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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 6, NUMBER 7-8, JULY-AUGUST 1993

NEWS...
RESEARCH NEWS

Item #d93jul81

Rapid climate fluctuations are discussed in a comprehensive research news feature in Science (R.A. Kerr, pp. 890-892, May 14). Recent analyses of Greenland ice cores, coral reefs and ocean sediments show that climate has switched rapidly between warm and cold phases many times in the past, sometimes over periods as short as a few years. Initial concern that human activities could flip the climate switch has lessened somewhat, but such evidence from the past could soon lead to a deeper understanding of the climate system, which is needed for predicting future climate. (A similar article appears in The New York Times, p. C4, July 20.)

Item #d93jul82

Pollution, clouds and climate: Results from the Atlantic Stratocumulus Transition Experiment (ASTEX) reported at the May AGU meeting provide evidence that industrial aerosols influence the mechanisms by which extensive decks of low stratocumulus clouds break up to form individual cumulus clouds. (See Nature, pp. 589-584, June 17 1993). These results suggest a new route by which fossil fuel burning could affect cloud radiative properties and climate.

Item #d93jul83

Arctic aerosols have decreased over the past decade, implying decreased absorption of solar radiation and heating of the Arctic regions. (See Bodhaine article in Prof. Pubs./Acid Precip.)

Item #d93jul84

Call for Proposals: Land Use and Global Change. The International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) seeks joint proposals from international, interdisciplinary teams of scholars for a two- or three-year research project, for developing models that link the socio-economic causes of land-use change with regional and global environmental consequences. Teams of applicants should submit letters of interest before Oct. 1; full proposals are due by Jan. 10, 1994. Contact Ingrid Teply-Baubinder, IIASA, A-2361 Laxenburg, Austria (tel: +43-2236-715210; fax: +43-2236-71313).

Item #d93jul85

Terrestrial ecosystems conference: Contributions are solicited for the first science conference of the Global Change and Terrestrial Ecosystems (GCTE) Core Project of the IGBP, to be held next May.

Item #d93jul86

"Disposing of CO₂ from Fossil-Fueled Power Plants," J. Rose, Environ. Sci. Technol., pp. 1282-1283, July. Summarizes a recent conference in the U.K. sponsored by the International Energy Agency. One proposal is to construct massive, insulated spheres of solid CO₂ 400 meters in diameter, that would take 4,000 years to sublime completely. A subsequent meeting determined that future IEA research will focus on ways of using waste CO₂ to manufacture organic chemicals, and on ocean disposal techniques.

Item #d93jul87

The following are among 19 articles in a special section "Science in Europe '93," in Science, June 18:

"ERS-1 Gives Europeans New Views of the Oceans," D. Clery, pp. 1742-1743. The ERS-1 satellite's unique combination of instruments gives Europe a significant lead in ocean observation, but controversy is growing over how to handle the data.

"The Greenland Ice Core Project," B. Stauffer, pp. 1766-1767. Latest results call for concern over the causes of rapid climatic fluctuations.