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Friday, August 24, 2007
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Here's a short update about the Tropical Composition, Cloud and Climate Coupling mission, from Medill Reports. From the article:
NASA recently completed a $12 million climate study intended to help researchers better understand the chemical processes behind global warming and ozone depletion. The Tropical Composition, Cloud and Climate Coupling field campaign, based in San Jose, Costa Rica, used seven satellites and three high-flying airplanes to examine the upper layers of Earth's atmosphere. "We're trying to make sure we understand how clouds and water vapor in this region of the atmosphere work," said Brian Toon, a scientist at the University of Colorado at Boulder, who is associated with the study. Studying cloud formation and its ability to trap heat in this region may be a critical link to understanding global warming.
Toon explained that the tropics are home to very fast-moving columns of air that help regulate the Earth's climate. When the fast-moving air hits the cold ceiling of the upper atmosphere, it flattens out and becomes what scientists call an anvil cloud, Toon said. Scientists believe the anvils serve a dual, seemingly contradictory purpose. They help cool the Earth by reflecting the sun's heat, but they also trap radiation and greenhouse gases, keeping the Earth's temperature above freezing over many parts of the globe.
More Coyote Gulch coverage here.
"2008 pres"
6:51:59 AM 
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Here's a recap of yesterday's keynote by U.S. Senator Ken Salazar at the Colorado Water Congress' summer convention in Steamboat Springs from The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel. From the article:
As water managers from throughout Colorado agreed Thursday that water conservation is the key to dealing with climate change's effects on the state's water supply, Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo., said oil shale development could use up whatever water remains in the Colorado River Basin. Salazar, who spoke to a standing-room-only crowd at the Colorado Water Congress' summer convention in Steamboat Springs, said later that he had heard oil shale development in northwest Colorado is likely to consume 100 percent of the available, or unappropriated, water in the entire Colorado River system. But with disagreement over just how much water is left to be appropriated in the basin, he said he doesn't know whether that level of water consumption from a future oil shale industry is acceptable. A draft environmental impact study of the Bureau of Land Management's commercial oil shale program, due later this year, is expected to address water consumption from oil shale development. But the House energy bill, expected to be debated and reconciled with the Senate energy bill next month, would delay the release of the study. Salazar said the delay is prudent because Congress must ensure the study is "defensible and good." During his address to the Colorado Water Congress, Salazar said America's energy independence and its response to global climate change are two of the biggest challenges facing the United States.
More coverage of the conference from The Rocky Mountain News. From the article:
Western water managers are likely to be the "first responders" to climate change as reservoirs become harder to fill and snow-dependent water systems yield less.
"Climate change is upon us now, and it will have an impact on all of our systems," said David Behar, a planner with the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission...
In Colorado and other Western states, roughly 80 percent of annual drinking water supplies come from high-country snows. Early studies in San Francisco show its high altitude reservoirs will likely be harder to fill as snowpacks shrink and melt earlier. Water managers have been stymied in responding to a warming environment because climate models are built globally and don't provide enough local or even regional data to reliably forecast changes to snowpack. A new coalition of western water utilities is hoping to change that by paying for more detailed, regional water models.
"colorado water"
6:08:20 AM
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Left in the West: "Chris Bowers at OpenLeft.com has compiled some general election electoral maps if Clinton is the nominee. The numbers look spectacular, Clinton winning in landslides. But the Rocky Mountain West looks depressingly like we'd be partying like it's 1994. Against Giuliani or Romney, Clinton carries only New Mexico in the dryland West. And that, of course, is assuming all stays static between now and November of '08. All the more reason I'm worried about what she does to us down-ballot here in Montana. 'Cause you don't win an electoral rout while only being ahead nationally by a few percentage points unless you're off the charts low in a few regions."
"2008 pres"
5:41:12 AM
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© Copyright 2009 John Orr.
Last update: 3/15/09; 1:20:40 PM.
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