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Plastic aerosols in the atmosphere could affect the climate

Physics World

Tiny particles of plastic in the atmosphere can affect Earth’s climate, according to Laura Revell at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand and colleagues. Although the threats these microplastics pose to natural ecosystems are now being studied extensively, their influence on Earth’s climate is still virtually unknown.

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Science denial is still an issue ahead of COP28

Real Climate

In an unchanging climate, the random fluctuations would lead to warming in some parts of the world and cooling in others. In a world with just random local fluctuations but no climate change, about half the weather stations would show a (more or less significant) warming, the other half a cooling. Image: Prof.

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A Nobel pursuit

Real Climate

In this, he is in violent agreement with Isaac Held, his colleague at GFDL, and indeed most climate scientists. The key aspects were the inclusion of water vapour feedback as temperatures increased, and the use of ‘convective adjustment’ to maintain stability of the lower atmospheric column. 1975) , and Bryan et al.

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AR6 of the best

Real Climate

As climate scientists we tend to look at the IPCC reports a little differently than the general public might. Here are a few things that mark this report out from previous versions that relate to issues we’ve discussed here before: Extreme events are increasingly connected to climate (duh!) 1981) which can be seen here.

Sea Level 341
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Antarctic extreme events: ‘All-time records are being shattered not from decades ago, but from the last few years and months’

Frontiers

For example, Antarctica acts to cool our planet by reflecting solar radiation back to space by virtue of the brightness of its snow surface. The danger is that the Antarctic sea ice is starting to behave like the Arctic, with sustained loss of ocean cover and consequent absorption of solar radiation.

Ocean 98
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Using Clouds to Fight Climate Change

HumanNature

Student in the Department of Atmospheric Science at Colorado State University Most people remember the water cycle they learned in school: water evaporates from lakes, rivers, and the ocean, air carrying this moisture rises, cools, condenses, and forms clouds, and these clouds precipitate water back down to the surface.

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Getting physical with the climate crisis

Physics World

As air sunk through the atmosphere, it got squeezed and heated. Extreme heat is not just an abstract notion: if we can’t cool our bodies enough, we’re in danger of neurological failure, organ failure and even death, with the risks highest for children and the elderly. Understanding cloud formation is key to improved climate models.

Cooling 133