Tag Archives: Nature

Soils don´t need warming to add another positive climate feedback

We recently reported on a possible negative carbon feedback of forest soils in higher latitudes: when such soils warm, nutrient availability may increase, as would (therefore) biomass production and CO2 uptake. But not all climate feedbacks operate through temperature. It … Continue reading →

Indo-Pacific coral reefs die at pH < 7.7

And already suffer biodiversity losses during the decline from pH 8.1 (preindustrial) to 7.8. That latest number is the expected acidification for the end of this century according to IPCC 4AR, a theoretical scenario and a dangerously often quoted underestimation … Continue reading →

No evidence bacteria ate methane at end of Snowball Earth

Same story as yesterday, but now 635 million years earlier. This time again no evidence can be found that it were microbes that ate climate-disrupting amounts of methane, at the end of the Marinoan ice age, better known as ‘Snowball … Continue reading →

Sulphur switch in algae new route to marine cloud geoengineering?

Marine bacteria produce two types of sulphur compounds as they eat dead algae biomass. The one, methanethiol, or MeSH, is cycled downwater into the food chain. The other forms a liquid aerosol, dimethylsulfide, or DMS. The latter plays an important … Continue reading →

GCM study finds no Arctic albedo tipping point

The albedo effect still acts as a positive feedback to warming and melting. In fact the general circulation model study shows Arctic sea ice melting will speed up over recent years. From 2020 to 2030 more than 2.5 million square … Continue reading →