Cumulative carbon emissions and economic policy: In search of general principles

We exploit recent advances in climate science to develop a physically consistent, yet surprisingly simple, model of climate policy. It seems that key economic models have greatly overestimated the delay between carbon emissions and warming, and ignored the saturation of carbon sinks that takes place when the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide rises. This has important implications for climate policy. If carbon emissions are abated, damages are avoided almost immediately. Therefore it is optimal to reduce emissions significantly in the near term and bring about a slow transition to optimal peak warming, even if optimal steady-state/peak warming is high. The optimal carbon price should start relatively high and grow relatively fast.     

Accounting for time in Mitigating Global Warming through land-use change and forestry

Many proposed activities formitigating global warming in the land-use change and forestry(LUCF) sector differ from measures to avoid fossilfuel emissions because carbon (C) may be held out ofthe atmosphere only temporarily. In addition, thetiming of the effects is usually different. Many LUCFactivities alter C fluxes to and from the atmosphereseveral decades into the future, whereas fossil fuelemissions avoidance has immediate effects. Non-CO₂ greenhouse gases (GHGs), which are animportant part of emissions from deforestation inlow-latitude regions, also pose complications forcomparisons between fossil fuel and LUCF, since themechanism generally used to compare these gases(global warming potentials) assumes simultaneousemissions. A common numeraire is needed to expressglobal warming mitigation benefits of different kindsof projects, such as fossil fuel emissions reduction,C sequestration in forest plantations, avoideddeforestation by creating protected areas and throughpolicy changes to slow rates of land-use changes suchas clearing. Megagram (Mg)-year (also known as`ton-year') accounting provides a mechanism forexpressing the benefits of activities such as these ona consistent basis. One can calculate the atmosphericload of each GHG that will be present in each year,expressed as C in the form of CO₂ and itsinstantaneous impact equivalent contributed by othergases. The atmospheric load of CO₂-equivalent Cpresent over a time horizon is a possible indicator ofthe climatic impact of the emission that placed thisload in the atmosphere. Conversely, this index alsoprovides a measure of the benefit of notproducing the emission. One accounting methodcompares sequestered CO₂ in trees with theCO₂ that would be in the atmosphere had thesequestration project not been undertaken, whileanother method (used in this paper) compares theatmospheric load of C (or equivalent in non-CO₂GHGs) in both project and no-project scenarios.Time preference, expressed by means of a discount rateon C, can be applied to Mg-year equivalencecalculations to allow societal decisions regarding thevalue of time to be integrated into the system forcalculating global warming impacts and benefits. Giving a high value to time, either by raising thediscount rate or by shortening the time horizon,increases the value attributed to temporarysequestration (such as many forest plantationprojects). A high value for time also favorsmitigation measures that have rapid effects (such asslowing deforestation rates) as compared to measuresthat only affect emissions years in the future (suchas creating protected areas in countries with largeareas of remaining forest). Decisions on temporalissues will guide mitigation efforts towards optionsthat may or may not be desirable on the basis ofsocial and environmental effects in spheres other thanglobal warming. How sustainable development criteriaare incorporated into the approval and creditingsystems for activities under the Kyoto Protocol willdetermine the overall environmental and social impactsof pending decisions on temporal issues.     

1951~2014年中国北方地区气温突变与变暖停滞的时空变异性

基于1951~2014年中国北方及周边地区357个气象站点平均最低气温、平均气温和平均最高气温年（月）数据,采用M~K检验等方法,分析了中国北方地区3类气温突变和变暖停滞特征的时空变异性.结果表明：研究区3类气温整体突变年（1978~1999年、1981~2002年、1981~2005年）、分布广泛的普遍突变年（1988年、1989年、1997年）及范围（3a）均依次变晚.整体上,突变年随纬度降低变晚,东北突变早于西北和华北地区.变暖停滞集中于1998和2007年及其前后,3类气温亦依次变晚（1994~2007年、1995~2009年、1998~2010年）,由黄河流域中段向其他方向越来越晚.突变至变暖停滞周期整体随纬度降低缩短（3~30a）,突变越早周期越长.西北地区突变与变暖停滞前后各时段均值温差最大（2.4℃）,温差在1℃左右站点分布最广泛.各时段升（降）温速率整体依次在0.01℃/10a、0.05℃/10a、-0.03℃/10a左右站点分布最广泛,突变后升温最快（0.02~0.16℃/10a）,且西北地区对升温贡献最大,变暖停滞后东北地区对降温贡献最大,2时段按平均最低气温、平均最高气温、平均气温顺序升（降）温速率递减.3类气温波动程度减弱,整体随纬度降低.高纬度、高海拔和山地地区突变和变暖停滞较周边地区偏早或偏晚,特征值较大.整个北方地区3类气温突变、变暖停滞、突变与变暖停滞时间及各时段特征值各自具有自身一致性的普遍规律.     

基于CMIP5多模式集合预估东海和南海21世纪海平面高度变化

人类活动引起的当代气候变暖已导致全球海平面显著上升,在21世纪全球气候继续变暖的背景下,东南沿海海平面的升高将对区域环境及社会可持续发展带来巨大挑战,但目前对未来区域海平面变化的预估尚存在较大的不确定性。本文基于筛选的国际耦合模式比较计划第5阶段（CMIP5）的10个模拟性能较好的气候模式输出结果,通过多模式集合预估了未来温室气体三种排放情景下21世纪东海和南海区域海平面高度的趋势变化,并分析了不同影响因子的贡献。通过计算海水热比容、盐比容和动力因子对海平面高度的影响,并在考虑冰川冰盖消融等因子的订正后,发现：21世纪东海和南海海平面高度都呈现连续上升趋势,东海和南海地区上升幅度略小于全球平均,南海上升幅度略大于东海。在温室气体低（RCP2.6）、中（RCP4.5）和高（RCP8.5）排放情景下,21世纪后期（2081—2100年）较前期（2006—2025年）东海/南海平均海平面分别上升0.26 [0.01—0.55] m/0.29 [0.05—0.55] m、0.38 [0.10—0.66] m/0.40 [0.14—0.67] m和0.52[0.15—0.89] m/0.52[0.23—0.83] m（方括号内为相应的不确定性范围）。随着温室气体排放的升高,海平面上升幅度也增大,东海海平面上升区由东南向西北扩展,南海海平面上升区由东北向西南扩展。统计分析还表明：在不同排放情景下,不同影响因子对海平面变化的贡献也不一样,随着排放强度从低到高变化,海洋比容加动力因子的相对贡献从28%—34%升高至46%—47%,而冰川冰盖消融等其他因子的相对贡献从 66%—72%降低至53%—54%。     

气候变暖背景下西南地区干旱灾害风险评估

论文利用全国基准基本站地面气温、降水资料,NCAR/NCEP土壤湿度资料及各类经济数据,采用加权综合评价法对西南地区干旱灾害风险因子进行分析,结果表明：四川和云南致灾因子危险性较高,气候变暖后四川东南部、云南和贵州西部危险性增加;西南地区中部到东南部成灾环境敏感性较高,气候变暖后四川东部、贵州及云南东部敏感性增加;承灾体易损性主要分布于西南中东部地区,人口密度、经济密度、耕地面积比重越高的地区易损性程度越高;四川中部、云南东北部、贵州南部及重庆西部防灾减灾能力较高。西南地区干旱灾害风险最高区域为云南东部、四川东部、贵州西部及重庆大部分地区;气候变暖后四川东南部、云南西部危险性明显增加。     

全球增温1.5℃和2.0℃对淮河中上游径流影响预估

论文应用第5次耦合模式比较计划(Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5,CMIP5)中5个全球气候模式(Global Climate Models,GCMs)和3种典型浓度路径(Representative Concentration Pathways,RCPs)在全球增温1.5℃和2.0℃下的预估结果,分析了淮河中上游地区未来的气候变化特征。进一步基于SWAT(Soil and Water Assessment Tool)水文模型定量预估了气候变化对该区域径流量的影响,并量化了预估结果的不确定性。结果表明:SWAT模型在淮河中上游对月径流量具有较好的模拟能力。在全球增温1.5℃和2.0℃下,淮河中上游年平均气温分别较基准期(1986—2005年)增加1.1℃和1.7℃;年降水量较基准期分别相应增加4%和7%;基于SWAT模型预估的年径流量较基准期分别增加5%和8%。未来气候变化不会改变月径流分布特征,年内径流仍集中在盛夏和初秋(6—9月)。预估的月丰水流量明显增加,尤其当全球增温达到2.0℃后,出现洪涝的风险明显增大。未来降水量和径流量预估都存在较大的不确定性,不确定性主要来源于GCMs,在全球增温2.0℃下预估的不确定性更大。     

近48a宁夏寒潮的变化特征及可能影响的成因初步分析

利用1961—2008年宁夏日温度及逐月北半球500 hPa环流特征量、北极涛动指数(AOI)和NCAR/NCEP再分析资料,对宁夏寒潮频次变化的气候特征进行了分析,并对影响其变化的可能原因进行了讨论,结果表明:宁夏寒潮活动各地差异较大,主要出现在春季;近48年,春秋季寒潮频次呈弱增加趋势,冬季呈弱减少趋势;寒潮频次与AOI、气温呈负相关,与西伯利亚高压、东亚冬季风强度及入侵中国的冷空气活动频次呈正相关,相关关系在秋冬季明显,春季不明显;在气候变暖的大背景下,从20世纪80年代末开始,随着AOI从负位相转为正位相,冬季西伯利亚高压和东亚冬季风强度的减弱使得宁夏地表温度持续升高,是宁夏冬季寒潮频次减少的可能原因;春季也有类似的变化,不同的是:20世纪80年代中期以前,西伯利亚高压对寒潮活动作用更显著,之后,随气温持续增暖,冷空气活动对寒潮频次的影响更明显;秋季,西伯利亚高压和冷空气活动对寒潮的影响更直接明显。研究还发现,进入21世纪后,随着全球持续增暖,北极涛动对西伯利亚高压和东亚冬季风的影响有所减弱。因此,北极涛动、西伯利亚高压、冷空气活动频次、东亚冬季风、气温这几者之间的相互反馈作用是宁夏寒潮频次变化的可能原因。     

Presence of scapular dysfunction in dominant shoulder of professional guitar players

Background. Playing guitar can cause adoption of asymmetric postures and affect the shoulder's stability. Objective. To assess the presence of scapular dysfunction in professional guitar players. Method. A lateral scapular slide test was performed at the level of the spine of the scapula and at the inferior angle of the scapula in 20 professional guitar players (age: 18–40 years) and was compared with 20 age-matched non-players at angles of 0°, 45° and 90° of shoulder abduction with both limbs loaded with 0.5-kg weights. Analysis was done by unpaired t test. Results. Scapular dysfunction in guitar players was seen in the form of asymmetric scapula at rest in 25% and dyskinetic scapula in 20% of players. 100% of non-players had normal scapular positioning. Comparison at the level of the spine of the scapula showed no significant difference (p?>?0.05), but the inferior angle showed a significant difference at 0° (1.37?cm), 45° (1.93?cm) and 90° (2.15?cm) which was more in the player's category (p?Conclusion. There exists a marked dysfunction of scapular stabilizers in professional guitar players at the level of the inferior angle of the scapula.     

Testis size variation in the greenfinch Carduelis chloris : relevance for some recent models of sexual selection

Interspecific evidence that testis size responds to selection caused by sperm competition has been obtained from many taxa. However, little is known about the sources of intraspecific variation in testis size, although such variation may have functional significance. Variation in testis size and asymmetry was studied within and between eight geographically separated (and genetically differentiated) populations of greenfinches Carduelis chloris. The relationships between testis size and plumage brightness (degree of yellowness) and the prevalence of haematozoan infections were also investigated in three of these populations, as they related to the predictions of the immunocompetence handicap hypothesis, and Møller's hypothesis relating directional testis asymmetry to phenotypic quality. There were large differences between populations in testis size, with males from northern populations having larger testes than those from southern populations. Within populations, large testes were associated with larger body size and greater age. When the influence of these factors was removed statistically, males with large testes were more likely to be infected with haematozoan parasites, and had brighter yellow plumage. No evidence was found that directional asymmetry in testis size was related to either of these measures of phenotypic quality. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that males with large testes, while signalling higher phenotypic quality as revealed by increased plumage brightness, also pay a cost in terms of reduced immunocompetence, revealed by the increased probability of infection in these males. That these patterns were similar in three different populations adds further strength to these conclusions. Our results suggest that studying the sources of variation in testis size among individuals can reveal interesting processes in sexual selection.     

The relevance of James Lovelock’s research and philosophy to environmental science and academia

James E. Lovelock, famed for his Gaia hypothesis, which views the Earth as a living integrated and interconnected self-regulating system whose equilibrium comes about from complex energy-based interactions and feedback loops, ultimately sustaining life, passed away at the end of July, 2022 at the age of 103. Not only are the adaptive mechanisms of Gaia central to the conversation of environmental homeostasis, they lie at the heart of climate change and global warming. Lovelock is also remembered as the co-inventor of the electron capture detector that eventually allowed for the sensitive detection of chlorofluorocarbons and pesticides. Finally, Lovelock’s free-spirited nature and research independence allow academia to rethink current research’s modus operandi.