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A Guide to Information on Greenhouse Gases and Ozone Depletion
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FROM VOLUME 8, NUMBER 12, DECEMBER 1995

NEWS...
RESEARCH NEWS

Item #d95dec74

Ocean data declassified: The U.S. Navy is starting to release physical data about the oceans gathered during the cold war, which scientists see as a bonanza for understanding global warming and other types of environmental change. Measurements include ice depth, ocean depth, sea-surface height, salinity, and water temperature. A group of scientists from academia and industry, known as Medea (from Measurements of Earth), is advising the nation's intelligence agencies on how secret data can be used to study the environment. Their recent report is available on request (tel: 703 883 5265; fax: 703 883 6190). See The New York Times, pp. C1, C12, Nov. 28, 1995.

Item #d95dec75

Comprehensive global models, with dynamic biogeochemical ecosystem components that interact realistically with the physical ocean-climate-land system, were the focus of a September conference convened in Germany by the IGBP. Presentations suggest that the ability to predict the broad characteristics of regional climate on seasonal to interannual timescales could be realized within the next ten years. (See Nature, p. 12, Nov. 2, 1995.)

Item #d95dec76

Plant moisture loss under global warming depends on the combined effects of temperature and rising CO₂ on leaf transpiration. Calculations by John Lockwood of the University of Leeds show that there has probably been a net reduction in evaporation from plants of 2-5% in the second half of this century. (See Lockwood paper in Prof. Pubs./Impacts/Ecosystems, this Digest issue--Dec. 1995.) Some other interesting results are discussed by J. Gribbin in New Scientist, p. 21, Sep. 30, 1995.