Climate Change Index for week ending 29 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.
The Climate Change Index for this week, ending 29 Nov. 2009 (details below): 4
25 November: Researchers have found that ocean currents south of Africa are transporting more saline waters into the Atlantic, which could potentially contribute to stabilising the Gulf Stream system. Some scientists have expressed concern that dilution from melting ice could disrupt the Gulf Stream, which helps Europe maintain moderate temperatures.
24 November: The world’s oceans are absorbing less carbon dioxide, a Yale geophysicist has found after pooling data taken over the past 50 years. With the oceans currently absorbing over 40 percent of the CO2 emitted by human activity, this could quicken the pace of climate change, according to the study, which appears in the November 25 issue of Geophysical Research Letters.
25 November: Several important aspects of climate change are occurring at the high end or even beyond the expectations of only a few years ago, a new report — “The Copenhagen Diagnosis” — found.
27 November: Arctic sea ice has duped satellites into reporting thick multiyear sea ice where in fact none exists, a new study by University of Manitoba researcher David Barber has found.
