Temperature Record of the Week
This issue's Temperature Record of the week is from Anna, Illinois. Visit our U.S. Climate Data section to plot and view these data for yourself.
Current Editorial
Methane Madness: The authors of a new study say the atmospheric methane growth rate "fluctuates in an unpredictable fashion," making it impossible to produce realistic projections of future atmospheric methane concentrations. A careful consideration of their data and polemics, however, suggests this conclusion is based more on blind faith and/or politics than on science.
Subject Index Summaries
Snow: The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) claims that snow cover in the Northern Hemisphere declines as the climate warms. Real-world data, however, suggest otherwise.
Water Stress x CO2 Effects on Plants (Agricultural Species): A brief review of some of the recent scientific literature indicates that future increases in the air's CO2 concentration will likely increase crop growth and yield, even when lack of water is normally limiting to growth.
Carbon Sequestration Commentary
Trees in the City: A New Role for the "Ultimate Urban Multitaskers": Compared to their country cousins, urban trees comprise but a small portion of the planet's global forest. What they lack in numbers, however, they make up in special services and enhanced robustness, which virtues make them real "pros" at slowing the rate of rise of the air's CO2 content.
Current Journal Reviews
Antarctic Icebergs: Have their numbers been increasing in response to global warming?
A 4000-Year Record of Climate Change in Southern Alberta, Canada: From the depths of Pine Lake, the sediments speak; and, oh what a story they tell us!
Fifty Years of Pan Evaporation and Solar Radiation Data: What Do They Tell Us About Climate Change?: They tell us there are major deficiencies in our current understanding of basic meteorological phenomena and/or the temperature history of the earth.
Effects of Elevated CO2 on Net Photosynthesis in Mungbean and Wheat: How do they vary between vegetative and reproductive growth stages?
A Water Use Efficiency History of Siberian Scots Pine Trees: What have the trees been doing over the past century or so of rising atmospheric CO2 concentrations with respect to the amount of water transpired in extracting CO2 from the air and sequestering its carbon in their tissues? Has it been getting tougher or easier for them to survive?