCC Response Strategies Each section included a summary for policymakers . This format was followed in subsequent Assessment Reports . The executive summary of the policymakers ' summary of the WG I report includes : We are certain of the following : there is a natural greenhouse effect ... ; emissions resulting from human activities are substantially increasing the atmospheric concentrations of the greenhouse gases : CO2 , methane , CFCs and nitrous oxide . These increases will enhance the greenhouse effect , resulting on average in an additional warming of the Earth 's surface . The main greenhouse gas , water vapour , will increase in response to global warming and further enhance it . We calculate with confidence that : ... CO2 has been responsible for over half the enhanced greenhouse effect ; long-lived gases would require immediate reductions in emissions from human activities of over 60 % to stabilise their concentrations at today 's levels ... Based on current models , we predict : under -LSB- BAU -RSB- increase of global mean temperature during the -LSB- 21st -RSB- century of about 0.3 oC per decade ( with an uncertainty range of 0.2 to 0.5 oC per decade ) ; this is greater than that seen over the past 10,000 years ; under other ... scenarios which assume progressively increasing levels of controls , rates of increase in global mean temperature of about 0.2 oC -LSB- to -RSB- about 0.1 oC per decade . There are many uncertainties in our predictions particularly with regard to the timing , magnitude and regional patterns of climate change , due to our incomplete understanding of : sources and sinks of GHGs ; clouds ; oceans ; polar ice sheets . Our judgement is that : global mean surface air temperature has increased by 0.3 to 0.6 oC over the last 100 years ... ; The size of this warming is broadly consistent with predictions of climate models , but it is also of the same magnitude as natural climate variability . Thus the observed increase could be largely due to this natural variability ; alternatively this variability and other human factors could have offset a still larger human-induced greenhouse warming . The unequivocal detection of the enhanced greenhouse effect is not likely for a decade or more . under the IPCC business as usual emissions scenario , an average rate of global mean sea level rise of about 6 cm per decade over the next century ( with an uncertainty range of 3 -- 10 cm per decade ) , mainly due to thermal expansion of the oceans and the melting of some land ice . The predicted rise is about 20 cm ... by 2030 , and 65 cm by the end of the next century .", "Sedum dendroideum Sedum dendroideum , commonly known as the tree stonecrop or the false hens-and-chickens , is a shrub-like perennial plant that looks much like its Sempervivum look-alike . Native to Mexico , Sedum dendroideum plant thrives in warm , arid climates , as well as in cooler climates . It has been naturalized to California , and Ohio .", "Ross McKitrick Ross McKitrick is a Canadian economist specializing in environmental economics and policy analysis . He is a professor of economics at the University of Guelph , and a senior fellow of the Fraser Institute . He is a member of the academic advisory boards of the John Deutsch Institute , the Global Warming Policy Foundation , and the Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship of Creation . He has authored works about climate change issues , including co-authoring the book Taken By Storm : The Troubled Science , Policy and Politics of Global Warming in 2003 . McKitrick produced a series of videos and articles for the Friends of Science in which he argued that there is a `` pause '' in global warming that reveals flaws in current climate change models . The Friends of Science argue that the sun -- not human emissions of GHG -- is the main driver of climate change .", "Climate of Valencia Valencia and its metropolitan area have a Mediterranean influenced steppe climate ( Köppen climate classification : BSk ) with very mild winters and long warm to hot summers . According to Troll-Paffen climate classification , Valencia has a warm-temperate subtropical climate ( Warmgemäßigt-subtropisches Zonenklima ) and according to Siegmund/Frankenberg climate classification , Valencia has subtropical climate .", "Wildlife of Gabon The wildlife of Gabon is composed of its flora and fauna . Gabon is a largely low-lying country with a warm , humid climate . Much of the country is still covered by tropical rainforest and there are also grasslands , savannas , large rivers and coastal lagoons .", "Boolean delay equation As a novel type of semi-discrete dynamical systems , Boolean delay equations ( BDEs ) are models with Boolean-valued variables that evolve in continuous time . Since at the present time , most phenomena are too complex to be modeled by partial differential equations ( as continuous infinite-dimensional systems ) , BDEs are intended as a ( heuristic ) first step on the challenging road to further understanding and modeling them . For instance , one can mention complex problems in fluid dynamics , climate dynamics , solid-earth geophysics , and many problems elsewhere in natural sciences where much of the discourse is still conceptual .", "Climate of Rome Rome and its metropolitan area has a Mediterranean climate ( Köppen climate classification : Csa ) , with cool winters and warm to hot summers . According to Troll-Paffen climate classification , Rome has a warm-temperate subtropical climate ( Warmgemäßigt-subtropisches Zonenklima ) . According to Siegmund/Frankenberg climate classification , Rome has a subtropical climate .", "Climate of Lisbon Lisbon and its metropolitan area has a Subtropical-Mediterranean climate ( Köppen climate classification : Csa ) , with short and very mild winters and warm summers . According to Troll-Paffen climate classification , Lisbon has a warm-temperate subtropical climate ( Warmgemäßigt-subtropisches Zonenklima ) . According to Siegmund/Frankenberg climate classification , Lisbon has a subtropical climate .", "Climate of California The climate of California varies widely , from hot desert to subarctic , depending on latitude , elevation , and proximity to the coast . California 's coastal regions , the Sierra Nevada foothills , and much of the Central Valley have a Mediterranean climate , with warm to hot , dry summers and mild , moderately wet winters . The influence of the ocean generally moderates temperature extremes , creating warmer winters and substantially cooler summers in coastal areas .", "Global warming controversy The global warming controversy concerns the public debate over whether global warming is occurring , how much has occurred in modern times , what has caused it , what its effects will be , whether any action should be taken to curb it , and if so what that action should be . In the scientific literature , there is a strong consensus that global surface temperatures have increased in recent decades and that the trend is caused by human-induced emissions of greenhouse gases . No scientific body of national or international standing disagrees with this view , though a few organizations with members in extractive industries hold non-committal positions . Disputes over the key scientific facts of global warming are more prevalent in the media than in the scientific literature , where such issues are treated as resolved , and such disputes are more prevalent in the United States than globally . Political and popular debate concerning the existence and cause of climate change includes the reasons for the increase seen in the instrumental temperature record , whether the warming trend exceeds normal climatic variations , and whether human activities have contributed significantly to it . Scientists have resolved these questions decisively in favour of the view that the current warming trend exists and is ongoing , that human activity is the cause , and that it is without precedent in at least 2000 years . Public disputes that also reflect scientific debate include estimates of how responsive the climate system might be to any given level of greenhouse gases ( climate sensitivity ) , how global climate change will play out at local and regional scales , and what the consequences of global warming will be . Global warming remains an issue of widespread political debate , often split along party political lines , especially in the United States . Many of the issues that are settled within the scientific community , such as human responsibility for global warming , remain the subject of politically or economically motivated attempts to downplay , dismiss or deny them -- an ideological phenomenon categorised by academics and scientists as climate change denial . The sources of funding for those involved with climate science -- both supporting and opposing mainstream scientific positions -- have been questioned by both sides . There are debates about the best policy responses to the science , their cost-effectiveness and their urgency . Climate scientists , especially in the United States , have reported official and oil-industry pressure to censor or suppress their work and hide scientific data , with directives not to discuss the subject in public communications . Legal cases regarding global warming , its effects , and measures to reduce it have reached American courts . The fossil fuels lobby has been identified as overtly or covertly supporting efforts to undermine or discredit the scientific consensus on global warming .", "Accuracy paradox The accuracy paradox for predictive analytics states that predictive models with a given level of accuracy may have greater predictive power than models with higher accuracy . It may be better to avoid the accuracy metric in favor of other metrics such as precision and recall . Accuracy is often the starting point for analyzing the quality of a predictive model , as well as an obvious criterion for prediction . Accuracy measures the ratio of correct predictions to the total number of cases evaluated . It may seem obvious that the ratio of correct predictions to cases should be a key metric . A predictive model may have high accuracy , but be useless . In an example predictive model for an insurance fraud application , all cases that are predicted as high-risk by the model will be investigated . To evaluate the performance of the model , the insurance company has created a sample data set of 10,000 claims . All 10,000 cases in the validation sample have been carefully checked and it is known which cases are fraudulent . To analyze the quality of the model , the insurance uses the table of confusion . The definition of accuracy , the table of confusion for model M1Fraud , and the calculation of accuracy for model M1Fraud is shown below . where TN is the number of true negative cases FP is the number of false positive cases FN is the number of false negative cases TP is the number of true positive cases Formula 1 : Definition of Accuracy Table 1 : Table of Confusion for Fraud Model M1Fraud . Formula 2 : Accuracy for model M1Fraud With an accuracy of 98.0 % model M1Fraud appears to perform fairly well . The paradox lies in the fact that accuracy can be easily improved to 98.5 % by always predicting `` no fraud '' . The table of confusion and the accuracy for this trivial `` always predict negative '' model M2Fraud and the accuracy of this model are shown below . Table 2 : Table of Confusion for Fraud Model M2Fraud . Formula 3 : Accuracy for model M2Fraud Model M2Fraudreduces the rate of inaccurate predictions from 2 % to 1.5 % . This is an apparent improvement of 25 % . The new model M2Fraud shows fewer incorrect predictions and markedly improved accuracy , as compared to the original model M1Fraud , but is obviously useless . The alternative model M2Fraud does not offer any value to the company for preventing fraud . The less accurate model is more useful than the more accurate model . Model improvements should not be measured in terms of accuracy gains . It may be going too far to say that accuracy is irrelevant , but caution is advised when using accuracy in the evaluation of predictive models .", "Climate of Ghana The climate of Ghana is tropical . The eastern coastal belt is warm and comparatively dry , the south-west corner of Ghana is hot and humid , and the north of Ghana is hot and dry . Ghana is located on the Gulf of Guinea , only a few degrees north of the Equator , giving it a warm climate .", "Frank Wentz Frank Wentz is the CEO and director of Remote Sensing Systems , a company he founded in 1974 . Remote Sensing Systems specializes in satellite microwave remote sensing research . Together with Carl Mears , he is best known for developing a satellite temperature record from MSU and AMSU . Intercomparison of this record with the earlier UAH satellite temperature record , developed by John Christy and Roy Spencer , revealed deficiencies in the earlier work ; specifically , the warming trend in the RSS version is larger than the University of Alabama in Huntsville ( UAH ) one . From 1978 to 1982 Frank was a member of NASA 's SeaSat Experiment Team involved in the development of physically based retrieval methods for microwave scatterometers and radiometers . He has also investigated the effect of climate change on satellite-derived evaporation , precipitation and surface wind values . His findings are different from most climate change model predictions .", "The Keys to the White House The Keys to the White House is a 1996 book about a historically based prediction system for determining the outcome of presidential elections in the United States . The system , inspired by earthquake research , was developed in 1981 by American historian Allan Lichtman and Russian scientist Vladimir Keilis-Borok , an authority on the mathematics of prediction models . The model has a record of accurate forecasts but has been criticised by some statisticians as including too many predictors to be a sound model and for forecasting only the winner of elections rather than the vote share of the winning party .", "Climate justice (disambiguation) Climate justice may refer to : Climate justice , concept framing global warming as an ethical and political issue . Climate Justice Now ! , coalition founded in 2007 . Climate Justice Action , coalition founded in 2009 . European Assembly for Climate Justice , organised in 2010 .", "Roman Warm Period The Roman Warm Period or the Roman climatic optimum has been proposed as a period of unusually warm weather in Europe and the North Atlantic that ran from approximately 250 BC to AD 400 .", "Global warming Global warming , also referred to as climate change , is the observed century-scale rise in the average temperature of the Earth 's climate system and its related effects . Multiple lines of scientific evidence show that the climate system is warming . Many of the observed changes since the 1950s are unprecedented in the instrumental temperature record which extends back to the mid 19th century , and in paleoclimate proxy records over thousands of years . In 2013 , the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) Fifth Assessment Report concluded that `` It is extremely likely that human influence has been the dominant cause of the observed warming since the mid-20th century . '' The largest human influence has been emission of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide , methane and nitrous oxide . Climate model projections summarized in the report indicated that during the 21st century the global surface temperature is likely to rise a further 0.3 to for their lowest emissions scenario and 2.6 to for the highest emissions scenario . These findings have been recognized by the national science academies of the major industrialized nations and are not disputed by any scientific body of national or international standing . Future climate change and associated impacts will differ from region to region around the globe . Anticipated effects include warming global temperature , rising sea levels , changing precipitation , and expansion of deserts in the subtropics . Warming is expected to be greater over land than over the oceans and greatest in the Arctic , with the continuing retreat of glaciers , permafrost and sea ice . Other likely changes include more frequent extreme weather events including heat waves , droughts , heavy rainfall with floods and heavy snowfall ; ocean acidification ; and species extinctions due to shifting temperature regimes . Effects significant to humans include the threat to food security from decreasing crop yields and the abandonment of populated areas due to rising sea levels . Because the climate system has a large `` inertia '' and greenhouse gases will stay in the atmosphere for a long time , many of these effects will not only exist for decades or centuries , but will persist for tens of thousands of years . Possible societal responses to global warming include mitigation by emissions reduction , adaptation to its effects , building systems resilient to its effects , and possible future climate engineering . Most countries are parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change ( UNFCCC ) , whose ultimate objective is to prevent dangerous anthropogenic climate change . Parties to the UNFCCC have agreed that deep cuts in emissions are required and that global warming should be limited to well below 2.0 C-change relative to pre-industrial levels , with efforts made to limit warming to 1.5 C-change . Public reactions to global warming and concern about its effects are also increasing . A global 2015 Pew Research Center report showed a median of 54 % consider it `` a very serious problem '' . There are significant regional differences , with Americans and Chinese ( whose economies are responsible for the greatest annual CO2 emissions ) among the least concerned .", "List of ministers of climate change A list of ministers of climate change or officials in charge of cabinet positions with portfolios dealing primarily with climate change and issues related to mitigation of global warming .", "Climate of Los Angeles The Los Angeles metropolitan area averages year-round mild-to-warm weather . The climate is classified as a Mediterranean climate , which is a type of dry subtropical climate , characterized by seasonal changes in rainfall -- with a dry summer and a winter rainy season -- but relatively modest transitions in temperature . Under the modified Köppen climate classification , the coast is classified as Csb and the inland areas as Csa . Some areas of the city may also be defined as a cold semi-arid climate due to the low annual rainfall in combination with high mean temperatures . The Los Angeles area contains many microclimates , which means that the daytime temperatures can vary as much as 36 ° F ( 19 ° C ) between inland areas such as the San Fernando Valley or San Gabriel Valley and the coastal Los Angeles Basin .", "TerrSet TerrSet ( formerly IDRISI ) is an integrated geographic information system ( GIS ) and remote sensing software developed by Clark Labs at Clark University for the analysis and display of digital geospatial information . TerrSet is a PC grid-based system that offers tools for researchers and scientists engaged in analyzing earth system dynamics for effective and responsible decision making for environmental management , sustainable resource development and equitable resource allocation . Key features of TerrSet include : GIS analytical tools for basic and advanced spatial analysis , including tools for surface and statistical analysis , decision support , land change and prediction , and image time series analysis ; an image processing system with multiple hard and soft classifers , including machine learning classifiers such as neural networks and classification tree analysis , as well as image segmentation for classification ; Land Change Modeler , a land planning and decision support toolset that addresses the complexities of land change analysis and land change prediction . Habitat and Biodiversity Modeler , a modeling environment for habitat assessment and biodiversity modeling . Ecosystem Services Modeler , a spatial decision support system for assessing the value of natural capital . Earth Trends Modeler , an integrated suite of tools for the analysis of image time series ( time series ) to assess climate trends and impacts . Climate Change Adaptation Modeler , a facility for modeling future climate and its impacts . GeOSIRIS-REDD , a national-level REDD planning tool to assess deforestation , carbon emissions , agricultural revenue and carbon payments . GeoMod , a land change modeling tool based around modeling unidirectional transitions between two land cover categories", "Lennart Bengtsson Lennart Bengtsson ( , Trollhättan ) , is a Swedish meteorologist . His research interests include climate sensitivity , extreme events , climate variability and climate predictability .", "Porter's four corners model Porter 's four corners model is a predictive tool designed by Michael Porter that helps in determining a competitor 's course of action . Unlike other predictive models which predominantly rely on a firm 's current strategy and capabilities to determine future strategy , Porter 's model additionally calls for an understanding of what motivates the competitor . This added dimension of understanding a competitor 's internal culture , value system , mindset , and assumptions helps in determining a much more accurate and realistic reading of a competitor 's possible reactions in a given situation .", "Petar Gburčik Prof. Petar Gburčik ( Cyrillic : Петар Гбурчик ) ( 30 October 1931 - 29 October 2006 ) was a Serbian scientist and a Professor of Meteorology at the University of Belgrade . He was the author of first mathematical models of the numerical weather prediction , which were used operationally in the Weather Service of Yugoslavia from 1970 to 1977 . In the same period he began modeling of the atmospheric diffusion of air-pollution and created the first model of the spatial distribution of air-pollution . The output of this model was used for the elaboration of the urban plan of Pančevo . For the actual research of the three-dimensional distribution of wind energy ( on the territories of Belgrade and Serbia ) he applied the integration of classic models with GIS technology . Special area of his engagements were the intentionally and inadvertently modified climates , as well as their impact on the sustainable development . These modifications destabilize the climate system and lead to big material and social damage , due to the lack of possibility of weather control . Petar Gburčik proved this with his scientific papers on weather modifications and climate change .", "Kii Peninsula The is the largest peninsula on the island of Honshū in Japan . It is named after the ancient Kii Province . The area south of the `` Central Tectonic Line '' is called Nanki , and includes the most poleward living coral reefs in the world due to the presence of the warm Kuroshio Current , though these are threatened by global warming and human interference . Because of the Kuroshio 's strong influence , the climate of Nankii is the wettest in the Earth 's subtropics with rainfall in the southern mountains believed to reach 5 m per year and averaging 3.85 m in the southeastern town of Owase , comparable to Ketchikan , Alaska or Tortel in southern Chile . When typhoons hit Japan , the Kii Peninsula is typically the worst affected area and daily rainfalls as high as 940 mm are not unknown . Most of the Kii Peninsula is dense temperate rainforest since the climate even in the very limited lowlands is too wet for agriculture , and much of the coast consists of networks of small rias into which flow very steep and rapid streams characterised by a large number of high waterfalls . Forestry and fishing were the traditional economic mainstays of the region and remain important even today despite a declining population and labour force .", "Climate of Grand Forks, North Dakota The Climate of Grand Forks , North Dakota is a warm summer continental ( Köppen Dfb ) typical of cities located in the Great Plains , with four very distinct seasons and great variation in temperatures over very short periods of time . The city 's climate is characterized by long , cold winters with moderate snowfall and warm summers which are typically humid ." ]

[ "Lake Superior Lake Superior ( Lac Supérieur ) is the largest of the Great Lakes of North America . The lake is shared by the Canadian province of Ontario to the north , the US state of Minnesota to the west , and Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to the south . It is generally considered the largest freshwater lake in the world by surface area . It is the world 's third-largest freshwater lake by volume and the largest by volume in North America .", "Permafrost In geology , permafrost is ground , including rock or ( cryotic ) soil , at or below the freezing point of water 0 C for two or more years . Most permafrost is located in high latitudes ( in and around the Arctic and Antarctic regions ) , but alpine permafrost may exist at high altitudes in much lower latitudes . Ground ice is not always present , as may be in the case of nonporous bedrock , but it frequently occurs and it may be in amounts exceeding the potential hydraulic saturation of the ground material . Permafrost accounts for 0.022 % of total water on earth and exists in 24 % of exposed land in the Northern Hemisphere . It also occurs subsea on the continental shelves of the continents surrounding the Arctic Ocean , portions of which were exposed during the last glacial period , with global weather implications . A global temperature rise of 1.5 C-change above current levels would be enough to start the thawing of permafrost in Siberia , according to one group of scientists .", "Little Ice Age The Little Ice Age ( LIA ) was a period of cooling that occurred after the Medieval Warm Period . Although it was not a true ice age , the term was introduced into scientific literature by François E. Matthes in 1939 . It has been conventionally defined as a period extending from the 16th to the 19th centuries , but some experts prefer an alternative timespan from about 1300 to about 1850 . Climatologists and historians working with local records no longer expect to agree on either the start or end dates of the period , which varied according to local conditions . The NASA Earth Observatory notes three particularly cold intervals : one beginning about 1650 , another about 1770 , and the last in 1850 , all separated by intervals of slight warming . The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Third Assessment Report considered the timing and areas affected by the Little Ice Age suggested largely-independent regional climate changes rather than a globally-synchronous increased glaciation . At most , there was modest cooling of the Northern Hemisphere during the period . Several causes have been proposed : cyclical lows in solar radiation , heightened volcanic activity , changes in the ocean circulation , variations in Earth 's orbit and axial tilt ( orbital forcing ) , inherent variability in global climate , and decreases in the human population .", "Precipitation In meteorology , precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravity . The main forms of precipitation include drizzle , rain , sleet , snow , graupel and hail . Precipitation occurs when a portion of the atmosphere becomes saturated with water vapor , so that the water condenses and `` precipitates '' . Thus , fog and mist are not precipitation but suspensions , because the water vapor does not condense sufficiently to precipitate . Two processes , possibly acting together , can lead to air becoming saturated : cooling the air or adding water vapor to the air . Precipitation forms as smaller droplets coalesce via collision with other rain drops or ice crystals within a cloud . Short , intense periods of rain in scattered locations are called `` showers . '' Moisture that is lifted or otherwise forced to rise over a layer of sub-freezing air at the surface may be condensed into clouds and rain . This process is typically active when freezing rain is occurring . A stationary front is often present near the area of freezing rain and serves as the foci for forcing and rising air . Provided necessary and sufficient atmospheric moisture content , the moisture within the rising air will condense into clouds , namely stratus and cumulonimbus . Eventually , the cloud droplets will grow large enough to form raindrops and descend toward the Earth where they will freeze on contact with exposed objects . Where relatively warm water bodies are present , for example due to water evaporation from lakes , lake-effect snowfall becomes a concern downwind of the warm lakes within the cold cyclonic flow around the backside of extratropical cyclones . Lake-effect snowfall can be locally heavy . Thundersnow is possible within a cyclone 's comma head and within lake effect precipitation bands . In mountainous areas , heavy precipitation is possible where upslope flow is maximized within windward sides of the terrain at elevation . On the leeward side of mountains , desert climates can exist due to the dry air caused by compressional heating . The movement of the monsoon trough , or intertropical convergence zone , brings rainy seasons to savannah climes . Precipitation is a major component of the water cycle , and is responsible for depositing the fresh water on the planet . Approximately 505000 km3 of water falls as precipitation each year ; 398000 km3 of it over the oceans and 107000 km3 over land . Given the Earth 's surface area , that means the globally averaged annual precipitation is 990 mm , but over land it is only 715 mm . Climate classification systems such as the Köppen climate classification system use average annual rainfall to help differentiate between differing climate regimes . Precipitation may occur on other celestial bodies , e.g. when it gets cold , Mars has precipitation which most likely takes the form of frost , rather than rain or snow ." ]

[ "Temperature record of the past 1000 years For information on the description of the Medieval Warm Period and Little Ice Age in various IPCC reports see MWP and LIA in IPCC reportsThe temperature record of the past 1,000 years is reconstructed using data from climate proxy records in conjunction with the modern instrumental temperature record which only covers the last 150 years at a global scale . Large-scale reconstructions covering part or all of the 1st millennium and 2nd millennium have shown that recent temperatures are exceptional : the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Fourth Assessment Report of 2007 concluded that `` Average Northern Hemisphere temperatures during the second half of the 20th century were very likely higher than during any other 50-year period in the last 500 years and likely '' the highest in at least the past 1,300 years . '' The curve shown in graphs of these reconstructions is widely known as the hockey stick graph because of the sharp increase in temperatures during the last century . As of 2010 this broad pattern was supported by more than two dozen reconstructions , using various statistical methods and combinations of proxy records , with variations in how flat the pre-20th-century `` shaft '' appears . Sparseness of proxy records results in considerable uncertainty for earlier periods . Individual proxy records , such as tree ring widths and densities used in dendroclimatology , are calibrated against the instrumental record for the period of overlap . Networks of such records are used to reconstruct past temperatures for regions : tree ring proxies have been used to reconstruct Northern Hemisphere extratropical temperatures ( within the tropics trees do not form rings ) but are confined to land areas and are scarce in the Southern Hemisphere which is largely ocean . Wider coverage is provided by multiproxy reconstructions , incorporating proxies such as lake sediments , ice cores and corals which are found in different regions , and using statistical methods to relate these sparser proxies to the greater numbers of tree ring records . The `` Composite Plus Scaling '' ( CPS ) method is widely used for large-scale multiproxy reconstructions of hemispheric or global average temperatures ; this is complemented by Climate Field Reconstruction ( CFR ) methods which show how climate patterns have developed over large spatial areas , making the reconstruction useful for investigating natural variability and long-term oscillations as well as for comparisons with patterns produced by climate models . During the 1,900 years before the 20th century , it is likely that the next warmest period was from 950 to 1100 , with peaks at different times in different regions . This has been called the Medieval Warm Period , and some evidence suggests widespread cooler conditions during a period around the 17th century known as the Little Ice Age . In the hockey stick controversy , contrarians have asserted that the Medieval Warm Period was warmer than at present , and have disputed the data and methods of climate reconstructions .", "Global temperature In its AR4 , WG1 report , Chapter3 , the IPCC explains global temperature in these words :", "Medicine Lake, Montana Medicine Lake is a town in Sheridan County , Montana , United States . The population was 225 at the 2010 census . On July 5 , 1937 , Medicine Lake recorded a temperature of 117 ° F ( 47 ° C ) , setting the record for the highest temperature ever recorded in Montana .", "Highest temperature recorded on Earth The standard measuring conditions for temperature are in the air , 1.5 meters above the ground , and shielded from direct sunlight . The highest confirmed temperature on Earth recorded according to these measures was 56.7 C in Furnace Creek Ranch , California , located in the Death Valley desert in the United States , on July 10 , 1913 . The former highest official temperature on Earth , held for 90 years by ` Aziziya , Libya , was de-certified by the WMO ( World Meteorological Organization ) in January 2012 as the record for the world 's highest surface temperature ( this temperature of 57.8 ° C ( 136 ° F ) , registered on 13 September 1922 , is currently considered to have been a recorder 's error ) . Christopher C. Burt , the weather historian writing for Weather Underground who shepherded the Libya reading 's 2012 disqualification , believes that the 1913 Death Valley reading is `` a myth '' , and is at least four or five degrees Fahrenheit too high , as do other weather historians Dr. Arnold Court and William Taylor Reid . Burt proposes that the highest reliably recorded temperature on Earth is still at Death Valley , but is instead 53.9 C recorded five times : 20 July 1960 , 18 July 1998 , 20 July 2005 , 7 July 2007 , and 30 June 2013 . Temperatures measured directly on the ground may exceed air temperatures by 30 to 50 ° C . A ground temperature of 84 ° C ( 183.2 ° F ) has been recorded in Port Sudan , Sudan . A ground temperature of 93.9 ° C ( 201 ° F ) was recorded also in Furnace Creek Ranch on 15 July 1972 ; this may be the highest natural ground surface temperature ever recorded . The theoretical maximum possible ground surface temperature has been estimated to be between 90 and 100 ° C for dry , darkish soils of low thermal conductivity . Temperature measurements via satellite also tend to capture occurrence of higher records but are considered less reliable than ground-positioned thermometers . There is a satellite record of 66.8 C measured in the Flaming Mountains of China in 2008 . Other satellite measurements of ground temperature taken between 2003 and 2009 , taken with the MODIS infrared spectroradiometer on the Aqua satellite , found a maximum temperature of 70.7 ° C ( 159.3 ° F ) , which was recorded in 2005 in the Lut Desert , Iran . The Lut Desert was also found to have the highest maximum temperature in 5 of the 7 years measured ( 2004 , 2005 , 2006 , 2007 and 2009 ) . These measurements reflect averages over a large region and so are lower than the maximum point surface temperature .", "List of extreme temperatures in France Here is a list of the hottest and coldest temperatures ever recorded in various locations in the metropolitan regions of France since 1870 , as well as of the extreme maximum and minimum temperature recorded in its overseas departments and territories .", "Late 2009 southeastern Australia heat wave The late 2009 southeastern Australia heat wave ( also referred to as the November 2009 heat wave and the South Australian heat wave ) was a heat wave that occurred in the southeastern Australian states of South Australia , Victoria and southern New South Wales . Daily maximum temperatures during the heat wave were roughly 10 ° C ( 18 ° F ) above average in many locations . Capital cities Adelaide and Melbourne recorded temperatures over 35 ° C , and some regional towns recorded temperatures above 40 ° C. Above average temperatures in the region began in late October and persisted until mid-November 2009 . Many locations through the region broke temperature records for November . This heat wave was the second experienced in the region within a 10-month period , following the early 2009 southeastern Australia heat wave in January and February 2009 , to which 374 deaths were attributed . Although the earlier heat wave was far more intense , the later heat wave was more extensive and long lasting . The heat wave was caused by a combination of factors , including hot , dry winds caused by a slow-moving high-pressure system that had settled over the Tasman Sea , an El Niño event occurring in the Pacific Ocean , and gradually rising temperatures across southern Australia , probably as a result of global warming .", "Time temperature indicator A time temperature indicator ( TTI ) is a device or smart label that shows the accumulated time-temperature history of a product . Time temperature indicators are commonly used on food , pharmaceutical , and medical products to indicate exposure to excessive temperature ( and time at temperature ) . In contrast , a Temperature data logger measures and records the temperatures for a specified time period . The digital data can be downloaded and analyzed .", "Frigorific mixture A frigorific mixture is a mixture of two or more components that reaches an equilibrium temperature that is independent of the temperature of any of its components before they are mixed . The temperature is also independent of the quantity of components used as long as sufficient amounts of each are present .", "List of extreme temperatures in Italy The following table lists the highest and lowest temperatures recorded in each region in Italy , in both Fahrenheit and Celsius . * Also on earlier date or dates in that region or city .", "Laboratory bath A laboratory bath could refer to any of the following : Cooling bath : a laboratory device that lowers the temperature of the bath or improves heat conduction Heated bath : a laboratory device that raises the temperature of the bath to enhance a chemical reaction Laboratory water bath : a laboratory device that maintains the temperature of the bath Oil bath : a laboratory device that uses oil an oil to regulate the temperature of a sample", "Setpoint (control system) In cybernetics and control theory , a setpoint ( also set point , set-point ) is the desired or target value for an essential variable of a system , often used to describe a standard configuration or norm for the system . Departure of a variable from its setpoint is one basis for error-controlled regulation , that is , the use of feedback to return the system to its norm , as in homeostasis . For example , a boiler might have a temperature setpoint , which is the temperature the boiler control system aims to maintain .", "Closure temperature In radiometric dating , closure temperature or blocking temperature refers to the temperature of a system , such as a mineral , at the time given by its radiometric date . In physical terms , the closure temperature is the temperature at which a system has cooled so that there is no longer any significant diffusion of the parent or daughter isotopes out of the system and into the external environment . The concept 's initial mathematical formulation was presented in a seminal paper by Martin H. Dodson , `` Closure temperature in cooling geochronological and petrological systems '' in the journal Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology , 1973 , with refinements to a usable experimental formulation by other scientists in later years . This temperature varies broadly among different minerals and also differs depending on the parent and daughter atoms being considered . It is specific to a particular material and isotopic system . The closure temperature of a system can be experimentally determined in the lab by artificially resetting sample minerals using a high-temperature furnace . As the mineral cools , the crystal structure begins to form and diffusion of isotopes slows . At a certain temperature , the crystal structure has formed sufficiently to prevent diffusion of isotopes . This temperature is what is known as blocking temperature and represents the temperature below which the mineral is a closed system to measurable diffusion of isotopes . The age that can be calculated by radiometric dating is thus the time at which the rock or mineral cooled to blocking temperature . These temperatures can also be determined in the field by comparing them to the dates of other minerals with well-known closure temperatures . Closure temperatures are used in geochronology and thermochronology to date events and determine rates of processes in the geologic past .", "Infrared thermometer An infrared thermometer is a thermometer which infers temperature from a portion of the thermal radiation sometimes called blackbody radiation emitted by the object being measured . They are sometimes called laser thermometers as a laser is used to help aim the thermometer , or non-contact thermometers or temperature guns , to describe the device 's ability to measure temperature from a distance . By knowing the amount of infrared energy emitted by the object and its emissivity , the object 's temperature can often be determined . Infrared thermometers are a subset of devices known as `` thermal radiation thermometers '' . Sometimes , especially near ambient temperatures , readings may be subject to error due to the reflection of radiation from a hotter body -- even the person holding the instrument -- rather than radiated by the object being measured , and to an incorrect assumed emissivity . The design essentially consists of a lens to focus the infrared thermal radiation on to a detector , which converts the radiant power to an electrical signal that can be displayed in units of temperature after being compensated for ambient temperature . This permits temperature measurement from a distance without contact with the object to be measured . A non-contact infrared thermometer is useful for measuring temperature under circumstances where thermocouples or other probe-type sensors can not be used or do not produce accurate data for a variety of reasons .", "Shortening Shortening is any fat that is a solid at room temperature and used to make crumbly pastry and other food products . Shortening is used in pastries that should not be elastic , such as cake . Although butter is solid at room temperature and is frequently used in making pastry , the term `` shortening '' seldom refers to butter , but is more closely related to margarine .", "Adiabatic flame temperature In the study of combustion , there are two types of adiabatic flame temperature depending on how the process is completed , constant volume and constant pressure , describing the temperature , the combustion products theoretically reach if no energy is lost to the outside environment . The constant volume adiabatic flame temperature is the temperature that results from a complete combustion process that occurs without any work , heat transfer or changes in kinetic or potential energy . The constant pressure adiabatic flame temperature is the temperature that results from a complete combustion process that occurs without any heat transfer or changes in kinetic or potential energy . Its temperature is lower than the constant volume process because some of the energy is utilized to change the volume of the system ( i.e. , generate work ) .", "Early 2009 southeastern Australia heat wave The early 2009 southeastern Australia heat wave was a heat wave that commenced in late January and led to record-breaking prolonged high temperatures in the region . The heat wave is considered one of the , if not the , most extreme in the region 's history . During the heat wave , fifty separate locations set various records for consecutive , highest daytime and overnight temperatures . The highest temperature recorded during the heat wave was 48.8 ° C in Hopetoun , Victoria , a record for the state . Many locations through the region recorded all-time high temperatures including capital cities Adelaide , which reached its third-highest temperature , 45.7 ° C , and Melbourne , which recorded its highest-ever temperature on record , 46.4 ° C. Both cities broke records for the most consecutive days over 40 ° C , while Mildura , Victoria recorded an all-time record twelve consecutive days over 43 ° C. The exceptional heat wave was caused by a slow-moving high-pressure system that settled over the Tasman Sea , with a combination of an intense tropical low located off the North West Australian coast and a monsoon trough over Northern Australia , which produced ideal conditions for hot tropical air to be directed down over southeastern Australia . The heat began in South Australia on 25 January but became more widespread over southeast Australia by 27 January . A weak cool change moved over the southern coastal areas bringing some relief on 30 January , including Melbourne , where the change arrived that evening , dropping temperatures to an average of 30.8 ° C. Higher temperatures returned on the following weekend with Melbourne recording its hottest day since records began in 1855 , 46.4 ° C , also the highest temperature ever recorded in an Australian capital city . The heat wave generated extreme fire conditions during the peak of the 2008 -- 09 Australian bushfire season , causing many bushfires in the affected region , contributing to the extreme bushfire conditions on 7 February , also known as the Black Saturday bushfires , which claimed 173 lives in Victoria . Ten months after this heat wave , a second struck the same region in November 2009 .", "1906 United Kingdom heat wave The 1906 United Kingdom heat wave occurred all over the country from August to September . This was unusual as the highest temperatures were recorded in early September and the intense heat began in late August , whereas most heat waves in the UK begin in June and July . Even so , the heatwave had a comparable intensity to the 1990 heat wave , and it has been described as the most intense September heat wave in the 20th century . From 31 August to 3 September , the temperature in the UK exceeded 32 C consecutively over most of the UK on these four days . In September , CET Central England and Birmingham recorded a highest temperature of 31.5 C , and Oxford recorded a highest temperature of 33.1 C ; however , this record for September in Oxford was broken in 1911 with a temperature of 33.4 C. 2 September was the hottest day of the month as temperatures reached 35.6 C in Bawtry . This day was also the hottest over the most of the UK , again unusual because of its late occurrence . This remains the hottest September temperature of any day in the UK and the eighth-hottest day overall in the 20th century . Scotland also had temperatures reaching 32.2 C at Gordon Castle , Moray , and Northern Ireland had temperatures reaching 27.8 C in Armagh , County Armagh both recorded on 1 September 1906 .", "Thermostat A thermostat is a component which senses the temperature of a system so that the system 's temperature is maintained near a desired setpoint . A thermostat can often be the main control unit for a heating or cooling system , in applications ranging from ambient air control , to such as automotive coolant control , but is also used in many other applications , such as an electric clothes iron . It is a `` closed loop '' control device , as it seeks to reduce the error between the desired and measured temperatures . Sometimes a thermostat combines both the sensing and control action elements of a controlled system , such as in an automotive thermostat .", "Hockey stick graph Hockey stick graphs present the global or hemispherical mean temperature record of the past 500 to 2000 years as shown by quantitative climate reconstructions based on climate proxy records . These reconstructions have consistently shown a slow long term cooling trend changing into relatively rapid warming in the 20th century , with the instrumental temperature record by 2000 exceeding earlier temperatures . The term `` hockey stick graph '' was coined by the climatologist Jerry Mahlman , to describe the pattern shown by the ( MBH99 ) reconstruction , envisaging a graph that is relatively flat with a downward trend to 1900 as forming an ice hockey stick 's `` shaft '' followed by a sharp , steady increase corresponding to the `` blade '' portion . The reconstructions have featured in Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) reports as evidence of global warming . Arguments over the reconstructions have been taken up by fossil fuel industry funded lobbying groups attempting to cast doubt on climate science . Paleoclimatology dates back to the 19th century , and the concept of examining varves in lake beds and tree rings to track local climatic changes was suggested in the 1930s . In the 1960s , Hubert Lamb generalised from historical documents and temperature records of central England to propose a Medieval Warm Period from around 900 to 1300 , followed by Little Ice Age . This was the basis of a `` schematic diagram '' featured in the IPCC First Assessment Report of 1990 beside cautions that the medieval warming might not have been global . The use of indicators to get quantitative estimates of the temperature record of past centuries was developed , and by the late 1990s a number of competing teams of climatologists found indications that recent warming was exceptional . introduced the `` Composite Plus Scaling '' ( CPS ) method used by most later large scale reconstructions . Their study was featured in the IPCC Second Assessment Report of 1995 . In 1998 Michael E. Mann , Raymond S. Bradley and Malcolm K. Hughes developed new statistical techniques to produce ( MBH98 ) , the first eigenvector-based climate field reconstruction ( CFR ) . This showed global patterns of annual surface temperature , and included a graph of average hemispheric temperatures back to 1400 with shading emphasising that uncertainties ( to two standard error limits ) were much greater in earlier centuries . independently produced a CPS reconstruction extending back for a thousand years , and ( MBH99 ) used the MBH98 methodology to extend their study back to 1000 . A version of the MBH99 graph was featured prominently in the 2001 IPCC Third Assessment Report ( TAR ) , which also drew on Jones et al. 1998 and three other reconstructions to support the conclusion that , in the Northern Hemisphere , the 1990s was likely to have been the warmest decade and 1998 the warmest year during the past 1,000 years . The graph became a focus of dispute for those opposed to the strengthening scientific consensus that late 20th century warmth was exceptional . In 2003 , as lobbying over the 1997 Kyoto Protocol intensified , a paper claiming greater medieval warmth was quickly dismissed by scientists in the Soon and Baliunas controversy . Later in 2003 , Stephen McIntyre and Ross McKitrick published disputing the data used in MBH98 paper . In 2004 Hans von Storch published criticism of the statistical techniques as tending to underplay variations in earlier parts of the graph , though this was disputed and he later accepted that the effect was very small . In 2005 McIntyre and McKitrick published criticisms of the principal components analysis methodology as used in MBH98 and MBH99 . Their analysis was subsequently disputed by published papers including and which pointed to errors in the McIntyre and McKitrick methodology . Political disputes led to the formation of a panel of scientists convened by the National Research Council , their North Report in 2006 supported Mann 's findings with some qualifications , including agreeing that there were some statistical failings but these had little effect on the result . More than two dozen reconstructions , using various statistical methods and combinations of proxy records , support the broad consensus shown in the original 1998 hockey-stick graph , with variations in how flat the pre-20th century `` shaft '' appears . The 2007 IPCC Fourth Assessment Report cited 14 reconstructions , 10 of which covered 1,000 years or longer , to support its strengthened conclusion that it was likely that Northern Hemisphere temperatures during the 20th century were the highest in at least the past 1,300 years . Further reconstructions , including Mann et al. 2008 and , have supported these general conclusions .", "Silicon bandgap temperature sensor The silicon bandgap temperature sensor is an extremely common form of temperature sensor ( thermometer ) used in electronic equipment . Its main advantage is that it can be included in a silicon integrated circuit at very low cost . The principle of the sensor is that the forward voltage of a silicon diode , which may be the base-emitter junction of a bipolar junction transistor ( BJT ) , is temperature-dependent , according to the following equation : where T = temperature in kelvins , T0 = reference temperature , VG0 = bandgap voltage at absolute zero , VBE0 = junction voltage at temperature T0 and current IC0 , K = Boltzmann 's constant , q = charge on an electron , n = a device-dependent constant . By comparing the voltages of two junctions at the same temperature , but at two different currents , IC1 and IC2 , many of the variables in the above equation can be eliminated , resulting in the relationship : Note that the junction voltage is a function of current density , i.e. current/junction area , and a similar output voltage can be obtained by operating the two junctions at the same current , if one is of a different area to the other . A circuit that forces IC1 and IC2 to have a fixed N :1 ratio , gives the relationship : An electronic circuit , such as the Brokaw bandgap reference , that measures ΔVBE can therefore be used to calculate the temperature of the diode . The result remains valid up to about 200 ° C to 250 ° C , when leakage currents become large enough to corrupt the measurement . Above these temperatures , materials such as silicon carbide can be used instead of silicon . The voltage difference between two p-n junctions ( e.g. diodes ) , operated at different current densities , is proportional to absolute temperature ( PTAT ) . PTAT circuits using either BJT or CMOS transistors are widely used in temperature sensors ( where we want the output to vary with temperature ) , and also in bandgap voltage references and other temperature-compensating circuits ( where we want the same output at every temperature ) . If high precision is not required it is enough to bias a diode with any constant low current and use its − 2 mV / ˚C thermal coefficient for temperature calculation , however this requires calibration for each diode type . This method is common in monolithic temperature sensors . -LSB- citation required -RSB-", "Phosphor thermometry Phosphor thermometry is an optical method for surface temperature measurement . The method exploits luminescence emitted by phosphor material . Phosphors are fine white or pastel-colored inorganic powders which may be stimulated by any of a variety of means to luminesce , i.e. emit light . Certain characteristics of the emitted light change with temperature , including brightness , color , and afterglow duration . The latter is most commonly used for temperature measurement .", "March 2012 North American heat wave In March 2012 , one of the greatest heat waves was observed in many regions of North America . Very warm air pushed northward west of the Great Lakes region , and subsequently spread eastward . The intense poleward air mass movement was propelled by an unusually intense low level southerly jet that stretched from Louisiana to western Wisconsin . Once this warm surge inundated the area , a remarkably prolonged period of record setting temperatures ensued . NOAA 's National Climate Data Center reported that over 7,000 daily record high temperatures were tied or broken from 1 March through 27 March . In some places the temperature exceeded 86 ° F ( 30 ° C ) . For instance , in Grand Rapids , Michigan , the highest temperature recorded was 87 ° F on March 21 ; in Chicago a high of 87 ° F was also recorded on that same day . Records were broken in unusual ways . Chicago , for example , saw temperatures above 80 ° F every day between March 14 -- 18 , breaking records on all five days . Chicago would go on to record eight days at or above 80 ° F during the month , with many suburban areas recording an additional day in the 80s on March 19 ( that day , the city only tied its record high of 78 ° F ) . In context , the National Weather Service 's Chicago branch noted that Chicago typically averages only one day in the 80 's in April . And only once in 140 years of weather observations has April produced as many 80 ° F days as this March . In Traverse City , Michigan one day began with a low temperature ( 67 ° F ) higher than the previous record high for the day . Temperature records across much of southern Canada also were shattered . Some of the most impressive readings came from Nova Scotia on March 22 , when the mercury climbed to 30.0 C at a climate station in Lake Major , making it the highest March temperature recorded in Nova Scotia , and the third highest March temperature recorded in Canada . That same day , the temperature hit 29.2 C at Western Head , Nova Scotia . The heat reached as far east as Cape Breton Island , with the temperature climbing to 24.0 C at Sydney , Nova Scotia on March 22 , a place historically surrounded by ice-jammed waters , frigid winds , and snow in March . The week of March 18 also set record temperatures in Manitoba and much of Ontario as well as into the Maritime Provinces . Non-severe thunderstorms were reported on the evening hours of March 21 , through to the early morning hours March 22 into northern Ontario . In addition , NCEP/NCAR Reanalysis data show that the atmospheric pattern was so persistent that much of the Midwest and Northeast , and up into Ontario , had temperature departures over periods of several days to a week or more of magnitudes which would be unusual even for a single day . Averaged over the seven-day period from March 16 to March 22 inclusive , nearly the entire area of the Midwest and Northeast U.S. and most of Ontario and Quebec had temperatures 10 ° C ( 18 ° F ) or more above the 1981-2010 average . Even more dramatically , most of Iowa and Minnesota , all of Wisconsin and Michigan , and most of southeastern Ontario had seven-day mean temperatures more than 15 ° C ( 27 ° F ) above the climatological average for the same period . An 84 ° F high at Madison , WI in early March was 43 ° F above average and followed an overnight low of 60 ° F , 35 degrees above normal the daily high being more than seven standard deviations above the mean . The absolute temperature and departure statistically would be equivalent to a mid-July high at that station in excess of 125 ° F or more ; the highest temperature recorded there was 107 ° at least once during the heat waves of the middle 1930s . This mild warm spell brought out spring peepers in northern Ontario on 23 March , which are usually not heard until mid-to-late April , or sometimes early May . The warm weather was also responsible for several early-season tornado touchdowns , such as the EF3 that struck Dexter , Michigan , near Ann Arbor .", "Temperature coefficient A temperature coefficient describes the relative change of a physical property that is associated with a given change in temperature . For a property R that changes by dR when the temperature changes by dT , the temperature coefficient α is defined by Here α has the dimension of an inverse temperature and can be expressed e.g. in 1/K or K − 1 . If the temperature coefficient itself does not vary too much with temperature , a linear approximation can be used to determine the value R of a property at a temperature T , given its value R0 at a reference temperature T0 : where ΔT is the difference between T and T0 . For strongly temperature-dependent α , this approximation is only useful for small temperature differences ΔT . Temperature coefficients are specified for various applications , including electric and magnetic properties of materials as well as reactivity . The temperature coefficient of most of the reactions lies between - 2 & 3", "Global warming in Antarctica The effects of global warming in Antarctica may include rising temperatures and increasing snow melt .", "Global warming hiatus A global warming hiatus , also sometimes referred to as a global warming pause or a global warming slowdown , is a period of relatively little change in globally averaged surface temperatures . In the current episode of global warming many such 15-year periods appear in the surface temperature record , along with robust evidence of the long-term warming trend ; climate is classically averaged over 30-year periods . Publicity has surrounded claims of a global warming hiatus during the period 1998 -- 2013 . The exceptionally warm El Niño year of 1998 was an outlier from the continuing temperature trend , and so subsequent annual temperatures gave the appearance of a hiatus : by January 2006 , it appeared to some that global warming had stopped or paused . A 2009 study showed that decades without warming were not exceptional , and in 2011 a study showed that if allowances were made for known variability , the rising temperature trend continued unabated . There was increased public interest in 2013 in the run-up to publication of the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report , and despite concerns that a 15-year period was too short to determine a meaningful trend , the IPCC included a section on a hiatus , which it defined as a much smaller increasing linear trend over the 15 years from 1998 to 2012 , than over the 60 years from 1951 to 2012 . Various studies examined possible causes of the short-term slowdown . Even though the overall climate system has continued to accumulate energy due to Earth 's positive energy budget , the available temperature readings at the Earth 's surface indicate slower rates of increase in surface warming than in the prior decade . Since measurements at the top of the atmosphere show that Earth is receiving more energy than it is radiating back into space , the retained energy should be producing warming in the Earth 's climate system . Research reported in July 2015 on an updated NOAA dataset casts doubt on the existence of a hiatus , and it finds no indication of a slowdown even in earlier years . Scientists working on other datasets welcomed this study , though they have expressed the view that the recent warming trend was less than in previous periods of the same length . Subsequently , a detailed study supports the conclusion that warming is continuing , but it also find there was less warming between 2001 and 2010 than climate models had predicted , and that this slowdown might be attributed to short-term variations in the Pacific decadal oscillation ( PDO ) , which was negative during that period . Another review finds `` no substantive evidence '' of a pause in global warming . A statistical study of global temperature data since 1970 concludes that the term ` hiatus ' or ` pause ' is not justified . Independent of these discussions about data and measurements for earlier years , 2015 turned out to be much warmer than any of the earlier years , already before El Niño conditions started . The warmth of 2015 largely ended any remaining scientific credibility of claims that the supposed `` hiatus '' since 1998 had any significance for the long-term warming trend . In January 2017 , a study published in the journal Science Advances cast further doubt on the existence of a recent pause , with more evidence that ocean temperatures have been underestimated . An April 2017 study found the data consistent with a steady warming trend globally since the 1970s , with fluctuations within the expected range of short term variability .", "Peter Sinks Peter Sinks is a natural sinkhole in northern Utah that is one of the coldest places in the contiguous United States . Peter Sinks is located 8100 ft above sea level , in the Bear River Mountains east of Logan , within the Wasatch-Cache National Forest . Due to temperature inversions that trap cold nocturnal air , it routinely produces the coldest temperatures in the state . Even in the summer , the bottom of the sinkhole rarely goes four consecutive days without freezing . It is so cold near the bottom of the hole that trees are unable to grow . On 1 February 1985 , a temperature of -69.3 ° F was recorded there , the lowest recorded temperature in Utah , and the second coldest temperature ever recorded in the continental United States . Peter Sinks was discovered meteorologically by Utah State University student Zane Stephens in 1983 . Stephens , along with the Utah Climate Center , placed measuring instruments in the valley in the winter of 1984 . On February 1 , 1985 , Peter Sinks dropped to -69.3 ° F , while another nearby valley , Middle Sink , located 3 mi to the north-east , dropped to -64 ° F. Stephens hiked into Middle Sink to record the temperature personally . He then flew into Peter Sinks in a KUTV television station helicopter with broadcasting Meteorologist Mark Eubank . State Climatologist Gayle Bingham also traveled to the area and confirmed the temperature . The alcohol thermometer being used was retrieved and sent to the Bureau of Standards in Washington , D.C. to confirm the temperature . Since 1985 , Peter Sinks and Middle Sink have been studied extensively by Stephens and Tim Wright with the use of Campbell Scientific weather equipment . On January 29 , 2002 , the temperature dropped to -62 ° F at Middle Sink . Stephens and Wright 's main study is the change in temperature through the inversion at these sites . The valleys act like a dam trapping cold air . The coldest of the air settles to the bottom of the valley . Stephens and Wright have found that temperatures between the cold air `` lake '' and the warmer air above the valley can be different by as much as 70 ° F-change .", "Vibrational temperature The vibrational temperature is commonly used in thermodynamics , to simplify certain equations . It has units of temperature and is defined as where is Boltzmann 's constant The vibrational temperature is used commonly when finding the vibrational partition function .", "Supercritical adsorption Supercritical Adsorption also referred to as the adsorption of supercritical fluids , is the adsorption at above-critical temperatures . There are different tacit understandings of supercritical fluids . For example , `` a fluid is considered to be ` supercritical ' when its temperature and pressure exceed the temperature and pressure at the critical point '' . In the studies of supercritical extraction , however , `` supercritical fluid '' is applied for a narrow temperature region of 1-1 .2 or to +10 K , which is called the supercritical region . ( is the critical temperature )", "Aral Karakum Desert Aral Karakum ( Арал қарақұмы -LSB- Приара́льские Караку́мы , p = prʲɪjɐˈralʲskʲɪjə kərɐˈkumɨ -RSB- ) is a desert in Kazakhstan , situated northeast of the Aral Sea . It borders on the Syr Darya river to the south . The desert covers an area of 40000 km2 . The landscape in the region is quite flat , with a height that varies from 55 to AMSL . The dunes can reach heights of around 25 meters . The area is very dry , and the dried-out riverbeds usually only carry water during springtime , when the winter snow melts . Annual precipitation is around 120 mm . The winter lasts from mid-November to mid-March , with varying cloud cover and frequent fog . Mean temperature during daytime is minus 5 - , and at night around -25 ° C . The lowest recorded temperature is -42 ° C. However , at any time during winter , mild weather is possible . Precipitation falls mostly in the winter as snow . Snow cover is usually around 15 cm deep , but can reach 30 cm . Summer lasts from May to mid-September . Daytime temperatures normally range 30 - , but temperatures up to 43 ° C have been recorded . At night the temperature drops to 15 - . During summer there are often dry winds and dust storms . The Aral Karakum has some vegetation , mainly grasses , and it is being used for grazing of sheep . Category : Deserts of Central Asia Category : Deserts of Kazakhstan", "Film temperature In heat transfer and fluid dynamics , the film temperature is an approximation to the temperature of a fluid inside a convection boundary layer . It is calculated as the arithmetic mean of the temperature at the surface of the solid boundary wall and the free-stream temperature : The film temperature is often used as the temperature at which fluid properties are calculated when using Prandtl number , Nusselt number , Reynolds number or Grashof number to calculate a heat transfer coefficient , because it is a reasonable first approximation to the temperature within the convection boundary layer . Somewhat confusing terminology may be encountered in relation to boilers and heat exchangers , where the same term is used to refer to the limit ( hot ) temperature of a fluid in contact with a hot surface .", "List of extreme weather records in Pakistan The weather extremes in Pakistan include high and low temperatures , Heaviest rainfall and flooding . The highest temperature ever recorded in Pakistan is 54 ° C which was recorded in Turbat , Balochistan 30 May 2017 It was not only the hottest temperature ever recorded in Pakistan but also the hottest reliably measured temperature ever recorded on the continent of Asia . and the fourth-highest temperature ever recorded on earth . The second-highest temperature ever recorded in Pakistan is 53 C which was recorded in Larkana , Sindh on 26 May 2010 . It is hottest city in Pakistan , as well as the second hottest city in the world , but it is second-hottest place in Pakistan and fifth-hottest place of world . It is fifth-highest temperature ever recorded on Earth . The highest rainfall of 620 mm was recorded in Islamabad during 24 hours on 23 July 2001 . The record-breaking rain fell in just 10 hours .", "Temperature measurement Temperature measurement ( or thermometry ) describes the process of measuring a current local temperature for immediate or later evaluation . Datasets consisting of repeated standardized measurements can be used to assess temperature trends ." ]