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"Science 25 November 2011: Vol. 334 no. 6059 pp. 1052-1053 DOI: 10.1126/science.334.6059.1052 * News Focus Adaptation to Climate Change Adaptation to Climate Change Time to Adapt to a Warming World, But Where's the Science? 1. Richard A. Kerr With dangerous global warming seemingly inevitable, users of climate information-from water utilities to international aid workers-are turning to climate scientists for guidance. But usable knowledge is in short supply. Figure View larger version: * In this page * In a new window Adapt to that. Climate will change, but decision-makers want to know how, where, and when. "CREDIT: KOOS VAN DER LENDE/NEWSCOM" DENVER, COLORADO-The people who brought us the bad news about climate change are making an effort to help us figure out what to do about it. As climate scientists have shown, continuing to spew greenhouse gases into the atmosphere will surely bring sweeping changes to the world-changes that humans will find it difficult or impossible to adapt to. But beyond general warnings, there is another sort of vital climate research to be done, speakers told 1800 attendees at a meeting here last month. And so far, they warned, researchers have delivered precious little of the essential new science. At the meeting, subtitled "Climate Research in Service to Society,"* the new buzzword was "actionable": actionable science, actionable information, actionable knowledge. "There's an urgent need for actionable climate information based on sound science," said Ghassem Asrar, director of the World Climate Research Programme, the meeting's organizer based in Geneva, Switzerland. What's needed is not simply data but processed information that an engineer sizing a storm-water pipe to serve for the next 50 years or a farmer in Uganda considering irrigating his fields can use to make better decisions in a warming world. Researchers preparing for the next international climate assessment, due in 2013, delive

"Spatial diversity gradients are a pervasive feature of life on Earth. We examined a global ocean circulation, biogeochemistry, and ecosystem model that indicated a decrease in phytoplankton diversity with increasing latitude, consistent with observations of many marine and terrestrial taxa. In the modeled subpolar oceans, seasonal variability of the environment led to competitive exclusion of phytoplankton with slower growth rates and lower diversity. The relatively weak seasonality of the stable subtropical and tropical oceans in the global model enabled long exclusion time scales and prolonged coexistence of multiple phytoplankton with comparable fitness. Superimposed on the decline in diversity seen from equator to pole were "hot spots" of enhanced diversity in some regions of energetic ocean circulation, which reflected lateral dispersal. "

Educational Global Climate Modeling. This was developed from an older 'real' modeling program, so the difference between this and current programs is the grainy-ness of the data. (It will run on today's laptops - yesterday's supercomputers - current programs need the power of modern supercomputers.) Good for high school student direct use, middle schoolers would probably be more comfortable with demos. Learning curve isn't too bad!

"Estimates of Earth's climate sensitivity are uncertain, largely because of uncertainty in the long-term cloud feedback. I estimated the magnitude of the cloud feedback in response to short-term climate variations by analyzing the top-of-atmosphere radiation budget from March 2000 to February 2010. Over this period, the short-term cloud feedback had a magnitude of 0.54 ± 0.74 (2σ) watts per square meter per kelvin, meaning that it is likely positive. A small negative feedback is possible, but one large enough to cancel the climate's positive feedbacks is not supported by these observations. Both long- and short-wave components of short-term cloud feedback are also likely positive. Calculations of short-term cloud feedback in climate models yield a similar feedback. I find no correlation in the models between the short- and long-term cloud feedbacks. "

How is global temperature regulated? An experimental representation - Simple experiments to help pupils understand how different parameters regulate temperature at the Earth's surface. Interaction at the Air-Water Interface, part 1 - A very simple experiment to demonstrate gas exchange and equilibration at the boundary layer between air and water. Pupils will also observe acidification of water due to CO2 introduced directly in the water. Interaction at the Air-Water Interface, part 2 - A second set of experiment to demonstrate gas exchange and equilibration at the boundary layer between air and water. Pupils observe a high atmospheric CO2 concentration will produce water acidification. Uptake of Carbon Dioxide from the Water by Plants - The following experiments will demonstrate the role of plants in mitigating the acidification caused when CO2 is dissolved in water. Carbon Dioxide Fertilization of Marine Microalgae (Dunalliela sp.) Cultures: Marine microalgae in different atmospheric CO2 concentration - An experiment designed to illustrate the impact of carbon dioxide on microalgal growth in the aquatic environment. Introduction to the principles of climate modelling - Working with real data in spreadsheets to create a climate model, students discover the global carbon budget and make their own predictions for the next century. Global carbon budget between 1958 and 2007 - Working with real global carbon budget data, students produce graphs to find the best representation of the data to make predictions about human CO2 emissions for the next century. This activity is also a nice application of percentages. Estimation of natural carbon sinks - Working with real global carbon budget data, students estimate how much of the CO2 emitted into the atmosphere as a result of human activities is absorbed naturally each year. How does temperature affect the solubility of CO2 en the water? - The following experiments will explore effects of water temperature on sol

About the College Board Standards for College Success (CBSCS) The College Board Standards for College Success (CBSCS) define the knowledge and skills students need to develop and master in English language arts, mathematics and statistics, and science in order to be college and career ready. The CBSCS outline a clear and coherent pathway to Advanced Placement® (AP®) and college readiness with the goal of increasing the number and diversity of students who are prepared not only to enroll in college, but to succeed in college and 21st-century careers. The College Board has published these standards freely to provide a national model of rigorous academic content standards that states, districts, schools and teachers may use to vertically align curriculum, instruction, assessment and professional development to AP and college readiness. These rigorous standards: provide a model set of comprehensive standards for middle school and high school courses that lead to college and workplace readiness; reflect 21st-century skills such as problem solving, critical and creative thinking, collaboration, and media and technological literacy; articulate clear standards and objectives with supporting, in-depth performance expectations to guide instruction and curriculum development; provide teachers, districts and states with tools for increasing the rigor and alignment of courses across grades 6-12 to college and workplace readiness; and assist teachers in designing lessons and classroom assessments.

Tsunami in the Pacific: wave height and propagation models

Scientists researching harmful algal bloom "hot spots" off southern and central California have been awarded $821,673 for the first year of an anticipated 5-year $4,076,929 project to investigate methods that could provide early warning detection of the toxic blooms, also known as red tides. The research is being conducted in partnership with two U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing System partners - the Central and Northern California Ocean Observing System and the Southern California Coastal Ocean Observing System. The teams will combine the detection and monitoring of the toxic blooms with ocean models that can forecast ocean conditions, potentially leading to bloom predictions.

"Science 25 November 2011: Vol. 334 no. 6059 p. 1040 DOI: 10.1126/science.334.6059.1040 * News & Analysis Climate Change Humans Are Driving Extreme Weather; Time to Prepare 1. Richard A. Kerr Figure View larger version: * In this page * In a new window Thai floods 2011 Hurricane Katrina 2005 Texas drought 2011 "CREDITS (LEFT TO RIGHT): PAULA BRONSTEIN/GETTY IMAGES; JEFF SCHMALTZ, MODIS RAPID RESPONSE TEAM, NASA/GSFC; NOAA" An international scientific assessment finds for the first time that human activity has indeed driven not just global warming but also increases in some extreme weather and climate events around the world in recent decades. And those and likely other weather extremes will worsen in coming decades as greenhouse gases mount, the report finds. But uncertainties are rife in the still-emerging field of extreme events. Scientists cannot attribute a particular drought or flood to global warming, and they can say little about past or future trends in the risk of high-profile hazards such as tropical cyclones. Damage from weather disasters has been climbing, but the report can attribute that trend only to the increasing exposure of life and property to weather risks. Climate change may be involved, but a case cannot yet be made. Despite the uncertainties, the special report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released 18 November stresses that there is still reason for taking action now. The panel recommends "low-regrets measures," such as improvements in everything from drainage systems to early warning systems. Such measures would benefit society in dealing with the current climate as well as with almost any range of possible future climates. The report takes a cautious, consensus-based approach that draws on the published literature. Headlines and even some scientists may point to the current Texas drought or the 2003 European heat wave as the result of the strengthening greenhouse. But the report fin

perspective "The distribution of species on Earth and the interactions among them are tightly linked to historical and contemporary climate, so that global climate change will transform the world in which we live. Biological models can now credibly link recent decadal trends in field data to climate change, but predicting future impacts on biological communities is a major challenge. Attempts to move beyond general macroecological predictions of climate change impact on one hand, and observations from specific, local-scale cases, small-scale experiments, or studies of a few species on the other, raise a plethora of unanswered questions. On page 1124 of this issue, Harley (1) reports results that cast new light on how biodiversity, across different trophic levels, responds to climate change. "

"As the amount of Carbon Dioxide continues to build up in the atmosphere it is also changing the chemistry of the ocean. Ocean surveys and modeling studies have revealed that the pH of the ocean is decreasing (which means the ocean is becoming more acidic) due to increasing concentrations of carbon dioxide. This changing oceanic environment will have severe implications for life in the ocean. COSEE NOW is pleased to present A plague in air and sea: Neutralizing the acid of progress a new audio slideshow that features Debora Inglesias-Rodriguez. In this scientist profile, Dr. Inglesias-Rodriguez, a Biological Oceanographer at the University of Southampton National Oceanography Centre, shares her story of how she grew up loving the ocean and became interested in science. She also explains how witnessing the effects of climate change has lead her to research how organisms like Sea Urchins are being affected by ocean acidification."

Science On a Sphere Well-crafted visualizations provide unique and powerful teaching tools Science On a Sphere® is a large visualization system that uses computers and video projectors to display animated data onto the outside of a sphere. Researchers at NOAA developed Science On a Sphere® as an educational tool to help illustrate Earth System science to people of all ages. Animated images of complex processes such as ocean currents, sea level rise, and ocean acidification are used to to enhance the public's understanding of our dynamic environment. Ocean Acidification on Science On a Sphere® The movies below were developed for use on Science On a Sphere® and show computer model simulations of surface ocean pH and carbonate mineral saturation state for the years 1895 to 2094. The first movie shows a computer recreation of surface ocean pH from 1895 to the present, and it forecasts how ocean pH will drop even more between now and 2094. Dark gray dots show cold-water coral reefs. Medium gray dots show warm-water coral reefs. You can see that ocean acidification was slow at the beginning of the movie, but it speeds up as time goes on. This is because humans are releasing carbon dioxide faster than the atmosphere-ocean system can handle.

Ocean Probes To Help Refine Climate Change Forecasting; 'Oceanography Is Risky; You Lose Things' by Underwatertimes.com News Service - August 5, 2011 17:43 EST LOS ANGELES, California -- A USC researcher has opened a new window to understanding how the ocean impacts climate change. Lisa Collins, environmental studies lecturer with the USC Dornsife College, spent four years collecting samples from floating sediment traps in the San Pedro Basin off the Los Angeles coast, giving scientists a peek at how much carbon is locked up in the ocean and where it comes from. Collins' research suggests that the majority of particulate organic carbon (POC) falling to the basin floor is marine-derived, not the result of runoff from rainfall. This means that the ocean off the coast of Southern California is acting as a carbon "sink" - taking carbon out of the atmosphere via phytoplankton and locking it up in sediment. Though estimates regarding the effect of carbon in the ocean already exist, her hard data can help climatologists create more accurate predictions of how carbon will impact global warming. What is unique about Collins' study is that it is not just a snapshot of POC falling, but rather a finely detailed record of four years of POC production, showing how much fell and when. "It's all tied to climate change," said Collins, who started the research as a graduate student working for USC Earth Sciences Professor Will Berelson. "This lets us see patterns. "Our data can help climate modelers better predict the interactions between the oceans and atmosphere with respect to carbon which can help them better predict how much carbon dioxide will end up sequestered over the long term as sediments in the ocean," she said. Collins' study is among the longest of its kind in the region. A similar study was conducted in Santa Monica Basin from 1985-1991, and another is currently underway in Hawaii. Her findings appear in the August issue of Deep-Sea Research I. Between Janua

"As the amount of Carbon Dioxide continues to build up in the atmosphere it is also changing the chemistry of the ocean. Ocean surveys and modeling studies have revealed that the pH of the ocean is decreasing (which means the ocean is becoming more acidic) due to increasing concentrations of carbon dioxide. This changing oceanic environment will have severe implications for life in the ocean. COSEE NOW is pleased to present A plague in air and sea: Neutralizing the acid of progress a new audio slideshow that features Debora Inglesias-Rodriguez. In this scientist profile, Dr. Inglesias-Rodriguez, a Biological Oceanographer at the University of Southampton National Oceanography Centre, shares her story of how she grew up loving the ocean and became interested in science. She also explains how witnessing the effects of climate change has lead her to research how organisms like Sea Urchins are being affected by ocean acidification. Download A plague in air and sea: Neutralizing the acid of progress"

1 The carbon dioxide system in seawater: equilibrium chemistry and measurements 1.1 Introduction 1.2 Basic chemistry of carbon dioxide in seawater 1.3 The definition and measurement of pH in seawater 1.4 Implications of other acid-base equilibria in seawater on seawater alkalinity 1.5 Choosing the appropriate measurement techniques 1.6 Conclusions and recommendations 2 Approaches and tools to manipulate the carbonate chemistry 3 Atmospheric CO2 targets for ocean acidification perturbation experiments 4 Designing ocean acidification experiments to maximise inference 5 Bioassays, batch culture and chemostat experimentation 6 Pelagic mesocosms 7 Laboratory experiments and benthic mesocosm studies 8 In situ perturbation experiments: natural venting sites, spatial/temporal gradients in ocean pH, manipulative in situ p(CO2) perturbations 9 Studies of acid-base status and regulation 9.1 Introduction 9.2 Fundamentals of acid-base regulation 9.3 Measurement of pH, total CO2 and non-bicarbonate buffer values 9.4 Compartmental measurements: towards a quantitative picture 9.5 Overall suggestions for improvements 10 Studies of metabolic rate and other characters across life stages 10.1 Introduction 10.2 Definition of a frame of reference: studying specific characters across life stages 10.3 Approaches and methodologies: metabolic studies 10.4 Study of early life stages 10.5 Techniques for oxygen analyses 10.6 Overall suggestions for improvements 10.7 Data reporting 10.8 Recommendations for standards and guidelines 11 Production and export of organic matter 12 Direct measurements of calcification rates in planktonic organisms 13 Measurements of calcification and dissolution of benthic organisms and communities 14 Modelling considerations 15 Safeguarding and sharing ocean acidification data 15.1 Introduction 15.2 Sharing ocean acidification data 15.3 Safeguarding ocean acidification data 15.4 Harmonising ocean acidification data and metadata 15.5 Disseminating ocean

Science 8 July 2011: Vol. 333 no. 6039 pp. 173-175 Galaxy Zoo Volunteers Share Pain and Glory of Research 1. Daniel Clery A project to "crowdsource" galactic classifications has paid off in ways the astronomers who started it never expected. Figure View larger version: * In this page * In a new window Space oddity. Greenish "voorwerp" spotted by a Dutch volunteer still intrigues scientists. "CREDIT: NASA, ESA, W. KEEL (UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA), AND THE GALAXY ZOO TEAM" The automated surveys that are becoming increasingly common in astronomy are producing an embarrassment of riches for researchers. Projects such as the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) are generating so much data that, in some cases, astronomers don't know what to do with them all. SDSS has compiled a list of more than 1 million galaxies. To glean information about galaxy evolution, however, astronomers need to know what type of galaxy each one is: spiral, barred spiral, elliptical, or something else. At present, the only reliable way to classify galaxies is to look at each one. But the SDSS list is so long that all the world's astronomers working together couldn't muster enough eyeballs for the task. Enter the "wisdom of crowds." An online effort called Galaxy Zoo, launched in 2007, set a standard for citizen-scientist participation projects. Zealous volunteers astonished the project's organizers by classifying the entire catalog years ahead of schedule. The results have brought real statistical rigor to a field used to samples too small to support firm conclusions. But that's not all. Buoyed by the curiosity and dedication of the volunteers, the Galaxy Zoo team went on to ask more-complicated classification questions that led to studies they hadn't thought possible. And in an online discussion forum on the Galaxy Zoo Web site, volunteers have pointed to anomalies that on closer inspection have turned out to be genuinely new astronomical objects. "I'm incredibly impres

The following is not a futuristic scenario. It is not science fiction. It is a demonstration of the capabilities of GIS to model the results of an extremely unlikely, yet intellectually fascinating query: What would happen if the earth stopped spinning? ArcGIS was used to perform complex raster analysis and volumetric computations and generate maps that visualize these results.