Tagesschau am 30.3.2021:
Agrarreformen auch in Krisenzeiten
Steigende Getreidepreise, Kosten für Sprit auf Rekordständen: Die Landwirtschaft leidet unter den Folgen des Ukraine-Kriegs. Doch die Bundesregierung will am Reformkurs festhalten.
Die Weizenpreise steigen, der Brotpreis könnte bald in die Höhe schnellen. Und immer noch landen riesige Mengen von Weizen im Tank statt auf dem Teller. Sollte man hier nicht schnellstmöglich einschreiten, und die Essensvernichtung stoppen? Die Klimaschau berichtete:
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Benny Peiser im Interview mit Anthony Watts zu den kletternden Energiepreisen.
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CICERO am 30.3.2022:
New, faster method to measure global warming shows no acceleration or slowdown
In a recent study published in Nature Communications, international scientists have taken on a persistent problem in climate science: near-term climate evolution.
„Common wisdom is that it may take up to 20 years before we can detect with certainty that a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions is also successfully reducing the rate of global warming. Our new method cuts this time in half, promising a faster response time for policy makers working on crucial mitigation efforts. At the same time, we can reveal that global warming still is on a steady course, with no acceleration or slowdown,“ says senior researcher Bjørn Hallvard Samset at CICERO Center for International Climate Research.
Internal variation vs. global warming
The global surface temperature in a given year is affected both by global warming and internal variation in the climate system. Examples of internal variation are the El Nino and La Nina phenomena in the Pacific, and the NAO-index in the North Atlantic. These variations are independent of global warming, but can still influence global temperature by up to 0,5 degrees Celsius each year.
When researchers calculate the rate of global warming, such fluctuations act as „noise“ that makes the calculations of the actual warming more difficult, especially on shorter timescales such as 10–20 years. This is the reason that the IPCC-reports use global warming over the last 10 years (2001–2020), instead of only using the last year.
New method for noise reduction
CICERO scientists, in collaboration with colleagues from Germany, U.S. and China, have now developed a new method to reduce this noise, with promising results.
„We have used a modeling tool which connects the patterns of ocean surface temperature to fluctuations in the average global temperature. With the use of this tool, we can filter out the influence of for example El Nino and La Nina from the time evolution of global warming,“ explains senior researcher Marianne Tronstad Lund.
The new method makes it possible to more rapidly reveal whether cuts in greenhouse gas emissions are successful in reducing the rate of global warming. While the effects of cuts on global climate evolution will start immediately, the noise from internal variations mean that—up until now—verification in measurements could take up to 20 years.
„When we manage to reduce emissions, it will be crucial for continued efforts that we are able to show that the cuts have an effect,“ says Jan Fuglestvedt at CICERO Center for International Climate Research.
After noise removal, 2021 was the second warmest year
In the time since the article was written, researchers have used the new method on data from 2021 to remove „noise“ from ocean surface temperature data. Rather than being what the big data sets show; the sixth or seventh warmest year, new results show that the „noise reduced“ 2021 was only marginally colder than 2020.
„In second place, and documentation of global warming—sadly—continuing the same way as before.“, explains Samset.
The rate of global warming continues as before
Another implication of the new method is that researchers get a clearer picture of the rate of global warming. Since 1970, they show that it has been remarkably constant, at approximately 0,2 degrees Celsius per decade. The rate has neither slowed or accelerated in recent years, as has been suggested by some researchers.
„We are on a steady course—towards a place we do not want to be. It’s actually quite surprising how constant the increase of anthropogenic global warming has been over such a long time,“ says Samset.
Paper: B. H. Samset et al, Earlier emergence of a temperature response to mitigation by filtering annual variability, Nature Communications (2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-29247-y
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TechExplore am 30.3.2022:
Germany looks to farm fumes in breakup with Russian gas
As Germany scrambles to reduce its dependence on Russian energy, the pungent fumes from the manure and other organic waste in Peter Kaim’s farm could be part of the solution. An hour’s drive west of Berlin, a strong smell emanates from three large cylinders in the middle of a muddy field on Kaim’s property shared with 100 dairy cows. Every day, tonnes of organic waste—mainly manure, corn and grass—are poured into these receptacles. In a process called „methanisation“ fuelled by bacteria, the organic matter is transformed into gas. This mini power plant supplies heating to about 20 homes in the village of Ribbeck, known for a pear tree whose praises the beloved 19th century writer Theodor Fontane once sang in a classic poem.
Weiterlesen bei TechExplore
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Nochmal TechExplore am 30.3.2022:
Biden eyes boost to mining of minerals for electric vehicles
Facing higher oil prices after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, President Joe Biden is looking at invoking the Defense Production Act this week to increase the mining of critical minerals for the batteries used in electric vehicles.
That’s according to a person familiar with the White House plans who insisted on anonymity to discuss the likely policy move. The person said production will occur under strong environmental and labor standards as well as through tribal engagements, though some Democrats in Congress have concerns because the mining sector is regulated through a 150 year-old law.
Greater federal support for alternatives to fossil fuels would reduce the leverage of Russian President Vladimir Putin and others on matters of U.S. national and economic security, though it reflects a long-term play rather than an immediate response to the economic damage caused by the war.
Weiterlesen bei TechExplore
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Possible Anthropogenic Enhancement of Precipitation in the Sahel-Sudan Savanna by Remote Agricultural Irrigation
Abstract
The local climatic impacts of historical expansion of irrigation are substantial, but the distant impacts are poorly understood, and their governing mechanisms generally have not been rigorously analyzed. Our experiments with an earth-system model suggest that irrigation in the Middle East and South Asia may enhance rainfall in a large portion of the Sahel-Sudan Savanna (SSS) to an extent comparable and opposite to its suppression by other anthropogenic climate drivers during the last several decades. The enhancement arises through a reduction in the meridional gradient of moist static energy from the Sahara Desert to the tropical rainforests. An implication of this study is that remote irrigation is a possible factor affecting the risk of drought and famine and, thus, future water security in the SSS region.
Plain Language Summary
The impacts of historical expansion of agricultural irrigation on local precipitation are robust and profound, but whether irrigation can change precipitation in remote areas is poorly understood, and governing mechanisms responsible for the remote links generally have not been rigorously analyzed. Our numerical experiments with an earth-system model suggest that irrigation in the Middle East and South Asia may enhance rainfall in a large portion of the Sahel-Sudan Savanna (SSS). The magnitude of the enhancement is comparable to the suppression of precipitation induced by other anthropogenic climate drivers such as greenhouse emissions. The enhancement arises through a change in the large-scale patterns of atmospheric moisture and temperature from the Sahara Desert to the tropical rainforests. Growth of remote irrigation should be considered as a possible factor affecting the risk of drought and famine in the SSS such as that experienced in the 1970s–1980s. Future regional water security in the SSS could be affected by distant water management-groundwater depletion in South Asia and the pace of rehabilitation of war-damaged irrigation infrastructure in the Tigris-Euphrates valley.
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Pacific Northwest National Laboratory:
Why we need hydropower for a resilient grid
America’s most critical piece of energy infrastructure—the grid—is more vulnerable than ever before. The reasons are two-fold: a shift in power source mix is affecting grid stability, combined with an uptick in natural disasters. When part of the grid goes out, it can cause a ripple effect across entire regions if not quickly corrected.
That’s where hydropower plays a pivotal role, according to a new study led by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) that quantified hydropower’s contribution to grid stability in the United States‘ western region. When other power sources go out, hydropower can rapidly ramp up, recoup shortfalls, and stabilize the grid nearly instantaneously.
Weiterlesen beim Pacific Northwest National Laboratory