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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 6, JUNE 1993

NEWS...
RESEARCH NEWS

Item #d93jun81

No Southern Hemisphere warming that could be related to anthropogenic causes is evident in tree-ring data. (See: "A 3620-Year Temperature Record from Fitzroya cupressoides Tree Rings in Southern South America," A. Lara (Inst. Silvicultura, Univ. Austral de Chile, Casilla 567, Valdivia, Chile), R. Villalba, Science, 260(5111), 1104-1106, May 21, 1993.)

Item #d93jun82

Abrupt climate fluctuations: New ice core analyses show evidence of rapid climate changes in as little as a few years. (See papers in the Nature,362(6420), Apr. 8, 1993: "Flip-Flop End to Last Ice Age," R.G. Fairbanks, 495; and "Abrupt Increase in Greenland Snow Accumulation at the End of the Younger Dryas Event," R.B. Alley, D.A. Meese et al., 527-529)

Item #d93jun83

Antarctic ice sheet stability: A geologic study suggests that collapse of the ice sheet by global warming is unlikely. (See "Pliocene Paleoclimate and East Antarctic Ice-Sheet History from Surficial Ash Deposits," D.R. Marchant, C.C. Swisher III et al., Science, 260(5108), 667-670, Apr. 30, 1993)

Item #d93jun84

Sulfate aerosol cooling: A modeling study shows that the radiative forcing of aerosols completely offsets greenhouse forcing in summer over the eastern U.S. and central Europe. (See "The Relative Roles of Sulfate Aerosols and Greenhouse Gases in Climate Forcing," J.T. Kiehl, B.P. Briegleb, Science, 260(5106), 311-314, Apr. 16, 1993.)

Item #d93jun85

Climate model comparison: The international Model Evaluation Consortium for Climate Assessment (MECCA) has begun a second round of experiments intended to improve climate models and present scientific results in a form meaningful to decision makers. Included are climate simulations for Europe and eastern Asia, transient simulations with a coupled ocean-atmosphere model, and development of generic procedures for validating models. (See Air & Waste, pp. 772-773, May 1993.)

Item #d93jun86

"Volcanoes May Warm Locally While Cooling Globally," R.A. Kerr, Science, p. 1232, May 28. Temperature records suggest that volcanic eruptions may tend to warm Eurasia and North America in winter, despite their global average cooling effect. Discusses a paper by Robock and Mao (see Prof. Pub./Climatic Impact of Strat. Aerosols), other evidence, and skeptics.

Item #d93jun87

"Cold Answers to Hot Issues," D.A. Peel, Nature, pp. 403-404, June 3. One of the most significant results discussed at a March NATO workshop on ice core studies was the strongest evidence yet for a positive climate forcing by methane.

Item #d93jun88

"Little Ice Age Blip," A.M. Gillis, Bioscience, p. 284, May 1993. Results presented at the latest AAAS meeting show that tree ring and ice core data give little indication of any global cool period corresponding to the well-documented Little Ice Age experienced in Europe.

Item #d93jun89

"How Hungry Ants Hinder Return of the Forest," J. Beard, New Scientist, p. 16, May 22. Ant species that occupy cleared forest land are different from those in the original forest, and may be preventing the reforestation of millions of acres of abandoned ranchland in Brazil.

Item #d93jun90

"NASA Launches a 5-Year Plan to Clone Drones," G. Taubes, Science, p. 286, Apr. 16. Pilotless aircraft capable of collecting data for ozone depletion and global warming studies at relatively low cost have recently become a budget priority for NASA.

Item #d93jun91

"Researchers Fear Antarctic Studies Face a Chilling Future," R. Monastersky, Science News, 232-235, Apr. 10. Many scientists fear that the 1991 treaty among 26 nations, intended to protect Antarctica from ecological damage, could hinder legitimate scientific work.

Item #d93jun92

"Ocean-in-a-Machine Starts Looking Like the Real Thing," R.A. Kerr, Science, pp. 32-33, Apr. 2. The supercomputer, fine-mesh ocean circulation model developed by Albert Semtner and Robert Chervin is impressing other oceanographers, and its representation of the Indian Ocean "conveyor belt" flow has implications for the stability of the conveyor during climate change.