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 9, SEPTEMBER 1992

PROFESSIONAL PUBLICATIONS...
GENERAL INTEREST--SCIENCE

Item #d92sep10

"Slowing Down of the Global Accumulation of Atmospheric Methane during the 1980s," L.P. Steele (CMDL, NOAA, 325 Broadway, Boulder CO 80303), E.J. Dlugokencky et al., Nature, 358(6384), 313-316, July 23, 1992.

Methane measurements from an extensive global network of flask sampling sites show that, althrough methane continues to accumulate in the atmosphere, there has been a substantial slowing of global accumulation between 1983 and 1990, and concentrations may peak around the year 2006. Results hint that changes in emissions in the latitude band 30° -90° N may be particularly relevant to this trend.

Item #d92sep11

"Modelling the Hydrological Cycle in Assessments of Climate Change," D. Rind (NASA Goddard Inst. Space Studies, 2880 Broadway, New York, NY 10025), C. Rozenweig, R. Goldberg, Nature, 358(6382), 119-122, July 9, 1992.

The climate and impact models being used to evaluate the hydrological effects of climate change on agriculture, forestry and river flow give inconsistent results. Suggests a future course of cooperative action to improve understanding and representation of basic hydrological processes.

Item #d92sep12

"Inadequacy of Effective CO₂ as a Proxy in Assessing the Regional Climate Change Due to Other Radiatively Active Gases," W.-C. Wang (Atmos. Sci. Res. Ctr., State Univ. of New York, Albany NY 12205), M.P. Dudek, X.-Z. Liang, Geophys. Res. Lett., 19(13), 1375-1378, July 6, 1992.

Compared two types of climate model simulations, one including CO₂ and other greenhouse trace gases explicitly, the other using an "effective" CO₂ concentration to represent the radiative forcing of all greenhouse gases. The use of effective CO₂ representation resulted in smaller surface warming in several continental regions, including 20%-30% less in northwestern North America.

Item #d92sep13

"Using a Nuclear Submarine for Arctic Research," L.D. Keigwin (Woods Hole Oceanog. Inst., Woods Hole MA 02543), G.L. Johnson, Eos, 73(19), 209, 220-221, May 12, 1992.

Outlines some of the major issues involved in acquiring a nuclear submarine for polar oceanographic research, and offers a realistic proposal for doing so. Now that military needs have changed, it is high time for civilian and naval oceanographers to unite in this common effort.

Item #d92sep14

"Glacier Recession in Iceland and Austria," D.K. Hall (NASA-Goddard, Greenbelt MD 20771), R.S. Williams Jr., K.J. Bayr, Eos, 73(12), 129, 135, 141, Mar. 24, 1992.

Demonstrates how the magnitude of glacier recession, an indicator of regional climate change, can be estimated from Landsat data, using examples during the periods 1973-1987 (Iceland) and 1984-1990 (Austria).

Item #d92sep15

"The Changing Stratosphere," M.B. McElroy (Dept. Earth Sci., Harvard Univ., Cambridge MA 02138), Plan. Space Sci., 40(2-3), 373-401, Feb.-Mar. 1992.

Begins with a detailed review of the chemistry of springtime Antarctic ozone depletion, including some discussion of midlatitude processes. Then discusses implications for climate of changes in the abundance of ozone in the tropical lower stratosphere. The relatively warm climates of the Eocene and Cretaceous periods and the cold climates of the recent glacial epochs may be associated with shallower and deeper stratospheres, respectively, and with fluctuations in the Hadley circulation. Lower stratospheric ozone levels may be influenced by levels of CO₂.