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Global Climate Change Digest
A Guide to Information on Greenhouse Gases and Ozone Depletion
Published July 1988 through June 1999

FROM VOLUME 4, NUMBER 6, JUNE 1991

PROFESSIONAL PUBLICATIONS...
GENERAL INTEREST AND POLICY

Item #d91jun1

Special Issue: "Climate Change--Policy Implications," Energy Policy, 19(2), Mar. 1991. Single copies, £26, from Butterworth-Heinemann Ltd., Journal Fulfillment, 80 Montvale Ave., Stoneham MA 02180; or Linacre House, Jordan Hill, Oxford OX2 8DP, UK.

"Editor's Introduction," J. Skea, 90-93. In this special issue, a number of themes emerged: action will be required on a considerable scale if stabilization or reduction of greenhouse gas emissions is to be achieved; although energy industries will be hit hard, they have the capacity to respond if prompted by vigorous government action; the main contribution in reducing greenhouse gases will come from energy efficiency; market-based regulatory instruments, such as carbon or fuel taxes, will be a vital component of policies to reduce CO₂ emissions; certain market signals will be supplemented by more direct government intervention.

"The Diplomacy of Climate Change," R.E. Benedick (Senior Fellow, World Wildlife Fund), 94-97.

"What Role Can Nuclear Power Play in Mitigating Global Warming?" J. Pasztor (Stockholm Environ. Inst., 89 Broad St., Boston MA 02110), 98-109.

"Controlling the Greenhouse Effect--The Role of Renewables," F. McGowan (Sci. Policy, Univ. Sussex, Falmer, E. Sussex BN1 9RF, UK), 110-118.

"Reducing CO₂ Emissions--The West German Plan," E. Jochem (Fraunhofer Inst., Breslauer Str. 48, D-7500 Karlsruhe 1, Ger.), 119-126.

"Improved Energy Efficiency in the Industrialized Countries--Past Achievements, CO₂ Emission Prospects," L. Schipper (Appl. Sci., 3125 Bldg. 90, Lawrence Berkeley Lab., Berkeley CA 94720), 127-137.

"Market-Based Instruments for Reducing CO₂ Emissions--the Case of UK Manufacturing," A. Ingham (Dept. Econ., Univ. Southampton SO9 5NH, UK), A. Ulph, 138-148.

"The Role of Passenger Transport in CO₂ Reduction Strategies," P. Hughes (Energy/Environ. Res. Unit, Open Univ., Walton Hall, Milton Keynes MK7 6AA, UK), 149-160.

Item #d91jun2

"Limit to Greenhouse Warming?" A.J. Heymsfield (NCAR, POB 3000, Boulder CO 80307), L.M. Miloshevich, Nature, 351(6231), 14-15, May 2, 1991. Discusses the article (immediately following) that proposes that the greenhouse effect may be limited in the tropics by a feedback mechanism involving sea surface temperature and cirrus ice clouds, concluding that it is unclear what relevance these feedback mechanisms may have to the issue of greenhouse warming.

Item #d91jun3

"Thermodynamic Regulation of Ocean Warming by Cirrus Clouds Deduced from Observations of the 1987 El Niño," V. Ramanathan (Scripps Inst. Oceanog., Univ. Calif., La Jolla CA 92093), W. Collins, ibid., 27-32.

Observations made during the 1987 El Niño show that in the upper range of sea surface temperatures, the greenhouse effect increases with surface temperature at a rate exceeding the rate at which radiation is being emitted from the surface. Highly reflective cirrus clouds are produced which shield the ocean from solar radiation. The sea surface temperatures may be limited to less than 305K.

Item #d91jun4

"Inadequacy of Effective CO₂ as a Proxy in Simulating the Greenhouse Effect of Other Radiatively Active Gases," W.-C. Wang, M.P. Dudek, S.-Z. Liang, J.T. Kiehl (NCAR, POB 3000, Boulder CO 80307), ibid., 350(6319), 573-577, Apr. 18, 1991.

Questions the use of CO₂ effective concentration to simulate the combined greenhouse effect of CO₂ and CH₄, N₂O, CFC-11 and CFC-12 because of differences in their radiative forcings, which models show can lead to differing climatic effects. Thermal infrared opacities of each trace gas must be taken into account.

Item #d91jun5

"The Global Carbon Cycle," W.M. Post (Environ. Sci. Div., Oak Ridge Nat. Lab., Oak Ridge TN 37831), T.-H. Peng et al., Amer. Scientist, 78(4), 310-326, July-Aug. 1990.

Despite recent advances in understanding of the global carbon cycle, which will determine the future levels of atmospheric CO₂, all the fluxes of the cycle over the period from 1800 to the present cannot be balanced. The most important advances in carbon-cycle research since the 1977 American Scientist review by C.F. Baes Jr. et al. are discussed, particularly with regard to the role of oceanic and terrestrial systems in exchanging CO₂ with the atmosphere. A new global systems approach is described, which shows promise in resolving current difficulties.

Item #d91jun6

"Consequences of Climatic Change for the Human Environment," M.J. Scott (Battelle Inst., Pacific Northwest Labs., POB 999, Richland WA 99352), N.J. Rosenberg et al., Clim. Res., 1, 63-79, Sep. 9, 1990. (Much of this material was published in Energy and Climate Change, Lewis Pub. (Global Climate Change Digest, Books and Proceedings/General, Oct. 1990)).

Provides a comprehensive overview of the state of science and outlines the analyses required to make adaptive policy. Future effects research should be targeted on regions rather than individual resources; it must explicitly account for the timing of resource effects and technological changes; and it must directly address uncertainty using new and more efficient computational techniques as opposed to brute-force Monte-Carlo estimation.

Item #d91jun7

"Ozone Depletion Due to Increasing Anthropogenic Trace Gas Emissions: Role of Stratospheric Chemistry and Implications for Future Climate," L. Lal (Ctr. Atmos. Sci., Indian Inst. Technol., 110016 New Delhi, India), T. Holt, ibid., 85-95, Apr. 14, 1991.

Uses a one-dimensional coupled chemical-radiative-transport model to assess the possible decline in stratospheric ozone and its effect on troposphere-stratosphere temperature trends, from the pre-industrial era to the present. The trace gas increase from 1850-1986 could have already contributed to a 3-10% decline in stratospheric ozone, and an equilibrium surface warming of 0.7K. The surface warming expected by the middle of the next century is projected to be 2K.

Item #d91jun8

"Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change First Assessment Report: Overview," Intl. Environ. Aff., 3(1), 64-84, Winter 1991. Reproduces the IPCC report synopsis.

Item #d91jun9

"The U.S. Global Change Research Program: An Overview and Perspectives on the FY 1992 Program," R.W. Corell (Nat. Sci. Foundation, 1800 G St. NW, Washington DC 20550), Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 72(5), 605-608, Apr. 1991.

Program funding will increase by 25% over the previous fiscal year and several units within the Department of Defense and the Smithsonian Institution have been added. Two topics to be emphasized are improved predictive capability and understanding economic interactions.