The Ice Age Cometh! Forget Global Warming!

[CelticWarrior]

I found an article on the Weather Network that is about the Arctic sea ice at very low levels and how it may indicate a very real danger on a huge scale.

http://www.theweathernetwork.com/news/articles/relentless-heat-results-in-new-record-low-arctic-sea-ice-maximum/65618/

Monday, March 28, 2016, 7:32 PM - "Arctic sea ice reached its winter maximum last week and the news isn't good. Due to a record warm winter, sea ice across the Arctic has reached a new record low extent for the second year in a row." "The Arctic is in crisis. Year by year, it's slipping into a new state, and it's hard to see how that won't have an effect on weather throughout the Northern Hemisphere," Ted Scambos, NSIDC's lead scientist, said in a press release on Monday.

Reader Comment: "The North is decreasing and the South is increasing - and has been for YEARS. Part of the Earth is absorbing more solar energy than normal and the other part less. We're over due for an ice-age and this is what some scientists think is the base-line for another ice-age. The Southern pole ice sheet expands (in width no depth), reflecting more & more solar light and radiations back out into space - instead of them being absorbed by the water. This in turn, allows for more ice coverage. The longer that ice is "allowed" to form, the more likely an ice age will be for us."


As for a GLOBAL SUPER STORM it's possible that this could be one interpretation in the form of massive gas explosions and suffocation:

Thus CO2 tends to increase the temperature gradient between the Earth's surface and the high atmosphere, which one of the main factors involved in 'superstorms'. One wonders what may happen if several major volcanoes decide to wake up at the same time.

The word "superstorms" brings to mind a book I just purchased at a liquidation store for two dollars - by Art Bell and Whitley Strieber - The coming GLOBAL SUPERSTORM. The book is mentioned in a Session. I haven't read it yet but it looks like a quick read. But the C's have suggested, it's not the book - but the events depicted which is a Global Superstorm. Are we looking at several events "now" on a global scale - that are working collectively towards a major weather event in the very near future?

The depictions in the youtube video here are alarming. If this occurred on a coastal level from the Pacific or other oceans it would have a massive impact. According to the experts this type of phenomena could easily devastate en entire population, and it's fair to say that something like this could have already happened to former life forms on Earth.

Reader Comment: "What people don't know is what happens when the Arctic ice is no longer there. In the summer months the Arctic get's sunlight both day and night (Land of the Midnight Sun). Sunlight is reflected off the white ice but is absorbed by the dark ocean. Now people that think this is great news because you can get ships through, think again. The danger of the warming oceans is not the ice but what lies on the bottom of the ocean. Methane hydrates in vast reserves lie on the bottom and can destabilize releasing this powerful greenhouse gas into the atmosphere. And all it takes is a little extra heat. That is the danger."

"If you would like to see what could happen if the oceans warm up too much then check the following video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbnM1QpuwWI Methane hydrates can be found in other places other than the Arctic. It is also found off the coastlines of every continent worldwide. Warming up the Arctic ocean will also warm up the other oceans thanks to ocean circulation. What happens in the Arctic doesn't stay in the Arctic. Methane is 120 times worse than Carbon Dioxide as a greenhouse gas."

 

[angelburst29]

There is a report of very fine snowfall in the hills in Guadeloupe. Apparently, as a rule, they don't get snow? Two weeks ago, same area, they got some hailstones.

Snow falls in Guadeloupe in extraordinary weather phenomenon
http://dominicanewsonline.com/news/homepage/news/weather/snow-falls-in-guadeloupe-in-extraordinary-weather-phenomenon/

No, it is not an April Fools Day joke, snowflakes actually fell in the neighbouring French island of Guadeloupe.

The event, which was described as ‘exceptional’ by a French meteorologist took place on Thursday, March 31 in the municipality of St. Claude.

Reports from French media indicate that a very fine snowfall blanketed the hills above the town.

French meteorologist, Alain Museleque, explained the extraordinary phenomenon on Guadeloupe Premiere TV.

“We had a mass of clouds that arrived over St. Claude,” he said in French and translated by McCathy Marie. “Accompanying this mass of clouds was some very cold air. In this very cold air, in the mass of clouds, we had the creation of some snowflakes which fell to the ground. This has never before been seen in Guadeloupe. This is an exceptional event that we will never forget.”

Two weeks ago in the same area, in a residential district which is just below La Soufriere Volcano overlooking the Town of Basse Terre, residents were surprised to see hailstones falling from the sky.

CLICK HERE TO READ REPORT IN FRENCH

Added note: the French overseas territory of Guadeloupe lies to the South of Puerto Rico and is part of the Caribbean's Lesser Antilles island chain. Guadeloupe is located at around 16 degrees north latitude with the highest elevation being 4,803 feet.

 

[angelburst29]

Over the past ten years, approximately five million people have moved away from the state of California.

The Exodus Of People Moving Away From California Is Becoming An Avalanche
http://investmentwatchblog.com/the-exodus-of-people-moving-away-from-california-is-becoming-an-avalanche/

The number one destination for people leaving the state of California in recent years has been the state of Texas. And according to Ali Meyer of the Washington Free Beacon, the number of people leaving California for Texas has reached “its highest level in nearly a decade”…

The number of Californians leaving the state and moving to Texas is at its highest level in nearly a decade, according to data from the Internal Revenue Service.

According to IRS migration data, which uses individual income tax returns to record year-to-year address changes, over 250,000 California residents moved out of the state between 2013 and 2014, the latest period for which data was available. The tax returns reported more than $21 billion in adjusted gross income to the IRS.

Of the returns, 33,626 reported address changes from California to Texas, which has been the top destination for individuals leaving California since 2007.

Certainly much of this exodus can be attributed to the absolutely suffocating tax rates in the state. California has a 13.3 percent income tax, and that is in addition to a whole host of other ways that they have come up with to extract as much money out of the population as possible.

But if you really love living somewhere, most people will put up with high taxes.

To me, there are much greater concerns for those living in the state, including the fact that “the Big One” could literally strike at any moment.

According to a study that was discussed in the Los Angeles Times, a magnitude 9.0 earthquake along the Cascadia fault could potentially produce a tsunami so large that it would “wash away coastal towns”…

If a 9.0 earthquake were to strike along California’s sparsely populated North Coast, it would have a catastrophic ripple effect.

A giant tsunami created by the quake would wash away coastal towns, destroy U.S. 101 and cause $70 billion in damage over a large swath of the Pacific coast. More than 100 bridges would be lost, power lines toppled and coastal towns isolated. Residents would have as few as 15 minutes notice to flee to higher ground, and as many as 10,000 would perish.

Scientists last year published this grim scenario for a massive rupture along the Cascadia fault system, which runs 700 miles off shore from Northern California to Vancouver Island.

That is very bad news for all of those million dollar homes along the northern California coast. Once upon a time I dreamed of a home overlooking the Pacific Ocean, but not anymore. In fact, today I would not even dream of owning such a home.

And of course southern California is very much in danger as well. The San Andreas fault gets most of the press, but there is actually a fault line that is far more dangerous. According to one seismologist, the Puente Hills fault line could someday“eat L.A.” and cause hundreds of billions of dollars in economic damage…

Video simulations of a rupture on the Puente Hills fault system show how energy from a quake could erupt and be funneled toward L.A.’s densest neighborhoods, with the strongest waves rippling to the west and south across the Los Angeles Basin.

According to estimates by the USGS and Southern California Earthquake Center, a massive quake on the Puente Hills fault could kill from 3,000 to 18,000 people and cause up to $250 billion in damage. Under this worst-case scenario, people in as many as three-quarters of a million households would be left homeless.

The entire California coastline lies along “the Ring of Fire” which has become much more active in recent years. Scientists assure us that it is only a matter of time before the state experiences absolutely horrific natural disasters, but most Californians have been lulled into a false sense of security.

 

[Chad]

Just in case this is of interest to our more knowledgeable folks - seems rain is more often becoming hail - the below shows Saudi Arabia, Belgium, Poland and Ukraine from yesterday:

Hail storm in Saudi Arabia:

http://<iframe width="420" height="...nI" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Apparently there was also a sandstorm/tornado/dust devil thingy

This may have brought the hail - not sure.

Severe Weather Europe shared Meteo Východ's video.
1 hr ·

Amazing supercell in Poland today, report via Meteo Východ

https://www.facebook.com/meteovychod/videos/vb.247070862084243/471676879623639/?type=2&theater

[/quote]

Hail in ‪#‎Przemysl‬, ‪#‎Poland‬, as well!

‪#‎gradobicie‬ w ‪#‎Przemyśl‬!

Source: Tomasz Te / MeteoModel.pl

https://www.facebook.com/MeteoEU/videos/1692286957701500/

Big ‪#‎hail‬ in ‪#‎Przemysl‬ (1st image by Justin Sas) & ‪#‎Malinówka‬ (2nd image by @strefaGrega), in ‪#‎Poland‬ today as well! Video will follow in a while!

Source: MeteoModel.pl

Koen De Backer Not so heavy as there, but enough for a day. In Belgium btw https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=479261402271941&set=p.479261402271941&type=3&theater

Skywarn Europe
55 mins ·

07 APR 2016 - UKRAINE: Hailstorm / Large hail hit parts N of Stryy town in L'viv province, SW Ukraine. Hail up to 4cm i.d. was observed in Zaplatyn village (photo).

source: SWR/GUS

 

[Chad]

Meteo Europe
2 hrs ·

‪#‎Snow‬ in ‪#‎Belfast‬, N ‪#‎Ireland‬, today, a few hours ago. Talking about Spring?

Source; Diana Rusk

 

[Chad]

The wind certainly feels unseasonable cold in the north of England, i'd guess the jet stream is still creeping way south - anyway, here's a 10 minute presentation - from 'Adapt 2030' who seems to be collating some interesting data - contesting the lamestreams proclamations of 2015 being the 'warmest year on record' and he provides charts showing this can't be true; and that NASA cliams to only be something like 38% sure.

He notes even Canadians have been surprised by the cold; NY, even Louisiana is stuck with low temps. He theorises that this is partially influenced by the gas giant planets lining up (see image posted) as well as the quiet sun.


From the video:

US Land Weather Stations Show Mini Ice Age has Begun | Mini Ice Age 2015-2035 (149)

Published on Apr 12, 2016

USA Temperature un-adjusted temps show definite temperature downtrend so much so that a Mini Ice Age precursor cooling signal is in play.

http://<iframe width="560" height="...aE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

With so much talk of the warmest year ever, let’s run down a list of weather stations across the USA reading the unadjusted temperatures in areas that have not been moved into heat islands. There is a dip in temperatures showing a cooling trend since 2014.

 

[Eol]

The wind certainly feels unseasonable cold in the north of England, i'd guess the jet stream is still creeping way south

You can check this by yourself. There are many tools tracking the jet stream winds. Your guess seem to be good.

- http://www.netweather.tv/index.cgi?action=jetstream;sess=

contesting the lamestreams proclamations of 2015 being the 'warmest year on record' and he provides charts showing this can't be true

Defenitely not the warmest year. Even if it was, it would be because of the El nino rather than the so called antropogenic forcing.

He notes even Canadians have been surprised by the cold; NY, even Louisiana is stuck with low temps. He theorises that this is partially influenced by the gas giant planets lining up (see image posted) as well as the quiet sun.

I don't say that the other planets of our solar system don't have any influence on the earth, but in a such magnitude which he describes, i doubt. He mentionned the year 1845 but it was not a period of low solar activity. And the other example he shows are projections since the sunspots record began near 1600. Even the intervalls that he takes are not in phase with the 400 years cycle mentionned.
On the other side, a link between the AMO and the solar activity is a possibility. There are some observations suggesting a shift to a negative phase of the AMO during the minimum of Maunder.

 

[Chad]

The wind certainly feels unseasonable cold in the north of England, i'd guess the jet stream is still creeping way south

You can check this by yourself. There are many tools tracking the jet stream winds. Your guess seem to be good.

- http://www.netweather.tv/index.cgi?action=jetstream;sess=

That's cool.

[...]

He notes even Canadians have been surprised by the cold; NY, even Louisiana is stuck with low temps. He theorises that this is partially influenced by the gas giant planets lining up (see image posted) as well as the quiet sun.

I don't say that the other planets of our solar system don't have any influence on the earth, but in a such magnitude which he describes, i doubt. He mentionned the year 1845 but it was not a period of low solar activity. And the other example he shows are projections since the sunspots record began near 1600. Even the intervalls that he takes are not in phase with the 400 years cycle mentionned.
On the other side, a link between the AMO and the solar activity is a possibility. There are some observations suggesting a shift to a negative phase of the AMO during the minimum of Maunder.

Yeah, i hesitate to get too hyped up on these 'alignment' ideas, at least because there appear to be many other factors that do seem better verifiable - i appreciate your input because i wouldn't know really.

Thanks Eol :)

 

[Eol]

Yeah, i hesitate to get too hyped up on these 'alignment' ideas, at least because there appear to be many other factors that do seem better verifiable - i appreciate your input because i wouldn't know really.

Thanks Eol :)

;D

A big problem today is that information, ( I speak specially of my aera of personnal investigations wich is globally related to the atmosphere) is now available to everyone via internet and some people don't take the time to fully investigate the cases, jumping rather rapidly in hypothetical conclusions. There are innombrable goelogic, oceanic, atmospheric, geomagnetic, astrophysical, ect... phenomenas taking place on or influencing the Earth and you can easily find each time correlations related with your object of research. And it's worst today because ideologies are more and more supplanting the critical mind wich result in lot of noise. You have to literally read hundred of pages the most critically possible, which already require a good backround in the subject of your investigations, to just begin to find some evidences. And then, it does not mean that is necessary related or true causality.

We have to be carefull with "easily statements"

 

[Niall]

Another piece of data pointing to a changed atmosphere: an apparent increase in 'airglow':

What is Airglow and Why is it Increasing?

http://<iframe width="853" height="...98" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[Eol]

Another piece of data pointing to a changed atmosphere: an apparent increase in 'airglow':

What is Airglow and Why is it Increasing?

http://<iframe width="853" height="...98" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Like you said on Youtube Niall, the explanation provided in the video does not correspond to the actual situtation of the sun.

Just in very quick researchs :

Airglow is caused by various processes in the upper atmosphere, such as the recombination of atoms which were photoionized by the sun during the day, luminescence caused by cosmic rays striking the upper atmosphere, and chemiluminescence caused mainly by oxygen and nitrogen reacting with hydroxyl ions at heights of a few hundred kilometres.

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airglow

The relationship between geomagnetic activity and the intensity of the 5577 A [O I] line in the night airglow is presented. The correlation that is used accounts for missing data in the airglow time-series and, what is more important, allows for the effects of the high correlation between successive data points. The results for the period studied (1953–1960) indicate an inverse relationship between airglow intensity and the geomagnetic index Kp for values of the index between 0 and 7 and a direct relationship for index values of 8 and 9. Statistical tests show the inverse relationship to be marginally significant at the 5 per cent confidence level. The direct relationship for values of Kp equal to 8 or 9 depends on a total of 10 data points; although much emphasis on this result is premature, it is not inconsistent with previous results.

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/JZ067i006p02255/abstract?systemMessage=Subscribe+and+renew+is+currently+unavailable+online.+Please+contact+customer+care+to+place+an+order%3A++http%3A%2F%2Folabout.wiley.com%2FWileyCDA%2FSection%2Fid-397203.html++.Apologies+for+the+inconvenience.

A decrease in both solar activity and the strength of the earth magnetic field which lead to more cosmic rays reaching the atmosphere can be a possibility.

 

[Pierre]

A decrease in both solar activity and the strength of the earth magnetic field which lead to more cosmic rays reaching the atmosphere can be a possibility.

Yes, reduced solar activity allows more high energy cosmic rays (supernovas, powerful stars) to enter the Solar system and energize atmospheric atoms/molecules leading to plasma glow.

The geomagnetic field probably plays a minute role since it only stops 5% of the high energy cosmic rays (most rays are stopped by the heliosphere).

 

[angelburst29]

On the discussion of Airglow, it reminded me of something I came across in a Russian experiment - of sending a giant mirror into space, to bring sunlight to the Earth. Although it's a long article and it goes into detail of their experiment, knowing that the Russian's are more advanced in space exploration, my impression was that it might double as "sunlight" if we were to find ourselves in the mist of a "Nuclear Winter"?

The Man who turned Night into Day
http://motherboard.vice.com/read/the-man-who-turned-night-into-day

Employers have always aimed to maximize worker productivity. Today they might exploit the connectivity of email, smartphones, and Slack to extend the reach of the modern workday, big reasons we’re working more and sleeping less. In the 1990s, though, Russian scientists tried it the other way around. They took a different, more dramatic approach to lengthening the day—they launched massive machines into orbit to reflect sunlight down onto the dark side of the Earth.

It’s true: Throughout the early 90s, a team of Russian astronomers and engineers were hellbent on literally turning night into day. By shining a giant mirror onto the earth from space, they figured they could bring sunlight to the depths of night, extending the workday, cutting back on lighting costs and allowing laborers to toil longer. If this sounds a bit like the plot of a Bond film, well, it’s that too.

The difference is that for a second there, the scientists, led by Vladimir Sergeevich Syromyatnikov, one of the most important astronautical engineers in history, actually pulled it off.

[...]

But by the late 1980s, what Syromyatnikov really wanted to do was to design a solar sail that could harness the power of the sun to propel a spacecraft through the galaxy—one that could also, say, reflect sunlight back to Earth during the dead of night.

His statesmen, however, saw a unique way to maximize labor efficiency. Throughout the Soviet era, Russian scientists were obsessed with finding ways to increase the productivity of farmlands and workers in Russia’s northern regions, where days would grow very long in the summer and extremely short in the winter. In 1988, Syromyatnikov seized on the idea of daylight extension, apparently as a pitch to get backers to support his solar sails. He retooled the focus of his design to function as a space mirror, and founded the Space Regatta Consortium.

After the fall of the Soviet Union, the general objective remained in Russian scientific circles, driven on, perhaps, by institutional inertia.
“The initial impetus for the project was to provide illumination for industrial and natural resource exploitation in remote geographical areas with long polar nights in Siberia and western Russia, allowing outdoor work to proceed round the clock." Jonathan Crary, a professor of art and theory at Columbia University, writes in his book about the rise of the round-the-clock labor paradigm, 24/7. “But
the company subsequently expanded its plans to include the possibility of supplying nighttime lighting for entire metropolitan areas. Reasoning that it could reduce energy costs for electric lighting, the company’s slogan pitched its services as ‘daylight all night long.'”

"Think what it will mean for the future of mankind," Syromyadnikov would later tell the Moscow Times. "No more electricity bills, no more long, dark winters. This is a serious breakthrough for technology."

He assembled a team that would build the satellite that would come to be known as the Znamya (“Banner”). It was, essentially, a 65-foot wide space mirror.

[...]

“The scheme called for a chain of many satellites to be placed in sun-synchronized orbits at an altitude of 1700 kilometers, each one equipped with fold-out parabolic reflectors of paper-thin material,” Crary writes. “Once fully extended to 200 meters in diameter, each mirror satellite would have the capacity to illuminate a ten-square-mile area on earth with a brightness nearly 100 times greater than moonlight.”

Building Znamya was a slapdash affair; the collapse of the Soviet Union had left the nation’s science institutions under-funded, and many engineers and technicians found themselves volunteering their time to support the cause. The satellite itself was patched together from donated equipment. The financial support that did arrive came from a patchwork consortium of remaining state-owned space companies and research groups, NPO Energia among them.

After years of development, in 1992, Syromyatnikov and his team launched the 88-pound Znamya-2 into space aboard a vessel called Progress M15, bound for the Mir space station as a secondary payload.

[...]

As planned, on February 4, Znamya left Mir. When it found its orbit a safe distance away, the mirror successfully deployed. And, sure enough it sent a five kilometer-wide beam of light back down to Earth. The beam swept through Europe, moving from the south of France to western Russia at a reported speed of eight kilometers per second. “Several” turned out to be an overstatement—its luminosity was equivalent to a single full moon’s. Unfortunately, excessive cloud cover prevented the effect from being seen much on land; as the BBC reported, some Europeans reported noticing a flash of light as it glanced by, but that was about it.

Still, the theory had proved correct, and the design was sound. Znamya was de-orbited after a few hours and burned up in the atmosphere above Canada upon reentry.

"The reflector was a big success because it proved the concept was right," Nikolai N. Sevastyanov, a ranking project engineer on Znamya told the Times. "Now we must seek support to build one of bigger size."

(Article continues.)

 

[angelburst29]

I wasn't exactly sure where to Post this, so if belongs somewhere else, please feel free to move it?

Scientists Unearth 11th Century Persian Scholar's Supernova Surveillance
http://sputniknews.com/environment/20160424/1038518906/ibn-sina-supernova-sighting.html

German scientists have uncovered a text written by famous Persian philosopher Ibn Sina, who appears to report having sighted a supernova that occurred in 1006 AD.

For the first time scientists have studied a text by noted tenth century polymath Ibn Sina (known as Avicenna in Latin), in which the scholar described observations of a supernova in the year 397 of the Islamic Hijri calendar, calculated as 1,006 AD.

Ibn Sina (980-1037 AD) was a Persian physician and philosopher who is regarded as the most famous and influential of the medieval Islamic world's philosopher-scientists.

The scientists who studied Ibn Sina's account believe it was written when he was in present-day Iran, Turkmenistan or Uzbekistan, most probably the latter. They translate his description of the supernova's form, direction and appearance.

Ibn Sina wrote that the object was "tailless," which distinguished it from the more common transient objects, comets with tails.

The new star was "getting fainter and fainter until it disappeared," and that it "became fainter and disappeared," he wrote.

"At the beginning it was towards a darkness and greenness, then it began to throw out sparks and then it became more and more whitish."

His Arabic-language report is one of several historical observations of supernovas that have helped scientists in their understanding of these celestial events, and adds to previous information about the supernova in 1006 AD from observers in Yemen, Morocco, China and Japan.

Contemporary scientists have also provided today's astronomers with information about supernova sightings in 1054 (from Eastern Asia and Arabia), 1181 (Eastern Asia), 1572 and 1604 AD (the latter two sighted in Eastern Asia and Europe).

"Historic reports can deliver the date of the observation (hence, the age of the supernova remnant and, if existing, of the neutron star) together with a light curve (hence, possibly the supernova type), sometimes the color and its evolution, and the position of the supernova," the scientists explained in their paper, published on ArXiv.org.

https://arxiv.org/abs/1604.03798

 

[angelburst29]

I generally take anything on this site, with a grain of salt but there's a link to a study at the end of the article that goes into more detail.

Rising carbon dioxide is making the Earth GREENER: Extra plant growth caused by greenhouse gases could cover the USA twice
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3557905/Rising-carbon-dioxide-making-Earth-GREENER-Extra-plant-growth-greenhouse-gas-cover-USA-twice.html

* Scientists used satellite data over the past 33 years to measure leaf cover
* Planet has got greener as plants have flourished in rising carbon dioxide
* Additional plant growth is equivalent to covering the US twice in greenery
* Rising carbon dioxide is responsible for 70 per cent of the extra greening

The pumping of excessive carbon dioxide into the atmosphere has widely been presented as setting our planet on a path towards disaster.

But a new study has revealed rising levels of the greenhouse gas due to humanity's actions is actually having a surprising side-effect – it is making the Earth greener.

Satellite data gathered over 33 years has shown there has been a 'persistent and widespread increase' in the growing season of plants.

They added that the extra greening that has occurred in the past 33 years is equivalent to adding a green continent twice the size of mainland USA - around 6.95 million square miles.

Professor Ranga Myneni, an earth scientist at Boston University who led the study, told MailOnline, however, this effect is unlikely to continue for ever.

He said while the additional plant growth was helping to soak up some of extra carbon being emitted into the atmosphere by human activity, it may start slowing down.

He said: 'Currently, about a quarter of the 10 billion tons of carbon that we emit in to the air each year, are being stored in the body of trees and in the soils.

'We do not know how long this will continue. This storage we do know is temporary.

'Experiments have shown that the CO2 fertilisation effect is temporary.

'The plants ultimately adjust to the higher levels of CO2 in the air.'

The researchers used data from the Nasa-Modis and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration AVHRR satellite sensors from the past 33 years.

They used this to construct computer models to mimic the plant growth observed in the satellite data.

Around 85 per cent of the ice-free land on the Earth's surface is covered by vegetation. The area of all greenery on the Earth is equal to around 32 per cent of the entire surface of the Earth

[...] The researchers, whose work is published in the journal Nature Climate Change, say their findings are consistent with other studies that show how elevated carbon dioxide can increase plant growth.

They found that carbon dioxide fertilisation, as the effect is known, is responsible for 70 per cent of the observed greening trend.

They said nine per cent of the increased greening was due to extra nitrogen in the soil and eight per cent was due to climate change.

Four per cent of the greening was due to land cover change.

The impacts of increased carbon dioxide was most prevalent over the tropics, where many of the large expanse of rainforest can be found.

Climate change was responsible for additional greening mainly in higher latitudes where ice is melting and on the Tibetan Plateau.

However, they found the relationship between rising carbon dioxide levels and the increase in greening is complex rather than a simple correlation.

[...]
Dr Philippe Ciais, another co-author of the study and associate director of the Laboratory of Climate and Environmantl Sciences at Gif-suv-Yvette in France, said: 'The fallacy of the contrarian argument is two-fold.

'First, the many negative aspects of climate change, namely global warming, rising sea levels, melting glaciers and sea ice, more severe tropical storms, etc are not acknowledged.

'Second, studies have shown that plants acclimatize, or adjust, to rising CO2 concentration and the fertilization effect diminishes over time.'

Read more: nature.com/artic...