Climate Change Index for week ending 22 Nov. 2009

Greenbang’s weekly Climate Change Index tracks research findings and events directly attributable to global warming. Our aim is to provide a numerical, week-to-week indicator of climate change developments.

Items that qualify for listing in each week’s index include new climate data published in peer-reviewed academic journals and extreme weather incidents or other natural events that are likely directly linked to the global warming trend.

(And, no, climate change has not been called off, despite the deniers’ glee following the email hacking at the University of East Anglia’s Climatic Research Unit. Climate Progress has taken this issue head on in a number of excellent posts)

The Climate Change Index for this week, ending 22 Nov. 2009 (details below): 8

16 November: New research finds the oceans’ ability to absorb man-made carbon dioxide emissions appears to be on the wane.

16 November: Increasing temperatures at high altitudes are fueling the post-1950 growth spurt seen in bristlecone pines, the world’s oldest trees, according to new research. Pines close to treeline have wider annual growth rings for the period from 1951 to 2000 than for the previous 3,700 years, reports a University of Arizona-led research team. Regional temperatures have increased, particularly at high elevations, during the same 50-year time period.

17 November: Carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels climbed to an all-time high in 2008, researchers reported in the journal Nature Geoscience.

17 November: While greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and methane get all the attention, the man-made chemicals we use in air conditioning and manufacturing have even greater warming potential, new research has found.

18 November: New research from an international team of scientists has found that the Earth’s natural carbon sinks could be becoming less efficient at absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

19 November: Ocean acidification and sea ice melt that’s diluting surface waters are threatening some marine creatures by reducing the amount of minerals available for making their shells, a research team reported.

21 November: The catastrophic rains and flooding that struck Cumbria County were a once-in-1,000-year event, according to the Environment Agency.

22 November: East Antarctica has been experiencing increased ice loss since 2006, with the melt rate since then likely to be even higher, according to a study published in the journal Nature Geoscience.