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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 10, OCTOBER 1993

PERIODICALS...
EARTH SYSTEM SCIENCE

Item #d93oct92

Series of three articles titled "The Climate Conundrum" in New Scientist:

"Can Algae Cool the Planet?" N. Fell, P. Liss, 34-38, Aug. 21, 1993. Scientists have only recently appreciated the crucial role of the sulfur cycle in the climate system, as it links oceanic phytoplankton growth to cloud formation through the gas dimethylsulfide. Under investigation is whether phytoplankton could be deliberately fertilized with iron to spur oceanic uptake of CO₂.

"Chill Warnings from Greenland," R.H. Nielsen, 29-33, Aug. 29. Recent ice core results show that sudden swings in the world climate were the rule over many thousands of years.

"Waiting for the Polar Meltdown," M. Maslin, 36-41, Sep. 4. The author is part of a scientific team investigating repeated surges in iceberg activity in the Earth's past known as the Heinrich events. Speculates on how our current knowledge applies to ice sheet breakup in a warmed climate.

Item #d93oct93

"New Fuel for Global Warming?" D. McInnes, Earth, 20-23, Nov. 1993. The recent finding that Arctic tundra is releasing CO₂ leads researchers to suspect that the carbon balance is shifting as a result of global warming, and could reinforce warming in the future.

Item #d93oct94

"Past Climates Hold Clues to Global Warming," E. Culotta, Earth, 20-22, Sep. 1993.

The study of paleoanalogs, popular with Russian climatologists, is based on the assumption that we can learn about future climate by examining periods in the Earth's climatological history when CO₂ was high. Most western scientists prefer to use computer models instead.

Item #d93oct95

"Monitoring Global Temperature from Space," J.R. Christy, R.W. Spencer, Storm, 18-23, Aug. 1993. (Premier issue of this new publication on world weather: Ulick Publishing, POB 579, Batavia IL 60510; 708-406-8330.

Two U.S. researchers explain how data from the Microwave Sounding Units (MSUs) on board several satellites will help detect temperature variability and trends.

Item #d93oct96

"Researchers Lack Data on Trends in UV Radiation at Earth's Surface," P.S. Zurer, Chem. Eng. News, 35-37, July 26, 1993. (See Research News, Global Climate Change Digest, p. 15, Sep 1993.)

Item #d93oct97

"Chemist at the Ends of the Earth," R. Stevenson, Chem. in Britain, 551-552, July 1993. A profile of stratospheric ozone researcher Susan Solomon.

Item #d93oct98

"Ocean-in-a-Machine Starts Looking Like the Real Thing," R.A. Kerr, Science, 32-33, Apr. 2, 1993.

The supercomputer, fine-mesh ocean circulation model developed by Albert Semtner and Robert Chervin is impressing other oceanographers. Its representation of the Indian Ocean "conveyor belt" flow has implications for the stability of the conveyor during climate change.

Item #d93oct99

"Underground Records of Changing Climate," H.N. Pollack, D.S. Chapman, Sci. American, 44-50, June 1993. Boreholes drilled into continental rock can recover fossil temperatures that reveal the climate of the past, but the results require careful interpretation.

Item #d93oct100

Special Issue: "Biological Oceanography," Oceanus, Fall 1992. Includes the following:

"An Introduction to Biological Oceanography," D.A. Caron, 10-17.

"What Limits Phytoplankton Growth?" S.W. Chisholm, 36-46. Includes discussion of iron fertilization.

"GLOBEC: Global Ocean Ecosystems Dynamics," M. Huntley, 94-99. Describes this interagency component of the U.S. Global Change Research Program.