Last Updated:
February 28, 2007

GCRIO Program Overview

Library 
Our extensive collection of documents.

Privacy Policy

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

FROM VOLUME 5, NUMBER 5, MAY 1992

NEWS...
RESEARCH NEWS

Item #d92may128

Global carbon balance: Recent papers published in the April 3, 1992, issue of Science shed more light on the whereabouts of about four billion tons of carbon that had not been accounted for in the annual global carbon budget. (See Prof. Pubs./Gen. Int, this GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE DIGEST issue--May 1992.) As discussed in an overview article on p. 35, this is the difference between the estimated emissions of CO₂ and the amount known to stay in the atmosphere, that is causing CO₂ concentrations to rise. A paper by Quay et al. estimates that the oceans absorb about two billion tons; another by Kauppi et al. suggests some of the rest may be stored by increasing biomass in nontropical forests.

Item #d92may129

Ocean currents alter climate: Ocean sediment cores provide evidence that a radical shift in deep-ocean currents over 12,000 years ago helped terminate the last ice age. See Charles and Fairbanks (Nature, Jan. 30, 1992) in Prof. Pubs./Paleoclimatology, this GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE DIGEST issue--May 1992, and Sci. News, p. 69, Feb. 1.

Item #d92may130

EOS plan sent to Congress: Sent to Congress in March 1992 was a smaller, cheaper version of the NASA Earth Observing System, designed to fly on smaller satellites and emphasize global climate change research. However, critics say the order of planned satellite launches is a result of convenience rather than a response to the most pressing climate change questions. (See "Smaller, But Still Controversial," C. Anderson, Nature, p. 370, Apr. 2, 1992.) For a summary of the specific instruments to be launched between 1998 and 2002 see Eos, p. 154, Apr. 7, 1992.

Item #d92may131

CO₂ in Biosphere 2: The carbon cycle is the focus of research in Biosphere 2, a closed ecosystem including humans in the Arizona desert. CO₂ levels soared after the ecosystem was sealed last fall and a chemically based CO₂ recycler was installed, but it was turned off in January after CO₂ levels stabilized in December. Critics of the venture consider Biosphere 2 merely a public relations extravaganza, but a scientific advisory committee is attempting to better define research goals. (See New Scientist, pp. 12-13, Apr. 4, 1992, in Periodicals/Gen. Interest, this GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE DIGEST issue--May 1992.) Japan will have a similar closed ecosystem completed in 1995 (New Scientist, p. 22, Jan. 25).

Item #d92may132

"Unmasking a Shifty Climate System," R.A. Kerr, Science, pp. 1508-1510, Mar. 20, 1992. Research by oceanographers and climatologists has revealed abrupt, decades-long shifts in the atmosphere-climate system that could indicate the nature of climate change in the future. A composite of 40 environmental variables indicates a jump to a new state in the Pacific Ocean occurred in 1976. Also discusses the Great Salinity Anomaly, which appeared in the North Atlantic in 1968.

Item #d92may133

"Signs of Global Warming Found in Ice," R. Monastersky, Sci. News, p. 148, Mar. 7, 1992. Lonnie Thompson, an Ohio State University glaciologist, testified at a Senate committee hearing that high-altitude glaciers in the tropics and temperate latitudes show signs of accelerated climate change in recent decades, with African and Peruvian glaciers shrinking at record rates. It is not clear whether the warming inferred is related to greenhouse gases.

Item #d92may134

"Scientists Say Ozone Depletion Could Affect Productivity of Plants," Intl. Environ. Rptr., pp. 227-228, Apr. 22, 1992. Based on research showing UV-B damage to plants, conducted at the Australian National University and the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO), several scientists strongly urge breeding programs to develop strains of plants with enhanced tolerance to UV-B, and preservation of tropical forest gene pools.

Item #d92may135

"Volcanic Disruption," J. Horgan, Sci. American, pp. 28-29, Mar. 1992. Recent findings on the effects of Mount Pinatubo volcanic dust on the ozone layer.

Item #d92may136

"Gaps Loom in Satellite Data," P. Aldhous, Nature, p. 662, Feb. 20, 1992. Leading atmospheric scientists argued in Washington recently for a series of new environmental monitoring satellites. Without them, serious gaps in data on ozone depletion and global climate may open up in 1995, when the U.S. Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite stops functioning. A similar satellite planned by Germany, which would have filled the gap, will probably be abandoned because of budget problems. Adding to the situation is a decision made by Japan in late February to postpone its Advanced Earth Observing Satellite (ibid., p. 99, Mar. 12).

Item #d92may137

In recent issues of Eos (the Amer. Geophys. Union weekly):

"West Antarctic Ice Coring: A High-Resolution Study of Climate Change," R.B. Alley, pp. 115-116, Mar. 17, 1992. Results of an open workshop (Miami, Florida, Oct. 1991).

"Antarctica and Global Change Research," G. Weller, p. 116, ibid. Results of a workshop (Bremerhaven, Germany, Sep. 1991) sponsored by the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) to develop an international research program.

"Continental Isotopic Indicators of Climate Studied," W.E. Benson, pp. 122-123, ibid. Results of the AGU Chapman conference held in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, June 1991.

"Borehole Temperatures Record Changing Climate," H. Pollack, p. 55, Feb. 4, 1992. A brief summary with references of this technique, which is the basis of a global paleotemperature survey being planned by scientific associations.