DWR Climate News Digest
November 18th, 2011– January 4th, 2012
Disclaimer: The information and links provided on this web page are not intended to state or imply any formal position of the California Department of Water Resources
The information provided herein is a selected compilation of recent popular news articles, publications, and other information relevant to climate change and water management. The links provided herein are intended to provide educational and thought-provoking material for water managers and water users.
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TOPICS [Find older items in the Climate News Archive]
Reports
IPCC Special Report on Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation (SREX) [Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change – November 2011]
American's Global Warming Beliefs and Attitudes in November 2011 [Yale Project on Climate Change Communication - December 7, 2011] (see highlights of the report by clicking the link, but one stunning fact is that only 14% of Americans have ever heard of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the leading international body for the assessment of climate change)
Published Literature
Global temperature evolution 1979-2010 [Environmental Research Letters - December 6, 2011]
Grants and Other Funding Opportunities
*** DOI WaterSMART: Water and Energy Efficiency Grants for FY 2012 – $18 million
Application Due: January 19, 2012
Eligible Entities: States, Indian tribes, irrigation districts, water districts, or other organizations with water or power delivery authority. Applicants must also be located in Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Washington, Wyoming, American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, or the Virgin Islands. The DOI WaterSMART (Sustain and Manage America’s Resources for Tomorrow) Program establishes a framework to provide federal leadership and assistance on the efficient use of water, integrating water and energy policies to support the sustainable use of all natural resources, and coordinating the water conservation activities of various DOI bureaus and offices. DOI invites eligible entities to leverage their money and resources by cost sharing with the Bureau of Reclamation on projects that seek to conserve and use water more efficiently, increase the use of renewable energy and improve energy efficiency, benefit endangered and threatened species, facilitate water markets, or carry out other activities to address climate-related impacts on water or prevent any water-related crisis or conflict.
Sea-level Rise and other Ocean Impacts
Ocean acidification: some organisms already experiencing ocean acidification levels not predicted to be reached until 2100 [Science Daily - December 22, 2011]
Shock as retreat of Arctic sea ice releases deadly greenhouse gas [Independent – December 13, 2011] (the recent discovery of large plumes of methane bubbling to the surface of the Arctic Ocean by Russian scientists is highly concerning, especially in light of Rice University research indicating that a similar methane release 56 million years ago may have caused the rapid climate change and associated species extinctions that occurred during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM))
Blue carbon: the role of oceans in climate change [Climate Progress - December 9, 2011]
Tropical sea temperatures influence melting in Antarctica [Science Daily - December 6, 2011]
Global sea surface temperature data provides new measure of climate sensitivity over last half million years [Science Daily - December 6, 2011]
Sea levels may rise faster than expected [The World - December 6, 2011]
Simultaneous ice melt in Antarctic and Arctic [Science Daily - December 2, 2011]
Warmer, greener, less icy Arctic becomes “new normal” [Scientific American – December 2, 2011]
[Website] RISE – Climate Change and Coastal Communities [Searise] (includes six multimedia ‘webstories’ about climate change impacts on residents along the coast)
Agriculture/Food Production
Impact of climate change on agriculture [UC Newsroom - December 19, 2011]
General Water Management
Report: thirsty power plants increase U.S. water stress [Circle of Blue - November 29, 2011]
Great Plains river basins threatened by pumping of aquifers [Science Daily - November 18, 2011]
Drought
Ancient dry spells offer clues about the future of drought [Science Daily - December 5, 2011]
Wildlife and Ecosystem Impacts
Harp seals on thin ice after 32 years of warming [Duke University - January 4, 2012]
NASA: climate change may bring big ecosystem changes [NASA JPL - December 14, 2011] (here’s the original publication in the journal Climatic Change)
Climate change blamed for dead trees in Africa [UC Berkeley News Center - December 12, 2011] (an example of how climate change will impact the most impoverished and vulnerable people on the planet)
As climate change sets in, plants and bees keep pace [Science Daily - December 12, 2011]
When the heat's on, some fish can cope: certain tropical species have greater capacity to deal with rising sea temperatures than thought [Science Daily - December 5, 2011] (transgenerational acclimation to climate change has been observed in some fish species)
Climate changes faster than species can adapt, rattlesnake study finds [Science Daily - December 5, 2011] (this ectothermic species shifted range in the face of past climatic changes, but won't likely be able to shift their ranges quickly enough to keep up with modern warming)
1 in 4 mammals are at risk of extinction, IUCN warns [Malaya Business Insight – November 18, 2011]
Severe drought, other changes can cause permanent ecosystem disruption [Physorg - October 13, 2011]
Greenhouse Gas Mitigation and Adaptation
'Green routing' can cut car emissions without significantly slowing travel time [Science Daily - December 14, 2011]
Renewable power trumps fossil fuels for first time [LA Times – November 25, 2011]
California energy report says state can slash greenhouse gases by another 80 percent [MercuryNews.com – November 25, 2011]
Innovative Adaptation
Being green is key to Hypersolar’s (Inc.) low production cost [MarketWatch – November 29, 2011] (this company claims to have developed technology to make renewable gas using sunlight and wastewater, with a carbon-neutral footprint!)
Legislative Updates
United States: California court rules that an EIR need not evaluate the impacts of sea level rise on a project [mondaq/Perkins Coie - December 15, 2011]
S.F. judge OKs cap and trade for emissions law [SFGate – December 8, 2011]
BLOGS
Robert Stavins on ”The platform opens a window: An unambiguous consequence of the Durban climate talks" [Harvard Kennedy School Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs - January 1, 2012]
David Roberts on "Markets and climate change: A case of cognitive dissonance" [Grist - December 20, 2011] (to keep the Earth's temperature increase at 2 degrees C as world governments have pledged, we can only burn about half of our remaining carbon reserves; yet the economic markets estimate the value of fossil fuel companies based on their full reserves)
Joe Romm on "Must see Hansen and Caldeira on sensitivity: Paleoclimate record points toward potential rapid climate changes" [Climate Progress - December 14, 2011]
Joe Romm on "2C or not 2C: That is the question about the Durban deal" [Climate Progress - December 11, 2011]
James Hansen (NASA) on ‘2-degree global warming limit is called a “prescription for disaster’”
Additional Items of Interest
Insurance payouts point to climate change [Science News - January 4, 2011]
Billion dollar weather disasters of 2011 [Wunderblog - December 30, 2011]
[Website] The Daily Climate (for those interested in following climate news on a daily basis, this nonpartisan news site aims to 'increase public understanding of climate disruption, potential solutions and the political processes that impede or advance them')
NOAA - Extreme weather 2011 [National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association - December 2011]
[Website] NOAA Coastal Climate Adaptation Resources [National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association] (includes resources on risk and vulnerability assessments, adaptation, case studies, outreach materials, and more)
The Governor's Conference on Extreme Climate Risks and California's Climate Future [Office of Governor - December 15, 2011] (at this link you'll find videos of the climate conference, which focused on the threats of unpredictable and extreme weather events on the state's economy, business sectors, public health and natural resources)
Summary of the Durban Climate Change Conference [iisd Linkages - December 2011]
Kyoto Protocol: a look at the new climate change deal [National Post - December 11, 2011]
Jerry Brown, Arnold Schwarzenegger urge green energy policies [Sacramento Bee - December 16, 2011]
Paleoclimate record points toward potential rapid climate changes [Science Daily - December 8, 2011]
Three quarters of climate change is man-made [Scientific American – December 5, 2011] (a new attribution method confirms that greenhouse gases (especially CO₂) are the culprit of recent global warming, which is measurable despite the cooling effects of aerosols)
Carbon emissions show biggest jump ever recorded [New York Times - December 4, 2011]
Abrupt permafrost thaw increases climate threat, experts say [Science Daily - November 30, 2011]
Ahead of climate talks, U.S. leadership in question [NPR – November 28, 2011]
The Debunking Handbook [Skeptical Science - November 27, 2011] (a handy guide for communicators in all areas on how to debunk misinformation)
Carbon dioxide doubling impact has limit [USA Today - November 25, 2011]
Second batch of stolen ‘climategate’ messages emerges [Scientific American – November 23, 2011] (more emails from the first illegal hacking; another attempt to discredit an entire field of science based on thousands of boring communications between a handful of the world's climate scientists; see HERE for a summary of exonerations of the targeted scientists and their work)
Greenhouse gas levels hit record highs [SF Gate - November 22, 2011]
What will climate change mean for California? [Sacramento Bee - November 20, 2011]
Climate change effect on release of CO2 from peat far greater than assumed [Eurekalert - November 20, 2011]
‘Alps under the ice’ gives clues to global warming [Scientific American – November 16, 2011]
Separating signal and noise in climate warming [Science Daily - November 17, 2011] (a minimum of 17 years of temperature records is recommended)
Images to Ponder
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