El Nino | The Green Economy Post: Green Careers, Green Business, Sustainability

Can We Trust Climate Models? Increasingly, The Answer is ‘Yes’

By Yale Environment 360 on February 4, 2011 Comments Off on Can We Trust Climate Models? Increasingly, The Answer is ‘Yes’ airflow, Antarctica, atmosphere, atmospheric carbon dioxide, biosphere, climate, Climate Central, Climate Change, climate models, climate projections, climate scientists, climate skeptics, climate system, climate variations, CO2, computer models, cumulus clouds, Dust Bowl, El Nino, energy balance, Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, GFDL, GHG, global carbon cycle, Global climate models, global temperature, greenhouse gases, Greenland, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC, James Hurrell, Keith Dixon, La Niña, Livermore National Laboratory, Michael D. Lemonick, National Center for Atmospheric Research, NCAR, ocean dynamics, oceans, parameterization, Peter Gleckler, Program for Climate Model Diagnosis and Intercomparison, radiation, rainfall patterns, sea level, sea-ice, Synthesis Report, weather forecasting

Can We Trust Climate Models? Increasingly, The Answer is ‘Yes’

Forecasting what the Earth’s climate might look like a century from now has long presented a huge challenge to climate scientists. But better understanding of the climate system, improved observations of the current climate, and rapidly improving computing power are slowly leading to more reliable methods.

Messing with Mother Nature—Building Dams and/or Levee Systems on Medium and Large River Systems

By Jerry_Toman on July 8, 2009 Comments Off on Messing with Mother Nature—Building Dams and/or Levee Systems on Medium and Large River Systems Arizona State University, Belo Monte, Brazil, California, CAPE, Caspian Sea, Central Valley Water Project, China, Colorado River, Convective Available Potential Energy, dead-zones, Egypt, El Nino, Electric Plant at Niagara, global weather cycles, Great Lakes, Gulf of Mexico, High Aswan Dam, hydraulic systems, Jerry J. Toman, large dams, levee system, Madeira River, Martin J. Pasqualetti, Mississippi River Basin, natural ecosystems, Netherlands, New Orleans, Nile, petroleum, Philip M. Fearnside, rock weathering, San Joaquin-Sacramento River, Scott Kelly, subtropical, Three Gorges Dam, topsoil, trace-mineral fertilization, tropical, Tucurui Project, Volga

This, the second article in the series The Two-Headed Dragon–Energy/Water/Food Scarcity and Climate Change — the Top Ten Policies that Feed It; Two New Technologies (and One Old) that Could Enable us to Slay It and Save the Planet focuses on the unintended side effects of large dams and levee systems. It specifically discusses how they are causing serious environmental problems downstream that are becoming more damaging than the benefits that these dams and levee systems provide. In many ways this cautionary tale is applicable to many other technological and large scale engineering interventions into natural systems, especially when these technologies and engineered systems are not well understood.