August 2018 Climate Science Round-Up

Our Climate Science Round-Ups are a compilation of recent news about climate science. In this edition, we pull articles from BBC, NPR, and The Seattle Times about hidden warming gasses found in waste, the highest ocean surface temperatures recorded in a century, and the harsh effects of climate change being felt around the world.

 


We’ve Started Living Climate Change, not Just Studying it, Scientists say
Seattle Times; August 09, 2018

“This summer of fire and swelter looks a lot like the future that scientists have been warning about in the era of climate change, and it is revealing in real time how unprepared much of the world remains for life on a hotter planet. The disruptions to everyday life have been far-reaching and devastating. In California, firefighters are racing to control what has become the largest fire in state history. Harvests of staple grains like wheat and corn are expected to dip this year in countries as different as Sweden and El Salvador. In Europe, nuclear-power plants have had to shut down because the river water that cools the reactors was too warm. Heat waves on four continents have brought electricity grids crashing.”

 


Volcanoes Show why Solar Geoengineering can’t Save our Food From Climate Change
Vox; August 08, 2018

“It’s been a dangerously hot summer. Just this week, Lisbon, Portugal, reported its highest temperature ever recorded, 111.2 degrees Fahrenheit. Chino, California, hit an all-time high of 120°F in July. In Quriyat, Oman, temperatures were stuck above 108°F for 51 hours straight. The heat has killed dozens around the world. As we pump more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and the Earth traps more heat, scientists predict that the severity and frequency of heat waves will continue to increase. Which might lead one to wonder: Is there a way to turn down the planet’s thermostat?”

 


Climate Change : ‘Hothouse Earth’ Risks Even if CO2 Emission Slashed
BBC; August 06, 2018

“Researchers believe we could soon cross a threshold leading to boiling hot temperatures and towering seas in the centuries to come. Even if countries succeed in meeting their CO2 targets, we could still lurch on to this “irreversible pathway”. Their study shows it could happen if global temperatures rise by 2C. An international team of climate researchers, writing in the journal, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, says the warming expected in the next few decades could turn some of the Earth’s natural forces – that currently protect us – into our enemies.”

 


San Diego Researchers Measure the Highest Ocean Surface Temperature in a Century
NPR; August 03, 2018

“At a pier in San Diego, researchers on Wednesday recorded the warmest sea surface temperature since record-keeping began there in 1916. Every day, researchers from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego collect data — by hand — from the Ellen Browning Scripps Memorial Pier. Wednesday’s 78.6 degrees Fahrenheit at the pier surpassed a previous record of 78.4 degrees in 1931, researchers said in a statement on Thursday.”

 


Plastic Pollution: How one Woman Found a New Source of Warming Gases Hidden in Waste
BBC; August 02, 2018

“It’s your classic movie eureka moment. Young researcher Sarah-Jeanne Royer set out to measure methane gas coming from biological activity in sea water. Instead, in a “happy accident” she found that the plastic bottles holding the samples were a bigger source of this powerful warming molecule than the bugs in the water. Now she’s published further details in a study into the potential warming impact of gases seeping from plastic waste.”

 


Science Says: Record Heat, Fires Worsened by Climate Change
The Washington Post; July 28, 2018

“Heat waves are setting all-time temperature records across the globe, again. Europe suffered its deadliest wildfire in more than a century, and one of nearly 90 large fires in the U.S. West burned dozens of homes and forced the evacuation of at least 37,000 people near Redding, California. Flood-inducing downpours have pounded the U.S. East this week. It’s all part of summer — but it’s all being made worse by human-caused climate change, scientists say.