Posted on 3 April 2012 by Ari Jokimäki

Some new climate claims are introduced this week. For example, if you suggest that mankind is doing bad things to coral reefs, I answer: "So what? Mankind has done bad things to coral reefs before!" We also learn that things are well for those who grow thermals in China. In the Tibetan Plateau there's no ocean, so the missing heat is hiding underground. There's (at least) one strange thing in this week's batch: They say that slow-flying bats reduce their activity in the presence of LED street lighting, but how that goes with the saying "blind as a bat"? Surely one of them must be wrong.

We also have studies on phenology, water vapor feedback, alpine tree growth, tundra vegetation, Granger causality, climate mode biases, GHCN daily, Greenland ice sheet, mitigating species' vulnerability, coral calcification, cloud cover, glacier bacteria, and heat-related mortality.

Species that don't advance their phenology tend to decline in performance with warming

Phenological tracking enables positive species responses to climate change - Cleland et al. (2012)

Abstract: "Earlier spring phenology observed in many plant species in recent decades provides compelling evidence that species are already responding to the rising global temperatures associated with anthropogenic climate change. There is great variability among species, however, in their phenological sensitivity to temperature. Species that do not phenologically "track" climate change may be at a disadvantage if their growth becomes limited by missed interactions with mutualists, or a shorter growing season relative to earlier-active competitors. Here, we set out to test the hypothesis that phenological sensitivity could be used to predict species performance in a warming climate, by synthesizing results across terrestrial warming experiments. We assembled data for 57 species across 24 studies where flowering or vegetative phenology was matched with a measure of species performance. Performance metrics included biomass, percent cover, number of flowers or individual growth. We found that species that advanced their phenology with warming also increased their performance while those that did not advance tended to decline in performance with warming. This indicates that species that cannot phenologically "track" climate may be at increased risk with future climate change, and suggests that phenological monitoring may provide an important tool for setting future conservation priorities."

Citation: Cleland, Elsa E., Jenica M. Allen, Theresa M. Crimmins, Jennifer A. Dunne, Stephanie Pau, Steven Travers, Erika S. Zavaleta, and Elizabeth M. Wolkovich. In press. Phenological tracking enables positive species responses to climate change. Ecology. http://dx.doi.org/10.1890/11-1912.1.

Thermal growing season has extended by 14 days in temperate China since 1960

Specification of thermal growing season in temperate China from 1960 to 2009 - Shen et al. (2012)

Abstract: "A number of studies have reported an extension of the thermal growing season in response to the warming climate during recent decades. However, the magnitude of extension depends heavily on the threshold temperature used: for a given area, a small change in the threshold temperature results in significant differences in the calculated thermal growing season. Here, we specified the threshold temperature for determining the thermal growing season of local vegetation across 326 meteorological stations in temperate China by using vegetation phenology based on satellite imagery. We examined changes in the start, end, and length of the thermal growing season from 1960 to 2009. The threshold temperatures for determining the start and end increased strongly with increasing mean annual temperature. Averaged across temperate China, the start of the thermal growing season advanced by 8.4 days and the end was delayed by 5.7 days, resulting in a 14.1-day extension from 1960 to 2009. The thermal growing season was intensively prolonged (by 0.59 day/year) since the mid-1980s owing to accelerated warming during this period. This extension was similar to that determined by a spatially fixed threshold temperature of 5 °C, but the spatial patterns differed, owing to differences in the threshold temperature and to intra-annual heterogeneity in climate warming. This study highlights the importance of specifying the temperature threshold for local vegetation when assessing the influences of climate change on thermal growing season, and provides a method for determining the threshold temperature from satellite-derived vegetation phenology."

Citation: Miaogen Shen, Yanhong Tang, Jin Chen and Wei Yang, Climatic Change, DOI: 10.1007/s10584-012-0434-4.

All the bad things mankind has done to coral reefs since 19th century

Anthropogenic mortality on coral reefs in Caribbean Panama predates coral disease and bleaching - Cramer et al. (2012) [FULL TEXT]

Abstract: "Caribbean reef corals have declined precipitously since the 1980s due to regional episodes of bleaching, disease and algal overgrowth, but the extent of earlier degradation due to localised historical disturbances such as land clearing and overfishing remains unresolved. We analysed coral and molluscan fossil assemblages from reefs near Bocas del Toro, Panama to construct a timeline of ecological change from the 19th century—present. We report large changes before 1960 in coastal lagoons coincident with extensive deforestation, and after 1960 on offshore reefs. Striking changes include the demise of previously dominant staghorn coral Acropora cervicornis and oyster Dendrostrea frons that lives attached to gorgonians and staghorn corals. Reductions in bivalve size and simplification of gastropod trophic structure further implicate increasing environmental stress on reefs. Our paleoecological data strongly support the hypothesis, from extensive qualitative data, that Caribbean reef degradation predates coral bleaching and disease outbreaks linked to anthropogenic climate change."

Citation: Katie L. Cramer, Jeremy B. C. Jackson, Christopher V. Angioletti, Jill Leonard-Pingel, Thomas P. Guilderson, Ecology Letters, DOI: 10.1111/j.1461-0248.2012.01768.x.

Amplified water vapour feedback at high altitudes during winter

Amplified water vapour feedback at high altitudes during winter - Rangwala (2012)

Abstract: "During the last five decades, the Tibetan Plateau has experienced a warming trend of 0.4 °C/decade in winter, which is at least twice that of any other season. Some studies have suggested that this anomalous winter warming is caused, in part, by the observed increases in near-surface water vapour and its amplifying effect on the surface longwave downward radiation (LDR). This study uses observations of surface-specific humidity (q) and temperature as input to a one-dimensional radiative transfer model to assess the influence of lower atmospheric increases in water vapour on surface LDR, and the sensitivity of this process to different elevations and seasons on the Tibetan Plateau. The results from three idealized experiments are examined based on realistic atmospheric column profiles of temperature and moisture. They show that when an equal mass of water vapour is added into the atmospheric boundary layer during winter, a substantially greater increase (8×) in LDR is found at the high-elevation site relative to the low-elevation site. During summer, the LDR increases are much smaller as are the differences between the two sites. Experiments, where both q and temperature are increased, suggest that the influence of temperature changes on LDR is much greater than those caused by changes in q in all cases, except for the high-elevation-winter case when the opposite is true. These results provide further evidence for the possibility of a strong modulation of surface LDR caused by increases in atmospheric water vapour in high altitude regions (>3000 m) during the cold season."

Citation: Imtiaz Rangwala, International Journal of Climatology, DOI: 10.1002/joc.3477.

Alpine tree growth has fading temperature sensitivity with decreasing latitude

Fading temperature sensitivity of Alpine tree growth at its Mediterranean margin and associated effects on large-scale climate reconstructions - Büntgen et al. (2012)

Abstract: "A millennium-long tree-ring width chronology of living and dead larch (Larix decidua Mill.) specimens from the Maritime French Alps was introduced 35 years ago. This record has been included in various large-scale temperature reconstructions, though recent analyses revealed only weak associations with regional summer temperatures. Calibration and verification trials against instrumental measurements were, however, limited by the original record’s early ending in 1974. Here we introduce an update of this widely considered chronology until 2007 and back into medieval times. A total of 297 new larch samples from high-elevation settings in the southern French Alps were included, and the combined 398 measurement series allowed effects of tree-ring detrending and chronology development to be explored. Comparisons with meteorological temperature, precipitation and drought indices revealed weak and temporally inconsistent climate sensitivity. To further place these local findings in a biogeographic context, we used >3,000 larch trees from 61 locations across the Alpine arc. This unique network approach confirmed fading temperature sensitivity with decreasing latitude, and thus questioned the overall reliability of ring width-based temperature reconstructions in the Mediterranean region. Our results further emphasize the pending need to develop chronologies from maximum latewood densities and stable isotope ratios across the lower latitudes, and to carefully evaluate ecological site conditions and methodological data restrictions prior to compiling local data into global networks."

Citation: Ulf Büntgen, David Frank, Thomas Neuenschwander and Jan Esper, Climatic Change, DOI: 10.1007/s10584-012-0450-4.

Ground surface temperature has increased more than air temperature in Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

Recent ground surface warming and its effects on permafrost on the central Qinghai-Tibet Plateau - Wu et al. (2012)

Abstract: "In this study, the ground surface temperature (GST) records from 16 meteorological stations, which are located in or adjacent to permafrost regions on the central Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (QTP), are analysed using Mann–Kendal test and Sen's slope estimate methods. We revealed that the GSTs have shown statistically significant warming. On average, mean annual ground surface temperature has increased at a rate of 0.60 °C decade−1 over the period of 1980–2007, which is more pronounced than the increase of mean annual air temperature on the plateau. The winter ground surface warming is especially prominent, which is similar to the seasonal trends in changes of air temperature. As important parameters to assess the changes of ground thermal regime in cold regions, surface freezing and thawing indices were also studied. The nonparametric statistic test and estimate indicate that surface freezing and thawing indices both show significant variations (−111.2 and 125.0 °C d decade−1, respectively) on the central QTP. The intensive ground surface warming is responsible for the concurrent increase in permafrost temperatures at the long-term observation sites on the plateau. The close correlations between ground surface and permafrost temperatures indicate that the dramatic ground surface warming could have significant influence on the change of permafrost thermal regime in the study region."

Citation: Dr Tonghua Wu, Lin Zhao, Ren Li, Qinxue Wang, Changwei Xie, Qiangqiang Pang, International Journal of Climatology, DOI: 10.1002/joc.3479.

Volcanos have created appearance of cyclicity in temperatures - implications for solar forcing

Global temperature response to radiative forcing: Solar cycle versus volcanic eruptions - Rypdal (2012)

Abstract: "I show that the peak-to-peak amplitude of the global mean surface temperature response to the 11-year cyclic total irradiance forcing is an order of magnitude less than the amplitude of a cyclic component roughly in phase with the solar forcing which has been observed in the temperature record in the period 1959–2004. If this cyclic temperature component were a response to the solar forcing, it would imply the existence of strong amplifying feedbacks which operate exclusively for solar forcing, such as top-down mechanisms responding to the large variability in the ultraviolet part of the solar spectrum. I demonstrate, however, that the apparent cyclic component in the temperature record is dominated by the response to five major volcanic eruptions some of which incidentally took place a few years before solar minimum in four consecutive solar cycles, and hence that the correlation with the solar cycle is coincidental. A temperature rise of approximately 0.15 K over the 20th century ascribed to an increasing trend in solar forcing is more than offset by a cooling trend of about 0.3 K due to stratospheric aerosols from volcanic eruptions."

Citation: Rypdal, K. (2012), Global temperature response to radiative forcing: Solar cycle versus volcanic eruptions, J. Geophys. Res., 117, D06115, doi:10.1029/2011JD017283.

LED street lights cause a reduction in activity of slow-flying bats

Conserving energy at a cost to biodiversity? Impacts of LED lighting on bats - Stone et al. (2012)

Abstract: "Artificial lighting is a key biodiversity threat and produces 1900 million tonnes of CO2 emissions globally, more than three times that produced by aviation. The need to meet climate change targets has led to a global increase in energy-efficient light sources such as high-brightness light-emitting diodes (LEDs). Despite the energetic benefits of LEDs, their ecological impacts have not been tested. Using an experimental approach we show that LED street lights caused a reduction in activity of slow-flying bats (Rhinolophus hipposideros and Myotis spp.). Both R. hipposideros and Myotis spp. activity was significantly reduced even during low light levels of 3.6 lux. There was no effect of LED lighting on the relatively fast-flying Pipistrellus pipistrellus, P. pygmaeus and Nyctalus/Eptesicus spp. We provide the first evidence of the effects of LED lights on bats. Despite having considerable energy-saving benefits, LED lights can potentially fragment commuting routes for bats with associated negative conservation consequences. Our results add to the growing evidence of negative impacts of lighting on a wide range of taxa. We highlight the complexities involved in simultaneously meeting targets for reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and biodiversity loss. New lighting strategies should integrate climate change targets with the cultural, social, and ecological impacts of emerging lighting technologies."

Citation: Emma Louise Stone, Gareth Jones, Stephen Harris, Global Change Biology, DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2486.2012.02705.x.

Evidence for changes in tundra vegetation

Satellite-based evidence for shrub and graminoid tundra expansion in northern Quebec from 1986-2010 - McManus et al. (2012)

Abstract: "Global vegetation models predict rapid poleward migration of tundra and boreal forest vegetation in response to climate warming. Local plot and air-photo studies have documented recent changes in high-latitude vegetation composition and structure, consistent with warming trends. To bridge these two scales of inference, we analyzed a 24-year (1986-2010) Landsat time series in a latitudinal transect across the boreal forest-tundra biome boundary in northern Quebec province, Canada. This region has experienced rapid warming during both winter and summer months during the last forty years. Using a per-pixel (30 m) trend analysis, 30% of the observable (cloud-free) land area experienced a significant (p < 0.05) positive trend in the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI). However, greening trends were not evenly split among cover types. Low shrub and graminoid tundra contributed preferentially to the greening trend, while forested areas were less likely to show significant trends in NDVI. These trends reflect increasing leaf area, rather than an increase in growing season length, because Landsat data were restricted to peak-summer conditions. The average NDVI trend (0.007/yr) corresponds to a leaf-area index (LAI) increase of ~0.6 based on the regional relationship between LAI and NDVI from the Moderate Resolution Spectroradiometer (MODIS). Across the entire transect, the area-averaged LAI increase was ~0.2 during 1986-2010. A higher area-averaged LAI change (~0.3) within the shrub-tundra portion of the transect represents a 20-60% relative increase in LAI during the last two decades. Our Landsat-based analysis subdivides the overall high-latitude greening trend into changes in peak-summer greenness by cover type. Different responses within and among shrub, graminoid, and tree-dominated cover types in this study indicate important fine-scale heterogeneity in vegetation growth. Although our findings are consistent with community shifts in low-biomass vegetation types over multi-decadal time scales, the response in tundra and forest ecosystems to recent warming was not uniform."

Citation: K.M. McManus, D.C. Morton, J.G. Masek, D. Wang, J.O. Sexton, J. Nagol, P. Ropars, S. Boudreau, Global Change Biology, DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2486.2012.02708.x.

Detectable Granger causality from anthropogenic forcings to global temperature - not from natural forcings

Testing for linear Granger causality from natural/anthropogenic forcings to global temperature anomalies - Attanasio (2012)

Abstract: "In this paper, we analyze the Granger causality from natural or anthropogenic forcings to global temperature anomalies. The lag-augmented Wald test is performed, and its robustness is also evaluated considering bootstrap method. The results show there is no-evidence of Granger causality from natural forcings to global temperature. On the contrary, a detectable Granger causality is found from anthropogenic forcings to global temperature confirming that greenhouse gases have an important role on recent global warming."

Citation: Alessandro Attanasio, Theoretical and Applied Climatology, DOI: 10.1007/s00704-012-0634-x.

Seasonal changes in climate model biases

Nonstationarities of regional climate model biases in European seasonal mean temperature and precipitation sums - Maraun (2012)

Abstract: "Bias correcting climate models implicitly assumes stationarity of the correction function. This assumption is assessed for regional climate models in a pseudo reality for seasonal mean temperature and precipitation sums. An ensemble of regional climate models for Europe is used, all driven with the same transient boundary conditions. Although this model-dependent approach does not assess all possible bias non-stationarities, conclusions can be drawn for the real world. Generally, biases are relatively stable, and bias correction on average improves climate scenarios. For winter temperature, bias changes occur in the Alps and ice covered oceans caused by a biased forcing sensitivity of surface albedo; for summer temperature, bias changes occur due to a biased sensitivity of cloud cover and soil moisture. Precipitation correction is generally successful, but affected by internal variability in arid climates. As model sensitivities vary considerably in some regions, multi model ensembles are needed even after bias correction."

Citation: Maraun, D. (2012), Nonstationarities of regional climate model biases in European seasonal mean temperature and precipitation sums, Geophys. Res. Lett., 39, L06706, doi:10.1029/2012GL051210.

GHCN daily database with free public access

An Overview of the Global Historical Climatology Network-Daily Database - Menne et al. (2012) [FULL TEXT]

Abstract: "A database is described that has been designed to fulfill the need for daily climate data over global land areas. The dataset, known as Global Historical Climatology Network (GHCN) - Daily, was developed for a wide variety of potential applications including climate analysis and monitoring studies that require data at a daily time resolution (e.g., assessments of the frequency of heavy rainfall, heat wave duration, etc.). The dataset contains records from over 80000 stations in 180 countries and territories and its processing system produces the official archive for U.S. daily data. Variables include maximum and minimum temperature, total daily precipitation, snowfall, and snow depth; however, about two thirds of the stations report precipitation only. Quality assurance checks are routinely applied to the full dataset, but the data are not homogenized to account for artifacts associated with the various eras in reporting practice at any particular station (i.e., for changes in systematic bias). Daily updates are provided for many of the station records in GHCN-Daily. The dataset is also regularly reconstructed, usually once per week, from its 20-plus data source components, ensuring that the dataset is broadly synchronized with its growing list of constituent sources. The daily updates and weekly reprocessed versions of GHCN-Daily are assigned a unique version number and the most recent dataset version is provided on the GHCN-Daily web site for free public access. Each version of the dataset is also archived at NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center in perpetuity for future retrieval."

Citation: Matthew J. Menne, Imke Durre, Russell S. Vose, Byron E. Gleason, and Tamara G. Houston, Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology 2012, doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/JTECH-D-11-00103.1.

Rapid erosion beneath the Greenland ice sheet

Rapid erosion beneath the Greenland ice sheet - Cowton et al. (2012)

Abstract: "The Pleistocene ice sheets left a clear signature of erosion, but the rate at which ice sheets erode is difficult to determine from either paleolandscapes or observations of contemporary processes. Here we use two years of sediment flux data, derived from meltwaters emerging from an outlet glacier in west Greenland, to calculate an average rate of subglacial erosion across a catchment extending >50 km inland from the ice margin. Erosion in this zone occurs at 4.8 ± 2.6 mm a−1, a rate 1–2 orders of magnitude greater than previous estimates of erosion rate beneath the Greenland Ice Sheet. Our results suggest that where surface meltwaters are able to access the bed, the rate of erosion by ice sheets is in keeping with the rapid erosion observed at temperate alpine glaciers. During deglacial phases, when meltwater was abundant, ice sheet margins should therefore have acted as highly efficient agents of erosion."

Citation: T. Cowton, P. Nienow, I. Bartholomew, A. Sole1 and D. Mair, Geology, v. 40 no. 4 p. 343-346, doi: 10.1130/G32687.1.

Mitigating sensitive species vulnerability to climate change can reduce representation of other species

Species vulnerability to climate change: impacts on spatial conservation priorities and species representation - Summers et al. (2012)

Abstract: "Climate change may shrink and/or shift plant species ranges thereby increasing their vulnerability and requiring targeted conservation to facilitate adaptation. We quantified the vulnerability to climate change of plant species based on exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity and assessed the effects of including these components in complementarity-based spatial conservation prioritisation. We modelled the vulnerability of 584 native plant species under three climate change scenarios in an 11.9 million hectare fragmented agricultural region in southern Australia. We represented exposure as species’ geographic range under each climate change scenario as quantified using species distribution models. We calculated sensitivity as a function of the impact of climate change on species’ geographic ranges. Using a dispersal kernel, we quantified adaptive capacity as species’ ability to migrate to new geographic ranges under each climate change scenario. Using Zonation, we assessed the impact of individual components of vulnerability (exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity) on spatial conservation priorities and levels of species representation in priority areas under each climate change scenario. The full vulnerability framework proved an effective basis for identifying spatial conservation priorities under climate change. Including different dimensions of vulnerability had significant implications for spatial conservation priorities. Incorporating adaptive capacity increased the level of representation of most species. However, prioritising sensitive species reduced the representation of other species. We conclude that whilst taking an integrated approach to mitigating species vulnerability to climate change can ensure sensitive species are well-represented in a conservation network, this can come at the cost of reduced representation of other species. Conservation planning decisions aimed at reducing species vulnerability to climate change need to be made in full cognisance of the sensitivity of spatial conservation priorities to individual components of vulnerability, and the trade-offs associated with focussing on sensitive species."

Citation: David M. Summers, Brett A. Bryan, Neville D. Crossman, Wayne S. Meyer, Global Change Biology, DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2486.2012.02700.x.

Coral community calcification might decline by 55% of its preindustrial value before 2100

Impacts of ocean acidification in naturally variable coral reef flat ecosystems - Shaw et al. (2012)

Abstract: "Ocean acidification leads to changes in marine carbonate chemistry that are predicted to cause a decline in future coral reef calcification. Several laboratory and mesocosm experiments have described calcification responses of species and communities to increasing CO2. The few in situ studies on natural coral reefs that have been carried out to date have shown a direct relationship between aragonite saturation state (Ωarag) and net community calcification (Gnet). However, these studies have been performed over a limited range of Ωarag values, where extrapolation outside the observational range is required to predict future changes in coral reef calcification. We measured extreme diurnal variability in carbonate chemistry within a reef flat in the southern Great Barrier Reef, Australia. Ωarag varied between 1.1 and 6.5, thus exceeding the magnitude of change expected this century in open ocean subtropical/tropical waters. The observed variability comes about through biological activity on the reef, where changes to the carbonate chemistry are enhanced at low tide when reef flat waters are isolated from open ocean water. We define a relationship between net community calcification and Ωarag, using our in situ measurements. We find net community calcification to be linearly related to Ωarag, while temperature and nutrients had no significant effect on Gnet. Using our relationship between Gnet and Ωarag, we predict that net community calcification will decline by 55% of its preindustrial value by the end of the century. It is not known at this stage whether exposure to large variability in carbonate chemistry will make reef flat organisms more or less vulnerable to the non-calcifying physiological effects of increasing ocean CO2 and future laboratory studies will need to incorporate this natural variability to address this question."

Citation: Shaw, E. C., B. I. McNeil, and B. Tilbrook (2012), Impacts of ocean acidification in naturally variable coral reef flat ecosystems, J. Geophys. Res., 117, C03038, doi:10.1029/2011JC007655.

Cloud cover has decreased in China between 1954 and 2005

Significant decreasing cloud cover during 1954–2005 due to more clear-sky days and less overcast days in China and its relation to aerosol - Xia (2012) [FULL TEXT]

Abstract: "An updated analysis of cloud cover during 1954–2005 in China was performed using homogeneous cloud cover data from 314 stations. Long-term changes in frequencies of different cloud cover categories and their contributions to long-term changes in cloud cover were assessed. Furthermore, aerosol effects on cloud cover trends were discussed based on comparison of cloud cover trends in polluted and mildly polluted regions. Frequencies of clear sky (cloud cover 80%) were observed to increase by ~2.2 days and decrease by ~3.3 days per decade, respectively, which accounts for ~80% of cloud cover reduction. Larger decreasing trends in cloud cover due to larger increase in clear sky frequency and larger decreases in overcast frequency were observed at stations with lower aerosol optical depth. There is no significant difference in trends regarding cloud cover, clear sky frequency, and overcast frequency between mountain and plain stations. These results are inconsistent with our expectation that larger decreasing trends in cloud cover should have been observed in regions with higher aerosol loading where more aerosols could lead to stronger obscuring effect on ground observation of cloud cover and stronger radiative effect as compared with the mildly polluted regions. Aerosol effect on decreasing cloud cover in China appear not to be supported by this analysis and therefore, further study on this issue is required."

Citation: Xia, X.: Significant decreasing cloud cover during 1954–2005 due to more clear-sky days and less overcast days in China and its relation to aerosol, Ann. Geophys., 30, 573-582, doi:10.5194/angeo-30-573-2012, 2012.

Positive outcome of global warming: glaciers retreat - more living space for bacteria

Bacterial diversity in the foreland of the Tianshan No. 1 glacier, China - Wu et al. (2012) [FULL TEXT]

Abstract: "There is compelling evidence that glaciers are retreating in many mountainous areas of the world due to global warming. With this glacier retreat, new habitats are being exposed that are colonized by microorganisms whose diversity and function are less well studied. Here, we characterized bacterial diversity along the chronosequences of the glacier No. 1 foreland that follows glacier retreat. An average of 10 000 sequences was obtained from each sample by 454 pyrosequencing. Using non-parametric and rarefaction estimated analysis, we found bacterial phylotype richness was high. The bacterial species turnover rate was especially high between sites exposed for 6 and 10 yr. Pyrosequencing showed tremendous bacterial diversity, among which the Acidobacteria, Actinobacteria, Bacteroidetes and Proteobacteria were found to be present at larger numbers at the study area. Meanwhile, the proportion of Bacteroidetes and Proteobacteria decreased and the proportion of Acidobacteria increased along the chronosequences. Some known functional bacterial genera were also detected and the sulfur- and sulfate-reducing bacteria were present in a lower proportion of sequences. These findings suggest that high-throughput pyrosequencing can comprehensively detect bacteria in the foreland, including rare groups, and give a deeper understanding of the bacterial community structure and variation along the chronosequences."

Citation: Xiukun Wu et al 2012 Environ. Res. Lett. 7 014038 doi:10.1088/1748-9326/7/1/014038.

Major Californian urban centers could have large increase in heat-related mortality by the 2090s

Future heat vulnerability in California, Part II: projecting future heat-related mortality - Sheridan et al. (2012)

Abstract: "Through the 21st century, a significant increase in heat events is likely across California (USA). Beyond any climate change, the state will become more vulnerable through demographic changes resulting in a rapidly aging population. To assess these impacts, future heat-related mortality estimates are derived for nine metropolitan areas in the state for the remainder of the century. Heat-related mortality is first assessed by initially determining historical weather-type mortality relationships for each metropolitan area. These are then projected into the future based on predicted weather types created in Part I. Estimates account for several levels of uncertainty: for each metropolitan area, mortality values are produced for five different climate model-scenarios, three different population projections (along with a constant-population model), and with and without partial acclimatization. Major urban centers could have a greater than tenfold increase in short-term increases in heat-related mortality in the over 65 age group by the 2090s."

Citation: Scott C. Sheridan, Michael J. Allen, Cameron C. Lee and Laurence S. Kalkstein, Climatic Change, DOI: 10.1007/s10584-012-0437-1.

CLASSIC OF THE WEEK: Searle (1888)

Atmospheric Economy of Solar Radiation - Searle (1888) [FULL TEXT]

Abstract: No abstract.

Citation: Arthur Searle, Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Vol. 24, (May, 1888 - May, 1889) (pp. 26-29).

This is a cross-post from AGW Observer. When each paper is published, it is notified in AGW Observer Facebook page and Twitter page. At least some of these are also retweeted in Skeptical Science Twitter page. Here's the archive for the research papers of previous weeks. If this sort of thing interests you, be sure to check out A Few Things Illconsidered. They also have a weekly posting containing lots of links to new research and other climate related news.