global warming

photo: A methane-induced melt-hole in
Alaska (credit: Katey Walter Anthony)

A research team including Jeff Chanton (2005) has documented evidence of widespread release of "ancient" geologic methane, a different type from "younger" methane released when frozen organic material decomposes. The team found that this "ancient" methane comes from coal beds or natural gas deposits deep underground, which scientists previously thought would be permanently trapped under frozen soils and glaciers. Given the vast amount of this trapped ancient methane, the escape of even a small fraction of it could have a significant climate warming impact as a powerful greenhouse gas, the team says.

photo: Linda Wade

Simon Donner (2009) and his colleagues have discovered that corals that have survived heat stress in the past may be more likely survive climate change in the future. Until recently, it was widely assumed that coral would die off worldwide as the oceans warm. The study suggests a roadmap on the impacts of ocean warming and will help communities identify locations where coral reefs are likely to adapt to climate change, the team says.

photo credit: Alaska Fire Service and
University of Florida

For the first time in nearly 10,000 years, wildfires are again occurring in the Arctic. In a new study of the Anaktuvuk River fire, which covered more than 400 square miles on Alaska’s North Slope, Ted Schuur (2011) and his colleagues found that when soil there burned, it released about twice as much carbon as the volume of greenhouse gases produced by the city of Miami in a year. According to the researchers, the loss of soil could cause the release of additional carbon that has been stored for hundreds or thousands of years in the permafrost -- frozen ground beneath the soil organic layer -- and accelerate global warming. The team hopes their findings will start a dialogue about managing tundra fires.

photo: NOAA

Stuart Pimm discusses the statistics behind the misnomer of climate change as "global warming" while relating it to one of Shakespeare's historical plays.