Global Ocean Temperatures for July 2009 Break Records

by Jennifer Lance in Saving Water

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), July 2009 was the hottest month on record for the average global ocean surface temperature. The previous record was broken in 1998. When combined with global land surface temperatures, July 2009 was the fifth warmest month since data collection began in 1880.

July 2009 ocean temperatures break records.

The New York Times describes NOAA’s briefing:

The agency said the average sea surface temperature was 1.06 degrees higher than the 20th-century average of 61.5 degrees. Though July was unusually cool in some areas, like the eastern United States, analysts at the NOAA Climate Data Center said the combined global land and ocean surface temperature was 1.03 degrees higher than the 20th-century average of 60.4 degrees, the fifth warmest since worldwide record keeping began in 1880.

Specifically, NOAA reports the “Notable Developments and Events” responsible for the increased warming:

• El Niño persisted across the equatorial Pacific Ocean during July 2009. Related sea-surface temperature (SST) anomalies increased for the sixth consecutive month.

• Arctic sea ice covered an average of 3.4 million square miles during July. This is 12.7 percent below the 1979-2000 average extent and the third lowest July sea ice extent on record, behind 2007 and 2006. Antarctic sea ice extent in July was 1.5 percent above the 1979-2000 average. July Arctic sea ice extent has decreased by 6.1 percent per decade since 1979, while July Antarctic sea ice extent has increased by 0.8 percent per decade over the same period.

• Cooler-than-average conditions prevailed across southern South America, central Canada, the eastern United States, and parts of western and eastern Asia. The most notably cool conditions occurred across the eastern U.S., central Canada, and southern South America where region-wide temperatures were nearly 4-7 degrees F (2-4 degrees C) below average.

• Large portions of many continents had substantially warmer-than-average temperatures during July 2009. The greatest departures from the long-term average were evident in Europe, northern Africa, and much of western North America. Broadly, across these regions, temperatures were about 4-7 degrees F (2-4 degrees C) above average.

Some scientists suspect a link between global warming and El Niño. Kevin Trenberth, a National Center for Atmospheric Research climatologist, believes that during periods of global warming, the “ocean currents and weather systems might not be able to bleed off all the heat pumped into the tropical seas.” Under such a scenario, El Niño acts as a “pressure release valve” for this excess heat.

All of the “Notable Developments and Events” could all be attributed to climate change.

Ice that burns could be a green fossil fuel

by Michael Marshall

Natural gas locked up in water crystals could be a source of enormous amounts of energy – and if a new technology delivers what scientists are claiming, then it could even be emissions-free too.

To the naked eye, clathrate hydrate looks like regular ice. However, while it is made up partly of water, the water molecules are organised into "cages", which trap individual molecules of methane inside them.

Compared to other fossil fuels, methane – also known as natural gas – releases less carbon dioxide per unit of energy generated. Nevertheless, burning it still releases carbon dioxide and thus drives climate change.

However, according to research presented this week at the national meeting of the American Chemical Society, a new method of extracting the methane could effectively make it a carbon-neutral fossil fuel.

'Bridging fuel'

Due to their physical structure, clathrate hydrate cages "prefer" to have carbon dioxide at their cores, so if carbon dioxide is pumped into the hydrate, it spontaneously takes the methane's place. As a result, it should be possible to simultaneously extract methane and store carbon dioxide.

"Methane from hydrate could be a bridging fuel, to lead towards more renewable energies," says Tim Collett of the United States Geological Survey.

According to the results in Collett's presentation, the exchange process has been shown to work in the lab. Pumping carbon dioxide into rock cores containing hydrate successfully released the methane, and stored the carbon dioxide.

The US Department of Energy is now working with the oil company ConocoPhillips on a field trial in Alaska (pdf), to test whether the technique can be scaled up.

Rival technology

Previous attempts to obtain methane by heating up the hydrate were not effective, but pumping fluids out of the hydrate to release the pressure does release the methane. To be put into commercial practice, it is likely that the carbon storage method will need to outcompete this depressurisation technique.

Deborah Hutchinson of the USGS says that the technique "could make it possible to sequester CO₂."

Natural gas normally contains a percentage of CO₂, which under industry regulations must be pumped back into the gas wells when it is extracted.

"The first CO₂ to be utilised in this [new] methodology would be the CO₂ 'cleaned' from raw natural gas produced in nearby wells," says Hutchinson. In other words, the CO₂ sequestered in the extraction of methane in ice will most likely be the stuff separated from conventional gas reservoirs.

Globally, there are thought to be from 10¹⁵ to 10¹⁷ cubic metres of methane stored in hydrates – a vast store, large quantities of which should be recoverable.

'Limited sequestration'

Much of it is in sediments just below the sea floor, or trapped under permafrost. Some of the best-studied reservoirs are in Alaska, and beneath the Gulf of Mexico and the Sea of Japan.

The deposits on the North Slope of Alaska are among the richest. A 2008 USGS study showed that there are 2.4 trillion cubic metres (85 trillion cubic feet) of methane in hydrate form, which could be recovered using existing technology.

The US, Canada, Japan and Korea are all looking into clathrate hydrates as a possible energy source.

"A lot of countries are getting very serious about this," says Ray Boswell of the US National Energy Technology Laboratory. "Something that used to be more hype than reality is becoming something people are seriously talking about."

Bahman Tohidi of Heriot-Watt University's Institute of Petroleum Engineering says the Alaska trial is "a step in the right direction", but that the potential for sequestering carbon would be limited by the remote locations of the hydrate reservoirs. "You're talking about long distance CO₂ transport," he says.

Neil Crumpton of UK environmental campaign group Friends of the Earth is sceptical. "It's a technology we think is best avoided. The US should be focusing its efforts on concentrated solar power in its southwestern deserts."

Obama Promises Science-Centric, Eco-Friendly Presidency

By: Kit Eaton

President Obama's Inaugural speech included a clutch of promises and observations that will have scientists, medical researchers and environmentalists in the US and around the world breathing a sigh of relief.

"We will restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology's wonders to raise health care's quality and lower its cost," is Obama's key phrase, and it contains a multitude of subtle points.

"Rightful place" is at first a dig at George W. Bush's sidelining of scientific thinking during his two presidential terms. It's no secret that Bush's personal beliefs pushed many science issues into the background, and Obama's words suggest he holds science in higher regard for its role in our modern world. Wielding "technology's wonders" is immediately a powerful phrase underlining the benefits that science and technology can bring, and it is specifically referenced in terms of improving health care, rather than bringing economic success or just "new gadgets."

While Bush spoke of health care in both his inauguration addresses, it was in broad, political and economic terms: "We will widen the ownership of homes and businesses, retirement savings and health insurance" came in the second, while "Government has great responsibilities for public safety and public health," in the first. Throughout his presidency "tricky" health care issues like high teenage pregnancy rates and stem cell research were dealt with from a decidedly moral, as opposed to scientific viewpoint. "From the day of our Founding, we have proclaimed that every man and woman on this earth has rights, and dignity, and matchless value, because they bear the image of the Maker of Heaven and earth," is a line from Bush's second speech that underlines this--and explains why in 2006 he used the presidential veto to stop a bill that would've freed up more federal money for stem cell research.

In an interesting moment in 2005 Rep. Henry Waxman clashed very publicly with Bush's science adviser, accusing the administration of actually fudging its scientific models on climate and health care--and of underlining scientific "uncertainty" to quash research and laws with results or intents counter to Bush policies.

Climate issues were downplayed often during Bush's early years in power, and in 2002 when the EPA surprised the administration by issuing a report that supported theories that global warming had a significant human component, Bush dismissed it thus:
"I read the report put out by the bureaucracy."

President Obama, on the other hand, made a direct reference to climate issues in his speech, and gave tacit support to the theory global warming is man made: "we will work tirelessly to lessen the nuclear threat, and roll back the spectre of a warming planet." That neatly tied global war catastrophes to the environment too.

Obama also promised to actually respond to the issue of climate change: "We will harness the Sun and the winds and soil to fuel our cars and run our factories," is a guarantee that more environmentally-friendly policies will be coming out of the White House, particularly in terms of alternative energy sources. It's impossible to "consume the world's resources without regard to effect," he noted, going on to suggest that "the world has changed, and we must change with it."

It sounds very much like the winds of change are blowing through the corridors of power in Washington, and bringing new regard for science, medicine, and the environment along with them.

[via New Scientist, image: Getty]

Holland Puts a New Spin on Old Technology to Combat Climate Change

A cafe in the Dutch town of Zeist has installed a revolving door which generates electricity as you pass through.

Written by Ben Robinson

Holland has led the way in wind power for centuries. With a quarter of the country lying below sea level they have traditionally used windmills to pump out the water. They currently have the world’s largest offshore wind farm, generating enough power to supply more than 100,000 homes. They are also famous in harnessing human power for transport. Anyone who has been to Amsterdam has seen the millions of bicycles on the streets. So what are they up to now?

• » Read more on Netherlands

Well, it would seem that this forward thinking country is ahead of the game once again. A new restaurant situated at the train station in the town of Zeist has been working with the design company Rau in order to reduce their carbon footprint. They’ve come up with an innovative idea in the form of a power generation system fuelled by their own customers - They have installed a generator in their revolving door which converts the energy of people passing through into electricity. Each time you pass through the door you generate enough power to make a cup of coffee. The owners estimate that the door will generate approximately 4600 KWH per year. They are also investing in other ways to reduce their energy requirements such as a special low energy cooling system, a sun collector, and of course the obligatory Dutch windmill.

As a low lying country, the Netherlands is potentially one of the countries to be most affected by sea level rise. As usual they are leading the way in developing ingenious means to reduce their need for fossil fuels. Imagine how much power we could produce if every revolving door or turnstile was equipped with this kind of energy capture technology? One small cafe in Holland may not produce much of an impact on its own, but just think how much power could be generated by such a system in a busy subway station in London or New York?

Image credit: Frank Za’atar at Flickr under a Creative Commons license