Climate engineering: Minor potential, major risk of side-effects?

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/02/140225122519.htm

Scientists from the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel have been studying the possible "consequences of several climate engineering methods" that were originally aimed to "limit the effects of climate change through the large-scale manipulation of Earth systems". However well intented, the truth is that these plans might be "unable to significantly reduce global warming if CO2 emissions remain high, or they could not be stopped without causing dangerous climate disruption". While global warming is an important issue that must be addressed every day, it's hard to think of a solution as complex as "artificially" trying to slow it down.

Some examples of this climate engineering have been ideas to "fertilize the oceans, so that stimulated plankton can remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere" or to "reduce the Sun's incoming radiation with atmospheric aerosols or mirrors in space". While there may be initial benefits, these scientists are proving that the benefits are limited and the consequences could be lethal. For example, "the fertilization of the oceans allowed plankton to remove CO2 from the atmosphere, but also changed the size of ocean oxygen minimum zones". Maybe what we need to fix isn't the Earth itself. Maybe we need to simply fix the way we treat it, no climate engineering required.

Cyclones and frost: Two climate change myths debunked

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/02/140225101137.htm

Scientists from Wits University performed research that "debunked two big myths around climate change". First, the number of tropical storms is not increasing like many people have assumed. Rather, they are shifting and the place that will experience the effects of this shift the most is South Africa, especially by 2050 according to the research of Jennifer Fitchett, a PhD student in the Wits School of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Science (GAES). "We never expected them to move", Fitchett admits of the tropical storms. But that is in fact what's been going on. Instead of an increase in number, we simply have had an increase in accurate technology and therefore automatically have detected more storms than in the past.

Another myth concerned frost. The scientists state, "while global warming is causing frost to be less severe, late season frost is not receding as quickly as flowering is advancing, resulting in increased frost risk which will likely begin to threaten food security". The best example of this is in Kerman, Iran, where "global warming is causing the fruit trees to flower as much as a month earlier than 50 years ago, which is a very rapid shift, changes in last season frost are not happening nearly as quickly". There is a lot of controversy around both of these issues, and more research is to be continuously conducted.

Microbes on floating ocean plastics: Uncovering the secret world of the Platisphere

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/02/140224171658.htm

It has just been discovered that there are "microbes living on floating pieces of plastic marine debris" that can affect the ocean ecosystem big time. Scientists have called this the "Platisphere-an ecological community of microbial organisms living on ocean plastic". With more than a thousand different species, the organisms located in this environment can act as huge threats to other marine animals. According to Tracy Miner who is an associate scientists at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Woods Hole, Massachusettes, "bacteria could acquire additional nutrients as they pass through the guts of the fish", only helping it thrive more and continue living in the Plastisphere. Researchers are emphasizing how important it is that we "reduce the impact of plastic pollution" and that "plastics manufacturers learn how to make their products so they degrade at an optimal rate". Studies are still being conducted as far as "how the plastic is colonized and how it interacts with other marine organisms". The fact that there has been so much pollution that scientists needed to come up with a name for the new ecosystem of plastic is ridiculous.

Portable hydrogen fuel cell unit to provide green, sustainable power to Honolulu port

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/02/140225100939.htmhttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/02/140225100939.htm


Scientists and engineers are currently working on a technology of "auxiliary power to docked or anchored ships" of clean hydrogen power that will hopefully "lower emissions and reduce energy consumption". It will start initially at the Port of Honolulu and is expected to kick into action in 2015. The main researchers on this project are from Sandia National Laboratories and feel confident that this "portable, self-contained hydrogen fuel cell" will help ports meet their goals of becoming more sustainable and less of an issue for the environment. After the Honolulu Port tries out this technology, the team of scientists will "analyze the project's success and challenges, including the operating and cost parameters needed to make a business case at other ports", hoping to eventually expand into a commercial product.