Challenge of global climate change: Prospects for a new energy paradigm

Perspectives on the challenge posed by potential future climate change are presented including a discussion of prospects for carbon capture followed either by sequestration or reuse including opportunities for alternatives to the use of oil in the transportation sector. The potential for wind energy as an alternative to fossil fuel energy as a source of electricity is outlined including the related opportunities for cost effective curtailment of future growth in emissions of CO₂.     

全球气候变化对森林生态系统的影响

人类活动所引起的温室效应及由此造成的全球气候变化和对全球生态环境的影响正越来越引起人们的关注。作为全球陆地生态系统一个重要组分的森林对未来气候变化的响应更是人们关注的重点。文中系统地论述了未来气候变化对森林生态系统树种组成、林分结构、分布和生产力的潜在响应,提出了今后需要加强的一些研究领域。     

The global climate change and forest prediction in China

ＴｈｅｇｌｏｂａｌｃｌｉｍａｔｅｃｈａｎｇｅａｎｄｆｏｒｅｓｔｐｒｅｄｉｃｔｉｏｎｉｎＣｈｉｎａＪｉａｎｇＹｏｕｘｕＦｏｒｅｓｔｒｙＩｎｓｔｉｔｕｔｅ，ＣｈｉｎｅｓｅＡｃａｄｅｍｙｏｆＦｏｒｅｓｔｒｙ，Ｂｅｉｊｉｎｇ１０００９１，ＣｈｉｎａＴｈｅｇｌ...     

全球气候变化对南极淡水藻类的影响

1982～2008年对中国南极长城站和中山站地区主要湖泊、溪流、雪地等淡水藻类进行了调查研究.结果表明,淡水藻类优势种类为:双尖菱板藻(Hantzschiaa mphioxys),端泥生藻(Luticola mutica),拟钝泥生藻(Lutiola muticopsis),细小隐球藻(Aphanocapsa elachista),极小色球藻(Chroococcus minimus),寒冷席藻(Phormidium frigidum),赖氏鞘氏藻(Lyngbya lagerheimii),拉氏黏球藻(Gloecapsa ralfsiana),易脆席藻(Phormidium fragile),雪衣藻(Chlamydomo nasnivalis),南极侧果藻(Pleurococcus antarcticus),南极螺翼藻(Scotiella antarctica)和细长聚球藻(Synechococcus elongates).回归分析显示了微、小型藻类细胞丰度与水温呈显著的正相关,而与磷酸盐和硝酸盐呈显著负相关.南极气候尤其是水温的变化,引起湖泊藻类丰度与种群结构发生改变.     

土地利用/覆盖变化对气候的反馈作用

土地利用与土地覆盖的变化直接反映了引起全球变化的主导因子---人类活动,关于土地利用与土地覆盖变化的研究将有助于加深对全球变化与陆地生态系统相互作用的理解。文中基于地球表面的能量与水分平衡方程,从理论上探讨了土地利用和土地覆盖对于气候的反馈作用,研究表明：①植被对于降水的作用不大,植被的存在有助于减少径流,增加保水能力,对于全球气候变化有减缓作用；②植被对于气候变化的作用是增温还是降温须视具体地点的情况而定；③对于中纬度地区,当下垫面反射率的变化与径流量的变化满足以下关系时：Δｆ＝５Δα×１０ｇ／ｃｍ^２·ｍｉｎ下垫面变化对于地表温度无影响。这表明在制定全球变化对策时必须因地制宜。     

能源与气候变化挑战——荷兰皇家壳牌集团的探索

能源挑战 我们知道,为了避免气候变化带来最恶劣的影响,人类必须在2050年以前实现全球二氧化碳排放量减半.然而,应对气候变化的措施必须同时兼顾人口增长、经济发展和能源需求迅猛增长等因素.从2000年到2050年,随着全球人口从70亿增长到90亿,加上非经合组织国家的经济持续高速发展,全球能源需求可能会翻一番. 我们面临着前所未有的能源和气候变化挑战.即使全球采取强有力的措施来提高能效,我们预计到2050年以前,全球还是会出现一个巨大的能源缺口,其规模大概相当于2000年全球能源行业的总产量.     

全球气候变化对太湖蓝藻水华发展演变的影响

对太湖周边4个常规气象观测站的47年观测资料进行分析,以探讨全球气候变化对太湖蓝藻水华演变的影响.结果表明,20世纪80年代之前,太湖流域气象条件的年代际尺度变化趋势不利于蓝藻的生长和水华的形成,而在20世纪80年代以后,尤其是20世纪90年代以后,气温、风速、降水变化都较大,且都有利于蓝藻的生长和水华的形成,这与蓝藻水华的观测事实一致.据此定义了蓝藻水华气象指数,每年太湖蓝藻水华气象指数能够很好地反映蓝藻水华的发展变化情况.进而,分析了反映ENSO循环变化的Ni?o3指数与太湖流域气象条件变化的相关性,结果表明ENSO循环与太湖流域风速、降水在年代际尺度上有着非常好的相关性.据此预测,2000年以后10~20年中,太湖蓝藻水华气象指数将继续在高位振荡,若蓝藻生长所需的营养盐浓度得不到有效的控制和明显的降低,蓝藻水华在气候条件的影响下,仍将可能大面积暴发.     

Regional news portrayals of global warming and climate change

In this study we utilize content analysis techniques to examine how the issue of global warming and climate change has been characterized during the period of 1992 through 2005 by the Houston Chronicle—the largest regional newspaper in the Texas coastal region. A total of 795 global warming and climate change news articles from the Houston Chronicle are collected, coded and analyzed. Data analyses are organized and presented with regard to issue salience, various issue attributes (issue image, scope, linkage, participant, proposed solution and responsible party), use of science, and scientific information sources cited in the news stories. We find that regional media attention to the global climate change issue generally increases over time and an overwhelming majority of the news articles view the issue as a harmful problem. However, given the scientific consensus that global warming will result in significant devastating climate change consequences to the coastal regions, there are still a fair number of news articles delivering mixed, undetermined or even non-harmful messages. We also find that climate change is often discussed as a national or international-global issue, and frequently linked to a number of other public issues rather than just being viewed as an environmental–ecological problem. Moreover, we find that emphasis on issue solutions is placed more on mitigation strategies than on adaptation behaviors, and that both governmental and non-governmental actions and responsibilities are suggested for dealing with climate change. In addition, our findings indicate that the regional newspaper in Texas obtains scientific information on climate change primarily from academic institutions. Implications of our findings and recommendations for future research are discussed in the concluding section.     

On integration of policies for climate and global change

Currently envisaged mitigation of greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions will be insufficient to appreciably limit climate change and its impacts. Adaptation holds the promise of ameliorating the impacts on a small subset of systems being affected. There is no question that both will be needed. However, climate change is only part of a broader multi-stress setting of global through to local changes. Privileging climate related policies over other concerns leads to tragic outcomes. Climate policies need to be designed for and integrated into this broader and challenging context. This paper focuses on placing climate change within the broader context of global change and the importance of aligning climate policy objectives with the myriad other policies that still need to be implemented if our primary goal is improving human welfare rather than limiting our focus to climate change and its impacts.     

亚洲季风变迁与全球气候的联系

通过研究冰期-间冰期至百年尺度亚洲季风的演变特征,阐明了季风变化同南北半球冰量、太阳辐射、大洋环流、热带辐合带等气候系统内外部因子的动力联系。在海-陆-气相互作用的框架下提出了"冰期-间冰期印度季风变化动力学"新理论,揭示大西洋经向环流对东亚季风突变事件的影响和动力过程,探讨了全新世亚洲季风变化的时空特征和控制因素。该项成果以亚洲季风变迁历史和机理为主线,从地球系统科学的视角,将亚洲古季风研究拓展为多尺度与多动力因子、区域与全球相结合的集成研究,推动了与季风相关的过去全球变化科学的发展。     

The impact of climate change mitigation on water demand for energy and food: An integrated analysis based on the Shared Socioeconomic Pathways

Climate change mitigation, in the context of growing population and ever increasing economic activity, will require a transformation of energy and agricultural systems, posing significant challenges to global water resources. We use an integrated modelling framework of the water-energy-land-climate systems to assess how changes in electricity and land use, induced by climate change mitigation, impact on water demand under alternative socioeconomic (Shared Socioeconomic Pathways) and water policy assumptions (irrigation of bioenergy crops, cooling technologies for electricity generation). The impacts of climate change mitigation on cumulated global water demand across the century are highly uncertain, and depending on socioeconomic and water policy conditions, they range from a reduction of 15,000 km³ to an increase of more than 160,000 km³. The impact of irrigation of bioenergy crops is the most prominent factor, leading to significantly higher water requirements under climate change mitigation if bioenergy crops are irrigated. Differences in socioeconomic drivers and fossil fuel availability result in significant differences in electricity and bioenergy demands, in the associated electricity and primary energy mixes, and consequently in water demand. Economic affluence and abundance of fossil fuels aggravate pressures on water resources due to higher energy demand and greater deployment of water intensive technologies such as bioenergy and nuclear power. The evolution of future cooling systems is also identified as an important determinant of electricity water demand. Climate policy can result in a reduction of water demand if combined with policies on irrigation of bioenergy, and the deployment of non-water-intensive electricity sources and cooling types.     

气候变化对陕西省大气污染潜势的影响

分析了大气扩散潜势的分布,利用大气扩散模型对不同年份、季节扩散模式进行模拟,针对不同气候与短期气候变化问题进行模拟,以评估短期气候变化或区域气候变化对大气环境和大气污染潜势的冲击。结合1999—2009年气候变化潜势的模拟结果,气候变化使陕北及陕南大气扩散潜势呈逐年不利的扩散形式,SO₂平均浓度每年增加率分别为1.38%和0.29%,而关中地区大气扩散潜势变化则有利于扩散,其SO₂平均浓度每年减少约3.59%。     

Forest land use change in the philippines and climate change mitigation

Tropical forests in countries like thePhilippines are important sources and sinks of carbon(C). The paper analyzes the contribution of Philippineforests in climate change mitigation. Since the 1500s,deforestation of 20.9 M ha (10⁶ ha) of Philippineforests contributed 3.7 Pg (10¹⁵ g) of C to theatmosphere of which 2.6 Pg were released this century. At present, forest land uses store 1091 Tg(10¹² g) of C and sequester 30.5 Tg C/yr whilereleasing 11.4 Tg C/yr through deforestation andharvesting. In the year 2015, it is expected that thetotal C storage will decline by 8% (1005 Tg) andtotal rate of C sequestration will increase by 17%(35.5 Tg/yr). This trend is due to the decline innatural forest area accompanied by an increase intree plantation area. We have shown that uncertaintyin national C estimates still exists because they arereadily affected by the source of biomass and Cdensity data. Philippine forests can act as C sink by:conserving existing C sinks, expanding C stocks, andsubstituting wood products for fossil fuels. Here weanalyze the possible implications of the provisions ofthe Kyoto Protocol to Philippine forests. Finally, wepresent current research and development efforts ontropical forests and climate change in the Philippinesto improve assessments of their role in the nations Cbudgets.     

The neurobiology of climate change

Directional climate change (global warming) is causing rapid alterations in animals’ environments. Because the nervous system is at the forefront of animals’ interactions with the environment, the neurobiological implications of climate change are central to understanding how individuals, and ultimately populations, will respond to global warming. Evidence is accumulating for individual level, mechanistic effects of climate change on nervous system development and performance. Climate change can also alter sensory stimuli, changing the effectiveness of sensory and cognitive systems for achieving biological fitness. At the population level, natural selection forces stemming from directional climate change may drive rapid evolutionary change in nervous system structure and function.     

Simulating global soil-CO2 flux and its response to climate change

It has been argued that increased soil respiration would become a major atmospheric source of CO2 in the event of global warming. The simple statistical models were developed based on a georeferenced database with 0.5° × 0.5° longitude/latitude resolution to simulate global soil-CO2 fluxes, to investigate climatic effects on these fluxes using sensitivity experiments, and to assess possible responses of soil-CO2 fluxes to various climate change scenarios. The statistical models yield a value of 69 PgC/a of global soil CO2 fluxes for current condition. Sensitivity experiments confirm that the fluxes are responsive to changes in temperature,precipitation and actual evapotranspiration, but increases in temperature and actual evapotranspiration affect soil-CO2 fluxes more than increases in precipitation. Using climatic change projections from four global circulation models, each corresponding to an equilibrium doubling of CO2, it can be found that the largest increases in soil-CO2 fluxes were associated with the boreal and tundra regions. The globally averaged soil-CO2 fluxes were estimated to increase by about 35 ％ above current values, providing a positive feedback to the greenhouse effect.     

Simulating global soil-CO2 flux and its response to climate change

ＩｎｔｒｏｄｕｃｔｉｏｎＧｌｏｂａｌｃｌｉｍａｔｅｍｏｄｅｌｓｐｒｅｄｉｃｔｔｅｍｐｅｒａｔｕｒｅｉｎｃｒｅａｓｅｓｄｕｅｔｏｅｎｈａｎｃｅｄｇｒｅｅｎｈｏｕｓｅｗａｒｍｉｎｇｉｎｔｈｅｎｏｔ ｔｏｏ ｄｉｓｔａｎｔｆｕｔｕｒｅ (Ｈｏｕｇｈｔｏｎ ,1990 ) .Ｉｔｈａｓｂｅｅｎａｒｇｕｅｄｔｈａｔｏｎｅｏｆｔｈｅｉｍｐｏｒｔａｎｔｅｆｆｅｃｔｓｏｆｇｌｏｂａｌｗａｒｍｉｎｇｗｉｌｌｂｅｔｏａｃｃｅｌｅｒａｔｅｔｈｅｄｅｃｏｍｐｏｓｉｔｉｏｎｏｆｓｏｉｌｏｒｇａｎｉｃｍａｔｔｅｒ,ｔｈｅｒｅｂｙｒｅｌｅ…